The cool thing about the Hoboken Parking Authority

So my parents are coming down Friday. I had to get them non-resident parking permits, at $3 each for two days no big deal. While I was there I got my resident permit. I was told the husband will have to pay double what I did since I was there first- LOL.

We all have a wedding to go to Friday night- actually the ceremony is Friday at 4 PM in Hoboken but we won't be able to make it. So we will be going to the reception in the city at 7 PM. It's a black time reception and I've never seen the husband in a tux so I am kind of excited. I bought a tux a while ago but I was still a few biscuits over 210 at the time so even though it is tailored it's a bit loose on me these days. The groom is a kid who I coached in youth lacrosse back in my hometown. He was best friends with my younger brother and now lives in Hoboken. The husband and I have gotten drunk with him and the bride many times and have become good friends with them. My younger bro is going as well but his wife won't be able to make it since she recently had twins.

So every night the husband has a conference call with Asia. Tonight as he was on he muted his phone to ask me about the unusual move in crude oil and natural gas. I told him it was not related to the dollar in any way; I had heard from a couple of smart derivative guys that it was one of two things- either someone was taking off a big trade (selling crude and buying/covering nat gas) or putting on a new trade (selling/shorting crude and going long nat gas). Several minutes later he tells me he did not have his mute on and several people on the call heard him ask me and me explain it.

Since we have now nicely segued into the markets I do need to comment on what the Secretary of the Treasury is proposing. I have no problem with less regulation and one central regulator who has clear checks and balances. I do not agree with the idea of giving the federal government more power though. The line that comes to mind is P.J. Rourke's (and I am paraphrasing): "Giving the federal government money and power is like giving a teenage boy whiskey and the keys to the car." I also don't see the states willing to give up power to the Federal government. If I were a strict Constitutionalist I'd have to argue that the federal government is overstepping their bounds by grabbing power not explicitly given to them in the Constitution which is to be left to the individual states- but I digress.

I ran last night and swam this morning then biked tonight after my dentist appointment. My hip flexors are a bit tender- the husband will have to do all the work tonight...

I wanna go to the Black Party...

The husband had never seen Zoolander so he downloaded it onto his iPod and we watched last night with the boys. I forgot how funny it was. My favorite line is "They're break dance fighting." My soon to be 11 year old was roaring at the day spa scene.

Last night I got a text from JP saying he was going to the Black Party. He instructed to me that if I did not hear from him in a few days I was to call his mother. I told him I'd call him tonight to check up on him. This morning he texted me around 11:30 to say he was home and safe. I told the husband I want to go to the Black Party next year with him. He said we can go when we are sixty. I said no we are going next year. He's been a few times but me being the late bloomer have never been to it.

The husband had never been to TGT until he moved out here a little over a year ago. We go to the one in Newport and he has fallen in love with it. We have never made it our of the store and spent less than $100- that is until today. It was kind of amazing actually because we had the boys with us and they always try to get me to buy them something. So today was sort of a red letter day for us.

The husband finally started his swimming for his training regimen. I dropped the boys off at their mom's house and drove back to Hoboken. As I was driving into Hoboken this huge cloud of grey smoke blew out of my exhaust and the check engine light went on; those fucks at Jiffy Lube in the Sear Service Center at the Sear in the Newport Center Mall in Jersey City did something to my truck! Tomorrow I will take it to the local service station 3 blocks from the apartment and ask them to fix it.

I got home without spewing anymore smoke, parked the truck and then hit the gym for my run. Fifty eight minutes on the treadmill, a little over 6 miles. Got showered up and walked out of the gym to find the husband waiting for me to take me to dinner. At dinner we were discussing the boys and somehow got onto the topic that I have junk in the trunk according to the husband. I was a bit taken aback since I thought that had a negative connotation but he explained to me it is a good thing.

Trying to be the person my dogs think I am

Thursday evening we took our departing CEO out for drinks at a place called Johnny Utah's right next to Rockefeller Plaza. It is a western themed bar and it has a mechanical bull. I was the only one who had the cojones to actually ride the bull and I lasted 20 seconds on the damn thing. My knee was a bit sore all day Friday even though we did shots of tequilla after I got thrown. Friday was a shortened day for me. The boys got back from spring break and they landed at JFK. It took me two weeks to convince the ex-wife that it would be easy for her to drop them off in Hoboken but did not explain that it helps me by not having to drive an extra 110 miles this weekend. They landed at 2:30 and I left the office at 2:45. Their mom dropped them off arounf 4 PM. They had sunburn and were peeling. The husband asked if I was going to say anything to her about it because if the shoe was on the other foot she would have raised hell about it. I said no, not worth it, this is a marathon not a dash and I am trying to be a better person.

They boys were exhausted and went to bed at 9:30. The husband went out with friends and I went to bed around 10:30. At 1:30 my oldest was in the room asking if he could watch some t.v. since he was thirsty and couldn't sleep. I told him no, get a drink and go back to bed. He asked me to tuck him in so I did. It's nice to know my 11 year old still wants dad to tuck him in to bed.

