What's In The Well

Well, I stepped into the retail world of vodka. 750ML bottles of Smirnoff were on sale for $13.95 and going fast. I generally like to ask the people who work at the liquor store for recommendations, especially since I am on a budget. With Smirnoff bottle in hand, I asked for vodka similar to the price range of the Smirnoff. The gentleman smiled and immediately went over to a blue triangular bottle: Platinum 7X Vodka: price $12.95 / 750ML. He took my Smirnoff out of my hand, " I will stock that back for you." I purchased the Platinum 7X without hesitation, really it’s vodka not a phone, I don’t need to research right. . .? I got home and hopped (pun intended) onto the internet and found the website listed below. The website doesn’t have Flash or anything like that, but it is up to date with vodka reviews and unscientific testing: drinking the liquor!

Platinum 7X Vodka had an excellent rating. Instead of stars, ratings are denoted as full shot glasses. Platinum 7X gets its name from its filter process, 7 times versus other named vodkas 2X,3X or 4X. It hails from Kentucky and is made from corn not potato, could be even classified as moonshine as another website mentions.

The website further mentions Sobieski, Svedka, Duke’s, Fris and Tito’s. Leading the way for "Best Buys" and great taste were Sobieski, Svedka and Fris. All of these vodka’s were between $9 and $12.95 for 750ML. Tito’s gets the highest rating and is under $18 for 750ML. Tito's Sugar Vodka sounds tasty. It has added sugar, good if you like to have your vodka with ice only.

Moral Of The Post: don’t fall for advertising and ask at the liquor store employee. Be prepared for informative assistance and a surprise. And of course, it's booze, it will get used. Take this post with a grain of salt or with a twist of lemon.

http://vodkabuzz.com/vodkas/?view=bang_for_the_buck&sort=DESC

Blog it - Photographer -Yvan Rodic

http://yvanrodic.blogspot.com/

Try this blog out. On average I read about 100 blogs a day. I am getting better where I am limiting my blog reading to 2 hours a day. But I do get to see what is coming out in trends way early. Now I need to transfer that knowledge into a job!

Photo blogs are gaining some interest on my part. During this time period, many people are picking up a camera, snapping a picture and saving to the hard drive. Wasn't it only a couple years back where we would bring our film to a drug or super store to have the film developed?

Yvan Rodic's photo blog is kind of cool. He used to work at Cool Hunter ( where I first dropped in on Yvan's blog ), now he is snapping pictures around the world. He mixes snaps of the beautiful people, street scenes mingled with architecture shots. A look at the wizard, behind the curtain, pictures of party scenes. Some are hot: passionate, dripping with humid optimism and 4ply sexiness. The fashion of the pictures are worthy to take note of. Take a refreshing dip into the pictures and you will view a mix of high fashion with street fashion.

Seriously, check these pictures out. Look at the clothes the subjects are in. Colors, textures, what are popping out at you? Take some of what you see and incorporate in your style tomorrow. Take a picture of it and post it somewhere. Send them to me and I will post the pictures. I will start it. Tonight I am going out for Happy Hour and will snap some pictures in the "Yvan Spirit". Have fun with it, slip into something dangerous.

I need a camera.

http://yvanrodic.blogspot.com/

Forever more, Forever more

Literature?

Throughout my grammar school years we always had Scholastic Book Ordering Week. Maybe 2-3 times a year, we would get a pamphlet with small pictures of books along with a brief description. That was always a good week, because purchasing books was encouraged most of the time. In 5'th ( maybe 6'th ), "The Forever Formula" by Frank Bonham was a book I couldn't put down. The protagonist was a teenager who had a brain tumor, put to sleep then woken in the future. Trust me, this was before many previous books and movies had the same theme. This one hit me. Kind of like the television movie, "The Day After". Sometimes in rural Maine, I would just wait for the nuclear missile to annihilate my tiny town. Scary stuff for a child with an active imagination.

Tonight I turned off my laptop, the television, the Blackberry, the radio and listened. . . To what? Myself. What was important? For some reason, "The Forever Formula" came to brain. I was thinking about the book I currently am in the middle chapters of: "Margherita Dolce Vita" by Stefano Benni. It reminds me a bit like "Coraline". Margherita, a girl with an active imagination, a command of verse and words with a slightly eccentric family and new neighbors. It's also a book which I needed right now. A fresh, creative read with characters which leap up and think, "Who can play these characters in a movie?" Dario Fo, please tell me!

Maybe one day I will be lucky to secure the film rights to "The Forever Formula", just to say I did. Oh well, 3 . . .2 . . . 1, Power On.

The Awesome Book!

Sometimes you wait and wait to open something up on the internet because you know it will be fun and inspiring. To all the entrepreneurs out in the world right now, this is for you.

Though the world isn't all going well, I remain very optimistic this period in history will be one of the most prolific in the arts, sciences and technology. People will have time to review who they are, what they want and finish up the painting, the book, theory or study they always dreamed about.

So proud of our friends.

