Bucket List

So I've sort of had a "Bucket List" kind of year. For the few who might not be familar with the movie, see the clip. Today I added another thing, drinking Kopi Luwak coffee which was made famous by the bucket list movie. If you want to know more about it watch this video. I always try to fill each year with a few unique items that have memories that will last a lifetime. This year's items have included:

• Riding in a NASCAR
• Eating Turducken
• Drinking Kopi Luwak Coffee
• Seeing Favre's return to Lambeau

Next year I have NCAA Final Four tickets as one item with I'm sure more to be added. So here's my question....

What's on your bucket list?

Passion 2010 Coming Soon!

Passion 2010 Promo Video Andy Stanley and HillSong United this year along with everybody else!

US 10K

So I'm running the US 10K this Monday morning, checkout the topography map I created, can you say uphill?

UFL - UpStreet Football League

It's coming, the UFL! If you're involved in UpStreet in any way please contact me or Jill Roberts to join our fantasy football league. Look forward to a great year of fun!

North Point Online

Well it starts tonight! Tested that I'm able to watch www.northpointonline.tv on my cell phone tonight using Skyfire browser since I won't be home!

Transformers on Upstreet

Well as many of you know I volunteer with a group of First Graders every Sunday at Buckhead Church in an environment we call UpStreet. Our theme for the summer is summer camp. Our first activity was a Mad Libs letter home. Our final blank, the person the letter was from, was Optimus Prime. We then got into a lengthy discussion about if Transformers could come to church or not. Some said that he was too big, I countered that he could stand outside and look through the windows. Some said robots couldn't come to church even if they were small. The kids really got into this discussion, like the whole room! I then turned to Alex to settle the deal, I asked in front of the kids, "Alex, if Optimus Prime showed up at that door, would you let him into UpStreet?" Alex responded, "If his parents were with him and I could hand them a tag, I would!" I then contacted UpStreet Director, Jill Roberts, to make sure this was the official line with Transformers on UpStreet, you never know when this type of thing might come up again. She responded, "As long as Optimus Prime is indeed a Kindergarten through 5th grader, we do not discriminate by size." Gotta love working with kids, they get all excited by the most simple things, kind of like me sometimes.

Oh, and I saw the new Transformers movie, pretty good stuff. It's a fun 2.5 hour thrill ride, in the end really nothing surprising or redeeming as it has a highly predicable plot, but great to look at, funny and fun! Seen a ton of movies this summer which is cool, brings back memories of when I worked at a theater in college and saw almost everything for a couple of summers.

Kickball!

So I started playing adult kickball on Tuesday nights and it is way fun. I have a great group of teammates, basically none of whom I knew before. Been a good thing for me in that I generally don't have the opportunity to interact with large groups of strangers outside Buckhead Church stuff too often. It was way different being in a church and secular environment.

So I've discovered a few things:

1. I'm actually pretty good at this game! Is there a pro league? Maybe I missed my calling.
2. It's fun
3. It's harder to kick than you'd think. An ump calls balls and strikes, but some people pitch fast and with spin.
4. Many folks enjoy an adult beverage before, during and after the game, but somehow quality of play seems to increase as the game goes on, I don't get this.

Well more on this later, but if you're looking for an athletic and social outlet, this rocks! They also offer Dodgeball, anyone game?

LegoLand!

Well after a very successful business week I've returned to a hotel next to the airport in the town of Billund to catch my 6:30am flight home tomorrow. That means I'm up at 4am or 10pm Friday in Atlanta, yikes. What softens the blow is that I'm right across the street from LegoLand! To top that off I walked over and they let me in for free since it was only open for 2 more hours and I essentially got to see the whole park. Essentially think Disney made of Legos from animatronics to castles, something like 45 million legos that live and breath and move. I've included some pictures to give you a flavor with 2 at the end of the town of Silkeborg.

