Friday, November 26, 2004
Friday Miscellany
by Tom Bozzo
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(*) Technically, Suzanne and I co-own both cars, so I have an interest in a station wagon.
(**) Not here. John got into pumpkin pie at an early age, so this is a typical scene when pumpkin pie is in the house (lunch):
The lesser condiment on the plate is for an earlier course of the boy's meal -- he's two, but he's not crazy! But he hasn't transferred any of his love of apples to love of apple pie (yet), mwha ha ha...
Some random, had-half-a-bottle-of-wine-with-dinner (at Magnus), thoughts for the evening:
- The Blogger's Duty. Would blogging while my mother, brother, and future sister-in-law -- visiting from Delaware -- are occupied with the kids make me History's Worst Monster? The amount of NYC blogging from Nina would suggest no. A post on the economics of (unauthorized) music file sharing is delayed into the weekend nevertheless.
- Free Art in Madison. I took my brother and future sister-in-law for a meander up and down State St. in this afternoon's drizzle. The highlight for me was Ruthanne Bessman's origami exhibition in the Overture Center's Gallery I -- ground level, just off the rotunda behind the former Yost's facade. I still think that "Waltzing with Bears" should not be played on "Classics by Request" unless accompanied by a leadership-level gift to Wisconsin Public Radio.
- Confessions of a Coupe Driver. In 20-1/2 years of driving, I've never had a four-door car as my daily driver (*). Now that I have two small children, I occasionally think that I should get a respectable daddymobile. Then the AutoWeek arrives in this evening's mail, and I read the Driver's Log entry on the Mercedes CL65 AMG: 604 hp, 738 lb-ft, $186,520. "Why isn't this illegal?" asks one editor. "This is a car you want to drive straight to your local police department and see if you can get a coupon book of speeding tickets," says another. They both agree: never turn the traction control off. An Accord or Accord-derivative sedan looks as desirable as vinyl siding. (If the guy I was stuck behind on University a couple weeks ago -- 40-something, jabbering into cell phone -- driving his mere 493 hp CL600 like a Saturn SL1 is typical, wealth is wasted on the wealthy.)
- Buy Nothing Today. Numerous posters on State St. exhorted me to spend nothing today, Black Friday, Nov. 26, 2004. I spent $25.30 at B-Side on the CD reissue of Cocteau Twins' "Blue Bell Knoll" (1988) and the "simple, graceful, chiming chug" of Luna's "Rendezvous" (2004).
- Blogger Thanksgivings. The Camics had no yams. Brayden King had no competition in his household for pumpkin pie (**). Ann Althouse did not have turkey (not that there's anything wrong with that). Our dinner was resolutely traditional, though probably unusual relative to the general public in that no convenience foods were used in its creation.
- Economics of Happiness. The Tonya Show reports on a study by Warwick economists assigning dollar values to things like frequent sex. Jeremy Freese drills down to additional sweaty details. Cautionary note: few academic economists are renowned for cultivating institutional knowledge.
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(*) Technically, Suzanne and I co-own both cars, so I have an interest in a station wagon.
(**) Not here. John got into pumpkin pie at an early age, so this is a typical scene when pumpkin pie is in the house (lunch):
The lesser condiment on the plate is for an earlier course of the boy's meal -- he's two, but he's not crazy! But he hasn't transferred any of his love of apples to love of apple pie (yet), mwha ha ha...
