You know, that one kid?

Why is there always that one kid at school or work that constantly asks irrelevant questions? I love it when an instructor says "We're not going to talk about (insert subject) now because we're going to cover it in detail later". Which is immediately followed by the half hand raise and then blurted out question "I know we don't need to know this now but... I was wondering about how exactly such and such works?" Followed by half of the room inhaling deeply and closing their eyes and the other half rolling their eyes skyward. I hope I'm not that kid because I might have been in the past.

On a side note this is going to be an interesting week for me. I'm trying to limit myself to three hours of television for the week. Self determination has prevailed so far but I'm only half way there. Also do we have an official count for the lacrosse game on Saturday? I'm willing to buy the tickets ahead so we can all sit together. Leave a comment or call me.

How would you like to be the picture that shows up when someone searches for nerd on google?

Just Wondering

When you take your car to an automatic car wash do you turn up your stereo really loud and sing along with your favorite song? I do. While I was jamming out during the latest ranger bath I noticed that the clear coat protectant smells an awful lot like bubble gum. Do you think that its just a coincidence or is there something in bubble gum that smells like clear coat protectant? Maybe Dr. Spew could shed some light on the chemical analysis for me.

I Survived

Well I made the cut. I passed the Series 7 Exam. I was pretty sure I was going to fail on my way to lunch after the first half of the test but by some miracle I managed to pull an 82. The stupid part is that I didn't read seven of the 22 chapters. I was kicking myself yesterday afternoon and reflecting a little bit. Maybe I could finish school if I actually applied myself but that would take too much effort. Just kidding, I'm going to finish. I was getting really frustrated during the test because I was sitting in one of the really fancy office chairs that are adjustable in every direction. The problem is I sat down in the mutant chair. It's hard to pay attention when it feels like the chair back is about to launch you into the monitor. I finally gave in and read the instructions for the chair but all the adjustments were to no avail. It was just nice to be done. To celebrate a break in the study sessions I went to see Stranger Than Fiction. If you haven't seen this movie yet I would rate as a must see. It's been a long time since a movie this good has come out. But that's just my opinion. Or maybe I just thought it was really good because it didn't talk about stocks or bonds.

The Big Day

My four week cramming session has come to an end. Maybe I will update this a little more often now. Over the last four weeks I have filled my head with a ridiculous amount of information and drank a few too many rockstars. A four week crash course for the series seven securities exam is brutal. At least I've been getting paid to study for it though. My fate will be determined tomorrow morning. The test has two three hour blocks that cover 125 questions each. I'm hoping I don't need all six hours. I've taken 21 practice tests over the last week so I'm feeling pretty good at this point. Guess I'll find out tomorrow.


Random Question -
Does anyone else wish that the commercials for CitiBank rewards credit cards would stop?


Julie Update

Julie got her last transfer call on Friday and she is staying in Athens to train a girl from France. Only eight weeks until she is back! Sweet!

Sweet.

Wow, I'm not really a big sports follower but I do usually watch all the Byu games that the mtn. actually shows. By some odd coincidence I ended up watching the last quarter of the game on Saturday in the Wilkinson Center at Byu. Those last four minutes were pretty intense. I really didn't think the cougars would pull it off. Pandemonium would be the best way to describe the reaction to the final play. Oh and just in case you're wondering the bowling lanes at the Wilkinson are a little dry.

Random Thoughts

Looking at my title this could be interesting.

Minor Irritations:

You get in your car and the door closes by itself but not quite all the way so you have to open it and shut it again.

You have an article of clothing you like to wear but it has some minor flaw that bugs you all day. Like the polo shirt with one side of the collar that always curls up. Your favorite shirt with the stain that didn't quite come out but you justify wearing it anyway. For me I have a self induced irritation. My pant length is 34". For some reason, maybe subconsciously I like to tease myself, I end up buying pants that are 32". When I try them on 32 feels right. Later when the shoes come into play and I sit down I realize that I have another pair of highwaters. It would be safe to say at least half of my pants are too short.

The turn signal that keeps turning itself off early, only to the left though.

