Uncle Sam doesn't like you...

I guess this is what some people think of the USA.

People Under The Stairs "Carried Away" In stores now. Cop it!

Normally there's more of a gap in between People Under The Stairs releases, but when I went to check up on them to see when they were due back in NYC, I was very pleased to discover that they had a new album out, called Carried Away.

Now, whenever I get a new PUTS album, I generally take everything else out of rotation, and rock the new plate exclusively for a few days, at least until I get a sense of which tracks are going to stay with me for a long time. The beats just keep getting better and better from this duo. I'm really surprised that they don't end up doing production for more people, but perhaps it's for the best, because the beats on the first three songs, Step Off,Much Too Much, and Hit The Top got me nodding my head at work. The lead single Trippin' At The Disco!!! is an ode to the 70's Disco done with a hilarious video. Add treats like "Beer" and "Teeth" into the mix, and ending up with a haunting title track, it looks like the boys from LA have done it again.

I can't think of many groups who have been doing it so well for 11 years and 7 albums. Cop this album and put some dough in these guy's pockets. Then check out the back catalog. Also, go see them when they're in your town. It'll be worth the show fee. Check the tour review from Spin Magazine

My healthcare premium is going to go up 18.75% next year

So I have a small business. My premium for my healthcare plan with United Healthcare (via Oxford) is $803.91 per month with the Freedom Standard Plan for a husband and wife. Oxford is proposing to increase the same plan with the same benefits by 18.75% to $948.62. Maybe it's because UnitedHealth Group had a rocky year (the stock is still a little over 10% up year to year between 11.03.2008 and 11.03.2009. I'm amazed at this jump, which is an increase on last year's 11% premium jump from 2008 to 2009. I'm amazed that the company has the temerity to ask for that degree of increase in a year when healthcare reform is on the table.

To me, it means that the healthcare companies already know that there's no significant reform on the horizon. Either that, or when the reform comes about, the plan prices will be about the same as before.

Now, I need to do more research and figure out how the proposed legislation will affect these premiums, but right not, I feel pretty cynical about what's being done to my wallet.


If anyone has a list of alternative smallbiz HSA plans, hook a brother up.

Lloyds Pharmacy Sex Degrees of Separation Calculator

So I was going through my blogroll the other day, and while on a relationship blog site Naked With Socks On, I see a post about the Lloyds Pharmacy Sex Degrees of Separation Calculator. If you enter your age and number of partners, and age of each partner, it'll tell you how many partners with which you have indirectly had relations. There's at least an exponential difference between the number of direct and indirect partners, so the final result will be higher than expected. The purpose of the calculator is to heighten safe sex awareness.

NYC Alternate Side Parking Calendar in Google Calendar Format

For anyone in NYC with a car, I just created a Google Calendar for the days when you don't need to move your car. I've added the holidays for the first six months of 2009.
Check the widget out here, and there are links to the Calendar in XML, ICAL and HTML format below the widget:




UPDATE: Tom Karlo has a nice site that lets you know whether alternate side parking rules are in effect at IsAlternateSideParkingInEffect.com

Where I rollerbladed this morning

What Are Your Requirements for Happiness?

I’ve been lucky enough to have met, known and interacted with a bunch of different people and personalities over the years. One thing common to all of us is a desire to be “happy”. The most morose person I’ve ever encountered has longed for moments of happiness, even while staring at their black fingernails and listening to old Cure and Nine Inch Nails albums.

I’ve had my battles with depression over time, but I’ve recently relearned that one way I get in the way of my happiness is by having too many happiness pre-requisites. If you’ve ever had the following thoughts, you may know what I mean.

“If I don’t get a front row ticket to this play, it won’t be worth seeing.”
“I need to go to an Ivy, or Wharton for my MBA. or I’m screwed”
“I’d better get some ass when I go out tonight.”

In all these (hypothetical) examples, I’m placing the power and responsibility for my happiness in someone or something outside myself. That’s the same shit that’s got Joe Q. Public mired in debt with no hope of getting out while trying to keep up with the Joneses. So, to paraphrase Peter Gibbons from Office Space, “I uh, I don't like that habit, and, uh, I don't think I'm gonna do it anymore.”

There’s a parable that talks about all the extra steps people place between themselves and happiness. It’s called “The Fisherman and the Banker”. There’s no need to break out your crystals and patchouli, but the next time you have something troubling you, it may be good to ask yourself, “What are your requirements for happiness?