With the tip off of the first final 4 game today, the need to post these pics before they become totally outdated became urgent. For the most part they are of the first round and the pre-game of the first round.

On the tip off day of the NCAA Tournament Colin Cowherd had an event @ Clyde's which was basically a real life beer commercial! We heard about the event on his ESPN Radio show & decided to attend. We were starving as we didn't eat breakfast, but low and behold there was free bagels and danishes. Being the college sports fans we were we did need to kick back some adult beverages before the dry NCAA event. When we went to the bar to get something to drink, there was only one selection, Heineken and it was FREE!!! After listening to Colin who in a weird way reminded me of (e:austin) the staff brought out more free food this time descent finger food such chicken wings, ceasar salad and turkey wraps. Oh, and my buddy from college got to look at some Heineken girls as well. The only thing that would have made it a better experience would have been if they were wearing bikini's! Needless to say we hit the jackpot before tip off ;-)

Anyway here are just random pics of the Verizon Center and the surrounding areas. The other pics are from Maryland off of I-70 before the US 15/I-99 split.


















This one was taken from the Waffle House Parking Lot in Frederick MD. I just was stunned by the fake turn of the 20th century lighting. Serioulsy, there is a reason why we have florescent lighting now, it's because it works better! Why does every new/gentrified area need to play the "old fashioned" lighting card?

A couple of weeks ago I ended up going on a mini vacation that was highlighted by attendance at the 1st & 2nd Round of the NCAA Tournament. With the conclusion coming this weekend I just felt the need to expedite the process of posting. Given the fact that I've been working OT I've just been too drained to post anything of value.

So here was my stop on Wheeling WV. I didn't go to the "fringes" of the Ohio Valley like another local Lewiston resident although I was attracted to the Gambling It's a pretty nice place. The only knock against it is that it is run by a local company DNC & if anyone has an idea about their corporate culture, it was the only casino I have been to where they CHARGE YOU FOR WATER & SOFT DRINKS! So needless to say I didn't gamble too much there.

So here are a few pics from around town.











For some reason I'm draw to early 70's Office buildings & Victorian's

GOLD UP $25 an Ounce in Overnight Trading!

Shit, (e:jim) I didn't realize what was going on today! So basically Bear Stearns just got bought out as a company for less than what their skyscraper is worth!

I am going to have more money come 9:30am than I had when I left work on Friday & I didn't even get paid. I didn't even work or get paid! How often does that happen?

For some reason I think that the markets will not go back to the 90's (Below 10,000) just yet but they are going to test it right now.

All of this rate cutting is actually hurting everyone IMHO. Eventually we are going to have to have a currency that is worth something. Every time Ben cuts rates the dollar gets hammered & Oil & Gas skyrocket, since they are priced in DOLLARS. Meaning the oil producing countries want more of those less worth dollars for the black gold they are pumping into our veins.

Eventually we are going to have to raise rates to bring some kind of price stability. We can't be printing up money & loaning out like Zimbabwe. If printing money turned around economies they would be ahead of Germany, Japan and Russia. We are going to see the "flight to quality" with treasuries going to less than 1% and at that point you will be PAYING THE BANK TO HOLD YOUR MONEY! Just think about it if you have a money market account the fees to the bank will be more than the interest you will be earning!!!

This is either going to end up with the ultimate capitalist scenario where the losers or the pigs get slaughtered and the winners pick up everything like J.P. Morgan, "On Pennies on the Dollar!" or we just say, "F* it!"& Nationalize everything.

We are all getting hit by the Chinese Curse, we are living in interesting times.





Coming to America Soon...

So on my day off today all I really accomplished was just a beer scouting mission. After picking doing some light shopping at the Galleria I ended up checking out the Willowbrook Beverage Center. I was pleasantly surprised. What blew me away was the fact that it is the first place in this area that carried ALL the POLISH BEERS that I have first hand knowledge to exist!!!No more driving over to Canada to pick up a sixer of Żywiec, Okocim or Tyskie. The other aspect of the place that blew me away was that they stocked 6 packs of Stroh's in bottled!!! This has to be the first time in a very long time in which I seen those somewhere. To me finding good old man beer is more of an event that stumbling across some gimmicky overstimulating microbrew.

