California Summer

The three year old and I enjoyed a long weekend with her uncle in Tiburon, California.

It was the good life. We flew in Thursday and Friday headed for Stinson Beach. It was great fun to show my daughter the ocean for the first time. She absolutely loved it. After seeing how many pictures we were taking of her, she decided to take a couple of us.


What a great weekend and what a great location. The daughter missed her brother a lot and missed her mother a bit. As a result she was pretty clingy with me and didn't want to be carried anywhere by her uncle. But she really enjoyed talking with him and telling him that she could "do anything I want to do!"

She's enjoyed talking about her uncle quite a bit this week.

Summertime, and the living is easy

My brother and I were debating music over the weekend. He got irritated when I said that I thought Bob Marley was a lazy writer.

I thought I'd see if anyone here might want to continue the conversation. So...

What's on you ipod / mp3 player right now?

I've got my old favorites including REM, Junior Wells, The Dixie Chicks, Willie Nelson, The Greencards, Muddy Waters, Prince, the Ramones, the Replacements, U2, Sammy Davis Jr., Eminem, Wilson Pickett, Ingar and Bruce Springsteen.

But the group I'm addicted to this summer is Big & Rich. I can't get enough. I think they write great songs that are a ton of fun.

What I don't have are any American Idol contestants -- can you believe I've only seen the show twice? Then again I guess if you look at the music listed above I'm pretty much stuck in an era before 1995.

Senior Year

Has anyone read Dan Shaughnessy's book Senior Year? I've read one good review of it and it was enough to make me wonder if anyone else has picked it up. Peter King of Sports Illustrated recommended it in his blog.

It's the end of the world as he knows it

Who's the greatest scientist of all time?

How about Sir Isaac Newton?

Sir Isaac Newton was evidently a deeply religious Christian. I wonder what he would think of the whole evolution vs. creationism vs. intelligent design debate.

One of the things Newton believed is that the apocalypse is coming and he spent considerable time trying to figure out the date. He wrote that he did this not because he thought it was important to figure out the date but instead he wanted to,

"put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail."

Newton did end up making a prediction about the end of the world. He wrote that the apocalypse will not happen before the year 2060. Someone tell Pat Robertson we've got at least 53 more years.

Hillary Hits a Home Run

You may or may not know but Hillary Clinton has had a poll up on her website asking her supporters to pick a theme song for her campaign. People could vote for one of the choices the campaign made available or they could write in their own choice.

They announced the winner today with this video, a spoof on the final episode of the Sopranos. I think this is great.

Who do you trust?

I spent a good hour in the chair at the Dentist's office Monday afternoon. As I sat there I thought about polls I've seen measuring the amount of trust people place in medical professionals. It dawned on me that I've never seen a poll about trust in dentists.

This is interesting to me because my experience is that dentists are among the least trustworthy people on the planet. I had two dentists in Austin that tried to get me to agree to extensive, unnecessary work. Our son had a dentist in Austin who billed both me and my insurance company. They then refused to send me my money back until I had called them three times and gotten ugly with them on the phone. Remarkably, the office manager for that dentist told me that they never re-fund money in cases where they double bill unless the patient is both insistent and persistent. Now in Colorado, we've stopped sending our kids to a pediatric dentist and instead are taking them to our dentist because we discovered the pediatric dentist was practicing fraudulent billing.

So, who do you trust? I should say that our dentist here in Colorado is fantastic and everything is above board. But I've found them to be the exception to the rule.

The problem with expectations

I'm in DC. It is a monthly trip I make for work. Last night, after attending a political event, I headed through the rain to Central, the new restaurant from Michel Richard.

Michel Richard is an excellent chef. I had a wonderful night, a few years ago, at his fancy restaurant Citronelle in Georgetown. After a multi-course meal by myself in the dining room, I asked the waiter if the chef was in the restaurant and if so if he would be willing to come out so that I might thank him for the meal. The waiter came back to tell me that the chef had invited me to join him in the kitchen at his table where he was about to eat dinner with friends. When I got to the kitchen, Richard had me sit next to him at his table and proceeded to order an entirely new multi-course meal of his choosing. I ended up having somewhere between 12 and 16 courses of food that night and the kicker is I had a different glass of wine with each course. It was (even with the wine) a memorable night! It was an honor and a lot of fun to get to visit with Chef Richard.

How good is Richard? He was recently named the 2007 "Outstanding Chef" by the James Beard foundation. It's the chef equivalent of winning the best actor Oscar.

So last night I went to his new restaurant.

The review?

The service was inconsistent.

The ingredients in the food were out of this world. It is amazing what a huge difference high quality ingredients make in cooking.

The food was very good.

It wasn't as good as Citronelle but this restaurant isn't supposed to be as good as Citronelle. My bill at Citronelle was well more than double my bill from last night. But the food was good. And I'll probably go back.

