Nick Hornby is In My Head

I love Nick Hornby because he writes about things that I think about.

I may not have an obsessive interest in soccer, ahem, football, but I loved Fever Pitch because I understood that fanaticism was often a joyful panacea to a hidden pain. I felt that way about Angel or BTVS, but for some reason, people would purposely try to call me during an episode. I would call back after the show was finished, and others did not understand that I was not available, and that it did not mean that I liked them less. I have a prior obligation. No need to get defensive. Don't yuck my yum. Also I loved how he characterized the ambiguity of being enthusiastic and simultaneously embarassed about loving your obsession in the presence of other adults.

"[W]hat really matters is what you like, not what you are like...[I]t's no good pretending that any relationship has a future if your record collections disagree violently, or if your favorite films wouldn't even speak to each other if they met at a party." -High Fidelity

I should be ashamed to write this, but I have often imagined how wonderful it would be to be self-sufficient and blissfully alone with all the videos, DVDs, CDs and books that I normally would not have time to enjoy. About A Boy not only embraces this premise, but then blows it out of the water by reminding me that "It is not good for man to be alone." (Gen 2:18)

By the end, Nick's heroes triumph when they actually take a risk and do something for someone they love not out of self interest, but because it would make that person happy.

Nick is like me. He loves things so much, and even if I don't necessarily share his tastes, I recognize his feelings. I too struggle between being a consumer or a creator, being alone or with others, being safe with my tastes or accommodating to others. In other words, I am still trying to find the balance between watching other people live and living myself. In the end, Nick does the right thing. Choose life. (Deut 30:19)

Budgets Are Good!

I am practically evangelical when it comes to having a budget. When I was in college, I had a lot of credit cards. Unfortunately, like a lot of people, I used them to survive, not to make extravagant purchases. After four years, I had a little over $13,000 in credit card debt with no possibility for things to get better. I went straight to law school after graduation. During the summer after my first year, I worked in a public interest job and for the first time, I began to be late with payments. Without a budget, things would have been worse.

After that brush with being in the red, I decided to become even more strict with my budget. I graduated from law school without any credit card debt, but with tons of student loans. Intellectually, I understand that there is good debt and bad debt. Student loans are considered good debt, but when you are paying over $1,000 each month to satisfy minimum payments, there is nothing good about it.

I also live in a major college town on the east coast. Cambridge may be cheaper than NYC, but not by much. If you want your very own apartment, i.e. without roommates, it is going to cost you. If you want to be near public transportation, then be prepared to part with (a lot) over $1000. For all you folks in the Midwest, you are lucky in so many ways. I know that some people expect to pay that much for a mortgage, not the privilege of renting a dumpy unrenovated space.

Also, working full time as a high paid attorney in a big law firm only made the situation seem worse. Shouldn't I have something to show for all the hard work that I am doing? How do other people who earn less survive? How did I survive when I was a student? (Oh yeah, I didn't have student loans. Never mind.) I know so many people who earn 6 figure salaries who have little to show for it.

Now I know what some of you are thinking. "Oh, you poor thing. Not. You are lucky. At least, you can earn money. Who told you to get into so much debt or to live there. You could have gone to a state school or moved." All true. I only mention all these facts to say that regardless of what your situation is, the average American is not doing well financially regardless of earning power. When you are not doing well financially, you feel wretched. It stops you from accomplishing goals and having as much fun as you would like because you feel like you should be putting more energy into fixing your financial life, but how can you fix your financial life without having a plan?

Fortunately, there are many ways to improve your financial health, and I count myself as blessed to have discovered ways to change the way that I live before I changed my job and became a poor government attorney. I never took expensive trips or bought fancy cars, but the nature of life on the East Coast can be pricey. Here are some tips on how I was able to make things manageable.

1. For a month, every day, have a little note book and write in it every penny that you spend, including what you spent it on.

2. At the end of the month, add up what you spent and place it in categories to determine how much you spent in each category that month. I use the following categories: housing expenses (rent or mortgage, electric bills, condo fees), groceries, transportation (cab fares or train passes), insurance, debts, entertainment (eating out, movie tickets, books, video rentals, etc.), clothes, medical (prescriptions, co-pays, vitamins) and miscellaneous.

3. Look at the totals and determine whether or not you are spending too much in a certain category or if you are spending more than you earn. I always found this step to be difficult, but last year, I found out about a budget guide that allows the user to put in his or her income. The budget guide shows how much should be spent in each category. The housing percentage is unrealistic for anyone in the Northeast, but I tweaked the percentages to accommodate my lifestyle. For example, I was relieved to discover that before last year (even though it dees not seem possible), I was spending too little on food.

