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September 27, 2004
Why high oil prices are good
I like being a contrarian if it means I make money. Take oil. Crude contracts are nearing $50/bbl. And all those SUV-driving upper-middle-class fools are fretting. I'm happy. My commodities fund has returned 28% since I invested in it in January. And as someone who doesn't use oil (except of the olive variety), I say, up, up, up! (Just don't cause too much inflation.)
Posted by adrianjo at 12:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 26, 2004
Find me on Friendster
Today when I should have been doing other things, I created a profile on Friendster. If you're also a member, add me as a friend.
Posted by adrianjo at 12:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 25, 2004
A bad episode of the Real World
BRUXELLES, BELGIQUE: I write having returned from Budapest today. Every year the Partners loosen the purse strings and throw a few ducats to the overworked consultants--i.e. an all-expenses-paid trip somewhere in Europe. This year, we flew to Vienna, toured the city for a day and stuffed ourself with wienerschnitzel. However, instead of going to a hotel for the night, the bus dropped us off at a train station, where we boarded an "Austrian Imperial Train" bound for Budapest. It's nice to see what train travel used to be like before Thalys decided that frozen mashed-potatoes make good train meals.
Upon arrival in Budapest, our Master of Ceremonies boarded the tour bus and declared, "welcome to the Porn Capital of Europe." The young female Hungarian guide who had just joined us didn't realize what sort of group we are. Eventually I think she decided she liked us, especially after our rowdy cheering for her Hungarian folk singing.
Day two held some surprises too. In the afternoon, we boarded a bus and drove an hour into the countryside, arriving finally in Gödöllö at a horse farm where we were told we would be participating in a horse-racing contest involving driving a team of horses leading a carriage through an equesterian course. It felt like a bad episode of the Real World. I finished with the fastest time but also the most faults, so I finished last. I suppose if I ever go on a reality TV show, I should listen to the rules (fewest faults, NOT fastest time!).
Budapest itself seemed OK, with an attractive setting on the Danube. However, the few tourist sites were very crowded, and the mafia taxis charged 6 times the legal rate. Personally, I like the Pest side better than the Buda side, this being because I think being a Pest is cooler than being a Buda. I've now been running on 4 hours sleep for a week, so I think I shall go to bed.
Posted by adrianjo at 06:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 18, 2004
When bauds and whores do cities build and taxes pay
AMSTERDAM, NEDERLANDS: I write from Amsterdam today. By mid-afternoon, I still wasn't sure how I would spend one of my last free weekends in Europe, so I booked a Thalys here and a room at a one-star hotel. (I figured it was too late to try to impose on the guys from the Dutch office.) By the way, I've never been a fan of the star rating system, because I've stayed in some 3-star dumps, and this one-star place is actually fairly good. For once Frommer's and I agree on something. And the owner had a picture of my apartment building in Chicago hanging on the wall.
Amsterdam's reputation preceeds it. The city is the seediest I've ever been to. (I have to wonder what CS would think of this place, since she says that Hyannis is seedy.) With pot legal, Amsterdam smeels like an art teacher's office. I think I inhaled so much weed that I may be high right now, but I'm not really sure. I just feel very mellow and I want to listen to Michael Bolton. Am I high? I must be. Nonetheless, temptation is everywhere here: legal pot, psychadellic mushrooms, various paraphenalia, cocaine sold openly, sex shows, the red light district, public outdoor urinals, and--evilest of all--$22 souvernir t-shirts.
There isn't much in travel that shocks me anymore. There's the wealth in Monaco, watching MTV in the remote Himalayas, and Auschwitz-Birkeneau death camp. Add Amsterdam's Red Light district.
Amsterdam's Red Light district is a rather compact area along two streets and a canal. Perhaps half the buildings have glass doors in which young women sit or stand in lingerie with red lights, a bit like betas in fishtanks. Johns circumambultate the district, occasionally stopping to ogle or negotiate a deal. It's like Halloween for perverted grown-ups. Some of the girls are dressed up as nurses or schoolgirls. The johns are a motley bunch including well-dressed European businessmen and turbaned Shikhs. As at Halloween, there are also plenty of tricks, maybe some treats, some knocking on doors, and trying to get (eye) candy in the sack.
