Last Weekend

Saturday:

6:00 While drinking my morning coffee, I create a "Things to Do List". On the list: organize Russia pictures and post on blog, return an email to a friend (including movie recommendations), blog about movies I saw recently, decide on my travel plans for 2011 (I just got my year end bonus), shop downtown Newark for sweatpants and birthday card, watch two Netflick movies "Lebanon" and "Freakanomics", grocery shop, hit the gym, do "work" work from home, program in SAS and review data.

7:30 Head to the grocery store before the Saturday crowds. The cashier are poised at their registers in preparations for the crowds. I quickly purchase cereal (Raisin Brand and Frosted Flakes - on sale, of course), Portuguese rolls, vegetables, and string cheese.

9:00 Off to the Gym. Jogging or elliptical? Can't decide. Finding the energy, I decided on jogging and jog for 20 minutes until I'm exhausted. I switched to the elliptical for the balance of the hour. I always feel better after exercising and it discourages winter poundage.

11:15 I sit in front of my computer again and surf my normal sites; NYTimes, financial blogs, Huffington Post, Drudge Report, TownHall, etc.

12:00 Starting to get tired. Should I sleep? No. I review my "Things to Do" list. Cross off grocery shopping and gym. Decide to make soup. While making soup, I notice an open wine bottle and pour a pint glass of wine. I move to the living room, start watching a DVD. Drink. Eat. Fall asleep. Wake. Start movie again. Sleep. Wake up. Eject movie. I'm not following it and It doesn't make sense. Start "Freakanomics", I loved the book. Unfortunately, the movie was exactly the same. Turn it off.

2:30 Return to my computer. Listen to and download some free music. Recall hearing "Cards to Your Heart" by Groove Armada during the week. Check it out on iTunes. Buy it. Then listen to a few track of "Diamond Rings" by Special Affections. I also buy it, partially to help out a struggling new artist. I'm not inclined to purchase music when so much good free stuff is available online for download for free, but today I made an exception.

4:00 Walk downtown, purchase a birthday card and two pairs of sweat pants. Buy grilled lamb and fried plantains from Mimi's West African Restaurant. Take it home. Eat it with lots of hot sauce.

7:30 Power on my work computer. Organize some "work" work. Run some SAS programs. Review some of the outputs. Realize the current economic turn down has been a boon to risk analyst like myself, lots of default data to analyze and some interesting trends arising. Cool stuff.

9:00 Drink some more wine. Power off work computer. Switch over to personal computer and watch x-tube.

10:30 Go to bed.

Sunday

6:30 Wake up. Sit at computer. Write about the movies I've seen recently at the theater, post on blog, and then start to research vacations for 2011. Send out a bunch of inquiry emails.

8:30 Eat cereal. Read news, finance, and political blogs. Write about the vacations I'm considering and post excerpts on blog.

9:30 Gym. Run for 45 minutes, five miles. Shower.

11:30 Start work computer, do "work" work. In between SAS runs, cook sausages. Smother them with mustard, and eat them on a Portuguese roll. For dessert, I chomp on the string cheese.

5:00 Bored. Review "Things to Do" list. Don't feel like labeling Russia pics. Add do taxes, get haircut, purchase a new hat, and stop at hardware store to my "Things to Do" list. Surf the web. Read MORE news, finance and political blogs. Online watch an episode of "Gossip Girls" and then one of "Modern Family".

7:00 Start preparing the apartment for lock down and pack for Stanford.

7:30 Drive to Sanford. Organize work stuff for the next day. Chat with housemates. Watch a few SNL clips on Hulu.com

9:30 Go to bed.

Monday:

5:00 Wake up and realize the weekend has passed. And I never labeled the Russian pics. Damn!

Monday at work, I think about all the people that have significant others, committed relationships, children, homes, real responsibility, miscellaneous commitments, etc. I can't phantom it. I love my "ME" weekends. ME. ME. ME. I love being in my head and entertaining myself.

So TRUE

Jamie Radtke, the leader of the Virginia Tea Party Patriots who recently announced she will run for U.S. Senate in the state's 2012 match-up, delivered a blow to the Republican party when she spoke at the first Senate Tea Party Caucus meeting, according to the National Journal.

