The Craziest January Ever (aka Rando notes)

I guess I should’ve known when my drunk uncle fell down in his own kitchen. Right in to me, seated at his kitchen table.

I should’ve known that would’ve sparked it. New year’s day. Puking for over an hour at 4 am. Why couldn’t I have predicted all of this? I guess that’s what makes it fun? At the least, I’ve woke up every day since the new year trying to make sense of the partial mess my life has become.

Well, maybe not mess. But more like messy. (Pronounced Mess-E for effect).

So I think I can say with all confidence, 2 hours left, that at the age of 25, I hope I don’t see a January like this again. Or if I do, I just hope I’m better prepared next time.

Where to start…

We’ll get the business out of the way first. I ended the year, December 31^st, 2007 trading up 25%. Not too shabby. Not spectacular, but still good enough for my first 6 months of real trading. I keep crossing my fingers that this isn’t dumb luck.

Little was I to know that through 30 days of January, we would see the largest fall in the stock market in January ever. On December 31^st, the Dow was at 13,200. Mid day on January 22^nd, the market hit an intraday low of what I remember seeing of 11,400. That’s a swing of more than 13%...which is A LOT for the Dow in any direction. Luckily the Fed saved us with an emergency rate cut of .75% and then another cut yesterday of .5%. Well, maybe they didn’t save us. But whatever. We’ll only be able to tell when we look back on this time. The market narrowly avoided the worst January ever today by 1.6%. We had to rally a good 200 points in the Dow to make it there too.

And through all of that, all I lost was 4%. It took a lot of guts on my part. On the 22^nd of January I woke up knowing the market was going to be bad. Overnight there was news that had come out about a French trader who had hacked the trading system and had covered up over $7 billion dollars in losses. That was more than the revenue the French bank that he “worked” for earned in 2007. All gone. Along with the fears of recession in the U.S. economy, the global markets fell an average of 5%. I woke up, turned on CNBC, and saw that we were down 500 points in the Dow pre-open. Since I’ve been watching the market (for the past 10 years now – more seriously over the past 3) I have never seen a move to one side – down or up of 500 points.

I thought that was it. I thought we were done for. I thought that not only was recession upon us (which it already is) but depression was coming too. I had images of bankruptcy and eating chicken broth from a crusty pot in some homeless tent camp after the markets had lost over half it’s value in one week…luckily that was just me daydreaming while I was sipping my morning OJ and texting my friends about how I was losing my fucking mind about it.

I like to think back to the days before I was trading. Where I didn’t really care what the price of a barrel of crude oil was, or an ounce of gold, or the federal funds rate or what the 10 year note was yielding. But then I like to think of how many options I watched move at least 100% in less than a day. How many options I watched move 500% in a couple days. And how many options I watched move 1000% to 9400% over a week. And I start to think that one of these days I’m going to catch one of those. And I can’t sleep thinking about it. 9400% X $10,000 invested is almost a million dollars. Of course I’m not going to catch that kind of move. But I honestly think a 1000% move is feasible. I just saw one today in the AMZN $75 call option February expiration. That’s right. $10,000 invested in ZQNBO at 6:30 am PST this morning, at $.50 and selling at $5.70 at 1 pm PST would’ve made you (me) a profit $104,000. Today. Less than 8 hours. And sure, I know, there are plenty of people that make that money on interest in their sleep (or more). But I’m not one of them. Yet.

For some reason I have this crazy confidence that I’m going to catch one and hit it out of the park. Call me crazy. I can’t wait for that party I throw when I do catch one though. If you are reading this right now you’re auto invited. I’ll buy the plane ticket for those of you outside of the state.

Ok, enough market talk. That could go on forever.

My mom turned 50 years old on the 25^th of this month. The big five-oh. Just thinking about how many things have changed in my life, I can’t imagine what seeing double that would be like. My mom has lived an awesome and respectable life. I am so lucky to have her as my mother. Hopefully one day I can show her how grateful I am for everything that she’s done for me.

