As you can see, I decided to make a few changes to the look and feel of the blog. It pretty much came down to me being sick of the previous color scheme, not to mention the difficulty reading the font.
I also opted for a change in title. "The Graduate" seemed too generic and while "Too Be Young" isn't a big leap in complication or intellectual references, it embodies my personality and spirit perfectly and happens to share the title with a song by one of my all-time favorite musicians, Ryan Adams.
Finally, I was thinking the topics and content I've been covering when I sit down to write a new entry. If you've followed this blog since I started it -- there's gotta be 2 or 3 of you -- you've noticed that I went from updating about once or twice a month to the couple times per week I've made the concerted effort toward as of late. And while I've been writing more often, it's also been more of just posting links to major news and cool stories. So I'm takin' it back to my original intention for this thing. To reflect on all of the things I'm currently celebrating, pondering, or agonizing over (all of the topics listed in that little description below the title) and to share what's goin' on in my life with whoever cares to read. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert about marketing or politics, because quite frankly, I'm not and there are plenty of much better blogs you could read of you wanted that sort of thing. But I am going to express my ruminations and go on the occasional rant...so, maybe the content isn't changing much at all.
Anyway, I should continue to post on a pretty regular basis. Leave me more comments and drop an e-mail if you like something, or if you especially don't.
I'm ghost like Swayze...
CURRENT LISTENING: Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up (yep, Kanye jacked it!)
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Monday, January 30, 2006
Dear sports reporters: Just leave Favre alone
In case you slept all day or didn't get a chance to read, listen to, or watch any sports coverage, Chris Mortenson's Sunday ESPN interview with Brett Favre realed that the legendary Quarterback is leaning toward retirement.
"If I had to pick right now and make a decision, I would say I'm not coming back."
About 3 years ago the media launched what has become an annual "Favre retirement talk" circus. Throughout the disappointing 4-12 season that the Packers endured last fall, fuel was continually added to the fire with speculation and questions about the end coming from sports reporters at every opportunity. Since the end of the season, it has only gotten worse and has now enlarged into a full-blown spectacle. Can't the media just leave this guy alone and let him make his decision when he's ready?!?
Now I know what you're thinking. If Brett didn't want to do the interview, he should've have granted one. As much as Favre really doesn't care for the limelight, the ol' southern boy has always been admirably frank and candid when posed with questions from media, whether it was during the announcement of his addiction to painkillers or after the death of his father. At this point, I think he went on camera to discuss his uncertainty with wanting to continue playing because he isn't sure and wants people to decide for him. Or maybe he wants to show Packers GM Ted Thompson and new Coach, Mike McCarthy that he's serious about possibly retiring and that they better make some moves to shore up the talent on the roster while he's waiting to decide. I don't know. But I do know that it would certainly be great if the media just put the speculation to rest and leave the man alone about his decision until he's ready to announce it for real.
Is he going to retire? I think most fans are thinking yes right now. But, if the man was serious about retiring, don't you think he would've just announced it by now? As much as some of his comments about desire concern me (I never wouldn've thought his desire would wane), I would love to see Brett decide that he's going to play one more year -- and no more -- and put everything he has into going out with a great one. If he does decide not to come back, Packer fans should be thankful for 14 years of watching one of the greats and let the man ride off into the sunset...on his lawnmower of coursre.
Onto a few other topics...
-Minneapolis ad agency Carmichael Lynch developed a series of unique Porsche-inspired film shorts that will run on IFC Films' Cult Theater. They are currently running 11 of the shorts on their website (right-hand column). I like "Masochist" and "Sunshine Supercar."
-A good tutorial on how one can take professional-looking photos without being a professional.
-Lonely Planet "Bluelist" is a website that I recently discovered and like quite a bit. To "bluelist" is to recommend a travel experience and the site has a large selection of travel recommendations on a diversity of list topics ranging from "best beaches to visit worldwide" to "best places to get naked" (I swear I didn't find that second from a keyword search). Oh yeah, they have a cool new book out based on the Bluelist too.
That's all for now. I'm aiming for at least one more appearance this week...no promises.
CURRENT LISTENING: Neil Young - Heart of Gold
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Just "Blink"
Let me start at the beginning.
As a recent college graduate who just began his career, I’ve heard from plenty of people that I should start saving and investing money while I’m young and that the sooner you start saving, the sooner you’ll be able to retire. Since starting my job I try to save at least $200 per month in my savings account though the money in there will be going toward a new (used) car in the spring.
