Vroom Vroom

This weekend means so much to so many different people.

It is Memorial Day Weekend.

It is a holiday weekend and one of the traditional starts to the summer.

It is a time to honor and pay tribute to all who have fought and died for the freedoms that this great country of ours has to offer.

It is also our youngest sons birthday.

Some day he will grow up to truly appreciate the true meaning of Memorial day, but for now he can appreciate it for everything it has to offer a 4 year old.

Such as the freedom to go to the Nations Zoo on Saturday and enjoy a perfect day for taking in all the sights and sounds and taking lots of great pictures.

Even if not everyone wanted their picture taken.






















Or the freedom to celebrate his birthday on Sunday however he wanted
to.

Such as going to Chuck E Cheeses.

















Or for the opportunity to learn how to ride his first bike.

Perhaps the best part is the totally cool sound it makes...



So, to all who served, died and to those who currently serve in the armed services for this great country of ours, I say thank you.

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The Versatile Blogger

Well, those wacky bloggers out there have tagged me yet again for another award. It is so nice to be a recognized award winning blogger!

Yippee.

I was nominated by my lovely and talented wife Alexandra, Alex for short (see abbrev below)

The qualifications and rules for this prestigious award are simple.

Rule #1: Thank the person who gave you the award.
- I kind of already did that but hey, here goes the official statement...
- A great big thank you to my wife for sending me this totally unbiased award!
I am grateful for everything you do and bring into my life.

You can check out her wonderful blog here at Hope and Greyz.

Rule #2: Post seven things about yourself.
- I'm going to do this a little bit differently than most by posting my equivalent version to what Alex wrote.

1)------------------------------
Alex: I was born and raised in Yonkers, New York ( pronounced - Yon-kuz ;-P)

Me: I was born in DC but lived in MD. Yes we abbrev everything here.

2)------------------------------
Alex: My DH (Darling Husband) Doug and I will have been married 22 years this July.

Me: I call her Dorris, or Buttons or Yes Dear...

3)------------------------------
Alex: We have been blessed with 5 healthy, brilliant, gorgeous, children- ranging in age from 4 years old to 21. ( & No, I am not biased, I'm just sharing the facts :-)

Me: Otherwise known as negative cash flow and tax deductions.

4)------------------------------
Alex: We adopted our Jack Russell- Beagle mix- Pepsi, on Super Bowl Sunday 2002.

Me: We named her after the empty soda can rolling around in the back seat. Good thing it wasn't a Coke can. BTW that was Super Bowl XXXVI (36) with the Patriots winning their first super bowl on an Adam Vinatieri field goal as time expired.
The other team was....

The Rams...

5)------------------------------
Alex: 4 weeks after we adopted her, (while on a walk) she was mauled by a neighbor's dog (a large shepherd mix) who had gotten loose. And required immediate surgery. 2 weeks later she was attacked again by the same dog. Those neighbors have since moved away.

Me: My daughter Alaina was walking her and now hates to take dogs on long walks around the neighborhood. The neighbors are actually fugitives on the run from the long arm of the law.

6)------------------------------
Alex: In July 2008, while researching dogs that might be able to tolerate a 28 pound Diva, with SEVERE large dog fear issues, my daughter Alaina discovered a retired racing greyhound rescue site. By August 2008 we had adopted Hero (racing name Star All Star), our 85 pound couch potato extraordinaire.

Me: Greyhounds are NOT your typical Dog.

7)------------------------------
Alex: Adopting Hero has changed my life in so many more ways than simply adding a four legged friend. Because of Hero we found Stowe and Maria's blog Halfway Home Hounds. (Stowe and Maria were Hero's foster family- for a few hours ;-)
Which led to my starting my own blog- this blog, which in turn led to my meeting Angela and Tracy from Treasure What You Have, which led to our fostering greyhounds for VAGA (and meeting all VAGA's other Greyt volunteers- including Michelle and Mitch). And so on, and so on...

Me: I'm still waiting for a real dog. Her blog led to my starting this blog and all those greyt greyhound folks means we now have even more people to party with!


Rule #3: (Bet you forgot the part about the rules of the award. Don't worry, this is the last one.)

Pass the award Along and everyone reading this needs to join my Fantasy Football Contest! I paraphrased... ;-)

First I am going to honor those who recently started following me because of the blog hop hosted by Life with Dogs. He gets a special mention too:

Here are my new pet followers...

Doogie the Wonder Pup
Lucky Pups
Margs Pets
Two Little Cavaliers

And speaking of Hops...
Here is a neat blog about all the wonderful products we can experience that just happen to be made with said ingredient.

The Hopback

And I could not end this without mentioning:

That Damn Sam
Gimps Wonderful Thoughts
The Mission

Until next time...

Be good. Do Well. Have Fun.

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Strasburg Hype

Stephen Strasburg baseball card tops $17,000 mark on eBay.

WOW! All that for a guy, OK so yes he is pretty good at throwing around that baseball, who has yet to pitch a single major league game. Let alone win one.