"The Tea Party movement would not exist today if the Republicans had not failed under the Bush years," she said, adding that if elected in the next election cycle she would join the political affinity group recently established by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

W. Bush and the Republican Party ran under the banner of smaller government and less spending. Spending increase dramatically under W. Bush (but not as much under Obama), especially when accounting for the UNNECESSARY war in Iraq. Obama never said he would cut spending W. did.

Greenspan, W. Bush and the Republican Party promoted less regulation and we got less regulation. And because of less regulation we got a housing bubble. Banks continued to lend to uncreditworthy borrower which in turn inflated real estate values and regulators allowed it to happen. Imagine if the administration appointed regulators that actually regulated the banks? The financial crisis wouldn't have occurred. Greenspan should get most of the blame, but Bernanke should have seen the and done something about the bubble too.

Teabaggers are attacking the G.O.P. They made a list of G.O.P.ers that they want to unseat in 2012. This in only good news for the Democrats, especially at the Senate level. Teabagger's candidates are typically too conservative to win the general election. For example, Harry Reid should have lost his seat in Nevada, but he didn't, thanks to the Teabaggers.

Dow Above 12000

The index jumped above 12,000 shortly after 10 a.m. — its first time above that level since June 19, 2008 — only to falter from there. It closed at 11,985.44, up 8.25 points on the day.

Per NYT.

Snow Has Stopped

It's 6AM and the snow has stopped. I'm getting dressed for work. Most likely I'll be the only one in the office, everybody else will be working remotely. But for me it's only a 20 minute walk and a I have a critical project due tomorrow at noon. Because of this project, yesterday's plan for Indian Food and a movie didn't materialize. Instead I had Taco Bell with a bottle of Pinot Nior. My housemate told me he refused to eat at Taco Bell anymore because the meat tasted like pudding. He has a point. And recently the news has been reporting that nobody is sure how much actual meat fills Taco Bell's tacos. Some claim cat treats have similar levels of protein. Tonight, I'll be dinning at the Chinese takeout. Stir steamed vegetables only. Now off to work in the snow. I'm dying for a jog. I'm less cranky after jogging. But a jog in the snow is not going to happen. I hate winter.

Time To Buy MORE Apple Stock?

Apple is expected to install “wave and pay” technology for the next version of its iPhone, boosting mobile commerce and potentially giving the company a big piece of the multibillion-dollar transaction industry.

The iPhone 5, due out this year, is likely to incorporate technology called Near-Field Communication, which incorporates financial account information and ties that data to specific devices, according to Asian suppliers and others who have been in talks with Apple.

Can you imagine Apple installing this technology? The stock is already high, but if your iPhone also becomes your credit card? Wow?

Currently, my iPhone is my phone (duh), iPod (music source), map/GPS, camera, calendar, notepad, weather source and movie locator. Will it become my credit card too? My swipe card (keys)? My driver's license? If so, then I won't have to carry a wallet.

So Many Monkeys

Report on Financial Crisis

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report will be released on Thursday, but the NYTime has an early report. AND WHAT THEY ARE REPORTING MAKES A LOT OF SENSE. Such as:

The 2008 financial crisis was an “avoidable” disaster caused by widespread failures in government regulation, corporate mismanagement and heedless risk-taking by Wall Street, according to the conclusions of a federal inquiry.
...
The majority report finds fault with two Fed chairmen: Alan Greenspan, who led the central bank as the housing bubble expanded, and his successor, Ben S. Bernanke, who did not foresee the crisis but played a crucial role in the response. It criticizes Mr. Greenspan for advocating deregulation and cites a “pivotal failure to stem the flow of toxic mortgages” under his leadership as a “prime example” of negligence.
...
[T]he report is harsh on regulators. It finds that the Securities and Exchange Commission failed to require big banks to hold more capital to cushion potential losses and halt risky practices, and that the Fed “neglected its mission.”

It says the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates some banks, and the Office of Thrift Supervision, which oversees savings and loans, blocked states from curbing abuses because they were “caught up in turf wars.”

