As A Matter Of Policy

It was a nice weekend.

I successfully attended 2 events in one day!! That's an enormous feat for an old guy like me especially on a weekend. Usually, the more events I attend in one day, the higher the probability of meeting a moron or experiencing something I would rather not experience. (well, we did stop off for dinner before heading home, so there was one small incident that still convinces me that Americans are truly some of the most disgusting and unethical animals on the planet)

Just awful.

I am thinking about what a friend of mine once said, "let the meek inherit the freakin' earth...and I will escape to the stars!!!"

Anyway, I looked back on a few incidents and decided that today - officially! - I became a "diplomat". Well, let me clarify this; I am a self-proclaimed diplomat.

I have decided that from now on, when confronted with the lunatic behavior of American society, I will, as a matter of personal policy, look upon the offending party with pity. I will also endeavor to refrain from engaging such individuals, lest I raise my blood pressure! Note the word, "endeavor".

I have a couple of fellow-Americans (you know, we Americans are the finest people on the planet, I'll say) to thank for my new title, "diplomat". Take for example, the "tool" - the piece of work - that decided to step right in my path on a sweltering 95 degree day while I was in route to an appointment. This guy wanted me to "help save the children", so he jumps in front of me and put his hand in my face. "Hi, do you have a moment to help save the children?" "Get out of my way!" I exclaimed. "Move!" Who are these people anyway?

It would have been a lot easier to get my attention if (a) he walked next to me and (b) if he would not have extended his hand. I imagined him shaking hundreds of hands that day, many of who did not wash after leaving the restroom! I can do without the extra bacteria.

As a matter of policy, from here on, I will not exert energy yelling or even engaging these people who seek my attention in public. Rather, I will ignore and just walk or, depending on the weather and time, I may in fact stop and chat.

Now for the trash who was at the register at the checkout counter the other day, as a matter of policy, she needed the kind of diplomacy that was administered that day. There is nothing more annoying than to have to deal with refuse so beneath you (so objectionable that they are unfit to take out your garbage) that they think they have the audacity to even consider to speak to you in a less than friendly tone.

This woman asked me if I had one of those cards that can give you discounts etc at the store, and I politely - and clearly told her "no, I do not have one". She replied in a very rude tone, "ah, is it that you do not have one, or you do not have one with you?" "Excuse me!", I said, "ah, did I stutter?" "I just told you that I do not have one, so why are you asking for clarification here?"

Sometimes you have to alter diplomacy to fit the situation. She did not know it, but she had a choice; her career could have ended that day or she could have just dealt with my diplomacy. I gave her the latter.

My Wife As Risk Manager?

Sometimes I wonder if women will emerge as the greatest investment risk managers in our homes. Some of my friends may argue that this is a little stretch - they know that I am a "womens advocate" nowadays - but after talking with my wife last night, I think the evidence is shifting more and more towards this theory.

By the way, the July 2006 issue of OnWallStreet has an interesting article (written for professionals) about how your investment performance is influenced by your behavior - the way you respond to the market etc. I met a man who told me that at the height of the tech bubble his portfolio was over $1 million dollars. He did not sell a dime. He had no sell discipline. (most people don't). He informed me that his portfolio after the collapse was down to $250,000, but, "it's like I never really had it anyway...", he said. Sure. Idiot.

So typical, I thought. I wonder how much he paid for the shredder. Somehow I am sure this guy no longer wanted to show his wife those monthly statements anymore. And guess what? You'll never have a tech bubble like that again. How did he explain to his wife that he lost $750,000. I imagined this degenerate masturbating online while looking at his account, ignoring the calls from the discount brokers to take money off the table etc. What a freakin' waste.

I manage money for other people, so that means I can't really spend time managing my own money. Therefore, over the past few years, I have been able to give my wife a few investment lessons. The reality of it all is that very few people are going to outperform the market (well some managers will, like Navellier, but somewhere north of 70% of the professional money managers that are out there will underperform their benchmark). When you buy a stock, you pay to get in, and then when you sell, you pay to get out. You are paying commissions. Therefore, in order to even match the benchmark (e.g., S&P 500) you will have to first make up your commissions! Trading costs erode returns.

My goals are not total performance. I want to also manage risk. So last night my wife and I got to talking about a stock that we were following and I commented that the fundamentals didn't look good and the stock had some cyclical risk that I wasn't comfortable with. Then, my wife said, "well, why not buy Puts?"

Oh really?

Gee? Why didn't I think about that? It certainly is an option, no pun intended.

