a99kitten's Musings

To know me is to know I like animals more than people on a large scale. Of course I have people I consider friends and care about. But the rest of the world is on their own. So I don’t want to hear your BS stories or sick jokes about animal deaths, hunting, etc. And you can pity and whine about the people that commit suicide because they were bullied or blah blah blah and my response is chicken shit cop out. The end. There IS always another solution and if you didn’t chose it – that’s your choice. But I know I’m heartless like that.

But the headlines I see for stories I refuse to read anymore and the emails I receive (from the animal rights groups who it deliberately for shock value) upset me beyond belief. I won’t repeat them here as they sicken me, other than to say tonight my husband texts me right as I’m getting ready for bed (he’s out of town, not texting me from the next room) about a story that I hadn’t heard yet – thanks. I turn on the TV to watch Big Bang Theory to make me laugh before bed so I feel better and as the TV is turning on, it’s a news commercial break with the headline/story that he just texted me. Great. Why do you do that? Do you not know me??

I have woken up for the past week every single night due to a headline in a tweet that I saw, that I didn’t even click on, and have no details about the story other than the headline was so damn horrific it made me cry. So I’m tired. But can’t get the picture out of my head…every single night…right around 3am…and then 4am..and so on.

And the sports news, who I turn to for relief from the real world of crap news, just can’t say enough about the greatness of Michael Vick. Fuck Michael Vick. I hope he gets hit by a bus. Clear enough for ya?

I want my own island. With no news. No people. No reason to make me cry.

Sorry for my rant and foul language…but it is my blog…and I’m sad and tired. And sometimes it helps to talk about stuff…and if not talk, then write. I doubt it will help me sleep or forget this time. But I’ve tried.

“You’re all pretty much fu****. You don’t know it yet. But, you are the NINJA generation. No Income, No Job, No Assets. You got a lot to live for too. Someone reminded me the other evening that I once said greed is good. Now it seems its legal. But folks, its greed that makes my bartender buy three houses he can’t afford with no money down. And its greed that makes your parents refinance their two hundred thousand dollar house for two fifty. Then they take that extra fifty and go down to the mall. They buy a plasma TV, cell phones, computers, a SUV, hey why not a second home while we are it, cause gee whiz we all know the prices of houses in America always go up, right? And its greed that makes the government of this country cut interest rates down to one percent after 9/11 so we can all go shopping again. And they got all these fancy names for trillions of dollars of credits, CMOs, CDOs, SIVs, ABS . You know I honestly think that there’s maybe only seventy five people in the world who know what they are. But I’ll tell you what they are – WMDs, weapons of mass destruction! That’s what they are.

Its clear as a bell to those who pay attention, the mother of all evil is speculation, leveraged debt. The bottom line is borrowing to the hilt. And I hate to tell you this, it’s a bankrupt business model. It won’t work. Its systemic, malignant, and its global, like cancer. It’s a disease and we got to fight back. How are we going to do that? How are we going to leverage that disease back in our favor? Well I’ll tell you. Three words, “Buy my book!” Prices and profits work.”

Another great speech given by Gordon Gekko, in the new movie – Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

I liked the movie. I didn’t love it like I love the first one but I loved every second GG was on the screen. And I think Josh Brolin did a great job. And I didn’t even hate Shia even though I could have done with a little less him and a little more Michael Douglas.

I was worried Oliver Stone would try to make this some huge morality tale since Hollywood loves to blame Wall Street, the big, bad corporate monsters and rich people (unless you are rich from making movies or music that is) for all that is bad and evil in the world. And Hollywood is full of morality…Plus Stone seems so shocked, in every recent interview anyway, that he unleashed GG on the world (really Oliver?) when he meant to show him as a villain (more people love Darth Vader than Luke so he should have known that.)

But he didn’t – not too much anyway. A lot of green energy plugging. I guess this was the only way to make the new young buck trader “likable” to the masses. “See Wall Street isn’t so bad when they want to bring cold fusion into the world! But shale oil – those guys are bastards.” Makes Shia’s character’s greed and drive acceptable. Kinda like when Al Gore pumps alternative energy…the areas/companies he has stock in that is…

The main plot centered around a Bear Stearns/Lehman Brothers-like take down followed up by the mass banking and financial markets free-fall and hysteria that came after. If you have read anything about those firms, this plot will not seem far-fetched at to you. At all.

