Webkinz World - Wow

You got to love Webkinz. It's the perfect gift for a 4yo-9yo. There's so much to do. Cutie keeps exploring and finding new things. Someone told me about Webkinz bowling. It's pretty cool. I can practice at home before heading out to my bowling league. There's also a trivia section that I read to cutie and she answers. It's how to get the most points so you can buy more stuff you don't need.

There's also a game room. She's learning checkers, connect four and battleship - without the mess.

In 1999 when I discovered Flash and started figuring out how to do simple children's games online - I never thought it could be like this.

Can't wait for the WII.

Headband So So

Headband So So is so exciting. She's a sans and so cute. Sans means you dance. She's wonderful and stylish and is a princess. She's the princess of Wonderland. In Wonderland there's lots of fruit plants like grapes and strawberries. And grapes and strawberries are so healthy.

Headband So So has a headband that's orange. She get's very angry when someone pokes her in the eye. She was once poked in the eye by her friend Lissa. Headband So So was angry because it wasn't an accident. So she wasn't her friend anymore and she didn't invite her to her birthday party.

Headband So So doesn't have any mommy or daddy because they died. She lives with her grandpa. She plays with grandpa all the time.

Rembo Poe Poe

Rembo Poe Poe is a smart monster. He reads a lot of books. He learns words, video activities, and things that are stylish (sylishes). He likes to run around and drops one thing a candle and burns his floor and then he is sad. It was just an accident. He learned from his mistake. His mom said - never run around with a candle - it's dangerous and someone might get hurt. And if you do it again you will get a timeout.

Going to Mermaid Land

Where is Mermaid land? It's near an island called LeLa near funky bear house. There's a mermaid named LynLyn with a pink tail and orange top and gold crown with a pink heart. She also has a headband to keep her hair off her face. It's a color. The color of light blue. She likes to swim around using her pink color tail. She goes to her mermaid friend Linsa. She plays checkers, red light green light and polly pockets fish. I forgot their mommy's name and daddy's name.

There's also flowers and kites. The flowers are bell ringing flowers. The flowers are green. The kites are light pink and you can make them fly by running and holding them up in the air and then you let go.

Lynlyn has black hair and blue eyes and little ears with green emerald earrings. She lives in the sky when she's in Mermaid Land. She writes sometimes on her mermaid computer and sells it on her computer. Her game friends buy it.

On Merry Go Rounds.

It turns out the merry-go-round is alive in Eugene Levy Park. Apparently this park has a lot of older equipment. With that said - it must be the new playgrounds that don't have it. I get it - when parks are funded, people would probably cut the merry-go-round based on fears of lawsuits and bad memories.

Two Types of People

I always put people into one of two catagories. Those who get it and those that don't. Youtube is brilliant and more important than people realize. If you believe that - you get it.

Today, I decided to brush up on my election IQ. I turned to youtube. OK, I did watch Obama Girl last year. But that doesn't count. So I'm watching a few debate between Hillary and Obama. Hillary would be great for Cutie (the girl thing). However, I never liked her. In fact, I never respected her. She's the classic annoying person that has a personal agenda and wouldn't get the house we are buying. But wow, Obama, he gets it. Hillary does not.

Watch a heated exchange here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgQnTA2jE98

Watch Obama Girl here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKsoXHYICqU

What Ever Happened to the Vomit Wheel?

I haven't seen a merry-go-round or see saw in a playground lately. I never really liked the vomit wheel. Just thinking about it brings nausa to my nose. Cutie does love things that go round-and-round or up and down.

We went to a birthday party at a children's gym. They had a version of a seesaw that was used to practice balance. Maybe Paulo can build one at our new house. Of course after we fix the 3 bathrooms (1 has no shower, 1 has no wall, 1 - no toliet, the septic system, the water system, and whatever is need to keep the house from collapsing.

We move in a few weeks.

My Favorite TV Shows

Yes, I'm baring my soul for posterity.

