What the f@&# is a metal bag?

Knowing I don't like olives on my sandwiches, the Subway girl told me, "Our olives taste kind of weird anyway." "Really?" I said. "Where do you get them from?" "From these metal bags."

"Ah."

.......

"Wait, what the f@&# is a metal bag?"

Her coworker began to agree with her, then hesitated to call it metal. Needless to say, I'm very curious to find out what a metal bag is, if it even exists, and I'm assured that I will be shown soon. Can a bag be metal? Can metal be a bag? Or is that like having a square circle? Doesn't a bag have to move and be flexible to some degree?

My best guess is that it's just a gray bag, or some sort of weird material that isn't metal. But this is the same girl that told me there was a type of cheese that has maggots on it, and she turned out to be telling the truth. So we'll see. Hopefully I'll have more to report on the metal bag situation later.

Subway: Eat Fresh Out Of Metal Bags

A note on equality

Found an interesting clip in the latest book I'm reading, "Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People." Early on, the book discusses how culture and gender can affect how a person negotiates. It turns out that women are, on average, more cooperative and less confrontational than men, which can affect their pay.

"In a study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University's business school, Professor Linda Babcock discovered that the difference between the starting salaries women MBA graduates were getting and the salaries men were offered (roughly a $4,000 difference in favor of the men) could be accounted for by one single behavioral fact: 57 percent of the men asked for more money after receiving an initial offer whereas only 7 percent of women asked for more. Those who negotiated - both women and men - received an average of $4,053 more than those who did not."

I'm not quoting this to say that there isn't inequality in the workplace (and that's not the book's point either), but it's interesting, and shows that there are two sides to every story. I'm about halfway through the book and it's been everything I expected. I highly recommend this one. It can be valuable information for anyone. As the book says, we're all negotiators in one way or another.

Obama shuts down Guantanamo

President Barack Obama is batting 1.000 early in his presidency. On Thursday he shut down Guantanamo prison. Illegal detention, as well as torture, are out. The CIA has to shut it down, along with secret overseas prisons, within a year.

"We intend to win this fight. We're going to win it on our terms," Obama said of the war on terrorism. But he also said he didn't want to have to make a "false choice" between successfully waging war against terrorist organizations and hewing to U.S. human rights ideals in the process.

"This is following through not just on a commitment I made during the campaign but an understanding that dates back to our Founding Fathers, that we are willing to observe core standards of conduct — not just when it's easy but also when it's hard," the president said.

I've never been as excited about any other presidency, and this is a great way to start it. It's nice to once again have a president who won't compromise the country's values.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Benjamin Button was born with a strange disease that makes him age backwards - from an old man to a child. There is nothing else interesting about him.

Do hookers invest?

It's a question that's plagued mankind since I thought of it this week. The question as to whether hookers have feelings was answered years ago. No, no they do not. But a new question has me sleepless at night. On Monday night's "Intervention," a drug addict said she was prostituting herself for about $500 a day. I thought, 'That's pretty good.' I mean, that's a good living. But I knew she was blowing it all. So now I'm wondering, are there street hookers who invest their money?

Based on their profession, you would assume that they don't make very good decisions and therefore do not invest (or maybe invest poorly), but that could just be a stereotype. It's really unfair to stereotype these hookers. I'm willing to bet, not literally, that there's one or two out there that have put their illegitimate children through college with their filthy money. Unfortunately, we'll probably never know because they probably won't trust me asking them questions with my tape recorder.

The Name

My dad taught me many lessons growing up, most of which I forgot or never heard in the first place. But one that stuck with me was "Think for yourself." It's an important lesson that I keep in mind and think of from time to time. But I'd like to take it one step further. I'd like to think for everybody else too. They don't know what the hell they're doing. Hence the name.

I consider myself a pretty tolerant person. At the same time, other people's opinions on things make no sense to me sometimes. When another person eats a carrot and thinks it tastes delicious, I genuinely can't understand why. Are they tasting something different? The same goes for anybody that doesn't like "Dumb and Dumber." Are you paying attention? Are you sure you're watching the same movie?

So I'd like to use this blog to tell you what you should be thinking, what your opinions should be. What else I post on here is something even I haven't figured out yet. We'll find out.

Maybe my favorite quote of all time:

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”

-Buddha