Maybe I am too old for this shit

I swam this morning. Funny, Mondays are supposed to be just sort of nonchalant workouts. Well I got in the pool a bit early and got 200 yards in before the coach even showed up. He gave me the workout- I was actually the only one in my lane- and it was starting with a 200. WTF??? I got about half of it done and had to get to the office.

I thought it was my week to do the morning notes- it was not. That was a nice surprise actually.

The dojo tonight was tough for me. The one bright spot was the submission grappling class as the guy I got partnered up with was hot. Probably an inch taller than me, lower rank but I am pretty sure he wrestled in high school or college. I caught a look of him shirtless after class- nice build, very cool ink and heard him say he had injured his knee surfing. I was like damn- what is it with surfer dudes??? Kickboxing was interesting. Sense split us up into groups. Level I, II and III. He asked me which group I wanted to be in. Told him you tell me. He said well you've actually stayed in very good shape and have not lost much so you are in Level III. That was the freakin' black belts. One of them is a young kid who seems to me to lack control and has serious attitude. I chalk it up to being young and a punk. He landed a good cross. I didn't think anything of it until I met the husband after for dinner. His jaw dropped and he said is your nose broken. I said I don't think so but it is a bit sore. It is not black and blue and I did not have a bloody nose so I am going with no broken nose. I looked at it when we got home and it is a bit swollen. Whatever, I broke it before in a competition and it's not like I had the prettiest mug to begin with so no big deal.

The ribs are still a bit tender but that is nothing new. It makes me think that maybe I need to re-evaluate this whole idea of getting my black belt. Ha- fuck that, I am going for it. Shit happens.

The banks are really kind of screwed. The government wants them to keep lending but they need to contract lending an heal their balance sheets. The ones that have not yet payed back TARP are most screwed as the government will force them to make bad business decisions. It gets back to how will more debt solve a bad debt problem? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? It won't folks.

BBRG had a strategist on talking about how he thinks the DJIA is going to 10k. WTF?? He says personal savings will go to 12% by Q1 of '10. Hello? If that happens there is no way the economy can grow. People saving that much, while a huge positive in the ling term is not bullish in any way in the short term. His argument is once it hits that level people will start spending again. I beg to differ. I think there is a huge secular psychological change going on with the U.S. consumer and once they find frugality they will not give it up easily.

One of his other arguments is banks are building these huge reserves. Well yes thanks to all the transfer payments form the U.S. taxpayers. And maybe- just maybe- they will need them for the upcoming CRE bomb that is about to blow up and deplete those reserves. But what do I know?

I am probably skipping the gym for lifting tomorrow morning. Part of the issue is I kind of partially tore off the toenail on my big toe tonight. It must have happened during my tussles with the hot surfer dude because I wear foot pads during kickboxing. I showed it to the husband as I knew it would totally gross him out- it did, lol.

It's the fucking Catalina wine mixer!!!!

So Friday night we got home and watched Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix as review for our Saturday night movie outing. The boys went to bed kind of late and my youngest actually fell asleep on one of the couches. I had to carry him into the bedroom and put him to bed. Holy shit he is getting big! I think I threw my back out.

Saturday morning we got up, the boys showered and we trekked to the other end of Hoboken. The boys were really well behaved the entire time I took my classes. Afterwards we went across the street to the BKS and they got reading material and those clip on book lights for when they want to read in the truck in the dark. I looked at my phone and during class my oldest had sent a text saying my stretches were weird. We then stopped at RSH and got an SD card for my oldest's phone.

I forgot how much of a rip-off the Ripley's museum is until Saturday afternoon. We took the ferry over and then went to it. The boys loved it but it seriously sucks. You'd think they would at least change the exhibits. They of course asked when they can go again. We took the bus home which my youngest thought was cool as we went through the Lincoln Tunnel and he was amazed we were actually going under the river. I told them it was quiet time, I took a short nap and then it was sushi time. After we went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I had not realized how long the movie was. It was pretty good even for being close to two and a half hours. The boys were stunned when they found out Snape was the Half-Blood Prince. They were also stunned that Dumbledore was killed. They loved the movie. We got home and I had to make good on a promise I had made to my oldest. I ordered Step Brothers on on-demand. It was a really funny movie but completely disjointed and seemed like a bunch of skits put together. I love Will Ferrel though and was laughing the entire time. I would have to say the only comparison I can make is Dumb and Dumber but I did not actually think Dumb and Dumber was as funny. My oldest actually didn't even make it through the entire movie and it was apparently his turn to fall asleep on the couch. I woke him up as I did not want a repeat of the night before.

