Jaminfrog

There were some decent commercials this year I guess, but our favorite Super Bowl spot of late came a couple of years ago and involved a cat, marinara sauce and a misunderstanding. Continue Reading »

Co-worker and fellow basketball fan Cavin pointed me in the direction of this article about Shaquille O’Neal’s massive monthly budget.

There are several things amazing to me about this since I don’t yet make $20 million a year like Shaq does. First, the dude spends $1500 a month on cable tv. What channels and how many pay-per-view movies is this guy ordering? Second, $2300 a month for pets? And $17 grand a month for clothing. He’s apparently not shopping at Ross Dress for Less.

If Shaq is making $20 million a year, getting taxed about $6 million, and spending almost a million a month, that means he is (relatively speaking) putting next to nothing in savings, just like the rest of America.

Lesson from The Big Aristotle: As income increases, don’t increase standard of living at the same rate.

I’m not really doing resolutions this year, but here’s what I would like to accomplish in 2008:

• Lose 20 lbs. Chel tells me that to do this, I need to ask, “What would the 200-lb. version of me do?” whenever I am making a choice about whether to eat that candy bar or not. I am thinking about getting that printed on one of those little Lance Armstrong-style wrist bracelets, like this: WW200lb.VOMD?
• Save more and give more. Thanks to our trusty family budget.
• Travel. This goal is somewhat contrary to the saving and giving goal, but we’re going to head to the beach again at some point(s) this year.
• Get some more A’s and B’s. I need to get my studying rear in gear much earlier in the semester than I did this past fall.
• Be a good husband, family member, friend and colleague.

I’m glad finals are over tonight. These tests have turned me into a real Scrooge!

A friend sent me this story about a law professor who spices up his classes by doing covers of famous songs with legally-themed lyrics. (Like a Brittney Spears-inspired ditty called “You’re Not That Innocent” or “Breach It” to the tune of a Michael Jackson hit.) This hasn’t caught on at SMU yet, but here’s hoping.

After last year’s Halloween misadventure with the cow suit, I wasn’t planning on dressing up at all this year. But Chel talked me into it at the last minute, and we cobbled together a pimp costume from stuff we had in the closet: her mom’s fur coat, my pinstripe shirt, suit, and vest, my top hat from our wedding, a bunch of chains from Chel’s jewelry collection, an earring (clip on — don’t worry Mom!) and a penciled-in mustache. People at the Halloween party we attended said that I was the most realistic pimp they had seen. Chel made another Halloween appearance as the always-popular Little Miss Muffet.

I never thought that the little Segway human transporter could be a chick magnet, but I was proven wrong today when I spotted an SMU police officer on our main quad, giving Segway rides to co-eds. The cop was surrounded by at least four girls, giving them pointers on how to drive the thing around the big fountain. Talk about a 21st-century way to pick up girls!

With the $100 iPhone “Sucker Bonus” that I received from Apple — thanks to the fact that we bought an iPhone on the second day it came out when we could have waited three months and paid $200 less — we got Chel a little iPod Shuffle of her own. For one thing, it’s about the only thing you can buy from Apple for less than a Benjamin…but Chel’s use of the iPhone this summer convinced her that having a little music player of her own would be kind of fun. Now if I can only convince her not to fill it with Enya and George Winston…

Chel and I are headed off to the TCU-UT game tomorrow night in Austin. Our friend Jen was kind enough to give us a ticket, and Chel is kind enough to let me go to the game while she hangs out in Austin for a little bit. (She loves Austin much more than she would love standing by me while I yell at a football game, anyhoo.) Go Frogs!