Stone threw in some quite typical macho, alpha-male scenes but guess what – those guys generally ARE like that. So again, quite believable. Some of the special effects which I can only assume were included to help people figure stuff out (give them pictures = easier!) were needless, in my opinion. Felt they were more distracting than helpful. But I guess every single movie ever made now has to have some kind of digital effect.

Some fun cameos by financial and news people. And a few from the first movie which were funny. As well as a song thrown in as a throw-back! But alas, no Frank.

One very good thing explained was GG’s jail sentence and the time line from the first movie to this movie. I have complained forever that there is NO way he would be in jail all this time for insider trading – even with the WORST lawyer which you know he didn’t have. So thank you Oliver for making that more clear. I find it highly offensive and disgusting that anyone convicted of a white-collar crime would receive more actual jail time than a person who commits a violent crime – but people need their bogeymen and their heads on pikes.

Martha Stewart received 5 months jail time and 2 years probation (29 months total of punishment) for what was basically insider trading (the actual charges were different I think but that’s what she did.) This was a pretty small trade in her own account where she had insider knowledge due to the fact she was friends with the CEO. The amount of people that do what she did every day without getting sent to jail would probably piss some people off…the ones who didn’t get the insider info and act on it that is. I am not saying it wasn’t wrong and she shouldn’t be punished somehow. But jail time?

Michael Vick got 21 months of jail and 2 months home confinement ( 23 months total punishment) for his hands-on part in a dog-fighting ring. I recognize that I have a very strong opinion on this that not every one shares, but really? 23 months in total for showing us how cruel and inhuman you actually are? And then back to his high-flying football career being a hero to kids. Puke.

Bernie Madoff got 150 years for his multiple financial crimes. Horrible – yes. Deserves punishment – of course. But 150 years? How many murderers, rapists and pedophiles get off with 5 or 10 years – if that? But again – a head was needed, his rolled. End of story.

I am of the opinion that white-collar criminals should be made to do more community service as sentences. Real service – not give a lecture to at-risk kids. And no – not live in their penthouses while they do it. But how much are these guys fined for their crimes and hand over to the government? Use some of that to get them to work and keep them in a different facility (not tax-payer funded.) They are incredibly smart guys, make them use it for “good”.

But thrown in with drug dealers, gang members, rapists? No – sorry (contrary to popular belief they do not all go Camp Fed.) And those same violent criminals should be in jail longer than ANY white-collar criminal. My personal opinion only. But it’s my blog so my opinion rules :)

Anyway, went a little off-topic….back to the movie! If you liked the first Wall Street at all, then you will probably like this one. And there are so few movies pumped out nowadays that are worth the price of admission and hassle of going to the movies (rather than wait for DVD) to me.

I did feel the ending was a cop out. I wonder if Stone didn’t actually know where to go with it to keep morality in play? But I think he knew what people wanted and knew it was going to be hard to present it. So he went typical Hollywood. I won’t spoil what happens because I did find myself wondering most of the way through. It’s the last bit of the movie so it’s ok I suppose.

All in all, this one is not as fun and crazy as the first one but hey – this isn’t the 80s anymore.

…I want to punch my husband right in the face.

He’s quite lucky that I have pretty darn good control of my emotions/inclinations/etc…

I want to share this recipe because it was YUMMY! I have liked all of the recipes I have tried from the Hungry Girl cookbooks or the emails I get from her. Yummy, generally pretty darn easy plus healthier than most yummy recipes :)

TACOS:
2 tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp salt
Two 4-oz raw tilapia fillets (or other flaky white fish)
4 6-inch corn tortillas
1 cup shredded lettuce
1/4 cup chopped tomato

Now, I doubled the fish (4 fillets) and doubled the spices and tripled the lime juice. With this you can get more tacos and if you are feeding a boy in the house, you need more. We used 6 tortillas.