This morning we got up and went into the city to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The boys were psyched to see all of the Greek and Roman galleries. They were starving though so we left to go to brunch. My oldest did however mention there was a lot of stuff there and he would not mind coming back again to look at it. He also asked if there were any dinosaurs and I said no we'd have to go to the Museum of Natural History for those.

We went to our usual Sunday brunch place and I forgot how many hot waiters they had working there. There were also quite a few pieces of eye candy for my viewing pleasure.

After brunch I loaded a bunch of songs onto the SD card and then popped it into my oldest's phone. He was totally psyched. I told him I was putting Hollywood Undead on it. The group is pretty good and very explicit. I made him pinky swear he would not tell his mom.

Swimming tomorrow morning and then two classes after work at the dojo. The husband gets back from Chicago tomorrow late afternoon and should be home when I get back from the dojo. I spoke to him this afternoon and he is having a good time in Chicago with TK. Yesterday they met up with a friend of mine JE, and had drinks with him. He called me this evening to let me know how much fun he had with the two of them.

The more things change...

So I lifted yesterday morning and though it would be an uneventful day. That of course changed once the news hit the tape. The new mayor of Hoboken, he was sworn in July 1st, was arrested in a sweep of allegedly corrupt officials- mayors, state representatives and even rabbis. The thing that cracks me up is this guy ran on a platform of change and he was not part of the corrupt, old regime and how they did things. He supposedly took $10,000 in exchange for favorable treatment in regards to future development. The line was we are going to have a long friendship, paraphrasing there. IT was the number one read story on BBRG and everyone who knows I live there made sure I was aware of the story.

I had drinks with my friends fro GS last night after work. Contrary to popular belief not all of them are giant vampire squids with their blood funnels stuck down our throats. I took them to G Lounge. They were both late because as straight guys they were concerned if they were there early solo they thought they were going to get hit on. Ha- funny straight guys. I then went around the corner and had dinner with the husband.

We took a bus home and were psyched when we saw Black Socks was on the bus with us- well the husband was more psyched than I as he kept staring and I had to tell him to take a picture. I am pretty sure Black Socks caught him staring too.

This morning I got to the pool, did a nice warm up of 200 yards. The coach got there and handed us the workout. It was all 25s and 50s. Apparently Fridays are speed training days. I also have to say I paid a bit more attention to the other swimmers and there is a cute guy in the fast lane; the husband's height, built more and blond. He is cute.

I have to say GS is putting the serious PR spin on their pay back of TARP funds. All the media outlets are crowing how the U.S. taxpayers made 23% on their loan to GS. Two things: 1) Where is my cut of that 23% return on my investment b) GS stock is up 94% since the beginning of the year and only because we bailed them out and gave them 100 cents on the dollar for their AIG CDS contracts III) Warren Buffet loaned them less and has made over $2 billion on paper WTF??? Does that irritate anyone else?

Speaking of Warren Buffet, I think the old coot has jumped the shark. The guy now has a web-based cartoon for kids called the secret millionaires club. Seriously- he should just retire and fade into obscurity.

I keep seeing an ad on BBRG tv for a trading strategy. The thing that kills me is the old guy who claims it doesn't matter if the market goes up or down, the strategy makes money. Well I just have to say if it was that good and that easy the guy who created it would not have to sell it as he'd be keeping it to himself and making tons of money.

The husband is off to Chicago for the weekend with TK. I have the boys. tonight we are watching Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix as a review for tomorrow nights viewing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

We, the boys and I, have a fun weekend planned. Not only are we doing the movie tomorrow night but we are also going to the Met tomorrow to see all the ancient Greek weapons and armor and then we will hit the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum. I am also taking them to sit thru two classes at the dojo. I had to bribe them. My youngest wants a new Lego toy and my oldest wants an SD card so he can use his music on his iPod to create his own ringtones for his cell.

