Mouth of the South, Beast from the Far East

Ethnic for the Win

2009-09-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

None of these places were on the list I've been stiching together, but they were were surprising standouts, like a fat kid bypassing your donut stand without so much as a glance. And now onto the reviews:

Breeze (Thai-French, Hell's Kitchen, $-$$, ++): More Thai than French but with just enough fusion elements to keep the title out of the trickery zone, this restaurant is a standout among a neighborhood overrun with generic Thai food. Dishes were very fresh, a bit salty, but seasonings were original. Mushroom dumplings, lobster rolls, braised short tibs, scallops, duck were all very good. The most French element was probably the crust on the duck, but despite the lack of true fusion the flavor is compelling.

Taboon (Mediterranean, Hell's Kitchen, $$$, ++): I'm somewhat skeptical of the Mediterranean label for the food at this place, but overall it's a very solid meal, in the vein of places like little owl, although i'd say the flavors are actually stronger and more distinct. The Mediterranean tribute, hummus and falafel, are above average, probably not the best I've ever had, but better than most places, and clearly head and shoulders above several places that specialize in that type of stuff. This is one of those places where the cooks are really good and as a result, they tend to do what taste goods rather than feeling boxed in by the regional label (see Hell's Kitchen, etc.).

Buddakan (Asian Fusion, Meatpacking, $$$, ++): I didn't really notice any food quality difference between this one and the ones in Philadelphia and Atlantic City - which is a good thing. The edamamae dumplings were still awesome, the tarot root lollipops reminded me of legit sunday morning dim sum, the salad was one of those really light, insubstantial yet somehow refreshing and appetizing starr salads, and the ribs, well I think tender is the word I'm looking for there. I'm not really sure of the dollar/food quality ratio here, i think it might be overvalued, but you are paying partly for the scene, which is worth at least something to some people.

Another week in review

2009-08-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

First some out of town places, then back to the home front:

Continental (Americana, Atlantic City Pier at Caesar's, $-$$, ++): I've always loved this place, American food with just enough fusion / spin /creative elements to set it clearly apart from even high-end diner food, with some other very straightforward dishes if you have a certain craving. Portions are pretty huge for some dishes (anything involving potatoes) and just right for others, presentation is well-executed, taste always comes first. The burgers and spin on comfort foods are always good, but unlike diners where you might be afraid to step up for a steak or seafood, that's exactly what you can feel comfortable doing here. You also get a sweet view of the ocean which during summer time is awesome, and you're right next door to buddakan, another amazing starr restaurant.

Longhorn Steakhouse (Steakhouses, Atlantic City, $$, -): I realize this is a well-established chain, but that's really not why I'm dinging it. Not only does the steak here comes up short when compared with places of the same caliber, but the sides and salads are also uninspiring and taste like they came straight from the box, with extra butter to try and hide that fact. See last review and then note, you could get almost the same quality food at a generic diner in terms of steak and you'd be paying less. Medium rare steak was solidly overcooked, although if you're running a place with this type of traffic it probably makes sense to play it safe all the time.

Sofia's Cucina (Italian, little italy, $$, ++): I've always had issues with the italian restaurants in hell's kitchen being somewhat touristy (medicore + overpriced), and i kind of assumed the same would be true of little italy, but this place was actually pretty good. The mushroom ravioli i had was probably a +, but the bruschetta / calamari were ++ and everyone else I was eating with insisted that their pasta was really good so despite my entree I'm giving this place a nod. This is italian comfort food but definitely prepared with attention to detail and presented with a small flair.

Riposo 46 (Winebars, hell's kitchen, $$, +): The wine selection here is eclectic but very solid, and the food (we had the flat bread) is also very solid, in the vein of a tapas place, not quite as much selection as some other places, but very well-executed using very fresh ingredients and no trickery in terms of over seasoning or buttering. Atmosphere / smallness makes this 100% a date place, spent 3 hours here with the food coming late at night and it was still pretty tasty.

Baba Louie's Organic Pizza (Pizza, Hudson [upstate NY], $, +): The health factor was evident here. The best part of the meal was actually the salad with figs and apricots and goat cheese. Everything was extremely fresh tasting, but the only issue is that when combined it tasted something like you make at home if you're not really a good cook, where the flavors are there but they don't really blend together. Overall thought it wasn't bad, just not memorable.

Hell's kitchen (Mexican, hell's kitchen, $$, ++): A more fusion approach to Mexican, vs. the more traditional tex-mex and or authentic places like Toloache, Dos Caminos. I've eaten here several times. It's like fine dining where you carefully cook and season everything and then randomly decide to throw some of what you make into tortillas or into shells. Both the appetizers and entrees are original and offer plenty of twists and surprises. Really good guacamole as well.

Pearl Oyster Bar (Seafood, west village, $$, ++): I was told after we came here that it wasn't oyster season, and I still thought this place was great, so I guess that says something. Raw oysters were decent, although I think my power of judgement are limited so until I get some more experience I wouldn't put a lot of weight into this. Salad was simple and well-executed, clam chowder was delicious, clam pasta and lobster roll were top notch (they give you the whole lobster tail as your sandwich), fried oyster roll was average. I would definitely come here again, especially during a month that has an "R" in it, since that's supposed to be the oyster quality litmus test.

Aureole (American, bryant park, $$$, +): I found this place to be a mixed bag, with more duds than hits, although the hits were pretty money. The bread, desserts, and chef's compliments soup (scallop and lime) were my favorites, which in general are not my favorite parts of the meal, but they were really well done in terms of combining divergent flavors, which is really what I think of when I think of high-end americana served in the formal dining setting. The pork belly and black sea bass were good, lobster tail was very average, and halibut, tomato terrine, soft shell crab were pretty uninspiring. There is a 15% discount here if you go before mid-september but I still wouldn't recommend it. Rumor has is there's a vodka, thyme, and ginger drink that's out of this world.

Quick reviews for before i was giving pluses:
Sugiyama, +++
Peter Luger's, ++

Word of the day: bait station

Nostalgia lost, the AC redux

2009-08-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

Atlantic City hasn't changed in the last 7 months (yeah, I realize that's probably not a surprise). There's some hope for the city, but unless oil/gold is discovered under the pawn shops on pacific ave, I'm not even sure that 2 billion is enough to turn the city into the waterfront paradise that I always wanted it to be. Revel will probably open sometime in 2011, and transformation or not, I'll be there to donate some more money to a good cause. If you're planning on taking a trip, I highly recommend the train. As much as I love a 15 dollar round trip, if you take the bus, you're invariably going to sit next to some one who eats fried chicken. And as much as I love fried chicken, the smell starts to bother me after about minute 45.

So the nostalgia was lost, but not because the city has turned into vegas. I'll take full credit for turning what should have been a slightly disastrous weekend given the circumstancs into an epic adventure involving a $57,000 jackpot, a blonde model, the craziest run at a craps table I've ever seen, and 4 hours of sleep for the entire weekend. I admit, I do get a certain kick out of being the swing factor.

List evolution

2009-08-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

Worked from home yesterday and took the opportunity to not only get household chores done to possibly free up time to go to AC, but also to hone the list (thanks to all the co-workers who had input. Preemptively saving money is awesome). Oh and I tried out a new place last night.

Little Owl (American, west village, $$$, ++): Very solid, tasty albeit not very creative food, reminds me a lot of the White Dog Cafe in philly. The simplicity doesn't take away from the deliciousness in any way, no surprises pleasant or unpleasant (incidentally, what I like about high-end steakhouses and burger places as well when you get a craving for a certain taste). Great date place, cozy, good for intimate conversation, getting a reservation was apparently harder than getting a reservation to Gramercy Tavern, so we went early as walk-ins (it was already packed). Pork chop and meatball sliders were the best dinner I've had in a while.

Casa Mono (Tapas, irving place, $$$, ++): Very bold and unusual flavors (Basque), you're either going to love it right away or hate it (and if you hate it, there's a good chance you aren't paying since you probably didn't pick the place out). I happened to love it, although it's hard to describe, think of it as a dim sum version of a chef's tasting menu at a higher end restaurant. Drink lots of water in-between courses to cleanse your palette.

New list, in order of urgency:

Mexican: Maya, Rosa Mexicana, Zarela, Zona Mexicana, Pampano Taqueria, Mercadito, Mexico Lindo, Caracas Arepas Bar, la esquina, canyon rose
BBQ: Blue Smoke
Steakhouses: Keen's, Dylan Prime, Strip house, Spark's, STK
Japanese: Yasuda, Tomoe, Nobu, Yakitori Totto, Tori Shin, matsugen, Abuyriya Kinnosuke
Fusion: Momofuku Ssam, asia de cuba, buddakan (nyc edition), double crown, spice market, vong
American: Momofuku Ko, Gramercy Tavern, Blue Hill, Gotham Bar and Grill, Veritas, Aureole, the redhead, Blue Ribbon, Perilla, Hearth, Porchetta, eleven madison park, wd-50, Bar room at the modern, the black cat, Irving Mill, Market Table
Fish and Chips: A Salt and Battery
Italian: Babbo's, Scarpetta, Minetta Tavern, Cipriani, Il Mulino, L'Artusi, convivio
Seafood: Pearl Oyster Bar, Mary's Fish Camp, Oceania
Fried Chicken: Mama's fried chicken, Pink Teacup
Burgers: Corner Bistro, the spotted pig, prime burger, TJ O'Brien, Wolfgang/Luger lunch, Rare, rathbones, delmonicos, Diner, westville, db bistro moderne, walkers, all state
French: Bouley, Butter, Balthazar, cafe boulud, Jean Georges, Per se, Le Bernadin
Spanish/Tapas: Degustation, Alta

In motion

2009-08-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Trading is to career as food is to dating.

Places I've tried recently:

JG Melon (burgers, upper east side, $, +++): One of the best burgers I've had in new york. People complain about the size of the burger but at this point you're paying for quality, not quantity. If you're hungry I highly recommend skipping the cottage fries side and just getting two burgers. Seriously.