Rewind to 3 or 4 months ago. As a loyal Chipotle-goer, I wondered to myself whether the company would end up splitting from McDonald’s and ever offer stock. I did a little searching and found some speculation online and talked to my investing-crazy friend who at 23 seems to follow the stock market like many of us follow our sports teams at that age. He mentioned to me that he had heard some talk about it, but nothing for sure.
My whole interest in Chipotle stock is based off of a few simple, but somewhat marketing and business-savvy observations. I saw a company who had a great product offering, taking a ton of business away from traditional fast-food outlets with its “gourmet food, fast” position. I also saw a well-developed brand, great store design and experience, and excellent customer service and promotions including “free burrito” giveaways on holidays and “buy one now, bring back the receipt for a free one on X date.” Most importantly – and the result of the previous three factors – is a cult-like following that sees people standing in 15-minute lines on their lunch break just to get a craved burrito.
Now I have zero stock market experience whatsoever. While I’m no student of finance, I’m smart enough to understand the core variables like capital, assets, and debt on a balance sheet. But a few things that I would hold at an equally high level of importance as balance sheet and growth plan are a company’s dedication to innovation and customer service and their brand power – the presence of or ability to produce a brand loyalists and zealots. With Chipotle having many of these things, I saw them as a great investment opportunity.
This week my investment-crazy friend was texting me news of Chipotle announcing the release of an Initial Public Offering later in the week. We started discussing it on the phone and through e-mail. It was speculated that the IPO would be $18-20 per share. I started pondering the thought of actually buying some stock, but since I was also saving for a car I figured I could throw down $300 on shares at most. I didn’t have an online brokerage account (and wasn’t going to open one anytime soon with many services requiring a minimum of $1000 to start), so my friend was going to buy the shares on his E-TRADE account for me.
Well, today was the actual IPO. Last night I didn’t talk to my friend about when the market opened in the morning and whether to get on and buy it for me. He was hanging out with his girlfriend and I was with mine and we put the subject off until the next morning. I came to work this morning, did some research on the IPO and because of a few sentences of concern over the capital required for their growth strategy – amidst much of the talk of high buzz and other potential – I couldn’t decide whether I should buy for sure or not. I hadn’t heard anything from my friend either. So what happened? The market opened and I got a text message an hour later from the friend telling me that the stock had leapt to $42 per share, double the initial offering, within an hour.
Point of the story: I didn’t make a quick, decisive action. I didn’t Blink.
(It would’ve helped to hear from my friend BEFORE the market opened too).
As a recent college graduate who just began his career, I’ve heard from plenty of people that I should start saving and investing money while I’m young and that the sooner you start saving, the sooner you’ll be able to retire. Since starting my job I try to save at least $200 per month in my savings account though the money in there will be going toward a new (used) car in the spring.
Rewind to 3 or 4 months ago. As a loyal Chipotle-goer, I wondered to myself whether the company would end up splitting from McDonald’s and ever offer stock. I did a little searching and found some speculation online and talked to my investing-crazy friend who at 23 seems to follow the stock market like many of us follow our sports teams at that age. He mentioned to me that he had heard some talk about it, but nothing for sure.
My whole interest in Chipotle stock is based off of a few simple, but somewhat marketing and business-savvy observations. I saw a company who had a great product offering, taking a ton of business away from traditional fast-food outlets with its “gourmet food, fast” position. I also saw a well-developed brand, great store design and experience, and excellent customer service and promotions including “free burrito” giveaways on holidays and “buy one now, bring back the receipt for a free one on X date.” Most importantly – and the result of the previous three factors – is a cult-like following that sees people standing in 15-minute lines on their lunch break just to get a craved burrito.
Now I have zero stock market experience whatsoever. While I’m no student of finance, I’m smart enough to understand the core variables like capital, assets, and debt on a balance sheet. But a few things that I would hold at an equally high level of importance as balance sheet and growth plan are a company’s dedication to innovation and customer service and their brand power – the presence of or ability to produce a brand loyalists and zealots. With Chipotle having many of these things, I saw them as a great investment opportunity.
This week my investment-crazy friend was texting me news of Chipotle announcing the release of an Initial Public Offering later in the week. We started discussing it on the phone and through e-mail. It was speculated that the IPO would be $18-20 per share. I started pondering the thought of actually buying some stock, but since I was also saving for a car I figured I could throw down $300 on shares at most. I didn’t have an online brokerage account (and wasn’t going to open one anytime soon with many services requiring a minimum of $1000 to start), so my friend was going to buy the shares on his E-TRADE account for me.
