Happy Birthday Monkeyshines

(Just a quick note: these images are from my new camera - courtesy of Jon & Allison - but there will be more images uploaded for this and the previous Monkeyshines post, from the last of the disposable cameras - check back in a couple of days:)

Indian summer continued here in Brooklyn, thus our two favorite little people had an absolutely gorgeous weekend to spend with Daddy. As an added bonus, this past weekend fell between Zachy and Miranda's birthdays, so Daddy cut a couple of corners and combined them into a weekend long celebration.

Our adventures began rather sedately on Friday night with the usual mad dash for the toys and the usual Thomas the Tank Engine film festival hosted by Zach. Zach went down at around the usual time (about 9:30), however, Miranda had apparently had one of her patented late afternoon power naps, so she was up until 11:30 (ouch!).

Saturday, dawned bright, clear and 20 degrees above normal, so we broke fast and headed out to the Sensory Gym. Miranda and I made our usual rounds and stopped at a gumball machine to buy beautiful jewelry and a bright pink superball. We visited our friends at the pet store and collected Zachy at noon.

On Saturday afternoon we went home to change, then went out to the park for some exercise and were amazed to see the ice cream truck doing a landslide business on the 20th of October (global warming anyone?). After all the running around it was nice to have some lunch and chill out, after which we had our happy birthday party. Daddy put some candles in cupcakes, which Zachy couldn't eat and turned out to be kind of terrible tasting so we threw them out after the candle-blowing ceremony was completed.

The "happy birthday presents" on the other hand were a big hit! Zachy got a bunch of Thomas the train track and accessories. Daddy discovered that the Ikea version is exactly the same gauge track as the official Thomas track and is only a fraction of the price - thus Zachy scored big time. Zachy also got 3 wonderful books from the Childers. Miranda got Polly Pocket everything - dolls, shoes, a Polly Pocket convertible car, etc. She is very into toys that have a thousand tiny little parts. She also got a beautiful princess Barbie from the Childers. Both children recieved thoughtful birthday cards from the family. Daddy suspects that the birthday bonanza will continue, with the impending visit of Grandpa Monty and Grandma Fredi - stay tuned for further developments.

Even with new toys to play with, we couldn't resist going outside to join in the soccer game that evolved in the front lawn of Daddy's house so we postponed our baths and kicked a ball around for an hour or so before coming back inside for our evening. Daddy stunned and amazed the monkeys by demonstrating how to carve our big pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern, which turned out pretty good - and not too scary. The only problem was that Miranda was still in birthday mode, so every time Daddy lit the candle in the pumpkin to light it up, she blew it out and made a wish - we'll work on that.

Mercifully, both kids were pretty exhausted after their big days and went to bed on the early side and slept late. Sunday was pretty typical with another trip to another park and lots of nice cuddle time. As always the weekend seemed to be over almost before it started and we set off past the school, under the weeping willow, over the bumpity bumps, up the hill, past the number two building, and past the library to Mommy's house, where we said a fond farewell until our next installment of Monkeyshines.

The Red Sox Win The Pennant!

So I stayed up way too late last night watching the Sox pound the Tribe to take the American League Pennant, and man was it sweet! Any true Sox fan will agree with me that it's the Pennant that matters - the World Series is just a bunch of games that take place after the important stuff is over - kind of like the Pro Bowl in football.

Anyway, I'm really feeling the late bedtime today and I'm fighting off the yawns as I write. But was it worth it? You bet! Go Sox!

Happy Birthday Panda Bear!

Three years ago today, I watched my little princess - Miranda Raye Miller - come into the world, and she has been a source of joy ever since. As far as I am concerned, she is the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world and she will always be Daddy's little girl.

Happy, happy birthday Miranda-panda my pumpkin pie - always remember that I love you "this" much!

Love,
Daddy

Misunderstandings

Sheeeesh, thanks to all for the late night phone calls - I guess I should be grateful that I have such loyal readership, but I feel obliged to offer some clarification:

Sometimes when the other shoe drops...IT'S A GOOD THING! The fault is mine of course for my choice of metaphors - ooops! You may now feel free to move about the cabin.

The Shoe Just Dropped

'nuff said.

Waiting For The Other Shoe To Drop

Today I am sitting around waiting for an answer to an important question that I suspect will profoundly impact the rest of my life - and I got to tell you, it kind of sucks. I'm told that God's will for me is what will happen, but some days it is harder to believe and accept than others. This is one of those days. I've been reminding myself of just what a nightmarish situation I would be in if I had gotten everything I wanted in the past, and I know deep down that often (not being able to see the future) I do not know what's best for me. Still, I want what I want and the thought of not getting it is troublesome.

