HopsGuy

It was all on NASDAQ. I have friends at several brokerage houses that had to deal with calling customers like that. And no, it's not illegal. All clients have to agree to these things. It's all in the fine print. The worst I ever had it was when an ECN once gave us hard outs on a couple hundred open orders we had so we could manually cancel them on our side. 4 hours later, I got a message that a ton of 'orphaned' messages were hitting our servers. Yup, fills on all of those orders. The ECN wouldn't acknowledge they had given us the outs. Fortunately, after we ate the fills then flattened the position the P/L was basically a push (might have been a bit of a gain). Any system would have had this problem. NYSE is just as bad because it's the same system for the most part. If the stock was at $52, no one would be complaining about their delayed fill.

I'm just glad that being a technician absolves me from answering questions about IPOs. "What do I think? I don't know, give it a year so I have a chart to look at." I got to meet Ralph Acampora last October. Over dinner he told us about how he once had to convince 20+ SEC lawyers that the MTA certification was a valid test of someone's market knowledge as compared to the CFA. His coup de grace was when he said, "Earnings get restated all the time. This chart is a cave painting of what really happened." Loved that line.

How old are you?

Those are good. Well done, like a properly cooked Texas steak. (I started to make that joke awful, then held back. Evolution is real.)

Great movie! True story: I lost my belt during a lap-dance at the club in that movie. Freak: I can't think of a single movie that couldn't be improved by a lesbian sex scene.

This civil disagreement seems to be about taxonomy. I remember watching "At the Movies" as a kid and having Ebert & Siskel discuss the difference between "Terror" and "Horror". "Terror" is something that can actually happen - like a serial killer stalking a bunch of teenagers. "Horror", on the other hand, involves the supernatural. To me, "The Walking Dead" is the 'Horror' version of "Jaws" - the characters are out of their element (Brody, Quint, & Hooper on the water vs. the survivors in a post-apocalyptic world) and something mindless is trying to eat you (the shark vs. the walkers). I don't watch "True Blood". I didn't think I could get into it because when I was in college I read the Anne Rice books and figured no one was going to be able to do any better when it came to vampires. But there will always be vampire movies. They're interesting. They have lots of depth, and there's a bit of sexuality involved. That sells. Anyway, "Breaking Bad" returns July 15th. I think the speculation that it will be Walt vs. Jesse is probably correct. Vince Gilligan only has 16 episodes to go. He can introduce some new characters on the level of Jane, but he needs to tie up the whole "Mr. Chips into Scarface" premise he started with.

I had never seen "Shattered Glass" until it showed up recently on HBO. It's a true story about a young writer for The New Republic who made up stories as if they were true reporting. I liked it a lot. Buzz Bissinger (Friday Night Lights) wrote the Vanity Fair article the movie is based on. Hayden Christensen actually does a nice job and Peter Sarsgaard is pretty solid.

If you have any savings (any!) and you have people/family in your life you care about, you should probably employ a financial advisor/planner. Having said that, your first question should be, "Are you a fiduciary?". If the answer is anything other than a resounding affirmative, run away - you are talking to a sales person.

We're bad at tons of stuff in this state, but at least we're not Florida. Chuck Pierce shreds this story here.

The guy in the car with Holder was a former cop that was working with the mayor to frame councilman Richmond. He completely played Holder and later taunted him by saying something like, "You think you got promoted to homicide because you're a good cop?" Right now, the show is completely off the rails. Linden's badge was taken by Duck Phillips and the evil mastermind is the Indian tribe chief that looks like a deckhand on the Wizard. "Hey, Gwen is back!" - said nobody.

Jeeze, my bad. Can't believe I screwed that one up. My face is red. I'll fix.

