I figured out how to transfer my iTunes library from my old laptop to my new one using the external hard drive Friday night. That done, I then updated my new iPod Touch. My oldest has been harassing the crap out of me and his mom to get an iPod Touch. I am reticent because of it's abilities to get on the internets without any parental oversight. So call it research. I got the 16 GB one. Lo and behold there are parental controls on it. SO if he can stop bugging the shit out of me for it he may be in line to get one for Christmas.
So the boys were with me and the husband this weekend. Friday the husband and my oldest watched Moonlight on SciFi then it was bed time. Saturday morning the husband had to take the oldest kid into the city for a vet appointment. All is well, he is just getting old- the older kid that is not the husband. The boys and I took a long walk with our younger kid. We walked down the entire waterfront in Hoboken and then back. It was probably a good 2 - 1 1/2 miles. The weather was awesome. Our little girl was panting like she was about to pass out from heat exhaustion. When we got back I told the boys they had to have at least a hour of quiet time- no t.v., no iPods, no DS Lites, no Wii. I told them they could read or draw but no electronics allowed.
When the husband got back we went for lunch and dines al fresco at a local place right around the corner. We saw JP across the street going into a different restaurant. We then got back and I took a nap while the husband and the boys watched Stay Alive on SciFi. It was a movie with the star of Malcolm In The Middle about a video game that kills the players. They loved it. We then went and saw Transformers 2. It was ok. The action scenes were great, the story was a definitely convoluted, it was a bit too long and it did not have quite the same magic as the original. The boys loved it though. We got home, I put the boys to bed and told the husband I would guarantee my oldest got up at least once in the night because of Stay Alive. I was wrong; he got up four times. When I got up Sunday morning, he was asleep on the couch in the living room with the lights on and the t.v. on. Needless to say Sunday was a long day for me.
Last weekend when we were at the beach friends asked if we were taking the boys to the Pride parade. I said no as I was certain that would prompt the ex to drag me back into court. I did say that the Pier Dance was a different matter, lol.
Sunday night the husband and I watched the fireworks from the roof deck of our building. We sent JP a text asking if he wanted to join us but he had a front row seat because he was at the Pier Dance.
Ok, so the mass lay-offs index is at an all time high as of last week. A firm that lets go of or fires fifty or more at once qualifies as a mass lay-off. If people are losing their jobs or are afraid they may lose their jobs, they don't spend money. So consumption is predicated on jobs and job security. We cannot have a recovery of any meaning without consumption increasing. It aint gonna happen with the jobless rate heading north of ten percent by the President's own admission.
Speaking of the President, I thought he was doing a brilliant, lawyerly job handling the whole Iran situation until he caved into the neo-cons and commented on it. Now they can say see, the U.S. is meddling in our affairs. Now that he has committed though I think he needs to find more ways to support what the opposition is doing and keep it at arm's length. He is definitely smart enough to figure out how to do that.
Let's move onto the whole health care debate, lol. It aint gonna work. The reason is one the President has cited in his favor and that is profit motive. Plain and simple when the government takes over they have no profit motive so things just get big and bloated and bureaucratic. Maybe the co-op idea will but I don't see how a national, single payer system will succeed and especially at a cost of over $1 trillion (why do I always think of Dr. Evil when that amount is used?). The argument that doing nothing will cost more is a specious one as no one has figured out how to truly measure opportunity cost and that is what the President is talking about when he says it will cost more by doing nothing.
Seriously, I am all for the right to bear arms and own personal firearms but fuck the NRA when their lobbying allows ~800 people who are on the terror watch list to get licensed to own and carry firearms.
The savings rate jumped hugely again last week. That is good because it shows people are starting to live within their means and pay off debt. However it is also bad as it takes away from consumption which the government is doing everything it can to stimulate. I read one story last week saying that the savings rate is good as it helps us achieve independence from the Chinese. WTF, so now the spin is going to go the other way and soon you will be hearing frugality touted as patriotic and your duty as an American. Which is it going to be? I vote for frugality because it is the responsible thing to do- live within your means.
