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Author: Bryant

On finance

April 2, 2004
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Kerry raised $50 million last quarter. This isn’t even close to what Bush raised (and both Bush and Kerry are also going to benefit from 527 money), but it’s going to be very important to the Democrats in the months ahead.

Note that had Edwards won the nomination, he would have bumped into the federal matching fund caps already. Like it or not, that’s a powerful electability argument. Me, I don’t particularly like it. Maybe I should spend some time teaching my neighbors how to do their own research instead of relying on TV ads.

Pffft

April 2, 2004
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That took a lot of the pleasure out of The Apprentice. (Gonna be spoilers here.) Long story short, Trump made two errors:

1. Complaining that Team Troy set the rental price too low at $35-40K. The Director of Sales for the building told them that it had been renting for around $40K; given the time they had to rent it, it made sense to nail down any offer in that range and hope that the other team would whiff, which they very nearly did.

2. Firing Troy for not having an education. The guy’s run a couple of businesses and he lends out money for a living and you fire him because you think he’s going to do something stupid that he’d have learned not to do at Harvard? What, like picking a lousy location for lemonade sales? Wait, that was Kwame. Sigh. Paging Larry Ellison and Bill Gates. Not to mention that Troy’s the only person so far who’s had the balls and integrity to bring his friend into the boardroom.

Next week, Trump fires two people. Kwame’s next on the chopping block, and I’m guessing it’s one person from each team so that means either Nick goes or Amy goes. Nick’s a good bet. Amy and Bill face off… Bill probably wins. Course, I thought Troy was going all the way, so take that with a grain of salt.

Brain movement

April 1, 2004
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So, did a lot of stuff happen while I was incommunicado or what? I refer, of course, to Nomar going on the DL.

Good things about WDW:

  • The new Kali River Rapids ride at Animal Kingdom. Top-notch water ride with the best line experience ever. Worth going to Animal Kingdom for, which is good, cause not much else is.

  • The new Aerosmith-themed roller coaster at Disney/MGM. It’s got rollover loops, just like a real roller coaster! Add in Tower of Terror, and Disney/MGM is definitely the right place to go for thrill rides at Disney.

  • The Adventurer’s Club at Pleasure Island is good clean fun. Bonus points cause we got to watch the Club’s “maid” badgering underage kids for wearing belly shirts.

  • Epcot. Epcot always rules. Mission Space is a great ride. Test Track disappointed, but so it goes. Reminder to self: Scandanavian history.

  • The weather. 70-80 degrees. And I’m tan now. Well, sort of.

  • DisneyQuest. Free Asteroids, Defender, Stargate, Berzerk, Centipede, Tron, Arkanoid, Joust, etc., etc. No Gorf, though, sadly. And I guess a bunch of modern games but really it’s all about the classics for me.

  • Spoodles over at the Boardwalk. I had a really good Moroccan tuna steak with lovely cous cous. Too expensive by a few bucks, certainly, particularly since the service wasn’t all that, but still very very tasty. Plus cheesecake. Mmm.

  • Chatting with the Splash Mountain manager for about an hour while his ride was down. He was incredibly polite and seemed happy to spend time talking even though he was in the middle of a crisis situation. He handled the crowds really well, too. What’s more, his boss spent some time helping people as well — it’s smart to make sure that even high level managers get face time with customers now and again.

  • Port Orleans French Quarter is a decent place to stay. Not too expensive as Disney goes, and a good location. Although the sheets are too short.

Other good things would be Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park, in that the Hulk coaster and the Dueling Dragons coasters are excellent. And their Spiderman ride combines the tech Disney uses for the Animal Kingdom dino ride and the Disneyland Indiana Jones ride with 3D movies to immensely good effect — in fact, it’s probably the best ride I’ve ever been on period. On the other hand, going to another theme park really highlighted how good Disney customer service is in comparison to, well, almost anyone else.

Mouse ears

April 1, 2004
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Well, that was a vacation and a half. My digital camera broke midway through, so I have few pictures. I still had a metric ton or so of fun. More details later.

See ya

March 26, 2004
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The next five or six days will see very few updates, since I will be wallowing in the sybaritic capitalist glory that is Walt Disney World. Say g’night, Gracie.

Monday Mashup #33.3 RPM: Partridge Family

March 25, 2004
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I will not be around this Monday, so there will be no Monday Mashup. This is tragic! To compensate, I will satisfy the legions of people (all two of you) who kvetched about not getting your Partridge Family. Fine! Here’s your precious pre-fabricated pop band.

I know nothing about the Partridge Family other than that they travelled around in a school bus and sang. Or lip-synched, one or the other. Anyhow, I’m sure there was music and travel involved and on that thin, tenuous reed must our mashups be built. Oh, wait — for the research-minded, there’s an episode guide. Hey, Ray Bolger played the grandfather, so there’s a Wizard of Oz connection.

Continue ReadingMonday Mashup #33.3 RPM: Partridge Family