The problem, however, is that I kept having to adjust my expectations downward. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't at Citronelle and that I shouldn't expect that type or level of food. After all, this is a Michelle Richard restaurant. And that's the problem with expectations, isn't it? Once expectations are set, if they are not met, we get disappointed.

As for the coffee? It wasn't great. But the way things have been going with me and coffee I didn't expect the coffee to be great. Maybe the addiction is over.

Losing My Addiction

I haven't had a good cup of coffee in two weeks. At least I haven't had a cup of coffee that I've enjoyed in two weeks. This is a big deal. I'm a many multiple cups of coffee per day kind of guy.

The strange thing is that it doesn't matter where I get my coffee. It could be coffee I make at home, it could be at Starbucks or it could be at a fun little French restaurant on Capitol Hill. It all tastes bad.

Either my tastes are changing or something tragic has happened to all the coffee beans in Colorado and DC.

I'll try again tonight, hopefully at Central, a new restaurant from Michel Richard. The website says they take walk ins which is good because the website also says they don't have an open reservation until June 19th.

She turned three this month!

The Federal Budget

This is a cool graph that shows where money is spent in the federal budget. Click on the link not the picture.

Obesity, saving money and flying

There was an interesting article about Frontier Airlines in the Denver Post today. The headline read,

Frontier finds its fliers lighter than average

The sub-head read,

The Denver-based airline saves about $3.5 million a year in fuel because of a difference of 17 pounds per passenger.

Evidently, the Federal Aviation Administration tracks the average weight of airline passengers and that data is able to be broken out by airline. Frontier Airline passengers are, according to the FAA, about 20 pounds lighter than average. Frontier was intrigued by the data so they went out and did their own study and narrowed the number down to a more precise 17 pounds per passenger.

And that works out to $3.5 million per year in savings. That's not bad.

A Great Fundraising Appeal

Here's the deal. I think John Edwards is running a smart, issues-focused campaign. And he's not just offering platitudes when he talks issues. He's got some very detailed proposals. I think you ought to support him and you can donate to him by clicking here.

Having said that, I think Barack Obama offered up the most creative and compelling fundraising appeal of the year so far.

Here's a guy that's got them talking in New Hampshire and Iowa about how campaigns have entered a new era where the top tier candidates are no longer able to do hundreds of small, intimate gatherings with real folks because of the crush of the candidates' celebrity. How do you fight that image, the image of high rollers buying access with their contributions and still raise some money?

You invite a few small donors to an intimate dinner. Not only that but this appeal has a lottery type feel as well where people have a chance to win something. I would think a lot of people might find that "chance to win" a compelling hook.

I think this appeal is brilliant. My wife is supporting Obama. Here's the e-mail she got earlier this week.

--- "David Plouffe, BarackObama.com"
wrote:

> Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2007 13:54:52 -0400
> To:
> From: "David Plouffe, BarackObama.com"
>
> Subject: Dinner with Barack?
>
> Make a donation in the next week and you could have dinner with
> Barack:
>
> https://donate.barackobama.com/dinnerforfive
>
> Dear ,
>
> Most political fundraisers are hosted by lobbyists and filled with
> representatives of special interests.
>
> But our campaign is different.
>
> Our funding comes from a movement of Americans giving whatever they
> can afford, even $5, and Barack wants to sit down with supporters like
> you.
>
> In the next week, four donors will be selected for a new kind of
> fundraising dinner. If you make a donation in any amount between now
> and 11:59 pm EDT on Wednesday, June 13, you could join Barack and
> three other supporters for an intimate dinner for five.
>
> Two seats will be reserved for people like you who have given before
> and decide to make another donation during this special drive. Will
> you renew your generous support and take a chance at having dinner
> with Barack?
>
> https://donate.barackobama.com/dinnerforfive
>
> Our movement is changing the way campaigns are funded. We're not
> taking any contributions from Washington lobbyists or political action
> committees.
>
> More than 100,000 individual donors have demonstrated that this choice
> is about more than an election. It's about each of us having a
> personal stake in the future of American politics.
>
> The dinner for five is an opportunity for you to sit down with Barack
> and your fellow supporters and talk about what matters to you.
>
> Get the kind of treatment other politicians reserve for special
> interests. Make a donation in the next week, and you could share your
> story and your ideas with Barack in person:
>
> https://donate.barackobama.com/dinnerforfive
>
> With every single donation, we're building a movement to change
> American politics. And this is just the beginning.
>
> Thanks for your support,
> David
>
> David Plouffe
> Campaign Manager
> Obama for America>

I'm impressed. What a great way to frame yourself as a populist.

Books

My friend Anne writes a blog all about books and my other friend Anne recently posted some thoughts as to what she reads.

USA Today, meanwhile, gave us a list of the "25 most memorable books of the last 25 years.

