He sounds like a porn star

The bus ride this morning was nice.  There was this major hottie- def one of those black Irish types.  Since he was wearing a pea coat that is his name.  I noticed him sort of late in the ride as I had been reading most of the commute in.  I looked up and saw this boy and thought woof.  then I saw some blond floozy sitting next to him trying to chat him up.  She was flirting and poorly with him- if I had sat next to him I'd have done much better.

So Syracuse is playing in the Pin Stripe Bowl here in Gotham.  I happened to check out the roster for SU and there was one guy- I believe he is injured and sitting out he season- who is on it that I definitely noticed  His name also seems o sound like a gay porn star name- Cody Catalina.  I think he would do well as a wide receiver...

All you need to know about the markets for the coming year is that China is tightening and they are ratcheting up the stealth trade war that is going on.  That will have major implications for everyone else in the world.

One has to wonder what the government knows or is thinking when they change how the measure unemployment.  Currently- as it has been for the past thirty three years- the government stopped keeping track of how long one is unemployed after the two year mark is hit.  Even if one has been unemployed for 4 years, the government records it as two years.  Now they will be keeping track for up to five years.

The commute home tonight really sucked ass.  I left the office at roughly 4:45 and did not walk into the apartment until 6:45; seriously, WTF is that all about other that Hoboken is still a complete mess because of the blizzard.

It's apparently only Newport these days

So it was quite an adventure.  I got up my usual time figuring it would be an interesting commute.  I had to high step it through a good twenty inches of drifting snow along the Hudson to get to Hoboken Terminal.  I got about halfway there when I cam face to face with a cute guy in sweats, a big puffy jacket and ski hat who had apparently stopped to rest as he was laboriously breathing- almost rasping.  He said oh, cool you've made a path for me.  I should have said yeah, it leads back to my apartment, go wait there for me to get home, lol.  I did not.  I got to the terminal and my usual coffee guy was not open.  The buses were not running but Dunkin' Donuts was open so I got an ice coffee- garnering stares from the guy behind the counter.  Then it was on the PATH.

NYC on a snow day before 7 AM is a ghost town.  It was actually really cool until I stepped into a huge slush puddle.

I was one of only two people in my area that made it in and I think a total of twenty people at most made it in.  Not a big deal as most everyone else logged on from home and it was not a problem.

The day was painfully slow.  The only thing that saved it was being semi-short handed, so it seemed busy.  One of the senior people made it in and he came down to say he was ordering pizza for everyone who made it in.  He is notorious for having alligator arms so we joked one pizza is not enough- behind his back of course, lol.

Tonight I was supposed to hop on the train down to the cottage, spend the night at PJ and ST's farm with my parents and the husband.  Of course NJ Transit did not cooperate.  There was no train traffic between NY Penn Station and Newark Penn Station.  No problem so I figured I'd hop in the PATH to Journal Square and catch the WTC line to Newark Penn Station.  Except there was no PATH service between Journal Square and Newark Penn Station.  Back on the PATH to Pavonia/Newport, called the husband and told him I'd be down on the first train tomorrow morning.

When I got off the PATH I then realized it is no longer the Pavonia/Newprt Station.  It is now solely the Newport Station.  Maybe I am just old school but I liked it better as Pavonia/Newport and think they should have dropped the Newport moniker instead.

I caught a show The Rules of Engagement and have to say Oliver Hudson is pretty damn hot.  I of course had to wiki him and found out he is the son of Goldie Hawn and was on Dawson's Creek.

Thunder snow

Christmas Eve was great.  I picked up the boys around 10 AM and they were getting ready for what they thought was the usual drive back to Jersey City and when I pulled into the drive way of the cottage they both freaked out in a good way and were totally psyched the husband and I bought the cottage.  They were beyond happy.  We decorated the Christmas tree and then they got to open their gifts.  The net books were a big hit and the husband got them cases for them for when they are travelling.  I took them back to their mom's mid-afternoon and hooked up their new wifi router there.  There was a big argument of what to name the network so I named it after their cat and then created a password since they could no agree on one.

Next I was off to PJ and ST's farm as the husband and I made a huge Christmas Eve dinner.  There was maple-sage butter basted turkey, string beans with ginger and garlic, potato mousseline, spiked cranberry relish (it was spiked with Gran Marnier), gravy, cornbread stuffing with apples and jalapenos and then regular stuffing.  For dessert I had made two things Thursday night when I arrived at the farm- a Christmas cake and a new recipe, spiced sweet potato pudding.  The pudding was a huge fail- most likely because I did not have all the proper equipment, as in a food processor.  The cake was a hit though.

Christmas morning we slept in late, then went across the road to do some cleaning up and a bit more work on the cottage.  We then picked up coffee and donuts.  Back to the farm and time to open presents.  I loved everything Santa brought me, the husband loved everything Santa brought him especially the iPad he got.  the husband has decided it will stay at the cottage and be used as a house computer.

Then it was time to shower up and off to my brother's house for Christmas dinner with his family and my parents.  We had a blast and it wasn't even because we did not have to do the cooking.  It was nice to see my parents, brother and sister-in-law but the nephews were the bet part.  Toddlers are awesome especially when they are not yours.

We got back to the farm and watched some television and had some left overs.  Then bed time.

This morning we got up, headed over to the cottage and finished off the flooring.  Well not all of it actually, I still need to install two reducers between the hallway and the bed rooms.  After that we are done with hardwood installations.

I grabbed an early train back as I have to work tonight in Asia and there is a blizzard hitting the area.  The walk from the PATH station to the building totally aspirated.  The wind drove the snow into my face and started giving me a headache.  The weirdest part though was hearing the thunder.  I had read that thunder and lightning are possible during snow storms but had never heard nor seen either.  Well as of tonight I have experienced both and it is pretty cool...

Short one tonight

So my cold is pretty much gone.  Thank you oh mighty neti pot!

Ernst & Young is basically screwed to the wall if the NY AG does actually bring fraud charges against them.  IT will be Arthur Anderson all over again.

I'd have to say North Korea blinked in a big way after all.  I am surprised at the lame response they gave too.

So it seems that some people are catching onto the idea that France 's credit rating could be at risk.  Yet another step towards the eventual core falling apart.

Surprisingly busy tonight fr work.  The husband is down at the cottage because the electrician came this afternoon and finished the installation of the remaining high hat lights in the kitchen.  This week will be slightly hectic.  Tomorrow night I am meeting up with some fraternity brothers for drinks in the city, Wednesday night I am going to guess I will still be busy and Thursday night I am off down to the cottage for Christmas.

Sell out

Friday night I picked the boys up and we drove back to the apartment in Jersey City.  As we were driving Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition" came on.  My oldest said he loved the song and asked me to turn it up so I did and on a whim asked if he wanted to sing along with me.  He said sure!  LOL!  I really don't know all the lyrics whereas he did and he totally surprised me.  It was one of the better highlights of being a dad and was very cool/sweet that he agreed to sing along with me.

The husband got up early and went down to the cottage as he had to meet the electrician to handle putting in the high hat lights in the kitchen.  He decided to spend the whole day down there and he cleaned up and organized the garage and cleaned out the screened in porch as it had lots of scrap wood and crap on it.  The boys and I had a fun day.

We spent the entire afternoon on the ice rink in front of the building.  It was typical of my sons.  They really did not want to ice skate and dragged their feet getting ready.  Once we were on the ice though they could not get enough.  Almost two hours later I told them me toes were starting to get cold and I had to make dinner.  We first ran to TGT to get something to watch something watch for the evening as I was still fighting the cold I had and did not want to go out.  So we ended up getting Supernatural Season 5.  Dinner was homemade sauce, meatballs and rigatoni.  then everyone showered up and got a bowl of candy and we settled in to watch tv.  We made it through the first disc (the first four episodes) when it was pretty late and everyone wanted to go to bed.

This morning we were up sort of late.  I had to have the boys back to their mom's house early today because they had a Christmas party to attend.  I dropped them off then went right over to the cottage where I had to cut out some of the kitchen ceiling to accommodate the remainder of the high hat lights going into the kitchen.

Then we showered up at PJ and ST's house across the road and were off to a Christmas party a co-worker of mine had invited us to.  We had the kids with us and we left them in the car with their sweaters on and went to the party.  I took a break and went outside to have a dip and let the kids out to do their business and my co-worker came out to meet them.  She was very impressed with how well behaved they were and that they listened to me.

I am surprised at how quickly Vampire Weekend has sold out with their song "Holiday."  Seriously  it is being used for everything and has gotten to the point of annoying.  The only ads with Christmas music that I find more annoying are those Toyota ads with the hipster looking group singing.

So it looks like some one's bluff is about to get called over on the Korean Peninsula.  The South is going ahead with their live artillery drills and the North has vowed to attack if they do.  Then I read a headline tonight (yes I am actually working as I write this) about a refinery that exploded in the South.  I immediately went to GOOG maps and checked out where it was and it is far south of the DMZ.  Still, who knows how many sleeper cells the North has in the South.

This week at work is a shortened one.  It should be fairly quiet and tame barring a hot war in Korea.

That is an odd gift

I am definitely close to getting some kind of sinus issue.  So it is neti pot season.  That is also why I blew off the gym this morning. 

So Ryan Reynolds is getting divorced.  I told the husband I have dibs on him but I will share him. 

The husband asked me what the Huffington Post is.  I thought he was joking.  Incredulously he was not joking.  He is not a big reader of blogs or news on the Internet.  I told him he was a Luddite and needed to get with the program.