Yoshi Sushi (Japanese/sushi, east village, $$, ++) Not just your normal sushi place, though the rolls and other dishes you typically find at places like these are very good. They also have quite a few creative dishes involving sashimi, like the raw tuna taquitos and volcano, which are similar to the appetizers you'd find at a high end americana type place in terms of presentation and style. Small but good to go with friends. Food is a little salty but still.

El Paso (Mexican/tex-mex, upper east, $, +) Much more reasonably priced and seemingly more authentic than places like Dos Caminos or Arriba Arriba, it's sort of like Mama Mexico but slightly less selection and cheaper. Guacamole is very good.

MarkJoseph's steakhouse (steakhouse, financial district, $$$, +) This trip completed the Luger circuit that I started earlier this year with a visit to Wolfgang's, a place which I still prefer to the other stops (Luger's, Ben and Jack's, and this place). Definitely give this place a nod over Ben and Jack's, although it's almost as far away as Luger's. Porterhouse was great, sides and appetizers were average, place was completely empty on a Friday night so fast service.

Tehuitzingo Deli (mexican, hell's kitchen, $, ++) The tacos here are completely amazing and max out at 3 dollars each. They're the authentic style tacos with the double soft shell wrap and the meat finely minced - you can get everything from straight up beef to chorizo to crispy pork ears. I'd say there almost as good as Toloache (although they don't have soft shell crab here) at around 1/2 the price. They won't win any awards for the setting (beat up stools crowded in the back of a tiny grocery store) but they are 100% legit.

Craft (Americana, flatiron, $$$, +++) Food here was amazing, although it started off stronger than it ended. That being said, the entrees (we had three different types of meat including short rib and fish) were very solid and I think it's just that the creativity and uniqueness of the appetizers plus their deliciousness was an overwhelming start to the meal. I'd definitely come here again despite the prices, although there are many of these types of places I want to try (see list below).

Places I need to try:

Mexican: Maya, Rosa Mexicana, Zona Mexicana, Pampano Taqueria, Zarela, Mercadito, Mexico Lindo, Caracas Arepas Bar

BBQ: Blue Smoke

Steakhouses: Keen's, Dylan Prime, the Palm Tribecca, Striphouse, Spark's, STK

Japanese: Yasuda, Tomoe, Haru, Yakitori Totto

Fusion: Momofuku Ssam, asia de cuba, buddakan (nyc edition), double crown

American: Gramercy Tavern, Blue Hill, Gotham Bar and Grill, Veritas, Irving Mill, Aureole, Market Table, Blue Ribbon, Perilla, Little Owl, Hearth, Porchetta, Momofuku Ko, DBGB, Standard Grill

Fish and Chips: A Salt and Battery

Italian: Babbo's, Il Mulino, Minetta Tavern, Cipriani

Seafood: Pearl Oyster Bar, Mary's Fish Camp

Fried Chicken: Mama's fried chicken, Pink Teacup

Burgers: Rare, Corner Bistro

French: Butter, Balthazar

Disabled will

2009-08-08T05:24:00.000-07:00

I read about an article about this not too long ago, this mindset where you believe you're above everything and hold yourself to completely unreasonable standards. Then, when you try and live life and just jump into shit, you lack skills because you've been pretending you're too good for everything and your psyche can't reconcile the difference between reality and the image you've been building up in your head.

Following up on advice from an earlier post, just do it. And if it goes wrong, get better. And try to laugh along the way.

Distractions

2009-08-01T07:03:00.000-07:00

Distractions are fun, intense, and in the best cases, rewarding and fulfilling. The only thing is, I'm not really sure what I'm being distracted from anymore. I like to think that at least, in the last month, I've become better at finding and enjoying them.

The vagueness of this post is mostly due to the fact that I think at least for now there isn't much benefit to posting details from my personal life. There was a point when I wanted everyone to know what and who I was doing with my weekends and nights, but I think I'm content now to just live it.

Keste is a great pizza joint. Thin crust, you could even call it wispy thin. Ingredients fresher than Will Smith in Bel-Air. I put it up there with Lazarra's but it's definitely something people should check out to decide for themselves.

European Talent

2009-07-16T03:28:00.000-07:00

Esmee Denters is a Dutch singer who got her start singing covers on youtube. She's toured with ne yo and recently signed on justin timbelake's label. People have compared her to Keri Hilson, Ciara, Rihanna, Beyonce, Alicia Keyes, etc. I guess it's not really a surprise that someone who got her start singing covers on youtube has songs that jump out as being remixed versions of other songs.

Check out these song pairs:
Gravity / No Air
The First Thing / If I Ain't Got You

The prime directive

2009-07-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we take ourselves way too seriously. Have fun with life, because there's definitely times when it's going to decide to have fun with you.

Word of the day: "Dude I thought there were going to be girls at this party."

Mysterious Text Partner

2009-07-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

Referencing a previous post, in which I inadvertently received a text booty call from a 901 area code number, here's what I discovered about this frustrated texter:

1) avid sushi lover. goes to sekisui for sushi.

2) under 21. can't get into fox and hound (sports bar).

3) we have mutual friends named blake and caroline, and we all go to florida together to hang out on weekends.

here's the fictional elements I made up for, uh, whoever the hell i'm supposed to be

1) i have a pool

2) i got a fake ID, which is why I could get into a fox and hound, even though I'm under 21

3) i have a friend in town named melissa who I'm taking around to have a good time.

4) i'm considering traveling to new york in a couple of weeks

Incidentally, it's quite clear I should take up fiction writer as my weekend occupation. It's not a vivid imagination as much as my propensity for lying for no good reason. Make that, no reason at all. I'm not talking about just, bending the truth or BSing, I'm talking about spewing out a veritable litany of total horse shit. Yes, I realize I've created a hierarchy of excrement. I'm actually, very OK with it.

As Perfect as Long Island Gets

2009-07-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

On a clear and breezy 70 degree day, 25 of us set out on a journey through the surprisingly extensive Long Island wine country (which I had no idea existed until this week).

In a few hours I found myself on the deck of a vineyard lodge, overlooking a vast sea of grapes, clear blue horizon stretching info infinity, the wind chasing itself through the rows of green as a jazz combo enthusiastically churned out music that wafted across the landscape. Our group sipped mostly chardonnays, merlots, cabernet francs, and rieslings from tasting menus that kept everyone involved in pleasant buzzing conversation.

The tour:
Wine-making, like so many other things, ends up being a metaphor for life in general. As much art as science, requiring attention to detail as well as a macro vision, with a never-failing element of chance that can single-handedly make or break your vintage. An ill-timed rain, an amazing summer, things the presentation and marketing of your product can't capture or combat. Subject to the constraints and geography of your region, but empowered by your creativity and vision, you are in constant pursuit of the ultimate reward, the creation of bottled perfection.

The math:
A capital intensive business for sure, planting costs at least $20K an acre (one acre produces 200 - 400 cases of wine) and that doesn't include the cost of obtaining the land in the first place and anti-pest/bird control. Most of the aging barrels come from France and shipping them over isn't cheap, the other big expense is the stainless steel equipment needed to process the grapes and keep everything fermenting as planned. This, among all other hobbies of the wealthy, is an interesting one.

Superheroine

2009-07-08T04:01:00.000-07:00

The force is strong with this one.

I can't help but think of yoda when I look at her profile and records. Really small, somewhat aged, and commanding vast power incomprehensible to mere mortals.

Greatest of Fifty, Or How Superheroes are Born

2009-07-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

"In a videotape obtained by CNN, a covert GAO inspector places a bag containing bomb components on an X-ray machine conveyor belt and then walks through a magnetometer at an unidentified federal building. Unlike some covert tests that use simulated explosives, the GAO used actual bomb components in the test and publicly available information "to identify a type of device that a terrorist could use" to damage a building.

"The (improvised explosive device) was made up of two parts -- a liquid explosive and a low-yield detonator -- and included a variety of materials not typically brought into a federal facility by an employee or the public," the report says. Investigators obtained the components at local stores and over the Internet for less than $150, the report says.

After the components were smuggled into the building and assembled, the GAO says, it took steps to ensure the device would not explode. But to demonstrate the device's destructive power, the GAO videotaped the detonation of several devices at a remote site.

The GAO also released a photograph of a guard asleep at his post and detailed an instance in which a woman placed an infant in a carrier on an X-ray machine while retrieving identification. Because the guard was not paying attention and the machine's safety features had been disabled, the infant was sent through the X-ray machine, according to the report.

The FPS dismissed the guard, who, as a result, sued the agency for failing to provide X-ray training. FPS lost the suit because it could not prove that the guard had been trained, the report says."

Indepedence Weekend

2009-07-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

I dub this weekend the freedom to have spontaneous fun with no plans made in advance.

A few thoughts:
1) Transformers sequel. A lot of my co-workers hyped this one up for me. And it's not like the things I expected to enjoy weren't enjoyable - explosions, air strikes, spec ops taking on robots, special effects, special effects again, gratuitous Megan Fox shots. The problem was, as one reviewer said, the plot and dialogue could have easily been pieced together from fan-fiction submitted by 4th graders. At least they could have credited them at the end.

2) Give some credit to us youngsters. There's definitely times when I feel really young and times when I feel really old. All I can say is, if you're a suit salesman and you miss out on a large commission because some older shoppers come in and you rush over to help them figuring they'll spend more than the younger person you're helping, that's fine, you made your best guess. But don't rush over to hand me your card after you see what I'm buying versus what they're buying because a) you made your decision already and b) the reason I'm buying is so I can not have to make a similar trip any time soon. I continue to believe that in terms of intelligence, wisdom, and success, age is a highly overrated factor. And, for looks, it definitely matters, but there are some exceptions to the rule, as I discovered this weekend.

