Zen

OMG- yesterday morning there was tons of talent on the bus! It was like "I'd do him if I was single"-fest. Made for quite a nice start to the day.

I was wearing a suit yesterday as I had a business dinner and I knew the guy I was having dinner with would be casual plus it really is just a helluva lot easier to pick a tie only instead of a whole outfit. Anyhow, my man-crush at work felt the need to volunteer that me in the suit with two days scruff was a "great look." Wow! Ok, he has recently broken up with his gf and has mentioned he is thinking of moving to Hoboken and now tells me I look great in a suit and scuffy. He sooo wants me and PF agreed with me, lol.

I have no clue what Mashable is but he CEO was on BBRG and he is damn cute. Peter Cashmore- totally caught my attention.

The boss joined the business dinner lat night and it is always great getting out with him and learning more about the office than he deigns to tell me to begin with. The three of us had barbecue and it was pretty damn great. Blue Smoke on 27th- awesome ribs, spicy cheese fries and beer selection. If you have a hankering for barbecue go there.

The husband IMed me during the day that he found the termite nest and he hates bugs! He and his sister were doing some non-gutting work at the house and he said they were both screaming like girls. The exterminator is coming Friday.

This morning on the bus there was a handsome married guy got on and I think he checked me out- my ego secretly knows few bounds....

Get ready for QE II and I aint talking about the ocean liner. The Fed is still pretending all is well but I am sure they are secretly getting ready to do more quantitative easing. It'll be bigger and scarier than the first one, this is not going to be a good sequel.

Is it just me or does Senator Schumer make anyone else feel icky? The guy just oozes smarmy and sleaze. Sadly I think my parents love him solely because he is a Democrat. I bet they don't know how he is basically the hedge fund industry's piss boy. Take the money and tell them behind closed doors not to worry but castigate them in public. We really do get the politicians we deserve I think.

If a bond auction fails and no one hears it does it make noise? I ask that koan because it happened today and no on seemed to care or even focus on it. The German federal government was auctioning 7 billion euros of 5 year paper. Funny thing is they only got demand for 5.445 billion. That is a failed auction. But wait there's more! The Germans just changed the amount that was officially auctioned and voila! The auction is a success. Nothing to see here people, move along...

News flash here: ANY financial company that cannot roll its own paper (i.e. short term debts) is totally fracked and headed to ruin. There was a Spanish bank that could not roll $1 billion of it's short term debt. Not good news. I don't care how many deposits the bank has or what it's loan book looks like- it is screwed. Maybe that is why LIBOR has steadily been going up.

Speaking of LIBOR, I was bemused at the spin now being put out by some banks. Apparently the huge percentage move in the rate is no big deal because it has been too low for too long. Seriously- that is a sad attempt and obfuscation.

Hit the dojo- Kobra Kai never die!- and felt pretty good about it. Not too sore and no apparent abrasions or contusions as of yet.

Having drinks with a girlfriend I have known since 1st grade tomorrow after work. Ideally if the weather holds up we'll drink al fresco.

So that is what it feels like to be the lecherous old man...

Friday was actually kind of busy at work. I lost my usual bet with the woman who sits next to me. I knew it when the expiration opened at the price of 1050 but was stubborn on making the day finish before I paid her; I was not petty either and did not pay her in all pennies.

Friday after work I hopped on the train out to the beach. I had a couple of roadies with me, played word mole and hearts. I was a bit annoyed with my seating situation. I took one of those two facing two seats and the re was another guy in the one diagonally from me. Of course this annoying couple got on and took the other two seats and their friend sat behind them. That is not what bothered me. Of course after the other guy got off their friend came over and started chatting with them. I had my iPod on of course so I did not have to listen to their inane chit chat. The guy next to me asked me if I would move so their friend could sit there. I only had one stop so of course I moved but wtf, I was there first and you two inserted yourselves after the fact. What ever. I got off at Sayville and hopped onto the shuttle. There were some cute guys but what made me laugh is how everyone was instantly on their phones checking emails, texts, etc to see what and who they'd be doing for the night.