A person we do business with over in Europe sent us each a gift today.  It was a do it yourself canoli kit.  WTF?  Seriously, the really only acceptable holiday gift for people in our line of work is booze plain and simple.  Total fail.  I gave mine to one of the guys in ops who is of Italian descent.

So now the ratings agencies think they see something bad coming down the pike with the Eurozone periphery?  Greece was put on watch for a possible downgrade.  That didn't really shock anyone and it gained most of the headline but if you took the time to read through the whole statement you would have seen that twenty four German banks were also put on watch.  That would be the first strike at the core of the Eurozone.  Yet everyone over here doesn't seem to care and kept buying.  It also helps that tomorrow is an expiration and supposedly some big gamma trade is in the offing.

I was supposed to have drinks with my bond friend tonight but he had to cancel as he had his company Christmas holiday party.  Looks like we won't meet up until after the new year.

I happened to be surfing thru the channels and came to an ad on DIY- holy crap Mark Bartelomo is hot!

A fantasy land

It was a bit cold this morning.  Thankfully the husband had found all the winter gloves and I did not have to wear my running gloves; I had nice, thick, fleece lined ones.

The bus was a bit annoying this morning as a rather large boned guy decided to sit next to me and he was definitely crowding me and invading my space.

On this day 37 years ago the United States deemed that homosexuality was no longer a mental illness.  Yet it would seem many citizens still think it may be or is a mortal sin damning homosexuals to the eternal flames of the deepest pit in Hell.

I am getting somewhat annoyed at all the babbling heads on tv- including former President Clinton- who keep talking about the huge pile of cash U.S. companies are sitting on.  Hasn't anyone heard of double entry accounting?  They are only focusing on one side of the balance sheet.

You know when Governor-elect Jerry Brown tells Californians they have been living in a fantasy land and are in for some tough choices things have got to be bad.  I recall the guy as always being a bit of a nut job.  Maybe it is appropriate that they need to hear it from him.

So last night my oldest and I had a really good heart to heart talk.  When I spoke to them I reminded my oldest that he needs to keep working on his grades because even though he is not a big fan of school it is important.  I ended the conversation with asking him if he is smoking pot.  I explained to him I had read an article on BBRG discussing how 8th, 10th and 12th graders are all smoking cigarettes less but more pot.  After I hung up he sent me a text saying he was pissed I was accusing him of getting not great grades because he was smoking pot and assuming he was retarded to be doing that.  I immediately called him and told him that is not at all what I meant.  I told him I do not think he is but when I read how more and more 8th graders are smoking pot I was concerned.  We spoke for a good half hour and he asked questions about my history with pot, etc.  I explained to him that pretty much everyone he is related to except for his grand parents have tried pot.  I explained to him I and his mom are fairly certain that he will too and what we don't want is him lying to us or pot to end up having negative impacts on his life.  I told him bad grades are not the only negative impacts and there are a host of other consequences including breaking the law.  The conversation meandered into choosing the right friends, etc.  It went on for a good forty minutes.  I hung up, logged onto my computer and BBRG, found the story and emailed it to him and apologized again.  He told me we are all good and I explained again it is not that we don't trust him but we care about him.

So, a few months ago I got coerced by so-workers into joining the lottery for the NYC Half Marathon.  I figured sure as it is the NYC Half that my chances were slim.  Today the results were released.  I was the only one who got accepted.  WTF???!  Seriously.  Not only did I get in but it is in frackin' March.  So now I need to train through the winter.  Not funny or good but I don't really have many options.

I am not a theater fan

White Pants was on the bus again this morning.  Two days in a row I have seen that hot hunk of man early in the morning.  Makes my day start with a smile.  I sort of stalked him in the Port Authority this morning too.  Stayed a few paces behind him to check out his ass.  Noticed as we were walking down the escalator though that his hair seems to be starting to thin out a bit on the top- still would not kick him out of bed.

A perfect example of federal employees not knowing when enough is enough.  The union representing Amtrak employees wants a pay raise comparable to the employees of the private freight rail lines.  Makes sense I guess until you learn that Amtrak has lost roughly $1 billion dollars over the last decade whereas the private freight lines are all profitable.  Hello?  You are federal employees and are employed by an enterprise that costs us, the taxpayers, money to run as opposed to even just breaking even.  You cannot justify that.  

I am so not a fan of Michael Moore in any way what so ever.  Yet I have to say he did do one thing I think is good and that is offer to put up $20,000 for part of the bail for Julian Assange.  I think Mr. Assange is getting totally fucked over for bringing to light the truth and the power elites in all governments are out to teach him a lesson and send a chill down the spine of everyone who seeks the truth.  I am also annoyed that our own government has apparently blocked all access to Wikileaks on their computers.  So much for freedom of the press and the idea of free thought.

There was a Fed meeting today.  Two words:  Who gives a shit?   They seriously have nothing to say that will change anything.

Had dinner with TK and the husband tonight.  Nice little brassiere near the office.  It was good to catch up with TK.  They were then off to see Angels in America- the first part.  ST asked if I was going and I told him no, I am not a fan of the theater and I don't need to spend three hours watching a gay fantasia when I have summered in The Pines long enough.

Breaking the ice

The office party Thursday night was a blast.  One of my coworkers who shares the same surname as I (but we are not directly related) and I started pre-gaming at 4:30 at a local dive bar.  One of the other micks in the office met us and we proceeded to have quite a few PBRs as it was happy hour and the special was 2 for 1.  The other mick who does not share our surname closed it out there by shot gunning a beer- which impressed the bar wench as she claimed she had never seen it done.

When we got to the barbecue joint it was just starting.  We did not wait for the coat check line as it was snaking half way around the room and went straight to the bar- shocker no? By the time the line had died down and we checked our coats the band was on the stage and announcing karaoke would be starting as soon as  someone volunteered.  Say no more.  I walked right up and did the first song, Roger Miller's "King of the Road."  I was home and in bed by 10:30 PM for the record...

Friday morning, oh hell, ALL of Friday was painful.  I was not the only one hurting either.  I found out that the boss and several others kept going after I decided to go home.  I actually was off the desk in the morning  to get some greasy food and fruit punch.  When I got back I was told the CIO was looking for me.  I walked up to his office and asked if I was fired.  He laughed and said no, I was to be complimented for breaking the ice by going first.  After I went it was like the dam broke and the karaoke did not stop all night.

Friday I picked up the boys and the kids.  The husband stayed at PJ and ST's farm as the refrigerator replacement door was coming Saturday morning.  I am psyched to say it was a nice Friday evening.  The boys have totally gotten into Supernatural  so we watched it and then watched some Cartoon Network.  Then right to bed.

Saturday was nice and lazy.  JP stopped by for breakfast and he brought it!  All I had to do was make coffee.  It was great catching up with JP as his current gig keeps him busier than a one armed barber and we rarely see him.

I decided against ordering out pizza or sushi which seems to have become the norm when we have the boys.  So I went to the store and picked up some chicken, carrots, celery, red onion, mushrooms and rice and made a quick, American version of coq au vin.  It was surprisingly a big hit with everyone for dinner.

Saturday night was a vampire double feature.  We watched the sequel to The Lost Boys.  Yeah, I did not know there was one either and it was an excellent B-flick.  That was followed by Vampires Suck.  It was good if you like the whole spoof genre.

Sunday the husband went into the city to a brunch we had been invited too but I passed on as the weekends I have my boys it is about them.  I then dropped them off at their mom's house, stopped at the cottage and cleaned out part of the garage filling the dumpster.  This is the second dumpster we have filled.

The Kayak add with Mandy that is running currently- I am jealous of Mandy because she has Dante.  Watch the ad...

OMG the Thor trailer!  All I have to say is got to the one minute, forty-six second mark.  WOOF.

So part of the health care bill was declared unconstitutional.  Let's just agree the entire bill is flawed, not part of it.  The insurance companies are still making out like thieves and act in monopolistic manners.  If the government really wanted to reform health care they would have repealed the anti-trust exemptions the insurers have and made them actually compete like car insurers.  You would also think that the government would make health insurance portable if they wanted to reform health care.  Think about it- when you change jobs you don't have to go and find new car insurance or home insurance or life insurance.  But you do with health insurance?  Does that make sense?

No dojo- wax on, wax off- tonight as I had to get the frackin' Christmas cards done.  I am happy to say I finished them.

Parkas

So I was up until midnight last night for work and catching Glee on the dvr.  It was a cute, ok Christmas episode but it did reinforce my belief that Brittany is one of the best characters- and best acted- on the show.

Due to my late night I totally skipped the gym this morning, waking up at 6:45, quickly showering and getting dressed and catching a later than usual bus.  There was one cute guy on the bus this morning.

The work load did not stop.  I think today was one of my busiest days in quite some time.  It was definitely one of the largest volume days I have had in a long time as well.  I was pretty fried mentally by the end of the day and decided to skip the dojo- sweep the leg!

The husband cxld the refrigerator with BBY and go the same one from SHLD for less and they delivered it today.  I will now be writing a letter of complaint- old school style, sent through the USPS- and have my 8th grade English teacher to thank for teaching me how...I told the husband he cannot write it as his Latin temper would not make it a proper letter of complaint.

Today I asked my international PM if I would be busy tomorrow night as it is the Christmas Holiday party and I will most likely be imbibing copious amounts of beer.  The reply was no as a client visit is on the docket tomorrow and it is halfway across the country.

I happened to see a guy wearing a parka today on the way home.  I shuddered at the sight.  I had parkas growing up all the time until I was in 7th grade and I completely detested it.  All my friends had ski jackets which I though were so cool and I was not allowed to get one.  So of course I joined the school ski club in 7th grade just so I could say I needed one.  It worked and I had ski jackets all the time from then on.  The only other thing that comes close to making me shudder like that are pack boots- you know those green runner ones you had all through elementary school that had yellow laces and you wore the plastic bread bags to slide them on.