For Avocado Cream:Directions:
Combine lime juice and spices for the tacos in a large bowl, and mix well. Add fillets and evenly cover both sides with seasoned lime juice. Cover and let marinate in the fridge (I let marinate for a couple hours but Hungry Girl says 5 minutes is ok.)

Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for avocado cream in a small bowl and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Spray a grill or grill pan with non-stick spray and bring to medium heat. Grill fish for 5 minutes and then very carefully (can break apart as fragile) flip. Grill for 3 more minutes, or until cooked through. Break the fish apart in to small pieces.

Meanwhile, heat tortillas on a grill pan or comal until warm/lightly browned. I can fit 2 small corn tortillas on the pan so it takes a few minutes to do them all. Keep them warm, under a heating lamp or in a tortilla holder.

Then spread the avocado cream on the tortillas and fill with fish, lettuce and tomatoes. I also sliced up some limes as garnish/to squeeze on tacos.

This was an easy, fast and delicious meal. Especially for a nice, warm summer (ok, technically fall but whatever) dinner.

I do not take any credit for this recipe other than printing it off and then elaborating on the spices and avocado cream. I love fish tacos!! Since I’ve lived in Florida and California since I was 12 years old, I have been eating seafood tacos forever (fish, shrimp and even lobster.) I learned that some East Coasters and Mid-Westerns (and a lot of foreigners) had never even heard of fish tacos – WHAT?!?! You need to try them! So I hope you try this recipe and like it! :)

Also, I think the avocado cream recipe should be used for chips and dips purposes – very yummy!

I originally posted this back in January….anticipating and excited about the new movie back then! Still excited! Sadly, I won’t be able to see it tonight or this weekend as I can’t really leave Storm that long since he still needs to wear his cone if I’m not right there watching him (so he doesn’t pull out his surgical staples.) Going to coordinate a time early next week though!!

The stock market sure welcomed GG back with open arms today though ;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know…if you read this speech…if you truly listen to what he is saying…he is right. Look past the trendy “hate Wall Street” rhetoric being bandied about by our current President and media. Look at what is being said here and think about what is *truly* being said….

Gekko: Well, I appreciate the opportunity you’re giving me, Mr. Cromwell, as the single largest shareholder in Teldar Paper, to speak.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we’re not here to indulge in fantasy, but in political and economic reality. America, America has become a second-rate power. Its trade deficit and its fiscal deficit are at nightmare proportions. Now, in the days of the free market, when our country was a top industrial power, there was accountability to the stockholder. The Carnegies, the Mellons, the men that built this great industrial empire, made sure of it because it was their money at stake. Today, management has no stake in the company!

All together, these men sitting up here [Teldar management] own less than 3 percent of the company. And where does Mr. Cromwell put his million-dollar salary? Not in Teldar stock; he owns less than 1 percent.

You own the company. That’s right — you, the stockholder.

And you are all being royally screwed over by these, these bureaucrats, with their steak lunches, their hunting and fishing trips, their corporate jets and golden parachutes.

Cromwell: This is an outrage! You’re out of line, Gekko!

Gekko: Teldar Paper, Mr. Cromwell, Teldar Paper has 33 different vice presidents, each earning over 200 thousand dollars a year. Now, I have spent the last two months analyzing what all these guys do, and I still can’t figure it out. One thing I do know is that our paper company lost 110 million dollars last year, and I’ll bet that half of that was spent in all the paperwork going back and forth between all these vice presidents.

The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book you either do it right or you get eliminated. In the last seven deals that I’ve been involved with, there were 2.5 million stockholders who have made a pretax profit of 12 billion dollars. (applause) Thank you.

I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them!

The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed — for lack of a better word — is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms — greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed — you mark my words — will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.

Thank you very much.”