I got off the ferry and the husband was waiting at the dock for me which was very sweet. He had to go to the pantry to get some things for dinner so I went straight to TK's house. TK was starting a fire in the fire place which was awesome as it was a bit brisk that evening. TK made fish for dinner but I got to grill it which of course rocks since fire is cool! We then played cards for a bit. then we went to the local watering hole for some drinks. TK and the husband decided we'd go to the underwear party in the other local watering hole. I was fine with that even though I was wearing somewhat skimpy briefs that left little to the imagination. We get there and I am then informed we will stay in our clothes. WTF? Not only that but the two of them decided it would be best if we stood by the door next tot he clothes check. Again- WTF? So I was no feeling completely like the lecherous old man. I had some beers and then told the two of them we now have a new rule: If we go to the underwear party we are following the rules and will only be in our underwear.

I was trying to have fun and was mildly amused and had my ego stroked as several 20somethings felt the need to pet or touch me as they came by. Things were going fine. Then I noticed the husband had that look on his mug- he was getting bombed. Then I see he has decided any cute guy's ass within reach was fair game and he could grab it. No big deal until this one guy who's ass he grabbed looked up and was not amused. I really thought are you shitting me, I'm gonna get in a fight at an underwear party because the husband is bombed? I told the husband put your drink down we are going home now. I must have used my most authoritative, angry dad voice as he immediately complied and we went home.

The husband of course paid for his excesses the next day. I admit I was mildly petty and thinking serves you right, lol. I then baked two birthday cakes for TK's birthday; one gluten free and one normal. Took a nap. Then the husband and I decided to go visit JB and his housemates before we hit tea. As we were leaving TK scolds us not to come to dinner drunk or buzzed. This was seriously becoming a WTF weekend, lol. (As an aside, TK had two other dinner guests coming over who are in the program and one of them is freshly in it, so I understood the request.)

We got to JB's and the husband's friends were his housemates for the weekend. I forgot how cute the bf of the hairdresser was and I actually learned something by quizzing him about his work. EW was there too and the boy makes strong drinks. At that point I figured I can hide my buzzedness well plus I'd be at the grill during most of the pre-dinner chit chat. All of us then went to tea and actually had an enjoyable time. TK met us there and then we left and started getting dinner ready.

Dinner was actually very nice and the conversation after I finished grilling was quite enjoyable. The other dinner guests made for a nice dinner. After birthday cake and the guests left we all decided it was time for bed.

Sunday was nice as well as I got to read the Times and actually finish the crossword puzzle. TK had to leave before us so I got to take a nap again afterwards.

We then hopped back on the ferry and had dinner with the in-laws. I got to play with fire again as the mother-in-law asked me to grill the steaks and asparagus. Dinner was excellent. The other thing I learned at dinner this weekend is that many French people are already planning for the return of the franc. The husband's step-father is French (and actually a really great guy for being French, I enjoy spending time with him). He recently got an inheritance over in France and is in a rush to get it over here into dollars. He asked the husband and I what we thought of the euro. I told him it is going to parity and disappearing by the end of next year. The husband disagreed and said it will rally. I said hello? It already rallied the last three days of last week, the rally is over and it is going lower. At this point the father-in-law said that is what his sister and other family members over in France are saying.

Speaking of Europe, the pain in Spain is felt mainly in the cajas. The cracks are now clearly visible. The whole idea of taking four near failing cajas and merging them will only make one really big, near failing caja. Good luck with that. The other scary thing in Spain is that tomorrow they have an auction. The last one almost failed so it will be interesting to see how this one goes.

Ah Korea...things are getting scarier now. The President has apparently told the 28,000 troops we have there to prepare for war. We are one or two missteps away form a full blown war in the Korean Peninsula.

I biked this morning and did 10 miles in just under thirty minutes. Great pace but still hate the bike. I then found out the maid doesn't know how to match socks so I was sockless all day today.

I got home, was not feeling the love for the dojo- sweep the leg!- and decided to go for a run with the husband instead as we have just under three weeks until the race and I need to cram a bit. We ran about 7 miles in just under 55 minutes. Great pace.

All heil!

So I biked 15 miles Tuesday morning. I felt ok and did not get my usual "I hate the bike" feeling. Tuesday evening I hit the dojo- Kobra Kai never die! Again, small classes but good.

The kid who pulled a fast one over on Harvard is pretty cute and reminiscent of Jake I think. Speaking of Jake, Prince of Persia is going to be a huge bomb in my humble opinion.

Rand Paul is sort of handsome but I have a sinking feeling his first name is in reference to Ayn Rand which is a big turn off.

Yesterday morning there was a major hottie on the bus. Tall, lean yet muscled and high and tight blond hair.