Puts are options contracts that give you a right to sell your stock - one contract is 100 shares of stock - at a fixed price during a period of time before expiration. You pay a premium to the option seller. It is a hedge in case your position deteriorates. Therefore, if I own ABC stock at $5/shr and I own the Put Option guranteeing me a sell price of $4, but the stock is trading at $2, I can still Put (sell) it for $4! The guy who sold me the Put Option will have to buy the stock at $4, even though it may be trading on the market at $2. This is a very general discription. You will want to surf the web or buy a book etc. to get more details on options trading.

My wife whispered this strategy while she was falling asleep. Risk managers dream this stuff.

I think that men can find some value - sometimes - if they just listen once in a while to another opinion. Will I buy the company? I don't know, but at least I know that if I do, my risk manager will be there to help bail us out!

The Crushing Weight Of Inflation

The "As A Matter Of Policy" post that I really wanted to (needed to) write has escaped me! Well, not really. I drafted the damn thing during the infamous power outtage or outage, so when we had our "onage" or power restoration, I wanted to refer to the draft, rather than recall my thoughts etc.

Anyway, here is a treat for a college chum who resides in NJ. A few months ago we were talking about bonds as a tool within the portfolio. I am a contributing editor (probably not doing a good job either) for an international journal. Don't try to find out who I am, because it won't work. Anyway, here is small piece on inflation I dispatched a few weeks ago. It was very brief, but I thought it put into perspective what inflation can do to us and how it really is starting to impact everyone. You have an advanced copy of the article! It is not technical or sophisticated, so don't worry. [ It was written in early July ]

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As a kid growing up in the early 1970s, the word "inflation" meant one thing to me: images of long gas lines on television. I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood. Therefore, inflation also meant, quite accurately, that prices in general could go up over time. During this period, prices of a very dear commodity were going up and up.

Today, some of us are experiencing inflationary pressures at the gas pump. I write, "some of us", because there are a few analysts out there who still believe that the consumer is so resilient that $3-$4/gal gasoline prices do not affect them. It is true that at $3, $4, and even $5 a gallon, we will find a way to pay, because we must drive. But it is equally true that something will suffer. The traffic in the malls will slow. And it is even possible that other sectors of the economy will cave in, because the consumer will finally give in to the crushing weight of inflation.

In any event, we are making sacrifices. My family is making sacrifices. (Darn, I had to cut back on my $3 latte’!) Over the past few years, Americans have been paring back on purchasing huge suvs and trucks. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Starbucks had a "slight miss in its June sales performance". Yes, Starbucks! At the very least, inflation causes consumers to be aware of their purchases. It may take sometime before it happens, but when it does happen, the retail sector will feel it. When Starbucks starts to take a little hit, then inflation is making it way through the economy for sure.

The Federal Reserve met in June and raised the Federal Funds rate to 5.25%. Based on the trend of oil prices, the economic growth rate and the language in the FOMC minutes, it would appear that there may be some easing when the Fed meets again in August. I believe that the FOMC is hoping high oil prices will act as a real hedge against inflation so that they won’t have to raise interest rates again. There are already too many rate hikes in the system. One more rate hike, along with $80/bbl oil and you have a recipe for disaster.

Inflation, as you know, erodes purchasing power. In its most graphic form, we are seeing it at the gas pumps. I reject the notion that the consumer has been resilient. The American consumer was never really resilient. The American consumer was basically using borrowed equity from the dramatic appreciation of their homes to fuel the economy which gave a false sense of being "resilient". And now, with the adjustments of interest rates, home equity loans and other sophisticated mortgage notes coming due, many consumers are over leveraged and need to cut back on discretionary spending.

I believe that crude oil will head north of $80 a barrel by 2007. We are now into the hurricane season. We are at the beginning of what appears to be an interesting, if not, complicated conflict with North Korea. Oil is not an infinite resource. There is a shortage. You cannot plant an oil seed.

As an investor, it is important that you continue to consult with your financial adviser. Make sure that you carefully evaluate your objectives, tolerance for risk and cash flow. If you are looking for growth/returns, then you want real total returns after taxes. Long-term investing is predicated on the assumption that you have a plan, an objective. Part of that plan is to stay ahead of inflation. If you are not staying ahead of inflation, you are not winning. You cannot do this with a portfolio full of bonds. (Of course if your objective is income, then that is a different discussion)

If you placed your money in the best 500 companies (S&P 500) as of this writing, you would be up a paltry 1.4% YTD. If you are sitting in cash, talk to your adviser about a CD ladder. There are CDs out there that can certainly get you more than 2%. They are FDIC insured, and you don’t have to lock them up forever! My wife and I recent bought a few CDs that are getting north of 5.00%!! Check out GMAC Bank. No kidding. You will want to read all of their disclosures and as usual, make sure you are aware of the tax consequences etc. Naturally, I am not advising you to buy CDs, but I just want to create some awareness.