FASB 165??

I did not swim this morning as I was pretty beat. A good thing too as the bus I caught was full of hot guys. One in particular was an accountant. I assume he was as when I was standing next to him (there were no seats available) he was reading something from FASB regarding rule 165. I was not interested enough to google FASB 165 but he was pretty damn hot and I got to stand over him and every time the bus jolted me I made sure my hips lead the way.

So apparently maybe all those New Age freaks may be right about something. According to Japanese research scientists the human body does emit light. The level is incredibly low, so low they needed to use a camera that picks up single photons. Apparently our bodies emit the least photons in the morning and the most in the late afternoon. Seriously, I am pissed that anything the baby boomers believed in may be right. Well at least we know the moon landing was faked and that is why Hollywood is "restoring" the NASA tapes.

SO New Zealand got moved by and earthquake closer to Australia. That is pretty freakin' cool! Granted it was only thirty centimeters but still, anything that can move a large land mass thirty centimeters is cool. I believe the seismologists called it a subduction thrust rupture. Is it just me or does that sound vaguely dirty with sexual connotations?

So Ben says that we should not expect the U.S. consumer to come roaring back. Well that aint a great thing for the economy and may also explain why he is advocating a zero interest rate policy for some time. That is not a good thing for the markets or the economy. It just reminds me that you can't solve a debt problem with more debt.

I did not get what the WFC spokesman was trying to say on BBRG today. He was trying to spin that because they wrote off all their bad loans at the end of DEC and were starting at zero for this quarter the 45% increase wasn't as bad as all the other big banks. Hello??? Zero to 45% is just as bad as all the other big banks. It means you did not write off enough in DEC and on the margin an increase from zero to 45% is way worse than an increase of say 11% to 15%. They guy had to be drunk or on drugs.

I went to one class tonight. This was my warm up week. I will be doing at least six classes next week for karate. The husband is off to Chicago Friday.

Free styling it

So I went to the gym again this morning. I did not know it was supposed to rain this morning so did not have an umbrella. I did not have time to run back and get one. The hot married Irish boy was at the bus stop and he said hi to me. It was probably my rain soaked tank top that made him courageous.

I did not have time to do any cardio but I did lift. There were two cute guys there. One is now called Tulane and the other is Ironsides. I skipped cardio because my quads, hamstrings and glutes were killing me.

The tape continues to confound me but I am starting to hear rumblings about the quality of earnings. I have to say I think Ben did a good job in front of the House today. The thing that made me laugh the most though was when BBRG interviewed Ron Paul. I just can't take the guy seriously now after seeing Bruno. All I thought of was his line "He's queer as blazes."

After work I went to the class at the dojo. I was planning on doing two classes. Kickboxing was first and after a somewhat tough kick to the ribs I passed on the second class. I told sensei it is my warm up week and will be there tomorrow.

I had no notes to write tonight so just winged it. That's all.

I look like I got beat up

So I went to the new gym this morning and jumped i the pool with the swim club/team. The coach put me in the fast/intermediate lane which I was ok with. Then he handed me the work out. It was a pyramid. All freestyle. Holy crap I was dying and did not finish it. Although I don't see how I could have finished the whole thing in a hour as the total yardage for the workout was 5,095 yards. I did roughly 3500 of it I think- well that is what I told the husband. Did not really check out any of the other swimmers. The coach said it was pretty thin as many people are on vacation. They all seemed nice though and introduced themselves but I can't recall any of their names. It was the first time I actually kicked while I was swimming in a long time and most of the day my hip flexors were making me pay for my enthusiasm.

I had a great engaging email exchange with JW today which kind of made my day as I think we have agreed to a beer and politics get together on an as yet determined regular basis. He and I definitely have fundamental political differences but I think we are both open minded enough to listen to each other without the usual dismissive responses that people who disagree end up giving. We have not resorted to name calling but we are both human and we have agreed to discuss politics and alcohol will be involved so I am sure at some point that will happen, lol. It is my liberal arts undergrad education that I believe has made me willing to listen to other points of views and try to make a better, more informed decision. It gets back to the idea that an open, free exchange of ideas doesn't hut and actually can make you learn.

