- Happy Birthday, Dad. As many of you know, I lost my dad last year. Normally, I'd pick up the phone to call him and sing "Happy Birthday to you!" He'd laugh and tell me to keep my day job or that it was a good thing that I went to college. Miss you, Dad.
- The MLKjr holiday rally is on in the stock market! (See Norm!) Yeah, everyone seems bullish. The Investors Intelligence numbers are showing bulls coming out of the woodwork, but that hasn't slowed things down. The market seems to be moving sideways the last two months, but here we are near the highs again. Will we break through this time?
- The economy does seem like it's going well. Democrats are in Congress and generating a feeling of checks and balances in the government. Oil prices are down due to weak demand. Companies are beating earnings. Minimum wages went up in a bunch of states in January, and the Democrats in Congress are looking to bump the federal minimum wage. Most think Bernanke and the Fed seem to have created a soft landing in the economy. Many are saying that the real estate market has bottomed. We'll all have iPhones by mid-Summer. What could possibly go wrong?
- On the weak oil demand, it's been pretty warm due to El Nino. But a Siberian storm is heading this way, and we're not used to the cold. Most of us here in Sacramento don't have mittens. Heck, we think "mittens" is a typo. Know what I mean?
- President Bush speaks tonight. I have a hard time listening to him. I'd rather listen to a Saturday Night Live parody. At least SNL is trying to be funny. Bush will talk about sending more troops to Iraq and that mistakes were made.
- Cisco sues Apple of the use of iPhone. So, do you think Cisco can be bought off? I can see the conversation going something like, "Maybe we can be pardners, pardner."
- Adam's Randoms, with even more USC cheerleaders ("song girls"). And hat tip for the Wallstrip heads up with Kevin Depew.
- Uh oh, Sears Holdings makes the anti-Cara 100.
- While it seems like a waste of vodka to me, Boston Gal with some home gardening tips for your bulbs. I haven't heard of that. Bone meal, yes; vodka, no. "Bloom, drunk flowers, bloom!"
- Are pet owners less healthy? Using survey data from more than 21,000 young to middle-aged Finnish adults, researchers found that pet owners were generally more likely to be overweight and to view their own health as poor. This was largely because pet owners tended to be middle-aged, have less education and more health-risk factors, explained Dr. Leena K. Koivusilta, the study's lead author. I said I wanted some "mittens," dammit!
- Oh... One last thing. Pick up the phone and give somebody a call. Tell them you're thinking about them.
