Triscribe

On the Apprentice, Donald Trump’s right-hand man and general counsel George “Determinator” Ross is a ’53 grad of my law school. What a great, but high pressure GC gig that must be? My DVR failed to record this week’s episode because it recorded the competing Enterprise. Have to say I rather watch the Apprentice this time.

Mega Millions is now up to $222 million. That’s an extra $7 million from what it was when we passed the billboard on the BQE. I took the $2 that I won last time and reinvested it for Friday’s drawing. The odds of winning the jackpot are greater than 1 in 143 million; however, the odds of winning something is better than 1 in 43, which isn’t so bad.

Gage and Tollner, Brooklyn’s oldest restaurant, closed down on Saturday. It was counting on business from Ratner’s MetroTech to roll over and support a higher end market, but it never happened. The campus atmosphere encouraged companies to fund their own cafeterias so employees wouldn’t ever have to leave their buildings. The she-crab soup was really something, not to mention the landmark gas lit interior. I’d like to express my gratitude to all of the expense account meals that others have treated me there.

OnFocus briefly linked to us due to a few book mentions, such as The Tipping Point (note to everyone else writing — link your book reviews to Amazon) . The ultra-summary on the Tipping Point: there are three types of influencial people in the world: Connectors (know a lot of people), Salespeople (know how to be convincing), and Mavens (know how to find the info). The most powerful people are those that have 2 or more of these characteristics. It isn’t necessary to work on convincing a majority of the people. The actual tipping point that starts a chain reaction, or “epidemic”, turns out to be between 5% and 20%, if those “tipped” are composed of these influencial people. Growth occurs exponentially after that point. The author could have said that, and left it at that, but his book contract must have been similar to Charles Dickens — by the word. The thesis is rather simple and profound, but he repeats examples and concepts in the same way that one does to make a page limit for a term paper.

I’m booked for 2 trips to California with P– in March: 4-7 in San Francisco to catch the San Francisco International Asian Film Festival and see Napa, and 27-30 in San Diego to drive around Orange County and see Tiajuana, Mexico. That should net 10K miles, plus 5K + 1K mile bonuses, plus a free American Airlines ticket. Let’s see how that goes; I hope to see you there if you are in the area.

In the same vein, someone is trying to make a mega mileage run — he’s going to spend $7,000 to accumulate 500K miles within three months. That’s crazy!

YC just one step closer to Malaysian nuptials; leaving in his wake the SF gay marriage showdown. Would like to see him at the airport…

I’ve been quite busy; you’d think that with the President’s day holiday on Monday that a short week wouldn’t be so busy.

NY Times’ Quotation of the Day:

“We are not going away. We are staying together, unified, all of us.” – Howard Dean, M.D.

Nice words, Governor; easier said than done, of course. I’ll give Dr. Dean credit for giving us a real strange ride in the 21st century’s first presidential campaign (putting aside the question of whether the year 2000 counts as “21st century” and considering how the Internet had such an influence on the Deaniacs). Otherwise, let’s see how a political veteran like Kerry (and how a smooth litigator like Edwards) will pull it off…

NBC’s Tom Brokaw had an interesting op-ed piece in the Times today – raising the question of whether the American homefront should sacrifice more in the war effort. Our interesting times are not like the wartime experiences of the “Greatest Generation” that Brokaw has long profiled – wherein the Victory gardens and the huge recycling efforts made WWII a unified struggle (and the one and only “good” war, putting aside whether we view the War Against Terrorism as a “good” war, one usually defined as clear Good v. clear Evil).

Law.com has an interesting article on lawyers who blog (usually on substantive stuff, of course), in “It’s a Blog World After All.”

Last night’s “Angel” was good and hilarious – due to a mystical mishap, Angel is turned into a… muppet? (puppet would have to be the correct term, since “Muppet” is a trademark, I suppose). It’s strangely funny to see a sword wielding vampire in fuzzy felt fabric form. Meanwhile, the sidekick Charles Gunn’s mystically-empowered brain is losing his mystically-gained (and arguably endowed by the powers of evil) legal skills and education. He (probably wrongfully) recharges himself with more (evil-influenced) mysticism to regain his competency as a (probably shouldn’t be practicing) lawyer. Hehehe. And, WB is cancelling this series? Ugh!

Perhaps “Star Trek: Enterprise” should wither away, so to let the Powers that Be behind the Star Trek universe recharge their creative juices? (considering that I’m of the few of my acquaintances who has managed to last this long – since most lost their interest due to the inconsistencies of “Star Trek: Voyager” – I’m amazed that I have finally weaned myself (sort of) off my Trekkiness. “Enterprise” is sort of like 12-step program for old Trekkies/Trekkers – not that I want to insult the current Powers behind Star Trek, but the current show just lacks a certain panache). So it goes. Can’t wait for Friday.