We’ve been trying to plan a party for her. And it doesn’t help that my dad is with her in Hawaii (lucky dogs – they go every year). Trying to plan it without him isn’t of much help because we’re fronting most of the costs right now. We’ve been trying to find a place to host at least 80 people – which has been a struggle. Trying to print invitations. Trying to figure out food and entertainment…but…

THE PARTY IS NEXT WEEKEND.

So we’ve kind of procrastinated about it over the past 2 weeks (seeing as how we’ve barely had time to celebrate our own lives) and now we’re paying for it. If we pull this off successfully it will be a small miracle. Pray for me that nothing goes wrong (I’m putting the probability at 30% right now – I hope it declines the closer the party gets).

Of course I want every thing to be perfect. My mom deserves to be showered in love and happiness from all her close friends and family.

So while trying to plan that party, we’ve also been working on trying to plan a little poker party get together at our house TOMORROW. It’s not that big of a deal – definitely no renting of venues, plates, chairs or looking in to catering like my mom’s party…but it’s still an extra thing to plan for. Had to go out and buy food for the party and of course good poker chips (because it’s always “only the best” for me). Provide directions to patrons and coordinate times…and of course it’s going to require cleaning on February 1^st…which I am not looking forward to.

Side note: Everett Mall is freaking ghetto. This is where I bought my poker chips. Literally if you go there, you feel depressed just walking through. If you own a business there, how do you stay afloat? I really hope they remodel it like they did with Alderwood. The place needs a big shot of collagen or botox or something…complete makeover.

On top of the two party plans I had going on, I threw on the planning of a 2 week expedition to Europe in May. Really, the hard part was being a cheap ass and applying to 3 different credit card companies for a 0% rate interest card (can you tell how cheap I am yet?). I had to purchase my tour by today in order to receive an early bird discount (and hopefully get my flight cheap). Luckily, my 0% interest credit card came in the mail yesterday after haggling and begging with the credit companies to offer me up some free money. So it’s settled. And I’m more than 3 grand in the hole for the trip of a lifetime. Let’s hope I make it to my 26^th birthday and beyond! After this I only plan on going to Vancouver (the northern one) and Oregon (the other way) for vacation for a few years. It’ll probably be all I can afford. As of today I count 101 days until I am on a plane bound for London. That looks really weird to read…I have never been away from Bothell, let alone outside of North America for more than 10 days. This should be interesting.

We got stupid snow in January. Stupid snow is where it snows just enough to make the roads icy but not enough to make me stay home. That seems to be the theme here lately with the snow. “Here’s a piddly amount just to annoy you!” Seriously? Can’t we get a foot or more around here? Something I actually wouldn’t feel stupid playing in as an adult? Thanks God. And to all you weaklings that stayed home: Good for you, your $100-$250/day job isn’t worth you crashing your 3 series.

So as a side job (and for fun) I’m a secret shopper. Maybe this requires it’s own post? Anyway, I did two secret shops this month (that’s a lot for me, I usually do a shop every 3 months). One for Centex homebuilders (which was pretty interesting) and another for Garlic Jim’s. I love getting paid to give my opinion. And free pizza is always nice too. There are no complaints about the secret shopping, just another added item to the crazy January.

My Boeing basketball team is still undefeated – but we’re going to be missing our best players for next week so that should be some trying times. My flag football team is still defeated (read closely – all losses), but we had a “moral” victory last week when we only lost by 1 point on the final play. Heartbreaking. Oh which reminds me, out of nowhere last Saturday night my upper back started hurting pretty bad. And it hurt for about 4-5 days. I didn’t do anything to aggravate it. Maybe it was just the stress from this month? Possibly.

Lastly, on that Saturday we went to see a few comedians perform at the Laugh Comedy Spot in Kirkland. It was a “Girls night out and bring your husbands too” for one of my wife’s coworkers. Anyway, the comedians were pretty good. But here’s the great part about the night: Supposedly the comedians that night were billed as “clean comedians”. So of course you had a bit of the older, (and easily offended) crowd that showed up that night. And obviously they got nothing but dirty jokes! One angry crowd member was heard yelling, “When’s your flight home?” and when another angry guy had his wife pleading with him not to say anything we heard “No I will not stop! This is terrible!”