'Tis the season

I am starting to get disappointed with the level of talent/guy candy on the bus.  I am not sure what has happened to all the hot guys lately but they are either getting in earlier than me or they have become part of the U-6 and are no longer in need of a early morning bus ride.

We did not get a family picture done this year so we are just sending out plain, boring Christmas cards.  I am not sure how we did not find the time to get one done but whatevuh- no big deal.

I logged onto the portal the school district provides for parents to see up to the minute grades for their kids only to find out my oldest- who missed honor roll by one point in one class in the first marking period- has a frackin' 40 in his social studies class so far this marking period.  I flipped and sent his mom an explicative laced text message.  funny how I then get a call from my oldest after he got home from school to discuss it and he told me he had lost his cell phone privileges for the week.

Our company Christmas  Holiday party is being held at a barbecue joint and it is Western themed.  I have no clue why or how this decision was made but being the good gay that I am I of course took to heart the suggestion to dress the part as we love dressing up and sometimes go over the top.  My holiday party attire arrived today- don't you love the Internet and two day shipping?  I went against my friends MP and PF's axiom of never ordering shoes over the Internet and found cowboy boots for $49.  I then got a belt with a big ass, shiny buckle.  Next was the shirt- made by Ely- never heard of the company but it has embroidery and snaps instead of buttons.  The coup de grace- the felt hat by Justins- black of course as just as I could not wear white at the second wedding, a white hat would be inappropriate.  The husband wants to see me in my outfit so I told him he will tomorrow night.  He is currently down at the cottage as the refrigerator gets delivered tomorrow and then he has to get back up here for a Christmas party in the city and then he has dinner with friends from the business.  Otherwise I will wake him early Thursday so he can take a gander at me.

I am psyched to see Tron:  Legacy.  The boys are up for it too so we'll all probably see it the weekend it opens.

The bond market had a big ol' oops today.  The smart kid who works with me sent out an email showing today's action was close to a two standard deviation move- not normal and the last time in recent history it occurred was right before the sub-prime mess started.  My question of course was does this presage another crisis about to hit?  

It was no Showgirls

Okay, we'll get the boring stuff out of the way but I need to vent so anyone who doesn't feel like reading can skip the following few paragraphs.

California is in a fiscal state of emergency?  Really?  What was the clue Governor Schwarenegger?

I see the tax cuts are getting extended.  I also see the government is cutting payroll taxes for employers ostensibly to spur hiring.  They fucked that one up as they should have cut them for employees to spur consumption and further deleveraging .  I am pretty sure companies do not hire based on taxes getting cut as opposed to selling more of their goods and serivices.  Consumers deleveraging would spur healthier consumption down the road, that kind of consumption would be referred to as "organic" by all the talking heads.

Germany had yet another failed bond auction.  Bet you did not hear much about that but their most recent 5 year auction was a fail.  The Eurozone is completely frayed and one more thing will push it over the edge.  Spain and Portugal had auctions for short term paper and they rates were up 40-50% from the previous auctions.  The Street was trying to spin it as a positive but I am sorry, rates going up that much is not a positive.

TALF- so not only did the U.S. taxpayers bail out our own banks we also bailed out most of the European banks too.  Add tot he rumors going around that we the people were going to give even more to the IMF to give to the Europeans and that would have been a second bail out of European banks with our tax dollars.  Of course the Treasury came out and denied it immediately but the cynic in me says they have no problem prevaricating about such things and will do a better job hiding it this time so when someone uses the FIOA to get the details there will be none.

The geopolitical situation is not helping and yet it too is getting very little ink or airplay.  China keeps warning us that the Korean situation is not getting better and are all but telling us we are on a precipice of possibly bad things happening.  There is no way the markets have considered or fully and correctly discounted what a conflict between the West and China would mean.

The precious metals are telling you if you care that all the schemes the Western financial authorities are using will not succeed.  Gold hit an all time high of slightly over $1400/ounce and I smiled as I recall telling a fraternity brother back in August it could go to $2500/ounce in the next two or three years and he told me I was crazy.  Silver aint exactly slacking either.

The volumes in the market have completely aspirated lately and I am dreading how slow it will be the week of Christmas.

So Christmas this year will not be a big one due to the work we've put into the cottage.  The boys are getting netbooks and a wireless router for their mom's house.  The husband already got one of his gifts- a compound mitre saw.  I will also get hims a bunch of smaller things but that is it.

Mr. Barrett should skip over the next few paragraphs as it has to do with work on the cottage that we did not gut.  This weekend we finished installing the hardwood floor  in the kitchen area.  The cabinets are getting shipped the 12th so we removed all the old ones and installed the rest of the hardwood flooring.  This will make it easy for the dishwasher to get installed as many people only put the flooring to the cabinets then when they go and redo their cabinets and put expensive counter tops in then have to pull out the dishwasher they have an issue with differences in floor heights.  Speaking of the dishwasher got delivered when it was scheduled to today whereas the refrigerator did not and the store did not even call.  The husband was pissed.  Funny how the old store- Sears- understands customer service better than the new one- Best Buy

You know your sons are growing up when your oldest discusses irony with you.  It had to do with headphones for his iPod, buying new ones and then finding out his mom had spare ones.  I am still not sure if it meets the correct definition of irony or Alanis Morrisette's definition but I was impressed he was thinking that way.

Some really cute guys on the bus this morning.  The gym too- there was this guy who was a muscled version of Finn from Glee.  I could not get a great look at his ass as he was wearing baggy sweat pants but his mug and guns were nice.

The husband and I actually went and saw Burlesque  Saturday afternoon.  It was no where nearly as bad as that slow train wreck known as Showgirls.  Eric Dane was smokin' hot in it but if I had to choose between him and Cam Gigandet I would have gone with Cam as well.  Cam also has a smoking hot ass!  I want cookies from him.  Cher was ok in it but seriously her face is frozen and it does not move when she talks.  It is very freaky.

Don't call me Shirley

I am sad to see Leslie Nielsen go.  I loved his deadpan comedy, dry, sardonic wit as it is totally my type of humor.  It has become a bad influence on the husband too.  this past weekend he totally pulled one of my lines that is a homage to the scene from Airplane!  that goes like something like "This woman needs to get to a hospital.  A Hospital?  What is it?  A big building with patients but that's not important right now."  The mother-in-law asked when is Christmas and the husband blurted out "the same day every year."  He then looked at me with that oh my God I just used one of your lines.

The other thing this past weekend that kind of stunned me was when my oldest came to me in the kitchen and handed me his phone.  It was his mom and she asked me how long do you boil potatoes?  I told her until you stick a fork in them and the potato slides off or breaks apart.  She then said she wanted a specific time and I told her roughly 25-30 minutes.  She thanked me and wished me a Happy Thanksgiving. 

Some stuff I read recently that had me scratching my head:  "Fake pot is not a safe alternative to illegal narcotics."  I did not even now there was such a thing as fake pot?  Then in reference to the whole WikiLeaks issue today a French official said the leaks are "...a threat to the authority of democratic society."  Sorry but I thought a democratic society derived its authority from the people?  Isn't a free press also a hallmark of a democratic society?  It also smacks of the people shouldn't know the whole truth as they can't handle it and just trust the government.

No one hot on the bus this morning.  Maybe it is just the fact that everyone is starting to wear coats and sweaters and hats so I can't really get a sense of who is hot or not.  Slept in this morning, no gym, figured two hours at the dojo- wax on, wax off- would suffice.  Then I foolishly jinxed myself by telling the husband I had no work in Asia tonight.  Of course right before I left I got loaded up with work for Asia.  So I will be hitting the dojo- sweep the leg!- tomorrow night.

I have a lot to be thankful for

I am thankful for a great husband who loves me and makes me laugh.  I am thankful for two amazing sons who love and make me laugh.  I am thankful for two dogs who are happy to see me every night I walk through the door no matter what my day was like.  I am thankful for great parents and brothers.  I am thankful for a great job with people I enjoy working with and a boss who makes it easy to do my job.  I am thankful my knees are in great condition even though I am no longer 21, need to stretch and have to change my gait.

My birthday passed and I had a great time.  I picked the boys up and they were with us for the weekend.  I got to pick dinner so of course I went with pizza and also got a gluten-free pizza for the husband.  Sunday morning the husband had invited over friends and some family and we had a nice birthday breakfast and cake.  My oldest gave me the new Kings of Leon CD and a homemade card extolling how he loves me more than his brother, lol.  My youngest gave me a homemade card as well extolling how it was he who loved me more.  Nothing like a little fraternal rivalry.  The husband gave me the greatest birthday gift I have ever gotten to date and that is a chainsaw!  It is awesome because it is a freakin' chainsaw and because we had a few wind storms that have knocked down some large trees at the cottage so I get to cut them up know, spilt them, store them in the garage and  dry them out for firewood.  It's a chainsaw! 

I know it is pretty useless to think of what may have been if only (although I loved the What If... series from Marvel) but I am of the mindset that if Ireland had stuck to it's stubborn guns and not taken the bailout that would have done more to prevent the contagion from spreading than taking the bailout.  The market is a predator and has taken down the weakest in the herd and is now moving onto the next one and that is the Iberian countries, followed by Italy and then it will hit the core and that would be France is my guess.