Another possibility that could work for you, depending on your individual situation are dividend paying stocks. Many of these stocks pay dividends - it’s true! - even when gas prices are at $3/gal. Think income while you wait. More importantly, think return. If you own a dividend paying stock and reinvest the dividends, think about what that does to your return. I found one stock that pays a dividend yield of 9.75%! The latest dividend shareholders were collecting was around $0.40/share. (I'm not tellin'......)

*The opinions expressed in this article are not recommendations. The author is not advising the reader to buy or sell any specific security. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Always consult with your financial advisor and tax accountant before making any decisions as it relates to your investments.

Power Onage?

I guess when you "really put things into perspective", to quote a friend of mine, I don't have it all that bad; hell, I only lost electricity for 2 days because of a recent power outage. (should we call it a "power onage" when power is restored?" You have no idea how bad I wanted to ask this question to the service representative when she took my call the other day). As of this post, there are some people in parts of Pennsylvania who have been without electricity for over an entire week!

I don't care if I lost electricity for 3 hours. If we can send helicopters over to a Middle Eastern country who is destroying another country just because they kiddnapped 2 solidiers, then we should be able to get power turned back on for our own citizens! A little stretch? Maybe. But I am so sick and tired of our country getting involved directly or indirectly in other countries' affairs without the public really knowing what the hell is going on. I mean, c'mon!, what exactly are Israel's objectives? CNN says that Israel has been bombing Lebanon for 12 days now. The President of Russia said that he wonders if Israel has "wider goals". This is not anti-semitic talk, so relax. They are legitimate inquiries.

Anyway, I have been behind on a lot of crap lately. I had another post that I wanted to put up here so that ought to be quite interesting, since I will be taking on a new approach to dealing idiots. It's my new policy, "as a matter of policy", that is. Here is an example. "As a matter of policy, I will no longer volunteer personal information to certain individuals since they believe it should be the "lead story" of their f_kin day!

Our Wonderful World

What a wonderful world we live in. Hezbollah picks fights and the entire country of Lebanon pays a price and will probably get destroyed by Israeli bombs. When Israel picks her fights, America gets passenger jets thrusted into skyscrapers. No one wins.

After years of "diplomacy" and billions of aid, the end result is that the Middle East erupts into war once again. It really makes me wonder if our policy is really a policy.

I have been glued to the television trying to sort this Israeli-Hezbollah thing out! It appears that a few Israeli soldiers were kidnaped and now we have this big war. Sounds like someone was itching for a fight - and I don’t mean just one side!

The U.S. should (again) stay out of this one. But too many senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are getting too much money from a certain lobby, so that will be difficult.

If you are reading this post and for some strange reason you are contemplating a trip to the Middle East (e.g, Lebanon), then it may be to your advantage to read the state department’s website. I would click on the link for travel and business.

If you are reading this post from the Middle East and are on vacation, then good luck. You probably knew that the area is a hotbed for trouble and yet you thought you would beat the odds.

Our state department is quite clear in its warnings on travel to the Middle East. Therefore, you should know that some Americans may not have much sympathy for you if you cannot get a plane out.

Homegrown Or Child's Play?

I was going to post this last night, but with the All-Star game and the riveting content of what I wanted to comment on, I just could not pull myself together.

I knew what I was going to write. My wife and I talked about the matter throughout the evening. "You should probably put something in your blog about this Derrick", she said. "It’s awful!", she exclaimed.

We have neighbors who are probably from several nationalities. Many of them are professionals. Many are Indian, some are Arab. They all are very amiable. Several months ago, my wife and I noticed an "Islam" sticker on the back of the minivan of one of our neighbors as he waved when he drove by. I will admit that I still have mixed opinions about the 9/11 debacle. I have reservations about our one-sided policy in the MiddleEast, but that does not make me an Arab apologist. In the same way, I think that we need to be a little more objective with the whole matter. When the Prime Minister of Israel says that he will not sit down and negotiate with Palestine, I would say that our President should give him a primer on diplomacy. But then that would be like asking Kim Jong II to donate his uranium!

When my wife and I returned home the other evening, there were a few very young children out playing. What we saw was astonishing. The kids were playing with toy guns. There were 3 of them within our view. The others were some distance away. The 3 children all appeared to be of Arab descent. One kid told another, "hold him!", as he playfully held a toy gun to the kid’s head and begin shooting, "click! click! click!" "What the hell is that all about?", my wife asked. I remarked, sarcastically, "homegrown", I guess.

Okay. Maybe we are too sensitive since 9/11 and all of the bombings or whatever. Maybe we are too sensitive because the kids were Arab. But what was also troubling is that this one kid was holding the gun to his playmates head!!!! Playing cops and robbers and shooting the bad guy in the leg, the torso is one thing, but grabbing your friend and asking another to hold him while you hold a gun - yes, a toy - to his head, to me is tragically graphic and frightening.

