American University near Embassy Row in DC.

Finding myself in a completely different locale is awe inspiring to say the least, but that new dwelling place of all places being the capitol of the most powerful nation in the world is even more profound. I’ve been coasting through this somewhat of a tri-state area learning more and more about what, how, and who makes this maze tick. I have to say, I’ve learned a great deal. One thing for sure, it’s all a set up.

Taking a drive, walk, or mass transit through the DMV area you find many authoritive figures such as the Metropolitan Police, the Supreme Court police, the Secret Service, the Park Police, the National Zoo police, the US Mint Police, the Capitol Police, FBI, the Marshal’s service, INS, Federal Protective Service, State Department Police, Metro Transit Police, Bureau of Engraving and Printing Police, Pentagon Police Department (which may or may not have authority in DC), George Washington University Police, Metro transit police, Housing Police, Amtrak Police, Naval District Washington Police, Treasury Police, GSA Police, Postal Police, Defense Protective Service, Veteran’s Administration Police, Military Police, Federal Protective Service, National Institutes of Health Police, Library of Congress Police, Smithsonian Zoological Police, and the Armed Forces Retirement Home Police. Think we’re governed enough by police in this small region? Lets not forget one more infiltrating police noone sees until it’s too late, the cameras snapping pictures constantly of people doing thirty five(35) on a busy highway marked at maximums of thirty(30) miles per hour. Yes, 30 mile an hour postings on major highways like New York Avenue North East. For those whom are unfamiliar with such a practice, normally driving a mere forty-five mph on a major boulevard is comfortable and not a reason to be pulled over and issued a ticket. No, by all means don’t get complacent while driving thinking about dinner at home on the way from work, or your girls getting together for a cocktail at a local drinking hole, because suddenly you see a glaring flash and days later you find a ticket in the mail where you have been caught by the eyes on the poles and issued a citation.

A small reminder from the DMV area to you. Smooches.

This city is a great city by many means, from the vibrant culture, concerts, shopping, history, site seeing, Embassy Row, and the like, but I was once told that you must pay to play in the city we call Washington DC. Up to ten(10) percent sales tax, twelve(12) percent commercial parking, fourteen and a Half(14.5) percent for hotel and motel rooms and then you calculate property tax, estate tax, and other such confusing jargon. This said we have to wonder why we are taxed so much and they just keep coming for more. I see why there are so many homeless people, hell the system just can’t stand to see you with a couple extra dollars to spend. A hustler has to always have his/her head on swivel paying attention to the constant withdrawal of his/her funds going to benefit other causes that dont suit them directly.

We have to learn our turf before we can make power moves cause these moves may cost us in the long run if we don’t know how the surrounding government operates. Let alone the governments but the cost of living in each part of town. In the DC Metro area you find locations like Pentagon City which offers a slew of amenities at a hefty cost. Then you find spots like Georgetown whom did not want to be metro accessible because of the possible riff raff that public transportation brings. This area is also quite expensive and boasts high-end retail the likes of nearby Chevy Chase and Los Angeles’ Rodeo Drive. There is an artsy part of town called Adams Morgan across the Duke Ellington Memorial Bridge near the legendary Rock Creek Park sporting little dive bars like Madam’s Organ, Millie and Als, and other similar drinkeries. Adams Morgan is steep in price as are the others and is popular for nightlife and shopping. There are a few spots like Adams Morgan where one can find a cheap drink, I guess a little reward to all the other exorbitant expenses the common citizen is plagued with. As a person that benefits from the hustling nature being aware of these subtlties is important as knowing your terrain is important to any soldier, or businessman. Just as any major city or even the small ones its all about who you know in DC and getting out and chopping it up is how you meet a great deal of em.

No offense to my West Coast compadres, but I find the people here a bit friendlier so sparking up a conversation is not like a dental procedure but more welcome. People are more apt to giving a little information to make your transition a bit easier and if someone can sense you need aid they will come to your rescue rather than watch you struggle and keep moving. I speak from experience in these matters and thank the everyday people of the DMV for there much needed hospitality. I’ve been lost for hours and my navigational system was even lost.

