Bagel inflation

I have been meaning to write this post for several weeks but have not. As you already know, I am an amateur economist. I have recommended that there are a few tax-free days and that gas prices be cut by 50 cents a gallon to help stimulate the economy among other suggestions. I know that this will not completely resolve our problems, there is a major credit and home foreclosure crisis, but this may impact the inflation I am seeing. My energy costs are increasing thanks to my wonderful electric company and as I stated, gasoline prices are ridiculously high as well. This of course has had a ripple effect on the economy as it has caused the cost of everyday goods to increase as well. Most notably my grocery bill has increased, however it has caused my bagel bill to increase 10 cents over the past year. Bagel Bill?

A few years ago I lived a couple of blocks away from a very good bagel shop, the bagel factory. As I like to have breakfast on the move, a fresh bagel everyday fit the bill. It is healthy and inexpensive. A warm, fresh bagel does not require cream cheese which usually increases the price of a bagel from 80 cents to 2.20. Man that cream cheese is expensive. Of course there are ways to circumvent this monstrosity, primarily buying a tub cream cheese at the grocery store for roughly the same price and store it in the refrigerator at work. Walla, you save yourself some nice cash. Moving away from the cream cheese tangent I need to get back to the whole point of this blog entry, the bagel.

As I stated before a quick bagel on the run is a nice healthy breakfast. When I first moved to this unknown city in Maryland I quickly located a convenient bagel shop, Bagel Bob’s (for security purposes the name has been changed) who could rapidly serve me a fresh bagel. The cost was 70 cents and now I was a regular. As time progressed I realized that I can save myself some money by not purchasing a bagel, or two. I became less dependent on the bagel when, after a new ownership group took over, the cost increased to 75 cents and later to 80 cents.

After living in unknown city for 2 years I moved to a new zip code, however I now had a new route to work and the previous bagel place was simply out of the way. Upon the horizon came a new bagel shop, “Stupid sports fan bagel shop” (for security purposes of course). Naturally they support a team that I don’t like, but they had even better bagels for a cheaper price, 70 cents. I hit the jackpot. As I continued to go to “Stupid sports fan bagel shop” their prices have continued to rise once to 75 cents and now 80 cents in just 6 months. I have gone from being a regular 6 AM bagel supporter to a “bandwagon” bagel supporter (see previous note about saving money). When I asked why they raised the prices, I was told it was about the cost of flour. Of course being a smart ass, I asked how come you don’t just make the bagel hole bigger. It would cost just as much and you can use less flour.

Now of course I am contracting myself. I am mad when they reduce the size of my yogurt, but want a larger bagel hole. The truth is how often do you check the size of your bagel hole? Needless to say I am not happy that in the span of 6 months the cost of my bagel has risen 10 cents. Let’s fix this economy soon. If we don’t we will see bagel prices over $1!!! Argh.

Dell computer tech support

About a year ago I bought myself a new dell laptop, my first laptop. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I didn't think I would have any problems transitioning from a PC to laptop. I am really smart. I had no problems at all. The biggest obstacle I had was transitioning from Windows XP to the new Vista. I did not like the new design to vista with the word was the lack of the “file” prompt. With the help of a coworker I was able to conquer this battle.

Fast forward to March of 2008. The computer is just a few days over a year old and I ran into my first irritating problem. For some reason my cd/dvd drive decided that it wanted to work extremely loudly. Then it started skipping on some of my cds. Since I have had this mission of listening to every cd I own, and are only “S”, I could not tolerate this loud irritating noise and skipping. This led me to call Dell. In the back of my mind I was thinking “here we go again, I purchased a product whose lifespan is just slightly over the warranty requirements”. My previous phone with Sprint lasted 14 months and carried a 12 month warranty. A friend of mine had a 30,000 mile warranty on his car. The warning light went off, conveniently, at 30,030. This made me think. What products currently exist that are “built to warranty”? By being “built to warranty” I mean some items that will inevitably die within 3 months of the expiration of a warranty?

Fortunately for me the Dell tech support rep, located in Alabama (Go America not India!), was able to fix my computer over the phone. I also have to thank my extended warranty, which lasts until 2010. What was the culprit? I installed itunes on Sunday and there was a lack of a driver. For you techno geeks you can feel free to discuss this. Needless to say my computer is working and I did not lose the 25 or so songs I currently have on my ipod. Kudos to Dell, but I still do have to ponder, what items are out there that are “built to warranty” and break shortly after the warranty expires? Please provide some suggestions.

On another note, how well do you know corporate america? Take the following quiz. I scored 12 out of 15 for an 80 percent. If you do well there try to spot the fake. This one is hard, so please do not go to NYC or a flea market without doing this.

