dayton, ohio 1903

yesterday, i was making a purchase for a three year old whose birthday is this weekend. and i found something amazing to get them and in my excitement, i somehow ordered two. now being that these kids are twins, you'd think that i would give them both one. but that is silly and i will not do that. so i now have an extra copy of this item. everyone knows my love for harry nilsson. he once did an album called the point, which was actually a cartoon that he provided the soundtrack for. it's about a boy named oblio and his dog arrow. "me and my arrow, taking the high road." i've actually made the committment that when i get a dog, i will call him arrow because of this song.

anyway, i got them the point. and i know they'll love it. but like i said, i bought two by accident. so i guess i'll keep one or i can give it to my mom and she can watch it with her grandson. that might be better. i watched it last night. it's good. and the music is great. harry nilsson is the man. i still think "nilsson sings newman" is one of the best albums i've ever heard. ever.

i wrote a little skit yesterday called peanut-butter shakes. it wasn't great, but i miss writing those conversations like i used to. so you'll probably be seeing those more often. i had a whole notebook full of conversations i had written. some were pretty good. i actually looked over the book i wrote and it was good. i need to polish that thing up and send it around again.

"would you like to come over for tea? with the missus and me? it's a real nice way to spend the day in Dayton Ohio on a lazy Sunday afternoon in 1903"

i got two more books yesterday. "the panic of 1907: lessons learned from the market's perfect storm" and "panic: the story of modern financial insanity." i like how both books have the word "panic" in them. i'm not in a panic. but i believe i have much to learn from these books.

i was thinking last night that every since i was able to comprehend the stock market and markets in general, they've been completely favorable. starting around 1995, i started slightly paying attention and then through high school and college and into my early adult life. of course, we had a couple hiccups like in 1999 and 2001, but reading the book about 1907, it was extremely common to have massive disruptions in the market. i'm talking on an annual basis. i didn't know that and it makes me start to look at the market as something different. i'm not sure buy and hold is the way to go anymore. i want to be able to recognize the market for what is and when it is. examples include asset bubbles. i want to be able to recognize an asset bubble, buy into it and sell before it bursts. now you say, well dude, everybody does. that's true. but most people get so wrapped up in the hysteria of it, they lose their objectivity. they start to think things are permanent, that prices go up indefinately, which they don't.

anyway, i'm enjoying reading these books. i'm learning about. i read a quote somewhere that poor people have lots of stuff while rich people have lots of books. i'm hoping i'll be getting rich off of these books. and if i don't, then at least i'll have plenty of books to use around the house. maybe as a ladder. or doorstop. or maybe to hide things in.