Wings restaurants soar despite economy

 I’m still looking for the article I read on MSN for my previous post.  But I had to comment on this article when I saw it.  We have 2 “real” wing restaurants in town, Buffalo Wiild Wings and Wings To Go.  Buffalo Wild Wings just opened actually, so my husband and I decided to try it out.  It was closer to this side of town than Wings To Go.

Big mistake.  First, it cost almost as much to go to Buffalo Wild Wings as it costs to take the whole family to Wings To Go.  Second, I don’t know if it’s an Oklahoma thing or what, but the wings tasted like black pepper, not wing sauce.  When I go to Wings To Go, I know that they’ll have plenty of sauce on the wings and that I won’t taste pepper.  Overall, my opinion: Price: 0, Food: 2, Service 5.  Our waitress was great at least. 

As for what it says in the article.  First, it just agrees with what I’ve been saying.  The company I work for is going to have some problems in the next couple of years.  People are not eating out as much, and most of what we sell is foodservice — to restaurants.  We do sell to schools and prisons, so it’s not going to slow down a whole lot.  BUT, with the rising costs of meat, the prices need to be passed on.  That’s only going to squeeze restaurant owners more, and the whole cycle is not going to be pretty. 

I was talking to a friend of mine tonight, and I honestly think our economy is going to spend at least the next couple of quarters resetting.  No one can make up their mind whether the economy is going into a recession or a depression.  Others reason that there’s still a small growth so we’re not in either.  But prices on food are jumping at unbelieveable levels, the last estimage for food was a 6% increase.  Normally, increases are along the lines of 2% from year to year.  So wages aren’t going up, and food prices are going up.  Sounds like a recession to me, but I’ll fully admit I’m no expert.

The economy is going to reset, and it’s going to be a buyers market again.  That’s the only thing that makes sense. 

I read an interesting article the other day, I’ll have to fnd the link for it later.  In the article, it stated that the discrepancy between mens wages and womens wages was closing.  They were saying that the real difference in wages between men and women was because women were not as well trained as men and were taking general labor jobs.  Now with more women getting degrees, the wage gap is supposedly closing.  

 When I was a web developer in Branson, I think I made as much as the one male coworker I had, though I know full well I didn’t make as much as my supervisor.  Then again, my supervisor had a graphic arts degree, was a damn good web designer, and could do more with Macromedia Flash and Adobe Photoshop than I can even now.  When I left there, I was a better web developer than anyone in the office other than him (my supervisor), but I still made the same as everyone else even though I was my supervisor’s back-up.

Fast forward to today.  Where I work, there’s a definite good ole boy attitude.  If you’re a guy, you have a family to support, so you need to make more than the women.  I’ve seen it several times in departments associated with mine. It has nothing to do with a degree, it has everything to do with your gender.

So, where are these cases where women are closing the salary gap?  In the bigger cities?  I know that just because I don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not happening.  But I’m trying to figure out where the real world verification is for this article.

On Sunday, Alexander Solzhenitsyn died in his home in Moscow.  I was very sad to hear of this, though it sounds though he lived a full life.  He was 89 when he died.

I’ve mentioned it a couple of times to people and gotten blank looks.  Many people didn’t know who he was.  Alexander Solzhenitsyn is a Nobel prize winning author.  He wrote against Stalin’s regime, but his first book was not published until 1961 after Stalin died.

His book “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” was semi-autobiographical, based in part on his time in a gulag in Siberia.  He actually wrote the story while in the gulag, memorizing it so that he would still have the story if it were found and confiscated.

 Solzhenitsyn was deported from the Soviet Union in the early ’70’s, and eventually moved to Cavendish, VT to live there for about 18 years.  I first found out about Solzhenitsyn when I was in high school.  My english teacher, Mr Keizer, mentioned him in passing during a class, and I asked him for more information — What can I say, it was before the Internet was more than a series of BBS’s centered around universities.  😛

 Solzhenitsyn’s book “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” was a very memorable book.  It may not have been the most cheerful of books — after all, it was written about a man living in a Soviet Gulag — but it opened my eyes to some of the unfairness that still exists today.  Kinda like “Diary of Anne Frank” told about the unfairness that existed in the 40’s.  To me, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” was ageless.  I didn’t realize that the book was set in the 50’s.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn spoke out against the decadence and democracy of the west.  He felt that what worked for America wouldn’t necessarily work all over the world, and wasn’t necessarily the best form of government. 

Whether or not we agreed with his political views, the world lost a very brilliant mind this week.  We all need to question everything and come up with our own ideas like he did.

 Nov 25: I had to turn off comments to this thread because of spam.

Ok, so I figured after my last post that I’d check the fan site at CBS to see what was said about Warrick/Gary coming back next year.  What I read is that he’s definitely going to be around for Season 9.  He plead guilty to the drug charges and will need to participate in a drug rehab type program by late 2009. 