Today we took the boys to see Superhero Movie. There were some very funny scenes and the oldest was laughing outloud for at least half the movie. We then stopped at Barnes & Noble were the boys got some Dragon Ball Zee books- no clue what they are but they love them. The husabnd and I cleaned all of the windows in the living room while the boys vegged out.

We decided to go out for dinner but the one place we wanted to go was closed early for some reason and our second choice has gone out of business which shocked both the husabnd and I.

Smart elevators

I work in the New York Times building. It's an amazing building. I love the whole lobby. The building has smart elevators. You push the floor number you are going to and it tells you which elevator to go to- A through F. Now, I have never been afraid of elevators but there are two that kind of freak me out from time to time. Elevator B has one spot that every time shakes and gets me jittery. Elevator F seems to have not velocity control and makes my ears pop a lot and in rapid succession.

Ok, I have to confess I am not always the most outgoing and/or sociable guy. To the point when I walk into the office in the morning and when I leave at night I wear my iPod and have the soundcheck off and the volume up. There are only a select few I will take my earphones off for, two being my immediate boss and the CEO of the company. Last week as I was leaving I got into the elevator with the iPod on, volume up; two fairly senior PMs were in there. I get in and just stand there. Soon I realize they are both looking at me. I tell them, sorry I am off the clock and I can't hear you. They both star laugh uncomfortably it appears to me but I can't tell because I can't hear them.

Currently on my iPod I am into the new alt albums I have put on it. I have the husband to thank because he got me Sirius for the truck for Xmas. I am in the truck alot every other weekend and I have to say SIRI is great. I was a skeptic about having to pay for radio but then thought to myself maybe I am acting like my parents did back in the late '70s when they were confronted with cable t.v. Anyhow, my faves on SIRI are channels 15, 19, 21, 23 and 24 in no particular order. Through the course I have come to appreciate many new sounds and bands; most notably Vampire Weekend, MGMT, The Bravery, Shiny Toy Guns and Paramore.

The book club is still going on, I just served dessert. I kind of participated from the periphery and have to say I realize I am not the typical homo and not a good sample (in statistical terms) for homos or heteros. Some of the comments made me realize why I did not, have not and will not ever register as a Democrat. I just cannot buy into the cult and/or ideology of victimhood which is how I see the modern Democratic party. It all gets back to being responsible and accountable for the choices I have made and make every day and the consequences of those choices. That is not to say I will ever register as a Republican either but at least they are not about blaming others for anything in life that causes you adversity. I am lucky my husband loves me enough to know not to bring up politics.

If you missed it the bailout of BSC is now getting a lot of scrutiny from the Senate- as it should. To paraphrase Senator Baucus, Congress is in charge of the purse strings and they have a right to know how and why the Fed decided to bailout a mid-tier i-bank before you and I pony up $30 billion.

Also, for the record I detest Cramer and his show and CNBC is not far behind. If you think Cramer is great you should go to YouTube and find Don Harrold's commentary on Cramer. It should help you get smarter.

Simple gym ettiquette...

I really have no complaints about NYSC; there are tons of locations, some nice, some skeevey. What I do have a complaint about is some of the patrons do not know basic etiquette. When you are done on the bench or incline or Smith machine or some other free weight piece of equipment it is common courtesy and common sense to strip the bar. That lets others know the piece of equipment is free to use. There is not much I detest other than someone who leaves the plates on the bar and walks away. I lost my telepathic abilities during the first marriage, I cannot read your mind anymore no matter how hot you are. Please strip the plates off when you finish and if you are really hot you should strip as well...

My boss broke his foot over the weekend when he was training to lose to me in the triathlon. He broke the outside bone in three places. He is wearing a boot now and in five weeks he goes back to find out if he needs any hardware in his foot. Someone in the office took a picture of him on his crutches yesterday and I sent it to the husband who I think has a secret crush on my boss. I think I will let my boss stew on it for a week then start harassing him about how he couldn't stand the heat of me beating him so he got out of the kitchen by intentionally breaking his foot.

I wrote earlier there could still be some tape bombs out there that cause some hiccups in the market. One of them I was not really focused on is the news that came out after the close about the CCU LBO most likely falling apart. This is going to cause serious damage to the arbs and also the quants/event driven guys out there. It could definitely put a damper on the tape for the rest of the week.

Another thing I found interesting was WFC's chairman basically calling out the Fed and saying he'd be willing to do a deal of the type JPM got/was asked to do with BSC. He has a good point- why does JPM get special treatment?

Also if you want a good read on the whole credit mess we are in you should read Ethan Penner's opinion piece in today's WSJ.

Tonight the husband and I are going to have some drinks with the other gays in the village. Tomorrow we are hosting the husband's book club. We hosted once back in the summer and I told the husband I would be the help for the night. I served dinner (Thai takeout I picked up) and made sure everyones wine glasses were full then cleaned. I told him this time he needs to get me a cowboy hat, red bandanna and cowboy boots and I would do it shirtless for him...