I don't get this tape but last week my bond guy friend told me I am secularly right on the state of our economy but cyclically wrong. i.e. I am too early. It is the big week for earnings and that is all that matters right now. Not necessarily if you had any or good ones but what kind of outlook a company can give going forward. I sometimes forget the market is the most efficient discounting mechanism, as a whole, currently around and in use.

Tonight I hit the dojo again (Kobra Kai- never die!). I get seriously beat up. I walked out of there with abrasions on my mug, legs are killing me and my ribs are sore. It was great! I will be back there tomorrow evening. The husband trained in the city and then went and saw a movie with a girlfriend of his.

There's triathalon-shape andthen there is fighting-shape

Ok, Saturday morning I finally got my ass back in the dojo (Kobra Kai never die!) and I was dying. I forgot I had certain muscles in parts of my body that I use only for kicking, knee-strikes and boxing. Holy shit! I also realized how much of my flexibility I lost in two years. After class I sat down with sensei and asked her how realistic it was me for me to plan on getting my black belt by the end of the year. she bluntly said not happening as the next test is in October. I agreed asked what about January. She said possible but I would have to live at the dojo, told her that aint happening so we settled on the March test.

The husband and I then went down to visit PJ and ST. We hung out by their pool all day then went to dinner in Princeton.

We drove back this morning and then went into the city. We hit cookshop with PF and DR and had a great brunch. We then went and saw Bruno. OMG. The movie is sooo wrong and so funny. We were laughing so loud. We got home, had a nice nap and then watched TruBlood.

Tomorrow morning is my first day at the new gym and with the swim club. Then I have to go back for a few more hours of getting back into fighting shape.

In Philadelphia it's worth $50...unless the city government owes

Tuesday night dinner with the boss and his wife was a hit. The only mix-up was the husband and I forgot to buy scallions the night before so I had to email him while he was on his way home to stop at the local grocery store and pick some up. He had business drinks so was running late anyhow. It was fine though as the boss, his wife and I dug into the cheese and crackers and drank wine while I was starting to make the roast and zucchini side dish. At one point I had to ask who was driving home;the boss was so I cut him off- actually he is pretty level headed and cut himself off.

Wednesday morning I saw Crutches on the bus. He is still pretty damn cute. See him from time to time at the gym.

One of the highlights of my day was one of my older friends in the business called. He has lived in London for the last six or seven years with is wife and kids. He just moved back about three weeks ago. He and I had a lot of fun when we were single and young punks in the business. He asked about my old dog, told him she passed away about 5 years ago. He was bummed as she loved him and he liked her. I am not sure if I ever had the conversation with him as to what the reason for the divorce was, aka I like dick, but he never asked and I am fairly certain it doesn't matter to him.

Speaking of friends in the business, the kid who used to work with me at the hf IMed me the other day and asked what is it with 'mos and tight shirts. He said we are all attention whores. I asked what the fuck he was talking about. Apparently he had been speaking with his old roommate who also works int he business and lives in the building next to us. I ran into him one Sunday a few weeks ago at brunch with the boys. He told my old co-worker I am totally ripped and look like I weigh 165 lbs. soaking wet. I thanked him for the compliment but said no I am closer to my fighting weight than what I weighed my freshman year in college.

I swam yesterday morning, only for 20 minutes. The pool was freakin' packed, which is unusual that early on a Thursday. I had to share a lane but the other swimmer was hot so I was ok with it. He was shorter than me, all scruffy and had a swimmers build- lithe and muscular (just because I rarely get to use the word lithe). When the lifeguard came to our lane and told us our time was up he tried to argue. PF suggested it was because he wanted to be around me longer, lol. I just got out as it is not worth arguing.