Well, today was the actual IPO. Last night I didn’t talk to my friend about when the market opened in the morning and whether to get on and buy it for me. He was hanging out with his girlfriend and I was with mine and we put the subject off until the next morning. I came to work this morning, did some research on the IPO and because of a few sentences of concern over the capital required for their growth strategy – amidst much of the talk of high buzz and other potential – I couldn’t decide whether I should buy for sure or not. I hadn’t heard anything from my friend either. So what happened? The market opened and I got a text message an hour later from the friend telling me that the stock had leapt to $42 per share, double the initial offering, within an hour.
Point of the story: I didn’t make a quick, decisive action. I didn’t Blink.
(It would’ve helped to hear from my friend BEFORE the market opened too).
Monday, January 23, 2006
Why Sports Guy rules
If you frequent ESPN.com or have ever checked out any of my links to the left of the page (yes, those links) you may have read a column or blog entry by Bill Simmons, aka "Sports Guy," a regular columnist on ESPN.com Page 2. The Sports Guy is an often humorous, always entertaining ruminator on the current happenings of the sports world. He also entertains mail from readers once a week on Page 2 and is
known to discuss about many things out of the normal sports world subject
matter including famous women and pop culture. The following letter serves as a perfect example of why I love the "Sports Guy":
Q: I think I was actually more upset over the assassination of former President David Palmer on "24" last night than I would have been if our actual president would have been assassinated. It was like I lost
a member of my own family. Maybe I'm just screwed up, but I don't think so. Here is my question: If you forced every registered voter in America to watch seasons 1-4 on DVD, and convinced Dennis Haysbert to legally change his name to David Palmer, don't you think he would win in a landslide in 2008? I have bounced this question off several people and Palmer has every vote so far, and most would have voted for
him over Bush and Kerry.
-- Ryan Desmond, Miami
SG: Obviously I'm with you. But while we're here, some readers were upset that I revealed the "24" plot twist in Wednesday's column
because they hadn't watched the show yet. So here's my question...how can you call yourself a "24" fan and not watch the season premiere of "24" right when it airs? Are you kidding me? Would you save the Super Bowl on TiVo and watch it later? What about Game 7 of the NBA Finals? When "24" came on the tube Sunday night, my baby daughter
could have had a diaper covered in six pounds of poop and I would have waited until 10 o'clock to change her. I'm not apologizing for this one. You had three days to watch it -- unless you were trapped in a well or something, there's no excuse. That's like saying that I shouldn't have discussed the Bettis Fumble.
known to discuss about many things out of the normal sports world subject
matter including famous women and pop culture. The following letter serves as a perfect example of why I love the "Sports Guy":
Q: I think I was actually more upset over the assassination of former President David Palmer on "24" last night than I would have been if our actual president would have been assassinated. It was like I lost
a member of my own family. Maybe I'm just screwed up, but I don't think so. Here is my question: If you forced every registered voter in America to watch seasons 1-4 on DVD, and convinced Dennis Haysbert to legally change his name to David Palmer, don't you think he would win in a landslide in 2008? I have bounced this question off several people and Palmer has every vote so far, and most would have voted for
him over Bush and Kerry.
-- Ryan Desmond, Miami
SG: Obviously I'm with you. But while we're here, some readers were upset that I revealed the "24" plot twist in Wednesday's column
because they hadn't watched the show yet. So here's my question...how can you call yourself a "24" fan and not watch the season premiere of "24" right when it airs? Are you kidding me? Would you save the Super Bowl on TiVo and watch it later? What about Game 7 of the NBA Finals? When "24" came on the tube Sunday night, my baby daughter
could have had a diaper covered in six pounds of poop and I would have waited until 10 o'clock to change her. I'm not apologizing for this one. You had three days to watch it -- unless you were trapped in a well or something, there's no excuse. That's like saying that I shouldn't have discussed the Bettis Fumble.
It was a good Monday
I'm someone who hates Mondays. It's something that was preingrained long before I started the 40 hour week, but that certainly hasn't helped things. That said, today turned out to be a pretty good Monday. Nothing special, but it felt "alright" for a Monday. Maybe it was the solid night of sleep I got last night. Or it could've been the fact that I had some things to jump on right away at work and was steadily busy the entire day. It could've even been my comfort in knowing that I won't have to see Jake Plummer play in a Super Bowl. Who knows, but I hope a few of you out there had a good start to the week too.
I'm not going to post much today, but here's a few stories worth reading:
- The New York Times reports that Dub-ya is going to start taking unscripted audience questions during his appearance. We'll see how long that lasts.