3) Biking. There's definitely an element of fun to weaving in and out of traffic on the busy streets of the west side or in-between tourists crossing the Brooklyn bridge (also, you should probably wear a helmet while doing this). The combined possibilities of being run down by an overeager motorist and running over someone on foot who's not paying attention at all are entertaining for at least one full day. For the record, I hate bikers when I'm on foot and the seats, despite designers' best intentions, are supremely uncomfortable.

4) Cooking at a soup kitchen >> serving people at a soup kitchen. That, and the fact that even hungry homeless people will turn down squash with the excuse that they're "watching their figure" (but never mashed potatoes or mac and cheese).

The Phone Crutch

2009-06-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

One of the things I've noticed that people do when they're out at a bar / club / lounge / toga party setting is - use their phone as a crutch. This applies for:

1) Girls that aren't getting approached, and aren't in a group of friends
2) Guys that aren't approaching,
3) People by themselves, and
4) People in a group that is awkwardly put together and not really a group

So, the easiest way to make yourself seem less wallflower-ish, boring, and or loner-ish is to whip out your phone and start texting. If you're really desparate, you could shop for ringtones and play games as well. Don't get me wrong, if you're not in the mood to make something happen, then don't feel obliged to. On the other hand, you can text at home or on the subway and it's a lot cheaper. I'm also curious as to what would happen if people were forced to give up their cell phones when they entered said settings. Would there be more of those dancing lines, snaking around the room, picking up strangers as it goes?

Moderately Weaksauce

2009-06-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm talking about Ben and Jack's steakhouse (see list below), although their steak sauce is actually pretty good. I finally convinced a few other people to check this place out with me (after being deluged with CNBC commercials) and my conclusion is, I guess there was a reason they were advertising so much. It's funny when you see the commercials, because they show a bustling restaurant packed with classily dressed patrons calmly annihilating huge towers of seafood and platters of steak.

We arrived at around 6:30 PM saturday night and had the place completely to ourselves. By 8 PM, 4 more tables were being used. Guess it's the economy, or maybe the place is haunted and the commercials are based on a grotesque ghost gatherings that happen at midnight.

Being a Luger spin-off, the focus is on porterhouse, and the steak for 3 is surprisingly easy to finish and only around 40 bucks a person. Quality wise I'm going with Luger's and Wolfgang's over this place but it's not like it was sub-par or anything. Appetizers / sides were in line with what you would expect.

Word of the day: orcish taskmaster

Late Start

2009-06-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

Today would be the latest I've woken up all year, putting me every so slightly behind on my now extended to-do list.

whatever number this is) ramp up dancing skills. And not just for the situations where you stumble into a Michael Jackson dance-off on the roof of the Empire Hotel and go head to head with people who turn out to be friends of your co-workers, but also for some more partner-centered stuff, like salsa dancing. Cross-training!

in addition to hand-gliding) hot air ballooning and dune buggying.

Darkness falls across the land

2009-06-24T04:34:00.000-07:00

The midnight hour is close at hand.
Creatures crawl in search of blood, to terrorize your neighborhood.
And whosoever shall be found, without the soul for getting down.
Must stand and face the hounds of hell, and rot inside a corpse's shell.

The king is dead, long live the king.

Go forth and conquer

2009-06-23T04:53:00.000-07:00

As a friendly piece of advice, if you ever complain about physical feature y to someone in your family (perhaps your mom, even) and she / he says, "oh don't worry, feature y makes you look distinguished," then you should make it a priority to get rid of feature y at all costs, if that is at all possible. For example, and this is just hypothetical, if you're a girl and you have a mustache. Just a thought.

Today's phrase: late to the kegger

A week in review, CNBC style

2009-06-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

Pop: Cross-training. No amount of triathalon style training prepares you for playing a weekend game of touch football. And while you wouldn't expect running and swimming to improve your spiral, the muscle aches and pains you get from cutting back and running fly routes are a lot different from the ones you get from pushing for that last mile. Mix up your daily routine and boom, another wrinkle, another comfort zone pillaged. By the way, spending your friday afternoon at a football clinic with your boss in central park is priceless.

Drop: Appetite. My stomach got hit by one of those summertime Honey I Shrunk the Kid rays, or else beer has found a way to double in size after I drink it.

Pop: Spending money on clothes. A painful process for sure, but cost/benefit (both professionally and not) in a city like new york is pretty much a no-brainer at this point.

Drop: (off) everything that you can at goodwill, for a nice tax write-off.

Pop: Girls that play sports. 95% are in shape and 100% are fun to hang out with.

Drop: The over 27 female crowd, who sound a little less than convincing when they say "Oh yeah I'm not looking for anything serious either, I just wanna have fun." Right. That's what the scorpion told the frog.

Pop: Post-game drunken revelry. The highlight of a lot of people's week I'm sure.

Drop: Clutter at the Brooklyn public library kid's section. This project was a trip down memory lane, with classics like "Where the Wild Things Are", "In the Night Kitchen", "The Giving Tree", and "Goodnight Moon" as well as some newer ringers like "Dogzilla", "Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp" and "Soccer Mom from Outer Space". The sweet thing about books like these? They fit in perfectly with my attention span, which as of late is around 30 secs long, and somewhat less if you're a girl and look like you weigh more than I do.

Pop: Living in the moment. There will always be stretches of days where you feel like "If x problem were fixed, I'd be set."

Drop: Worrying about the future. My advice - focus on the process, not the result. The idea is not that results don't matter. The best way to be competitive, though, is to play the macro statistics game and not micro-manage. You want to win in the long-run AND the short-run.

Immortal

2009-06-19T03:46:00.000-07:00

What better way to proclaim your love for someone by sharpie-ing that you'll be together "4 LIFE" on the corrugated garage door in the back alley of the post office. Dottie and Mike, I'm talking to you.

It's a cliche that you learn something new every day. Like yesterday at a Birthright Israel Reunion, I learned that Stoli is kosher. Awesome.

Word combo of the day: sarcophagus / bludgeon

Long-winded

2009-06-11T21:28:00.001-07:00

2) Sugiyama vs. Peter Luger's. When I was a kid, I had favorite types of food. That's not really the case anymore; I'll occassionally be in the mood for something but somewhere along the college trek I lost pretty much all of my strict, all-time preferences. So what this won't be is a "I like steak better than seafood/fusion, or vice-a-versa."

Sugiyama is the underdog here. Peter Luger's, the 800 lb gorilla of NY steak houses, the winner of best steakhouse from Zagat for 20 years in a row, fathering more spin-offs than a rooster in a henhouse, its reputation does all the work for it ahead of time, kind of like a celebrity at a bar picking up women. The food was delicious, the atmosphere and service were no-nonsense no frills. By the end of the meal, besides being the most full since I was last at Becco's, I ended up reaching the same conclusion about Luger's that two of my exceptionally discriminating foodie co-workers had reached separately: it's a pilgrimage you can't leave the city without making, but it's not worlds apart from other high-end steak houses in the city. And I'm not comparing Luger's to non-porterhouse powerhouses like Del Frisco's or BLT prime, I'm talking more about the spin-offs. All of the steakhouses on the Luger circuit are good, and you're not "settling" by going to Wolfgang's (where there's more selection for the sides) or one of the other "satellite locations" in Manhattan. I'd say it's a testament to the original Luger's more than anything else, and since the other stops on the circuit are easier for me to get to when I get the steak craving, I'm happy to give those places my business.

Then there's Sugiyama, a place that does kaiseki style dining, the only choice you get is how many courses you want. The meal is just as much about the experience and presentation as the amazing food, the journey through the food jungle with the chef leading the safari. That being said, you aren't paying for the scenery in the restaurant (as opposed to somewhere like Sushi Samba) - the place is very austere, small, and low key. There's certain meal features that catch you off guard, the mini-crabs, the hot stones, the crazy attention to detail. You'll end your journey pleasantly full but not stuffed.

With Luger's you know exactly what you're getting ahead of time, and it's exactly what you came for. With Sugiyama, the variety, twists and turns are never predictable. The contrast ends up being a metaphor for life in general.

I'd like to reaffirm my "conviction buy" rating on two places I went back to recently - Cantoon Garden in Chinatown and Ocean Jewel out in Flushing for dim-sum. If you haven't tried these places, you have no excuse because they're dirt cheap and top-notch at what they do.

Places I'd like to try (aka the "Ellis Island" Roster):
Mexican: Maya, Rosa Mexicana
BBQ: Blue Smoke
Steakhouses: Ben and Jack's, Dylan Prime
Japanese: Yasuda, Tomoe
American: Market Table
Fish and Chips: A Salt and Battery
Italian: Babbo's, Il Mulino

The corner blitz

2009-06-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

1) The other day at around 1:20 am I got a totally random text from a 901 number (Shelby county area code) saying "I haven't seen you all summer what are you doin". It was pretty clear it was meant to be a booty call and that I wasn't the intended recipient. So naturally I responded back with, "Pretty bored, what have you been up to." And so begins the game to extract as much info as possible without letting the text cat out of the bag. So far I know that we know each other from Florida.

By the way: textsfromlastnight.com Not really work safe but really quite hilarious.

Quote-able

2009-06-09T19:20:00.001-07:00

"Man this company's going to miss its interest payment on 6/30/2009. Liquidity sucks, no cash flow, business prospects are non-existent. Total disaster."

"Haha that's rough man. If I were the CFO of that company I'd hire a flock of pterodactyls to help me escape to the Bahamas."

"I love it when people send me e-mails that are just one word in all caps. I feel like Megatron is writing these. Like, check this one out, all it says is CONFIRMED."

The place you want to be

2009-06-09T04:13:00.000-07:00

See post from a couple of days ago.

