it's not a trend, it's a movement

the good life

In these turbulent times when nary an article (be it about banking bailouts, factory closures or baby seals) fails to mention the credit crunch, it's reassuring to see that in at least some neighborhoods, the specter of recession is still as far away from reality as my plans to move to Hawaii. To illustrate, here's 3 random sights observed during my morning walk to work. Keep in mind these are but a sampling of the many signs of opulence seen throughout the area. Let's just say I'm not worried about seeing too many for sale signs in the neighborhood just yet.



You know what I hate when I buy a crapload of stuff from Selfridges? How to get rid of all the packaging it comes with. But the solution was there all along: re-use the bag it came with. Al Gore knows what I'm talking about.



Ah yes, drop off my ski-wear at the dry cleaners', that's what I was supposed to do this weekend.



the funny part about this picture is the car is generally parked not fifty yards away from Tony Blair's crib. I totally knew his wife was big on luxury German cars.

back to the future

back in college, I took up a habit where I would wake up in the middle of the night once or twice a week to watch live NBA games on cable. I would lose a precious few hours of sleep, staying awake through a steady munching of krisprolls and diet coke, all the while relishing every second of it. Once I joined the workforce such occurences diminished to the point where I now wake up only for major sporting events, like a baseball playoff game, or Alain Bernard's winning 100m freestyle race in the Beijing Olympics.
So with Election day finally upon us, after what feels like the longest political campaign in history, I initially thought I would turn back the clock and pull an old-school half-nighter. But, having stayed at work past 1am yesterday, and, truth be told, not feeling as spry after 4hours of sleep as I used to, I've decided to take the old-man way out. 1am will probably be enough for me, which means I'll only get to see some early returns, not the nail-biting suspense from the battleground state results. Then again if it means I get to avoid the letdown of four years ago, that's probably a good thing.
And, most importantly, in the spirit of unity I prepared a new, special bi-partisan smoothie for desert: strawberries for Republicans, blueberries for Democrats, and some banana for the independents. Now that's change we can believe in.