Patrick Stedem

priceonomics:

Americans are not happy with their politicians. Eight in ten are displeased with Washington, 81% disapprove of the job Congress is doing, and President Obama’s approval rating stands at 45%.

Increased partisanship is a common reason given for DC’s dysfunction. The perverse…

priceonomics:

“The reason you haven’t felt it is because it doesn’t exist. What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons.”

Don Draper, Mad Men

The next time you look at a diamond, consider this. Nearly every American marriage begins with a diamond because a bunch of rich white men in the 1940s convinced everyone that its size determines your self worth. They created this convention - that unless a man purchases (an intrinsically useless) diamond, his life is a failure - while sitting in a room, racking their brains on how to sell diamonds that no one wanted.

Your worst skinny-dipping fear realized.

Exactly.

Yes, there is bacon in the avocado and the eggs. (Taken with Instagram)

Rooftop mermaid squid (Taken with Instagram)

Falling Waters Trail (Taken with Instagram)

Fresh picked. I resisted eating while picking as best I could. (Taken with Instagram)

Decided to gorge myself at the Rock’n Ribfest last night. I started off with a “porkinator” from Rasta Joe’s Jamaican BBQ. A porkinator consists of pulled pork topped with bacon, ham and pepper jack cheese, overflowing from a hot dog bun to the point of being totally unmanageable, and a couple of pepperoncinis plopped on top for good measure. In retrospect, this choice was a mistake. A porkinator does not lend itself to adding bbq sauce. I threw some on anyway, but I should have gone with simple pulled pork.

Next up was the frozen apple cider pictured above. That was awesome, and should be available everywhere in New England. It was essentially an apple cider slushie/squishie/icee topped with cinnamon and whipped cream, but it feels more okay to drink than a neon red or blue icee. I mean, one of the main ingredients is still apples, right? I’ll choose to believe that at least.

My final selection was Gator BBQ pictured above. My sense of obligation to support a fellow gator was the perfect way to avoid making a real choice. I went for a half-slab of beef ribs. In my experience, beef ribs are less common than pork (except at a Korean restaurant). Their sauce was great, and, let’s be honest, ribs are usually pretty god damn delicious. One disappointment for Gator BBQ is that they have no relation to Florida or the University of Florida at all anymore. The company has changed hands a few times and is now owned by a Canadian family. Oh well.

The entertainment was surprisingly good: the Beatles cover band 1964 the Tribute. I thought this was just some random Beatles tribute band, but they’ve been together for 28 years; that’s nearly three times how long the Beatles were together! They sounded spot on to me.

(Look at this on my actual tumblr page instead of the dashboard or it is missing parts that allow it to make sense)

Rental Car

Since I’d never been to Tucson before, I decided to rent a car for sight seeing and etc. I ended up with a brand new Chevy Sonic. I’d never heard of this car, but it’s the next iteration of the Aveo. It was slow, but otherwise pretty good, with the exception that it smelled of fish tacos from the moment I picked it up through my entire 11 days.

Hotel Room

I stayed at the Embassy Suites. The choices of this hotel chain annoy me. There’s an omelet bar at breakfast and a free happy hour at night, but internet is $10/day. Luckily, they cut me a deal, but still. Oh, and my room always had a smell reminiscent of a dirty diaper.

My God, the Heat

That burst of hot air engulfing your face when you open the oven, it’s exactly like that every time the wind hits you. Dry heat? That doesn’t matter when it’s triple fucking digits!!

General Tourism

Mission san Xavier del Bac
• Quite beautiful, but the wild dogs roaming around were disconcerting (see all pictures except the menu).
Stand-up Revolution featuring Gabriel Iglesias
• Some good comedians, but I was too exhausted to make it through the whole show.
Kitt Peak National Observatory
• Kitt Peak has 26 telescopes of various sizes and types. I went there for the night observing program. Half the time is spent looking through one of the telescopes, and the other half is naked-eye/binoculars. It’s an interesting and worthwhile experience, but not enough of my thing to say I really loved or enjoyed it.

Food Tourism

GLUTTONOUSLY DELICIOUS:

Jax Kitchen
• Made an unnecessary reservation for one. Best calamari EVER.
Hotel Congress Cup Cafe
• Had a ridiculously huge five-course mother’s day brunch (see menu picture). It was a stomach version of what happened to the Grinch (my stomach grew three sizes that day).
Cafe Poca Cosa
• A unique place, with a menu that changes at least twice a day. I had the “plate,” which is what most people have, and entails the chef selecting three items from the menu for you. This option was ideal since I may very well never eat here or come to Tucson ever again.


TASTY:

Monkey Burger
• The toppings were stacked so high the burger appeared inedible in a normal manner. I asked the waiter what the recommended method was to eat it.
Feast
• My grand finale, and a mild, but tasty, disappointment. Homemade ice cream was bit icy and sort of whatever.
Guadalajara Original Grill
• Kitschy, but the chili verde hit the spot.


SOLID:

Takamatsu
• Had sushi, can’t go wrong with a deep-fried roll.
Sauce
• Pizza/salad lunch place, both salads I had were large and tasted fresh.
Blue Willow
• Recommended to me by some locals. The brunch was good, but certainly no Cup Cafe.
The Barrio Brewing Company
• Their beer was good, food was okay.
The Silver Saddle Steakhouse
• I had high hopes, but it ended up not impressing. The open pit cooking method is different to me, but the food was simply alright.
Lovin’ Spoonfuls
• This vegetarian restaurant falls into the trap of attempting to make vegetarian versions of non-vegetarian food. The burger I had was fine, but I wanted the vegetables thriving in unique and interesting dishes rather than a vegetarian version of the burger I had earlier that day.

