As A Man Thinketh

"A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favour or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harbouring of grovelling thoughts." - James Allen in As A Man Thinketh

As A Man Thinketh is a wonderful short treatise on how our thoughts affect our lives. I found a free ebook copy online here. It is a quick read and definitely worth the time.

Obama's 95 % Illusion

Not that I think McCain's plans are all that great, but here is a great article explaining how Obama's "tax cuts" are going to work.
Obama's 95% Illusion

Here's another article that is also an interesting review of a book that came out recently. I just hope that voters have rational expectations about the candidates in the upcoming general election.
Here's looking at you, kid

Jesse's Top Ten Songs of the Moment

I thought maybe I'd just list some of the songs that I've found recently that I enjoy.

1. Human - The Killers
2. 155 - +44
3. Above and Below - The Bravery
4. An End Has a Start - Editors
5. Eyes - Rogue Wave
6. Bruises - Chairlift
7. Lazy Eye - Silversun Pickups
8. The Funeral - Band of Horses
9. Kids - MGMT
10. Whatever You Like - Weird Al

I don't really like Weird Al, but considering the economy right now I thought the song listed was pretty good.

Build a Yummy Cake

Here is a tasty cake recipe that has been requested:

1 box Devil's Food Cake mix
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup water
1 cup sour cream

optional:
2 cups Crisco
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 cups chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix and cook according to cake box instructions.

Futon!

So quite a while ago I thought that it would be a good idea to buy a futon off of Craig's List. It was pretty nice but very light colored and I decided that it needed refinishing. It was quite tedious, but with Sarita's help I stripped it and then started to restain it. The whole project took a couple of months, and yes that is the futon being stained in our kitchen. Sarita was very patient with letting me use the bulk of the floor space in the kitchen for so long. Here are some pictures.