DC is not built for the driving tourist. I guess that’s why the cabs stay moving. I swear the 7/11 guys are trained to say they are new because everyone I ask how to get back to the I-395 or the 50 tell me “I’m new brother” and throw their hands in the air. Getting lost is a great way to learn a new city and I’ve been able to explore a vast majority of the surrounding areas. I have much to see and oodles more to learn so I will keep observing and reporting. Until next time.

Warrick Buffett!

A night out at Park Nightclub in DC

Let me tell you that the clique thing in DC is live and well. The entire experience of making contacts with marketing directors, general managers, and owners in DC was like pulling teeth. Phone call after phone call with emails and proposals attached to bring money to these clubs felt like job hunting. Some of you know about my company Cosmopolitan Media Group and our MOGUL Me campaign. This campaign is designed to make upper-middle class club-goers or soon to be marrieds etcetera experience the life of a MOGUL if only for one night, but that’s a completely different topic.

We took a trip down to fourteenth Street to check out the “High-End” nightclub Park for a late happy hour type of gathering. When we arrived the place was packed at the seams. I have to say this is a good thing for many and the fact that three levels were open makes it even better. Did I mention that there is an outdoor patio with bar? I guess not. The scene was urban chic and a hell of a lot of vests with matching pants. I saw a few bow ties and quite a number of neckties. In the defense of these tie wearing club-goers this was a late happy hour, so many were coming straight from work. The ladies looked good and the dance floor was moving. So I dont have much to complain about, however the DJ was just…okay…his music selection was better than what you wou find in Las Vegas, but his technical skills are yet to be seen. I guess Vegas’ “celeb” deejays got him there.

I have to say the club was not really anything special. The VIP sections were a ghost town, and the bottle prices mimicked Cathouse at the Luxor on Las Vegas Blvd. The Cathouse offers somewhat lower prices than say Haze or Eve, but no club outside of Vegas should charge these prices. Clubs in more popular New York City charge lower bottle prices than Park at fourteenth so that should say something. Not venturing far from bottle costs I head directly to the bar where the prices were also reminiscent to the Entertainment Capital of the WORLD! I emphasize WORLD! I held onto a bottle of Heineken which cost me seven bucks, an apple martini cost a whopping twelve bucks and a mere Vodka and cranberry was nine dollars. Park has some reevaluating to do. DC doesn’t have very many empty nightclubs or lounges so they cant use the packed venue to their benefit, and all the lovely people are common throughout the DMV area so there is really nothing that sets Park apart from other clubs except maybe size. I dont know people, my impression of Park isnt so hot and the snobbish attitude I received from their marketing director does not fend well for them. Somebody from Park should contact me and sell me on this particular venue and maybe we might revisit this story. Until then I will be frequenting some other popping location. A.W.T. OUT!!!

If you enjoy free parking and valet for tip in Vegas note that that philosophy does not stand strong in DC.

Its been a minute since I last blogged about the many adventures of Warrick Buffett or about the popping Vegas nightlife, but here I am live and in effect on this lovely Friday in another location. The District of Columbia is my new stomping ground and I plan to enfuse it with a little of the Vegas style and panache that makes it so famous! Yes Sin City was known for its tacky glitter and gold back in the days of the Rat Pack, but this high-end mecca is all but tacky now minus the fake breast and behinds.

As I trekked across our lovely United States I was able to see and respect the history that has made us great, and at the same time complain about the various negative obstacles each city/state uniquely presents. You have to take the good with the bad and understand that everywhere has its ups and its downs. Therefore I say what I have to say and move on to enjoy the many admirable traits of my new hang out.