You have a plan to grab something at a store or a gas station that you frequent. You know exactly where the item you want is, usually an energy drink for me. If you run in and go straight to checkout you can make it to where you need to be in time. When you are in a hurry, it never fails that someone gets in line in front of you with a plethora of crap and writes a check. Now, instead of being frustrated waiting in line I just give up and leave. I find it's easier to just do without and let it go.

Lyric of the Week:

"The past is only the future with the lights on"
-From "Baby Come On" by Plus 44

Boner Candidate today from X96:

Nephite Tennis Shoes, Good For Kicking In Doors

Christopher Heimerdinger, the author of the LDS children's series Tennis Shoes Among The Nephites was charged with a misdemeanor for kicking in the door of his estranged wife's apartment while the kids were inside; how Christlike. He was ordered to pay $300 in fines, sentenced to one year probation and has to attend a 16 week domestic-violence and anger-management course. I had to go into work before I found out whether he won or not. I was intrigued because I read some of these books when I was younger. It's odd that the person who wrote these books would do something like this. I feel sorry for the kids.

Quote of the Week

"The only difference between speculating on stock options and gambling is the free cocktails"
- Booker

Utah, Land of the Lost

If you haven't heard about all the bodies being found in Strawberry Reservoir lately you should go read the articles on kutv or ksl. It's crazy. Two people drown and I think at the last count 3 or 4 different bodies have been found but not the two they originally went looking for. I'm happy for the families that have closure now. I still am awestruck that there are that many people that have disappeared in a specific recreation area and are still unaccounted for. I understand that the technology that's available now is the main reason for all the finds but I hope that the boat and robot setup will be busy all next summer looking for other people. Hopefully they can find the two who recently drowned before the reservoir freezes over. It's just kind of creepy to think that are probably other bodies in other lakes waiting to be found. Reading this afternoon I also saw that someone found the body of a woman by a trail in Ogden that had probably been there for 3 years. Maybe Utahn's need to be more cautious in the great outdoors. The next time I swim in a lake and feel something touch me I'll probably scream like a little girl.

Shiznit!

This is your brain on Series 7

Phew... Well I made it through the first week of training at my new job feeling pretty good about my cognitive abilities but this week I am getting trashed. Maybe turkey and stuffing has a negative effect on short term memory and comprehension. I'm studying to pass the Series 7 licensing exam for my new job and we have to cover all the material in 12 days. After the cram sessions we get two weeks to take practice exams which will be nice breather. Up until this week I at least had a basic understanding of what we were learning. This week is taking more effort and having a head cold is adding to the excitement. I am sure I will pass but I really want to do better than anyone my trainer has taught before. Anyways... Glutton Fest was sweet! It was awesome to get to meet everyone. Thank you so much Derrek for putting forth all the goods and effort. I hope everyone had a good time I know I did, I think my scale is a little upset with me though.

Random Info:

I get to see Julie in 3 months! I'm so excited I can't stand it. The time is really starting to go by fast.

Good to see that we have some more takers on the trade off. Only one month left.

If you haven't looked at the Endurance 50 link lately you should. There is a short preview of the documentary they are making about the challenge and in case you didn't know; it's not really over. Dean decided to run home to California from New York. Endurance is... amazing.

Album of the Month: When Your Heart Stops Beating (+44)

Plus 44's debut album came out today and I really like it so far. Thank you Itunes. It's definitely worth investigating. I have made it through half of the tracks so far and haven't skipped a song yet.

GluttonFest Update!

GluttonFest is on Saturday at my house at 3:00 P.M. There will be two turkeys* and lots of potatoes for sure. Not sure about any other food assignments yet. I hope we have a good turnout. If not, more food for the faithful. If you need directions call Eric, Derek, Nate, Jon, Ryan or me. If you plan on coming and can bring a dish, leave a comment.

*actual turkeys may not resemble photo... well, not the fruit

Endurance is... Done and Done

Amazing. That's all I have to say. Dean Karnazes finished his 50th marathon in 50 days in New York today. I know when I first started telling people about this everyone said that he was crazy and no one can do that. I have to admit that I thought it was awesome that he would try but even I didn't think he would be able to make it. Well he did. Just goes to show that you can't put a limit on what willpower and determination can accomplish. Hopefully some of those who read this will be able to do a triathlon or another race with me next summer. I'm still shooting for a marathon.