American Idol. It’s the American Dream
Desparate Housewifes - still going strong
Antiques Roadshow - who can resist treasures
House and Monk - I like it.
Mad Money - Love Cramer
Mad Men - My life

Shows that may grow on me.
Lipstick Jungle

Parking in Nyack

Lately, I haven't been doing any shopping in Nyack. They changed the parking system. You used to be able to park in a town lot for free or at a meter at $.25 an hour for a maximum of 2 hours. The system worked for me. It gave it a small town atmosphere. It felt good to put quarters into the meters. The two hour limit annoyed me, but as a whole it was fine.

They got rid of the $.25/hr. meters and now have parking machines. Since I will only go into town on Sundays so I don't have to use the machines, I have no idea the cost.

I feel bad for the small businesses in Nyack. We live a mile away and I used to shop for something once a week. Now it's more like once a month. I hate to say this - it's so much easier to go to the mall.

Now I don't feel so bad about moving.

The Kitchen Sink

Two adults and a three year old and we can't seem to keep the kitchen sink void of dishes. I probably make dinner 3 times a week. The rest of the time it's "shakespeare - "As You Like It -- a combination of leftovers or do it yourself. The sink is clean once a day for about five minutes usually before everyone eats dinner or in the morning. You could blame it on the lack of a dishwasher in our soon-to-be-old new house. But that's not it.

Yes, we are finally moving into our WOW house - soon to be "what were we thinking" house. It's on four acres at the top of a mountain. It will probably be fine if it the temp. doesn't dip below 32-degrees. But it was the kind of property that one would look back and say we shoulda bought it when we had the opportunity. And if we ever do sell it the kind of house we buy won't matter because we can say "remember the mountain house in Valley Cottage only 20 miles from NYC.

Don't Get A Manicure the Day Before Bowling

I went bowling today with a Ladies Bowling League in New City. I really had a good time. After my first bowl, I had this strange rush of excitement. It's a much better way to spend time with friends than lunch. And it has the added bonus of being a charity league. That's the burbs for you.

The funny thing is that the team I played with are moms with young children. The team we played are grandmas. One of the grandmas bowled 197 - two turkeys in one game. Yes, this is the first I've heard of a bowling turkey, 3 strikes in a row. The knowledge I'm gaining! I actually did pretty well for a first time in 30 years bowler. 95,94 and 120. At least I broke 100.

"Actually" is actually a new word Cutie's vocabulary. She insists on using it as teens use "like". Actually it's not that bad. I makes her sound sophisticated for a 3year old. I was told by a mom in her class that her son uses "actually" in his language. I think I may have given it to Cutie. Actually, I do use "actually" often.
I better hold off on the four-letter words.

Latest Cutie Drawings

Cutie must draw every morning before going to school.
Here's her latest fairy with "decorations".

Purple is her new favorite color. As are "All the colors of the rainbow".

Will Steve Leave?

Yahoo and MSFT need each other. Both have stalled. A Yahoo AOL deal is crapola. Not a fan of AOL and would lose whatever respect I have left for Yahoo. MSFT and Yahoo need each other. As a proud shareholder of both, I'd rather see MSFT buy yahoo at a higher price - but not too high. $35 seems fair. That's about the premium we are paying for our new house.

The bottom line is I wanted that house more than anything. The house was worth more to us than anyone else because we had experience with fixing things like septic tanks and water systems and redoing bathrooms to include showerheads. With a little effort our 4 acre property 20 miles from NYC is worth every penny to us - even if we are overpaying.
Yahoo is worth more to MSFT than anyone else. Therefore, MSFT will have to cough up some more money.

BTW - What ever happened to Pointcast? I loved that product.

I Get It

Today I sold more shares of QQQQ at $43. At midnight, I finally watched "The Smartest Guys In The Room". I've had the DVD for a while but could not bring myself to watch it. It's timely.

Subprime mortgage is as big a crisis but the blame is diffused. Here's the info:

BSC high in 2007 $170, today it's at $80.
C high in 2007 $55, today it's at $26.
You can never call a bottom, but BSC is a buy at $40 and C is a buy at $15. ( I'll pick up some on the way down - just in case)

QQQ Tech Bubble info:
2001 - $100
2002 - $20
2004 - $40
2007 - $55

Unfortunately, I wasn't really around in 1987. The annoying thing is that I get it. I'm not sure what to do with it - but I get it.