I know, I know, he will...



And there have been plenty of rumors going around as to when he will make his debut.














First it was speculated that it would be at the Friday June 4th game. This promptly started a rush on ticket sales which nearly sold out the game.

Now another rumor has him potentially starting during the next home stand June 8 - 10th. I bet tickets for those lowly weekday games have suddenly seen an uptick.

I bet good ol' Ebayers are not the only ones who know how to get the most bang for the buck on something that has not even happened yet.

Unfortunately all this hype and rumor mill activity is causing some fans distress at having potentially paid a lot of money to "not be there when".

The Nationals Front Office has of course not released any formal date for Strasburg or admitted to any authenticity to any rumors...

How much do you want to bet that there will be another rumor for him starting later in June....


BTW: I too have June tickets to a Nationals Game. Not for Strasburg, or hype, but for my 9 year old, (soon to be 10), birthday on June 6th.

He gets to bring along a best friend, other than me..., to enjoy the game and hopefully catch some fly balls and autographs.

I can't wait...

Oh, and just in case anybody from the Nationals organization is reading this, I wouldn't mind you fooling everybody and starting Strasburg on Sunday June 6th. Not for me of course...

For my sons birthday!

Thanks and see you at the Park!

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Forget Green Eggs and Ham

Now you can have Green Cheese Pizza and Burnt Toast!

NBA cooks up edible logos to make mark on pizza and toast.


Gotta love the marketing guru's and good ol' American capitalism!

I wonder what's next?

Designer Guns and Liquor!

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I want to play the game where you put things on and hit

I found this article on Yahoo sports and so much of it reminded me of High School.

From the quotes, to the silly mind games coaches played, to the few coaches and players who truly loved the game for what it is.

I remember the day I recruited one of my best friends to play high school ball. He never had played football before but thought it would be fun to try. He had done some wrestling and did OK at that but wanted to try a new sport, so football it was.

When the coaches asked him why he wanted to try out and play he said...

"I like pain".

To that they all said "lineman".

Congratulations.

And Good luck.

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Fumbled Contest Questions and Ideas

So the question(s) about what did I have in mind for the contest(s) has come up.

Good question.






If one thinks about watch lists and stock picking contests, one usually has a fixed amount of “income” or “play money” to invest in a portfolio of your choice. During the course of the contest, one can “buy” and “Sell” stocks to build your portfolio. At the end of the given amount of time, the one with the most money wins. This is probably the format I would use for any stock picking contest.

In theory, this could translate into a fantasy football league.
Some possibilities are:

Auction League: Each owner has a certain amount of play money each week or month or for the entire season to spend on a team / players. This could really make budgeting, trading and planning interesting.

- I’ve never been in one of these before nor have I commished one either. But hey, the goals to this contest are to learn and have fun.
- So I would be open to this idea.

Points League: There are a lot of possibilities with this one from just overall points scored to even picking best matchups.

- I have been in a “points” league before but for some reason do not favor them as much as the head-to-head or even Survivor/Elimination leagues.

Survivor or elimination league: Lowest scoring team each week is eliminated.

- Probably not the best choice for this since I would like to try and maintain participation, dialog among all participants.

Then again, there is always the standard types of leagues of head to head (best record wins) which could allow for trades and such, just without the “money” constraints.

In recap, I am open to all suggestions but I guess I had either and Auction League or Head-to-Head league as my top two possibilities.

Feel free to sign up and a post comments, questions and suggestions.

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Elin to sell visitation rights to Tiger?

If it is good enough for the Dutches of York, it definitely is good enough for Elin and Tiger.

For a mere $ 1 million dollars, payable to the charitable Elin and Kids foundation, you too could have a day with Tiger.

Tiger would be more than amicable for this settlement so long and the “customer” is female.

Over a lifetime, this could amount to a lot more than the mere $750 million that Elin is currently asking demanding from Tiger.

With this arrangement, Tiger gets off . . .

For free.

Elin gets regular income.

Problem solved.

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Challenging Times

Challenge #1:

Well, as usual, I should have followed my own advice and sat out on the sidelines for the past week.

You see, the selling pressure on the stock market was just too much even for some of my good potential setups.

And, guess what, I still am not following my advice... Sort of ...

You see, I pulled out of my positions with KERX and RGR (though I still think RGR is a worthy one to watch). One trend of a bad economy and irrational fear of losing the right to bare arms is that gun and ammo companies tend to do well. In my mind, those two conditions still exist today and can make for continued success in these companies.

The reason I am still invested is that one of the overriding tenants I follow, like Warren Buffet, is to look for good companies at bargain prices. ARO is just that sort of company. After hitting highs earlier this year, (yes I invested on the way up and sold when I reached my goal) , the combination of a natural pull back off of the high point and all the negative economic selling pressure made this stock worth another go around. We will see how correct I am over the next couple of weeks. Between hitting low support levels and a good quarterly report, that combination was worth a 5% jump in price since Thursday.

