... if you going into a private firm usually the money is a little better but the hours are a lot more.

 

Don't listen to someone about career advice when they type like an uneducated hoodlum. ;)

Personally, I plan on working at a private firm. I don't think you work as many hours in the public sector.

 

You are correct, if you going into a private firm usually the money is a little better but the hours are a lot more.

 

Usually the money is a lot better.

Fausto's personality and good $12 haircut keep 'em coming back

 

Fausto Ferrari has been cutting hair at the same barber shop on Garfield Place for 50 years.  Same job. Same location. Same barber chairs. And no plans to retire anytime soon.  The shop of the Italian immigrant - an American citizen since 1964 - has survived numerous development plans that threatened to displace his business over the decades, but a lack of customers has never been a concern. They keep coming back.

 

"You could almost make a sitcom out of this place," said John Schmitz, a portfolio manager at Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel who's been a customer there for 18 years. "It's just like Cheers, except it's the barbershop."  With all the bankers and power brokers he serves, Ferrari gets lots of tips, but says he's never gotten any good stock tips. He credits his staying power to his simple work ethic - "I keep working every day, nothing special." - and an understanding wife in Clifton.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070708/BIZ01/707080340/1076/BIZ

I've been there a couple of times when I've been in town and in need of a haircut. Everyone should check this place out at least once.  It's like going back in time to when you were a kid and your dad would take you to the barber shop. There are also a couple of interesting characters that sit in the chairs and go on about whatever.  It's a trip.

 

Too bad he doesn't do the hot towel shaves anymore.

Personally, I plan on working at a private firm. I don't think you work as many hours in the public sector.

You are correct, if you going into a private firm usually the money is a little better but the hours are a lot more.

 

Usually the money is a lot better.

 

Salary almost always depends on the size and location of the jurisdiction that's hiring you. Rural and small town jurisdictions usually pay less than those in large metro areas or large cities. And private sector is not that much more than public, often with fewer immediate benefits, less time off, and an expectation of more hours worked and/or late nights and/or travel.

 

I personally am a private sector urban designer and I get 120 "flex" vacation/sick hours a year. My friend is a planner for the state, and gets 190 vacation hours and 80 hours of sick time.

 

In my private sector experience, I have seen a notable number of planners hit mid-career and go into the development sector to increase their income. I would estimate that there is an income "cap" as a planner of about $125,000 plus benefits. Flip that 15 or so years of experience into working for a developer and I think you start at that salary and go up from there.

 

I would say, though, when it's all said and done that the difference between public sector and private sector planning isn't so much about how much you make or even what you do, it's about which "driving force" do you want to work under: Having to justify everything you do politically, or financially.

Is there a big market for land-use attorneys? It doesn't seem like a very popular specialization of law.

yep

HOLY CRAP!  Did the Enquirer get a new editor or something?  Again, NOTL it was nice knowing you.

 

 

Downtown's hopping again

Revamped Square, new restaurants and nightclubs a hit

 

More than a decade after the city of Cincinnati poured millions into the so-called Backstage Entertainment District in hopes of sparking downtown nightlife, the blocks north of Fountain Square are finally catching fire.  Last year's renovation of Fountain Square itself gets a lot of the credit, having given investors added assurance that downtown has turned the corner.

 

But it seems to be a combination of factors in addition to Fountain Square - more residents, improved public safety measures and more effective leadership at City Hall and from Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) - that is finally drawing a critical mass of businesses and people to downtown streets after 6 p.m.

 

The estimated 40,000 visitors descending on downtown for the annual Macy's Music Festival this weekend will find that activity along Seventh and Walnut streets has increased considerably since last year with the opening of several chain-based venues: Sully's Sports Bar & Grill, The Lodge Bar and Cadillac Ranch Rock-N-Country Bar & Grill.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070728/BIZ01/707280366

HOLY CRAP!  Did the Enquirer get a new editor or something?  Again, NOTL it was nice knowing you.

 

The clock is certainly ticking for NOTL...if they don't make some serious improvements and/or investments there soon, then I give it another 2-3 years of gradual decline.  Then phase 1 of The Banks will hit the scene and all bets are off.

 

This story was unexpected.