The pool incident yesterday did get me thinking though there has to be a better one near work. Sure enough there is a full sized pool three blocks away. They also have a swim club/team that practices from 6-7 AM every morning M-F. I discussed it with the husband. I sent notice to HR that effective AUG 31 I wold like to cancel my and his gym memberships (I get a corporate discount and so do all my family members and spouse so it gets paid fro my earnings). I then set up an appointment to go check out the new place today after work. It seems just like what I am looking for and I really don't lift or swim on the weekends so I joined. I told the consultant that I am interested in the swim club/team as well. He said I can just show up Monday morning for it.

I was supposed to go to the dojo tonight for two hours of classes. I did not realize however that it was someone on the desk's birthday. We took him out for drinks after (before I joined the new gym) and decided that going to the dojo with several drinks in me was not a bright idea (but joining a new gym was?). SO I'll hit it tomorrow morning for two hours of getting my ass kicked back into fighting shape.

Tomorrow the husband and I are going down to central Jersey to visit ST and PJ. We will hang out by their pool and then go to dinner. We are planning on spending the evening there as well. It will be good to see them and the kids love it down on the farm.

Sunday we are having brunch with PF and DR then going to see Bruno with them. The boys keep asking if they can see it and keep stressing it is only PG-13. I flat out told them no as it will get me into some sort of hot water with their mom if and when she finds out.

I of course have some issues with the way the stealth nationalization of our health care system is being done. Most importantly what bothers me is that choice is actually being taken away. One of the proposals is that people who chose not to have health insurance- either the public option or private- will be taxed, i.e. penalized, for that choice. I think that is not a slope we really want to be going down but who am I to say. I got into a heated discussion about it with the woman who sits next to me at work. She said she was all for a benign dictatorship in health care. I told her that is an oxymoron as no dictatorship is benign. taking away the right to choose is not good even if it means people making stupid choices. This is the land of the free right?

California is about to go to junk. That is why the Treasury is saying fuck you to CIT. They are a pimple on the economy's ass compared to Cali going under. They did the right thing and I may have been wrong in one of my earlier post about Sheila Bair. I need to re-evaluate my standing on her. But hold on, it is not just California. Today Philadelphia stopped paying vendors doing business with the city. This is getting dicier every day.

I really want and hope the economy rebounds. I need it to for my own continued employment and economic well being. But all this crap going on keeps me nervous. I keep thinking about Aesop and his one fable about the ants and the grasshopper. We as a society have been grasshoppers for the last 25 years. We are turning into ants. That is good but it is going to engender a lot of pain, discomfort and dislocations. I read today someone doesn't expect the economy to recover until 2015 at he soonest. At what point do we call an eight year recession a depression?

So next week the legal department is holding a mandatory meeting for all of us in regards to e-communications. They sent out the slides ahead of time and of course they discussed blogging and had the blogspot logo on one of the slides. I am curious as to what they have to say and will be listening intently.

On a positive note I was totally psyched to see Family Guy get nominated for an Emmy for Best Comedy. C'mon Peterson and Quahog!!!

I forgot how much the Belt Parkway sucks

This weekend was a lot of fun out at the beach with the boys and the weather was great. I left right from work at 4:14 and got to the ex' house at 5:30. However the drive to the ferry completely sucked. The Belt Parkway blew in a big way. We just missed the 8:30 boat so the boys ordered french fries and I had a cocktail or too and caught the 9:30 boat. The liquor store was still open so I bought some tequila and wine as I knew the husband and our guests would need a stiff drink once they got there. We also stopped and bought firewood so we would have a nice fire going to greet them. Apparently the Throgs Neck Bridge was shut down most of Friday and that just threw everything into complete and total chaos traffic-wise.

JW and JD rode out with the husband and the kids and they caught he last boat over Friday night. I had drinks waiting for them, put the boys to bed and then we sat in front of the fire and had some nightcaps.

Saturday the weather was amazing. The boys and I took the kids out for a walk on the beach and because it was so early they got to be off their leashes. The boys had fun running down the beach with the kids. I made breakfast quesadillas after being emboldened by the tapas night we had Wednesday. They were a huge hit.

