a99kitten’s Musings

Just read today’s NY Post story “Zuckers”. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/zuck_laughin_in_their_faces_YuKorcZA7fIl8DKPLksIhK

Honestly, the IPO did what it should do. How many times have I heard “it’s not fair that only insiders get the shares at such a low price before the huge pop when it IPOs.”? Or some such statements. This one didn’t pop 50% or 100%. That’s actually a good thing for the retail investor. The same ones who constantly complain that only the “big boys” on Wall Street make any money. Now you can follow the stock and decide on a good entry point if you are so inclined. Or were able to buy on the day of IPO at basically the same price.

The idea is you are buying the IPO stock to INVEST in the company. Do you think Facebook execs or bankers wanted a bunch of day traders scalping the stock all day? The point of an IPO is to generate cash for the company. Not you pal. So when it opens up 50%, that is money the company left on the table. And a poorly priced IPO. This is not 1998-1999. We don’t want that tech IPO bubble.

Should FB have left it at $34? Probably. But they looked at the interest and raised the price based on that. You can look for all sorts of nefarious, greedy banker (or Zuckerberg) motives but the fact is – that’s what you do. That’s your job as a banker working for the company. Get the best price for the company.

And the main street investors who are getting “cheated”? I’m sorry but comments like…

Retired nurse Teresa Ryan, who lives in Tudor City, bought 4,920 shares at $40.50, noting she made a killing on Apple stock. “I’m very psychic when it comes to stocks, I really am,” said Ryan. “I have no retirement, I have no pension, so I try to make money on the market.”

Queens chauffeur Thomas Gardner, whose home was just foreclosed on, could only afford $89 for two shares, which he hoped would eventually send his 9/11-born son to St. John’s University. “This is a good start,” Thomas said, beaming as he came out of a Midtown Charles Schwab office. “Everybody is hoping for something, so I’m jumping on this wagon. I have a good feeling.”

…are indicative of the hype built up by the media, which was off the charts. I mean seriously. You cannot blame Wall Street bankers or Facebook for the non-stop 24/7 coverage not only by the financial news stations (looking at you CNBC) but also just the normal news. Heard comments on the news like ” I wanted to sell it this morning and make enough to buy a car.” Umm. Yeah.

Will the same bankers have to prop the price up like it seems they did at day’s end Friday? Perhaps. That’s also their job. But to be fair to FB and the bankers, this was a crap time to come out to market. And everyone hoping the Facebook IPO would cure all the market woes were sniffing glue.

I’m willing to bet it goes down but that it will recover and go up from it’s IPO price. In fact, I did bet that. I bought 100 little shares for my 401k. At $38.25. Didn’t get the IPO price, but close enough. Do I think it might go down a few points? Sure. Do I think it will go to $20? No. But I was willing to chance the 100 shares and let it sit in my 401k. Not in my trading account. And if it goes down under $30 – would probably add.

If you believe in the company’s ability to grow and be worth more, buy the stock on the day of the IPO (when it reacts like this and not +50%) and let it sit there and grow and not worry about it’s daily price movements. You are an investor.

But if your sole intention is to flip shares for easy cash, and the price movement doesn’t go your way, that’s on you. That’s like blaming the dice roller you follow on at the craps table when you put all your chips on his/her rolls when he/she rolls snake eyes. Dude – you’re not only not rolling, you didn’t even get to blow on the dice. So you are gambling. Pure and simple. Quite your whining, take your lumps and walk away.

The 1 word descriptions for champagne even sound fantastic and fun! There a few witty quotes about champagne that I always smile at…

“my only regret in life is that I didn’t drink enough Champagne”
~ John Maynard Keynes

“there comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of Champagne”
~ Bette Davis

“in a perfect world, everyone would have a glass of Champagne every evening”
~ Willie Gluckstern

“why do I drink Champagne for breakfast? doesn’t everyone?”
~ Noel Coward

But I think my favorite today is..

“I only drink Champagne when I’m happy, and when I’m sad. sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. when I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I am not hungry and drink it when I am. otherwise I never touch it – unless I’m thirsty”
~ Lily Bollinger

Werd.

So waaaay back in April 2012, Herbalife $HLF was trading in the 70s after a great run-up since December (really been on a nice trend up for years.) Now, I don’t know anything about Herballife other than they sell vitamins or supplements or something and they have large building in SoCal that I see when I am down there. But I recall it has been around for quite some time and I have never heard anything bad about it.

Then on their latest earning conference call, David Einhorn asked some questions. And the stock tanks 20-25 points instantly because everyone thinks he is short it. Then it turns out, apparently, that he is actually NOT short the stock but a different stock completely unrelated to HLF based on his presentation at the Ira Sohn Investment Conference yesterday. The stock went up following his presentation, but not nearly as much as it got driven down. Driven down not on fundamentals. But on innuendo.

