Sirened

Want to live in one of America’s cleanest cities? Head down to Florida (also home to some of America’s angriest cities). According to Forbes, Florida has 4 of the top 10 cleanest cities in the United States; based largely on clean air and water quality. So here’s the top 10:
1)Miami, FL

2)Seattle, Wash

3)Jacksonville, FL

4)Orlando, FL

5)Portland, Oregon
6)San Francisco, Cali
7)Oklahoma City
8)Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL
9)Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn
10)San Jose-Sunnyvale, Cali
Of interest, when Men’s Health made their list of America angriest cities, Miami ranked 7th, Jacksonville ranked 9th, Tampa ranked 12th, St. Petersburg ranked 2nd and Orlando ranked 1st! Is there some correlation here? Do Floridians …read more

1 Comment

I normally don’t get too too personal in my posts but I wanted to take this opportunity to wish my wife a happy 3 year wedding anniversary. Thanks for 3 great years and many more to come! And since this has been a great story, I’ll share some of it with my reader who don’t know…
It’s extra special that we get to spend this one in Amsterdam because my wife and I hung out here over 6 years ago, just after we first met. We met in Brugge, Belgium which is just a 3 hour train ride from Amsterdam (and a beautiful European …read more

4 Comments

Seeing as how I’m living in Amsterdam now and my wife and I came over with US money, I figured I would share the latest US/Euro conversion rate. Right now, 1 US dollar only gets you 65 Euro cents. And if you’re a Euro, you’re now worth $1.53 US! Ouch, I wish I didn’t just look at that! It got worse…
To give you an idea of how expensive things are right now, just imagine the cost of most things in the US and multipy it by 1.5. It’s both easy and it sucks!
I was in Burger King earlier today and …read more

2 Comments

With the healthcare debate heating up on both sides of the aisle, I thought it would be interesting to look at the top 10 health problems, according to cost, that affect the United States. This list is according to Newsmax.com.
Heart conditions $76 billion
Trauma disorders $72 billion
Cancer $70 billion
Mental disorders, including depression $56.0 billion
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease $54 billion
High blood pressure $42 billion
Type 2 diabetes $34 billion
Osteoarthritis and other joint diseases $34 billion
Back problems $32 billion
Normal childbirth $32 billion

2 Comments

Valentines Day is almost here and if you haven’t already made a reservation for the busiest eating day out then your options are already drastically limited. If that’s the case, thank goodness for mediocre chain restaurants where you need no reservation for Valentines day! May I recommend Macaroni Grill…
But seriously, can I suggest not going to a chain restaurant? If you don’t have a reservation or know of a nice place that actually won’t be packed (I don’t) then grab some candles and a cookbook. And perhaps some wine or a bottle of tequila, whatever pleases your lady and increases …read more

1 Comment

 What is the most unhealthy food in America? According to Men’s Health the award goes to the Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing. This delicious mess of fried crap medley has 2,900 calories and 182 grams of fat. Yum!! Funny thing is, these fries are less Australian than a Wal-Mart boomerang that was made in China. 
Like just about everything on Outback’s menu, this is not what Australians eat. Trust me, I’ve lived there and my wife is Australian. When I took her to Outback to eat she was baffled by menu items such as The Bloomin’ Onion. “They just make …read more

12 Comments

I just wanted to let you guys know about a guest post I wrote on the website Let’s Visit Asia. About 3 years ago my wife and I spent 12 days traveling around Vietnam. As an American, it was a unique experience to check out the country where we fought our last major war before Iraq. I won’t get into it too much as you can check out the post on Ruth Schaffer’s site. And if you’re thinking about a trip to Asia, check out her site for some great travel tips for around the continent.
The Vietnamese Monkey and I from my personal collection

Comments Off

This is a theme post for b5media’s Travel and Culture channel entitled “family.” So I decided to focus on the all important family caucus, which involves telling your family members why they are wrong and why they should vote with you.
In almost all families there is some degree of political difference, some large and some small. When gathering a family caucus it is important to leave out members who have a vastly different political position, chances are you will be left spinning your wheels in mud. It’s best to focus on family members (and friends!) with smaller political differences to yours. A family caucus can …read more

6 Comments

My posts normally have a comedic spin so I need to keep with the theme here. How do whites in South Carolina celebrate this day? Do they fly the confederate flag at their State Capitol building even higher?
Anyways, in remembrance…
Dr. King image from here.

4 Comments

Globalization really hits home this time! I thought this map was really interesting; it changes state names to countries with equivalent GDP’s. Damn we’re rich!
If California were its own country it would have the 8th largest GDP in the world-matching that of France. And for many Americans, comparing California and France might be fitting regardless. One very ironic one on here is Texas and Canada. Me thinkest some steers may take issue with this one! 
All of them are interesting and funny really; Idaho renamed to Ukraine, etc. Two of the biggest surprises to me are Tennessee compared to Saudi Arabia and Alabama compared to …read more

Comments Off