Is Brick-Breaker retro yet??

I swam for 35 minute this morning. Kept looking at my watch thinking wow, it's only been 20 minutes and then realized my watch had stopped. So I looked the clock in the pool and saw that I had hit my time limit. I am a bit frustrated with my watch; it's one of those self-winding Swiss ones that I spent a lot of money on back when I was going through the divorce to replace the one the ex-wife gave me. So now I have to drop it off at the Swiss watch repair place near Grand Central some time tomorrow and will be wearing my trusty old Timex Ironman.

After work I had to go to the Sears Auto center to get a new tire- or so I thought. The nice lady there told me it would be more economical if I were to get the one I had patched. She commented that my tires were nice and would not be cheap to replace just one. So I asked her to have it patched, rotate them and change my oil. I then spent close to three hours waiting. So I decided to give Brick-Breaker a try on my crackberry. I got to level 11 out of 34. I think I have become obsessed with the game now.

I got home and the husband had ordered sushi for dinner. IT was a nice dinner and the husband was on a conference call with Asia. He got up to check his screens and slipped in a big ol' pile of dog shit- LOL!!!! Our older kid has been sick and actually had an accident in the house earlier today- which he never does; but our younger kid is still having issues getting house broken so I am not sure which one it was since they were both circling us like sharks while we ate. I cleaned it up because the husband usually uses paper towel and then can't understand why the toilet gets clogged. I use toilet paper- it flushes easier.

We watched Family Guy Blue Harvest last night- the husband missed it when it aired originally. He was dying.

The boys are on spring break withe their mom in Atlantis but they called to say good night which warmed my heart.

I am surprised Jamie Dimon caved and upped his bid for BSC. My guess is if they try to get him to again he will flip them the bird and walk away from the deal.

Easter dinner at Friendly's

Dinner last night was a hit. I served zucchini soup followed with coq au vin and the company loved both. The husband picked up Easter cupcakes and mini, individual cheesecakes from Billy's in Chelsea. We went through 4 bottles of wine but one was used in the coq au vin (hence the vin in the name of the dish) and we had champagne with our dessert.

The husband and I went out to central Jersey today to meet our new nephews. We went to my brother and sister-in-law's townhouse. We bought extra cupcakes for them, picked up flowers for the new mom and had a gift for the boys. When we got there our sister-in-law proceeded to give us a bit too much information about her c-section. We told her she could stop when we heard the part about her stitches ripping.

We got to the hospital and I have to say I was impressed with the security, we had to go thru three check points just to get t the waiting area and then buzzed through another. I got to go in first with my brother, we washed our hands and got to touch the boys through the holes in the incubators. The boys are fraternal twins and tiny. They look nothing alike; one has the really long, thin fingers and limbs. the other is smaller but heavier. Both are totally cute. The husband went in next with my brother. I got to chat with my sister-in-law and she seems to be holding up well. She said she wanted to go for lunch at Friendly's which is right next t the hospital. So we gorged ourselves on really bad food and topped it off with sundaes. My sister-in-law was amazed when I shared my dessert with the husband. Everyone knows I don't share my dessert so when I shared it with him she told my brother, ok, he is definitely in love.

They boys are off on spring break this week. They fly off to Atlantis very early tomorrow morning. Not that it is a competition but I took them there last year. I try n0t to get catty and competitive about it but I am sure I am not the only divorced dad who keeps score so to speak.

That '70s porn star look

Yesterday the markets were closed in observance of Good Friday. Here is a little bit of trivia you can amaze your friends and family with- Good Friday is the only non-federal holiday that the markets are closed on. They have not been open on Good Friday for the past 150 years with three exceptions, the last being in 1907.

Speaking of the markets, in case you missed it your tax dollars are now going to bail out everyone suffering from the mortgage malaise. It was pretty slick of the Fed to announce Thursday after the bond market had closed that they will now accept collateralized mortgage backed securities (CMBS) at the discount window and the PDLF. They effectively just nationalized the mortgage market in one fell swoop. I don't understand why Freddie and Fannie are trading higher on this news since the Fed just took their lunch and is proceeding to eat it in front of them...

This is a huge thing for the Fed. The tape was broken before they took this action. They have now just fixed it. That is not to say it will be a straight line up but I personally don't see how we can go much lower now. There will still be some tape bombs out there- still hear a lot of rumors regarding European banks and a certain Swiss one in particular- but the bias will be up.

Last night we went and saw The Bank Job with TK. Great flick, an awesome '70s period piece of London. Afterwards we had dinner at Florent which will be closing soon. Then we met up with JP at Snaxx. The husband and I both thought of our friend in DC, Mr. Barrett. He would love snacks and as the husband said everyone seems to be sporting beards theses days. I am totally shaggy and will not get the haircut until the triathalon in June. As the husband and TK said I have the '70s porn star coiff going. At Snaxx the husband told me I need to grow the stache to complete the look. I said no and the husband and JP both said why not, you already have the moves of a '70s porn star. The husband has all but said he will do ANYTHING if I grow the stache.

