Book Club

I don't actually have one of these. I want to though! Actually, maybe not. I'm not sure that I could convince my friends that reading stuff like End The Fed and The Black Swan would be in their best interest. It might not be anyway. End The Fed was terribly disappointing.

I mostly just want to be in a book club in order to have an excuse to have brunch once a month. I love brunch. There's not much better than starting your day with bailey's & coffee, mimosas, bacon, and eggs. In that order.

So, until I get around to starting a brunch/book/mimosa drinking club, I'll add a feature to my blog about books I'm reading or have read. And then people can talk about books they are reading. So, it will be like a book club on the interweb, which leaves more time for brunch in real life.

Books I've read recently:

The Help : Good stuff--highly recommend. Fiction. Told from the perspective of African-American maids in Jackson, Mississippi during the Civil Rights Era.

The Liar's Club: Really, really good. Even though it was a short book, it took me a long time to get through. The book is a memoir of a woman who grew up in East Texas during the 60s. Mom was a crazy alcoholic. Literally crazy--she set the house on fire. Dad drank too much too. Anyway, the book was riveting in its awfulness.

End the Fed: Ron Paul, I'm disappointed in you. You can't write a book called "End the Fed" without coming up with a decent plan for how to unwind it. Lovely points on why it shouldn't exist -- all of which I could've read on my own by googling "gold standard."

Catcher in the Rye: I read this during the Oktoberfest/Central European adventures of 2010. A good classic and fun read. Regretfully, I had to abandon it in a hostel in Fussen, Germany in order to make room for my Dirndl.

A Week in December. I picked this up in the Heathrow airport with the last of my pounds. Tells the stories of roughly 15 different people in London. It jumps around between them and gradually you see how they are all inter-related. It is suspenseful, because one of the guys is a terrorist and another one is orchestrating the collapse of the world's banking system.

Little Bee. Couldn't put it down. Despite the girly appearance of the cover, I would recommend it to anyone.

Christmas Cookies

Yesterday, I got together with some college girlfriends to decorate Christmas Cookies. My cookies were pretty special. In a "oh, your 3 year old must have had fun making cookies" sort of way. I actually do TRY to decorate cookies nicely. It just never works out. I have all these ideas in my head about cute cookies, but sometimes that doesn't translate through into the frosting and sprinkles.

This is one of my cookies mixed in with all the cute cookies made by my talented friends.



















This me trying to be talented.



















The grande finale and my best cookie creation to date...something made me think I could portray the nativity onto a cookie. (The pink jelly blob is an angel, and yes, our Lord and Savior is represented by a gingerbread man sprinkle.)


















I came across last year's cookies while thumbing through my iphone photo album. Olympic fever was running high. Please note that I wrote "USA" on a maple leaf. In yo FACE, Canada.

Flaming Patriot

Things like this are the reason I created this blog. The thought of G-Dub blazing across unincorporated Virginia countryside with the Stars and Stripes riding shotgun....sigh. I can only wish that I thought of something so hilarious. Looks like it is time to trade in my Mazda3 Zoom-Zoom for something that can strike real fear into the hearts of the British.

Inside Job

Yesterday, I saw a documentary in the theatre. I can't think of a more nerdy thing to do, besides blogging about documentaries. It's not even like I saw a trendy documentary about global warming or fast food. I saw one about the financial services industry.

What's worse is that I didn't actually KNOW I was going to see a documentary. I suggested going to see Love and Other Drugs. My friend said that sounded dumb and suggested going to see Inside Job. I didn't know anything about that movie, so I did a little online research. After a very brief IMDB review, I saw that Matt Damon was in the movie. Sure, I'll see a movie with Matt Damon in it. About 15 minutes into the movie, I realized that the movie was not a dramatic re-enactment of the financial crisis. Matt Damon was the NARRATOR. FTL.

Seriously though, it was actually a good film. I thought it did a good job drilling down to who the major players in the financial crisis were, and it really flushed out exactly how intertwined Wall Street, Washington, and the academic community are. That was probably the most interesting part. I didn't really realize the extent to which people out of Ivy League schools write economic textbooks that educate the world, sit on the boards of large financial firms AND sit on the president's economic councils. It is kind of scary when you really start to think about it.

The film did a good job describing how the CDO, credit default swaps, and derivatives markets work, but I think they really missed the impact of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Those entities are market makers just like all the private investment banks, but for some reason the film didn't bring that out.

Long story short, Matt sounded great. I'd recommend the film.

Also, check out my friend's new blog. She's going to be volunteering in India soon and needs some followers. For background, you can also see my older post on highest and best use.