It is all relative

"The deterioration of the macro economy is still unfolding.  We expect 2009 will be a challenging year for most CMT sectors, as the recession is likely to have a number of negative effects on demand for CMT services as well as bad debts, capital spending needs and headcount requirements.  We expects the recession to be deeper and more protracted than post 2001, with the economic environment continuing its malaise well into 2010, if not beyond."

Some bs i am writing for work.

Fucking fantastic...  We are all fucked.  In 2001, the bubble, the dot coms, IT, related comm was a tiny fraction of our economy.  It was painful.  Then 9/11.  but whatev.  we are looking financials, auto, commodities, housing.. huge portions of our economy which touch each and everyone of us. 

Trent and I were lamenting about our respective fates last night - mid 20's, finance background, both some what precariously employed, no real assets to speak for (great I have a car which I don't drive, an apartment filled with a few toys, some savings, some stocks that are worth 80% less then the day I bought them)...  After busting our asses for the past 5 years we have essentionally have been reset to college graduation.  Fuck Fuck Fuck

But, to be honest, not a bad place to be.  It is incredibly easy to be inwardly focused right now, indulge in a healthy serving of self pity...  No.  Just stop.  This is not specific to us.  Learn from this experience, modify you behavior, consumption habits, priorities..

Who I feel for... the new family, two young kids, single earner family, with a mortage... the late50s  somethings who just watch the Dow Jones go from 13,000 to 6,800 and their retirement savings fall by half...

Ha, so I am fucked, on a relative basis, less...

Rep. John Conyers

go fuck yourself.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:H.R.801:

Funnel

I date a lot... its fun. new people, discover new places. It’s entertainment. Obviously I try and be upfront about it. I have stolen and used frequently a line from Trent when he was dating Ms. Megan “I’m having fun, are you having fun? Good, let me know if you ever stop having fun…” I go on a lot of first dates, fewer second dates, and far fewer third dates (if they make it that far then they are worth keeping around for a bit). I think you really know if something is workable or not within the first 30 mins of the date. This is not to say that I wouldn't be serious about the right girl. Theoretically, I think that would be ideal. My thought process here is the more stuff that goes into the top of the funnel, the more selective you can be. It also allows you learn more about what works, what doesn’t and refine your criteria. And everyone has a score – in general a 5 will end up with a 5, a 6 and a 6, sometimes a 5 will be with a 6, but rarely will you see a 5 and a 7. I stole RenJeKi personality / intelligence / attractiveness or PIA system - equally weighted and then is a min threshold in each category. I know my range, I will not date below a certain threshold as I know it is just a waste of my time (ha and yes, there are occasionally few above my range :)) Ones market value is determined by what number you can attract. I have gotten some pushback on whether or not one can accurately rank what are basically qualitative measures… and yes you can…: so imagine getting a set of 20 pictures of yourself - all very similar - and take the pictures and put two side by side so you have 19 on one side 1 on the other - now between two pictures you could chose the one you think - looks the best - and toss the other picture - keep the one you like on the right - now go through the stack, you would eventually end up with the best picture - if you wanted you could resort the stack of 19 and come up - with the second best - and so on - you can rank qualitative things in a systematic fashion

Avocados

salt? spoon? crazy delicious.

Today I was a bit disappointed - brought one for breakfast - it was not ripe. In general I struggle with breakfast foods. Don't get me wrong, I love the classic eggs, bacon, toast, oj etc (or huevos ranchito). most simple breakfast foods are uninspiring? cereal underwhelms

Was also disappointed as I had to pass on what was a pretty cool investment opportunity.. my boilerplate pass script has become

We get it, like it, it’s creative…

We can see a path to a reasonable return with low downside risk – though in the case with XYZ I believe we would have to adjust XYZ – you start messing around there and you can start seeing a return in excess of 3.0x

In a normal macro environment we would be inclined to pursue it further but given limited resources (time, money), there seems to be more interest at the partnership level in pursuing investments where the underlying business provides a solid chance at a reasonable return and the dislocation / distress in the capital markets creates a window for Columbia to be opportunistic and potentially get returns in excess of what a reasonable return might be a similar investment in more normal times (e.g. solid business, but distressed balance sheets or distressed investors)

and yes, I also have scripts for I break up with women.... when telling people bad news I have to write it down, make sure I power through all my talking points, and then let them respond... otherwise it ends up being a unproductive conversation