G.D.D.O.H

Promoting "responsible" procreation?

2012-02-07T21:48:00.001-05:00

The weekend was great. We had the boys and we got to celebrate our 6th anniversary. This Super Bowl was actually the exact date that we met at a party for Super Bowl XL. I don't recall the final score but I know the Steelers beat the Seahawks.

ST was actually in London so dinner Friday night only PJ , Farmer V and his best friend KO joined us and the boys for dinner. The husband made chicken chassaur and I made pecan pie for dessert. We got my youngest to actually eat most of what he was served. I think that had to do with an email I sent him describing how a young woman in the UK almost died mainly due to her diet of chicken nuggets and nothing else, lol. The pecan pie was a massive hit. Everyone asked if they could have more and I said no as I had to save a piece for ST.

Saturday I did my short weekend run- 4 miles and it was ok. Then we did a bunch of things around the house and then we went and saw Chronicle. I am ambivalent when it comes to "found footage" films as very few are actually that good- The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield come to mind- and some are stinkers- The Devil Inside according to most.

Sunday I had to do my long weekend run- 8 frackin' miles. I was seriously tempted to blow it off but the husband totally goaded me into it so I told him he had to run it with me. As we start he tels me I get to set the pace- he always says that and then decides to pass me so I laughed at him. He actually did let me set the pace and we did 8 minute miles the whole way- totally pumped I got that pace done.

I took the boys home and then I got home and showered up and the husband and I were off to the city for our friends Super Bowl party. I am not really a Giants fan but I cannot abide the Patriots at all even though Tom Brady is smokin' hot. Lawrence Tynes however comes pretty damn close. I am positive that once the rioting started in Boston after the lose it ended with a typical chant of "Yankees suck, Yankees suck..."

Over the course of my career I have come to the conclusion that equities are nothing more than perpetual calls. I mean they entitle you to a possible claim on some future earnings. I mean think about it- owning a stock is similar to being an absentee bar owner. Your employees- the bartenders (aka corporate management) is ripping you off. The bar is doing great business, has the best happy hour in town and is the hot spot where the beautiful people hang out. The bartenders are allowing just enough of a profit to keep the owner from giving up on selling the bar. I am not sure where the debt markets fall into this hypothesis maybe the suppliers? Congress is definitely the mob running a protection racket for the bar tenders.

So the courts in California ruled Prop 8 was unconstitutional. The one dissenter wrote that he wasn't convinced that there couldn't have been a rational basis for citizens to enact the law, such as promoting responsible procreation and optimal parenting. I mean does that mean all single parents are not optimal parents? Are people who have children procreating in an irresponsible manner? If so does that mean they should have their rights restricted as well? I don't know about you but to me that sounds like code for the Bible tells him so....

I am not at all interested in seeing Star Wars in 3D- any of the episodes. Sadly even though I cannot stand Nicholas Cage and thought Ghost Rider sucked I will probably most likely go see the new Ghost Rider flick when it comes out.

So the O in OLED stands for organic

2012-01-30T20:53:00.003-05:00

The weekend was actually pretty nice. Friday night we had dinner with ST and PJ and the farm boys. I made a chocolate cake and used my decorative frosting kit that I got for Christmas. I gotta tell ya making flowers and what not out of frosting is not easy at all. I definitely need to get a book or watch some YouTube videos on how it is done. If you stood at least twenty ~~feet~~ yards away what I had done sort of passed for a flower. My border on the cake though came out great.

Saturday I skipped the dojo and instead got my run in as the husband of course had a list of errands we needed to get done before we drove into the city for dinner. I ran my three miles in just under 24 minutes. I was psyched as I have to admit I do actually have a goal for this god damn race- it being the last half marathon I intend to do- and that is to run just under or right at 8 minute miles. I have done the math and that means I need to finish the race in one hour and forty-four minutes or less.

So the oldest son is not the best student around. He clearly does not understand the importance of handing in homework on time etc. His grades going into the end of the second marking period clearly reflected it. His mother and I both had a discussion with him. I have resigned myself to the simple fact that he will just be a B or C student in high school. No big deal, I know a lot of people who were and still have successful, productive, happy lives. We did however decide he needed a tutor. Of course the husband has been harassing him about how his tutor will be some hot, young thing with large breasts and that will get him to focus on what she is saying to him, lol.

Well the oldest actually did pretty well in his midterms and he told me to tell the husband that the tutor is exactly the opposite of what he said she would be. The husband of course wants picture proof to which my oldest said fine, if you want to see flap jacks I'll get a picture of her for you.

I must admit I joined twitter. Several people where expressing how great and timely it is and that you find out things so quickly. I have to say that with my job I get news just as fast if not faster and can't honestly admit that twitter is any better at keeping me up on things than BBRG, RTRSY or any other news service out there. However- I do now get to pseudo stalk Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Gossling and some other hot guys.

With twitter now deciding to allow selective censoring in certain countries however I am debating if I want to use it as that seems to me to fly int he face of all information should be free, etc etc etc.

Speaking of stepping into the 20th century- the husband capitulated and joined Facebook! I was pretty shocked when he asked me to help him set up an account. I asked him why and he gave me some reason about hoping it will help him network better in his quest for a new job.

Am I the only wondering what has gotten into France and their activist foreign policy in the past two years or so? They led the whole Libya thing, they are at the forefront of the Iranian oil embargo and they are clearly agitating for regime change in Syria. Are they trying to distract form their problems at home by taking such a vocal role? I dunno.

So I have been intrigued by the whole OLED thing but I have to wonder- if they are organic light emitting diodes does that mean they are alive? Could they form some kind of hive mind and become a superorganism much like an ant colony? Can they gain sentience? Do I really want a sentient television? It could make for a pretty cool sci-fi novel....

Do as I say, not as I do

2012-01-17T21:13:00.000-05:00

Training for the god damn race is going just fucking fine....I am still a bit bitter about this whole situation in case that was not clear. I am actually doing a pretty good pace on my runs in the mornings.

The weekend was actually pretty nice and relaxing. I actually took Friday off and made it a four day weekend, aka the wrap around.

I got back to the dojo- Cobra Kai never die!- for the first time since before Thanksgiving. My core is still a bit sore from the work out joshu put me through but glad to be back stepping out on the mat.

Sunday I got to babysit my sons which was great. The ex called and explained she was going into the city to see the Broadway show "War Horse" with all her friends from the barn and asked if I'd be willing to take the boys for the day- duh...of course I would.

I picked them up at 10:30 in the morning and we picked up breakfast and got home. The day was quiet as the husband and I were getting ready for dinner guests. The husband used one of the cook books I got him to make chicken chasseur- basically a French version of chicken cacctaiore. I made a chocolate cake with homemade butter cream frosting. The funniest part of the day was when the oldest asked what smelled so good and then asked the husband what he was making and what time dinner was. I had to crush him and tell him he and his brother would be back at their mom's for dinner- ha! Sometimes I am a mean dad...

So I was early again on my call for Greece defaulting. It now appears it will be when they miss their bond payment in March. The thing I am still at a loss to comprehend is how only the private sector will have to take the write down on Greek debt and the exact same Greek debt will still be marked at par or close to par by governmental agencies throughout the Continent. As my bond friend said it is simple- the government has the power, aka a monopoly on the legal use of force and coercion.

Speaking of my bond friend the husband and I had drinks with him late yesterday afternoon at a local watering hole. It was great to see him and sobering as even he is cognizant of the destruction of liquidity that is occurring in the capital markets. It does not bode well for those (including me) in our line of work. On a positive note though he and the husband got talking and he told the husband to send him his resume. The husband has been dying to get his resume in front of someone at my bond friend's firm.

The other pretty amazing thing is my bond friend telling me he has completely given up on the GOP. This guy is Republican through and through- more a Teddy Roosevelt kind than a Barry Goldwater kind- and for him to throw the towel in because he thinks they are completely losing it says a lot. He is also the second smart friend I know who has given up on their party because they are completely corrupt and both owned by the oligarchs. As an aside the other friend is a former Democrat.

We have a pretty light calendar this week- as in nothing on the docket. Psyched for that and we do have the boys this weekend. Of course we will be seeing Underworld Awakening. I was totally psyched for the season premiere of "Being Human" last night. I also foolishly stayed up late to watch "Lost Girl." That one seems interesting but I think I will be keeping up with it on through On Demand.

I know I said I would not be talking about the supposed Oracle of Omaha, aka Mr. Buffet, but I have to make this comment. It seems that one of his companies uses prison labor to produce goods. Really? He is worried about not paying enough taxes but has no issue using indentured/slave labor for production? How can anyone take this sanctimonious windbag seriously? He is all about do as I say not as I do it is clear to me. The story of course got very little ink or airplay as it does not fit with the narrative the status quo wants the masses to follow. If you find the story it is repulsive how it is spun as his company are the good guys in this situation because they realized they were breaking Canadian law by exporting slave labor produced goods to Canada. So of course they voluntarily and unilaterally decided it would be best to stop exporting such goods. Hello? How about stop using prison labor?

Isn't Magi another word for wizards or sorcerers?

2012-01-04T21:05:00.000-05:00

So NYE was actually a lot of fun. The husband and I drove all the way across the road to ST and PJ's for dinner with them and NB. Dinner was excellent and the husband informed me earlier in the day he had volunteered me to make and bring dessert. I went with the old reliable mini chocolate souffles. I added homemade whipped cream this time.

We actually stayed up to watch the ball drop in Times Square. We were watching CNN for some reason and they had Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper hosting. Seriously? I don't know how CNN came up with that pairing and I was surprised to find out they have been doing it for five years now. Kathy Griffin was so close to the line so many times, she actually was pretty funny and outrageous. My two favorite things she said was Justin Bieber has an eating disorder and she kept harassing Anderson Cooper about if she could watch his balls drop.

OMG Dick Clark...ya gotta love the guy for still doing it but I feel sad for him as he is clearly not the host he used to be doing it.

I actually got all the Christmas cards out- not on time but mailed out none the less. I am sure most people will assume I just forgot them and sent them out late but whatevuh...

I also plotted out my training for the god damn half marathon. I of course googled training programs for one and found a good one. So I put it on my GOOG calendar and lo and behold I am already a week behind. So I have been doing my running in the mornings at the gym before work. It seems all my long runs will be on Sundays and I have Mondays and Fridays off.

I had to laugh at this one. A married (straight) couple that we are friends with sent us a box of Sees Candy for Christmas along with their card. When I went to open it and I read it was the "fruits and nuts" version I of course had to text the husband and ask him just what he was implying. OF course the box lasted only one day...if that.

There is a totally woofy conductor on the train now very early in the morning. I think he may have caught me checking out his assets Tuesday.

I cannot for the life of me understand how the NDAA is not getting even more air time and or press? Seriously, there are more stories and references to it on the tome of mugs than there are in the MSM. Clearly the MSM is doing their job as the Ministry of Propaganda for the oligarchs in this country. If you are not sure what I am referring to it is the National Defense Appropriation Act. Basically it is the gutting of the Bill of Rights and funny, anachronisms like posse comitatus but hey, no biggie...

What I find really annoying about it is that there are people who are ascribing this to President Obama. Yes he did not need to sign it and could have had a showdown with Congress about it but it was Congress that wrote this deplorable piece of legislation and they did in a bipartisan manner.

GOOG it if you want to find out more about it. It aint pretty.

I was surprised to see the Fed/government/plutocrats were able to get the markets to close flat here for '11. That is actually quite a feat they accomplished. Clearly the Europeans need to learn some new tricks when it comes to manipulating markets.

As for training I ran three miles Tuesday in 25 minutes and four this morning in 33. Not too shabby for a middle aged guy.

Monday night we had dinner with our neighbors and we were of course being typical gays- you know critiquing attire and fitness of others in the restaurant. I made the comment that I am straight skinny but gay fat. That was a good one but I cannot take credit for it as it was a joke in an episode of "American Dad."

The tree is still up. I asked the husband Saturday if we could take it down but he said no, it stays up until Balthazar, Caspar and Melchior arrive. That would be Friday but we will be taking it and the lights down Saturday with the boys.

Totally psyched to see The Devil Inside this weekend.

WTF?

2011-12-31T12:30:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post.

A month or so ago the husband asked me if I had any interest in doing the NYC Half Marathon again. I told him no effing way, go shit in your hand and make a fist. He pleaded with me and gave me the line c'mon it is a lottery, what are the odds of you making it in again two years in a row. Apparently the odds are really fucking good!

Yeah, I got in, found out last night as I was giving the boys their four star dinner on the road, aka McDonalds. I noticed I had an email so as I was waiting in the drive thru line I opened it and there it was- Congratulations, we'll see you on March 18th.

I starting cursing a blue streak out loud and the boys think something bad happened- which it has. I explain to them the situation and they are laughing at me. I drove like the husband- very fast and some might think a bit aggressively- and got us home in four hours and two minutes with only one pit stop. My youngest was very impressed- he did not think I had it in me to drive like his step father...

My first question to the husband was did you get in too? If you did not you have to do the training with me. He did not. Seriously- why can't I get this lucky with the good damn Mega Millions or Power Ball?

This morning was target practice in the back yard for everyone with their bb guns. Let's just say we all need practice...

A regret and a redneck Christmas

2011-12-29T11:06:00.000-05:00

So our Christmas cocktail party to meet the neighbors went quite well. I make that assertion based on the fact that everyone pretty much stayed for the entire time allotted.

I and the husband have always joked that we live in the gayborhood. We really only have ST and PJ across the road from us but we found out there really are quite a few other gay couples right up the road from us. We invited them and when they got the invite they asked the husband if the could bring their tenant. The husband asked me and I said "Tenant? Yo mean their third because clearly they are a threesome and they are being polite." To which the husband said no you are wrong. Well they arrive and they are dressed in holiday attire and they are quite nice. During the party as we socialize and get to know them we find out the tenant is from Eastern Europe and married to a sister of one of the couple...at which point the husband looks at me with that look of OMG you are right! Victory never tasted so sweet.

As the party was winding down my brother's car got stuck in our rather wet yard. He was totally stuck. I and another guest tried pushing him out and he finally resigned himself to calling roadside assistance that comes with his car. I am inside chatting with the remaining guests and one of our neighbors comments "You know if we had lesbians here he would have been out of the mud by now."

Christmas was great. On Christmas Eve we went out to dinner With ST and PJ. The meal was great and we had a good time. We then got home and watched the season finale of "American Horror Story." Christmas morning the husband was like a little kid! He could not wait to open presents. He got a composting bin thing since he has been talking about starting composting all summer. He was excited for that. HE also got a bb gun to handle the squirrel issue. I got him the good old reliable Crossman 760 which can shoot bbs and pellets. Of course he has a scope on the gun as well. The other big hit was he got an apron- red naturally as he is Latin- embroidered with "El Jefe" on it.

We were hosting Christmas dinner- just the boys, ST and PJ. I went to pick the boys up at 7 PM. When they got in the truck I told them they could not open presents until after dinner. Dinner was very simple- the husband made roast chicken, oven roasted garlic rosemary potatoes, haricot verts and oven roasted carrots and parsnips. It was great. I made roasted apples with cinnamon and nutmeg for dessert with homemade whipped cream.

The boys then got to open the rest of their gifts ( I had dropped off their bean bag chairs at their mom's the day before- a big hit for in front of their xBox). They got the usual clothes and whatnot from grandma, some new xBox games, gift cards to BBY and of course they also got pocket knives and bb guns. Seriously, how redneck is that- knives and guns for Christmas? They were agog at the bb guns.

Monday morning it was off to grandmother's house. I have the boys for their Christmas break this year and they wanted to spend it with their grandparents. It did not matter how much I pushed a beach vacation instead- they wanted to go north- the little brats. Actually I am totally psyched at their ages they willingly want to spend time with their grandparents. We brought along the puppy and drove up. We arrived in time for Christmas dinner of roast beast with mom and dad, my aunt and uncle, two of my aunt and uncle's children, one cousin's spouse and children and said cousin's father in law. The meal was great and by the end of dinner I had quite a glow.

Tuesday was a shutter day- as in don't even open the shutters. I and the boys did not even shower, lol. Tuesday night I had drinks with two of my best friends who are in town for Christmas. Yesterday was dinner and movie with dad for the boys. I was quite excited they did not choose Olive Garden for dinner. We are stepping up as we had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. the server was quite cute too, lol. We then saw Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows and it was great! Robert Downey , Jr. and Jude Law make a great team in the movie.

Today the grandparents took the boys to an indoor water park. I am staying home with the pup as I did not bring his crate and he can't stay alone for that long anyhow. We will got out to dinner tonight at a local Italian place right down the street.

Tomorrow we will veg out again and then we are having dinner with a girlfriend who is in town for NYE. Leaving Saturday to go home.

As the year ends I look back and realize there really is only one regret I have- I saw Suckerpunch twice. Other than that I think this was a pretty damn great year.

I have not even looked at my emails for work nor BBRG. I have no clue what is going on and I like it. I did get around to reading the only non-fiction book I planned on this year and it was pretty damn good. I can see why it made BBRG's list of best reads for the year. Mom borrowed it after I finished it and she is enjoying it.

"...State Farm is there..."

2011-12-13T14:02:00.000-05:00

The weekend was pretty busy but in a good way. We got quite a bit done ahead of Christmas.

My oldest actually went to a friend's birthday party and sleep over Friday night so I just had to pick up my youngest. We had our usual dinner with ST and PJ and it was quite nice. The husband made this amazing tuna dish but we told my youngest- the ~~picky~~ ~~fussy~~ pain in the ass eater- he was eating albacore since he is not a tuna fan. He finished it of course.

Saturday morning was one of the highlights of the weekend. I went to pick up my oldest and when I saw him I noticed he had ink on the left side of his face. Apparently he was the first to fall asleep at the sleep over so off course his friends drew a penis on the side of his face, lol. Classic! HE did not even realize it nor did his mother until I pointed it out. We called him penis face often during the weekend. I also gave him advice for when he gets his friends back: Use a black Sharpie and draw it on the forehead. Or I suggested he shave off just one eyebrow- that is great and has happened to me in my rowdy youth- and much more devious as it cannot be washed away with soap and water, only shame works...

Saturday was allotted to decorate the house for Christmas. That entailed getting more lights- both "twinklers" and regular lights. the husband had me up a ladder wrapping the branches of one of our dogwoods with red, mulch-faceted spherical bulbs. He was concerned that I would staple thru the wire when attaching the lights to the trunk. I told him relax, it won't happen. Of course the first staple- right thru the wire, lol. Nothing electrical tape can't fix though.

The two holly bushes got the old school white lights (old school in shape only, all our lights are LED). The small yew got the twinklers. That took most of the day and then I made grilled cheese and tomato soup for all of us for dinner.

Sunday was allotted for the tree, wreath and any other accouterments we might get. The tree was fairly priced. The husband wanted a large wreath for the front bay window. We got a 48" wreath and he nearly choked when he found out how much it was going to cost. We also ended up getting a swag for the front door to hang under the knocker.

I really cannot believe these asswipes from MF Global are using the Enron defense, or as some refer to it he Shaggy defense- you know- It Wasn't Me. I may be mistaken but I thought the whole Sarbanes-Oxley law was enacted to prevent this situation? It is real simple- the management of MF Global should all go to jail. I gotta think there is some mid-level operations guy sitting on a beach somewhere because he successfully skimmed millions of the illegally co0mingled funds...

Is it just me or has France gotten tres aggressive in pursuing an activist foreign policy? they led the charge on Libya and they are clearly leading the charge on Syria as well. I have heard rumblings that we and our NATO allies are building up forces along the Syrian-Jordanian border...perpetual war, do we still have a Republican President?

When the husband and I lived in the city we were your typical apartment renters- we barely knew our neighbors in passing. So now that we are country gays I told the husband we should get to know our neighbors. To that end we are having a Christmas cocktail party this Saturday. I did invite my brother who lives 20 minutes away but other than that it is no family, no one from the city and no co-workers.

Last night we met with the caterer. The husband wanted to do this ourselves and I said no, we need to socialize and meet our neighbors not work. The role reversal is ironic as I am usually the ~~cheap~~ frugal one and he is the extravagant one. The caterer was great and I am glad we went that route. Will let you know how the food is in a later post.

The boys are coming even though they are with their mom this weekend. I spoke with her and I am picking them up Saturday afternoon and dropping them back off in the evening. They will also pull coat check duty.

On the invitations I wrote "Holiday attire not necessary but welcomed." That of course caused a tizzy with many of the husband's friends. As for me I went and bought totally preppy red cords with little white snowmen embroidered all over. I also got a Christmas plaid tie and matching ribbon belt. The husband told me I had to wear a black shirt- fine. I really wanted a red, sparkly, lame jacket and matching Santa hat but thought that would be a bit over the top....

Live free or die and other things I've learned recently

2011-12-07T13:49:00.000-05:00

My birthday was great! The boys got me a bunch of B-movie sci-fi/horror dvds. I did not have the heart to tell them I had seen all of them because for me it was more important that I got a gift from them. One of them is Sharktopus which the husband and I had watched when it premiered on the SciFi Channel. It's only redeeming quality is Kellan Lutz is in it. The husband out did last year's gift (it was a chainsaw) by getting me a cover for the bed of the truck. Totally psyched and installed it, took pics and posted them to the tome of mugs. I got two comments that made me laugh- one from a friend saying he didn't picture me as a pick-up truck type immediately followed by another friend saying he never pictured me as the type that would name my pick-up truck- I did, Black Betty.

Thanksgiving was great! Mom and dad arrived the day before and we celebrated dad's birthday. Thanksgiving day itself went as smooth as silk. The husband made an amazing meal and we had a total of nine people for dinner. The highlight for me though was the husband admitting the center piece was really good. The story behind that was he sent me a text Wednesday afternoon to pick up decorative squash for the table. Have you ever tried to find decorative squash the night before Thanksgiving? Yeah well let me tell ya- impossible! So I improvised, picked up two small acorn squash and a bag of pine cones. The husband was not happy. I placed the squash and pine cones quite artfully wit candles and thought it looked quite good. Everyone agreed with me.

Mom and dad were staying until Sunday so Saturday I went and picked up the boys and brought them over for lunch with their grandparents. The boys o course started telling their grandparents gift ideas once mom prompted them. They were not shy either let me say.

The company ~~Christmas~~ Holiday party was last week. I decided to get a hotel room one block from the office- given my history it was the prudent thing to do. It was a lot of fun and I was done by 9 and back in my king-sized hotel bed 20 minutes and two pizza slices later. I think I even flirted shamelessly with my secret bf at the office. Everyone else stayed out much longer. I hit it early and hard and was happy with that strategery- besides I was leaving early Friday.

The husband and I went up to the Granite State to visit MP. She and her bf SJ have been renting a house up there. SJ however had to go home to deal with a family health issue so it was just the three of us and the kids.

It was very relaxing even though MP put me to work moving firewood from the woodshed to the house. The husband took the kids on a hike thru some trails while I did that and they had a blast even though they all came back wet and extremely muddy.

On the drive back Sunday we stopped off to visit the sister-in-law at her college. It is a beautiful campus and it was great to see her- I cannot believe she is already a junior.

My views on Europe have not changed. It is real simple- the math just does not work. Everyone is talking bout how they are going to double the EFSF and leverage it. Well you know what- if you double zero and then leverage it it is still zero. Just saying.

I got into a ~~fight~~ discussion with a co-worker. He is the eternal optimist and tells me I am always too negative. I counter I am realistic- you can do the math, it will not work. He finally agreed and said why don't we just do debt forgiveness? I am all or that but the thing is it will cause a lot banks to fail and banksters to lose their jobs. That is why the banks have bought and paid for all the politicians in the West.

This weekend we are putting the lights up outside and the tree up inside. We also have the boys to help so that will be fun.

This week so far has been eventful for my train rides home. Monday night there was a fire on the train and last night I found it those signs saying it is a crime to interfere with the train crew operating the train is true. Apparently a passenger got into an argument or became abusive and harassed one o the conductors. So the next stop we sat there for 45 minutes waiting for law enforcement to arrive and arrest and remove the passenger. Due to that I missed my classes at the dojo- sweep the leg! I am not taking the train home tonight- we are having dinner with TK and other friends in the city at some new hot spot- Whitehall I think. The husband is driving into JC and we will take the PATH back there and drive home.

Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle yeah

2011-11-16T22:13:00.000-05:00

The weekend was fun and relaxing. We only had my youngest son as his older brother was away at DIS with his friend and said friend's family. The funny thing was my youngest asked if ST and PJ would still be joining us for dinner Friday night. I told him of course, they dine with us every Friday night and just because his older brother was not there did not mean they weren't coming. I am sensing therapy for him at some point with sibling issues...

Saturday our friend JB came down from the city to spend the day and lunch with us. It was great and he brought these awesome desserts from some place called Lulu. The husband took him over to ST and PJ's gallery to show him all the pretty cool art they have. That night we bought Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part II on on demand and watched it. It was pretty good even though the husband fell asleep during it.

Sunday was switched out all the coats int he closet for the winter coats that were stored down in the basement. Then we went and saw Immortals. The movie sucked in a big way. The only positives in it were Henry Cavill and Stephen Dorff being shirtless most of the time.

Speaking of shirtless hot guys, last weekend the husband and I watched Crazy Stupid Love and I blurted out during the Dirty Dancing re-enactment scene I would totally cheat on you with him to the husband- referring of course to Ryan Gossling of course. So much for internal dialogue but the husband agreed he is allowed.

The Peace of Westphalia (which I believe I erroneously referred to as the Treaty of Westphalia in a prior post but because I don't tag I am not bothering looking) has been the dominant paradigm for close to 650 years. I find it hard to believe it will fall to the wayside in twelve years (how long the euro has been around) solely because of a common currency. Yet that is what many commentators seem to believe and continuously spout every chance they get. Which leads me to believe the euro will disappear- paradigm shifts don't happen in that quickly outside of technology.

Is anyone else getting tired of the term technocrat? I read a great comment from an economist who said you know we are in trouble when they put the economists in charge. But as someone else pointed out the alternative would be an extremist and Europe has quite a history of getting in and causing a lot of trouble when an extremist comes to power...

So apparently Germany says it is willing to give up some of its national sovereignty to help the euro- how kind considering they are the ones who will end up in charge.

In case you were unsure if the economy is in a recession I'd venture it is. I know- the yield curve is not inverted so how can we possibly be in a recession? Really? You are trying to say that the yield curve indicator is still a valid indicator? You do know the Fed is openly and admittedly manipulating the yield curve right? That is what Operation Twist is, so if the yield curve is not reflecting the actuality because it is subject to open manipulation then it can't really be an indicator of anything.

I need to let go of my anger toward M. Buffet so let me get this out and that will be end of it. Here is a guy who has actively and legally done all he can to minimize the taxes he pays his entire business career. Now how ever he has found religion and decided minimizing taxes is bad and it should be ended. He feels so bad for his secretary who pays more than him. Hello- then maybe you should be paying your secretary a larger salary? Or here is a novel idea- stop taking steps to minimize your tax bill and pay what the government intended you to pay. I find it very disingenuous for him to spend his life making a boat load of money, minimizing his taxes the entire tie and then say ok, I;'m done, no one else should be able to do this too. He made it into the castle and now wants to raise the drawbridge so on one else can get in.

I think I need to get the LMFAO album. They have a great, catchy tune that I need to get on my iPod for my cardio work outs- you know the song already- "I'm sexy and I know it" is the chorus but my favorite line is "I got passion in my pants and I aint afraid to show it." I work out is the secondary chorus.

Speaking of working out, I almost beat the crap out of someone at the gym the other day. I saw this person smirk and laugh when a rather large person stepped on to the treadmill. I am a huge fan of anyone who realizes they are not in shape and makes a choice to change that- especially if that ens they are in the gym at 6 AM. That person deserves a pat on the back and support, not some asshole laughing at them.

The whole Penn State scandal/tragedy is appalling. Seriously all the people involved should be prosecuted. The accuse- who openly admits showering with ten year old boys- should be executed. The students who rioted because the coach got fired? Get a clue you dumb fucks, seriously- you are supporting someone who knew for thirteen yeas there was a monster amongst them. I also would love to see the NCAA show some balls and sanction the football program. I doubt that will happen though; the NCAA only goes after programs that cut them out of the money making by selling game memorabilia and not giving Caesar his due. For those who say the players should not suffer, only the guilty should well those players are representatives of the university and the university probably was most likely aware of what was going on so I'd call them guilty of abetting a child rapist and thus they should be punished. Full Disclosure: I am sorta being petty and loving the fact that Penn State is getting dumped on and especially the football program as the entire family of the ex went there and they are huge lovers/supporters of the school. The ex did not go there, she went to a school in New England.

Fair share

2011-11-09T21:08:00.000-05:00

The past weekend was very relaxing. The weather was amazing and we actually had no guests- per se. The husband's book club was supposed to be down here for lunch and their discussion. Of course there was drama so the book club was cancelled and instead we had our friend LJ and AKR came for lunch. LJ is a member of the book club and hey spend a lot of time down here as AKR's career is down here. They are some of the best guests as they are sooo laid back and easy as guests go. We enjoyed an excellent lunch the husband made and then our guests had to get going as they had an appointment.

The rest of the day was nap time and general relaxing. We then had a dinner date in the village down the road.

Sunday was manual labor day. The husband had me back up on the roof installing gutter guards to keep the leaves out. I really hope they work. Then it was time for me to do my lumber jack routine and split more wood. The husband did the Mexican work- fitting no?- and shuttled all the wood to where I was chopping. He tentatively asked if he could try. I quickly told him no, you can't even use a hammer properly- there i s no way in hell I am letting you touch the axe. He asked if I would teach him how to use it and I told him maybe grasshopper, maybe...

So the Italian government- kinda an oxymoron no?- has fallen and apparently that is good for our economy? Seriously, what is going on in the tape is all the long only PMs who are under performing are now buying because they are so short term they are afraid to explain to their investors why they did not even though they have quite possibly ten thousand great arguments for not doing it. Then of course today reality sets in- reality hits ya hard bro!- and everyone realized Italy is totally fucked and I do mean totally. The funny thing is once the spread blew out yesterday you knew the cannoli was done. What everyone should really be focused on now is the French spread and it aint looking too good. The thing that amused me today was the RTRSY story saying France and Germany are f"going through an intellectual exercise" of what it would take to make a smaller Euro zone, aka kicking out the southern countries. The amusing part is once Germany realizes that France is totally fucked too then it will end up being a new Hanseatic League of some sorts with Germany and the Nordic countries, possibly the UK as well.

Speaking of the UK I really think they owe Soros a huge thank you for breaking the BOE in 1992 and forcing them out of the ERM.

I see Jefferson County down in Alabama is officially going to file for bankruptcy. I think that is Chapter 9 int he code, not sure. Regardless it is a huge issue and is also the largest of its kind...to date.

So the whole OWS movement has gotten me thinking just what is my fair share to pay in taxes. I have no problem paying taxes to support the nation and the social safety net that was built up since the Depression as I and most of my family has taken advantage of the benefits of the social safety net. But as it is now I am currently paying ~50% of all my income in taxes already. I am ok with that, I still live a nice life and have no complaints.

