Tuesday, March 31, 2009

I am almost on vacation mentally

So this morning I made up my run that I skipped Sunday. I was psyched with my performance as I ran almost 3 miles in 24 minutes. The part that was even better was the boxing class I watch now has three hot guys in it. Then to top it off as I was getting dressed this truly stunning guy in S.U. shorts got dressed next to me. I have no idea if he caught me staring but I don't really care as he had a frackin' amazing body and I could not help myself.

I am surprised there has not been more press about GhostNet. Seriously- the Chinese government has been engaged in a major, serious, covert electronics espionage effort and no one seems to be keen on talking about it. unless of course it is not the Chinese government but is the beginnings of SkyNet...

So I am wondering if Conficker is a huge April Fool joke or could it also be the beginnings of SkyNet? I am not sure but I did go through all the preventative measures outlined on various sites to make sure I am not part of it whether it is a joke or not.

Iran, North Korea, Mexico...which one test our President first? I hope that it is North Korea because at least in that situation we have China and Russia on our side. I did read that North Korea has stated if Japan shoots down their "satellite" rocket that is a declaration of war from their p.o.v. I am sorry but I have no problem with Japan deciding to shoot down any unauthorized violators of their airspace. I don't think Mexico blowing up would be good for us as a country. Iran there are too many secret treaties I think and that is not good as those were a major part of the causes of WWI.

I had drinks after work tonight with a broker who I actually have become friends with over the past three years. He is a really good guy. He used to live in Hoboken so we hit some of his old haunts that I also enjoy. He suggested we do a couples night at the new W Hotel that just opened in Hoboken. I am all for that and so is the husband as we have gone by it a few times and we always comment it is going to be a scene to check out.

Monday, March 30, 2009

OMG Daniel Craig goes to our gym...

So I swam and biked this morning and board shorts was there again. He was getting into the pool as I got out but he was getting dressed as I was after I showered up and he has a great body and really cute bum. I was supposed to run yesterday but got home late from dropping the boys off at their mom's house. I will make it up tomorrow morning.

Here is the deal with Gm and Chrysler: both have no real option other than filing for reorganization. They need to get out from under the massive pension and health care liabilities they have and the only was to do that is filing. The thing is President Obama will get crushed if he betrays the unions by letting them go under. He is totally screwed and I feel bad for him.

I read a piece of research form a broker today who (and I have to agree) that we have just passed through the eye of the storm this month. It makes sense as now the banks will have to deal with their commercial real estate (CRE going forward) issues. Residential is done and they got smoked for it, up next is CRE. Woo-hoo this is gonna be so fun- NOT! I stand by my guess that we will see 650ish on the SPX soon.

The other thing I keep getting stuck on is how the Fed is real worried about inflation due to price inflation apparently. Okay if I recall my undergrad economics studies (which I hope I do as that was my major) there are two types of inflation like there are deflation. There is "good" inflation caused by increased demand for good and services because people are earning more. The "bad" inflation is caused by a huge increase in the supply of money, much like we are going to experience soon. As the supply of money increases it outstrips demand and the price of money goes down, i.e. the purchasing power of said money. So if the money is worth less it takes more to buy the same goods and services. We are screwed.

This is a busy week for the husband and me. It is also only a four day week for me as I am taking Friday off and taking the boys on spring break. I am totally psyched for it.

I went to the gym after work as I needed to hit the weights- gotta loo good for spring break. The husband and I finished up and were getting showered up and dressed when this totally hot man came in. I immediately remembered him form the old apartment as he looks almost exactly like Daniel Craig except he was hotter in some ways. I of course checked out his ass as he got dressed and it was pretty sweet. There was also a seriously hot guy who gets a name and he is called Monster Fishing as that is what was on the back of his tee-shirt.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Woo hoo- no shuttling this weekend

This morning I had a long bike ride to do for training. The tough part was getting up on time. Last night we took mom and dad out to dinner, had some wine, cam home and played cards- it was the rubber match for the series. The husband and mom won and basically just outplayed us. Then the husband and I watched Supernatural and damn Dena looks hot in a suit. Somehow the alarm did not go off so I was up about 20 minutes later than I should have been. I got to the gym and biked a bit over 14 miles in 48 minutes which I am happy with.

If a company's common equity is roughly $3.62 and they announce they are going to tender for their debt and offer the debt holders a combination of cash and new equity that will dilute the current equity holders by 90% isn't that really a stealth reorg? You are basically wiping out the current equity. Well that is what GM has proposed. Yet no one has called them out on it. We'll see what the press has to say this weekend.

I missed the boys. I did not have them two weekends in a row so I was very psyched to pick them up this evening. My oldest told my mom he wanted money for his upcoming birthday so he could buy an iPod Touch. I spoke with his mom this evening and we both agreed he does not need one. I know he wants one so he can get on the Internet at any time. His parents however understand that kids who surf unsupervised can get into trouble so we told him no. If course on the ride home I get the all my friends have one line. I know that is not the fact but I have always wanted to use the line about if all your friends were jumping off a bridge would you? He said no so I won that skirmish.

