... is that an african name?

recently, i was telling a friend about a new neighbor that's moved in. she's really tall with long hair, a nice figure, flipper-like feet and the hands of a meat packer. i also shared that her name is Nay Nay Boo. my friend inquired as to the origin of the name and wondered if it was twi, ga or one of the other ghanaian languages. it was then that i informed her that the name is in fact strongly rooted in the english language and is commonly translated as "transsexual prostitute."

feeling poor?

global rich list

will help you put your feelings in perspective.

things didn't look so bad when i found out that my salary puts me in the top 0.66% globally. now the challenge is to spend smarter ...

the south of jetty house homos

the house band. every good bar has one. and i'm happy to report that my beach, north shores south of jetty, has our own version of the house band - the house homos.

let me paint the picture - north shores, the best strip of sand south of provincetown, is divided in half - literally. a rock jetty divides north and south and gay boys and lesbians. boys to the north and girls to the south (the boys also get the people with dogs and we get the stray heterosexual family here and there.) i don't believe there's any official rule on the books, but it plays out that way weekend after weekend and year after year. until now ...

as of this year, south of jetty is sponsoring the house homos - a fabulous look-alike couple from philadelphia. they know all the old girls and are the life of the party. want to know what happened last night at the only lesbian bar - the house homos know. who's the best contractor in rehoboth -ask the house homos. where should i go for dinner - oh, house homos!

the housing crisis - who's not getting blamed

my partner and i have been talking recently about the housing crisis and, if groups must be blamed, who's deserving of the blame. clearly, no one factor led to the bubble bursting - lenders flowed money like water gushing from an open spigot, builders constructed more new housing on spec than could ever be purchased, individuals borrowed more money than they could ever pay back, and the government regulators sat back and watched it all happen.

however, one key piece of the equation that is rarely mentioned - the realtors. unscrupulous realtors preyed on uninformed, or just plain stupid, consumers. case in point - we bought our house at the tail end of the housing boom. with good credit scores and a solid employment history, we were easily approved and given the opportunity to borrow more money than we were capable of paying back. but, we were informed consumers, knew our limits, and signed on for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage that was within our budget. while noble, and certainly the correct decision, it severely limited our housing options ... and the number of realtors that were willing to work with us. we were clear on what we wanted (a house - row house was fine - in the city, with a yard) and how much we were willing and able to spend, but that did not stop one realtor from telling us that we just weren't looking at the "right" mortgage. she informed us that she could get us into a $750,000 house (the amount for which we had been approved) with manageable monthly payments. what she didn't mention was that we would have multiple mortgages, each with a varying rate, and each with payments that would balloon after the initial low introductory rate. simply put, our manageable mortgage payment would last for a limited amount of time and then we would be faced with a payment that we could not afford - stop me if you've heard this story before ...

all that got me to thinking, what are those realtors doing to keep their profession out of the mix, out of the media. i haven't been able to deconstruct it all quite yet, but i'm thinking advertising dollars and political contributions have something to with it. opensecrets.org shows that the national association of realtors has donated in excess of $32 million dollars in the past 18 years to a variety of candidates and political parties. i realize that $32 million may not be that much, but it would be interesting to research the exact recipients of those dollars. something tells me there are a few key committee chairpersons in that group. it would also be interesting to see how much this group spends annually on advertising on television and in newspapers - surely in excess of $32 million. i think i might consider keeping my journalist mouth shut if a potential investigative target was contributing to my salary.

those are my initial thoughts and now i'm hoping that kristin, with her highly analytical and far superior mind, will pick up the baton and run with the rest of the thought in one of her blog posts on the center of concern website.

the drama continues

today was all about ...

breaking the "no work" rule - third verse

i know i've vowed not to talk about work, but this is just too good ...

one of the perks of my new job is a cube by the windows (i'm taking joy in the small things) and with a new work space comes new neighbors. all of my neighbors are just fine. it's just that some, a group of contractors with whom i share a wall, seem to be living a continuous soap opera. i like to call it -

the days of their bold and restless one life to live that really needs a guiding light or they're looking at a stay in the general hospital for the desperate housewives

daily, i hear stories of missed mortgage payments, problem bosses, problem partners and general malaise. i even get to hear the sounds of anonymous chomping and smacking as one person chews with their mouth open from the time they arrive until the time they leave. but today took the prize. i wasn't privy to the question on the other end of the phone line. all i heard was -

the feet are fine. it's just the rash and asthma ...

defying logic

john mccain's newest add absolutely defies logic. see if you can make the connection -

obama

higher taxes

more government spending

"so fewer american jobs"

WHAT? the sad part is that there's a large portion of our society sitting back and thinking "right on john! way to make sense of it all!"

unbelievable

beijing 2008 - women? what women?

women the way we like them - as cheerleaders in skimpy outfits and big come-hither smiles or with hot bodies and nice asses ...

not sure if you caught the opening ceremonies, but if you did you would have noticed, among the spectacular pageantry and cinematic triumph, a dearth of female participants. that was until the end, when 2008 scantily clad, highly made-up chinese women cheerleaders greeted the olympians. honestly, was there nothing else the organizers could come up with?

but, the objectification of women did not stop there. check out the one photo of chinese beach volleyball player tian jia from the official nbc site. or president bush seemingly admiring the gluts of misty may. these are world class athletes and we should be celebrating the fact that they kick ass and not their actual asses.

(the link will take you to the day 1 gallery. it won't be difficult to find the offending photos.)

barbara's bringing it down in beijing

last seen at her sister's wedding, barbara "b-list" bush hits the olympics with another b-lister bush - marvin bush ... i wonder if they're laughing because the jumbo-tron caught marvin picking his nose?

so maybe i should have watched the whole season

the short guy won

reality show finale whore

it's true. i'm one of those people that eschews the reality show genre ... until it comes the finale. you get all of the benefits of the entire season without wasting one hour a week rotting your brain. for example, for just tonight i'm the completely-addicted- biggest-fan of "so you think you can dance" (or sytycd since i'm in the know). now the one draw back of drive-by reality show viewing is that i don't know any one's name, but i'm rooting for the tall guy.