I am fairly certain that if I had to start paying 60, 65 or 70 percent of my income in taxes I would not be so sanguine. I would definitely want a larger say in what constitutes the social safety net as well. I read somewhere that the top 5% of the income earners pay 40% of the taxes already. So, how much more until it is fair? And the whole line of shit Warren Buffet is spouting- you know what, if he wanted to he could stop using the current code to his benefit to minimize his personal tax bill and just pay what the code intends him to pay but of course he says he'll only do that if everyone else does; so much for leading by example....I also bet that he could influence the companies he has large stakes in to also stop sing the code to minimize their tax bills. When GE effectively pays no taxes and possibly gets money back there is something wrong with the code. The irony is their CEO is supposedly the jobs czar...

I am glad to see some of the Republicans are starting to do the math and realize just cutting the size of the government and the services offered will not solve our problems and we need to increase revenues as well. I am a huge fan of a flat tax and getting rid of all exemptions. The foolish 9-9-9 plan is no the right number , I am guessing if we go flat tax it is closer to say 15% to actually make a difference. If we get a flat tax I have no problem with a VAT either.

Orange Nikes has been at he gym making my days start right.

My oldest is off to Disney. Apparently his best friend who lives next door was going with his family and his older brother could not go do to some school commitment. So the ex got asked if our oldest could go. She said sure. They left yesterday afternoon. I told him I expect him to call or text me and his mother when he arrived- which he did. I also told him I expect him to take my nightly calls and so far so good.

And see those pocket aces

2011-11-03T09:08:00.000-04:00

I forgot how much fun local radio can actually be. I drive the husband's car as the station car and it does not have Sirius in it so I listen to the local stations. It is mostly top 40. There is some good stuff out there but the station always plays the same songs every day. I have to admit though that Dev's "Dancing in the Dark" s a great song.

Libya is not a victory for President Obama in way whatsoever. It is a European victory plain and simple. Actually it is really a Franco-British victory with the French leading the way. I imagine tour President is smart enough to realize this and that is why it gets little air time from him and the White House.

So RTRSY is running a story about Athens changing the laws so that any bond holder who does not tender their bonds voluntarily for the 50% haircut will be forced to take the haircut. Hmmm, to me that sounds like a non-voluntary haircut which is a default even by ISDA's lax interpretation of things. IF those CDS are triggered we will have what is technically called a "shit storm" in the markets.

Speaking of Greece I gotta think that at some point a thing called national pride kicks in. Don't laugh, just because they are in hock does not mean they don't have any pride. With their Prime Minister getting "summoned" by France and Germany and being told they have no other way out they could very well decide to flip the bird and say yes we do have another way out; it is called the drachma....

Hit the gym this morning and orange Nikes was there again. Started the day right.

So we live right between an Ivy League school and a state school. I told the husband we need to get some local college regalia. I was thinking the state school and of course he went and got the Ivy- clearly opposites do attract.

Periwinkle peppermint

2011-11-01T19:07:00.000-04:00

The weekend was actually quite relaxing. We had the boys again and we celebrated my youngest son's birthday. His birthday is actually today but we celebrated Friday night as ST and PJ wanted to be part of it. The husband made fish and I made a birthday cake with sprinkles. My youngest requested I make my (in)famous butter cream frosting for the cake and I asked what color he wanted. He said periwinkle. He also added he wanted it peppermint flavored. So that is what he got.

Saturday I hit the dojo- Cobra kai, never die!- and then the snow started. Normally four inches doesn't impress me- I swear I am not a size queen besides it's not the size of the nail but the force of the hammer that counts- but four inches of snow in Jersey in October...now that impressed me.

We had planned on hitting Creepy Hollow's haunted farm but the snow put the kibosh on that. I did call to make sure they were not keeping hours and the person who answered was incredulous that I was asking. So we basically had a shutter day after we dragged the boys shopping- Banana Republic was having a 40% off sale and my youngest got to pick his birthday gift at BKS and GME.

I made pizzas for dinner and garlic bread and then we watched "Zombie Apocalypse" on SciFi. The acting was really bad and within the first five minutes we all agreed the character Ramona deserved to die.

Sunday was nice and quiet. The husband and I took the kids for a walk along the canal in the snow and they had a blast. Then we just relaxed.

So my mom asked me why those kids are protesting Wall street and why don't they go get jobs...sigh. First, if U6 was still not hovering near a high of ~18% I am sure they would love jobs. Second they are not protesting Wall Street per se, they are protesting the economic system we currently have in this country which is not capitalism. It is crony capitalism or a plutocratic corporatist system where by the middle men who caused this whole mess are getting bailed out by their friends and former colleagues in government and the person who really needs the bail out- the fabled American middle class- is getting left high and dry.

Greece is the word, the word. So the government there is going to actually allow democracy to take place and let the citizens vote on the new austerity/bail out package. Funny how when they decided to allow that the markets tank. Remember- you have been told that Greece will default by mid-December at the latest...

Funny thing about financial companies- they are really just confidence games and once the lose that confidence they are goners. It always makes me laugh when people in this business talk about book value in regards to financial companies. MF clearly demonstrates the issue. It also makes quite the case for the Volcker Rule. It also brings up the novel idea of counter party risk as well and that is what could turn this into a larger issue...

New future ex-husband in the gym in the mornings. He wears these orange Nikes and is def a hot, short, compact black Irish boy. He is definitely straight so I can only lust after him from afar. He is a Jersey boy too as he wore a sweatshirt for the lacrosse team at a Jersey college.

Kim who? Seriously- who gives a shit about some whore who only got married to make ~$17 million then two months later divorced the guy. Clearly she got divorced because gays are ruining the sanctity of marriage...

Yesterday I did dress up at the office. I had a sweet plaid leisure suit, polyester shirt, huge gold medallion and kick ass platform shoes that had clear heels with goldfish (plastic not real) in them. I also had the 'fro wig. It was quite a hit. The ladies I get my coffee from did not even recognize me and several women in the office asked where I found the shoes (please- these days you find everything on the internet) and if they could borrow them...

The verdict is misadventure

2011-10-26T22:01:00.000-04:00

Hit the dojo- Cobra Kai never die!- last night and again in the second class it was just two of us. I am getting to know the new joshu better and he is a pretty good guy. I think one of the things I like most about him is he has admitted the school tries to get you to drink the Kool Aid, aka it is somewhat cult like. He is young enough to be my son- really, if I was like my father and had kids when I was right out of college at 22.

Did anyone else see that YHOO story about one Drew Manning? He is a personal trainer who is "super-sizing" himself so he will know what it is like to be a typical American. It is really too bad because he is pretty damn hot when he is in shape and if I were his wife I'd kick his fat ass out of the bedroom. Just saying...

The whole Euro zone mess/Greek drama is coming to a head. I just saw that an agreement has been reached with the banks that private investors will take a 50% haircut on their Greek debt holdings. The way that is worded means that the public investors- the ECB, public pension funds etc.- will not be taking a haircut. WTF? Does that make any sense to anyone? I can predict the argument will be the public investors are holding them to maturity blah blah blah but it is complete bullshit. I have not seen if this is a "voluntary" haircut but that is moot. I also am of the mind set that a 50% haircut will not appease the market gods as the debt instruments in question are already trading at 35-40 cents on the dollar, that is a 60-65% haircut. I read one well known bear saying the debt holders should accept a 90% hair cut. Regardless this is going to force all the Euro banks to scramble and find non-public capital to shore themselves up (assuming it is determined to be a credit event)- good luck.

Believe it or not sometimes I can be one twisted, bad person, lol. The head of IT- who also happens to be a neighbor as he lives about 2 miles away- is a germaphobe. I figured this out after being in the mens room a few time at teh same time he was. He is one o those types who washes his hands and uses hand sanitizer and then uses a paper towel to open the door as he is exiting. So of course once I got this I started making sure that if we were in there together and finishing at the same time, I'd wash my hands and hold the door for him and then proceed to touch his shoulder, or arm or back or any part of him, lol. It freaks him out as in he will visibly cringe. At this point in time he now makes sure if I walk up to the sinks while he is ther ehe rushes like a bat out of Hell to get out of there before I am done.

"American Horror Story" on F/X is one excellently spooky, creepy, fucked up, whacked out show. I am impressed with several things: The guys from "Glee" are responsible for it, Jessica Lange is in it and great, Dylan McDermott is in it and shirtless a lot, and Dylan McDermott's ass is really hot...

Since we are in the horror vein- Paranormal Activity 3. We took the boys to see it this past weekend and it was really good. There are at least three scenes that I found pretty scary and freaked me out a bit. If you have seen the first two it is definitely worth it and if you have not it is still a great scary flick to see. And I was totally psyched it was not in 3D.

I remember Steve Jobs. When I got my first iPod I was in heaven- until I got the first bill from the iTunes store. It was pretty outrageous- not like a $200,000 cell phone bill outrageous but close. Anyhow, I reached out to Mr. Jobs to discuss it and went to his house. At that time he lived in this really cool glass cube underwater- right next tot he Legion of Doom (a pretty sweet neighborhood). We came to an agreement tht allowed me to work my bill off...

Why can't the U.S. justice system have a verdict of misadventure? I read about Amy Winehouse and the coroner rendered a verdict of misadventure in her death- isn't that so British? Ya know I really could have used an outcome like that during my freshman year of college...

I am still here

2011-10-18T11:56:00.000-04:00

Ok, have a bunch of post it notes and lost a bunch too so will go kind of free form today

Breaking the law, posting from work

Totally psyched to see Paranormal Activity 3 this Saturday night

Had a wedding this past weekend, the oldest daughter of very good friend of the husband, It was a blast.

The fireplace is done, no new projects or a while now.

Want to also see the remake of The Thing but that is not as high a priority as PA3

Karate- sweep the leg!- tonight. Last week only did first class, took a good shot to the head in last 30 seconds of sparring and that took the wind out of my sails for the second class. Went Saturday morning and I was one of only two for the classes

Does anyone really give a shit if there is no NBA season this year?

You got some dirt on your lip...

2011-10-05T21:48:00.000-04:00

The weekend was good. Saturday morning I got up and hit the dojo- sweep the leg!- for two hours. It was good although joshu kind reprimanded me for not wearing head gear during the ground fighting. I told him at my age I was not worried about cauliflower ear and I had wrestled for six years and the only time I wore headgear was at matches. He replied it was his school and he makes everyone else wear them. Point to joshu.

I got home and got he boys as we had to go back to their mom's house. Friday night when I picked them up my oldest son's bag was rather heavy. He had decided to bring his XBox with him for the weekend but he forgot to bring the controllers. So, we went to his mom's house and got the controllers and then went to BBY to pick up a new copy of Mass Effect 2. While we were driving there we ended up getting into a political discourse over the differences between liberals and conservatives. I waxed poetically about how I believe in the legalization of drugs- not conservative, that we need a better system of checking backgrounds for gun buyers- not conservative, clearly same sex marriage- so not conservative, drug testing for welfare recipients- not liberal, pro-choice- not conservative, etc. The boys were not shocked by any of my stances and said they made sense and my youngest said I should run for Congress- not!

Saturday night I made pizza- both the regular kind and the gluten-free kind. As we were eating dinner I noticed and said out loud it looks like you'll have to start shaving soon to my oldest. The husband blurts out no, don't shave, grow the 'stache- it advertises to the girls you have pubes. Seriously though- WTF is up with that? My oldest starting to shave? Next thing I know he'll be driving and wanting to go to college...

This week has already been quite the roller coaster ride. I will reiterate Greece will default. It will not be controlled. It will not be fun. To that point today the EU finance ministers asked the bank regulators to run yet another "stress test." Even though they claim their banks are sound, they want to see what would happen if Greece defaulted- just in case apparently. If the test does not go with a scenario of 60-70% losses, it is useless.

Sunday the husband and I hit the fireplace project again. He too off the mantle and we then framed out from the top of the brick to the ceiling. We used the usual glue and nails and we did not have any major disagreements on how to build the framing. Yesterday the husband hung the dry wall and it came out well and he got to use a masonry bit drilling into the brick.

Last night was the dojo- Cobra Kai never die!- again for two hours. I am recovering a bit quicker from the pain but I did get my ass kicked by someone who is two full belts below me, lol. He had about three inches in height, six inches in reach and at least 20 years on me- not that I am making excuses.

This coming weekend is a long weekend for us. We had plans to go out to Colorado and go to a dude ranch to celebrate a friend's 40th birthday. Unfortunately said friend's mother is gravely ill and he cancelled the festivities. I told the husband I am keeping the days off and making a long weekend. He was all excited saying he has work for me to do. I told him to go shit in his hand and make a fist. I have not had a vacation at all this weekend and I am taking a four day weekend to relax. I will however chop more wood as it is relaxing in a Zen-like way.

Rotary Hammer

2011-09-26T20:56:00.000-04:00

The weekend was quite fun. I honestly was expecting a full on honeydew list but it did not come to pass.

Friday night we went to celebrate Farmer Vinny's birthday. We had a great dinner out and then came back to the cottage for birthday cake I had baked. Farmer Vinny also got birthday spankings. I had suggested we use my fraternity paddle but the husband thought that would be a bit much. Oddly St had a leather paddle- clearly from his days a dominant leather top (?). So we used that instead. PJ started it off and with him being 90 it was a bit annoying. I told him to stand aside and I'd show everyone how it was done. The husband clearly did not want to be outdone so he got a bit aggressive, lol.

The husband was quite hurting the next morning whereas I got up early, cleaned, dropped off the dry cleaning and then hit the dojo- sweep the leg! I did my two hours of classes and I am still frackin' sore.

Saturday we went to Farmer's Vinny's birthday party hosted by friends. They were all pretty nice kids- yes they are kids as they are all still sorting a low two handle age-wise. Six of them rent this massive house right next to a nature preserve about 5 miles from us. We had a good time and I would have been up for staying longer but the husband was driving so I really had no choice. The funniest part was at one point Farmer Vinny's friend asked me what my tattoo is; I gave my standard reply "Ink injected subcutaneously with a very sharp needle. The husband tsk tsked me the friend asked what it meant. Standard answer number two "There are only two ways to find out and I am gonna guess you are keen on either way." "You'd be surprised what I am keen on." Whoa!

Sunday was the closest I came do a honeydew list item. The husband has decided we are replacing the old slate hearth with a new one and a matching surround and then boxing in the brick up to the ceiling with drywall. So he got out the rubber mallet and pry bars. I told him no way we are using those. Come with me to HD and we'll rent the right tool to take it out.

We rented an 11 pound rotary hammer. The old slate tiles came up in about a half hour. I was then informed that we had to make sure the depth was 1 1/8" I told the husband go to town, I'll do the laundry instead.

So today was the second time I have seen a passing reference to the possible military coup in Greece. I really have no idea how the other EU members would react to such a thing and what it would do to the EMU as a whole.

Since we are on the topic of the EU and their "monetary union" I have to say I find it somewhat perplexing how the market reacts to all these rumors and rumors of rumors regarding the action that may or may not take place. It all comes down to who has the cash and that would be Germany. They have said and continue to say they are not going to leverage the EFSF. If the guy with the checkbook says no- or in this case nein- then it ain't happening folks.

Tomorrow night I have back to school night for my youngest. At least this time I know my way around the school and know what to expect.

Every day I'm shuffling

2011-09-21T22:55:00.000-04:00

Sorry for anyone who gets easily bored when I go off on economic crap but most of this post is gonna be about it.

So, Lloyds of London pulled out its money from European banks...that cannot be good for the global economic picture. Why you ask? Well Lloyds has been in the business of pricing risk for over 300 years now; that in itself is quite amazing, I am not sure how many others can lay claim to such a feat.

The action in the market today is classic Ockam's Razor- the simplest explanation is the best: The Fed said there is "significant downside risks to the economy." It does not matter what the Fed is doing to the curve, the economy is not good. Sorry.

Moodys downgraded a few banks today. Not a big deal and should not come as a surprise but it could totally screw over the repo market as when a bank loses its Prime-1 rating- like Shitgroup did and BAC will probably- it can lead to freezing of the repo market- again, not good for the economy.

Tonight I had the back to school night for my oldest. The ex skipped it so I did it solo. It was interesting meeting his teachers and I had a good time.

I wore a suit to the office today because we had a prospective client in. One of my co-workers told me I actually look distinguished with a beard and in a suit- go figure...

So,t he woman who sits next to me is on the diversity council at the office. She does the passive/aggressive thing of trying to get me on it- yeah right, aint happening. Today she told me there is going to be the first ever LGBT event and would really appreciate it if I went. I am kind of torn on the whole issue. First off, the I am of the mindset that setting up groups for people who are "different" only accentuates the difference. It should not matter if I or some other guy likes dick or there is a chick who likes to bump rug or there is someone who used to be one gender and has changed. What matters in the work place is you are good at your job regardless of any of those things. The other side of the argument is by proving to those people you are just like them by interacting with them changes their mind. It is a moot point as I have back to school night for my youngest the night of the event.

Y1 or X2

2011-09-20T21:18:00.000-04:00

The weekend was good, I got a lot done around the house. The husband had chain sawed all of the trees that fell down at the back of the yard and since he is not exactly adept with a hammer we determined I'd be the one to chop/split the wood for firewood.

So off I went to HD to get an axe. BTW, if you need an axe they are not in the tools section at HD- they are in the garden section. I debated between getting a maul or an axe and went with the axe as it just seemed cooler and more manly.

I got home and the boys told me it looked like an axe murderer axe- really? Well it is an axe...plus with the beard they told me I looked a bit scary while holding it, lol. I split quite a bit of wood (which is not as easy as one would think) and stacked it up on the screened in porch mainly because the younger dog had created an escape hatch thru the screen and I decided to block it off. He was not amused.

Saturday night the boys and I went and saw Drive. It is an excellent flick! Ryan Gossling is very good in it but I found Albert Brooks even better. It is really an '80s flick to be honest, reminded me a lot of To Live and Die in LA. The soundtrack too is totally '80s. Hell even the opening graphics- pink, cursive- are totally '80s. It is worth seeing.

So we were talking with our gf MM last weekend and she mentioned how her ex-bf from high school posted on facebook that his father had died. She thought it was really odd. We got into a discussion about how much is too much on facebook and Mr. Barrett had mentioned how an acquaintance of his had committed suicide and another acquaintance had gotten access to the suicide's facebook account and posted it so everyone would know. A bit disturbing. That Sunday I logged on to see a good friend o the husband's had passed away and his partner announced it on facebook. I am a bit unsure if it is a good thing or not. It has an immediacy that no other way does but it is also a bit morbid. Just something to think about.

Italy got downgraded- is France next? It has to be, there is no way in heck France is a triple A when we are only double A. An interesting corollary to that is the rumor/story/piece of hearsay going around the desks yesterday.

It seems there may be a grass roots/people power movement going on over in Europe. Euro notes have serial numbers on them. The ones that start with Y1 are issued by Greece. The ones that start with X2 are issued by Germany. The tidbit was that some people are starting to refuse the Y1 euro notes. If this is true it is a de facto way to force Greece out of the EMU. Think about it- there is no real difference between the two notes. It would be like someone here saying they will only accept Federal Reserve notes (aka dollars) issued by the New York and rejecting the ones issued by the Philadelphia Fed (which I get intellectually as nothing good every came out of Philly).

Speaking of Greece it is funny but true that rumors are only that until the government comes out and officially denies them. Case in point- the rumor is Greece will hold a referendum on whether or not to exit the EMU. I'd guess it would pass. The Greek government came out this morning and officially denied it which means it will happen. Also, yesterday someone made a comment about the Greek military which piqued my interest as they have a history of taking over like the did in the early '70s.

Hit the gym yesterday morning and there was some very nice eye candy- we'll call him Everlast. Hopefully will see him there more often but he was not there this morning.

Tonight I go back to the dojo- sweep the leg! I will be returning to the one I started at but the management is completely new and different. We'll see how it goes but right now the only days they have the classes I need are Tuesday nights, Friday nights (LOL that is sooo not happening) and Saturday mornings; so it looks like Tuesdays and Saturdays I will be all Cobra Kai never die!

I am totally breakin' the law, breakin' the law (I cannot wait for Beavis & Butthead to be back on the air) by writing this at work. I'll spell check it and save it and then post when I get home tonight.

Speed round again

2011-09-17T00:23:00.000-04:00

Shitigroup is the only bank that went the bad bank round

Other banks are going to have to bad banks, aka ring fencing

Makes me think Shitigroup is ahead of the crowd/curve

Learn to love the ICB in the UK because it is Glass-Stegall redux and we will have it here- again

I think Glass-Stegall was right- retail and wholesale should be separate

Greek default not 100% sure thing; according to CDS market it is only 99.1% sure thing- it's all about the tails...

The husband is at the beach for the weekend for his book club- makes me reconsider joining, not really, they are to literary for me

My reading for pleasure has to have swords, dragons, wizards, FTL drives, lasers, sentient androids, demigods, etc.

Greece is probably going to default over the weekend or in next week- why else would Fed flood Europe with dollars other than to make sure money/credit markets don't freeze

My oldest had his first high school dance tonight

I ~~regaled~~ ~~impressed~~ horrified him with the story of how I got to second base at the 8th grade Valentines Day dance

Debating whether to see Warrior (hot, often shirtless MMA fighters) or Drive tomorrow with the boys and ST

Finally some eye candy on the train- blond bearded guy (def on my team -the quilted, short jacket and sweater vest on his arm gave it away...) on the train home and hot DILF on the morning train

DILF did not give me vibe but he had multicolored messenger bag- PF says only gays have messenger bags...

Golden rod and zombie blades

2011-09-12T21:33:00.000-04:00

The weekend was quite a blast down in DC! The drive down was not that great. We made the mistake of taking 95through Philly and there was an accident and major construction. At one point I had to stop and take a leak; the husband was trying to tell me we can make it past these cones. I told him no way in hell. I pulled over on the over pass, got out and took a leak. A car passing by slowed down and these girls in it started yelling "We can see your penis!" I yelled back "And you like it and want it don't you!" The husband was bright red at that point and yelled at me to get back in the car.

The husband than took over the driving and clearly Google maps does not have an option for how long a drive will take when there is a reckless, Latino driver behind the wheel. Let's just say the time predicted by Google maps should have that option.

We went out to dinner at a great restaurant with Mr. Clifford and PS. The food was amazing and the drinks were good. We then met up with Mr. Barrett and went out dancing. The club had free well vodka drinks until midnight- that really got the party started.

Saturday morning was quite interesting as we all got up and showered, had greasy breakfast and then we were off to the Renaissance festival. The husband was quite surprised and a bit taken aback. It was all good though.

If you've never been to a Renaissance festival I recommend it as one of those events to try at least once in your life. There are quite a few unique individuals who really take it quite seriously. PS made the comment that he wondered if anyone every got married at one of these and said he and Mr. Clifford were going to at some point. The ironic thing is we sat down to take a break from all our walking around when one of the people totally into the festival, i.e. he was dressed in full regalia, came over to us and told us if we were hungry we could go over to his wedding reception and grab some food.

We graciously thanked him and declined. I then went over to the bladed weapons vendor just to see what it was all about. I told him I knew all about swords from my days of AD&D and asked what kind he had had. He had bastard swords, a few short sword and lots of katanas. I asked what would be best for the coming zombie apocalypse and he proceeded to show me a blade the company specifically made and was called the zombie sword. Of course the Wall Streeter in me then asked which were his largest markets (Colorado and Maryland), average age of his customers, income levels etc.

Apparently as I have aged (gracefully by the way) I have ended up with allergies of some sort. My eyes water hugely, my nose runs and I have sneezing fits. The husband thought it may be ragweed but I don't think it is ragweed season. I do know that golden rod is blooming right now though.

The word of the day is risible

2011-09-07T21:11:00.000-04:00

One of the best things about having friends smarter than yourself is they often use words you don't know the meaning of, case in point is risible. JW- who is a polymath (look it up) used that word yesterday in one of our electronic discussions. I had to look it up. It means ludicrous. So I have some things that I find risible:

People- mostly people in my line of work, sadly- who claim that if stocks go down violently and precipitously that the world will end. Please- no it will not end, it will not be financial armageddon. It will mean peoples lives change- possibly in less than pleasant ways, the elites will be threatened and have to actually do something or justify why they are the elites.

Along the lines of the previous paragraph, I read some asinine analyst at a boutique firm who covers the banking industry claim the industry is being hurt by our government trying to enforce regulations and make them pay for their bad- dare I say criminal- behavior. That is quite risible.

So yesterday started my new commute. Of course I screwed it up. I got up and caught the early train so I could hit the gym next to the office before work. I was maybe one of 6 people in the car. The conductor came up and asked for my ticket. I scramble and am going thru all my pockets, gym bag looking for my wallet. Yep, no wallet. I forgot to pack it the night before. I explained it to the man and he asked where I was going. I told him Penn Station NY. He gave me the free pass.

It has only been two days and I have yet to see an notable eye candy- patience grasshopper, patience...

My autumnal facial hair project began this past weekend. Friday I had given the husband, some friends and family members who were reachable and not on vacation a chance to vote: A) '70s pornstache Two) Goatee d) full beard. The husband voted for goatee. Most others voted for full beard. The husband does have super voting rights as in I live and sleep with him. He outranked everyone else. then I counted all the hanging chads and realized I also have super voting rights so full beard won.

"Strike Back" on Cinemax is definitely a series we have gotten into. The two leads are hot. Sullivan Stapleton is totally woofy and has quite the ass. Philip Winchester is also quite hot with an amazing torso. You may recall Phil- all his friends call him Phil- from the SciFi miniseries "Alice" as the Jack of Hearts or as Altlivia's ex fiance on "Fringe."

Today was the first day of school for the boys. My youngest started middle school and he sounded excited when I spoke with him tonight. My oldest is now officially a freshman in high school- talk about risible! He can't be that old- to me he is still that tot who loved dressing up in his Buzz Lightyear costume, could not stuff enough pencils and pens into his jeans pockets, made me play Yu Gi Oh with him every Saturday morning when he didn't know how to read ( I still don't know how to play that) and loved going into his great grandfather's basement to learn about electricity and magnetism. Before you know it you'll tell me he drives and can vote- talk about risible.

This weekend the husband and I will be heading down to the nation's capitol to visit Mr. Clifford and PS. We will also be seeing Mr. Barrett. It will be interesting to be in the capitol for the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Speaking of 9/11, google ESPN and red bandanna and watch the clip- it is pretty touching.

Green acres is the place to be...

2011-09-01T21:28:00.000-04:00

Ok, so it's been a while but the move was really taking all my time. It's done; we are now officially country gays as Mr. Clifford would say.

Thankfully my sister in law and her gf came to the apartment Wednesday night and took the kids and some other stuff down and spent the night at the cottage. Thursday morning the movers showed up with more men than they had said they'd bring so the move went really quick and it cost less than they had estimated. The husband and I of course had boxes in the back of the pick up that got rained on profusely. Everything went down into the basement so no we have only two apartments worth of stuff in the basement.

Friday I went to work for the J-Hole event which was really a non event as there was nothing the Bernak could say and he basically thew his gun at the monster that the economy has become. He also rightfully blamed the political establishment for doing nothing.

Saturday morning we were up early and down in the basement elevating everything. Most stuff went up at least 6" and the husband asked if that was high enough. I replied if the water gets higher than that we are screwed and have bigger issues. Irene started that afternoon. We all went across the road to PJ and ST's for dinner. When we finished and came back it was really starting to come down. Sunday morning I got up to no electricity and a small lake in the back yard. The river behind the canal at the back of the property had seriously crested causing the canal to as well and the wooded area of the property was more like a swamp. The water climbed steadily all day only to stop at the clothes line- call it about 30' from the house. Phew.

The other issue Sunday was we were literally trapped in the neighborhood. The road about a half mile in both directions was flooded out. The two roads leading out of the neighborhood were blocked with several fallen trees. The boys were starting to go stir crazy. Their mom still had power (but her basement flooded- haha) so I made the decision to get them there asap. It took me a mere hour and change to make the 11 mile drive. Getting home was quite another story as the route I had taken was now flooded out in several areas. I tried many different routes and a little over five hours later I walked back into the cottage. I put a bit over two hundred miles on the truck that day- WTF? Still no power too which also meant no water- we are on a well. At least we had candles, booze, a propane cook top and bottled water. Monday was a no go for work. ST came over to tell us one of the barns still had electricity and hot and cold water. He also informed us we'd not be getting power back until Friday. So the husband and I had a movie date. We saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Very good flick.

Tuesday I got to work after showering at the gym and driving in as there was very limited train service. We still had the garage spot in JC so I drove there, parked, went to the gym and showered up and took the bus into work. Around noon the husband unexpectedly IMed me- we had power back- woo hoo!

Yesterday I drove in again as I had to drop off a blind we had mistakenly packed. So I drove tot he garage again and hopped on the bus. It was quite fun to take my last bus ride into the PA with JP. He is doing well and actually has a pretty good gig going right now working as a personal assistant for a rather well known actor in films and theater. On the way home I turned in the parking pass for the garage and informed them we'd no longer be parking there.

Ok, the economy is still totally fracked. I read the Rogoff piece and he basically said we are in a depression but no one has the sac to say so. Our neighbor to the north blew chunks yesterday on their most recent GDP report which does not bode well for us as we are their largest trading partner by far. The smart kid who works with me sent an email today titled the croissant is burning...France is going to most likely lose its triple A rating which will most likely lead Germany to saying no mas- we're out.

This weekend we have our gf MM visiting. Totally psyched to see her as we have not seen her in over two years. She went gallivanting off to The Continent to get her MBA and has returned to seek her fortunes in the bright lights of the big city. She will be catching the train down with me after work.

This weekend we are going to see either the cheesy shark 3D movie or the latest iteration of Conan. I am also looking forward to seeing the new series on SciFi "Paranormal Witness."

This morning was my first time commuting on the train in quite some times. Have yet to see any eye candy worth writing about.

I'm rubber, you're glue

2011-08-18T22:00:00.000-04:00

The Warrior Dash was this past weekend. It was a lot of fun. I am not sure if I am getting older but I was much sorer the day after this year. I finished third out of our group and was thinking that the course was much harder this year. they had two more water hazards- the first one with logs in it and it was deeper than last years. There were also two cargo net hazards, the first one was twice as high as last year and it was an up and down- the chick who went up with me had a panic attack at the top and had to be slowly talked down, lol. The second one was a cargo net bridge. A lot of people were trying to walk across it to little avail, I saw the guy ahead of me roll across it and copied him. The bastards also had us running up hill a lot more than last year. Of course everyone had a blast and we all signed up for it nest year. The boss also signed up and I am a bit concerned as I am sure he has an inkling of what a delinquent/accused criminal I am/was in college and doing this race with my fraternity brothers will only be confirmation.

This week has been all about packing of course. One week from today we will be living in the countryside full time. There are some things I will miss about the city- The Taco Truck, the eye candy on the bus and in the gym to name a few. I will however be psyched for a commute I can get reading done on, not smelling dinner choices made by everyone in the building, being closer to the boys to name a few.

Rick Perry...seriously, haven't we had our fill of less than smart governors from Texas being President?

So Warren Buffet thinks he does not pay enough taxes? funny, the guy has spent his entire business career doing everything he legally can to minimize the amount of money the government takes from him and now he says it was a mistake? The cynic in me says he is taking the route of if I volunteer to pay more I won't lose as much if the government decides to take it. He is trying to beat the crowd with the pitchforks and torches.