The one drawback of taking the Pulaski Skyway back to Hoboken is that- even though there is no speed limit- is there is an accident you are screwed. Well that happened tonight on the way home so it took us two and a half hours to get back. It was not fun and Sirius traffic for NYC sucks as it did not mention the accident. If it had I would have taken the truck route. Whatever, shit happens.

The boys were psyched to play House of the Dead 2 with the Wii guns. They did pretty well. They told me they had beaten it at Dave & Busters on only three quarters. I said oh, how'd you do that? Then they 'fessed up the ran their cards out beating it.

This is the first weekend in a long time I have the boys that I will not have to be a chauffeur and take them back down to central Jersey for any activities. I am psyched and so are they. It is supposed to be warm tomorrow but overcast so my oldest and I may go play tennis on the public courts in the morning. I was going to take them to see Monsters Vs. aliens but they said they already told their mom they'd go with her so I'll need to find a different flick for the weekend.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

He's retired and doesn't like golf

Yesterday morning I did my short swim and short bike. I got out of the pool and was changing to go hop on the bike when the guy in the lane next to me came running in. He looked at me and asked if I was running. I said nope, bike. He asked if I was doing the spinning class, said nope and asked him which race he was doing. It's always nice to meet a fellow racer. He is doing one in Westchester in May. Told him which one I am doing. I then got down on the bike and thankfully the hot guy was in front of me doing boxing class- ooohh more squat thrusts.

Yesterday mom IMs me that dad is going to be running for a seat in the county legislature this fall. She then told me that when he was a young pup and they had just moved to my hometown he ran for public office and apparently got his ass kicked. Thankfully he is not competitive and it has not been bugging him for almost 40 years. I asked what ticket, of course he is running as a Democrat. I hope he wins as it will give him something to do other than bug mom.

My younger brother apparently broke his foot over the weekend while playing with the family dog in his backyard. He probably needs a cast but because he is the stubborn one in the family he does not have one. I told him he should at least get an aircast. I also asked how do you drive and what drugs are you on. He said very carefully and percocet.

We had the Share-A-Thon last night. The highlight of the night was the hot bartender from last time was there. I went up to get a beer and of course had a dip in. He asked what I was dipping. I told him my usual which is Skoal Longcut Wintergreen, took my beer and sat down trying to get someone to help me recoup my cost for the beach house. I went up for another later and he told me asked me where I was from. I told him upstate. He said he didn't see to many people dipping. He apparently uses Kayak. I asked where he was from. He is from the Land of 10,000 Lakes- that's be Minnesota. I asked him what brought him to NYC. He's a model- of course. So the rest of the night I teased the husband that the corn fed model/bartender was hitting on me.

So the gilt 40 year auction failed. Gilts are U.K government bonds. In this credit environment any 40 year paper is going to be a tough sell but for the U.K. to have a bond auction fail does not bode well for credit markets in general. I wonder if we will see any of the many upcoming UST auctions fail and if you think it can't happen you need to think again.

So China thinks there should be a new reserve currency. Turbo Tax Timmy nearly agreed with them today. All of this makes me wonder if we are just repeating what the U.K. went through between WWI and WWII when we displaced them as the world reserve currency. The final nail in that coffin was WWII.

Mom and dad are in town. They got her this afternoon, walked the kids and made dinner for us. I hit the gym after work, lifted and did my short run. The husband did his long run outside. We then played cards. Tomorrow they are going into the city to the Irish Consulate so dad can get his Irish passport. He is allowed to because his mother is right of the boat. Once he gets it I will then be allowed to get mine which is pretty cool. We are going to take them out to dinner tomorrow night and play cards yest again. Mom and the husband are always partners in cards and dad and I are.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Friday's BSG finale was pretty frackin' great. We had the dvr set to record it since the husband was en route to L.A. for the weekend. I watched it solo though and loved it. Afterwards I had drinks with JP to catch up with him.

Saturday morning I slept in kind of late, walked the kids and then got House of the Dead 2 & 3 The Return ready. Mr. Clifford arrived around 12:30. I took the bus in to pick him up. I made him wait for me as I got my haircut at the barber shop near my workplace. I think I got the new kid who just got his barbers license. The kid took forever and finally the old guy yelled at him and finished my haircut. Mt. Clifford had texted me during it about not messing with Zohan.

We grabbed lunch at the diner one block away from the apartment. Then it was right to the Wii. We got our asses kicked. Nap time, we hit the gym- as Mr. Clifford put it to get a pump for the Black Party. After that is was dinner and another nap. We got up and headed down to the PATH. We got on a car with these three straight guys. They noticed I had a dip in and started chatting with me. We discussed the draw backs of Copenhagen and how it is too finely cut. Then one of them asked me if I was going home or going out because I had a bag with my outfit in it. I told them I am going out. They asked where, I told them the Black Party. They asked some more questions and I told them they should google it when they got home and were sober as they had clearly been drinking before going out for the night in the city.