So here I sit with my computer for company, and frankly I don't think it gives much of a shit as to how things turn out - c'est la vie, bien que quelquefois ce soit difficile. Mais, ce qui sera, sera. Je veux que la chaussure fichue tombe!

Indian Summer Monkeyshines

Well, according to my calendar this is October, but it sure didn't feel that way as Daddy, Zach and Miranda bopped around Brooklyn this past weekend (actually the weekend before last) - and it was witness to lots of sweaty stroller pushing!
Of course the images that go along with this post will be added when I have the camera processed, so keep checking back. Hopefully this will be the last time you have to wait, as I will be receiving my new digital camera (courtesy of Jon and Allison) sometime this week!

My weekend with the monkeys started off with an enjoyable Friday evening. Miranda and I made homemade split-pea soup while Zachy chilled with his Thomas train set. It was a very cute scene: Daddy cooking with Miranda standing on a chair next to me. She enjoyed running her hands through each ingredient (we washed them first), and both of us got a case of the sneezes when she played with a handful of pepper.

Saturday morning we stopped at the post office then went to the Sensory Gym per usual and, after Zach got going, Miranda and I went on our usual rounds: cookie meeting, Riteaid, the pet store, etc. After collecting Zach, who had a good session, we went back to Daddy's house to spruce ourselves up for a birthday party. Our friends Barry and James (twins) were celebrating turning 5 years old, and we met them at the local Pizza joint for some tasty treats and camaraderie.

After the party, we did a little browsing at the toy store so that Daddy could get some ideas for Zach and Miranda's impending birthdays, then off we went to our favorite park on Shore Road for some exercise. After all the sun, fun and excitement, our little ones were pretty worn out, so we had a nice dinner, took our baths and had our quiet time and bed times a bit on the early side.

On Sunday we did a lot of running around, hit a couple of different parks, collected acorns and pine cones and generally enjoyed the fine weather. With Halloween looming (Miranda wants to be a mermaid), we also decided to go out and pick a pumpkin. I should note that "pumpkin-picking" in Brooklyn entails going from bodega to bodega and haggling with Koreans, and lacks any of the romance of Old MacDonald and his farm. We had fun just the same and came home with three nifty pumpkins - one of which was of carving size. Unfortunately, we ran out of weekend before getting around to carving it, so that will have to wait until next time.

That's about it - make sure to check back in a week or so for all the yummy pictures!

Just In Case...

Just in case you didn't notice (perhaps you never scroll down that far) - I've added a different music widget to the "Music To Read By" section on this page. The new widget features a playlist that currently makes 17 songs available (more are being added) - just click on the double arrow to move to the next song. I thought a playlist full of nice chill tunes might enhance the enjoyability of your visits. Happy browsing!

Whatever

So it's fall now - no really, it is - and it has finally gotten cool enough to make wearing shorts less than completely comfortable. This being the case, and today being Friday (casual day) I was faced this morning with the unique trauma that comes once a year for me: trying on the jeans that I haven't worn since April and seeing if they still fit... they did!

I know I have gained a couple of pounds over that last few months and was worried that I might have to whip out the shoe horn to get into them, but fortunately I am not yet pushing maximum density.

What else? Hmmmmn? Oh yeah! - I thought you all might enjoy the photo - it's from Jon and Allison's wedding, apparently they got the photos back from the photographer yesterday - the cupcakes were tres yummy. That's all for now - ciao!

Happy Birthday Bumblebee!

Today is Zechariah Derek Miller's (my son, my friend and my little bumblebee) 5th birthday. It is hard to believe that it has been five years already - they do grow so fast. I hope he knows how much Daddy loves him and how proud of him I am, but I am never quite sure, even though I often tell him just that. I am reminded, however, that when I am in the midst of my doubts to remember how many important questions God does answer.

Zach, five years ago you came into my life and changed everything - for the better. You have been and remain a source of constant joy for me. I wish you a long peaceful life filled with love and happiness - many happy returns.
Love,
Daddy

The Firm

Yesterday was Columbus Day and while most people had the day off and were busy enjoying the free time, I went to work with my friend (and soon to be boss?) Louis to watch, listen and learn about what I now believe will be my new career.

