Thanks

I thank each of you for caring about my sustenance, especially what and how I eat. You each are lovely.

It's been a super mellow break thus far. Finishing a book, movies, shows, eating, Wii. Rock and roll.

I take the train to Richmond tonight, which will be a sweet time.

I have also been looking a little at jobs, finishing up an application to a guest ranch to work for at least the summer, thinking about the Secret Service, Florida Boy Scout Sea Base, a masters in economics at George Mason, GREs. Lying in bed last night, I wasn't sure how working at a ranch or in the Florida Keys for 6 months would play into any type of long term career. Whatev. I don't think I need to/am able to plan things out like that. Therefore, I will learn to Trust, strive for edification and do what I enjoy. Then we will see what happens!

My Habits

Last night, I bought a bunch of pizza with some friends, purposefully ordering a mess of it so there would be leftovers. I had about 3/4 of a large after all was said and done. I paid for the part I kept, of course. We taxed according to consumption at $1.25 a slice.

This occurs in the setting of the funk I am in right now of being hungry and nearly out of food here in the apartment, combined with a busy schedule and feeling of it's-too-much-work-to-go-get-food.

Thus, for the last 24 hours, I have subsisted on the leftover pizza and one helping of leftover green-bean casserole I found in the fridge that was up for grabs. Pistachios as well. I've been eating lots of those.

I straight up do not enjoy cooking, dudes. There is a mess, you have to plan ahead, get all the junk you need and then you have to wait. I merely need to hold out until Thursday-Sunday festivities where there is plenty to be found.

All this being said, I am doing some soul searching about my own laziness, what Proverbs has to say about sloth and starving, is this just a temporary phase I am going through, what will I do later on in life, etc.

Good times.

UPDATE: I bought groceries last night. Things are improving.

On Friday morning, I had the privilege of sitting down with others from my program with Dennis Bakke, who wrote the book Joy at Work. It was part of a mentorship course we are taking here at ASP. As former CEO of AES energy corporation, he had the goal of creating the most fun workplace ever. That goal came from his intense belief that work is meant to be a fulfillment of what God created us to be. Both in his book and in person he expounded on his view of organizational management and how the leader is best able to fulfill his own role through delegating responsibilities to those he or she is leading. In doing so the leader not only finds greater joy, but also the others who may not necessarily be reponsible for the organization in title.
What he states is basically what I have been learning this semester, at least in regards to leadership. People who are closest to the issue at hand are best equipped to make decisions. When we, as human beings, are able to make decisions and take responsibility for the consequences, we gain more purpose because that is what we were designed for. The consequences entail both success and failure.
Also on Friday, I went over to the Rayburn House office building to talk with a legislative assistant on the House Foreign Affairs committee about Iran, since I am working on an Iran-US relations project with some others. It was an informative time for sure. However the highlight was walking back upstairs to my friend's office next to Barney Frank. She noticed him at first and I was able to catch his back as he walked the corner away from us. His shinanigans with the bailout have not deepened my respect for him, to say the least.

Today I did end up going to the newly reopened American History museum. I saw the new, fancy star-spangled banner display, the great American hero R2D2, George Washington, fife and drum corps and sweet exhibits. It was a better museum than I remember. Maybe that's because it was refurbished.

American History

The American History museum is reopening tomorrow with festivities spanning the weekend. I plan to go on Saturday and brave the crowds.

When I go, I will have the opportunity to "shake hands and take your photo with historical characters across the centuries—First Ladies Abigail Adams and Martha Washington, Annie Oakley and Amelia Earhart, Dorothy Gale and R2D2, the soldiers of the Federal City and the Ft. McHenry Old Guard."

Apparently, R2D2 fought for America's freedom right alongside the soldiers of the Federal City and stood fast with Abigail Adams during the bombardment of Boston. He is a great American hero.

I am not making this up. It is from the website.

A Joke

This is a very good one.

What did Tarzan say when he saw the elephants charging toward him?





"Here come the elephants!"

I heard this a couple of weeks ago from a dude I was sitting next to in class. I genuinely laughed at the joke, which really doesn't happen to me that often when it comes to jokes. Other than a select few and most of you have heard those three.

Testimony Before the House Committee on Ways and Means October 29, 2008

Mark Sanders, governor of South Carolina, is the man.

I would highly, highly encourage you to read this entire testimony he gave before the Committee Ways and Means in the House. Ways and Means determines taxation, tariffs and other spending measures that impact you. It's pretty powerful.

Here are some highlights:

"Our national debt is now over $10 trillion – more than $4 trillion higher than when I left Congress at the end of 2000. We’re spending more paying interest on this debt (roughly $20 billion monthly) than we are on the War in Iraq (around $12 billion)."

"Their point is that we have over $52 trillion in contingent liability, amounting to a roughly $450,000 invisible mortgage hanging over the head of each and every American family."

"I’d ask you as political decision-makers in an overwhelmingly economic crisis to take the Hippocratic Oath and pledge to “do no [more] harm.” I believe the macroeconomic forces at work will hardly be slowed by an additional $150 billion, and I’d strongly urge against further tampering with what in principle should be a free-market economy. "

"In short, I’d ask members of the Committee to simply give the states more freedom. Give us more flexibility. Give us more in the way of control over the dollars we already have and less in the way of costs. Give us more options, not more money with federal strings attached. "

The Latest

Well friends, this weekend I went to Boston.

