Financial Implosion

I have to mention the stock markets today because it's absolutely brutal what is going on.  The House of Representatives voted down a $700 Billion financial-rescue plan, and the market basically cashed in all its chips and then went home.  I can't even begin to speculate on how much money people lost today - untold billions, even trillions in aggregate.  It's really not pretty out there.  

I personally am disappointed that the House rejected the bill.  I see their concern: that people who have previously made unwise financial decisions shouldn't be bailed out by taxpayers.  But I also see the other side of that coin - now everyone has to suffer, and it's ugly.  Fortunately for many of us, we have lots of years until retirement, but just think if you didn't...  Our hometeacher came by last night and lamented the fact he recently put a half million dollars into Lehman bonds - gone.  And that was all but a fool proof bet to keep your money safe, or so everyone thought.  I guess my bottom line is, if we have to bail some people out for the good of the whole economy, then fine - so a few won't learn their lesson, and a few will profit from the gov't safety net, but the vast majority of the country will potentially benefit from the economy not tanking.  Of course that doesn't factor in the cost of taxes, but in good times that's a different argument.

My advice: take a very long-term view on your stock portfolios, if you have anything left.

The Sunday Edition

Man oh man, what a week this was ... specifically, what a last few days.  Starting on Wednesday and continuing through Thursday night, we had a very stressful, tense time as we expended our last amounts of energy available to try and get a loan on the Provo house.  Thanks to the amazing help of others in many different ways, and due to some downright miraculous happenings, we were able to close a loan on our Provo house yesterday.  When it was all said and done, Angela and I looked at each other across our kitchen table after the notary left, and we just grinned ... almost not daring to realize that this part of the struggle was over.  Now of course we need to sell or rent the house, but we've been fighting so hard for this first step that we'll enjoy it for a bit before we start that next piece.

Also significant on Friday, I accepted a new job within Google.  I'll be leaving the M&A Accounting team and managing a Sales Finance team that supports our North American sales organization.  I'm very excited for the change, and I feel like this will be a big step forward for me both in rejuvenating my daily work, but also in my career in general.  I'm very grateful for the right contacts I was able to have good relationships with who helped this happen.  It's a real testament to fostering your business network, both inside and outside of your current company.  I'll keep you posted on the new job as it unfolds.  I'll start making the transition not this week but next.  I'm feeling very happy about that.

This is going to be a busy week for us.  Angela and I are planning to leave Thursday afternoon for a kidless trip to St. George for her to run the marathon, and I have to be honest ... I can't wait!  I wish I was running, but it'll be fun to hang out with Spencer and Molly and other fun friends who are running or visiting.  As we have been planning this evening, we're laughing at how much stuff our kids have going on, and especially the days we aren't here.  We feel sorry for our babysitters already - but we're going to watch their kids in a few weeks, so it's ok.

Kennan finished her first Harry Potter book tonight and she loved it.  There were a few parts where she had to read by other people, but for the most part she was much braver than I thought she was going to be.  She's already looking forward to #2.  Micah and I have been reading Inkheart together for a few months and we've made slow progress even though we love to read.  We sometimes go weeks without finding time when we both can/want to read.  Angela just finished a book she really liked called The Book Thief, and I'm reading another Ludlum book, which is pretty good.  

The Gphone, er, "G1" ... finally

Google and T-Mobile held a joint announcement today of the first mobile phone, called the "G1", running Google's Android operating system inside.  The phone, which will be available for purchase in about a month, is pretty slick.  I have seen, held, and played with the phone, and I give it a thumbs up.  What most people will do instantly is compare this product to Apple's iPhone, and this is appropriate.  What they will find is the G1 is not as sleek, shiny, or quite as pretty as the iPhone, but it is as functional, if not moreso.

You can probably find a million articles on the web talking about media guys', bloggers', and analysts' impressions of the phone, and of Google's foray into the mobile phone world.  You might find it interesting to read a little bit about the pros and cons of this phone and the operating system in general.  A couple of articles I read are in the SF Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News.  Here's a great link to a site with a lot of information, pictures, and videos.

Maybe this will actually help our stock price...or maybe not.

Dinner last night

Wow, what an amazing dinner we had last night.  First of all it was awesome to see our friends again, catch up, and really pick up right where we left off.  As we noted, we could have eaten anywhere and still had a great time with them, but as long as we had to eat, it might as well be at one of the best restaurants in San Francisco...