 

I wasn't sure that this was the best place to post this, but it seems to be more of a follow up to the Jon Newberry article as well as an example of what we have all been hoping to see downtown.

 

Festival rocks riverfront

Business owners, leaders call it 'Christmas in July'

 

There's no snow. No freezing temperatures.  But there is winter holiday excitement downtown this weekend for the Macy's Music Festival, Chicago Cubs' visit and other entertainment and cultural activities.  The biggest gift under the tree went to The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which broke attendance records with 6,300 visitors Saturday, a free-admission day.

 

Hotels are booked. Restaurant waiters have been sweating and scurrying to keep up with crowds. And though one Fourth Street vendor said sales were drowned by Friday night's rain, Saturday's weather appeared to improve sales.  "Jazz Fest (Macy's Music Festival) is like Christmas in July for us," said Gus Miller, longtime owner of Batsakes Hat Shop at Sixth and Race streets. A veteran of festivals, he called in extra help for business that started "briskly at 8 a.m." Saturday.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070729/NEWS01/707290425/-1/CINCI

I can only imagine out-of-towner's reactions when The Banks is built.  Downtown is getting very close to turning that proverbial corner.

What's gotten into the Enquirer lately - the good thing is that things must be picking up steam because we know they would not err on the side of being overly positive.  Let's keep the ball rolling. 

 

On a side note, I went to the Reds game with a group of people on Friday, and the In Between was packed, as usual, on a game day.  I really like that bar for its neighborhood quality, and it would be nice if they could make it larger.  I think they open the parking lot for Bengals games.  We also started talking to two guys who had just driven from Long Island, and they were quite impressed with the city and stadium.  I did have to bite my lip on the fact that Broadway Commons would have been much better.

I recently was part of a conversation where a guy was discussing what he thought about the different MLB ballparks he's been to (30 or so).  When asked about GABP he said it was nice, but that there is just another arena and parking lots around it...and that really kills what could be a fantastic atmosphere.  When The Banks is complete (even just phase 1) it will do wonders for the ballpark atmosphere down at Reds games.

The proverbial corner has already been turned!  I am just as excited to see the banks done but I was downtown all weekend with out of towners and though they question the vast openness in between the stadia, it is a split second question/thought and they get taken back by something else.  The banks is not going to make or break the momentum going on currently.  It WILL HELP though but there are to many other things in motion north of Second St that is making peoples jaws drop who haven't been here within the past year.  The  '07 energy is definitely electrifying.

I took some relatives on a tour of downtown a few months ago.  It was a Saturday afternoon, with ZERO events going on...and downtown was still very active.  My cousin (35 or so with a family, who has lived in both Cbus and Toledo) made a comment about how much activity was prevalent downtown on a non-business day.

 

That comment made my month!  Oh, and btw they (cousin and his two children) loved Carew's observation deck and were also impressed with the changes made to Fountain Square.  The videoboard was another big hit with them, but the shear amount of activity is what sold it...restaurants were busy, people were out and about, lots of people enjoying the square.  All in all they were very impressed/surprised.

I had a co-worker who was on their way back to Atlanta from Dayton, and said that they could not find an available hotel room from Dayton to Lexington.  I guess the Cincinnati market can handle a few more hotel rooms.

 

'A complete success'

Events brought in big crowds

 

While the final tally is not yet in, local leaders and tourism officials say one thing comes to mind when thinking of this past weekend's mix of sports, cultural and music in downtown Cincinnati.  "A complete success," said Melinda Kruyer of Go Downtown, an organization promoting restaurants in downtown Cincinnati.

 

She said several downtown restaurants, including Palomino, Nicholson's and Jeff Ruby's had reported large crowds over the weekend.  "A lot of places had extended hours and late-night happy hours to take advantage of the crowds. Everyone has been so busy, there is a lot of restaurants I haven't been able to talk to yet," she said.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070730/NEWS01/707300360

It's that type of impression and perception that is making this thing take hold, even with the younger kids coming out of high school.  I was in high school in the nineties and nobody had anything good to say about downtown, even me.   I overheard a group of about ten high school suburban kids talking about haw there is so much to do in this city.   I bout fell off my chair to hear the younger kids having the same feelings that many of us have.  (Suburban kids at that)

DCI has posted the results of the 2007 downtown survey.  The results are extremely positive and can be accessed here:

 

http://www.downtowncincinnati.com/PDFs/2007_Downtown_Cincinnati_Survey_Results.pdf

 

almost every category is up over 2006.

