For some reason I've caught a lot of good stuff on NPR lately. Maybe it was because I was out of town for the two previous weeks.

One of the programs I use to always try to catch was Marketplace. I rarely hear it now because I'm at work but the other day I caught it on the way home. The story that peaked my interest was about Hooters.

Apparently the restaurant chain closed 12 franchises in the New England area recently. The story went on to try to figure out why Hooters wasn't doing well in New England and came up with some interesting points. All are possibilities but I came up with another theory: New Englanders don't like wings, beer, and boobs.

I assume that Hooters is still doing well across the South...

So here we go again. North vs. South. Being that I lived in the South I hope that Hooters (based in  Atlanta) prevails and are able to infiltrate the North with there wings, beer, and scantily clad waitress's.

Go Southerners!

This is by far the worst Chuck Palahniuk book I've read thus far and I've read them all.

The reason, I didn't care about any of his characters.

Chuck (as he is known to his cult following) took a very big risk in writing this book the way he did. He wrote it as an oral biography of everyone who knew or grew up with Casey. It made for a difficult read and a style that was hard to get use to.

I do give Chuck credit for challenging himself and writing something in a very different way but in the end all his writing style did was cover up a bad story with uninteresting characters.

I love most of Chuck's books because of the characters and the social commentary he weaves in. RANT had nothing ground breaking in it. Yes I am holding Chuck to a high standard but damn it he's earned that over the course of his work. From Fight Club to Choke to Lullaby and Invisible Monsters he has proven over and over again that he can cut through the crap and get you to look at things in a new and interesting way and write interesting characters.

Chuck's previous works have been anything but boring yet this one was. He use to pump out a book every year and now it seems he has slowed down a bit. I hope that next time he takes even more time to so that he can find his Chuck-ness again.

Location: Hilton Hotel Belfast, Northern Ireland

"Wonderwall" by Oasis on the radio. It's partly cloudy with visible blue sky.

At about this same time tomorrow UK time I will be going to bed in Las Vegas where it will be 10:22 PM Monday night.

This may sound amazing when you really think about it but I think it's more amazing to see blue skies and sun in Belfast.

Quote I always enjoy listening to John Chambers speak. They way he talks, his ideas, how he views things I personally find very inspiring. To boot, he has been CEO for 12 years at Cisco Systems. A tenue that is almost unhear of today.

Cisco CEO John Chambers

WSJ's Alan Murray caught up with Cisco CEO John Chambers at the D Conference in Carlsbad, Calif., about how the United States is behind when it comes to a robust broadband network, why he's taking on more projects next year, and why he's happy in his job for now. (May 30)

While a home for a brief period last week I heard something interesting:

The top 20% account for 40% of the consumption.

That is still jaw dropping to me. But it makes sense I guess.

While driving to a birthday party today in Summerlin (don't ask) and was looking at all of the strip malls. Yeah it looks nicer but it still contains a Papa Johns and a Jiffy Lube. I saw all of the cars, a lot pricier and newer than my beat up 98 Chevy.

The point to this is that there is money to be made from the 20%.