I told the boys we were going to tea- I know the ex lets my oldest babysit/be in charge and leaves the two of them alone for a while so I did not see it being an issue that I would to tea for a hour and let them watch t.v. Besides my oldest has a cell if anything happened. My youngest asked if he could go have tea with us, lol. The husband explained what it was an for the rest of the weekend the oldest and he were using air quotes whenever the referred to tea.

We came home and made dinner which was a hit. I then asked JW, JD and the boys to go collect sticks so we could make s'mores over the fireplace. JW had never before had s'mores and he was as excited as the boys. They were great.

Sunday I took the boys to the beach. We had a paddle ball tournament which my youngest won. We than took a nice walk on the beach. My oldest found a small piece of driftwood. He decided he was going to bring it home. When we were leaving the beach to go get lunch I noticed he did not have it with him. He said well it is just a piece of wood that has been i water a while and floated up on shore. I just laughed.

We got back to the house, JW and JD had left and the husband, I and the boys played shark in the pool. Then the three of us ran to the ferry to get back. I was sweating my ass off by the time we barely made the boat. As we were driving back to central Jersey my youngest asked if maybe next year they could go to the beach every other weekend they were with us in the summer. I said nope, you are either all in or only the one or two times.

I swam for 40 minutes this morning and almost got 2400 yards in. No hot guys of note at all.

So CIT is now apparently too big to fail. I am surprised that the Treasury is overriding the FDIC on this. We are sliding down this slope so fast...Apparently
everyone is too big to fail.

California's IOUs are supposedly trading on eBay. WTF? The SEC said they are marketable securities so they have to be bought and sold only by registered brokers. Regardless, what broker would be willing to put his ass on the line by recommending this to a client when they are effectively a maturity of infinity?

Is it just me or does Christine Romer remind anyone else of Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter?

Tomorrow the boss and his wife are coming over for dinner so I am actually up a bit late making dessert for them. I am doing my triple berry crumble topped pie. The table got set ahead of time too as the boss will most likely take the bus back here with me. The husband set the menu.

This week went by fast

Tuesday night was a lot of fun at PF's birthday party but getting home at 1 AM on a school night that early in the week is not easy at my advanced, decrepit state. It was funny as I looked at my watch and it was around 10:30 so told PF "Looks like I'll be sleeping in the boys' room tonight." The husband gets particular about me coming home late after about 2 million beers in me as he needs his sleep or gets very grumpy the next day. So when I got home the door to their room was open and the light was on. I laughed to myself thinking I did not need the hint.

Last night was tapas night. We had friends over for dinner and made tapas. My shrimp-feta-scallion quesadillas were a hit along with my zucchini and avocado salad. The husband made the rest of them and they were awesome too. Funny how when you go with tapas dinner takes so much longer and four people can go through 4 1/2 bottles of wine. We skipped dessert and coffee, the husband gave our guests a ride to the PATH and then we were in bed a bit after midnight. Two nights in a row have tuckered me out.

I understand the stock market is quite possibly the most efficient discounting mechanism around, I get that and believe it. I don't get though how it can discount the really horrible continuing claims numbers that came out today. Yes I get that number of new claims filed was down more than expected. But all the revisions are up and add in the fact that a record number of families are on food stamps and I don't see how the tape can be discounting all of that news.

I was supposed to swim yesterday morning and bike this morning. Neither happened so I will just run and lift tomorrow morning. I am driving into the city and parking across the street from the office. That way I can leave right from the office to go down and pick up the boys then drive straight to the beach and catch a boat over at a reasonable hour. The husband will be driving out separately with the kids.

The storm clouds are really dark and getting closer

Yesterday I kind of screwed up my gym routine. I ran a quick three miles and lifted in the morning when what I was supposed to do was bike. The positive is I got to see the hot blond kid at the gym next to my office. After I sat down at the desk and checked out my Outlook calendar I realized the screw up. So I just hit the gym on Hoboken and biked 20 miles. This way I slept in a bit late and don't have to worry about the gym tonight which is a good thing as I am going back into the city for PF's birthday party. The husband was supposed to go too but he had a business dinner unexpectedly with someone from out of the country he could not blow off.