So it looks like the Wiccans and their threefold rule may be right. You see three years ago we exported a financial crisis to Europe vis a vis the whole sub prime mess. Well now they are repaying the favor by having their own financial crisis and it will hit us right back. I am gonna guess that the Eu will breakup by Germany exiting on their own and you may end up seeing something akin to the Hanseatic League show up again.

We are ~~heading for a new~~ going to see we never really left the recession. I imagine there will be some bank that 'fesses up to having a little problem over the weekend. I am off tomorrow so I won't be around for the fireworks when the unemployment rate comes out. I have actually not worked a single Friday this month- kinda nice.

Speed round

2011-08-08T22:43:00.000-04:00

I am thinking speed round (the idea which I ~~stole~~ ~~plagiarized~~ got from a newsletter I read):

Tim DeChristopher- google him, we are about three steps from full blown fascism here

Phil Streible- quite the cute gold bug

Cowboys and Aliens was good and holy shit Daniel Craig in chaps makes me want to get a pair

The mother in law's birthday was last week, we took her out for Indian

I had drinks with my bond friend and we almost bet on us losing our triple A...almost (I'd have won)

Above bond friend said if we start QE3 the dollar will lose a quick 40% and the market will lose only slightly less, about 35%

My oldest asked me "Who were you married to before the husband. Wow- big step for him to acknowledge we are actually married. And scary as he asked- duh, hello- your mother...you remember/know her right?

ISM approaching the danger zone of 50- ruh roh Raggy. Can you say new recession/double dip/entering depression?

Latin food at JW and JD's to celebrate JD's birthday- lotta fun, probably a bit too much wine, lol.

Was off this past Friday for my 25th high school reunion this past weekend. Husband forced to go. He won't admit it but he had fun.

"You went to high school with a lot of sketchy people."

"She had three tattoos on her neck..."

Lots of cops and nurses in my graduating class. Surprisingly more female cops and male nurses.

Is it just me or is the first thing the defense lawyer does is try to discredit/malign/defame the accuser? I bet all the people who are taking shots at S&P are also the types who think "the chick was asking for it..."

Off again this coming Friday for the Warrior Dash with my fraternity brothers.

Just guessing here

2011-07-27T23:19:00.000-04:00

I'm gonna take a wild shot in the dark and say I bet Amy Winehouse died of a drug overdose of some sorts. Call me crazy but I gotta feelin' about this...

Speaking of Amy Winehouse, the cover of her album Frank has two Scotties on it. The husband and I know the owner of the Scotties. I don't completely recall how it happened but apparently our friend and his husband were out walking their Scotties at night in London when she walked by and asked if she could have her pic taken walking the dogs. They consented and the next thing they know their dogs are gracing her album.

The weekend was nice. We had PJ, ST and the hot farmer over for dinner. The boys were there too and they met the hot farmer. They thought he was cool and they introduced him to the grotesqueness of urban dictionary, lol. At one point I heard ST ask the hot farmer "Do straight guys really do that and like it?" The husband marinated this awesome pork tenderloin and then had me grill it. I almost over grilled it but because he had brined it I was good. Even my youngest ate it!

Saturday ST took the boys to see the Harry Potter flick. The husband and I got the house ready and prepped lunch for out guests, JK and DS, for the weekend. They got there and the four of us lunched on burgers and turkey burgers with this amazing aioli.

The boys got back and met our house guests and their 2 1/2 year old Rottweiler. Our younger dog was totally psyched as he ha d a playmate for the weekend. The two of them were quite boisterous and rough housed all weekend.

The husband, boys, JK and DS then went across the lane to PJ's pool. I slaved away in the kitchen making dessert for dinner- Granny Smith apple pie with crumb topping. Dinner was grilled tuna steaks with this amazing marinade and salsa. The boys of course were on their best behavior and made an excellent impression upon JK and DS.

JK and DS spent the night as well. I made the call that they could have our bed and we'd take the air mattress; they were first time guests, next time they get the air mattress, lol.

Sunday after our guests left we went and saw Captain America. IT was actually pretty good and Chris Evans was shirtless or in a tight white tee for quite a few scenes. Hugo Weaving was a great Red Skull- better than his role as Agent Smith.

So we as a nation will most likely be losing our triple A status. Ya know what? Good. We need to take our medicine just like everyone else. We used to do it well and not complain about it but over the past forty or so years we seem to have lost that quality; maybe this will stiffen our spines. It will hurt, no one except the uber-rich will be spared.

I have started packing up the apartment. The boys bedroom, the coat closet and the utility closet are pretty much all done.

It's not a pemanent condition...

2011-07-21T21:10:00.000-04:00

Tuesday morning was the first time I've swum since the race. It was actually not that bad getting back into the pool. I swam a bit over 1400 yards and felt good.

Yesterday the IMF came out and stated that Europe faces the risk of serious contagion if the whole Greece situation was not addressed. Duh! Thanks for the news flash Walter...

Something that is getting a lot of chatter/ink/spin currently is the whole idea of a eurobond. Ok, in order for a eurobond to actually come into existence there needs to be some kind of European Ministry of Finance. If there is one of those that implies there would have to be some kind of federal European government. You cannot have a European federal government without the member states giving up sovereignty. I am gonna bet that 3,000 years of history including the Treaty of Westphalia- will stand in the way of that. I really don't see the European nations giving up their sovereignty especially since it would- highly likely- that Germany would end up in charge. The two world wars I think have pretty much turned everyone off from that idea. One of the firms I do business with yesterday was positing that you can have full fiscal union without political union. No frackin' way can you.have fiscal union without political union- money and politics go hand in hand- always have and always will.

My bond friend pointed out to me there is no way they could get a eurobond done so quickly; as he said the plumbing is just not in place. He estimated that it would take twenty years for it to actually be in place. We then got into a discussion that a eurobond would be great and actually take care of a lot the issues. He thinks that is the ultimate goal of some Eurocrats but I still bet on 3,000 years of history weighing on that happening.

So, today it seems like Greece will be entering a transitory default. WTF? All defaults are transitory. No one stays in default permanently. Default is default no matter what. Just like being pregnant is being pregnant no matter what. Hell, pregnancy is transitory too but it still means you've fucked- just like all the bond holders in Greece.

I am psyched to see Cowboys vs. Aliens. I am also looking forward to Captain America.

Jersey girls always protect the drink

2011-07-18T22:06:00.000-04:00

The weekend was quite fun and actually relaxing. Mr. Barrett and JP came to the cottage for a visiting the country- that sounds like a show tune title...

Friday night was quite entertaining. ST and PJ joined us for dinner as usual and they brought along the hot farmer who is our neighbor. He is also maybe only 24 at the oldest. He is straight but comfortable with the gays. We suggested that if he wanted to make more money than a farmer normally does he should start a website selling the jock straps and/or underwear he wears during the workday. He can start a website and auction it off. He said he has those Jersey Fresh stickers as well that go on the produce and he could stick them on his product. He would make a boat load of money as there is a serious crowd for that out there. Dinner was these awesome sticky-sweet ribs. I made a chocolate cake with caramel chocolate frosting.

Saturday was a nice lazy day. The husband had told me I was responsible for dinner and Mr. Barrett had requested lamb kabobs. I made the crumble top peach pie and a mint pesto for the lamb kabobs and then we headed over to PJ's pool for a swim. The hot farmer happened to join us there and we got to see him in board shorts and holy shit he is even hotter without a short on. JP actually got some discreet pictures of him and I am waiting for them to get emailed, lol.

After the swim I made the kabob and a bean salad. Everything came out well and dinner was a hit. Afterwards JP told us we should take a look at Saturn's rings with the sky telescope we have on the porch. So we took it out into the backyard and I discovered my GOOG Sky Maps was not working correctly. We were not able to see the rings but we did get some awesome views of the full moon.

We then crossed state lines and went to The Raven. It was a lot of fun actually. I got to see the Ke$ha video with James VanDerBeek where they shoot unicorns and they bleed rainbows. It was pretty great. The husband being the frackin' chatty Cathy he is of course chatted up some classic Jersey girls who were there. Apparently one of them had a cousin who is gay and it was his 21st birthday so they were celebrating. It was ok until one of them went flying forehead first into the garbage can. And of course- being the Jersey girl she is- she did not spill a single drop of her drink. The husband was quite impressed. I told him please- no self-respecting Jersey girl ever spills her drink in a club.

On the way home the husband- who was driving- killed a possum (we think) that was next to its mate and mourning it getting hit by a car. At least both of them are now hanging by their tails in the big tree in the sky that is quite possibly possum heaven. Oh and then he hit some more road kill further down the road...

Sunday was a long day as we did not get home until 3 AM and quite honestly we are getting too old for nights like that.

A friend on facebook yesterday posted a comment about how he got his picture taken with one Landon Conrad and if you did not know who he was to look it up on the internet. So this morning I binged pictures of him only to get confronted with nude pics of a hot porn star, lol. Not a good thing to do at work.

Seriously- I could care less about Casey Anthony. The whole media circus is really annoying. Who gives a shit if she got off- get a life people.

Untitled post

2011-07-11T21:36:00.000-04:00

Last week ended quite busy. Thursday night the husband and I had drinks with an old friend- one of the hosts of the Super Bowl party we met at- and caught up and then we headed over to PF's birthday party. It was a rather late night.

Friday was quite an interesting train ride down to the cottage after work. It seems some rather rude person decide that it would be much more efficient to throw him or herself in front of a train on NJ Transit, thereby ruining his or her chances for entering Heaven (suicide is a mortal sin I was taught) but also many peoples Friday commutes home. What is normally a 49 minute train ride home became a two hour ride home. So I had the husband make dessert and I took a cab from the train station to the cottage. Then I rushed to pick up the boys. Dinner with ST and PJ was excellent, the husband made St. Peter's fish and even more momentous my youngest son actually ate it! This is a kid who will not eat anything that is out of the four food groups- peanut butter, waffles, pizza or bagels. I was quite surprised.

Saturday was quite busy as well. The husband and I had to get dinner ready for our guests so the boys went to see a movie with ST. He took them to see Horrible Bosses which was quite ironic as the boss and his wife were joining us for dinner. dinner was excellent. We made grilled leg of lamb in a red wine, shallot and grainy mustard marinade, roasted summer veggie salad (zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes and basil) and roasted red potatoes (with rosemary and garlic). Dessert I went out of my comfort zone and made a peach pie. It was quite a hit except I did not have any Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream.

The dinner conversation was quite lively. My youngest was quite the font of useless information as he found an app on his phone that is all about trivia. All night he was spouting facts and it got to the point were the boss's wife went to the bathroom, texted her 12 year old son to get the same app and then came back to the table and a trivia throw down ensued. It got to the point where I blurted out "Did you know the human brain weighs 8 lbs?" That ended the trivia throw down.

The only thing that was off was the oldest son asked to be excused from the table and promptly went to bed without telling anyone. I castigated him Sunday morning that going to bed when the guests are still here is ok but he needs to say good night to everyone before he lays his head down to sleep. The highlight of the dinner though was the boss asking to see the lawn tractor and admitting he is envious of it.

Sunday afternoon we took the boys to see Transformers 3. It was a bit longer than it should have been but it was excellent and my favorite line was Sentinel Prime referencing the Kobayashi Maru. If you know who the actor is it is freakin' brilliant!

Mike Vrabel is totally woofy. HJ is pic was on YHOO this morning and a story about him retiring early from the NFL. Mr. Barrett was ind to send me some more pics of him.

My oldest was all psyched about his upcoming pay check. He told me how much he made for the first week of work and I asked him if it was net or gross. He looked at me quizzically and I explained to him the concept of payroll taxes. No political discussion ensued thankfully as I want him to find his own way to a political identity and try not too sway him too much.

I am not a baseball fan in any way, shape or form. But I have to admit Jeter getting his 3,000th hit was pretty cool. I believe only 27 others have done it and he is the first Yankee. What I found more interesting was the kid who caught the ball willingly and without any expectation returned it to him. His humility and lack of what's in it for me attitude sets quite an example fro many in this country. It was almost selfless which is really nice to see in this day and age. Let's hope it is contagious...

I had quite an excellent discussion with JW today and it left me with more questions than answers. Basically I need to determine what exactly is a right as in something inalienable and universal for all humanity regardless of gender, skin color, religious belief or geographical location.

Looking forward to seeing the final installment of Harry Potter.

I am the wingman...

2011-07-06T00:33:00.000-04:00

The weekend was real busy and fun but so not relaxing. The husband drove out early Friday morning to his parents house with the kids. He called me later in the morning after he spoke with my mother in law to inform me that the weekend we were expecting to relax was a pipe dream. My mother in laws in laws were coming for a visit. The were arriving from France. They did not speak a lick of English. Ok, cool, no big deal, I don't speak French really so I could just sit there and look pretty. But wait- there's more...apparently the mother in law was also hosting an engagement party on the 4th of July for the husband's niece. so basically we got shanghaied into working the kitchen all weekend for the entertainment. Don't get me wrong- I enjoy manning the grill and helping out my mother in law but it was not what I was expecting. I was completely exhausted by Monday around 4 PM. We drove back to the apartment in JC and were totally psyched to realize that the NYC fireworks were on the Hudson that night. It was a bit bittersweet as the lease is up at the end of August and we are moving to the cottage full time so it was the last time we got to take advantage of the balcony.

In case you forgot- Greece is going to default and it will end badly.

Today I felt just a bit older than usual as my oldest son started his first summer job. he is working for his mother's boyfriend. I found out last night when I called to speak with the boys and my youngest told me his older brother was in bed already as he had to get up at 5:45 AM for his job. I burst out laughing and my youngest said yeah, that was the reaction he has too. I did exchange texts with my oldest today- he had a chicken salad sandwich at the local deli for lunch and he was done with work around 3 PM.

So, I had a business dinner tonight but it was with someone who is also a friend. It is funny as we discussed how life was treating each other and when it was his turn he commented that I am like the vault/confessor. He stated he can tell me anything and he knows it is like telling a secret to a tree- it goes nowhere. I felt kind of proud I have to admit. He then spilled his guts on almost everything and we got into quite a philosophical debate on the differences between abortion and use of the morning after pill. At that point- thank god- his phone vibrated and he read his text. he then asked me if I would be his wingman for an unplanned blind date. I said when? He said in about thirty minutes. With the husband down at the cottage I said sure. I mean what's the harm in a gay guy like me playing wingman to a straight guy who is good looking, young and single in NYC...

Ok, I think the chick liked me better until I started talking about the husband, lol. Then she was all over my friend.

This week is going to be quite a busy one. I had he biz dinner tonight. he husband has drinks tomorrow night. We have drinks followed by a good friend's birthday party Thursday night, Friday night I am down to the cottage for dinner with ST and PJ and the boys are with us this weekend, Saturday afternoon ST, the husband, I and the boys are probably going to see Bad Teacher and Saturday evening the boss and his wife are coming down to the cottage for dinner. No rest for the weary...

Clearly I am the alpha male of the pack

2011-07-01T16:56:00.003-04:00

Dogs have a pack mentality; that is they like all canine seek to establish a hierarchy. This was evident this past Sunday night at the cottage with the new puppy.
After dinner something in him clicked. He went over to his older sister and.tried to mount her. We felt bad as she was clearly annoyed and Scotties have massive canine teeth. So to prevent her from biting and seriously injuring her brother I picked her up and put her on the bed. I come back out to the kitchen to find the.pup humping the husband's leg. He had a "are you fucking kidding me" look on his face and he told the pup if they were going to have sex he expected to at least be bought a drink. The pup did not even bother trying with me because...I am clearly the alpha of the pack.

I have to admit though that the little bugger took quick piss in the truck yesterday so he is clearly trying to establish something...

So I know have an Android phone. I am also now.playing word with friends with my sons and JP. I also decided to give it a whirl with mo old blogging. If it goes well it may mean more entries bit of a shorter nature. We'll see.

Right now I am on the train to the beach writing this without my notes I left on the desk- I was in a rush to catch the train.

Turbo Tax Timmy is now saying his days at the U.S. Treasury are numbered. I was a year early in my prediction he would be gonzo from there. My bond friend's greatest fear is Mr. Krugman takes his place; mine is a return.of Larry Summers.

This holiday weekend the boys are with their mom so the husband and I and the kids are off to the in-laws. We have not seen them in.quite some time. Sunday we are going to cross the bay and be day trippers at the beach, have lunch with friends there and show the pup the gay fantasia that it is.

2011-06-28T11:03:00.001-04:00

Just testing out mobile blogging with my new Android phone.

He's gone...

2011-06-26T22:47:00.000-04:00

"He's gone. Brick is gone." I got that phone call a week ago from this past Thursday around 8:45. Brick was our older Scottie. He was a major reason I am with the husband. Some of you may know that the first night the husband and I met we had relations- oh stop clutching your pearls you prudes, like none of you have done it. I noticed he had a leash and dog food. I asked him what kind of dog he had and he told me a Scottie. I told him right then and there I may date him just for his Scottie. A bit over five and a half years later I've been more than dating him just for his Scottie. Brick was a huge part of the husband's life and he had him for close to eight years- he adopted him from his former neighbors when they had the second kid and the dog went by the wayside.

I last saw Brick Wednesday morning. I got out of bed and ready for work and he and the younger dog both knew that once I was up out of bed they got to go up in bed and crowd the husband into a corner while they sprawled for at least a hour. This had been the routine for almost two years now. The husband accused me of spoiling them but looking back I am glad I did spoil Brick and would not change a thing.

Thursday morning was the usual, the kids had spent the night in the bed with the husband as I was up in JC. They woke him up to let him know they needed to go out and do their business. They did, came in and knew it was breakfast time. The husband was getting their breakfast ready when he heard a thud and yelping. He ran into the foyer to find Brick on his side still yelping. He said it sounded like a human crying. He picked him up and ran to the car. I happened to just call at that time to see if they were up. "Something's wrong with Brick I gotta go!" He called me back after rushing him to the vet to tell me he had gone. I did not get to say good bye to my grumpy old guy and I am upset about that. The vet said he was not sure what happened, most likely catastrophic organ failure but he was not in pain. The husband got to hold him as he left and I know a part of the husband died with Brick.

The rest of the weekend was not easy either. We had our race and the boys. The race went well except my swim sucked. The bike I finally broke a hour on and the run I did very well on. After the race we, the boys and ST went to lunch and saw Green Lantern. The movie was ok, good comic book entertainment and we got to see smokin' hot Ryan Reynolds in tighty whities- woof!

It was also our anniversary so we had dinner made at home with the boys. We then made S'mores over the grill. Traditionally the 4th anniversary is linen but I went off-grid and got the husband a hand blown glass globe lamp. The husband stuck with traditional and got me a nice linen shirt form J. Crew.

Sunday was Fathers Day and I surprisingly got gifts with thought put into them from the boys. I got two books. My oldest gave me World War Z and my youngest gave me Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I already own both and have read them but I was so happy for the gifts I did not say a word and neither did the husband.

The week at work was only three days. I had two end of school events on Thursday for the boys so I took it off months ago. we were also supposed to have our friend MM visit for the weekend and she was going to come Friday morning. We have not seen here in almost a year so I figured I'd take Friday off as well and make it a four day weekend. She canceled the week before Brick died so I decided to keep it a four day weekend without guests or the boys and we could get more work done on the yard. After Brick died that changed. We decided to get a new dog immediately and the husband said he didn't think he could do another male Scottie so soon. We decided on an Irish Terrier, found a breeder in Massachusetts about 40 minutes from my smart brother the doctor and his children. We drove up Friday- left the cottage a bit after 10 AM and hit serious traffic on the GWB, in New Haven and New London. It took us a bit over six hours- it was a long ass day. We had tapas for dinner with the family, watched some t.v. and hit the hay. We got up the next morning, off to DD for coffee and donuts. Spent some more time with the family then drove up to pick the pup out and take him home. We brought our dog with us so she could meet them and see if she had issues with the pup. She did not. The breeder had the look of Bible thumper or cat lady so we were surprised she was a dog lover. We spent about forty five minutes with the three pups available and made the pick. We then headed back to the family so the kids could meet the new pup. His name is a reference only a sci-fi geek/nerd would get.

Then the drive home last night only took us a bit over four hours- amazing what no traffic problems can do for a drive. This morning I went and picked up the boys, we stopped to get some breakfast, then back to the cottage so they could meet the new dog. They were excited and so was the pup. Then I took them back to their mom's house as they had to get to Maryland for a week long family reunion.

It's amazing what you can find in grass piles you raked up a week later. I first found a birds egg. It was a burnt orange color and rather large. I am not aware of any ground nesting birds in the area so when Mr. Barrett makes it up here in two weeks I'll have to quiz him.

The next thing I found was a snake. It couldn't have been more than eight inches long. I actually caught it. The thing tried to bite me and I grabbed it behind its head, squeezing a bit too much as part of its guts came out. I then ran tot he kitchen window to show the husband as he has a fear of snakes and I felt like Riki-fucking-Tiki-fucking-Tavi! BTW, I think that was one of my favorite Chuck Jones cartoons of all time and loved it! I watched it any time I could. Don't get me wrong- it was no Nag or Nagaina I killed, it was a common garter snake.

Pssst...Greece defaulted yeterday

2011-06-15T22:01:00.000-04:00

Last night was a momentous evening as I attended my last mandatory school concert. My youngest is going into middle school in the autumn and music is an elective- one he did not choose. I admit though that concert was not half bad. Two highlights: 1) The kids did a piece by Carl Orff- you know him, everyone does. Carl Orff wrote that song from The Omen aka Carmina Burina. The piece the kids did though was "Street Song." It was so good I am going to find some Orff on iTunes and put it on my iPod. The funny part was the music teacher stated that Carl Orff is incredibly complicated music- so complicated she would only do his pieces in college with professors- yet the guy also was a huge believer apparently in making music accessible to children and most of his pieces can be performed by them by getting broken up into small parts and using very simple instruments. She proved that point. b) There was a blues composition created by one of the 4th grade students. Again the music teacher admitted that blues are one of the harder types of music to compose and she did not study them until her junior year in college- so pretty amazing a 4th grader could do it. Not to sound crass, boorish or mean spirited but the most amazing part is the 4th grader is a mini Stephen Hawking- the whole wheel chair and voice synthesizer. He was tested for the gifted music program and scored in the 98th percentile. He got a standing ovation from the audience after his piece was sung.

I looked around the concert at one point and saw parents and siblings all using cell phones to play games, take picture or videos and I thought to myself how the hell did my parents make it through all the damn concerts they had to go to? I was in the band until 6th grade- after which time it was not cool- and played the trombone. I was not happy with that because I wanted to play the trumpet. I was never better than second trombone mostly because I did not practice. Looking back I now realize the trombone is way frackin' cooler than the trumpet and I should have practiced more.

After the concert I went over to PJ and ST's house and had dinner with them and the husband. I am not a fan of reality tv. I really avoid it at all costs. I ~~think~~ hope we are close to the end of this cultural morass. However last night I got stuck watching it during dinner. 'The Voice" was on and I was a guest so I could not suggest we change the channel to anything- hell even the Golf Channel would have been better- other program. Two things I took away form the show: Adam Levine is frackin' hot and he is on the list now I think and Cee Lo Green has really small hands and all I could think of was that ad for either McDonald's or Burger King making fun of the guy with small hands because he could hold the big burger.

We then retired to the cottage to go to bed. We were getting ready for bed when the husband asked if I'd be able to sleep ok. You see we had taken the closet doors down to paint them. I had to explain to him that yes, monsters can enter closets from the Glooming but only if there are doors and they are partially open whereas closets without doors are technically alcoves and monsters cannot enter alcoves from the Glooming ever.

Today was my last training day before the big race Saturday. It was as short run so yes I hit "Firework" for constant loop and ran my three miles in just under 27 minutes. The race Saturday morning will be interesting to say the least. We have the boys this weekend so we will be out of the house before they are awake. The husband had the excellent idea of having ST come over and taking them to SBUX for breakfast and sort of baby sitting them until we get home. Then we will treat ST to lunch and Green Lantern in return Saturday afternoon. Speaking of movies, we saw Super 8 this past weekend and it was not bad at all. It was classic Spielberg and the cinematography was brilliant. It is definitely worth seeing in the theaters.

So in case you missed it yesterday Greece extended the maturities of its debt. That is a default in all but name. I double checked with my bond friend and he confirmed yes, the end result 12 months down the road is exactly the same as if they did a default in name. His other ominous comment is that Europe is very quickly running out of road to kick this can. A corollary to that is late today, there were some vague rumors floating around that the good ol' Bundesbank has fired up the printing presses and is secretly printing Deutschmark marks again. A newsletter I read daily and I have the utmost respect for the writer said this morning that Greece doesn't matter. I replied that I respectfully disagreed as Greece matter because it is the very short fuse that will cause Spain to blow up and once Spain blows up there will be a breech into the core- France.

But we have no direct exposure to Europe right? Wrong. We may not hold as much Euro debt as the Europeans do but we are all counter parties and counter party risk is the one that is more dangerous as the only way to hedge it is cut off certain parties. That leads to a vicious circle of really bad things.

Princeton was at the gym today. It started the day right but what made it even more sunny this morning was whistling at the hot guy riding his bike at Hoboken Terminal and dismounting at the bike rack just as I walked by.

Sometimes my own gayness surprises me

2011-06-13T21:22:00.000-04:00

Holy frack- I cannot believe Ned Stark lost his head! "Game of Thrones" has gotten much better but Sean Bean has to be one pissed off actor and sworn off anymore swords and sorcery projects.

I stayed down at the cottage last night as the husband and I moved stuff back onto the floors that are newly ebonized. So that means I got to take the train in this morning and the commute was not that bad. I got thru most of my emails and BBRG messages and read most of the top news stories then got to start reading Robopocalypse.

I have not commented on the whole Weinergate but I have to say the guy did nothing illegal- stupid yes but illegal no. I was a bit annoyed when the GOP started calling for his resignation- really? For sending lewd pics over his cell phone? Clearly I will never be able to run for public office as I did that in between the 1st marriage and the 2nd marriage and I am sure those pics are still out there somewhere, lol. The hypocrisy shown by the GOP is a bit too much. It's real simple, let the voters in his Congressional district decide.

I love the Taco Truck in Hoboken and they actually do have a food truck. I saw that it was in the city today and only ten blocks from my office. I quickly told the boss we were doing tacos for lunch today, walked the ten blocks down to the new part of the High Line where the truck was located and bought the tacos. I then hoofed it back to the office. Two highlights of my lunch excursion- the hot, shirtless construction worker with great ink who I whistled at as I walked by- love turning the tables on them- and the cute guy working the truck who took my order and I informed him I eat dinner from the restaurant in Hoboken at least twice a week.

So when I was at the VZ store yesterday getting my youngest his phone I was informed I was due for a phone upgrade. I told the guy thanks but I am happy with my Crackberry Storm 2 and when my IT guys decided to support android I'd go the route of an android phone anyway. That got me thinking today at the office so I asked the IT head if we were any closer to supporting android. He said yes in about three weeks- whoo hoo. I then checked with my BBRG rep to see if they have an android app and they do. Awesome. So in three or so weeks I will be upgrading from my Storm 2 to an android phone and I have to say my youngest did his homework and I may be going the route of the LG Vortex. It is comparable to my Storm 2 in functionality and size. Plus then I, the husband and my sons will all have android phones so we can all play words with friends.

I really surprise myself with my own gayness at times. Two things- I carry a Leatherman Micra which is a mini tool kit in my pocket- lol, I said tool and pocket in the same sentence. Second if I have a short run to do- as in thirty minutes or less- I will go right to Katy Perry's "Firework" and hit replay continuously. I am fairly certain I have been seen/caught singing along, out loud to it as well, lol.

I was chatting with a friend I went to college and who is in the same line of work I am in but on the Dark Side. He and I agreed this summer is going to be very painful for the Street and he commented that we'd see many forms go out of business. I was a bit doubtful about that until I found out from the boss that a shop his friend worked at and shut down paid multiple seven figures in commissions to the Street. That supported a lot of people in this business. I then thought back to one of my old saws that the Street doesn't care on the direction of the market for the most part as much as they do on the amount of volume. I need to clarify that as there is a point where the direction of the market matters and that is when it is a slow and steady down because at some point that will destroy volume and turn the public off from investing. I think we are getting close to that point if not there already. I have also said for at least 7 years there is too much capacity in my business. When that happens in any industry the only things that happen are prices go down and a war of attrition starts or people decide to fold up their tents and go home.

I just read that the CIA is now going to start conducting drone strikes in Yemen. WTF? I can guarantee that the MSM will not take President Obama to task they way they would have if the previous Administration had admitted to or consented to such a thing.

Snakes on a (Cartesian) Plane

2011-06-11T23:29:00.000-04:00

So, I just want to reiterate that Greece will ~~restructure~~ ~~reprofile their debt~~ default. The phrase they use to describe it does not matter, the end result is the same. In case it was doubted, I read last night that the French banks said they'd go along with it if everyone else did. You know why? The French banks have huge exposure already and it is like the old axiom that when you borrow $100 from a bank you are in debt to them but make it $100 million and you are in business together.

I did not know this about Dell computers but they only allow their own power cords to charge the batteries in them. I found that out the other weekend when I forgot mine so went and bought a generic Rocketfish power cord only to be told that m laptop could not recognize it and the battery would not charge blah blah blah. That is bullshit.

I am actually in the apartment in the city this weekend with the boys. We got the floors in the bedrooms and den refinished to match the floor we put in. They got sanded stained and polyurethaned to match. So we could not use the cottage. In actuality the floors got "ebonized." I read an article about a loft for sale in the WSJ and that term was used in describing what the sellers had done and it is exactly what we did. I was so naive to call it refinishing...

I took the boys to see X-Men: First Class toady and they thought it was a great flick. They had no idea I had already seen it. We also looked at phones for my youngest as he is finishing 5th grade this week and so he gets a cell phone. He wants the LG Vortex mainly because he can turn it into a mobile hot spot. Initially the thought was I'd buy his phone and he'd go on his mom's plan as an extra line. Now I think I will just add him as a third line to my plan and not have to deal with the hassle that would come with her adding him as she is a bit of a Luddite and I am not sure she even has a data plan.

One week left 'til the race. My mom asked me if I and the husband were ready for it. I told her clearly the husband is as he already did one. As for my state of readiness we'll find out the day of the race. Tomorrow I will be doing a 16 mile bike ride with the husband- oh joy.

The husband called me this morning on my way back from the gym to tell me we had snakes in the basement and apparently one of them got caught int he glue trap we had down there for mice. There is one more slithering around.

He took a picture and emailed it to me. He was down in the basement with the electrician to find out about replacing the original panel. We thought the house was only wired for 100 amps and these days the norm is 200 amps. We thought we might have to run a new line from the street to the cottage until we found out from the utility company that to do so would entail a substantial amount of money and require they install a frackin' manhole on the property. So our electrician said he could create a side panel and we just wouldn't be able to run every appliance in the kitchen, the a/c and the washer and dryer at the same time- like that would happen anyhow. Our electrician was psyched to find out we are actually getting 175 amps in but the wiring from the meter to the panel can only handle 100. So he just needs to replace the wiring from the meter and install a new panel.

This coming week is going to be busy. I am staying down at the cottage tomorrow night so the husband and I can finally put all the stuff back on the dried floors. I am back down there Tuesday night for my youngest son's spring concert and will just stay the night. I am then down there again Thursday night for my youngest son's 5th grade "completion" ceremony and will stay there again.