Challenge #1a:

The economy. Yes all the European financial crisis stuff is not good news. It puts yet another huge strain on the world financial markets and like the US financial crisis last year, the fixes may save us from Armageddon by only delaying the next inevitable challenge of huge debt and inflation.

Unlike the US Financial Crisis, the European crisis helps certain key areas of our economy. It makes the US dollar and investment vehicles attractive. This helps keep our rates down and inflation low and certain key prices (such and gasoline) low. All of this helps the United State counter the negative financial influence of Greece and Europe by making it easier for consumers and investors to naturally stimulate our own economic recovery.

My prediction: Our economic recovery probably has bottomed out and even started recovering but because of the European Crisis, and our very own stock market over-reacting - it never does that now does it… ;-) , (it is up over 60% in the past 12 months from it’s low point last year and still panics sells because of over exuberant traders, programs and lack of stop gaps ) Our “economic recovery” will have it starts and stops and mixed signals for another 12 months. This will only prolong the true recovery and result in both the economy and the stock market experience continued volatility.

Challenge #2:

It’s not fantasy football time yet, but that has not stopped me from thinking about it. So, I have started doing a little research and as always I read some of the “expert” commentary and wonder why?

Here is an example:

Opensports rated the ease of schedule for each position. They gave the Washington Redskins and Donovan McNabb a #1 QB rating based on strength, or lack there of, of schedule.

ARE THEY CRAZY!

IMHO, they offensive line is marginally better than last year and I fear that poor Donovan will be getting all too good a view of the Goodyear Blimp’s underbelly.
This rating is based on passing defensive statistics from last year and does not take into account all the offseason trades, cuts, and draft acquisitions.

And take one look at our schedule and one realizes that it is tough!

They only bright spot in all this is the huge fact that we have Shanahan and Allen firmly in control of the team and together they have restored proper law and order (along with some new creative thinking) back into the team!

Fortunately, with regards to fantasy football, I have plenty of time to over analyze and prepare for the real start of the season later this summer.

Challenge #3:

Lately I have come across a couple different ideas for promoting web sites and new visitors.

The first was a blog hop sponsored by LifewithDogs.tv


It is a blogger type of contest/activity/challenge originally created and hosted by LinkyTools.com .

He did what is called a blog hop which basically gets followers to list and follow other blogs by listing entries. This type of linking can really help generate new visitors, traffic and help with search engine rankings.

The second is something called a Yakezie Challenge.


Basically this gets you entered into an Alexa search engine and Internet content ranking system by generating comments, ratings and links to other Alexa sites. This site uses it’s own browser toolbar to help promote, track and rank sites. You do not have to download or install the toolbar to register your site on Alexa, but it helps. Be aware that this has the same advantages and disadvantages that all toolbars have in the form of tracking cookies.

The third is having various contests or in this case challenges.

This actually ties into the previous two ideas.

I have tired, and failed miserably before with contests – though Sam and Grace probably do not think so – and I am hesitant to try yet again. But as I am a glutton for punishment, here is my idea(s).

Challenge #3a:

A fantasy football challenge. Time for everyone, famous and not, to ante up and prove their luck / knowledge is better than others. I am thinking of setting up a Fumbled Returns Fantasy Football League comprised of all the self and Internet proclaimed experts out there. Of course I would prefer to have true geniuses such as myself and SAM part of this league but it would be really cool to get a truly diverse mix of people to belly up to the challenge.

Challenge #3b:

A Stock Picker Challenge. Perhaps similar to what I do here with a monthly watch list and “recommended” picks type of format. Like the Fantasy Challenge, you do not have to put up money just submit your ideas and picks.

So, what do people think of these challenges? Perhaps between the Linky tools and the Yakezie Challenge, I can get enough people interested to do both.

So, with that in mind, my first step is to find more like minded folks out there who are willing to share ideas and participate in a little friendly competition. I have entered in the Yakezie Challenge AND started a Linkytool feedback form to gather interested parties AND promote fellow blogger web sites.

The true objective of these challenges is not really to prove who is right or wrong or better but to gather ideas regarding both which in the long run will make all of us smarter.

And of course have some fun!

After all, with challenge and change comes opportunity. In this case hopefully an opportunity to have some fun, meet new bloggers, and perhaps learn something along the way.

Just click on the top blogger widget box at the beginning of my blog entries!

Who’s interested?

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A Fumbled Challenge Idea

Think you got what it takes to be the best?

Enter in either a Fantasy Football Contest or a Stock Picking Contest or Both!

I'm taking names and promoting web sites!

Please click below and enter your choice. (Fantasy Football, Stocks, or Both)

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OK, This is Funny

I came accross this while searching for "stuff" on kentucky sports. Kind of a tie in to the Wizards getting the 1st pick in the draft and possibly getting John Wall this year.

Perhaps you've seen it. Perhaps not.