Today's word: Megatron
Today's phrase: flock of pterodactyls
Today's place you want to be: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4K9snqk7g4

(Pizza) Wheel of Fate

2009-06-07T17:20:00.000-07:00

It was inevitable. And I'm only surprised it didn't happen sooner. Someone opened up a dollar a slice pizza place called "two bros pizza" to compete with the one across the street from me. They're a block away from the original on the other side of the bus station and serve the same cheese-lite pizza. There's one main difference though - this place is indoors with chairs and benches, a papaya dog-esqe style setup. I'm afraid these guys are going to clean house whenever it rains.

Pepperoni slices are an extra half dollar. I haven't gotten sick yet. I'll report back tomorrow to let prospective customers know if that holds up.

So, while I may regret not moving into that duplex 2400 square foot loft in Soho sometime later this year, right now it's advantage Hell's Kitchen.

You can't afford me

2009-06-07T05:38:00.000-07:00

Title taken from the profile of a girl who I'll classify as a "professional flirt."

I'm finding that I'm alternately drawn to and repulsed by girls with expensive taste.

Trapped into watching the Suze Orman show yesterday on CNBC (let's admit, these things happen at times), I found myself glued to the segment called "can I afford it?" where Suze invites viewers to present something they want to buy and then says "show me the money" and tells them whether they can afford their dreams or not. Most of the time the answer is "no" and Suze proclaims "denied" in the same way that Donald Trump says "you're fired."

Pretty much all the viewers fit into one of two categories, people with no savings that want to spend $17 K on a diamond ring and make like $40 K a year, and people who make like $300 K and have enough to retire on at 30 who want to spend 500 bucks on a trip to see their grandmother in Iceland. You know what the answer's going to be before Suze even starts talking, and you wonder why these people called in. It's more like, the rich want everyone to know how well they're doing and the not-so-well off, well, they're probably going to be like "screw off Suze I'm doing it anyway. Just because you said I couldn't."

Game, set, match

2009-06-06T06:23:00.000-07:00

One of my concerns about the career I've chosen is that it will turn me into a boring person. Even worse, that it might turn me into a boring, wealthy person. It doesn't have to be the case because I know a lot of well-grounded, cool people who work in the industry. Incidentally, most of them are traders.

It starts out with being at work all the time (full disclosure: I'm actually headed there in about an hour). I don't want work to define my life with work because 1) I'm not really a fan of people who do this and 2) if anything's been learned over the past month it's to not put all of your eggs in one basket unless you're going on a picnic. Vague enough yet? It's fun to make jokes about the (insert asset type here) market with co-workers, and it's fun to hear people talk about girls in terms of Sharpe Ratios (a friend has a theory that 6s and 7s aren't worth pursuing because "you have to work just as hard to get them as the 8s or 9s and so you might as well go for the bigger payoff"). But overall I don't think it's too dramatic to say that in certain situations your work can transform you into a one-sided, one-track person , and that's usually bad unless you're in the heat of battle or wild sex. In addition to the cool people, I know plenty of people who are completely uninteresting and unfun to hang out with because they're stuck in the mud. Actually, hanging out with them, you start to wonder if you're becoming like that, whether it's true or not.

So, in an effort to keep the creative juices flowing, I've started a game that I play pretty much every day now. In the morning, I come up with one (usually offbeat, very specific) word or phrase that I'm going to work into a normal conversation at some point in the day. The rules of the game are: you have to use the word in a sentence that makes sense in the context of an already established conversation about some other subject, the other person has to nod and accept it and not call you out on it or seem confused or break up the flow of the conversation to try and figure out what you meant, and you have to keep a straight face and not laugh while saying it (usually the hardest part). The best is when you don't see anyone till like 7 PM and then youre trying to figure out how to slide "hieroglyphics", "sucker punch", or "donkey kong's bananas" into a dialogue. Classic.

Hot Pursuit

2009-06-05T02:23:00.000-07:00

The next objective, the next big trade, the next night out, the next trip, forward curve.

Most of the time that's what waking up at 5 a.m. is all about. But not every time.

I lost my phone in a cab, someone found it and I was able to get it back within 12 hours after scrambling around midtown, chinese fire drill style. Living off the grid is something people romanticize about, but it's not actually as cool as people want to believe. You'll be annoyed more times than you'll be proud of yourself, and phone numbers are one of the most annoying things to try and replace especially if you're just getting to know someone. There are no pursuits off the grid. Actually there is one, but only if youre Buddhist and you're pursuing nirvana/enlightenment.

Thoughts on "Exit the King" (the play); 1st half was entertaining and thought-provoking, 2nd half dragged it out way too long, characters became one-sided and the dialogue turned into drivel. The only thing the people I saw it with agreed on was that the last sequence would have been better viewed on acid.

Sanctum

2009-06-03T03:04:00.000-07:00

With high yield issuance spiralling out of control, natural gas moving 10% a day, and the office seemingly constantly overrun by good-looking girls, it's hard to get work done especially when it's coming at you from all angles.

The solution is a good pair of ear-humping headphones (you know which ones I'm talking about, the ones that wrap around your ears e-frame style) and an easy to reach volume control switch. And the other key, the music.

Here's my selections from yesterday:

Trance, electronic, house, dance - need music without words for heavy-duty stuff. Also known to induce a hypnotic state which is good for focused assaults on deadlines and blocking out annoying comments from co-workers.

Kanye West - still schizophrenic and arrogant, still one of the most original, genius mainstream guys out there

T.I. - a little truth in these words for everyone, no matter who you are
That part of me left yesterday /the heart of me is strong today /No regrets im blessed to say /the old me dead and gone away.

Remix'd

2009-06-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

I really like this remix (warning, there's a really angry guy at the beginning).

Sometime you get the feeling that the day is going to be an adventure in deja vu. Practice makes perfect right?

By the way, if you responded mentally to that question with "that's what she said", you're way behind the curve.

The medicine and the cure, part II

2009-06-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

Walking down 57th street at 10:30 PM tonight, I had a surge of contentment and the sudden feeling that I was on home turf.

I walked into the subway and heard the guitarist there, a regular, spitting out some classics while a girl from Brooklyn (not sure why I assume that, but I'm positive she was) watched in awe. At the end, she gave him a dollar and a big hug before boarding the subway.

All of this after another crazy, chaotic day at work. One glass of ice cold water later, consider me cured. Consider me saved.

The medicine and the cure

2009-05-31T06:22:00.000-07:00

So, I've single-handedly devised a plan to get us back to 1400 on the S&P. As we've seen from today's equity market action, the historical filing of a major, iconic American company with a healthy dose of government participation is worth a 20 point bonus on the SPX. Alright, so from 940, all we have to do is have Uncle Sam file 26 more similarly-statured companies and watch the fireworks from there. Our 401ks will be refilled in no time.

I thought this exchange on Zero Hedge was pretty post-worthy:

"If that move were to the downside we would have a congressional hearing by 11 AM on Monday to discuss emergency implementation of the uptick rule."

"It sounds like you may be too emotionally invested. Yes, of course there would be a Congressional investigation if the reverse had occurred. So what does it tell you that in a so-called representative republic, our elected leaders merely sit on their hands, secretly cheerleading the market action? The way to answer that question is to view the USA not as a citizen, but as a 3rd party evaluating another country. If that country's previous economic expansion was fueled not by innovation & production, but rather debt leverage & asset inflation, you might have stayed invested until you figured it was time to get out. Now, once you were out, would you re-enter the market if the country, rather than reform itself and embark on a new period of investment & productivity, had simply abrogated certain laws, including its very own Constitution? And in doing so, had allowed key political & industry insiders to manipulate critical economic features such as the currency & public debt all motivated by one thing: re-starting securitization ie the debt-leverage/asset-inflation cycle. What would this tell you about that country and its long-term prospects? I think the answer is obvious; play the game in the short-term, but look out for rivals. I think Jim Rogers is spot on - this place is toast and doesn't have much life left."

Things that are unstoppable

2009-05-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

This commercial made me cringe every time it was on last season.

There's no need to dwell on why it's stupid, but there's no reason not to throw in a few corrections. Without further ado, things that really are unstoppable:

1) Our portfolio manager's neon orange polo shirts

2) Me, in the context of a plate of cheeseburgers

3) Grizzly bears that climb trees (that actually might be all of them).

4) Occam's Razor

5) Kids with crayons and sharpies

6) Bums pumped up on mad dog 20/20

7) This bad boy.

8) Donkey Kong

9) The US dollar's slide.

With a preface from Mr. Frost

2009-05-29T04:05:00.000-07:00

"Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths falling in and out of favor."

Irrational investors, I pose the following question to you: If you see a car headed straight towards a concrete wall at 110 mph, do you suddenly become much more optimistic and jump through the window into the car for the ride if you think the car is going to slow down to 100 mph before hitting the wall, or maybe the car isn't going to slow down but the driver is feeling better about surviving the oncoming crash?

I believe the answer is, only if you believe you can survive jumping out of the moving vehicle before impact.

"Hope. It is simultaenously your greatest strength and your greatest weakness."
-Architect, The Matrix

Quotes about money, oh so funny

2009-05-28T03:50:00.000-07:00

"When I was young, I thought that money was the most important thing in the world. Now that I'm older and have been through life, I know that I was right."

-co-worker

"The easiest way to teach your children about money is to not have any."

-Elizabeth

The next one is not really about money, but maybe it's the stereotypical equivalent for girls?

"Whenever guys are rude to me, I tell them 'I'm sorry I'm not cute with big boobs.'"

- girl on the subway

And the last one, at least she's honest:

"I don't want one an ABC (American born chinese) husband. I can only date guys from the Motherland."

- girl at sushi bar

I am of the hearty opinion that you shouldn't date someone just because they're not cute and don't have big boobs. Please note there are no typos in the previous sentence.

As for the last girl, maybe she means Mother Russia?

The smell of napalm in the morning, an update

2009-05-28T03:28:00.000-07:00

If you're a barbeque fan (and really who isn't, unless you've managed to contract vegetarianism) and you're in New York there's at least three places you should try:

1) Hill Country: Live music, long communal dining tables that would make a medieval warlord proud, and a Monday all you can eat menu that gets you unlimited pork ribs, bbq chicken, and brisket. The sides are excellent and all dishes pass the "quarter inch layer of grease coating the paper its wrapped in" test.

