Saturday, July 30, 2011

Note to self freight train

Future marcus
Get waylon jennings & marshal tucker greatest hits

Thank you
Past marcus

posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 7:38 PM 0 comments

Running and grass fed beef

Ran 5.5 miles around my complex to put me at 2.5 miles away from my total of all of 2010. 
Running is a welcome distraction. I think I hear The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald more than anyone besides Gordon Lightfoot. 
Acts as a reset button for my brain. 

For dinner I wanted a grass fed steak but I did not want to drive into the city to the Ferry Building (that place has great meat) so I called around and it turned out that Trader Joe's and other places had grass fed ground beef. Turned out Mollie Stone had grass fed. It was $8.99 for I got a steak for $4. Way easier to cut.
Here are some reasons why I am making an effort to switch to Grass Fed beef

posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 6:09 PM 0 comments

Free solutions to problems

On occasion people will stop me on the street to ask for solutions and answers to things such as 1) when will the power get back on? 2) how do I get on the Internet? 3) How do I solve the nations problems?
So if you are a leader and want to reduce expenses, increase employment, increase revenue here are a few ideas.

1) Sell the naming rights to American Holidays such as Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day etc (It would be difficult to sell naming rights to Holidays celebrated in other places) 
Thanksgiving brought to you by Apple. Each year companies would bid on it. 

2) Have a federal lottery with prizes that include tax credits. Make the purchase of lottery tickets to be tax deductible. Throw some tickets in with the naming.

3) Strongly encourage gas stations owned by the larger companies to have gas station attendants. This would create loads of jobs. Have these people also offer federal lottery tickets. 

4) Encourage companies to allow telecommuting as much as possible. Set aside telecommute days to lower the demand for oil which will drive down the cost. Especially on days of extreme weather. No reason why anyone should be stuck in a traffic jam in a blizzard or a heat wave. 

5) Raise the age to collect social security. When it was set up people were not living as long. Neither political party is will to bring this up. 
Simply raising it by one year to 66 would save quite a bit of money. Eventually raising it to 70 would be a good idea.  

6) The United States has the highest prison population and yet it does not translate into lower crime. It is a high cost to society and it is very difficult for those that were in prison to get real jobs once they are out making it difficult for them to become tax paying members of society. See number 3 as a possible solution. 


posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 11:16 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Yesterday and Gone

Yesterday was a bit of a blur. Saw the news on my phone about Melinda. Sad news, did not seem real. 

Had seen her less than two weeks prior at a wedding where we spoke about her trip to Thailand and how in just 3.5 years, she would be going on another sabbatical as the one completed was past due. 
She was excited about the future. 

Someone with a far more adventurous spirit than most. 

Made my way into the city for the informal memorial gathering with Urban Diversion. On the way in was kind of in a daze. 

Everyone shows their grief in different ways, some are much more expressive while others are quiet. It was good to share stories, laugh, tears, grief and pain with those that got to know Melinda over the last few years. To say that she would be missed would be a massive understatement. 


posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 4:30 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Looking Back after hearing sad news

Was thinking back to my last conversation with Melinda. If it came from a scene from a movie one may shout about it being predictable. 
She had gone to Thailand to work at a Monastery as part of her sabbatical. 
On one of her last days one of the older monks died. No one was quite sure about the cause of death but they said something about drinking a Coca Cola in front of an air conditioner. 
This was rather upsetting to her and one of the other Westerners but she observed that the other Monks had a much different reaction to the older Monk's passing. 
We then discussed the differences between the Eastern and Western view of death and how we will all live for a finite amount of time and none of us know how much time we have. 

Remembered how she spearheaded much of the efforts when Albert was ill. We discussed how beautiful the service for Albert was as he felt that he (Albert) did not leave anything undone. 

Looking at all that Melinda was able to do she packed more in that most people did who live two and a half times longer. 

In shock and very sad. 


posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 7:50 AM 0 comments

Monday, July 25, 2011

How not to make a mimosa.

Most of the time, this blog is not a culinary foodie theme but yesterday went to brunch where they had an interesting twist on the Mimosa.
Typically it is one part orange juice and one part champagne. 

It tasted odd, like Tang. 

Then I saw that instead of orange juice they were using Tampico. 

Here is the ingredient list for Orange juice.
INGREDIENTS:
100% pure orange juice from concentrate (filtered water and concentrated orange juice) and natural flavors*.
*Ingredient not found in regular orange juice.

Here is the ingredient list for Tampico
Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Less Than 1% of Orange, Lemon, Lime % Tangerine Juice Concentrates, Citric Acid, Food Starch-Modified, Xanthan Gum, Corn Oil, Potassium Citrate, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Potassium Benzoate (Preservative), Yellow 5 & 6, Edta (to Preserve Freshness).

I would not expect fresh squeezed Orange Juice but standard cartons would be OK. 


posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 10:48 PM 0 comments

Saturday, July 16, 2011

A Thursday Wedding White Wine Green Eggs y Ham

A couple friends of mine were getting married in Tilden Park in Berkeley on a Thursday. I was happy that it was scheduled at an unusual time.
Budgeted far more than enough time to get to Berkeley so I went for a walk in the park wearing a suit. I am sure people thought I was on a Mafia hit. 