The Raven

2011-06-06T21:54:00.000-04:00

So I took Friday off to get ready for the big weekend. The husband had other ideas however he made us get up at 6 AM and go do a brick. The sadist made us ride 21 miles and then run 4 1/2 miles. Holy crap it was a pain in the ass. We got done and then he became the slave driver and made us finish cleaning up the front yard. I then rushed tot he train station to pick up Mr. Clifford and his bf PS. By the time we got back I needed a drink so it was time for a quick cocktail before I had to go to the grocery store and get every thing for dinner Friday night. I made steaks on the grill, the husband made this amazing risotto and we had a salad as well. I had also made a birthday cake with home made chocolate butter cream frosting as Saturday was PS' birthday. ST and PJ came at the appointed hour and we had a nice dinner.

Saturday we slept in late and then we went and saw X-Men: First Class. The movie was very good even though it was clearly not of the X-Men canon in any way whatsoever.

We then started getting ready for the dinner party we were having that evening. Mr. Clifford and PS were excellent guests and really helped us out getting everything ready. Our dinner guests arrived a bit late but that was okay with us. We had a nice time drinking wine on the screened in porch and then dinner was served. Our guests left and we cleaned up a bit and then decided it was time to take Mr. Clifford and PS out discoing for PS' birthday. We crossed the border to the Keystone State and hit one of the local gay bars there. We had a lot of fun- maybe too much fun, lol. Sunday morning was very difficult for all of us.

I dropped Mr.Clifford and PS off at the rain station and then it was finally nap time. That did not last long though as we are getting the floors in the bedrooms and den refinished to match the floors we put in. So we had to break down and move everything out of the rooms and take the art off the walls. We then left only the couch and tv in the den and watched "Game of Thrones." I slept at the cottage last night, got up early and caught the train back tot he apartment and off to work so no training this morning.

I cannot believe they are making Teen Wolf into a television series. Really? You've got to be frackin' kidding me! The movie sucked ass and I have to think Michael J. Fox made it solely to fulfill a contractual obligation.

I am looking forward to "Falling Skies" on TNT. That will definitely have to get put on the dvr.

The summer intern is here and he is sitting next to me again. I will end up giving him the usual "There is no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid people" speech.

OCD lite

2011-05-31T22:38:00.000-04:00

Memorial Day weekend- the official start of summer for us adults who have full time jobs and have done shares on the Shore, in the Hamptons or in the Pines- was quite fun this year.

The best part of course was spending the long weekend with the boys, the in-laws and my younger brother's family for Sunday brunch- more on the brunch later...

The 2nd best part was I got to drive my 22 hp, 46" dual blade cut, hydrostatic, 8" turning radius lawn tractor. My brother the doctor (the smart one) asked if I listened to Kenny Chesney. Duh! Frack no! I did listen to music but it was bravehound's Faster Still mix check it out, google bravehound- he is totally dreamy btw). It was all going smoothly until (due to the meadow like conditions of the yard) I missed the black plastic drainage extension and ran it over gouging a huge chunk out of it making it virtually useless.

The 3rd best part was getting to use my grill- both sides, the charcoal and the gas- for dinner two nights in a row.

I picked the boys up Friday after I made dessert- chocolate cake with homemade peppermint butter cream frosting in the middle and dark chocolate frosting with blackberries on top. When we got back to the cottage I fired up the gas side of the grill and threw on some sausages and poussin. the boys and ST- being the juveniles they are- made jokes all night about the sausages and how ST clearly liked his sausage black. I was constantly scolding them as my in-laws were dining with us and the husband just kept chugging his wine and stayed red faced the entire dinner, lol. When ST and PJ left, PJ commented that the boys are not as naive and innocent as he thought.

Saturday morning I explained to the boys I would be cutting the backyard and because it was a meadow I would need them to rake it up and it would need a second cut. I told them I would pay them $20 each for three hours of raking. My youngest piped u that that was not even minimum wage to which I calmly replied it was on a tax adjusted basis as he we netting $20 for three hours of work which worked out to roughly $8.50/hr. I then followed up with I could make the do the raking for free if I wanted to so take the offer.

I then spent the afternoon raking with the boys for a hour after it took me roughly two to complete the first rough cut. I told them they could do the rest of the work Sunday or Monday and promptly handed them each $7. My step father-in-law scoffed that I should have waited 'til they were complete before paying them anything, lol.

Saturday night I fired up the charcoal side of the grill and we had good old fashioned cheddar cheeseburgers and hot dogs. Of course we had ice cream for dessert. We then watched The Rite. Colin O'Dongohue was quite hot in the flick. The movie was pretty good for its genre as well. My youngest decided not to watch it and went to bed early.

We also had all fresh veggies all weekend. The husband asked me what I thought of joining the local produce co-op at the farm across the street. I had been in one before in my first marriage and had fond memories of having fresh, local, organic produce all summer and told him yes, done deal! He was shocked as he thinks I am anti-vegetable. I told him au contraire. I love fresh produce. So we had lots of greens this weekend- bok choy, arugula, kale, broccoli florets, collard greens and broccoli rabe. I really can't wait to see what kind we get for this weekend.

Sunday was very lazy as the heat- what happened to spring btw?- was almost oppressive and we do not have our a/c hooked up (we had to disconnect it back in December when we were putting in all the new kitchen appliances). So once we get the electrical panel upgraded- hopefully by the end of June- we will have the a/c back working.

Monday morning I put the boys back to work early to finish ~~their indentured servitude~~ their three hour commitment for raking. That pretty much finished them up by lunch time, I made them shower and I got them back to their mom's house by 2 PM for her Memorial Day barbecue. I then went back and continued raking for another hour or so until the husband said it was time to take a dip in PJ's pool. That was very refreshing. We were there for about a half hour and then back to the cottage only to discover we had guests. The husband had mentioned friends may be in the area Monday afternoon and stop by. The had just arrived when we got back. I was horrified and looked at the husband hissing "Didn't you confirm this???" He looked appropriately abashed and meek. Our guests then apologized that they had not gotten back to the husband confirming their visit. So, instead of doing a brick for training we sat on the screened in porch and had cheese and crackers and went thru two bottles of champagne, lol. It was quite relaxing and nice until we hear someone knock at the front door and identifying themselves as the police. WTF??? Apparently the oldest dog had somehow snuck out of the house and traipsed about a quarter of a mile down the road to be found by a cyclist. Said cyclist called the number on his license but our cell phone were in the bedroom not with us on the porch. Thankfully the officer- who was smoking hot- explained the situation asked to come identify the dog. Yep, there was our oldest dog, siting in the back seat of the police cruiser with that "Hi, did i do something wrong" look on his furry face.

Brunch Sunday kind of pissed me off. My sister-in-law and the husband set the time for 11 AM. So we of course were all set for our guests to arrive at the stated time only to get a text message- mind you not a phone call- at 11:06 from them saying they were just leaving. Roughly 45 minutes later they showed up. Now I have been there with young kids and know that it is not always the easiest thing to get them ready when you want them to be and get going on time but that means you knew at roughly 10:30 you were not going to be on time and you could have sent a text then. I really was not in the mood to comment on the whole situation to my brother as he can sometimes get overly sensitive about things like that at times. But, when you are not even out of the house at the time you are supposed to be somewhere a phone call is in order not a text message. The husband knew after they left I was pissed and tried to assuage my anger but I just needed to be angry for a while. It was great seeing them though and their boys are really cute and my sons had fun with them.

Brian Stann- holy woofiness! Not only is he a Marine (apparently all Marines are bottoms too according to Mr. Clifford) but he is a war hero who served in Iraq and a smoking hot MMA fighter who had quite an impressive win this weekend.

I have been watching Game Of Thrones on HBO mostly because my secret mancrush at work is a huge fan of the book series and told me I would love it and should watch it. It is pretty good even though it had a somewhat similarly slow star a la Boardwalk Empire.

So last night I read how supposedly Greece is essentially going to give up its full sovereignty and allow outside international ~~forces~~ bureaucrats to take over basic government services. Really? Why did you even bother fighting the Ottomans for independence let alone the Third Reich? I personally think if that happens you will see extremely violent civil unrest in Greece- not just everyday violent civil unrest that goes on now in response to austerity measures but is ignored by the MSM as the MSM is fully co-opted by the internationalist financial oligarchs running everything.

I think at times I have some mild form of OCD. What leads me to this conclusion is the following situation: The third stall in the bathroom at work. The coat hook on the interior of the the door. It is always coming loose for some reason or another. So when I happen to use it and I notice it is loose the first hing I do- even if I am about to crap my pants- is take out my Leatherman Micra and open it to the Philips head screwdriver and tighten the damn thing.

I knew I should have waited for a sale or at least the Rapture

2011-05-18T22:58:00.000-04:00

I slept in this morning as I knew I was not going to the dojo- sweep the leg!- tonight due to my elbow issue. It was nice to get up a bit later.

I am torn about the impending end of the world this Saturday evening at 6 PM on the dot. Apparently it will be caused by a rolling earthquake. I am torn because it will screw up our social plans for Sunday and yet excited as it means come Sunday I will have all the full rights of all other Americans- like legally marrying who I want to- as the ones who oppose it and do everything to stop it will be raptured and sitting in a gleaming cube that is 1,380 miles high, wide and deep.

It also means we will not have to worry about peak oil or greenhouse gases. The concern over the EU falling apart will be moot. If Harold Camping is correct it also means I and everyone else will only have five months left. Am I the only one thinking road trip? I did find- and join- a post rapture looting group though, so I got that going for me. The other negative is I just bought our riding mower- a 46" cut with a 22 hp engine- and our grill. If I had only known I'd have waited until Sunday to go find one and loot it while God wasn't looking...

I hit the gym after work today. There were some serious hot guys there. My bike ride after lifting was only made passable by staring at Princeton. I usually see him there in the mornings but it appears he now goes in the evenings.

Tomorrow I will be having drinks with a kid from my alma mater who has this ridiculous idea of trying to get into my line of work. I believe he is not of age to legally consume alcoholic beverages but he has assured me he can pass for said age. Does that mean I am contributing to the delinquency of a minor?

This Saturday will be quite busy. The husband is doing a tri on without me- I only do one a year and that slot is currently filled. He is not doing it solo though as he is joining my brother in the one he does annually. So I will be his crew for the race. Then I will be using my riding mower for the first time to cut the meadow. I am looking forward to that.

Sunday - assuming there is no Rapture- JW, JD, Rf and RS are coming down to the cottage and we will be going to see The Grounds For Sculpture and then having dinner. I will be using the new grill for dinner that night. I may not need propane though as there is the possibility there will be hellfire everywhere.

So I read the other day that the EU is considering a soft restructuring for Greece. What the hell is a soft restructuring? Is that like almost pregnant? I asked my bond friend what it meant and he said immediately nothing unless you own CDS but 12-18 months down the road it is exactly the same thing. The other term I heard was reprofiling. Isn't that a violation of the Greeks inherent rights? I thought profiling was bad yet the EU wants to reprofile Greece? Hmmm, clearly there is no ACLU in Europe.

A baby fox is a kit

2011-05-16T21:08:00.000-04:00

The weekend was quite relaxing regardless of the crappy weather. The boys both had school events until after 9 PM so the husband and I just had dinner with ST and PJ.

The highlight of Friday was when the husband and I pulled back into the driveway of the cottage and there was a kit, aka a baby fox. He or she was just sitting in the driveway and slowly sauntered off to behind our dogwood tree then went off into the meadow. We did not see the parent but it had to be around.

I said meadow and not yard because we pretty much have a meadow currently, lol. The grass is easily above my knees. I also noticed that we have several different types of grasses in our meadow.

I had called the lawn cutting service several times last week to get them to come and cut the grass. They have yet to show up. So finally the husband has relented to my point of view and agreed that we are getting a riding mower. Whoo hoo! I am going to get a 42" cut at least 17.5 hp which should do the trick. I will also probably have to get a push mower to get around under all the trees.

We are also going to get a grill. I am getting the dual heat source type- the one that has a propane side and a charcoal side.

I made a chocolate layer cake with whipped cream in the middle, dark chocolate frosting and strawberries on top. It was quite the hit to top off the husband's awesome roast chicken, asparagus salad and wild rice pilaf.

I was quite surprised to hear ST say he was looking forward to seeing the boys for dinner and he was bummed they were not joining us.

I picked up the boys early Saturday morning. We then kind of hanged out and watched some tv then we went to see Priest in 3D with ST. We stopped off first to grab lunch at a Mexican place and even though the boys said they were not hungry they both ate, lol.

The movie was ok. It would have been much better if my future ex-husband Cam Gigandet had repeated his bare ass scene from Burlesque but sadly that was not to be. He wasn't even shirtless!

Saturday night the husband made spaghetti and meatballs. The meatballs had pine nuts in them and they were really good. I had never had them that way before.

Sunday the weather really sucked. So we decided to see Thor. That movie made up for Cam not being shirtless when I got to see Chris Hemsworth shirtless in low rise jeans. Holy Mother of God! And you could tell he was not wearing underwear. The movie was actually pretty damn good and I loved the cameo by one Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye. Jeremy Renner will make an excellent Hawkeye.

I dropped the boys off at their mom's house. The husband and I then had sushi for dinner and I caught an early train back to the apartment. Catching an earlier train means I got to watch "Game of Thrones" live and that was worth it as I got to see the actor who portrays Theon Greyjoy in a full, frontal nudity scene- WOOF!

DSK- already the "he was set up" theories are swirling. Ok, I am as cynical and jaded as the next person who occasionally puts on a tin foil hat but I cannot see how this whole thing is set up as there are way too many moving parts and too many people involved. Why did he leave behind his cell phone and other personal items if he was already scheduled to fly out at that time? It definitely throws a wrench into Europe's plans to continue bailing out everyone and kicking the can down the road.

In case you missed it because there is a new media circus going on, Tepco now admits that maybe- just maybe- the fuel has melted in more than one reactor...

I worked construction for two years and I learned how to whistle at hot chicks- it is an all-American, red blooded male thing to do. Sometimes my rough edges poke thru the semi-polished facade I have acquired living in NYC for over twenty years- like this morning. As I was walking though the terminal to my bus this morning I noticed a hot guy in a suit and let loose with a whistle, lol. I have no idea if he heard it or realized it was directed at him but it was a completely all-American red blooded male thing to do to make ones approval of something pleasing to one's eye know.

The Week In Review

2011-05-09T21:07:00.000-04:00

Last week was really busy actually. I did not hit the gym or the dojo- Cobra Kai never die!- because of the spill I took on the bike.

Tuesday after work I had drinks with my cousin who get me into the business. It was great catching up with him on everything. He only gets to town once a year as he would most likely die due to his inability to show self restraint when it comes to certain things such as alcohol and illegal narcotics, lol.

Wednesday after work MP gave her birthday gift tot he husband- tickets to the Kylie concert. She used to be neighbors with Kylie's tour manager when she lived in London. The seats were frackin' awesome! We also were going to possibly meet Kylie but MP's friend had to leave immediately and there was a screw up with us getting the wrist bands to enter.

Wednesday night was quite interesting as I had to get up in the middle of the night to take a leak only to stop right into a pile of a dog shit one of the kids left at the foot of the bed. Do you know how hard it is to walk to the bathroom very carefully with dog shit on your foot after many drinks at a concert?

Thursday night I was off to see The Airborne Toxic Event with a friend from work. They have a new album out and the concert was great. The only thing was that going out to two concerts sequentially at my advanced age is not as easy as it used to be. Thankfully I was not getting up early and dragging my sorry, old ass to the gym.

Friday after work it was right down to the cottage as we had CC and his bf AA visiting for the weekend. I of course made dessert as soon as I got there and then mopped the floor as dark wood floors show all the kids paw prints.

It was great having CC and AA down for the weekend. They were excellent guests and we had a very relaxing time with them. I found out AA is another upstate boy and he went to the same school as my brother and father. He also initially studied to be a horticulturist so he was a huge help with all the plants and trees in the yard and he gave some good advice to the husband.

Saturday we took them to the local college and checked out the art museum on campus. It was fun but I have difficulty faking that much interest in art, lol.

Yesterday we actually did a bike ride. I mapped out a nice 18 mile ride avoiding completely the road I had my spill. It was actually a good ride and I completed it in about a hour. The husband however did not complete it as he ended up with a flat tire around mile 13. So this time I got to ride and get the truck and come back to pick him up.

Ok, in case anyone thinks that Greece restructuring or lengthening their maturities is not the same as default- it is. Restructuring debt or lengthening maturities of debt are nice, polite phrases for default. It will happen.

I agree with President Obama that releasing the photos of Osama Bin Laden would do nothing. People who think it is all a conspiracy will not have their minds changed regardless.

To quote REM- I am, I am Superman...

2011-05-02T21:31:00.000-04:00

The weekend was pretty good. I worked from the cottage Friday as I had a wake to go to (a co-worker's father) on the shore. Rather than do a lot of extra driving I asked the boss if it would be ok to work from home. I then went to the wake in the afternoon.

We had dinner with ST and PJ at the cottage with the boys. Actually the boys only had dessert with us as they had gone out to celebrate their great report cards. My youngest had straight As and my oldest had straight Bs. I had made dessert- this double layer chocolate cake with strawberry filling. Sadly I put too much of the strawberry filling in it so the top layer kept sliding off.

Saturday the husband and I did quite a bit of gardening. The front bed now has no weeds, Russian sage ( the purple variety), bleeding hearts, some thing that has tons of golden flowers, several types of ornamental grasses and some other plants I have no idea about, lol. Oh and tons of fresh mulch too.

The oldest brought his air soft gun which is basically a BB gun light. He went after the geese in the back yard. I regaled him with stories of the BB gun fights I and friends had growing up. I then on a whim asked him what it felt like to get hit with air soft ammo. He kindly and grudgingly obliged and the fucker stings! Holy shit. I don't recall a BB stinging that much, lol.

Saturday night we went and saw Dylan Dog: Dead of Night. I liked it, my youngest liked it, my oldest thought it was ok and the husband thought it was boring. He commented it would make a great series on the SciFi channel. Brandon Routh is hot and Sam Huntington basically had the same role as he plays on "Being Human."

Sunday we decided to do a brick as part of the training for our upcoming race. We mapped out a 15 mile ride and started off well. About one third into the ride I swerved to avoid a very large pothole only to hit another and go into a ditch and then go flying (literally I was airborne) over the handle bars. I got up and barked at the husband "We are finishing this ride!" He snapped back at me "We need to check out your bike first the tires could need be straightened out!" Well the front did and it was flat so our ride was over. the husband rode back to the cottage, got the truck and came back to get me and my bike. As I was waiting every cyclist who rode by stopped to make sure I was ok and one driver stopped. He asked if I was just resting or injured. I told him I had a flat and was waiting for my ride. He then informed the driveway about fifty yards away was a private residential health care facility he was the director at and if I needed anything stop in. It kind of creeped me out and made me think maybe it was a mental institution.

We got back to the cottage, I realized I had a nice chunk missing from my palm and the left side of my back was definitely sore. I took my shirt off only to see I had major abrasions from my shoulder down to my hip- ouch. I showered up, used a lot of hydrogen peroxide and got dressed. I dropped the boys off at their mom's house and came home just to go and do a five mile run. I have issues I know...

Ok so now that Osama Bin Laden is dead does that mean that Greece won't default, unemployment will drop precipitously, housing will enter a new upturn and banks can go back to real accounting (aka mark to market) not the fake ind they have been using (aka mark to make believe)? NO! This does not change anything and when some strategist from a major commercial bank says this marks the end of the war on terror he should be publicly humiliated.

I was disturbed by the crowds of people gathering in various places around the country to celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden. It seemed somewhat un-American to celebrate an enemy's death. It seems like things that happen in third world countries- the whole firing guns of in the air, etc- not in our country. All I could think of was the famous picture of the couple kissing in Times Square at eh end of WWII- you know, Americans celebrating the end of hostilities.

Just saw the Red Bull ad featuring Ryan Doyle and woof- the guy is smoking. Speaking of woof, so looking forward to seeing my future ex-husband Cam Gigandet in Priest.

Loved him in Bruno

2011-04-26T20:03:00.000-04:00

I hit the pool this morning which was a task after the dojo- sweep the leg!- last night. I actually swam a bit over 1300 yards even with the ancient lady sharing the lane with me and doing her back stroke and mistakenly smacking my ass. I dunno- maybe she was doing it on purpose because it did not happen once or twice but three times.

When I catch the real early bus in there is a totally cute blonde guy also going to the gym as he is in shorts and sweatshirt as well and carrybg a garment bag. He is married too but it makes for a nice ride in.

So the IMF now has given a sell by date to the Pax Americana it seems. They have predicted that China will become the largest economy i the world in five years. That makes sense as I recall reading a study that most empires last roughly 250 years and it went all the wayback to the Assyrian Empire.

I see Ron Paul is probably going to run for the Presidency again. He has a lot of beliefes I agree with but the proof is in the pudding, aka how much he kowtows to the fringe on the right. I also liked his cameo in Bruno.

I have been thinking about what exactly it means to be conservative. It definitely does not mean you believe in the Bible (the best fantasy novel I ever read) literally, ala the Christian Taliban we have here. It does not mean you fuck over the poor and middle class every chance you get by giving more and more to the financial elites here, aka the Grover Norquist types. I have to give credit to my bond friend. He has- and I am paraphrasing here- that true conservatives believe that humanity would revert to their basest instincts unless society placed some sort of guidelines- be they legal or moral- on society as a whole. Kind of like the White Lords of Order from the Elric series. It means your are prudent in your decisions and are willing to take a long view of things so that we get it right. I could have completely misunderstood him as we discussed this over cold beers and Philly cheesesteaks awhile ago.

I read a great blog post about how the baby boomers have totally screwed over their country with their complete hypocrisy over most of their lives. I loved it.

Annotated

2011-04-24T14:24:00.000-04:00

Last week was kind of busy- I got to the gym every day but did not make it to the dojo- Cobra Kai never die!

Wednesday was the husband's actually birthday. I made him dinner at home and got him drunk- whoo hoo.

Am I the only one who sees the dichotomy of Syria lifted the 48 years of emergency rule and then firing live ammunition on peaceful- they were doing a sit-in- protesters???

Greek bonds are telling you that you aint getting your drachmas back. Seriously- the two year paper pays 22%.

We had MP and SJ down to the cottage for the weekend. Friday night they had quite a bit of wine and made quite the impression on PJ and ST...lol.

I have been baking all weekend. Friday night I made a crumb top apple pie. It was quite a hit so much so the husband said I clearly did not love him as I had never made it before. Last ngiht I made a crumble top blueberry pie. It came out too soupy- clearly following the directions and using 5 cups of blueberries is too much. Today I made my (in)famous Easter Bunny cake. The husband has been cooking up amazing dinners all weekend as well. It will be topped off roast leg of lamb this evening.

Last night after dinner before dessert we dyed Easter eggs. It was quite fun. MP and I then hid all of them and when her bf SJ got up we told him he could not have any breakfast until he found them all. It took him some time but he ate breakfast.

After dessert MP made me go down into the spooky basement and find the box with all y yearbooks from high school in them. I also came across my high school lacrosse jersey and a bunch of other stuff. It was pretty funny to look back at all of it. SJ who is a Brit found the idea of a yearbook fascinating. He commented on how there was a lot of hair and I told him duh- it was the '80s.

I will be taking the train back tonight and the husband will be staying the night along with our guests.

This week will be interesting as it is a full week and there is a Fed meeting. The Fed can't really say anything worthwhile but the format has changed so it could cause some agita.

Bruce's line

2011-04-18T21:03:00.000-04:00

The weekend was pretty good and not too busy with stuff around the cottage. Friday night we celebrated the husband's birthday with PJ and ST at the cottage. The husband made amazing grey sole. I made chocolate birthday cake. The husband got two sets of binoculars and a guide to bird watching as he is totally into that now that he has bird feeders up in the backyard.

Saturday the husband skipped the gym as he claims I had a heavy hand with the wine bottle the night before so I went off to the gym and did a small brick- swam 1,250 yards and biked 15 kilometres. I then got back and we did some more work around the house and then it was off to see Scream 4. It was an excellent flick. Afterwards it was nap time for me and the husband caught up on some television. Saturday night we dined out with PJ and ST.

Sunday I did some baking as the husband had requested I make oatmeal raisin cookies for him. I then went and picked up the boys to take them out for lunch in celebration of my oldest son's birthday. the pizza place he wanted to go was closed so we ended up grabbing sandwiches. Then it was over to the cottage. We then headed across the street to ST's so the boys could run around like wild men with his pack of pugs.

Time to do some more work and then nap time while the husband did a run. I made dinner and we watched some tv and then I caught a train back to the city. I came to a realization last night while I laid in the bed wide awake around 12:30 AM. I don't think I can drink coffee anymore after 9 PM at my age as it now seems to actually affect me.

I did not hit the gym this morning as I think I fell asleep around 3 AM.

The husband stayed down at the cottage and did some yard work. ST got him a flowering tree- specifically a yosheno cherry tree- for the yard and some plants to put in the bed in front of the house. He took pictures and sent them to me. One looked like lavender to me but the husband told me the plants were ~~saliva and dysentery~~ salvia and dicentra.

We have outside lines at work. They must have been for some other company previously as we get calls for people who are not employees. I picked one up today and the person on the other line asked for Bruce. I explained no one by that name worked here and he may not have the right number. He hung up. I told everyone else if that line rang again immediately to answer it "Bruce's line." My co-worker did and put him on hold. After three minutes on hold I picked up and asked who are you holding for? I then explained to him again there is no Bruce at this company.

So the mouse roars. Somehow S&P reached into its boxers this morning and found a pair and they are brass. They actually had the nerve to put the credit outlook for our nation at negative. Will wonders never cease.

Shrugging

2011-04-14T22:28:00.000-04:00

The kids were psyched Tuesday night as they got to sleep on the bed with me since the husband was down at the cottage. They were not psyched when I got their furry asses out of the bed Wednesday morning much earlier than they are used to and walked them. Then I hit the gym, lifted and biked. I still doubt if the eSpinner is right on miles biked.

Wednesday had me busier than a one armed barber. I think I had my busiest day ever in my entire twenty plus years in the business. I was fried by the end of the day. I did not get home until around 6 pm,walked and fed the kids and was not in the mood to hit the dojo- sweep the leg! I took a nap, the husband got home from his drinks and getting his hair did and we had some dinner then off to bed.

This morning I was up and in the pool. I did notice a cute guy with his suit and tie in the dry cleaning bags at the gym. As I was getting dressed to leave he was getting back to the locker room- of course I checked him out and he was quite nice shirtless, lol.

So this morning there was a discussion about the Barry Bonds case and I opined that if the Congress was really serious about cutting wasteful spending they wold not be pursuing such bullshit cases as steroid use in MLB. They have bigger fish to fry like investigating how the BCS is operated by a cartel. Oh wait that is a complete waste of time and money too. Some people were arguing that Barry Bonds lied under oath to Congress and he should be prosecuted. I told him you are missing the point. I don't care that this case started in '02. The fact that they are still pursuing it when the economy is still totally fracked- in case you missed it jobless claims are moving higher again- and Congress should be focusing on how to create jobs, fix the economy and work towards getting our fiscal house in order. The retort is ok so all those mob guys who lie under oath shouldn't be pursued either. I said no, steroid use in MLB is not related to national security, saving lives or teaching our children. Going after the mob is related to saving lives and quite possibly national security.

Seriously- do they really need to turn "21 Jump Street" into a movie? I read that they had already cast some people for it.

Every libertarian, neo-libertarian and faux libertarian must be psyched for Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 opening tomorrow. I tried reading that book and it was ponderously boring and shitty writing. I gave up on it before I even found who who John Galt is or his (in)famous sixty page monologue. I and the husband however are incredibly psyched for Scream 4.

Ahhh family

2011-04-12T21:56:00.000-04:00

So over my spring break staycation the IT department upgraded the Outlook on all the PCs. I am happy to say we are now only four years behind on the version of Outlook we have.

I did not get up for the pool this morning. I was real sore and banged up after last night. It was nice to sleep in a bit late. There was a cute blond on the bus though so that was a plus.

Work was pretty busy as we are short two people and there is quite a bit of activity going on do to some shuffling of the pieces.

Family is funny. The parents will be having their 50th wedding anniversary next year so us kids are trying to figure out what to get them as a gift. I had a ~~fight~~ ~~heated exchange~~ discussion on IM- which IT sees all, lol- about the gift idea. It ended with an agreement that en email would be sent out with the proposals and a majority would decide which one to go with.

Hit the gym tonight and was so sore from classes last night I just ended my workout with only two miles on the treadmill. The eye candy was nice but I was just not that into drooling, lol.

Constuctive criticism

2011-04-11T23:00:00.000-04:00

So I missed on spring break that Portugal went for the rescue package. Of course all the propaganda spokes models say this is a positive...yeah right. I even read how this will help Spain. WTF? In what bizzaro universe is there logic in that thought process? Spain is next. Greece will finally ~~default~~ restructure after Spain goes for the rescue and the vicious cycle will start again. And everyone told Iceland they would suffer eternal damnation when they stiffed the British and Dutch banks by not saving their local banks. Right- so not going to happen.

The kids are finally going to the groomer tomorrow. Holy shit thank the Unimind. They resemble bear cubs currently. It was fine for most of the winter but I had to brush them both out twice so the groomer would not yell at us and just give them both buzz cuts. They were not happy with me.

I did not go to the gym this morning as I did not sleep well. I had one particularly odd dream where I was at the office, a co-worker threw chocolate milk on me, ruining my shirt. I of course had to go get a new one. I recall saying I had to have a Thomas Pink one. I ended up in some warehouse with a sales person I am friendly with who works at Zenga. He sent me to the dressing rooms- int he basement of course which morphed into caves with doors. I got in a fight with someone who stole my dressing room, went back upstairs only to catch the husband trying on new shoes (he is a shoe whore fyi) because they were on sale. He was upset I caught him. then I woke up. There is some sort of serious issue there I am sure some therapist would love to tell me about

I did hit the dojo- Cobra Kai never die!- tonight. I had a shitty partner. Young kid, probably no more than 16, who is impatient, immature and hence insecure. I was trying to be a good partner, telling him to slow down, do the drills the way joshu instructed us to, etc. He does not know how to take constructive criticism. I should have known as everyone avoided him like the plague when it came time to partner up for drills. It is too bad to as he has great potential and if he can learn at least patience he will be very good.

This just in- the Fukishima incident is not at all like Chernobyl....oh wait it is now rated a 7 nuclear event. Actually the first part of that statement is still correct- Chernobyl was a 6!

So the season finale of "Being Human" was pretty good. What is it with every writer of vampire stuff that says the vampires have to have a queen? Seriously- why can't it be a king or emperor?

Planning on hitting the pool tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed but definitely banged up after first time back in the dojo- sweep the leg!- in about three months.

Back to the salt mines

2011-04-10T23:10:00.000-04:00

Spring break is over. It was actually a good week off. We got the garage cleaned and organized, same with the basement. The yard got somewhat but not totally cleaned up. We entertained a bit too.

