Summer's Coda

* The market? So is this the big fall rally underway already? A head fake for the suckers? I don't know. The bears haven't been able to get much traction despite the bad news. My best guess is that we have more correcting to do before the rally starts in earnest. So, I remain 100% in the index, and will get more aggressive if we pullback. If not, that's fine. Either way. No stress at this point.

* Last night's Miama vs Florida St game was interesting. Not an easy draw for week 1 of football. No tune up game against Florida International. Just lace 'em up and go against the big boys. Not much scoring. Lots of mistakes. But the new QB for Miami showed me some stuff late in the game. I think that program is on the rise.

* I was feeling a bit sad last night that summer was unofficially over. That's what Labor Day is, right? The last big hoo-hah of summer. So, I made cookies. I don't often fire up the oven, but one thing I learned to do early in life was bake cookies. Cookies. Tacos. Pizza. These are the important things, after all.

* I wonder what Billy Idol is doing these days? Rock the Cradle of Love on the MP3 playah.

* When was the last time you had an Altoids? (Uh, I bought some yesterday.)

* Remember last week, I blogged that I would wait a bit before buying a new DVD player. I wanted to wait and see if Blu-Ray or HD won the war. Well, Samsung to Launch Dual-Standard DVD Player. Thanks for reading The Learning Curve, folks. Haha.

* Did you see Sean Penn trying to get his face in front of the cameras down in New Orleans? I'm glad he seems to care, but wouldn't sending a few million bucks be better than having him going there, bringing the camera and media crews along, and basically creating a diversion from the true task at hand? Send cash, Sean. You go make movies and let the rescuers do the rescuing, okay?

* Being a vegetarian, especially a few years back, it was difficult to find good pre-packaged things to eat at the store. Restaurants didn't have many offerings either. So I bought a few cookbooks and messed around with stews, cassaroles, and the like. Most recipes are way too complicated and sucked, but I found a few Quick and Easy ones I liked, and stuck with those. Nowadays, it's easy to find places to eat that fill the niche. Plus, cooking is really a hassle. I hate it. Eesh.

* Traders back to their desks after the summer holiday. The folks who are trying to explain the market on today's news headlines are saying lower oil prices areIgniting Equities. Feel that heat, baby.