Been a great trip. Learned a lot about Danish culture, tried some wild food from snails to lamb to eel and business was great. Tomorrow is a long day, but it will be good to get home

I am a Doctor, but I did get kicked out of the Radisson tonight

Because I'm the wrong type of doctor. So when I arrived they had me there until Thursday and I said, no, Friday and the lady was like, "not a problem." I've learned in Europe that, "not a problem" usually means problem. I got a call on Thursday saying they were packing my things because they needed my room, I guess there was a doctor's convention there, but they made me a reservation across town. What a riot. My new hotel was very nice though and had a nice view of a lagoon. It also had a Cadillac Eldorado parked out front, a rare sight in Europe. It had a sign on it in Danish that said, "This car is like another man's wife, you can look, but not touch!" Had a great dinner too, my first experience with snails, not too bad, I believe in trying almost anything once. The health reports here are hilarious too, you can tell the rating by how big the smile is.

Differences and a Chinese Tradition

So I think today I might have finally understood "left behind" as I walked to dinner. It was 6pm and the streets were totally empty, almost creepy deserted, as I guess it's a government mandate that all stores close at 5:30pm to protect the family life of workers. It's just one of many subtle differences you see over here.

Some others?

• Coke is almost universally sold in recyclable glass bottles.
• The people are very friendly, but private. Small talk everywhere, but personal details at work aren't considered proper. Desks are plain, no decorations or even pics of family. People generally talk about work at lunch.
• Cars are taxed 180% at time of purchase, so a small car for $20,000 really costs you $60,000
• They pay ad valorem tax on their cars too, but it's based on fuel economy, not value or age
• No tipping at restaurants or cabs, the price is the price
• ToGo boxes are non-existent and so is asking for it "your way" on the menu
• See the previous entry for some more philosophical differences

So I continued a tradition and went out for Chinese in my 5th country (USA, Portugal, Germany, Uganda and now Denmark). Chinese actually differs quite a bit across the world and from what I hear it really doesn't have much to do with local tastes. Rather, it has to do with emigration patterns of different regions of China to different countries. It would be like the Southwest USA and their food emigrating to France and the Southeast USA emigrating to Brazil. It was very good and maybe one local touch was that it was all forks, not a chopstick in sight.

Was a slower paced day today, but did get to meet the CEO of a $2 billion company (which I can't name for confidentiality), can't say I do that everyday. Well looking forward to a low key night in my hotel room. Oh, and the first Nordic cardiac convention is having a conference here tomorrow, I'm surrounded by doctors, feel pretty safe.

Eel and Socialism

So my host took me out for fried eel tonight, a traditional Danish dish. He said I'm only the 2nd guest in 7 years to go for eel with him, the other was Japanese. The restaurant kind of felt like a German brew house. The eel was actually pretty good after you got past the look and psychology of it. It was served with potato pieces in a cream sauce and pickle slices on the side. My host insisted that I get a glass of schnapps to go with it. They poured a tiny glass and I was expecting something light and fruity like in the USA, but I think schnapps is Danish for firewater. Had a great ice cream dessert with tiny pieces of fruit candy in it, overall an excellent meal. For dessert they also had a "Greenland Coffee" which "created a warming sensation." I asked what it was and was told it was coffee with 7 shots of booze. They asked if I wanted one and I was like, um, no.

Host took me on a nice driving tour. Showed me the house of the 3rd richest guy in Denmark, actually seemed kind of small and humble compared to what I've seen on Peachtree Battle. I guess they said wages are set here so that the gap between rich and poor is much smaller than most places.