Having returned to the banking world and viewing from the inside the regulatory vs. bank's relationship, I'd say the regulators were asleep. But then again, the regulators have tough job. Is it their responsibility to stop banks from engaging in risk business. If the bank want to bankrupt themselves why should the regulators stop them? It's tough. From a personal persecutive, what to do the regulators have to gain personally? Nothing. My hypothesis is that during the period leading up to the crisis, bank management berated regulators about being clueless, a "government worker", knowing nothing about business.

And prior to the crisis, the "chief regulator", Greenspan was a superstar. Now not so much. His mantra like the G.O.P.'s mantra since Reagan was "less regulation". And back in the day, when I was a hugh Reagan fan (and still am), I believed in the mantra and still do to a certain extent. But the need to update and modernize regulation is essential. However, everybody seems to take the approach, that if it ain't broke there isn't a need to fix it. Many regulators at the lower-levels saw the risk on the banks balance sheet, but the banks were making lots of money from taking these risk. It difficult to convince a bank's management to cut back on their profits. Bank management is required to dance until the music stops.

And what did we learn from the financial bubble and crisis in the short-time? A lot. What will we remember from the crisis in five years? Absolutely nothing. Another bubble will be started.

Ten Reason's Why Obama Will Be ReElected

I'm not the only one who believes that Obama will be reelected in 2012. Ten reasons why! And the Number One reason has a lot of heft: "the power of incumbency." Like I said before, it is really hard to unseat a sitting President when the economy is strong or improving. And the economy is improving, follow the stock market. The stock market is always a leading economic indicator.

Low and Behold

I returned home from work yesterday and the hot water was flowing. Amazing. I couldn't believe it. I took a shower. Today, I'm off to a new dentist before work for a cleaning. My mouth and body will be clean today. Hurrah. After work, I'm thinking Indian food (Palak Paneer, yum) and then a movie ("The Fighter" or "True Grit"). I'd like to jog, but the sidewalks are too icy and filled with snow. Jogging will have to wait until Friday evening when I return to Newark. I joined a new gym, Metro U.S.A. It costs $32, instead of the $79 at NYSC. And the gym is open to 11 PM on Friday, and 7AM to 7PM on Saturdays and Sundays. NYSC was only open to 1PM on Saturday and closed on Sunday. Now I'll have more opportunity to exercise on weekends. And those pesky Russian pictures. Hopefully, I get to organizing and posting them this weekend.

I don't understand my procrastination. But instead of organizing them now, I'm guessing I'll be flipping through the political blogs, reading the comments about the Presidents speech. I couldn't bother to listen to him last night. I went to bed at 9PM instead.

No Hot Water

We have no hot water in the house. The landlord said it's because the pipes froze. How can the hot water pipes freeze, but not the cold water. There is plenty of cold water! Today the temperature is expected to rise above freezing. The landlord says the pipes should defrost. Let see if the landlord's hypothesis is correct. Won't know until later today, because he turned off the hot water (in case the pipes burst). Doesn't make sense. Time for a cold sink towel bath, then work! I hate winter and landlords.

The Next Generation

Incredibly articulate!!! Someday the bigots will disappear from the earth like the racist did before them.

Bloomberg News: 53% of Investors

Obama Viewed Favorably by 53% of Investors as Economy Improve

President Barack Obama is gaining popularity among investors as he pivots to promoting U.S. global competitiveness in the State of the Union Address he delivers tonight.

Fifty-three percent of investors now view him favorably, up from 49 percent in November, reversing a yearlong deterioration in perceptions of the U.S. president, according to a quarterly poll of 1,000 Bloomberg customers who are investors, traders or analysts conducted Jan. 20-24

The Story of Suzie

I love the internet. It allows us to view how stupid we appear to others.

Obama's 2012 Opponent

Obama's chances of being reelected are looking good, provided the economy keeps improving. It's almost impossible to dethrone a sitting President if the economy is good (hence, W Bush in 2004 even after drumming up false motives to wage war). The economy ebbed in 2008, post the financial crash and it's been picking up slowly ever since, especially the stock market. Labor markets should follow.

