RAINY STOCK DAY

"It's like playing with a yo-yo on an escalator" - Bay Area Accountant

So stocks took a big dive today. It's truly the first big hit where I've felt some of the consequences in my life of investing. I lost about 5% of my stock investment (if I had sold it yesterday instead of today). I'm not really worried, because that somewhat diversified investment is still up about 4%. In fact, Ford, my worst outlook ownership was about even before today. Buy it because it's cheap right now at 7.78 per share.

Current ownership (+/-):

BNI: +3.67%
CAKE: +2.91%
F: -6.38%
SINA: +19.35%
TBL: -6.41%
TEVA: +8.36%

LAST.FM IS MUSILICIOUS

I've been using this service called Last.fm (It's free) to keep track of all of my music statistics. Most people understand that I have unusual music taste, but based on my "neighbors" in Last.fm you can see that I am not the only crazy one. It's common to have eclectic music taste!

Here are my current stats...

Recently Played Tracks:


Top Weekly Artists:


Top Tracks Overall:


Top Artists Overall:


PRIDE OF TEXAS - NACOGDOCHES EDITION

Luckily, I was able to escape the dried sweat crotch-rot popcorn scent of Continental's baggage claim at IAH and haul my ass up here to Nacogdoches. Say it fast and that's how it sounds - silent 'g'.

In the hospital this morning I came across a piece of pie. Mmmm...delicious. No. Bacterialicious. Fungilicious. Gorganzolicious. That's right. This department has been under construction for months. This cake, albeit made with a lot of preservatives, is moldy like a Roquefort. The picture is total crap though.

A lot of that isn't frosting. Nice how the fork is still there, slightly cracking open the container to let in (or out!) some tainted air. I saw this and felt fortunate I was working in the data center most of the day and not near the treatment console. Too lazy to move it, I continue to stare at this ancient artifact whenever I enter the treatment area. Thankfully, there are no treatments going on currently.

REGINA RHYMES WITH CHINA

I call this work of art...

MORNING 'STOON

...and this one...

FROZEN PEPSI IN MY PT CRUISER PARKED IN THE CITY THAT SOUNDS LIKE VAGINA

SASKA(loony)TOON

I made it! My luggage made it! It's colder than a witch's teat!

Quick observations on Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada:

• The airport is warm, but tiny.
• One step outside and your lungs burn from the cold. This was a new experience for me. Apparently, it is SO DAMN COLD that you have to be careful while breathing. The air can't warm itself enough by the time it reaches your lungs and so it forces a cough basically every breathe that goes through your mouth. I learned to breathe constantly through my nose.
• It's also SO DAMN COLD that there's no chance for ice to form. The ground is crunchy and sticky. Wheeling my luggage out to the rental car was like pulling a rake through gravel. Driving isn't too bad because of the "stickiness."
• The Canadian accent is much stronger here than in Western Canada. Previously, in the past few years I've been to Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton and the "eh"s are less pronounced there.
• Some mustached gentelman in the elevator used the word "Machine" when referring to his friend's laptop computer.
• When checking into the hotel I had to provide my address. The female clerk lit up when I read the California address to her. She said something to the effect of, "Boy, you probably aren't used to this weather." My response was, "I'm looking forward to it!" Gotta have a PMA.
• I don't want to go outside unless I have to.

BLOGGING IN THE GREAT WHITE NORTH

I'm at Alberta International Airport, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada right now. It's cold. It's really really cold. When we landed around noon it was 10F. My flight to Saskatoon was cancelled and so now I am waiting 5 hours for the next flight. In Saskatoon it's something like -14F right now with a windchill making it -25F or some ridiculously low figure. They might as well measure the temperature in Kelvin.

Everything is white washed by the snow and overcast skies. There's not much ice around because it hasn't reached a high enough temperature for the snow to melt in a long long time.

Here is a picture I took while blogging and chatting with people online...