I did only one class at the dojo last night, mainly because I was dog ass tired from doing the late classes the night before. That dog ass tired feeling also led me to skip swimming yesterday morning. As a matter of fact, I was so tired I did not even run this morning. It was actually kind of nice to sleep in a bit late.

So, scientists have created the first synthetic cell. I find that really cool and slightly disturbing in a Frankenstein kind of way. maybe it won't be the rise of the machines that do us in but the rise of the synthetics? I did notice however that the lead researcher on the project, one Daniel G. Gibson, is kind of hot. As Mr. Barrett would say: "Woof!"

Since I am on the topic of Mr. Barrett, he sent an email this evening expressing his envy of the mattress sett we have on our bed. He mentioned how it was very firm and he had no back issues when he woke up Sunday morning. I'll have to ask the husband what brand it is and let him know.

TK invited us out to the beach this weekend. Totally psyched for that! The husband is driving out tomorrow around noon I think. The kids are not going as TK's landlords don't allow pets. the husband will drop them off at his mom's for the weekend. I will most likely be taking the train out with TK. Psyched to be a guest out there after the years of always being the host.

I am both impressed with Germany's balls and worried about what they are seeing behind the curtain. they unilaterally declared naked short selling of several derivatives illegal. It is quite the power play for them and I think the passive/aggressive way for them to bow out of the EU if the rest don't follow. I am worried as to what the government there knows is about to come down the pike that they felt the dire need to do this on their own and the rest of the EU be damned.

Still stand by my prediction the euro is gone as a currency. Greece has said the option of exiting is there but then of course denied it. Germany is all about getting in place an orderly process for insolvencies within the EU, i.e. kicking people out.

Funny how now Japan is starting to come to the forefront again. Of course there is the whole Koreas issue as well. I find Korea more worrisome though as you have a failed state with nothing to lose, it attacked another state and is now saying they will go to war if they are punished for it. WTF?

So at the beginning of the year one of my picks was to buy the MAY SPX 1025 puts. Has not been a great pick until this week. The woman who sits next to me on Monday was giving me a bit of shit. I asked if she wanted to do the usual bet (a la Randolph and Mortimer) to see if they played out. So we agreed that if the SPX hits 1025 at any point by expiration I'd be declared the winner. After the action today it seems like I have shot. It is only down ~4% from today's close. Tomorrow is an expiration and this weekend is a three day weekend for much of Europe which means many people may not want to stay long over it and de-risk in front of it. We shall see. I am paying her in pennies though if I lose.

Success!

So Thursday morning I ran. Not a bad run, felt ok with it. Don't recall anyone on the bus.

Thursday after work I had drinks with a business associate. It was fun and I of course asked if they were hiring and if I could send in the husband's resume. He said sure so I asked he husband when I got home as I know he is not a big fan of the firm but he acquiesced.

As I write now I don't recall a lot of what my thoughts were from Friday regarding the tape other than things are not good. Europe got a new asshole torn into the close but here in the U.S. the Fed and Treasury made sure we did not have a scary close.

Friday after work I took the train down to central Jersey and the husband picked me up. We had dinner with PJ and ST and crashed. Saturday morning we set out to install the invisible fence for the kids. I got to go to Homo Depot and rent an edger. I also got to buy a circular saw with a diamond blade- I had to cut across the driveway to install the wiring for the invisible fence.

The husband and I figured we'd be able to knock this off rather quickly. Boy were we wrong. IT took us most of the day to get the damn thing installed and we did not even finish all of it- we had about 95% done.

We did however get the lawn cut. We borrowed PJ's lawn service. They did a great job on it and the front year looks amazing.

Last night we went to dinner with PJ and ST. I tried to watch some SNL afterwards but was sore and exhausted from being bent over and on my knees all day- no comments you perverts.

This morning we got up and finished the invisible fencing manually. We did not have that much to do so it was done manually. I then hit the switch and the light was green. That meant that we had a successful connection and the circuit was intact. I went over to PJ's house and got the kids. I put the collar on the younger one first as she tends to be fearless and ignore our voice commands. She went gallivanting all over the yard. I saw her run towards the flags, past them, past the barrier and turn around and bolt right back towards me, past me and into the front yard. I found her sitting in the driveway next tot he truck with a pleading look on her face saying I want to go home.

The older one was more chill about it all as he is generally more relaxed and not to tense. He did not even approach the flags.

