Reddit Challenge story #1

The Founding of Dunkin Donuts:

Smoke billows in a darkened boardroom. Six men sit at the table, they look like the type of men you would imagine are fueling the current wall-street debacle; at the front of the table one man, wearing an expertly tailored pinstripe suit, puffs on a cigar like a king, savoring each breath.
“The time has come, men” the cigar-smoking man says, taking a long drag on his cigar before letting the smoke flow effortlessly above his face. The men all nod in agreement, as they begin to flip through their paperwork. One man, appearing to be in his mid 30s, wears a grey suit and looks at his paperwork
“I” the grey-suited man begins; the wrinkles on his face unable to hide his distress. “I cannot condone this, I cannot accept this. I cannot be a part of this. I have to go” The man then stands up, gathers his paperwork and walks out of the room.
The man sitting next to him appears to be much older; he wears a blue polo shirt and khaki slacks. As the man in the grey suit walks away he looks toward the cigar smoker curiously. “What the hell was that Frank? I thought you told me the little twerp was in?” The man with the cigar takes another slow pull and looks toward the end of the table, appearing to stare into the nothingness beyond the dull light. “This was as unexpected for me as it was for you, Mr. Ashworth, now I suggest you pipe down before-“
Just before Frank is able to finish, Mr. Ashworth interrupts “before what? You whack me? You sick fuck!” In a near instant after Mr. Ashworth finishes, Frank stands up abruptly. The other four men erupt in angry, frantic yelling for several seconds before Frank retrieves a revolver from his coat and fires a round into Mr. Ashworth. Ashworth collapses out of his chair and the four men look on in astonishment. Frank allows them to process the event for a few seconds before finally speaking “Does anyone else want to pull out as an investor in my donut shop?”
End.

Prosperity, thy name is dumplings.

I just had one of the best eating experiences I have ever had in New York City, and it only cost me two bucks. That's less than a soft pretzel at most food carts.

What I had was 10 fried potstickers from a little joint called Prosperity Dumplings, just off Canal Street in Chinatown. At a dollar for five, it is one of the best food deals in the city. Each dumpling is hand made, from fresh ingredients and fried on the spot, the resulting taste experience is simply immaculate. Each bite of the pork and chive filled dumplings tops the next, like a grand symphony for your taste buds, playing a full-force encore over and over. There simple is no place where you can get more food for less, or more flavor for less. Cheap and cheerful? I think so.

A Titan is gone. Steve Jobs dead at 56.

It feels like the first real death of the technology age. Jobs is gone and the computer world needs someone new to lead the way in the future and I just don't know who it could be. I mocked Apple on this blog, and yet you always feel respect someone who did so much to move the industry forward. I may have even said I hated Mr. Jobs from time to time, but I was always hiding a secret: I loved my iPod. RIP Steve Jobs.

We interrupt this blog...

Apparently, we're all doomed because a Hurricane is coming to New York City. I'm actually living quite near (but just out of) the evacuation zone. I was going to update the blog this weekend with details about my California vacation but instead I'll try to update it throughout the storm. Currently the storm is scheduled to hit Sunday evening.

UPDATE: storm was a dud

Rough Draft, Coming Of Age and California...

Too much to talk about for one blog post, no doubt.

I spent the last week on vacation in California, giving me a much needed break from the fast-paced New York life. My trip was relaxing, informative and most of all amazingly enjoyable. The vacation began in Venice and ended in Pasadena. Along the way I visited family and friends, saw a lovely young girl take her first step toward becoming a woman with her Bat Mitzvah and saw the studio where Futurama is animated. Overall, not too bad for the city known for gang wars and Hollywood scumbags.

For now I will simply say that I am overwhelmingly relaxed and feeling great, while still nervous about the future in New York. In the coming days I will try to update this blog more with stories from California, all of which deserve their own post. Thanks to all the family and friends who made it a great vacation.

Dear man singing at the Canal St. subway stop:

You are terrible.

Not only are you singing so quiet that it's practically mumbling, but you have your microphone turned down so low we can barely even hear it over the mumbling itself. You need to learn some new songs, all the actual lyrics to said songs, find a better subway stop than an empty Chinatown stop at 10 PM and finally: become better at singing.

Sincerely,
Jon

Checks and Balances

Lets face some facts: the United States is still the greatest country in the world- right now- but it is not without some serious flaws, chief of which is the amount of control corporations have over how our government functions.

I had a realization today while discussing politics with my sister. I was telling her how I thought that increasing corporate control over the political process would inevitably lead to a revolution when I realized that we don't actually have three pillars of government. We have four. That's right; forget Judicial, Legislative and Executive because it's actually Judicial, Legislative, Executive and Corporate.

Corporations are now legally considered people in matters of political funding and lobbying, a huge step backward in the battle against corporate influence. But even before that, corporations and their representatives in Washington were extremely powerful, influencing congress with piles of money to pass legislation that ensured their stockholders massive profits while choking taxpaying Americans in more ways than one can count. This influence over what actually happens in government is why they are the fourth branch, and I am ok with that.

I think corporate America should have a set out and legally defined voice in government since capitalism is so important to how we function. However, with becoming a branch of government comes that other thing that all branches have to deal with: checks and balances. If corporations want to influence the government, we should be able to check them and make sure they dont get any more powerful than the other branches. Hey P&G, Wal*Mart and Comcast, you want a voice? If you do, get ready to sacrifice for it just like everybody else.