Kentucky Violated NCAA Rules While Recruiting Basketball-Playing Dog

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Turn on, tune in, ... or drop out

You know, I usually do not like Washington Post Writer Sally Jenkins all that much but her latest article is really, really good.




Not everything's clear when it comes to HGH, PRP

Here is the premise...

What is the point of sport? What do we believe competitive excellence in sport is about? Do we want games to be public entertainments with ever higher and more thrilling thresholds of performance?

Athletes are under enormous pressures to perform, whether from the public, their sizable contracts, or a culture of pride, and ... They are rewarded unfairly, but they are punished in equal measure by the cruelties of their professions. They start out believing in their own invincibility and slam into reality far more violently than the rest of us. Aging is harsher for them than for you or me. Their careers are over just when most of us are beginning ours, and they experience degrees of physical pain and repetitive injuries the rest of us will never know.

Here is the central truth that no one really likes to talk about: Some kinds of banned substances are extremely dangerous, some are relatively harmless, and some are actually beneficial.

When we crack down on "performance-enhancers," are we trying to preserve the integrity of the competition or the health of the athlete? Is it safer and ethically more acceptable to use HGH to heal from an injury than to use it as a muscle-builder? If so, why isn't the difference reflected in doping regulations? Rather than work all of this out, we've allowed the anti-doping authorities to lump all substances and all athletes who sample them, regardless of their motives, into one equally guilty party. That way we don't have to do any hard thinking.

Here is an outside the box thought...

Why don't we regulate it?

Professional sports currently supplies and regulates the type of equipment, training facilities and even some of the techniques involved with that particular sport; even what kind of plays a team can and cannot do.

Why not regulate and administer which enhancement products to administer, when, how and by whom?

The current system I believe allows athletes to cheat. Just don't get caught by our superficial testing programs.

You can go get what ever treatment you want, from whomever you want, when ever you want, "just don't get caught"! Then you will be unfairly labeled and cast out.

Is the current system and our views of the players, coaches, leagues and even ourselves as fans, as ethical and honest as we pretend it is or are there better ways to go about this?

BTW: I am a believer is rules regardless of the implications and loop holes so, whomever does get caught (they were fully aware of what they were doing and the consequences involved) should get punished appropriately.

AND

It looks like Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas's fantasy values just got a little better...

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We are #1

First, Ted earned the right to purchase the Wizards and rebuild another franchise.

Now he and the organization have the 1st pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

For at least tonight, we are #1!

Congratulations Ted.








Leonsis said:

"We have a lot of work to do with the franchise...The players, the culture, the expectations, the discipline around the team, but I do think it is a breath of fresh air and does revive the franchise and gives us a shot to be an exciting team with a lot of expectations. I know how hard it is to rebuild a team. I am going to be patient but I have a strong belief that our management team and ownership team is very focused. We are going to work hard and listen to everybody. I promise we will build a team that everyone can be proud of."

The Wizards were also represented by Irene Pollin, who wore the 1978 Bullets championship ring of her late husband, longtime owner Abe Pollin. When the Wizards pulled off the surprising win, Irene Pollin's jaw dropped and appeared to mouth 'Oh my God!!' with wide eyes.

"My husband wanted another (championship) so badly," she said. "He really did. So maybe this will be the beginning of another one."

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Time for a time out?

I could just take my year to date investment gains and just sit on the side lines.









After all , my goal was something like 24% return, and I have reached that already.









And for anybody else currently in the stock market, pulling out now and holding on to cash may not be a bad idea.

From European Debt crisis, to Gulf Gooo, to Failed fail safes, and circumventing reporting and documentation guidelines, the stock market certainly looks scary right about now.




Unfortunately, the current state of the world economy and the stock market , corporate America, and most everything in general reminds me that everyone seems to to be behaving like a bunch of monkeys. Namely these monkeys.










And that is never a good situation.

But I still have a couple stock ideas that just might pan out so I think I will at least keep my feet in the mix and make sure that I have those stop loss orders in place to protect my investments.

I am currently invested in two companies, volatile Bio Pharm KERX and a weapons company RGR. Both KERX and RGR were setting up for an upswing before the whole bottom of the stock market, and the Greek Debt crisis caught hold of everybodys attention. Since then neither has broken upwards but neither has significantly fallen, yet.

Two stocks which report this week are ARO and CPWM.

ARO is a good strong company that I expect to give a decent quarterly report, however, recent data and retail sales statistics indicate that although the retail sector is no longer going down, it may still have a long way to go before it truly goes back up. CPWM has also weathered the recent turmoil well and could be ready to go back up with a good report.

Of course, this is all dependent on IF the markets don’t panic again and continue the downward trends.

With consumer and investor confidence low, and mixed recession ending data being reported, these are all really big IF’s.

So, stand by for a bumpy ride.

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Carpe Diem Lost

To borrow from Obama’s words when addressing big oil, and government policies:

"We do not appreciate what we consider to be a ridiculous spectacle."