You can only imagine the kind of laughs I got not only from the comedians being funny (and PG-13 offensive) but from seeing the reaction of the poor souls who were in for some very G rated jokes. Talk about a crazy January…It’s almost sad to see it end.

It Never Stops

“Well I can’t see the end of it! I can’t!”

My wife screamed at me.

Maybe because there won’t ever be an end to it.

Ah, the later part of January. I was surprised at the good mood I was in after waking up this morning and seeing that the Dow had broken below crashing levels, minus 500 points pre-open.

It was turning out to be another sunny day, and I had eked out some minor gains, mainly because I hadn’t invested much. That was good enough for the day and I sat back and watched…well not really watched. I was busy at work. And it’s been taking up a lot more of my time so now I’m actually focusing on just that: Working. That’s what they pay me for.

And even still, busy, knowing the economy is collapsing around me; I put on a happy face and was able to laugh with coworkers and friends.

But it caught up to me. Every year my friends and I notice around this time that the “most depressing day of the year” passes us by and all of us are hit with at least a twinge of it. Mine hit tonight.

Sitting on the couch tonight we got in to the discussion of our finances.

And right now, all that’s playing in my head is from Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” – La laaa la la wait ‘til I get my money right.

We’re making enough to live comfortably. We’re making enough to afford the things we want. But it won’t be enough for me. I wonder if it will ever be enough. Because the spending will never stop, and I feel like the more we make the more we’ll continue to adjust our spending habits upwards.

That’s where the screaming came from. Next month we clear ourselves of all the excess debt we racked up in remodeling an investment property. Unfortunately in less than a year’s time the market has kind of turned against us, and even up here in the “strong Northwest real estate market” comparable housing isn’t selling for what it used to be. I would literally be happy to get out of our condo at a loss at this point – but not too much. We took a risk on a property and we might lose. Luckily as long as we keep renters in the property we will continue to break even…but that’s as long as we keep renters…

I could see the housing bubble bursting after my wife sold her condo in 2005, but I just figured that we were buying at such low levels and next to such an attractive area that the risks weren’t too great. I’m just going to keep crossing my fingers on that one, and I’m sure you’ll hear more on it over the next few years.

With the debt gone unfortunately we ran in to some car trouble and replaced the investment property debt with car debt. (Notice how I wrote a post about how happy I was about the car? Novelty wears off when you stare at a bill for long enough) Debt that will last us 2 years longer than the condo did. And I want to go on vacation to Europe. And we want to go on vacation together. And I want a motorcycle. And I’d like to go back to Vegas next year for the first time in 3 years. And I want…and so it continues to get piled on. Cringing at applying through different banks for the next 0% interest credit card just so I can save $500 throughout the next 12 billing cycles. Calculating in my head how much interest I’d pay on the home equity line of credit if I were to just take the money from there.

It’s like this constant grey cloud that follows me wherever I go.

I’m going to admit it right now. We bought too big of a house for ourselves. Financial “gurus” suggest that at a maximum your mortgage/living costs should not exceed 40% of your monthly household take home. Ours is currently at 60%. Our financial situation is so fragile that we are literally teetering on the edge. Luckily the furthest we could fall would be to move in with our parents, so we have that safety net there. I wouldn’t want all the shame associated with doing so that would come with it however. Just thinking about that phone call, or possibly that knock on the door that says, “We bit off too big of a piece and now we’re choking. Do you know the Heimlich mom?” makes me want to push so hard so I never get to that point. But it’s basically as easy as the words, “We’ll be outsourcing your position” or even, “You’re fired”.

With a 60% cost of living, that means that at any time if either one of us lost our jobs we would be hemorrhaging money until that person was able to find a job. Yes. I do have a good enough amount saved up in my retirement accounts. Enough to actually continue living the way we are currently living without jobs for a full year. But it’s my retirement account for Christ sakes! Something I’ve worked almost 3 years now to build up! Of course, yes, I would squander it if I had to. But I don’t even want to think about that right now.

