Things that I have been doing lately instead of updating my blog:
-Working
-Wishing I could take a nap
-Wishing my laptop wasn't broken (the hard drive is only a year and a half old and it is already glitching out on me, I really really really hate hard drives)
-Trying to find a Nintendo Wii
-Playing around with said Wii once one was found

Rock bands that need to go away:
-Foo Fighters

Things in my living room that have been hit by the Wiimote:
-The coffee table
-The fireplace
-The couch
-Other people

Christmas Songs that should be removed from the playlist of the radio station I listen to while at work, and replaced with gems from the Motown era:
-Dominic the Donkey
-The one with Bruce Springstein
-99% of the songs recorded since the early 90's

Things realized for the first time after watching parts of the Wizard of Oz last night:
-The munchkins pull together an elaborate welcoming comittee within a few minutes of Dorothy falling out of the sky
-Those that have been chosen as representatives of the Lollipop Guild are much surlier than one would expect members of said organization to be
-When Dorothy and her gang finally reach the Wizard, he gives them basically nothing but acts like these items will improve their lives tremendously, resulting in what this particular blogger believes to be the first reacharound filmed in motion picture history

So, the major life event that I never blogged about (didn't wanna jinx anything) is complete. We are now home owners (well, co-op owners, we don't own a house I suppose, just part of it).

We closed and moved last week. There are people that like to pack and there are people that like to unpack. I hate packing, not because it's boring (although it is), but because I can't shake the feeling that as soon as I pack something I'm going to need it. So what if I have all my bank statements going back to when I was in college, and I haven't used them in years? I may need them tomorrow! You never know!

So, as soon as the movers left I was ripping boxes open so that we could get settled in as quickly as possible. The older I get, the more I feel the need to "nest" once in a new home.

My main concern was my cat. When we first moved to our last apartment she hid behind the radiator for two days and wouldn't budge. Here, she was running up and down the hallway leading to the main bedroom at 3 a.m., waking up both us and our new downstairs neighbors in the process. She hasn't done that since she was about six months old.

Owning your own place is odd, there's now this huge shadow looming over you due to this new mortgage that everyone except you is convinced that you can afford. But, there's a certain happiness that overcomes you when you unlock the door and walk into your living room after work. This place is yours.

I'm just loving the new place. It's so great not living right on top of Smith Street anymore. It's not that our old place was terribly noisy, but there were the too frequent wake-up calls from the bar-goers next door (buy us a couple beers and ask us for a few good stories) and it feels a bit more calming to leave your apartment and not be right on a main street. I can also sleep through the night without hearing the latest reggaeton track blasting from the cars on the street.

No Daddy Yankee at four o'clock in the morning... it's a good thing.

So, what happened to the house hunting you asked? Well, it's still going on, but to a much less focused degree. After putting in a losing bid on a cute one bedroom in Chelsea in the late Spring, we didn't find anything worth getting excited about at all. Also, every Friday for the past twenty weeks has contained some sort of debate between the blog shunning discountkid and myself about what is going to happen to the housing market over the next two years. I've maintained my position throughtout - this market is bollocks, everything is way overpriced, we are only making other people rich by buying something right now, the market is unsustainable and will cool down soon, and we should only make an offer on something if we absolutely love the place, because we'll have been wiped out of all of our capital and it will take a few years to build up our finances if we want to trade up to something larger.

Over the past week, the New York Times has been really trying hard to prove me right. First off was last week's article teaching the masses about the immense cost advantages of renting instead of buying, typically an indicator of an out of control market. Then today's news that the market is slowing down (which was very obvious to us this summer when we were often one of a whopping grand total of three visitors at an open house).

I know a market crash would have some pretty nasty affects on the economy. I'd just like things to reduce to a more realistic level for now. I just pity the people that think prices are going to raise 10-30% a year indefinitely. I also have some great dotcom stocks for them that are going to just blow through the roof.

I had the single greatest class of my entire MBA experience Monday night. It was the first session of a finance class I'm taking called "The Business of Music and Film." It started out with the CFO of Univeral/Motown (one of the three professors for the class, another professor is the soon to be ex-CFO of Miramax films/soon to be CFO of the Weinstein Bros new initiative) handing out free copies of the new Damian Marley CD to everyone. Then, we watched the video for the lead single, and discussed, well, the music business. Believe me, after three years of case studies, formulas, and financial analysis, discussing the impact of 50 Cent on Univeral's bottom line is absolute heaven.

The Miramax CFO took over for the second half of class, which was cool too, because it was nice to see a focus on corporate finance that is more similar to my position than that of an investment banker/portfolio analyst.

What I truly cherished about the class was that it got me excited, instead of worried, about my future. After three years of intense focus of investment banking, I felt like it was the only path that I should take, as if I was being inexorably dragged towards it, that my financial peers would consider me a flake for staying in the entertainment biz. I started preparing myself for the lack of any sort of life that goes along with banking, the 80+ hour work weeks, spending Saturday and Sunday at your desk, the intense pressure of watching the slightest movements in the Dow, the co-workers that I would have absolutely nothing in common with.

But as I listened to the CFO of Universal/Motown speak, it clicked. It might impress certain people if I worked at Bear Sterns, but how f'ing cool would it be if I worked at Def Jam or Interscope or Sony or Take Two Interactive? Who needs seven figure bonuses when you like what you do and get paid well to do it? How on Earth could I consider being a consultant?

I'm really glad I passed on taking Debt Instruments when I signed up for this class.

International finance just got a hell of a lot more interesting.

I totally hate real estate.

I like the idea of owning a place or even two or three, but when you're in the middle of a huge bubble (yes, I said it, even though no one wants to admit it, this is a bubble) and trying to buy in an already competitive market, the whole thing just becomes completely discouraging. Today's Times article about people acting completely irrationally is of no surprise to me. You didn't see the dump we saw going for $600K two days ago.

Actually, it's not that I don't hate real estate, I hate real estate agents. Most people hate lawyers, but real estate agents are one profession I think the world would be a better place without.

Roar!

Greenspan talks, and the IMF talks, but is Bush listening?

The dollar's falling like a robot on rollerblades. Will Bush do anything besides give out more tax cuts?

For the time being, a larger portion of my 401K portfolio is going to international investments.

Also, a Times article here.

dude, check out the global rich list. it really puts things into perspective, and shows just how much we have to be thankful for this holiday season. but, how come i'm in the top .8% of the world and i can't buy a friggin' apartment?

good news everybody, we might be getting money back!

i refrained from posting this earlier because i was a bit skeptical of its validity, but apparently it really is true (courtesy of kreblog). if you know me, you know i'm worth more than a $20 settlement from all the records and cd's i've bought over the past few years, but i'll take it anyway, and i strongly suggest you sign up too. what'll i buy with the money, you must be wondering? the new mcclusky cd :)