Lou picked me up at 3:40am and we sped through the Battery tunnel arriving at 80 Broad Street (2 blocks from the exchange) at 3:55am - surprisingly there is no traffic at that hour, even in New York. After scanning into the building, we went up to the 7th floor offices of Garden State Securities ("the firm") which is an affiliate of RBC (the Royal Bank of Canada). There I met the crew, most of whom were already busy working the phones - calling the UK, which is where they do most of their business.

The office is not a large one but, due to the large number of flat screens (including a giant one on the wall), one can very quickly succumb to information overload. In spite of all the high-tech stuff, it was easy to see that the phones were the real backbone of the operation. I spent a lot of time listening to Efram and Stuart qualifying prospective leads (somewhat monotonous, but hardly rocket science) and I listened to Louis and James (the senior brokers and grand-high-muck-a-mucks) pitching stocks to clients.

At 7:30am we all took a break and went out for lunch - yeah, that's right, "lunch" at 7:30am! The nice thing is that there are no lines at that hour, however, my biological clock is still recovering. We did some skills-drilling after lunch (there is definitely and art to sales) and then at 8:45 I got to listen in on a conference call between the Wall St. office (where I was), the Jersey office and the London office, run by the senior GSS analyst. He gave us all the skinny on where the markets stood (including the European and the Asian markets) and what he expected to happen. He spent some time explaining that the markets were not responding to the macroeconomics designed to reign them in, and seemed to be rallying strictly on emotion - the message in short: cover your asses (and assets). He said that silver was looking really good, suggested a couple of other picks that were worth pitching aggressively, and closed with a preview of what to expect from the earnings reporting (starting off with ALCOA) that was beginning later that morning.

We knocked off at 1:30pm and went down the the street fair on Broadway, where we wandered around for a little while, then it was back through the Battery Tunnel for the 15 minute ride home. All in all, it was a fascinating behind the scenes look at just how easily gigantic sums of money change hands, and what is really driving the world's markets. It was also what I needed to see in order to come to believe that this is where my future lies. If all goes well, I'd like to start working there as of November 1st - I'll keep you posted.

P.S. Monkeyshines is in the works - stay tuned sports fans!

More Changes?

I was rereading my recent posts, which is something that we do at the zmmiller corporate offices here in Milwaukee, as part of our quality assurance program, in order to maintain the level of journalistic integrity that our readers have come to expect; and I noticed something: it has been quite a while since I shared any substantive thoughts on any subject other than the minutiae of daily life. I brought this to the attention of senior management, we had a few meetings, ran it by a number of focus groups, memos circulated and the consensus-building began. In our final meetings we got the green light from the engineering department, marketing reported that the shareholders were behind it and legal tentatively signed off on the concept, after we agreed to appoint a fact-finding committee to look into rewriting our mission statement. Ultimately, it came down to budgetary issues (doesn't it always?) and it seems that our fiscal 2007 R&D budget still had enough discretionary capital left in it, after deducting the cost of all the Chinese take-out and designer spring water consumed in all those late night meetings, to actually execute the plan. Unfortunately, we only had enough cash left for a few hundred words and one or two recycled images. We hope to have a prototype sometime in FY 2009.

Actually, what I've been ruminating on are the changes that have apparently (purportedly really) been taking place within me. It would seem that I have been growing again and, while being both observer and observed it is difficult for me to see, by all accounts it is nonetheless happening. I was advised a couple of years ago that if, through a series of synchronicities and or coincidences, I suspected that God was sending me a message, then I could be sure It (I feel uncomfortable giving God a gender) indeed was. This has been happening recently in a truly remarkable way.

The growth I am speaking of has been spiritual and has manifest itself in the form of a serenity/inner peace that others can apparently sense - I know this because recently they have been walking up to me and telling me about it. I wasn't sure what they meant, so I looked into it a bit further. In the process I encountered a good definition of inner peace: the state or condition of restfulness, harmony, balance, equilibrium, longevity, justice, resolution, timelessness, contentment, freedom, and fulfillment, either individually or simultaneously present, in such a way that it overcomes, demolishes, banishes, and/or replaces everything that opposes it. Sounds pretty groovy, huh? Actually it is.

When I started this process of change and growth, I suffered from a couple unfortunate misconceptions. The first was in thinking that serenity was something that a person either had or did not have, and that both the have's and have-not's were doomed to stay that way. After learning that it could be attained through the practice of a few simple spiritual principles (and truly accepting this proposition) I made the decision to pursue it. The second major misconception that I had was in thinking that, once the prerequisite drudgery or practice threshold had been reached, that this serenity, inner peace or Bodhi would come in an epiphany - a flash of transformational insight. Of course this has not been my experience, thus I think Bodhi (awakening) is th most apt term for it, as I am slow to awaken (and like it that way). I am also, like many, more awakened on some days than I am on others, and on some days it can vary drastically hour by hour. Eventually I hope to be fully awakened.