 

My favorite quotation:

 

" Urbanists value diversity and socializing

Urbanists value what city has to offer

Those witha strong urban mindset are most distinct in

taking initiative to spend time downtown, embracing diversity

and having an active social life.

They are also more likely to go to museums, art galleries,

festivals/parades, seek outunique shopping, go to

bars/clubs, enjoy events withtradition/historical

focus, and attend performing arts or young professionals

events."

^ Too bad the survey mentioned that the number two source for primary info about downtown (at 65%) is the daily newspaper.

DCI has posted the results of the 2007 downtown survey.  The results are extremely positive and can be accessed here:

 

http://www.downtowncincinnati.com/PDFs/2007_Downtown_Cincinnati_Survey_Results.pdf

 

almost every category is up over 2006.

 

My favorite quotation:

 

" Urbanists value diversity and socializing

Urbanists value what city has to offer

Those witha strong urban mindset are most distinct in

taking initiative to spend time downtown, embracing diversity

and having an active social life.

They are also more likely to go to museums, art galleries,

festivals/parades, seek outunique shopping, go to

bars/clubs, enjoy events withtradition/historical

focus, and attend performing arts or young professionals

events."

We needed a study to figure that out?! LOL.

IMO downtown Cincinnati should focus on attracting people from other cities, not suburbanites that don't appreciate the inner city (eww...theres like...nowhere to park). Someone said something really great on this forum one time about how people outside of the city aren't really desirable people to have in it; simply because they don't have that mindset. I guess you can convert a certain amount of people but overall I think people either just like that atmosphere or don't.

Making Young People Happy Means Success for Cities

 

Giving into what the young and restless want is essential to the long-term success of Cincinnati's downtown and suburbs, says the state director of Greater Ohio.  Walkable, dense communities with brick buildings, trendy restaurants and no box stores, said Gene Krebs, who has been Greater Ohio's state director since 2004.

 

Greater Ohio is a Columbus-based organization dedicated to better land use in the state. It promotes "smart growth" policies focused on accommodating population shifts while maintaining a good quality of life.  Krebs spoke at the National Building Museum on Monday about Ohio's progress since it began advancing smart growth issues three years ago. He said Ohio is in "a dim state" as far as intelligent land use goes, but Cincinnati is beginning realize what it takes to design and build successful communities.

 

"People in Cincinnati have got to start thinking of themselves as living in a 'commute shed' and that their fortunes and the fortunes of their region rise and fall on the commute shed," Krebs said. A commute shed is the area surrounding a city that includes everyone who travels to the city. "They need to look at some of their out-of-date government planning and say, 'This was good for the age of the horse, but is it really that good for the age of the computer chip?'"

 

Read full article here:

http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/24281/

^I still think the thesis of this article is absurd.  A city is dynamic first and foremost if it provides economic opportunity, and secondly if it is an incubator of culture.  You need more than just spoiled twenty-somethings for that.  Also, "happiness" is a laundry list of items that you can apply to every consumer.

^^ Yeah LK is right. The world is not all YPs. First if you provide plenty of economic opportunity, you create more YPs, who can them become APs with children. There is also the rest of society that benefits for economically vibrant and dynamic cities in ways that a thousand Hyde Parks just don't.

The whole young professional and creative class thing ignores the fact that many if not most young adults either don't care about where they live and work or they are attached to a particular locale due to a family health situation (or it's never really occured to them to move).  Then there are people who move haphazardly just to get away from their parents or an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend. 

 

The only big change I've detected recently are the hordes of college girls moving to New York after graduation looking to live their own Sex & the City episode.  Personally I can feel my testicles shriveling up just flipping past that show and so don't really know what it's about, but it's clear that it has had a profound effect on how young girls think about cities and New York in particular. 

 

 

>Have you ever tried walking to Wal-Mart? It makes your palms sweat and your feet hurt just thinking about it.

 

Oh bother.  When I lived in Tennessee I liked to hike an 11 mile loop in a state park, and the ROTC guys would jog it carrying mortar shells on their shoulders that looked like they weighed about 30lbs.

