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Last year I wrote up some notes and thoughts on these numbers but this year I don't have that inclination so here they are:

I "read" a total of 92 books, 62 were paper and 30 were audio. That number is misleading. Some short stories and poems in there.

I didn't write as much as I usually do this year. I wrote a total of 28 posts on this blog which amounted to 15,416 words. NaNoWriMo played it's part adding another 50,361 words giving me a grand total of 86,646 words total.

I watched 68 movies this year with 10 or so being the in theaters. I can't even begin to track how many hours or television shows I watched this year.

I took 37,246 pictures using my Canon 40D and Casio EX S600. I'm not breaking it down this year. Most are jpgs but there are some RAW files there so that comes to a total of 292.2GB. I posted 1,385 photos to Flickr.

I received/bought 160 magazines.

I worked out a total of 151 days (more or less). I now weigh 175 lbs from 191 lbs around the beginning of the year. My low was 174 lbs.

My car has 143,600 miles on it. I don't remember how may miles I had on my car at the beginning of the year but I would guess I drove about 28,000 miles or so.

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Instead of adding my voice to many of the online "discussions" going on about the Greek riots, I'll write my words here since this is the place for them.

To start, I do not know the circumstances (nor do police) of the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Alexander Grigoropoulos. This incident was only the catalyst for other issues I know nothing about.

What I do know or rather what I have seen, is appalling. I am not taking the side of the government or the protesters. I just look at the pictures and I simply do not understand. Well, I do understand. Given the chance, people will be assholes and destroy things for no real reason.

Take this picture. Do you think this woman did anything to deserve having her car torched? She wasn't a part of the Grigoropoulos murder nor the cause of other Greek issues. She just had the bad luck to park her car in the path of a sea of rioters. Congratulations. You made your point by torching her car. I'll start a fraternity in your honor.

Pathetic.

Fighting for your rights and grievances is just and should be done to uphold our integrity as people. But this wanton destruction of property and people is just ridiculous. Your point is not being made. You have not won anything.

Congratulations.

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The term 'Epic Fail' has become the common comment on the internetz these days because it so encapsulates man's ability to fail stunningly. It's a knee jerk comment but after looking at this list of Stories You Missed from Foreign Policy, it's a pretty good term.

...coca cultivation rose 15 percent between 2000 and 2006, an October 2008 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found. A separate U.N. study found that in 2007 alone, the area of land hosting coca crops rose 27 percent.

The United States has spent $6 billion on Plan Colombia, but Colombia still supplies 90 percent of U.S. cocaine.

So, if someone came to you and said, we have this problem where country X is producing Y, it needs to be stopped and we need money to fix it. So you give them $6 billion. They come back in 2007 and say yeah you know how we wanted to reduce production? Yeah, it's actually gone up. So....more money please?

Epic Fail.

Many of the newest solar panels are manufactured with a gas that is 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide in contributing to global warming.

NF3 has a potential greenhouse impact larger than … even that of the world's largest coal-fired power plants

Slick. Now that's green.

Epic Fail.

In September, the United States pledged $1 billion in aid to Georgia to help the country recover from its August war with Russia.

$176 million of the aid money earmarked for loans to businesses—including $30 million to a real estate developer for a luxury hotel: the 127,000-square-meter Park Hyatt in downtown Tbilisi, an area that was not at all damaged in the war?

There's always going to be some skimming off the top in government projects. It's sad that that is almost a guarantee but it's true. But fucking $30 million to a luxury hotel? For fucksake.

Epic Fail

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First, I want to link you to Michael Pollan's article in NYTimes Food Issue.

It's a little long and tiring (I was checking my watch after the first five pages, it goes on for fourteen) but well worth the read. In it, Pollan writes to the future President, whether he is a Democrat or a Republican, on the very real issue of food. On why our food policy is important and demands attention. On how that food policy effects other policies, policies which get much more play in the media such as oil and healthcare.

And wonderfully, he gives suggestions to start this new policy.

Of course, it'll never happen, Democrat or a Republican, but that's just my pessimistic political view.

But you can read it and hopefully realize, what I've realized.

Second, I'd like to point you to this talk (it's a video) by Michael Ruhlman and Dan Barber.

Ruhlman, as always, speaks with eloquence and clarity, arguing why it is important to write and talk about food. He also brings up our drift towards mediocrity and how it is important for us to always to always strive (and perhaps struggle) for greatness. It inspired me.

Barber talks about foie gras. Natural foie gras. Before you ever complain to me about foie gras, please watch this.

And that's why I'm okay with being a foodie.

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Gordon Ramsey - "Yeah, I got fucked."

Was Chef Ramsey's reply to the question by Kim Severson on his restaurant in NYC, The London, getting two stars instead of four. And that set the stage for the rest of the night.

As I mentioned previously, I attended the Q&A "Gordon Ramsay with Kim Severson - YES CHEF!" this weekend. It was an interesting experience.

First, Ramsey was genial and good-natured, as you might expect if you watch his shows on the BBC. If you watch his shows on Fox, you might think of him as an arrogant asshole which perhaps most of the audience had since when it came time to ask him questions few had the courage. Indeed, my neighbor beside me said "God no." which I assume was his wife urging him to get up.

But I did.

Yes, in fact I did have the bullocks to get over my fear and ask a question.

It was a proud day in my life.

It seemed fortuitous when the microphone was placed almost in front of me. When only one person got up on our side, I figured, hell, do it.

The question? The same one I wrote down previously, if in a slightly more gracious and nervous tone. Thankfully, the reaction was different than what I wrote.

Ramsey acknowledged the differences in the shows but said he is not that involved in the production of the shows. In fact, he hates watching episodes of any of his shows (this was an answer to a question from Severson). He said doing the voice overs for Kitchen Nightmares was something he hated doing. But, he acknowledged the difference between BBC documentary style television production and American (or Fox) style production. He agreed, there was a gap and that they were trying to bring it together.

It's difficult for me to recollect exactly what he said since by this point all the blood had drained from my brain and it was all I could do to nod and keep myself upright. I did have my Casio P&S recording but somehow it fucked up. I'm trying to find some way to get a copy of the Q&A since the Times was recording it.

Afterwards, there was a wine tasting and book signing. And Ramsey applied the same energy he seems to apply to all aspects of his work. He was amiable and friendly, asking what people did and whether they cooked. It wasn't, here's your scrawled signature, now piss off. He stood for pictures and thanked everyone.

And yes, I got a picture. An awful picture really. Somehow, I didn't think to turn and look at the camera. Fool.

But I did talk to Ramsey for a few seconds and shake his hand. Now, I don't normally go for the whole celebrity worship and get excited about meeting someone. But I dunno, I guess I can kinda get it. I never would have thought my path would intersect with Gordon Ramseys. I don't think that connection has really hit in my brain yet.

And since Ramsey called bloggers a bunch of fuckers, I figure that's enough of this post.

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