We got to Ragnar's, changed into our costumes, had cocktails and then got a cab and went. There was a huge line and we though great. Ragnar and I walked to the front and were told if we had tickets already (which we did) we could go right in. Mr. Clifford was on the will call line so had to wait a bit longer.

The party was a blast. We spent most of the time out on the dance floor. Ragnar left about a hour before us. I actually saw quite a few people I knew. One of the coolest things was in the front they had all these reptiles. There was a case with these two large black scorpions. When the guy put the black light on them they turned fluorescent blue.

Thankfully Mr. Clifford had a watch and when I asked him what time it was he said 7:30- as in 7:30 AM. So we decided it was time to call it a night. We had no shirts so we had to buy the cheesy souvenir tee shirts. We walked out into the daylight, hailed a cab and went back to Ragnar's to pick up our clothes. Ragnar was asleep so we just grabbed them and then walked to the PATH. We got on and it was like that scene from Animal Hose when they walk into the bar and the music stops and everyone looks. The funniest was this little kid who looked like Chanco from Nacho Libre staring at us. We hopped into a cab and got home. I walked the kids, took a hot shower and then went to sleep. Woke up at 2:30ish, walked the kids again, watched some t.v. with Mr' Clifford then drove him into the city to catch his train back. I went to bed at 9 PM still exhausted.

I did not train this morning. Just wasn't feeling the love. I got a text from the husband around 5:40 telling me he had landed safely. He went right into the office.

The tape was on fire. All because the government gave us more details on the plan but they are still avoiding the elephant in the room which is how the price will be set.

I don't know how I missed this one but apparently if anyone decides to participate in TALF and buy the securities the government has them sign a contract. No big deal, right? Well one of the stipulations of the contract is the buyer cannot hire anyone who has a visa. The means Americans only, no foreign workers. That is a really dumb protectionist thing to do. Protectionism was one of the main causes of the Depression. Apparently we have forgotten those lessons.

We have the FI Share-A-Thon yet again tomorrow.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

They exercised their monopolistic powers

I did my long swim this morning for training. It was a pretty good swim and the best part was I was in there long enough that the cute guy in board shorts was back today and ended up swimming at he same time. I was silently critiquing his form- swimming form that is, not physical. His lower body is too low which leads me to believe he keeps his head to far up.

So The House passed a new tax at the rate of 90% on bonuses for any institution that took bail out money. I have several comments on this: This will effectively kill AIG, FNM, FRE as no on will want to work there if they know their earnings are limited. You will see a huge exodus of people from all of those firms. It will also hit all of the banks that took the money. I hope it applies to all the auto makers and auto parts suppliers as well but probably not because organized labor is part of the Democratic regime.

I was IMing with my brother about this situation. He couldn't understand where I was coming from with my indignation. It is real simple. The government knew all of this and got caught with their pants down and is now trying to blame it all on AIG etal. They hastily created this with out thinking through all the consequences and unintended consequences. These people had legally binding contracts. Yes contracts can be broken and re-written but the government did no due diligence. To do the bail out and then start changing the rules after the fact is complete bullshit. The are making this all up as they go along. The whole point of the rule of law is to protect people from the whims and flights of fancy of the government. I was stunned and actually said will wonders never cease when I read that Rep. Rangel said the U.S. tax code is not meant to be nor used as a political weapon.

It all comes down to the government has now made it law that they can garnishee any ones wages they think they need to. I don't remember who said it- probably some anarchist- but you need to remember the government has a monopoly on coercion and the use of force.

I have never liked Jay Leno. He is just not my type of humorist and he annoys me. President Obama is on his show tonight. I am a bit put off by a sitting President going on to a talk show to get his message out. It seems real j.v. to me.

I went to the gym tonight after work to get my short run in and lift. There were the usual hotties there and some new ones- none of the new ones merit names as of yet.

The husband is off to L.A. tomorrow after work for the weekend. Mr. Clifford is coming up Saturday. He gets here around lunch time. We'll have many hours to kill and I can only nap so much. So, I went and bought a two player shooter game for the Wii. House of the Dead 2 & 3 The Return. I also bought two Wii handguns.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The 3% solution plan

This morning I had my short swim and as is usually the case as I was getting out of the pool in walks a cute guy in board shorts is walking in.

David Wright has some serious competition in the hot New York baseball players category. Brett Gardener and Xavier Nady of the Yankees are (as Mr. Barrett would say) very woofy. I also have to say that at time I find A-Rod kind of hot in a dirty way, actually more like the Moped fashion.