Friday I met Mr. Barrett at Penn Station. He was in town for the Night of A Thousand Stevies. He had called Thursday to ask if he could crash at our place as the friend he was going with was also moving that day. We told him sure, so I met him as he arrived, gave him the key to our place, had a beer with him and then hopped onto the train to central Jersey. He called me Saturday afternoon as I was installing the fence and the cell reception aint great down there so I lost the call. It seemed like he had a blast though.

After we finished training the kids with the fence I went and picked up the boys to have lunch with them. I got to their mom's house, rang the door bell and my oldest answered with a surprised look on his face. I asked if he remembered he and his brother were having lunch with me. Of course he forgot, his mom was not there- she was at a horse show. I said ok, no problem, get your shoes on and we'll go, where is your brother? He went to get something to eat with his mom's boyfriend. I was upset and pissed with that. I thought maybe I had done something to upset my youngest and he did not want to see me. My oldest and I went to lunch, I sent the ex a text asking if there was a reason my youngest went to the diner with her bf instead of lunch with me. (BTW I was a bit pissed with the ex for not reminding the boys or her bf I was taking them to lunch.). she did not reply. My oldest and I had lunch. I dropped him off and my youngest and the bf were still no where to be seen. I went back to the house.

I did some more work, took the garbage cans over to the dumpster at PJ's house. Came back, dropped off the garbage cans, checked my phone and saw I had a v-mail. IT was from my youngest and he was in tears apologizing for missing lunch with me. I felt bad listening to it but the last line killed me- "Tell me what I can do to pay you back for missing lunch?" My heart dropped and I thought I was going to puke. I immediately called him back and told him he did nothing wrong and that I love him no matter what, always and forever. I calmed him down and eased his pain I think.

We got home, showered up quickly and went off to JD and JW's for a barbecue. Ragnar joined us as well but Umberto had a prior commitment. JW made amazing grilled pork chops, a warm Asian slaw and quinoa salad. It was awesome! It was also great to see Ragnar as I had not seen him in a dog's age.

This should be an interesting week in the markets as the pound is getting crushed. It seems the new government is saying the old Labour government left a bunch of secret spending programs and a huge black hole in the budget. Oh joy.

Moral hazard

So yesterday morning Headphones was on the bus again and sat right in front of me. Holy crap the guy is hot- blond, very fit looking (although he could and should wear tighter shirts), nice ass (his pants are appropriately tight), hot mug. He eats very neatly too as he ate his breakfast while the bus took us to the city- with a napkin no less (I'd have just wiped my hands on my pants).

I hate riding the bike! I did a complete half assed job on it, rode for about a hour and got just about 15 miles.

Apparently my hard drive at work had to be rebuilt. IT did Monday morning. Yesterday one of my favorite IT guys- the Russian- came over and told me they were going to be re-imaging my old hard drive and did I have everything I needed off it. I told him, yes I had already transferred and deleted all my porn. He paused then laughed nervously. I love messing with IT guys.

A while ago I bet one of the PMs at the office the euro would be gone by the end of '11. It was the usual bet that the Duke Brothers made famous. Yesterday morning he is now saying he thinks it is gone as well and doesn't see how it can survive. Two things: The frackin' bastard is gonna welsh on the bet and if he is now saying it is gone I will now reverse myself and say it survives. I have seen the guy pick stocks and he is usually a contra indicator.

I read yesterday about Galaxy 15, the zombiesat. It is a communications satellite that the authorities allege was fried by a solar flare recently. I use the term allege because it seems that even though it's brains are fried it is still fully operational and doing its own thing. They are also concerned it could hit another satellite or even steal another satellite's signal. so what I think is happening is either some super secret criminal enterprise- think A.I.M., Hydra or Fenris- or an alien force has taken it over and is now controlling it. Why? Well if it is the first, they are planning to execute a Dr. Evil type extortion scheme. If it is the latter well it is obvious they are testing, probing, determining our planetary defenses in preparation for a possible invasion.

I hit the dojo last night to make up for my classes I missed Monday night. Tuesday night classes are not nearly as packed. It was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because sensei is much more focused with so few people; bad in that you get a lot of variation because there are so few people. The other bad thing is it was the late classes. So I did not get home until roughly 10:30. I was a bit full of adrenaline and couldn't go to bed right away so watched SciFi.