4. Continue to use the little note book to record your expenses.

5. At the end of each month, determine total income and total expenses according to category. Then you can figure out what areas you need to rein in. My temptation is entertainment.

6. List all your debts according to interest rate, from highest to lowest and from the lowest amount to the highest amount, then plan which loan you will try to pay off first by sending in extra payments. Some people like to pay the smallest one first, regardless of the interest rate. Others like to pay the one with the highest interest rate.

I vary my strategy because I have several variable interest rate loans. Some deluded soul in Washington thinks that our economy is doing well and keeps raising the interest rate on my variable interest rate loans until one of my loan's interest rate actually surpassed my mortgage's interest rate. In addition, three of my four variable interest rate loans would survive if I died, and I have to think about what my mother will inherit if something happens to me. This year, I decided to attempt to pay off the highest variable interest rate loan that would survive if I died.

7. A budget should include a savings plan. Everyone should have an emergency fund. Ask yourself how much you would need to survive without working for 1 month to a year. Unemployment is in the air, and anyone can get sick.

8. Take advantage of all the retirement saving options that are available to you such as deferred compensation plans, 401(k) and IRAs. Even if you cannot save the maximum amount allotted to you, do something because it is about the amount of time that your money has to work for you, not the maximum amount of money you have to put in the account--although that cannot hurt.

9. If you can, buy your own place. Rent always goes up, and I know so many elderly people in Cambridge who have lived here for a couple of generations and can no longer afford it. They thought that it would be too hard to buy something and too inconvenient to fix things, or they kept waiting to purchase property until they could afford it.

If you live in the Northeast, there is not suddenly going to be more land. We are reaching maximum capacity, and if you can't afford it now, then you won't be able to afford it as you encounter the financial challenges of caring for a family. Plus the hardest part is buying the place. Afterwards, you are paying yourself each month and do not have to deal with the stress of negotiating with a crazy landlord. If you face unexpected expenses, see no. 8.

If you need more help in managing your finances or need a crash course in understanding financial terminology, either check out Crown Ministry in your neighborhood or read one of the following books: Time Is Money: A Million Dollar Investment Plan for Today's Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings by Frances Leonard or Smart Women Finish Rich: 7 Steps to Achieving Financial Security and Funding Your Dreams by David Bach.

My Favorite North End Experiences

Even though there are still stubborn clumps of dark gray snow clinging to the gutters and sidewalks, spring is here! Spring is the perfect time to walk down the narrow crowded streets of the North End.

I have a friend from college & law school who is similarly adventurous with food and was very excited to try the raw bar at the Neptune Oyster. While enjoying our two tiered platter of Wellfleet oysters, shrimp, lobster tail, crab claws and littleneck clams, other patrons stared at their dainty plates in awe and cheered us on as we devoured the Neptune portion. (Honestly, it looked like more food than it actually was. We were satisfied and happy, but hardly full.)

We discussed more food that we would like to eat, and afterwards, I was inspired to recall other great restaurants and experiences in the North End.

1. Trattoria Il Panino:
First of all the atmosphere is perfect for intimate gatherings with a small group of people. I prefer to sit in the lower dining room where you feel enveloped. The waiters are friendly and attentive without being obtrusive.

Second, the food is perfect. I have never ordered something from the menu and regretted it. It is so difficult not to reach over and grab your friend's plate. I like to start with the Shrimp Scampi then have the Veal Saltimbocca.

Finally, my friends really appreciate the wine list. Another law school friend and former law firm colleague once kept looking into the empty wine bottle. I think that he was hoping for a replay of Jesus' first miracle. When the waiters surprised us with a shot of a dessert drink, he mournfully cried, "It is too small."

Once you eat at Il Panino, you are haunted by the delicious memories and feel compelled to return as soon as possible.

2. Ristorante Saraceno:
First, if a restaurant's bread makes you forget that you have a main course coming, then generally the food will be great. I kept asking for more and could not stop eating it.

Second, the restaurant gives patrons large portions of great food. When I was finished, I was forced to roll down the street while weakly moaning, "That was so goooooood." Don't wear a belt!

3. Mike's Pastry:
I'm not really into dessert. I prefer salty over sweet, but even I like visiting Mike's Pastry. When I mentioned that I liked Mike's Pastry at work, a place filled with native New Englanders who have lived here for many generations, my colleagues ridiculed the place as too touristy and not authentically Italian.

I could care less. Any place that offers pink leaves, tiramisu, Baci and Perugina products does not need to prove it's street cred to me.