About a month ago, after some internal deliberation, I purchased a ticket (for one) to see Fiona Apple in Boston on June 30th. The hesitation was over the appearance I suppose, but who am I worried about appearing how to? Now that I’ve delved deeper into her catalog, I think this may have been a transcendentally brilliant decision. I am totally “geeked” (in a way different from the normal).

Enjoy.

On a whim, I purchased a rutabaga due to its rather unique appearance and comely price. It’s a vegetable I’d heard little about and tasted less. Now that I’ve cooked and devoured the root, I know why. Preparation is both dangerous and lengthy. It requires peeling, but a traditional peeler is of little use. Instead, the easiest method is to slice into halves or quarters and cut off the unseemly outer layer. The initial slicing is where the danger comes in, as it is akin to cutting into a squash or similar. The flavor of the end product is pleasing, and a change of pace from other roots. However, the annoyance of preparation removes it from consideration for routine appearance on my dinner plate.

In a final analysis, the hearty outer layer of the rutabaga is both its blessing and its curse, and that’s a lesson for us all.

Just finished my taxes. Looks like my effective tax rate for 2011, 14.38%, beats Romney’s 13.89% for 2010. However, his estimate for 2011 was 15.44%. So comparing “apples to apples” he’s got me beat. Now Warren Buffett, his rate was only 11.06% for 2010. OWNED!!

Though it was somewhat expected, the fact that I owe over $2,000 briefly raised my blood pressure for fear of an underpayment penalty for owing over $1,000.

After occupying my Instapaper for nearly two months, I finally read this (originally seen on Kottke). It is excellent, and definitely worth your time.

He talks about the inefficiency of multitasking, and I am attempting to regain an ability to focus and concentrate. I’ve seen this issue noted numerous times, but habits are difficult to break. When I take a class now, and even when I was in college, it doesn’t seem I am retaining information in the way I did when I was younger.

Otherwise, it’s a reminder of what leadership really is and that individuals in leadership positions don’t necessarily attain those for the right abilities.

Read it!

If she has sold out — if she represented anything in the first place — then she’s shown us exactly what our dollar can buy: an absolutely stunning video starring some of the Middle East’s finest stunt drivers.

The awesome video/song and a link to an excellent article about M.I.A. too: what more can you ask for?

P.S. I love Grantland and M.I.A. (even if it’s all pomp and a lie she hits the right notes for me).

I find this highly amusing.

Wrap your brain around this: in 1822, we ate the amount of added sugar in one 12 ounce can of soda every five days, while today we eat that much sugar every seven hours.

…and the coup de grâce!

And using math, I can peer into the future. If current trends continue, by 2606 the US diet will be 100 percent sugar!

I watched the 2012 Oscar Nominated Animation Shorts (via the ShortsHD release to theaters that happened on Friday), and this (A Morning Stroll) was by far my favorite. I wish the full video was available online. None of the shorts were bad, but I found them largely forgettable. Some great animation though.

1. Run More

While from a technical standpoint I ran more than last year, I in no way achieved the amount of running I desired. When I started working nine hour days and the weather cooled down and it was dark leaving work, it was too easy to just say “whatevs.” There’s no excuse though, because I have a free gym membership for indoor running. I am weak and pathetic.

Rating: FAIL

2. More Pushups, Situps and Squats

I did increase the number of pushups, situps and squats done in each workout and I kept up with doing them routinely. I, however, did not come close to reaching the promised land of the hundredpushups, twohundredsitups and twohundredsquats programs.

Rating: MARGINAL SUCCESS!!

3. Read One Hour a Day

Wow. This souffle never even rose enough to collapse. I forgot I’d even set this resolution. Maybe this year?

Rating: SPECTACULAR FAILURE

4. Floss

Easily the greatest success of my 2011 resolutions, and potentially the greatest success of my entire life. While I don’t necessarily floss every single night, I do the vast majority of the time. It’s become a habit, and it’s to the point that the dental hygienist complimented my dental hygiene. My success owes a debt of gratitude to this Pop Economics entry. My greatest failure was not applying the same “keep doing it, even if only in an insignificant amount” way of pushing towards forming a habit to reading and running.

Rating: ABSOLUTE SUCCESS

5. Cook at Home More

This is a win, but with further room for improvement. I’ve shifted from only cooking humongous, weeklong quantities once a month and eating out the rest of the time to making single dinner portions. I’ve developed a ravishing love affair with the baked sweet potato and experimented with different vegetables I’d never eaten before, let alone cooked. I’ve shed quite a bit of weight, though I think that had more to do with changing, and being more conscious of, what I eat.

This is not to say that there have not been trials and tribulations. There have been abject failures (e.g. pecan and cheddar cheese balls, cooking a piece of fish so improperly it resulted in a sort of boney fishmash), and I have growing trepidation I will injure myself through haphazard knife usage, salmonella (or salamander as my paternal grandfather once referred to it) poisoning or not cleaning my oven of, now charred, sweet potato drippings.

Rating: SUCCESS

A lesson that should be well learned…