Friday was certainly an interesting day in the market. I'm still trying to balance my long and short positions rather than just retreat to cash entirely.
Moral Hazards. Bear Stearns may become a poster child for moral hazard. Looks like they got bit by the hand that was feeding them, but their investors are truly the ones who have been sucker punched. If I were an institutional investors, I would chose my investment banker much like I would chose a certified financial planner--fee for advice, not fee for products. With the push for fee revenue, I'm not sure that I would "trust" the advice of someone that had a menu of products that they were SURE would be right for me. There is a terrific article on Bloomberg regarding the BSC hedge fund demise...if you're looking for a dose of schandenfreude mixed with a bit of poetic justice, do read this.....
Kitchen Hazards. Jacques Pepin (above) ( famous chef, handsome devil) said that you should keep your knives very sharp so that when you cut yourself it will be clean and heal quickly. Yesterday I cut the right corner of my left index finger off. I'm able to type a little, but I'm fading fast here. At least it was a searingly sharp knife, and my finger is healing, but naturally I've managed to bump it about 4 times today with unhappy results.
Swimming with the Big Dogs. Yesterday I took Macy (The Chumenator) for a swim in my neigbor's pond. My neighbor has two other dogs both of whom love me as they do their owner: Lacy (a lab/beagle/bird dog mix--she's 1 month older than Macy who just turned 1 year old) and Ginger (a 100+ lb Golden Retriever), who also enjoy this activity. I throw things out and Ginger and Macy fetch them in. Lacy jumps in and drafts on Ginger--something that she has done as a puppy by latching onto the base of Ginger's monstrous tail and swimming behind. Unfortunately, she tries to do this with Macy who is ill-equipped in every way to do this. (I will try to get some photos and post to include another dog, a yellow lab of one of my neigbor's friends--to watch them all swim, fetch and play is wonderful, and there is some beautiful golden light in the evenings).
Well...I decided to launch the kayak so that Macy and Ginger could swim along with me while I FETCHED the things that they failed to pick up. It was quite pleasurable until Lacy jumped Macy and sent her under water. Macy panicked and desperately tried to get into the kayak. I did succeeded in getting Macy into the kayak only to promptly flip it. WE both went under water but bobbed up quickly. I suddenly found myself with about 220 lbs of dogs and their damaging feet ripping at me. I was momentarily terrified. I managed to fend the dogs off. It took me a little time to get underway so that I was actually moving with Ginger, the overturned kayak my shoes and the oar very slowly toward shore. I was reminded how old and out of shape that I was.
I have three horrible bruises on my left arm from being raked by somebody's claws. (I hope that I'm never mauled by a dog--even when they are not trying to harm you their exuberance can leave marks!). Naturally I was tired after the incident and from continuing to recover my massive 3 week sleep deficit. But after lying down, I realized that I was too hungry to sleep. So I went into the kitchen and found my husband opening tuna fish. Immediately I pulled out shallots and celery and began cutting away. But I was tired and not paying attention (and I really have no good form in cutting where only one's knuckles are exposed) and sliced a good sized divit out of my index finger. Plenty of blood and pain that extended into the balance of the evening. Joey, it must be something with those moon-vibes over this last month! Bad moon for me, for sure!
Lesson: No knife work while tired.
4 comments:
So you find yourself barrel rolling in a kayak with a 100+ pound dog with no white water rapids in sight and the lesson is... be careful with knives when your tired?
Well this was the second cut on the same hand. The last time was T-giving before last, and I sliced down to the bone (same finger). At least I could press it together, though had I been chopping more firmly, I would have had a bony finger to wag as someone!
Chinese or French cookbooks show the techniques to use to keep your knuckles in position to protect your fingers. Surely the cost of such a book would be less than a hospital visit, or maybe just use the local library - or better yet, 'google' it.
Good Luck.
Anon...yes, I know the technique, and use it when I think about it. Unfortunately, though, it is not habit, and muscle memory being what it is, I always revert back to the improper way.
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