I've heard from more than one person here that Denmark is essentially a socialist country. There is a national belief that the rich should take care of the poor. Something about that seems very Christian, but I guess there's a difference between a choice and a mandate. They also discourage pride and people saying they are the "best", rather the national motto is we're all equal. They say many people quietly favor the "you can rise to the top" USA spirit don't really like the 60% income tax most upper middle class people pay now (graduated on income), but wouldn't say it's a strong conviction. While they believe it discourages advancement in some ways, they like the government benefits/safety net and equality where "garbage men and doctor's kids play on the same playground naturally." Houses here are crazy expensive too ($700,00 for the one pictured and that's in an average town, maybe you can do $200,000 in the middle of nowhere). I know it would probably go for that in downtown Atlanta and I'm in a beautiful area, but it's a town of 42,000.

They look at us as somewhat irresponsible and kind of barbaric at times. Healthcare, college (you even get $1,000/month living expenses), nursing home and retirement are all taken care of. They just find it hard to believe that a civilized country would let money determine if and what type of medical care or schooling someone receives. They just see it as a human right that everyone has the best and they claim it's very good, but not sure what their point of reference is. Looking around at shapes and sizes they do seem to be a healthier people though. They also can't believe our big cars for 1 person. They drive small cars because they're cheaper, but also because they just see it as environmentally responsible. The government also "protects" people they even mandate hours certain stores can be open.

I like the community feel here, but yikes, 60% tax plus a 25% national sales tax doesn't leave a lot and that's a lot of government in your life. They however are very proud of their country and nationalistic. I guess that's the great thing about a diverse world, they like it and they're very happy people, so points for them!

Going Out for American

So last night I went to Bone's for dinner. This is essentially the same Bone's as in the USA, but it's a family restaurant. How is this possible you might ask? Well some of the prices are a bit lower, but here it's a "theme" restaurant where people go for the "American" experience and it's decorated like a Fudruckers. I had the "Tour of the USA" platter and it was actually pretty good mix of ribs, chicken and steak. They import Heinz ketchup and only give you a tiny bottle and charge you like a $1 for more. They also have Heinz mustard which they claim is great with beef (steaks), anybody ever hear of that? They also offer "imported" american wines, stuff that sells for like $10 in the states in $40 to $60 here. Overall it was a fun experience.

I'm finally getting used to quickly converting price between a Danish Kroner and Dollar, about 5.2 to 1, but wow is the dollar weak as this is a small town and stuff feels pretty expensive. Oh, and if you come over this way be sure you know your pin number for your credit card, a lot of places require it instead of a signature.

Well the people here are sure friendly and you can tell you're in Scandinavia, lots of tall blonde hair and blue eyed people. Not universal, but a much higher percentage than you're used to seeing in the states and I'm guessing all those aren't natural either. The people here love to tell about their culture in a very modest way. This is a farming and water country and they even have a King and Queen that are symbolic. In fact a prince just married an Australian girl so now the countries have excellent relations which has led to a large import of Australian food, items and culture. They have a strong sense of community and a strong sense of stewardship, especially to the environment. One funny example, they raise more pigs here than just about any part of the world, but the Danes used to be very picky eaters, only eating the best cuts of meat and sending everything else to China in the 50's. This was seen as wasteful. The government started a program promoting recipes with the other part and conservation awareness and now that campaign has actually made those cuts the most popular.

Speaking of food, it's all been spectacular. I had one of the best pork chops ever yesterday at lunch in the work cafeteria here and breakfast is amazing too. The other thing you notice is that the coffee is excellent everywhere. In the US you can get a good cup of coffee, but you also find some lousy ones too. The coffee here just seems more consistent and good.

Well after some beautiful weather there's a mist here today. Have an interesting dinner coming tonight, more on that later!

Eels, Handball and English

It's fun to do international travel for business. I find that you actually learn more about common culture than you do as a tourist as you get to have prolonged conversations with locals about some of the more mundane aspects of life and still get to sample the food and see the architecture. An example of this is their view of the English language. On TV and in the theaters everything is in English so I can sit back and watch some MTV or Discovery channel and just have some Danish subtitles obscuring parts of my screen. I at first though it was the fact that there are only 5 million people who speak Danish (that's right, this whole country is about the size of Atlanta) and it just wouldn't be worth the effort for Hollywood and I'm sure that's a part of it. But my colleagues here said they have a strong belief in artistic integrity and if it was meant to be seen in English they watch it in English with the original actors speaking the words rather than dubbing. They also said Danish has a small vocabulary compared to English so many Danes think in English and use English to convey thoughts where words don't exist in Danish. For example, Danish has words for hate and love but nothing in the middle to convey when you're just not keen on something. Well click on the link above to try to learn the basics.