It’s never going to stop because after 2 years of living in this home, hardly anything has been paid off on the principal. Seriously, who takes the full 30 years to pay off their mortgage? I suppose people who expect to be working in the same position for the same pay for the next 30 years. It’s never going to stop because I have set a 15 year payment plan on our home equity line of credit. It’s never going to stop because I don’t expect my car to live for more than another 3 years and by that time we’ll have just finished paying off my wife’s car. It’s never going to stop because if I don’t find a job that’s willing to pay tuition reimbursement I’ll be financing my own master’s degree. It’s never going to stop because there will always be some new gadget, or new version of TV or must have product to showcase that I make enough money to afford this crap in the first place.

It’s debilitating. I sat there on the couch for a few minutes almost wishing I could take it all back.

Imagine what living in Fremont renting from my buddy’s parents as a single male earning my same wages would’ve provided me. Almost an extra two grand a month after living expenses, make that fifteen hundred since I’d want to pick up a nice car and I would’ve had close to $40K saved to my name after 3 years living the same way I was living in college (and keeping my current job). Not including what I had put away to my retirement accounts.

But how much would the possible loneliness cost me during those years? I spent 3 months basically living alone and they were some of the most challenging days of my life. As hard as I try, I am a social person so I like to be around other people as much as possible. I’m pretty sure it would be devastating for me to ever go back to that position again.

So for tomorrow I am going to try my best to keep my head up and focus on what is to come – the day that the grey cloud finally goes away. The worst I can do for myself is to continue wasting time dwelling on how things were, could’ve been, or how they should’ve turned out. Tomorrow has opportunity written all over it and although I doubt I’ll take full advantage of it, hopefully I’ll get another chance in the many days to follow. It’s super cheesy, but it’s the best I can do to try and talk myself out of giving up right now.

As Seen on TV

Something has come over me recently. Or maybe I’m just more in tune with my desires as a consumer.

And that is my sudden urge to buy most products from the “As Seen on TV” lineup and actually take them up on their 30 day money back guarantee. I know. It sounds crazy. And yes, of course I’m not fooled by the “Call in the next 30 minutes to receive a special discount!” offer (although I’m sure some people are). If it weren’t for the darn S & H (shipping and handling for you noobs) I would be on the phone more often. But wait! During a recent holiday stroll through the mall *barf* and a random jaunt to the neighborhood Bartells (family owned and operated), I found 1) A store dedicated to as seen on TV products – glad I didn’t slow my roll and 2) a portion of the “female hygiene” aisle – don’t ask me what I was doing there – dedicated to the “As Seen on TV” section.

No more S & H! This is not a verified claim though as I did not purchase any of these products. I am not sure as to whether or not the same offer as seen on TV of 2 easy payments of $19.95 would in fact be $39.90 when I brought it to the front counter at Bartell’s. Where the “manager” looked like he could’ve been a sophomore at Mt. Pilchuck. Cushy job for a 16 year old…

Anyway, I can attribute my recent longing for all things appearing on the tube to a few things:

-It being the winter months along with football season my greater intake of quality *cough* television programming.

-Side note (reality): The products are more widely displayed on more gender specific channels. Expect to see at least 15 of these commercials when you’re watching Candace Cameron in a Lifetime Original movie about domestic violence. As much as I hate to admit it, I find many of these originals eerily entertaining. Is it possible I was meant to be a stay at home mom? That’s another blog post.

-Having more money and time than I know what to do with. What’s an extra $50 to $100 to spend when I’ll get my money’s worth after 5 to 10 uses?

Here’s the thing about these products: They claim to do things better than what you had previously. But were you doing those things that these products claim to help you do better anyway? (Confusing sentence, I know). Probably not. More than likely these products will get used for 3 months and forgotten about and regretted like the typical new year’s resolution.

So without further copyright and/or licensing rights, I will break down the awesome to the completely worthless.