Tomorrow is Easter, we have no plans for the holiday we may go out to see my brother and sister-in-law and see if we can meet their new twin sons. Tonight I am cooking for four as we have friends venturing from the Lower East Side to Joisey. The husabnd is very concerned about me doing all the cooking, lol. I told him go into the city and return that 19th pair of jeans you don't need and then go to the gym; don't worry, jsut sit there and look pretty was the next statement I was about to make before he acquiesced and left. Off to the grocery store and wine shop.

My son the tough guy...

So on the way home from the gym tonight I called the boys to talk with them and say good night. My oldest, soon to be 11, was all proud of himself for pulling out a loose tooth last night. I asked if it hurt and he brushed it off and laughed at me. He knows his mom is the tooth fairy but when I asked him if got anything from the tooth fairy he said no, he forgot to put it under his pillow. He then proudly told me that he and his friend both got paid $10 for cleaning up his grandmother's yard of all the sticks and other detritus from the winter.

My youngest always makes me guess what he did at school in terms of gym art, music, library, computers or Spanish. I still have no idea what his schedule is so I guessed small fire arms training and he did not miss a beat and said yep. When I asked him what kind of small fire arms training he said small Dad, duh. LOL.

Tomorrow is unofficially Friday since this Friday is Good Friday and the capital markets in the U.S. are closed. The husband and I have no plans for the three day, holiday weekend. Friday we are going to dinner and a movie with a good friend of ours in the city. I was exchanging emails with said friend today and asked him what movie he was thinking we should see. His answer is why he is a good friend because he knows us sooo well. He said something with action, car chases and explosions or fighting. I said cool how about Never Back Down since the two main stars are hotties and appear to be shirtless fr a large portion of the movie. His counter offer was The Bank Job which is also a great choice since Jason Stratham is in it and he IS the Transporter.

Saturday we are having another couple who we are friends with over for dinner. I am doing the cooking. So I was on Epicurious today planning the menu and am going with a classic- coq au vin. I'll probably make a soup instead of salad, the entree and have yet to determine what is for dessert.

Wednesday nights at the gym there are not a lot of hotties which meant I actually got a great workout in. Home for dinner with the husband who had drinks fr business after work so he skipped the gym. Wednesday night is also Ghost Hunters on SciFi- I love the show, he tolerates it. We are both psyched for season 4 of BSG which starts next weekend.

Going out on a school night is tough at 40...

Went to the GLAAD Awards Ceremony and dinner last night. Graham Norton was the emcee and he was pretty damn funny. Matthew Sheppard's mom was amazing and very heartfelt in her speech. Funny thing was I wore a suit and tie to work- I rarely do that so it was noticed. With all of the recent upheavals at work I know many people thought I was interviewing but they are mostly passive/aggressive so no one actually called me out on it. Except for one analyst who yelled out right in front of the entire desk: "Hey are you interviewing?" I said yes. The boss knows I am not s he burst out laughing. Everyone else nervously joined in. I would not do that to my boss- he is also a friend- and he knows that.

Got to the Marriott Marquis and was waiting for my lady date. She walked right by me and and didn't even recogonize me all suited up and non-scruffy. We hit the cocktail party and then the dinner. I knew some of my friends would be there so we snuck out of the dinner and went to the bar and started drinking. Since my lady date is on the diversity committee at her company we had the VIP passes to the after party. I got home around 12:45. Slept in the boys room on one of the twin beds so as not to disturb the husband with my beer and Skoal breath and supposed snoring...I got in to the office at 7:45 and it was a long morning. I didn't catch my second wind until I had Burger King for lunch.

So Sunday the husband's underwear got stolen at the gym, lol. He has a fantasy it was one of the many hotties there; I quickly disabused him of that idea and tld him it was most likely the 250 lb., 5' 5" bald 60 year old who was sniffing his briefs.

Ok, so J.P. Morgan chase is stealing Bear Stearns- big deal. The Bear is paying the price for playing hardball back in '98 when the flipped the bird in a big way when it came to bailing oout LTCM. What goes around comes around. The Fed I think is slowly coming to the realization the only way to solve the mortgage crisis is that they will have to assume the credit risks by buying mortgages and taking them onto their balance sheet; they will effectively nationalize the mortgage market which is a bail out even if it is not called that. Can you say goodby to Fannie and Freddie???

I think we are going to see Never Back Down mainly because the two stars are hot and look really good shirtless. The ancillary reason is we both do MMA.

The boys are a bad influence on their step-father...

We are eating lunch at the Liberty Science Center today. We had just gone through the Infection Connection exhibit and were discussing sneezes and other bodily functions which led to the topic of farts. I was informed by the husband that a fart is the strongest force in the world because it can rip through your pants without leaving a hole. The boys bust out laughing and I ask where did you hear that and he points to them. We had a blast at the LSC and will probably go back but take in a movie in the IMAX theater there and try to spend an almost full day.