2) RUB (righteous urban bbq): The first time we tried to go here they were actually out of food. We spent 10 minutes wondering how a restaurant runs out of food before heading over to Hill Country. Anyway, when we came back the next time they did in fact have food, ribs are great, sausage is great, didn't get to try the burnt ends though, which is one of their specialties. Try the fried green tomatoes for an authentic southern blast. Even better than fried green pickles with horseradish.

3) Daisy May's: When I first saw the beef rib, I couldn't believe so many people could actually down the whole thing. Words to describe it are "supermassive" and, if you've tried it, "supermassively delicious." If you include sides with this meal you're definitely capable of swimming across the nearby hudson river, even if you don't know how to swim. Such is the power of cow and dairy.

I've heard Blue Smoke is really good as well, so that should be a future review.

Coincident Culture

2009-05-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

There's one thing that pretty much everyone at my office obsesses over and it doesn't have anything to do with money, investing, or the rare appearance of cheetos in the snack basket. The one thing that everyone has in common but doesn't talk about is a fixation on fitness. You might say that's not surprising given that we spend 12+ hours sitting in front of computers each day, but it's a little more complicated than that.

The weird thing is that no one really works out together or talks about it. Everyone has managed, through some twisted path of fate, to become an athlete of some sort. There are triathletes, fighters, swimmers, marathon runners, (basket)ballers, bodybuilders, we're even getting a model as an intern this summer, you name it. Everyone does something and most people do a few things. Somehow everyone has arrived at the same conclusion.

New Yorkers are some of the most fit people in the country, maybe behind Seattle or some city like that where people bike to Canada and back for kicks, but in general at the top of their game especially considering how little space we have to run around in. It's definitely rubbing off on me, I've lost 35 lbs and 30 points of blood pressure in the last 3 months and I'm signed up for some serious sports action this summer. People in New York don't say, "I look and feel great", it's really just a state of being that everyone embraces.

See Star Trek even if you've never seen the TV show. Actually, especially if you've never seen the TV show. It's quite good.

Add to to-do list:
9) Go on a cruise at some point.

Save Yourself

2009-05-05T02:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning on the subway I ran into a new breed of New Yorker, the renegade punk rock preacher. Wearing a black and white "Trust Jesus" hoodie and sporting a duct-taped threadbare bible, he asked everyone on the subway to raise their hand if he or she was saved and then, to check out his website, primaryproofofthebible.com, which he had created over 5 years of intense labor in a Siberian prison camp (hey man, I'm giving you free advertising/street cred here).

He then pushed on with a fire and brimstone sermon that would have made even the most hardcore, right-wing leaning, bible-thumping, family-value espousing, Obama hating (hey that guy is getting on my nerves too), secretly sexually-deviant conservative shake in his boots. The general jist of his sermon was something like: If you don't throw your arms up and praise the lord, you're going to burn while Satan uses the flames coming off of you to roast marshmallows! Basic reward and punishment. So either God wants to treat you like a little kid, or, God is a capitalist after all, and is all about harnessing the power of self-interest. Unforunately, neither one of those ideas seemed especially appealing, judging from the dead stares he got from the other passengers. It's a good thing God is forgiving, or this salesman would've gotten a pink slip (and no taxpayer funded bailout) long before this recession even started.

Sunday fun-day

2009-05-03T06:43:00.000-07:00

Title shamelessly stolen from those NFL commercials.

With my last to-do list waning to a close, and the weather warming up, I added a few things that I've had my eye on for the last couple of months:

1) Hudson Valley Hand Gliding - besides being a life long dream, the actual hand gliding itself is already paid for, all I need is the plane ticket.

2) Pick off a top of the market condo owner - hey i've been burned on momentum trades (actually by momentum traders) as well so I feel your pain. But it won't stop me from haggling like a Chinatown bootleg DVD salesman for a good deal.

3) See foo fighters live in concert.

4) Touch football. Anything that involves running or swimming. Preferably co-ed. Maybe even a sprint triathalon if I can find a good deal on a bike.

5) Do something nice for swine flu girl. The other night I met a girl with this intense negative aura, so much so that I thought that if swine flu could be a person, she would be that person. So it's kind of a harsh assessment but I'm thinking that on my bad days, I could come off like that as well. So you know what they say about good deed for the day or whatever. As long as she doesn't actually have swine flu, I think a good deed is in the cards.

6) Stop hating real estate brokers as much. Haha, just kidding. Same ole shady schnenigans from these guys.

7) I'm also all in on gas so I'll know whether 8) Sunday Funday update written from the Bahamas is going to happen within the next month.

Firestarter

2009-05-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

About 3 weeks ago a friend texted me while I was at the gym post-work, saying very vaguely that there was something going on with work that I would want to know about right away. Caught off guard, I headed back to the office to see if anyone was there but it was deserted. A few minutes later I bailed on the office and met my friend on the streets below to find out what was going on.

The horse you rode in on

I've posted on risk-taking and probability a couple of times. There was actually a pretty heavy dose of chance in ending up with the job that I have right now (fits in well with Nassim Taleb's Black Swan theory). When I first noticed on my college's job search engine that the firm was recruiting with on-campus interviews, the schedule for interviews was already booked and after reading the description I promptly forgot about it. I happened to log back into the job search engine the day before the interviews were supposed to occur to check on something else totally unrelated and noticed that the very first interview slot at the overachieving rooster call crack of dawn had opened up, probably from someone having accepted another offer. I took the spot, got the job, and the rest is a pretty lengthy but for the most part awesome work in progress. Some journeys begin with a single small accident.

And that's where you come in

After talking with my friend, things moved quickly. A promotion, a massive resume builder for someone under 30 with only a couple of years of experience. The headline numbers were a major career booster.

It's easy to gamble when you've got nothing to lose. But the other time to gamble is when things are going your way. Grab the dice, throw them against the back wall, and hope you hit your number. It's when things are going your way that it's easiest to get stuck in the comfort zone. Bad things happen, like falling in love with your paycheck. Or your career takes over and defines your overall identity. And maybe you even stop growing.

You're fooling yourself if you think you can control or even understand everything, but overall it's pretty hard to underestimate your own ability to make something happen. The easiest way to pillage a comfort zone is to set yourself up for failure. I'm not just talking about your career, I'm talking about everything - relationships, your fitness, your happiness. And you should expect to fail, and often. Even more strongly, you should expect to overcome those failures. Learn everything you can, try everything you can, and don't apologize to yourself for mistakes. When it comes to people, paradigm shifts are gradual. In the end you'll be able to look back and see it as leveraging success into newer and better things.

Make yourself

You should make amends with you
If only for better health
But if you really want to live, Why not try, and Make yourself?

Fake money, fun times

2009-04-03T02:48:00.000-07:00

Early morning insomnia compels me to blog again.

It's very rarely that I try and get to the bottom of what wakes me up early in the morning. One thing that always does is drinking. Any more than 5 drinks in one night and I'm up at 4 AM. That wasn't the case last night so let's move on.

Gambling, either in the market or at the tables. This has got to be at least part of it, I own several months rent worth of may put spreads AND, last night was casino night, where I learned that it can be a lot of fun to gamble with fake money as long as there's cute girls around.

3) Anticipation.

I'd like to send a shout out to the short blonde girl who bought me a drink last night. Here's an irish blessing that sounds less like a blessing and more like a neo-realist tagline:

"May your saddest moment in the future be no more painful than the joy of your happiest moment in the past."

Home sweet home

2009-04-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

It's midnight and I just got home from work. I'm hoping some Chicane can put me into a more powerful, energy-replenishing, sleep, a sleep on steroids if you will.

I downloaded the entire discography and it makes the hours fly by late at night in the office.

Money may make the world go around (and I think it actually rotates faster for people who have more of it) but it only takes one person to make it stop for you.

Litany of Fire, Watery Weekends

2009-03-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

Q: Why are your blog post titles so esoteric lately?
A: In simplicity lies beauty. In complexity lies the truth.

So, weekends use to be my sanctuary from the week. Then it got flipped around to where I needed a vacation from my weekends and week days got to be my sanctuary from the weekend. Now, I'm pretty sure there isn't anywhere to hide. Work has suddenly become very engaging, not in a bad way but it definitely takes up a lot more of my time that it had even earlier this year. And I write enough about weekends where you know about that already.

Then there's this video, which pretty well jives what I was saying in earlier posts about water, and is also a good trance track to boot.

I have another phone number for this week but the conversation was really brief and I don't remember what she looks like, so there might not be a trade for this one.

Revelations, part II

2009-03-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

Almost like Usher's Confessions, but I didn't get anyone pregnant.

Friday night I was at Cain, which ended up being pretty much exactly what I thought it would be based on the models and bottles video (AJ wasn't there - he was replaced by a drag queen auctioning off people for dates on the central runway and a penthouse pet). The drinks were less than 10 each until 1, as my credit card unforunately found out. A friend at work tipped me off to the fact that there would be a pretty solid bridge and tunnel crowd (I didn't really know what that meant till about a month ago, honestly).

I'd like to sketch out another character archetype, the brunette long island girl who is average to slightly above average looking and who wears lots of makeup. These girls have serious bitch shields and have the attitude that a friend of mine constantly complains about, "For us it's all about how the girl looks, and she's not that good looking. These girls are a dime a dozen but each of them thinks she deserves Brad Pitt." I actually think that this attitude fades over time, since every time I go to a bar / lounge with an older crowd (like G2 for my co-worker's 30th birthday) the girls are a lot more friendly, maybe because they realize their prime time is fading. Reminds me of a slogan a friend who has a twin sister used for their 30th b-day party: "Joey's hitting his prime, Annie's running out of time."