First off – and the winner in my opinion is the Ove Glove.

http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/ove_glove.html

(I don’t know if they realized that the words “as and “seen” when placed together make “ass” – WTG 3^rd grade)

That isn’t exactly the one that we have. It was a gift to us from my wife’s parents for Christmas last year. Hah! I still haven’t bought an “As Seen on TV” product. Our Ove Glove has these rubber blue lines down it, which I think add greater protection. I’ve used ours now for over a year and I definitely like it better than an oven mitt. The Ove Glove, it being a glove, gives you more flexibility. Instead of just holding things with your thumb and attached…uhhh…large part of the mitt, you now get to use all 5 fingers! What a concept! No burns on me since I got the Ove Glove! But then again, there weren’t many cooking burns before then either. I’ve seen in the commercials where the glove was lit on fire, and the hand didn’t look in pain whatsoever! (But they didn’t show the hand owner’s face though…)

But was it really worth it though? Ah – the standard “As Seen on TV” realization. The Ove Glove costs about $7-10 more than the average oven mitt…and the reason why it’s first for me (other than owning it) is because I think the added utility is worth the price. After a year ours is littered with pizza stains and grease though…I guess we should have scotchguarded it? Maybe for the next Ove Glove we buy.

Next up is a couple fitness items.

The perfect pushup

http://www.perfectpushup.com/

And the bender ball

http://www.benderball.com/

I honestly think if I bought these two products, I would end up with some ripped arms and pecs and the stomach I’ve always dreamed of! In all seriousness though for at least 3 months I would do more pushups and sit ups using these products. I mean I only really do weights and core work about 2 times or less per week. So maybe for those 3 months I might start seeing results? I don’t know. Guilt might be a big enough factor in making me work out – which makes me wonder if switching to a cheaper gym was such a good idea. You can’t beat 408% more effective though! I mean when these commercials put numbers backed up by some scientists from a college I’ve heard of before, it becomes pretty convincing. And as I mentioned before, with the money back guarantee, it wouldn’t hurt to take a test drive right? Probably wrong.

And for all of us green thumbs out there:

My wife wants this product because she likes to grow herbs and put them in our meals:

http://www.aerogrow.com/

I want it so I can grow pot…

And sell it to hospitals that use it for medicinal purposes of course.

Imagine the smell in the house though! Stank!

Sometimes I dream of traveling the country by hopping trains. Not really though. But if I ever did I swear I could sleep anywhere with a flat surface as long as I had this:

http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/contourleg.html

I always sleep on my sides. And when I do, I need something between my knees. It’s just more comfortable. Without 1 pillow, it’s tough. Because I use one hand for my head and one hand to go between the knees. Unfortunately one hand isn’t enough for both spots. (TMI possibly?) This product also looks hardy enough that would withstand many miles of harsh terrain and sub zero weather. Not like I would though.

I always laugh when I hear people talking about this product:

http://www.buythebullet.com/

Because I think of another “magic bullet”. I don’t really want this, but my brother in law won one in some college contest and he and his roommates swear by it. If it’s good enough for them, meh.

Some other honorable mentions include the “Mighty Putty”, the natural breast enhancer (mainly because that commercial is so awesome!), and of course the standard remote control boat/car/plane that can go on land, water and fly up in to the air! Definitely all guilty pleasures that I’m not able to have...right now.

And finally, what you’ve all been waiting for, the idiotic list.

Really there’s only a couple that belong here. And I’m sure they’re pretty good products for people who need them. And surprisingly they have to do with basically the same thing: Old people and hearing.

First off is the “Listen Up”:

http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/listen402.html?gid=

Now I’m sure in 10 years when my ears are completely shot, I’ll need this. But let’s keep the old folks in the homes and not on TV ok? Remember, the age group that actually buys things is where I’m at. The 18 to 40 year olds. Not the AARP group because they can’t even hear the darn commercial anyway! The main part that bothers me about this commercial is they show younger people using it. Which we would never do. A guy is running on a treadmill at the gym and he looks at two attractive women talking and looking in his direction. Supposedly using this product he can hear what they are saying! Which in the commercial they are giggling like school girls about how cute he is. Possible? I think not! (But do not have the product so I can’t verify – but that guy is definitely not cute). At the least they are not saying how hot he looks, but more than likely what a creep he is for staring at them. Pervs belong in prison. Not the gym.