I don’t like to short stocks. Which is funny because I “grew up” in the stock market working for a very big bear. But they looked for companies that were involved in funny business. And found quite a few with “creative accounting”. But the idea of shorting companies simply because they are down that day (see assclowns that shorted airline companies after 9/11) is not for me. I know things run up for no reason and taking advantage of the downturn is logical. But as a generally positive person, unless contemplating humanity that is, I like to look for things going up, not down.

I’m not supporting HLF. And they might have questionable multi-level marketing schemes. Like I said, I know nothing about them. But I find it gross that a company’s stock price can be basically manipulated that much to the downside based on innuendo and rumor due to a well-known short seller simply asking questions on their conference call. Also, see Bear Stearns.

Not OK.

I’m not even really a fan of jerky to be honest. I was looking at the jerky to buy some for Storm (yes, he gets human grade jerky which is probably not so different from dog grade jerky in reality) and saw this packaging which caught my eye. Husband likes chipotle-flavored anything so I bought some of that and grabbed some chili lime too.

Just opened and tried the chili lime before my hike. It’s delicious!!! Now I need to buy more flavors for sure.

Seriously – try it! (and use my AMZN link above so I get credit and buy more dog treats from them for Storm ;) )

But you can also order directly from them if you can’t find it locally. They are based in Sonoma so a local company for me which I like. And no nitrates, healthy, blah blah which is always good!

http://www.kravejerky.com/brand.htm

I tried looking through pictures of Angelus tonight and I still can’t. Not without crying. I miss him so much. His husky smile. And the smiles he brought me every day.

I try not to talk to people about it as people don’t want to deal with upset or sadness that isn’t their own. I understand this. Completely. Me = not emo. So I try and stay busy and make myself stay out of my head. But sometimes it’s just hard. I think it’s hardest when I’m tired. And ever since I lost him I just don’t sleep very well. The first week I took NyQuil every night to knock me out. Me = completely anti-drug. That’s healthy. So after 6 nights I said, that’s enough. Suck it up.  Got back on my B12. And a glass of wine in the evening some nights. But I still wake up many, many times during the night. So by evening time, I am simply tired. And then get sometimes get very sad.

People say you get over it. Things get better. Get a new dog. I actually don’t believe any of that. Maybe I’ll cry less. But when people’s kids die, do they just move on? Do they just have another kid to get over it? No.

Mother’s Day is Sunday. I lost my own mom a few years back. Lost my little brother in November 2010 who I was kind of a Mom too after we lost ours. And now Angelus. I don’t have human children. Angelus and Storm were/are my kids. And they got/get more love and attention from me than a lot of people’s human children. I’m a pretty darn good mom (unlike that pathetic psycho loser on the Time mag cover. Gah.)

I’m not sure how you get over this loss. Maybe you just get used to it. But you don’t get over it. You just don’t. I am not a Kennedy fan (fascinating family to read about however) but Rose Kennedy said:

“It has been said, ‘time heals all wounds.’ I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, (protecting its sanity), covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But, it is never gone.”

She would know.

No truer words.

I was going to write a blog post about how ridiculous it is that the President of the United States comes out to support something he was previously against solely for votes. And magically his supporters love him for it and knew their great leader just needed to see the light. Because if you think he changed any mind all of a sudden, or that his opinion “evolved”, there are some bridges for sale. This was a campaign move.

But then I remembered that the whole reason they (politicians and their teams) do things like this is to steer people away from questioning the REAL issues our government, and especially our leader, should be spending their time and efforts on.

I don’t cast my vote for President based on what religion the candidate is, what their view on abortion is, or gay rights, women’s’ issues, minority issues,  or any other social issues.

What I want to hear is how he (or she) will keep our country safe, keep the borders secure and support America to allow her citizens to prosper. Not start class warfare to help their reelection campaign or pick and choose social issues to pad votes.

But my guess is the media will suck on this morsel for a awhile and people will applaud it as “Presidential” and, for awhile at least, take mainstream focus off of the high unemployment, gajillion dollar deficit and continuing wars that we are funding and fighting.  And that is exactly what his team is hoping.

Yes, I am one of those annoying CA drivers with a personalized plate. Before I had my doggies, I had a plate that, because I am a bit naive sometimes, I thought was cute but later found out could be construed to mean something else. Doh. Oh well! As soon as I got Angelus, I changed my plate to…

Simple. It was even more self-explanatory on my previous car when the huskies would hang their heads out the windows as they had the entire back seat and back (Jeep Grand Cherokee.)

So last week I was at the beach about to load Storm in the car. Guy parked next to me asks “What does your license plate mean?” As I am about to pick up Storm, my SIBErian husky into the car.  I say it’s for Love. My. SIBErian Husky. He still looked confuzzled. OK….

Today, walking to the car with Storm (in same parking lot) and a guy asks me what a sibby (as he pronounced it) is. I say it’s SIBE (ya know – long IIIIII or even SYBE I suppose) for Siberian Husky.

