January 2009

From CNN.com: Obama names pick for chief performance officer

President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday announced Nancy Killefer as his pick to be chief performance officer, a new position that Obama called “one of the most important” appointments he will make.
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The CPO will be charged with restoring fiscal order and reforming government.

Killefer is a senior director for McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm. She was an assistant secretary of the treasury in the Clinton administration.

She will help lead the effort to go through the budget line-by-line, eliminate what’s not needed and improve the things that work, Obama said.

This is something new and interesting.  We all know that there’s a lot of waste in government, but will the CPO and her department be effective in overcoming the politics that created a lot of this waste?  After all, the money that is “wasted” is actually spent with someone who will try to fight to keep it coming.

But, at least it’s a start.

This sushi flower was created by the sushi chef at the Benihana in downtown Cincinnati.  We’ve gotten to know the sushi chef pretty well since we’re pretty regular customers there.  Lately, he’s been starting us off with a different artistic creation.  This one was particularly nice so I took a picture of it with my iPhone.

From NYTimes.com: Fighting Off Depression

An interesting editorial column from the 2008 Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman:

This is a problem with which Keynes was familiar: giving money away, he pointed out, tends to be met with fewer objections than plans for public investment “which, because they are not wholly wasteful, tend to be judged on strict ‘business’ principles.” What gets lost in such discussions is the key argument for economic stimulus — namely, that under current conditions, a surge in public spending would employ Americans who would otherwise be unemployed and money that would otherwise be sitting idle, and put both to work producing something useful.

Saw this in a Kroger grocery store ad over the weekend.  Start the New Year with Cabbage!  It seems like one of those traditions that you start when you’re not fortunate enough to have something better.

But, cabbage is supposed to bring financial prosperity for the year.  And we all could use a little bit of that right now.

I’m surprised that this isn’t a Chinese thing.  Liking vegetables and money?  Definitely Chinese.

From NOLA.com: According to one New Year’s tradition, cabbage is king of good fortune

From NYTimes.com: The Come-Hither Lobby

ENTER the lobby of the Platinum — a sparkling glass-and-steel popsicle of a condominium that rises 43 stories above the circus lights of Eighth Avenue — and you may think you’ve stumbled into the lair of James Bond’s latest big-screen foe.

Twenty-six feet of roaring flames run along one wall, a deconstructed fireplace whose orange embers dance behind a blue-hued sheet of glass. Enormous plasma television screens stare down from stark white walls. Geometric furniture sits surrounded by a bubbling moat that circumnavigates the space.

Not exactly “homey”, but super cool.

From NYTimes.com: Arizona Cardinals Finally Sell Out Home Playoff Game

Listen Phoenix and Minneapolis: Your city doesn’t deserve an NFL football team if you can’t sell out a home playoff game. 

Still, until 4:30 p.m. Friday, many Cardinals fans in the Phoenix area were in danger of missing the moment. Because the Cardinals were having trouble selling out their home field — University of Phoenix Stadium, with a seating capacity of about 65,000 — a local blackout loomed.
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So the N.F.L. extended the deadline by 24 hours. But as that new deadline approached Thursday afternoon, 3,700 tickets remained unsold. The Cardinals, a charter member of the N.F.L., were playing just the eighth playoff game in their history, but that idea just didn’t seem to be resonating in the Phoenix area. A team marketing campaign that included an appearance by wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald at a cellphone store wasn’t closing the deal, either.

So the league granted the Cardinals another 24 hours. And this time, with the help of a local pool supply company, which bought a chunk of tickets, the game finally sold out.
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…Meanwhile, the Vikings were still flirting with a potential blackout of their own for their Sunday game against the Eagles. With 3,100 tickets still unsold, the league extended the deadline to Saturday afternoon. Which is when the Cardinals will be taking the field, at home and on local TV.

As a Cincinnati Bengals fan, it’s inconceivable to me that a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs recently has to struggle to sell out their only home playoff game.  Pitiful.

Yeah, I know it’s a little late, but if you haven’t seen this motorcycle jump, you’ve got to check this out. 

YouTube HD Version (click on watch in HD)