"Bodhi" is a term applied in Buddhism to the experience of Awakening of Arahants, including Buddhas. When used in a generic sense, a buddha is generally considered to be a person who discovers the true nature of reality through a lifetime (usually many lifetimes) of spiritual cultivation, investigation of the various religious practices of his time, and meditation. This transformational discovery is called Bodhi, which literally means "awakening", but is more commonly called "enlightenment".

The primary guiding principle of Buddhist practice is the Middle Way, which was discovered by the Buddha prior to his enlightenment (bodhi), and is the practice of non-extremism; a path of moderation that lies mid-way between the extremes of self-indulgence and asceticism (self-mortification). The Middle Way, or Middle Path, also refers to taking a middle ground between certain metaphysical views, e.g. that things ultimately either exist or do not exist. It is that state of nirvana and perfect enlightenment where all dualities fuse and cease to exist as separate entities. It is the epitome of gray.

I find both irony and comfort in learning that others have been where I am before me, and that there is a whole vocabulary already in existence that I may use to describe my experiences. What I find uncomfortable is the effect that everybody telling me what amazing serenity I have has on my ego. Perhaps this is why I felt compelled to write this entry. If enough people come up to me and tell me what a spiritual avatar I am, I start to actually believe them - this fuels my ego. Worse, I will start to add in and believe my own bullshit, which further fuels my ego. Before very long, I am well off "the beam," off the Middle Path and busy calling up Tibet to tell the Dalai Lama what he has to do if he wants to be as cool as me! This just won't do, so instead I smile politely, try to accept the praise humbly (not f@!#ing easy!) and remind myself of all the growing that I still have left to do.

ABA @ Home @ Last

This past Monday the new therapist that I hired started working with Zach at home, doing ABA therapy in an effort teach Zach life skills and bring his school program home, in order to help him generalize what he learns. The best outcomes for children like Zach have been attained when a child receives 40 hours per week of individual behavioral treatment. Intervention should always be customized as to content, but 40 hours per week remains the standard from which to deviate.

Individual ABA therapy, which was first developed in the 1960s by psychologist Ivar Lovaas, PhD, at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), remains the only intervention that has been scientifically proven to be effective. In a landmark 1987 study, Lovaas found that nearly half the children who received 40 hours per week of ABA therapy were eventually able to complete normal first-grade classes, while none of children who received the therapy only 10 hours per week were able to do the same. Other researchers have replicated Lovaas's success--among them psychologist James Mulick, PhD, of Ohio State University, who finds an association between a form of ABA therapy he calls Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention and improvement in children's IQ scores.

While it is long overdue for Zach, it is certainly good news for him! I'll keep everybody posted on our bumble-bee's progress:)

Burmese Doofus Traps

Yesterday at the UN, Bush said "Americans are outraged by the situation in Burma." Not for nothing, but I wonder how many Americans actually even know what Burma is, or how many could find it on a map if their lives depended on it? Here's a little tip: it ain't called Burma anymore, it's called Myanmar these days.

A Little Breathing Room

Well last night was a big night for those of us in Red Sox Nation, because the hated Yankees lost to Tampa Bay and our beloved Sox won against Oakland. So with only 5 games left to play the Sox have a 3 game lead over the evil empire - which should just about do it. Of course we are also tied with Cleveland for the best record in baseball. Everyone seems healthy and it should be a hell of a post-season. Go Sox!

White Weddings

I spent the weekend in Boston, and it was very good to be back there - it's been too long. Of all the places that I have lived, Boston is by far my favorite. I love the European feel to it and the wonderful green spaces, especially in the fall. While it was not peak foliage this early in the season, the colors were magnificent and the weather could not have been better. I didn't have time to launch out into the River Charles in my kayak like old times, nor stroll along the esplanade - but perhaps next time.

However, I was not just there to sight-see, I was there for a purpose - the wedding of two of my best friends: Jon Burns and Allison Flintoff. In fact, I was a big part of their wedding - I was the officiant. I arrived at South Station Friday evening and was whisked away by Jon and Scotty (who was pulling "best man" duty) to complete the last of several pre-wedding errands. We dropped Scott at his place north of the city, where I met the smallest and newest member of the Yaffe clan - baby Camille - for the first time. VERY cute! After that we went back to Jon and Allie's place to talk through the ceremony one more time, at which time I signed their marriage license, making them technically married. We celebrated with a pizza and several episodes of Survivorman, since none of us could sleep.

