Bernie Madoff in Color

Today I saw a movie titled " Tower Heist " staring Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy. Great acting by all of the parties involved including veterans Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe of Precious fame.
The plot of the movie involves the employees of an exclusive New York high rise who become alarmed when one of the residents played by Alan Alda is arrested by the FBI and charged with running a Madoff like Ponzi Scheme and swindling the employees out of their pensions.
Stiller, the building's manager, decides to get even with Alda after the doorman near retirement tries to kill himself after he is wiped out in the swindle .
Stiller enlists the aid of a boyhood acquaintance and professional thief played to the hilt by Eddie Murphy . Stiller, Murphy and a team of disgruntled ex-employees and an ex-tenet played by Matthew Broderick plan to rob Alda's apartment safe to steal a rumored $40 million.
To make a long story short. The movie has a happy ending but that is not the point of this blog . You might ask what is the point of this blog.
The point of this blog is to look at the movie and recent events in the news particularly Bernie Madoff's family in all of the major news markets from 60 minutes last Sunday, the Today Show on Monday and everything else for the rest of the week including this movie.
The difference however, if that the movie had another take on the Madoff story. Throughout his trial and subsequent conviction, many of us almost felt sorry for the guy and his family.
Tower Heist show us the real Madoff albeit Alan Alda and the Madoff family for that matter. From the 60 minutes interview to other opportunities during the week Ruth Madoff made herself seem like a Mafia wife who sits at home while her Tony Soprano like husband reeks havoc on the world and she sits back and wonders where all of the goodies came from. Bernie must be a great provider and she claims she had no clue of where it all came from.
At this point I usually use a word that starts with a b and ends with a t but since all of you probably know the word, I will leave it out. His son Andrew was even worse, acting as if Madoff's thievery was all new to him. It even sounds worse coming Steven because he worked on Wall Street with his father up until the scandal broke. So unlike Ruth Madoff, he has no excuses he knew the business and chose to turn a blind eye to it all.
Tower Heist was like a breath of fresh air in a otherwise sea of BS that painted the Madoffs as victims themselves. Tower Heist shows a fictitious Bernie Madoff as a Greedy, Selfish, Spoiled Douche Bag with a warped sense of justice kinda like the real Bernie Madoff and his Greedy, Selfish, Spoiled Douche Bag family.

The ABC's of Dressing Me

I was watching a movie today called The Big Year Staring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. The movie was about Birding and the lengths 3 men go to in order to become the top birder of the year. It was a delightful movie and I greatly enjoyed it.
That aside, one of the things that impressed me about this movies was how Steve Martin dressed. I am always impressed with the way Mr. Martin puts together his clothes and how they indeed make him the man and the actor he is.
Now me that is a totally different story altogether . I am the product of two parents who believed in the adage: "Clothes make the man." Throughout my life I was always told by them to dress to impress. My father used to say that you can always tell what kind of man you are dealing with by the way he dresses . If he does not iron his shirt or pants, take care pf those little details, how do you expect him to handle bigger details. Then he would give examples of impeccable dressers who have become men of success like Bryant Gumbel and Bill Cosby. He equated their success with their dress.
When I would bring up examples of men who did not dress to impress but were still successful like Steve Jobs or Woody Allen, he would say but those guys are white and do not have to work as hard to impress.
So as an adult male, I find myself making compromises between what my parents taught me and what I have to do as a matter of fashion survival and comfort. Here are the ABC's of Dressing me.
A. I usually wear buttoned-down shirts with two pockets. Being a techie I need two pockets one for my smart phone and other for my Ipod and a moleskine notebook. The shirt is always oxford blue.
B. I usually wear khakis sometimes cuffed sometimes not cuffed. This has a practical purpose as well. Khakis are comfortable on one had and can be dressed up on the other if needed. All it takes is a tie and a blazer to turn a causal uniform into business dress.
B. Shoes and outer wear. In the spring, summer and fall, I wear dark athletic shoes for two reasons: because they are comfortable, I workout and walk on a daily basis, and because they can double for dress up if needed. I usually carry two types of outerwear in my car or on a trip . One is a Scott Evest tech vest that can be used to carry a cell phone, camera, ipod and a variety of other devices needed on a daily basis. The other is a blazer weather navy or light brown silk.
Theses are the ABC's of dressing me despite all else comfort is the key.