Even with time on my side, I think the best way to go about things is to put yourself out there, meet new people, etc. Let's be honest, it's easy to stay at home and convince yourself that you're hot shit and if you actually felt like going out, you'd be the life of the party. It's a good way to preserve ego. But everyone needs reality checks (and not necessarily negative ones) to help them figure out what they're really made of. I'm not advocating validating your self-worth solely on the opinions / actions of others, but there's a difference between being confident in your own awesomeness and delusional / out of touch. And for anyone looking for long-term relationships, giving yourself perspective by dealing with lots of people is probably the most important thing you can do.

In other news, one of our co-workers is headed out in order to move from doing assistant type work to do hands-on finance at another company. I kind of saw it coming as she's ambitious like that, but it's going to be a lot quieter at the office and at events without our blonde fearless social playmaker. Finding a job in this market is clutch so congrats and godspeed.

I lost my digital camera that I bought around a month ago. I need to start spending around 50 - 60 bucks on these things. Or strap it to my forehead when I go out.

Brilliance of Osiris, Weekend Revelations

2009-03-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

They say it's always darkest before the dawn, and I believe the opposite is true as well. It's always brightest before the plunge. I don't necessarily believe this guy, but I don't think we're turning the corner quite yet. The point of me posting this is - please keep your 401ks in cash.

I feel like I'm on an epiphany streak (not related to the above) here over the last couple of days.

1) I don't want roommates, and I don't want a studio. 1 BR all the way. I do want to save money, but some things have grown near sacred for me.

2) I don't have time for a girlfriend. I went from comfort zone to insanely productive to always being out to combining the last two. I need the two extremes, stress then release. I can't get caught in the middle.

3) I really like certain aspects of finance / economics and I could see myself in this field for the rest of my life.

4) If I don't do #3, I'm gonna take up music again. Playing jazz is like being in the water for me.

Drama SWAT Team

2009-03-26T03:02:00.000-07:00

Last night at a little past midnight I woke up to the sound of the police pounding on the apartment door of my upstairs neighbor. To fill you in on some details, this guy is a selfish brat with literally, the mental maturity of a 5 year old.

After about 5 minutes of knocking, I hear the door open and a whiny, high-pitched voice ask, "What seems to be the problem officers?"

Apparently, the guy's roommate/boyfriend had gotten locked out (you can hear constant bickering coming from above through the not so-well insulated floorboards) after they had gotten in a fight and had called the police, telling them that the neighbor was drunk and suicidal. The guy, of course denied everything and the argument between him and the police continued for a good half hour with officers running up and down the stairs. Must have been a slow night in the slums / bus station.

Soon, the apartment hunt begins.

Restless, Insomnia Kicks In Again

2009-03-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

1) Equity bulls squeezed me for over 2k yesterday. That of course inspired me to "Texas Hedge", otherwise known as doubling down. It's true what my co-worker said, I do feel a need to be in the game at all times. Also, until deflation kicks in, cash is still a crappy investment, despite what everyone will tell you.

2) Found an awesome apartment in the real estate section, a doorman building near Columbus Circle with an extra 130 sq ft. of space and all the amenities this building doesn't have. It's also cheaper than my place currently by about 150 / month (the price had been reduced around 30% over the last month). Unforunately when I called in to ask about it, I found out there were already some solid applications in. I'm hoping the deals get even better soon.

3) Actually, every girl who swims at equinox is training for a triathalon. They also all seem to be lawyers?

Hair of the dog

2009-03-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

So I'm better again. I got lots of rest and drank plenty of water and took some "C" category vitamins.

Actually not. I'm better but I didn't really do any of the above, except for the drinking water part. Apparently, the way to cure yourself of a cold (and I share this with you enthusiastically) is to 1) keep working out twice a day no matter how brutal it feels 2) keep going out until 4 am and wake up no later than 8 am friday and saturday and in conjunction, 3) try and get to double digit drinks each night and eat greasy mediterranean food right before you go to sleep (you can think of this as your breakfast).

Seriously. It works. Either than or I got bitten by a radioactive Wolverine while in battle last week and accidentally obtained the healing factor.

Interesting story from the weekend: I think I got roofied last night. I was down the street eating a dinner at a bar, and asked for a vodka tonic with Stoli. Bartender says, hey we're out of Stoli what else do you want. Absolut is fine. Ok, off we go. Drink tastes funny but I figure it's just the brand difference. Go home (this is after one drink) with the intention of working on my taxes some before I head out. Huge memory gap, I wake up face down on the couch dehydrated and its 3 hours later. I go out anyway, drink 5 - 6 more drinks, feel totally fine.

I've had good luck music wise with with the following media player strategy: type in a random, general word and play all the songs that have that word in the title. "Summer, cool, love, water." All the things that make life complete.

Someone got me sick

2009-03-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about list format for this post but decided to try and be a little less vague.

Actually, the #1 thing that annoys me about getting sick is messing up my workout schedule. I'd say it's a point of pride for me to be there every 12 hours. Things happen though when you're on an open desk and people feel compelled to come in unless they're missing limbs. I left at 5:45 PM and still got some glares from co-workers.

The other thing kind of bothering me lately (OK really bothering me) is this whole AIG / TARP bonus fiasco. In terms of basic justice I don't think there's any question that traders or firms who lose money and file chapter 11 shouldn't get /give out big bonuses. It's not quite that simple though.

You set a terrible precedent when you use the national legislative system to take away people's compensation after it has been received in accordance with legal and contractual guarantees (and with the original bailout plans). I would much rather see someone walk away with money they don't deserve then fall down that slippery slope head first. Firms have to pay their employees competitively or those employees pick up and leave. Spending large amounts of valuable congressional time and effort to hunt down a few people and take their legally obtained money, however seemingly undeserved, reeks of the most base form of populism (actually, more like a witch hunt) and belies a startling lack of vision. You can't even argue that it's for the greater good because the amount of money that might be recovered even if everything were given back isn't even a drop in the bucket when you consider our economic woes. There's guys on the CNN.com message boards calling on companies to willfully ignore contracts with their employees and "let them sue if they want to." Others are a less subtle, calling for revolution right now if these bonuses are paid. Speaking of revolution, there's definitely a tinge of class warfare to this whole dilemma, with bill proposals calling for 100% tax on bonuses for anyone at a firm that received TARP money and who made over 250k. Does anyone else see a problem with this?

I don't believe for a minute that the tax money I obligingly push towards the government each year won't be at least partially wasted, and my guess is that anyone who really thought this in the first place is either lying are willfully ignorant. I receive various forms of help from the government, as do most people and companies in this country. That help is funded by my fellow taxpayers. If I squander money should the government be able to come in and retroactively garnish my paycheck? Sounds scary to me.

Ebb and flow

2009-03-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

It's back to the work week. Time for a coherent, non-schizophrenic post.

This weekend I had a really interesting conversation about one of my favorite things in the whole world: water. Food is also up there, but I spend plenty of posts ranting about restaurants, so here it is, the other pillar of my life.

I'm not talking about drinking water, I'm talking about being in the water. Any form of immersion, floating, swimming, diving. Ocean, pool, water park, whatever. During high school I used to blog about the hot tub on my deck, which I spent thousands of dollars on to get fixed and renovated. It wasn't, as people guessed, so I could host pool parties or have a place to bring girls (although both of those things did actually happen). It was more because I could spend hours lying in there, listening to the sound of bubbling water, jet stream currents erasing all traces of conscious thought.

Another place I spent a lot of time as a kid was in the bathtub, where I would let the water from the showerhead wash over me. I had a hard time relaxing and the time was meditative, my mind was always on the move, and just for a few minutes, I lost touch with reality and was able to zone out.

Then there's the vivid flash memories I have of specific moments, like the time I was lying under the vast nighttime sky with twinkling stars, floating in a pool somewhere in Florida right along the ocean, a dolphin statue sending a curving jet of water overhead, the sound of conversation from the few other people there a dim hum.

Or the time I was in Atlantic City at the Tropicana, in an upgraded suite room that had its own Jacuzzi tub, with multiple jets spraying water from all directions, and water from multiple shower heads raining in from above.

Or the time I was on the beach nearby, a thunderstorm approaching, the surf growing unruly and the tide crashing into the sandy shore as the sky darkened. I wanted to run out into the foamy currents and swim butterfly in between the waves. There was a feeling visceral and empowering, a feeling of being in motion with nature and part of something larger than life itself.

Even in the last example, the common thread for all these memories was a sense of inner peace, harmony, and emptiness, a feeling that's all but impossible to find in New York.

Get your priorities straight

2009-03-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

1) Casellula wine bar > Flor del Sol tapas place in Tribecca. Both in quality and unforunately, in price. For a place featuring the "pig's ass sandwich" you'd think dishes would be cheaper, but not quite how it works.

2) Lenny's breakfast platter > Bread Factory breakfast platter. Price and quality of home fries.

3) Running > swimming. For calories burned per hour.

4) Swimming > running. For how long I'm willing to do each exercise.

5) Burritos > tacos. At Burrito Box. Yeah I'm still on that tear.

6) Fun > judgement. No regrets about last night, no strong desire to repeat. It's actually only half personal, half #7.

7) Having bed to yourself > Sharing bed with someone else. For queen sizes and below.

More scatter brained thoughts

2009-03-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

I'm scatter-brained because I never sleep on weekends anymore.

Friday rush:

1) Marginalized revenge: After the last couple of days, I understand why it's so easy to go jihad. When you're pushed to the fringe, a cause is the closest thing to a soulmate you'll find. It's better than falling off the edge (or maybe it is falling off the edge) and you get to go fanatic, which is probably just as intense as sex.

2) Big sis / lil sis: The stereotype here is that the younger one is better looking and the older one is responsible and dateable. That being said, the easiest way to piss off the big sis is to hit on the little sister. And it's weird how diferent sisters tend to look from each other?

3) Hookah bars and lounges: Swimmer's lungs are handy for showing off.