The following day (wedding day) was beautiful and, after seeing Allison off to go do whatever it is that brides do before weddings, we menfolk did... well... manstuff. Mostly we just drank coffee and reminisced about old times - pretty wild huh? The wedding was at a golf resort in Wakefield, so we went up and checked into the hotel early with Bucklee (dog and ringbearer) in tow. We had instructions to tire Bucklee out as much as possible, so that he wouldn't be too hyper at the ceremony - so all dog play was official wedding business.

Eventually it was time to say the "I do's" and... we did. Allison made a very beautiful bride and everyone looked great. Jared and Corey (Allison's brother) provided the acoustic guitar accompaniment for the ceremony, and Allison walked down the aisle to her favorite Pearl Jam song, though I doubt many people recognized it without the head-banging overtones. Thankfully, Bucklee did not eat the rings and yours truly did not fumble any lines of the ceremony. In all, it was a smashing success!

The only comment I'll make about the reception (which was truly elegant, fun and low-key), is that I have never had better food at a wedding. Allison is a vegisaur like me, so most everything (except the prime rib) was vegetarian. It was all tres-yummy and I certainly ate too much, but danced some of it off. We ended up hanging out back at the hotel until about midnight. Afterwards, since Jared and I were bunking together, we decided to rent a movie - NO, Not that kind! Actually we watched the Fantastic Four movie with the Silver Surfer. I fell asleep half way through, but had nice dreams about Jessica Alba.

We slept late Sunday and I ended up hanging out with Jared, Corey and Katie. We returned the PA system to Daddy's Junky then it was time for me to return to the big apple. I made Jared stop at Faneuil Hall on the way back to South Station, so that I could pick up a couple of new RedSox hats - mine has been biodegrading for a while and was in sore need of replacement. That done, I jumped on a bus for the ride back to NYC. I arrived home to find Mr. Squeaky the Mouse unharmed and happy to see me - and here I am at the start of another work week.

Congratulations to Jon and Allison - many happy returns!

Monkeyshines Ltd.

I find myself quite pressed for time this fine Friday morning, so even though I'd love to write more I'll have to settle for just captioning these yummy photos as best I can. Perhaps I'll get some time next week to flesh it out a bit - we'll see. So here goes:

Miranda shows off a lovely airplane that she created out of PlayDo - Zach gets comfy on the couch, nestled in a pile of pillows.




\






Miranda takes a turn on the really big slide at the Fort Hamilton High School park - Zach swings into action right behind her.




Both children pose at the big park on Shore Road on this windy and crisp September day.





Miranda and a new friend take time out from collecting acorns to investigate the Monarch butterfly that they found. The hapless creature was eventually released back into the "wild."

Zach shows his climbing prowess.














Zach playing in the yard in front of Daddy's house.

Miranda poses in her kitty-cat shirt - Daddy neglected to brush her hair on this morning.

Calls, Puts, Straddles, Spreads and Combinations

First, let me apologize for being so delinquent with this week's Monkeyshines installment - I've been a tad busy (gross understatement). I will hopefully have some time Friday morning to put something together and post the images for this and the previous visit, before I jump on a bus and head up to Boston for the nuptials between Jon and Allison, over which I will be officiating.

I had the day "off" yesterday due to a canceled (adjourned) court date, so I took advantage of the time and got some things done. I was asked to speak at the King's Knight Worker's Group, then I went into Manhattan after that. I met with my lawyer (Pat) to go over some miscellany and then spent some time in one of my new favorite places to sit and think - Battery Park. It was really nice sitting on a bench in the Sun, listening to the birds and the water lapping at the wall, looking across the harbor at Lady Liberty, Jersey and Brooklyn, and smelling the sycamore trees. I watched the Staten Island Ferry come and go, watched the tourists filing on and off the Circle Line ships, and watched people haggle with the vendors.

After getting some Zen back in my carcass, I headed across the park to Battery Place where I have been taking the Series 7 classes. Last night we began learning about options. Options are not stocks, they are contracts to buy and sell stocks at set prices and times. The weird thing is that people are buying, selling and trading things (the options) that they don't own and most often never own. In this way you can make money on a stock if you think it is going to go down (buying a "put") or up (buying a call), and by buying (or selling) various combinations of calls and puts you can bet on volatility, stability, just get paid a premium for doing nothing or even protect yourself from significant losses.