Friday I, the boys and ST went and saw Your Highness. It is quite juvenile in its humor but pretty damn funny. I did not realize it was rated R though and there were some scenes I squirmed with as my 11 year old sat next to me, lol. Some one liners as well that made me squirm a bit. Definitely not a movie the husband would like. ST fell asleep during it though he did catch quite a few of the better lines.

Friday night we had ST, PJ and NB over for dinner to celebrate PJ's birthday. The husband made this awesome mustard and tarragon crusted rack of lamb. We actually used the living room as well since we now have a proper couch there and the smaller couch is now in the den.

I made two cakes- a gluten one and a gluten free one. The line of the night was PJ saying he wanted really big piece of cake since he was going to die anyways. He also asked if he could take the left over cake- roughly one third of it- home with him.

NB took some great pictures as I had gotten hats and noise makers for when we had birthday cake. He asked if he could post them to facebook- I said yes, my oldest said no. I also said he was free to tag me in them.

NB was a big hit with the boys. He definitely has a good immature sense of humor which fits well with two young boys.

Saturday was sort of lazy as we had been doing things all week. We all went and saw Hanna. It is an excellent movie and I loved that The Chemical Brothers did the sound track.

Last night we celebrated my oldest son's birthday. It is actually this coming Saturday but he will be with his mom and he likes the birthday cakes I make. I told him he got to pick what was for dinner so he picked sushi. We then had cake and he got to open his presents and cards. I actually got him two cards- one of those sappy ones parents always get their children and then a humorous one. He actually hugged me after reading the sappy one- I was a bit stunned. he then opened his gifts- I had gotten him Skull Candy headphones and a hoodie that you can put the head phones in the hood and snake the cord down through it to the pocket. He told me it was a totally awesome gift- woo hoo!

After dinner we watched Tron: Legacy. I liked it- it was an excellent Saturday night movie to watch. My favorite part was seeing our arc lamp in it.

Today was a nice quiet Sunday. I cleaned the boys room and we had some breakfast then did some more cleaning. Then it was time to get them back to their mom;s house. I got home, took a nap and did more cleaning. The husband made us some dinner and then we watched "Bob's Burgers." That show is pretty damn funny. It is going to get added to the dvr for future recordings.

Back to the office tomorrow and back to training, the gym and the dojo- sweep the leg! I have a little over two months to get ready for the triathlon. The boss is out this week on his spring break with his family, I was not told about any situations that would need attention so I am hoping it will be a some what quiet week.

Spring break

2011-04-06T12:42:00.000-04:00

Spring break with the boys is half way done and it has been kind of relaxing and fun.

Friday night the husband and I cam down to the cottage and got cleaning done as we were having dinner guests Saturday night. It was a good thing as we had quite a bit of cleaning to do.

I picked the boys up around lunch time Saturday. They were psyched for the week off from school and hanging out at the cottage. The rest of Saturday was spent finishing the cleaning and getting dinner ready. I made my semi-famous triple berry pie with crumb topping. This time though I used this all purpose gluten free flour for the crust and topping so I was a bit concerned as to how it would turn out. It looked fine when it came out of the oven but we would not know for sure until we ate if for dessert.

I actually got to put to use my mad sewing skills from 9th grade home economics class. The new sofa in the living room (which the husband found on sale at the outlet for 70% off) had a loose button because the button onthe opposite side was gone. I took the boys with me to the fabric store, found upholstery thread and needles and a similar button. I then sewed the new button on the back and attached it to the other button thus producing the tufting in the cushion and the husband was impressed.

I had recommended to our dinner guests that they take the train down and I would pick them up and then to take a car service home- that way they could both imbibe freely and not worry about the driving. Their train was about twenty minutes late but that was not an issue as I had to get gas and liquor.

We got back tot he cottage as the sun was setting so they got a great view of the backyard and woods. The husband then took them over to PJ and ST's gallery to see the art as they had expressed an interest and since they both work they thought maybe they could afford to start collecting- that was all the husband had to hear. They were duly impressed with the gallery.

When they got back the wine was opened and started flowing. I gave the guests a tour of the art the husband has hanging in the cottage while he did some more cooking for dinner. I then got the husband's iPad out and gave them a little photo tour of what it all looked like when we bought the place and the work we did. They were impressed with our skills in renovating the place and loved how it turned out. One of the funnier lines of the evening was when the wife commented on how she loved the decorating we had done and the husband looked at her and said we haven't done any yet, that is next.

The husband made his awesome crackling pork loin, I made the dirty garlic mashed potatoes and we had a zesty asparagus side. The meal was great, the boys were their usual well behaved (in front of guests that is) selves. The funny part was when my oldest asked why someone was driving down the driveway. It took us a few minutes to figure out it was our guests car service. My oldest found it both odd that the driver had to wait out in the car.

Sunday was yard work day. We spent most of the day cleaning up the front yard and still did not get it all done but we have 12 tall paper bags of leaves sitting in the garage waiting to get taken away Friday morning by the waste hauling company. If thy don't take them I am burning them all in the back yard in the old oil can the widow used for such things- totally breaking the law ha!

Sunday night I made pizza for everyone and the gluten free crust turned out pretty good but I have to say I will not be giving up gluten pizza any time soon. Then we went and saw Insidious. It is a great old school horror flick. I say next to my youngest so he could grab my hand and cover his eyes whenever he felt the need. I basically had my arm around him the entire movie and he actually fell asleep at one point. It is definitely worth going to see.

Monday the husband headed back into the city to meet with a head hunter and go to one of his book clubs. So the boys and I hung out and I did some more cleaning. We then hit BK for dinner and I took them to see Sucker Punch- yes I had seen it with the husband but they wanted to see it. The oldest thought is sucked, the youngest enjoyed it.

Yesterday was garage day...ugh. We had basically been using the garage not for cars but as one huge dumpster, lol. So we broke down all the cardboard boxes we had, cut them up and tied them up into large stacks. All the small crap was put into contractor sized and thickness garbage bags. i then loaded them all up into the truck and took them over to ST and PJ's dumpster and threw them in. Then it was time to tackle all the large scrap wood from the demo we had done. We removed all the nails and piled them up to one side along with more contractor bags of crap. We then rearranged the work table, rearranged the peg board and made room on one side that the truck can be parked there if it gets backed in with both side view mirrors folded in. Once ST and PJ's dumpster is emptied we will be putting the rest of the junk in it. It was a tiring day. The husband went out to dinner with ST and PJ and the boys and I had pasta and home made garlic bread- and I had several glasses of red wine as well.

Today is actually sunny and warm out so we will be hitting the local tennis courts to play doubles for a bit. Tomorrow we hit the basement- that should not be too hard as it will just be organizing everything after we put together the heavy duty shelving we bought.

Thursday the husband is back into the city for his other book club and he will be staying over for that one since they definitely drink at that one, lol.

Friday we will be going to see Your Highness with ST int he afternoon and then having ST and PJ over for dinner to celebrate PJ's birthday.

Saturday we have Hanna on the docket to see and then we will celebrate my oldest son's birthday a week early as he will be with his mom that weekend.

Biases

2011-03-31T23:10:00.000-04:00

I slept in kind of late this morning so I did not hit the gym before work. The bus was ok, no one of note but it is getting better as spring is int he air and the hotties are returning. I am starting back on the training treadmill next week as I have my annual triathlon coming up in June.

There was a one liner out early today saying that the EU will be banning any U.S. produced credit rating. I wonder why they would do that unless it is because they don't like the fact that the ratings agencies have- better lat than never- found religion and starting getting honest/tough on the sovereign debt ratings. Of course the EU came out- not immediately- and denied the story. It is kind of funny and immature- you are downgrading us so your ratings are now illegal here- so there.

I believe I have written before I don't think Warren Buffett is all that he is supposed to be in terms of great investors. The whole situation with his former lieutenant I think proves it. The guy should have been fired and instead Buffett takes the stance that he has responded to the situation and any further questions will not be answered. So much for the folksy, down home charm huh?

So this morning JW and Ragnar and I were discussing via email an article. I had made a comment that quite possibly irked JW regarding biases and he commented we all have them. Yes we do and part of my excellent liberal arts college edumacation was to recognize that and try to recognize your own. They show up in all sorts of ways and a good number of them subconsciously. How you ask questions,what questions you ask, how you interpret data, how you read articles, etc. So, in the vein of fairness and full disclosure I will attempt to point out my biases: I clearly lean towards the right on economic issues. I believe I lean left on most social issues. I believe I am right of center with an issue like social justice. I have a bias against people who cannot accept that a situation they are in may be of their own making and is not always someone elses fault. I have a bias against people who are unwilling to make the right choice because it is too hard or the possible consequences are daunting- I have been there and done it. If I can do it I am fairly certain anyone else can. I am sure there are many more and as I come to realize them or have them pointed out to me by friends and/or family I'll try to note them and try to see how they are affecting my views and if they can be changed. The ones I stated are the ones I think that shape my views and outlook the most but the whole point of many of my professors in college is many of your own biases, you can't see them and you don't recognize them.

Tomorrow night we are having drinks with our friend PS and SP. then we were going to go see Insidious and go down to the cottage Saturday morning. Well the best laid plans...(really don't know the rest of that quote and guess most other people don't as everyone seems to end it there). Speaking with husbands step-sons tonight I find out his oldest had called him earlier to discuss seeing it and his youngest had volunteered to go along as long as he gets to sit next to me so he can grab my hand and cover his eyes whenever he feels the need. As it stands now we will be going down to the cottage tomorrow night after drinks, get to cleaning the cottage Saturday and then the four of us will go see the movie Sunday.

The other movies on the docket for spring break are: Sucker Punch, Hanna and Your Highness.

The Kinks song kept going thru my mind

2011-03-30T22:16:00.000-04:00

So the official stats of my race are an 8:21 pace, 1:49:21 official time, 1:42 age graded time, 2990th out of 10,184 runners. I have no idea what an age graded time is but I think it is something similar to normalized earnings. I was surprised that I had finished in the top 29% of all runners. Oddly in my age group I did much worse, it seems that the 40-44 yr old group is one of the toughest.

Next week is spring break with the boys. We are going to four different places- the front yard, the back yard, the garage and the basement. It is a staycation this year as I just don't have the money currently to go away somewhere fabulous. Instead the boys, the husband and I will be cleaning up all the fallen branches in the front and back yards, raking all the leaves up, cleaning and organizing the garage and cleaning and organizing the basement. I told them that this means we will be going away somewhere fabulous for Christmas break though.

Last night I was back at the middle school yet again, this time for orientation fr incoming 6th grade parents. Yes I and the ex have done this before but we went again as what kind of signal does it send to your child that you will go for their sibling but not them. Don't get me wrong- we cut out early, lol.

Speaking of the ex- we decided to do the same thing we did for high school orientation. I picked her up and we drove one car to the school. She got in the car and handed me a blueberry muffin. Here, eat it, I made, it's still warm. I immediately was suspicious, one might even say paranoid. She never baked or cooked when we were married. She still most likely has unresolved anger issues. She has that fiery Mediterranean blood in her. My response was thanks, I am not hungry right now, I'll eat it later. I got to the local restaurant to meet the husband, PJ and ST for dinner afterwards. The husband got in the truck with me and saw the muffin and said oooh, a muffin reaching for it. I screamed stop! I told him don't touch it, it is from the ex. I then threw it out of the moving truck into the canal.

I stayed at the cottage last night and took the train up this morning. It was not a bad commute and there was some passable eye candy.

I am really offended at the JPM commercials touting how they are there for everyone to help this recovery get moving. Please- they are only concerned about how much money they can make, they have no serious interest in helping people. It should offend everyone who hears it.

TEPCO keeps telling everyone the Fukishima is not Chernobyl, it is completely different. So when they talk about encasing the reactors in a concrete dome- just like Chernobyl- they mean it is a different type of concrete and a different type of dome duh.

The oddest thing though was Edano suggesting they could just put cloth over the reactor. When that statement came out, one of the people we do business with in Japan made the comment: "Ok, now it's getting embarrassing(er)."

Portugal two year notes are yielding over 8%! What the frack? The bond market is telling you Portugal is a goner, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Once they go, it will be adios Spain. Since we are on the topic of the eurozone, let's talk Ireland. It seems the current Irish government is going to impose losses on the senior bond holders of bank debt. I asked my bond friend on a scale of somewhat bad, bad or really bad where that would fall for the sovereign debt market specifically and the debt market generally. His response was somewhere between bad and really bad. Sadly it is what has to happen to get things started moving in the right direction. If I recall correctly it would also be a repudiation of the bailout the former Irish government accepted from the EU.

Friday night the husband and I are going to see Insidious. It looks pretty good.

Race day

2011-03-20T16:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was actually a nice, lazy day as I had to rest up for the race today. The husband and I went and saw Battle: Los Angles. It actually was not a bad flick at all but was similar to Skyline. IT was a bit jingoistic and rah rah on the military but a good Saturday matinee over all.

We walked back home and stopped at the local record shop- yes there is still one of those in Hoboken!- and picked up so new music. Lykke Li, Peter bjorn and John and the new Strokes album. The husband also got his latest Oasis fix- seller of them, they really just don't do it to me. Then it was nap time for me.

Dinner was pasta yet again. I never thought I'd say it but I think I am done with pasta for a while. A whole week of it and as much as I love Italian food and I can't handle it anymore.

We were up at 5:30 this morning and I ate my oatmeal while the husband walked the kids. Then it was right over to Dunkin' Donut, iced coffee and hopping on to the PATH. There were actually a lot of other runners waiting for the train as well. The husband was agape and asking WTF- how did he not get into the race? Off the PATh and on to the subway. We got off at 86th street and walked up to 99th were I was to start. The husband gave me some goo to eat and I handed him my jacket and sweats then I hit the atarting area and took a leak. The race took us around Central PArk and It was actually a really nice run. I have to admit the latest bravehound mix- "Motor"- really helped set my mood right for the race. It starts off really well with Sting's daughter singing and he mixed it well. By the time I was out of Central PArk and running down 7th Avenue his track was over and I switched over to the list I had created for the race and hit shuffle. Of course the first song was "Firework" byKaty Perry; don't ask me how but that happened but it did an dit kept my mood going great. At mile 10 I grabbed more goo and that helped. What also helped is that at every fluids station I drank some Gatorade. I really did not hit the wall at all. I was trying to ignore the clocks as I did not want to really know how well I was or was not doing. By the time I was 800 meters out I was wondering how the hell am I gonna find the husband as the crowds were getting huge. I crossed the finish line at 1:54 minutes which got me totally psyched as it was 4 minutes off my official last time and I knew that I did not cross the starting line until about 4 minutes after the official start so I was thinking I made it under 1 hour and 50 minutes.

We got home and I logged on to the race sight to see my official time- 1:49:21! Woo hoo! I shaved almost ten minutes off my first race.

The rest of today will be vegetation. I did notice however that we and our allies have started the air war in Libya yesterday. That should make for an interesting market tomorrow.

Is it too early for Godzilla jokes?

2011-03-17T19:51:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was a blast. The husband was very worried and stressing about having nine people in the cottage but it was actually a great family time. Granted, Friday night we had a kink as my oldest called me in the late afternoon to inform me he had a mild case of strep throat. I immediately spoke with my brother the doctor (the smart one) and he told me they'd stay in a hotel Friday night because once my oldest was on antibiotics for 24 hours he'd be fine.

They arrived around 1 PM Saturday afternoon. We took them all the children and the kids out for a walk in the woods, going all the way back to the canal. It was fun and the deer carcass from several weeks ago was still there for everyone to take a gander at. then we all went up to my other brother's townhouse north of us for a big family dinner. My parents were there, my brother's in-laws and all of us. It was fun. Saturday night all the children went to bed rather early and the adults sat up having some wine and beers.

Sunday we actually stayed down at the cottage and went out to dinner with PJ and ST. The only thing that sucked about that was I had to get up pretty early to get back to the apartment and have time to shower and get dressed for work.

The only thing that sucked was the air mattress we slept on. The husband insisted on giving our room to my brother and his wife. We have two air mattresses. The husband told me one was a double and the other a queen. I told him to give the double to the nephews - they had sleeping bags and slept with their cousins in the room. The husband said fine, as he had fixed the leak in the queen air mattress. Two things- the second air mattress was not a queen, it was a mere double. Second, there is apparently more than one leak in it. We found this out early on in the night and had to keep reflating the damn thing. By the time I looked at the clock on the tv and saw it was 3:46 and I was still sleeping poorly, I rolled over and told the husband there was no way in hell I was doing an eight mile run Sunday.

The title may seem crass and in poor taste- actually it is- but it gets to the point of the seriousness of the whole Japan situation. My line of work is filled with cynical, jaded, crass people where nothing is really sacred. I mean I was getting pictures of Gary Coleman's coffin ( a large Coleman cooler) within a few hours of his death. The fact that there are no jokes of any sort going around on Wall Street tells you how serious this is.

I am of the mind set that there really is no difference between a partial meltdown and full on meltdown; it seems to me like pregnancy or virginity- there is no partial, you one or the other, plain and simple.

I have been enthralled with the whole process of the Japanese trying to cool down the reactors. The helicopters all seem to be missing but that was before the radiation levels got too high for them to fly near the reactors. The water canons don't seem to be doing it either. I really think the Japanese need to get some Egyptian or Saudi security forces in there to show them how to use a water canon...those guys are experts with them as we have seen recently.

In case you were wondering, Japan is really just the distraction. Every ones eyes should be on Bahrain. We are seeing the start of a Persian-Arabic war there. Hell, Saudi officials have admitted Bahrain will be a proxy war between them and Iran.

So, we now have Saudi security forces on the ground in Bahrain. We now have Iran saying they really have no choice but to intervene- ostensibly for humanitarian purposes and to support the protesters who want democracy. We have our 5th Fleet based in Bahrain. Hmmm, starting to look tricky. Well if we decide to support the democracy protesters there- like we are in Libya- we piss off the Saudis. If we support the Libyan rebels who want democracy but not the ones in Bahrain then we have not changed as hoped and are still supporting autocrats solely for oil. What to do? I also see a no fly zone has just been declared over Libya- that we can say was all France and the U.K.'s doing- which it is. Still- how can and do we reconcile supporting proponents of democracy everywhere but Bahrain? I don't have the answers but we really need to figure this out.

My secret boyfriend at work got a hair cut- he looks dreamy with his hair high and tight.

My race is this Sunday. Really not looking forward to it, I just know I will hit the wall at mile 8 again- ugh. The one good thing is I have gotten to eat pasta and pizza almost all week. I also made a new list for my iPod for the run. I have a bit over two hours of music. I actually bought Katy Perry's "Firework" for the list. I will admit that it is a completely bubblegum cheese song but it is upbeat for a run.

Family weekend

2011-03-12T10:50:00.000-05:00

The rain Thursday night seemed more like a hurricane. I seriously thought the windows in the apartment were going to blow out like a scene from some action movie. The husband was down at the cottage though and we were concerned there might be flooding in the basement but we did not have any thankfully.

The weekend will be quite busy as my younger brother, his wife and three kids are coming to visit. They were supposed to get here last night but we ran into a snag. My oldest called me late yesterday afternoon to inform me he had a mild case of strep throat. I sent my bro a text telling him and as he is a doctor he said even though he is most likely not contagious at this point we'd wait until my oldest had been on antibiotics for 24 hours before exposing his kids. The husband was not too happy either and was concerned he'd get sick so he spent the night across the street at PJ's house. Anyhow, they will be here this afternoon. The husband is a bit stressed having 9 people and three dogs here, lol. We have three dogs because we are dog sitting for my mother in law who is in France visiting her in laws.

Tonight we will all be going up to my other younger brother's house for dinner. they live in a nice townhouse about thirty minutes north of the cottage. It will be packed I imagine as there is a lot of family in for their sons' third birthday.

We hung bird feeders up in the backyard last week. We are getting a lot of finches, sparrows, blue jays and cardinals. It's pretty cool and we have not yet had a big issue with squirrels but give it time...

I read an article yesterday about an astrologer who says the super moon on March 19th is going to cause all kinds of problems. Apparently the moon will be at one of the closest points to the earth in centuries. Said astrologer is predicting all kinds of natural disasters along with zodiacical ones. I thought it was funny and it reminded me of a strategist in my line of work who based all his investments on astrology- Arch Crawford I think it was. I forwarded it to the boss and others on the desk as a joke. I then read how Dennis Gartman- a rather well known strategist- was claiming the same thing. Really? Although one has to wonder especially after the disaster in Japan.

Speaking of Japan, the whole nuclear situation there is not good. I am having China Syndrome flashbacks and I am sure the Japanese government is underplaying the situation as well. The one thing that kind of made me think how fracked up my line of work is was reading all the emails before I got in about what companies will benefit most and which will get hurt the most. JW pointed out that should be expected for my work but he noted that even the MSM was focusing only on the economic issues and not the human issues of the disaster.

Duncan Jones. Quite the woofy, sci-fi movie making geek. He also happens to be the son of David Bowie. Mr. Barrett pointed out that he had typical British teeth though and that was a turn off.

I always joke about the zombie apocalypse yet it seems it is conceivable. I read how down in Brazil scientist have discovered zombie ants. It seems there is a fungus there, that when the ants are exposed to it the fungus takes over their bodies, makes them find a new place to plant the fungus spores and then the ant dies. I wonder what would happen if humans were exposed to the fungus and what is preventing the fungus from being content with just ants? I mean the movie Arachnophobia was also predicated on creatures from the Amazon creating havoc up here.

WTF is Pseudio? Wait it's sussudio? That is frackin' dumb as shit....

2011-03-10T22:10:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was quite fun. Friday night we had ST and PJ over to the cottage for dinner with the boys. ST is definitely a bad influence on the boys, lol. He immediately went right to their level of maturity and dinner was actually quite fun. I was impressed with the boys being very polite and minding their Ps and Qs the entire night. Even better the husband also thanked them at lunch Saturday for being great dinner company and behaving.

Saturday morning my younger brother, his wife and sons came over for brunch. It was a lot of fun and I forgot how fun three year olds are and how much more fun they are when they are not your three year olds, lol. The afternoon was spent in the kitchen making chocolate chip cookies for PJ as I did it once before and the man has come close to haranguing me for more since. I dropped them off and told ST they were PJ's and if he wanted any he had to ask.

Sunday's run sucked plain and simple. Granted it was only nine miles (did I just write " it was only nine miles- WTF?) but it was in the rain. The weather forecast was for on and off rain but it really did not matter as our timing was off- yes the husband ran with me. He did not finish the entire nine miles though. At least when I got back to the cottage he greeted me at the door with towels to dry off before I jumped in a hot shower. I then got back into the kitchen and made ST my famous triple berry crumb top pie. I then dropped the boys off at their mom's house and then dropped off the still warm pie at ST's place.

Work has been interesting to say the least as all the usual office politics and power plays that I have no really been involved in for at least ten years are back with full force. It is exactly why I will never go after my boss's job as it is everything I detest about my line of work.

The markets may seem to finally be getting a does of reality recently. Greece is still most likely going to default as will Ireland. Portugal and Spain are next.

The situation in North Africa and the Middle East is no better. I have to admit the whole non-response response the Administration has had to the Libyan situation is deviously brilliant even if unintentional. If we decide to agree to a no-fly zone over Libya what will we then morally have to do when the Saudis crush their protests? Speaking of Saudi Arabia, supposedly today the Saudi security force either fired rubber bullets, used stun grenades or fired live ammunition on Shiite protesters in the eastern provinces.

Charlie Sheen- Mr. Barrett said it best: Is he on coke or meth? He can afford coke and it is most likely easy to score in L.A. but all his rantings point to meth.

I have intentionally been calling everyone on the phones at work chief, pal, sport, sporto, buddy, kid or some other name like that as it is incredibly old school and usually it is from some moron in the business who most likely doesn't know your given name. It stops people pretty much in their tracks, lol.

Phil Collins is retiring? Wow. I thought he did years ago. I must admit though that all through junior high school and high school and even into probably my freshman year of college I actually enjoyed Genesis and Phil Collins and even Mike and The Mechanics. I am certain my sound track through high school consisted of Genesis, U2 and Van Halen.

The bus has been rather disappointing lately for eye candy. The gym however has sort of made up for it. Oh and my secret boyfriend at work- as in it is my secret and he doesn't know- has made things nice too.

It was just like that Fringe episode where the bus got encased in aber...sorta

2011-02-24T21:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning I took the bus that goes thru the back part of town and I have to say I may need to reconsider taking that one more often as the talent on that line is much better in the morning. For training I had a short run to do- just four miles, which the husband joined me in running.

This morning the bus ride was slightly more annoying. I caught the 7 AM bus which usually gets me in to the office within twenty four minutes. Sadly today there was an accident involving three buses and a motorcycle. So we waited for a bit. Then we were moved to buses in the other lane- that would be the left lane. I ended up on a bus direct from Staten Island. Thankfully there were seats. We then waited for four frackin' hours! I did not get into the office until 11:45 AM. The first thing I did was hit the head as there was no bathroom on the bus. After that the day went by rather quickly.

I couldn't but help laugh when I heard Gaddafi said he's fight until the last drop of blood. So dead to the last drop- much like Maxwell Coffee. The rumors of him fleeing- first it was Venezuela and then Zimbabwe- are laughable. Venezuela is pretty ripe for a similar fate as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. the three Ds are all present there. When he went on tv to give a speech all I could think of was the SNL skit with him addressing the U.N. which we promptly found on hulu.

China is still tightening in case you forgot. They have issued new restrictions on banks lending to local governments. While we are still in Asia it seems South Korea has a slight banking issue. Ostensibly eight banks have been shut down and taken over by the government because of management issues but really it is because all eight suffered huge runs on them. Yes they are small banks but the trend is disturbing.

The bus ride home tonight was the requisite 24 minutes which surprised given recent history. I did a six mile run when I got home. Tomorrow I have a four mile run to do and Sunday is the one I am dreading- 12 miles.

Where to start

2011-02-22T22:10:00.000-05:00

Where to begin? So last Friday the bus ride in was kind of interesting as there was a smokin' hot Italian looking guy on the bus- spring must be in the air if the hotties are starting to show up on the bus again.

Last Thursday night I had drinks with a girlfriend. She is on the rebound after having moved back here from the west coast- she followed a boy there and I was the only one to tell her it was a mistake. So we just caught up and had a nice time drinking. She invited a girlfriend of hers to join us. The girlfriend lives i Hoboken as well and she is a record executive. It was a lot of fun until I decided to whip out my iPod to show her how cool I was because I have eclectic tastes in music, lol. The girlfriend did however tell me any time the husband and I want to join her and her husband for Sunday night meatballs and gravy we are welcome.

the husband is starting to make me a bit nervous. He went and bought himself Crocs...the lined kind. They are black and I need to find Mr. Barrett's list of what the color of your Crocs say about your sexual preferences. If he starts wearing lots of flannel and decides we need a Subaru of any type I will be very scared.

The three day weekend was a mixed bag. It was going to be somewhat busy- we had the boys for the weekend, Sunday we were going to have my younger brother,his wife and sons over for brunch and then have PJ and ST over for dinner.

Saturday we installed the floating shelves in the kitchen for the glasses and plates- we have no uppers because it is a small kitchen and we didn't have the money for more cabinets so floating shelves were a more frugal option. It took us a while. After that I made dinner- my faux coq au vin which my oldest loves. We then went to the movies to catch I Am Number Four.

Well the best laid plans often go astray as the husband caught some kind of stomach bug Friday and by Saturday night he was out of it. We went to see I Am Number ~~Bore~~ Four. During the movie he leaned over and asked if he felt hot. I told him no. Well he was up at least four times in the middle of the night running to the bathroom. He stayed in bed all day Sunday. I decided to take the boys and get out of the house to let him rest in peace. We went and saw The Eagle. IT was slightly better than Saturday night's movie choice. The truly only redeeming quality of both choices was the hot leads in them.

Monday was a kind of lazy day- sort of. I got up and went to the gym to do my long run- 11 miles. I was not going to do it outside because of the snow and I forgot to bring my running gloves- don't laugh there are gloves specifically for running in cold weather. Holy shit running 11 miles on a treadmill totally sucks ass. The treadmill had a sixty minute time limit on it so I had to do that then start all over again- I did the run in just under one hour and forty minutes.

I got home and the husband and I did some more finishing work in the kitchen. We attached the back panel to the kitchen peninsula and then installed the last of the baseboards in the kitchen. At this point I am a master of mitre cuts with the compound mitre saw.

Pizza for lunch which was ok- we still haven't found a great local pizza place but the place we got it from does have strombolis- not that easy to find. Then the boys and I played some House of The Dead 2 on the Wii. It was quite fun but we still suck trying to get past The Magician. After that it was time to drop the boys off at their mom's house. Then when I got back the husband and I rearranged the den and cleaned up, stripping the beds and getting together all the dirty laundry.

So- Wisconsin. It is not that easy of an issue. I have issues with public employees being allowed to unionize. That being said though they have had the right for decades now and you can't just take it away from them. We need to go through the legal process if we want to change that. I also have issues with the fact that approximately two thirds of the corporation in Wisconsin pay no- as in zero- taxes. Hello? WTF is that all about? How about the corporations pay their fair share before you go and attack the people who are the backbone of this country? Funny how the governor passes a huge tax cu and then tells the teachers, cops, firemen, etc that they now have to take a hit. Yes, the public employees should pay for part of their health care and they should have a 401(k) like everyone else but to tell them you are prepared to call out the National Guard before they have even done anything is pure and simple pre-emptive intimidation- and wrong.

Which brings me to what I like to call the 3 Ds- disenfranchised, disaffected and disillusioned. When you have a large portion of a population in the 3 Ds you are going to have problems. It's happened in Tunisia and Egypt, is occurring in Libya and many other places. If you think it can't happen here you are clearly distracted by the bread and circuses being provided by our elites. Oh and yes there are elite sin this country- we are after all now an oligarchical plutocracy.

Speaking of Libya. It is entirely possible Libya is the spark for round two of European problems. How is that possible? Well mainly because every MSM outlet- whether right or left- is proclaiming it is not a big deal, Libya is only 2% of oil production, blah blah blah. Yeah well Libya also provides huge amounts of oil to Italy- one of the Is in the PIIGs. So if it is buh-bye for Libya then Italy could face another hit to their teetering economy due to energy constraints. The problem is that the U.S. will most likely do nothing as the bigger issue is what happens in Saudi Arabia. We most likely have no current contigency plan for the Kingdom of Saud.

I want to see Red Riding Hood. It looks like a pretty good twist on the conventional werewolf flick and reminds me of the comic book Crimson from the late '90s.

I was surprise dlast night by a text from my oldest. He told me his best friend knows about me. I replied knows what- I am really cool? Really smart? He did not reply so I got serious and asked him you told him I am gay and about Alex? He said yes. I asked how and why? He said his other best friend- the one who he already told because they were talking about his gay cousin- told him he should. I was very surprised as I am pretty sure it is not easy for him to talk about with his friends and I asked how it went- was the reaction negative, positive or a non issue. the reply was positive it seems. I sent him an email this ornig tellig him how proud I am of hima nd that he is lucky to have friends likethat but that not everyone he knows will have a positive reaction and that he will need to be the judge of who he wants to tell or not tell.

