Just a list of some television shows I watch regularly. Garner from this list what you will.
One thing that stands out for me is that none of my regularly watched shows are on network television.
Very soon I will add to this list Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO. A new season starts in a couple of weeks.
"Kid, you're on a roll. Enjoy it while it lasts, 'cause it never does."
- Lou Mannheim to Bud Fox in the movie Wall Street.
Very true words spoken by a great character in a great film. Young stock broker Bud Fox (played by Charlie Sheen) loses focus on what's real and gets caught up in the world of all things fast and all things grey. Grizzled exec Lou Mannheim (played by Hal Holbrook) tries to drop some golden nuggets in Bud's pocket. Unfortunately Bud isn't buying it. If you haven't watched the film then please do to see how it ends up.
Now we've seen some pretty heady times over the past decade. In the late 1990s the internet sector was white hot. And the desire to get in on high tech riches drove the stock market indices through the roof. People threw money at companies without even caring if there was a business model. Everyone was in. The venture capitalists were in. The bankers were in. The street was in. Average Joe's were in thanks to online trading. The fundamentals were missing though. Too many companies. Too many crazy ideas being promoted by people who had no business running companies. It all came crashing down.
Money poured out of the markets. And then slowly the money poured into real estate. The internet stock bubble gave way to a real estate bubble. Conditions were ripe. Low interest rates combined with easy credit created a situation where people felt comfortable spending more money. Mortgage products got exotic to meet the needs of those who had little capital to play. Fixed rate mortgages gave way to 5/1 option ARMs with 100% financing. People got stars in their eyes and suddenly offering above the asking price became all the rage. Buying to flip became the rage. Everyone was in...again. Heaven help us.
Can you see the cycle? The eighties, the nineties, the two-thousands. Its all the same. Lou Mannheim's words fade away easily when dollar signs are in the air. So now we're in the third hangover of the last twenty years.
A lot of people have gotten banged up by this latest tumble in the bushes. Like the last one I know some people who are scratched and bleeding. For many people the situation is worse than that. And like last time its all their fault. You have to assume that the people at the banks are not your friend. They aren't looking out for you. The real estate agents are not your friend. They are not looking out for you. These are the two people you deal with (and rely on) the most in a real estate transactions. They just want you to buy and hopefully buy something expensive.
I've recently had what I think is a revelation. Maybe its just the end of a long stream of frustration about the way people conduct themselves in their personal lives. I lump myself in that crew so I'm not just throwing stones at others.
It seems that a lot of people (myself included at times) get caught up in the hype of being in competition with everyone around them. We look at the cars. We look at the clothes. We look at the houses. We look at other people's job titles. There are many different ways that we covet and get jealous about things.
So many people are trying to get these things so that they can be somebody. And the pursuit of these things often clouds what is really important in life. I think that happiness, health and family are really the most important things. But all these pursuits get in the way of that.
My wife and I went down to Giants Stadium this past Sunday to check out The Police on their very famous reunion tour.
The Police were huge when I was in high school. And I actually saw them play one of their last shows ever in the summer of 1986 at Giants Stadium. It was the Amnesty International concert that had a killer bill including U2, Santana, Peter Gabriel and Bryan Adams. They only played a handful of songs at that show but I was definitely impressed an became more of a fan after seeing them live.
Fast forward 21 years. It just so happens that I've married a huge fan of the band. So when we saw The Police perform at the Live Earth concerts I decided to try my hand at getting couple of tickets. Thankfully Ticketmaster had tickets available in section 333 which was billed as side stage seating with a limited view at the price of $95 each.
Juliet and I spent the weeks prior to the show playing all four CDs of their official box set. It got me into some of the less popular tracks and helped give me a greater appreciation for some of the unconventional stuff that The Police play.
The weather for the show was great. Temps in the low 80s and a nice breeze. Thank heavens because my friends at the Virgin Festival in Maryland were getting rained on.
Our seats were high up but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the view was not limited at all. We were right on the side of the stage. Check the pics to see for yourself.