It seemed from last night's class like the selling of these options was the shitty end of the stick, because even though you get a premium over the current stock price for locking into a contract, you can get killed if the stock moves into the money (i.e. in the direction you didn't want it to go). In other words, you are risking relatively unlimited losses for a modest set gain. We were told that only the most senior traders were ever allowed to do such things by the firms they work for - to me it just sounded unnecessarily stressful. It was cool though to learn about it all and do the math - my financial kung-fu is getting stronger!

I have the kids tonight for a brief visit, will make a meeting afterwards, then will try to get some sleep - tomorrow I go back to court for more of that joy - hopefully the grounds stuff will get resolved (but probably not) - then off to class again tomorrow evening for the rest of the options stuff. Next week will be my last week of classes, then I'm on my own to take a million practice tests in preparation for the exam on October 13th - more on that as the day approaches.

Hello Mr. Blue Sky

Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar

Reflections on Monkeyshines

An amusing part of being a parent is finding yourself saying things that you never thought would come out of your mouth. As a child, I told myself that when it was my turn I would never say things like, "because I'm your father and I said so!" But here I am, years later, finding that I have become my parents (not a bad thing really). There is also the lighter side, however, that comes when you listen to the words you have spoken and hear them independent of the context in which they were spoken. It is hard not to laugh when you hear yourself say, "Miranda take the porcupine out of your mouth please," or "Zach, please stop painting your sister," or "Who put the mouse in the refrigerator?" These are precious moments indeed!

Enough metacognition - I had a great weekend with the kids and I remembered to pick up a camera and snap some photos. I used half of them this past weekend and will take the other half this coming weekend, then do the photo updates - make sure to check back!

We kind of did our usual thing - parks and such, and even made some new friends in Jack and Brianna, whom I suspect we will see again. The kids were even more affectionate than usual (that's pretty darn affectionate) and we did a lot of nice cuddling. On Sunday we did some heavy-duty finger-painting, which was great fun for us, and we got good and messy. Daddy also benefited by having some priceless works of art to hang in his hallway. There will be an encore performance of Monkeyshines in only 3 more days - I can't wait!

Twitter

Well my good friend Nathan has struck again in his facilitation of my steady slide downhill to the dark side of the force (well actually only the internet) - all kidding aside, his suggestions have all been good ones thus far, so I have every reason to believe that this too will enhance my web-life. The new addition comes in the form of Twitter, which on the surface might make one wonder where we draw the line on our craving for minutiae. But be that as it may, I have signed up for a Twitter account and have linked it to this page's sidebar so that I can text in updates (in the sidebar only) on what is going on in Mark's world, from the safety and comfort of my cellphone. That alone is pretty cool - follow along and we'll see where it leads!

Everything is Miscellaneous

I thought that y'all would dig this - it's a really interesting take on knowing and how we create meaning. I've been pondering one comment in particular - that you can really learn a lot about a person by looking at their tag cloud and, as a result, I've added my tag cloud to the sidebar of this page. The video runs just under an hour - enjoy!

Bulls & Bears

So I had my first Series 7 class last night and jeeeez! - my head is still spinning. Here's the short version of what was covered: the rights of shareholders, the liquidation hierarchy, common stock voting rights, preemptive rights, the difference between warrants and rights, stock splits (whole and fractional), types of preferred stock, American Depository Receipts (and GDR's), how the primary market is structured, types of underwriting and spreads, the Securities Act of 1933, the timeline for full registration, new issue regulations, NASD rule 2790 and equity IPO's, which securities and transactions are exempt from rule 2790, Regulation D, Rule 144 and 144A, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, insider regulation, and the regulations regarding fair disclosure.

Oooooo-Kaaay? So anyway, it was a lot to take in and I find that I'm still digesting it. Most everybody looked kind of shell-shocked walking out, so I fit right in, and perhaps that was the point - to get it through to us that this exam is no joke. I'm sitting for my exam on October 13th, which was as early as I could schedule it (it's a 6 hour, two part exam). I have 4 chapters to read for Thursday covering the exchange market, the over-the-counter market and customer accounts - good subway reading.

Not much else to report - I had a nice quiet holiday weekend. I got together with friends a couple of times and got a lot of sleep. Fortunately, I am not teaching this week, and even more fortunately, I have the kids tonight - more on that tomorrow.