27.38- isn't that romantic

2011-02-15T22:03:00.000-05:00

The best part of this past weekend is that the dishwasher is finally hooked up and working- woo hoo! We also got the cook top hooked up and we are no officially flamers! The cook top actually runs on propane. It took us quite some time for the propane dealer to get set up to come out to the house. Apparently the guy who hooked up the tank was hot too and young. I told the husband to snap a pic and tell the guy we are documenting all parts of the remodeling of the house- he did not comply with my request.

Is it just me or when you see someone on facebook in the find friends section and they have three names does anyone else think potential serial killer?

I did not do my run Sunday as the husband and I instead decided to clean like banshees. That meant I had to do my run yesterday. I got home, the husband was ready to go and we did a ten mile run for Valentine's Day. After we finished the husband made dinner- spaghetti carbonara- which happens to be my favorite type of sauce for pasta and is not that easy to find anymore in restaurants as it has raw egg in it.

Over the weekend we had watched Transformers 2: Rise of The Fallen. No big deal right? Wrong because yesterday Hasbro was holding some kind of event in the building I work in and they had a life size Optimus Prime- in his truck mode- parked outside the building. I of course went out there and had my picture taken in front of him and emailed it to the boys and the husband.

No run this morning as I was in a bit too much pain from the ten mile run. I slept in a bit later than usual as well and it felt great. The bus ride was a complete non-event but more so because I had a lot of emails to read; normally I read them much earlier and get to play hearts on my iPod on the ride in which allows me to furtively scope out the guys on the bus.

I had drinks after work with a former co-worker who is in the same boat as the husband- currently a man of leisure and looking for gainful employment. It was good to see him and catch up and I think I was able to give him some help on direction and leads etc.

I then headed off to the gym to do my four mile run. Holy shit it was not fun. I was too sore to even check out the hot guys in the place.

Josh Pence- read about him in an article on YHOO today and I don't know how I've missed him before. Bing images of him if you don't know what I am talking about...

If you are a Fringe fan the whole Fauxlivia twist was awesome. I think Frank needs to be hugged and I am the one to do it. Frank is portrayed by Philip Winchester- another one to Bing images of...

The title tonight comes from my notes from yesterday. Apparently I also used my notes to write down trade reports and 27.38 was a price I bought a stock at- no clue if it closed higher or lower but that is beside the point.

How the hell did this happen so fast?

2011-02-12T18:39:00.000-05:00

So the last time I watched the Steelers play in the Super Bowl was five years ago- Super Bowl XL. They beat the Seahawks 21-10. More importantly at that Super Bowl party I met the husband. So we were psyched that five years later the Steelers were in again. Sadly they lost this time but I am still a big time winner.

Speaking of Super Bowl XLV- two things stood out- #87 Jordy Nelson on the Packers and #83 Heath Miller on the Steelers. Woof! I think I'd take Jordy over Heath honestly.

Super Bowl Sunday started off with a ten mile run. The weather was nice- high thirties and sunny. The only thing that sucked was I misread my training schedule and actually only had to do an eight mile run. So I will be repeating the ten mile run tomorrow.

Monday I had drinks after work with an Australian business associate who is actually from New Zealand but works for an Australian company. He was quite cute, lol.

Wednesday was the dojo- sweep the leg! Nothing to note and I was not too sore Thursday morning and I was able to get up and do my five mile run..

Thursday night I actually had to go to high school orientation for parents of incoming freshmen. Holy shit how did this happen? My oldest is going to be a frackin' freshman i high school! The weirdest part was the ex suggested I just pick her up on the way because it is always a hassle parking at the school on nights like that. I am concerned that she is acting a bit too normal and almost nice these days. We did agree though that all the parents asking the stupid and annoying questions definitely got tagged by the administration as trouble makers for the next four years.

Thursday night I stayed at the cottage with the husband and got my ass out of bed very early to catch a train in to the city so I could get to the gym before work and do my three mile run.

Train back down again last night after work and picked up the boys for the weekend. I was exhausted by 10 PM. I told the boys it was bed time for everyone after we all watched Supernatural.

This morning the husband and I attached all the cabinet pulls in the kitchen. Finally we have handles to grab instead of grabbing the edge of the drawers or bottoms of doors.

Then it was time for me and the boys to go exploring in the woods on the property. Once we crossed the little creek on the properyy the first thing was came upon was a deer carcass. We then made it back to the canal which is frozen over very Hans Brinker like. The boys of course wanted to walk across it but I said absolutely not. They are going to have fun back there this summer.

So Mubarak is gone and everyone thinks it's great. Ok, it is a good thing but am I the only one asking what next? Mubarak fleeing does not instantly provide food, stop massive food inflation or provide jobs for all the unemployed. We really have no idea what the end game on all of this is. the military could decide they are going to run things a bit longer than everyone else wants them to and that could cause even more problems.

Tonight the husband is making dinner and then we are going to go see The Eagle. It got mixed to good reviews. Channing Tatum is in it and Jamie Bell is too and they seem to be shirtless quite often.

LinkedIn is NOT a site one uses to hit on people- keep it professional people

2011-02-03T22:34:00.000-05:00

Getting into the office yesterday was quite an adventure with everything coated in ice. One thing though that made me realize I have gone native after living in Jersey for over twenty years and that I really love about Jersey was how everyone ignored the yellow caution tape pt up to prevent people from using the ice covered walkway along the river. It took ma almost a half hour to get to the Hoboken Terminal as I was using the short stutter step.

I was supposed to do a five mile run this morning but was so not in the mood and slept in a bit later than usual. It was great to do it and I am looking forward to doing it this weekend too.

Funny- you know when the government says our military is ready to take a non-combat role in helping evacuate U.S. citizens from Egypt that means we clearly already have several special-ops teams on the ground there. As confirmation,one of the salesmen we speak with has a brother who happens to be in the U.S. Special Forces and guess where he was sent last Friday- yep, the land of the Pharaohs.

I was not really surprised when The Bernank said with a straight face today that his easy money policies have nothing to do with the rampant food inflation around the world and that places such as Egypt have other issues causing the unrest. That is a bald faced lie. The Fed's ZIRP is most assuredly causing the rampant food inflation everywhere- even here in the United States.

LinkedIn. It's really like an electronic Rolodex. I have some general rules for it I follow. I look at the people you may know section and if there is someone in there I have at least 5 shared connections with and a common group I will ask them to join my network. I think it works well. Anyhow, I added one guy to my network before Thanksgiving. he met the criteria- five shared connections and actually two common groups. He said we should get together for drinks some time. I told him after the holidays would be best. So we finally set up drinks for after work today. Nice kid, on my team, knows I am married, has a boyfriend. I left after two drinks as I had to make up my five mile run tonight. I sent him a text when I got home saying it was great to meet him, let's keep in touch. His reply was we should do it again soon and next time we can have cocktails at his place and ended it with a smiley face. I was a bit taken aback and thought this kid is hitting one me. I had to verify I was not misinterpreting the text so I checked with Mr. Barrett and he confirmed my suspicion. Ok folks- LinkedIn is solely for professional networking- it is not for hooking up. If you want to hook up use ManHunt or Craig's List- you can probably find all the married guys who are prone to cheating you want.

A social terrorist does a deep dive

2011-02-01T20:12:00.000-05:00

Thursday night's party was fun- probably too much fun. I became what is known in some circles as a social terrorist- that I is I kept blowing myself up with somewhat drunken, snide, sarcastic comments to various people, lol. Thankfully it was not technically a business event even though there were a lot of people from work and companies we do business with. At one point I was instructing a female business associate how not to punch like a girl once she commented on my shiner and then told me she boxes as part of her training. Yes...too much fun I would say.

It made for an interesting trading session in Asia Thursday night as well. It did not make for an interesting get my ass out of bed early fora 7 AM flight to Denver though. I was most annoyed at my ticket reading United, going to the United terminal only to be told no, you have to go to the Continental terminal, we're merging you know? DUH! The monorail was all screwed up and I barely made my flight- running thru the terminal after security in my socks, holding my boots, belt, jacket and everything else. Getting on the plane only to have the male steward say "Nice sweater!" Ya think he goes to my church and sits in the pews?

We all met up except for one of us and had beers at the Denver airport. The last guy to show works for CSCO and had to do some finagling to get the extended weekend off. Apparently Monday he had to do a "deep dive" I had no clue what that piece of corporate lingo entailed so asked the others who are all in major corporations and used to that bullshit. They also explained it was a step up from a "team meeting" and it was supposed to be very "granular" in its work. Holy shit- I was glad I am not in a corporation that bureaucratic. I of course made the determination to use all those phrases ad nauseaum for the weekend, knowing that turning those screws would seriously irk/bedevil the guy who had to do the "deep dive." It worked. The best part however was when I was in the airport to leave I went to the bookstore to get some reading material for the flight home and there was a book displayed on the front table titled Deep Dive and supposedly guided one on how to do it right. Yes I snapped a pic and emailed it to the rest of the group...

The weekend was awesome. The weather was perfect during the day- sunny and high thirties/low forties. The nights were all about cards and beer. I probably was flat in the cards department and there was one incident that really pissed me off though. We were engaged in a game of night time baseball with the rule that id the queen of spades should up, you stopped, re-anted and started again. The pot gets huge since the odds of her showing are high with 5 people playing. The other part of the rule is anyone who folds is out for good. The betting got to one point I though it was too rich and only one card was left unturned. I folded. The last card was the queen. I was out. One of my supposed friends joked the pot is too big let's just split it four ways. I protested and they then voted to do it anyways. I was not happy. Yes I am bitter actually.

The new show- not original as it is a copy of a Brit show- Being Human on SciFi is pretty damn good and the vampire is smoking hot. The werewolf is cute in a completely geek/nerd way. The show is definitely dvr worthy.

The interesting stat that is making the rounds these days is that the market's performance last year is accountable for only 12 days essentially. The first trading day of each month accounted for most of the performance at the end of the year. If you took those twelve days out the markets were only up 1.4%. Thank God the Federal Reserve is not interfering and manipulating the markets in any way whatsoever. The more sad and stunning stat I saw was that there are now 43.6 million people- roughly 15% of the population- on food stamps. How does that count as a recovery. If you have read about Mervyn King's speech on how the central banks of the world are using policies that are destroying the middle class you should. It should also anger you.

So, more snow and ice tonight and tomorrow- great. I have to be up no matter what to make up the six mile run I did not do in Denver as part of my training. It will def be on the treadmill.

Colorado here I come....

2011-01-26T21:20:00.000-05:00

Short post tonight as I am busier than a one armed barber with work and I have no notes.

No dojo- Cobra Kai, never die!- because the eye is still tender and I felt the better route was to not go through two hours of contact MMA. I snapped a pic with my phone and emailed it to Sensei explaining that guard drills and a knee to the eye leave a mark and stay sore 48 hours later.

Tomorrow night I have party to go to at the NASDAQ offices in Times Square after work. So I packed tonight for my weekend of snow boarding out in Colorado. I am off Friday morning with friends from high school- beer, boarding and cards for the weekend, then back Monday night. The snow is supposed t be great in the place I will be unlike Aspen where the husband just came back from.

Sometimes I like it rough

2011-01-25T21:42:00.000-05:00

I work up this morning very sore and with a definite shiner. I also have a scab right above my eye. The husband asked what I was going to tell people who asked and I told him what I had planned and he said absolutely not. So I figured out something else to say on the bus ride in and I had the chance to use the line in the elevator up with one of the global PMs I work for. She looked at me and said "you have a black eye!" I said yes, observant of you. She asked how I got it. "Sometimes I like it rough." She turned beet red and laughed saying she really didn't have a response for that. I got to the desk the boss asked me and I told him "It's tough to say your safe word clearly with the zipper on the mask closed." He burst out laughing and said "Karate. Right??" I told him yes.

I did my 5 mile run that I was supposed to do Sunday. I finished it a bit under 44 minutes- not bad but I have my work cut out for me to be ready for the race. Of course there were some cute guys in the gym as usual but none that really wowed me.

Egypt- on the desk today we kept talking about it. Rumors were flying around that the Mubaraks had fled the country. Videos of riots all over the internets. Rumors that the government shut down Twitter in the country and had disabled data services on many phone lines. Of course we had to bring this to the attention of the global PMs. they seemed to brush it off until the boss told me to email the story in the WSJ about two protesters getting killed. He then was all over the global guys and surprise I get an email form one of them who supposedly has contacts on the ground over there and they are saying it is not a big deal. Right and I bet a lot of people thought that about Tunisia as well....

What- no conditioner?

2011-01-24T22:00:00.000-05:00

This was the first full weekend at the cottage. It was just me, the boys and the kids. I actually went down there Thursday night, slept in the boys room with the kids. I had to be there Friday as the counter tops were getting installed Friday morning and our new mattress was getting delivered then as well. The Polish guys who installed the counter tops were a mixed crowd but one of them was hot in a dirty Eastern European gay porn star way- if you know what I mean. The husband texted me to take a pic with my phone and send it to him- I told him no. I also actually worked remotely from the cottage. I was a bit hesitant about working an entire day remotely on just my laptop but it went well.

Speaking of the counter tops when we picked them out we thought we had decided on quartzite. Quartzite apparently looks like marble but has the hardness of granite and is somewhere in-between them in porousness. However last weekend when we went to make the final payment the manager told us it is not quartzite but Vermont white granite. Regardless it looks frackin' amazing. I took pics and emailed them to the husband who was out on the slope in Aspen with TK and MK. St came over later in the day and was stunned with how great they look.

The mattress delivery took place at the same time. We had gotten an amazing deal on a memory foam mattress and box spring. When you get a new memory foam mattress is is vacuum packed and tiny. Apparently it takes several hours for it to "grow" to its true size and thickness- that sounds really dirty....

I picked the boys up after going to TGT and buying a mirror for the bathroom and some small table lamps for the night stands in our room. They were excited to be there. They were thoroughly impressed with the Sony Bravia LCD HD 40" television set. When they found out we had CMCSK and On Demand as well they were doubly psyched.

I then showed them the bathroom. they liked it and my oldest looked into the shower and asked what- no conditioner? I was floored and immediately texted the husband that line. I pointed out we had the Nivea 3 in 1 (it was on sale at TGT and the guy in the ad is smokin' hot as I've stated before) and he said, oh that works.

I then showed them the kitchen and the peninsula with the bar stools and told them that is where they are eating breakfast. My youngest immediately called one of the stools as his for infinity. They then asked why the dishwasher was not hooked up and why the faucet was not fully installed as well. I explained we need to get the plumber in to hook up the dishwasher and I would be installing the faucet Saturday as I was told by my hot dirty Eastern European bf I had to wait 24 hours before I could use the sink.

Saturday was the day to learn some mad plumbing skills. It basically took me most of the day and three trips to HD to get the damn thing in and working properly. The faucet works brilliantly and more importantly nothing leaks! My oldest was seriously impressed I pulled it off- as was I.

Sunday I then dust mopped everything- I am starting a bit to regret going with dark floors as all dust shows up really well, lol. After that I damp mopped the floors to take off all the foot prints from the counter top guys. Then I put non-skid mats under the rug in the living room and boys bedroom. ST then came over with his latest batch of puppies and the boys were totally enthralled. Then it was time to take them back to their mom's house. I then finished some cleaning at the cottage, showered up, packed up the truck, headed up to EWR and picked up the husband.

I was supposed run this morning to make up my missed one Sunday- so not happening, lol. Especially when it is arctic-like outside. I did make it to the dojo- sweep the leg!- though tonight and got banged up. I took a knee I think to the mug and am going to end up with a good ol' fashioned black eye I think. Actually I know as it is already starting to show- should make for an interesting week at work as I will tell friends the husband was upset I said no to the Sub-Zero refrigerator....

So I read this morning on BBRG how some strategist at Standard Charter is predicting an economic super cycle and that by 2030 everything will be great, super-duper, stupendous. Right- because so many strategists can see easily twenty years into the future and predict things with such accuracy...like how securitization and sub-prime mortgages wouldn't blow up or cause any issues.

A knit tie? Really?

2011-01-19T21:38:00.000-05:00

The bus ride was quite interesting this morning. Blue Hen is a new guy- was very cute and wearing sweats and am thinking nothing under them.

The kids were psyched last night when they realized it was just me and them sleeping on the bed. They both took the pillows on the husband's side of the bed and I woke up nose to nose with the younger one this morning.

I am going back into the dojo- wax on, wax off- next week. I am sure I will be sore for the first few weeks. I really need to get my ass moving on this and do my best to get the goddamn black belt within the next year. I also started my training for the NYC Half Marathon. Ran three miles today- was supposed to do it yesterday but whatever. Have three more days of running to do this week as well. Sunday's run will be interesting as we are supposed to be getting more snow here. Yes I am actually running outside in snow. I did some research on winter training for half marathons and it all says short runs are ok on the treadmill but your long runs should be outside. I have not done any running outside in the winter since my days wrestling in high school. At least these ones won't have me wearing a stupid rubber suit under layers of sweatshirts and sweat pants trying to lose weight for a match.

So I have a secret boy friend at work. He is in the ops area and super cute. I of course GOOG/facebook stalked him. 23 years old, a big fan of house/trance music, went to college in CT and is a Jersey boy. My girlfriend in ops who sits behind me flirts with him incessantly o the point I IMed her the other day and warned her off because he is my secret boyfriend. Today she IMed me that he has a twin brother- identical. I told her cool double date? Then said no, hold on I will just be the meat in the sandwich. She said no she would, so I told her we'll fight and winner take all.

There is a cute gay guy in the sales area of the firm. Today he was in early and I walked into the pantry and saw him all suited up- looked nice until I noticed he was wearing one of those ugly knit ties. I immediately thought of a high school social studies teacher and am bummed if those tings are making a come back. I think it was square bottomed too- even worse.

The large the Meredith Whitney dog pile gets the more I think she is right about the coming destruction in the muni markets. Then I read how the city of Vallejo, California- which is in bankruptcy- has offered its unsecured creditors $0.05-0.20 on the dollar. If that is a sign of things to come then watch out.

These days BBRG has a prime seat in Presidential press conferences and it was used really well today. Hans Nichols was taking no prisoners in his questioning of Presidents Hu and Obama at their joint press conference. I imagine BBRG will soon face difficulties in China and Hong Kong.

I Am Number Four- looks interesting...

Even with a cloudy sky I keep my eyes fixed on the sun

2011-01-18T22:32:00.000-05:00

The weekend was busy and mostly productive. The un[roductive part was Saturday morning looking for towel bars. The husband is somewhat particular about his bathroom fixtures whereas I tend to be less so. So rather than us making a hasty decision one of us would regret or possibly get very bitter about we decided Sunday morning we'd just get a floor towel rack. We then hit Homo Depot and get the remainder of the things we'd need to onstall the L-shaped shower curtain rod we have. Then it was cleaning time and I have to say I now know why the ebony bamboo strand flooring we installed was on sale- dark floors show all the dirt, especially paw prints from two dogs. By the end of the day I made the call that the shower curtain rod was Sunday's business as I knew if we tried late in the afternoon we'd up having some sort of argument over it. The husband laughed heartily but did not disagree. We went out to dinner with PJ and St and had a great dinner and a fun time. The husband told me that PJ actually admitted- before it was just implied- that he was very excited we'd be his neighbors on a more full time basis.

Sunday morning was a complee waste of time trying to find a god damn floor towel rack. Seriously- does no major department store chain carry them anymore? We checked everywhere and it was a complete bust. So we figured we'd find one on the internets instead and off we went to install the shower curtain rod. It surprisingly was relatively painless for all parties involved. We then installed door stops, cleaned even more, put some rugs down, unpacked kitchen stuff. etc I got a call in the afternoon from the ex- my oldest was playing and running around in the snow with his brother and friends and fell and tore open his knee. He got five stitches. He sent me a picture and it grossed out the husband and I forwarded it to my two brothers. His mom said he was very brave but she nearly passed out while he got the stitches..

The husband left for Aspen this morning with TK for Gay Ski Week. I passed.

The bus ride had one cute married guy on it this morning, we'll call him Lacoste.

The more I read and listen to some pundits I am fairly certain the Fed needs to get rid of its dual mandate and focus solely on price stability. The Executive branch and the Legislative branch are responsible for the rest.

I wonder if Steve Jobs has secretly recreated Zoe's resurrection program and is getting ready to become a skin Jobs?

I had a dentist appointment today after work, nothing to write about.

Two albums that are getting heavy play time on the iPod right now are Band of Skulls, Baby Doll Face Darling Honey and Cage The Elephant, Thank You Happy Birthday. I highly reccommend them.

I cannot wait to go see The Rite. I also saw an add for The Eagle and woof- definitely seeing that one.

Do I really want to win a dream home in Stowe, VT?

2011-01-13T23:16:00.000-05:00

Gym this morning was uneventful and I was kind of out of it on the bike. I didn't even really check out the other guys there and did not feel like being there. I did not forget my underwear this time at least.

The bus ride was again rather disappointing. I am going to guess all the hotties must be riding the PATH in the winter.

I guess I am still wrong on the markets as I seem to still be focusing on the facts. Everyone is raving about how both Spain and Portugal pulled off bond auctions. Ok, does anyone realize the rates they had to pay? And Japan- do they really have the space to be riding to the rescue of Europe? I read somewhere their debt/GDP ratio is 200%. Not really fiscally healthy enough to be bailing out others.

I had to run out of the office early so I could attend a school concert my youngest son was in. Usually the chorus- which is what he is in (it's mandatory at his school) goes first but not this time. I had to sit through the band, the choral ensemble, the orchestra and then the band and orchestra together. The chorus was last. My youngest was in the back row on the highest riser so I had a good view of him. his older brother sat next to me and we were debating if he was faking singing. He also almost started laughing a few times. After the concert I asked him if he had been faking any singing and he vowed he had not.

I then had to hop in the car and get back to the apartment and work in Asia.

Tomorrow I am down to the cottage after work with some tables and clothing. The husband and I will finish baseboards and casing ideally.

I was surfing through the channels as I was working in Asia and came across HGTV and the promo of the dream house they are offering. It is in Stowe and while it looks amazing getting to Stowe is a major pain in the ass.

Going commando

2011-01-12T21:50:00.000-05:00

So yesterday morning was good at the gym. Had a nice workout, showered up, went to get dressed after showering only to realize I had forgotten to pack underwear. Going commando was not an option as I am 43 and it is not "cool" at my age and it was frackin' cold as shit. So back to the apartment to get dressed which added a bit of time to the morning commute.

The bus ride was sadly disappointing, no one even mentionable.

I had drinks with God's bankers last night. They made the mistake of letting me pick the bar so of course I picked PF's favorite sports bar with the hot shirtless bar tenders. I was laughing when they realized they were going to have to T & E the receipt from a gay bar. I also wore a suit to mess with them as I knew they would be expecting me to be casually dressed. The primary person I do work with was really annoyed and kept commenting on how I could do that to him, lol. PF also strolled in and I introduced him to God's bankers. He IMed me this morning to tell me one of them was very cute.

I am really pissed at SciFi. I just got done watching the five remaining episodes of Caprica and the last oen "Apotheosis" was pretty damn good. I cannot believe they were so short sighted as to cancel the series! We had watched some of the episodes over the weekend witht he boys and they are now using the word frack very liberally in their language and they think it is hilarious.

The snow day that really wasn't is what today was. The buses were running and I was one of 6 on mine this morning. The boss had preemptively told most people to stay home an dlog on form there to work. So the office was pretty sparse.

I did not hit the dojo- sweep the leg!- tonight because for some reason I felt like I needed a nap. Probably has nothing to do with the number of drinks I had last night....

The gym tomorrow morning and then I am leaving the office a bit early as I have to get down to central NJ for the school winter concert my youngest is in.

Out of state manure regulation bill

2011-01-10T21:56:00.001-05:00

So the weekend was somewhat busy and yet lazy at the same time- quite the Schrodinger's cat weekend.

I picked the boys up Friday evening and we went back to the apartment. They were a bit bummed we were not going to be in the cottage but I told them it was not fully ready yet. Friday night was lazy, everyone to bed by 11 PM.

Saturday I think I had some kind of bug as I was not feeling well and had a headache most of the day. I had promised the husband and my oldest though that I would make meatballs for dinner so once I got that done and in the pot of sauce it was nap time. I still took some ibuprofen, got up had dinner and then we were off to see The Season of the Witch. Yes the flick go bad reviews but it was a good Saturday night movie even though we went to the late show and got home around 12:15 AM.

Sunday morning we got up and started packing up all the boys stuff in their room in the apartment. The husband was surprised with how many boxes we had. As we were getting ready to get in the truck and go tot he cottage my oldest completely surprised me when he said he was going to miss the apartment. I asked why and he said it was actually cool and fun. He said the driving every weekend he and his brother were with us was not fun but living on the 17th floor with views of the New York City skyline, having an ice skating rink in front of the building and a grocery store right across the street that had sushi all the time.

We got tot he cottage and unpacked everything and set up the boys room. Once that was done, their tv, dvd player and Wii set up they were set. They also got to see the kitchen cabinets we had installed and they liked them but my youngest said they would be better if they had handles to pull on them. I told him we have them but won't be installing them until all the cabinets are in.

Yesterday ST brought over his pug puppies for the boys to see. These three are pretty damn cute and the boys were in heaven. My oldest took pictures and videos of them to show his mom and beg her if they can have one. I told him good luck as she already gave him the big negatory on that. He tried and I was right.

Shockingly both bus rides today had hot guys everywhere. It was quite a change from the past few months.

The husband was down at the cottage today with his step father and they finished installing the remaining cabinets. That means either tomorrow or Wednesday the hot Ukrainian counter top guy will be in to template it and we should have counter tops installed within three to four days. That leaves just the plumber to come in and install the dishwasher and the kitchen faucet. We are also going to have the plumber hook up the temporary sink we had been using down in the basement so we have some type of wash basin there and set up a line for the washing machine we will get some time later.

The whole Arizona shooting event- let me correct that- the attempted assassination of a sitting member of Congress is really appalling. It reinforces my belief that we are descending to banana republic status- but a really big one with the current reserve currency of the world.

I was stunned to see all the right wing nut jobs disavow any responsibility for it. Seriously, when Rep. Gifford's opponent in the recent election held a come shot an M-1 with me election event, can you honestly say that did not have any impact on the thought process of some mentally unhinged individual.

I was more stunned to find out it is completely legal in Arizona to carry a concealed weapon. WTF? I am all for allowing citizens to own arms and bear them but I have no issues with tightening up the regulation of who can exercise that right. The Army rejected the kid- hell they will take just about anyone these days. You'd think there would be a database for people buying guns to check against things like that.

So the conspiracy theorist in me was all aflutter when I saw that a PGN lobbyist died in a car fire. What got me interested was that PGN was involved in a massive deal announced today. Her husband is the White House liaison to the House of Representatives. The car fire occurred in her fracking garage. Apparently her SUV hit a work table there and burst into flame. Sorry, call me crazy but something is off kilter there.

Issuing secret subpoenas- sounds like something the GOP would do if they ran things. Sadly it happened under the Dems' watch. It seems that the government issued them to at least Twitter in connection to Wikileaks. Twitter basically told the government frack you and released the details.

Italy seems to think they are being unfairly punished by the markets- ha. Yeah and Portugal, Greece, Ireland and Spain all think the same thing.

You have to love the irony of Rep. Sander (R-Indiana) has sponsored a bill for "out of state manure regulation." Please- that means no state could send anyone to Congress...

He sounds like a porn star

2010-12-29T23:22:00.000-05:00

The bus ride this morning was nice. There was this major hottie- def one of those black Irish types. Since he was wearing a pea coat that is his name. I noticed him sort of late in the ride as I had been reading most of the commute in. I looked up and saw this boy and thought woof. then I saw some blond floozy sitting next to him trying to chat him up. She was flirting and poorly with him- if I had sat next to him I'd have done much better.

So Syracuse is playing in the Pin Stripe Bowl here in Gotham. I happened to check out the roster for SU and there was one guy- I believe he is injured and sitting out he season- who is on it that I definitely noticed His name also seems o sound like a gay porn star name- Cody Catalina. I think he would do well as a wide receiver...

All you need to know about the markets for the coming year is that China is tightening and they are ratcheting up the stealth trade war that is going on. That will have major implications for everyone else in the world.

One has to wonder what the government knows or is thinking when they change how the measure unemployment. Currently- as it has been for the past thirty three years- the government stopped keeping track of how long one is unemployed after the two year mark is hit. Even if one has been unemployed for 4 years, the government records it as two years. Now they will be keeping track for up to five years.

The commute home tonight really sucked ass. I left the office at roughly 4:45 and did not walk into the apartment until 6:45; seriously, WTF is that all about other that Hoboken is still a complete mess because of the blizzard.

It's apparently only Newport these days

2010-12-27T21:10:00.000-05:00

So it was quite an adventure. I got up my usual time figuring it would be an interesting commute. I had to high step it through a good twenty inches of drifting snow along the Hudson to get to Hoboken Terminal. I got about halfway there when I cam face to face with a cute guy in sweats, a big puffy jacket and ski hat who had apparently stopped to rest as he was laboriously breathing- almost rasping. He said oh, cool you've made a path for me. I should have said yeah, it leads back to my apartment, go wait there for me to get home, lol. I did not. I got to the terminal and my usual coffee guy was not open. The buses were not running but Dunkin' Donuts was open so I got an ice coffee- garnering stares from the guy behind the counter. Then it was on the PATH.

NYC on a snow day before 7 AM is a ghost town. It was actually really cool until I stepped into a huge slush puddle.

I was one of only two people in my area that made it in and I think a total of twenty people at most made it in. Not a big deal as most everyone else logged on from home and it was not a problem.

The day was painfully slow. The only thing that saved it was being semi-short handed, so it seemed busy. One of the senior people made it in and he came down to say he was ordering pizza for everyone who made it in. He is notorious for having alligator arms so we joked one pizza is not enough- behind his back of course, lol.

Tonight I was supposed to hop on the train down to the cottage, spend the night at PJ and ST's farm with my parents and the husband. Of course NJ Transit did not cooperate. There was no train traffic between NY Penn Station and Newark Penn Station. No problem so I figured I'd hop in the PATH to Journal Square and catch the WTC line to Newark Penn Station. Except there was no PATH service between Journal Square and Newark Penn Station. Back on the PATH to Pavonia/Newport, called the husband and told him I'd be down on the first train tomorrow morning.

When I got off the PATH I then realized it is no longer the Pavonia/Newprt Station. It is now solely the Newport Station. Maybe I am just old school but I liked it better as Pavonia/Newport and think they should have dropped the Newport moniker instead.

I caught a show The Rules of Engagement and have to say Oliver Hudson is pretty damn hot. I of course had to wiki him and found out he is the son of Goldie Hawn and was on Dawson's Creek.

Thunder snow

2010-12-26T20:30:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve was great. I picked up the boys around 10 AM and they were getting ready for what they thought was the usual drive back to Jersey City and when I pulled into the drive way of the cottage they both freaked out in a good way and were totally psyched the husband and I bought the cottage. They were beyond happy. We decorated the Christmas tree and then they got to open their gifts. The net books were a big hit and the husband got them cases for them for when they are travelling. I took them back to their mom's mid-afternoon and hooked up their new wifi router there. There was a big argument of what to name the network so I named it after their cat and then created a password since they could no agree on one.