We had the boys for Thanksgiving this year.  I picked them up Wednesday night and drove out to the in-laws on Long Island.  The traffic was not that bad.  The boys fell asleep and were surprised when they woke up as we pulled into the driveway.  I walked in to see the husband and the mother-in-law starting to make a lattice top apple pie.  I was impressed as I make pies but have always been intimidated by a lattice top.

Thanksgiving was great.  The husband and I did the cooking- juniper brined turkey, cream gravy, cheddar-chipoltle dirty mashed potatoes, brussel sprout and caramelized shallot hash, scalloped tomatoes and homemade cranberry sauce.  Dessert was the lattice top apple pie, lemon meringue pie and red velvet cake.

Friday I actually went to work.  I had taken the last 4 or so Fridays after Thanksgiving off and felt it was only fair I let someone else in the office.  It is a half day in the markets and the slowest day of the year.  I got home and the husband had me on the grill making chipoltle cheese burgers for dinner.  It was great.  We then all went and saw Skyline.  The movie sucked.  The special effects were great, the action sequences awesome but eh acting was not great and the ending was a complete cop out.

Saturday we hit TGT because my youngest had a birthday party to go to today and needed to get a gift.  Then we hit the gym and then left overs for dinner.  Is it just me or do Thanksgiving left overs taste better one or two days after?

We watched the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street last night and I have to say it was ok.  The boys did not think it was that scary and the husband did not either (he apparently never saw the original).  No one got up in the middle of the night so I have to assume it was not that scary.

The drive to take the boys back to their mom's house today was actually not that bad.  This is the first time I have ever seen the Belt Parkway with so little traffic.  I have no work to do overseas tonight thankfully.  Just watch some tv and then hit the bed.  Back to the dojo- sweep the leg!- this week.  

Don't tell me what to do, just ask

This week was kind of slow actually.  No hot guys on the bus that I can recall as I am writing without any notes.

Tuesday night I attended a charity event with a most of my co-workers and a bunch of people in the business.  It was held at the space the gays usually hold their Boys With Toys charity event- which by the way is a Friday night this year but the husband and I are not going as we will be down at the cottage to finish off the floor in the kitchen.

Wednesday night I actually had a nice quiet evening.  The husband was down at the cottage and I got home still tired from Tuesday night's festivities and finished Towers of Midnight.  I hit the hay early too and got well rested.

Thursday night I had drinks with a business associate.  I had hesitated setting this up as I have known the guy for years- from when we were young punks in the business (I'm still a punk, just not young while he has acquired a veneer of respectability).  My reason for hesitating was when LEH went under I reached out to him several times to make sure he was ok, could I help in any way, etc.  Never heard back from the guy.  Then once the other division got rolled up into us I come to find out he does business with them and voila- he is now reaching out to me.  I asked a friend in the business who was part of the young punk crowd if I was just being a stubborn mick and he said yes, so I met him for drinks.  He hasn't changed, lol.

After that it was off to dinner with the husband and one of his good friends from his London days.  She was in town for work.  We had a great dinner and of course had a bit too much wine.  Come to find out KG is pregnant.  Great for her as she will make an awesome mother.

Friday morning it was down to the cottage.  I had a doctor's appointment to get my knee checked out.  The first thing was they took x-rays.  Nothing showed up on them.  Next the doctor came in and turned and pushed my knees all which way.  Nothing.  He said look, you are not 21 anymore, you need to stretch, get new running shows and change your gait.  Here is the best part though.  I actually paid nothing for the appointment, i.e. my health insurance worked!  I was a bit surprised.

Back to the cottage where the husband and I proceeded to take out the old kitchen cabinetry.  The only thing we left was the base cabinet that has the sink in it as the husband will still need to clean his hands and the occasional paint brush.  Then off to my youngest son's school for his annual parent/teacher conference.  I also realized this is the last one I will have to do as he goes to middle school next year.

Then the boys and I went back to PJ and ST's farm and picked up the husband and the kids and back up to Jersey City.

Tonight we are going to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.  I did not think my oldest would want to see it but he is all excited.

Last week was all about Europe.  If anyone thinks anything has been solved over there or changed they are sadly mistaken.  Being of Irish descent I have to admit I get why Ireland is fighting being forced to take the bailout.  We Irish hate being told we have to do something- ask nicely and we comply.  It is also the whole pride thing and the idea that our suffering is not only part of what makes us Irish but makes stronger.   It doesn't matter as once Ireland is utterly forced into it everyone else will fall- Portugal, Spain and now you are starting to here more about Italy.

Next week should be like Harry Potter's Hollows- deathly.  It is always a slow week especially with Thursday off and only a half day Friday.  It is also traditionally a week some company tries to pull a fast one and sneak something by the markets.

Yes I am that shallow at times that I will buy something that has a hot guy in the ad

Last week was not to busy but the weekend was mentally taxing.

Thursday night I met up with the husband and one of his friends from his days spent in London.  His friend is actually Turkish and was in New York for work.  they met up before dinner to pre-game.  The husband said he needed a bar that would provide sufficient eye candy for his friend so I told him to go to Boxers.  It was such a a good call that after dinner we went back there.  The boys behind the bar are hot but the man bouncing was completely hot!

As usual the husband pulled his chatty Cathy act with a woman at the bar.  I of course got dragged into it somehow only to have the husband ditch us and try to get his friend laid, lol.  The woman was actually very nice.  A pharma sales rep.  Her husband is an i-banker.  I asked her what possessed her to stop in the bar.  She is from Michigan and a huge sports fan so decided to pop in as she lives in the neighborhood.  She then realized she was in a gay bar but stayed anyways as she knew she'd be able to watch sports undisturbed- that is until the husband started chatting her up, lol.

Friday night was quiet and we stayed in as the husband had his trail half marathon Saturday morning.  I would have run it too if not for my recent knee issue. 

Saturday morning we were up and on the road early.  The thermometer in the car said it was 37 degrees.  The husband was not happy.  He did the first loop and was dying, lol.  Apparently a trail half marathon is nothing like a road half marathon.  Trail seems to be a misnomer as most of the race apparently was through woods, over streams and involved climbing an extremely rocky, near vertical incline.  I am actually upset I missed the race as it sounds like I would have enjoyed it.

We then hit the road again and stopped at a local, incredibly cheap counter top place.    It was close to becoming painful for me to walk through the warehouse looking at all the different types of stone and have to come up with some kind of comment on the pattern, color or tonality.  Thankfully the race was starting to hit the husband so we wrapped up sooner rather than later.

Down to the cottage.  Painting for me.  Saturday night we went to dinner with ST and PJ at a local, semi-legendary eating establishment that was closing.  Sadly they did not play "Last Dance."

Sunday I hit the pool.  One of the gyms in the chain near the cottage actually has a proper sized pool.  So I hit the pool for a half hour.  Then it was back to the cottage for painting.   Then off to HD to finalize the kitchen cabinets with a side trip to BBY to check out appliances of course.  I was making it through admirably until I got asked about drawer pulls.  Thankfully that is all done.

The ten year Treasury had some interesting action today.  No one had an intelligent reason as to what caused the move but I would venture to say that hopefully the bond market vigilantes are back and starting to price risk properly again.

On the way home from the pool I stopped at DD to get some coffee.  I saw their new Sausage Pancake Bites and decided to try them solely because of the hot guy they use in the ad.  They actually were not bad.  Don't get me wrong I won't be getting them often but they were good.

WTF!!!!???

I just finished hastily writing my post because I wanted to watch Caprica only to find out SciFi cancelled the show!!!  Seriously NBC what the frack is wrong with you???!!!  You cancel the most intelligent show on tv because...?

Like running through a field of four leaf clovers and catching a unicorn

So I slept in this morning and did not work out.  Call me lazy if you want to but my response is a big fuck you, lol.

I need to start off with econ stuff first, sorry for anyone who reads this and is only interested in the hot guys on the bus or gym I lust after.  

The Euro periphery is totally fucked!  Ireland selling twenty six week paper at ~4.85% is not a good thing.  Spain is pretty much fucked.  The only thing saving Portugal is there history with China (lest you forget I am fairly certain they were the first Europeans who made contact with China almost 600 years ago).  Everyone I read here int he States seems to think the idea of a double dip is dead but I would posit that when the Euro periphery goes it will drag us right back down.  Just saying...


I love Tom Keene on BBRG!  The guy is one of the most erudite, polished, professional reporters left in the media.  He wears bow ties!  So when I hear his stentorian voice on the  I usually look up from my screens to watch and listen; however, when his show Midday Surveillance throws in those cheesy sound effects all I can think of is the episode from Family Guy where Brian took over the radio show only to have Stewie come in and completely corrupt it.  I actually had one of my moments where I sent Mr. Keene a BBRG message expressing those exact thoughts.  He did not reply to me- probably because I added it was very CNBCish...


My man crush at work did the Florida Iron Man this past weekend.  He showed me a picture of himself crossing the finish line at 13 hours, 23 minutes and  53 seconds.  I didn't even notice the time as I was too enthralled seeing him all lean and sweaty in Lycra.  He also finally started dipping again today (which was why he came over to the desk) and I made him do the Skoal Longcut Mint that was easily 5 months old and drier than a nun's twat...


I was at a loss for lunch today.  Then it hit me.  I went to MCD and got a McRib.  Seriously, it was just like the title of the post says...I think I also caught the leprechaun and got the pot of gold.


I finally capitulated and set up a doctor's appointment to get my knee checked out.

 

The Towers of Midnight

Sorry for the missed week of posting, just got kind of busy and lost my notes so had to try and recap what I could.