So another topic of discussion of local foods. They want to treat me to dinner a few nights this week and asked me what I wanted. I told them I can have steak and chicken anywhere, take me for something local and I'll eat anything all the way to sushi. Now I had steak last night (with a local flare) and probably will tonight too, but if I go out with locals I figure it's a better time to find hidden gems. So what is this area known for? Fried eel. I guess the lakes here have large populations of eel that they catch fresh. They told me about the Sargasso Sea where I guess all eels migrate to give birth, really interesting and still a lot of mystery too. Just click on the above link to learn more. Well that's dinner tomorrow, so look forward to that update :)

On the way back to the hotel my host pointed out a "world famous" handball player getting out of his car at my complex. For starters, are there famous handball players? I guess the Silkeborg team just paid top $ for him and he was headed to the health club here for a massage. Fame is a funny thing when someone can be famous to millions and a total stranger to me.

Oh, and from a business perspective, the reason why I'm here, the day was excellent too. Looking forward to a really good week, the people here are great.

Well I'm headed to Bone's restaurant in this complex with my hotel. It has a similar logo to the fancy Bone's steakhouse in Atlanta, but I guess here it's a family restaurant, so I guess we'll see and amend this later.

Arrived in Denmark

The first white here that I just added is the airport hall in Copenhagen, pretty cool! Also added a pic of the fountains in the lake across from my hotel.

Well I'm in Silkeborg, Denmark for a week overseas. I flew first from Atlanta to Copenhagen and was thinking nothing like 10 hours of movies and food on the way over, but then uhg, no personal video screens, and thought it might be time to knock myself out with ambien for 10 hours, but never ended up sleeping much, as after dinner there was only like 3 hours to sleep until breakfast anyway. Landed in Demark. Is it a hard landing when luggage bins open and O2 masks come down? Noticed I forgot my belt at security after going through passport control, not as big of a deal as I thought. Copenhagen is a nice airport. I g0t to fly a prop plane from Copenhagen to Billund on an airline I've never heard of, yes! So small no assigned seats, just gets better. It was an ATR, the one they banned in the US because of safety issues! Ended up landing safely and was a pretty flight, you really get an appreciation of how much of a farm and island/water nation this is. Got a cab and ended up walking around a Danish flea market in the plaza outside my hotel waiting 60 min until I could check in. Same junk as in the US, food, obsolete electronics, VHS tapes, records and garage sale stuff. The hotel is in kind of a neat area, kind of like Atlantic Station area, except it's an old paper mill that's been converted. There's my hotel, condos, a movie theater (movies in English with Danish subtitles), arts center and a bunch of restaurants. Had great mexican steak dinner, so weird to not have the HUGE US portions, kind of felt cheated at first, like is that all there is?, but was perfect. Now I'm sitting in my room, actually streaming the Braves game, feels like home. Still basically light outside at 10:15, gotta love being this far north, a little cold though, 65F during the day and 45F at night. Off to bed in a bit for a 8:30am start tomorrow, but should be a pretty easy day. European hotels, especially this one, have good breakfasts too. Good night, drop me a note with any Questions about Denmark!