Couple of interesting shots of Don in "Lady Lazarus": (1) Him peering down the elevator shaft after Megan had left the office as if the bottom had just dropped out of his life. (2) Lying on his couch with Roger sitting next to him in a therapist/patient setting. Also: Nice to see Mr. Belding as the Head of Desserts. "Just taste it!" Chevalier invented the Axe Body Spray ad in 1966. That song was stabbing Ginsberg in the heart. Pete is awful. Just awful. Nice skis, though. Another week with no Lane. Not good. Love the line Harry had about how his wife makes him feel small and insignificant. He's been getting some good lines this season.

Two atoms smash into each other. As one atoms helps the other up he asks, "Are you okay?" Second atom answers, "I'm not sure. I think I lost an electron." First atom: "Are you sure." Second atom: "I'm positive." A proton neutron walks into a bar. Bartender comes down and asks, "What'll you have?" Proton Neutron: "How much for a beer?" Bartender: "For you, no charge." A Buddhist walks up to a hotdog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything." Hands him a $20. After the vendor pockets the bill he just stands there. Buddhist: "Where's my change?" Vendor: "C'mon. You know that change only comes from within."

As promised, this game is blacked out here in Charlotte because we're in Nationals territory, though Time-Warner Cable is in a dispute with MASN, so I'm unable to watch the game locally. It's probably for the best because it's Strasburg vs. Kendrick. It's going to be ugly. Also: My TV, a 5 year-old Panasonic 42" plasma doesn't much like the HD hookup from my iPad. It cuts out quite a bit and makes it unusable. I watch games on my sh!tty HP laptop. I'd try Apple TV, but I'm sure it's the same.

I watched this two hours ago and I'm still coming down. What would Shanahan do here? So weird for Emery have to fight Marty. He didn't want to hurt him, like he knew he could. Emery was a tough guy. Then Andy had to go make sure his goalie wasn't going to be pummeled. Can you imagine if Lindy had completely lost his mind and jumped Murray? And Rayzer stifling his emotions when you knew he wanted to throw down. I have to go breathe.

Lindy Ruff: "Run 'em."

"Death is like an old whore in a bar - I'll buy her a drink but I won't go upstairs with her." ERNEST HEMINGWAY, To Have and Have Not

This thread reminded me of an article I read years ago. Here's a link. It's over 10 years old, but still an interesting read on what happens at a car dealership.

How do you have Larry but no Ed? Melissa Fitzgerald is still quite fetching. Crazy that Dr. Jenner divorced her, then ignited the atmosphere at the CDC.

That was great. We could all see just what Pete was doing, but when he dropped the hammer it was still fantastic. The guy playing Megan's dad was the engineer on the Red October. The internet wins the day again.

For casual golfers, FreeCaddie is a nice app for distances. I used it this weekend and it was just as accurate as the Sky Caddy my partner was using. I have the At Bat Lite MLB app for my phone and it works great. Heck, last week the sports bar didn't have the game I wanted, so I watched it on my phone (you need the MLB subscription to see games). On my last phone I had the Stitcher podcast app. It worked pretty well, but some podcasters complained how Stitcher's dealings were a little shady in how they counted downloads and stuck their own advertising on top. I think they may have changed their policies, but since Adam Carolla and Greg Fitzsimmons have their own apps, I'll probably just stick with those. If I want anything else, I'll download on my iPad using iTunes. I use Tweetdeck for Twitter, but I probably get more use out of The Weather Channel app than anything else.

That's a great way to put it. I still like Peggy. She's trying to find her way as a woman in a man's world, but the decision-makers are still older men and they're not really ready for a strong woman to dictate to them. The Heinz beans guys weren't getting the nostalgia pitch she was making the way Don had done on at least more than one occasion (the Carousel and when he was selling the American Cancer Society on the fact that young people are already lamenting the death of their youth). I liked the episode quite a bit. Ginsburg's back-story is quite compelling. Remember the 2nd episode of the series had Roger asking Don, "Do we have any Jews working here?" and Don replied, "Not on my watch." 6 years later Roger married a Jewish girl (Poor Jane), Peggy is dating Abe - both of those relationships appear over, and Ginsburg looks to be quite a talent. The underlying theme of how these folks deal with a rapidly changing world is quite a story. I probably have to watch this again. It was nice to see Bert Cooper assert himself a bit when he told Don that he needed to get his head back in the game. It's been a while since we've seen Bert doing anything to move the business along.