I haven't read a single one. I've seen a couple of the movies and I did leaf through my wife's copy of "What to expect when you're expecting." But I didn't read a single book on that list.

Should I?

Here's the list.


1 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
By J.K. Rowling (1998)

2 The Deep End of the Ocean
By Jacquelyn Mitchard (1996)

3 The Da Vinci Code
By Dan Brown (2003)

4 The 911 Commission Report
By The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks (2004)

5 Chicken Soup for the Soul
By Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield (1993)

6 Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus
By John Gray (1992)

7 Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution
By Robert C. Atkins (1992)

8 And the Band Played On
By Randy Shilts (1987)

9 Beloved
By Toni Morrison (1987)

10 The Greatest Generation
By Tom Brokaw (1998)

11 Bridget Jones's Diary
By Helen Fielding (1998)

12 Left Behind
By Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (1995)

13 The Purpose Driven Life
By Rick Warren (2003)

14 Fast Food Nation
By Eric Schlosser (2001)

15 The Satanic Verses
By Salman Rushdie (1989)

16 The Closing of the American Mind
By Allan Bloom (1987)

17 The Bonfire of the Vanities
By Tom Wolfe (1987)

18 The Joy Luck Club
By Amy Tan (1989)

19 What To Expect When You're Expecting
By Heidi Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg and Sandee Hathaway (1984)

20 A Brief History of Time
By Stephen Hawking (1988)

21 Iacocca
By Lee Iacocca (1984)

22 Waiting to Exhale
By Terry McMillan (1992)

23 Cold Mountain
By Charles Frazier (1997)

24 Backlash
By Susan Faludi (1991)

25 Final Exit
By Derek Humphry (1991)

By the way, if you are going to buy any of these books, please buy them at my favorite bookstore which is right here.

Rough days for Republicans

Things are rough for Republicans these days and no one sums up the state of the party than former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan. Noonan's column in today's Wall Street Journal includes the following tidbits.

What political conservatives and on-the-ground Republicans must understand at this point is that they are not breaking with the White House on immigration. They are not resisting, fighting and thereby setting down a historical marker--"At this point the break became final." That's not what's happening. What conservatives and Republicans must recognize is that the White House has broken with them. What President Bush is doing, and has been doing for some time, is sundering a great political coalition. This is sad, and it holds implications not only for one political party but for the American future.

The White House doesn't need its traditional supporters anymore, because its problems are way beyond being solved by the base. And the people in the administration don't even much like the base. Desperate straits have left them liberated, and they are acting out their disdain. Leading Democrats often think their base is slightly mad but at least their heart is in the right place. This White House thinks its base is stupid and that its heart is in the wrong place.

How bad are things in the party? Well read this!

The president has taken to suggesting that opponents of his immigration bill are unpatriotic--they "don't want to do what's right for America." His ally Sen. Lindsey Graham has said, "We're gonna tell the bigots to shut up." On Fox last weekend he vowed to "push back." Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff suggested opponents would prefer illegal immigrants be killed; Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said those who oppose the bill want "mass deportation." Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson said those who oppose the bill are "anti-immigrant" and suggested they suffer from "rage" and "national chauvinism."

Why would they speak so insultingly, with such hostility, of opponents who are concerned citizens?

Good question, Peggy. The answer is that they are Repbulicans and that is what Republicans do. Don't you watch Fox News? The Republican party has been so devoid of political ideology, policy ideas and ethical leaders for so long that all Republicans know how to do is to speak insultingly, with hostility of their opponents who are simply concerned citizens. Peggy, you really ought to stop your whining.

What happened to Republicans is that they got so caught up in their hatred of Government that they decided not to ever govern. Peggy, were you the one who wrote the Reagan line in his first inaugural address, "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." Post-Reagan Republicans get elected so that they could have power and use that power to enrich themselves and their friends. They don't care about governing or good government. There is no vision for what government ought to be -- only a vision for what government ought not to be. As a result, the Republican party and its' leadership has become both ethically and ideologically corrupt.

Peggy Noonan did get the following right when she wrote of the current administration,

What I came in time to believe is that the great shortcoming of this White House, the great thing it is missing, is simple wisdom. Just wisdom--a sense that they did not invent history, that this moment is not all there is, that man has lived a long time and there are things that are true of him, that maturity is not the same thing as cowardice, that personal loyalty is not a good enough reason to put anyone in charge of anything, that the way it works in politics is a friend becomes a loyalist becomes a hack, and actually at this point in history we don't need hacks.

Hacks got the jobs in Iraq. Qualifications didn't matter. Hacks got the jobs in FEMA. Qualifications didn't matter. Hacks got the jobs in the Justice Department. Qualifications didn't matter.

Jimmy Carter never should have retracted his statement that the current Bush administration is the worst in history.