I have previously consigned Thomas Frank to the dustbin of self-loathing, leftist Americans. I may have to re-evaluate that belief after reading his editorial in the WSJ today. IT is worth a read if you have the time. Also you should read the Mean Street blog on the WSJ by Evan Newmark. Over in the NYT I saw the story about the guy who rescued a fellow strap hanger after he fell on the tracks and have to say the guy is cute but it is too bad he is an actor.

So early this morning I got a text message from my oldest. I was a bit taken aback as he should have been in school and they are not allowed to have their cell phones on during the school day. I asked him why he was not in school. He, his brother, mother and maternal grandmother were in Pennsylvania attending his maternal great-grandfather's funeral. I knew the gentleman was not doing well but I did not realize he was in that bad of shape. I told him to give his grandmother a hug for me. The boys were not close to their maternal great-grandfather but I think it could give them some pause for thought considering the ex' mother has ovarian cancer. I asked how he was doing and he said he was bored and asked if he could call me. I told him sure. He did not get a chance to though as the service began. I sent the ex a text telling her I was sorry. I will send her mom a note expressing my sympathy.

Speaking of notes, the husband and I have gotten old school since November. After our house warming party we actually received hand written thank you notes form some of our guests for hosting the party. We thought it was a great idea and since then we have sent hand written thank yous to friends who host us for dinner, etc. I sent DR and PF one and PF told me it was very thoughtful. He asked if the husband had written it and I said not because his hand writing is like chicken scratch, I wrote it. His next comment was he would have thought the husband had the better hand writing.

I think last night is proof the husband has fully become black Irish. We took a cab home and the driver was blabbing away in Spanish thinking neither of us spoke the language. The husband thought the guy was providing advice for the love lorn on some phone service.

So the FASB is dead it would seem to me. They have changed the rules regarding mark to market. No the marks can be determined by the holder. Basically we are no in the land of theoretical and/or imaginary values. It can change from quarter to quarter too it seems. So basically the S in FASB (which stands for Standards) is useless. As one co-worker said it gives the companies wide latitude when determining the value of certain holdings- which means it is no longer standard.

I feel bad for the current CEO of AIG. He got torn a new asshole today by a bunch of grandstanding politicians. The guy got stuck with a bunch of legally binding contracts. He followed the law and did what was contractually obligated. These politicians knew. Now they are arguing that contract law can be nullified by political fiat when ever it can suit their purposes. The whole basis of our Constitution is the rule of law and property rights. The kicker is also that FNM and FRE have similar retention packages and yet they politicians aren't that upset about it. Maybe it's because if you follow the money with those two it will lead back to the same politicians who instructed FNM and FRE to make sub-prime loans. OR it could have to do that a major advisor of President Obama's was the former CEO of FNM.

There was an FOMC meeting today in case you missed it. They couldn't lower rates so no one was expecting anything on that front. The big news is the Fed bit the bullet and is now in full, explicit quantitative easing mode- they are just printing as much money as the need. They announced they would buy up to $300 billion of U.S. Treasuries. It coincided nicely with the BOE governors voting out right to print $75 billion new pounds. They Brits were just more honest about it.

The Fed will now again be keeping the price of money artificially low- just like Greenspan did. That is what got us into trouble to begin with and they seem to think it can save us as well. Real simple; you print 300 billion new dollars that increases the supply of money. When supply goes up the price people are willing to pay, i.e. demand, goes down. That means the store of value the USD represents will go down. Get ready for inflation in a big way.

USTs dropped the most in over 35 years on the announcement. They had been perilously close to getting above 3%. the reason that is a big level is because many believe the Fed is purposefully keeping the 10yr at 3% or lower in order to keep mortgage rates down. Their reasoning is if mortgage rates stay low people will buy house which is the root of the problem. The catch is banks are tightening their lending standards. So it may not matter how low rates are if banks can't find qualified borrowers. Oh wait, FNM and FRE are nationalized and so are Shitigroup and BAC so the government will force them to lower standards to make mortgage loans- much like they did in the mid '90s. This is good how? More debt to solve the problem of too much debt?

North Korea is about to launch a missile- I mean rocket to deliver satellites. This is going to be a big test for President Obama.

Mom is on IM. I and the husband chat a lot with her during the day. This afternoon she informed me the house next door was apparently a huge drug dealing den that got busted this afternoon. There were two local police cars, six county sheriff cars and six unmarked law enforcement cars. It had to be like something out of Weeds or Breaking Bad. I told her I think it is time to sell the house and move.

We had dinner with TK tonight. The food was great, the company was great but the restaurant did not impress me. The music was so loud I could not hear a word TK and the husband said. I maybe getting old...

TK finally got a laptop and has discovered the joys of on-line hooking up. We toasted to munting. He has some good stories.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

I swear I did not run over anyone on the mountain

I swam a half mile this morning and then hit the bike for 9 miles. The best part of the bike ride was watching the boxing class in front of me, specifically the hot guy in the class. Loved when he was doing squat thrusts...