 

The difference between hiking and walking to Walmart is that hiking is fun; something you do for recreation. It is not fun to walk along the side of a wide road where people are going 45 mph right next to you. Walmart is a place you go to buy massive quantities of items. It's not practical to walk.

 

I think that the talented professionals they're talking about are more likely to travel and live in other cities. As far as my friends go, the smarter they are, the more likely they are to want to get out of Cincinnati and the midwest in general, to gain new experiences. The only problem I have is that they're making it sound like the 20-something yuppies living on credit are going to save our cities, and they're not. Cities need talented people in general. Talented people working in the growing industries, as well as immigrants who tend to do jobs Americans don't want to do, cheaply.

It is not fun to walk along the side of a wide road where people are going 45 mph right next to you.

 

Well you just summed up a typical walking experience along Peachtree Street here in Atlanta; and of course almost ALL streets for that matter.

^I once walked from the Buckhead Metro Station all the way down Peachtree to Arts Center.  And it wasn't because I am creative.  It was because I kept thinking, "Okay, they'll be a station over that next hill."  I also never quite understood what is meant by, "the young and talented".  Most of the people I went to college with, whom I assume are the YP demographic, were anything but talented.  And their reasons for living where they did weren't profound.  Anybody can justify a move to New York.  There's a kid I work with now who wants to go to college in NYC.  He's a nice guy, relatively anti-social.  Doesn't drink, doesn't do drugs, doesn't go out to bars, doesn't pick up girls, isn't artistic in a creative or performing arts way.  He has very well defined and eclectic taste in rock music, however (he's the only guy here who knows who the Pixies are besides myself, and he's 22 or something).  I said to him, "So you want to move to New York so you can listen to bands?"  Aside from the, "It's just a cool place argument" he gave, I think I pretty much called it.  There's nothing particularly creative or value-added about that.

he's the only guy here who knows who the Pixies are besides myself, and he's 22 or something

 

Off topic but . . . "Doolittle" is one of the best CD/Albums of all time in my opinion.

>I think that the talented professionals they're talking about are more likely to travel and live in other cities. As far as my friends go, the smarter they are, the more likely they are to want to get out of Cincinnati and the midwest in general, to gain new experiences. The only problem I have is that they're making it sound like the 20-something yuppies living on credit are going to save our cities, and they're not.

 

 

Emerson:

 

It is for want of self-culture that the superstition of Travelling, whose

idols are Italy, England, Egypt, retains its fascination for all educated

Americans. They who made England, Italy, or Greece venerable in the

imagination did so by sticking fast where they were, like an axis of the

earth. In manly hours, we feel that duty is our place. The soul is no

traveller; the wise man stays at home, and when his necessities, his duties,

on any occasion call him from his house, or into foreign lands, he is at

home still, and shall make men sensible by the expression of his

countenance, that he goes the missionary of wisdom and virtue, and visits

cities and men like a sovereign, and not like an interloper or a valet.

I have no churlish objection to the circumnavigation of the globe, for the

purposes of art, of study, and benevolence, so that the man is first

domesticated, or does not go abroad with the hope of finding somewhat

greater than he knows. He who travels to be amused, or to get somewhat which

he does not carry, travels away from himself, and grows old even in youth

among old things. In Thebes, in Palmyra, his will and mind have become old

and dilapidated as they. He carries ruins to ruins.

 

Travelling is a fool's paradise. Our first journeys discover to us the

indifference of places. At home I dream that at Naples, at Rome, I can be

intoxicated with beauty, and lose my sadness. I pack my trunk, embrace my

friends, embark on the sea, and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside

me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled

from. I seek the Vatican, and the palaces. I affect to be intoxicated with

sights and suggestions, but I am not intoxicated. My giant goes with me

wherever I go.

^That's very thought provoking and poetic but it's not making anyone content with living in East St. Louis.

 

^That's very thought provoking and poetic but it's not making anyone content with living in East St. Louis.

 

Speaking from personal experience?! ESL is no joke!

he's the only guy here who knows who the Pixies are besides myself, and he's 22 or something

 

Off topic but . . . "Doolittle" is one of the best CD/Albums of all time in my opinion.