He looked a bit confused. Is it that hard to get?

But then another guy sitting on the edge of his truck asks “Who Shot First?” I say “Han” without hesitation. He cracks up laughing and says “you are awesome – no hesitation whatsoever.” I add “There should never even be a discussion.” He keeps chuckling as Storm and I pull away in our Falcon. At least the plate frame is translatable.

You meet some interesting people at the beach…

Found these recipes via Gojee. They sent out an email with their top Cinco de Mayo recipes and these 2 sounded yummy. I changed them to fit my tastes as I always do so click through to see the actual recipes by the people who deserve the credit!

Tilapia with Corn Salsa:

3 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 tilapia filets
1 tsp. sea salt
Pepper
Chili Powder

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup drained canned yellow corn
1/2 red onion – chopped in large chunks
1 jalapeno, finely minced
3/4 cup fresh mint leaves. roughly chopped
juice of 2 limes (about 1/4 cup)

Place the red onion, jalapeno, mint leaves and lime juice in a bowl. Set aside.

Rinse and pat dry filets. Sprinkle both sides of the filets with sea salt, pepper and chili powder.

Set a large skillet over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add the olive oil and the corn kernels. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the corn is just tender. Leave the heat on while you transfer the corn to the bowl with the other salsa ingredients and give everything a big stir.

Return the pan to the heat and melt the butter. Add the filets and half-cover the skillet, allowing some steam to circulate and some to escape. Cook the fish for 3-4 minutes, then carefully and gently flip the filets. Add the bowl of salsa ingredients and cook with the fish for an additional 3-4 minutes or until it’s just cooked through at the thickest part. Remove fish to a serving plate or plates and top with the corn salsa. I picked the giant hunks of onion out as I HATE onions but thought it might add to the flavor!

I won’t any awards for presentation but hey -this isn’t a restaurant :) If you check the original recipe, you can see I did change things so up to you which you want to try. But my way was **extremely** delicious :)

http://www.gojee.com/food/links/snapper-with-corn-salsa

Served the fish with this corn:

Cuban/Mexican Grilled Corn

Grated cotija cheese (If you can’t find it, substitute with grated Queso Fresco or Italian Parmesan or Greek feta)
Light Mayonnaise (I bet non-fat would work too but no good reason for full fat!)
Cayenne pepper or chili powder
Lime wedges

There are many methods of grilling corn and you may already have a favorite technique. For this recipe, we peeled off entire husks and wrapped in foil. Normally I’d soak the corn first and brush with olive oil and spices but I wanted to try a more charred version and not change the flavors of this recipe so did not do that this time. You grill for about 10-15 minutes depending how hot you’ve gotten your grill. Just watch it.

Brush on a light layer of mayo. Sprinkle desired amounts of cotija cheese and cayenne chili powder. Serve with lime wedges. Husband did most the work on this since I do not man the grill so he gets credit although I did find the recipe and do all the prep work ;)

You will seriously never want other corn again :) Although I do want to try the jalapeno butter also found in the recipe on it as well!

http://www.gojee.com/food/links/cuban-mexican-grilled-corn

Just got back from Stormy’s 6 month ultrasound check. After he had 2 surgeries in two months to remove 2 tumors from his liver (and almost half his liver), 1 of which UC Davis said was benign but the University of Colorado said was a “well-defined carcinoma”, we were getting them monthly. Then after 6 months, every 2 months and then after last November, we moved it to a 6-month check. We took him off the chemo regimen he was on last July. So I was pretty stressed about this one. Especially after losing Angelus. But happy to report he is still tumor free :) Checked all of his innards. I go in with him so he has less stress so I got to see it all too. Apparently his innards are perfect even though it looks like black and white squigglies to me :)

At his last oncologist visit, all of the doctors and nurses came to see him as they couldn’t believe how great he was doing. And now all of the techs and a couple of the docs at his regular vet came over to see him. Our doctor said everyone likes to see the success stories.

Stormy has been through a lot. And he keeps going because he has a big heart and a lot of happiness still left to give :) I think tonight might be the first true reason to have a glass of bubbly to celebrate something in the past month. Maybe I will. But right now I am letting myself relax a bit. Woke up at 3am stressed and unable to sleep so it’s nice to feel some of the stress leaving my body….

Needed to put away Angelus’ bowls. Decided to put them in a lower kitchen cabinet that I never use so that I wouldn’t keep seeing them every day. Pulled out what I thought were empty boxes and found 4 bottles of Dom and Veuve. And a Tiffany coffee pot, serving platter and candle holders we received as wedding gifts and that I apparently put away eons ago. I’ll take all that to the new house. Will need to fill up on side of the wine cellar with good bubbly and Tiffany stuff should always be out and used.

Angelus still helping me find treasures. Of course, his treasures were gophers and chipmunks…