life hereafter

random musings from a wannabe economist

Honestly, I never really believed in the concept of police quotas where towards the end of the month, if the revenue numbers expected by the municipaliy were not looking good the police would be on the prowl and more likely to give a ticket for traffic violations.

That was, until today.

As I was heading down Ridge Ave and onto Ridge Pike, a street where I have never seen a patrol car during the day, on January 31st I see five. Five patrol cars on a three mile stretch of road. Now, some of you might be like, well perhaps something happened. No, nothing happened. I watched as these patrol cars from Whitemarsh Township would turn around once they reached the Philly boarder and head in the other direction and do the same thing once they go to the other end of the town. I noticed this as I was up and down the road a few times this afternoon.The speed limit is a paltry 35mpg which just begs people to speed on this critical piece of infrastructure.

Guess Whitemarh Township isn’t going to hit its numbers this quarter…

In the past two weeks I have managed to find myself at a hibachi restaurant in two different states. Somewhere in the course of both of those dinners I became addicted to yum yum sauce aka shrimp or white sauce. The stuff is amazing. It is a dipping sauce that pretty much works for everything, including being poured all over your fried rice. I am not afraid to admit that I demanded someone take me to hibachi for dinner tonight because I had a craving.

That lead to me scouring the intertubs for a recipe, and I think I did one better. I stumbled upon this absolutely awful website which just happens to sell a kit to make your own! Honestly, its just overpriced seasoning but hey, it saves time and looks delicious. I placed my order today

I also found what looks like a decent recipe which at least explains where all the delicious flavors come into play:

1-1/4 cup mayonnaise (full fat, none of that “light” or fat free crap)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
dash cayenne pepper

Using a whisk, blend all ingredients together until well mixed and the sauce is smooth. Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to blend. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Mmmmm…

I just got a 1099-INT statement from Chase (formerly Washington Mutual) showing the interest my online CD accounts earned in 2008.

Now, I opened these accounts in October of 2008 with a 12 month maturity. Which means, while my account is in-fact accruing interest, I won’t be able to touch that money until October of 2009. Which to me means that it isn’t income yet. This is further evidenced by the fact that if I were to close the accounts I would lose all accrued interest and pay fees.

So. My question is why the hell did they send me a 1099? I am not going to report this as income on my 2008 return.

After using Project Playlist to find music for the past year I finally decided to sign up for an account so I could use the playlist feature. Imagine my surprise when I am told that my email address already has an account on this site.

Figuring that I had signed up a long time ago and just forgot I tried logging in and cycling through my standard usernames and passwords. After a few attempts I just clicked the ‘forgot my username and password’ link. A moment later I get an email saying that my username was ‘Cris 99′ and my password had been reset.

Hmm… I can honestly say that I have never in my life, nor will I ever in my life assign myself a username of ‘Cris 99′. After logging into the site with my new credentials I noticed that there were already a number of… uh… creative playlists created as well as a number of people of which I was ‘friends’.

Fantastic. Apparently someone created an account on this site and decided (or mistakenly) used my email address. Oh well, unfortunately for them the password has been reset and they have no way of regaining access to the account. I decided to clear out the playlists and remove all the ‘friends’. Unfortuantely, I’m stuck with the Cris 99 username…

Don’t worry, I made sure to reset my email password as well, just in case!

Sometimes I feel like I have a really expensive storage unit. Due to traveling for work, and the fact that for the next few weekends I am going to be out of town, I realized that I won’t be in my apartment for a month. All that means is that I am paying for a really expensive storage unit!

Imagine my surprise as I am getting ready for work this morning and just as I am about to leave the hotel I check one last time in the mirror and I notice that my shirt is ripping from my elbow to my wrist. WTF!

How does that even happen?

Unfortunately, I did not bring a spare shirt and will be “recycling” this week.