i am the fat manatee.

Gotta limit the amount of cat I throw on here, ya know…

I encountered the messy trio of Endy, Che, and Percy again, and as usual, they made my hour at the shelter… well, messy.  If they were kicking fruit loops out of the litter box, I’d say it was adorable, but instead, it’s a whole lot of litter.  They might be silly and goofy, but they know when to take a crap, and it’s as soon as I enter the door.  I swear to you, all three of them must have jumped in the box as soon as they saw me.  Stank up the room just as badly as their much-larger sheltermates.  If I were to guess, I’d say Che lays it down the worst.  He cuddles like a mofo, but you know he probably sneaks in a stink bomb when you’re not looking. 

By the way, Che likes to lay on his back when he’s in anyone’s arms.  It’s entirely ridiculous.  Squints his eyes like a baby and nods off in the process.  Percy is the first out the door when I open it, and then she turns into a puddle of purring goo when I grab her.  Endy, for whatever reason, seems to be twice the size of his sibs.  Yet they all have one thing in common: they’re really goofy looking.  They haven’t past the gangly kitten phase, as one Mr. McLovin did with flying colors.  They’re getting bigger, sure… but it’s a weird look.  I’ll have to get a picture next time. 

By the way, I’ve gotten a bit of crap for talking up the cats-in-pairs thing, but look at these buggers:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/pet/856149447.html
http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/pet/859655868.html
http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/pet/860239602.html

Gotta have someone to chill with when their owners are at work, you know.

Oh, and WHEN SIX YEAR OLDS (OR PROJECT RUNWAY FANS) NAME CATS… one of those guys is named Hot Mess.  Ugh.

There’s something called flashmagazine.com, and it’s not about cameras or a bad Girls Gone Wild clone?

I don’t know why I find these things funny either.

Playboys of Tech, guys!

“heaving cleavage” - Let it be known that fancy descriptions of great boobs will always be a writer’s best friend.  Heaving.  It belongs in italics.

Gaffigan is entirely correct.  Hot Pockets are as acceptable for sleep as Nyquil.  I usually feel like a mess at the end, gripping the side of my bed as I try to forget my terrible decision.  All this makes my latest grocery store decision more confusing:

Hot Pocket Pepperoni Calzone, $1.50.  In the shopping cart you go!

I mean, it is a calzone, right?  I think that means I’ll be okay.

I’ve been rather hard on Congress, for one reason or another.  Either they’re using the platform to blame the other side, wussing out of votes because they might be voted out themselves, or being petty.  But this?

President Bush warned Tuesday that failing to pass a financial rescue plan would bring severe consequences to the U.S. economy. “Congress must act,” he declared in an appeal that John McCain and Barack Obama echoed.

No.  Democrat or Republican, if someone could just tell him to go home for awhile and wait for them to figure out what to do, I would be very thankful.  He has zero clout to make any sort of demands to Congress, and would be better served to just sit in his office and wait for a plan to get to his desk.  It’s just white noise, otherwise.

jeffmiller:

This doesn’t mean that I favor the bailout. I don’t. I admit that absent a bailout, we’re in for a really bad time. But with the bailout, I think we’ll have an even worse situation in the future. I fear that a credit meltdown is the bitter pill we have to swallow if we want to get better. I know this seems callous—to ignore that people will lose jobs and lose homes. But I think it’s far more callous to saddle the future with the sins of the present.

What would I do? No bailout. I’d tear up all the regulations concerning lending and banking—ALL of them—so that new competitors could spring up, helping to fill our credit needs. You know how the government has kept companies like WalMart from opening banks? We’re paying the price for this now. Wouldn’t it have been nice to have a bank with diversified sources of revenue—one that wasn’t solely dependent on lending? One that would have other streams of income to rely upon? We are—don’t you see?—idiots. We protect industries from competition, and then when these industries fail, there’s nothing left to save us.

Okay, I’m being silly to think we could actually learn from our mistakes. I suppose, if there’s going to be a bailout, I’d rather see the government simply buy up all the mortgages in danger of foreclosure, foreclose on the properties, and rent the properties to the current tenants at market prices. If the tenants could pay the rent, they could stay. If they couldn’t, then they’re gone. (If the owner has any equity built up, it would be applied to reduce the rent). Over time, the government could start selling some of these properties, and maybe we’d get some money back if the housing market picks up. I’m not sure whether this kind of plan could save the big financial institutions, but the purchase of these properties would inject cash into their hands. This plan has three nice features: (1) people who bought houses they couldn’t afford don’t get to keep them; (2) these people can still stay in the houses, if they can pay rent; and (3) taxpayers get something tangible—real property—out of the bailout.