To the point I made earlier about how no economic plan that I am aware of has ever created millions of jobs in an instant; there was an article in the WSJ this morning describing how the infrastructure projects that we need and have been heralded as saviours of our economy are hitting "road blocks." I quote: "A typical paving project- easy roadwork- takes close to three months from the time the money is approved to the arrival of work boots on the ground..." There is no quick fix.

IF you think AIG bonuses are an outrage- which I do- that does not justify a politician grandstanding saying the executives who received them (under legally binding contracts in place before this blow up) should return them or commit suicide. Which is also a good segue into what counter parties were most at risk if AIG failed. The first chunk of the bailout went to the various counter parties who legally required more collateral. What is most surprising is that 60 of the ten largest recipients were foreign financial institutions. I think there will be more political grandstanding on this issue soon but more importantly it tells a very important story- all the European banks are big fat liars. They all say they have no problems and think if they ignore them they will just take care of themselves. It could also explain why the USD is doing so well- because it really is the least offensive smelling piece of shit out there and we are way ahead of the Europeans in admitting to the problem.

Not to make light of a very sad situation but I just want to quash any rumors that I was the one who ran into Natasha Richardson in Tremblant. I read the story and apparently she was taking a private lesson with an instructor and not wearing a helmet. She fell and must have suffered a head trauma. The instructor and the ski patrol told her several times she needed to see a doctor. It appears she refused treatment, an hour later was taken to a hospital. The last I read she was being taken off life support. It should bring to home to anyone who skis or snowboards you really should wear a helmet.

We had dinner with Ragnar and Umberto this evening. They are doing well and Ragnar is excited to be my guide for the Black Party this Saturday.

Monday, March 16, 2009

I want to go back to Montreal in the summer

Friday morning I biked 15 miles for training and got it done in 48 minutes so I was psyched about that.

Friday I read that TALF is getting postponed. It would seem to me like our government is still flying blind and working on the "plan."

I highly recommend everyone google and watch the YouTube of Jon Stewart versus Jim Cramer. IT was great and must watch for anyone who thinks CNBC is on their side.

I read that some school districts are debating moving to four day school weeks to save money. I think I would have loved that as a kid but I imagine if the boys get that the ex will not be that thrilled.

The flight to Montreal was a disaster. We got to the airport a bit more than a hour ahead of our departure time. Of course the airline didn't bother to tell us until we got to the gate that we were delayed. They kept delaying us and then changed our gate. We did not leave until three hours after our scheduled departure time. We land at Trudeau and of course there is no one at the car rental place. So we take a car service up to Tremblant. We checked in about 4:30 AM. We got up at 10 AM, went and rented our boards and hit the slopes for half the day. We had a great time too.

After we were done we hit the hot tub and had a cocktail, then showered up, got dressed and went to a bar to have some nachos and beers. We went back to take a nap before dinner but I was out for the night as I had only gotten about five hours of sleep.

Sunday we were on the slopes about 9:30. We did the north face of the mountain though. It was a blast. The snow was getting a bit slushy which I actually liked and everything was going great. Then the husband and I went to one of the blue runs as I rode by a sign that said experts only. The trail forked, the husband went right I started to follow when he pointed left so I figured it really was not a blue and took the blue to the left. Fucking moguls!! The entire blue was moguls, all tightly spaced. I made it through a few and was turning when I took off, went right over three did a little jump and landed on my ass. SO I got over to the left side where there wasn't as many and made it down slowly. I got to open trail and flew down to the lift assuming the husband would be waiting for me. Shockingly I got to the bottom first. When he got there I asked how I beat him and his moguls were as bad so he actually took his board off and walked down that part of the trail.

After that we took a break and had a beer, it was a bit after 2 PM so we decided to call it a day. Took the lift to the top and went down the south face back to the hotel. We took a nap first this time and then we went out to dinner.

Tremblant is not as big as some of the mountains I have been on since I started boarding but I definitely had the most fun on it. Thanks for the recommendation Mr. Locke.

The car rental service came and picked us up since they screwed up Friday night. They drove us to downtown Montreal. We had a few hours to kill so we took the rental they owed us and drove around the old part of Montreal. I really liked it and the husband and I agreed we should try to get there for an extended weekend in the summer.

Our trip home was uneventful. We got home and I took a small nap with the kids who were excited we were home. The husband rode his bike. Then we caught up with Supernatural and BSG. I am so frackin' psyched for BSG this Friday. The husband will be in L.A. so I have to adjust the dvr to make sure the entire two hour finale is copied.

Mr. Clifford is actually coming to the Black Party with me. We were exchanging emails Friday when he decided to make the trip. He'll get in Saturday afternoon and go back Sunday afternoon.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

My Red Wings arrived

Last night the last of my outfit arrived- the Red Wing motorcycle boots. I tried them on and they fit great.