Wedding Journal Day 3

So now we are married (editorial note today is our 10-day anniversary!!). My wife and I walked out and strangely so do all these people behind me. My mom and dad, her mom and dad and the wedding party slowly walk behind us!!! So now we are in our period of isolation and I finally get to eat. I think it was circa 8:30 when we finally got to eat (and drink). The wedding party joined us for a few minutes before we kicked them all out for our alone time. Nothing naughty, just time to privately rejoice. Now what?

We reassembled in what I have now called to “war room”, which happens to be the same room we took pictures, signed the ketubah, and our alone time. The wedding party assembled and it is now time to rock this joint!

We lineed up and each member of the bridal party and of course our parents are announced before a live (studio) audience, just like Cheers. The theme to Cheers (Where everybody knows your name) was playing in the background as we were introduced as Mr. and Mrs. *&R^aN!!!! (I still wish to remain anonymous). That is a first!

From there we went to our first dance, “I could not ask for more” by Sara Evans and the best man, maid and matron of honor speeches were given. The father-daughter dance, “I loved her first, and the mother-son dance, “What a wonderful world” were danced to before we ate.

The food was excellent, at least what I tasted, my salad and steak, and a small piece of her Salmon. We danced the “Hora” and other dances as well. So what else was played?

I have discussed for months what we should play. I only made it to the Rolling Stones, so I did not complete my task. That said I got an ipod, so a whole new conversation regarding music will inevitably be happening soon. So here is the list from what I can hazily remember. A few drinks and plenty of schmoozing do not allow me to remember all the songs. Here goes:

Baby got back
Booty call
Last dance
Electric slide
Chicken dance
Selfless cold and composed
Cannon in D
All you need is love
That’s a more
She’s everything to me
YMCA
Shout
Twist
Some kinda wonderful
Booty call

I do not believe that any of the new, 2008 Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame inductees were played although one was requested, Jack and Diane by John “I have a new last name for each decade” Mellencamp.

The following songs were requested, but I’m not sure they were played

Requested

Time of your life
Jack and Diane
Imagine

So this in essence is my wedding weekend journal. The only small tidbit to add was that during "Shout" one of the guests managed to get so into the song, at his seat that he didn't realize that the waitress was behind him. Naturally this resulted in him spilling his brother's meal on his brother. Poor guy. I hope you got to eat. If not, I owe you a dinner!!!

Thanks everyone for coming I do appreciate it!

NCAA tourney

I'll write more on this later, but can anyone tell me why there is a huge roar of applause when a team is called out during the NCAA selection show when the team already knew they had an automatic bid? Seriously, why is it that a team is yelling, cheering and jumping up and down when their name is called? This may be understandable in a case like Baylor who was unsure if they were going to make it. Temple, UNC? That is the whole point of playing and winning the conference tournament.

That being said, I think it would be very cool to have 4 play-in games. Have one play-in game to play against the #1 seed. There are several other teams besides Coppin State and Mt. St. Mary's who are undeserving of a bid. I know that there is something to be said for conference tournaments, but if a team like Robert Morris wins the regular season title, but loses one game in the conference tournament they really shouldn't be penalized. Allow them the shot at playing in a "play-in" game.

A few months back I wrote here and here about the Rhode Island Rams and the Atlantic 10. I predicted that 4 teams from the A-10 would make it. I was off by 1.

I know that you are eagerly waiting to hear about the wedding. Because we were celebrating our 1 week aniversary I neglected to tell you all the wonderful parts of the reception. I did not ignore it. You will just have to be a little patient while I edit the final parts of my wedding journal.

Upcoming blogs will include information on my new ipod, the new nominees to the rock and roll hall of fame, an update on the record rama guy who was selling his record collection, musical selections from the wedding, and an update on my quest to listen to every cd, tape, and record that I own.

Wedding journal day 2

Pardon the interruption. This version of my wedding diary will briefly be interrupted so that the following news items can be discussed.

Toilet lady – click here to read about this lady’s 2 year journey in the same bathroom and getting stuck to the toilet seat. It makes for comical, yet sickening entertainment. Althought I have much appreciation for the toilet, if this happens to me, please put me out of my misery.

URI loses – All is not lost, we still have a shot at winning the NIT (Not important tournament)

Pitt wins – At least they won one game in the Big East tournament. Let’s hope they win the NCAA tourney. Just remember this where is Penn State? They are sitting on their rears at home.

Poor air quality!!! - Earlier this week we learned there are prescription meds in our water. Now this. Well at least we know that those meds will help cure us (or prevent) those illnesses we are bound to get.

Now that I go this out of my system I must continue with the story of the wedding.

Saturday arrived rapidly. My family grabbed a quick breakfast and returned to the hotel so that the ladies could do that whole make-up/hair thing. I never have understood this; and why it is necessary to get ready 7 hours before the event? It took me all of 45 minutes to get ready, but much of that 45 minutes spent trying to figure out what to do with the wardrobe malfunction.