While Vegas is somewhat stale and stuck in its ways I see that DC is the same, however the DMV area offers a variety of different options and the culture that I longed for. Vegas on the other hand does not offer culture on a broad scale and the city fights it tooth and nail which makes it somewhat impossible to host such cultural affairs. As the DMV area is highly conservative the Las Vegas region is more laid back and that’s an attribute I miss enormously. The differences consist of the DMV displaying a smorgasbord of race and walks of life versus Vegas merely housing whites, hispanics, a touch of black and even less asians. Both cities are highly cliquish so you must learn to play the game or build your own.

So my mission of course is to meet people and build strong sustainable relationships while mapping out the area to see where the MOGUL will strike next. Im here and ready to play DC so what you drinking?

Keep on the look out for my observations of DC nightlife and the surrounding areas.

It all started last night at the Pantages Theater in L.A. — Fantasia was reading her fan mail after a performance of “The Color Purple.”

Fantasia’s manager tells us Barrino became alarmed over a disturbing letter loaded with racial slurs — including the n-word — and a line that read, “go back where you came from and die.”

We’re told the person who wrote the letter claims he used to work as a security guard for Fox while Fantasia was on “A.I.”

Fantasia’s manager tells us the singer immediately contacted theater security — which then contacted the LAPD.

In the meantime, we’re told the theater has “beefed up” security around Fantasia — and all over the venue — and will be screening anything sent to Barrino’s dressing room before it gets to her.

Fantasia tells TMZ, “I will not be defeated by one isolated person’s hatred.”

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2010/02/20/fantasia-barrino-death-threat-hate-mail-security-the-color-purple/#ixzz0gCAd2dck

Alexander McQueen's Hoorah!

Alexander McQueen, the British fashion designer known for producing some of the most controversial collections of the last two decades, was found dead Thursday morning at his apartment in London, according to Ed Filipowski, a partner in the public relations firm KCD, which represented the designer. Mr. McQueen was 40.

Naomi Campbell, Alexander McQueen, and Kate Moss

The cause was apparently suicide, though Mr. Filipowski said Mr. McQueen’s family had not yet made a statement about the cause.

Though he apprenticed on Savile Row, Mr. McQueen, thumbed his nose at the conventions of English style by staging lavish runway productions that included clothes made with animal bones and models made to look as if they were patients in a mental ward or participants in a life-sized chess match. Yet he was a tailor of the highest order, making impeccably shaped suits that were also surprisingly commercial.

Mr. McQueen’s troubled personal life was often the subject of concern among his colleagues and close friends. He was deeply affected when Isabella Blow, the eccentric stylist who discovered and championed him, committed suicide in 2007, and he was said to be devastated by the death of his mother on Feb. 2.

Mr. McQueen was the youngest of six children and the son of a London taxi driver, who survives him. He left school at 16 to apprentice at Anderson & Sheppard and then Gieves & Hawkes, two of the most revered English tailors. He worked briefly in Italy before returning to London to pursue a master’s degree from the Central St. Martins design college, where Ms. Blow discovered his work and bought his entire thesis collection. His first shows in London, in dark underground places, were received as a break from the traditional luxury collections being shown elsewhere in Europe.

For five years, until 2001, he also was the designer of the couture label Givenchy, where he turned the classic French house on its head, often drawing the ire of longtime fans of a label known for its elegant black dresses. He offended several French journalists by calling Hubert de Givenchy’s past work “irrelevant.” That year, he sold his own label to the Gucci Group — a rival of Givenchy’s parent company, LVMH — following several conflicts with his label’s management.

During Mr. McQueen’s early days in London, his collections often made audiences uncomfortable, as when he referenced the ravaging of Scotland by England by showing brutalized women in a collection called “Highland Rape.” But since he began showing his collections in Paris in 2001, he became more widely respected for designs that were seen as commentary on the often surreal, and self-referential, world of fashion.

By Eric Wilson
New York Times

The gap between pay for college graduates and high school graduates isn’t as wide as has been reported.
.The numbers appeared to back it up. In recent years, the nonprofit College Board touted the difference in lifetime earnings of college grads over high-school graduates at $800,000, a widely circulated figure. Other estimates topped $1 million.