That sounds about average for a first time charge, so it doesn’t sound like he got off light because he’s a celebrity (regardless of Brad Paisley’s song Celebrity LOL).  So we’ll see how it plays out.  I will certainly miss William’s Grissom character on the show.  They need to find another geek type not a cop type since that is what distinguished this show from the spin-offs.

I don’t very often comment on tv shows or Hollywood.  I’m not much of a tv watcher.  There are more interesting things to do with my brain.  Plus, the actors are entitled to their private lives.  I think it’s sick how much the media follows them around.   

The other day, I read that William Peterson is leaving CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.  This season will be his last on the show.  I can understand him wanting to go on to other projects.  In fact, I’m happy that he’s going to be doing what he chooses, but I will miss his Grissom character.  I think many will.

Of all three CSI shows, my favorite has to be the original in Vegas.  Don’t get me wrong, I like some of the characters of the other shows, but they just don’t have quite the mix that they do in the original show.  I’m going to name just my favorites.  First is Grissom, the geek (sorry, that’s just how the character comes off).  Second is Warrick, a bad boy.  From what I’ve seen, though William Peterson isn’t much of a geek off camera that I can tell, Gary Dourdan (Warrick) is a bit of a bad boy… during the writer’s strike, he even participated in the ‘Speechless’ videos with a cigarette in his mouth.  I won’t even touch the reports that he’s been arrested for drug use.

None of the other shows really have the mix that the Vegas version does.  Yea, there’s the same number of people, but Mac on CSI:NY and Horatio on CSI:Miami are cops first and foremost.  They’re not expert scientists.  Ok, so the bugs might seem a bit creepy, he is an entomologist, but it’s still fascinating too.

So I’m trying to figure out if it’s going to be worth watching the show after this season.  We don’t know if Warrick is going to live… it could be like the situation with Nick (George Eads) a few years back where he was kidnapped and stuck in a box underground, or the situation with Sara (Jorja Fox) where she was kidnapped and left under a car.  But, that all depends on how fast the court case goes.  If he’s in jail for the drugs, he won’t be able to act in the shows.  That may be why they handled the situation like they did.  I don’t know.

Now, do I think that the show is going to fall apart without Gil and possibly Warrick?  I’m not entirely sure.  I guess it partially depends on who they bring in for replacements.  Do I think that Catherine (Marg Helgenberger),  Nick (George Eads), Capt Brass (Paul Guilfoyle), Greg (Eric Szmanda) and Hodges (Wallace Langham) can carry the show?  I’m not sure.  Don’t get me wrong, they’re great actors (or a great actress in Marg’s case).  But we’re losing part of the magic that makes CSI the show that it is.

I’ll reserve my judgement until the season ends, but I’m curious to see how this all plays out. 

Recently, Oklahoma has started requiring that all gas stations post whether they are selling gasoline mixed with ethanol.  One of the local gas stations has only posted that they may or may not have ethanol in the gasoline.  Since my husband and I have noticed a difference with our mileage, and my car isn’t made to burn ethanol, we have decided to boycott the stations owned by that franchise, or at least stop buying gas from them.

 Saturday when I went in to work, I stopped there for a fountain soda and some peanuts.  I asked the cashier if they’ve noticed a drop in the number of people buying gas now that they have to post whether they have ethanol.  She was clueless at first what I was talking about, but when I repeated what the sign on the pumps said, she said that all stations are going to have to carry an ethanol blend eventually, that they’d have to clean out their tanks, and if they couldn’t afford it, they wouldn’t be able to do business any longer.  I didn’t say anything, but that got me wondering. 

Two stroke engines cannot use ethanol.  My car is not made to burn ethanol, and the gas mileage suffers as a result.  So why would they require that all gas stations carry the “blended” gasoline with a 10% ethanol mix? 

So when I got home, I started doing some research.  I can find all sorts of information about lists of gas stations that do not have blended gasoline, and gas stations being required to post whether they have blended gasoline.  I can’t find anything about ethanol being required in all gasoline.  So where did she get this information?

 The best I can figure, she had no clue what she was talking about.  I know that the government is increasing the subsidies to ethanol production.  I know they want to increase the ethanol production.  BUT I cannot see the government requiring all gasoline contain ethanol. 

I suspect that she got the ethanol issue mixed up with the anti-knock compound that is put into gasoline.  The same compound that replaced the lead in the mid-80’s.  Unfortunately, until I can find more information, all I have is speculation.

I had to laugh the other day.  First, I saw an open letter from someone in the Corn Refiners Association on the Food Consumer website Letter to the Editor from the Corn Refiners Association.  This person was nice enough to try to say that there is no difference betwen High Fructose Corn Syrup and other types of sweeteners like sugar and honey.  Then I read on Natural News (http://naturalnews.com) that a Seattle based natural grocery store is no longer carrying foods that contain high fructose corn syrup. 