This movie was done in 1985. Still holds true today. One could argue that you can apply this to all of the life-long politicians that have never held a real job, a job where they have been responsible for creating anything, for making sure payroll is met, making sure that shareholders receive a return on their investment. They collect their giant salaries (look it up) and benefits that our paid by us…the taxpayers. Do you really think they are any better than the purported “criminals” of Wall Street or the banks? Really? If you do, than you are truly naive…

Are there criminals on Wall Street? Of course. Are there criminals in every single line of work? Yes. Are there criminals serving as your Congressman, as your Senator, or even your City Manager? Yes. If you don’t think so…you are truly naive…

This country was created, built on and made into the greatest country on earth because of the entrepreneurial drive to be successful. And our current government wants to destroy that. Put everyone on a level playing field. Everyone doesn’t belong on a level playing field. Face facts – there are smarter people, harder-working people…not everyone “deserves” the same thing. Period.

One of my most favorite movies ever…

I picked up Storm this afternoon. His oncologist said he was a great patient and did very well. The receptionist joked with me that he was quite the dramatic boy and did a lot of awesome howling…I believe her version :)

The incision is HUGE! Wowza. In my head I was imagining 3-4 inches. I was clearly delusional. They basically opened most of him up. Yikes! But she said you need a lot of visual when in there to watch for bleeding, etc. Which I guess is true when I think about all those episodes of ER and Grey’s Anatomy I’ve seen :)

He has staples (not stitches) and is not allowed to lick them or mess with them. So when I can keep my eye on him, he can hang out. When not (sleepy time), it’s the dreaded cone of shame and his crate (which I need to go pull out and set up soon!) He hates the cone, although not as much as Angelus, who has figured out how to untie it and get it off.

He has to keep his staples in for 17-20 days. And no walks besides short, leashed potty breaks. No jumping or playing at all. That’s a lot of stored energy for a husky…but he can do it :)

His biopsies should be back by Friday. That’s what I’m stressed about. But I am very happy to have my little guy back at home safe and sound and will concentrate on that. He instantly fell asleep in the car and then again at home. So that is good. All that stress is bad for his Cushings! The doctor said he might not feel like eating for a day or 2 and not to worry. Umm…if Storm didn’t want to eat, I’d rush him to the emergency room! But no worries – he ate his dinner right up and then looked at me like “More please? Hello…I need energy to heal lady!”

Angelus ran up to see him as soon as we got home, sniffed him and said (with his eyes) “you stink like the hospital” and walked away. I’m pretty sure he even wrinkled his nose at him! Now that he knows his little brother is back home and safe, he can go back to ignoring him :)

So Storm is going in for surgery tomorrow. I am taking him at 7:45am. I met with the surgeon this afternoon and he was really nice and knowledgeable and answered all of my questions. He also has a husky mix and really liked Stormy :)

He described how, based on the ultrasound that he reviewed along with the oncologist, the tumor looks like a single focalized mass. He said they go in and try to get the entire mass along with a layer of healthy liver tissue from around it to ensure they get any non-focalized cells. Storm’s tumor is near his gallbladder. So he said if they feel they cannot get the tumor along with a layer of healthy tissue without compromising the gallbladder, they will just take the gallbladder out too. Wha?

He said dogs (and people) can live without it and can even live without up to 75% of their liver. Crazy. So he will see tomorrow. He said besides opening him up and seeing tumors elsewhere, he expected no surprises and it’s quite a cut and dry surgery.

They will need to send it to pathology once it’s out to determine if benign or cancerous. He said that even if it is cancerous, there is great chance that we can just remove it and Storm should be fine and we would just monitor him with blood tests every 6 months for any future tumor growth. He said he sees a dog who every 1.5 years or so has to have a tumor removed but other than that, is totally fine and healthy. He has had 3 removed so far.

The best thing would be if it was benign. Then it just comes out and yay. Storm will have to have tests every 6 months anyway for his Cushings so we will just make sure his enzyme levels are always tested too.

His surgery is around 10am (he is 2nd in the AM lineup) and it should take about 1.5 hours with no complications. They will staple his liver using titanium staples (between that and knee he will set off metal detectors!) and they stay inside him forever. They staple (not stitch) his incisions. Because of his Cushing’s, they want to keep his staples in for 21 days (they can heal slower.) He will need to wear THE CONE if he tries to lick these. Great. He will love that. So it will be a tiring 2-3 weeks for Mom but I am hoping it is as simple and fixable as they describe. Obviously it can change if they open him up and see tumors elsewhere. But this will not happen. We will not allow that.