This morning I woke up with a pain in my toes on my right foot. I also woke up rather late- too late to hit the pool. No big deal.

No one of note on the bus.

So, one of the women on the desk was on a conference call this morning to discuss the flash crash we had last week and what to do about the circuit breakers and coordination between exchanges/market places. The result is there will be actual coordination now. That is all fine and dandy but it really leads to a bigger question because I asked her if the circuit breakers will be direction neutral. They won't be. They will only kick in on the downside. That is implicitly telling the public that they should not worry, if things go down too much you are going to be protected and/or bailed out. If the markets however go up the same way then the authorities will not slow things down and protect people from making bad investments. This policy has been in place since the crash of '87. It epitomizes the moral hazard of the Greenspan put, Rubin bailing out Mexico, the Fed bailing out LTCM, etc. They authorities are encouraging every investor to continue to make poor investment choices. We will always have bubbles and crashes until the investors start pricing risk correctly and the authorities actions prevent that from happening.

So sometimes family is funny, odd and annoying all at the same time. A few weeks ago I got an email from a family member telling me that even though I am angry and upset that God has already forgiven me and I don't need to change or be healed. WTF? I debated replying, had conversations with my smart brother and the husband. The opinions on what to do were varied but I decided to ignore it and if it happens again I will respond. I guess I don't see myself as angry or hurt and I did not realize that I needed God's forgiveness let alone that I have already received it. Does that mean I am in a state of grace? Isn't that why Joan of Arc got burned at the stake and the Cathars had some problems? My smart brother told me I should not even write about it here but whatever.

No dojo tonight as my toes are killing me and one of them (guess it would be the index toe) is swollen. I will try and run tomorrow morning though. Maybe Icy Hot will help.

What's a trillion amongst friends?

So I swam this morning- not a great swim but eh, whatever. No hot guys I noticed on the bus.

So Fannie Mae has finally admitted what we have known for a while: They may not be a viable, ongoing concern once the government's conservatorship is complete. Great, so that means we the taxpayers will be on the hook for the roughly $7 trillion they have committed to.

Speaking of trillions, the ECB's "stabilization program" (or as some called it Le TARP, lol) is going to cost a total of another $1 trillion. Sadly this will be a huge waste as well as it does not address the actual problems that are present over there. There is a still a solvency issue. I had a lot of questions about how exactly the ECB intends to sterilise their debt monetization program as it all seems like a huge daisy chain/circle jerk of everyone lending to themselves. How the hell is that going to solve anything?

The husband is off to the cottage tomorrow as his week is getting busy. So tonight I skipped the dojo- Kobra Kai never die!- and will go tomorrow night instead.

Tomorrow I have to hit the bike. So not looking forward to that but last night the husband convinced me that we should skip the race we signed up for this weekend and do work on the house. He didn't have to twist my arm too much to get me to agree.

Other than that I really don't have much to write about tonight.

Goose pulling

Friday was quite an interesting day.

It started with hot head phones on the bus. The guy is smoking! He was wearing these massive headphones too for his iPod I assume. I could not stop stealing glances at him. I got to th gym, did a complete half assed bike ride and sat in the steam room to try and get rid of my aches from the dojo- Kobra Kai, never die!

Next I got into an argument with the woman who sits next to me about Thursday's action. All of the exchanges said they experienced no system errors during the gut wrenching drop. Yet they all then decided to cancel trades during a certain time period as erroneous trades. WTF? That seems like a complete contradiction to me. If there were no system errors how could there be erroneous trades that need to be cancelled? I stated that and the woman next to me said the trades were clearly erroneous. I said explain to me how and why. She said if someone called a broker during that time and said sell my portfolio and they got those prices then they were in errors. I disagreed. The person entered a market order, that means sell it at the market at that point in time. If they did not want to they should have placed a limit on the orders. There is no error if you enter a market error and get a report at the market price. I told her yes there is an problem with the market structure but there were no erroneous trades. We basically agreed to disagree.

The TED spread is a lot like that character from Monty Python's Holy Grail- not quite dead. It has shown some worrisome signs lately.

I have come to the conclusion that this a repeat of the summer of '08. Greece is the equivalent of BSC, Spain is LEH, France is AIG and Germany is GS. What we learned from that was BSC should have failed, we should have saved LEH and that would have prevented or greatly mitigated AIG. So we need Greece to default and restructure, shore up Spain which will help France and Germany will still be the most prosperous Euro nation.

