Friday 26 September 2008

Random Thoughts From Boston

1)  The Chipyard at Quincy Market makes some pretty fine chocolate chip cookies.  Like homemade.
 
2)  I think I sat next to about the most hyperactive 10-year-old imaginable on the flight over here.  Seven hours of repeatedly standing up, sitting down, fiddling with everything fiddle-able, periodically watching what I was doing, shaking his sister's seat (in front of him), etc.
 
3)  Going back to the Star Market supermarket in Porter Square reminded me very much of my early time in Cambridge.  I suppose the weekly routine of going to the supermarket may have been about the most consistent and uniform activity I participated in during law school.
 
4)  Pet peeve: when people confidently give you wrong directions.  (I never trust them anyway and end up using a map.)
 
5)  Shopping list from Star Market: 3x Crispix, 2x Lucky Charms, 2x Fruity Pebbles, 2x Crunch Berries, 1x Peanut Butter Crunch, 1x Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs, 1x Kix, 2x Cheese Nips, 2x Wheat Thins, 1x Austin Cheese and Peanut Butter Crackers (for old times' sake), 1x Triscuits, 1x Ritz Toasted Chips (cheese flavor), 1x some random multi-grain cheese snack.  Might still have some room in the suitcase for a run on CVS tomorrow.
 
6)  I hope the two LDS interviewees on the slate tomorrow have good grades.
 
7)  I've only been doing the minimal amount necessary to be non-negligent as a board member of the World Foundation for Asia recently.  Meeting up with two of the other board members rekindled the fire (for now, at least).

Saturday 20 September 2008

Thursday 18 September 2008

Monday 15 September 2008

Strange Times Are Afoot

My clients are mostly financial institutions. I heard rumblings of Bear Stearns' and Lehman Brothers' collapses a while before they happened, so they weren't huge surprises.

I was quite taken by surprise when Bank of America agreed to take over Merrill Lynch this weekend, though. I work quite a lot with ML and hadn't heard anything through the grapevine.

When three of the big 5 "pure" investment banks in the U.S. topple within six months, the financial world is due for some changes. Here's hoping the U.S. government doesn't overreact as crazily as it did to Enron and 9/11. But here's betting it will -- re-election politics almost mandate it.

Now the big question: does this all signal the end of America's financial hegemony?

EDIT: I've posted a few thoughts on the Fed's reaction so far at Heuristic Devices.

Wednesday 10 September 2008

Spider Season

Last September our house was invaded by spiders. Big ones.

This year doesn't seem to be quite as bad yet. I'm hoping the cool summer meant fewer bugs and thus fewer spiders. We'll see.

Yesterday morning, as I was leaving for work, I just about ran into a garden spider's web spun directly between our two front hedges, right in the middle of the only path out of the house. I tore it down (with the aid of some appropriately long object).

The spider was undaunted. This morning, as I was leaving for work, the spider had set up house in exactly the same spot. I took the web down again. I *almost* felt bad about destroying its house for the second day in a row.

As I got home from work this evening, I saw the spider was at it again. By the time I took out the recycling a few minutes ago, the spider had finished yet another web, albeit to the left side of the pathway this time. I left it there for now. The recycling guys can run into it when they pick up the recycling.


Ela Woman

It's official -- Ela Woman is coming to stay with us for two months beginning in early October. (Her infrequent sidekick, Anne Lady, will make her typical token appearance sometime in November.) Watch out, bad guys!

Monday 8 September 2008

Car

After three years of going carless, we finally got a car a couple of weeks ago. Now I just need to get a driver's license . . .


Friday 5 September 2008

Blogging tools

I've been playing around with Blogger this evening. The Blogger team has obviously made some improvements since I last blogged.

But I'm thinking of getting some third-party blogging tool so that I can tell myself I'm a blogging whiz when I make my annual blog post. Anybody have any experience with BlogJet or w.bloggar? (Or any other blogging tool?)

Thursday 4 September 2008

New blogs

Ok, I've decided to create three separate blogs to keep my political and religious thoughts separate from my personal/random ones. You can still visit Heuristic Devices for my once-a-year political rants. Or you can visit Religion in the Postmodern Age for my once-in-a-year religious ramblings. Or you can check out this site once a year for my yearly random thought.