Totally psyched for the new SciFi series coming up- Warehouse 13. The hero in it reminds me of David Boreanaz.
Last week the boys went to kid classes at the local community college. They spent the week in robotics class. When I picked them up Friday night at their mom's I asked if at the end of class did they get to have robot wars. They did! I asked how far they made it with their robot (they were their own team and spent the week building it) and they said they made it ti the finals. I told them how cool that was and how proud I was of them. My oldest was all shucks about it and actually blushed.
Last night I ran and lifted then met the husband and JP at our semi-regular restaurant for dinner. Black Socks was at the gym and now I know why I think he is so freakin' hot. He looks almost exactly like Jason Stackhouse on Tru Blood and as Lafayette said that boy is walking sex on a stick.
It was great catching up with JP, he has had a busy summer so far travelling and playing host to guest from out of town. We told him we need to have him out tot he beach again this summer.
My new laptop has facial recognition software which is totally cool as I just turn it on and I don't need to use a password as long as the lighting is good and I don't have too big of a dip in, lol. Very futuristic and I wonder how long before our ATMs have it as well.
I swam this morning, the hot boxer was in the locker room when I got there- woof. Then I ran after work in the gym in our building. meeting the husband downtown for dinner.
The VIX- everyone is talking about how it is at it's pre-LEH lows again and proof that fear is gone. I disagree. I think the rally has made people lazy and complacency has set in and they are in for a rude awakening.
Apparently if you disagree with the porcine Rep. Waxmen on the cap and trade you are unpatriotic and anti-human. So having a different opinion now is bad? That is news to me. And the President saying it will not put any undue stress on the country is almost a bald faced lie because no one knows what the unintended consequences are going to be; so how can one say there will be no undue stress?
Professor Shiller was on BBRG tv today. The guy has been right on the whole housing issue. So to hear him start chanting the less bad is good mantra made me wonder WTF was going on. Get to the end of the segment and bam! He is selling a new ETF that allows you to play the housing market- the UMM. Well gee, if I want people to trade my new housing ETF of course I will tone down the negative aspects of the housing market. So how do you explain deliquincies i the prime mortgage market hitting new highs Professor? And tell me why the housing inventory only counts homes being sold thru a broker and not the ones banks have foreclosed on and are trying to sell? Whatever...
So I had to go buy the Rolling Stone issue with the Jonas Brothers on the front cover. It was kind of embarrassing but I wanted a hard copy of the scathing diatribe against GS. Plus there is a Gatorade ad with a smokin' hot kick-boxer, lol. (As an aside, my guess is give those Jonas Brothers a few years and one of them is gay and they will all grow up to be very good looking men too.)
I have always admired GS. They are brilliant. I have always thought of conspiracy theories as a fun parlor game. Yet after reading the article I have to try and distance myself and be objective. Maybe there is something to a GS led cabal running the world. If so they have done a good job so far but I am not sure they can continue doing it.
Speaking of conspiracy theories, I like to red the fringe- not the Weekly World News, etc. but the outliers in economic and political economy theory. There is a rumor going around in those circles that the government is going to impose a bank holiday in AUG or SEP. They will do it to allow the insolvent banks to disappear and make the rest healthy buy massively, officially devaluing the USD. The rumor says all US embassies have been to told to hoard/stockpile local currencies of the countries they are in. Whatever. In and of itself, not an issue.
But then you have the drop dead date for California- July 24th. after that the municipal market will implode supposedly. Unless the federal government backstops their debt. Not a big deal if a few weeks later you devalue.
FEMA is running their National Level Exercise starting July 24th. It will deal with coordinating all the military and law enforcement and intelligence in a mock terrorist attack, see how things run.
Now, I don't know if tin foil hats actually work and maybe these are all just coincidences and like the title says, sometimes dots are just dots; they don't always connect and make a picture but it is a fun parlor game.
I am glad to know that Levon Helm is an American music treasure and sorry this was so long but I had a few days to make up in my writing.
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