Plastic Explosives and Cheese

Went to a wedding last night and knew 3 people (the bride Kristi and 2 of the bridesmaids, Christin and Kim), but like 20 people knew of me from a story I told one of them, Kim. The story was one I told over an UpStreet lunch on a weekend where Kim was visiting Kristi (this was also the weekend Kristi lost in b-ball after much smack talking). We got on the topic of airport security and I told them about Wisconsin issues of cheese being mistaken for plastic explosives on x-ray because the density is similar. Here's an article about it. Kim decided to test this and actually put a block of cheddar in her carry-on last time she flew and was disappointed to not be pulled aside by security. Now I don't know what your idea of a good time is, but quality time with TSA isn't it. So I guess she told everyone the story and I was the "cheese" guy. She vows to try again and I wish her the best of luck in being added to the terror watch list as she exercises her constitutional freedom to carry cheese. I'm guessing if she or Kristi caused trouble I know who the instigator was. So it was a weird feeling to have everyone know you, but not really know anyone. Ever have that?

Let Me Sing.....With Todd Fields

Went to an awesome CD release party tonight for the new Todd Fields CD with my friend Jeremy (who I think I and the people we sat next to converted to Twitter tonight). Was a very small intimate setting in the attic of North Point Community Church. Great music set and got a free copy of his new CD! Had Chinese food for dinner and then great music, makes for a pretty awesome night.

Road to the Ramen

Made good on NCAA pool "Road to Ramen" prize. 65 packs of Ramen sent to brother-in-law Ed in Germany. That's 15 pounds and cost nearly $30 to ship.

The Kentucky Derby

I love Derby day. Brings back memories of when I went 5 years ago. It's really a spectacle and great fun. I sat on the infield and had a blast. What you don't realize watching it on TV is that it's really a whole day of racing that starts at noon and it ends with the Derby and lots of great food and fun between. You go through a tunnel under the track, drop $20 in a bucket and you're in. Warning, be careful what turn you sit in if you ever go, they have very different intentional environments. Turn #1 is for people watching, #2 is like a family picnic area, #3 is like Mardi Gras and #4 is the serious betting crowd. The year I went it rained like crazy early in the day. There was so much water that people were up to above their knees and were jumping off of things into the lakes that were forming in the infield. The rain lasted an hour or so and then it was a sunny day for the Derby and then it rained when it was over. God held the rain back for the perfect window to run the race. That year Smarty Jones won and I actually made enough with my bet on the race to pay for going and still have a bit left over. The hats really are crazy and it rocks for people watching and meeting new folks. Something I think everyone in this part of the world should try once with it only being 6 hours away.

Technology

"The biggest impact of technology has been to allow us to do more unproductive things at a far more impressive rate" - Scott Adams of Dilbert

Hillsong United Coming to Atlanta on 5/27!

Hillsong United - Salvation Is Here
Uploaded by rgbsoftware

Chemistry at Bars!

Cool coasters for $0.40 that test for GHB (date rape drug) http://www.drinksafetech.com/products.htm I love when chemistry helps the public!

OK, now I'm Lost

Is anyone else contemplating the implications of Lost last night like me? I joined the show after it had already been on 2 years and went and watched the old stuff on DVD. Lost has had parts where it dragged, but now it's fast and furious with many mysteries revealed, but some new ones created. This whole time travel thing is wild, some amazingly creative writers.

Strange Bathrooms

I find it really interesting that someone would go through so much trouble to make a public bathroom interesting. Would you be scared to use any of these?

THIS IS A CEILING MURAL IN A SMOKER'S LOUNGE.

BATHROOM PAINTED FLOOR!!!

IMAGINE YOU ARE AT A PARTY ...

On the tenth floor of a hi-rise building ...

AND ...

THEN YOU HAVE TO VISIT THE BATHROOM ...

You open the door ...
NOW, REMEMBER THE FLOOR IS JUST A PAINTED FLOOR !

KINDA TAKES YOUR BREATH AWAY ... DOESN'T IT?

Would this mess up your mind? Would you be able to walk in to this bathroom? Or do anything else?

This is a picture of a public toilet in Houston:

Now that you've seen the outside view, take a look at the inside view ...

It's made entirely of one-way glass!

