Recession Cure = Dollar Menu

Apparently there's one company that's not hurting from the economy; the good old golden arches. http://www.comcast.net/articles/finance/20081022/BUSINESS-US-MCDONALDS/

I've been down this road before after suffering a few personal 'recessions'. How often can you get a hot meal for under $5? Problem is it's not really that healthy (little bit of an understatement).

No f'n wonder the nation is so damn fat! Have you ever comparison shopped skinless chicken breast vs. Ramen noodles? Lean ground sirloin beef vs. Ground Chuck? $0.49 pot pies vs. making it yourself? You've got to be fairly sharp and committed to eat well on a budget.

I know people that eat this shit everyday. You know why? Yep, cheap and easy.

As I mostly love capitalism this is not a knock on McDonalds or any other purveyor of shitty fast foods. They don't hide who they are. You are not forced to eat a Big Mac.

What pisses me off though is the parent that counts on this food as the staple of their child's nutrition. The ultimate in laziness. Soccer Moms are mostly guilty of this and I have known parents (actually wealthy) that will cram this crap down their kid's gullets on a daily basis.

I was a lucky child. My Mom was not lazy and we viewed our rare fast food excursions as a treat, never a meal. Luckily this is something that has stuck with me as I've gotten older.

Thanks Mom.

Michael f'n Vick

So apparently the most nut job of all animal rights group actually extended this piece of shit an olive branch. PETA offered to shoot a PSA with this son of a bitch speaking about dog fighting. Vick's attornys agreed and then said, 'Oh, while you're at it, how about you support his return to the NFL?'. PETA was all like, 'fuck you' and they withdrew their offer to shoot the spot.

Are Vick's lawyers part time congressmen or something? Taking a good idea and then tacking all this crap on the back end to fuck it up.

Typically I don't care for PETA because most times their tactics are irresponsible and make people disassociate with them, but this time they were actually willing to forgive a little and do some good.

If you want to see the carnage Vick left behind I urge you to try to find the episode of Dogtown on the National Geographic Channel. I think it was two parts. Anyway, it chronicles the journey of the dogs that made it out of that hellhole and were actually given a chance at rehab. It's unfortunate that many of them will live out their lives in that shelter due to the agressive tendencies they learned from Vick and his cronies. Their fate is still far better then the ones that didn't make it out.

AFC Championship

I've been trying to think of really cool sayings to try to bring today's game into perspective but so far my mind can't begin to fathom the intensity of what's about to happen. This sums it up nicely:

Greatest Video Game Character Ever

Hands down, Super Tecmo Bowl's Bo Jackson. Mario, Sonic, Master Chief, they got nothing on him. Don't believe me? Watch:

These are the stats I piled up using him w/ my keyboard controls one time:

2009

So every once in a while I would write a blog on myspace but apparently it's not cool anymore so I'll use this site to vent from time to time. Maybe one day I'll write something profound.

Anyway, I've been looking forward to this upcoming year. I'm not sure the exact reason but I guess I know things can only get better than 2008. A quick summary of 'tragedies' that occurred last year for those that don't know:
-worked over by unemployed roommate and left w/out power for 6 days
-Prime (my dog) had Lyme disease
-chipped a bone in my finger w/ a giant hammer
-Brother wrecked my truck
-Bank reposed my truck on a clerical error
-Random police raid w/ guns in my face and my dogs life threatened
-and various other dumb shit

You know what I've come to realize? I'm being kind of a bitch about it all. Tons of worse stuff happens to lots of people every day but I can't stop telling the story about how I was inconvenienced for an hour or how I lost all kinds of money. Here's another list of things that happened to me last year:
-cool new roommate
-won employee of the year doing a job I truly enjoy
-made the most money I've ever made
-vacationed at OBX, Wisp, New River Gorge, Disc Golf courses, etc.
-drank like I was 20 yrs old more times than I can remember
-got decent at golf again and played a lot
Summation: lots of good times w/ friends I really enjoy

Prime's over his disease, I have my truck back and I'm facing the demons (financially) that I created in my 20s and hid away. Oh yeah, the cops haven't been by in a while.

I've been going around saying last year was the worst year of my life. I'm starting to think it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I know I kind of sound like Doogie Howser at the end of an episode so please don't make fun of me. Like I said in the beginning, I'm just getting stuff off my chest.

I'm done wearing last year like some kind of thug 'badge of honor'. Maybe we've all been a little spoiled in our lives to the point where when a little adversity comes along we sit around and cry about it to anyone that will listen (folks did seem to like the stories though). Yeah, last year sucked but you know what, it could have been a whole lot worse. If my only losses were financial I guess I'm pretty lucky.

2009 will be better. Count on it. It's not going to be because my luck will magically change by flipping over a calendar page. It's going to be me busting my ass to make sure it's better.

Thanks to all that helped me get through it. You know who you are.