I’m a big believer in personal hygiene.
I know that it takes some courage to come right out and say that, but it needed to be said.
Unfortunately, sometimes time seems to fly and it’s only when I see the flies circling about me do I realize what’s been neglected.
In the winter, when no flies are to be had, I usually get the message when Laszlo refuses to lick me.
If you’re not a regular reader of this blog, Laszlo is my personal assistant.
Most mornings I’m usually up and esconced in my La-Z-Boy sometime between 6 and 7 AM after having checked into FourSquare. Coffee made, sipping slowly and studying the pre-open mood and scouring the New York Times.
Of course, given my professional education and training, I do brush my teeth before heading to my “office”. I felt that needed to be said, as well.
Both yesterday and today it was a simple matter to break away from trading in order to exercise personal hygiene.
I love big moves, up or down, especially once they show signs of stability. That’s when it’s safe to move away from the monitor and TV screen.
Yesterday, however, I could have taken a very extended shower and perhaps had a kidney removed as well, as CNBC coverage of the Murdoch’s appearance before the British Parliament committee hearing just went on for an insufferable amount of time.
But CNBC wasn’t alone. Bloomberg, MSNBC FOX News, FOX Biz, CNN, Home Shopping Network, Comedy Central, The Sci-Fi Channel and even a C-SPAN channel all devoted themselves to the Britsh equivalent of gavel to gavel coverage.
Well, at least Nancy Grace went on unencumbered. For a while, I thought maybe one of the Murdochs had perhaps vanished and she was trying to find the truth. As it turned out, just a pie went missing off the HLN sill.
After a major flurry of trades in the first 30 minutes of the morning’s session, I was able to sell calls on lots of my positions as the market opened high and just went even higher.
At that point and then faced when the droning sound of various United Kingdom accents, it was safe to shower.
Back in the days that I travelled quite a bit, I always thought that I did my best thinking while en-route.When driving, I’d often lose track of where I was. When flying, I’d forget to disembark if there some relly good ideas percolating.
These days I rarely travel, so instead I try to get my best thinking in while in the shower.
For some reason I was reminded of a friend from long ago who used to refer to his morning routine as “Shit, shower, shampoo and shave.” I did try convincing him that the “it’s all the same drain, dude” theory didn’t really apply, but to no avail, I believe.
For some reason, I continue to believe that there was one more act in that group and for the life of me, I just can’t recall. That has made me think that I’ve been omitting some inportant act of personal hygiene for the past 30 years.
Did I mention that I have no friends?
What I didn’t expect after returning to my perch was how dirty I would feel listening to the Murdochs try and relieve themselves of responsibility or advanced knowledge of the cellphone hacking charges
When Rupert Murdoch ascribed responsibility to his subordinates or their subordinates, I was fully expecting him to continue down the line until he finally arrived at the people whose cell phone accounts had been hacked. It doesn’t take too much of a stretch to blame them for not using something other than the default password.
I mean, after all, for how many centuries did the plea that the rape victim was dressed seductively help to exonerate the accused?
How I would have love to have heard the word “mis-remembered”, but I guess that’s a uniquely steroid induced American word.
What really amazed me was the initial reaction of the huckster that tried to “pie” the elder Murdoch. For the first few moments neither the small portion of the Twittersphere that I follow, nor the media seemed to understand exactly what a “foam filled plate” signified.
In fact, as late as 4:15 PM, Maria Bartiromo still referred to it in that manner.
Maria, darling. He was “pied”.
The pie in the face used to be a universally recognized comedy staple and statement of political beliefs. In the early part of this century it was the symbol of the Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party, except they were real whipped cream pies and Roosevelt devoured them..
Apparently, with our lives taken over by electronics and social media, where human contact is ever diminishing, the old pie in the face has lost its rightfful place in our coollective experience.
With wife Wendi coming to Murdoch’s defense, the hearings went on after a brief delay, with Murdoch only needing to shed his suit jacket.
Although most every native born Brit is expected to carry a Shepard’s Pie at all times, it’s hard to believe how a shaving cream pie could have escaped detection by security personnel in Parliament.
So of course after listening to all of the tripe, it was time for yet another shower.
What was really fascinating was that after listening to Murdoch the flies came back, but this time they circled counter-clockwise.
When I came back, I was rewarded for the decision earlier in the day to purchase more shares of the ProShares Ultrashort Silver ETF’s.
Apparently, after President Obama’s statement that the “Gang of Six” seemed to be coming to some agreement, precious metals decided to reverse course and give up those last few days worth of gains.
I also purchased more shares of Lowe’s and just as quickly sold those calls, in addition to selling calls on the ETF’s.
After the close, all eyes were on Apple’s earnings report. As usual, they blew away their perennially under-reported guidance numbers and eclipsed the $400 level for a short time.
My eyes though were on Riverbed Technolgy, one of my favorites, that I last held 2 months ago. I have made more money selling calls on Riverbed than on any stock, other than Sallie Mae, Goldman Sachs, Textron, Rio Tinto and JP Morgan.
Okay, there may have been a few others, as well, but I got tired of checking it out.
Regardless, over the past 4 years or so, Riverbed Technology has spun off about $25,000 in premiums.
Given that it is earnings season, it was now their turn. Despite a 72% surge in earnings and record margins, Riverbed lost 25% in the after hours because it “missed on top line growth analyst expectations.”
I have no idea what that even means, but as “Chico Escuela” used to say “Ribberbed been berry berry good to me”, so after it’s stink wears off, I plan to purchase more shares with proceeds from any assigned weekly contracts.
Then, we can get rid of our stink together.
If it means getting good companies at good prices, I will exercise personal hygiene on a predictable and regular basis. But its funny how it takes a stinker of a price drop to make something attractive again.
Maybe I need to rethink my own personal hygiene schedule and take a lead from Riverbed.
Noseclips anyone?