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Music

In my grammar school we had dances Friday nights, once a month. Everyone would bring in the records or tapes we had at home and the eighth graders would take turns spinning the records. The pre-funk punch would be Koolaid mixed with Mountain Dew and any other sugary item we could find down in the school's kitchen. Purple Rain was the last song normally played at night. It was the longest song, so one would try to dance with girl you had a crush on: Where art thou Becky C?

I sometimes missed dances, especially if a new Miami Vice was on. Miami Vice, I dressed up like Sunny Crockett in the middle of winter at a heavy jock high school. White blazer, no collar baby blue shirt, white pants, penny loafers with no socks! I mean, it was the middle of winter, with probably 14 feet of snow outside, a balmy 12 degrees and I am walking around in dat! Did I mention the gold chain around my neck? My hair was parted in the middle for crying out loud.

I digress. Try the blog " I LISTEN TO EVERYTHING ". Two of my favorite artists right now are " xx " and " La Roux ". The website posts music of new artists which are fresh on the ears. Try " Muse " also. They were on VMA's playing the song Uprising. That song booms in da jeep! Try not to tap the ground or the steering wheel while you drive with this song in the background. Trust me you will like this Blog. It's made for people who are sick of the music on their portable listening devices: such as an iphone.

How To Get Around. . . Town

Public Transportation -

One truly has to have a little patience when we move on public transportation. Remember the early 2000's when Expense Reports included taxi rides to from the airports to the hotels, to client dinners and maybe a quick trip downtown for shopping? Well now I am paying my own way and so far so good, one just needs patience.

Sound Rail to SEATAC is a fairly cool ride. It takes you through neighborhoods which will benefit in growth from the Rail traffic. It ends in Tukwilla, but with a quick bus service to SEATAC. December is when the Rail will drop you right off at SEA. Travel time is about 35 minutes and if you have a late or early flight departure / arrival it will get you to the airport without having to wake someone up and chance a schedule. During business hours it travels every 6 minutes and Off Peak every 15 minutes. I included a link to Sound Transit website.

http://www.soundtransit.org/

Total Cost: $2.50 One Way

When you arrive in Las Vegas ( McCarran Airport, again they general push is a taxi, car of bus shuttle to your hotel. Cost for this service is between $12-$20. Some hotels have pick up for you: so check with your hotel. I took Public Transportation, specifically Bus # 108. You can get off the bus at the Las Vegas Convention Center and take the Monorail which will get you fairly close to your hotels on the strip. I included a link which has further information on where to pick up #108 at McCarran Airport. Don't be afraid to ask someone where to pick up the bus. I included a link for further information on the bus service.

Total Cost: $6.75 One Way

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070901202908AAGJftl

Vegas - Capsule / Project Show

I am back from Las Vegas and had the honor of going to the Capsule and Project Shows in Las Vegas. These shows display to boutiques and department stores what's coming up with there clothing brands for Spring 2010.

Sneakers - I have always been a lover of sneakers. At both shows it seemed everyone had a sneaker line. Whether they be high top, low riders, leather, vulcanized material, all were present Reebok seemed to have some impressive sneakers as did New Balance.

For more information on sneakers check http://www.highsnobiety.com/ This site will give you a little more information and pictures on the footwear at the shows.

More about Vegas later.

Devirginized Blogger

Today will be my "official first entry" to my blog. Look forward to entries dealing with what I am baking, what to buy, how to stay entertained, art, books, music, fashion and people. Then after that's complete, I will narrow it down. . .

Tomorrow I head to Las Vegas to take a look at some new fashion at The Capsule show. I purchased my plane ticket 50% off. I was able to do this via my Alaska Airlines Mile Program where I had lots of miles from when I worked. I have done my research on Las Vegas and for the Unemployed Baker there is some places to save some coin. More about the trip later this week.

Unemployed Survival Tip #1: Oatmeal. Buy it in bulk. I have seen oatmeal from anywhere from $0.69- $0.89 a lb. I found if you mix the oatmeal with water at the beginning of cooking, it makes the oatmeal a smoother eat. Also, don't forget a dash of salt and some Costco Raisins at the start. Adding the raisins in the beginning makes the raisins softer as they plumb up from the water. If you are Oatmeal newbie, you can play around with the amount of water you add. Normally it's 1 Part Oatmeal to 2 parts water. I always add a little bit more water because I enjoy my oatmeal a little mushier. After it cooks add some brown sugar and chop up some almonds, mix in some milk and you got some breakfast. If you are watching the wasteline, a good tip is to substitute sugar free pancake syrup for the brown sugar. Lastly, just eat the oatmeal from the pan you cooked it in: thus saving a bowl to wash. I will have some pictures of my finished product later.

Splurge #1: Coffee. I purchase enough coffee to last a week. I am close to a natural food store which every week has bulk coffee on sale every week. Though I could purchase the huge bag at Costco, I thought if I trim back purchasing coffee from stands, I could treat myself to some tasty joe every morning. I sometimes mix coffee beans together to give myself larger palette of flavor. Then I drown the harshness in CoffeeMate.