Also I like the challenge. I think that being a New Yorker gives me an advantage because when the average customer enters the store, the customer tries to create a line or some fair way of insuring that he or she gets served as soon as possible while simultaneously not skipping someone else on line.

One precious and bewildered patron looked up a my friend and said, "I'm next.?." Not if the people who work here don't think so. It would be nice if some order was imposed by the establishment, but the only rule is dessert for the quickest and loudest.

Here's what you do: you get as close to the counter as possible, and when someone asks who is next, you get their attention and yell out what you want. If there is even a small space available, squeeze in there. If you want pie, don't be shy. If you are afraid of crowds and are reduced to rocking in a corner when faced with chaos, then you cannot handle it. There are lots of quiet and calm bakeries in the area. Mike's is not only about the food, but the experience.

Dan Rather Has Left The Bat Cave

I thought that Dan Rather used to live in the CBS building. It did not matter what day or time it was, if there was a breaking news story, he would appear. His anchor counterparts on the other major networks could not be found until hours after the news was old, and their makeup was carefully done.

Emergencies provide younger, less experienced reporters a chance to shine because usually a star anchor does not want to be in the office, even if that office is a television studio, on a Saturday morning at 7 a.m., but on CBS, other reporters did not stand a chance. It was as if Dan was huddled by a world police scanner just waiting for something to happen.

Most of my memories of Dan Rather are set on Saturday mornings. I was raised by a mom who valued sleeping late on the weekends, but sometimes a news event would be important enough to merit the violation of this principle. My mother would wake me up to tell me about some news event such as the raid to retrieve Elian Gonzalez, the Explorer explosion or JFK Jr. dying in a plane crash. She risked waking me up without arousing my annoyance by turning on the tv in my bedroom and flipping the channels.

Without fail, Dan Rather would be there. Doesn't he go away for the weekend? Does he have a family? Is his apartment in the building or did he have a pillow under the anchor desk? Even if there was a news event in another hemisphere, like the student uprising in Tianemen Square, he would be in the thick of danger narrating the day's events as if it did not occur to him that he could be carried away by the violent events all around him.

Unfortunately, Dan ended his tour of duty with a bit of disgrace, but if he has any flaws or biases, I think that the failing lies with the fact that he wants to do better and not rest on his laurels. He wants it to be like the old days when a breaking news story was special, meaningful and life changing for the nation. He is as hungry to get the story, any story, as any young reporter and has not grown mentally bloated or complacent as some of his esteemed counterparts. He still has faith in his profession's ability to unite the public so people will care about the story and take a position, any position, instead of growing jaded and assuming that the status quo is inevitable.

I do not watch the news during the week, but when a special report interrupts regularly scheduled programming, I imagine that I will still expect Dan to pop up and hope that he will not be able to resist the lure of another breaking news story.

Cambridge Picks' guest, Sean Penn's Dog 

And Now A Word From Sean Penn's Dog

Hello, I'm Sean Penn's Dog (see photo above).

Due to a response that Sean made to one of Chris Rock's jokes at the Oscars, a number of you have been muttering, "That guy has no sense of humor. Sorry, Robin." I have decided, on behalf of my family, to step up and defend Sean.

Sure the press claims that Sean was simply defending a colleague, a friend and a great actor, but it was more than that. He felt the need to praise Jude because, well, I love him, and it is not just puppy love.

That is not to say it is mutual or reciprocated. It is not even exclusive. Sean knows about my admiration for other great actors, such as Ralph Fiennes or his former co-star Chris Walken, who is not a big dog fan, but is still a close friend of the family so Chris makes an exception for me.

Also I couldn't be Sean's dog and not know a little something about acting. One may say that this is like the modern day Barrymore family. The only reason I haven't thrown my paw into the action is because I'm committed to taking care of the family first before pursuing my career. When the kids get older, then I may renew some old studio connections, but I'm going to use a different last name because I don't want to ride in on anyone's tail except my own.

But I digress. Jude Law is a beautiful man and a great actor, but I have been a little defensive lately because he does seem to be choosing a bunch of movies just to see whether or not something will stick. So when Chris made that joke, I guess the whole family cringed and was slightly sensitive because who among us hasn't chosen to star in a movie that appears to jar with the real focus of our careers. Am I right, Chris?

Chris, don't worry about it. We just wanted to make sure that the crowd didn't get the wrong impression. Namely that Jude should ever be considered a low rate Tom Cruise. If you don't believe me, then see him in anything. Tom, on his best action fighting day, can't measure up to Jude simply crouching in preparation to give a common criminal a swift beating in The Wisdom of Crocodiles or Immortality. If it is real life and my car is about to lose control, I wouldn't want that skinny boy anywhere near me and would put Tom on speed dial, but otherwise, Jude is my pick.

