Best of the Blog - 2007 - Quarter One

This post picks up with the popular "best of the blog" series where I highlight a few of our more prominent posts from the first quarter of 2007. I find these posts to be fun to write because we do have a lot of quality posts "in the can"... often it is hard to choose.

See here for
1) July 2006 - December 2006
2) January - June 2006
3) July 2005 - December 2005.

January 2007

1. Bears Playoffs - back before our dreams were crushed Carl and Dan were on a high cruising through playoff wins up to the crushing blow of the Super Bowl - here is the win vs. Seattle and the win vs. New Orleans. Dan comments here on the inanity of banning sports betting just in time for Super Bowl squares
2. Investing - Carl says that focusing on the "percentage return" can be downright misleading and throws in his own (sad) story
3. Rinnai Tankless Water Heater - Dan shows off his HVAC knowledge (always a hit with the ladies) in what is one of our most linked-to posts on the web
4. Danny Davis Ignores Our Concerns - Carl goes through the madness that the vibrant central district of Chicago is represented by an old-school politician who cares nothing for its needs since they aren't his real constituents
5. A Terrible Intersection in Downtown Chicago - Carl does a little bit of old-school journalism for an insanely dangerous downtown intersection

February 2007

1. The Chief (Illini) - Dan laments the loss of the chief and then punches against the hypocrites of the NCAA
2. iBonds, Cash Instruments & ETF's - Carl explains the details of how iBonds work in a couple of frequently linked posts along with other cash instruments... more important than ever in these days of volatility. Here is a primer on ETF's vs. mutal funds
   
3. Handguns - Dan gets out his family photo, accurizes his Volquartsen Mark 3, and researches his Ruger Single Six
4. CTA Failure - Dan notes the CTA meltdown from afar (Madison, to be exact) and Carl throws in his 2 cents in a post that invited angry CTA employees and was ultimately closed for comments
   
5. Utility Buyout - Carl notes that the TXU (Texas utilities) buyout was an unholy alliance between NIMBY's and investment bankers and was going to signal capitulation on new generation
   

March 2007

1. RMS Titanic Menu - Dan writes an awesomely detailed and researched post on the menu of the RMS Titanic... another of our most popular and most-linked posts
2. Cook County Meltdown - A year before Cook County pushed for the desperate tax increase Carl highlighted the precarious finances of Cook County (the county where Chicago resides) and said that succession might someday be in the cards
3. K31 - Dan restores a K31 rifle here and then gets a mysterious one sent to him in the mail (see the K31 category on the sidebar for all the posts)
   
4. Nevada Power Crisis - Carl goes back to Nevada (where he once worked) and writes about a CEO who isn't afraid to take on the power crisis head on
5. My Dorm Room - Dan goes back to school today in the lap of luxury not like our good ol' FAR rooms at U of I