The Bell Has Tolled

* The "bell has tolled" for the housing market. At least in Sacramento. I've heard about this in other areas in CA, too.

* When was the last time you had a brownie with a peanut butter cup in the middle? (Uh, unfortunately it's been a long time. Sigh.)

* The market? I think the SP500 is down somewhere around 1% in the month of August so far, give or take. I'm not surprised. Retail sales forecasts are really dropping like a stone as folks spend more at the pumps and less at the malls. I expect some big sales coming to move inventory off of shelves. Have you noticed the prices of digital cameras dropping like a stone? PCs? Hi-def TVs? Yeah, check out the ads from companies that sell tech goods. Prices are coming down hard.

* Not that many fridays left in the summer, you know. I believe the local college gears up next week. That means traffic will really suck. At least until students drop out or cut classes a few weeks out. Still...

* Any Battlestar Galactica fans out there? I finaly Neftlixed the miniseries to see what the hub-bub was, bub. Not bad. Started off a little slow, but turned out to be worthwhile as they spent the time in character development. Nice filler for a Star Trek-less TV season. (GEEEEEK!)

* If the housing market declines, it won't happen quickly. Usually these things play out over a long stretch of 5-7 years. You can't just dump a house like you can shares of Amazon.com. Houses aren't that liquid. You put it on the market for 3 months, and if doesn't move, you mark it down and try for another 3 months. That process goes on and on until you find a buyer. Then the next guy who sells his house, sees that comparable sales are low, but marks his house at that price to attract buyers. If one doesn't show, then he lowers his price. Etc.

* Here's a shocker (yeah right), Eminem hospitalized for drug dependency. Sleep medication... Hmm.

* USC is ranked #1 in the college pre-season polls. It's always easy to stay with the trend.

* The homebuilder stocks have already taken a big hit. And have you noticed all the numbers of tile stores open? They're all over the place. Watch for many of those places to go out of business.

* Work has been very busy. I like it, but I'm glad it's friday. Really glad.

* If the labor market and economy slides, then some folks will be forced to sell their homes or the banks will for them. Lets hope that doesn't happen. But when you read stories in the papers of folks just walking away from their mortgages, that'll be near the end of the down cycle in houses. It'll take years to play out, though.