Next I was off to PJ and ST's farm as the husband and I made a huge Christmas Eve dinner. There was maple-sage butter basted turkey, string beans with ginger and garlic, potato mousseline, spiked cranberry relish (it was spiked with Gran Marnier), gravy, cornbread stuffing with apples and jalapenos and then regular stuffing. For dessert I had made two things Thursday night when I arrived at the farm- a Christmas cake and a new recipe, spiced sweet potato pudding. The pudding was a huge fail- most likely because I did not have all the proper equipment, as in a food processor. The cake was a hit though.

Christmas morning we slept in late, then went across the road to do some cleaning up and a bit more work on the cottage. We then picked up coffee and donuts. Back to the farm and time to open presents. I loved everything Santa brought me, the husband loved everything Santa brought him especially the iPad he got. the husband has decided it will stay at the cottage and be used as a house computer.

Then it was time to shower up and off to my brother's house for Christmas dinner with his family and my parents. We had a blast and it wasn't even because we did not have to do the cooking. It was nice to see my parents, brother and sister-in-law but the nephews were the bet part. Toddlers are awesome especially when they are not yours.

We got back to the farm and watched some television and had some left overs. Then bed time.

This morning we got up, headed over to the cottage and finished off the flooring. Well not all of it actually, I still need to install two reducers between the hallway and the bed rooms. After that we are done with hardwood installations.

I grabbed an early train back as I have to work tonight in Asia and there is a blizzard hitting the area. The walk from the PATH station to the building totally aspirated. The wind drove the snow into my face and started giving me a headache. The weirdest part though was hearing the thunder. I had read that thunder and lightning are possible during snow storms but had never heard nor seen either. Well as of tonight I have experienced both and it is pretty cool...

Short one tonight

2010-12-20T21:55:00.000-05:00

So my cold is pretty much gone. Thank you oh mighty neti pot!

Ernst & Young is basically screwed to the wall if the NY AG does actually bring fraud charges against them. IT will be Arthur Anderson all over again.

I'd have to say North Korea blinked in a big way after all. I am surprised at the lame response they gave too.

So it seems that some people are catching onto the idea that France 's credit rating could be at risk. Yet another step towards the eventual core falling apart.

Surprisingly busy tonight fr work. The husband is down at the cottage because the electrician came this afternoon and finished the installation of the remaining high hat lights in the kitchen. This week will be slightly hectic. Tomorrow night I am meeting up with some fraternity brothers for drinks in the city, Wednesday night I am going to guess I will still be busy and Thursday night I am off down to the cottage for Christmas.

Sell out

2010-12-19T22:03:00.000-05:00

Friday night I picked the boys up and we drove back to the apartment in Jersey City. As we were driving Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition" came on. My oldest said he loved the song and asked me to turn it up so I did and on a whim asked if he wanted to sing along with me. He said sure! LOL! I really don't know all the lyrics whereas he did and he totally surprised me. It was one of the better highlights of being a dad and was very cool/sweet that he agreed to sing along with me.

The husband got up early and went down to the cottage as he had to meet the electrician to handle putting in the high hat lights in the kitchen. He decided to spend the whole day down there and he cleaned up and organized the garage and cleaned out the screened in porch as it had lots of scrap wood and crap on it. The boys and I had a fun day.

We spent the entire afternoon on the ice rink in front of the building. It was typical of my sons. They really did not want to ice skate and dragged their feet getting ready. Once we were on the ice though they could not get enough. Almost two hours later I told them me toes were starting to get cold and I had to make dinner. We first ran to TGT to get something to watch something watch for the evening as I was still fighting the cold I had and did not want to go out. So we ended up getting Supernatural Season 5. Dinner was homemade sauce, meatballs and rigatoni. then everyone showered up and got a bowl of candy and we settled in to watch tv. We made it through the first disc (the first four episodes) when it was pretty late and everyone wanted to go to bed.

This morning we were up sort of late. I had to have the boys back to their mom's house early today because they had a Christmas party to attend. I dropped them off then went right over to the cottage where I had to cut out some of the kitchen ceiling to accommodate the remainder of the high hat lights going into the kitchen.

Then we showered up at PJ and ST's house across the road and were off to a Christmas party a co-worker of mine had invited us to. We had the kids with us and we left them in the car with their sweaters on and went to the party. I took a break and went outside to have a dip and let the kids out to do their business and my co-worker came out to meet them. She was very impressed with how well behaved they were and that they listened to me.

I am surprised at how quickly Vampire Weekend has sold out with their song "Holiday." Seriously it is being used for everything and has gotten to the point of annoying. The only ads with Christmas music that I find more annoying are those Toyota ads with the hipster looking group singing.

So it looks like some one's bluff is about to get called over on the Korean Peninsula. The South is going ahead with their live artillery drills and the North has vowed to attack if they do. Then I read a headline tonight (yes I am actually working as I write this) about a refinery that exploded in the South. I immediately went to GOOG maps and checked out where it was and it is far south of the DMZ. Still, who knows how many sleeper cells the North has in the South.

This week at work is a shortened one. It should be fairly quiet and tame barring a hot war in Korea.

That is an odd gift

2010-12-16T20:56:00.000-05:00

I am definitely close to getting some kind of sinus issue. So it is neti pot season. That is also why I blew off the gym this morning.

So Ryan Reynolds is getting divorced. I told the husband I have dibs on him but I will share him.

The husband asked me what the Huffington Post is. I thought he was joking. Incredulously he was not joking. He is not a big reader of blogs or news on the Internet. I told him he was a Luddite and needed to get with the program.

A person we do business with over in Europe sent us each a gift today. It was a do it yourself canoli kit. WTF? Seriously, the really only acceptable holiday gift for people in our line of work is booze plain and simple. Total fail. I gave mine to one of the guys in ops who is of Italian descent.

So now the ratings agencies think they see something bad coming down the pike with the Eurozone periphery? Greece was put on watch for a possible downgrade. That didn't really shock anyone and it gained most of the headline but if you took the time to read through the whole statement you would have seen that twenty four German banks were also put on watch. That would be the first strike at the core of the Eurozone. Yet everyone over here doesn't seem to care and kept buying. It also helps that tomorrow is an expiration and supposedly some big gamma trade is in the offing.

I was supposed to have drinks with my bond friend tonight but he had to cancel as he had his company ~~Christmas~~ holiday party. Looks like we won't meet up until after the new year.

I happened to be surfing thru the channels and came to an ad on DIY- holy crap Mark Bartelomo is hot!

A fantasy land

2010-12-15T20:14:00.001-05:00

It was a bit cold this morning. Thankfully the husband had found all the winter gloves and I did not have to wear my running gloves; I had nice, thick, fleece lined ones.

The bus was a bit annoying this morning as a rather large boned guy decided to sit next to me and he was definitely crowding me and invading my space.

On this day 37 years ago the United States deemed that homosexuality was no longer a mental illness. Yet it would seem many citizens still think it may be or is a mortal sin damning homosexuals to the eternal flames of the deepest pit in Hell.

I am getting somewhat annoyed at all the babbling heads on tv- including former President Clinton- who keep talking about the huge pile of cash U.S. companies are sitting on. Hasn't anyone heard of double entry accounting? They are only focusing on one side of the balance sheet.

You know when Governor-elect Jerry Brown tells Californians they have been living in a fantasy land and are in for some tough choices things have got to be bad. I recall the guy as always being a bit of a nut job. Maybe it is appropriate that they need to hear it from him.

So last night my oldest and I had a really good heart to heart talk. When I spoke to them I reminded my oldest that he needs to keep working on his grades because even though he is not a big fan of school it is important. I ended the conversation with asking him if he is smoking pot. I explained to him I had read an article on BBRG discussing how 8th, 10th and 12th graders are all smoking cigarettes less but more pot. After I hung up he sent me a text saying he was pissed I was accusing him of getting not great grades because he was smoking pot and assuming he was retarded to be doing that. I immediately called him and told him that is not at all what I meant. I told him I do not think he is but when I read how more and more 8th graders are smoking pot I was concerned. We spoke for a good half hour and he asked questions about my history with pot, etc. I explained to him that pretty much everyone he is related to except for his grand parents have tried pot. I explained to him I and his mom are fairly certain that he will too and what we don't want is him lying to us or pot to end up having negative impacts on his life. I told him bad grades are not the only negative impacts and there are a host of other consequences including breaking the law. The conversation meandered into choosing the right friends, etc. It went on for a good forty minutes. I hung up, logged onto my computer and BBRG, found the story and emailed it to him and apologized again. He told me we are all good and I explained again it is not that we don't trust him but we care about him.

So, a few months ago I got coerced by so-workers into joining the lottery for the NYC Half Marathon. I figured sure as it is the NYC Half that my chances were slim. Today the results were released. I was the only one who got accepted. WTF???! Seriously. Not only did I get in but it is in frackin' March. So now I need to train through the winter. Not funny or good but I don't really have many options.

I am not a theater fan

2010-12-14T22:26:00.000-05:00

White Pants was on the bus again this morning. Two days in a row I have seen that hot hunk of man early in the morning. Makes my day start with a smile. I sort of stalked him in the Port Authority this morning too. Stayed a few paces behind him to check out his ass. Noticed as we were walking down the escalator though that his hair seems to be starting to thin out a bit on the top- still would not kick him out of bed.

A perfect example of federal employees not knowing when enough is enough. The union representing Amtrak employees wants a pay raise comparable to the employees of the private freight rail lines. Makes sense I guess until you learn that Amtrak has lost roughly $1 billion dollars over the last decade whereas the private freight lines are all profitable. Hello? You are federal employees and are employed by an enterprise that costs us, the taxpayers, money to run as opposed to even just breaking even. You cannot justify that.

I am so not a fan of Michael Moore in any way what so ever. Yet I have to say he did do one thing I think is good and that is offer to put up $20,000 for part of the bail for Julian Assange. I think Mr. Assange is getting totally fucked over for bringing to light the truth and the power elites in all governments are out to teach him a lesson and send a chill down the spine of everyone who seeks the truth. I am also annoyed that our own government has apparently blocked all access to Wikileaks on their computers. So much for freedom of the press and the idea of free thought.

There was a Fed meeting today. Two words: Who gives a shit? They seriously have nothing to say that will change anything.

Had dinner with TK and the husband tonight. Nice little brassiere near the office. It was good to catch up with TK. They were then off to see Angels in America- the first part. ST asked if I was going and I told him no, I am not a fan of the theater and I don't need to spend three hours watching a gay fantasia when I have summered in The Pines long enough.

Breaking the ice

2010-12-13T22:47:00.000-05:00

The office party Thursday night was a blast. One of my coworkers who shares the same surname as I (but we are not directly related) and I started pre-gaming at 4:30 at a local dive bar. One of the other micks in the office met us and we proceeded to have quite a few PBRs as it was happy hour and the special was 2 for 1. The other mick who does not share our surname closed it out there by shot gunning a beer- which impressed the bar wench as she claimed she had never seen it done.

When we got to the barbecue joint it was just starting. We did not wait for the coat check line as it was snaking half way around the room and went straight to the bar- shocker no? By the time the line had died down and we checked our coats the band was on the stage and announcing karaoke would be starting as soon as someone volunteered. Say no more. I walked right up and did the first song, Roger Miller's "King of the Road." I was home and in bed by 10:30 PM for the record...

Friday morning, oh hell, ALL of Friday was painful. I was not the only one hurting either. I found out that the boss and several others kept going after I decided to go home. I actually was off the desk in the morning to get some greasy food and fruit punch. When I got back I was told the CIO was looking for me. I walked up to his office and asked if I was fired. He laughed and said no, I was to be complimented for breaking the ice by going first. After I went it was like the dam broke and the karaoke did not stop all night.

Friday I picked up the boys and the kids. The husband stayed at PJ and ST's farm as the refrigerator replacement door was coming Saturday morning. I am psyched to say it was a nice Friday evening. The boys have totally gotten into Supernatural so we watched it and then watched some Cartoon Network. Then right to bed.

Saturday was nice and lazy. JP stopped by for breakfast and he brought it! All I had to do was make coffee. It was great catching up with JP as his current gig keeps him busier than a one armed barber and we rarely see him.

I decided against ordering out pizza or sushi which seems to have become the norm when we have the boys. So I went to the store and picked up some chicken, carrots, celery, red onion, mushrooms and rice and made a quick, American version of coq au vin. It was surprisingly a big hit with everyone for dinner.

Saturday night was a vampire double feature. We watched the sequel to The Lost Boys. Yeah, I did not know there was one either and it was an excellent B-flick. That was followed by Vampires Suck. It was good if you like the whole spoof genre.

Sunday the husband went into the city to a brunch we had been invited too but I passed on as the weekends I have my boys it is about them. I then dropped them off at their mom's house, stopped at the cottage and cleaned out part of the garage filling the dumpster. This is the second dumpster we have filled.

The Kayak add with Mandy that is running currently- I am jealous of Mandy because she has Dante. Watch the ad...

OMG the Thor trailer! All I have to say is got to the one minute, forty-six second mark. WOOF.

So part of the health care bill was declared unconstitutional. Let's just agree the entire bill is flawed, not part of it. The insurance companies are still making out like thieves and act in monopolistic manners. If the government really wanted to reform health care they would have repealed the anti-trust exemptions the insurers have and made them actually compete like car insurers. You would also think that the government would make health insurance portable if they wanted to reform health care. Think about it- when you change jobs you don't have to go and find new car insurance or home insurance or life insurance. But you do with health insurance? Does that make sense?

No dojo- wax on, wax off- tonight as I had to get the frackin' Christmas cards done. I am happy to say I finished them.

Parkas

2010-12-08T20:32:00.000-05:00

So I was up until midnight last night for work and catching Glee on the dvr. It was a cute, ok Christmas episode but it did reinforce my belief that Brittany is one of the best characters- and best acted- on the show.

Due to my late night I totally skipped the gym this morning, waking up at 6:45, quickly showering and getting dressed and catching a later than usual bus. There was one cute guy on the bus this morning.

The work load did not stop. I think today was one of my busiest days in quite some time. It was definitely one of the largest volume days I have had in a long time as well. I was pretty fried mentally by the end of the day and decided to skip the dojo- sweep the leg!

The husband cxld the refrigerator with BBY and go the same one from SHLD for less and they delivered it today. I will now be writing a letter of complaint- old school style, sent through the USPS- and have my 8th grade English teacher to thank for teaching me how...I told the husband he cannot write it as his Latin temper would not make it a proper letter of complaint.

Today I asked my international PM if I would be busy tomorrow night as it is the ~~Christmas~~ Holiday party and I will most likely be imbibing copious amounts of beer. The reply was no as a client visit is on the docket tomorrow and it is halfway across the country.

I happened to see a guy wearing a parka today on the way home. I shuddered at the sight. I had parkas growing up all the time until I was in 7th grade and I completely detested it. All my friends had ski jackets which I though were so cool and I was not allowed to get one. So of course I joined the school ski club in 7th grade just so I could say I needed one. It worked and I had ski jackets all the time from then on. The only other thing that comes close to making me shudder like that are pack boots- you know those green runner ones you had all through elementary school that had yellow laces and you wore the plastic bread bags to slide them on.

'Tis the season

2010-12-07T23:14:00.000-05:00

I am starting to get disappointed with the level of talent/guy candy on the bus. I am not sure what has happened to all the hot guys lately but they are either getting in earlier than me or they have become part of the U-6 and are no longer in need of a early morning bus ride.

We did not get a family picture done this year so we are just sending out plain, boring Christmas cards. I am not sure how we did not find the time to get one done but whatevuh- no big deal.

I logged onto the portal the school district provides for parents to see up to the minute grades for their kids only to find out my oldest- who missed honor roll by one point in one class in the first marking period- has a frackin' 40 in his social studies class so far this marking period. I flipped and sent his mom an explicative laced text message. funny how I then get a call from my oldest after he got home from school to discuss it and he told me he had lost his cell phone privileges for the week.

Our company ~~Christmas~~ Holiday party is being held at a barbecue joint and it is Western themed. I have no clue why or how this decision was made but being the good gay that I am I of course took to heart the suggestion to dress the part as we love dressing up and sometimes go over the top. My holiday party attire arrived today- don't you love the Internet and two day shipping? I went against my friends MP and PF's axiom of never ordering shoes over the Internet and found cowboy boots for $49. I then got a belt with a big ass, shiny buckle. Next was the shirt- made by Ely- never heard of the company but it has embroidery and snaps instead of buttons. The coup de grace- the felt hat by Justins- black of course as just as I could not wear white at the second wedding, a white hat would be inappropriate. The husband wants to see me in my outfit so I told him he will tomorrow night. He is currently down at the cottage as the refrigerator gets delivered tomorrow and then he has to get back up here for a Christmas party in the city and then he has dinner with friends from the business. Otherwise I will wake him early Thursday so he can take a gander at me.

I am psyched to see Tron: Legacy. The boys are up for it too so we'll all probably see it the weekend it opens.

The bond market had a big ol' oops today. The smart kid who works with me sent out an email showing today's action was close to a two standard deviation move- not normal and the last time in recent history it occurred was right before the sub-prime mess started. My question of course was does this presage another crisis about to hit?

It was no Showgirls

2010-12-06T21:36:00.003-05:00

Okay, we'll get the boring stuff out of the way but I need to vent so anyone who doesn't feel like reading can skip the following few paragraphs.

California is in a fiscal state of emergency? Really? What was the clue Governor Schwarenegger?

I see the tax cuts are getting extended. I also see the government is cutting payroll taxes for employers ostensibly to spur hiring. They fucked that one up as they should have cut them for employees to spur consumption and further deleveraging . I am pretty sure companies do not hire based on taxes getting cut as opposed to selling more of their goods and serivices. Consumers deleveraging would spur healthier consumption down the road, that kind of consumption would be referred to as "organic" by all the talking heads.

Germany had yet another failed bond auction. Bet you did not hear much about that but their most recent 5 year auction was a fail. The Eurozone is completely frayed and one more thing will push it over the edge. Spain and Portugal had auctions for short term paper and they rates were up 40-50% from the previous auctions. The Street was trying to spin it as a positive but I am sorry, rates going up that much is not a positive.

TALF- so not only did the U.S. taxpayers bail out our own banks we also bailed out most of the European banks too. Add tot he rumors going around that we the people were going to give even more to the IMF to give to the Europeans and that would have been a second bail out of European banks with our tax dollars. Of course the Treasury came out and denied it immediately but the cynic in me says they have no problem prevaricating about such things and will do a better job hiding it this time so when someone uses the FIOA to get the details there will be none.

The geopolitical situation is not helping and yet it too is getting very little ink or airplay. China keeps warning us that the Korean situation is not getting better and are all but telling us we are on a precipice of possibly bad things happening. There is no way the markets have considered or fully and correctly discounted what a conflict between the West and China would mean.

The precious metals are telling you if you care that all the schemes the Western financial authorities are using will not succeed. Gold hit an all time high of slightly over $1400/ounce and I smiled as I recall telling a fraternity brother back in August it could go to $2500/ounce in the next two or three years and he told me I was crazy. Silver aint exactly slacking either.

The volumes in the market have completely aspirated lately and I am dreading how slow it will be the week of Christmas.

So Christmas this year will not be a big one due to the work we've put into the cottage. The boys are getting netbooks and a wireless router for their mom's house. The husband already got one of his gifts- a compound mitre saw. I will also get hims a bunch of smaller things but that is it.

Mr. Barrett should skip over the next few paragraphs as it has to do with work on the cottage that we did not gut. This weekend we finished installing the hardwood floor in the kitchen area. The cabinets are getting shipped the 12th so we removed all the old ones and installed the rest of the hardwood flooring. This will make it easy for the dishwasher to get installed as many people only put the flooring to the cabinets then when they go and redo their cabinets and put expensive counter tops in then have to pull out the dishwasher they have an issue with differences in floor heights. Speaking of the dishwasher got delivered when it was scheduled to today whereas the refrigerator did not and the store did not even call. The husband was pissed. Funny how the old store- Sears- understands customer service better than the new one- Best Buy

You know your sons are growing up when your oldest discusses irony with you. It had to do with headphones for his iPod, buying new ones and then finding out his mom had spare ones. I am still not sure if it meets the correct definition of irony or Alanis Morrisette's definition but I was impressed he was thinking that way.

Some really cute guys on the bus this morning. The gym too- there was this guy who was a muscled version of Finn from Glee. I could not get a great look at his ass as he was wearing baggy sweat pants but his mug and guns were nice.

The husband and I actually went and saw Burlesque Saturday afternoon. It was no where nearly as bad as that slow train wreck known as Showgirls. Eric Dane was smokin' hot in it but if I had to choose between him and Cam Gigandet I would have gone with Cam as well. Cam also has a smoking hot ass! I want cookies from him. Cher was ok in it but seriously her face is frozen and it does not move when she talks. It is very freaky.

Don't call me Shirley

2010-11-29T20:47:00.000-05:00

I am sad to see Leslie Nielsen go. I loved his deadpan comedy, dry, sardonic wit as it is totally my type of humor. It has become a bad influence on the husband too. this past weekend he totally pulled one of my lines that is a homage to the scene from Airplane! that goes like something like "This woman needs to get to a hospital. A Hospital? What is it? A big building with patients but that's not important right now." The mother-in-law asked when is Christmas and the husband blurted out "the same day every year." He then looked at me with that oh my God I just used one of your lines.

The other thing this past weekend that kind of stunned me was when my oldest came to me in the kitchen and handed me his phone. It was his mom and she asked me how long do you boil potatoes? I told her until you stick a fork in them and the potato slides off or breaks apart. She then said she wanted a specific time and I told her roughly 25-30 minutes. She thanked me and wished me a Happy Thanksgiving.

Some stuff I read recently that had me scratching my head: "Fake pot is not a safe alternative to illegal narcotics." I did not even now there was such a thing as fake pot? Then in reference to the whole WikiLeaks issue today a French official said the leaks are "...a threat to the authority of democratic society." Sorry but I thought a democratic society derived its authority from the people? Isn't a free press also a hallmark of a democratic society? It also smacks of the people shouldn't know the whole truth as they can't handle it and just trust the government.

No one hot on the bus this morning. Maybe it is just the fact that everyone is starting to wear coats and sweaters and hats so I can't really get a sense of who is hot or not. Slept in this morning, no gym, figured two hours at the dojo- wax on, wax off- would suffice. Then I foolishly jinxed myself by telling the husband I had no work in Asia tonight. Of course right before I left I got loaded up with work for Asia. So I will be hitting the dojo- sweep the leg!- tomorrow night.

I have a lot to be thankful for

2010-11-28T18:35:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for a great husband who loves me and makes me laugh. I am thankful for two amazing sons who love and make me laugh. I am thankful for two dogs who are happy to see me every night I walk through the door no matter what my day was like. I am thankful for great parents and brothers. I am thankful for a great job with people I enjoy working with and a boss who makes it easy to do my job. I am thankful my knees are in great condition even though I am no longer 21, need to stretch and have to change my gait.

My birthday passed and I had a great time. I picked the boys up and they were with us for the weekend. I got to pick dinner so of course I went with pizza and also got a gluten-free pizza for the husband. Sunday morning the husband had invited over friends and some family and we had a nice birthday breakfast and cake. My oldest gave me the new Kings of Leon CD and a homemade card extolling how he loves me more than his brother, lol. My youngest gave me a homemade card as well extolling how it was he who loved me more. Nothing like a little fraternal rivalry. The husband gave me the greatest birthday gift I have ever gotten to date and that is a chainsaw! It is awesome because it is a freakin' chainsaw and because we had a few wind storms that have knocked down some large trees at the cottage so I get to cut them up know, spilt them, store them in the garage and dry them out for firewood. It's a chainsaw!

I know it is pretty useless to think of what may have been if only (although I loved the What If... series from Marvel) but I am of the mindset that if Ireland had stuck to it's stubborn guns and not taken the bailout that would have done more to prevent the contagion from spreading than taking the bailout. The market is a predator and has taken down the weakest in the herd and is now moving onto the next one and that is the Iberian countries, followed by Italy and then it will hit the core and that would be France is my guess.

We had the boys for Thanksgiving this year. I picked them up Wednesday night and drove out to the in-laws on Long Island. The traffic was not that bad. The boys fell asleep and were surprised when they woke up as we pulled into the driveway. I walked in to see the husband and the mother-in-law starting to make a lattice top apple pie. I was impressed as I make pies but have always been intimidated by a lattice top.

Thanksgiving was great. The husband and I did the cooking- juniper brined turkey, cream gravy, cheddar-chipoltle dirty mashed potatoes, brussel sprout and caramelized shallot hash, scalloped tomatoes and homemade cranberry sauce. Dessert was the lattice top apple pie, lemon meringue pie and red velvet cake.

Friday I actually went to work. I had taken the last 4 or so Fridays after Thanksgiving off and felt it was only fair I let someone else in the office. It is a half day in the markets and the slowest day of the year. I got home and the husband had me on the grill making chipoltle cheese burgers for dinner. It was great. We then all went and saw Skyline. The movie sucked. The special effects were great, the action sequences awesome but eh acting was not great and the ending was a complete cop out.

Saturday we hit TGT because my youngest had a birthday party to go to today and needed to get a gift. Then we hit the gym and then left overs for dinner. Is it just me or do Thanksgiving left overs taste better one or two days after?

We watched the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street last night and I have to say it was ok. The boys did not think it was that scary and the husband did not either (he apparently never saw the original). No one got up in the middle of the night so I have to assume it was not that scary.

The drive to take the boys back to their mom's house today was actually not that bad. This is the first time I have ever seen the Belt Parkway with so little traffic. I have no work to do overseas tonight thankfully. Just watch some tv and then hit the bed. Back to the dojo- sweep the leg!- this week.

Don't tell me what to do, just ask

2010-11-20T18:53:00.000-05:00

This week was kind of slow actually. No hot guys on the bus that I can recall as I am writing without any notes.

Tuesday night I attended a charity event with a most of my co-workers and a bunch of people in the business. It was held at the space the gays usually hold their Boys With Toys charity event- which by the way is a Friday night this year but the husband and I are not going as we will be down at the cottage to finish off the floor in the kitchen.

Wednesday night I actually had a nice quiet evening. The husband was down at the cottage and I got home still tired from Tuesday night's festivities and finished Towers of Midnight. I hit the hay early too and got well rested.

Thursday night I had drinks with a business associate. I had hesitated setting this up as I have known the guy for years- from when we were young punks in the business (I'm still a punk, just not young while he has acquired a veneer of respectability). My reason for hesitating was when LEH went under I reached out to him several times to make sure he was ok, could I help in any way, etc. Never heard back from the guy. Then once the other division got rolled up into us I come to find out he does business with them and voila- he is now reaching out to me. I asked a friend in the business who was part of the young punk crowd if I was just being a stubborn mick and he said yes, so I met him for drinks. He hasn't changed, lol.

After that it was off to dinner with the husband and one of his good friends from his London days. She was in town for work. We had a great dinner and of course had a bit too much wine. Come to find out KG is pregnant. Great for her as she will make an awesome mother.

Friday morning it was down to the cottage. I had a doctor's appointment to get my knee checked out. The first thing was they took x-rays. Nothing showed up on them. Next the doctor came in and turned and pushed my knees all which way. Nothing. He said look, you are not 21 anymore, you need to stretch, get new running shows and change your gait. Here is the best part though. I actually paid nothing for the appointment, i.e. my health insurance worked! I was a bit surprised.

Back to the cottage where the husband and I proceeded to take out the old kitchen cabinetry. The only thing we left was the base cabinet that has the sink in it as the husband will still need to clean his hands and the occasional paint brush. Then off to my youngest son's school for his annual parent/teacher conference. I also realized this is the last one I will have to do as he goes to middle school next year.

Then the boys and I went back to PJ and ST's farm and picked up the husband and the kids and back up to Jersey City.

Tonight we are going to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. I did not think my oldest would want to see it but he is all excited.

Last week was all about Europe. If anyone thinks anything has been solved over there or changed they are sadly mistaken. Being of Irish descent I have to admit I get why Ireland is fighting being forced to take the bailout. We Irish hate being told we have to do something- ask nicely and we comply. It is also the whole pride thing and the idea that our suffering is not only part of what makes us Irish but makes stronger. It doesn't matter as once Ireland is utterly forced into it everyone else will fall- Portugal, Spain and now you are starting to here more about Italy.

Next week should be like Harry Potter's Hollows- deathly. It is always a slow week especially with Thursday off and only a half day Friday. It is also traditionally a week some company tries to pull a fast one and sneak something by the markets.

Yes I am that shallow at times that I will buy something that has a hot guy in the ad

2010-11-15T20:25:00.000-05:00

Last week was not to busy but the weekend was mentally taxing.

Thursday night I met up with the husband and one of his friends from his days spent in London. His friend is actually Turkish and was in New York for work. they met up before dinner to pre-game. The husband said he needed a bar that would provide sufficient eye candy for his friend so I told him to go to Boxers. It was such a a good call that after dinner we went back there. The boys behind the bar are hot but the man bouncing was completely hot!

As usual the husband pulled his chatty Cathy act with a woman at the bar. I of course got dragged into it somehow only to have the husband ditch us and try to get his friend laid, lol. The woman was actually very nice. A pharma sales rep. Her husband is an i-banker. I asked her what possessed her to stop in the bar. She is from Michigan and a huge sports fan so decided to pop in as she lives in the neighborhood. She then realized she was in a gay bar but stayed anyways as she knew she'd be able to watch sports undisturbed- that is until the husband started chatting her up, lol.

Friday night was quiet and we stayed in as the husband had his trail half marathon Saturday morning. I would have run it too if not for my recent knee issue.

Saturday morning we were up and on the road early. The thermometer in the car said it was 37 degrees. The husband was not happy. He did the first loop and was dying, lol. Apparently a trail half marathon is nothing like a road half marathon. Trail seems to be a misnomer as most of the race apparently was through woods, over streams and involved climbing an extremely rocky, near vertical incline. I am actually upset I missed the race as it sounds like I would have enjoyed it.

We then hit the road again and stopped at a local, incredibly cheap counter top place. It was close to becoming painful for me to walk through the warehouse looking at all the different types of stone and have to come up with some kind of comment on the pattern, color or tonality. Thankfully the race was starting to hit the husband so we wrapped up sooner rather than later.

Down to the cottage. Painting for me. Saturday night we went to dinner with ST and PJ at a local, semi-legendary eating establishment that was closing. Sadly they did not play "Last Dance."

Sunday I hit the pool. One of the gyms in the chain near the cottage actually has a proper sized pool. So I hit the pool for a half hour. Then it was back to the cottage for painting. Then off to HD to finalize the kitchen cabinets with a side trip to BBY to check out appliances of course. I was making it through admirably until I got asked about drawer pulls. Thankfully that is all done.

The ten year Treasury had some interesting action today. No one had an intelligent reason as to what caused the move but I would venture to say that hopefully the bond market vigilantes are back and starting to price risk properly again.

On the way home from the pool I stopped at DD to get some coffee. I saw their new Sausage Pancake Bites and decided to try them solely because of the hot guy they use in the ad. They actually were not bad. Don't get me wrong I won't be getting them often but they were good.

WTF!!!!???

2010-11-09T22:28:00.002-05:00

I just finished hastily writing my post because I wanted to watch Caprica only to find out SciFi cancelled the show!!! Seriously NBC what the frack is wrong with you???!!! You cancel the most intelligent show on tv because...?