Feminists might claim that this is the worst sort of objectifying women for the sake of men's deviant gratification. It probably is, but it's not so black-and-white. According to the Prostitute Information Centre, the women are individual entrepreneurs who pay rent, report taxes, set their own rates, and attempt to earn customer loyalty despite a very competetive markeplace. Add to this the fact that a night's work involves a dozen encounters where only a few microns of latex separate one from potentially-fatal disease, and one has to have a bit of respect for a person who can earn her daily bread this way.
It's also good to see that Amsterdam has found a way to make safer an activity that people around the world engage in. Even though sex slavery remains a problem, at least a dangerous activity can be carried out under legal supervision rather than on the corners near my apartment in Brussels (where it is quite annoying).
Posted by adrianjo at 12:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 11, 2004
The mayor needs a new sash
It's September 11, and that means that today is the 5-year anniversary of this website and the 3-year anniversary of my Jewel/Osco Preferred Card account. American supermarkets are great for consumers because it's possible to shop there and never contribute a dime to the retailer's or manufacturer's bottom line. In a typical week, all but one or two items I buy are on promotion--typically 30-50%, which exceeds the typical profit margin in a grocery store item (10-30%). I suppose they'd like me to purchase their stuff when it's not on promotion, but why? Why pay extra when every week, at least one item on every shelf is on promotion? They don't do this high-low pricing in Brussels, and it annoys me that I have to be a profitable customer for Carrefour.
Today is also Popcorn Festival Day in Valpo. I advised Mayor Costas to wear a MAYOR sash like Springfield mayor Joe Quimby has, but I don't think he took me up on the idea. I'm not sure the popcorn festival is as exciting as it used to be. The last time I went was in 2002 with Kelly, and I was more focused on her than on, say, the Shriners in their little cars or the panpipers on every single corner. I used to spend all day at Popcorn Fest. First it was when I was a Boy Scout selling slurpees and artery-busting funnel cakes with Troop 907, though I stopped this when the physical abuse became too much (the so-called "junior leaders" used a foot-long section of red rubberized pipe as a disciplinary tool). Then it was selling artery-busting elephant ears, though college intervened here. I still haven't figured out how someone could eat dough fried in oil and sprinkled with sugar, but at least Popcorn Fest forces people to get out of their cars and walk a few blocks through downtown.
Posted by adrianjo at 01:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 09, 2004
A good ol' idea from the Brits
One of the great things about traveling is that simple things can still be exciting, even after 45 countries. Today I was in a little village in Berkshire, England, and it was exactly the little village that so many sprawling US suburbs want to emulate: a busy High Street, small downtown offices, cafes with crispy yum-yums, a park, and a creek. It reminded me of a client whose headquarters was in a small town in the midwest, but even that small town was ringed with ugly sprawl. Maybe the Brits have something on us here.
Posted by adrianjo at 01:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 07, 2004
The most disgusting website ever?
On the other side of the beauty spectrum (see previous entry)... I don't remember how I came across this website, but it is one of the few things that may still give me nightmares. I thought I'd have trouble after visiting the gas chambers of Auschwitz or a KGB execution room and torture chamber in the former USSR. The latter features stories of Lithuanian freedom-fighter inmates, from high school all the way to pictures dead bodies being paraded through town. No problems at night. But I'm worried after visiting ogrish.com and innocently clicking on a few links. WARNING: DO NOT open this link in the office.
Posted by adrianjo at 08:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Modeling agency for sale
Here's a business opportunity: anyone wanna buy Elite Model Management? The tony agency's New York office was recently sold for about $7M. I used to live a half-block from Elite's Chicago affiliate, and occasionally tall stick-thin women would be seen coming and going. I haven't seen the numbers, but $7M for an industry-leading brand like Elite seems cheap, even if bought out of bankruptcy. Consider that a 30% equity stake would cost $2M, of which perhaps 75% could be through a limited partnership = your equity of 500K. Not bad.
Posted by adrianjo at 01:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack