Thursday, April 30, 2009

Anarcho-capitalists of the world unite! Wait- is that an oxymoron...?

Yesterday I swam 1800 yards for training before work. After I had drinks with Red. She is an old friend I have known my entire career on the Street. She was actually going through her divorce the same time I was but had a slight head start on me. She looked great and we had fun. I forgot what a light weight she was- two Grey Goose Cosmos and she was flying. I took her to Therapy and I have to say the bartender was sooo damn hot. I used my credit card so he had to ask for ID which means he now knows were I live- let's hope he's the stalking kind, lol. I was supposed to have drinks after with a kid who not only went to the same undergrad I did but is also from my hometown and his step-father was my dentist growing up. He had to cancel at the last minute due to work. This was the third time we've had to reschedule so I told him, in the summer we'll do it and go to the 79th Street Boat Basin.

So, apparently it is no longer allowed for a publicly traded company's CEO to announce they are filing under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code- that is now President Obama's job. I must have missed the management change announcement stating President Obama replaced Bob Nardelli as the CEO of Chrysler.

Speaking of the Chrysler bankruptcy; I have no idea how the Administration thinks it will only take sixty days to wrap up. Seriously, once lawyers get involved that messes up everything. I think President Obama being a lawyer knew that and that is why he tried to help Chrysler avoid having to go into the courts.

Ok, so I thought this country was founded on and built upon the beliefs that individuals are allowed to pursue- and even encouraged to- their own interests? Didn't our Founding Fathers write we have a right to pursue life, liberty and happiness? The belief that we could voluntarily enter into trade of private property and services is why most people take risk and try to improve their lot in life. I am on this riff because the President said Chrysler had to file because some of the loan owners were putting their economic interests ahead of the national economic interests. Well duh? He of course then blamed the hedge funds for forcing Chrysler into this uncharted territory called Chapter 11- oh, wait. We did not need a way for a company to reorganize itself and get out from under debts they can no longer pay. I am perplexed as to why the President has wasted his political capital on this. Maybe it has to do with the fact that by going through the time tested bankruptcy procedures in place the UAW may not end up owning 55% of Chrysler. Then President Obama can say, sorry I tried. Although I must say if the UAW were to become the majority owner of a major car company I would love to see how they would actually make money as they would be bargaining with themselves. "The man" would no longer be the one screwing "the people."

I also was taken aback by some in the Administration saying this changes nothing for Chrysler; everything will be as it was. Funny though that a Chrysler spokesperson said come May 4th they will idle all production until the court proceedings are done. It got me wondering if the employees who will be collecting some type of transfer payment- usually called unemployment benefits- will be excluded from the unemployment figures. Technically they will be furloughed not unemployed...

I saw cram down legislation got defeated. That would have made me feel better until I recalled my bond friend explaining to me that cram down was the lesser of two evils confronting bond holders and all of contract law. Mortgage modification is the worse one. It is worse because the second lien- home equity line of credit (HELOC) originators get treated the same as first lien (mortgage) originators. Now why would that be allowed? Well the banks that originated the mortgages securitized them and sold them- no longer their risk or problem. However- they then went and provided HELOCs to the same homeowners. Normally the first lien has claim on the asset and anyone after gets the crumbs or nothing. Mortgage mod would give the second lien guys something too at the expense of the first lien- because the second liens are still a huge risk to the banks that took TARP but don't need it and passed the stress test- yeah right.

I am sure I wrote before how in classical economics GDP/GNP is represented by Y and made up of consumption (C), investment (I), government expenditures (G), exports (X) and imports(I). Y=C+I+G+(X-M). C accounts for ~70% of Y. C is still decreasing but apparently not as quickly- and there was great rejoicing. Thing is G cannot increase enough to make up for C decreasing- unless we want to go cylinder bore socialist. So with Y still decreasing- albeit slower- we are not near a bottom.

One of The Dog's international fund managers said this morning that we are at the start of a new bull market and financials will lead it. Hello- go and reread the previous paragraph and know that the leader of the old bull market is never the leader of the new one- whenever that may start.

Back in the '90s there was a time whenever a company blew up and missed big time they just blamed el nino. I am predicting now that any company that misses in Q3 or Q4 will blame swine flu. Swine flu will be the new el nino. I have to amend that- we can no longer call it swine flu as it cause undue duress to swine and pigs everywhere (see Jimbo's blog for more info on why it is not a swine flu at all). We are so politically correct we can't call it Mexican flu- but back in 1918 Spanish flu was ok. So they are calling it by it's viral appellation. All the pigs in Egypt can now breath a sigh of relief because the government planned on killing all of them to prevent swine flu...

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Central banks have been and can be beaten by the markets

So did my make up swim this morning with nothing or anyone notable.

I am still feeling these conspiracy theories but not with H1N1a. This time it has to do with Chrysler. When Chrysler was taken private, Cerberus assumed all their debt as well, so there are no bond holders. Instead you have all these loans made by big banks. I am not sure what banks as I was not to interested in all the facts but when I saw the banks agreed to forgive, i.e. write off as a loss, $6.9 billion in loans in exchange for $2 billion and ten percent ownership of the "new" Chrysler I had to wonder. What bank currently has the leeway to accept a roughly twenty eight percent recovery rate plus ten percent of the new perpetual calls that will be issued which may also go to zero? Then it struck me- the banks that are owned by the government or accepted TARP funds from them were probably given the Ken Lewis treatment. Some federal official gave them verbal guidance as to what they should do with the loans. The term plausible deniability should come to mind. I can't wait until the banks then have to write down loans they were probably marking at 100 cents on the dollar to 28 cents on the dollar...

Taking it a step further I could infer it was also a warning to the GM bond holders. See what we did to Chrysler, go ahead and try to call our bluff. The thing is, the bond holders will and have ample legal and historical precedence to win. GM made the tender offer dependant on 90% of the bond holders approving the tender offer. Not gonna happen and is all posturing so when it doesn't GM and the government can lynch Wall Street again for "causing" GM to have to file.

I found it odd that the Fed felt the need to release a press statement that the government of Singapore will not take a controlling stake in Shitigroup. Instead they will convert their preferreds into common. I wold say what really happened was the Fed and or Shitigroup asked Singapore to pony up again. Singapore said no thanks we'll just convert.

There is an old adage on the Street that you don't fight the Fed. All of the shit going on though reminded me of when Soros broke the Bank of England in 1994. There is precedent for going against a central bank and winning that just happens to be the only one I have witnessed in my career.

The "photo-op" from yesterday was still all over the news. I really don't think President Obama should be held responsible for it. It was asinine and stupid. A friend sent me a video from his cell phone of the street level mayhem. It was pretty scary and you could hear the plane long before it was seen. The funny thing was that same clip made it onto the 11 o'clock news here.

All of this furor over H1N1a and tamiflu and relenza makes me pine for the days of Cipro- sort of...

I am starting to really believe that we are in the same spot on the geopolitical stage that the U.K. was between the World Wars. It kind of makes me worry that that means we may have a serious geopolitical disruption in the next 5-7 years and see ourselves go into decline like they did after WWII.

I went to the gym tonight and got my short run in and lifted. There were some serious hot guys there again. Yellow shorts was there and there was a new guy. I have seen him on the morning bus from time to time. I'm calling him blue shoes. I actually spotted him on the bench too.

The husband is taking a little side jaunt to Berlin currently. He is having fun.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Meow- fashion cat time

So I think I may have allergies. I am not sure if late-onset allergies are possible but a lot of my family members have them and it is possible I do as well. I guess I'd rather have late-onset allergies than late-onset diabetes. My nose has been running since Friday and I have been taking Clairitin- thank God the husband has allergies and had a bunch of Redi-Tabs in his bathroom.

This morning with all the hype about H1N1a- the new swine flu- I had a moment of panic I have to admit, lol. I also of course love any good conspiracy theory and H1N1a has so many possibilities: Mexico is on the list of countries that face a distinct possibility of complete breakdown; we (the USA) cannot let that happen; the history between us and Mexico in particular and all of Latin and South America is not the best; if there is a pandemic we could be asked to send the Army in the guise of helping keep civil order and for humanitarian aid; one of the first to go was an archeology curator who met President Obama on the 16th; President Obama is asymptomatic or immunized; President Obama intentionally infected him to spread it so we could get invited in. It is endless and I am surprised it has not sprung up yet but I imagine if we give the right wing fringe enough time...

I really think Sheila Bair is a complete moron. She made a speech today at some economics luncheon that I could not believe. This chick has a pair of seriously large brass balls. She stated that the bulk of the financial crisis was caused by activity outside of the banks, She then went on to say that the liquidity crisis is over and we are in the clean up phase. Funny- she must be very worried about her job and the existence of her agency. The FDIC has no money of their own to begin with as a kind lady in Maine pointed out to me. They just collect fees and then give them to the Treasury. If the bulk of the activity took place outside of the banks then why are the banks the ones that had to be bailed out?

I think I could live Sam Zell. The guy is brilliant even though he bought a newspaper. He totally top-ticked the real estate market. He was on BBRG TV today and I loved his candor and most of his comments.

Ok, time to put the catty- nay, queeny hat on. What the hell are IT guys thinking when they get dressed in the mornings? One guy had the lack of sense to wear cargo pants to the office. The other made the fatal flaw of wearing stripes and plaids. Meow.

The husband is having fun in London. He literally bumped into Jude Law today. Good to know he is still smoking hot according to the husband. Tomorrow he is off to Berlin. HE gets back stateside Sunday evening.

I skipped training this morning and will make it up tomorrow morning.

I am psyched to see the Wolverine movie. Hugh Jackman is so freakin' hot! The boys will be psyched as well since they are here with me this weekend and it is rated PG-13. Tonight is the season finale for Heroes I believe.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Toilet paper is white too and we all know what that is used for

Getting up to speed- the husband left Friday night for his spring break. I had invited him to go to Myrtle Beach with me and the boys and part of my family. He demurred stating if he was taking a week off for spring break he wanted to go to Europe. SO I dropped him off at EWR Friday on my way down to central Jersey to pick up the boys.

The weekend was fun, the weather was amazing. I actually had to run on the air conditioning. The kids have been sleeping in the bed with me and I get to wear my watch to bed. Which is a nice segue to certain rules we have in the house regarding sleeping. If you are going to bed the watch comes off along with all of your clothes no matter what. If you are taking a nap you can wear the watch, clothes stay on and you sleep on top of the covers. If you need something over you use on of the damn blankets- they aren't just accent pieces. It is legal to wear your baseball cap while taking a nap as long as it is tilted down and covering your eyes. But I digress...

So I saw Sayville on the bus the other morning and all I can say is holy shit! The kid looks as hot in a suit as he does in a tank top and tight gym shorts. Today the boys and I dined al fresco for lunch and there was some serious eye candy flaunting it in Hoboken. Which reminds me I saw red hoodie again at the same restaurant the husband and I saw him at last week. Funny- he was eating lunch with the same guy and I am starting to think my meant to be funny, flippant comment of him being on a date with the guy may be true.

I am not a huge conspiracy theorist but the CFO of FRE committing suicide makes me wonder. The guy is my age, worked at the company for 16 years and supposedly had an "institutional" knowledge and memory of the company. If I were a paranoid type I'd say someone took out the person who knew where all the bodies lie. The other thing that makes me wonder is the fact that the SPY is no on the hard to borrow list- WTF? If the SPY is truly hard to borrow then I am starting to think some of the fringe/whackos are right that the government is trying to orchestrate a rally.

I had dinner with my bond friend last week. He makes me look outright cheery about the current state of affairs we've gotten ourselves into. He reaffirmed his belief that Shitigroup and BAC are goners. The results of the stress "tests" the government conducted were given to the banks Friday to much fanfare. Funny thing though- they were all ordered to keep quiet about them. The government also gave out the methodology they used and called it a white paper. Well I know hwy as it is basically toilet paper (which is white) and the only use for it is to wipe your ass after taking a dump. It told you nothing and reinforced the belief posited by many that the stress test was an open book, take home test.

I am having dinner tonight with JP. It will be good to catch up with him. This week will be interesting; I will have to get up earlier than usual so I can walk the kids before work (the husband's usual job) on the days I am swimming for training. I also don't have many plans for the week so I can catch up on the latest Harry Dresden book I bought.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Last dance...last chance...

So I blew of my run this morning and slept in with the husband. I just was not feeling the love after my training yesterday. I really was supposed to make up my bike session but I hate the bike. So I rationalized I can do my run after work and make up the bike tomorrow. We'll see...

I was dialoguing with JW today about an editorial in the WSJ which was talking about how the current Administration for all its campaign rhetoric is just continuing the Bush policies regarding detaining enemy non-combatants. We had a nice intelligent discussion and got to a lot of common ground even though I am right of center and he is left of center- I guess we reached the center. The best part though was when he sent me a link to a bunch of videos titled Green Porno. Isabella Rossellini must be really hard up for dough if she is doing those web videos. The first one he sent almost had me in tears- it was so wrong, so funny and she was so sincere it was scary.

So I have not really kept up with the craigslist killer story but today Mom IMed me that Dad may actually know the accused. Apparently when Dad was the superintendent one of the members of the local board of education had a son by that name. She wasn't sure but Mom is pretty good with that kind of stuff.

The ex called me today to tell me this Friday I don't need to pick up the boys until 9 PM. My oldest has his last school dance of the year.

So the tape rallied today. The mainstream business media tried to say it was because of Turbo Tax Timmy's commentary regarding banks having more than enough capital. Well if that really is the case then why won't the government let the banks repay the TARP? What I think really sparked the rally was CAT's commentary on their conference call. The company supposedly had called the recession back in '07 and so when they said they thought we were at the bottom that caused a pop. either way it is a head fake I think. Mainly because FNM and FRE said they are seeing prime loans now go into default in a huge way. This past month so called prime borrowers defaulting increased by fifty percent. The real estate damage is so not done yet.

The most entertaining comments I read were from the CEO of RF. He basically said TARP is a huge goat-fuck. The government keeps changing the rules on a day to day basis and is using TARP to implement a social policy program instead of addressing the economic causes of the current mess we are in.

I did do my run after work and was psyched I got three and a half miles in in a mere twenty nine minutes. Tomorrow I will be swimming in the AM and then maybe doing my bike after before the husband and I have dinner with MP who just got back from vacation.

Monday, April 20, 2009

The Brits have such a way with words

So this past weekend it was all about the husband sine it was his "birfday" weekend. Friday we stayed in and I made dinner for us- called mom and had her email me a recipe that I always loved growing up but I adapted it and substituted apricots and asparagus for the peaches and broccoli. The husband liked it a lot. We sat there and watched Blazing Saddles on AMC while we ate dinner. That movie is so frackin' funny. I miss Harvey Korman.

Saturday we ran around doing errands. Then I got back into the kitchen and started slaving away as I had invited ST, PJ and TK over for dinner that evening. I also had to make the husband his birthday cake. As PF said it is total white trash to have a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles- and that is what the husband got. ST, PJ and TK got here around 7:15 and I served dinner a hour later. The husband gently chided me for dressing the salad too early and the chicken was a bit dry he commented. Other than that all was good. TK stayed after dinner and we played cards.

Yesterday was a great lazy Sunday. We did nothing- well I did nothing. The husband went and did his long swim and I napped with the kids. Then we watched t.v and had dinner. Earlier we went to TGT and bought Punisher Warzone so we watched that. I have to say of the three Punisher movies- yes this was the third- it was by far the best and closest to the source material. I am surprised it did not do better in the theaters.

I did not train this weekend so I had to make up for it today. This morning I swam 1000 yards and biked ten miles. After work I went to the gym to try and get my long bike in and lift. The place was packed and as usual the hot guys were there in force- they always are on Mondays except during football season. Fordham Drinking Team is one I had not seen before and woof. I did not have time to get my long bike in.

So over the weekend the amateurs we have running the government floated the idea of finally admitting what they have already done- turning their TARP loans to banks into equity stakes, aka nationalization. In the case of Shitigroup and BAC it is fait acompli. The other thing they said was they will not let banks repay TARP early if it is not in the best "national economic interests" of the country. Right...

I love how the Brits when discussing all the government plans out there refer to them as schemes. Let's be honest- that is what they are; schemes to keep the system from utterly falling apart.

Tomorrow morning I will do my long bike and then after work my long run I was supposed to do yesterday.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

I am so glad I am done with that

So I did a short run and lifted this morning. The gym was fairly empty.

I don't understand why any bond holder of GM would willingly exchange their bonds for equity. Bond holders are top dog, king of the hill, the hot shit when it comes to bankruptcy. They have all the rights and power and legal protections. Equity holders are the owners of the business filing for protection. They are the last in line for anything that may be left over. It is a perpetual call. Does GM really think anyone would go from first in line to last in a really long line. All I can think of is the government yet again exercises its mono ply on the use of coercion and force and makes the bond holders do it. It will be couched in this is best for the country but don't believe it.

Tonight we had our last Share-A-Thon to try and sell shares in the beach house. I think we may have actually gotten some interest but we'll see after the weekend.

Tomorrow I have my long bike. I will do it before work. Thank God I have my iPod. Speaking of that I have to say there are two albums getting serious play on it. The first is TATE, aka The Airborne Toxic Event. It is a great album. The other one I actually have to give credit to my oldest son. About four months ago he asked me to add a song to his iPod. He only knew the title. I found and downloaded it for him. Listened to it, seemed ok. Then he asked for another one by the same artist. Went though the drill again and thought it was good too. So I finally downloaded the entire album and I have to say Lady GaGa is pretty good to do your cardio too. The husband thinks she is nothing new- Madonna and Britney do the same thing. To me it seems kind of like someone is stuck in their ways and I would venture Lady GaGa could easily dethrone both Madonna and Britney as the new gay icon. Those two should be looking over their shoulders.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

More about pirates...

So this morning I got to the pool for my long swim and the staff informed there were no towels. I asked if they would have towels within a half hour? They said they did not know. At that point I really didn't have much choice so I jumped in the pool for my long swim. I was psyched that I got 1800 yards in in twenty-eight minutes. When I got out there were towels too which made my swim even better.

I loved the bar chart showing pirates versus Presidents. President Obama 3, pirates zero. Last night the husband asked what the big deal was about our President authorizing the Navy SEALs killing the pirates. I said no clue and don't care, he did the right thing. Along those lines I read where Ron Paul wants to bring back letters of marque and reprisal. Basically those are letter allowing private citizens to go after pirates or other specific targets and assets of said targets, allowing them to keep any treasure they acquire and any bounty on the target. These letters were created when there was no declaration of war but hostilities close to war. If you were issued letters of marque by the United Kingdom you were a privateer, the French version was a corsair. I would go for French letters of marque as corsair sounds way cooler. The practice was ended at the end of the Crimean War with the Declaration of Paris in 1856. As one article said, sort of like Blackwater but with very specific guidelines.

So when Vince from ShamWOW got arrested for beating up a hooker, everyone on the desk started discussing the ShamWOW. We actually ordered them and they arrived today. Of course we ran a few tests and they worked well- hell they are German and you know they make great stuff.