That's how I used to feel at the end of "NYPD Blue". "This is such a good show." Back then, there wasn't much to challenge it. It was so different. I'm glad they toned down the over-shaking of the camera from the first season. You see those first few episodes and David Caruso was an orange blur. Brooklyn South was also pretty good, but I think, like "The Killing", I was the only one watching it. I did catch that and my first thought was R. Lee Ermey in "Full Metal Jacket" asking the trainees, "Does anyone know who Charles Whitman is? None of you dumba$$es knows."

We had gotten to a point where Pete had become the likable character (besides Peggy) and that was changed in one of the best hours of "Mad Men" we've seen (IMHO). The show really examined relationships at SCDP. Both Don and Ken want to keep their work lives separate from their home lives, while Pete sees no delineation. Trudy follows this line and intends to "do what is expected of her" and have the dinner party with the men and their wives. Pete sees Ken's secret writing as a problem with being a full-on Company Man, and rats him out to Roger. But Pete was really burned by how Don stripped down to his Cape and t-shirt to fix his already fixed plumbing. At the office, Lane sees his position held tenuously because people see that Joan can actually run the office. He uses a friendship with an English chum to get Jaguar on the books. Pete sees through this attempt and knows that Lane isn't a true Account Man and tosses the advice task over to Professor of Accounts Emeritus, Roger. The scene where Roger tells Lane how to approach a client for the right answers on the RFP shows that Roger actually has some chops beyond knowing how to pick up a check. None of this works, of course, so Don, Pete & Roger must take the old boy out for some ###-ing. Vincent Kartheiser is so great in the scene with blonde, you really think this guy is Pete. "No.... No.... Okay." Good stuff. The whole thing blows up in their faces when the client's wife finds out. The lesson as always kids - always check your pubis for gum. The fight scene at work was fantastic. Lane of Queensbury puts down Pete in fantastic form. Then he puts the moves on Joanie. Mrs. Harris, always in control at the office is sympathetic and professional at all times. Red is back! In the penultimate scene is Don and Pete on the elevator (probably should refer to it as a lift in deference to Lane). Pete states "We supposed to be friends." Back in Driver's Ed, the Hansome-Kid-From-Suburgatory is putting the moves on the hottie that Pete had been eyeing up and the faucet continues to drip. Pete - it's the gasket. Also: * Kenny and Peggy have a pact where if they move, they move together. * Cynthia! * Disappointed the "Chip & Dip" from Season one didn't make an appearance at the party. They did mention the rifle, though. * Ken takes on a new nom de plume incorporating "Algonquin". Nice. * Wilt Chamberlain could fit in your stereo in the 60s.

It was weird how the audience turned on the show after a few red-herrings (Ahmed, Belco). The nature of a murder mystery is to have a red-herring or two (e.g. the board game "Clue"). The real vitriol happened when the show wasn't tied up in a nice bow at the end of the first season like the Danish version. BTW, the NA meeting helped as a plot device early this season as Linden needed to find Holder's sponsor. I'm not saying the show is perfect. It has it's flaws, but I kinda like it. Folks who want a nice murder mystery don't like the way this show stitches together a deeper story. It's interesting to watch so many lives change after "The Killing". Michelle Forbes should win something for playing such a difficult character. Now back to "Mad Men". Peggy absolutely torturing Roger was fantastic. Loved watching her count that money. $400 in 1966 is about $2800 today. The bribe Harry took to switch offices with Pete cost Roger about $7800 in today's dollars. Roger has a lot of walking-around money.