Archive for Chris’ life
Thinking About Goals
Posted by: | Comments7.26.2010
I’ve been in San Francisco now since June 30 – and will be here until August 7. I must say I have enjoyed my time here as I always do and appreciate very much having this as my “second home.” But it’s not all fun and games when I come here (even though people ask me how my “vacation” is going all the time!).
When I arrived here on the night of June 30, I had a plan to accomplish some goals – 11 to be exact. 4 were business related, 3, were related to investment management and 4 were personal/other interests. One of those goals was to get in shape – specifically to continue my plan which I started beginning of June – to be in shape to run a 10k race by mid August.
To accomplish this goal, I have enlisted the help of dailyburn.com. This excellent website with a simple interface allows me to easily track my running/walking/training progress along with my daily meal intake. And of course, they also have an iPhone App to make portable tracking easy.
dailyburn app for iPhone
I highly recommend this site as it has helped me stay accountable, in an easy way, because it’s right there on my computer (and now on my mobile) which makes tracking easy to do and hard to forget.
A nice side effect of tracking what I eat (dailyburn has most foods in their database, no need to manually enter food stats) has been that I think more about the calorie content of what I eat – which means I eat less calorie intensive food so I can eat MORE – and also, it motivates me to run and walk since it gives me more calories to burn and more I can eat!
Try it out: dailyburn.com!
PS – I have accomplished 6 out of 11 goals already, am close on another 4, and need to work hard to make sure #11 gets done! How is your summer going? Any big goals? Feel free to leave a comment!
My Photo Included in Guide Book!
Posted by: | Comments6.24.2010
I had not mentioned this a few months back but the Schmap Guide for Vancouver included one of my photos in their guide book – see here:
Schmap Guide – Granville Island
I guess I am famous now! To see more of my photos, click the link to the left under About Me.
I need this gadget!
Posted by: | Comments5.14.2010
this was sent to me today – yet another device that I had already invented in my mind:
PS: notice the Boston accent in the pic comment 
tell the other guy to simma!
Make Your Congressmen Lie in the Bed They Make
Posted by: | Comments10.17.09
This is awesome! Senator Tom Coburn filed a motion in the health care committee that would require that Congress and staff must use the government-run health plan if enacted. And it only passed 12-11!!!!!
Here is a great site – vote if you think your Congressman should have to use the government run plan or not if enacted here:
SHOULD CONGRESS EAT THEIR OWN COOKING?
Watch the video on the site too…
Chris Grande
Did I Tell You About Pino?
Posted by: | Comments8.28.09
On this Friday I thought I would pay homage to someone who has done great things for me this past year – and someone I want to tell others about. I am talking about my fabulous tailor – PINO!
Pino is located in Medford Square, right at 72 High St across from CVS (and my office). He did such a great job tailoring some pants for me that I had him fit ALL my pants – jeans, khakis and of course, all my dress pants. Now I order custom fitted Lauren pants from him and will have him fit me a suit soon.
If you need a quality tailor who has a cool Italian accent, visit Pino!
Here is a link to his location on GMaps: LINK
Phone for Pino – 781.391.5751
Chris Grande
Credit’s Getting Tighter at Chase
Posted by: | Comments6.30.09
Welcome to quarter end folks. In the news today on Bloomberg was this little gem on Chase’s latest move to increase minimum payments on some customers:
Apparently, they will raise the minimum payment for “some” cardholders to 5% of balance instead of the current 2% of balance. They will apply this to people who currently have a balance also. This comes a few days before the new credit rules come into play.
I suppose credit is still getting tighter for those with bad credit history, and even those with good credit history who are exposed to risk. This does not bode well for those who wish to reinflate the artificial economy that we enjoyed up until 2006.
Chris Grande
PS balance transfer fees will also rise to 5%! Makes 0% offers much less attractive doesn’t it?
Dr. McDougall’s New Book
Posted by: | CommentsLongtime readers will know that I am a Dr. John McDougall fan and have decided to listen to him finally after a 6 year vacation from dietary responsibility. Dr. McDougall has written a new book called “The Starch Solution” and the first chapter is available to read here:
John McDougall – The Starch Solution
His basic premise, that people who live in societies where starches account for the predominant percentage of calories consumed, live longer, healthier lives. Read his first chapter and decide for yourself.
Enjoy!
Chris Grande
“The Illusion of Victory” – America & Wilson in World War I
Posted by: | CommentsI recently decided to start a journey toward really understanding and learning about the period before World War II. In all of my history studies, this period, which greatly shaped the USA we live in today, was never covered.