I have to say I think the EFCA is a complete crock of shit. I have no problem with organized labor- I am a former union member (lol, I said member) and think it has a place in our country and economic system. What I think is bullshit is how they are not allowing a secret vote. That is the whole point of democracy. Everyone gets to vote without anyone knowing who they voted for. Just saying you have enough people interested in a union should not automatically make the place a union shop.

After work today I went to NYU's athletic facilities to swim with the husband. He got his graduate degree there so as an alumni he gets to avail himself of their facilities. There were some cute college guys but I actually swam a half mile. I came home, the husband went to watch the Big East with MP since she has not seen a basketball game in years due to her living overseas.

Tomorrow night we are off to Mount Tremblant for a weekend of snowboarding.

There are some new movies coming out I can't wait to see- The Last House On The Left and A Haunting in Connecticut.

The tape is up over ten percent in three days- woo hoo, open the champagne! Seriously, we haven't even started to get back to the previous levels. Bear market rallies are violent and big; I'd say the past three days prove that statement.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Could someone please stuff something in Barney Frank's mouth to shut him up?

Yesterday I went to the pool to get my swim in for my training. Funny thing- the pool is closed for the week. I was bummed as it threw off my entire schedule for the week. I walked by to see why it was closed, thinking maybe someone left a Baby Ruth there. There was scaffolding over the pool though and it appears they were doing ceiling repair. So I biked 9 miles instead and when I got into the office I re-arranged my entire training schedule for his week and next week.

I read about the 9/11 terror suspects and their plea. I quote: "Our religion is a religion of fear and terror to the enemies of God; the Jews, Christians and pagans." Gee I wonder why people stereotype Muslims or any other religious nut when such statements are made. I am sure abortion clinic bombing Christians use the same vernacular when they describe why they do such things. It makes you wonder how humanity has survived despite organized religion.

Barney Frank really needs to shut his piehole. He was out yesterday saying the up-tick rule will be re-instated within a month. The implication is that the repeal of the uptick rule is what caused our current economic morass. I doubt very much if we had the uptick rule in place that both LEH and BSC would have had different fates. IF we want to go with his line of thinking we should also bring back paper tickets, time stamp clocks, a 10:30 opening, a 3:30 close and Wednesdays no trading to take care of back office and settlement issues. All of those have gone away over the last thirty some odd years so they also would have prevented us from having a huge credit implosion.

He also pontificated about mark to market. I think a simple way to handle that would be if you originated the debt and hold it to maturity you get to use fair value and/or accrual accounting but once you sell or trade it, it falls under mark to market. I think that would cause a lot of people to do some serious risk analysis when originating debt and when deciding whether or not they actually want to trade debt.

The only ones who can change both of those things are the SEC commissioners. Like every political bureaucracy they take a long time and try to reach a consensus before doing anything. Congress cannot make those changes. They can and do control the SEC's funding but they can't tell them what to do.

I slept in late this morning and did my training after work as it was just a short run today.

I read an article today that perked up my cynic radar. It described how bank bonds are getting smoked lately. The reason is everyone is finally realizing what my bond friend told me last week: Certain banks will get nationalized de jure (not just de facto as they are now) and that means only the very top and most senior credits will be allowed to recover any kind of money. Everyone else will get smoked. I know a big trade currently in the street is shorting the common versus the preferreds. The smart kid next to me, I and my boss discussed it and it makes sense as anyone putting that trade on is doing it solely to capture the differential. They don't care if both go to zero because it is an arb trade for them. The suckers are the ones who think the preferreds are safe enough and high enough on the credit ladder that they will make money no matter what. Time will tell.

Last night the husband and I had dinner with JW and JD. They made this amazing lamb dish and awesome green beans- which may explain my semi-gaseous state all day today.

After work I grabbed beers with an old friend from the business who left it a few years ago. I have known this guy for close to twenty years. For fourteen years straight he and I went to the Allman Brothers concert at the Beacon every year they were in the city. The funny part is after the last one we went to we went out for beers after- because you always need more beers at 1 AM on a Thursday after getting stoned by second hand smoke at a concert. At that point I spilled my guts to him and he is an was the first person to whom I admitted I was gay. The rest is history as they say...

Monday, March 9, 2009

So that is the leather goods store...

Last night I went to pack my bag for my training this morning only to realize I had left it at the office in a rush to get down to central Jersey Friday after work and pick up the boys. So I did not do my training this morning which means I will have to make it up tomorrow on my day off. I also have to make up my training from yesterday which means I will be doing a medium swim and bike tomorrow and then a run after work.

I don't get what the issue is with President Obama using a teleprompter. Who cares what he uses- note cards, teleprompter, kindle, ad libbing it or receiving signals from his alien masters a few parsecs away. The guy is a really good orator even if I think he has no plan and disagree with his message. I am sure a lot of people though which ever President made the switch from parchment o loose leaf paper was wrong too. It's called progress people. You look like the lunatic fringe if that is what you are fixating on.