 Ok, so I give.  If there is no difference between HFCS and sugar, why do we even have it?  Why must we mess with corn syrup by adding enzymes and whatnot to make this?  So it’s sweeter.  Big deal. 

Honestly, I won’t feed my kids anything with HFCS in it if I have a choice.  My daughter was asking for yogurt the other day, and it took forever to find one that didn’t have either aspartame or high fructose corn syrup in it.  A 3 year old doesn’t need either of these types of sweeteners.  I finally found a “natural” yogurt that was sweetened with sugar.  Not the best, but at least it’s sweet.  And it doesn’t taste like candy, it tastes like yogurt. 

 I suspect that the person posted that open letter to the editor because they’re afraid their sales of high fructose corn syrup are going to go down because no one wants anything to do with it.  Once people start trying to improve their health and the health of their families, they stop buying garbage like that.  With the natural foods movement, it’s even more pronounced that we’re moving away from that type of artificial sweetener.  Yes, I lump it in with things like aspartame/nutra sweet, sweet ‘n low and splenda (I can’t remember the real names of the sweeteners right now, I’ll look them up later).  I eat them only when I don’t have a choice.  Lately I’ve been sticking mostly to either honey or no sweetener at all in my drinks.

 Guess if their sales fail on the high fructose corn syrup front, they can start selling the corn as food again, huh?

So lately, I’ve had lots of ideas for my blog, but by the time I get home, I forget them.  I can’t even remember any of them now.  About normal for me, my brain isn’t working correctly right now, and probably won’t for awhile yet.  It’s called stress, life has lots of it.

 One of the regular writers at a website that I read regularly  (http://naturalnews.com) has stated his opinion that the United States government, even our whole society is going to collapse because of the way the economy is going downhill.  His feeling is that Americans are going to unite against the FDA and pharmeceutical companies and start demanding that the truth come out about many of the drugs that are being sold.  There’s a lot more to it than that, but that’s the general idea of what he’s saying.

 But even if our society doesn’t collapse, what about our economy?  I’ve read a lot that has implied that the dollar is falling fast.  At this point, it’s about equivalent with the Canadian dollar.  That’s a long fall, with the government going further into debt every day.  What happens when other countries stop buying the treasury bonds or whatever they’re buying to support our debt?  What will we the government run on then?

Something else I’ve read/heard lately.  I’ve been listening to sermons online from the church I used to go to in Kansas City.  One of the sermons I listened to today had a very good point.

We spend a lot of time blaming politicians and Washington for being corrupt, saying they’re the cause of everything from the high gas prices to who knows what. 

If we want change, how do we get change?  An old song (and I can’t remember who sings it offhand) says that if we want a change, we need to start with the man in the mirror.  So to make changes, no matter what kind of changes we want, we need to start with ourselves.  Start small. 

 How can you complain about the government when you’re not volunteering to try to right the wrongs yourself?  Maybe it’s because you don’t want to put yourself out there… If you’re not working toward change, then you’re not stopping it.  When I was living in Branson, my then-boyfriend would complain about a lot of things.. including the government.  But he wasn’t registered to vote.  I voted in the 2000 election, but he didn’t.  I was trying to make a change, even a small one.  But there are smaller changes we can make every day. If you’re a Christian, ask God what you need to change to make a difference in our world.  Whether you are or you’re not a Christian, you can do some serious thinking about what changes you need to make, what changes you can initiate. 

As Americans, we can vote.  I’m not talking about just in the presidential election.  What about your city council? Mayor? Go to council meetings and have your say.  Not just to argue, but have reasoned thoughts as to why something will or will not work.  Really consider what needs to be done, and find ways to do it.  That’s starting with us, and that’s how we make the changes. 

As for voting with your pocket book, I’m not going to tell you to stop taking your prescription medications.  But try to get at least 5 servings of a combination of fruits and vegetables.  That leaves less room for the junk food.  Once you start eating healthier, you may find that you don’t need some of those medications as much as you did.  I know that if my husband stopped eating so many empty carbohydrates and sweets, he could cut back on his diabetes medication.  I’m not suggesting that you cut back on your medication without consulting your doctor, but you’d be surprised what eating healthy can do for you.

It’s on the news and everywhere else.  We’re in the middle of a recession.  No, we’re not in the middle of a recession, it’s just a slowdown.  No, it’s more than a slow down, we’re facing some real problems.  Depending on who you ask, Americans may be in for a hard time over the next few months, few years or however long it takes for our economy to straighten itself out.

 It’s hard to be specific when some of the indicators of a recession just aren’t clear.  Yes, I know the “legal” definition of a recession.  That’s not the problem.  The problem is, the information they use as indicators just doesn’t clearly represent the US economy at this point. 