So on that train of though I then paid a visit to the Village Beer Merchant. As (e:jason) & (e:josh) have said in earlier posts, I do give a 2 thumbs up on the place. As my personal taste goes I will probably not drink 90% of the items that they have in stock. I only say that because there is a soft spot in my heart for India Pale Ale and they do have a ton of it. It's just that most of the other selections just aren't my thing. I don't need to pay $12 for a 6 pack of something with a quirky name that is dark and pours like syrup, just to show my friends that, "I know beer." It was funny because when I was in the store there was a guy that was almost a douchebag with some kind of obnoxious girlfriend giving their $.02 cents on everything in stock. The funniest was that they were "going to buy every last bottle" of something called Arrogant Ale!!! I shit you not & laughing about it.

What is going to get me back there is the stocking of Czechvar, OK that's what they call it in this country, but if it was back in Eastern Europe it's really Budweiser Budvar



I will gladly pay $40 for a case of this stuff. I remember the last time I went over to Poland and had this stuff for the first time it basically took me to another place in a very good way. So thank you Village Beer Merchant for bringing me the O.G. Budweiser from the Old Country "Source." I just find it ironic that AB actually imports & distributes it for their distant relatives even though they are still in that decades long copyright dispute.

Other than that I am actually happy that I can pick up some Boar's Head lunch meat for my lunches. It was kind of funny when the guy behind the Deli asked me if I ever had the Boar's Head Liverwurst. I smiled and said, "Yes, It was my favorite when I would go down to Florida." So in an odd way I may go there for the deli meats first & then the beer!

I saw this last night when I was wine shopping, this must be shared with everyone. My first thought was, "Are you Freaking Serious! Who buys this?"



**********

The other day I was browsing in the beer isle and realized that half of the selection is the more expensive, "micro brews" well at least some of them are I suppose. It is just kind of ironic that in an economically depressed area the beer selection if tilted towards the more expensive fare while the more economic brands are getting harder and harder to find. It it wasn't for the Pabst Blue Ribbon revival there wouldn't be any good value beer around. My point is the way the economy is going in regards to lower purchasing power and stagflation I just can't see people in the future especially in this are paying $12 a 6 pack for Pete's Wicked Hype.



How long do you think it will be before everyone can only afford the "cheap stuff?"

I got an email from a friend of mine today that basically declared that we are now back in the "Jimmy Carter" Dimension all except for the double-digit interest rates. Just think about the clothes you see in the malls, the brown, orange and yellow metro rail colors. The only thing left is for people in this area to go back to drinking Genny.

*****

Speaking of the economy. All I can say is that although I have been listening to Coast to Coast Am for about a decade and there are usually a ton of crackpots that are guests, that show the other night really scared the shit out of me. It's just that usually those guys would make some dire prediction for say 2012 the Mayan Calender end time thing. It is far enough out where you don't get too crazy. It's when those guys make predictions near term and HIT with the accuracy you take notice. So basically I have no choice but to play the economic endgame strategy with my portfolio and try to benefit from the economy going to hell in a shopping cart. All I can say is it's going to be Precious Metals and S&P 500 Put options for me this year

YOU SUCK,

I just watch a half of mid-major college basketball between Canisus and Niagara in blocks, blips, and blurs; ALL WITH NO SOUND.

It took you guys AN HOUR TO FIX IT!!! When you do you just have some technical sattelite thing on a top banner.

Granted, it's Mid-Major College basketball. OK It's the Piss-Poor Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. It's been my wish for more than a decade that my Purple Eagles could break out of this piece of shit conference, but come one show some freaking respect. I know you're a UHF station, but the problem was with you guys & not my Directv service. Everything else was working fine. Heck, when I had to flip to Speed to watch the Las Vegas pre-race show or even cheesier, the movie "The Break-up" with Jennifer Aniston & Vince Vaughn the came in crystal clear.

Basically bottom line if you can't broadcast a local sporting event in a descent way, please don't even try. Also, F U Rigas family for going under & taking down the Empire Sports Network. Buffalo sports just hasn't been the same since we lost our Regional Sports Network.

ARG!!!

If this investment group gets the price they're asking for I'll laugh so hard

No wonder why the only new buildings that they're building on that street are Banks ;-)

Here I thought the economy was headed for oblivion.

After being up early to go to Oakville to be a sponsor for a confimation I just came home & crashed hard for about 6 hours. After waking up around 10:30 I had a text message from my CL friend asking to "save" her because she was ropped into going out to Chippewa from some of her friends. She said she was @ Brinks and I ended up joining her. I actually can deal with that place, but to be honest I'm really just trying to "ghost hunt" the real spirit of the place. I vaguely remember the joint as a legendary "old man bar."