When I started my History Major at Tufts University, I had intended on studying American History. But as time passed, I realized I had more European history classes on my transcript than American, so I simply declared a European history concentration. Because of this, as with my high school history courses, I never reached the 20th century in my studies.
With this background, I had been increasingly upset with my lack Read More→
Merry Christmas & Happy Hannukah
Posted by: | CommentsHi all,
I may or may not write another article before Christmas but wanted to share the “card” I sent to my clients. I don’t show this as a way to brag but more to try to give you an alternative idea of how to spend money that would have gone to cards and postage – and to avoid more postal paper!
See here:
matchup-donation-card-for-2008.doc
I hope you all have an awesome Christmas & New Year’s! I thank you for your readership and hope I’ve provided some helpful thoughts this year.
Chris Grande
Ogunquit a Great Place
Posted by: | CommentsI visited Ogunquit, Maine to research the town and revisit after a couple years away. May is a fantastic time to visit because it is not yet too crowded. I recommend a long weekend there to enjoy the ocean and some of its small town feature attractions. Here are a few websites of some of the places I visited and recommend:
Hotel: Anchorage by the Sea
Wonderful Chocolate and Candy: Harbor Candy Shop
Very nice bakery with great coffee and pastries: Bread and Roses Bakery
Nice Dinner Spot (there are many others too): Five-O Shore Road
If you are interested in living in Ogunquit, year round rental rates are relatively inexpensive. Purchasing is another story. I will have a real estate report available at some point on this town.
Enjoy and have a visit there sometime.
Chris Grande
5.11.08
FYI:Thoughts on Our Hotels in the UK and Ireland
Posted by: | CommentsLet me just say…
Shannon International Airport is very nice. We got here early for our 1:15PM flight. This airport is relatively new and the government goal is to funnel traffic through this airport. Also, interestingly, for American travelers, the US has a customs facility AT Shannon Airport so you can walk right off your plane when you arrive back in the states – nice touch!
One downside though – since the government’s goal is to increase traffic through Shannon so our flight hopped through there onto Dublin – apparently (someone explained to me) the government does this to increase airport fees and exposure to Shannon. Now if someone wants to go to Shannon that is one thing, but if this is true, forcing 50% (the number given me) to go through Shannon to raise fees is a bit iffy.
But back to the good stuff- unlike Logan Airport in Boston, there is free wireless in the Shannon Airport. Nothing drives me nuts more than paying for internet in an airport in 2008. With so many calls from many public leaders about free internet being important for access to information to all, it irks me to no end that a government-controlled entity would not offer it. Be a leader Massachusetts and offer free wi-fi – ’nuff said…
I stayed in some nice hotels by the way. In Killarney here is the hotel where we stayed – and by the way, the room was nice, the people were nice, the food was nice, and the restaurant/pub attached was excellent:
This was considered a 3 star hotel I believe, but I’m not sure on that. All I know is the place was nice – however, most of the hotels in Killarney Valley looked very nice
In Wales, we stayed in a small village where we watched a football match (soccer) in a local pub and enjoyed the 1-1 draw between Liverpool and Chelsea in the semifinals of the Champions League. There is something about sitting in Wales, drinking a Guinness, and watching football with friends. We stayed at the Hand Hotel in Llangollen, which was adequate, but I won’t recommend it strongly. It suited our purposes and was comfortable.
In London, we stayed at the Encore Hotel which was quite modern and stylish. the breakfast was the best complimentary breakfast on our trip. With the exception of the murderous fees for online access, this hotel was excellent. Our group rates were lower I’m sure, but regular rate here was E159/night which with a 2USD/Euro exchange rate, that is $318US/night so it’s not super cheap, but I do recommend the place. Here is their website:
I hope this information is helpful if you plan to come here!
In the meantime, I can’t wait to be back in Boston – I have scheduled many client reviews this week and look forward to seeing everyone. See you back soon…
Chris Grande
4.27.08
Same Problems Here…
Posted by: | CommentsI am still in Ireland. Today I wandered downtown Dublin and tomorrow I will go west to see some of the more rustic parts of the country and take in some more traditions such as step dancing, the Blarney Stone, traveling around County Kerry, etc.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the problems here are the same as the US. I open the paper and see problems regarding terrorism, mortgage regulation, falling house prices, social issues, etc. Hey, give everyone red and blond hair and we still have the same issues – amazing…
By the way, did you see the house price data released today? Check this out:
As I mentioned before, this will be more painful than the correction from 89-92 in my opinion.