I’ve mentioned it in my blog before and I'll probably mention again in the future.

One needs to set goals.

Without goals, your chances of achieving anything are slim.

Government bailouts, shame on you political speeches against the status quo do not instill hope, confidence or change.

Now, to his credit, and in line with my point. Obama did have a goal to pass health care reform. And for better or worse, he and congress did it. It was on their agenda, and it got done.

Great leaders not only seize the moment - but help define it.

Reagan did it with both the cold war through his “peace through strength” and “tear down this wall”.

Kennedy did it with his speech about the space race, arms race and leaders of the
free world speech.

Here are some excerpts which amazingly fit in with America as it is today!

These are extraordinary times. And we face an extraordinary challenge. Our strength as well as our convictions have imposed upon this nation the role of leader in freedom's cause. No role in history could be more difficult or more important. We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves-that is our only commitment to others. No friend, no neutral and no adversary should think otherwise. We are not against any man-or any nation-or any system-except as it is hostile to freedom. Nor am I here to present a new military doctrine, bearing any one name or aimed at any one area. I am here to promote the freedom doctrine...

...examine where we are strong and where we are not, where we may succeed and where we may not. Now it is time to take longer strides-time for a great new American enterprise-time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in (insert any desired goal here - Kennedy used Space) achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.

I believe we possess all the resources and talents necessary. But the facts of the matter are that we have never made the national decisions or marshaled the national resources required for such leadership. We have never specified long-range goals on an urgent time schedule, or managed our resources and our time so as to insure their fulfillment.

Obama missed what easily could have been his “Kennedy” moment.

Challenge the nation, the people of this great country and more importantly Congress to rid themselves of oil dependency by the end of the decade. (2020).

The moment was, and still is, there. Floating in the gulf. Threatening our very nation’s environment, economy, and our dependency on foreign oil.

The moment is here to change big business and even foreign influence and change the politics of money and even the military and militias all over the world.

And everyday for the past 2 – 3 weeks we have failed to seize the moment and define change.

Instead we continue the same ridiculous spectacle of politics and special interests, slapping each other on the wrists and saying shame on you.

Talk about a fumbled return.

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Fun Strip Friday

There was this Phineas and Ferb page on facebook that had a joke contest earlier this week.

If you know the old golf joke about the golfer pausing for a moment of silence as the hearse went by, then you know which joke won.

I thought it was lame.

Here are some of the others that I liked better...



A man was taking a survey and asked a woman this question:
Man: Do you have sex?
Woman: Excuse me, That’s my business!
Man: Oh, so you’re a professional...



How many ‘D’s are there in Indiana Jones?
First person answered: 1
Correct!
Next person answered: 1
Correct again!
Next person answered: 33
Huh? how in the world did you ever come up with that?
Da DaDaDaa dadada Da dadadaa dadadaaa ...



A husband and wife were vacationing in the holy land when the wife suddenly died.
The mortician said we can send her back with you to the states for $5,000 or
We can give her a beautiful burial here in the holy land for $150.
The husband thought about this for a while and said, send her back for $5000.
The mortician asked why?
Well, a long time ago you guys buried someone here and he came back to life.
I just don’t want to take the chance...



A brunet walked up to a magical mirror and proclaimed that she was the most beautiful woman in the world.
At this, the mirror swooshed her into a vortex because she was lying.
A redhead walked up to the mirror and said that she was the most beautiful!
Same thing, swoosh!
A blond walked up to the mirror and said,
I think ...
Swoosh!

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Get Your Preak On

So it has come to this.

Horse Racings version of Jumping the Shark.

I actually kind of like the song, but the rest of the ad campaign might be pushing the edge just a bit.

But more on that later...

After last years debacle, the Preakness could not have done worse.

Or has it?

Lets review:

- After being embarrassed for years by all the drink, sex and criminal shenanigans of the Preakness infield crowd, a cracked down last year by banning patrons from bringing in their own beer. The attendance dropped to 77,850, the lowest in 24 years.

- Betting took a major hit. The Maryland handle of $7.8 million was the lowest in 10 years and a sharp drop from the record $11.2 million four years ago.

- For a while, folks were not even sure if the Preakness itself would survive financially.

So, what to do?

They (the Maryland Jockey Club - MJC) decided they liked all the drunk and disorderly people after all and after signing on for all the beer you can drink for 20 bucks to anybody who showed up for the infieldfest, an ad agency was hired to craft an advertising campaign to woo them back.

The new campaign appears to be working, at least according to the MJC. It says ticket sales are up as much as 25 percent over previous years. Its PreakOn website is getting more than 32,000 hits per week."

Tom Chuckas, president of the MJC, thinks it's a winner. Said he, "It has made other people take notice. The majority of responses, particularly from the younger demographic, have been very positive."

So what exactly does the ad campaign "Get Your Preak On" consist of?

Some of the more tasteless examples are:

A big highway billboard displaying a dude in tank top, headband and dark glasses announcing, "I Get My Preak On for Eight Straight Hours."

