UltraCrepidate

• Integrating tit for tat strategy into life. #
• Trying a fruit diet. Hungry all the time. #

As a person who follows the economy closely, the wait to get my copy of  “on the brink” was insufferable. It allowed me to go through the crisis chronologically from the regulator’s point of view while reminiscing my own experience and anguish felt at each major event. that led to the fall. First, some quote from the beginning of the book where Hank Paulson shared his insights on life which I find myself agreeing with more and more as I age.

P23: Real happiness, my father liked to say, came not from anything that was given to you, or that was easy to get. It came from striving to accomplish things and then accomplishing them. You had to do things right. If you left grass tufts sticking up when you mowed the lawn, you had to do it again.

P28: Never be awed by title or position.

P29: My time in government had taught me that whom you work with is as important as what you do.

P31: Remember, you are not going to get ahead, in any case, being a grunt.

P39: There are no dress rehearsals in life. Do you really want to be 75 and telling people I could have been treasury secretary?

P40: My epiphany came while I was flying out to the Microsoft meeting. As I thought through my decision, I recognized that it was simply fear that was causing me such anxiety. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown: the uncertainty of working with a group of people I had never worked with before and managing people I had never managed before.

The nature of a democratic political is such that nothing can be done until a crisis happens. The deadlock between two major political parties of equal influence means that nothing can get done during time of peace when problems are only just brewing. Everything has to wait until the last minute, until your arteries are cut open.

The congress is a glamorized version of high school popular kids who often make decisions not based on what is good for the country, but what makes them appear good in public. Or, what we want them to do to appear good. They are a reflection of our internal desires of what someone in power should be like and it doesn’t necessarily mean in depth knowledge of the economy when it comes to making economic decisions.

I’ve always wondered why the government doesn’t just go ahead and do what I think is right. What every trader in the market know they should do and eventually ended up doing too late. This book explained it all. The amount of political, legal and personal restrictions on any action that is to be taken at all makes it impossible for the ruling party to react in a fast enough way facing a crisis. We are doomed to the cycle of boom and busts and we just have to accept it as it is.

• Ubisoft's always online DRM is going to backfire on them. Firewalls, proxies, bad connections. Players don't like to restart. Short UBI. #
• Logged in today to get rid of my options on OPEX day. Realized that I am $10k richer. Funny how it comes in when you don't think about it. #
• … And the interest rate started to rise. 4 months ahead of schedule. #
• Received my copy of "On the brink" Can't wait to get home. #
• Bad news for Canada's real estate market http://www.fin.gc.ca/n10/data/10-011_1-eng.asp #
• The FDIC stopped seizing banks… Are prospects improving or did they run out of cash to seize and desist? #
• Oh wow. 120 emails last week. It's going to give me tourette syndrome. #
• Brought a few modified pics to work. They look so different on a different monitor. #

• Had no idea that there are 3 types of salsa #
• Want to celebrate Chinese new year, but I don't have families in North America #
• Anyone handy at house repairs & electricity interested in co-owning a rental property? #
• Gov to me: Congrats you are now worth a lot more than you think on paper. Now hand over the taxes. #
• Meetings followed by business dinner. Heartburn guaranteed. #
• Important conference call at 1:30PM today. Hopefully good news otherwise, I'll be pissed for the rest of the day. #
• Salsa. #
• Just ordered "On the brink". Can't wait to read it. #
• Got meetings up my wahoo that I am practically shitting meetings. #
• Had a very strange "normal" dream where I just catch up with Carrie on the events in our lives. Strange cause it's so normal. #
• Condo admin meeting tonight. #

• Programming while talking to customers on the phone. It's been a while since I last did it this way. #
• Sigh… It's 2008 all over again. Buckle up boys.. for the ride down. #
• I need mobile 3G internet. But I can't commit to any 2 year plan. What are my choices beside Windmobil who's not in Quebec? #
• Greece default will cause a global panic at this moment. The ball is in EU's court to do the right thing. If not, buckle up. #
• The greatest thing about a slowing metabolism is that I don't have to eat as much as before. #
• It's property tax season again. My wallet is feeling the pain… and yes. thank you city of MTL for raising my taxes by 10%. #
• Wait a sec. When did 50 emails in my inbox per day became an acceptable norm for me? #
• Today's news on the economy: Corporate layoff to continue after a Christmas reprieve. #
• Memory swap, task switch. Easy in computer, excruciating in real life due to our need for closure. #
• @gnorb Yes Gnorb I am as surprised as you. in reply to gnorb #
• LOL. Keep running into instances where I don't have any hardware to test stuff on cause they were all sold to customers. #
• I think I bumped into someone from the world of dancesport in my salsa lesson. Will test her out next time. #
• Staring at someone's digital Magic deck collection at starbucks. Surprised at 4 black lotus. #
• Just realized that I can tell the difference between a France french and a Quebequois french #
• Going to start spending my health insurance benefits… in the form of massages. #
• Politics: Stops me from working and instead, worry about who I pissed off this time. #
• I miss the old 1 minute eTrade customer service. Now I have to wait for at least 30 minutes. #