I really don't see how a $600 billions loan facility is going to help Europe. First, where the frack is the money coming from? Did they EU just collect all the loose change in the sofa cushions in Brussels? Are they going to issue debt- like we don't have enough in the world right now? (Which also presents problems as the EU has structural impediments to it issuing it's own debt and if they are passing the hat around to all the members- hello, they all have serious issues and now they need to kick in more money they don't have?), or will the rumored re-opening of swap lines with the Fed occur which means the Fed will print even more dollars and exchange them for euros so the EU can then monetize the sovereign debt of its members (i.e. WE are monetizing THEIR debt)? Breaking news- the Fed has reopened it's swap lines with the ECB, BOE and SNB...hmmm, guess we know how this is going to play out.

There has to be some universal law much like E=MC squared for financial risk. Much like energy can neither be created or destroyed, it seems like risk is the same. It can only be transferred or hidden it seems. Someone could probably win a Nobel Prize in economics if they create one.

Goose pulling is not what you think you perverts. It seems it was quite the sport for many men way back when. The goose would have it's head greased up, be hung upside down from a bar placed across two posts and then a man would ride a horse past it at a fast speed, attempt to grab the goose head and rip it off as he kept going by. It also seems to still be practiced in some countries in Europe but these days the goose is dead- how humane.

This weekend was interesting. I took the train down to central Jersey and ST picked me up at the station. He drove me to the house, I picked up the car and went home. Yes I was supposed to pick up the boys but they forgot they had committed to sleep over birthday parties. So I drove home, enjoyed a stag evening home. I got up early for a Saturday morning and drove down to pick up the boys. We had breakfast down there and then came back north. I needed a nap at that point. Then we had lunch, vegged out and made plans to go see Iron Man 2. The movie was pretty damn good. Saturday night was kind of late and we all slept very well.

This morning I got to sleep in until about 8:45. Breakfast with the boys, laundry, a run, showered and took the dogs (one at a time) in with me and gave them baths. Funny,the older one plays all tough but he was terrified- possibly having to see me nekkid did it to him, just saying. Lunch then some tv and then I dropped them back off at their mom's house. We of course had to stop on the way so they could get Mother's Day cards- which I paid for, lol.

I picked up the husband, home and then I made pork chops and applesauce for dinner.

Swimming tomorrow morning. The husband has book club.

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble

So I did a short run this morning which was a bit painful. When I went to bed last night I was fine but when I woke up with a pain on my upper left rib cage right next to my armpit. After my run when I looked at it in the mirror I had a nice contusion there- obviously from last night's sparring.

Speaking of the dojo- sweep the leg!- last night I partnered up with the Shaman again and he is still quite hot.

The bus ride in this morning there was a hot guy in a suit and sunglasses. The only negative about him was he skipped the tie; seriously, if you are going to wear a suit you should wear the tie as well. Don't be so frackin' lazy.

My workplace provides free beverages in the pantry. There are Cokes, Diet Cokes, Snapples, Diet Snapples and water. The Snapple bottle caps have little factoids on them. The one I read today stated that 6 year olds laugh up to 300 times a day, whereas adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day. I am going to try and be more like a 6 year old.

Over night, Chinese markets were down four percent. One of the main reasons was the leading property company, i.e. real estate, cut prices by 15%. In and off itself not a big deal except that all the LGFV use real estate as the collateral for their borrowings. I don't see how the existence of a bubble can be ignored.

There is a guy I do business with who after the close every night sends out a good commentary and recap of the day's action. Tuesday he commented on how the whole Greek issue could be solved if the ECB would accept all Greek debts as good collateral. I asked for clarification if he was advocating debt monetization? He said no just accept all debts as collateral. So if Greece presents any debt as collateral to the ECB, what does the ECB give them in return? That's right- cash. Thus debt monetization.

Fast forward to today when Trichet says the ECB has not discussed buying government bonds. i.e they are not considering debt monetization. Look out below. The markets were not happy about that comment.

All eye seem to be focused on the Iberian Peninsula right now. Honestly, they are no longer the front line of the contagion; go just north of the Pyrenees- yep, France is actually in the eye of the storm.

Stu Badgley- woof! I was reading on YHOO sports about the Eagles retro jerseys and saw a picture of this hunk of man. I did some more leg work and found out Stu played at Nebraska and is smokin' hot.