Bring on the snow

Here is a little clip from Beaver Mountain that always gets a good laugh. Some of you might remember seeing this before but I thought I'd post it on here for your viewing pleasure.

I Hope I Age Well

What a week. As a lot of you may already know my Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer about a month and a half ago. My Dad has had his fair share of health problems but this was still a little bit of surprise. His doctor performed a biopsy to asses what the best treatment would be and when the results came back it was decided that surgery to remove the prostate quickly was the best option. So the surgery was scheduled for Halloween, which followed a stressful weekend for me. I did get to see what all the people who work at the hospital dress up like for Halloween. There was one lady who had one of those costumes with a fan that keeps the material blown up in a large shape that's supposed to be funny but I'm still not quite sure what she was supposed to be. This reminded me of the ultimate Kool-Aid jug costume that D-Rock and Spew have always dreamed of creating. If you find it I'll gladly dress up as the brick wall. Anyways..

My Dad's surgery went well. The doctors were afraid that he would have complications with all the medicine that he takes; blood thinners, medication for Addison's Disease, low blood pressure etc... Luckily he didn't even need a blood transfusion and the doctors were able to leave a nerve bundle that was originally slated for removal. The biopsy of the lymph glands removed during the surgery came back negative so the chances are good that the cancer hasn't spread. We were able to bring my Dad home on Thursday night and he's doing much better now than in the hospital. Wednesday night and Thursday were really bad days at the hospital. I have to say that it is one of the hardest things in life to watch those you love be in agony and not be able to help them. I definitely don't think I could be a nurse after this week either, not that I've ever even considered it but now I know for sure. Even though I know the statistics show that almost all men get prostate cancer eventually I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can dodge this one.

Another Trade-Off Update

I'm getting slaughtered this week. My winner stock tanked and I shorted Yahoo right before it got a big upswing. My options calls also came due and were worth zero so that was an instant $4000 loss. Oops. Glad to see that D-rock joined in.

Game : indecision101

Rank User Today Week Month Overall Equity 1. crom -0.41% 1.98% 32.75% 32.72% $132,724.80 2. Spew 0.13% -0.49% 6.03% 5.66% $105,655.90 3. Hedgeman10 -0.05% 0.16% 2.52% 2.52% $102,516.20 4. ddrock 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% $100,000.00 5. rman80 -0.36% 0.11% -2.07% -2.07% $97,927.79 6. mrfuzz -2.25% -1.20% -0.32% -4.70% $95,296.84

Trade Off Update

Well the rankings moved around a little bit since the last update but they are almost back to where they were before. I would like to point out the the monkey (Spew) is still doing better than Jon and Ryan. I'm still banking that I can pull off an upset over Nate's sweet picking skills.

Game : indecision101

Rank User Today Week Month Overall Equity 1. crom 0.00% -1.07% 18.48% 18.46% $118,456.80 2. mrfuzz 0.00% 5.07% 11.42% 6.52% $106,518.80 3. Spew 0.00% 4.83% 5.36% 5.00% $104,995.90 4. Hedgeman10 0.00% 3.58% 2.93% 2.93% $102,926.80 5. rman80 0.00% -4.05% -3.38% -3.38% $96,615.29

Follicle Folly #2

Well I did it again. It's pretty sad that when I have a drought in blog writing a self-inflicted wound always brings me back to the table. I have got into the habit of shaving my head about every two weeks and have become quite proficient at it in my opinion. Until today. Those electric razors can do some damage. Yes I nicked my ear, yes it hurt and yes the ear does have a lot of blood circulating through it. I think I should have taken the picture when it was more bloody for the sake of aggrandizement but I was in pain so you get the slightly cleaned up version. I was also just talking with Eric about Stephen Hawking filing for divorce today and I had funny thought. Did you know that his voice computer deal was built for him by the ex-husband of his current wife(the one he is divorcing)? I told Eric that if that guy had been me I would have programmed it to go into a terrets mode whenever Hawking gave a speech. Just a thought.