I went because I had a semi-free weekend and a semi-free ticket from accrued frequent flier miles. I also have a few friends up there, namely the famous Chris Tierney, Ben Briggs and Kirsten Swanson. I left early, early Friday morning so I arrived in Boston around 9AM and then spent the whole day doing the freedom trail thing, seeing the sights like Paul Revere's and John Hancock's graves, Bunker Hill, USS Constituion, Old North Church, etc. Then I went to stay at Chris's place in Wellesley. It was sweet hanging out with him again and meeting his wife. Saturday I slept forever then met up with Briggs, who is going to law school at Boston University. After chilling with him and a few of his law buddies, I mobbed back to Wellesley and we went to see Quantum of Solace having watched Casino Royale the night before. It was decent. Not nearly as earth shattering as Casino though. Sunday I went into the city to see Kirsten and we went through Harvard, MIT, Little Italy, Copely Square mall, bookstores. Good times. I went into 5 or so bookstores this weekend, which automatically mad it sweet.
While there was a lot of history stuff, it was a more modern city than I expected. The streets were narrow and screwy, mildly European and what I expected. I feel as though I got a good tour.

Of course I have to say something political.
Don't bailout the big 3 please. Granted, jobs will be lost, but that is an essential part of a market economy. The unions have constrained those companies into only a handful of limited actions and due to the union's involvement in many politicians' careers, the government is as well. I may be overestimating the power of the union, but this may be an example of when a few dictate to the many and that when knowledge is not disemminated, everyone just ends up worse off in the end. The unions and politicians want things to remain as "normal" (whatever that is), thus they constrain the auto companies into paying higher wages and giving more benefits than is economically feasible at the moment. An economic system is essentially an ordering of knowledge and since knowledge is so spread out among so many individuals (not to mention the shere amount of it) there is no way in which a group of "experts" can effectively order an economy. That applies to auto makers, I believe. That idea and persception of knowledge comes from Hayek and Sowell. Smart dudes.

Are they surprised??

Lobbyists Swarm the Treasury for a Helping of the Bailout Pie

A ton has gone on: I went to New York City for the weekend, had a ton of fun. I just went to a sweet dinner regarding the estate tax and met some great people.

Things are way busy with this week. I have assignments for ASP, Koch and internship. I'm going to Boston this weekend to see a friend and chill. A break is coming I hear.

Abundant learning and fun are all happening right now. It's a good thing.

Barack got it

Dudes, this is exciting stuff. Barack Obama is number 44. My feelings are mixed, because I think his policies are screwy and the foundation of his election is based upon guesswork and the myriad campaign slogans. If McCain had won though, DC would have gone nuts (93% voted for Obama), things would probably have been burned. Also, it will be fun and slightly mellowing to be associated with the party not in power. Instead of having to put up with the wrath we can just say Hey, it's your time now. The first black president is pretty sweet too, I think that means a lot. It will be a fascinating four years.

I had some good times on election night. I attended an event at the Cato Institute with author Gene Healy speaking on his book the Cult of the Presidency and making a few comments regarding the election that got the libertarian crowd cheering. I bought the book and have already read the introduction. It's very good. The author speaks of the way in which the presidency has been entirely overblown from what it was meant to be and I wholly agree. Presidents nowadays are expected to be, according to Cliton Rossiter, "a combination of scoutmaster, Delphic oracle, hero of the silver screen, and father of the multitudes. Also: World Leader, Protector of the Peace, Chief Legislator, Manager of Prosperity and Voice of the People." Taft in a 1912 campaign speech said the president can't cause the sun to shine, the rain to fall or whatever else good you want to happen (I paraphrase). He lost that election, but he spoke the truth, I think. This huge amount of expectation channels more power to the executive branch and provides for huge dissapointment. Just some thoughts.
While at Cato, I also had the experience of possibly being hit on by an older guy. He just seemed WAY to eager to give me his card and remember my name, despite the fact . He may be reading this right now. After Cato, I went on over to the National Taxpayer's Union in old town Alexandria for their election party, had some good food, chatted it up with other limited government types and watched some of the results come in. One of the ASP professors lives in that area, so I called him up and we went and got burgers while talking about business and vision. By the time I made it back to the apartment, Obama had been projected winner. It was decided way quicker than I thought it would be, for sure. All in all though, it was a fun night and other than the fact I didn't go to the impromtu party in front of the White House, I felt like I took advantage of some unique DC experiences.

There's an insitute for everyone: Carpet and Rug Institute

What's been going oN?

Well, a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
Friday was the usual day of sleeping in a little later than usual, getting some reading in and then class. Of course it was Halloween and I was tempted to go out on the town and see what was happening, but decided I didn't want to mess with the crowds. I avoid crowds whenever I am able. Who doesn't? I guess the crowd. We had a little costume shindig on our roof, people came out and dressed up for it. Good times. I was Tom Petty.
Then I watched two episodes of John Adams with the ASP intern, Abigail. If you are unaware of or have not seen the John Adams miniseries by HBO Video, check them out. The whole "history comes to life" thing really applies to the series.
Saturday was the birthday. I felt loved thanks to the many texts, calls, facebook posts, emails. Thank you to each of you! Since it was a beautiful day, I took some books and went to a nearby park to read for a couple of hours. Needless to say, it was really mellow.
A guy and his wife or girlfriend were sitting on the bench next to me basically the whole time I was there, just chilling. At 4:15, the guy asked me for the time, I told him, then he gave me the gospel in a nutshell and asked me if I knew Jesus Christ. Agreeing with him, he then asked me a basic theology question about whether I believed in the trinity or not. I agreed. Having never really had that happen to me before, it was a unique experience. He later asked if I knew of any pentecostal churches in the area. I don't.
That night I went to an all Wagner program with a friend I met back in Presidential Classroom in 2004. It was a great performance. A cool birthday surprise went down that night too. Apparently, where the peasant section was, where we were supposed to sit, was taken up by the translation projection screen. So they upgraded us to some kickin box seats.
Afterward we went to this restaurant called Clydes in Chinatown where I had one of my top 5 burgers.