I work on project with Joe, a brilliant business analyst from Chicago . He knows financial industry back and forth. He ‘s so good that the client does not mind flying him over to New York every other week and pay for his stay in Midtown Manhattan hotels. When Joe is in town, we often go to have lunch together. Yesterday, when he asked me of I want to join him for lunch, I said that I have plans – I had to go to Citarella at 75th street to buy some butter. This statement got him excited. He said, “Only in New York a person can walk 20 blocks just to get some special butter! “. I politely explained that regular butter that is sold in supermarkets is junk, and he should not eat it. He said that I should get “Land ‘O ‘lakes ” butter that according to Consumer Reports is the best butter. Yeah, right! Consumer report believes that Toyota is the best car as well. I usually eat the French butter called President, but last week a friend of mine gave me to try a butter from a Ronny Brook farm , which she buys at Union Square Market on Saturdays. This is THE butter! If you are older than Internet, you might remember that taste of a real butter that some people in villages were making for themselves.

Ayway, Joe got excited and started to google the butter. To his surprise, there is a Web site where the US Department of Agriculture tells you how to buy butter . I really respect the USA authorities, but when it comes to war in Iraq and buying butter, I have a different opinion.

The USA is a great country where everyone has something to eat. When I came to this country fifteen years ago with no money in my pockets, I thought that the brand “I can ‘t believe it ‘s butter ” tasted great. Now I understand that this is garbage. But it was affordable to me. Chicken legs – 39 cents a pound, hot dogs two packs for a dollar. This was OK at that time. I survived, and now can afford to purchase better quality products. If, God forbid, I ‘ll be poor again again (caused by things that are not controlled by you: disease, divorce, my son gets accepted to Harward, et. al.), I ‘ll start eating at Golden Arches (a.k.a. McDonalds).

Not every American programmer can afford to own a nice house (not a mortgage) and drive a luxury car. But any computer programmer (and business analyst) in the United States can afford to eat tasty and healthy food (do not even try to tell me that eating fat is bad – it ‘s not even funny anymore). Have a good day, and treat yourself to a good lunch and dinner tonight