The end of last weekend, officially, Monday, November 1st, while away for a terrific trip to Seattle I saw a Glacier. It was magnificent and a hugely wonderful chunk of ice which was aw inspiring. Having been on countless camping trips throughout this fine country from East to West Coast and the Northern States down to the deep South, this past one was for the record books.
Fall colors in sight with golden and fiery red trees was a beautiful sight.
The constant roar of a rushing river steadily flowing at the base of a mountain fresh with the cold onset of mountain winter and their gorgeous snow capped peaks was invigorating! Lush with the moss, liken and leafy trees amongst the pines and ferns on the forest floor was an absolute pleasure to see. With continuous downpours while in deepest sleep in the warmth of the RV, the pitter patter was a dream. Campfires were had in the earliest of morning with low clouds and evening while roasting marshmallows over the driest of logs for a splendid orange glow. Words cannot yet describe.
Having made sure to visit a few favorite stores in the city, such as Far 4 and my absolute favorite, Watson & Kennedy, window shopping has never been better. Not even in LA! To a place, once called home, the return visit was a delight!
Dog in tow with the feline friend he's had for years or shall I saw the feline friend has been around for years with the newer dog friend- the gang was all there.
Great food, great sights and perfect for fall, that trip was a perfect start to being 34!
Today is my father's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! :)
Friday, November 5, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
October 27, 2010
went to a steller auction a few weekends ago with a great new friend, Lindsay. specifically, the los angeles modern auctions in van nuys.
met and chatted with Brooke Shields last week and talked about the toothfairy since she got off the phone with her 7 year old daughter.
finding new pleasure with my old love of bicycle commuting.
arranged my bedroom for the closest feng shui recommendations.
went to my first sitcom taping, Better With You, and walked on set with having one of the writers being an acquaintance. Special treatment with reserved front row seats, arriving hours late, cupcake, grapes, carmel apple and standard one slice of pizza per audience member. courtousy of another new friend, Katie C.
my dog rex learned how to hi-five.
going to Seattle on the 29th for a three day weekend with a new friend/co-worker, Katie A., for a fun filled fall trip with some 1st ever RV'ing in the northwest! seeing the best friend/twin brother is sure to be a riotous reunion! (dog & cat in tow)
in exactly 5mins.(change of day, not my exact birth time), it will be my 34th birthday!(my
second birthday in los angeles)
met and chatted with Brooke Shields last week and talked about the toothfairy since she got off the phone with her 7 year old daughter.
finding new pleasure with my old love of bicycle commuting.
arranged my bedroom for the closest feng shui recommendations.
went to my first sitcom taping, Better With You, and walked on set with having one of the writers being an acquaintance. Special treatment with reserved front row seats, arriving hours late, cupcake, grapes, carmel apple and standard one slice of pizza per audience member. courtousy of another new friend, Katie C.
my dog rex learned how to hi-five.
going to Seattle on the 29th for a three day weekend with a new friend/co-worker, Katie A., for a fun filled fall trip with some 1st ever RV'ing in the northwest! seeing the best friend/twin brother is sure to be a riotous reunion! (dog & cat in tow)
in exactly 5mins.(change of day, not my exact birth time), it will be my 34th birthday!(my
second birthday in los angeles)
Thursday, September 30, 2010
September 30th, 2010
Last day of the Month! What does that mean? Pay Day. Been able to bring my dog to work the last couple of days. Trying to beat the heat as the begining part of the week was 113 degrees! Laying low and enjoying the transition into October which brings comfort as it will be my birthday soon. I've been reading bits and pieces of "The Rise of the City" about how Americans have evolved. Especially, white Americans like the scores of German Russians who populated the States in the 1890's from being essentially exiled off of native land. The white Americans and others today are a conglomerate of individuals who left native lands to start a new. At the expense of the natives already here a struggle occured and one that was an unfair fight with our use of guns. I believe today a fear is still felt between white Americans and those of native North American descent. However, having a black President such as Obama should signify that things are changing. Regardless, anyone interested in how our country developed, mainly within the city, should read this book. Any struggle should be met with optimism and positivity as negativity only diverts to digression.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Saturday September 4, 2010
Summer has past. A Michigan trip for family camping, relatives wedding and otherwise relatively uneventfulsummer. Which is actually a blessing compared to what I had going on. A new place & new neighborhood has welcomed me in the month of June. Loving the solitude unobstructed of otherwise immaturity of grown adults who surrounded me of the later months of 2009. So, that said, I quite enjoyed the summer and company of new friends!