The radio campaign highlights a young stud talking about mixing it up with the elderly in a retirement village. He spouts, "How could I resist, especially considering this might be her last chance? I was a little concerned with how her hip would hold up, knowing we'd be at it all day."

Some people are understandably offended.

I'm just kind of sad about the whole thing.

Come on people, this is a horse race!
It's supposed to be about tradition and something special.
Do we really want images of the above to become the synonymous with horse racing?

What happened to going out to the track, dressed up, not down in a tank top, wearing the hats, having good food and yes drink in moderation and watching the races.

But with sales back up and interest Preaking peaking... This year it looks like the sharks are going to have a feeding frenzy all the way to the bank!

BTW: You can listen to the song (It really is catchy and kinda good) and view the entire advertising web site and even buy tickets if you are so inclined by clicking here at Get Your Preak On.

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Leaders Choose

Who they are going to go to :

for advice
to get the job done
to make a difference

Today President Obama is going to, or rather announced, his choice for the next supreme court justice.

He picked a colleague, someone he has worked with before and feels confident and comfortable with about being able to make a difference and get the job done.

(I’m not going to discuss the possible controversies here)

Shanahan and Allen are the new leaders of the Washington Redskins.

They have consistently chosen people they have worked with in the past and who, are leaders and or will get the job done.

Take the new look of the Redskins Backfield.

Each one of these guys, when healthy, will get the job done. Granted, they may not represent the power back necessary for an entire season anymore, but collectively they should last 16 games and perform well.





Donovan McNabb was brought in to provide instant on the field and off the field leadership and talent to not only the offense but to the entire team. He currently has all the key players on speed dial, including Sir Albert.

The one thing I read which caught my attention recently was when there was a rumor about T.O. coming to town; One of the first things Donovan did was contact Devon Thomas.

Not Santana Moss.

Not Malcolm Kelly.

Is it because Devon is becoming one of Donovan’s go to guys? Or someone who Donovan sees as having good potential but needs to be kept under wing in order to grow in confidence?

Of course it is still too early to tell, and with McNabb being as good as anybody at tossing the ball around to different people, it will be very interesting to see who he picks as his “go to” guy on the offense.

But, it got me thinking . . .

Could it be Devon Thomas?

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Life after Redskins

Racing and family keep Gibbs feeling fortunate.

In the past year Joe Gibbs has dealt with a veteran athlete's reconstructive surgery, a coveted free agent's bouts of brilliance and tempestuousness, and a gifted rookie's coming of age.

Such is life as a NASCAR team owner.

In the 19 years since he started his NASCAR team, Gibbs has had remarkably little turnover among the corporate sponsors that pay the bills. And he has rewarded his backers handsomely, collecting three championships (2000, 2002 and 2005) and more than $190 million in winnings in NASCAR's elite ranks.

But the most heartening statistic in Gibbs's family is zero. That's the number of chemotherapy treatments that remain for his 5-year-old grandson, Taylor, now deemed cancer-free.

To celebrate this remarkable achievement, Joe Gibbs is helping to sponsor Taylor’s Finish Line Festival.







Taylor’s Finish Line Festival will be held at the Z Max Drag Strip at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 23rd, 2010. Rain or Shine! The gates will open at 2:30 and the carnival attractions will operate until 7:30. Included in the carnival will be a kid zone with inflatable’s, face painting, balloon artists, and live stage shows.

The adjacent carnival area will contain larger thrill rides, a hot air balloon, midway games and a second stage for live entertainment. Within this area will be several interactive stations featuring NASCAR drivers and other celebrity athletes.

NASCAR fans will love the simulators and show cars, appearances by NASCAR drivers and other professional athletes. We will also hold a bake sale, silent auction, concert, and fireworks display!

All proceeds of this wonderful event will be donated to the
Make-a-Wish Foundation, and Levine Children’s Hospital.

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My Pet Friendly Post

Yes, even us financial and sports guru’s can be quite pet friendly.

Here is a google search listing all of my pet friendly posts.

Also, my wife has a greyt blog here. Hopefully she will enter this blog hop too!

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Money for nothing

So here is an explanation (to date) on what happened . .

Many believe that the glitch was triggered by a series of events that began when the NYSE slowed down trading of a number of stocks, including Procter & Gamble.

Shares of P&G fell 10% at around 2:45 p.m. Thursday, at which point the stock hit what's known as a "circuit breaker." The stock stopped trading on the NYSE for 80 seconds, and trades opened up on a number of competitors' electronic exchanges.

But the circuit breaker mechanism that was designed to cool traders' heads had the opposite effect: The slowed trading occurred at a time that investors were growing increasingly worried about Greece's debt issues and other economic factors. The Dow, which was already down about 200 points at the time, quickly dropped about another 200 points in the 15 minutes between 2:30 p.m. and 2:45 p.m.