My coffee guy in the morning at the train terminal I walk through is smarter than I gave him credit for.  A small coffee used to cost just a buck.  He went and upped it to $1.25.  I bet his tip cup has filled up a lot more often and quicker now.  I am probably not a good sample but I usually just let him keep the change as I don't feel like having three quarters jingle in my pocket all day.  So he is already basically doubling his profits on me alone.

  

Halloween weekend was good.  We had the boys but they went back to their mom's house early on Sunday for a Halloween party.  Saturday night we celebrated my youngest son's birthday (it was the Monday after Halloween).  I made two cakes- one regular one and one that was gluten free for the husband.  The family tradition in my family has been the birthday boy gets to pick what's for dinner.  Of course he chose pizza but I found out his favorite pizza place up here also has a gluten free one.  So the husband got to have not only his cake but his pizza too and eat both.

That night we continued a very new (as in this is only the second year) tradition of scary movies the weekend closest to Halloween we have the boys.  We watched The Exorcist.  I forgot how creepy that is.  My youngest decided about a quarter of the way in not to watch it.  When it finished we put in the second movie 30 Days of Night:  Dark Days.  I did not realize they made a sequel and now I know why as no one from the first is even in it.  I watched about 10 minutes and then suggested to my youngest he come play his video game on the bed while I napped.  He agreed.  I fell asleep only to be woken about a hour later by the husband and my youngest.  The movie was over and I had to put my youngest to bed after walking the dogs.  My oldest decided to skip the second feature as well and was already asleep.  Of course at 3:45 AM my youngest was in the room, trying to wake me up and startled the husband.  He "just couldn't sleep."  Right, he had a nightmare.

Sunday after dropping the boys off early we went to the cottage to do more work.  We worked further on casings and baseboards.  Got most of them done.  We also brought the remainder of the gluten full birthday cake to the farm for PJ and ST- needless to say it was a huge hit and I have to make another one.  I took Monday off to do more work and are basically finished with the casings and baseboards.

 

So I was all signed up to do a trail half marathon next weekend.  However I am not doing it as I think I have a knee issue.  Twice during running with the husband I had to stop about halfway through- it  seems like anything over 6 miles is a no go- due to major pain in my right knee; the in the joint kind, not the outside of the knee so I know it is not due to lack of stretching.  I now need to make an appointment with a specialist- in my HMO network!- to get it looked at.  My concern is I will have to get it scoped or something similar.  On the positive side though this is the first time I  have had a knee issue so I am probably still able to have it scoped and get another twenty or so years out of it.  It has also precluded me from hitting the dojo- sweep the leg!  So I have basically been lifting, biking and swimming.

This past weekend we were down at the cottage again.  This time was spent painting baseboards and casings.  I also painted the front door.  The husband is working on sealing the knotty pine panelling in the den that he stripped and bleached.  He started with a polyurethane and did not like how it was clear yet changing the color of the wood.  I suggested he stop and try the other product the lumber guy recommended.  He did not so yesterday he spent the day sanding it all off and re-bleaching.  I just painted quietly and did not gloat when he admitted I was right and he should have stopped.

This morning, getting back to my cardio adventures, I went to go swim only to discover the pool is closed due to renovations occurring at that branch of the gym.  No clue on how long it will be but whatever.  The Walking Dead is of to a pretty good start.  I never read the comic book but I like the show so far.  However, last night's episode was a bit graphic and the title should have tipped me off.

I am highly annoyed at all the Christmas stuff that is already in stores.  I really think it should be against the law for any Christmas displays to be put up until Black Friday.  We did not get a good family photo this year so there won't be one with the Christmas card.

OMG the penultimate book in The Wheel of Time series is out and I did not even know it until my way home tonight!  A few things- WTF?  I thought this was supposed to be the last volume???  Of course I bought, rushed thru my cardio workout at the gym, did not even shower and came home to crack it open.

Ok, Burlesque...possibly this century's attempt at reaching the heights of Showgirls.  I have to say I have twinges of wanting to go see solely because of the preview shot of Cam Gigandet in nothing but boxers...the guy is smokin' hot! 

I want a silver lame suit

So last week was a bit chaotic and interesting.

Wednesday night the husband and I went and saw Phoenix at MSG.  Seriously, it was like we were dropped into the middle of the 12th arrondissment.  I swear everyone around us was from France.  The best part was the husband, being the chatty Kathy he is, started chatting with the woman next to him.  Much to our surprise we found out this is not Phoenix' first album.  They apparently have made a bunch.  So I told her it is obviously their first good one or they'd have toured the U.S. before an done a show in MSG.  That did not go over well; it was like I insulted their WWII military achievements...

Thursday I convinced everyone on the desk except the boss we should dress up this Friday to celebrate Samhain.  The rule was simple:  You need an actual costume, putting a witch's hat on or black cat ears or something else lame is not allowed.

Thursday night we all attended a party celebrate the  fortieth anniversary (in our line of work) of  a woman we do business with.  She is 58 which means she started at 18 (see I can do math without a calculator).  More importantly she started as a high school graduate and a woman in a man's world.  She succeeded beyond all odds.  In this day and age you cannot get into my line of work with just a high school diploma.  It is a testament to how great she is at her job.  The boss made me drink a few too many straight vodkas.  We tried an Irish vodka- Boru (named after the legendary High King)- which gave us pause until the bartendress (Irish of course) pointed out vodka is made from potatoes and who knows potatoes better than the Irish.

I read Friday how scientists have spotted the oldest galaxy in the universe.  Apparently it is roughly 13.1 billion light years away.  Two thoughts came to mind- are we about to be forced into the ongoing war between the Vorlons and Shadows (maybe they are already here influencing us which could explain Sarah Palin)?  The other was I cannot wait to see Skyline.  The movie looks great and I hope the creatures from it are not on their way already from the oldest galaxy.

Saturday we worked on the cottage.  We were installing window casings and baseboards.  Funny thing happened though early in the morning.   The ex called in a mood.  She apparently had reached a breaking point.  The boys it seems have been rather disrespectful, bratty and rude a lot lately.  Then she adds on how her mother has been the same and her horse is being a jerk.  "I fucking hate everyone right now."  I asked if she called because she is mad at me and hates me as well or she just needed to speak with someone.  She informed that while her boyfriend is a great support she could vent to me and I had to listen because I am her ex.  I asked if she wanted me to come over a hour ahead of my scheduled pick up of our oldest (he and I were going to see Paranormal Activity 2) and the four of us would sit down and have a "family chat."  She said yes please.

I got there and apparently I had my angry eyes as both boys immediately knew something was wrong.  The four of us sat down at the kitchen table and had a good discussion.  I then said to the ex that while I know it is her house could she please leave for awhile so I could talk to the boys.  She did.  I then laid into them and read them the riot act.  I was dropping the f-bomb, telling them their mother is not a maid or a chauffeur or cook, etc.  She is their mother and they will start treating her properly.  I told them they were being ungrateful brats, I think I also called them shitheads.  I told them I have tried to use logic, reason and everything else to make them understand.  I closed with this is your first, last and only warning; if I ever get a call like that from their mother again I will stop whatever I am doing, come down here and kick their asses.  At this point they are both in tears.  My oldest said he had never heard me talk like that and I replied I have never been this angry.  Their mom came back in and they both ran to her, started hugging her in tears, apologizing profusely.  She gave me that look like what the hell did you say?

I felt bad for two reasons.  One, I threatened my children with physical violence to get them to behave and two that I actually had to threaten them.  It does seem to be working though.  I know this because the ex and I now speak daily and when I asked my youngest how his attitude has been he replies "Good...I hope."

Paranormal Activity 2 is actually scarier than the original I think.  I was always a scaredy cat about basements as a kid and this movie completely justified my childhood fear.  I have also always need to have the closet doors closed when I go to bed- even now- and again, the movie has made me feel justified.

Sunday night the husband and I went and saw Muse at The Prudential Center.   It was a completely different show than Phoenix but just as great.  It was seriously old school rock concert- moving stage, laser lights, smoke machines, massive video screens.  The best part was the lead singer was wearing a freakin' silver lame suit.  the husband commented Muse is much harder in concert than on their albums- I concur; definite headbanging going on.  Also, The Prudential Center is a great venue to see a show it, highly recommend it.

Got my costume today- a Klingon, with ridged forehead no less (STNG type not the original).  I also have a fu manchu style mustache to put on.  Need to figure out a name and a house.  I am predisposed to the House of Mogh of course.

An interesting story  out last week regarding Anglo-Irish.  The government is finally doing what really needs to be done to help solve this whole financial wreck- hitting the bond holders.  Apparently they are proposing the bond holders take 20 cents on the euro, which is the equivalent of 18 cents on the dollar.  Huge hit and it should scare everyone who holds bank debt as it could set a precedent.

Exercising has been killin' me lately.  Did a twelve mile run Monday night with the husband.  My knee was killing me and when we got back to the building we find out there was a water main break a few blocks away so we had no water.  Great...

Tuesday morning was the gym then one class at the dojo- sweep the leg!- at night and then up until roughly 11:30 PM working.  This morning was a five mile run.  I got to the office and the woman who sits next to me told me I look really tired.  So tonight nothing.

Domo arigato Mr. Roboto

I slept in later this morning- I need to catch up from all the manual labor I did this past weekend.  Speaking of manual labor, the boss and I discussed our weekend activities and came to the conclusion that manual labor for guys like us is cathartic.  It is great to do that kind of work and see immediate results and know they are because of you and not someone else.

I wore a suit and tie to work this morning.  Not only was I being lazy but the boss had also scheduled several new non-U.S. business contacts to come in I did not want to look disrespectful as they were predominately Asian and I know how the are about the whole  "face" thing.

