Glorious Christmas Nights 2010 – It’s Show Time!

Tonight is our dress rehearsal.  We’ve just been through a weekend and Monday of arduous tech rehearsals where every (and I mean every) lighting, music, dancing, set, prop, and speaking cue is set just right, and recorded.  It is during this period of time when you question why you auditioned back in September, and you find yourself saying “I’m not going to do this again next year.”  But, after you actually have the gratification of doing the show 18 times, you find yourself a little more amenable to the idea.  It’s addictive.

We’ve made nearly all the adjustments that need to be made (I say nearly, because a ton of notes will be generated by the director tonight, and more adjustments will be made), so tonight we’ll run it just like a show, and probably in front of a good-sized crowd – we invite folks from other churches’ drama groups in to see it, along with family and friends of cast and crew.

I’ve been taking some more random shots of things and people – mostly, they’re taken with my iPhone, so the low-light settings are kind of grainy.
http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

Who’d Have Thunk It? Exorbitant Taxes Change Buying Behavior

Back in July, New York state lawmakers increased the excise tax on a pack of cigarettes to $4.35 per pack.  This insult, on top of New York City’s $1.50 per pack tax, brought the price of a pack of Marlboros to $11.60 – and as much as $14.00 in some shops.  As a reasoning man might expect,

Image via Wikipedia

this caused a change in smoker behavior in New York.

However, it’s not exactly causing the change that state officials had guessed.  Instead of quitting, New York smokers are going to the black market to get their cigarettes, and it’s costing New York as much as $20 million per month in tax revenues.  Sales of legal cigarettes are down about 36% compared to the period before the tax increase.

Read more at Fox Business News.

Pain: Just How Far the U. S. Economy has Fallen in Four Years.

Michael Snyder writing at Daily Markets describes through 11 statistics just how far the U. S. economy has fallen in the last four years.  This is a bit depressing, given that the current administration’s policies aren’t going to help things get any better any time soon (and may make it worse). Here are the first five from his article:

#1 In November 2006, the “official” U.S. unemployment rate was 4.5 percent.  Today, the “official” U.S. unemployment rate has been at 9.5 percent or greater for more than a year.

#2 At Thanksgiving back in 2006, 26 million Americans were on food stamps.  Today, there are over 42 million Americans on food stamps and that number is climbing rapidly.

#3 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, median household income in the United States fell from $51,726 in 2008 to $50,221 in 2009.  Median household income declined the year before that too.  Meanwhile, prices have continued to rise throughout that period.

#4 At the end of the third quarter in 2006, 47 banks were on the FDIC “problem list”.  At the end of the third quarter in 2010, 860 banks were on the FDIC “problem list”.

#5 California home builders began construction on 1,811 homes during the month of August, which was down 77% from August 2006.

Read the rest at Daily Markets

Workout Report (11/28)

Between work on GCN (tech and dress rehearsals today through Tuesday; shows start Wednesday and run through Sunday night), and my job, the workout schedule is going to suffer in the next two weeks.  Getting one last rowing and bodyweight workout in before tech rehearsal at 4:00 PM today.

8,045m rowed

25 pullup

75 pushup

25 chinup

50 perfect pushup

Elapsed time 54:07

Workout Report (11/26)

9,000 m rowed (4500 @174w)

Elapsed time 46:19