About the Smartest Guys. Somewhere in my boxes there's a few Annual Reproaches we did on Enron for April Fools. The Annual Report came out in March so this was our stab at humor. In May 2001 we were at an Enron Strategy Meeting to discuss the overall strategy that we were to design for the AR. At that meeting little old me actually said "I understand what you are planning to do, but I don't understand how you are going to make money". The funny thing is on the way home I figured out that the idea they had was brilliant - I just didn't think anyone could pull it off at that time. We're still not ready for it. But maybe when Cutie is old enough she can.

The Market

So things are really bad in stockmarketland. The subprime mortgage crisis is worse than people realize.
I'm looking for a job close to home. I spoke with someone who wanted references. I emailed old work buddies. That's always fun because you get to talk about the old times together and discuss the latest.

I found this interesting. Someone told me that a major client of theirs went bellyup and haven't paid their bills. They had to call American Express Small Business and work out a payment plan. While on the phone, Amex mentioned that they are getting over a hundred calls a day with this sort of request. Six months ago it was two per day.
It's funny Enron was working on a new business that allowed you to hedge against your clients going bankrupt. This was in early 2001 before their fall from grace. This idea came to someone at Enron right before the recession of 2001. We all know what happened to Enron. We all know what happened to the economy.

It took 2 years for the economy to hit a bottom (2003) the QQQQ (formally QQQ) was around $100 in 2001,
$40 on 3/30/01,
$24 on 2/7/03,
$41 on 11/05,
$55 11/30/07
$42 today. I think it's going to $38. But I'm not ready to put money on it with the MSFT YHOO deal. But just in case, I sold some of the shares I purchased in o3 around $40.

Hillary, Obama and John

Today I spoke to Cutie about the presidential election. I told her that the president we have now is George Bush. She laughed and said it was a funny name. Then I explained that there are three people, called candidates who want to be president, Hillary, Obama and John and showed her the above pictures.

She picked Obama. Why? He is the cutest. Hillary is pretty and lovely. And wanted to know why John was not happy. Out of the mouths of babes.

The Election

Issues that I care about.
Support for Israel
Pro-choice
Not recognizing any country that has different laws for women as they do for men. Wait we are dependent on oil.
Doing something about our need for our gluttonus oil consumption.
Love immigrants. Who else will clean my house for $10/hr? - I haven't had a clean house in years.
Raising retirement age for Social Security. (Get over it - people die later)
Fewer government workers and no outsourcing.
Transparency and accountibility.
Survival of the fittest - aka you have to have poor people in order to have rich people.

More Stuff I Don't Need

The thing about the burbs is that it's so darn easy to buy stuff. In the city, I worked and when I needed something I really had to need it before a purchase was made. Here, it's off to the mall for toothpaste. You leave with toothpaste and mostly stuff you will store in the many cabinets you have at home. Did I really need 2 boxes of 135 pantyliners that were on sale for $3.59 at Target? I have 3 boxes of 64 at home.
I have to do a project with Cutie's class on Friday. It's about inviting people to your home. They are inviting me to their class for Shabbot. You could read a story or do an activity. Since you bring something to someone's home when you visit, I thought we'd make flowers for them to take home. So it's off to Michael's for ideas. Then it's off to the Dollar store to get things for a dollar. The planters we are using are plastic tupperwares at 10 for $1, the green stuff is $1, and the flowers are 6 for $1, and stickers are $1 for about 300. The project is coming in at about $10 for the 10 children. If I was in the city I would have read them a story.

Yahoo and Microsoft Deal

Microsoft announced today it wants to buy Yahoo for $31 a share. They offered to buy yhoo last year but was rebuffed by Terry Semel, one of Cramer's CEOs on the "wall of shame".
Totally interesting. The chairman now in charge is Roy Bostock. I worked for him at DMBB Advertising in the Brand Optimization System Group (BOS group). First they reorganized and created Bcom3. Our BOS group was very profitable and I think we were still part of Bcom3 when they created D'Arcy Advertising. By 2001 they had sold out to Publicis. If history is any judge of the future, Mr. Bostock really wants to sell Yahoo to Mr. Softey.
I think it's a done deal. But still, I sold some shares at $28.50 - just in case. Remember I started my trading career with Yahoo. I hope this is not a full circle thing.
All the best.