I am a firm believer this market has topped out.  I have finally started walking the walk and not just talking the talk.  Today I moved my 401(k) and every other incentive/savings plan I have to 100% cash.  I don't care if I miss another 5% to the upside.  Don't get me wrong, I was doubting myself until I chatted with my bond friend and he told me he had done almost the same thing but moved into 10 year Treasuries, 30 year Treasuries, gold and cash.  I get those moves but even those moves can generate losses whereas cash can only lose (even more) purchasing power, lol.

I had a quick drink with one of our Asian business contacts after work then met up with the husband and TK for a drink. They were then having dinner and going to some Broadway show- non-musical variety.

I am psyched for this weekend.  Saturday night I am taking my oldest and a few of his friends to go see Paranormal Activity 2.  I told my oldest I'll buy treats but his friends have to buy their own tickets and make sure it is ok with their parents.

This song just keeps on giving...

This weekend was quite industrious.  The husband and I started to install the hardwood flooring in the foyer, hallway. living room and dining room.  My step-father-in-law was there to help us start the project as it is all important that the first three rows are in straight and they need to be hand nailed in; the husband thought we could use the nail gun we borrowed and I told him the pre-finished bamboo flooring manufacturer said it could damage the planks.  It did on the first one he nailed in.  So it was all hand nailed on the first three and I got to use my nail set- which the step-father-in-law was impressed I actually owned.

The table saw also impressed the husband's step father; it is the same portable one he owns and he is a cabinet maker/carpenter.  It also generated a shitload of sawdust, as in by the end of the day Saturday my snots were basically all sawdust.  We ended Saturday when we got to the front door and I was fried and couldn't fully get the process figured out.

I sent pics to a bunch of friends and family.  I really don't know why they are all shocked and awed- seriously, can't all gays handle hard wood with ease?

Sunday we really made some great progress.  I had to buy a jig saw to get some of the cuts done.  I also got stuck having to do the remainder of the foyer and the hallway which is a lot of precise cutting and hand nailing.  We got half the square footage done- I know that because we started with 41 boxes of planks and used 20 of them.  I got home last night and was so frackin' sore.  There were muscles I did not know I had or hadn't used since my days as a union construction laborer throwing 105 lb. jack hammers around.

I ran 4 miles this morning and again paid the price for all the manual labor I did over the weekend.  I listened to my half marathon play list and again Carmine Burana keeps giving me all these great insights.  I definitely heard "Dorks use blue tooth" and "Pimps drink Grey Goose."

The bus was a none event this morning.

One has to wonder.  The government owns GM- no matter what semantics they use to obfuscate the issue.  Why don't they force GM to spin off OnStar as a separately traded public company and then anyone who buys a car could go and sign up for OnStar?  I used to own a Tahoe and it had OnStar- OnStar actually rocks.  If I could subscribe to it in my Toyota pick up truck I would.

Brothers are funny.  Last night after I had been home for about 5 minutes I noticed I had a missed call from the ex.  The voice mail was a cryptic call me.  I call her and find out she and the boys are in the emergency room.  Apparently my oldest was getting annoyed by his younger brother and pushed him or reacted in some other physical manner.  My youngest fell and hit the back of his head on the kitchen chair, gash resulting.  they went to the doctor who looked at it and he said he needed a stitch.  He ended up receiving two staples instead.  I spoke to them both and stressed to my oldest that a physical reaction is not acceptable.  The only thing I was really annoyed at was the ex was not home when this happened and left her phone in her car.  Thankfully the boys are smart, called their grandmother who lives two blocks away and she took care of everything.

This week is frackin' busy.  Tomorrow night I have drinks with a Japanese business associate who is in town.  Wednesday night the husband and I are going to see Phoenix.  Thursday night I have a surprise birthday party to go to for a friend in the business.  Friday I will go down to the cottage again after work, the husband and I are having dinner with my friend who lent us his tools and his wife.  Saturday more work on the cottage and then Sunday we are seeing Muse in concert.

Not a luxury liner...

I got up yesterday morning got up and ran my 5 miles.  There is something nice about running on an autumn morning that early when it is still dark and there is a slight chill/crispness in the air.  The winter can be fun as well but I think I am emotionally scarred from my days wrestling in high school and running in the winter meant I was close to being over weight and had to do extra cardio. 

I then had no mental energy to actually pick out pants and a shirt, etc.  So I woke the husband up and asked him to pick a tie for me and commented I kind of wish we'd go back to having to wear suits at the office on a daily basis. 

The bus was rather uneventful.

The new blond guy on Glee- does anyone else think his mouth is all fracked up?  It reminds me of Heath Ledger's   Joker mouth.  Hot body but weird mouth- kinda turns me off.

I played lacrosse from 6th grade on.  So when I see articles in the NYT about it I always read them.  Paul Rabil- holy shit!  If I was not a lax fan I would be after seeing him.  I need to get the ESPN The Magazine body issue.  I also came across another hot opera guy.  Vittorio Grigolo.  Something about dark hair and dark eyes that just get me going.

So the other day I watched a story on BBRG tv about SBUX and how management is trying to slow down their servers.  Are you frackin' kidding me??  The people at SBUX are slow enough, if they go any slower it will completely back fire on them and they will definitely lose even more sales.  The management should be trying them to pick the pace up a bit.
 
Last night after work we had an Oktoberfest.  I had a few beers then pulled a Houdini as I was meeting PF for drinks.  He of course picked the new gay sports bar, Boxers.  It is actually a real sports bar and of course I sat down in front of the hot, blond, shirtless, muscly twenty something bartender.  He was not very friendly; you'd think as a bartender you'd be friendly.  Of course once we bought him a shot he was all smiles and introduced himself as Josh.

This morning I got to rest as Fridays are my rest days for training.  White pants was on the bus and he was hot as usual wearing a pink button down shirt with white collar and blue blazer- I think...lol.

I read how God's Bankers have IT Nazis and the cannot even respond to IMs such as WTF.  So of course every day I now IM the kid I do business there with a WTF first thing in the morning.   The prevents him from replying and he has to actually pick up the phone and converse with me.

Recently when all the talking heads on tv talk about QE2 they make the distinction they are not talking about the ocean liner.  I agree the luxury liner is not a good analogy but there is one that I think is- the Titanic.  QE2 when it comes is going to be a huge failure and do more damage to the economy.  It will also probably drive the ten year rate down below 2% which will be the bell ringing for everyone to get out of the pool because there is a Baby Ruth floating.

The in-laws are coming over tonight.  I will be hosting them.  Tomorrow morning we will drive down to the cottage.  My father-in-law will be the supervisor of us starting the floor installation and he will be measuring out the walls for the book cases we are going to put in.  Today the husband painted the foyer.

Hump Day

So I slept in this morning instead of running.  I got to bed late last night and just did not want to get out of bed.  It was nice.

The highlight of my day was an email exchange with Mr. Clifford.  He sent me an email reminding me I gave him my opinion on what options he should consider for his 401(k) when he started his new job back in January.  Apparently I made some good/smart/lucky guesses.  His account is up 14.5% year to date.  He wanted to know if that was a good rate of return.  I then had to expound on the difference between absolute returns versus relative returns.  Regardless of which way he wants to look at it 14.5%  y.t.d. is freakin' awesome.  The SPX is only up 5.74% y.t.d.

The other highlight of the day was stuffing the boss with my Asia trades.  The rule of thumb on the desk is if two of us have orders in the same name the one with the larger order takes them all; hence how I was able to stuff him- ha!

I got home kind of late tonight.  My intention was to hit the dojo- sweep the leg!- but I realized I had work to do.  I needed to clean up the boys room and make the beds as the in-laws will be staying here Friday night.  I then had to put away all the dry cleaning and empty out the dishwasher.  Why tonight?  Well tomorrow night I have an office social function to go to then I am having drinks with PF.  I know that I will end up getting stuffed with Asia work and that after a few cocktails cleaning would not be on my agenda.

In preparation for the foolish trail half marathon I agreed to do I set up my training schedule.  I only have five weeks to get ready.  So I took the husband's advice and am just going to repeat the last five weeks of my ten week program I did for the road half marathon.  That means tomorrow I will be running before work- five miles.

 

Foolishness is not saying no because you love someone

Lots to catch up on. 

First let's get the boring stuff out of the way.

HR3808 is an abomination, a stealth attempt at TARP 2.0 and shows you who Congress and the President really answer to- if I was in a less generous mood I'd say owned by.  It was an attempt by our corporate finance masters to make sure they could continue with their fraudclosures.  Thankfully the real reporters- the financial blogs out there- raised the alarm, hue and cry.  The President said he would use a pocket veto...how nice of him.  You can bet your ass he would have signed it if he had not been caught on it.  It basically allowed the servers of the mortgages to claim an out of state notarization was valid in another state.

We met the gentleman we do business with in London last Thursday.  Holy shit he looks like he is 12- no wait, 14 at the oldest.  I am sure if you asked him if he thought girls were icky he'd answer in the affirmative...

So there has been a bunch of articles on a big time hedge fund manager who is a huge comic book fan.  I had one of my less lucid moments late today and sent him a BBRG starting with Excelsior and stating Norrin Radd is my favorite hero.  The guy actually replied, lol.  We went back and forth for a few minutes.  I am sure he thinks I am a nut job- not far off base.  At least if he tries to find me on Linked In he'll see I am in the two largest comic book groups and know I am a true believer.

I have been biking a lot recently at the gym and I still doubt the odometer on the eSpinner.  Yesterday I actually got back in the pool for the first time in a long time.  I only swam for twenty minutes but it felt good to be back in the water and I didn't smell like chlorine for the entire day.

