McBizzle’s Bizznass!

So this weather today was unbearable… just too darn cold. On the other hand, the skiing this weekend at Jay Peak was unreal. The base of fresh snow was solid, the glades were grooving, and the terrain was ripping. Kristian and I embarked on quite a journey with the Boston Ski and Sports Club… needless to say, the nine hours spent on the bus was worth the five and a half hours of skiing that we did. The photo below is of Kristian after she managed an amazing wipe-out down the ice wall pictured behind her.

As a child, I gorged myself on delicious homemade Danish ice cream from Farfar’s. Mom and Dad implemented a one cone a day rule for me and my brother. It was my Achille’s Heal. Physically moving away from the source tempered my cravings a bit while I was in college, which I guess is a good thing, given the nutritional qualities of ice cream. (Though there was the day during finals sophomore year when Ben & Jerry’s and Baskin Robbins had free scoop day the same day and I ate somewhere in the neighborhood of five free cones!) I digress. Only recently have I discovered a similar love: hot mochas!

It is curious to think that such qualitatively different stimuli could invoke the same satisfying sensation. When I think about it, both foods have a correlate to my body temperature and thus my mood. Although I truly love the taste of coffee and hot chocolate and the creamy goodness of ice cream, the gem of each is the calming effect on my mood. I crave coffee in the early morning hours on a cold day or during class on a winter afternoon. Coffee warms my soul, while ice cream cools me off when I am a sizzling ball of stress.

Many people would argue that coffee is satisfying to me because of the drug caffeine. I do not agree with this because cold beverages containing caffeine in the same quantities do not evoke the same calmness in me, and I neither like nor dislike them categorically. I’ll admit that the stimulant in coffee makes me focus intensely on the task at hand, and I like that a lot. I think ice cream allows me to drift from focus, which is also nice sometimes.

On another note, I kind of think that Guinness tastes like lattes and ice cream. In jest, I refer to Guinness as the “latte of beer”. Has anyone else noticed this likeness? Also interesting to me is the fact that Guinness contains only about 125 calories per pint glass. This is a mere fraction of the caloric content of either a mocha or an ice cream. How does that work?

Wednesday morning I made my way West for my annual Colorado skiing pilgrimage with Ryan. It seems as though all the planets aligned this year, as I was able to book a day of skiing with Dad while he was on business and I spent some quality time with Kris while she is in Denver for law school, in addition to an amazing skiing weekend at Copper with Ryan, Sarah, and Dave.

Thursday afternoon I enjoyed my first Chipotle dining experience. This was especially interesting since Ryan works there. The burritos at Chipotle were made quickly with fresh, high-quality ingredients and far-surpassed Qdoba. The lunch was an excellent first meeting with Kris, Ryan, Sarah, Steve, and Morgan.

Kris and I toured the Denver Art Museum that afternoon, where we saw some wonderful Western American Art and some funky modern art. I especially enjoy these photos of us in front of a horse sculpture.

Friday morning I headed up I-70 W to Copper Mountain Ski Resort with Dad and his coworkers Mike and Eric. The drive was a bit treacherous, and Loveland Pass was even closed. In fact, throughout the entire week in Colorado several backcountry skiers died because there were so many avalanches! Fortunately for us, the resorts were blasting canons to ensure skier and rider safety. Here is a picture of me and Dad after lunch on the deck at Jack’s.

What can I say about the snow, except that it was plentiful, powder, and relentlessly burning my quads! Once I got my skis waxed and the edges sharpened, I felt as though I was flying because I was skiing so fast!

Back in Denver, Ryan and Sarah played with Sarah’s adorable puppy Copper. He is so sweet and we even have the same hair color! This morning I am hanging out at a cool Denver bookstore called The Tattered Cover before meeting up with Kris at DU and the rest of the gang for dinner before heading home. I do not think That I could have asked for a better trip!