If you did not see the financial news wires- which have been burning up since abut 7:15 this evening- J.P. Morgan Chase is buying Bear Stearnes for a whopping $2 per share. No that is not a typo and yes it is down 97% from Friday's close. The Fed then did something it has not done since the Great Depression- it opened the discount window to non-banks. It also cut the discount rate to below the Fed funds rate. They should have done this a quarter ago. The thing that makes me nervous is that in financial near panics you need to remember that song One Is The Loneliest Number because there are sure to be other banks and bank-like institutions that are as close to the edge as Bear was.

The thing that annoys me is that my and your tax dollars are going to bail out a firm that by all rights should have gone under. through their own hubris and/or greed they got themselves into this mess. Since when did the government decide we should socialize market losses? I can think of a lot better ways to spend the money- like on education, helping single mothers, or trying to determine if Roger Clemens did use steroids and hGh- oh wait, we already spent that money...

As my boss said we are living in historic times and you should try to keep notes about it for your grandchildren or your families next generations as may be the case.

Tomorrow is a high holy day for me and the husband and my side of the family- it's St. Patrick's Day. I am third generation shanty Irish and since he now has Irish in him as well he is black Irish. He will probably come home and work and watch SciFi. I will be wearing green to the GLAAD dinner.

Saw 10,000 BC tonight. It was ok, way better than Awake (I am still pissed I will never get that hour and a half back for my life). The main star is freakin' HOT. He alone was worth the admission but I think he should have been fully naked at least once...

The power of a pinky swear

So I picked up the boys last night at their mom's house and was kind of shocked. She actually noticed that my hair is long and shaggy. It was the first time in a very long time she ever commented on my appearance. I really don't know what to make of it because it caught me off guard and it was the closest thing a nice word she has had to say to me in a long time. I am going to write it off as a fluke. I do hope to be friends with her at some point later in life but I did a lot of damage when I came out to her and said we couldn't stay married.

The six of us- me, the husband, the boys and the dogs- went out to Long Island. The husband's parents bought a new house out there on the bay the is between Long Island and Fire Island. It's a beautiful house with tons of windows overlooking the bay. There is a small beach that the boys immediately ran out too and spent most of the day collecting shells and even a dead horseshoe crab (that is going back to their mom's house with them). The only time we got them off the beach was to eat lunch. The kids of course ran into the water. My oldest son ran into the water after them- in his sneakers of course. So we stopped at Modells on the way home to get him new sneakers when the husband pointed out his wet ones were blown out and his toes were showing.

We got back, the husband went to a movie and dinner with his best friend in the city. The boys and I had pizza and watched Scary Movie- I was cringing inside several times. So after the movie as I was putting them to bed I pulled the pinky swear. I pinky swore them to not telling their mom I allowed them to watch it. If you are not familiar with it, you lock pinkies and swear to a certain set of conditions. It is the most powerful and formal kind of bond between boys their age and yes I have used it before.

Speaking of Long Island, if you have never driven on the Long Island Expressway -commonly referred to as the LIE- you will quickly learn it lives up to its acronym; there is nothing express about it and it is a LIE. I have come to realize the Jersey drivers are way better. Every other weekend I put a minimum of 200 miles on the truck- driving to and from my home in Hoboken to the boys mom's house in central Jersey. Jersey drivers are waaaay better. Some pointers if you ever find yourself driving in Jersey on a major highway: If you choose to drive in the far left lane be aware there is not speed limit and it would be in your best interests to go at least 10 mph over the posted limit; blinkers are nice but not mandatory; don't be a pussy- if you see your chance take it; if you are given a choice between a cars only or a trucks, cars and buses take the latter.

Tomorrow the four of us are going to the Liberty Science Center, then I drive them back to their mom's. Tomorrow night the husband, I and our friend are going to see 10,000 BC. I recall as a kid a movie titled that with Raquel Welch. Something tells me this one is nothing like that one.

The Vapors or How we became a banana republic...

The Vapors big hit- and only one I am aware of- was Turning Japanese. The reason it is relevant is because what happened in Japan throughout the '90s and first part of this decade is repeating here in the good, ol' US of A. Japan had a huge real estate bubble to the point that the ground of the Imperial Palace were valued at a monetary level that made it worth more than all the real estate in California. We had much different reasons and causes for our land bubble but the outcome is the same: someone has to take the hit, lose gobs of money, possible go under and suffer. Just like the Japanese banks did, the U.S. banks are trying to pretend there is nothing wrong- all I can think of is that scene from Animal House during the parade..."Remain calm, all is well!" right before he gets run over by the panicking crowd.

We are becoming a banana republic because the government believes it is smarter than the markets and is infinitely more capable of setting a clearing price to take care of this mess. So it is going to nationalize all the bad mortgages vis a vis the Federal Reserve's latest nifty trick- the Term Security Liquidity Facility. Give us all the bad debt and we'll give you U.S, Treasuries. That means you and I and every other tax payer are going to bail out all the imprudent, greedy, foolish or plain right criminal people who should never have gotten the loan to begin with. How does this make us a banana republic? Well it makes U.S. sovereign debt worth less, it creates lots more dollars causing them to be less and the whole point of this country was to let people succeed or fail on their own, not bail them out when they made bad decisions.

