Blogger on a Plane

So, right now I'm on a plane from LGA to ATL, and let me tell you, did I barely make it. Brief recap of the morning: up at 6, I get the genius idea that I should drive to NYC for my meeting today, rather than train in. This way, when I fly from Chicago back to NYC on Friday night, rather than waiting in the cab line, going to Grand Central, and jumping on a 2 hour train ride back home, I could simply park at LaGuardia, get off the plane Friday, jump in my car, and be home in little more than an hour. Big mistake. Left the house at 7, realized I needed gas. Is it raining? Of course it is. Am I in my suit and tie? You know it! Did the gas station shelter have 1,000 leaks in it so that water was splashing up on me from all angles while filling up? Now you're getting it! Did I accidentally smear the back of my suit along my wet, dirty car trying to avoid said splashes from all angles? Ding ding ding! It's now 7:44, and I've already gotten off to a shit start. Then, because Northeasterners treat rain like Southerners treat snow, it took me FOUR HOURS to drive 80 miles down I-95 into NYC. Even made a stop in Bridgeport, attempting to jump on a Metro North train just so I could make the meeting on time. Did I get to the ticketing counter just in time to watch the aforementioned Metro North train head off? You know the answer to that. Anyway, long story short, I had to push back my 10am meeting until noon, and push back my 2pm flight to 3pm.

All of that nonsense behind me, I figure the day is mine. The meeting goes off pretty swell, all things considered, and I'm ready to head out to Atlanta for the next set of meetings tomorrow. "Off to LaGuardia, and fuck this noise!" I think to myself, softly pumping my fist as I take the BQE to the airport. So, I'm following signs at the airport, and one sign says "Terminals A, B" and points off to the left. I know I'm looking for Terminal D, so smartly, I continue on. In a few feet, I see a sign that says "Terminals C, D and All Parking" with an arrow off to the right. Continuing to be the college grad that I am, I follow this sign. Shortly thereafter, one sign says "Short-term Parking" and points one way, another sign says "Long-Term Parking P3"  and points the other way. I take this other way. It directs me around in a circle and into a huge parking lot. Given that it's raining and this lot is not covered, I'm not thrilled about it, but hey, that's about all you can expect from New York's infrastructure, which I'm rapidly realizing is lagging behind India's. Not caring to lug my umbrella to Atlanta and then Chicago, where it certainly is not raining, I figure I'll make a mad dash into the terminal--after all, it's not raining that hard. After walking a few hundred yards with my suitcase, my laptop bag, and my co-worker's suitcase (I volunteered to take his bag with me, because I can check it for free--see post below about what a stand-up guy TheRanga is), I notice that the building with the huge "Delta Air Lines" sign on it is not, in fact, Terminal D. It is some Delta Cargo bay with no entrance. Confused, I look around, and realize I've walked about a hundred yards in the wrong direction and need to backtrack. Annoying? Yes. Is it raining harder now? Of course. Am I pretty pissed off that my shit day continues? You bet.

So I soldier on, getting my suit and my luggage drenched. When I arrive at the terminal, I realize this is not Terminal D--there are nothing but US Airways ticketing signs all around me. Confused, I ask a uniformed man where Delta is, and he gestures further in the direction that I'm walking. I look off, and in the distance, I see a small building, which apparently passes for Terminal D at this airport. By my estimation, it's another quarter mile of trudging out in the open. I'm already sweaty, drenched with rain, and flabbergasted that LaGuardia would make any passenger walk this far, uncovered, to their terminal. What about days when it snows??? And then, it dawns on me that I parked in P3, which is apparently PARKING FOR TERMINAL B, YOU LAGUARDIA ASSHOLES! HOW ABOUT A FUCKING SIGN?!? Literally, I followed the sign for Terminals C and D and Long-term parking, and ended up getting donkey punched by the Port of New York. At this point, I'm feeling very hoodwinked. My whole plan to conveniently walk off the plane right to my car on Friday night is clearly shot in the ass.

So again, to recap: in order to save 2 hours of taxis and trains and make life easier on myself Friday night when I arrive at LGA, I decided to drive to LGA today and park there. This cost me a rain-smeared Canali suit at the gas station, a 4-hour marathon drive during which I maxed out at 44mph, a postponed meeting, a pushed-back flight, a re-soaking of the suit and luggage, and a 3/4 mile walk to my terminal. All so I can land on Friday and again walk 3/4 mile back to my car. It's just that easy!

Why do Stocks Keep Going Up?

Um, why are the stock markets rallying so much this week? I understand that Europe seems to be reaching a bailout agreement, but has anything changed here in the US? Last I checked, we still had high unemployment, non-existent wage growth, and no job creation to even sniff at. And yet, for some reason, since the US government's debt outlook was lowered on August 5th, US Treasury bonds have rallied and the S&P is roughly flat, while emerging markets--the engines behind global growth and job creation--have faltered. I'm seeing Russia down 25%, Brazil and India down 15%, and China down 10%. Looks like a flight to safety still seeks US debt, even when the US is headed the way of my last dump.