So my oldest got a motorized Razr scooter for Christmas. Apparently over the weekend he took a corner a bit too fast and there was gravel around the bend. He went flying, thankfully he wears a helmet. He did however do something to his wrist. Sunday when he told me he can't text because his wrist hurt I thought he was being facetious due to the fact he just got texting back. Then he explained it to me. Yesterday he went to the doctor with his mom and had it X-rayed. Nothing broken, just a bad sprain.

I did not start back at the dojo last night as I want to go at least three nights a week and can't do that this week. I can next week though so I will start Monday. The husband thought going three nights a week is a bit much and said I should ease back into it. I laughed and told him it is MMA- there is no easing back in, got to jump right back in feet first.

The whole situation in Cali is not getting any better. There is another serious financial storm on the horizon. Yesterday it got downgraded to just barely investment grade. The government is issuing scrip/IOUs to pay bills. Today several large U.S. banks said come Friday they will no longer honor those IOUs. I am reluctant to say the Federal government will most likely have to step in and back stop Cali. Sadly, there are only politicians in the state and no actual statesmen who can look past the next election and do what is right however painful. Cali accounts for roughly 12% of the U.S. GDP; add in NY, TX and IL and you are up to ~40%. The muni market is close to imploding.

GS had proprietary code stolen. Not a big deal unless, as they assert, if someone who knows how to use it gets their hands on it they could manipulate the markets unfairly. Well for me that begs the question: Does that mean when only GS had it they were manipulating the markets fairly? Seriously, that is all but an outright admission by them that they have been doing just what everyone has suspected and what the Rolling Stone article said.

Both our government and the Saudi government have given Israel tacit approval to do whatever they feel needs to be done with the Iranian situation. That makes me a bit nervous as Iran and it's agents of terror have been in the business a long time and I am sure have some sort of contingency plans for something that might happen.

I am a bit disappointed at how our government is handling the whole Honduras situation. Zelaya was trying to pull off a Chavez, the judiciary and military said no way and booted him. Now we are saying he should be back in power? Latin America is a bit of a tinderbox and they, rightly so, have little faith in us to do what is right for them. Do we really need another Chavez in Central America? President Obama should un-friend Chavez on facebook.

So the Fed has done some research on mortgage modifications. Guess what? They don't work in preventing foreclosures. If they don't work then the program should be ended. Yes it will suck but we need to start taking our medicine. We partied real hard for over 20 years thanks to Greenspan but the time has come to start doing the right thing.

I am swimming tomorrow morning. The husband and I are then hosting friends for dinner. The husband is rushing to have as many dinner guests over as we can before we have to move. Next week the boss and his lovely bride are coming over. I have to hand it to the boss, a great guy and we have become friends. Of course it was his wife's idea- I mean seriously, every straight girl loves the idea of having gay friends, lol.

This weekend we are at the beach with the boys and JD and JW. Looking forward to it.

We are kind of like George and Weezie

So, I know the travails of the real estate market are not over and I know because of recent personal experience. The place we moved into last year, after having a discussion with the owners about living here for several years got sold. Back in May the owners spoke with us, said they needed to sell it. They claimed they were not over levered. Yeah right, they own three properties in Hoboken and bought this one at the top. I would guess they're balloon payment hit. It also did not help that the city raised taxes on average by 47%. They wanted to know if we wanted to buy the place from them. We did not at the price they were asking. I ran a bunch of rent vs. buy analyses on BBRG. The price were it became economically viable was at a price that insulted them. So we told them we'd finish our lease and move out. We finally signed a new lease today. We found a new building in the Newport section of Jersey City. The apartment has stunning views of the entire Manhattan skyline and is on the 17th floor. The husband is pretty sure our friend TK is going to be pissed after the work he did in decorating our current place but shit happens. The thing I am most psyched about is our new place is almost as large as our current but more importantly it is a rental building, we have a two year lease and we don't have to worry about the owner selling the place out from underneath us.

The fireworks on the Hudson last night were amazing from our roof deck. We found out one of our neighbors has one of the private roof decks and they invited us to watch the spectacle from there with them.

Today we really did nothing other than sign the lease for our new home and then hit TGT to get a movie to watch. We got Quarantine.

