Let's face it, the Bond franchise had fallen to a pretty low place before Casino Royale -- it had become a series of nearly-unwatchable flicks that drew an audience only because of the woman in the bikini or the gadgets on the car. So I was more than a little worried that Quantum of Solace would turn back towards the bad old days. Fortunately, it didn't; Quantum of Solace is a tight, gritty action flick that highlights Daniel Craig's sociopathic take on Bond. Sadly, it also has big action montages that make no sense. Most of all, if you like a good movie, and you live in LA, it's worth going to see Quantum of Solace at the Century City mall just to check out their new parking lot system.

The summer just won't quit here in Southern California, which means summery dishes even as the night comes sooner. A good Asian salad is a great weekend lunch or light weeknight dinner, and this recipe is pretty low-fat and responsible.

One of the benefits of living in California is the year-round summer. That means every day is a great day for a Margarita, and, with a lemon tree in our backyard, that means homemade sour mix for those Margaritas!

Pizza's great, and with all the great basil we got for our housewarming, a pizza with pesto replacing the marinara seemed obvious. The AIG also has this great, old, well-seasoned grill pan that we use for just about everything, so grilling the pizza sure sounded fun. Thus, super-adult, super-fun, grilled pesto flatbread!

Healthy cooking can be fun. So can unhealthy eating! Everybody loves a good lasagna, but that Italian delectable is filled with fat and calories and not exactly great for the 'ol ticker. So we whipped up a meatless, cheeseless, low-carb, and otherwise trend-compliant version, semi only because we added a bit of Pecorino for some richness. It came out light and delicious!

http://wadearmstrong.com/archives/entrepreneurship/we_mean_business_berry_elegance.php

OK, I've ensured that I'm registered to vote, and soon it will be time for all of us to get out there and get our democracy on. There's a lot going on this year; it will be an exciting election night. If you're looking for recommendations on how to vote, I've a few ideas for you here.

So at the Housewarming Party the dog walked out the front door, took a left turn, and went absentmindedly exploring down the block. A neighbor a few houses down fortunately recognized him and came by carrying the little guy. Let me tell you that finding a black dog in the middle of the night did not sound like a good bet at the time and we were sure happy to see the pup. Then, as we were setting up for last night's combined Halloween/AIG's Birthday party, a Cooper's Hawk suddenly swept down from the sky gunning straight for Junior.

http://wadearmstrong.com/archives/entrepreneurship/we_mean_business_out_back_catering.php

I wasn't really planning to go out this weekend; I was going to stay in, quailing in fear at the economy and enjoying a quiet, slow sort of nervous breakdown in sympathy with said economy. But, this being LA, somehow I ended up at Heath Ledger's uncle's garage sale. And there I found this fun thing:

http://wadearmstrong.com/archives/entrepreneurship/we_mean_business_jazyhair.php

I made up this metric for who I'd vote for just yesterday. It had the virtues of being simple, of...

http://wadearmstrong.com/archives/business/good_news_bailout_voted_down.php

You may have noticed that it was impossible to comment here for a while. Then, if you follow very closely, you may have noticed that things looked a little funny here for a while. I'd like to say that was "growing pains" but really it was "middle-aged creaky pains." The upshot is that this blog has been updated to Movable Type 4.21 and everything should be better than ever now. Hopefully not in the way that a 47-year-old guy buys a Boxster to distract himself from creaky knees that give him a big old 1" vertical leap at the gym basketball court.

Michael Cera's character runs cross-country; he's counting on his coach to get him a college scholarship. It's a good thing that his coach is having a big recruiting day for all the area cross-country standouts on Thursday -- all the college scouts will be watching! Or at least that's what Mikey¹ thinks, the coach is actually a charlatan. With that great slack-jawed look that Cera can do, Mikey discovers that he needs to fill the event with some kind of ringers, or the scouts will be pissed off and not give him a chance.