These sell-offs are great for anyone willing to take the risk of EM equities. I'll focus on India for the time being, as that is my trade. Exactly nothing in India has changed since August 5th, save for a moderation of inflation expectations. GDP looks on pace to post another 6.5% or 7.0% real growth for FY12 (that's March '11 to March '12). High-quality companies in the BSE-30 continue to prudently manage risk and generate annual earnings growth in excess of 20%. And India remains nicely de-coupled from the global economy, with only 18% of GDP being linked to exports (compare to China and Korea, where 30% and 50% of GDP is export-linked, respectively). So the quick story--an economy that is growing at 7% on an inflation-adjusted basis (and has grown at above 6% per year for the last 30 years), with plenty of companies armed with the talent and skill to translate that growth to the bottom line, in a country where the lion's share of the growth is domestically driven by the hundreds of millions of people earning higher wages and consuming more goods. What's not to like?

When the flight to safety occurs, India will always suffer. See: Sept. 15, 2008, when Lehman Brothers went belly-up. India's stock market fell 55% in the five weeks following Lehman. Again, what changed in India? The houses that US consumers were no longer buying--were any of those materials produced by India? No. The goods that US consumers stopped consuming--were any of those goods produced in India? No. But because India is viewed as risky, and the entire financial world needed to de-leverage and de-risk, India took the beating. If you had been smart, you invested in India in November, 2008, when the entire world said not to, and doubled your money. When the inevitable sovereign default or bank failure happens in the future, India will take the hit, and I'd advise you to buy it up. But hey, that's just me.

Awesome

It seems that my love for the Honey Badger Youtube sensation and my love for LSU football have magically melded into one beautiful being, this t-shirt, in honor of the Tigers' Tyrann Mathieu, the first defensive player since Charles Woodson to have a legit mention in the Heisman conversation. Maybe not the greatest nickname on earth (apparently Mathieu himself doesn't even like it), but like the honey badger, TheRanga don't give a shit.

By the way--is anyone not completely jazzed about the de-facto national championship game that will take place on November 5th? #1 LSU @ #2 Alabama. Whoa. Winner of that should just take the crystal football home. I guess OU fans will have something to say about that, so we may as well just play the national championship game as a formality in January.

ManCave Update!

So, the ManCave is coming along nicely. Last I posted, the floor was done, but many other things needed to be completed. Since then, all the electrical has been finished (woot woot, dimming lights!) and baseboards and door frames have been installed.

Problem is, all that awesome stuff that I want to get for the basement--well, cooler heads have prevailed. TheWife brings to my attention that we may only be here another year and a half, so why shell out the money to buy even more furniture and gadgets when we're not even sure we'll be here, and could potentially downsize somewhere else?

While it's pretty shitty of her to point this out, she is nonetheless right. So for the meantime, we'll put the pool table and home theater on hold, until we know where TheWife's fellowship will be. Those who want to see a ManCave here soon, root for Yale Pediatric Anesthesia. I know I will. I still may install some stuff down there soon, but she'll just have to be surprised by it.

That being said, the basement gym (GymCave?) is almost fully done. Got the treadmill, PowerTower, and weight bench all set up, the gym mats are laid down, and the 22-inch LED TV with articulating arm mount has been ordered and will be installed in the next week.

While this is sobering news for the ManCave followers out there, rest assured that NFL Sundays still live on at the house, just upstairs, closer to the fridge.

Bizarre

I think I'm a pretty stand-up guy. Not to toot my own horn, but I do some good stuff. Like open the door for people, give up my seat on a crowded bus or train, and generally serve others before serving myself. Hell, on more than one occasion, I have given up an aisle seat on an international flight and been put in a MIDDLE seat. Now, I'm not saying I'm some angel, but I do try to help people out here and there.

So, naturally, you can understand my chagrin at what happened in the customs line at Newark last week. After two 9-hour flights back from India, I was excited to be back in the States and only a short train ride from home. That's when a roaming TSA agent approaches me in line--singles me out, mind you--and, gesturing to see my passport and boarding pass, asks, "Have you ever been with the service?"

Not understanding why he was asking me in particular, I hand him my passport and then offer a simple reply, "No."

The TSA agent then stares at me blankly and does nothing. Confused, I think I maybe misheard the guy. So I back up. "I'm sorry--what did you ask?"

"Have you ever been in the service?" he repeats.

Clearly, I heard him right the first time and answered correctly. But just to clarify, I make sure. "Like the military?" I ask, at this point totally confused.

"Yes," he barks at me.

"No," I repeat.

"Why not?" he asks.

"Uhh, because I..."

"Just keep walking."

And he hands me back my documents and walks away. Not to ask other people why they are pieces of shit and don't serve our country. He just walks back to some behind-the-scenes TSA office. Now, here I am, looking like the asshole who never signed up for the military, for all intents and purposes "outed" by this guy as being some sort of unpatriotic jerk. And he did it in front of about 30 other people all standing in line around me. I can't even begin to fathom what had just happened, or what was happening.

The lady behind me in line summed it up perfectly. "That was bizarre," she said. Yeah, that's about right.