Friday, October 31, 2008

I call B.S.

I call bvllshit. If you really are giving up on practicing law, burning your Harvard Law degree and leading a simple life (have fun living in a group house till your 50, hippie), then why would you blot out your name on the diploma? Newsflash, you can get another copy of your diploma for $25, so you don't lose anything by burning your diploma. Think about it: if you lost your diploma, does that mean that they'll make you do four more years of law school? A bigger, bolder statement would've been to quit before you graduated, or to set your genitals on fire. Jus' sayin'.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

I'm Back

I can't believe it's been this long since I've posted. I didn't miss it, to be honest. I haven't felt like doing it. It's like trying to get George Bush motivated about reading.

Updates? I've lost over $100k in the stock market and haven't made any progress on the house. Also, someone was shot on my corner last night. I think he may be dead because the cop cars were still there this morning. I hope the guy who got shot was a criminal, and that they catch the shooter, so that we kill two birds with one stone (no pun intended). But since this is DC, I'm not getting my hopes up.

I got a second estimate on the foundation issue, and the second guy wanted $4,900. I'm starting to think that the first quote $3100 now sounds reasonable. I may call the guy today. Maybe I should make some progress on the place while I still have SOME money left.

Also, the abandoned building a few doors down from me has had people in there clearing out the debris from the inside and the stuff from the shared driveway that keeps me on a first name basis with the tire-repair shop. So that's good, I guess.

Things are going well with the girlfriend. In the famous psychologist Maslow's heirarchy of needs, sex is like number 3 or something, so maybe that's why the other stuff (like losing money and people getting shot a few feet from my doorstep) doesn't bother me so much. I've also been meditating lately, so maybe that has something to do with my better mood. There's a lot to be said for Zen, but if given a choice between having sex with a hottie and sitting in a chair and practicing mindful breathing, I think you'd rather get your rocks off too.


[UPDATE]

According to the DCist, it was a fatal shooting. Maybe the police will start patrolling more in my neighborhood. You know, instead of giving people parking tickets in Georgetown.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Scariest Movie in Years

Well, I went to another movie preview for a movie that's opening soon, Quarantine with my hottie. Now, I'm not scared by most "horror" movies. Most of them I could watch while doing my taxes. But whollyfreakinbejesusonastick this movie is scary!!! If you go watch this movie, maybe you should bring a change of underwear because you may just sh1t your pants...and not in a kinky way either.

Also...sadness because my foster dog got adopted (pics and a good by post soon...if I don't get lazy) and because the stock market is in the toilet. What's good is that there are many years to go until I retire and my 401(k) retirement money gets deducted from my paycheck and invested automatically so it's buying stocks when prices are cheap and I'll be really, really rich when I retire. Rich enough to buy a new robot body to transfer my brain in and take over the world. Fear my wrath!!!

Have a good weekend, everybody!!!

Friday, October 03, 2008

Friday Stuff

Well I missed the vice presidential debates last night where Senator Biden debated a former TV Weather girl (has politics really come to this?). Not surprisingly Dems thought he won and Republicans thought she won. Expectations were so low for her that as long as she showed and and stuck to her soundbytes, no matter what question she was asked, she wouldn't embarrass herself. The recaps were annoying because every clip they showed her had her mentioning "America" or "Americans" in her answer. If you wave that flag any harder, your arm is gonna fall off! If that weren't ridiculous enough, trying to portray McCain, who voted with Bush over 91% of the time as a "maverick" is beyond laughable.

Enough about that. Last week I went to see a friend of a friend's band at the Red and the Black in NE DC. Normally I don't go to NE DC because there are enough opportunities to get shot or get my car broken into in my own neighborhood, so why go outta my way for it? Still, a friend is a friend. Anyway, if you want to check them out, the band name is Object, and here is a video for one of their songs.













Before the gig, I stopped for a bite to eat with my date at Marvin on U Street. I was wearing a T-shirt with this on the front, when some old bald guy wearing a suit and bow-tie at 10:30 on a friday, with his two friends told me "nice shirt, asshole, next time why don't you wear a swastika".

We exchanged a few words and since I was in a hurry I said "well, the door's right there, fcukface, you wanna go outside and teach me a lesson? Bring your friends..."

Luckilly, his friend apologized and said he didn't mean to start anything. I think he figured out that if I'm smaller than each of them and I want to fight them, that I probably know something that they don't. Anyway, my date said she wasn't pleased with my display of testosterone, but it's hard not to lose your cool when some complete stranger calls you an asshole. Plus...someone with a bow-tie shouldn't be giving out advice on fashion. Maybe you should get your seersucker suits and stay in capitol hill, douchenozzle.


FREE PLUG:

Today a friend of mine is showing some pieces at a Gallery in Dupont Circle in DC. It's at Pass Gallery on 16st and S st, NW. From 8-10 pm. See you there.


MISCELLANY :

People keep asking me this in private, so I'll put it out there so I get no more questions about it. Yes, I am a derivatives lawyer. Yes, I understand what's going on, but I won't explain it to you because it's complicated. No, you shouldn't listen to stuff that's written about the bailout from unemployed guys living in their parent's basement. And you shouldn't listen to politicians either. If people like Sarah Palin are telling you what the right course of action is, ignore it and find out for yourself. Ask people like George Soros (supports it); Bill Gross (supports it) and Warren Buffett (supports it).

Yes, I support a bailout, but it has to be done correctly. Even Warren Buffett thinks it's a good idea because buying these assetts at current prices is a steal. He's put up more than $10 billion so far and said he would love to be able to participate in the $700 billion buyout if he could get 1% of it ($7 billion) because it's a money maker. The only thing to watch out for is that the government shouldn't OVERPAY for these assets. They should be the buyer of last resort and demand some equity from the banks in return so that they tap the fund only if they really, really need it.

The credit markets seizing up is very serious. This week General Electric, one of the only AAA rated companies on earth had to borrow from Buffett at a 10% interest rate and give him equity in the company. If one of the most financially solid companies in the world has to pay those terms to borrow, what do you think will happen next month when people like you and me try to borrow money to buy a house? 20%? 30%? Just a thought.