Went to Arshile Gorky exhibit, the premier Armenian painter of his time. First learned of his work in 2001. Can't wait to see the exhibited works of the late Dennis Hopper just before it closes this month. Thrilled to find that Seattle embrassed a media exhibit of Andy Warhol which closes in a couple days.
Hot in LA of nearly 90 degrees today.
Not much else to report in way of news around the world with my current lack of connectivity.
Went to Arshile Gorky exhibit, the premier Armenian painter of his time. First learned of his work in 2001. Can't wait to see the exhibited works of the late Dennis Hopper just before it closes this month. Thrilled to find that Seattle embrassed a media exhibit of Andy Warhol which closes in a couple days.
Hot in LA of nearly 90 degrees today.
Not much else to report in way of news around the world with my current lack of connectivity.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
in courtesy of http://www.investsmart.com
So, among other things today, like new species discovered in Borneo, Earthday, the big oil spill and the burning of the oil platform sinking into the gulf of mexico, planes being allowed to fly after the big volcanic eruption in Iceland and now this lovely article on economics. Please see below as this article was an online piece by investsmart.com
It's got our US economy in a nutshell. But hey, who hasn't had an acquaintance that's worked for Goldman Sacks or the like? We did have a great turn out for a book signing event at work (for a positive spin and effect).
Executive salaries: from the subprime to the ridiculous
Like a Roman emperor, Paulson fiddles with the principle of performance pay while the US burns.
The Age - 25th Sep 2008 - Michael West
Like a Roman emperor, Paulson fiddles with the principle of performance pay while the US burns.
HENRY Paulson has got to be kidding. He wants American taxpayers to hand a cool $US700 billion ($A833billion) to his pals on Wall Street in return for a gigantic bundle of their delinquent assets . without his pals taking a pay cut.
Could there be a finer reward for failure? Could there be a worse deal for taxpayers?
No stake in the upside, no ceiling on extortionate Wall Street salaries, no guarantee the system will be stabilised. Just the mother of all rip-offs: a deal to privatise Wall Street's profits and socialise its losses.
How about this bit: "Decisions by the Secretary (Paulson) pursuant to the authority of this act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." Like a Roman emperor, Paulson's pals get an explicit protection against any review by the courts and Congress while taxpayers fork out top dollar for rubbish the banks can't sell. It is the quintessential dudding.
If the Paulson "cash for trash" plan can avert systemic failure - and this is by no means assured - it could have legs but Congress is jacking up at the ample "trust me" aspects. And rightly so.
As House of Representatives Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, Congress would not "simply hand over a $US700 billion blank cheque to Wall Street and hope for a better outcome".
Until now, Americans had been mostly apathetic when it came to the excesses of investment banks. But now that Main Street is being urged to bail out Wall Street, again, and in huge measure, the temperature is rising. Congress wants a brake on salaries, some guarantee that Paulson's pals won't simply load up the truck with billions in bonuses again, this time funded by Ma and Pa Kettle.
The four biggest investment banks, which included Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, shelled out $US30 billion in bonuses last year. Lehman just went under and Bear Stearns was bailed out earlier in the year.
While trying to push through his emergency deal, Paulson says he wants to defer the debate on salaries. Someone should take him aside and tell him, "Pal, it's over". The moral and philosophical underpinning for $50 million salaries is gone, let alone $10million salaries care of government.
These structures were on the basis of a compact with the market that pay is "at risk" and should reflect performance. That compact is finished. What is the risk if losses are nationalised? And what is the performance? From the subprime to the ridiculous, the orgy of leverage on leverage, mimicked in financial centres as far afield as Australia, has whipped the world to the brink of recession and destroyed faith in the entire system.
