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Dispatches From The Front: Love That Dirty Water Edition

The Frugal Hipster is in Boston all week. While his girlfriend attends an art history conference, TFH is loose on the streets of Beantown.

As I'm sitting at my desk today designing a trading layout to appease clients on the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (Side note: Yes, there is a futures exchange in Winnipeg. They trade futures and options on canola--sometimes known by the less politically correct term rapeseed--as well as White Winter Wheat and Barley. Fascinating, I know.) he's peppering the ol'v551 with messages such as these:

"Man I love art history babes"

"Just tried on $18k watch. 80s Patek Philippe....Salesman did his best not to roll eyes at my old Sox jacket."

"At Ralph Lauren store. Full of Skull and Bones type clothes."

Amusing.

Randoms

-After some initial misgivings, I've come to the conclusion that in spite of the fact that I'm crazy busy from 8 to 5:30 every day that I really like my new job. To wit: today I sat in a meeting where the other participants were the CEO of our entire company, the CEO of the North Americas Division, the North Americas CTO and our office's Managing Director. The topic: me spearheading a campaign with our biggest client. At MegaDerivatives Mart, I occasionally got to sit down with meatheaded brokers and try to explain concepts well outside their feeble grasps. So yeah--whole new ballgame and I like it.

-Made Valentine's dinner last night. Steak Diane. Any fool with fast hands can take a girl out to dinner, but it takes a real guy to cook a girl dinner.

-"Harbinger" is one of my favorite words, right up there with "penultimate." To me, the ultimate harbinger of spring, and hence baseball being just around the corner is that the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show thing always wraps up right around the time the first batch of pitchers and catchers report. So even though Rufus the bull terrier is one ugly dog, his visage plastered all over the place is definitely a good sign.

-Related note: my friend Bobby B has a bull terrier named Bob.

-Short track speedskating is like Roller Derby. Fun to watch.

Oh, Canada!

I'm watching what right now might be the most lopsided Olympic team sports even since the US squared off with Angola in the first round of men's basketball in 1992.

The Canadian women's hockey team is beating Italy 15-0. At least the Italians are better looking.

Super Sunday

Paul Tagliabue says that Super Bowl Sunday is a national holiday and that baseball is about as exciting as standing in a checkout line. My experiences last summer/fall force me to heartily differ with Tagliabue, but nonetheless today is one of my favorite days of the year. The Italian beef is already in the slow cooker and the beer's chilling on the deck. We get to break in the new TV. It's really too cold to do anything else, so I'm just gonna vegetate all day.

So who do I like?

Part of me says pull for the Steelers. Pittsburgh is a decaying Rust Belt citytrying to remake itself not unlike Buffalo, and Jerome Bettis is just about the only good thing Notre Dame produced. Bill Cowher is one intense mofo, and you never hear about Steelers players running afoul of the law. The man keeps 'em in line. Oh yeah, and the Super Bowl XL version of the Steel Curtain just flat out stops the run.

The other half says pull for Seattle. It's one of my favorite cities even when it rains for 40 days and 40 nights. It's not all lattes and fleeces either--the Emerald City is chock full of very knowledgable and passionate sports fans...my Mom not being one of them. They're a team of no-names who play hard, and Matt Hasselbeck's "we want the ball and we're gonna score" guar-un-tee a few years back will always be on my 10 ballsiest moments in sports list.

The Seahawks old gray and green uniforms flat-out rocked. The Steelers have worn the same togs for years--and their logo is only on one side of their helmet. What's up with that?

Pittsburgh's been to the Super Bowl before, and won a whole bunch of them. Seattle hasn't had a professional sports title since the Supersonics won in 1978.

There's little doubt in my mind Pittsburgh wins the game (and the total score exceeds the over), and in the interest of disclosure I'll say that I bet on them. But emotion trumps the wallet any day...so, um, go Seahawks!

Tag--I'm It!

Bret over at Random Walk tagged me. So here goes:

Four Jobs I've Had
1. Hardware Department at Menards
2. Landscaper/Lawn Mower
3. Software Salesman for now-bankrupt brokerage
4. Teacher of English as a second language

Four Movies I Can (and Do) Watch Over and Over:
1. Caddyshack
2. Wall Street
3. Major League
4. South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut
(Please note 9 out of 10 sane redblooded American males would probably have the same list as me)

Four Places I Have Lived:
1. Lincoln Park, Chicago
2. West Lakeview, Chicago
3. Tri-Taylor, Chicago
4. Ontario, NY

Four TV Shows I Love:
1. The West Wing (Gonna miss it something fierce)
2. Desperate Housewives (Susan's my favorite. Teri Hatcher has the longest legs I have ever seen)
3. Declassified (currently airing on the HIstory Channel)
4. Baseball Tonight (I'll be glad to do my Harold Reynolds impression for anyone who wants to hear it. Supposedly, it's spot-on)

Four Places I’ve Vacationed:
1. Myrtle Beach, SC
2. Amsterdam, Netherlands
3. Gunn Lake, Michigan
4. Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Four of My Favorite Dishes:
1. Pork chop from Skrine Chops by my office
2. My homemade giambotta
3. My homemade chili (Which tastes even better when I use my Guatemalan insanity peppers that I grew on the deck last summer)
4. The Better Half's chicken andouille sausage jambalaya

Four Sites I Visit Daily:
1. Whitesoxinteractive.com
2. Deadspin
3. Drudge (who doesn't)
4. Poker Prof's Poker Blog

Four Places I’d Rather Be Now:
1. US Cellular Field
2. Sonoma
3. Tahoe
4. Fort Myers (I'd even sacrifice my sanity and stay with the Better Half's parents if it meant I could see the sun and play golf)