Since I am on the topic of the government, I read about the Democratic candidates tax proposal and guess what- yep, they want there to be more (Obama) or more complicated (Hillary). If we could just institute a flat tax that would be huge for everyone but there are entrenched interests who don't want that because change is not their friend. But I digress...

Didn't write yesterday because I was out of sorts due to some upheaval at the office. My boss of bosses, aka the CEO of the company, resigned. The guy is great and got a lot done in two years but he and his bosses had a different idea of what to do next and where to take the firm. My immediate boss came in with him so everyone is thinking he is gone too but I asked him outright and he said no. The next step in Wall St. logic was I'd be going to or I am now vulnerable because my boss brought me in and I am viewed as his guy. That is not the case either to the best of my knowledge. The whole situation reminds me of the old Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."

So when I got home I told the husband to meet me at the restaurant up the street and we were having dinner and drinks- no gym. Got home and didn't feel like writing and was mentally drained.

The positives of yesterday was I got to sit next to the other married hot guy on the bus in. He lives in our neighborhood and is hot. I call him the other hot married guy because my man is the hot married guy. Then on the way home I got to sit next to wife beater. He is so named because all summer whenever he wore a white shirt you could see his wife beater underneath. He is a hot fireplug of a guy who also lives in our neighborhood. Don't know where exactly but often see him at the bus stop in the morning and he gets off at the same one at night.

I am going to the GLAAD Awards Ceremony Monday night. I have never been and got invited by a woman I do business with. She runs the diversity committee at her shop, is a friend and attended our reception back in October. The husband says it is a HUGE thing to go to. I checked with some friends who are in the media biz and they are going as well.

I have to admit I have been kind of keeping up with the Spitzer fiasco and am wondering if I am the only one who thinks the high class call girl's name is one she stole from a drag queen. Seriously- Ashley Dupre...c'mon admit it.

One last thing, when a company's creditors start seizing assets, said company is not "near collapse" but is collapsed.

The Nazi is coming!!!!

The husband and I have a cleaning lady come once a week to do cleaning- shocking, huh? This stems from two facts I think: A) I got used to having someone else take care of the household while I was married and living the straight lifestyle (I know that sounds very misogynistic but I like to think of it as retro, as in 1950s husband worked and put food on the table and wife chose to stay home and run the household) and 2) The husband was living in Chelsea, working on Wall Street and living the fabulous, high gay lifestyle. When he moved in we agreed to stay with a cleaning lady because we both hate cleaning the toilets. Anyway, I call our cleaning lady the Nazi because she is supposedly Brazilian but after asking more questions I learned she speaks German as her native tongue, was blond when she was younger, is extremely efficient and somewhat dictatorial, and emigrated to Brazil when she was young. All I can think of is the movie The Boys From Brazil. She also prefers to be called Frau.

I have many more thoughts about what the Fed's truly brilliant move was today but will save it for tomorrow since it is ten to midnight and I have to swim for 58 minutes tomorrow for training.

On a completely different topic, it's Tuesday so I went to the local place to hang out with the other gays in the village. The husband has never been there so many of them don't believe he exists. But tonight he was able to go and I got to prove them all wrong. We had a good time and one friend told me "I am just going to drink a lot tonight so I can black this out and still accuse you of making up the fact you have a husband.

Okay, tomorrow we'll discuss the musical act The Vapors and what they have to do with the TSLF.

Who are clients one through eight?

Charlie Gasbagarino had it right that the most vocal, zealous and harshest critics are usually the ones who have something to hide. Spitzer has no fans on Wall Street because he did a lot to take the fun out of a stressful, kill or be killed, zero-sum game. He also did get rid of a lot of abuses but he will be remembered as the former AG who was all about ethics until he got busted for paying a high class call girl (aren't they all high class?) for sex and then saying he had to go to the ATM for more money. Doesn't the Governor of the state of New York get paid enough?

Was on the road all day yesterday travelling home. The husband picked me up at Newark and we ordered pizza and picked it up on the way back, had a late dinner. Listened to my voice mails and there was one from the boys saying good night. The phone usually only works one way so it made me as happy as seeing the husband waiting in the truck even though he was parked illegally in the bus lot next to terminal B.

The boys' mom called- an unusual event since I am sure she still has a lot of anger issues and has turned to the dark side of the Force and has become a Sith Lord- to ask if we could re-arrange the schedule. I set the schedule since she has ceded that to me. She was civil which is a red letter day for me.


The current economic situation gets me pretty nervous. Have a friend in the debt markets and I asked him are we going to see all of the safety nets put in place after the Great Depression get tested for strength? He said it is a distinct possibility. When he gets nervous I start to get scared.