4) 25 dollar bar tab minimums everywhere for credit cards. I thought it was just Soho where everyone is young and beautiful, but it turns out to be the case in the East Village too. I will go out on a limb and say that not everyone in the East Village is particularly attractive. But maybe if you're at a bar and you're the tallest one, it's an ego boost.

5) Plan is to stay in the neighborhood. Plans suck, but I do want to do some wine bar hopping. Not quite the same as doing it in the winding alleys of Rome or Florence but at least I know what the menu says.

Market Quick Takes

2009-03-12T03:55:00.000-07:00

0.5) Burrito Box, 57th and 9th avenue. Because if you're not eating your burrito out of a box, you're a fucking chump. (Seriously, what else what you be eating it out of? You're on notice Cancun and Arriba Arriba). Burritoville on 9th is donzo and this is better anyway.

1) I always fall asleep with the lights on (not on purpose, just happens). Anybody else do this? If so I encourage you to get in touch with me, there's a good chance of a soul mate bond.

2) Ran into hardcore triathlete girl again. She looks really good with her clothes on as well, and I definitely spent a good amount of time on Wednesday morning considering that fact. Till next Wednesday.

3) I could post some negative stuff about natural gas short squeezes and having a grand and a half of pure profit that I was going to use to help finance the Bahamas erased in one day, but then I realized if you want to read some serious sob stories you should just go to fmylife.com for some hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking reads.

3.5) I wasn't kidding about the free steak dinner at Luger's, but it might have to wait.

4) I've had inquiries about new binary trades. The rule is, the girl has to be a totally random girl that I'll likely never see again (disqualifies girl from #2) that I meet in a random place like a bar or such . Which is where I'm headed right now.

Back to School Weekend

2009-03-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

The last time I was in Hoboken, I actually got the exact same impression of it that I did when I was there yesterday. It's a college town, except there's no college. The school color was green and the song was anything you could get people to sing with you. St. Patty's day on Saturday is Jersey's Mardi Gras.

You had a pretty good idea of what was going to be going on when you got to the PATH station and waited in long, undulating, lines of green to board the trains, which were basically party buses, crowded and rowdy and drunk and singing and broken glass.

Moving from house party to party with a rapidly expanding / shrinking group is pretty much exactly the same thing as being in a band of roving freshmen, crashing in on parties, drinking all the alcohol and eating all the food, and moving on. It's like being in a locust swarm where all the locusts have cell phones to tell them where the next patch of delicious vegetables is.

The thing that really stuck out to me is the people who really seem like they didn't want to be there. I mean seriously if you that's not your type of thing, it was pretty easy to avoid, just stay out of that one square mile of Jersey (I still have a hard time believing that) for one afternoon. There was this one short brunette girl on the PATH train who was listening to her Ipod, flipping back and forth between different songs for the entire ride, oblivious to the soccer chants and shots being taken around her. Despite my best efforts to give her room, she kept nestling into me as if she expected me to project her from the Bacchanalia around her. When I asked her about being in her own little world, she was like "I'm ready to party, but just not now, not on this train." To be honest, a lot of times I actually enjoy partying with people I don't know at all even more.

Want a job in finance?

2009-03-07T04:16:00.000-08:00

The answer to the above question may be "no" if you look at CNN.com at all.

But just in case:

WAS LOOKING AT A SUMMER ANALYST RESUME PACKET AND PICKED OUT THE TOP 10 INTERESTS ON PEOPLES RESUMES.........................
1. Mario Party 8 (Wii video game)
2. Dinosaurs
3. Bodybuilding
4. Taking calculated risks
5. Dragonboat Racing
6. Gardening Indian Vegetables
7. Family Guy & The Office
8. Cooking (omelettes)
9. Blogging
10. Rubik's Cube (2min)

If you've read some of my earlier posts you know how I feel about calculated risks. You can probably guess how i feel about gardening indian vegetables. Drgaonboat racing and dinosaurs are unequivocally awesome.

Binary was extended to tonight midnight at the request of one of the longs. Don't worry I already spent your money.

Vignettes from the last 72 hours

2009-03-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

1) At the pool for a pre-work swim, I started talking to my lane mate, a skinny girl with an athletic build wearing a two-piece. Let me explain first; no girls that swim competitively really ever wear two-pieces, even ones made for lap swimming. This girl turned out to be very competitive, a tri-athlete who was just finishing her 2000 morning workout. What I didn't realize was that I had already met her and talked to her; midway through her conversation she spurts out "but we've already had this conversation! Don't you remember?"

"Sorry," I said. "My memory is fuzzy before 9 A.M. - that's the time when I start getting in trouble for not remembering things." To be honest I didn't remember her at all. "I have the memory of an elephant," she said. "But I don't know anything else but what we talked about."

2) Walking out of the Time Warner Center to work, I almost had by head caved in my a mini avalanche. A 15 lb block of ice fell from the top of the building onto the sidewalk, scattering shards 20 feet in every direction, sounding like a car backfiring. I was probably about 10 feet away. And I thought that place was all classy and safe and upscale. Reminds me of that time we convinced the girl from Florida visiting the dorms in Philadelphia that she needed to buy an icicle helmet.

3) After the swim, I was late to work. When I got there, my co-workers were standing around one of the analysts on our desk, shaking his hand. I knew immediately what was going on. This analyst was the first person I interviewed with during the hiring process for my current job. At another office it could have been that he was getting engaged, having a kid, or a number of things. At our office people come up to you one at a time and shake your hand when one of those things happens. He was leaving, and in the industry we worked in, switching jobs is a disappearing act. No one in the companyknows about it till you send out the terse, 3 sentence email to the everyone listserve. And then you're gone by the end of the same day. Just like that, people move in and out of your life.

4) Laughing uncontrollably while playing gamecube, I realized that it doesn't take much to entertain me. But it doesn't mean I don't have expensive taste (I like to think of it as supporting the economy). My next trip will be a real vacation - to the Atlantis on Paradise Island, in the Bahamas. It's tempting to take an "appetizer" trip to Vegas meanwhile, but I'm working hard on convincing someone to come with me to plow down Mayan temple slides and check out the aquarium, before retreating to the casino and overpriced hotel room.

5) Lazzara's Pizza, now my favorite pizza joint in the city. Especially after i got sick from Angelo's a couple of times.

Weekly update

2009-03-01T15:12:00.001-08:00

Last last week: Not really that into her.

Last week:
30 - 40 mkt
No return call from the Mad River girl. Binary saturday trade settles at 0.

The girl: average height brunette wearing a striped white and blue blouse with pink glasses. definitely had the secretary look going on, very attractive. from connecticut, paralegal, recovering vegetarian, seemed shy, drinking a pinkish drink that looked like the cartoon version of love potion

Contact: Saw her walking by, made a comment about her shirt, and she's all "It's from H&M!"
Afterwards, I go over and tell her that my friends bet me I couldn't get her number (not true).

Topics of conversation: Buenos Aires, travelling, who did I know in the bar, her wanting to go to law school, sushi, was I single?, how her parents gave her sister a nicer trip than she got, italy, cruises, studying French instead of Spanish in high school, trickiness of unhooking a bra

Body language: weird cues. Took of her glasses when i first approached, then i told her she should keep them on, she puts them back on, also drawing attention to the stains on her blouse near her cleavage. Didn't really respond too well to lean-ins, didn't really turn to face me.

Negatives: Saying she had to leave the bar cause she had to work the next day (Saturday) on a project, constantly asking if i knew anyone around

Positives: When I first came over, her friend was leaving and asked if she wanted to go with her, but she stayed to talk. She asked me to call her right away after she gave me her number so she could have mine as well. When I asked, are you usually pretty busy Saturdays, she's "No just this once."

This week:
The girl: petite blonde from Jersey, went to Rutgers, worked in magazine publishing but recently got laid off, goes to the gym every day, harcore runner, wants to start lifting, politically very liberal, likes chardonnay, allergic to red wine. lives in the neighborhood.

Contact: at gossip bar (hell's kitchen). actually, she initiated with "excuse me, do you have a light?" which is weird because we were sitting at the bar and you definitely can't smoke inside (NYC rules). also it was freezing cold outside. I didn't notice her at all when i walked in, everyone in the bar was old, and she was hunched over so i figured she was old too

Topics of conversation: fitness, especially running and swimming and the "exercise high" feeling you get, her desire to start lifting, wine/favorite types of alcohol, job situation for both of us, her favorite chinese actors and movies, chinese language and why i can't speak it, my grandad being in the olympics, politics (i honestly tried to steer away from this one but she's passionately liberal, i.e. I'd be in Canada if McCain were president), travelling, bbq

Body language: neutral to slightly positive, couple of lean-ins, she turns to face me from the bar, some hair stroking, all very subdued, definitely no dead-giveaways

What she knows about me: i like red wine, i workout twice a day, i'm from Memphis, i buy my groceries on the cheap, i work long hours, i like bbq, i am gainfully employed in a profession somehow related to Wall Street, i went to penn, i live in the neighborhood

Negatives: she was fishing for compliments at the beginning of our conversation, trying to get me to say she was pretty (and in fact she was attractive), so it's definitely possible she needed an ego boost. also she's unemployed, so it's possible she's looking for money /help finding a job too (but really, finance isn't really that profitable anymore. seriously.) that probably would be an in for a date, but it'd be a dealbreaker for anything else. also, talking about politics. really? Can't tell if she's physically attracted or not.

Positives: She ordered another glass of wine to stay and talk. She was basically trying to convince me that she was super into asian culture. She turned and gave a bashful smile as she left. Good eye contact. Conversation never turned awkward or lulled. She definitely wanted to give me her number. Also brought up opportunities, i.e. "I need someone to workout with."

I'm 30 - 35 for meeting up with her again. Starts tuesday when i contact her. Expires thursday midnight.

And the winner is ...