SJobsRip@anotherworld.com

I decided to take a break from Facebook to make a serious note about the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs. Mr. Jobs is one of those people who even though he is in the limelight his personal life was on the front page a great deal less than his business life and his company's products.
I think that is the way it should be for all public figures. For the life of me and I am a pretty smart guy, I could not tell you the name of his wife or the names of any of his four children. I think that is the way it should be and it was part of the style of a man who gave us so much. I do not know this for a fact, but it seems that he was the kind of person who said we are or Apple is not Steve Jobs is. He kept his personal life personal in the reserved classy way he did everything.
When President Obama speaks of the American Dream, he is speaking of Steve Jobs. He was adopted and from a plain ordinary working-class family. He was not from privilege nor did he ever carry the air of it. He made it in this big game called America solely on his talent and ambition. He had no pedigree ( Ivy League, Influential Family etc.) no springboard accomplishment to propel him to greatness. Steve made it because of two things: his willingness to hone and expand his talents and his willingness to collaborate with others first Steve Wozniak then countless numbers of geniuses who he was willing to give free reign ( with some direction from Jobs himself) to create the greatest communication and technology company known to the world.
Steven Jobs was our Thomas Jefferson, a pioneer who never ceased his search for the promised land. He was a man of power who did not always use it to alter our nation, the world or the people in it. He had a love for education but never used his money, as in the case of Bill Gates to start a special education foundation to show educators how to educate and make them dance to his music. Apple does offer discounts to teachers and students to make it easier for them to purchase apple products. As a teacher, I appreciate this .
Mr. Jobs chose to let his products talk for him . Instead of telling the world what to do and how to do it, Steve Jobs and apple provides the people of the world with the tools to talk to one another to create words, pictures and bring us together.
As I write this blog on my 2007 Macbook Pro I recall what Mr. Jobs said to the Standford University Class of 2005 "Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life." That made me think. This is a transition year for me . For the last 23 years, I have been living someone else's life now I am starting to live my own. I am taking Steve Jobs words to heart and when I finally leave this earth it will be as myself, living my life, reaching my goals and I will as Steve Jobs , have no regrets.

Cook or Chef . You Deceide

I watch the Food Network often and the one thing that I have noticed about the network is that there are two types that have shows on the network cooks and chefs.
What is the difference you might ask. That is what this blog is going to accomplish tonight. The difference between a cook and a chef.
Simply put, a cook follows recipes and feeds the hungry. A chef is an artiste who produces food creations on the fringes and convinces that only the really cool find these creations tasty and satisfying . The problem with both of these definitions is that they are based on economic and class issues.
Rich people have their food prepared by chefs who make ice cream with liquid oxygen or nitrogen and create petite meals that are more visual than they are to fulfill someone who has worked a long shift and needs something to eat . They are more for people who sit on their asses all day and are more concerned with staying pale and thin that actually eating.
A cook on the other hand prepares food for those who need to replace the calories lost from working on a construction site, driving a truck or teaching a classroom full of screaming teenagers. Cooks work at diners, drive inns and dives. Chefs work at off the beaten path places with names only we graduate educated people can pronounce. They work at the places my friends usually ( old friends ) pick where the wine bill alone comes to $200 and I do not even drink. The food is so minimal that I have to eat when I get home because I am still hungry.
Now I am no longer an over-eater in fact to date I have lost 90 lbs but when I eat, I want to be fed. Meat no potatoes, vegetables, no bread and a good salad with ice water. My meals should and are only prepared by cooks. I have no time for chefs. Rachel Ray, Guy Fieiri, Sunny Anderson and Paula Dean are Cooks. Bobby Flay, Gadia Delorentas and Mario Bataly are chefs. They are all capable of cooking substantial meals but you would pay a lot more for the ones prepared by chefs.
I travel a great deal, sometimes I travel with friends and although I love all of my friends I prefer to travel with the friends of mine who love cooks over chefs because then I know that I will eat well for cheap BLD ( breakfast lunch and dinner) . I am going to Chicago at the end of September and I have made it clear chef lovers need not come. Simple Chicago fare is on the menu not unpronounceable unfilling fodder fit for failing fiscal fools.
My Aunt Rosie now she was a cook. For years, she prepared filling meals for the starving lunch crowd in Jackson Mississippi's Washington Addition . My Aunt cooked everything from hot dogs to short ribs with the precision of the finest iron chef but any man or woman who walked out of Mother's Inn on any given week day left with change in their pocket, food in their bellies and a smile on their face.
Bon Appetite