So here's what we had.

Starters

Small black bean salad with citrus vinaigrette, chilled and sitting on a spoon

Butternut squash soup, chilled in a small cup

A small cup of layered purees: peas on the bottom, carrots on top; topped with creme freche and caviar (yep, my first ever eating of caviar ... liked that better than the pea puree)

Appetizers

John: Sweetbread with a poached egg covered in veal jus, brioche on the side (another first for me here - sweetbread is the thymus glands of beef)

Angela: Crab salad with a bunch of other stuff presented around the plate

Fish Course

John: Alaskan Halibut with a cumin and taragon crust, served over some small vegetables; a quail egg over a crouton and covered with a creamy sauce

Angela: Roasted sea scallops with a hazelnut crust, chanterelles & truffle gnocchi, mushroom jus with hazelnut oil emulsion

Meat Course

J&A: we both went more traditional here with Filet Mignon over a bed of wild mushrooms and leeks; on the side was a small brioche cup filled with, of all things, macaroni & cheese (not exactly Kraft Easy Mac, but a bit surprising nonetheless)

Dessert

John: Vanilla cheesecake served over a raspberry-topped wafer; a small honey and lemon cake with chocolate spread; a small fudge bar with champagne ice cream on top; champagne jello cubes

Angela: chocolate souffle served with cherry and kirsch ice cream

In reality, the food was amazing, but the presentation made it even more spectacular.  I should have taken pictures of all the courses ... maybe next time.

Evening of Refined Sophistication

I know, the first thing you think of when you think of Angela and me is not sophistication.  If you have observed my eating habits, you will also readily agree that I'm not necessarily one with a discerning palate (although I can discern the difference between a Big Mac and a Whopper).  So you'll be interested to know that Angela and I are going up to the city tonight to eat at a very posh French restaurant called Fleur de Lys.  

I generally get worried about a restaurant when they don't list the prices on their online menu.  Worried not because of the food or environment, but because it's likely the kind of restaurant where "if you have to ask the price, you probably shouldn't be here".  However, we're very excited for tonight, and would pay a high price indeed, because we get to see some great friends from Austin who are in San Francisco and wanted to see us.  We're particularly excited because the last time we did this with them, they found out shortly thereafter that the wife had very serious cancer, and we weren't sure we'd ever see her again.  But she's doing well, and we're grateful they thought of us on their trip out here.

I'll report on the evening tomorrow if I've recovered well enough to string some thoughts together.

Bitter Sweet

I finally accepted the reality yesterday and today that my efforts to overcome my current knee injury in time to complete my training and run the marathon two weeks from tomorrow are futile and doomed.  I just haven't been able to run without pain, and as if to confirm my decision, the knee's been more painful than ever all day today.  I'm bummed and disappointed.

But strangely, once I sort of got comfortable with that decision, I've had a smallish feeling of relief now that I don't have to worry about the pain and about how I was possibly going to run.  It's nice to know there are other years, and hopefully I will be able to pick back up next year and run injury free.

Yesterday was spent at a team-building event up in San Francisco where we broke up into a bunch of different teams and had a scavenger hunt around the city.  It was fun, and very entertaining.  Micah and I are headed with some church friends up to the Oakland A's game tonight, and then next Monday Angela and I are meeting some close friends from Austin up in SF again for dinner at a very swanky French restaurant.  

I had "the talk" with Micah this morning.  No, not THAT talk!!!!  Micah lost two more teeth last night, and then when the tooth fairy forgot to come (again) last night, I had to clear up the legitimacy of that particular myth for her.  I considered blaming it (as usual) on an over-worked fairy, but in the end decided she's plenty old enough to know the truth.  She had already guessed, of course, that the TF was really the big J all along, but I think it just cleared it up for her so there's no question.  Phew, glad we got that talk out of the way.  Ang, your turn for the next one...

Micah

Micah found out her part for the latest PYT play over the weekend.  The play is The Sound of Music, and she got the part of Marta, one of the Von Trapp children.  She's extremely excited and we're very proud of her.  It's going to be a huge time drain for our family, but we're ok with it because we want to support her as much as possible.  Thankfully she's really responsible about getting her homework and piano done early so she can go to her many rehearsals without it affecting her other things.  She's a good girl.