Last Thursday I had drinks with a college friend who I actually do business with; not a big deal in and of itself but what made it fun is his new boss.  His new boss just happens to be my ex-father-in-law, lol.  So I gave him some good intell on what buttons he has an dhow to push them.  I also had about twenty beers too many and it was Miller High Life- not my first, second or third choice ever but the bar was having a charity event where every cap from MHL bottles was kept and translated into a ten cents donation to Wounded Warrior.

Last weeks Glee was not bad but I did tell the husband and he completely agreed with me if any song from Yentl was on it we were turning it off.  We did not watch the entire episode obviously...More exciting was the premiere of Caprica.  This season is going to be frackin' great- I can just feel it in my steel cylons bones...

I had the boys this weekend and the husband was down at PJ and ST's dog sitting for them as they were off to Berlin.  Saturday we went into the city for the NY Comic Con.  I actually spied Chris Meloni there with- I assume- his daughter.  The boys and I agreed that it was really crowded this year compared to the last time we went.  After about four hours they were done and ready to go home.  That night we went and saw My Soul To Take- in 3D of course.  It was a good Wes Craven flick.

This weekend we are starting the installation of the hardwood floors.  A friend in my line of work loaned us a bunch of nail guns, an air compressor and compound mitre saw.  The husband went to pick them up Saturday morning and sent me a text letting me know my friend is adorable, lol.  The other thing we did was get a table saw!  I am so psyched!  Power tools rule!  We will need it for when we replace all the baseboards and window and door casings.

So today I did  a really dumb thing:  I agreed to do a trail half marathon in November with the husband.  What the frack was I thinking??  I really can't say no to him and I admit I am slightly competitive.

I got my ass kicked last night at the dojo- Cobra Kai never die!  I got stuck with the black belts and while they thanked me for the excellent workout I did not return the kind words, lol.  Joshu is one lanky, wiry bony-shouldered mother fracker and those shoulders don't feel good when they are getting round into parts of your head, chest, jaw line or neck.  Sempei is about an inch shorter than me and twenty pounds heavier.  I'll most likely see both of them tomorrow night- frackers.

Ok, falling into a slightly misogynistic (I apologize ahead of time to any women who read this) mode:  The husband and I went to the gym tonight (lots of great eye candy there such as Delaware, Rutgers and Brown hat but I digress).  I went to use one pec deck and there was someone using it with a trainer.  I go over to the other one and there is a lady using it.  I ask how many sets she has left and she replies she just started and "There's another one you know?"  with serious snottiness.  I reply yes I know and it is being used too.  Ladies- learn how to let someone work in on equipment.  Don't just sit there and rest and ignore the person who just asked how many sets you have- that is code for can I work in?  Also do not wear one of those mesh baseball-type caps in the gym.  Straight guys think they make you look less attractive and dorky, the gays are horrified you have either bad fashion sense, bad hair or split ends.   I then go over to use the eSpinner.  The tow are being used by women and they are both over the forty minute mark when all the signs clearly say all cardio equipment has a thirty minute time limit during peak hours.  I see the manager and totally rat them out, lol.  A trainer goes over and explains they have to follow the rules.  Both women pull the oh I thought that was just for treadmills.  They also both start shooting daggers with their eyes at me- ha! 

Seriously- I swear they are singing in Klingon

I hit the gym this morning.  The one next door to the office as I was up early enough.  The thing though was that the bus got stuck in the tunnel, why is unbeknownst to me as I had my iPod on and was happy listening to my music and playing WordMole.

I did the eSpinner today at the gym and I have to say that the odometer on it has to be wrong.  There is no way I actually biked 7.98 miles in twenty minutes.  I fervently hope it is right but I just can't see that being the case.

The whole mortgage mess is getting even more fracked up.  The housing market is seriously screwed up all because of securitization.  I get that if you cannot prove you hold title to a mortgage you legally cannot foreclose on the mortgage.  Makes sense to me.  That is really the problem right now.  The judiciary is finally smarting up and becoming activist- which means it's just a matter of time before the right gets all pissy about it, unless of course it is their houses the judges are stopping the bank from foreclosing on I am sure.  More importantly it means that if the banks that own the CMBs are not getting their expected cash flows because people cannot afford or choose not to pay their mortgages anymore.  No cash flows means they CMBs the owned are worth less.  That means all these banks who are lying and marking these CMBs on the b/s at 100 cts on the dollar will have to eat the loss at some point.  That means they will take a capital hit and have to either raise more or become impaired.  This will put the TBTF idea to a serious test and it will also be a serious strain on the severely limited FDIC.  I don't see how our corporatist finance overlords will allow a hideous, activist  judiciary to ruin their plans...

The market loved the idea that the Fed has been telegraphing-more QE!  It seems very short sighted as the Fed is telling us it is coming not because of the strength and vitality of our economy but because we are totally fracked still.  Oh- and the first round did nothing to help, so sure let's try again and more this time. My belief is when the Fed drives the 10 year down below the 2% level it is over for bonds.  I am not sure what to move into once that happens- all I can think of is hard assets- you know, land, precious metals, coal, oil, guns, canned goods, etc.

I finally heard back from JP.  He has been busier than a one armed barber lately with his current gig.  Hopefully at some point in the near future we'll be able to get together with him soon for drinks and/or dinner.

One of the songs I put on my list for the half marathon is Carmine Burana- aka the music from The Omen (the original one not the recent remake).  I had never really listened to it before but it is what I started the race with and I have been listening to it a lot lately and I swear to God the song is in Klingon.  I hear the choir singing about Duras, Kahless, Gowron and Worf.  I am pretty sure I heard Sto-Vo-Kor and Gre'thor in there as well.

Hemlock, mosaic green and pale moon

Just catching up since over the weekend.  Thursday morning there was  a real cute guy on the bus bit he was wearing two clashing plaids.  I am not exactly a fashion plate- I like to illustrate the differences between my fashion sense and style by contrasting them to the husbands; mine is closer to Sindarin while the husband's is more like Quenya- but I digress.

There was actually a second hot guy on the bus that morning too- big burly looking blond with a brush cut.  He also had a rather mean looking mug- probably because he is not getting laid enough.

Thursday was back to school night for my oldest son.  Surprisingly the ex actually saved a seat for me in homeroom.  The first thing I noticed is why my oldest likes his homeroom teacher- she is an attractive blond with an ample bosom.  She also happens to be his science teacher.  The other cool thing I thought was I can know see all his grades and everything else about school on line.  They have a portal you can sign in and view it all.  Sucks for him but cool for me.

Friday morning was a non event on the bus.    It was also relatively quiet at work.  Friday night we went and saw Let Me In with JD and JW to celebrate the start of Shocktober.  I would rather have seen Case 39 but the vote went against me.  I don't know why the rest wanted to see it as we all saw the Swedish movie it was a cover of, Let The Right One In.

Saturday morning we drove down to the cottage for a weekend of painting.  I spent all day Saturday painting the ceiling in the living room, dining room and kitchen.  Painting ceilings totally sucks.  My lower back, neck and shoulders were killing me by the time we finished.  The husband got the first coat of paint up in the bedrooms.  Sunday we put up the first coat in the living room and dining room, got he second coat up in each of the bedrooms at which point the other rooms were dry so put up the second coat in all of them.  It was a lot of painting.  The colors we chose are blue, aka hemlock, for our room, green, aka mosaic green for the boys room and yellow, aka pale moon for the living room and dining room.  We have not yet decided on a color for the foyer or den.  The den will be difficult as the naughty pine was completely stripped of all varnish and stain.  We are going to seal it and leave it plain.

I think the husband has doubts about my painting skills as he suggested I instead try to remove the linoleum floor in the kitchen instead of helping him finish the second coat in our bedroom.  Funny thing about thirty year old Armstrong flooring- it is glued on.  Parts of it I was able to rip up but we need to rent a heat gun and do it as a team- that will be fun.

I think the boss is upset with me for cheating on him.  We had Thai food for lunch and I skipped the rice.  He looked at me and asked why I wasn't eating the rice and if I was training for another race that I didn't tell him about it.

I skipped the dojo- sweep the leg!- tonight.  The weather sucked,t he husband has a sinus cold and I was still tired from all the painting.  So I came home, made soup for dinner and nursed the husband.

I hate getting scooped

So yesterday morning I did not run when I got up. Seriously WTF was the husband thinking about doing a light run. The best part was later in the day he sent me a link to a site saying you should not do any running- or biking or swimming- for a week after your race. That was also an excellent reason to skip the dojo- Cobra Kai never die!- last night. Of course I was a bit busy in the Land Of The Rising Sun, so still got to bed a bit late. I slept in later than usual this morning too and I have to say the buses later in the morning are sorely lacking in any eye candy to start the day right.

Here is how fucked up most people in my line of work are: The news of President Carter being hospitalized elicited a long discussion that- while not wishing any ill upon the man- if he were to pass ideally he would do it Wednesday or very early Thursday so that President Obama could declare Friday a National Day of Mourning and we'd get an unscheduled three day weekend. Surprisingly I was not the one who initiated the discussion.

I am confused at to what the difference is between a currency war and a trade war. To me it is just semantics and since we are clearly in a currency war- in case you weren't sure even Peru jumped in the fray today (all the cool kids are doing it so we should I guess is the reasoning there?). It is now unofficially a trade war with everyone try to cheapen their currency as quickly as possible. We've seen this movie before and it does not end well. Granted back then it was black and white and an actual film, today it is a viral web series but the medium doesn't change the ending.