Ah the joys of an eleven year old...

I talk to my sons every night regardless of where I am or where they are that night. Last night my soon to be 11 year old son told me he doesn't need to talk to me every night. I told him that's nice but too bad you have to- I'm your dad. He got all snotty and whiney to which I replied look, I don't care if you don't want to say anything but you will hear my voice at least once a day no matter what. He begrudgingly agreed to that and then proceeded to tell me about the ice cream social he went to Friday night. Two things: 1) What the hell is an ice cream social and b) I was psyched he shared it with me. Normally It is like pulling teeth to get info out of him. The ex-wife says it's his age and that we (his mom and dad) are not cool. I guess I understand that since I recall myself being that way with my parents at that age. My 8 year old however is still in the mom and dad and dad's partner are cool. He talks to my partner every night as well as me- as long as the Asian markets are slow. When I told them we had a civil union he asked my better half if he could call him dad and the answer he got was well what are you going to call your dad if you call me dad too? Which leads into a question I ran into this weekend while at Copper Mountain with my h.s. friends: If you call him your husband are you his wife? I said no and good question. I am his husband like he is mine. It confused them so I just said partner for the rest of the weekend.

Speaking of my weekend at Copper Mountain I have one thing to say. Nothing threatens a straight man's masculinity more than getting his ass kicked at poker by a gay guy, LOL. It was great taking their money.

Right now stuck in the Crown Club at Denver waiting for my flight home. Can't wait to see the husband and the kids. For the record the kids are the two dogs we have and the boys are my sons.

If you're going to make it into the WSJ, it better be for something better than Ecstasy and marijuana

As a trader on Wall Street there are a lot of fringe benefits available if you are so inclined. You can go to the best restaurants in town, the hottest concerts, the biggest sporting events, the members only golf courses, etc. So when I read that a Fidelity trader is getting busted for having a broker get him ecstasy and marijuana I have to seriously question his thought process. If I were to abuse the fringe benefits to get drugs it would not be for something I could get in front of the parole office right across the street from my building- I'd go for the really hard stuff like cocaine or heroin!!!! This all stems from the infamous bachelor party for one of their traders. I remember when it made the tape and there was dwarf tossing involved and the dwarf who was getting tossed (who I am told died 2 years ago of non-tossing related causes) was quoted as saying"Some people are just into really lavish dwarf entertainment."

Yes there is a parole office across the street. I work in Hells Pantry- right next to Hells Kitchen but smaller and not as developed. Our company moved into the New York Times Building right across for that gem of a building the Port Authority Bus Depot.

Speaking of work I need to preface my next comments with the statement I am not a Republican; in fact I am not affiliated with either party; I am a libertarian with a Calvinist overlay or undertones (depends if you are a bottom or a top I guess) and a sunscriber to the Cato Journal. I believe the government is NOT my master or my mother and does not know what is best for me and how to live my life. I am a fully sentient being with free will (until our machine overlords come to power and they plug me into the Matrix) who makes choices every day and hold my self accountable for the consequences of those choices and am responsible for my actions.

Ok so what is really grinding my gears is the government feeling they need to bail out all of these people who were not prudent or knowingly made a choice that they knew could end very badly, i.e. the whole subprime mess. It is not my responsibility to pay for their stupidity or recklessness. Yet the is what the government is trying to do. (The argument that a lot of these people did not know what they are doing is an insult to the average American. Joe Sixpack is smarter than the government gives him credit for. I am sure there was some fraud perpetrated but I think it is not all fraudulent.) The Federal Reserve has floated the idea that banks should forgive part of the principle for mortgages. Are you kidding me? Let the markets take care f it, find a clearing price and sadly some will suffer because they made poor choices. The idea of creative destruction appeals to me and I would most likely be an economist of the Austrian school of thought if I wanted to get my PhD in economics. No I have not read any Ayn Rand even though when I got my membership kit to the gay club I saw it was required reading- I honestly tried to read Atlas Shrugged and could not, she is a crappy writer.

On a lighter note, my oldest turns 11 in a few weeks and has been pestering me for either a cell phone or an xBox 360 for his birthday. I have said no to both but like any divorced father I often relish the idea of sticking my thumb in the ex-wife's eye but realize that this life is a marathon not a dash and we will be inextricably involved with each other until my husband dumps my ashes in the Seneca, so I try not to antagonize her too much.

Came in second place on BBH, shockingly I did better hitting the big, beefy targets such as elk and moose- go figure...

Skoal, ice cold long necks and Big Buck Hunter

The morning started off kind off kilter. Monday the pool was too cold, last night a friend told me the heater was broken. this morning when I jump in it is HOT. Apparently they fixed the heater but too well. I only swam for 40 minutes before it was too much for me. As a woman in the lane next to me said it's like trying to run in 100 degrees weather. I got out and asked the attendant if she could check the temp which she begrudgingly did. Get this it was 98 degrees in the shade.