Ahhhh, alternatives… this is refreshing!

Speaking of Wall Street vs. Main Street… I’m sick of that phrase.  No more.

All this discussion about the potential of this disaster has had me thinking about the lifestyle choices I’ve made and how to change in the future.  That watch that I had decided on months ago?  Still on my mind, but possibly postponing the purchase.  Then again, at least I would have some physical value from the watch, as opposed to this vague 401k thingy! 

Anyway, I do think about these things… the fact that although I pay an average amount for my place in Hoboken, I could be in Jersey City or West New York, NJ for a much cheaper rent.  Groceries?  I already nailed down sale scavenging, but I’m starting to go generic too.  My biggest focus on excessive spending is the bar tab.  Holy hell, do I get killed sometimes.  I’ll drag my sorry ass home at 4 am and wonder what the hell just happened, and start planning an epic house party, something that everyone would enjoy and the costs would be much better for everyone.  This ends 10 minutes later when my head hits the pillow like a falling rock.  I even brought the idea up to one of the college buddies this weekend!  “How about this?  Hold a party where each person has to bring a six-pack of obscure beer over, host provides some food and maybe more beer.  It’s cheap and everyone has good times!”  “Actually, some guy nearby [suburban Philly] is doing that next week.”  Crap.  I guess I gotta step up.

As long as it takes for them to open their mouths.

Pelosi blames Bush, Republicans have their feelings hurt, partisan bickering continues onward!  And yet, they’re worried about campaign season.  Guys, this IS your campaign.  And so far, you aren’t getting by with a passing grade.

Reminder: there is more to this election season than the Presidency.  Incumbent congressmen tend to have it pretty easy, unless the situation is really crappy.  Keep that in mind…

Let’s hold off on direct comparison for now, but it’s worth looking at how brutal it was during the 1930s.  There are some photographs that I won’t be able to forget from those times, so I’m thankful that it hasn’t gotten that bad yet.

Remember that Sam Adams commercial where those guys go into some place called the House of Beers or something like that, and a model/bartender hands them over an enormous book of beers, only to have the guys say “oh, just a Sam Adams, please”.  The model looks at them like they made the right decision, but they didn’t.  Those guys are fools.  They should have just gone to Houlihan’s or something and open up some space for some real beer fans.

I went to Monk’s Cafe this weekend, one of the 125 places to have a beer before you die.  I generally laugh at the ridiculousness of some of these bucket lists, but at the core, they do provide some good recommendations.  This was the first time that I’ve gone into a bar like this with the intent to sample some of the better brews, and it couldn’t have gone better.

First of all, the place specializes in Belgian beer… a handful of pages full of it.  So you have to try at least one of those.  I forget the name of the one I chose, but to be honest, I probably would have scored with any of them.  Then we went with a Japanese stout, and again… really good.  Combine it with our lunch burgers, which came with fries and a mayo-based garlic dipping sauce (AMAZING), and you have a winner.  If you are a Malty-level beer fan and in Philly for whatever reason, you have to go there.

Section 122. Increase in the Statutory Limit on the Public Debt.

Raises the debt ceiling from $10 trillion to $11.3 trillion.

Well guys, here it is.  Have at it. 

Time’s blog linked to this summary, which may or may not be adequate. 

EDIT: Congressional summary of bailout.

My college roommate found this tumblr, and of course, it led to about 63 cat lady jokes among my old friends.  The above was his description of my page.  As if that’s all I do!  For those who are curious, he found it using the Google Maps tool… apparently, only two people are listed in Hoboken.  Oof.  This led to everyone else demanding the location for my blog, and I refused to mention it. 

This whole experience has been rather bizarre, particularly because of the impact on my social life.  I moved to the area in February, and immediately set up accounts at both Facebook and here, joining in the eventual revelry of our Newyorkness at Fat Cat and building several solid friendships along the way.  Everyone who I’ve talked to about it has had questions, seemingly because there is still an uneasiness about the faceless people on the internet.  Social networking has changed things somewhat, but people still believe that you might run into someone who had a frank talk with Chris Hansen if you do this long enough. 

BTW, it’s still pretty weird that I feel uncomfortable with people who I knew long before I joined this site seeing it.  I’ve given it plenty of thought… seriously, why can’t I let people in my life through this door, yet I have no issue with Joe Schmo from Ohio reading and commenting on this existence?  There is something to be said about having a place to vent or exploring your inner thoughts.  Yet we all find ourselves exposing more of ourselves here than we do in real life.