"The problem is that when [the NYSE] slowed down, it effectively took their traders out of the market at a time when everyone else wanted to sell," said James Angel, a professor of finance at Georgetown University.

In other words, when the NYSE paused its trading, the off-exchange computers found no bids, or offers to buy. The computers, which were looking for the best bid, were tripped up to believe the best bid was $0. The high-speed trading computers are designed to add a penny to each trade to make a commission on every deal, so the computers placed bets at a penny higher, or 1 cent.

"Sell orders became desperate and went straight to their competitors' exchanges, which weren't slowed down," said Angel. "Since there were no other buyers, some computers had entered orders at a penny, so some stocks traded all the way down."

That's when at least 296 stock prices saw enormous price changes. Nasdaq has said it will cancel all trades that were executed between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. ET, in which the stock price traded more than than 60% off of the stock's price at 2:40 p.m.

Nasdaq coordinated the cancellations with other U.S. stock exchanges, and said the decision could not be appealed.

I have not yet been able to find out exactly how many trades we are talking about, just the number of stocks involved.

And I still do not like the fact that some get to keep these “false profits” so long as you do not get more than 60% return on your money. If you mad 61% or more from the “glitch” then it is not fair and your are out-a-luck.

Sheesh, what a racket !!!

So this got me into thinking . . .

A) Do the brokers still get to keep their 1 penny commissions?

B) Then I got into thinking about that this would make a great movie and I was reminded that something similar had already been done, but for the life of me I can’t seem to remember it. – Maybe you folks can help me out with this one… I seem to remember a movie where the main character discovers a glitch where the company he is working for drops fractions of a cent from paychecks and other transactions. He then throws in a little program to capture all the fractions and send him the check He quickly becomes a millionaire and eventually gets the attention of the company he works for. I think it was a Woody Allen or Dustin Hoffman movie but – who knows.

C) Then I was thinking of a song to commemorate all this and the first thing that popped into my head was Dire Straits Money for Nothin’

D) Here is my version of money for nothing, so far.


I want my SEC!

Now look at them yo-yo's that's the way you do it

You watch the porn on the trading screen . . .

That ain't workin' that's the way you do it Money for nothin' and your commissions for free

Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb Maybe get a blister on your little finger

Maybe type a billion with your thumb

We gotta program circuit breakers and trade custom commodities

We gotta collect these commissions and void these zero dollar trades

See the little trader with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy that's his own hair
That little traitors got his own jet airplane
That little trader he's a millionaire

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Does this look familiar to you?

This is what happened to the Dow Jones Industrial Average Thursday May 6th.

Now look at my post regarding POZN from last week.
















Now look at them side by side...














I'm not sure, but it certainly looks like the same programed buying and selling patterns and glitches were in effect for both events.

Unconfirmed reports regarding Thursdays Sell Off of the entire market say the following...

CNBC reported that numerous sources said that a trader entered a "b" instead of an "m" for million in a trade possibly involving Procter & Gamble (PG), a Dow component. The trader reportedly placed a sell order of $16 billion, instead of $16 million, worth of e-minis, futures contracts tied to equity indexes.

This incorrect trade sent stock future prices so low that it even triggered other programed sell events to take place which in turn caused others.

And so on and so on. Of course, prices dropped to a point which kicked in programmed buy options. Which drove prices back up.

Not too far off from my "somebody sneezed and hit the OMG it's Armageddon button" reasoning for POZN's chart.

It is mind boggling to think that a typo could cause such an event.

I mean really, how do you mis-type Million by typing Billion? The keys are close but not next to each other









and if my own fat fingering typing skills are remotely correct (I use the ancient two handed / 10 finger technique) instead of the ever popular hunt and peck with only 1 finger technique...

one types each with different hands.

I still say somebody sneezed and missed the button / key they meant to hit.

So in reality, last weeks anomaly and Thursdays were probably caused by the same "glitch".

A Sneeze.

And to that we should all say a collective

Bless you.

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The Temptation

Is Gone...

You see, for the past 10 days; and I might add, 10 beautiful sunny spring like 70 - 80 degree days, a used Harley Sportster










Similar to this one...

was siting out here at this very spot.

For Sale.

I passed it nearly twice everyday.

Once, just before getting onto the highway on my way to work and STOPPING in rush hour traffic while watching all the HOV riders, Prius and other Motorcycles zoom by in the "special" lanes...

And once just after getting off of the highway, on my way home, after having been STOPPED in rush hour traffic yet again watching the very same people zoom by yet again...

Of course I really know that I would never be crazy enough to actually buy one, but the thought has occurred to me once in a while. Especially when gas prices start going up...

But the thought of sharing the road a 60mph with 2 tons of moving steel that is protecting somebody else! while I'm on a bike just does not appeal to me all that much.

Besides, Motorcycles, along with over-bred German Shepherds and Guns, are the top 3 things I know I am not allowed to bring home.

So I will keep the memories of riding dirt bikes and mini bikes off road when I was a fearless teenager safely in my dreams and smile knowing I survived and had fun.

