it's the end of the world as we know it.....maybe

i'm not ready to concede the 2009 baseball season to the new york yankess. yes they signed mark teixeira. yes they signed cc sabathia. yes they signed aj burnett. they signed nick swisher too, that poor guy is beyond yesterday's news.

before they signed teixeira, i knew they wouldn't win the division or the wild card. now i think they might. they have to overcome defensive liabilities at 2nd and short, with cano and jeter, both whom declined offensively last year. they have to overcome a weak, and declining outfield. but here's the catch. i don't believe they're done. i think they'll sign manny ramirez. i really do. put manny in that lineup with rodriquez, teixeira and jeter and it's done. they will have the division and my yankee hating rage will achieve new levels of absolute hatred.

we'll see though. anything can happen. they started buying free agents with jason giambi back in 2001. and they haven't won a world series yet. hopefully that will continue.

but hey, the astros signed aaron boone!!!

lump sum

i checked my grades yesterday and i am officially a summa cum laude. i got the one A i needed for the fall semester and knocked it out. that feels good.

yesterday was freezing and wet and cold. and the office was freezing and wet and cold. now today it's not that cold out, but the office is still cold. what's the deal?

i don't really have a lot of great articles. this time of year focuses on the year that was and things start grinding down until the new year kicks off. there's no baseball right now and there's only one football game left before the playoffs.

today is my wife's birthday. she's older than me, but i won't say how much older. i'm taking her out to dinner tonight and then we're going out to a performance at jones hall. hopefully that will be sweet. then tomorrow is christmas eve. i love this time of year.

i have been sweating alot at night when i sleep. i don't think that is a good thing.

i don't believe in new year proclamations. they never hold up. i've started certain changes in my behavior in 2008 and in 2009 i plan on hitting them big time. my physical/mental behavior need to continue to improve and fight the natural aging process.

in addition, i will be watching all 6 rocky movies at the same time sometime in early 2009. that will be an amazing feat. and probably my biggest triumph of the new millenium.

everybody have a great christmas and be safe. and be patient with loved ones and be kind.

can i graduate?

my title is in reference to the great third eye blind. i use to take the title to this song and switch it with "can i masturbate?" which was a lot funnier and a lot more of a real question.

so i did it. i graduated this past sunday. i sat in cold, damp minute maid park for something like five hours (i had to be there two hours early) and waited for my turn to walk across the stage and shake someone's hand and move along. the first time i graduated, i looked forward to that moment, that end moment. i think that's a change that's happening as i grow older, hopefully more mature. i'm recognizing that the big finale is really only one more moment in that long journey. focusing too much on it or obsessing about it is unnecessary. i'll remember so many other things about these past three years in school than that moment on stage. but it was a nice moment. my wife was able to see me graduate and she deserved it. she was a huge part of my success. she celebrated every triumph with me and picked me up every time i was down and stressed. she bought christmas/birthday gifts for me for family members/friends when i didn't have time. she practically planned the entire wedding herself because that semester was terribly difficult. she's amazing and half of my degree belongs to her. i'm grateful and thankful that i am exposed to her brilliance.

now i'll take a month off, read a few books, workout a lot and then start my next journey. life is wonderful.

i did have a strange moment saturday night when i drove home. my wife was snoozing and i suddenly realized how many times i had driven down memorial from downtown and that i would probably never do it again that often. i realized i knew every crack in the road, i knew every bump. i knew the way the lights changed and where to expect to see cops and where to expect to move over because no one else knows what they're doing. i knew that road backwards and forwards and it was time for me to separate from it. it was a strange feeling.

10 stock picks by fortune from early 2008. see how they did.

the chinese growth fantasy.

i've been thinking of what constitutes a "safe" investment if i determine stocks are a raw deal. here are fours places where money can be "safely" deposited.