Author: Tom Brokaw

Category: Non-Fiction

Boom! Voices of the Sixties is a compelling compilation of personal reflections on a decade remembered for countercultural collisions, civil rights advances, and sometimes setbacks. Brokaw weaves together a series of interviews with prominent US figures that made lasting contributions to this nation beginning in the 1960s and continuing through the present. Brokaw’s breadth of experience and personal relationships developed through myriad journalistic endeavors characterize this piece of work as truly unique (and in my opinion very special). Though the structure and organization is similar to Tim Russert’s Wisdom of Our Fathers, Brokaw focuses more broadly on widely influential figures, setting this book apart.
I first read The Greatest Generation when it was published ten or so years ago and I was very impressed with Brokaw’s ability to narrate US history from my grandparents’ generation, but which instruction had been rushed into a US history curriculum in the last weeks of school before an Advanced Placement examination. Like his first book, Boom! relies on a series of vignettes and individual personal accounts from people representing many relevant facets of the Sixties, levels of notoriety, and backgrounds. Stylistically, I feel that this adds a more complete picture and narrative dimension to the content that is void in a traditional representation of a non-fiction account of a period in history.
Brokaw defined the 1960s as beginning with the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 and ending with the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s. These traumatic political events serve as bookends for a decade remembered for major advances in civil rights, the rise of feminist ideology, a new interest in environmentalism, landing on the moon, violence and protests at political and student rallies, and the birth of rock and roll and the drug culture.
As I read Boom!, I found myself googling “Yippie” and “Gloria Steinem”. To read these myriad stories all at once, I found myself being able to make connections with things I had learned in other books, from professors, and from my own parents and grandparents. Furthermore, I frequently tend to agree with Tom Brokaw’s viewpoints (even when he is not being an objective journalist). Though we typically encounter Brokaw on television, he writes just like he talks, which is poignantly and thoughtfully.
I particularly enjoyed the theme of how 1968 and 2008 are similar, and what type of legacy 1968 has left in today’s world. Many of the people that Brokaw interviewed commented that the war in Iraq reminds them of the Vietnam War more now than ever, even if they initially supported the attacks in Iraq. The difference that many of these Sixties experts underscore is that today’s armed forces do not have a draft and therefore an elite class in this nation is not outraged. (If they are outraged, they seem to do nothing to change the status quo). Many of the most outspoken activists of the 1960s admit that they are disappointed not only in today’s youth but also those in their own cohort. I think this is an interesting idea, but it is clearly easier to propose the return of the draft when one is in his late fifties than if she is 25 like me. I cannot say I would support a draft at this time.
Do not misunderstand the tone of the book; rather, it was a balanced presentation of those things that made the Sixties incredibly stimulating and creative, and also those things that tore at the hearts of Americans at that time and in the future. Aside from all of the events of the Sixties that one immediately thinks of, I learned several things. For example, did you know that paperback books were not widely popularized until the mid-Sixties? Also, did you know that the average American only spends $70 per year on books today? (Maybe I read more than the average American, but I think I probably spend closer to $800 per year on books.)
If not for any other reason, I recommend Boom! because of the saliency reflected in the 2008 Presidential Election. Honestly, by 2010 no one is going to care what Tom Brokaw said two years before, but right now it works for me! Brokaw is able to summarize profiles of many of the key political players and what things they have to offer. Furthermore, Brokaw analyzed the decline of the Democratic Party in the 1960s and the rise of the GOP and it’s ability to exploit the excesses of a countercultural movement that occurred under the governance of a Democratic electorate. Some of the liberals Brokaw interviewed point out that the Republican Party is now in the position that Lyndon B. Johnson was in during 1968, the year that he decided not to run for a second term.
With the 2008 Presidential Campaign well underway, I am excited by the prospect that a democrat may be elected once again. Many of my friends are very much pro-Obama. While I think that Obama may be a good choice, I think he is one election too early in terms of experience. Moreover, I feel that Mrs. Clinton has a great deal of talent and leadership to offer the United States. I am very pleased that Mrs. Clinton won New Hampshire and wish her the best for this election and implementing policies that will tackle domestic concerns more adequately, including the war on poverty, healthcare reform, and investment in education on many levels. (Plus, Bill Clinton has never been better in my book than now. It would be great to see him back in the Oval Office…. entertaining, ha).