 For example, anyone who has been to the grocery store recently can tell you that the price of groceries has gone up.  A lot in some cases.  My tea has only gone up about 10 or 15 cents.  On the other hand, my hot cocoa has gone up almost 50 cents a box.  Milk has gone up almost $1 a gallon.  Let’s not even count gas for this, or cigarettes — though my husband smokes 2 packs a day.  My health insurance went up, but my vision insurance didn’t.  My copay for generic medications and my health insurance deductible has gone up.   With the number of foreclosures and layoffs also going up, there’s a pretty depressing picture going around of what’s happening.

Then there’s those who like to place the blame.  Some say it’s Bill Clinton’s fault.  That the housing bubble started when he was president, and his policies brought on some of the problems.  Others like to blame Bush for the problems.  After all, he is the current president while these things are happening.  The problem is, I don’t think it’s either of their faults. 

Part of the problem is a matter of simple greed.  Many were seeing the money they could make by giving out loans to those who had poor credit.  Just charge a higher interest rate to cover the risk. 

Part of the problem is that many people don’t know how to budget.  Or they think they should be able to live at the same level as they did when they were growing up in their parents house, regardless of whether they have their own house payment and kids to support.  Many just want what they want when they want it and don’t think about how it’s going to get paid for after it goes on the credit card.  In our easy credit society, we are encouraged to buy now, pay later.  There’s a whole industry that makes a living off the interest charged for this mentality.  Some of them make pretty good money.  Even Visa and Mastercard got in on the action.  Then they released their stock to the public. 

What happened to paying cash for everything?  What happened to using things past when they break down? 

Don’t get me wrong, I do understand wanting nice things.  Heck, I go through that myself when I need to drive my car down to the city to go to the airport.  My car is 10 years old and has over 200,000 miles on it.  It’s still running well, even if the body is the worse for wear.  I’d love a newer car, but it’s simply not in the cards right now.  Besides, there’s nothing wrong with my current one.  It’d be great to live in a bigger place, to have a bigger tv.  I think of all of these things, and I understand them.  But, I feel that if I can’t pay cash, I don’t want to do it right now. 

A dear friend of mine laughed at me when I said that.  I want to buy a house, something big enough for my family.  But, I’d rather pay cash than have a 30 year loan out.  Or even a 15 year loan.  Yea, I know, it’s not feasible.  It’s too bad, that’s how things used to be.  Or people would do what my parents have done twice now.  Buy the land, build the house as they can afford it.  Of course it was cheaper to build houses back when people didn’t get loans for their houses.  They could get their own wood.  My parents had to buy a lot of lumber.  They did end up with a mortgage, just for about half of what their house is worth.  And the inspectors have all said that they can’t believe the house was made by a blind guy.  Or even a legally blind guy.

I guess it’s all in how you look at things.  Everything else aside, whether or not we’re going through a recession really doesn’t make a difference.  Bush’s stimulus checks didn’t make a difference either.  For many who have gotten themselves in trouble, even $1800 is a drop in the bucket compared to their real problem.  We’re all just going to have to find a way to tighten our belts and live simply while we wait for the dollar to come back, the gas prices to go down (if they ever will) and the unemployment rate to drop. 

I hear that container gardening is a cheap way to get food into the house.

White House Defends Food Based Biofuels

 You know, I noticed the price of food and gas going up, and assumed that the price of food was going up because of the cost to ship it.  I mean if they have to pay more for the diesel, then at some point, they’ll have to pass the cost on to the consumer.  Right?

 Then I started reading about riots in Haiti, and that China and other governments aren’t exporting as much rice because of the increases in food costs.  But they’re also not producing as much rice.  A lot of other countries aren’t producing as much food.  It’s not on purpose, there’s a drought in Australia, Russia isn’t growing as much wheat…

So what does the the US government think is the most important thing to do?  Yea, you got it, put more effort into growing corn for ethanol. Let’s ignore for the moment all of the problems with ethanol, and look at the rest of the issues with this scenario.

 I understand their reasoning that we need to get off our oil dependence.  But, if we are going through a food shortage, is this how we need to do it? 

I know that we’re short on wheat, not corn.  However, farmers are actually planting corn because this is the crop that’s going to get the most cash.  So then we’re short on the “food” crops since the corn isn’t going to be used for food. Yet we have a food shortage.

 Our government is very short-sighted, though they can deny it all they wish.  Anyone with brains knows they are worsening the food crisis on this planet.  Yet they say that it’s more important to reduce our dependancy on oil.  What they need to do is make laws to fix the loopholes they left in the mpg requirements.  Auto makers make trucks because they’re not required to get as high a mpg on these vehicles.  That’s the whole point behind the big SUV’s too.  Our own short sightedness has brought us to this pass.  Unfortunately, this same short-sightedness is helping starve others.