On an interesting note, A disproportionate number of Irish people (read women) would be quite attractive if not for their European tendency to be chain smokers. Goes back to an older article here I wrote on paying for health insurance. I would rather pay $300/month than face 35% taxes, gas taxes of 5-6 dollars per gallon (London prices about $9/gallon and Dublin prices about $5/gallon), and embedded sales taxes of 17.5% (VAT). What say you?
Chris Grande
4.24.08
from Dublin
Saving Money on Food Could Possibly Save Your Life
Posted by: | CommentsSome of my readers know that I eat typically a non-animal product diet. Not for any religious or ethical reason, but for better health. A nice side-effect is that my overall food costs are much lower than they are for someone eating a typical Western diet. Plus I avoid all the cholesterol and junk that comes with a diet heavy in meat and dairy. For more on this idea, read the latest newsletter by Dr. John McDougall here:
He discusses how eating this way dramatically cuts your cost per calorie, especially in this time of high food inflation (see how I mix economics with my strange eating habits?:)
I find especially amusing how Dr. McDougall points out that the developing world desires to eat more like Westerners and this is helping increase the cost of food for us all. I guess they can’t wait to have our heart disease and cancer rates too! (severe sarcasm here)
Enjoy!
Chris Grande
4.2.08
No One in SF Moves an Inch Without Consulting Yelp
Posted by: Chris Grande | Comments (0)6.23.2010
Chris Has No Friends
~quoted from my Yelp page
It’s quite amazing actually – if you ever have the chance to visit San Francisco, and you have a friend there, bring up the idea of going out to eat at a restaurant that is not familiar to either of you – if you do volunteer such a daring adventure, there is a very high probability that your friend will whip out their iPhone and check the restaurant’s ratings and comments on Yelp.
I would almost swear that no one in this city moves an inch, decides anything, without referring to Lord Yelp. I think that most of my friends in SF consult it regularly (maybe it’s a hometown thing – Yelp is based there). I myself consult it fairly often, but I do find a few things about the users rather amusing. One is the self importance that some people gain from puking out 1000′s of words about why they like (absolutely love) or dislike (detest) the reviewed restaurant (and often florist, tailor, etc.). You get all types on this site – here are some examples just to give you a taste (pun intended).
Here’s an example of a plain vanilla commentary on Yelp:
This is one of the best seafood restaurants in the world. The chef always makes his simple creations. You need to be a slightly adventurous eater to eat here. We had uni – which I normally don’t like but it was delicious. The salmon roe was perfect. We had a bit of nigiri with fresh fish that blew my socks off. There was a wonderful fish soup and a simple dessert.
If you like unique, fresh sushi or seafood – then you will LOVE this place.
Here is an example of someone who goes on Yelp to ‘entertain’ others (same restaurant-notice how this reviewer turns to poetic prose):
KISS to those of us in the corporate world is known as, “Keep It Simple Stupid”. Oh my, isn’t the corporate phrase we’ve all come to know so over the years, so well fitting for the name of this restaurant. KISS definitely keeps it simple yet profoundly is as amazing as it gets IMHO, so amazing, that it deserves the colossal distinction of being potentially the 2nd best Sushi/Japanese restaurant experience I’ve EVER had, 2nd to only Nobu NYC/Tribeca.
And here is an example of someone who didn’t like the service and needed to vent (features the commonly used emotional typing tools of censored expletives and ALL CAPS):
… and the waitress comes to OUR table and asks us if we could hurry and leave as other people with reservations were waiting …
EXCUSE ME … ARE YOU KIDDING!!!
Now granted I’d had a couple beers and was feeling a little courageous … but WHAT THE F$%^!!!
Hubby was courteous as usual and thought it was appropriate we leave as those other people had reservations and we were done eating … I pointed out that we STILL HAD BEER IN OUR BOTTLE … was she KIDDING!!!
Anywho … we downed the beer and left … me seething … hubby starting to seeth.
Needless to say the more we thought about it … the more we realized that it just wasn’t worth it … and for reals … it’s NEVER NEVER ok to ask a customer to leave … ESPECIALLY when they’ve dropped over $100 in your restaurant.
There are many comments that are quite entertaining – if you spend a few minutes on the site you’ll be amazed (in a Jerry Springer way) at some of the things you will read. My commentary, which you can find HERE or by clicking the restaurant review link to the left, is rather straightforward, as you’d expect!
P.S. Oh and I am stingy with the 5′s – for some people, every restaurant is a 5 – it’s like everyone winning first prize – can’t happen in the real world
P.P.S. Yelp also has a social component, like other social sites with the ability to add “friends” (real or imagined). I choose not to, hence the quote above!
P.P.P.S. – Yelp also could qualify under my Cheap Ba**ard category since there are often coupons offered on the site…