So, speaking with the surgeon calmed me down a little. Which is good bed-side manner on the surgeon’s part. He loved Storm and was also a 49ers and football fan so that was good :)

I will go back to being stressed tomorrow when I drop him off. And then will stay so until I pick him up Wednesday. And then until I hear back from pathology. But fingers and toes (and paws) are crossed for an easy surgery for Storm and a benign tumor to make it all easier.

Poor Angelus also gets stressed when the kid isn’t around. He didn’t eat his breakfast today and only ate some sliced turkey I gave him this afternoon. But once I picked Storm up, he felt better and ate his dinner no problem (and also requested some more chicken nuggets.) So he will be stressed tomorrow too. Especially at night when Storm isn’t home :(

Storm will be most annoyed and upset by the fact that he has to wake up for a 2nd morning in a row and miss breakfast…wth? he says….

I need more McNuggets...

Stormy is watching the 49ers play Monday Night Football with me after eating the chicken nuggets I bought him on the way home :)

So I just spoke with the specialist. She did another ultrasound before performing the biopsy and said he has a tumor about the size of a baseball in his liver. She said the rest of his liver looks good so she recommended not performing the biopsy since whether it’s benign or malignant doesn’t matter – it needs to come out. She said the tumor is what is causing his elevated enzymes. She said even if it is benign, and even though he is currently asymptomatic, it will continue to grow and will cause health issues for him in the future.

She said his blood clotting time (they had to test him today) is very good so risks for surgery are just the standard “anytime you go under there is a risk.” The other risk is that they can’t get all of the the cells of the tumor. This is why she doesn’t want to wait very long since as it gets bigger, it becomes more and more difficult to get all of out. The only other issue is Cushings dogs tend to heal slower.

So I am meeting with a surgeon at 3:30pm to go over the procedure, etc. I will pick him up today and schedule it for another day though.

I am officially completely freaked and stressed out.

I’ve been doing my best at staying upbeat and positive. No good comes of getting sad or depressed but sometimes it does squeeze through.

Storm’s blood work showed very, very elevated liver enzymes after his annual vet visit and blood work on Thursday. So on Friday he got an ultrasound. I was in there with him to keep him calm and got to see all of his insides! Pretty crazy really. And the good news is, besides his liver, the rest of his insides look good. But his liver does not. Four of his 6 nodes look “irregular”. Now, as a non-doctor, a lot of his ultrasound looks like black and white squiggles. But once the doctor points things out, you can see the difference between normal and not.

So he has an ultrasound-guided biopsy scheduled with a specialist tomorrow (Monday) at 10am. And I am very stressed. It can be a list of things that are wrong. Most of them treatable. But of course malignant tumor and cancer are also part of that list.

On Friday I was broken. I cried. I was sad all night. But the boys can sense sadness so I knocked that crap off and Saturday we had a great morning beach walk and Sunday too. Much skooshing and treats too. But now that Sunday is coming to a close, and I have to remember not to feed him anything after 10pm pre-op/biopsy for Monday AM, I am getting sad again. I should probably just go to sleep early. So that I can avoid the sadness.

Hopefully tomorrow goes OK. Storm is tough little guy. He is asymptomatic for any kind of liver disease, so that is good. And I will be there to do whatever we need to do to make sure he is OK. I remember when he crawled into my lap when we went to see him with his Mom, when he was 7.5 weeks old. It’s why I took him home. He chose me. And I’m glad he did. He chose a family that had the ability, time/money/willingness, to take care of him. He deserves that. He is a sweet little guy who loves his Momma.

