Hey Mom, It Was EPIC!

For those of you who have read or seen the Namesake, you'll know that it was heavily focused on the immigrant experience and more specifically, the challenges faced by their children. Growing up as the child of Indian parents definitely has had its share of ridiculous experiences. There are some concepts and ideas that are simply impossible to fully communicate to your parents. This divide among generations and the funny moments and conversations they produce I dubbed "Jhumpa Lahiri moments" in honor of the author of the Namesake.

A classic Jhumpa Lahiri moment of mine was centered around skiing culture. Growing up outside of Boston, most kids definitely spent weekends and vacations at the slopes. I never really understood why their winter jackets would have these random tickets hanging off of paper clips, or what "fresh powder" meant, if not something to cure a rash. Slowly, especially as my friends in high school started snowboarding, I decided this was something I could really get into.

Bringing this up with my mother was an amazing conversation. To those who have grown up skiing their whole lives, it probably makes all the sense in the world. However, just picture someone straight out of a tropical climate and explaining to them skiing. Her response was effectively, "So...you're telling me, you want to go out in sub-zero temperature. Put on a bunch of layers of uncomfortable clothing and shoes. Then, go down the side of a steep mountain at speeds approaching that of a car, and you achieve this speed with two little sticks on your feet, potentially seriously injuring yourself and even potentially dying. And to top it off, you spend hundreds of dollars on those sticks and the tickets for entry to the mountain??? No thanks." (and remember, she didn't even address trying to drive a 2-wheel drive sedan into a treacherous mountain trying to get to the mountain).

Needless to say, I never really got into it until post-college when I decided to try to bring some happiness to the otherwise dreary NYC winters by learning to snowboard. The past few days have been amazing, as the major snowstorm from the weekend translated into absolutely ridiculous conditions all week, with mid 30s sunshine, blue skies, and powder. As I'm still getting the hang of the culture, and only recently learned things like what a Hot Toddy is, I'm still amused by some of the lingo. I heard the word "epic" used by five different locals (both during lift chatter and at a bar) and I guess that's the only word to describe some of these past few days. I conquered my first double-black diamonds, and then after getting cocky nearly did break my arm. When my Mom asks me how the week was, I can now legitimately answer her with, "hey Mom, it was epic."

'Bama

I thought the State of the Union isn't for a while? I guess I'm still watching.

A friend of mine who's black a few years ago asked if I had heard of the then Congressman from Louisiana, Bobby Jindal. I answered with "He is my Clarence Thomas". I don't love the guy, but I can't deny, between Jindal on the stage tonight and Slumdog on Sunday..go India!

Really Rick?

One of the most amazing times working on a trading floor is right before a major economic indicator comes out. The floor is in absolute silence for the few seconds before, and then explodes into hyperactivity when the number is out. CNBC always has had a correspondent, Rick Santelli, who's energy level matches the moment as he opines on the data right after its out.

Rick has made himself a bit famous after a major rant last week about the Obama housing plan. After watching it, he has suddenly become the "face of the opposition" for conservatives and right-wingers who are opposed to bailing out homeowners. To all those who have legitimate gripes with the Obama housing plan (and I have my own doubts but think it's a necessity in the the overall comprehensive approach), this is NOT the youtube you want to advertise. Really Rick? I imagine his life is fairly sheltered, but yelling among a mass of derivatives traders about the government being unfair is not the best PR move right now. "This represents a cross-section of America"?



I was a little surprised when Robert Gibbs (Obama's press secretary) answered the rant at a very personal (and kinda funny) level, but then it once again dawned on me. Just watch: Santelli will naturally escalate the situation and continue to yell and will be the de facto spokesperson for "fiscal conservatives", and these clips will be aired on every news show and just make the average American hate the vague concept of "Wall street trader" even more. You are basically going to make "trader" the new "fundamentalist christian crazy" and a rallying point for the general population. To Rick and the guy who whistles and yells "moral hazard" in the video, please shut up..you're making us all look worse.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Get me a Gas Guzzler

The annoying liberal in me was always somewhat indignant about people buying massive SUV's and trucks who had no real use for them. After this weekend, I have resolved that I will never attempt to travel through northern New England in a vehicle that isn't in the crosshairs of Greenpeace.

Friday night I was headed up to Sugarbush with a bunch of friends in two cars. After seven hours of driving and a McDonalds super sized extra value meal (isn't it funny how when you're on a road trip, fast food is suddenly totally fine?) my rented "full-size" Nissan Altima was about two miles from the condo. There was a major blizzard slowing us down for the final 30 miles, and just when it looked like we were there, enter the infamous West Hill Road.

