Happy New Year. I haven't blogged in a while. So I wanted to get back to it. Last night we ate at Pappadeaux, in Hinsdale. It was fantastic. Since moving to the area just over a year ago, it has been the best family restaurant we have dined at -- it has certainly been my favorite to date from a food and service and atmosphere perspective. Their specialty is New Orleans seafood, although they offer steaks and pasta and have a neat kids' menu, too. The cooking style and atmosphere are French Quarter all the way. There's quaint, outdoor seating -- French Quarter-style. There was even a roaming four-piece Zydeco band playing Blues and Jazz standards -- they stopped to serenade us, the kids loved it! Pappadeaux offers Creole and Cajun favorites like etouffee, gumbo, jambalaya and crawfish. They also prepare great, gourmet delicacies bayou style. We started things off with Coconut Shrimp With a cajun slaw & a spicy, sweet dipping sauce. The kids really enjoyed that. I also tried the crawfish bisque -- loved it. For our entrees my wife had the Poppy Seed Hawaiian Yellowfin Tuna seared with a light poppy seed vinaigrette with fresh green beans & sautéed spaghetti squash. She raved. I had the Blackened Catfish Opelousas. It was served with oysters, shrimp & crabmeat in a lemon garlic butter sauce with dirty rice. It was rich and delicious. The serving was so big I couldn't finish it -- that's something. For the kids it was chicken tenders and corn dog bites. Then the dessert tray arrived. Wow! A mesmerizing assortment of Southern-style, French-Creole-inspired indulgences. We had the banana pudding (served in a Mason jar), and the Key Lime pie -- some of the best I've had. All in all, a fun and memorable experience. We definitely want to go back. Especially in the Summer months so we can sit outside. It really feels like you're in the French Quarter. Next time I'm definitely ordering the Texas Gulf Coast Oysters On the half shell and the Crispy Fried Alligator. We recommend it! Five out of five stars!

McCain On His Computer Illiteracy: ‘I’m Learning To Get Online Myself, And I’ll Have That Down Fairly Soon’

Enough said. Read post and full article.

The Truth Commission

When a distinguished American military commander accuses the United States of committing war crimes in its handling of detainees, you know that we need a new way forward. More...

Started my new job yesterday. Love it here. Like the people a lot so far. I'll have to post photos of my view from here -- really nice -- 7th floor, East Wacker Dr., Downtown Chicago.

I walked here from Union Station. Took me less than 3o minutes to get to my desk. Got here at 8:31 AM. Not bad.

Since it's a financial trading company, they block all forms of web mail -- gmail in my case. Oh well. When I was at the CME I was able to get gmail over https. But not here.

OK. Back to work.

Just saw Iron-Man! Awesome!!! 5/5 Stars; two thumbs up! Here's a little friendly advise: stay through the end of the closing credits. Enjoy it!

Super Bowl XXXIX

I watched the Super Bowl last night. First of all, I wish they would go back to televising the game at 4:00 PM, like they used to. During the regular season the games are played at 1:00 PM and at 4:00 PM. Everybody likes these time slots. You can do more stuff when the game is over that way.

And what's with the 45 minute half time show. Why can't the Super Bowl be about the game? During the regular season halftime is only 12 minutes long. Don't get me wrong; Paul McArtney, I mean, how can you go wrong with him, he was terrific. Although, there were more than a few moments where I thought he was just lip sync-ing. Or maybe there was just a delay; in case of some kind of microphone "malfunction". Whatever.

The game was definitely over hyped. But the commercials were funny. Now, I am a fan of neither team, but if I were, I would have the same problem with the TV commercials that I do all season long when I am watching my favorite team: Too many commercials and too many long breaks. And this get's me back to the point. The "Super" Bowl is not about the game.

I know, I know. The Super Bowl is not abou the game. This isn't anything new.

The truth is the Super Bowl has never been about the game. I'll prove it. First here are a few points to defend my case:

First, the teams on the field; Donavan McNabb looked so nervous and dazed after the two weeks of hype that he couldn't even through a decent pass in the begining. The players get so worn out from all the interviews and probing, all the partying and carousing; they showed Ty Law, the injured all pro defensive back of the Patriots standing on the side line and yawning. Yawning! This was during one of the "most suspensefull" stretches of the "game" (I put "game" in quotations here because the actual game is: "How many ads can we cram into this time slot?", and "How can we fuse the Super Bowl to the prime time schedule of the network?", and so on).

And, what about the most impotrant part of the game: The fans. Most true fans of the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots - and any other NFL team, can't even come close to being able to afford tickets to this game. We're talking $500 to $600. That's just face value. The bulk of the tickets get scalped for thousands on eBay and on the street. Often big corporations in cahoots with the NFL get big blocks of tickets for the game.

My wife and I went to the Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999, here in Miami. We got the tickets at face value - $325.00 - through my wife's work associates (she works for one of the big corporations in cahoots with the NFL). We were laughing. There was a woman down the row from us logged into her laptop computer. There were a few real fans here and there who looked like they had spent a good piece of their savings to be there. That's sad, NFL.

The truth is, the NFL can give the tickets away and still make a fortune. All the money is made from TV revenue. Give the game back to the fans.

I say, play the Super Bowl in the home stadium of the team with the better record, like the playoffs. That's how it used to be done. And, drop the bye week.

Here's the proof, the Super Bowl is not about determinig a champion. Back when the forst Super Bowl was played, it was a match between the NFL champion versus the AFL champion. The game wsn't even sold. The outcome was a foregone conclusion. It was this way for a few years until the talent distribution between the two leagues stabilized and the competition for revenue from the AFL got too hot. Then the powerful NFL agreed to merge with the AFL. It was (and still is) about growing the NFL empire.

The game itself was kind of forgetable. Philadelphis was a bit sloppy in places, and New England was so sure of there edge over Philadelphia that they played conservatively, not to lose, and it payed off. New england looked sharp throughout. Philly made the pivital mistake early on and New England out sprinted them to the finishline.

Well, that's that.

My first entry

I am making my first entry into this blog. I am hearing amazing things about blogs: their power to reach lots of people in a meaningful way; their advantage over conventional advertising; their prioritization among search engines such as Google; and more. So, wanting to learn more about how Blogs work (a bit late in the game, I know, but, better later than never) I created this Blog: "Blah Blah Blog". Ahem, enjoy.