Scary Statistics!

I have heard a range of statistics and all of them are dismal... From as low as 9% to as high as 33% of men who go to the bathroom and then wash their hands afterwards.  Let's me give it to you from a stark contrast - that means from 91% to 67% of men DON'T wash their hands after going to bathroom!  "Elizabeth! I'm coming HOME!"(Fred Sanford)

So what have I been doing since I heard and read of these dismal statistics two years ago. Well, I'm embarrassed to say - after I wash my hands. I would then dry my hands and with the towel I would use it to open the bathroom door.  I've been doing that for two years!  Am I an OCD?  Mary Ellen would crack up laughing if she even thinks I have any vestige of obsessive compulsive disorder.  What's the opposite of an OCD?  Or what's an antonym of OCD?

It gets worse...  If I know someone went to bathroom and then came back and we're chatting and he is about to go home and reaches out to shake hands.  At first this was a conundrum!  But alas I solved it !  I would give the guy the fist bump - that way I don't have to shake his hand.

Now you know why I hate those hand air-dryers!  They don't give me a towel that I can use to open the bathroom door!!!!

I'll leave you with this old joke:

A Harvard man and a Yale man are at the urinal. They finish and zip up. The Harvard man proceeds to the sink to wash his hands, while the Yale man immediately makes for the exit.

The Harvard man says, "At Hah-vahd they teach us to wash our hands after we urinate."


The Yale man replies, "At Yale they teach us not to pee on our hands."

Isn't this where...

We came in?  (Pink Floyd)

Hello... Hello! Is there anybody out there?

Wow! It has been since December 5th, 2009 that I've posted my last post! I thought it was several months ago but never realized that it is more than 7 months ago. Time sure flies by when you're having fun!

So in a nutshell - what happened since December 5th 2009.  Well let me give you some macro-picture and leave the details later.

New Job - I'm working in my dream career - at a local hedge fund.  Our firm specifically trade derivatives known as futures.  Really neat and the job is quite fascinating. I've told Mary Ellen, my lovely flame, that a bad day at Eclipse (my current company) is better than my best day at Merrill Lynch.

New Car - we bought a Buick Lucerne. I love it. Mary Ellen, on the other hand, is not overly fond of it. She has reminded me several times that I'm an old man in a young man body.  Why would she say something like that?  I happen to like bow ties and I only wear boxers (you'll never, EVER catch me wearing grippers, tightie-waddies or banana-hammock).  I like to wear seersucker suit and two-tone oxford shoes and I love Buicks!  Does that make me an old man?  I think not...  Well I do have to admit that I'm kind of fond of Bay Rum cologne (which you won't find in our house as Mary Ellen will pour it down the drain at the first smell).  I love Old Spice deodorant (refuse to use anything else).  Does that make me an old man just because I like a few things traditional? NOT! I do happen to like old books, dusty books - I love the Puritans fromt he 1600's. I love the sweet smell of history emanating from the pages of books.  In short, I love to read. Which is why I have not been writing much  in the last few months and this brings me to my next excuse:

Reading - I've been on a tear. Reading, reading and more reading.  Mostly finance books, historical books and fiction - pretty much everything. Right now I'm reading the 6th Harry Potter.  After that I should be reading some good Puritans....

Housework - Been working on my house. I hate honey-do's!  I wish  the Roomba Company (the company that makes Roomba Vacuum Cleaning Robot) would develop a Roomba Lawn Mower!  I would camp overnight for this Roomba Lawn Mower and be the first one in line to buy such an automatic lawn mower.

Kids - Gigi and Oliver! They're growing up really quick.  Everyday they're always coming up with new things to do or new things to say or what have you. They are such a joy and delight except...when they misbehave. Now you really want to kill them. But I digress...  Gigi and Oliver are very different.  Gigi loves the limelight and has a flair for the dramatic - now where did she get such a trait. Not me -I'm just an old man in a young man body!  Oliver is a mixture of Dennis the Menace and Bob the Builder.  That's the best way I can describe him for now.  Lately, he, um, hem, hem (cough) has discovered that he, um, hem,hem (cough) has this biological apparatus from his bottom.  That makes for some really interesting conversations...  I'm usually speechless or I would have a deer in the headlight look when he did something with that...uh...it rhymes with my Uncle-in-law's name: Denis.  Seriously, I do have an Uncle-in-law and his name is Denis.  Actually, the family calls him Dennis even though his name is spelled Denis.  And for the LIFE of me, I don't KNOW why I keep forgettting this but almost EVERYTIME I talk to him I would always say his name wrong. I would say hey Uncle Denis (again it rhymes with Penis) when I should be saying "Din - Ness"  but no I had to embarrass myself in front of the family by saying, "Hey Uncle Deen Nis!"  Geesh, cowards have died a thousand deaths and I've died many more times cube!

I need to stop as I could write on forever. Will post some more later...

Out of mouth of babes....