 

Continuing the off topic - ever notice how the much the guitar on Debaser sounds like Sugar's Good Idea (actually this should be reversed)?  Also, Where Is My Mind has to be one of most well placed songs in movies at the end of Fight Club.  Sorry for the interruption.

I just read through this whole thread, and I don't know if I've seen any that took more off-topic tangents in stride...Walnut Hills High School and ATL v CVG and catholic education and just wage theory and hiking and music...kinda funny...

 

EDIT: Moved Post to here

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=13733.0

On LK and the whole YP issue . . . The simple presence of Proctor and Gamble and Federated and to a lesser extent the banks and law firms means that young professional types who are at least nominally intelligent will be cycling through the area for hopefully quite a long time. So all in all I'm not worried about them. As long as urbanism continues to gain adherents then the city will be there for them. Some will always flee to the suburbs and well the suburbs can have them. Hopefully as things continue to develop more will be drawn closer to the core.

The creative class is even lamer. I mean I guess I'm supposed to be part of the creative class, nearly a PhD in urban history. My wife is a composer, all cutting-edge electronic music. I can guarantee you that we cannot single-handedly save a city or make it particularly cool. Now maybe that's just us, but graduate school does not really provide the sort of resources to build an urban renaissance around.

 

Jmeck on traveling . . . Somewhere else always seems better to you get there and spend a couple months. I have found it nearly always gives me a greater appreciation of Cincinnati (especially two months in the middle of winter in Philly), though Hawaii is pretty special.

I can guarantee you that we cannot single-handedly save a city or make it particularly cool.

 

why not? a single person can push debate in a direction by their mere presence, you can do whatever you want.

So very inspirational!

I agree! People singlehandedly start trends. Many times they don't even realize it. It has to start somewhere.

"The Tipping Point" comes to mind and there is an example of how a group of hipsters in New York made Hush Puppies cool across the country.  If you have not read this book it is very interesting.

"The Tipping Point" comes to mind and there is an example of how a group of hipsters in New York made Hush Puppies cool across the country.  If you have not read this book it is very interesting.

 

Along with a story about a slight drop in healthcare funding causing an STD epidemic in new parts of Baltimore  :-o

Yes - that was extremely enlightening - it's amazing how little changes have huge impacts.

>cannot single-handedly save a city or make it particularly cool. Now maybe that's just us, but graduate school does not really provide the sort of resources to build an urban renaissance around.

 

The media creates facts and perceptions, it gives credibility to things that are out there happening randomly.  It connects dots that have nothing to do with each other (false cognates, etc.) and labels something a trend or a scene or a "growing crisis".  What's really funny is there's a new cable channel called "Ovation" and they have a promo bit that goes "...where do the artists hang out?" as though Ovation is going to give you this insight into Factory-type groups and obscure bars and parties where great ideas and movements are born.   

 

>Jmeck on traveling . . . Somewhere else always seems better to you get there and spend a couple months. I have found it nearly always gives me a greater appreciation of Cincinnati (especially two months in the middle of winter in Philly), though Hawaii is pretty special.

 

I've known a couple of people so eager to get out of town and so convinced that place X is better that when they come to this realization they keep on frustratingly lauding place X and knocking the hometown even though they know they're wrong.  All that's symptomatic of someone's maturity, and so when you pick up on this brace for some more ridiculous observations and opinions.  Obviously if you're from a very small town or a dying industrial town that's one thing, but bitter Cincinnati natives are another.  The classic "it's so hard to meet people in Cincinnati" should be more like "it's hard to meet people EVERYWHERE".  I've moved probably 3 times to situations where I knew ZERO people, and you just have to deal with it.  If you're serious about making new friends, you need to be out there every day and every night trying to make it happen until you get there.       

 

 

I see your point Jake, I just don't think it's fair to say place is entirely irrelevant. People do make the mistake of blaming a city on their problems and thinking that moving will solve everything. Many people don't realize that it has more to do with the opportunities they create for themselves and the decisions they make in general.

