Category: Best of Bark

As most of you know, my dear brother and I decided to combine our blogs a little over two months ago. As a result, I won’t be renewing the domain over at barkm.com.

However, it occurred to me that the page still gets a fair number of hits (around a hundred a day or so), and that some of the articles still get occasional links from elsewhere on the internet. So, I thought I’d move some of the more popular ones over here.

I’ve created a new category here called “Best of Bark,” and over the next few weeks, I’ll be moving much of my archive from the old site to the new one. If you are only familiar with my writings here, feel free to search the new category and check out some of my older work.

Here are some quick links to my favorites:

One Article That Shows Exactly What’s Wrong With Society

People Who Can’t Afford The Acura NSX Are Disappointed By It

I Never Did Like The Strokes

Flying on 9/11

The Best Kept Secret in Business Travel

Happy Weekend!

Today is the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” as its more widely known. Not coincidentally, Ted Cruz announced his candidacy for President of the United States today. Cruz has been the most vocal and most widely known critic of Obamacare. He filibustered to attempt to defund large parts of the bill back in 2013, much to the dismay of politicians on both the left and the right.

However, in today’s modern media, all Republicans are painted as either stupid (Dan Quayle, George W. Bush) or evil (Dick Cheney, Ronald Reagan). Liberals on Facebook today appeared to be going with the “stupid” brush. Let’s see—the man graduated Cum Laude from Princeton University. He has a J.D. from Harvard. It’s downright fascinating how a bunch of community college dropouts have managed to convince themselves that Ted Cruz is stupid. Face it, Libs—Cruz is smarter than you are. Hurts a little, doesn’t it?

Continue Reading →

So there I was about two weeks ago, having just sat down in a meeting with a customer, when I started to get migraine symptoms. My right hand and foot got tingly and numb, and my vision started blurring slightly.

“Great,” I thought to myself. It had been a couple of years since I had a migraine. Migraines aren’t just really bad headaches. It infuriates me when people are at work and they say something like, “I’ve been fighting a migraine all day.”

Bitch, please. You can fight a headache. You don’t fight a real migraine.  A migraine is the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. A migraine is Mike Tyson, and you’re Michael Spinks. When I get a migraine, I typically ask people to hide sharp objects, because I have a legitimate fear that I might try to harm myself to end it.

Luckily, I was somewhat of a silent observer in this session, so I figured that all I had to do was endure the symptoms long enough to get through the meeting and get to a pharmacy. I haven’t carried any Imitrex with me in quite some time—I used to keep a little single-dose pen in my car that was actually a needle that I could jam into my thigh if needed. It also occurred to me that this meeting was taking place in Peoria, and my hotel was in Chicago, over three hours away. No worries, I thought. I will just drive to the closest hotel and get a room for the night, regardless of what it costs.

By the time the meeting was over, I could tell that this wasn’t going to be even a normal migraine. I had no feeling at all in the right side of my body, and I had a severe “aura.” If you haven’t experienced a migraine, auras are difficult to describe. It’s like somebody has dropped a particularly strange vignette-style Instagram filter over your eyes. Everything is blurry. All sources of light and sound become sources of immense pain. It’s borderline unbearable.

My colleague returned me to my rental car, and I apologized to him that we were going to have to cut our day together short. I got in the car, pointed myself to the highway, and just started driving.

That’s when things got incredibly strange.

Continue Reading →

One of the best worst things about the Internet is how many “experts” there are on every single subject under the sun. Among the easiest subjects for anybody to obtain indisputable guru-like status on, based on the TTAC comments, is finance.

And, boy, do they love to share their expertise, solicited or not.

Continue Reading →

I have a Facebook friend who has exactly the opposite political and social viewpoints of me. Although I nearly always disagree with everything she says and/or shares, I enjoy reading her thoughts because I think it’s helpful to surround yourself with people who disagree with you—otherwise, one can easily fall prey to groupthink.

However, every now and then she posts something that is absolutely bonkers. This article on Salon made me want to punch the internet.

Continue Reading →

Today, at around 2:54 or so, I will board a plane. For the fourth year in a row, I’ll be on a plane on the anniversary of the most horrific terror act in the history of the world.

I wish that I could tell you that it’s just another day, that I’m not worried or afraid. Unfortunately, that would be a lie.

Continue Reading →

Some business travelers are loyal Marriott men. They flash their shiny Platinum cards upon checking in, thrilled with their 500 bonus points and concierge lounge access. Others are faithful Hilton guests, and they have their choice of Hilton, Doubletree, or Embassy Suites in nearly every city in America (and Hilton Garden Inn when they don’t). Still others give their allegiance to the Starwood family of properties, and they Make a Green Choice to get their 500 bonus points per night for some of the best redemption rates in the industry.

While it’s true that I currently hold Platinum status with Marriott, and I was Diamond with Hilton for four years, there’s another hotel rewards membership card in my wallet that is far more exclusive and far more valuable. It says “Inner Circle,” and it gets me the best perks of any reward program in the industry at the best hotel group in America—Kimpton Hotels.

Continue Reading →