- Kobe Bryant dropped 81 points! on the Raptors last night. I say he's a ballhog. I'm only half-kidding.
- Long time coming film "Little Miss Sunshine" starring Greg Kinnear and Steve Carrell finally makes its debut at the Sundance Film Festival.
- The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team SUCKS (No link necessary).
Finally, if you're as much of a fan of Conan O'Brien as I am you'll thoroughly enjoy reading this transcript of his Commencement Speech to the Harvard Class of 2000. Nothing short of awesomeness.
Only two hours until 24!!!
CURRENT LISTENING: Cat Power's "The Greatest" and The Flaming Lips' new single, "The W.A.N.D."
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Pack + the Playoffs (not in the same paragraph)
Throughout the past few weeks, some strong winds of change have whisked
through 1265 Lombardi Avenue (that's the offices of the Green Bay Packers
for all you who ain't knowin'!). I've declined to post any comments
here yet partially because I've been pretty busy and partially because I
wasn't sure how I felt about the situation. My beloved Packers
went out and hired Mr. Mike McCarthy, Offensive Coordinator of the SAN
FRANCISCO 49ers?!? The collective gasp and ensuing backlash from much of the
Packer faithful luckily isn't being felt to the same magnitude out here in
Minnesota, but reading and hearing things from afar, I can tell that GM
Ted Thompson is on a very short leash with fans from here on out.
As someone who tends to let my emotions control my reactions and
judgements, I tried to remain level-headed and find out more about Mr.
McCarthy before joining the lynch mob in the streets of Green Bay (I wanted
to see Thompson hire Defensive Coordinator Jim Bates). So a lot of
reading, I found out that McCarthy...
-Is a no nonsense guy from blue collar Pittsburgh who demands respect
from players
-Has a good track record of developing Quarterbacks, including Aaron Brooks, Jake Delhomme and Matt Hasselbeck
-Is widely regarded as a creative playcaller in NFL circles
In addition, McCarthy has a relationship with Brett Favre after serving
as Packers Quarterbacks Coach in 1999. Hopefully it's enough to bring
Brett back for one more go around. If he doesn't, we'll be starting the
2006 season with a first-time, unproven head coach (and the third named
"Mike" in a row); a new, first-time Offensive Coordinator; a new
Defensive Coordinator; and an inexperienced, second-year Quarterback. It's
sure to be quite an interesting season. I'm going to support the coach and wait to see how things turn out. Good Luck "M3" -- you might need it.
Alright, enough Packer talk for now. I'll put it away until the draft
pending any major events.
Only 14 days 'til Super Bowl XL. I can't say I was sad to see the Colts
lose last week. Peyton Manning just can't get it done during the
playoffs. I kinda feel bad for Dungy though. It's fine to give your
intelligent, highly skilled QB the license to call the plays and audible at the line of scrimmage, but when you let him wave off the punt team in
your face on 4th and 2, your authority -- and balls -- are starting to
come into question. Then again, why were they even going to punt that late
in the game when they were down by three scores?
I'm not even going to comment on the atrocious call by the officials
in that game. I'll leave that to Joey Porter...
Today's Conference Championship games should be some great ones.
I can't remember the last time the playoffs were this wide open. Any
team could win it, but my picks for the Super Bowl are Pittsburgh and
Seattle. A hard-nosed defense versus a the league's most high-powered
offense could make quite a game.
Next time I post I'll deviate a bit from the football talk. It's just that football, beer, and snowboarding is what it is this time of year.
CURRENT LISTENING: Rogue Wave - Desceded Like Vultures
LAST MOVIE SEEN: Lord of War
through 1265 Lombardi Avenue (that's the offices of the Green Bay Packers
for all you who ain't knowin'!). I've declined to post any comments
here yet partially because I've been pretty busy and partially because I
wasn't sure how I felt about the situation. My beloved Packers
went out and hired Mr. Mike McCarthy, Offensive Coordinator of the SAN
FRANCISCO 49ers?!? The collective gasp and ensuing backlash from much of the
Packer faithful luckily isn't being felt to the same magnitude out here in
Minnesota, but reading and hearing things from afar, I can tell that GM
Ted Thompson is on a very short leash with fans from here on out.
As someone who tends to let my emotions control my reactions and
judgements, I tried to remain level-headed and find out more about Mr.
McCarthy before joining the lynch mob in the streets of Green Bay (I wanted
to see Thompson hire Defensive Coordinator Jim Bates). So a lot of
reading, I found out that McCarthy...