And yet another one for the “forgetful mother” or “Uncle Phil with dementia”, the “My Lil Reminder”:

http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/mylilreminder.html?gid=

Record notes to yourself so that you can hear what an idiot you are 20 minutes from now! The part that pisses me off in this commercial is the woman looking in her fridge and telling herself what she needs at the grocery store. “Let’s see, juice, lettuce and eggs”. Just the way she says eggs and then how they immediately show her at the grocery store playing the recording to herself makes me want to kick her in the neck. Seriously lady, if you forgot how to write a grocery list maybe you do need this product. Oh and the best part about the “My Lil’ Reminder”? Is that for the price of one, you get TWO! (Standard with most of these products – always ask for at least two if you’re going to actually buy one). I always laugh while watching this commercial (the eye of the tornado that is my rage while watching it) imagining crazy Uncle Phil who records where he left one of the recorders, only to find it and record where he left the other recorder. Uncle Phil gets plenty of steps in on his pedometer (because his heart doctor said so!) losing these fun little glorified voice recorders! I should seriously contemplate advertising for this product…

I am thinking the inventor of these previous products hasn’t quit their day job.

And last off, to end it all…is probably the worst one out of them all. Literally, I have to change the channel now (God forbid – side note, my grandpa used to turn off the TV during commercials – WTG gramps!) anytime this commercial comes on, and it’s the stupid Proactive commercials. Partly because Jessica Simpson’s career is just done (I hope they catch her dad on “How to catch a predator”) but mainly because of the stupid piano theme song running in the background.

Seriously, Bruce Hornsby, if you or someone you know is reading this right now, stand up for yourself! They sampled (ripped off) the main piano part of your song, “The Way It Is” (one of my favorite social commentary songs ever!). Sue them! Get your hard earned money! You wrote that hook and you deserve at least $.25 every time they play that damn commercial. And at the least it would make me feel better about that commercial and maybe they’ll change the background song if they have to pay royalties!

For those of you who couldn’t make it this far…

CLIFF NOTES: I watch too much TV. I am a sucker for commercials. Some “As Seen on TV” products are awesome but I don’t buy them. I’d recommend not being a sucker for them either. Ask yourself this, “How did I live so many years without X product?” and you’ll have your answer. Sue those bastards in to the poor house Bruce!

The Obligatory New Year’s Post

I had to do it.

Just as I’m sure bloggers across the World had to do it too.

First off: I am a failure and didn’t complete one of my new year’s resolutions from 2007. I am too lazy to go look up the link for it and say go here where you can just click on the word “here” and then go and read about it. So for those of you who are willing to make the extra 4-5 clicks it’ll take to get there, by all means do so. I write my blog posts in word so it takes almost 5 times the amount of energy to provide you with that kind of hyperlink than it does for you to just go look for it. Almost about as much energy as writing this whole paragraph. And I even went to go find my new year’s resolution post from 2007 and it’s in a mix of two different posts. So well done me.

Anyway, I think (since it was over a year ago now) that my resolutions from last year were to a) finally dunk consistently and b) run my first marathon. At the time when I was writing those things, I was running on a schedule. And playing basketball a lot. I am still playing basketball as much as I was last year but I have stopped running 3-4 days a week. Now it’s more like once to twice a week. And sometimes instead of running I’ll use something with a lot less impact at the gym. I got shin splints in March of this past year and finally gave up around August. That’s how long I let the pain bother me.

By the way, yes these are all excuses as to why I didn’t complete my goals. I could’ve easily done the Seattle marathon but I would’ve put up a 5 hour time which not only would’ve been embarrassing (for me), it also would’ve been 5 hours of pain.

Dunking is another story. I do some leg work at the gym and really that’s about all the effort I put into it. For me, it’s once again embarrassing that I can’t dunk. There are plenty of guys out there who are shorter than me (or even my height) who can dunk. I suppose this will be an annual goal to finally get off my ass and get that extra 3-4” in my vert. I’d literally bet against myself that I could do it this year. (And of course now I will).

So put me in with the rest of the crowd who didn’t accomplish resolutions they resolved to do. At the least I am admitting failure – but honestly I’m just shrugging them off at this point. I’m sure I’ll get in a marathon (under 4 hours 30 minutes) sometime before I’m 40 (if I live that long), and honestly it’s probably too late for the dunking thing...stupid aging.

Things in 2007 that happened that I never would’ve expected I would do this past year:

-Took a chance, started investing with DEBT (capitalized for effect) and didn’t put myself in to more DEBT. A pretty big feat considering how the stock market did from July 2007 onwards.