Last night, my brother-in-law, Stephen, and I were lightly arguing over what constitute a cole slaw.  And the cole slaw that he likes is not really a cole slaw - it is one of those Asian-American delicacy that has a mixture of cabbage, vinegar, sesame seeds and ramen noodles.  I was splitting hairs with him by saying that it is not THE cole slaw that every knows and hates to eat. I hate the stuff but I love the Asian version.  Well, Stephen appealed to a higher authority: his mom.  "Well, my mom calls it Cole Slaw so it must be Cole Slaw!"  I came back with a riposte: "Uh, that's circular argument and your mom is not the reference cook book!"  Gigi was doing her homework and was listening to us teasing each other about cole slaw.  Finally, she spoke with an authoritative voice: "Steve, that's an opinion not a fact!"  I smiled and was proud that Gigi agrees with me and I turned to her and said, "Oh Gigi I love you!  You are so beautiful!"  Without missing a beat she replied, "Now that's not an opinion - that's a fact!"

She's 6 years old. Man, what is she going to be like when she turns 13? Should be interesting to see.... Stay tuned!

A Quasi-Religious Experience

Tonight we went to the highly anticipated The Swell Season concert! They were incredible!  You might know them from their musical movie, Once.  Anyway, it is one thing to hear them play in the movie or on CD but it is a whole 'nother thing to hear them live.  It was powerful...almost like a religious experience.  Glen played the guitar that he used when playing on the streets. As you can see from this picture - it is quite worn out.

At one point he stepped away from the microphone and played his heart out the song that he used to play on the streets - Say It To Me Now. It was moving...

The highlight was the encore and they played my favorite song, Falling Slowly.   Two other mentionables: (1)they had one of their band member, the fiddler, play an incredible composition - one in which he would record the tracks while playing and then repeat them while simultaneously playing - it was a beautiful fiddling.  (2) At one point a girl stood up and yelled out, "It is my birthday today and I want a hug."  Incredibly, Glen obliged!  The whole band stood up and waited for her to come on stage and they hugged her and hugged each other.  I read her lips when she hugged him, "Thanks for making this the best birthday ever!"  This is just one example of how they really engaged the audience. Glen would tell stories or crack jokes and while playing he would encourage the audience to hum a tune.  It was a great experience. One that I will never forget....

Out of mouth of babes....

I was playing toys with Oliver and I started to quiz him on various animals and what they eat.  For example, I would point to a cow and asked Oliver what it is and he would reply "Cow". I asked him what they eat and he would say "Grass".  Well, we went through about 10 animals till we got to the skunk.  I point to it and he said, "Skunk"  I asked him what they eat.  His reply:  "Poo-Poo"  I was a bit surprised and asked him why.  He said that they stink and it is because they eat poo-poo.  It was very endearing...

Happy Thanksgiving

Our Kentucky Thanksgiving has been quite pleasant. The abundant feast, as usual, was quite scrumptious!  I hope you all are having a great Thanksgiving as well.

I recently read an article by a Jewish Social Critic and Radio Host, Michael Medved, on the history of Thanksgiving - pretty interesting article. There were some historical stuff that I didn't even know. One was that the folks who came over on the Mayflower did not come from England - rather they came from Holland - having lived there for 12 years.  I will need to re-study my history during that time period. I was not taught any of this in school...  Anyone who can recommend a good book or two on this historical subject?

Global Warming Skepticism is Being Vindicated

Those of you in my "circle of trust" (Meet The Parents) know that I'm a global-warming skeptic and have teased me about it. [Again let me be VERY clear- I'm not saying that there's NO global warming activity but I am skeptic of the claims behind the global warming movement -one being that it is human-caused] Anyway...this recent FoxNews article is finally showing a faint crack in the global warming worldview. I have at least 10 to 15 articles by scientists that are disputing the global warming hypothesis but I think you all will kill me if I list them all.  Suffice to say...being vindicated is nice.  Now... here's the interesting thing - when I do challenge folks on this with the scientific studies - I'm noticing another verbal engineering:  "I never DID say global warming - I meant Climate Change."  So I'm now hearing from folks that the real problem is climate change and it is also human cause. Geesh...this is a moving target! 

I'm usually not a skeptic but when it comes to weather theory - I don't know why I become a full-blown skeptic but there's a little history here...  I made one and only one "D" in my entire four years at college.  That "D" was in my Environmental Science course.  I made a HUGE faux pas by writing an editorial ,in my college newspaper (I was the Features Editor after all), debunking the Ozone Hole doomsday scenario.  My professor of Environmental Science happens to be a huge proponent of the Ozone Hole Doom and Gloom theory (OHDG).  Needless to say, he needled me in class but I was able to argue quite effectively with facts because I had done my research for my editorial.  I had visions of being David slaying the giant Goliath of such foolish notion of the OHDG theory...in reality it was more like Jolly Green Giant squashing a little ant and I was the ant.  On the Final Exam- I had one question (maybe two if I can recall) and it was an essay on the methodology and scientific proof for the Ozone Hole Problem. It was totally unfair!  First of all, the rest of my classmates had a completely different test - mostly 100 questions composed of multiple choices and maybe some essays but nothing like mine in which I had to answer the one question which I totally disagree with.  I wrote what I was convinced was true with established studies and quotes to back up my arguments.  Alas, I received an "F". If it weren't for the fact that I had A's and B's all semester long I would have flunk that class.  I went to the dean and complained and he was not sympathetic to my complaints. 

So maybe...just maybe I have a little personal baggage here.  So I will always be a skeptic when someone tries to predict the unpredictable using computer base models that could not even predict the weather the following week.