But I don’t see a good night’s sleep in my horizon. But I’m glad he doesn’t know. He will sleep just fine, feet in the air and snoring :)

…because I love gold AND only in the will-never-be-repeated-ultra-cool early-to-mid 60s could you get away with a movie character named Pussy Galore that’s NOT in a porn movie…

Gold spot closed at $1269.20 today. December’s contracts closed even higher ($1271.70). That puts it well over it’s previous high. Silver closed over $20. Gold closing above it’s previous resistance is a big deal if you are chart/technical trader. I am not. I used to love to trade commodities but it will give you gray hair and an ulcer. This is what makes it both fun and unhealthy long term :)

I have been buying gold and silver as an investment for years now. I don’t buy the ETFs, I buy the physical coins. I do buy mining stocks too but for the metals – I want something I can hold. I’m not a crazed goldbug (although I love a good government conspiracy theory!) but I’m a firm believer in wanting the physical metal in my possession (well..at least in my safe deposit box’s possession) and not in the form of a piece of paper. Plus then you can take it out and play in it like Scrooge McDuck

I started buying gold and silver coins a long time ago. A few a year – not like I own Fort Knox or anything (THAT would be cool!) I like the reality of it. I can hold it in my hand. And I can sell it anytime. Stocks are fun, and I am a huge believer in the capital markets, but they don’t have this exact quality. I do not buy coins for their numismatic qualities – I know less than nothing about coin collecting. I buy for the pure commodity of it. But I stick with gold and silver. No platinum (except jewelry!!), copper, palladium, etc.

For sure, gold has had a HUGE run up. Many nay-sayers believe it will come back down and point you to the run-ups of the past. “It’s topped out, will crash, blah, blah.” But this is a different world and economy that we live in than 10 years ago. Than in the 70s. China and India are fast becoming very large economies with a growing upper and middle class that has disposable income and culturally they both love owning gold.

At sushi lunch a few months back, a retired lawyer was talking to my husband and me about the economy. He scoffed at gold buyers because he said the only reason the price went up is because of the paranoia of goldbugs over the economy. When I pointed out that the fact that China also just started allowing, and even advocating, its citizens to buy and own gold, all he had to say was “oh…really?” Yeah. Not just for the Mulders or Lone Gunmen out there anymore…

But yes, I’m sure plenty of people bought into gold for economic fear reasons. It has been the safe haven hedge for a long time now. And also to ride the wave up as retail buyers tend to do after fund managers take huge positions in anything. You can tell from all the ads for gold on TV, the radio, online that it’s aimed at the little guy now. I’m also sure there was a lot of short covering today after it blew through previous resistance of $1260. But it’s simply a different market (and world) now too. More buyers equals more demand.

Might it go back down from today’s newly-minted (see what I did there?!=geek on multiple levels!) high – likely. Funds take profits. Fact of life. Might it create new highs after that? Probably. (see…I can totally be a money-honey on CNBC too – never say it WILL, only it MIGHT or COULD!) So far the overseas markets are flat – keeping spot as it’s high. Of course, in commodities this changes fast so who knows where it will be when I wake up.

Oh, but please do not liquidate your portfolio or take out a loan to buy it (actual questions I get asked as our company’s 401k administrator…) It’s still speculative. This isn’t the California gold rush people (see why I like my 49ers!) But if you want to hedge your stocks or other investments, I personally have always felt it was a good one. I’m like Yukon Cornelius – always looking :) (totally love the song Silver and Gold too!)

And what will happen if the Republicans don’t get the little known detail that was “slipped” into Obama’s HEALTHCARE (?) bill that will require brokers to file 1099s for gold and silver bullion/coins purchases over $600 scratched? Who knows? But I don’t see it slowing down any demand. Just might create a shadow market.

I don’t trade my gold like my stock account (so usually only check open and close prices but today was a hot day.) I buy it and hold it like my 401k. And someday, I might sell it. So I watch these daily ups and downs and listen to the analysts dissect it and just smile and think to myself that I am happy I started buying it before it was “the rage” with a little “well done” pat on my back. Husband used to think my “little hobby” was silly and likely a waste of money that could be invested elsewhere. Then recently a very successful investment banker friend of his told him he does the same thing. Now I’m not so silly after all. Pfft. Men…

Now if I could just build my panic/safe room, I could move it from my bank’s safety deposit box to my house and play it in…just like Scrooge McDuck… ;)

My father used to read me those Disney stories as a kid and Scrooge McDuck was always one of my favorite Disney characters – maybe we are formed from a young age :)