Postcards: I Learned How to Handle the Fed in a Chicago Bar

How to be awesome... and get people talking about the Federal Reserve? Let's discuss a meeting that helped forge the attitudes of the Florida Republic.

Dear Fellow Expat:

In 2009, my friend and I sat down at Cactus, a traders’ bar in the shadow of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

There, we drank Rumple Minze and wrote ideas for an absurdist lifestyle book called:

“How to Be Awesome and Get People Talking.”

The book’s premise was simple.

In the Chicago Loop, strangers liked to brag about their wealth. They drive fancy cars to try to attract attention. They’d talk really loudly about trades they’d made… or what they drank.

That really wasn’t our style. We were “beer and a shot” kind of guys, fans of dive bars, darts, and a great Bimini Ring Toss game.