After returning from breakfast my brother and I went to workout, which was nice stress reliever. We watched the end of the Georgetown/Louisville game and I began to get ready. As I stated earlier there was bit of a wardrobe malfunction. We were able to remedy the problem and here’s to hoping that no one noticed. We were rapidly approaching the picture hour, which we did before the ceremony. Naturally most people were late, but hey since kick-off was 3.5 hours away it did not really matter.

It is without hesitation that I would recommend to anyone to do the pictures before hand. It honestly made everything after the wedding go much smoother. The photographer was very nice and the pictures I’m sure will turn out great, however, I’m just quite thankful that I’m not a model. It has been 5 days since the picture hour and I swear my cheeks still hurt and just when you think you are done there is another “quick” round of photos.

T-1.5 hours

Pictures are done and over with now and it is just time to count down. The guests are arriving so my mobility is limited. Thankfully I’m not the bride, but I really don’t need a lot of people talking my ear off an hour before the biggest day of my life. Of course there are plenty of people this weekend who has told me “It’s not too late to change your decision”. Although this is a bit humorous once or twice, I began to get quite irritated by this statement throughout the weekend.

1 hour until showtime…

The sun is down, the witnesses are here, the bride and I are here and we are ready to sign our names on the Ketubah!! The only problem, the Rabbi and the Ketubah aren’t here. The rabbi finally arrived. I really wasn’t sweating it to be quite frank, I didn’t expect him until 7:30 anyway.

5 minutes till show time!!!

Ok we are lined up, the bridal party, mom and pop, the future in-laws and grandmother in-law (is there such a thing?)

Showtime!

I really can’t provide you with specifics. I walked down the aisle with mom and dad and walked out with my beautiful wife. In the middle the Rabbi babbled in Hebrew and in English. We circled each other, drank some wine, and we recited our vowels. I broke the glass and now we are married.
The next chapter is coming up soon

A wedding journal

With much fanfare I return!!! I know that you all have been eagerly anticipating my return. Well, I tied the knot over the weekend and I'm sure you are all eager to find out all the details. As a result I will answer all those important questions in my diary.

Thursday:

After a long day of work, I was now responsible for making sure that all my work will be covered in my absence. I end up staying at work and additional 2 hours finalizing all the fine details. Of course now is the time to run around like a chicken with his head cut off doing a number of errands and making sure that everything is a-ok for the wedding. The stress was mounting. I have to pick up my Mom and Pop for my last meal as a single male!!! Of course as a somewhat recent transplant to an undisclosed city, I don't know my way around and ended up on the highway. Of course this is a highway that does not have a quick turnaround so 20 minutes later I returned back to the original location. To make matters worse, it would have taken 5 minutes, 10 walking to get to the restaraunt.

Dinner was nice, but now I have to go home and write my vows. Yee-Haw. Although I wrote some top notch vows, I did so begrudgingly, then went to bed.

Friday

Remember the section above regarding running around like a chicken with its head cut off? Yea it was alot worse the day before the wedding. I felt terrible for my dad who was locked up at the hotel without a car or anything to do. I didn't eat breakfast and ended up eating lunch at like 2:00 due to the massive line at the deli! Of course my dad didn't have any problems and met up with some guests who came in early. So much for the guilty feelings about dad being locked in a hotel.

I left home around noon and would not return until after the wedding. I was always taught that you can't come home to a dirty house, so I was vigorously cleaning prior to my departure. I hung around the hotel until the rehearsal, which I think everyone was late for due to the traffic which was made worse by the rain. The rehearsal went smoothly, especially because of "Rabbi Matt" and our other last minute fill in.

What else to do but eat after a rehearsal, or really after anything you do. Naturally we grubbed hard with the out of towners and wedding party and hung out until the early morning. Nah, I didn't get drunk, that would make for a horrible wedding, but I did have a few cold ones. I gave the groomsmen their gifts and thanked everyone for coming. Just remember tommorow is the big day!!!

Saturday --- The Big Day

To be continued. Did you really think I would tell all at once? Seriously.

Absentee blogger

I know that I have been absent in keeping up with my blog over the past week. It has been hard with this whole wedding thing. I will gladly share our adventures of the weddings with my thoughts and other tidbits. As for now I need to catch up on some zzzs.

Franco Harris is Jewish!!!

This picture from the Post-Gazette proves that Franco Harris is indeed Jewish.

So this picture was taken at Myron Cope's funeral, but it seems weird to see Franco in a Yarmulke. You know who looks strange in a yarmulke? Some guy I saw at Panera Bread today. Can someone please make sense of that? A Jewish guy wearing a yarmulke in public on a Saturday eating at a non-kosher place. This should turn into a "guess whose Jewish too" section of my blog, but it won't.