Merry Christmas to all...

and if you get cold, be sure you get your Snuggie...



I know I hate it when my arms get "trapped" in my blanket. I love infomercials during Christmas day programming.

Flashbacks or Flashforwards?

I would say I followed pro football most religiously during my high school years. By far my favorite player to watch was Barry Sanders, simply because he could make a 1 yd loss look like the best football play ever and he was always a threat to break it for TD. I was very disappointed when he retired early, but there's hope yet. Here are some clips of the Oklahoma AA State Football Championship game. The first one is vintage Barry Sanders... perhaps because it's Barry Sanders Jr, a freshman.

Insult to Injury

They cancel Pushing Daisies, but they can find a place for f#&@ing Homeland Security USA. Screw you ABC.

Long week...

Thanksgiving was lots of fun. I seemed to spend it playing with nephews or friend's sons and/or hanging out with people who are expecting. Unfortunately I did not get to see Luis LaMachina and his daughter, but hopefully during Xmas.

I was finally able to catch my (then) #3 ranked Louisville Cardinals play basketball on Sunday. First time this year since they don't broadcast games in Philly for some reason, and the first time I got to see the Freshman Phenom, Samardo Samuels. Needless to say, just my luck, they would lay an egg and look absolutely horrible (shooting 27% from the field including 6-30 from 3pt). Samuels was decent when he got the ball, but absolutely posterized trying to dunk when he was blocked. Here's an idea, if you can't hit a 3, try something new. Damnit basketball, you were supposed to be my outlet!

Flew back on Monday to Philly, which meant we were delayed. Had to take j to the airport for a course in Orlando on Tuesday afternoon, which means my insomnia has been with me ever since (I'm pathetic). Have been working on a paper so I've been reading multiple papers that are now a mismatch of random sentences in my head now. Finally sat down to relax last night to witness the absolute shellacking of Louisville football (0-49 at the half!). Ended up watching 'The Right Stuff' on AMC. Made me feel a little better.

Thoughts before heading home for Thanksgiving...

1. If you have a spare hour to waste, try reading this. The author found some of the people who actually saw the markets for what they were, and were probably able to make a boatload of money betting against the market. Interesting how even though they couldn't figure everything out beforehand, they were able to piece together enough details by (a) paying attention to who was getting these loans (i.e. people who can never afford to pay these loans) and (b) talking to some of the people that were actually making the sausage (especially the people that were chopping up junk mortgages and able to sell them as AAA bonds). The information was out there, few were willing to look for it. Very telling to me is Eisman's quote:

“That Wall Street has gone down because of this is justice. They fucked people. They built a castle to rip people off. Not once in all these years have I come across a person inside a big Wall Street firm who was having a crisis of conscience.”


2. The way they are currently structured, I realize that a bailout of the auto industry doesn't make sense. They definitely need some new leadership and a change in the corporate philosophy. But isn't it weird how everyone is up in arms about a $25B loan, when we seem to be shoveling that much out a week for the financial sector. At least with the auto makers I can see the results (workers employed, products manufactured).

3. I figure j will blog about it eventually, but we are both disappointed in the cancellation of "Pushing Daisies." I guess there's not enough demand for whimsy in the world. That's sad.

4. I'm looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving. It's been one of longer stretches without going home since moving to Philly. I have too many young nephews to be gone this long. They're going to forget who I am.

5. Is it just me, or is Obama dipping a little too much from the Clinton era cronies? Pretty much the entire economic team is from the Clinton team, but not from the Robert Reich side.

6. Thank goodness for basketball season. I don't think I can stand much more U of L football.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Executive Culture at GM

Last week, Mitt Romney made an appeal for bankruptcy for the Big 3 was the only way to allow them to survive.

This blog will make you feel even more unsure that even that will help without a change in the executive culture, at least for GM.

I'll admit I'm not sure what the answer is, but it most definitely should not involve the current leadership of these companies (or their private jets).

Why don't I watch the Mayne Street videos?

I like Kenny Mayne's weird sense of humor. I like to watch Sportscenter and most the games that ESPN covers. I get infuriated when I go to ESPN.com and the main page is covered with Mayne Street video stuff.

Why can't they just talk about sports? Why is this front and center? Why can't I bring myself to even watch one video?