But the owners I think the same people that own Coulter Bay decided to gentrify the place as every other owner did on Chippewa & turn it into Brinks.

Well all I can say is that from what I remember from the way the place was like when Chippewa first started to form into the place that it is today, their business is kind of the same. The cheesy music & the sparse crowds as the night wears on. Sprucing the place up I don't think paid off, IMHO. The location is still the same, Chippewa famous for drunken frat boys & "tiarra " wanna be Paris & Britney girls spending their Daddy's Money looking to hook up with some "badass."

Here is some visual evidence that the investment just didn't pan out.





I know they serve food here, but I just don't think I would spend the money to eat when the bathrooms look like that, as one old rule says. All I can say is I must be getting old because I just can't stand the people on the Chip Strip.

On a unrelated note I noticed that "Big Shots" is dark. I wonder when happened to that place? From my old job I knew the owner & he actually was a really nice guy. Then again I knew him from my old job & that opens up another can of worms...:-/

All I can say is YAH Federal, BOO NY State Dept of Taxation & Finance....

I'm getting back a really nice chunk of change from Uncle Sam & only getting back a $100 from NY. This is just another reason for myself that if I am ever to gt ahead with my life I must leave this area.

This is what PISSES ME OFF. In New York State there is no Lifelong Learning Educational Credit for Graduate Students :-( So they're not reflecting the Federal Tax code when it comes to income taxes. They're just trying to squeeze some extra out of you. I remember I would get screwed when I used to work in Canada. You would get back the Foreign Tax Credit/Deduction on your federal, but when it comes to NY State you get NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING when it comes to that part of the tax code. New York State absolutely Sucks when it comes to State Income Tax. We can always talk of trying to make this region better, but at the end of the day Western New York will always be handicapped due to being in NEW YORK State. Case in point if they ever included the Foreign Tax Credit/Deduction just think of how much that would boost Real Estate Prices in this area. You could lure more of the Half American/Half Canadian households to live over here & commute to Southern Ontario. Even more so than the ones that are doing it now & building like crazy in Lewiston.

Now I can't complain since I'm just grateful that I don't owe NY. I know so many people that claim Single 0 and still write a check every April to Albany.

This is the only time where I am actually praising George W. Bush for cutting those Capital Gains for the small people like myself. It's just amazing what that will do for you bottom line if you buy & sell a few shares were and there through the year. I know that in the future the Capital Gaines tax cut is going to be toast, but I just hope that they keep the lowered rate for people like myself that are not living off of the small bit of Schedule D income that we get & don't want to actively trade their IRA Account.

It's finally here. The signal that spring will come eventually, the start of the NASCAR Season. Really it started last weekend when I actually fell asleep to the Rolex 24 hour race @ Daytona. I had a small ego boost when Mazda won the GT division with their RX-8.

So I'm going to watch the race this afternoon. With the freeview of Hotpass I can watch an isolation cam of Stewart, Earnhardt Jr, Gordon & Harvick.

I've secretely been into racing for about 10 years now. I started out just watching just the "open wheel" cars such as Indy/Champ cars and Formula One. Then for some reason I just got hooked on the popular trend. Having all the good open wheel drivers go over the Nascar helped as well. Especially my driver Tony Stewart who started off in the IRL and has not looked back since. It is kind of scary that this year's Daytona 500 is going to have more former Indy 500 winners starting than the Actually Indy 500 will in May. It just shows how the landscape has changed.

So Yea, that's what I'm going to be doing for the next few hours, watching 43 cars make left hand turns all afternoon...It is the biggest Spectator sport hands down & actually you can make the case that it bumped hockey out of it's place in the "4 Major Pro Sports" just on TV Revenue alone. So Yea I have been sucked in to the phenomena that is NASCAR. Although I did like it back in the day when the sponsors were extremely potent cigarettes [Winston] & low value beer [Busch]; instead of Cellular Phones [Sprint/Nextel] and Insurance[Nationwide]

The other story line is the arrival of Toyota as a competitive
manufacturer. Last year they were almost kicked out for "cheating" but to be honest it was more of a xenophobic thing than anything else & them not knowing the rules. Now Toyota won the Camping World 300 yesterday when Tony Stewart led from Pole to Finish. I just find it ironic as GM tries to shed the last vestiges of the ultimate blue collar job with it's latest buy out package to close the gap on one of the biggest corporate losses last quarter. While at the same time they are losing ground not only in market share in the USA, but the one showcase for it's products where Chevys once dominated.

In all Go #20 in your Joe Gibbs Toyota!!!