Will Somebody Please Read This S**T

Hi
It is your friendly neighborhood blogger . I am writing this blog as a plea. Please read me and comment. It would be valuable to me to know what you think. I will not be offended by your opinions and it will make me a better blogger.
With this blog, I sometimes feel like a tree falling in the woods except with a blog the statement should go , if no one comments on your blog post, does your blog really exist. I had a friend last week who had her blog reprinted and it was great to see because it is validation that someone is reading you. This was particular for her because someone once told her that no one reads her stupid blog anyway. First of all her blog or anyone else' blog is not stupid but having it reprinted gives great validation.
I work very hard on my blog and I would like some validation as well. Read my blog. It is intelligent , informative and innovative. Also in many cases you can read it in just a matter of minutes. In the future, I will try to keep the posts going frequently and the subjects varied. Whether it is on the road or at home, I will blog and hopefully, you will read. There is no subject that is too controversial or taboo. My blog is my lens and I write about the world I see and the people I meet and the places that I go. So my blog may cover it all regularly and rationally . I am a writer, communication is what I do. In the words of Danny Devito in " Throw Mama From the Train" A writer, writes, always. As this statement goes so will my blog.

Be Careful What you Say It could end up in Someone's Blog

Blogging has become the past time of many from those that blog for their business to those who blog for pleasure and sport .
I am a blogger, I get nothing for writing this blog except the shear pleasure of getting my feelings on paper and maybe having someone read those feelings and be inspired by them.
My blogs are based on my experiences through the course of a day, week or year. Sometimes I am in the shower and I have an idea for a blog. Sometimes, I am like DH Lawrence's Rocking Horse Winner and I come up with the idea on my exercise bike. Sometimes I am in my favorite restaurant Sambol in Eagan when the idea hits me.
I am careful how I structure my blog and whose name I mention. The people I give praise to I do not mind a public mention. Those I have disdain for they become a private matter only discussed with the most intimate of friends.
I am also careful of my public behavior as not to be mentioned in some else' blog. The people I know who have blogs I make sure that my behavior towards them is guarded and well thought. Since I do not know who does and who does not have a blog, I make sure to be careful with everyone that I meet. I do not want to be the rude restaurant patron who constantly asks for water and is a light tipper.
I also do not want to be the annoying friend who calls and emails way too much. I don't mean anything by it I am just looking to connect or have something on my mind nothing more. I do not want to be the lazy teacher no student likes so tell me this before you blog about me I would appreciate it.
I think as we approach life we should probably look at it as if everyone we meet has a blog and watch what we say and do to them for fear that they may write about us. My advice to all blogger's , before you write something negative about someone in your blog. Talk to them first. Talk it out and come to a consensus . If that does not work you have my permission to blog the hell out of them.

The how and the why of my blogging

I am often asked, how do you think of things to go in your blog. What thing you have to understand about be is that I am alone a great deal of the time and the solitary life gives me a great deal of time to think. Sometimes I think too much and worry about things that I have no control over. But since I am alone even when I am with other people I am always looking at the things that happen and wonder how they could have turned out differently . Sometimes bloggers give out way too much information and create an image that is not wanted. I on the other hand try to be all things to all people and try to write blogs that please some of the people some of the time. Sometimes it is a news story that I have seen or read or sometimes it is about people who have inspired me in my life . Sometimes it is just a thought that is going through my head and needs a place to rest. Since most the time the only person who reads this blog is me so I probably could say nasty things about people I don't like (with holding names of course) but that would defeat the purpose of my blog which is to inform, entertain, incite , entice and educate not to enrage although sometimes it probably does but not intentionally . I write because I love words, they have been better to me than most people I know and never turn on you. I use them wisely. They are good to me and I am good to them. When I blog, I want the world to know I am out here and I have something to say. You may not always like it but please read it and give me some comments every once in a while.