2009-02-22T05:26:00.000-08:00

Sleep. I was pretty ready to call it a night last night at around 10 last night, but didn't want to break my streak of staying out till at least 3, so I went out against my body's better judgement. I feel pretty confident writing off the entire night, similar to what banks are doing with the NINJA loans they've been giving out over the last couple of years (on a separate note, I'm pretty angry about not having gotten one of those loans. Pawn shops aren't being so friendly these days). You can usually tell it's going to be a pretty rough night when you order your first drink and the bartender responds with, "Damn, dude, you look pretty tired." Hey man, that's why there's coke in the rum.

I spent a good chunk of daylight time out in Brooklyn yesterday, moseying around park slope, boerum hill, and brooklyn heights. I realized two things pretty quickly; one) i don't really want to live there because it's at most 10-15% cheaper than manhattan and two) it's a really nice area and i can see why people want to live there. The area screams "neighborhood" and "chillax", even more so than the upper west side.

About 8 years ago I learned a really valuable lesson from a sit-com which I've been trying to apply just very generally recently. I think it's from the fresh prince of bel-air and it goes something like this:

"There's two types of people in the world, people that watch things happen and people that make things happen. Which type do you want to be?"

Incidentally I had this flipped around on me while playing pool downtown last night, when a totally random girl I hadn't even looked at the whole night literally pulled me out of the game so we could make out. Needless to say, the other girls in her bachelorette party were none too happy.

Irresponsible

2009-02-15T06:03:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks I've moved from a manic whirlwind of productivity into an anything goes, fun at any cost mode. I'm actually pretty sure I've overspent last year by now and I've still got a day to go. The only remotely productive thing I did this entire week was roll my weekend workout from 2 sessions into one (same distances, just no break).

Everything else has definitely had a tinge of reckless (remember that move from the Kingdom under Fire X-box game? You press a button and this giant tribal ogre jumps in and starts going ape-shit). Doubling down on my natural gas short until every day was producing thousands in profits/losses. Drinking on an empty stomach to excess. Doing that instead of working really hard to finish models. A care-free attitude towards girls that works so well Im very much excited to go out to bars these days and meet everyone I can (it's nice to connect with friends of friends, but it's a great rush to meet someone totally new). Laughing when I see a friend play the field and lead girls in circles. The stamina for being out is way up; out until 4 a.m. two nights in a row and I wake up early anyway so I can workout before I try and make it three.

Valentine's Day Eve

2009-02-14T06:19:00.000-08:00

This year the Valentine's day weekend spending got moved up one day - into a blur of countless overpriced drinks, pep talks, hookah pulls, barely audible conversations, dancing, and a schizophrenic DJ playing the most random songs ever. This morning was definitely one of those WTF just happened mornings. Especially after I noticed that my almost brand-new camera had gotten totally bitch slapped by the oversized hipbone of the one fat girl at a lounge full of gorgeous women. That wasn't a grenade, it was full-out carpet bombing.

Being single I've definitely become more observant, and despite the fact that I fell asleep on the cab ride over and back, a couple of things definitely stuck out:

1) A belly dancer with a belly bigger than my head, and not because she was pregnant. Which would still be weird either way.
2) A girl (we'll call her Kate) who, besides being short, worked in finance and hated it! She'd rather be waitressing. Kate some people are just too smart for their own good, but you do get to live by yourself because of it.
3) Girls at work greet everyone by kissing, which incidentally is how they do it it Buenos Aires as well. No puedo creer lo que mis ojos me dicen.
4) CNBC pajama gram commercial is strangely kind of a turn-on these days. The reason I say strange is because this commercial has been playing for the entire year and a half since I started watching the channel regularly (around V-day it gets played 50 times a day) and I always thought it was hokey.

For a good cause

2009-02-13T04:23:00.001-08:00

It was bound to happen, I finally missed one of the workouts in my two-fer schedule (the after work run). A few drinks with good company will always come first for me.

I'm not exactly worried about this becoming a slippery slope (as one of my co-workers joked), but swimming in the morning after drinking isn't going to be the most fun in the world. Actually my main concern is that since I've started working out it's actually harder for me to sleep, because the physical exhaustion no longer overwhelms the beehive of activity that seems to be all up in my mental grill. Last night I kept waking up during a slideshow dream, in which I pictured moments from my day, people from the past, and motion captures of me doing menial daily chores.

Donzo Donuts

2009-02-08T13:12:00.000-08:00

Coming back from my run on the west side pedestrian highway, I noticed that the Dunkin Donuts on the corner of 9th ave and 41st street, a veritable landmark, was closed. Things never stop changing around here. There's now a barber shop a few doors away offering "men haircut 12$". There's been at least 3 stores in that front over the last couple of months.

One thing that hasn't changed is that the neighborhood is still grungy. I came home yesterday after work and was in and out of the apt, ferrying laundry back and forth. The same bum sitting on my doorstep asked me 3 times whether or not I had any change. He looked drunk, but not that drunk.

I've seriously considered moving out to Broolyn to save some money, since with my current fixed expenses, I don't really save any money each month out of my monthly paycheck. After spending some time on craigslist though, it looks like most of the savings come from having roommates. I enjoy living by myself, but a grand a month seems like a worthy cause.

A Bridge Too Near

2009-02-07T16:46:00.000-08:00

I've been exceptionally focused lately. I imagine this is what it's like to be on aderall. Or speed.

At the end of my to-do list, except for a few sundry items that have to wait for a couple of months anyway, there isn't a feeling of accomplishment or even grim satisfaction. Instead, there's a palpable feeling of emptiness.

I skipped out on a trip to AC on the maiden voyage of the train as I'm waiting for a big natural gas trade to settle. All of this makes me want a cheeseburger, but that doesn't quite fit into my diet/exercise plan, and if nothing else I'm disciplined. Guess I'm out of luck.

Everything in life is a bet

2009-02-07T04:50:00.000-08:00

I'm known to be a gambler by my friends, and more often than not I manage to drag friends into doing things that are totally irresponsible, especially with money. Besides the rush you get from just being in it, it can pay off ridiculous returns when you're right. The payoffs are usually big enough where you don't even have to be right half the time to come out ahead.

Even then, people have called me "reckless", "foolish", "an idiot", "ghetto" (??), etc. I admit to being a risk-taker, but then everything in life is essentially a bet governed by some esoteric probability. I'm a gambler where I think I understand the probabilities, which is usually in sports or the market or energy commodities. We're all betting on something when we step out of the door in the morning, even if we all bet on different things. It's not just your career, it's your personal life, your health, your happiness, whatever. Games like poker, sportsbetting, and the market are probably some of the easiest things to get a handle on, probability-wise.

I'm reminded of a story that I heard about a statistics professor, who one day walked into his classroom and asked the following question: if you could make a bet in which the good outcome was everything you had ever dreamed of immediately becoming a reality and the bad outcome was instant, painless death, how much of a chance of success would you have to have to take the bet?

The professor's take: on good days I'm about 99.9%, on bad days more like 90%.

Bar None

2009-02-05T17:45:00.000-08:00

Tonight was company night out at the official company after work bar - Whiskey Trader. Whiskey Trader is a midtown bar that caters to the young professional crowd - early to mid-20 somethings working in finance and a type of girl I like to call the slightly washed up sorority girl. You can find these girls at the gym too, slightly pudgy and sporting their greek gear, wearing visors and sunglasses during the summer and earmuffs and uggs during the winter, their faces puffy and red from the treadmill. They're usually friendly enough and it's by no means hogging if you and a wingman decide to push in for a friendly chat, but despite the lack of a grenade in the mix you won't feel like you've accomplished much if you do end up with one of these girls.

Tonight brought two surprises, the place was sausage fest central for the night (partially made up for by it being free popcorn night), and two, a girl I work with without any prompting asking me about the recent shift in my life (I guess she's a big facebook fan?). I got a free drink out of it and realized that I might have a closer connection with work people than I would have guessed.

I went to the comfort zone

2009-02-03T17:17:00.000-08:00

There's some cliche out there that says that you grow fastest out of your comfort zone. Now I'm all for evolution, change, and genetically engineered super-soldiers with nerves of steel, but when you exit the smooth, slightly curving red-tinged passageways of the comfort zone, sometimes it feels like you're being dumped out of a twisting, opaque water slide into a splashdown pool with your plastic ride blocking your line of sight. Takes a while to get your bearings.

I'm sure everyone has a different response after that. For some, after the initial shock and awe, the survival instinct kicks in. Adrenaline flows and no matter how much you were possibly asleep or removed or out of touch with reality, you quickly being to morph into that super-soldier.

One of the things that has to be gained back as you reclaim your mojo is stuff to look forward to. It may be something totally different from when you first entered the slide, but it becomes a reference point and a compass, which are things all commandos need, at least in movies. For example, two things I look forward to are leaping into the pool in the morning, in the lane marked "slow", and blowing past all the wannabes who fight the water like it's their mortal enemy. And then the overpriced smoothie from upstairs after that.

Get some ... exercise

2009-01-29T02:02:00.000-08:00

So i found this list of exercises online while trying to figure out what the fastest route to burning calories would be. Take a look. Apparently the answers are "skiing, cross country, uphill, maximum effort" for 1423 calories/hour and "running, 10.9 mph (5.5 min mile)" for a whopping 1553 calories per hour. They though of everything on here: "raking lawn", "mowing lawn", "polo", "curling", "snorkeling", "scrubbing floor, on hands and knees", and "music playing, drums". Plus you can match the numbers to your weight class. It's pretty sweet.

There's one activity noticeably missing though. Yeah exactly. Masturbation. How many calories does "stroking, firmly and vigorously" burn? What about "rubbing, until climax is reached?" Is it more calories if you're 190 lbs instead of 115 lbs? What about if you use porn? Extra 100 / calories an hour? What if it's girl-on-girl porn? I'm just saying. Someone should do a study. That is all.

First Post

2009-01-29T01:59:00.000-08:00

The Bacca Chewy blog begins. Hear me roar. and chew noisily.