I've known a couple of people so eager to get out of town and so convinced that place X is better that when they come to this realization they keep on frustratingly lauding place X and knocking the hometown even though they know they're wrong.  All that's symptomatic of someone's maturity, and so when you pick up on this brace for some more ridiculous observations and opinions.  Obviously if you're from a very small town or a dying industrial town that's one thing, but bitter Cincinnati natives are another.  The classic "it's so hard to meet people in Cincinnati" should be more like "it's hard to meet people EVERYWHERE".  I've moved probably 3 times to situations where I knew ZERO people, and you just have to deal with it.  If you're serious about making new friends, you need to be out there every day and every night trying to make it happen until you get there.

 

This couldn't be more true.  In Cincinnati I have a good amount of friends and things to do, and now I'm in Atlanta essentially with no one to fall back on.  Atlanta is typically seen as a better place to meet people, do things and have fun...but it's a load of crap.  You have to do a hell of a lot of work in order to get to that point.  It's not just a given that you're going to move to NYC, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle, Austin or wherever and just immediately start having tons of fun and meeting tons of people.  It just doesn't work like that (at least from my experiences).  It really is a lot of perception.

A traffic jam is a great place to meet people.

Randy, you can always fall back on me...You missed out last night by the way...

 

Regardless, I think your point is weak for the simple fact that you have lived in Cincinnati your entire life and have a great network of family and friends to fall back on. Anywhere else you go will not be able to compare to the security and comfort that goes along with lifelong friends and close family.

 

Anytime you move to a new city regardless of where it is, is going to be a challenge, and friends are not going to magically appear unless you proactively search for them. 

 

What ATL and other cities do have are transient people, all proactively looking to make new friends, where my experience in Cincinnati is that the lack of new transplants reduces the pool of people looking to find a group of people to hang out with. I'm not saying that its impossible, but more difficult to do.

 

JMeck..I'm moving to LA with 3 buddies to have many, many Entourage experiences....Hopefully my wife doesnt stop me.

 

 

 

 

Carolyn says she misses her hot tub, for sure, the dogs and the 400-square-foot deck where she watched deer and raccoons. But Tom is the kind of guy who flashes his zest for constant activity, culture and nightlife in every smile.

 

Hmm.  I read this article and all I can think about is what happened to those dogs.  :oops:

Randy, you can always fall back on me...You missed out last night by the way...

 

Regardless, I think your point is weak for the simple fact that you have lived in Cincinnati your entire life and have a great network of family and friends to fall back on. Anywhere else you go will not be able to compare to the security and comfort that goes along with lifelong friends and close family.

 

Anytime you move to a new city regardless of where it is, is going to be a challenge, and friends are not going to magically appear unless you proactively search for them. 

 

What ATL and other cities do have are transient people, all proactively looking to make new friends, where my experience in Cincinnati is that the lack of new transplants reduces the pool of people looking to find a group of people to hang out with. I'm not saying that its impossible, but more difficult to do.

 

We aren't in disagreement here.  My point was that while Cincinnati is not considered a great place to meet people and have a good time it's all just really relative to your situation.  I'm new to Atlanta (a creme de le creme of sorts for YP's and meeting people), and it's a struggle.  Like I was saying, just because you move to an Atlanta, Austin, NYC, or elsewhere that's considered attractive...it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be meeting people left and right.  It's all relative.

 

BTW, I'm meeting some great people down here (none of whom are originally from Atlanta)...but like I said, it takes a good deal of effort and persistence to get out there and meet those people.

BTW, I'm meeting some great people down here (none of whom are originally from Atlanta)...but like I said, it takes a good deal of effort and persistence to get out there and meet those people.

 

Well, if you are looking for a place to watch the Bengals in Atlanta on Sundays, I used to watch the games with some friends at a bar called Gibney's downtown.  I'm sure they will be there when the season starts.  You're not a douchebag, are you?

 

The creative class is even lamer. I mean I guess I'm supposed to be part of the creative class, nearly a PhD in urban history. My wife is a composer, all cutting-edge electronic music. I can guarantee you that we cannot single-handedly save a city or make it particularly cool.

 

Awesome.  Merkowitz, if it's any consolation, whenever we've hung out, I always felt that you helped make me look particularly cool.

 

Jmeck, any recommendations on Emerson?  Books to purchase, and what not?  I'm looking for something highbrow to order along with the third season of The Office so the mail-handlers don't steal my DVD, and your quote has peaked my interest, both intellectually and as an extremely chauvinistic American.