Tomorrow I go back to the dojo. I am sure I lost a lot of flexibility. Ideally if all goes well I will be hitting classes three nights a week and end up getting my black belt by the end of this year.

A nice quiet 4th

So yesterday we spent the entire day in the city. NYC is actually very nice and quiet on the big holiday weekends because everyone leaves. We hit the High Line which was really amazing. I will be taking the boys there the weekend the husband goes to Chicago with TK. Afterwards we met up with PF and DR at the Met. That is another place I'll be taking the boys as they have a huge collection of ancient Greek armor and weapons. We took in two exhibits- the Model as Muse and The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984. They were both interesting, I did recognize one of the artists in the Pictures exhibit as the husband has one of his photos hanging in our apartment.

Our older dog spent the day at the vet to get his teeth cleaned and the vet had to extract some teeth that had cracked and were decayed. So not he is a toothless, grumpy old Scottie. We were going to go into the city for a cookout this evening but he is definitely still out of it and the vet told us we need to monitor him for at least twenty-four hours.

Last night we had dinner in the new new gayborhood- that'd be Jersey City. We dined with JD and JW. The restaurant they picked, LITM, was very good. Our waitress was a bit out there but the service was good. The only thing I did not like was the dessert. I tried lavender creme brulee- gross, won't be eating that again.

This morning I actually went into the city and swam 1800 yards. I got lucky on catching a bus in and back from the city as the Saturday schedule is limited. There were no any hot guys of note but I did have a good swim.

We had lunch outdoors at a local place. Hoboken is going to be a mad house tonight. The fireworks are being done on the Hudson this year to celebrate Henry Hudson's 400th anniversary of sailing up the river. They have closed down a bunch of streets in Hoboken already. At our end of town all of the residential buildings closed their front drop off areas starting at 3 PM. I'm glad we are not going anywhere tonight other than the roof deck of our building. The fireworks start at 9:20. So they husband and I are making pizzas, having wine and then taking in the fireworks.


The boys are camping out in the backyard at their mom's tonight. I am very psyched my oldest got his grades back to where they were supposed to be so that he can text again.

No plans for tomorrow, hopefully just a nice lazy Sunday.

A nice long weekend

So the husband and I took today off and made our three day weekend a four day weekend. We don't have the boys and we aren't going to the beach, no driving, nothing.

Yesterday I actually biked twice; a hour in the morning and then a hour after work. The only thing of note was in the morning at the gym next to the office after I biked and was getting into the shower there was this freakin' smokin' hot 20 something blond boy. OMG I could not stop staring but at least I did not get caught.

Last night we went and saw MGMT in concert over in Brooklyn. We had never been to Prospect Park before and we both enjoyed it. The only negative was there were tons of bugs. The other kind of downer was how old I felt. The Kings of Leon concert made me feel old, this one made me feel ancient. To quote the husband we may be Gen X but the millenials are really Gen XXL. I have to say I think MGMT is a better studio band than a live band. Also we definitely got stoned by all the second hand smoke wafting all over the park.

Today we had a nice relaxing day. We dropped the kids off at the groomers in the morning. I actually got to take an uninterrupted nap for a bit over two hours. We then picked up the kids from their day of beauty and then hit the gym. The usual eye candy was there and it was nice. After we went across the street and had dinner at a great tapas place. We brought home some bones for the kids. Scotties are funny with bones; once they get them they are thinking were can I hide this for later and trying to take them away from them gets them all growling and mean.

Tomorrow the husband and I are going for a long swim. We plan on trying to get onto the High Line, hoping the city will have emptied out for the holiday. After that we are meeting up with PF and DR at the Met. We are going to take in the exhibit titled The Picture Generation, 1974-1984. Then lunch and cocktails after with them. We are also hoping to see The Hangover tomorrow night.

So even though I was not in the office today I did notice the tape got beaten like a red-headed step child. Apparently the jobless numbers were worse than expected. Shockingly people are realizing that without jobs you cannot have a recovery I think. The real problem though apparently was that the length of unemployment is coming close to exceeding the length of benefits paid by the government. Once they run out, you all off the rolls as not seeking employment.