March 2009

Who’s the comedian here? Kudos for Jon Stewart for calling these clowns out.  But, really if you’re getting your stock picks from Jim Cramer, you probably shouldn’t have been in the market in the first place.
 

I went to It’s Just Crepes on Court Street here in Cincinnati on Saturday.  I’ve been meaning to go for a while and this weekend’s beautiful weather provided the perfect opportunity to enjoy one of their crepes outside.

They serve both savory breakfast crepes and sweet ones.  The savory crepes sound good, but it’s hard to resist the dessert like qualities of a sweet crepe! I had a Nutella and Banana crepe while my sister had a “It’s Just Fruit” crepe with mixed fresh fruit.

Here are the crepes being made.  The staff was very helpful in suggesting crepes to try out.
The interior is simple and clean with some table and counter seating.  There are more tables on the left outside of the picture, but people were sitting there and I didn’t want to intrude on their privacy by taking a picture of them and putting them on the blog.  We sat outside at one of the three cafe tables that face Court Street.

The Nutella and Banana crepe
The “It’s Just Fruit” crepe.
We got two different crepes with the intention to share, but the crepes are folded into a triangle and wrapped in paper for non-silverware eating.  I’ll just have to keep going back to try out the different crepes.

I highly recommend It’s Just Crepes.  And it’s now open Sunday mornings.  It’s great to have more weekend downtown breakfast options!

From WashingtonPost.com: The Wizards Fan Who Talked Trash to Obama

A story about a little trash talking from a Washington Wizards fan with the Chicago Bulls rooting President Obama

“Heckling and having a good time are two different animals,” he explained. “I wasn’t heckling the President and I don’t heckle the players. I talk about their weaknesses. We was having a good time. He was talking trash and I was talking trash. I couldn’t believe he was that laidback and real. I loved it.”

And while they talked through much of the game, Rawls–who had never met a President–said no lines were crossed. “I wasn’t disrespectful,” he said. “I know my limits.”

So, for example, he told the President that if he was rooting for the visitors, he was “gonna have to keep it to a low roar, because we’re cheering for the Wizards over here.” Obama, in turn, repeatedly needled Rawls about the Wizards’ habit of letting leads evaporate, especially when the Bulls made a run.

“We was just going back and forth,” Rawls said. “Once Chicago started coming back, he told me, ‘Now I think you need to sit down.’ When Tyrus Thomas dunked on somebody, he turned around, was talking smack. Then JaVale McGee had that alley-oop, and he gave me the high five. We was just supporting each others’ team, having a good time.”

President Obama being a sports fan is one of the things that makes him more personable and approachable than any other President.  But, he’s still the President and there’s a fine line between what is acceptable behavior and what is not.  I’m a big sports fan too, but I find a constant chatter of trash talking to be pretty annoying, no matter how humorous it may be.  Some people don’t realize that there are fans that go to be entertained by the game and not by some idiot’s commentary.

Business Courier: Development team might rename The Banks

In November, the developers started coming up with other possible names. The choices are: Riverfront District; Park District; Parkside; The Banks.

I like “Riverfront” or “the Riverfront”, without District.  Just plain Riverfront.  As old reminder to Riverfront Stadium.  Second choice would be The Banks.  I think it’s better to have something related to the river.  That’s why Park District and Parkside just don’t work fo me.

I recently watched the Golf Channel’s new reality show- The Haney Project: Charles Barkley.  In this series, Hank Haney, Tiger Woods’s swing coach attempts to fix the horrifically bad golf swing of Charles Barkley. 

The first episode where Hank Haney is introduced to Charles Barkley was one of the funnier things that I’ve seen on TV.  Charles Barkley is his typical class clown self, but serious in trying to work out his swing.  Hank Haney is a serious instructor, but more than held his own with his own sense of humor.  Between clips of bad Barkley golf shots, an imitation of Barkley’s swing by Tiger Woods, and non-stop banter, you have a pretty entertaining show.  The show is scheduled for 7 episodes, so we’ll get to see how Barkley progresses.

One thing I got out of watching this is even more admiration for Tiger Woods.  Hank Haney asks Barkley if he’s like to do a Tiger Day.  A Tiger Day is pretty much 12 hours of golf, hitting balls, and working out.  Tiger’s extremely talented, but his hard work ethic and discipline is what separates him from everyone else.

Charles Barkley was in Cincinnati last month for a show at the Cincinnati Convention Center and I ran into him at salsa night at Havana Martini.  As a personality/celebrity, he’s pretty approachable and quite friendly.  Maybe it’s a little character rehabilitation for all the troubles he’s recently created for himself.
 

From Vogue.com: Gates of Heaven

Still, being a Microsoft child does carry unusual burdens. “There are very few things that are on the banned list in our household,” Gates tells me. “But iPods and iPhones are two things we don’t get for our kids.” Harsh, perhaps, but understandable. After all, it’s hard to walk around tethered to merchandise made by your father’s most famous competitor. Still, Gates acknowledges the inevitable lure of forbidden fruit. “Every now and then I look at my friends and say, ‘Ooh, I wouldn’t mind having that iPhone.'”

From TheDieline.com: General Mills Retro Cereal Boxes
via daringfireball.net
General Mills is using some retro packaging for some of its cereal products.  Retro Trix is really cool.  Modern Day Trix scares me.  It’s like a poster for attention deficit disorder fueled by high fructose corn syrup.

Check out the article for pictures of the other retro cereal brands.

NYTimes.com: Filibusters: The Senate’s Self-Inflicted Wound

An interesting article on filibusters and their history.  Did you know that Senators were elected by the state legislatures and not by the people before the 17th Amendment in 1913?  Back then, the Senators were representatives of the interests of the State in which they were from.