I forgot this past Saturday the husband and I went out for lunch. We walked into the place and there was red-hoodie in sweat pants having lunch with another guy. The host sat us down at the table next to them. My back was to them since I knew the husband would want to stare- which he did. I however was able to listen in on parts of their conversations. I swear I think it was a date they were having!

Tomorrow I have a short run and then after work we have our last Fire Island Share-A-Thon- thank God. We have totally sucked at selling any part of the season so the traders we are we decided we must be pricing it incorrectly and we are going to discount the prices tomorrow night. Hopefully that will generate some sales and allow us to recoup some of our cost.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Taking that piss was worth $4

Yesterday I got a pretty good short swim in. The highlight was that hot board shorts was there- later than I was so did not overlap much but he is now wearing a speedo! Whoo-hoo.

We had dinner with DR and PF last night at a restaurant owned and run by some guy who won some cooking reality show. The food was great and the wine was too but PF definitely needs to work on his indoor voice. Funny how an Italian guy like him has an Irish whisper...

So today my mom and dad marked 47 years of wedded bliss. I called them before the open to wish them a happy anniversary. Dad said he was taking mom out for a hot dog and cold beer to celebrate.

You would think that with all the shit going on that President Obama's new dog would not be a top story. Apparently it is though because he said if they got one it would be a rescue dog- a lovable mutt that needed a home. Instead he got a pure-bred Portuguese Water Dog. So now some people are crying foul. Give me a break and leave the guy alone- it is so not important right now. More important things we should be thinking about are things like North Korea quitting the nuclear talks, kicking out the UN inspectors and starting up their reactor again.

I have to say for all the build up of a major speech from the President today I did not hear anything really new. I do agree with him that education is and should be a top priority and is a massive investment in our future. I think that comes from being an Irish Catholic boy at heart who's father saw to all of his family's needs by being a teacher in the public school system and ending his career as a superintend ant.

Ok so GNW got the Heisman for becoming an S&L which means they are shut out of all the government programs to help the credit markets. It raises the spectre of counter-party risk yet again.

What exactly is a surgical bankruptcy? I have no idea how the government thinks they can bring about a controlled and "surgical" bankruptcy for GM? More importantly it will be viewed by the UAW as a massive betrayal by the President regardless of the why it was needed. It will be quite an interesting spectacle to watch but it will cause some serious further damage to the economy and consumer confidence.

So the smartest guys in the room are selling. It should bring to mind the old adage that if you are at a poker game and trying to figure out who the sucker is it means it is you. GS is frackin' brilliant in their strategery (I love that Bushism). They float the idea of paying the TARP back early. They then pre-announce positively and do a REALLY fast deal to sell $5 billion of common equity. They keep announcing it is their intention to pay back TARP. There are a few sticking points I keep getting caught up on though.

GS took $10 billion. The government has said firms that took TARP can only pay it back with money done by a capital raise. i.e. a sale of common equity or preferreds. I only saw GS raise half the amount they took. Yes they have ~$7 billion in cash on hand but I don't think that is allowed. More importantly the government really can't allow GS to pay it back right now because then it proves that people who took it and can't really did need it or they would have failed. It would quickly separate the wheat from the chafe. That would not be good now. The government will have to interfere even more in the markets. But not to worry- GS has a plan.

In their earnings most of their CREs are marked at 50. No big deal, like the conservative take. The problem is in the PPIP example put out by the government. In the example, the CREs are sold at 84. The heavily subsidized private capital buyers aren't putting up all of it so they could make money. However- if they don't sell at 84 then no bank will take the hit and GS is way ahead of the crowd no less severe mark downs would be needed. If they do sell there then GS gets to now mark their CREs back up to 84 showing huge percentage profits. It will also make any private capital buyer who was thinking about paying a heavily subsidized 84 if GS (widely viewed as the smartest guys out there) are saying they are only worth 50.

