Canary in a coalmine

So last Thursday I saw the hot blond on the PATH again. I wonder if he noticed I was in a suit- yes a suit. I had a business diner and I have to admit wearing a suit is so much easier as you don't have to put any thought into the process- just pick a tie and you are done. I also decided that since I am actually walking over to the Hoboken Terminal to grab the PATH what the fuck I might as well just take the bus as it drops me off right across the street from the office. I also think the bus has much better eye candy anyways. To that point Friday morning there was a majorly hot scruffy guy who sat across from me. I missed the bus...

The only bad thing was the ex sent me a text at 11:30 informing me that my youngest son had his Winter Concert that night at 7 PM. What the fuck?! She said she had told me verbally several weeks earlier. Not a chance. I was not going to get into a a fight with her about it. I said there was no way I could make it as I had business plans and could not get out of them. I then need to be reassured so I asked the woman who sits next to me and is also divorced her opinion. She said I was in the right. I called my youngest after the close and explained there was a miscommunication and I could not make it but would make it up to him some how.

The weekend was real busy. Saturday morning we went out to the in-laws to drop off the last box and pick up our Christmas tree stand and decorations and see the in-laws. The mother in law is actually going to be sewing throw pillows for us for the couches. So the husband had to discuss that with her how to make them and what fabric to use (we bought it and shipped it to her ahead of time). We got back did a bunch of errands and then went out to brunch at the local taqueria. then the husband forced me into doing a 5+ mile run; he did say I could set the pace and I was surprised when we finished that I had set a pace of basically 8 minute miles.

Saturday night we attended a Christmas party hosted by friends in the suburbs of Jersey. It was a murder mystery Christmas party which was a blast. The oddest part though was I was sitting there having a dip when this chick asked me what I was dipping. I was a bit taken aback. I told her Skoal longcut. She asked what kind and I told her mint (that was all I had left in the apartment and we did not have time to stop on the way to the party). She stated it was her favorite and could she have some. At this point I figured sure what the fuck. I of course asked how she came to acquire such an un-ladylike habit. She worked in Texas for about 6 years and since she is a Jersey girl she figured it would help the Texans accept her. She also pointed out that Jersey and Texas have the same mentality except Texas is a lot more relaxed and slower about it.

The next day the husband was relating a story about how he poured some champagne and it overflowed a bit. The woman standing next to him pointed out that champagne should not have too much head and head is what women give to men. Ok whatever. He was texting with our hostess from the night before about it. Our hostess replied she could not stand the woman (she was the fiance of another guest) and that the lady kept trying to tell her she had Prada boots on. Our hostess stated they were not Prada boots and everyone knew it and with that red dress she looked like a prostitute. Of course the red dress, fake Prada boot wearing chick was the one who bummed a dip off me.

Every once in a while the WSJ has something interesting of a non-business nature. For example they have a section called What's The Workout. Yesterday they featured one Nathan Gunn. He is an opera singer and they had a pic of him shirtless and WOOF! The guy is freakin' hot and jacked. I may need to reconsider my resistance to the opera. I have not goggled images of him yet, ideally there will be more shirtless ones.

So there is so much to talk about when it comes to the economy and TARP.

I think the best comment I heard about the jobs summit was that all the business types there knew that whenever a manager calls for a shindig like it it means said manager is really ineffective and has no clue what to do. So the manager wraps him or herself in the illusion of being open to input, etc.

One of the funniest (in a wrong way) comments made regarding the stimulus bill was that apparently the only truly shovel ready program was Ted Kennedy.

Double dip recession here we come! The ISM dipped below 50 again. I don't care what your political leanings are an ISM below 50 is a sign of contraction.

BAC did an end run around the board. They needed board approval to issue a huge number of shares to pay back TARP. They could not get it quick enough so the issued common equity equivalents with the idea the board would approve the conversion after the deal was done. why the rush to pay back TARP? Well real simple- they want to pay some huge amount of money to a new CEO. Can't do that under TARP. My concern is they really can't afford to pay TARP back and they are- to quote dad- cutting their nose off to spite their face. It is a very short sighted move. Once CRE blows up they are screwed as they will have to raise more money by selling shares and further diluting current share holders. Again it reminds me that equity is nothing more than a perpetual call option.

TARP got extended and changed today in case you missed it. In a nutshell the law allowing TARP states when it is paid back the money is to go to pay down the deficit. Well today Turbo Tax Timmy extended it and said bow it will be used to aid American families in need too. Hello stealth stimulus plan two. Gee maybe that is why the government came out yesterday and said hey TARP is gonna cost us $200 billion less, now we can spend it. It also got extended to October of 2010- gee how convenient it now goes to the midterm elections.

Dubai is blowing up and I keep hearing don't worry, it's contained or it is so small relative to the rest of the global economy it isn't a big deal. Yeah right just like sub prime was contained and was not a big part of the mortgage market, etc. The scary part of Dubai though is it is the first domino in the CRE shoe about to drop on our heads. I have to say though that creating islands shaped like palm trees in the ocean seemd like a really good idea at the time- seriously what could go wrong with it? CRE- which Dubai is the current proxy for- is not contained.

Maybe I am just a prick- well ok I am at times- but I was taught phone etiquette as when you call someone you introduce yourself and ask to speak to whoever you need to. You do not call someone and say "Who's this?" That happened to me yesterday so of course I replied "who's this, you called me."

The walk from the apartment to the bus this morning along the river was interesting. By the time I got on the bus my pants from the knees down were soaked through. My gloves were soaked through as well. I would rather have had snow.

Last night I finished most of the Christmas cards. I also wrapped all but two of the husband's gifts. Tonight I wrapped all the boys gifts. Tomorrow I have another business dinner so I am going with the suit again out of ease. The husband has a fund raiser he is attending with TK.