But now, as tuition continues to skyrocket and many seeking to change careers are heading back to school, some researchers are questioning the methodology behind the high projections.

Most researchers agree that college graduates, even in rough economies, generally fare better than individuals with only high-school diplomas. But just how much better is where the math gets fuzzy.

The problem stems from the common source of the estimates, a 2002 Census Bureau report titled “The Big Payoff.” The report said the average high-school graduate earns $25,900 a year, and the average college graduate earns $45,400, based on 1999 data. The difference between the two figures is $19,500; multiply it by 40 years, as the Census Bureau did, and the result is $780,000.

“The idea was not to produce a definitive ‘This is what you’ll earn’ number, but to try and give some measure of the relative value of education attainments,” says Eric Newburger, a lead researcher at the Census and the paper’s co-author. “It’s not a statement about the future, it’s a statement about today.”

Mark Schneider, a vice president of the American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, calls it “a million-dollar misunderstanding.”

One problem he sees with the estimates: They don’t take into account deductions from income taxes or breaks in employment. Nor do they factor in debt, particularly student debt loads, which have ballooned for both public and private colleges in recent years. In addition, the income data used for the Census estimates is from 1999, when total expenses for tuition and fees at the average four-year private college were $15,518 per year. For the 2009-10 school year, that number has risen to $26,273, and it continues to increase at a rate higher than inflation.

Dr. Schneider estimated the actual lifetime-earnings advantage for college graduates is a mere $279,893 in a report he wrote last year. He included tuition payments and discounted earning streams, putting them into present value. He also used actual salary data for graduates 10 years after they completed their degrees to measure incomes. Even among graduates of top-tier institutions, the earnings came in well below the million-dollar mark, he says.

And just like any investment, there are risks—such as graduating into a deep economic downturn. That’s what happened to Kelly Dunleavy, who graduated in 2007 from the University of California, Berkeley, with $60,000 in loans. She now works as a reporter for a small newspaper in the Bay Area and earns $34,000 a year. Her father is currently paying her $700 monthly loan payments. “It’s harder than what I think I expected it to be,” she says.

“Averages don’t tell the whole story,” says Lauren Asher, president of the Institute for College Access & Success, a nonprofit group based in Berkeley, Calif. She points out that incomes vary widely, especially based on majors. “The truth is that no one can predict for you exactly what you’re going to earn,” she says.

And that includes the College Board, which recently said on its Web site: “Over a lifetime, the gap in earning potential between a high-school diploma and a bachelor of arts is more than $800,000. In other words, whatever sacrifices you and your child make for [a] college education in the short term are more than repaid in the long term.”

The $800,000 number, it turns out, was pulled from a footnote of the College Board’s 2007 “Education Pays” report that explained lifetime earnings. The report’s author, Sandy Baum—an emeritus Skidmore College economics professor who didn’t write the promotional text on the Web site—says that $450,000 is actually a more reasonable estimate of the difference in lifetime earnings, something she’s said in interviews for more than a year.

Steve Talbott, a journalism professor at Cleveland State University who is researching the cost of education and student-loan debt, says he urged the College Board to take down the “misleading use” of the $800,000 number a year ago. Others have voiced their objections to the College Board figure via letters and blogs.

A College Board spokeswoman says it doesn’t have a record of when the content was written and that “it’s possible that during an update of the content the writer misinterpreted the data within the report.” She also says the text represented old data and reflected “a different methodology.” The $800,000 figure was removed from its Web site in December, once the group learned of the error, she says.

Write to Mary Pilon at mary.pilon@wsj.com

Warrick Buffett
Cosmopolitan Media Group

Hey young world, the world is yours. Yeah or at least your cozy little spot in the universe. However you feel today lets look up and learn from those ahead of us. Peep out someone I’ve been learning a little from. Kells is the BOSS! and Robin is her hitman or woman, however it should be. Get yourself acquainted with Kells and check her new series out on Bravo. Light!

Warrick Buffett

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via Kell on Earth – Bios – Kelly Cutrone | Bravo TV Official Site.