I got out of the office kind of late tonight. Had to run down town to pick up a picture of me and my oldest from spring break to give him. There was no bus around to take me back up town. I started walking and then had to take a leak in really bad way. I stopped at one of my old haunts thinking I could just use the john there. They now have a sign saying bathroom is for customers only. No problem. I walked in, ordered a Miller Lite and took my leak. Walked back to the bar, paid for my drink and then had the beer. It was so worth it.

Have a long swim tomorrow morning. If I am lucky hot board shorts will be in the lane next to me in his new speedo...

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Add another to the list

Easter Sunday was nice and quiet- no zombie messiahs trying to eat my brains and no airing of the grievances since that is a Festivus ritual. We slept in kind of late and had a lazy Sunday. The husband made a great Easter dinner. We watched Sci-Fi most of the day and topped it off with The Curse of Tutankhamen's Tomb. Casper Van Dien is it in and I have to say he is still hot as ever. I forgot about him when creating my list of celebrities I can hook up with with out it counting as adultery.

It's back to work tomorrow and training as well. I have to swim and bike and then we are having dinner with DR and PF in the evening.

I did not read Barrons this weekend or even the Sunday Times- except to see Ragnar and Umberto's pictures in the Styles section- but I did scan BBERG and I read that GS is most likely going to do a huge capital raise this week and pay back the TARP money. That is so going to screw over all the banks that really need it and can't pay it back yet. I wouldn't be surprised to see the government tell them no they can't pay it back- they have to abide by the original terms and wait two more years.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Joe Pesci was sooo right in Lethal Weapon II

Spring break with the boys in Myrtle Beach was a blast! I drove down to central Jersey last Friday and picked them up after school. We then hit the road. The drive down sucked because of rain and there were 2 accidents between Baltimore and D.C. and a third after we passed D.C. We stayed in a hotel in Rocky Mount, NC that evening which took us 8 hours to reach. Apparently I was so tired I snored all night and hogged the pillows from my youngest. We got up, had breakfast and hit the road to finish the trip. We made it to Myrtle Beach in about four hours, got to the realtor's office and the house was ready even though check in was not until 4 PM officially.

The house was great, 5 bedrooms upstairs and two downstairs. A typical beach house raised up on pilings and with a walk way out to the beach. I was psyched to have a bedroom on the ocean but that did not work out. While we were driving down the night before my youngest asked if, since I was paying for the house, he and his brother got to pick their rooms first. I said yes so when we got into the house Saturday they both made a bee-line for the two bedrooms upstairs on the ocean. They pointed out I said they could pick any room they each wanted. I realized it was their spring break and was caught with my own words so I let them have the rooms. My brother and his wife and children took the other three rooms upstairs which left one of the downstairs rooms with a lovely view of the street for me.

The boys hit the beach immediately and found something they dug up. It appeared to be some kind of weight for a line of some sorts on a boat. They preferred to call it buried treasure though.

Mom and dad got there about a half hour after we did and they took the other downstairs bedroom as they are getting old and too many stairs cause them problems.

That evening we went out for dinner and then my brother, sister-in-law and their three children got in. The kids went straight to bed but the adults stayed up late drinking wine and beer.

A good friend, BW, I had not seen since I graduated from high school lives down there. She came over Monday night and I made dinner (and introduced my sister-in-law to the concept of "cooking wine," i.e. wine one drinks while cooking) for the adults and we caught up on a lot of things. It was great to see her. She is engaged so I told her to bring her beau over later in the week so we could meet him. She came over our last day there and we got to meet him. Thumbs up from everyone who met him, he seemed like a really good guy and he hit it off with mom and dad too.

The weather was decidedly mixed. Saturday and Sunday it was nice but Monday and Tuesday it sucked ass. Wednesday was sunny but really windy and cold. Thursday, our last day, was picture perfect.