Ace Greeneberg is a legend on Wall Street. He was on BBERG this morning and I was laughing my ass off when he responded to a question saying all of his fears have been realized and he has none left. Wisdom and benefit of old age.

I think I have said before if our desk was a Cub Scout Den there is this woman on the desk who would definitely be the Den Mother. She always has a bowl of candy and various other goodies on her desk. Today she had caramels and I think I had about 6 billion of them throughout the day. They were the good ones too- Kraft not the crappy Bacarach ones.

I have to say Mr. Dimon is one freakin' smart guy. I think he could sell ice cube trays to Eskimos (I am sure that is totally un-PC to use that phrase but tough shit). They guy is selling the Bear Wagner Specialist unit he inherited by rescuing BSC to BARC. Seriously, WTF is BARC thinking? The floor is dead as it was known even 5 years ago. There is no value in a specialist unit. You'd think BARC had enough to worry about with LEH and then to go and add a floor unit???

I am going to the Black Party this year. This is the first time and pretty sure the only time. I have never been to it, the husband has been several times and has not interest going again. I am going with his best friend Ragnar who volunteered to go with me the newbie. I have a preconceived notion about what it will be like but still- how can you not stare at the accident as you drive by?

So, after work I went downtown, met up with PF my style consultant and went to the Leatherman Store to get appropriate attire for the evening. It was quite the experience and not all the inexpensive but I bet I can use a black leather kilt at least one more time, you know in lieu of a tuxedo to a formal wedding. Not sure I will be able to use the Hercules type wrist bands again but maybe the boys could use them some Halloween.

When we got done there PF and I stopped in the very first gay bar he ever went to in NYC when he was 18 and a freshman at Fordham. Boot & Saddles was the name of the esteemed establishment. It was quite an experience to say the least...

Sunday, March 8, 2009

If I knew French it would be called fait acompli...

Friday morning I actually got 13 miles done on the bike. I was psyched about that kind of distance.

Finally we had a nice quiet day on Friday. What I mean by that was a day that saw us close +/- 50 bps.

I saw a YouTube of Jon Stewart ranting about how the Childrens New Broadcasting Corporation basically sucks. I loved it and it was pretty funny. If you watch that asinine station google his clip about it. The only thing I didn't like was how it disingenuously made Rick Santelli look bad. He is the only good thing about that station.

The government, and particularly Bernake, keep saying they don't want to nationalize the banks and wipe out the current owners. Hello?? Shitigroup is basically at or below $1. You already own ~72% through a combination of preferreds and common. The market has wiped them out for you- be a man and make the hard decision and just nationalize the damn things. When I say the banks I really mean Shitigroup and BAC.

Friday I read several pieces about how President Obama thinks that by "fixing" health care, energy and education that the economy will right itself. They all said and I have to agree that what got the economy into this spot was not any of those things but rather a massive credit bubble. I think all of those topics could use help- particularly education- but spending massive amounts of money on them will not right the economy. Which kind of segues into my next thought...

We all have a right to pursue life, liberty and happiness. We have no guarantee on achieving all of them though. The government's job is to make sure we can all pursue those goals with limited interference not making sure we achieve them- that is up to each individual. The corollary to that would be we have the right to pursue owning our own home but not the guarantee of achieving that. Forcing institutions into making poor risk assessments so people who may not be able to afford house otherwise was not a wise choice in hindsight.

We had the boys this weekend. I picked them up Friday evening. In the truck I asked them if they wanted to have two Brother's Day in a row. Brother's Day was their idea last year. They asked their mother why there was a Mother's Day and Father's Day but no Brother's Day. she said fine, you can have one. Basically they get to be couch potatoes all day and relax, do nothing- a lot like any other day without them realizing it...Their response was that every weekend with me and the husband was pretty much like Brother's Day.

Saturday I got my taxes done and am getting a refund even though I got yelled at by my accountant for doing some foolish things this year. Afterwards we went to my brother's twin sons first birthday party. I am so fucking glad this will be the last one I have to go to as I find 1 year old birthday parties total circle jerks. They boys had fun as they got to see their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents and run around like madmen on a playground.

I played crazy eights with my youngest this weekend. We split the series and the next weekend they are with us I told him we have to have a tie breaker.

The husband and I went and saw Watchmen tonight. It was long but really good and pretty true to the source. I have the original collection bagged and boxed in storage. I have loved the series since I first read it and what I am about to say may be viewed in some quarters as heretical: I hated the whole pirate story in the background of the book and am so psyched it did not make it into the movie.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Phsyician, heal thyself

This morning I was up early and off to the gym to get my short run in for training. While waiting at the bus stop the hottie I have seen on the early bus was there chatting with another guy about their plans this weekend. I forgot about that odd tradition Hoboken has for St. Patrick's Day. Hoboken always celebrates St. Patty's Day on the first Saturday of March so as not to have to compete with NYC. IT is a lot like Mardi Gras actually. Actually think more like Girls Gone Wild. Most people go to house parties during the day because all the bars get filled starting at 11 but the reverse bridge and tunnel crowd. Locals don't go to the bars until around 6 after all the tourists from NYC have either passed out or gotten arrested for public urination or just gone home bombed. I will not be joining in the festivities as I have the boys this weekend.

