Let it Ride

Since I now have a regular, real-world, grown-up type of job (despite not having anything to actually do at work) I have a full corporate benefits package. This is fascinating to me. But while medical and dental insurance are rather lame, the real excitement comes from something called the 401(k) Savings Plan. Have you heard of these things? Probably not, if you don't have a high-powered corporate job like myself. So, what happens is, I put a tiny part of a paycheck into this account, and then when I'm old and wrinkly, I get like a billion dollars. AND, apparently if I stay working here for over a year (eh...), then the company actually starts putting money into the account as well. All this is awesome in itself, but the coolest thing of all is that I can easily access this account via the internet, and can change all sorts of things, like which funds to invest in and all that. This webpage even has pie charts. So, while I'm grasping that the grand concept is to pick something and then in ten years when I have fake limbs and a flying car I can possibly adjust things to correspond with long-term shifts in the market (like, say, the rising price of flying car stock), the problem is that making changes is way too easy, and so far I'm adjusted my 'portfolio' three times in the last six days. But today I see that since yesterday I've hit the jackpot and made 95 cents, and I don't know how I'm going to be able to stop doing this, it's better than a damn smokey Indiana casino anyday. If anyone has any hot tips, let me know, but I only have 12 things to pick from.

I'm starting to get the feeling that I'm not meant to be a red wine drinker; I seem to get headaches quite easily. This week we finally saw 'Sideways,' and while it is a very good movie and not overrated at all (as I had suspected going in), the one thing it does do is give the viewer the desire to drink many many glasses of wine. Last night I opened the last bottle in the apartment, a 2003 Shiraz purchased (ahem, for $2.99) on a recommendation by our favorite Chicago tour guide, which was quite tolerable after ample time to 'breathe.' Problem is two glasses spread out over 2 hours shouldn't give me a headache, even a mild one. Granted, the headache could have come from a number of sources, but this isn't the first time this has happened. Unless it's the low quality of the wine that's doing it. And white doesn't seem to give me any trouble, really. I think further research is in order before I come to any realistic conclusions. In other alcohol-related news, I think I'm going to be making the switch from my current stock of vodka and tequila to a steady diet of bourbon. I'm going to be calling it 'my brown period.'

So, I'm about to start a new book, which one of my Xmas gifts should I pick next: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Don DeLillo's 'Underworld', The Best American Non-Required Reading 2004, or a non-fiction book called 'the history of god'?

I Heart Huckabees is on DVD, go see it and let me know what you thought.

I have decided to have a great weekend. Please do the same.