-Is a no nonsense guy from blue collar Pittsburgh who demands respect
from players
-Has a good track record of developing Quarterbacks, including Aaron Brooks, Jake Delhomme and Matt Hasselbeck
-Is widely regarded as a creative playcaller in NFL circles
In addition, McCarthy has a relationship with Brett Favre after serving
as Packers Quarterbacks Coach in 1999. Hopefully it's enough to bring
Brett back for one more go around. If he doesn't, we'll be starting the
2006 season with a first-time, unproven head coach (and the third named
"Mike" in a row); a new, first-time Offensive Coordinator; a new
Defensive Coordinator; and an inexperienced, second-year Quarterback. It's
sure to be quite an interesting season. I'm going to support the coach and wait to see how things turn out. Good Luck "M3" -- you might need it.
Alright, enough Packer talk for now. I'll put it away until the draft
pending any major events.
Only 14 days 'til Super Bowl XL. I can't say I was sad to see the Colts
lose last week. Peyton Manning just can't get it done during the
playoffs. I kinda feel bad for Dungy though. It's fine to give your
intelligent, highly skilled QB the license to call the plays and audible at the line of scrimmage, but when you let him wave off the punt team in
your face on 4th and 2, your authority -- and balls -- are starting to
come into question. Then again, why were they even going to punt that late
in the game when they were down by three scores?
I'm not even going to comment on the atrocious call by the officials
in that game. I'll leave that to Joey Porter...
Today's Conference Championship games should be some great ones.
I can't remember the last time the playoffs were this wide open. Any
team could win it, but my picks for the Super Bowl are Pittsburgh and
Seattle. A hard-nosed defense versus a the league's most high-powered
offense could make quite a game.
Next time I post I'll deviate a bit from the football talk. It's just that football, beer, and snowboarding is what it is this time of year.
CURRENT LISTENING: Rogue Wave - Desceded Like Vultures
LAST MOVIE SEEN: Lord of War
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
That king is so hot right now!
Apparently a series of paparazzi-style photos of Brooke Burke and the one and only Burger King have been circulating around blogs and photo sites. While no one knows for sure it's pretty easy to assume that this is another viral effort from BK's ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Another buzz-generating -- albeit simple -- idea. View the photo series here.
So...after looking at the comments section I take it people don't exactly care one way or another what I do with this blog?
Thursday, January 05, 2006
What to do, what to do
With the start of a New Year, we're always in a full press of self-reflection. Questions like 'what was great about the past year?' and 'what could've I have done better?' fill our heads as we look ahead. I have done plenty of it myself in the past couple weeks and one of the things I've been thinking about (though much further down the totem pole) is what to do with my blog.
I continue doing this for a few reasons. Keeping friends updated on some of the events in my life, having an outlet to vent or express my inner monologue and finally, to write more often outside of work. You don't have to be a great guesser to determine which one has failed in its purpose the most.
So for 2006 I've thought about a few different things I'd like to do with my blog. A natural course of action would be to just ditch it, as I only bring myself to write in it 1-2 times per month anyway. Another option is to continue writing, keeping the journal style going and making a valiant effort to write much more frequently. The final option -- and one I've thought about a lot lately -- is to narrow the blog down to a specific focus, whether it be music, football or just news and thoughts on the happenings of my good ol' Green Bay Packers. It should be obvious that I'm never going to use this blog as a money-making outlet, and while I don't care a ton about the number of readers I know that if I focused the topic (and of course, wrote frequently) I would have a bit more of a readership.
So what do you think? Drop a comment for once...unless you're another one of those blog spammer scumbags.
Oh yeah - Happy New Year!
- EH
I continue doing this for a few reasons. Keeping friends updated on some of the events in my life, having an outlet to vent or express my inner monologue and finally, to write more often outside of work. You don't have to be a great guesser to determine which one has failed in its purpose the most.
So for 2006 I've thought about a few different things I'd like to do with my blog. A natural course of action would be to just ditch it, as I only bring myself to write in it 1-2 times per month anyway. Another option is to continue writing, keeping the journal style going and making a valiant effort to write much more frequently. The final option -- and one I've thought about a lot lately -- is to narrow the blog down to a specific focus, whether it be music, football or just news and thoughts on the happenings of my good ol' Green Bay Packers. It should be obvious that I'm never going to use this blog as a money-making outlet, and while I don't care a ton about the number of readers I know that if I focused the topic (and of course, wrote frequently) I would have a bit more of a readership.
So what do you think? Drop a comment for once...unless you're another one of those blog spammer scumbags.
Oh yeah - Happy New Year!
- EH
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