For those who have never driven in snow and ice, there is an art that one is educated in if you grow up outside of Boston. A good deal of the time you have no control over the car and you just work to control how the car skids. However, as we took one of the final lefts onto West Hill Road (which is in fact a massive hill) and Google Maps told us we had about two miles to go, an ominous yellow sign appeared: "Snow tires and 4-wheel drive required. Steep and winding road ahead".

"This shit is easy, I grew up in Massachusetts" was what went through my mind so I plowed up the hill, probably endangering the lives of the three of us in the car. Probably 100 yards up the hill it was apparent, we had absolutely no shot. As the smokey scent of burning rubber and sound of spinning tires surrounded us, we decided to back down the hill and rethink our strategy. Of course at this point, even with all three of us having omnipotent iPhones, no one had service.

After a bit of consultation, the decision was made: We were going to hike it. There was amazingly a large driveway at the bottom of the hill we could leave the car in, and two miles didn't seem to be the end of the world. As we changed into ski/weather resistant clothing, I asked for the printout of the directions to see exactly what we needed to hike. Already this seemed to be somewhat of a ridiculous adventure. Looking at the directions only confirmed this, as, I shit you not:

29. Turn left to stay on W Hill Rd - 1.3 mi
30. Turn right at Inferno Rd - 1.0 mi
31. Turn left to stay on Village Rd - 144 ft
33. Turn right at Middleearth Dr - 312 ft
34. Sharp left at Hobbit Hill - Destination will be on the right 174 ft

That's right, we were entering into a two mile hike in a torrential blizzard and Google was telling us that we were to travel Inferno Road to Middleearth Drive to Hobbit Hill. After being somewhat suspect that we had been dropped into a reality role playing game, we began the trek. Amazingly, small town America came through big for us. Within five minutes, a very sturdy-looking SUV headed the opposite direction stopped and someone picked us up and drove us to the condo (if anyone is in Sugarbush and eating at Timbers, please look for Chris and continue to thank him for us).

We finally made it and ended our Fellowship. Unfortunately, the other car in our group wasn't so lucky trying to get back to NYC last night and got stuck on Highway 89, ending up at a motel. I'm in Vermont the rest of the week and hopefully the Altima doesn't end in death, but lesson learned: If you're not willing to shell out the extra cash for the SUV rental, just don't go snowboarding.

BOLT!

Thank you to those who suggested I take Bolt Bus rather than Greyhound. Dear lord this is glorious. Apparently Bolt Bus began service in the Spring of 2008, but you have to book at least a week ahead in general for peak hour buses. As someone with very little planning skills, this was the major roadblock for even considering Bolt Bus before and forgetting about it as an option. Well, I dont need to travel peak hours anymore! Bolt bus it is.

First, the driver provided a Southwest/Virgin Airlines style funny introduction, including the ever hilarious "Introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you. It's early in the morning and you should know who you're sleeping with", which led to a pretty awkward smile between me and the fat dude next to me. Secondly, the bus left completely on time and the process was very, very orderly in leaving.

Most importanly, Wifi on the bus!!!! Everyone, slowly sing along with me: Wifi on the Bus!!!!Wifi and a laptop can pretty much keep me entertained for days on end. There was once a somewhat "philosophical" question a roommate conjured up about the relationship between man, technology and privacy. If there was an invasive surgery that implanted a chip into your arm that meant you could get solid wifi reception wherever in the world you are, would you allow for the surgery?

No question about it, yes. Oh, and there are AC outlets on the back of the seats. Forget world travel, I may just re-discover Americana, Bolting across the country.

Suburban Dreams

One thing I love about being home in suburbia: Costco. Where else but home would your Mom ask you, "Do you want some soup?" and then pull out the most absurd, yet great tasting massive box of congealed, frozen french onion soup packets?

Domo Arigato

A few may know, I have long held a goal of mine is to attend a Davos summit. For no real particular reason other than I enjoy having a somewhat random goal to consider when evaluating shorter-term life decisions.

Man, I picked the wrong venue. At this weekends G-7 the Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa apparently showed up at a press conference looking drunk. Upon closer examination of the video, he doesn't just look like "I've had a six-pack over the course of a football game" drunk, he looks "its 4am and I'm about to eat three slices of sausage pizza" drunk. He defended himself saying it was the unfortunate combination of "exhaustion" and "cold medecine". Now, I know Nyquil can knock the hell out of me, but if you have just met with the six other preeminent financial leaders in the world, shouldn't you have taken Dayquil? Either he is lying or my next laid off task is moving to Japan and starting my own high-profile medical practice.

First video is straight footage of Mr. Nakagawa, the second is a news report.

I guess if your country's GDP just declined near 13% annualized one may resort to some liquid courage to face your counterparts. Also, it cannot be a splendid time working for a Prime Minister who's current approval rating is 7%. That's right, 7%....and we thought Americans were unhappy with Bush.