I have to say I was a bit astounded when I read Rep. Frank has said he wants all governmental bodies to attempt to prosecute those responsible for the financial meltdown. Top of the list would be the following people: Greenspan for keeping the price of money artificially low for twenty plus years; President Clinton for allowing Rep. Frank, Senator Dodd and other Democrats to force Fannie and Freddie to make very risky loans; Bernake for abetting Greenspan; Mozillo for bribing Congressmen with below market loans, hell there are tons more.

I had drinks with my Senior Prom date tonight after work. She has not changed one bit- still a really funny girl- well actually woman now. She lives up the Hudson Valley and was in the city for work today so we met up afterwards and had some cocktails. I think the funniest line of the night was when I said I was paying for drinks and she said oooh, technically a date. I told her I was not expecting anything in return.

We caught up on Heroes tonight. I am psyched to see BSG tomorrow night but a bit bummed that means there will only be two more episodes after.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

I'm the only one who had to go to the ATM

Snowboarding out in Colorado was a blast. We all got out there by 1 PM. Picked up the car and drove to the mountain. We did stop on the way for salty products and roadies. We got in, unpacked and started playing cards immediately. I did pretty well the first night threatening their masculinity.

The next morning we got up, got our rentals and hit the slopes. We had some really good runs although in one of my early ones I was coming to where two trails joined up, I was looking up the hill when some lady of certain age almost took me out from behind. She then had the nerve to tell me to watch where I was going. I told her I had the right of way as I was in front and I was looking up the hill. She had to be an inexperienced skier as she should have been aware that all boarders have a blind spot and since I am regular mine is over my left shoulder which is the direction she came from behind.

Saturday we went out to dinner in Breckenridge and then headed back to the condo for more cards. I have to say Lady Luck, Fate, Fortune- whatever name you want to call it by was not on my side and was out to teach me a lesson for bragging. I seriously got my ass kicked to the point I only had three dollars left so I went to bed.

Next morning I went tot he ATM when we got coffees at the local SBUX. We then proceeded to play cards again at which point I redeemed myself somewhat. We played until noon and only hit the slopes for a half day. We then finished the trip playing cards 'til late and I ended up with all the chips. The guys at that point thought it would be a blast to drunk dial the husband and tell him he should be proud of me. I refused to give them his number or my phone as I knew he would not see as much humor in the situation as they did.

The flight home was fine, I had the statistically safest seat in the plane- the last row in the back. I sat next to two really cute guys too but I mostly read the books my 9 year old said I'd like and he was right.


I have an B.A. in economics and I have to say it really annoys me to no end when politicians say transfer payments add to economic activity or stimulate spending. When you take funds from one group and give them to the other that is money that can't be spent by the original group and does not add to economic activity or stimulate spending.

So much for a new way to do politics as I see President Obama sent a secret letter to President Medved offering to give in on missile defence in Europe if Russia would help pressure Iran. Secret offers, letters and agreements have been around since politics have been- there is nothing new about them. I am glad though that President Obama realizes the threat Iran poses and is trying to get everyone on board in stopping them before Israel does something rash but really well planned and executed.

I don't think any President should be voicing an opinion about the markets and yet yesterday our President went out and told everyone "buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you've got a long term prospective." Well to quote Keynes "In the long run we are all dead."

I Had drinks with JS last night which was good as I have not seen him in quite some time and we have been trying to catch up since before the holidays. His job is crazy and not in a good way but he is moving and he seems excited about that and I hope it works out for him.

The tape today was just a bounce. Until the bank issue and the GE issue get resolved we will not be able to sustain a rally would be my guess.

I did read a story about securitized issues but did not understand it. Basically what I got out of it was that that they are going to de-securitize them partially and strip out the bad and/or toxic portions then re-securitize what is left. My question is where do the bad and/or toxic portions go? Who eats those loses?

I really can't abide the baby boomers. I would use the word hate but as I tell my sons that is a very strong word not to be used lightly. So I'll stick with abide. They are just so full of themselves- the word hubris comes to mind. As an example I read there is a university in the U.K. that is now offering a Masters of Arts in The Beatles. Seriously, I have had enough of the Beatles being the greatest band ever. They were the Back Street Boys of the late '60s. Let it go.

Tonight I had dinner with my bond manager friend. His firm and he in particular are knee deep in the bank stabilization plan. He had some really interesting things to say about the way the government is handling things. It was all off the record so that is all I'll say.

Tomorrow night I am having drinks with my date from the Senior Prom. she lives in the Hudson Valley and is going to be in the city. So we're going to catch up.