And have you seen him in The Talented Mr. Ripley or Gattaca? He always steals the show from his American co-stars. (Um, Sean, I know you like a challenge, but have you thought this through? I need my kibble. This coat doesn't stay shiny on its own.)

Also, Jude does not just substitute his beauty for real acting. He is always ready to try and get ugly in such films as Road to Perdition or Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Unfortunately, I think that casting was insane and showed poor judgment to cast a preternaturally beautiful man in their film for the skanky role, but people never listen to the dog. After all, they kept making sequels to the Matrix and blinded then hid half of Keanu Reeves' face in the last one. If ever an actor needed his face to keep an audience, it's Keanu. I went for a walk at that point.

So please don't blame Sean for his advocacy of Jude. He was just listening to his best friend.

I Love Bad TV Movies

I love bad movies, and some of the worst movies are original television productions. There are many types of bad movies, but my favorite kind of bad movie may be about natural disasters or when animals attack. This love began when I was little, and my mother would only let me watch either the Bible movies or nature gone wrong movies.

When I saw Dogs, I was hooked. The same adorable dog kept "attacking" people, but really did not have his heart in it. Even as a kid, I found it incredibly funny that this dog died in earlier scenes and was still able to attack again.

In these movies, the audience is supposed to root for a scientist who knows exactly what is going on and when disaster is going to strike, but the darn city officials will not listen because they are money hungry jerks who are trying to attract tourists and will probably suffer at the inevitable conclusion of the film before the scientist literally stops nature with some impossible scheme like altering the magnetic charge of the Earth.

Before I used to rely on PAX as my sole source for bad movies. I think that PAX aired these movies because usually the disaster is the MacGuffin for the family drama. The scientist is usually part of a family that is reunited and made stronger by the disaster. Anyone who poses a danger to the family usually dies after being struck by lightning or stung by killer bees.

For some reason, CBS wants a part of this market and is giving PAX a run for its money. CBS does not appear terribly proud of this accomplishment because even though the network is willing to air commercials during primetime, CBS is not yet admitting their association to such gems on their website. CBS, if you wanted my attention, just give me a call. I think that I am the only one who is watching this stuff, and I already watch several shows on your network. It is not worth losing your reputation.

For instance, while watching the first episode of the Amazing Race, I noticed a commercial for (I'm not kidding) Spring Break Shark Attack, which will air on Sunday, March 20th. I turned to my mother completely astonished. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine something so exploitive, and I am annoyed that it took me a week to think of something even more exploitive to compete with it.

So far, I have come up with 'Miami Summer: Tornado Watch.' I am a lawyer and will sue you if you even think about using this idea without my permission because it is brilliant! CBS can use the term "based on factual events" in the commercial because on May 12, 1997, there was a tornado in downtown Miami. Plus it did occur in the summer, sort of, and it is Miami, so people were probably hot and walking around in skimpy outfits. Combine that with the wind from a tornado and coeds running down the street, hair whipping around wildly because of the wind machine...ahem, I mean tornado! There can be dance sequences and guest appearances by random music artists in the neighborhood looking for an acting break. Quick! Call J.Lo! It writes itself, and best of all, no one dies. The scientists will stop the tornado with her music--maybe an excerpt from her duet with Marc Anthony.

At any rate, while writing my masterpiece 'Miami Summer: Tornado Watch' and viewing its CBS competitor, 'Shark Attack,' I will take a pause to watch another CBS movie: Locusts, starring Lucy Lawless and will air on Sunday, April 24th. I think the network must have some sort of deal with the artist formerly known as Xena: The Warrior Princess because she is also going to appear on CBS' Two and A Half Men on Monday, March 7th at 9:30 PM.

[I will probably watch Two and A Half Men for the first and probably last time because it is nice to see that Xena is working again, and no one expected her to appear in Shakespeare in the Park--unfair but true. We love you, Lucy! Meet with Robert Patrick, who is also going to be in a CBS movie on Elvis, which will air on May 8th. He will never get a fair shake from the acting world because he was in a huge hit, T2, and is now forced to do his best work in, well, the final two seasons of the X-Files, which I watched to the bitter end. Still Robert Patrick does it with class and is doing it for the family. A paycheck is a paycheck, and actors should be proud of even getting a job in this crazy business called show!]

At any rate, I am very excited to see what other movies CBS has waiting for me. I thought that Category 6: Day of Destruction was just a fluke, but now I know the truth. CBS loves me and is willing to do anything to prove it.