Speaking of history not repeating but echoing one should recall that the '87 crash- which occurred when I was a snot-nosed sophomore in college- had several main causes one of which was a dollar crisis. Sound familiar? It all actually makes me happy I have a hard asset in the form of arable land- granted it is only 6 acres but I can get a vegetable garden on it of decent size, get some goats and sheep maybe and I'll be set. I am thinking of starting an apiary as well- honey and wax for candles....

I got scooped on a story out yesterday by a big time financial blog. I read about how the editor of The Stock Trader's Almanac is calling for the Dow to go over 38,000 by 2025. The supposed move will start in 2017. Ok- who the hell can see that far out and who has an investment time line that long? Seriously? The other thing that kills me is that publication flies in the face of everything about the Street. Every financial firm tells you upfront that past performance is no guarantee of future performance and every investment has unforeseen risks. Yet for some reason people like to read this thing and base investment decisions on the past? And if you ask anyone who is in my line of work, they will comment on how one of the things they love about this business is that it is never the same thing every day.

The boys are still laughing at the dogs. Our older one looks like Ren- his fur was really matted (we don't brush him out enough apparently) and the groomer shaved him. The boys then said that must make the younger one Stimpy as she is stupid enough and Rubenesque.

As I wrote before one of the creators/writers of Glee is a fellow college alum. I debated logging on to the alumni network and shooting him a message suggesting the show do Meatloaf.

I see Trent Edwards got released unexpectedly. He is damn cute and I find it hard to believe he gets released unexpectedly- I bet he gets released a lot...

Be careful with elevators

The last week of training for the half marathon was nice and light. I also made it to the dojo- sweep the leg!- Wednesday. Sensei had a sit down with me. I explained to her that with the new responsibilities at work are taking some time to get used to and I was also training for a half marathon.

The race was this morning and I did meet my goal of finishing under two hours- one hour, fifty eight minutes and thirty one seconds by my stop watch; I have not seen my official time yet. I am also exhausted and writing without any notes so I may ramble.

Thursday night was Back To School Night for my youngest. I was most surprised by his homeroom teacher- she is The Biest! Seriously, I immediately texted the husband telling him my youngest has the new football coach from Glee as his homeroom teacher.

Friday after work it was right back down to central Jersey to pick up the boys for the weekend. Saturday my oldest and I did a short run for me a long one for him. He wants to get in shape and asked me for some ideas how. I wrote a workout schedule for him- no weights right now, just cardio- shocker a gay dad telling his son to do cardio!- and body weight exercises such as push ups and pull ups. I also gave him various abdominal exercises. As we did the run- three miles- I told him I think it is a good idea to start working out as he will get in shape, get muscles and end up getting the girls. He laughed.

Saturday night we went and saw M. Night Shamalamadingdong's new movie Devil. All of our expectations were very low and believe it or no the movie was pretty good. My youngest thought it was okay but his older brother, the husband and I all liked it. I would recommend it. Maybe M. Night Shamalamadingdong is gonna make a comeback.

This morning the husband and I were up at 6 AM to eat oatmeal for breakfast. We then took the kids for a walk and went and picked up our bibs and chips for the race as it is about three blocks from the apartment. Then it was back home to have some coffee and get ready for the race.

The race...WTf was I thinking doing a half marathon? Actually I was feeling good until mile 8. I was not so happy and frackin' hungry as shit by mile 10 but they had Gatorade at the water stand there and OMG orange Gatorade never tasted so good or so sweet. By mile 11 I had a bit of a second wind and finished strong. The other thing that helped in the last two miles was the eye candy I had to chase. Before the race started the husband and I noticed red bandanna and his friend blue shorts. Well I caught up to them between miles 10 and 11 and they were running shirtless. It was quite a boost to my inspiration. There were actually quite a few hotties at the race and it did not hurt trying to keep up with them all.

I was so frackin' hungry by the end I just wanted my banana and water. Much to my delight the race organizers had a lot more than just bananas and water. I scarfed down a chocolate frosted donut, two Nutrigrain bars, a bagel and a banana, chugged an orange juice and a water. We got home and got the boys and the dogs and went for a warm down walk for us and some exercise for the boys and the kids. We did a half hour of walking. The thing that annoyed me was seeing some people who did the race were still running- WTF? Stop!

Then we went to a diner and had some lunch. After that I was pretty much in a food coma and needed a nap. So I napped for about a hour then got in the car and drove the boys back to their mom's house. Then it was back up home. Three plus hours in the car was not good after doing a half marathon. My right knee was killing me by the time I got home.

Once I got home it was time for Icy Hot on my knee, popped some Advil and then we ordered pizza. Fox' Animation Domination tonight and then bed time. The husband stated we should really do a light run tomorrow morning. I laughed at him and said no way and especially not with my knee bugging me. I'll just lift and hit the dojo- wax on, wax off- tomorrow night.

No clue what to expect from the markets this week. Don't really care right now either, lol.

The best part was the husband saying he figured I was cursing him around mile 8 saying what the hell did he do to me. I told him no it was closer to mile 10 until I got Gatorade and then I was fine. I'll probably do it again next year.

Are you a warrior?

Friday I left work right at the closing bell and drove up to the Catskills for my Warrior Dash weekend with my fraternity brothers. First off it sucks trying to find a shitty country road in the dark. Thank God I had my crackberry, opened GOOG maps and typed in the address. I had only overshot the road by four miles. I drove back and found the place. Funny how being the only gay guy in the group pretty much automatically gets me my own room, lol.

Friday was definitely a late night drinking- probably too much but it was a POTATO weekend. That is a great acronym I found that stands for Person Over Thirty Acting Twenty One. The weird thing is sometime during the night my crackberry died on me. No clue as to what happened to it. At first I was a bit freaked out by it but I have to say there was something actually pretty nice about not being connected.

Our wave was not until 3 PM so everyone had time to rest up and partially recuperate. Some however- actually only one- chose to use their time differently and started with the Bloody Marys at breakfast and switched over to vodka and tonics. Funny how the lawyer in the group was the one who did that.

The race was actually great. Well the first part was not as the first leg was a mile and a half up the mountain. Holy shit that sucked and it was a complete mind fuck. You get up to a nice level area and think you are done with the ascent and go through the tire high knee obstacle only to turn the corner and find another incline. Then it was over the walls- three of them. At that point the medical personnel on hand decided the lawyer was really not fit to complete the race and pulled him out- thank God as we all thought he might drop dead- he has not kept in good shape since college.

The rest of the race was pretty fun. The pond was interesting as it was freezing- think George Costanza- and you started up to your waist and after about three steps you are instantly up to your neck. I and two other brothers were in good enough shape we probably could have done a great time but prior to starting we had all agreed to do it and finish it as a group. The three of us were often waiting for the rest to catch up after the obstacles. The funniest parts were the the last three obstacles. The giant slip 'n slide was a blast and you picked up serious speed on it and the people at the end of it were yelling to hurry up and get off. Jumping the two fire pits after that was fun. The mud pit was a lot deeper than it looked- of course I did a flip into it and did not injure myself- and they had the barbed wire low enough that you had to get down in the mud and do the army crawl through it- basically getting completely covered. The short dash ended it at the water table and the bananas. Then it was off to the beer tent and the party.

We all got back, showered up and I took a nap as did some others. Then it was pizza and wings and beer yet again.

That night I hit the hay relatively early as I knew I'd be sore. I had breakfast and decided when some choose to break out the remaining alcohol that I would leave.

I got to the first Can You Hear Me Know store and walked in and told the guy my crackberry died, I did not get it wet nor did I drop it. Thankfully it was under warranty still so he replaced it. I was psyched about that as right now with the cottage I could not afford to buy a new one.

Of course I was very close to the cottage when I got my new phone and there was a text from the husband suggesting I just go straight home. Instead I went tot he cottage, got to have lunch with him and spend time at PJ and ST's pool. Then I brought the kids home with me. Thank God I had no trading to do last night.

I watched Boardwalk Empire last night. Why? Don't know, probably should have gone to sleep earlier and I had set the dvr to record it anyhow. The first episode was a bit tedious for me. I will have to give it a few more to decide if it is worth it.

This morning after I showered I grabbed some Q-Tips to clean my ears out. Holy shit I had tons of mud still from Saturday. The things were black.

I did not run this morning. Probably should have as it was a short one and this is the race week. I'll make it up tomorrow morning and then do the one for tomorrow morning in the evening.

I am kind of perplexed by the whole payroll tax holiday idea being put forth by various politicians. I think it show how much they have sold out and how much of a corporatist state we have become when they all suggest the companies get it. Seriously, I don't know of any company that makes hiring decisions based upon tax rates. Companies make hiring decisions based upon how much of their goods or services they can or think they can sell. Why hasn't anyone suggested the employees get the one year tax holiday from payroll taxes? That would be money directly into peoples pockets. Granted there is no way to control what they do with it; some may spend it, some may use it to pay down debt and some may save it. All of those things are good for the economy.

Who says baseball isn't dangerous? I read where one Tyler Colvin from the Cubs got impaled by a bat. No, he isn't some kind of vampire but apparently the bat broke when the batter swung and it went flying and impaled the guy in the chest. He is doing ok. He is also kinda cute...

No dojo tonight- sweep the leg NOT!- because I am actualyl busy in Asia. Sensei is getting annoyed and rightyl so but I will have a sit down tomorrow and explain sorry my career responsiblities have changed and it pays the bills. It probably means my aspirations of gettingthe vaunted black pants within the year are notgonna happen and I may have to admit to myself that window has closed and just burn off my classes over time when I can make it. Oh well.