Next when I got to work and get a call from a friend of a friend. He proceeds to tell my our mutual friend was given an intervention last night and is now in detox/rehab and incommunicado for the next 48 hours. My jaw hit the desk. I knew my friend was not mentally in a good place lately; over the past 3 years he has lost both his parents, found out his wife had been carrying on a 3 1/2 year affair and is now going thru a divorce (which she doesn't understand why and NOW wants to go to a marriage counselor- go figure). I just saw him two weeks ago and had no idea that he had crossed the line from substance user to substance abuser. He is def one of my BFFs and I have known him for about 15 years. If I had known I would have been more forceful when I told him to seek professional mental health help. I could not be there since he lives in a fly-over state and his friends there did it. I thanked them for it.

Tomorrow after work several of us are going to a total dive bar around the corner from our office to drink ice cold long neck Buds, dip Skoal and play Big Buck hunter. It is a great video game- way better than Golden Tee and kind of difficult to find in NYC. So when we walked by said drinking establishment and saw it in there we knew we had a new hang out.

Friday morning I am catching a flight to Denver to go snow boarding with five friends from high school and college. The price is right because one of the guys owns the condo we are staying in so all I had to pay for was my fight, the rental car and beer and salty products for our lat night poker game. They are all staying for several days but I had to be more judicious with using my days off. So I most likely will not be posting until Sunday night.

I think it's my age...

I seem to be developing a habit of leaving (or losing, depending on one's perspective) things that I do not put in my pocket or bag. Recently this has happened twice. I was taking the train to Philly two weeks ago for business and had the husband's Crimson DS Lite and his Assassin's Creed game. The game was fun but got off the train with out it. Thankfully he was away for 5 days so I was able to surreptiously replace it with one I paid up for on the web. I forgot to replace the game though until the day after he got home- got busted for that but not the DS Lite replacement (I hope he does not read this post). The second incident involved a book. My boss had read a book he claimed he could not put down, so he ordered a copy for everyone on the desk. He handed them out last Thursday. I went to the gym and then met a friend for drinks before going home. When I was on the bus I realized I had forgotten my book. So today I ordered the replacement after the boss asked me what I thought of the book so far...

Tuesday nights I go out for drinks and hang out with the other gays in the village at the local restaurant/music club. It's a fun crowd and a relaxing thing to do after work. It's kind of funny that Hoboken doesn't seem to have an active gay community but I would guess it is because we are really the sixth boro of NYC so any gays who live here just go out in the city. Still it is nice to expand my social circle.

Speaking of work I have to kind of go on a rant here. I was stunned that Bernake advocated that the banks should just write off more of the mortgages they made. For me that raises all kinds of questions about the rule of law and what kind of precedent will be set if the Fed gives borrowers the idea that they can just abrogate a legally, binding contract they willfully chose to enter into.

Tomorrow morning I hit the pool again for 53 minutes and sort of dreading it. I am wondering if maybe I am being a bit TOO competitive this year.

Some words that I think are fun to say: bodega, fungible, hypothecate and unit (God I miss Beavis & Butthead).

53 minutes on a Star-Trac Spinner Pro makes my ass sore...

It was unseasonably warm today, I believe it hit 60 degrees and sunny. My day started at 5 AM on the bus into the Port Authority so I could swim in a pool for 32 minutes. The pool was unusually chilly. Then off to work. As for what pays the bills I work in the capital markets. I am a grunt down in the trenches- a trader. I stumbled into it right out of college and like most people on Wall Street and on trading desks especially I got into it because of blood- as in I have a cousin who is a trader and he got me my entree. But I digress...

After work I had to get on the bike for 53 minutes. I am training for a triathalon. It's not until June but I am on a 20 week program because I want to CRUSH my boss in the race. Last year I got shanghaied into the race by my boss' wife and ended up getting beat by both of them; my husband has not stopped giving me crap for "letting" them beat me. So this year I am determined to CRUSH them both.

The positive of the 53 minutes was I got to check out all the hotties. Monday night at the gym is major hottie night; usually the husband and I both are there and point them out to each other.

Tomorrow is my day off so I'll just do free wieghts and some light running. Right now waiting for dinner and watching Family Guy.

Brian Austin Green- I never was a fan of Beverly Hills 90210 but he has turned out quite hot and loved the shower scene in the 2 hur season finale of The Sarah Conner Chronicles. The husband and I are huge Sci Fi geeks- we especially froth over Apollo on BSG. We are probably going to DC for the gay Sci Fi convention our friend Mr. Barrett told us about.

There will most likely be a recurring cast of characters in this blog- friends, hot guys in the neighborhood that we have nicknames for, family and even some randoms.

Ok here I go...

Have been reading friends and acquaintances blogs for a while now and have decided to take the plunge. I don't know if I will be posting daily or on a more random basis so let's just enjoy the ride. As for what GDDOH stands for it comes from my partner joking about a poker game I started by posting on Craigslist. He called it the Gay Divorced Dads of Hoboken poker game, hence the title. That's enough for now, check back in and we'll see where this road leads.