No one can see you from the outside, but when you are inside it's like sitting in a clear glass box!

Now would you ... COULD YOU ...? Probably NOT!!

Here’s one From Taurus in Atlanta: now closed :(

At Taurus, which otherwise boasts one of the most welcoming bathrooms in town, while you are washing your hands you might notice that the mirror is framed by a semitransparent portion of glass that allows you to peek into the men's room – and vice versa. That's not always the kind of insight into how the other half lives that customers will appreciate.

From Mix in Atlanta:

Scary see-through doors that "fog" when locked to opaque.

Or you can Pee at the Berlin Wall at the Main Street Station in Las Vegas:

Revenge of the Nerds!

Reading an article in C&E News referencing Evolution of Human Behavior 2009 saying that women prefer men with pumped brains to pumped bodies, thought to be better gene contributer & child provider.

Atlanta NASCAR race = me in a car at 170 mph!

So my sister came into town and she's a huge NASCAR fan. I told her if she flew in I'd get tickets to the race. I'm not a huge NASCAR fan, but I watch it once and a while and I've been to one race before, 2 years ago with my sister. So anyway, in the process of finding tickets they had a Richard Petty Experience where for $50 (normally $110) you could ride in a car at race speeds after the race in a real NASCAR! I figured why not? and decided to give my sister a special treat. So it's a different experience watching the race realizing you'll be doing the same thing in a couple hours, huge anticipation. After the race you go through the tunnel, sign your life away on a waiver and get a helmet and race suit. You go in the actual pit area still warm from the race and climb through the window of a car that is vibrating and screaming and meet a driver who will have his fate in your hands for the next 4 laps. They actually put a thumb drive in the car that records you and what the car sees so you can have a DVD of your experience later. You ride in a pack of six cars so it's race like conditions. The acceleration is amazing and you're up to speed in no time. The banking feels wild and your vision and awareness of where you are on the track is very good. The noise is nuts and it was cool to race around knowing my little sister was ahead of me. NASCAR driver Mark Martin said this about the Atlanta Motor Speedway where he qualified for the pole at over 187 mph in this ESPN article, "I'm still shaking," he said. "I thought I ran out of talent in turn four. There was no possible way to hold my foot on the floor and not hit the wall, back end first, in turn four. But that was really fun. I live to scare myself like that." I agree and fefore I knew it, it was over, check another thing off of life's experience list, so much fun! My driver was like, "If you think it's fun riding, come back and drive one sometime!" Think I might just have to do that.

PS I don't think anyone can make those racesuits and helmets look good!

Global Warming

Reading article in, Hydrocarbon Processing, an oil tech journal entitled, "What are the opportunities to construct liquefaction facilities at the Arctic Circle? Building and operating natural gas plants in the high latitudes pose numerous challenges" by D. A. Wood and S. Mokhatabthat. It says a positive of global warming is increased access to more oil/gas in the arctic, um yeah...

Chick-fil-A

Layoffs on Sesame Street

Based upon the actual story of 20% layoffs on Sesame Street.

Sesame Street Layoffs - watch more funny videos

Less Americans Say They're Christian

Interesting read about changes in religious identity in a new survey.

The needle moved from 86% in 1990 to about 75% today.

KidStuf Musical at Buckhead Church Was on Fire!

"Shadrach, Meshack and Abendigo the Musical" was awesome! I still can't get, "Fire, Fire, Fire!" out of my head and the "We Belong" rendition was awesome too! One of the best Kidstufs in years.

Strange Worship

Monks who have taken a vow of silence singing, just hang in there until 1:30:

10 Commandments Update

A bit crude, but funny!

I love Science

Every year they give away the IG Nobel Prizes for achievements in science that make people laugh.  This years winners include a study into electronically modifying the sound a potato chip makes to have it appear crisper and fresher to looking at the effects that ovulation had on the tips that lap dancers received.  So none of these are exactly curing cancer, but they are good for a laugh.  Read all about them here.