We celebrated my oldest's birthday too. I made a cake for him Thursday and told him he could pick whatever restaurant he wanted to go to for dinner. I suggested Hooters as he is now 12. I explained the concept to him- waitresses with large busts- and he got all embarrassed and told me he couldn't talk about boobies with me. He picked Olive Garden instead. That sucked as the night before I took my youngest out for dinner and he wanted Olive Garden. What really sucked was there were some seriously cute waiters but I did not get served by them. The hostess did recognize me the second night though.

The drive home was actually very good. My brother, sister-in-law and their kids had an early flight so they were up and out of the house around 4:15 Friday morning. Mom and dad were up and out at 5:15. I woke up the boys, told them to brush their teeth and get dressed and in the truck. They immediately fell asleep again as they always do if it is dark, they are riding with me and I put the Sirius jazz channel on. We stopped two and a half hours later for breakfast at MCD. Then we stopped around 1 PM in Maryland for drive through MCD lunch. We got back onto 95 and as they boys were eating I asked one of them to give me my quarter pounder with cheese. Of course we never got it. I called the people at MCD douchebags- outloud. The boys laughed- my older because he knows what it is and my younger because his older brother was. Both of them offered part of their lunches to me but I told them no. My youngest said he was going to save some of his chicken selects just in case I changed my mind.

I made back to their mom's house in a bit under 10 hours. As I was dropping them off my oldest asked where I was going. I told him driving home to Hoboken. He said that sucks for you and laughed. I said yep but at this point another hour and 20 minutes or so won't matter and besides he and his brother are worth it.

The husband had been down visiting ST and moving a piece of art down to his place for storage. He got home the same time I did and he had the kids. I had forgotten that while I was away the kids went to the groomer. Our older one had gotten so matted and snarled that the groomer had to shave him down. He looks really cute in a goofy (very goofy) way. I did not realize how skinny he was and he has huge paws relative to the rest of his body and big bean. The husband and kids were excited to see me. It was serious nap time. Then we got up, went and had dinner at our favorite local spot. We headed off into the city to see Ragnar and his bf Umberto for drinks.

We then came back to Hoboken and went to the local gay bar for some fun. The bartender was really cute and had a hot body. The husband commented on the heavily latino crowd and asked the bartender if it was latin night. The bartender informed him no, Saturday night is latin night to which the husband asked what that was like.

Hopefully we'll see JP this weekend. I texted him to see if he wanted to meet us there but I was late in my texting as he was at Urge "giving his paycheck to strippers." I believe he is working tonight and tomorrow night so ideally some time this week we can catch up with him.

The best part of the evening though was my oldest would not stop texting me as we went to dinner telling me how much fun he had and what a great time the beach was. I did well I think.

The one thing I did notice on my week off was that the Fed had instructed all banks who have undergone the "stress test" not to discuss it on their upcoming earnings calls. WTF is that all about? How can people value banks properly if the government is telling the banks not to give out the information? I think it is complete bullshit and does not bode well fro this bear market rally we have had.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Vacation- all I ever wanted, Vacation- all I ever needed

I am off from work today as I am getting ready and packed to go on spring break with the boys for the next week. We are off to a beach house down in the Carolinas. My parents, my younger brother, his wife and three kids are joining us. I am psyched and think it will be a blast.

Was kinda of in vacation mode yesterday at work and don't have much to say about the markets.

Ragnar sent me the pictures he took of me and Mr. Clifford in our Black Party attire.

Wednesday morning I swam for a half hour, got 1800 yards in which I was happy about. The guy in the lane next to me finished up about the same time. I was getting into the shower when he asked how my swim was. I said fine, nothing else. In the locker room I noticed he had a wedding ring on. He came over to the scale which was next to my locker, dropped his towel and weighed himself. As he left he told me to have a nice day. It didn't hit me until I was in the elevator down that he might have been hitting on me. I asked PF what he thought and he said definitely.

I am away for the next week and will not be posting at all because this vacation is all about my sons.