But hey, that Harley was tempting while it lasted.

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Taser Tag!

Obviously you all have seen and heard about this event.















A Philly fan was tasered.

Awwwww toooooo F!@#$ BAD!

Granted, the Philly fan in question was a teenager, so that explains a lot. He even phoned his dad before hand and asked “what would you think about me running out onto the field?”

Dad: “Probably not a good idea”…

Then I got to thinking. This really is not fair.

After all, would we want to taser every fan who ran out onto a sporting venue or
playing field?

Lets review…

Hank Aaron:





















Set the record and fans ran out to congratulate him – but in reality, he had received numerous death threats, and was in fear of losing his life.

Stanford – California Game:



















Where marching band ran out way too early….

The Kissing Bandit:

















Would you really want to taser her?

Or her?





















( Tiger Woods actually had to wait while officials ummm cleared the 18th hole and declared it safe to play at the British Open)

But then again, there are instances where fans inexplicably attacked with switch blades…










So, this got me into thinking that maybe we should install remote controlled gun turrets to take care of unruly fans, but that would really not be fair to innocent folks like the kissing bandit. Plus it might add to game time with “unsightly clean-up activity”.

An alternative would be to have paint ball guns installed.

If you have ever been hit with a paint ball while wearing no padding, you know how it feels…




















Then again looking back at the original picture of the Philly fan getting taser tagged…

















The security detail probably realized he was too fat and slow to catch the average fan and pulled out the taser.

How pathetic!

So, maybe we should institute a minimal physical requirement for security detail.

After doing a bit of research, I came up with the “average” speed of an “average” person’s time for the 40 yard dash…

8.2 seconds. (I even rounded up)

FYI : 1760 yards / mile. Avg walking speed is 2 - 3 mph. Avg power walk is 4 - 6 mph. Avg run is 8 - 12 mph. Lets go with 10 mph.
This translates into 4.88888 yards per second.

In my opinion that is pitifully slow. But then again, I have not tried to run a 40 yard dash in, well forever, but for the sake of this post and my original supposition. . .

Lets go with 10 mph and 8.2 seconds for the 40 yard dash. . .

If you cannot consistently beat the average speed of 8.2 seconds in the 40 yard dash, you are not allowed to be part of the security detail for ANY sporting event !!!

Period.

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My new look...

Sort of.

OK so there is justice after all. Remember how I said I hated last Friday and all the crazy selling then buying that went on with my stock POZN? And how after hours trading was up 20%...

Well by the time Monday morning rolled around that 20% was back down to a 10% gain and by the time all was said and done by 4:00pm Monday...

A 4% loss!!!

Anyway, I'm over that now and moving on to my May watch lists and minor revisions to my blog.

I am now attempting to keep track of my goals on the right side lines as well as links to my "Charting Success" web site.

I don't know about the rest of you but I happen to like keeping track of stuff like goals and objectives and milestones out where I can see them, and in this case, where everyone else can see them too!

My May Watch Lists have a new interesting twist to them. This time around, all of my starting lineup picks are reporting quarterly results this month.

Some people say that one should avoid trading during a stocks reporting season or time since reports and stock prices are based upon speculation and expectations. A stock or company can have a successful and profitable quarter business wise yet, if it does not meet or beat expectations, then not meeting those numbers can send the stock price tumbling even though the company did well.

Conversely, a stock price can be inflated due to unreasonable expectations only to come crashing back down from the reality of an accurate report.

To put it in terms that sport fans can understand,

its kind of like routing for the Minnesota Vikings...

or

The Washington Capitals...

or (conversely)

Even the Washington Redskins...

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Brett's New Look

Vikings coach Brad Childress said Friday he's known about Brett Favre's ankle injury for some time and he still has not changed his outlook on the QB's potential for playing next season.

"I still don't know," Childress told reporters about whether Favre would play in 2010. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it from the way back when."

Favre revealed on Friday that he's considering having surgery to repair damage in his ankle. He cautioned that the injury is not "debilitating" and that the Minnesotta Vikings are said to be outfitting Brett with new equipement for when he does decide to return for the 2010 season.

Childress said the injury is a "life issue" for the 40-year-old Favre. "Whether he gets things fixed now or later or has to have an elbow cleaned out now or later or a shoulder cleaned out now or later," he said. "Those are kind of ongoing."

The Vikings coach also reiterated that he's not concerned by the possibility that if Favre plays, he may not join the team until well into its training camp. Last year, Favre joined the Vikings in mid-August.

"How much (preparation time) does he need? He knows," Childress said. "I've got a ballpark idea of how much he needs and obviously what he got last year was plenty."

But whatever happens, I'm sure the Vikings organization will have all Bretts new equipment ready and waiting for him.

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I like this chart much better...

Even though it does shows "that" nasty little anomaly at the end of the month.

So, being the sadist that I be, I am working on my May watch lists and will be posting them by tomorrow.

Until then, be good, do well, have fun.

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