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Met up with LAN3 for dinner last night. "Sazerac"...nice, and that was after a bit of a tour of the library which is even more interesting on the inside than the outside.

Man, I've become so blasé about travel. You know you've been on too many business trips (or are just flighty and unorganized) when you don't look to check what airline you're flying 'til you get to the airport subway station and have to figure out which Terminal's bus to grab.

And then there's the hotel toiletries. More and more hotels have interesting little scents there, mint and thyme and lavender and orange and lemongrass (what the hell is lemongrass? I have no idea but I dig it) and what not I kind of like the diversity. Though I just have to know... is "hair wash" and "crème rinse" the same thing as shampoo and conditioner, and in that order?

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Article of the Moment
BusinessWeek on What's Really Propping Up The Economy... answer: Employment in Health Care. Two interesting little tidbits:

Despite the splashy success of companies such as Google and Yahoo!, businesses at the core of the information economy -- software, semiconductors, telecom, and the whole gamut of Web companies -- have lost more than 1.1 million jobs in the past five years. Those businesses employ fewer Americans today than they did in 1998, when the Internet frenzy kicked into high gear.

That was an eye-opener! I just have to remind myself, I got into this field because I liked it and it came naturally to me, and never sought it out as any kind of gravy train...

But the article went on and said:

John Maynard Keynes would nod approvingly if he were alive. Seventy years ago, the elegant British economist proposed that in tough times the government could and should spend large sums of money to create jobs and stimulate growth. His theories are out of fashion, but substitute "health care" for "government," and that's exactly what is happening today.

This reminds me of Tim the Libertarian's favorite gripe about the interpretation of Keynesian economics... people forget the flip side, that government should shrink, then, when the private sector was booming. And for many reasons, mostly political, that never happens, much to the chagrin of fans of small government.