A Good Question

I was so proud to hear this question at a recent Obama press conference and the answer wasn't perfect, but not awful.  Good to hear "Balanced" economic principles being used:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. In your opening remarks, you talked about that if your plan works the way you want it to work, it's going to increase consumer spending. But isn't consumer spending or overspending how we got into this mess? And if people get money back into their pockets, do you not want them saving it or paying down debt first before they start spending money into the economy? 

OBAMA: Well, first of all, I don't think it's accurate to say that consumer spending got us into this mess. What got us into this mess initially were banks taking exorbitant, wild risks with other people's monies based on shaky assets. And because of the enormous leverage where they had $1 worth of assets and they were betting $30 on that $1, what we had was a crisis in the financial system. That led to a contraction of credit, which in turn meant businesses couldn't make payroll or make inventories, which meant that everybody became uncertain about the future of the economy, so people started making decisions accordingly -- reducing investment, initiated layoffs -- which in turn made things worse. 

Now, you are making a legitimate point, Chuck, about the fact that our savings rate has declined and this economy has been driven by consumer spending for a very long time -- and that's not going to be sustainable. You know, if all we're doing is spending and we're not making things, then over time other countries are going to get tired of lending us money and eventually the party is going to be over. Well, in fact, the party now is over. 

And so the sequence of how we're approaching this is as follows: Our immediate job is to stop the downward spiral, and that means putting money into consumers' pockets, it means loosening up credit, it means putting forward investments that not only employ people immediately but also lay the groundwork for long-term economic growth. And that, by the way, is important even if you're a fiscal conservative, because the biggest problem we're going to have with our federal budget is if we continue a situation in which there are no tax revenues because economic growth is plummeting at the same time as we've got more demands for unemployment insurance, we've got more demands for people who've lost their health care, more demand for food stamps. That will put enormous strains on the federal budget as well as the state budget. 

So the most important thing we can do for our budget crisis right now is to make sure that the economy doesn't continue to tank. And that's why passing the economic recovery plan is the right thing to do, even though I recognize that it's expensive. Look, I would love not to have to spend money right now. This notion that somehow I came in here just ginned up to spend $800 billion, that wasn't -- that wasn't how I envisioned my presidency beginning. But we have to adapt to existing circumstances. 

Now, what we are going to also have to do is to make sure that as soon as the economy stabilizes, investment begins again; we're no longer contracting but we're growing; that our mid-term and long-term budget is dealt with. And I think the same is true for individual consumers. Right now they're just trying to figure out, how do I make sure that if I lose my job, I'm still going to be able to make my mortgage payments. Or they're worried about how am I going to pay next month's bills. So they're not engaging in a lot of long-term financial planning. 

Once the economy stabilizes and people are less fearful, then I do think that we're going to have to start thinking about how do we operate more prudently, because there's no such thing as a free lunch. So if you want to get -- if you want to buy a house, then putting zero down and buying a house that is probably not affordable for you in case something goes wrong, that's something that has to be reconsidered. 

So we're going to have to change our bad habits. But right now, the key is making sure that we pull ourselves out of the economic slump that we're in. 

Go Georgia Tech!

Saw this in an article on CNNSI.com and it made me proud to be a jacket!

No.1 - Biggest College Football Loss: Cumberland College Bulldogs

Prior to the 1916 college football season, Cumberland folded its football team, but due to a scheduling obligation, they needed to suit up once more to play its game against Georgia Tech or risk a $3,000 fine. Cumberland’s baseball team had run up the score 22-0 on GT earlier that year, so Tech head coach John Heisman (of Heisman Trophy fame) wanted to teach Cumberland a lesson. Tech led 126-0 at halftime, but Heisman didn’t take his foot off the gas. The GT quarterback passed for nearly 1,000 yards, and Cumberland was thoroughly embarrassed 222-0 in the most lopsided college game in history.