My man crush in the office broke up with his girlfriend a few months ago after she made him move to the CT suburbs with him. She dumped him. He got stuck with the lease. His lease is up soon and he mentioned he is considering moving to Hoboken. I assume and PF agreed with me that he is doing that to secretly be closer to me.

Tonight I had drinks with some of my fraternity brothers. It was fun and they are all doing well. I then met the husband in Hoboken for sushi.

The husband is off tomorrow to pick up his younger sister from college. I have the boys and the only plans we have are to see Iron Man 2.

Chutney

Yesterday morning's bike ride was very painful after the night before at the dojo- sweep the leg!

Even though today is Cinco de Mayo, last night I went to a Cinco de Mayo party hosted by a company I do business with. It was fun until my bond friend's ex-wife walked up to me with the Oh my god I didn't recognize you with the glasses and you look great and blah blah blah. It took all of my powers to be completely polite and non-engaging at the same time to the bitch. I forgot she worked at the firm and was surprised she actually tried to chat with me. After she found a customer of hers there and started chatting with him I made a discreet exit stage left and downed one of the pomegranate margaritas-quickly. I then sent a text to my bond friend. He said I did my good deed for the day- more like the decade.

The husband sent me a text to tell me to meet him and two business people who also happen to be friends of his. So I meet them at the Empire Room. Apparently the place is new and it was pretty damn cool. It's this Art Deco like bar (rather appropriately) in the Empire State Building. It was quite fun and I found out one of the husband's friends (who also is a former co-worker of his from almost twenty years ago) is actually the brother-in-law of a guy I have known through my work for about fifteen years now.

Our friends SP and PS had their baby yesterday. They had a little girl; mom and the baby are doing well.

This morning after the pomegranate margaritas and many beers at the Empire Room I skipped the gym. I can make up that swim Friday.

The bus this morning was empty! Seriously I was probably one of only nine people on it.

So the rumors yesterday in the F/X markets were that the BIS had stepped in to support the euro. Now, the F/X markets rumor mill makes the equity market rumor mill look like junior high gossip. But, they also are usually way ahead of the rest of the markets. If the BIS (Bank of International Settlements) really did step in to support the euro that is very bad news and very scary.

Today's market was surprisingly restrained considering the chaos going on in Euroland. There were unconfirmed rumors that both the Greek and Portuguese bond markets were put on holiday.

I saw an article on StarCraft 2. Apparently it is some huge video game coming out. Funny thing is there is a kid at the dojo- Kobra Kai never die!- that was a beta tester on it. He mentioned it in passing a couple of weeks ago between sparring rounds.

Iron Man 2 opens this weekend! The boys and I will be going to see it. The husband will be off picking up his sister from college.

The boss and I went out to grab some lunch yesterday. We hit the local Pret A Manger and there was a sandwich with chutney on it. Sorry but the word chutney just grates on my ears and I cannot buy or consume anything that has chutney in it. Chutney- the word just sounds wrong.

Sub-penny

I swam this morning and was surprised I actually made it to the pool. Last night I was exhausted and stayed up kind of late watching the one hour Family Guy episode. That was a really wrong episode but damn funny. Then at one point last night I was woken up by a huge crack of thunder. It seemed like it was right over the building and actually sounded like an explosion. It woke me right out of my sleep and the husband as well. The kids were scared as shit and trying to jump up into the bed with us.

I am glad PF is back from his sabbatical and on IM.

I had a good conversation with DY via email today. He was commenting how he is using the P90 XYZDMX workout program. I asked if it actually worked and he commented yes but it would work better if he actually watched his diet. I told him I get it but I am 42 and fuck it. I have not had a 6 pack since the first year out of college and I am ok with that because I am happy and like my beer and pizza too much to give it up at this point. As long as I stay in the 31-32 waist area I will be satisfied. He commented that being married means I don't have to worry. Ha! I wish.

Do we really need sub-penny trading of stocks? How the hell will that benefit the retail investor? Guess what? It won't! It is meant solely to benefit the HFT guys. If you think the Wall Street establishment is looking out for the little guy you are smokin' some really good shit. Smoke it if you got it.

I hit the dojo tonight- sweep the leg! It was good, got paired up with the French guy with questionable orientation. He is actually a nice guy. Then for sparring I had Mr. Myagi for drills. My last round was with a somewhat aggressive belt at my level who was throwing head kicks like they were going out of style. He hit with one.

