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Gisele got married yesterday. I would post a picture, but I'm not sure it is the best idea to search for Gisele on my work computer. Anyway, I'm not quite sure why (given that I am married)...but it is sad to see the most beautiful woman in the world get married. If I am honest, I don't think many of us could compete against Tom Brady anyway. On a related note, one mystery that will never be solved is how Leo continues to land these supermodels. First Gisele and now Bar (although I'm still skeptical that Bar is a legitimate girl's name).

Larry Miller's funeral is tomorrow. I really wanted to take some time to write a long post about my respect for Larry, but a short note is going to have to suffice. I was lucky enough to take an entrepreneurial class that Larry co-taught at BYU. It was incredible and I came out of it with great respect for Miller. There are very few people in the world that make it and still retain the qualities of a great man: charity, humility, hard-work, principled actions, etc. One principle that I learned from Miller that I try to be careful to abide by is the principle that a deal should always be win-win. Too many people do deals at the other party's expense. I have discovered that it is hard to strike the win-win balance when doing deals; there is always the temptation to negotiate every advantage you can. Although I have not been perfect on this issue over the years, I often think back on Larry's lectures when doing a deals. Being successful requires a tremendous amount of time...most people that are successful don't dedicate time on top of that to make a difference in the community. Larry did. RIP Larry...we will miss you.

First, two disclaimers:

(1) I do not like or watch the Bachelor. Jess, unfortunately, does. Lately, Jess and I have been compromising on the TV we watch during workouts. She gives into 24, I give into the Bachelor.

(2) The premise of this post contains adult conversation...nieces, Drew, and other children...please don't read this post. Don't worry, I talk in generalities, but it is probably best for kids to ignore this post. Although the content of the Bachelor is apparently appropriate to all women, speaking the unspoken may not be unacceptable. Now is your chance to bail out and read no more. As a further disclaimer...you watch the show...not me.

With that said, there is one episode of the Bachelor every year that floors me. You all know the premise of the Bachelor. Each week all these women have to pass some cut in order to make it to the next round and ultimately win the heart of some lucky dude that happens to be good looking. For example, last week the girls brought the bachelor to meet their family. One girl who had battled incredible odds to even make it this far (given a severe underbite and a lisp akin to Eek! The Cat's) had an incredibly weird family and subsequently did not make the cut. Next week's cut is "meet the family of the bachelor" cut. The odd thing is that sandwiched in between these two cuts is the sex cut...where all three women sleep with the bachelor and hope that their performance is good enough. Don't worry ladies, I already know what you are thinking (because every women I mention this to says the same thing): "do you really think they do that?" Come on!!!! Are you serious? Let me provide a couple quotes from this week's show (from the girl who ultimately gets the boot) to remind you of what you already know: (1) "Do you think you can handle a whole night with me?"; (2) "I am ready to just be really close to him...and see if we connect physically."

Beyond the fact that I am blown away that this premise is acceptable, I really just wanted to comment about how this episode probably ruins one girl's life every year. Can you imagine being cut the next day? It is one thing to miss the "meet the family" cut. It is another to miss this cut. I am just glad that the bachelor did not cut the girl who's cuteness is overwhelmed by her two giant front teeth. There is no way she could spend the rest of her life dealing with both issues.

My brother Matt turned me on to Greg Mankiw's blog (a Harvard economics professor and a former economic adviser to Bush). The following are highlights from the past few weeks on the stimulus bill.

From an interview done by Coner Clarke with Robert Barro (an economics professor at Harvard):

Clarke: The last thing is just about the stimulus bills as it stands. Two things here. One thing is what do you think about the ratio of spending to tax relief in the bill. And the second is, if you judge it by Larry Summers standard -- that stimulus be temporary, timely and targeted -- does it clear the bar?
Barro: This is probably the worst bill that has been put forward since the 1930s. I don't know what to say. I mean it's wasting a tremendous amount of money. It has some simplistic theory that I don't think will work, so I don't think the expenditure stuff is going to have the intended effect. I don't think it will expand the economy. And the tax cutting isn't really geared toward incentives. It's not really geared to lowering tax rates; it's more along the lines of throwing money at people. On both sides I think it's garbage. So in terms of balance between the two it doesn't really matter that much.

David Brooks published a really good article in the New York Times on the Larry Summers standard.

While we are at it, I really liked this Wall Street Journal article written by Alberto Alesina (an economics professor at Harvard) and Luigi Zingales (a finance professor at the University of Chicago) about stimulating the economy through tax policy.

This stimulus bill worries me. Personally, I think the current powers are using this economic crisis as an excuse to pass, in one blitzkrieg, spending that would normally take four years to navigate the house and senate. I echo the thoughts of many: if the stimulus is so important, why is there so much pork in there? I support the idea of splitting up all the concepts in the bill and passing them one by one. Sure this would take time, but the majority of the items in the bill aren't due to hit immediately anyway. Start with the most important stimulus concepts and finish up with the pork. This all or nothing mentality is unacceptable.