Additionally, Obama doesn't have any strong competition. New Hampshire's GOP elite gets first dibs on selecting the next GOP Presidential candidate. The results of a their recent Straw Poll :

And about a month ago, while Obama's approval ratings where in the mid-40's, voters were asked wouldn't vote for Obama in 2010. About 52% said no. However, when they asked if they'd vote for Obama or one of the G.O.P. candidates list above. Obama won each permutation. If their isn't a viable alternative, voter would have much of a choice.

New Job

“He who labors diligently need never despair; for all things are accomplished by diligence and labor.” -Menander of Athens

The Ballad of Sarah Palin by LADY BUNNY

Da Economy And Jobs

What's on people's mind? Not healthcare, and surely not obesity, but the economy and jobs. (Hear dat Michelle?)

If this is true, than why are the Republicans wasting their time repealing healthcare, when Obama has change course and shifted to the center. Obama learned healthcare wasn't very popular during the November elects, or at least jobs and the economy were more important.

Now de's focusing on job creation, catering to business leaders, appointing business leaders to his staff and reforming education to make America more competitive internationally. So why are Republicans still stuck on healthcare? They don't control the Senate and Obama would veto any healthcare repeal bill.

It Gets Better

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

If you have an American Mother, clearly you're doomed for a mediocrity, or less than supreme, life....

A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it's like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I've done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:

• attend a sleepover

• have a playdate

• be in a school play

• complain about not being in a school play

• watch TV or play computer games

• choose their own extracurricular activities

• get any grade less than an A

• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama

• play any instrument other than the piano or violin

• not play the piano or violin.

I'm using the term "Chinese mother" loosely.

The Western World is headed for failure as Asia becomes the dominating power in the world.

In one study of 50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, almost 70% of the Western mothers said either that "stressing academic success is not good for children" or that "parents need to foster the idea that learning is fun." By contrast, roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same way. Instead, the vast majority of the Chinese mothers said that they believe their children can be "the best" students, that "academic achievement reflects successful parenting," and that if children did not excel at school then there was "a problem" and parents "were not doing their job." Other studies indicate that compared to Western parents, Chinese parents spend approximately 10 times as long every day drilling academic activities with their children. By contrast, Western kids are more likely to participate in sports teams.

The remainder of the (highly controversial) article as published in the WSJ

A Little Creepy

Waiting For Obama

Everybody seems to be waiting for what Obama will say in Arizona today. The viral hatred on the internet of left vs. right has been rabid. The left blaming the right, the right blaming the left. It's been crazy. Obama has a chance to smooth the waters and outline a new agenda for the next two years. Let see if he can do it? I doubt it. The bi-partisan hatred and name-calling seems to be apart of the political agenda today, propelled by the internet. Prior to the internet, all their was, was the network news. The public was observers. It they wanted to comment, they'd have to do it locally. Today, anybody with an internet connections can get into the action. And as FOX news has discovered, hatred and fear generates a lot of money. People are by nature fearful and are willing to watch a network that confirms their fears. Similarly, the churches have been pedaling fear for years. Now the corporate world want some of that fear. And look how much wealth they accumulated. I expect it to be a great speak today, but it won't change anything.

Polish X-mas Eve Dinner

Glad the Holidays are Over!!

Wow it was an exhausting holiday season. For me it seem to start with the trip to Russia and never stopped until to this week. However, I got to see almost everybody I wanted to see. The only event of the season I missed was the "wildcard" weekend festivities. It was held in CA this year. I didn't feel like making the trip across country to watch TV.

Now I'm looking forward to Spring. I'm so sick of this winter weather (and more snow tomorrow!) I want it to be 75 degrees, sunny, flowers blooming, green grass! And to make matters worse, I was sick all last week which made attending work very painful. But I attended because of the transition. This week I feel a lot better.

As for work, it's going well. We transitioned to a new company and the new company offered me nice retention package. I like what I'm doing a lot; working with data, building models, identifying opportunities, etc. The only downside, the company's headquarters is located in Chicago and they only committed to the NYC metro area for one year, during the acquisition and transition. Not sure what will happen next year.

And yes, I still need to organize my Russia pictures. Besides being sick, I've been lazy!!

Bill O'Reilly vs. Atheist