Biking tomorrow. I hate biking.

The guy in the ad for Rhapsody is pretty woofy but looks as smart as a bag of hair.

Tortadas

I woke up this morning with both of the kids sleeping on the two pillows next to me. It was pretty funny.

This morning I and the oldest hit the tennis courts. He actually has improved a lot and beat me. I was pretty impressed.

After tennis I had the boys shower up and relax while I cleaned the apartment. I washed the baseboards again as it seems our older dog has his habit of rubbing up against them and he gets them really dirty. After that it was laundry and lunch time.

I dropped the boys off at their mom's house and picked up the husband at the house. We are leaving his car down there from now on and we'll keep the truck in the garage across the apartment.

The two guys in the Taco Bell tortada ads are hot- I'd easily jump on either of them, lol.

The whole car bomb in Times Square is a bit scary. It is definitely an amateur since if Al Qeda did it it would not have malfunctioned.

There is a 10k race in town Saturday. The husband is going to sign me up for it as he will not be in town. He is off to pick up his sister at college- the end of her freshman year.

Word mole

I did not hit the gym yesterday morning as I was banged up from the night before at the dojo- sweep the leg! Speaking of that, Thursday night I partnered up with this guy for drills. He sounded like he had a French accent and I wondered if he was also gay. That got me wondering if all French guys are guy much like most Brits are. PF opined that he bets most French guys have tried le coq once or twice. The guy was handsome and flexible too and was taking drills a bit way too seriously.

Yesterday morning's bus ride was a non-event.

Apparently last night was Walpurgis Night. Sadly I did not have a place to light a bonfire but I hope next year I'll be able to do so down at the house. Bonfires at night always remind me of my high school days. For some reason a bonfire at night immediately entails beers. Of course it isn't really a bonfire until someone has had enough beers that they think they can actually leap or jump over the bonfire- with some egging on from everyone else of course. I can say unequivocally I was never that guy.

I called to set up the triple play at the house- cable, internet and phone line. I have not had a land line in over five years so it will be a bit odd. The odd thing I found out was that they asked me for my social security number. I told them no, they don't need it. They said well you'll have to pay a refundable deposit then. I said fine, no problem. I have to say I am psyched to have cable again. We currently have DirecTV and I am less than pleased with it. The one thing about cable though is they no longer offer a plain dvr cable box, they no only offer one with their HD service and the premium package.

I found out some interesting things about my Storm 2 recently. First off is it does not come pre-loaded with Texas Hold 'Em. I miss that as I used to play it on the bus ride home to decompress. They do however have Word Mole. I discovered how fun and addictive that game is while on our vacation and it is now my daily game for the bus ride home. The other interesting thing (which VZ does not tell you when you buy it) is that if you download GMail onto your Storm 2 you crash the entire phone. Thank God I did it at work and IT was able to fix everything.

I find it eerily reminiscent of the whole BSC and LEH situation what is going on with Greece and Spain currently. Everyone keeps saying it is not the same situation but I think it is the same. In hindsight the one thing we should have learned from the BSC/LEH issue was we should have let BSC fail and saved LEH. I hope the EU realizes that and lets Greece default and does everything it can to save Spain.

I read yesterday morning that one of the ratings agencies has issues with the UK banks and the CRE bubble that is about to burst and crush them. That coupled with the comment from the CEO of Commerzebank in Germany (he admitted the bank will need more- a lot more- capital) gets me even more concerned. The funny thing is no one in the media wanted to focus on Commerzebank's comments.

Adam Johnson on BBRG really annoys me for some reason. I can't place my finger on it but he seems very slick and slimy in some way. I would not trust that guy as far as I could throw him.

The weekend weather is supposed to be great. I just turned on the a/c as it may hit 90 today. My oldest and I tried to go play tennis this morning but the courts were being used for lessons. So we reserved one for tomorrow morning at 9 AM. We'll shower up, get some lunch and head off tot he pier park in Hoboken for he afternoon. The husband has left for AC to go tot he Weezer concert.

Speaking of Weezer, last night on the drive down to pick up the boys, on AltNation they had Weezer covering MGMT's "Kids" and in the middle of it Weezer switched over to covering Laddy GaGa's "Poker Face." It was pretty damn cool.

Witht he gluten intolerant husband gone for the night we are going with pizza and pasta for dinner for the three of us.

The boys were totally psyched with their souvenirs from Mexico.