And now here is another $US1 trillion (which is the tip on the face value of the $US700billion in assets) to add to the $US9.6 trillion US national debt. Where will the money come from? The issue of Treasury bonds. Who will buy them? Anyone for some bonds in an entity whose obligations are spiralling out of control.
The US dollar has been sinking thanks to the daunting prospect of a bond market deluge. The more paper on issue, the lower the price. Either the US defaults on its obligations - an outcome many regard as "unthinkable" - or taxes will have to go up. Higher taxes . deeper recession.
It is critical Paulson and his pals demonstrate to the world that they understand the jig is up. People and pay are central to this understanding. Industrialists or entrepreneurs with their own businesses can pay themselves whatever they like but the failed managers of licensed institutions on corporate welfare can hardly expect a blank cheque from those they have blown up. The contract is finished. Wall Street has not fulfilled its obligations.
As Paulson tries to shove his plan through in the face of congressional opposition, the rewards for failure have already shamed the principle of pay for performance.
Fannie Mae boss Daniel Mudd and his opposite number at Freddie Mac, Richard Syron, walked last month with $US9.43million in retirement and pension benefits on their way out the door - failed, sacked and showered with money as their two giant mortgage businesses were bailed out.
Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers Richard Fuld picked up $US22 million for 2007, the year his thousands of staff found themselves on the street. He took $US35 million the year before.
Merrill Lynch boss John Thain took a $US200 million payout with two offsiders for less than a year's work. Merrill was so close to obsolescence it sold itself to Bank of America for $US50 billion in scrip just as Lehman was biting the dust a few days ago.
Thain was given a $US15million bonus for signing on. Two former Goldman Sachs executives hired by Thain may do even better. Head of global trading Thomas Montag, has already received a $US39 million bonus since signing on in August. With stock options accelerated by the buy-out, he could finish up with $US76 million. The bank's head of strategy, Peter Kraus, was bestowed with a $US95million package just to beat what he was on at Goldman.
Goldman boss Lloyd Blanfein took home $US54million last year and Morgan Stanley's John Mack $US42 million.
Regulatory oversight and the ramifications of Bush's tax-cuts-for-the-rich policy, alongside his catastrophic jaunt in Iraq, have come home to roost. America is this year heading for its first $US1 trillion deficit and Paulson's bail-out will add another $US1 trillion to the bill. Thank goodness for Warren Buffett and his $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs.
It's got our US economy in a nutshell. But hey, who hasn't had an acquaintance that's worked for Goldman Sacks or the like? We did have a great turn out for a book signing event at work (for a positive spin and effect).
Executive salaries: from the subprime to the ridiculous
Like a Roman emperor, Paulson fiddles with the principle of performance pay while the US burns.
The Age - 25th Sep 2008 - Michael West
Like a Roman emperor, Paulson fiddles with the principle of performance pay while the US burns.
HENRY Paulson has got to be kidding. He wants American taxpayers to hand a cool $US700 billion ($A833billion) to his pals on Wall Street in return for a gigantic bundle of their delinquent assets . without his pals taking a pay cut.
Could there be a finer reward for failure? Could there be a worse deal for taxpayers?
No stake in the upside, no ceiling on extortionate Wall Street salaries, no guarantee the system will be stabilised. Just the mother of all rip-offs: a deal to privatise Wall Street's profits and socialise its losses.
How about this bit: "Decisions by the Secretary (Paulson) pursuant to the authority of this act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." Like a Roman emperor, Paulson's pals get an explicit protection against any review by the courts and Congress while taxpayers fork out top dollar for rubbish the banks can't sell. It is the quintessential dudding.
If the Paulson "cash for trash" plan can avert systemic failure - and this is by no means assured - it could have legs but Congress is jacking up at the ample "trust me" aspects. And rightly so.
As House of Representatives Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, Congress would not "simply hand over a $US700 billion blank cheque to Wall Street and hope for a better outcome".