The McBains posed like tourists in front of Plymouth Harbor Sunday afternoon for a family photo following a celebratory luncheon at the East Bay Grill for Bill and Jane’s birthdays. You’ll notice that we are all clearly laughing. (It was not a funny joke or just good humor… naturally we could not stop laughing inappropriately at the woman taking our picture because we asked her to take our picture, not knowing that she was unable to walk. Therefore, she braced herself against her car and insisted on taking the picture and telling us how much pain she was experiencing.) If you do not think that is funny, you are probably not in my family.

The Boston Globe recently covered a Harvard University announcement indicating that they are considering using some of their endowment to provide education for students that are not from the cookie-cutter mold of privilege and academic achievement, but who still have great promise with a little investment. The proposal would provide education and support (as well as living expenses) for single parents with less than perfect SAT scores, thus allowing them to gain meaningful employment and the privileges an ivy league education affords. Harvard is also encouraging other colleges and universities with well-invested endowments to consider such a program. As the article indicates, it is easy to provide education for a student who scores a perfect SAT, while the real challenge is providing it to students who need extra support. I definitely support this affirmative action approach.

Kim and I danced the night away at Phoenix Landing. I must admit that Friday nights there are characterized by the right blend of classic 80’s hits and pop. Yay for girls just wanting to have fun!

This morning I called my primary care physician to ask for advice on the best treatment approaches for the head cold that I have battled for the past week. The nurse on call recommended Advil Cold & Sinus or Sudafed as top choices. Dutifully, I went to CVS to procure said cold medicine, only to find a card on the shelf that directed me to an adult behind the counter.

I briefly recalled that there were some issues in Texas last spring that involved teen drug use as a result of “cheese heroin” that was produced from products containing pseudoephedrine. As you might have guessed, I am all for keeping kids off drugs; yet, I found the following tactic intrusive and annoying. At first, I figured that this must be some control so that meth labs do not steal ingredients. The cashier asked me whether I would prefer 24 or 40 caplets, but I could not hold the box prior to purchase. I do not know about you, but I like to read the box, including the ingredients and the dosage and directions before purchasing medicine. This was slightly annoying, but I decided on the 40 caplets because it was a better per unit value.

The cashier proceeded to ring me through and asked for my driver’s license. For whatever reason my license would not scan and had to be entered manually by a manager. I wondered if I would have been denied my cold medicine if the manager had been unavailable. Also, what do non-driving citizens do when they need to purchase cold medicine? Is it fair that only citizens with driver’s licenses be able to buy medicine? Is this also presuming that it is not appropriate for a 16 year-old to buy cold medicine since MA residents are ineligible for driver’s licenses before age 16? Does this also mean that in states like Louisiana where residents may get their licenses at a younger age, that they are eligible to buy cold medicine at a younger age? I find it curious if that is the case, especially in light of the fact that Louisiana has more documented cases of cheese heroin use among teens that many other states (aside from neighboring Texas).

After signing an agreement that the government was monitoring my pseudoephedrine purchases, I left CVS. Driving home, I wondered what type of regulations were in place. According to online sources, senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Jim Talent (R-MO) failed to bring this legislation into effect by any means except by adding it as an anti-meth clause in the Patriot Act. Moreover, this means that Big Brother has limited my pseudoephedrine purchases to one box per day and a maximum of three boxes per month. Presumably, that means that I am not able to buy a box each of Sudafed and Advil Cold & Sinus for my apartment in Boston and my house on the South Shore in the same 30 day period. Does anyone else think that is odd?

Author: Alice Sebold

Category: Fiction

If you like Oprah Books, you will like The Lovely Bones. I rate this book a 4 on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the best book I have ever read. The prose itself was moderately well-crafted and chapters were formatted to include an element of suspense to urge the reader to continue reading. Stylistically in this sense, this novel was reminiscent of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, which I would also rate about a 4.

To summarize the plot in a nutshell, the narrator describes her own brutal murder by one of her neighbors, and she tells the story of her family’s life after the murder as she watches it unfold from heaven. While some of my favorite books and movies are dark, the morbidity of this novel was not quite up to par because events were predictable and disappointing.