After the actual wedding they came around with glasses of wine. For the most part, I always drink red wine. I am not sure where this originated from and like Sam I Am from the Green Eggs and Ham book I avoided white. 
The tray only had white wine and so I grabbed a glass and I quickly questioned my position on the subject of white wine. I then thought that the whole wine was an elaborate ruse to get me to drink white wine.
Turns out the wine came from a winery called Paraiso and they employ dogs.
Will make it a point to visit the winery. 
(the wedding was very nice...) 

My GPS was not working and so I had to guess how to get out of Tilden park. My guess work led me through a very scary gathering of some sort in the park at night. Luckily got through. 

posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 12:13 PM 0 comments

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Discussion with Elders (that I am guessing are about twenty)

Lately I have been seeing some Representatives from the Church of LDS trying to get into my building and even though I am not currently in need of stamps, had a brief discussion with them about a few puzzling things I have heard over the years including Posthumous Baptism of Jews, including Einstein. (they were not aware) 

Then I asked if they were able to drink soda (they were). I was expecting to hear they were limited to drinking only non-caffeine varieties but no, these guys were fans of Mountain Dew. OK fair enough but the  they told me they were not supposed to drink coffee due to the caffeine? I was confused and asked them if this made any sense. (I just want consistency) 

Then I started asking them about some of the origins of the church (John Smith finding magic glasses, tablets etc) 

Believe what you want but if you stroll into CLOWN COLONY your beliefs will be questioned. They should adopt a circus theme but somehow some people may not be into it. 

On another note, found a place nearby with great produce prices as I made juice (with apples, carrots, ginger, tomato, some green stuff...) and a $1.49 pineapple. 

--
Marcus Zack Ronaldi
http://www.marcusronaldi.com

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posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 8:31 AM 0 comments

Saturday, July 09, 2011

Things I would not be good at: Barista at Starbucks

When talking with some friends, the idea of me working as a Barista at Starbucks would be not good for anyone involved unless you went to watch because I am sure it would be funny.
I think quickly I would be 1) annoyed 2) impatient 3) "in the weeds" 

If Mi5 gives me an assignment where I have to go undercover at a Starbucks, doh! I am not supposed to mentioned which intelligence agency I work for. 

On another note, if you are going to "sing for a slice of pizza" you need to sing prior to paying. 



--
Marcus Zack Ronaldi
http://www.marcusronaldi.com

Current Open Positions

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posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 10:00 AM 0 comments

Monday, July 04, 2011

The limits of frugality

At this point, most people will know that I am a somewhat frugal person especially in the areas involving pineapples, but they are specific limits namely "free day"
That is when something normally cost something (like a museum or Ben & Jerrys) is free for the masses. I would much rather attend "pay double" day. 

I did go to free day at Dennys but that is because the Marcusmobile was getting worked on and I had time to kill and it did not seem like a long que. I tipped which was a shocking thing as most of the people attracted to "free day" are well, an interesting lot. 

I do not like going to those free screenings because you have people bringing three course meals to the theater. I am ok with bringing in a power bar but a sandwich fit for Fred Flintstone is not OK. 

--
Marcus Zack Ronaldi
http://www.marcusronaldi.com

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posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 9:37 AM 0 comments

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Switching Shoes: Nike and Vick

Last week I heard that Subway had given an award to Michael Vick for Sportsman of the year. Turns out the award was given by BET but sponsored by Subway.
Either way I decided I would no longer eat at Subway. This was not a big deal as I never eat at Subway. 

Then I heard that Nike decided to endorse Michael Vick again. This bummed me out to no end as I have been a loyal consumer of Nike shoes over the last four years. With that I found it difficult to rationalize and hard to palate. Would need to choose a different brand of running shoes. 

I am well aware that Michael Vick went to prison for two years for running a large scale dog fighting ring. Not only does he have the right but I would say duty to make a living in the best way he can. But I am not a revenue generating fan of the NFL for the most part.

With that being said, an endorsement deal is a different ball of wax. In my mind when a company decides to have an individual endorse their product they are making a statement, this individual represents the values of our product/services and company. Then in turn, the consumer that knows of this endorsement deal either supports or on some level rationalizes it away.

With this knowledge, it is difficult for me to continue supporting Nike. 

posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 7:37 AM 0 comments

Friday, July 01, 2011

Dream

Had a dream last night (this is something of interest to some reader and annoys most reader) where I was somewhere on a trip that involved a friend getting married to someone with the first name as her last name and they were taking her last name so the new name of the person was my friends last name twice. 
For some reason I brought a box with all my journals and all of this randoms that I knew through my life were reading and were fascinated. I then took the books and put them back in the box.

Later another friend of mine confessed that she had accidentally tossed the entire contents into a shredder and only a couple books remained. Was angry but then realized I was no longer connected to my past. 

Then I went on one of those zero gravity planes with a bunch of dogs. 

--
Marcus Zack Ronaldi
http://www.marcusronaldi.com

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posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 9:36 AM 0 comments