Until now, Americans had been mostly apathetic when it came to the excesses of investment banks. But now that Main Street is being urged to bail out Wall Street, again, and in huge measure, the temperature is rising. Congress wants a brake on salaries, some guarantee that Paulson's pals won't simply load up the truck with billions in bonuses again, this time funded by Ma and Pa Kettle.
The four biggest investment banks, which included Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, shelled out $US30 billion in bonuses last year. Lehman just went under and Bear Stearns was bailed out earlier in the year.
While trying to push through his emergency deal, Paulson says he wants to defer the debate on salaries. Someone should take him aside and tell him, "Pal, it's over". The moral and philosophical underpinning for $50 million salaries is gone, let alone $10million salaries care of government.
These structures were on the basis of a compact with the market that pay is "at risk" and should reflect performance. That compact is finished. What is the risk if losses are nationalised? And what is the performance? From the subprime to the ridiculous, the orgy of leverage on leverage, mimicked in financial centres as far afield as Australia, has whipped the world to the brink of recession and destroyed faith in the entire system.
And now here is another $US1 trillion (which is the tip on the face value of the $US700billion in assets) to add to the $US9.6 trillion US national debt. Where will the money come from? The issue of Treasury bonds. Who will buy them? Anyone for some bonds in an entity whose obligations are spiralling out of control.
The US dollar has been sinking thanks to the daunting prospect of a bond market deluge. The more paper on issue, the lower the price. Either the US defaults on its obligations - an outcome many regard as "unthinkable" - or taxes will have to go up. Higher taxes . deeper recession.
It is critical Paulson and his pals demonstrate to the world that they understand the jig is up. People and pay are central to this understanding. Industrialists or entrepreneurs with their own businesses can pay themselves whatever they like but the failed managers of licensed institutions on corporate welfare can hardly expect a blank cheque from those they have blown up. The contract is finished. Wall Street has not fulfilled its obligations.
As Paulson tries to shove his plan through in the face of congressional opposition, the rewards for failure have already shamed the principle of pay for performance.
Fannie Mae boss Daniel Mudd and his opposite number at Freddie Mac, Richard Syron, walked last month with $US9.43million in retirement and pension benefits on their way out the door - failed, sacked and showered with money as their two giant mortgage businesses were bailed out.
Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers Richard Fuld picked up $US22 million for 2007, the year his thousands of staff found themselves on the street. He took $US35 million the year before.
Merrill Lynch boss John Thain took a $US200 million payout with two offsiders for less than a year's work. Merrill was so close to obsolescence it sold itself to Bank of America for $US50 billion in scrip just as Lehman was biting the dust a few days ago.
Thain was given a $US15million bonus for signing on. Two former Goldman Sachs executives hired by Thain may do even better. Head of global trading Thomas Montag, has already received a $US39 million bonus since signing on in August. With stock options accelerated by the buy-out, he could finish up with $US76 million. The bank's head of strategy, Peter Kraus, was bestowed with a $US95million package just to beat what he was on at Goldman.
Goldman boss Lloyd Blanfein took home $US54million last year and Morgan Stanley's John Mack $US42 million.
Regulatory oversight and the ramifications of Bush's tax-cuts-for-the-rich policy, alongside his catastrophic jaunt in Iraq, have come home to roost. America is this year heading for its first $US1 trillion deficit and Paulson's bail-out will add another $US1 trillion to the bill. Thank goodness for Warren Buffett and his $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Thursday April 8, 2010
Duke won NCAA again, on Monday. Beat underdogs Butler from Indiana. Eathquakes shake Mexicali, Mexico (felt in LA) and then Sumatra both at least 7 points- the world is alive! This is random but I witnessed a man throw his show from the sidewalk into santa monica blvd. traffic as I saw it float through the air and hit a toyota, right in front of my car. My current favorite song/video is by Annie- Songs Remind Me of You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft1ZNSlqaF4
that dress is flippin fantastic! especially for a video medium, very dimensional.
that dress is flippin fantastic! especially for a video medium, very dimensional.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday March 31, 2010
I like it when people care. People can care a bit too much sometimes but I prefer that over not caring enough. It keeps the world running more happy and smoother.
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