It's Official

Well it's official. I got hired at E*Trade this week and I start the first week of November. Kind of scary that the person who was doing the worst in the Trade Off is actually going to be a stock broker. Oh Well, I just have to say that I'm so excited to get away from my current job that I can barely stand it. I have learned a lot from my job but I feel like I am always fixing problems that I didn't cause. I applied for a position where I thought I would be able to have a positive impact but it didn't work out. So it is time to move on.

About the Trade off: in my defense I have made quite a comeback this week and I even did it with stocks that cost more than $10 a share. Here are the rankings from the end of this week.

You can still sign up. Even if you don't post comments on this blog you should still sign up for the competition. Just use the link on the sidebar. Just think, if you sign up now you won't even be in last place. Competition makes it more fun.

Game : indecision101

Rank User Today Week Month Overall Equity 1. crom 0.00% 19.76% 19.76% 19.74% $119,742.30 2. mrfuzz 0.00% 6.04% 6.04% 1.38% $101,378.90 3. rman80 0.00% 0.69% 0.69% 0.69% $100,689.80 4. Spew 0.00% 0.51% 0.51% 0.16% $100,160.90 5. Hedgeman10 0.00% -0.63% -0.63% -0.63% $99,372.67

Music Buzz

I was super excited when I got an email this week that the new band +44 was going to be playing at The Venue in Salt Lake on the 24th of this month. If you haven't heard of Plus 44 I'm sure you will. They are the other half of Blink 182 but most importantly their drummer is Travis Barker, who I think is one of the greatest drummers of all time. I say I was because this week I got another email saying that Travis broke his arm and may or may not being playing the tour but he is trying to play the set with one hand. So anyways if Travis is still coming I think this might be a concert that you shouldn't miss. If anyone wants to go let me know. The bands new cd comes out in November and I predict it will be huge.

Another band worth looking forward to is Broke. They are actually a local band that has gotten a lot of help recording their new album from Branden Steineckert, former drummer for the Used. There has been a little documentary about Broke playing on Comcast and I'm really looking forward to their album also. Their album doesn't have an official release date yet but should be coming soon.

I also got the new John Mayer cd off ITunes this week and it's growing on me. If you only liked the John Mayer songs that got played on the radio I don't think you will like his new album. Most of the songs are slower but the guitar keeps getting better and better.

Thinking about buying the new Killers cd...

Trade Off Update

Just letting everyone know the site the trading simulator is at is having some difficulties. You can still trade but you can't see anyone else's trade history. I am trying to change the fees to match what Scottrade charges but the site won't let me save my changes either. Glad to see that Ryan signed up . Still waiting for Jon. Try and get more people to sign up so it's a little more interesting.

Word of the Day

Found a word I haven't ever seen so I thought I'd share.

I just finished reading Confessions of a Street Addict, written by James J. Cramer also know as Jim Cramer or the crazy Mad Money guy on CNBC. I have never seen the word Agitprop before and couldn't delve any meaning out of the context so here is the semi-official definition from Wikipedia.

Agitprop is a contraction of agitational propaganda. The term originated in Communist Russia, where the term was a shortened form of отдел агитации и пропаганды (otdel agitatsii i propagandy), i.e., Department for Agitation and Propaganda, which was part of the Central and regional committees of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The department was later renamed to Ideological Department.
The term propaganda in the Russian Language didn't bear any negative connotation at that time. It simply meant "dissemination of ideas". In the case of Agitprop, the ideas to be disseminated were those of communism, including explanations of the policy of the Communist Party and the Soviet State. In other contexts, propaganda could mean dissemination of any kind of beneficial knowledge, e.g., of new methods in agriculture. "Agitation" meant urging people to do what Soviet leaders expected them to do; again, at various levels. In other words, propaganda was supposed to act on the mind, while agitation acted on emotions, although both usually went together, thus giving rise to the cliche "propaganda and agitation".
In the western world, agitprop has a negative connotation. In the United Kingdom during the 1980s, for example, socialist elements of the political scene were often accused of using agitprop to convey an extreme left-wing message via television programmes, theatre and even children's books. However, in a more general sense, a television cartoon might be described as 'agitprop' if it could be interpreted as a marketing ploy to sell toys.
The term is frequently used in the modern Russian language to describe information provided by mass-media, if it is considered to be pro-government and biased.