-Took over my parent’s retirement accounts after my new found confidence in investing skills. Who knew I had such a passion for money? *He chuckles*

-Made new/more friends. I literally said to one guy, “I’m not accepting friend applications right now”. And he was genuinely angry about it (what a homer). Really though, I’ve created myself at least 3 more groups of drinking pals though. And that can’t be good for me, my liver and one of my resolutions this year. Not only has my list of contacts grown on my cell phone, I’ve also reconnected with a lot of old friends.

-Won a championship basketball game, and hit a buzzer beater to cap the whole thing off. Played tackle football on a normal basis and didn’t get hurt once (really amazing). For years I had sworn off tackle football, but this past year I got back on the horse. And it’s better than touch football – with flag being the best out of all three.

-Ran in the Fraternity Snoqualmie’s Bare Buns Fun Run. My first sanctioned (not sure by who) streaking event. Got 3^rd place! I’d like to try it out again…

-Saw more of the country by traveling to visit my cousins in Washington DC and New York City. They were both better than I had imagined. I have a new found respect and love for the East Coast. Can’t wait to go back!

-Didn’t go to Vegas once! This seems kind of odd, but being there 9 times over 3 years was a bit much for me. I promised myself I wouldn’t go back until 2009…but I’ve been itching to go all year. We’ll see if I can hold through this year (you’ll probably see me celebrating the new year in Vegas).

I’ve thought of a few other things I could put here, but they seem smaller and more insignificant than what I’ve already written.

Now, to look towards the future.

I’m pretty unsure about my 2008 resolutions. In a drunken stupor at the New Year’s party I was at, I sat down to eat some cake (which is what put me over the edge – never drink a lot then eat cake) and decided that this was going to be my year. History (or my memory?) may have fooled me, but good things…really good things tend to happen to me in the even years. 1998, 2000, and 2004 are some of the best years I can think of in recent history (in my life). So why not 2008?

This will be the “Year of Seth”. But after thinking about that – and saying it out loud to a few people it became somewhat ominous…in that really bad things could happen to me too…I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.

In 2008 I resolve to:

-Get back what drinking lost me (and not my virginity): My defined abs. Back when I was a young buck of 18-19 I could clearly see lines in my stomach. By 21 I knew my life was over when I took off my shirt in front of someone and they announced that they were, “hoping for better”. I guess, at the least I’ve hid my beer belly somewhat well. And even though people would say, “Oh Seth, you’re not fat”. Of course I’m not fat! But I could be better. Having a better core makes for a better everything. Can I think of a con to having a tighter waistline? Other than having to bring my belt in another notch, I can’t. So abs, you’re slimming down. You’ve enjoyed your run at the top (literally) for long enough.

-Start prepping for my masters and start my master’s (of business administration I think) education in fall of 2008. The plan was to go back to school from the time I was 26 and graduate by 28. Here it is, in 3 and a half months I turn 26 (I survived? 25 isn’t over yet). My parents said they would pay since I covered a majority of my undergrad (unlike some people I know) and I’m even hoping that they won’t have to help out that much. I feel like I’ve lost a lot of that hunger for knowledge that being in school gave me. And the extra perks to having a master’s degree when I get out won’t hurt either. (Hooray self-validation!)

Those are big enough goals and manageable too. I have other things I want to accomplish that might be nice to complete but not consider them “new year’s resolutions” – as in not as big of a deal if I don’t get them all:

-Run a marathon (back on the block again)

-Make at least 35% returns on the market in 2008 (already starting out poorly)

-Make more “to-do” lists and get things done instead of constantly trying to remind myself to do certain smaller tasks.

-Don’t whine/complain as much. Be nice and compliment more.

-Be more driven at work to climb the corporate ladder – or look for other advancement opportunities…anywhere. I’ve been very content in my current position while others are constantly trying to get ahead.

-Try my best not to go to Vegas (like I said, no promises!)

-Don’t drink so much that I vomit (happened way too often in 2007)

-Go get a pedicure

I know that last one seems silly – but it’s just too unlike me.

2 days down, 354 to go. 2008 be kind.