Like running through a field of four leaf clovers and catching a unicorn

2010-11-09T22:22:00.000-05:00

So I slept in this morning and did not work out. Call me lazy if you want to but my response is a big fuck you, lol.

I need to start off with econ stuff first, sorry for anyone who reads this and is only interested in the hot guys on the bus or gym I lust after.

The Euro periphery is totally fucked! Ireland selling twenty six week paper at ~4.85% is not a good thing. Spain is pretty much fucked. The only thing saving Portugal is there history with China (lest you forget I am fairly certain they were the first Europeans who made contact with China almost 600 years ago). Everyone I read here int he States seems to think the idea of a double dip is dead but I would posit that when the Euro periphery goes it will drag us right back down. Just saying...

I love Tom Keene on BBRG! The guy is one of the most erudite, polished, professional reporters left in the media. He wears bow ties! So when I hear his stentorian voice on the I usually look up from my screens to watch and listen; however, when his show Midday Surveillance throws in those cheesy sound effects all I can think of is the episode from Family Guy where Brian took over the radio show only to have Stewie come in and completely corrupt it. I actually had one of my moments where I sent Mr. Keene a BBRG message expressing those exact thoughts. He did not reply to me- probably because I added it was very CNBCish...

My man crush at work did the Florida Iron Man this past weekend. He showed me a picture of himself crossing the finish line at 13 hours, 23 minutes and 53 seconds. I didn't even notice the time as I was too enthralled seeing him all lean and sweaty in Lycra. He also finally started dipping again today (which was why he came over to the desk) and I made him do the Skoal Longcut Mint that was easily 5 months old and drier than a nun's twat...

I was at a loss for lunch today. Then it hit me. I went to MCD and got a McRib. Seriously, it was just like the title of the post says...I think I also caught the leprechaun and got the pot of gold.

I finally capitulated and set up a doctor's appointment to get my knee checked out.

The Towers of Midnight

2010-11-08T20:21:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the missed week of posting, just got kind of busy and lost my notes so had to try and recap what I could.

My coffee guy in the morning at the train terminal I walk through is smarter than I gave him credit for. A small coffee used to cost just a buck. He went and upped it to $1.25. I bet his tip cup has filled up a lot more often and quicker now. I am probably not a good sample but I usually just let him keep the change as I don't feel like having three quarters jingle in my pocket all day. So he is already basically doubling his profits on me alone.

Halloween weekend was good. We had the boys but they went back to their mom's house early on Sunday for a Halloween party. Saturday night we celebrated my youngest son's birthday (it was the Monday after Halloween). I made two cakes- one regular one and one that was gluten free for the husband. The family tradition in my family has been the birthday boy gets to pick what's for dinner. Of course he chose pizza but I found out his favorite pizza place up here also has a gluten free one. So the husband got to have not only his cake but his pizza too and eat both.

That night we continued a very new (as in this is only the second year) tradition of scary movies the weekend closest to Halloween we have the boys. We watched The Exorcist. I forgot how creepy that is. My youngest decided about a quarter of the way in not to watch it. When it finished we put in the second movie 30 Days of Night: Dark Days. I did not realize they made a sequel and now I know why as no one from the first is even in it. I watched about 10 minutes and then suggested to my youngest he come play his video game on the bed while I napped. He agreed. I fell asleep only to be woken about a hour later by the husband and my youngest. The movie was over and I had to put my youngest to bed after walking the dogs. My oldest decided to skip the second feature as well and was already asleep. Of course at 3:45 AM my youngest was in the room, trying to wake me up and startled the husband. He "just couldn't sleep." Right, he had a nightmare.

Sunday after dropping the boys off early we went to the cottage to do more work. We worked further on casings and baseboards. Got most of them done. We also brought the remainder of the gluten full birthday cake to the farm for PJ and ST- needless to say it was a huge hit and I have to make another one. I took Monday off to do more work and are basically finished with the casings and baseboards.

So I was all signed up to do a trail half marathon next weekend. However I am not doing it as I think I have a knee issue. Twice during running with the husband I had to stop about halfway through- it seems like anything over 6 miles is a no go- due to major pain in my right knee; the in the joint kind, not the outside of the knee so I know it is not due to lack of stretching. I now need to make an appointment with a specialist- in my HMO network!- to get it looked at. My concern is I will have to get it scoped or something similar. On the positive side though this is the first time I have had a knee issue so I am probably still able to have it scoped and get another twenty or so years out of it. It has also precluded me from hitting the dojo- sweep the leg! So I have basically been lifting, biking and swimming.

This past weekend we were down at the cottage again. This time was spent painting baseboards and casings. I also painted the front door. The husband is working on sealing the knotty pine panelling in the den that he stripped and bleached. He started with a polyurethane and did not like how it was clear yet changing the color of the wood. I suggested he stop and try the other product the lumber guy recommended. He did not so yesterday he spent the day sanding it all off and re-bleaching. I just painted quietly and did not gloat when he admitted I was right and he should have stopped.

This morning, getting back to my cardio adventures, I went to go swim only to discover the pool is closed due to renovations occurring at that branch of the gym. No clue on how long it will be but whatever. The Walking Dead is of to a pretty good start. I never read the comic book but I like the show so far. However, last night's episode was a bit graphic and the title should have tipped me off.

I am highly annoyed at all the Christmas stuff that is already in stores. I really think it should be against the law for any Christmas displays to be put up until Black Friday. We did not get a good family photo this year so there won't be one with the Christmas card.

OMG the penultimate book in The Wheel of Time series is out and I did not even know it until my way home tonight! A few things- WTF? I thought this was supposed to be the last volume??? Of course I bought, rushed thru my cardio workout at the gym, did not even shower and came home to crack it open.

Ok, Burlesque...possibly this century's attempt at reaching the heights of Showgirls. I have to say I have twinges of wanting to go see solely because of the preview shot of Cam Gigandet in nothing but boxers...the guy is smokin' hot!

I want a silver lame suit

2010-10-27T20:53:00.000-04:00

So last week was a bit chaotic and interesting.

Wednesday night the husband and I went and saw Phoenix at MSG. Seriously, it was like we were dropped into the middle of the 12th arrondissment. I swear everyone around us was from France. The best part was the husband, being the chatty Kathy he is, started chatting with the woman next to him. Much to our surprise we found out this is not Phoenix' first album. They apparently have made a bunch. So I told her it is obviously their first good one or they'd have toured the U.S. before an done a show in MSG. That did not go over well; it was like I insulted their WWII military achievements...

Thursday I convinced everyone on the desk except the boss we should dress up this Friday to celebrate Samhain. The rule was simple: You need an actual costume, putting a witch's hat on or black cat ears or something else lame is not allowed.

Thursday night we all attended a party celebrate the fortieth anniversary (in our line of work) of a woman we do business with. She is 58 which means she started at 18 (see I can do math without a calculator). More importantly she started as a high school graduate and a woman in a man's world. She succeeded beyond all odds. In this day and age you cannot get into my line of work with just a high school diploma. It is a testament to how great she is at her job. The boss made me drink a few too many straight vodkas. We tried an Irish vodka- Boru (named after the legendary High King)- which gave us pause until the bartendress (Irish of course) pointed out vodka is made from potatoes and who knows potatoes better than the Irish.

I read Friday how scientists have spotted the oldest galaxy in the universe. Apparently it is roughly 13.1 billion light years away. Two thoughts came to mind- are we about to be forced into the ongoing war between the Vorlons and Shadows (maybe they are already here influencing us which could explain Sarah Palin)? The other was I cannot wait to see Skyline. The movie looks great and I hope the creatures from it are not on their way already from the oldest galaxy.

Saturday we worked on the cottage. We were installing window casings and baseboards. Funny thing happened though early in the morning. The ex called in a mood. She apparently had reached a breaking point. The boys it seems have been rather disrespectful, bratty and rude a lot lately. Then she adds on how her mother has been the same and her horse is being a jerk. "I fucking hate everyone right now." I asked if she called because she is mad at me and hates me as well or she just needed to speak with someone. She informed that while her boyfriend is a great support she could vent to me and I had to listen because I am her ex. I asked if she wanted me to come over a hour ahead of my scheduled pick up of our oldest (he and I were going to see Paranormal Activity 2) and the four of us would sit down and have a "family chat." She said yes please.

I got there and apparently I had my angry eyes as both boys immediately knew something was wrong. The four of us sat down at the kitchen table and had a good discussion. I then said to the ex that while I know it is her house could she please leave for awhile so I could talk to the boys. She did. I then laid into them and read them the riot act. I was dropping the f-bomb, telling them their mother is not a maid or a chauffeur or cook, etc. She is their mother and they will start treating her properly. I told them they were being ungrateful brats, I think I also called them shitheads. I told them I have tried to use logic, reason and everything else to make them understand. I closed with this is your first, last and only warning; if I ever get a call like that from their mother again I will stop whatever I am doing, come down here and kick their asses. At this point they are both in tears. My oldest said he had never heard me talk like that and I replied I have never been this angry. Their mom came back in and they both ran to her, started hugging her in tears, apologizing profusely. She gave me that look like what the hell did you say?

I felt bad for two reasons. One, I threatened my children with physical violence to get them to behave and two that I actually had to threaten them. It does seem to be working though. I know this because the ex and I now speak daily and when I asked my youngest how his attitude has been he replies "Good...I hope."

Paranormal Activity 2 is actually scarier than the original I think. I was always a scaredy cat about basements as a kid and this movie completely justified my childhood fear. I have also always need to have the closet doors closed when I go to bed- even now- and again, the movie has made me feel justified.

Sunday night the husband and I went and saw Muse at The Prudential Center. It was a completely different show than Phoenix but just as great. It was seriously old school rock concert- moving stage, laser lights, smoke machines, massive video screens. The best part was the lead singer was wearing a freakin' silver lame suit. the husband commented Muse is much harder in concert than on their albums- I concur; definite headbanging going on. Also, The Prudential Center is a great venue to see a show it, highly recommend it.

Got my costume today- a Klingon, with ridged forehead no less (STNG type not the original). I also have a fu manchu style mustache to put on. Need to figure out a name and a house. I am predisposed to the House of Mogh of course.

An interesting story out last week regarding Anglo-Irish. The government is finally doing what really needs to be done to help solve this whole financial wreck- hitting the bond holders. Apparently they are proposing the bond holders take 20 cents on the euro, which is the equivalent of 18 cents on the dollar. Huge hit and it should scare everyone who holds bank debt as it could set a precedent.

Exercising has been killin' me lately. Did a twelve mile run Monday night with the husband. My knee was killing me and when we got back to the building we find out there was a water main break a few blocks away so we had no water. Great...

Tuesday morning was the gym then one class at the dojo- sweep the leg!- at night and then up until roughly 11:30 PM working. This morning was a five mile run. I got to the office and the woman who sits next to me told me I look really tired. So tonight nothing.

Domo arigato Mr. Roboto

2010-10-19T21:09:00.000-04:00

I slept in later this morning- I need to catch up from all the manual labor I did this past weekend. Speaking of manual labor, the boss and I discussed our weekend activities and came to the conclusion that manual labor for guys like us is cathartic. It is great to do that kind of work and see immediate results and know they are because of you and not someone else.

I wore a suit and tie to work this morning. Not only was I being lazy but the boss had also scheduled several new non-U.S. business contacts to come in I did not want to look disrespectful as they were predominately Asian and I know how the are about the whole "face" thing.

I am a firm believer this market has topped out. I have finally started walking the walk and not just talking the talk. Today I moved my 401(k) and every other incentive/savings plan I have to 100% cash. I don't care if I miss another 5% to the upside. Don't get me wrong, I was doubting myself until I chatted with my bond friend and he told me he had done almost the same thing but moved into 10 year Treasuries, 30 year Treasuries, gold and cash. I get those moves but even those moves can generate losses whereas cash can only lose (even more) purchasing power, lol.

I had a quick drink with one of our Asian business contacts after work then met up with the husband and TK for a drink. They were then having dinner and going to some Broadway show- non-musical variety.

I am psyched for this weekend. Saturday night I am taking my oldest and a few of his friends to go see Paranormal Activity 2. I told my oldest I'll buy treats but his friends have to buy their own tickets and make sure it is ok with their parents.

This song just keeps on giving...

2010-10-18T22:30:00.000-04:00

This weekend was quite industrious. The husband and I started to install the hardwood flooring in the foyer, hallway. living room and dining room. My step-father-in-law was there to help us start the project as it is all important that the first three rows are in straight and they need to be hand nailed in; the husband thought we could use the nail gun we borrowed and I told him the pre-finished bamboo flooring manufacturer said it could damage the planks. It did on the first one he nailed in. So it was all hand nailed on the first three and I got to use my nail set- which the step-father-in-law was impressed I actually owned.

The table saw also impressed the husband's step father; it is the same portable one he owns and he is a cabinet maker/carpenter. It also generated a shitload of sawdust, as in by the end of the day Saturday my snots were basically all sawdust. We ended Saturday when we got to the front door and I was fried and couldn't fully get the process figured out.

I sent pics to a bunch of friends and family. I really don't know why they are all shocked and awed- seriously, can't all gays handle hard wood with ease?

Sunday we really made some great progress. I had to buy a jig saw to get some of the cuts done. I also got stuck having to do the remainder of the foyer and the hallway which is a lot of precise cutting and hand nailing. We got half the square footage done- I know that because we started with 41 boxes of planks and used 20 of them. I got home last night and was so frackin' sore. There were muscles I did not know I had or hadn't used since my days as a union construction laborer throwing 105 lb. jack hammers around.

I ran 4 miles this morning and again paid the price for all the manual labor I did over the weekend. I listened to my half marathon play list and again Carmine Burana keeps giving me all these great insights. I definitely heard "Dorks use blue tooth" and "Pimps drink Grey Goose."

The bus was a none event this morning.

One has to wonder. The government owns GM- no matter what semantics they use to obfuscate the issue. Why don't they force GM to spin off OnStar as a separately traded public company and then anyone who buys a car could go and sign up for OnStar? I used to own a Tahoe and it had OnStar- OnStar actually rocks. If I could subscribe to it in my Toyota pick up truck I would.

Brothers are funny. Last night after I had been home for about 5 minutes I noticed I had a missed call from the ex. The voice mail was a cryptic call me. I call her and find out she and the boys are in the emergency room. Apparently my oldest was getting annoyed by his younger brother and pushed him or reacted in some other physical manner. My youngest fell and hit the back of his head on the kitchen chair, gash resulting. they went to the doctor who looked at it and he said he needed a stitch. He ended up receiving two staples instead. I spoke to them both and stressed to my oldest that a physical reaction is not acceptable. The only thing I was really annoyed at was the ex was not home when this happened and left her phone in her car. Thankfully the boys are smart, called their grandmother who lives two blocks away and she took care of everything.

This week is frackin' busy. Tomorrow night I have drinks with a Japanese business associate who is in town. Wednesday night the husband and I are going to see Phoenix. Thursday night I have a surprise birthday party to go to for a friend in the business. Friday I will go down to the cottage again after work, the husband and I are having dinner with my friend who lent us his tools and his wife. Saturday more work on the cottage and then Sunday we are seeing Muse in concert.

Not a luxury liner...

2010-10-15T19:52:00.000-04:00

I got up yesterday morning got up and ran my 5 miles. There is something nice about running on an autumn morning that early when it is still dark and there is a slight chill/crispness in the air. The winter can be fun as well but I think I am emotionally scarred from my days wrestling in high school and running in the winter meant I was close to being over weight and had to do extra cardio.

I then had no mental energy to actually pick out pants and a shirt, etc. So I woke the husband up and asked him to pick a tie for me and commented I kind of wish we'd go back to having to wear suits at the office on a daily basis.

The bus was rather uneventful.

The new blond guy on Glee- does anyone else think his mouth is all fracked up? It reminds me of Heath Ledger's Joker mouth. Hot body but weird mouth- kinda turns me off.

I played lacrosse from 6th grade on. So when I see articles in the NYT about it I always read them. Paul Rabil- holy shit! If I was not a lax fan I would be after seeing him. I need to get the ESPN The Magazine body issue. I also came across another hot opera guy. Vittorio Grigolo. Something about dark hair and dark eyes that just get me going.

So the other day I watched a story on BBRG tv about SBUX and how management is trying to slow down their servers. Are you frackin' kidding me?? The people at SBUX are slow enough, if they go any slower it will completely back fire on them and they will definitely lose even more sales. The management should be trying them to pick the pace up a bit.

Last night after work we had an Oktoberfest. I had a few beers then pulled a Houdini as I was meeting PF for drinks. He of course picked the new gay sports bar, Boxers. It is actually a real sports bar and of course I sat down in front of the hot, blond, shirtless, muscly twenty something bartender. He was not very friendly; you'd think as a bartender you'd be friendly. Of course once we bought him a shot he was all smiles and introduced himself as Josh.

This morning I got to rest as Fridays are my rest days for training. White pants was on the bus and he was hot as usual wearing a pink button down shirt with white collar and blue blazer- I think...lol.

I read how God's Bankers have IT Nazis and the cannot even respond to IMs such as WTF. So of course every day I now IM the kid I do business there with a WTF first thing in the morning. The prevents him from replying and he has to actually pick up the phone and converse with me.

Recently when all the talking heads on tv talk about QE2 they make the distinction they are not talking about the ocean liner. I agree the luxury liner is not a good analogy but there is one that I think is- the Titanic. QE2 when it comes is going to be a huge failure and do more damage to the economy. It will also probably drive the ten year rate down below 2% which will be the bell ringing for everyone to get out of the pool because there is a Baby Ruth floating.

The in-laws are coming over tonight. I will be hosting them. Tomorrow morning we will drive down to the cottage. My father-in-law will be the supervisor of us starting the floor installation and he will be measuring out the walls for the book cases we are going to put in. Today the husband painted the foyer.

Hump Day

2010-10-13T22:47:00.000-04:00

So I slept in this morning instead of running. I got to bed late last night and just did not want to get out of bed. It was nice.

The highlight of my day was an email exchange with Mr. Clifford. He sent me an email reminding me I gave him my opinion on what options he should consider for his 401(k) when he started his new job back in January. Apparently I made some good/smart/lucky guesses. His account is up 14.5% year to date. He wanted to know if that was a good rate of return. I then had to expound on the difference between absolute returns versus relative returns. Regardless of which way he wants to look at it 14.5% y.t.d. is freakin' awesome. The SPX is only up 5.74% y.t.d.

The other highlight of the day was stuffing the boss with my Asia trades. The rule of thumb on the desk is if two of us have orders in the same name the one with the larger order takes them all; hence how I was able to stuff him- ha!

I got home kind of late tonight. My intention was to hit the dojo- sweep the leg!- but I realized I had work to do. I needed to clean up the boys room and make the beds as the in-laws will be staying here Friday night. I then had to put away all the dry cleaning and empty out the dishwasher. Why tonight? Well tomorrow night I have an office social function to go to then I am having drinks with PF. I know that I will end up getting stuffed with Asia work and that after a few cocktails cleaning would not be on my agenda.

In preparation for the foolish trail half marathon I agreed to do I set up my training schedule. I only have five weeks to get ready. So I took the husband's advice and am just going to repeat the last five weeks of my ten week program I did for the road half marathon. That means tomorrow I will be running before work- five miles.

Foolishness is not saying no because you love someone

2010-10-12T23:31:00.000-04:00

Lots to catch up on.

First let's get the boring stuff out of the way.

HR3808 is an abomination, a stealth attempt at TARP 2.0 and shows you who Congress and the President really answer to- if I was in a less generous mood I'd say owned by. It was an attempt by our corporate finance masters to make sure they could continue with their fraudclosures. Thankfully the real reporters- the financial blogs out there- raised the alarm, hue and cry. The President said he would use a pocket veto...how nice of him. You can bet your ass he would have signed it if he had not been caught on it. It basically allowed the servers of the mortgages to claim an out of state notarization was valid in another state.

We met the gentleman we do business with in London last Thursday. Holy shit he looks like he is 12- no wait, 14 at the oldest. I am sure if you asked him if he thought girls were icky he'd answer in the affirmative...

So there has been a bunch of articles on a big time hedge fund manager who is a huge comic book fan. I had one of my less lucid moments late today and sent him a BBRG starting with Excelsior and stating Norrin Radd is my favorite hero. The guy actually replied, lol. We went back and forth for a few minutes. I am sure he thinks I am a nut job- not far off base. At least if he tries to find me on Linked In he'll see I am in the two largest comic book groups and know I am a true believer.

I have been biking a lot recently at the gym and I still doubt the odometer on the eSpinner. Yesterday I actually got back in the pool for the first time in a long time. I only swam for twenty minutes but it felt good to be back in the water and I didn't smell like chlorine for the entire day.

Last Thursday I had drinks with a college friend who I actually do business with; not a big deal in and of itself but what made it fun is his new boss. His new boss just happens to be my ex-father-in-law, lol. So I gave him some good intell on what buttons he has an dhow to push them. I also had about twenty beers too many and it was Miller High Life- not my first, second or third choice ever but the bar was having a charity event where every cap from MHL bottles was kept and translated into a ten cents donation to Wounded Warrior.

Last weeks Glee was not bad but I did tell the husband and he completely agreed with me if any song from Yentl was on it we were turning it off. We did not watch the entire episode obviously...More exciting was the premiere of Caprica. This season is going to be frackin' great- I can just feel it in my steel cylons bones...

I had the boys this weekend and the husband was down at PJ and ST's dog sitting for them as they were off to Berlin. Saturday we went into the city for the NY Comic Con. I actually spied Chris Meloni there with- I assume- his daughter. The boys and I agreed that it was really crowded this year compared to the last time we went. After about four hours they were done and ready to go home. That night we went and saw My Soul To Take- in 3D of course. It was a good Wes Craven flick.

This weekend we are starting the installation of the hardwood floors. A friend in my line of work loaned us a bunch of nail guns, an air compressor and compound mitre saw. The husband went to pick them up Saturday morning and sent me a text letting me know my friend is adorable, lol. The other thing we did was get a table saw! I am so psyched! Power tools rule! We will need it for when we replace all the baseboards and window and door casings.

So today I did a really dumb thing: I agreed to do a trail half marathon in November with the husband. What the frack was I thinking?? I really can't say no to him and I admit I am slightly competitive.

I got my ass kicked last night at the dojo- Cobra Kai never die! I got stuck with the black belts and while they thanked me for the excellent workout I did not return the kind words, lol. Joshu is one lanky, wiry bony-shouldered mother fracker and those shoulders don't feel good when they are getting round into parts of your head, chest, jaw line or neck. Sempei is about an inch shorter than me and twenty pounds heavier. I'll most likely see both of them tomorrow night- frackers.

Ok, falling into a slightly misogynistic (I apologize ahead of time to any women who read this) mode: The husband and I went to the gym tonight (lots of great eye candy there such as Delaware, Rutgers and Brown hat but I digress). I went to use one pec deck and there was someone using it with a trainer. I go over to the other one and there is a lady using it. I ask how many sets she has left and she replies she just started and "There's another one you know?" with serious snottiness. I reply yes I know and it is being used too. Ladies- learn how to let someone work in on equipment. Don't just sit there and rest and ignore the person who just asked how many sets you have- that is code for can I work in? Also do not wear one of those mesh baseball-type caps in the gym. Straight guys think they make you look less attractive and dorky, the gays are horrified you have either bad fashion sense, bad hair or split ends. I then go over to use the eSpinner. The tow are being used by women and they are both over the forty minute mark when all the signs clearly say all cardio equipment has a thirty minute time limit during peak hours. I see the manager and totally rat them out, lol. A trainer goes over and explains they have to follow the rules. Both women pull the oh I thought that was just for treadmills. They also both start shooting daggers with their eyes at me- ha!

Seriously- I swear they are singing in Klingon

2010-10-05T20:46:00.000-04:00

I hit the gym this morning. The one next door to the office as I was up early enough. The thing though was that the bus got stuck in the tunnel, why is unbeknownst to me as I had my iPod on and was happy listening to my music and playing WordMole.

I did the eSpinner today at the gym and I have to say that the odometer on it has to be wrong. There is no way I actually biked 7.98 miles in twenty minutes. I fervently hope it is right but I just can't see that being the case.

The whole mortgage mess is getting even more fracked up. The housing market is seriously screwed up all because of securitization. I get that if you cannot prove you hold title to a mortgage you legally cannot foreclose on the mortgage. Makes sense to me. That is really the problem right now. The judiciary is finally smarting up and becoming activist- which means it's just a matter of time before the right gets all pissy about it, unless of course it is their houses the judges are stopping the bank from foreclosing on I am sure. More importantly it means that if the banks that own the CMBs are not getting their expected cash flows because people cannot afford or choose not to pay their mortgages anymore. No cash flows means they CMBs the owned are worth less. That means all these banks who are lying and marking these CMBs on the b/s at 100 cts on the dollar will have to eat the loss at some point. That means they will take a capital hit and have to either raise more or become impaired. This will put the TBTF idea to a serious test and it will also be a serious strain on the severely limited FDIC. I don't see how our corporatist finance overlords will allow a hideous, activist judiciary to ruin their plans...

The market loved the idea that the Fed has been telegraphing-more QE! It seems very short sighted as the Fed is telling us it is coming not because of the strength and vitality of our economy but because we are totally fracked still. Oh- and the first round did nothing to help, so sure let's try again and more this time. My belief is when the Fed drives the 10 year down below the 2% level it is over for bonds. I am not sure what to move into once that happens- all I can think of is hard assets- you know, land, precious metals, coal, oil, guns, canned goods, etc.

I finally heard back from JP. He has been busier than a one armed barber lately with his current gig. Hopefully at some point in the near future we'll be able to get together with him soon for drinks and/or dinner.

One of the songs I put on my list for the half marathon is Carmine Burana- aka the music from The Omen (the original one not the recent remake). I had never really listened to it before but it is what I started the race with and I have been listening to it a lot lately and I swear to God the song is in Klingon. I hear the choir singing about Duras, Kahless, Gowron and Worf. I am pretty sure I heard Sto-Vo-Kor and Gre'thor in there as well.

Hemlock, mosaic green and pale moon

2010-10-04T21:17:00.000-04:00

Just catching up since over the weekend. Thursday morning there was a real cute guy on the bus bit he was wearing two clashing plaids. I am not exactly a fashion plate- I like to illustrate the differences between my fashion sense and style by contrasting them to the husbands; mine is closer to Sindarin while the husband's is more like Quenya- but I digress.

There was actually a second hot guy on the bus that morning too- big burly looking blond with a brush cut. He also had a rather mean looking mug- probably because he is not getting laid enough.

Thursday was back to school night for my oldest son. Surprisingly the ex actually saved a seat for me in homeroom. The first thing I noticed is why my oldest likes his homeroom teacher- she is an attractive blond with an ample bosom. She also happens to be his science teacher. The other cool thing I thought was I can know see all his grades and everything else about school on line. They have a portal you can sign in and view it all. Sucks for him but cool for me.

Friday morning was a non event on the bus. It was also relatively quiet at work. Friday night we went and saw Let Me In with JD and JW to celebrate the start of Shocktober. I would rather have seen Case 39 but the vote went against me. I don't know why the rest wanted to see it as we all saw the Swedish movie it was a cover of, Let The Right One In.

Saturday morning we drove down to the cottage for a weekend of painting. I spent all day Saturday painting the ceiling in the living room, dining room and kitchen. Painting ceilings totally sucks. My lower back, neck and shoulders were killing me by the time we finished. The husband got the first coat of paint up in the bedrooms. Sunday we put up the first coat in the living room and dining room, got he second coat up in each of the bedrooms at which point the other rooms were dry so put up the second coat in all of them. It was a lot of painting. The colors we chose are blue, aka hemlock, for our room, green, aka mosaic green for the boys room and yellow, aka pale moon for the living room and dining room. We have not yet decided on a color for the foyer or den. The den will be difficult as the naughty pine was completely stripped of all varnish and stain. We are going to seal it and leave it plain.

I think the husband has doubts about my painting skills as he suggested I instead try to remove the linoleum floor in the kitchen instead of helping him finish the second coat in our bedroom. Funny thing about thirty year old Armstrong flooring- it is glued on. Parts of it I was able to rip up but we need to rent a heat gun and do it as a team- that will be fun.

I think the boss is upset with me for cheating on him. We had Thai food for lunch and I skipped the rice. He looked at me and asked why I wasn't eating the rice and if I was training for another race that I didn't tell him about it.

I skipped the dojo- sweep the leg!- tonight. The weather sucked,t he husband has a sinus cold and I was still tired from all the painting. So I came home, made soup for dinner and nursed the husband.

I hate getting scooped

2010-09-28T20:22:00.003-04:00

So yesterday morning I did not run when I got up. Seriously WTF was the husband thinking about doing a light run. The best part was later in the day he sent me a link to a site saying you should not do any running- or biking or swimming- for a week after your race. That was also an excellent reason to skip the dojo- Cobra Kai never die!- last night. Of course I was a bit busy in the Land Of The Rising Sun, so still got to bed a bit late. I slept in later than usual this morning too and I have to say the buses later in the morning are sorely lacking in any eye candy to start the day right.

Here is how fucked up most people in my line of work are: The news of President Carter being hospitalized elicited a long discussion that- while not wishing any ill upon the man- if he were to pass ideally he would do it Wednesday or very early Thursday so that President Obama could declare Friday a National Day of Mourning and we'd get an unscheduled three day weekend. Surprisingly I was not the one who initiated the discussion.

I am confused at to what the difference is between a currency war and a trade war. To me it is just semantics and since we are clearly in a currency war- in case you weren't sure even Peru jumped in the fray today (all the cool kids are doing it so we should I guess is the reasoning there?). It is now unofficially a trade war with everyone try to cheapen their currency as quickly as possible. We've seen this movie before and it does not end well. Granted back then it was black and white and an actual film, today it is a viral web series but the medium doesn't change the ending.

Speaking of history not repeating but echoing one should recall that the '87 crash- which occurred when I was a snot-nosed sophomore in college- had several main causes one of which was a dollar crisis. Sound familiar? It all actually makes me happy I have a hard asset in the form of arable land- granted it is only 6 acres but I can get a vegetable garden on it of decent size, get some goats and sheep maybe and I'll be set. I am thinking of starting an apiary as well- honey and wax for candles....

I got scooped on a story out yesterday by a big time financial blog. I read about how the editor of The Stock Trader's Almanac is calling for the Dow to go over 38,000 by 2025. The supposed move will start in 2017. Ok- who the hell can see that far out and who has an investment time line that long? Seriously? The other thing that kills me is that publication flies in the face of everything about the Street. Every financial firm tells you upfront that past performance is no guarantee of future performance and every investment has unforeseen risks. Yet for some reason people like to read this thing and base investment decisions on the past? And if you ask anyone who is in my line of work, they will comment on how one of the things they love about this business is that it is never the same thing every day.

The boys are still laughing at the dogs. Our older one looks like Ren- his fur was really matted (we don't brush him out enough apparently) and the groomer shaved him. The boys then said that must make the younger one Stimpy as she is stupid enough and Rubenesque.

As I wrote before one of the creators/writers of Glee is a fellow college alum. I debated logging on to the alumni network and shooting him a message suggesting the show do Meatloaf.

I see Trent Edwards got released unexpectedly. He is damn cute and I find it hard to believe he gets released unexpectedly- I bet he gets released a lot...