My wife and I wondered how those kids learned to shoot (playfully) someone in the head.

I think I know.

Consequences Of A Military Occupation

Remember when the Iraqi campaign started? Remember when the President talked about going into Iraq to liberate the people of Iraq?

Well, I wonder if killing innocent Iraqi civilians and raping 15 year old girls is what he had in mind.

I am happy that the U.S Military has named the soldiers who are charged with the recent "alleged" rape and the murder of these Iraqi civilians. But I also think that it is an utter disgrace that day after day, the American public is constantly being reminded of what a disaster Iraq has become for our country.

The New American Foreign Policy

If you want to read a very interesting story that could very well introduce the beginning of the end of our American empire, check out this week’s Time Magazine.

The cover story, End of Cowboy Diplomacy, as far as I am concerned, gives me the impression that we are, in part, entering a very delicate and precarious period of American history. We are indeed inextricably linked to the global community and, in my opinion, can no longer call the shots from Washington.

The entire world knows that since 9/11, the United States has been critically wounded. Every leader on this planet now realizes that they no longer have to listen to the leader of another country, especially America. Our very timid response to North Korea appears to be the new American foreign policy.

Inflation Had You Up All Night Too?

Damn.

I really didn't get much sleep last night, although when I got into bed everything was fine. I listened to my IPOD - how do these things hold 250, 500 and 7500+ songs and podcasts? - and thought that this would chill me out a little, but it didn't. (While I am posting this, I now realize that what may have also kept me up may have been the bowl of chocolate ice cream! )

The rule of thumb for me is that, if I am not asleep within a certain time frame, then I should probably get up and read or watch television rather than disturb my wife who was exhausted and needed to be up early for this Bar Mitzvah. My problem was anxiety. I had a draft of an article on inflation that I needed to finish for a publication, but everytime I thought about it, something else came to mind and I wanted to change the article! This rarely happens, but with this North Korea thing, oil and so much geopolitical uncertainty, well, it's all banged up. There was also another matter that was plaguing me, but I don't want to talk about it.

Earlier, my wife volunteered to edit (destroy) my final draft which will work out perfectly. She has emerged as the home "inflation hawk". You may hear more about her in another post.

Now that we know Starbucks had a "slight miss in its June sales performance" to quote the WallStreet Journal, it would appear to me that inflation has finally taken a toll on some of us. I guess people (especially me) are making choices; "the $3 latte' or the $3 gallon of gas today". The Federal Reserve is betting that oil prices will be enough to slow down inflation, so that more rate increases are not necessary. I believe that the Fed has gone too far with rate increases.

So far this year, the S&P 500 is up a paltry 1.4%. The 10 year Treasury is yielding around 5.18%. Pick your spot. Inflation is never good for the stock market. My wife and I have decided to park a little money into some really nice CDs that would get us north of 5%. I prefer dividend payers, but it is a democracy in our home and I don't want to force my views down her throat, you know. She might start testin' them rockets!

I really think that women should play more of a role in making investment decisions. From my experience with working with clients, I have found that men tend to be more of gamblers with investments and women seemed to be more deliberate. It is not to suggest that one is always better than the other. I just think that women may be the missing puzzle part when it comes to risk management here.

Today I have to keep the sunglasses on to hide the bags from under my eyes. Inflation worries will do that to you, you know.

The Reality of Blogging & World Talk

Recently I was asked why I "was so obsessed with posting everyday" and then I wondered if that person (smile) - she knows who she is - read my profile and fully understood why I set up this blog and fully understood why people blog.

The beauty of posting is that you have an outlet, you have a vehicle to comment on things without getting feedback - although I don't mind it - from people who have no idea of your mindset. Have you ever wanted to vent, without an opinion from somebody who felt that they had an answer when there was no question? I would argue, from reading several blogs that many bloggers are uninterested in receiving comments from people who have no clue about their lives. To be sure, there are some bloggers who welcome comments (and I welcome feedback periodically from family and friends which I get when we meet and talk).

So when I am reading someone else's post for the day, I try to get an idea of what that person is going through or what their mindset is. I am not trying to find a hole in their position! I am not trying to find something to argue about, because it is THEIR OPINION. I am not looking to disagree or looking for an fight, I am looking to understand what people are thinking about, their psychology, their sociology etc.

My wife and I talked more about Iraq and North Korea. She brought up the problems in Africa. I told her that I felt that Bono and Angelina Jolie or whatever her name is should go to Camden, New Jersey or North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and help the less fortunate first before helping those in Africa. But then I guess there would be no Nobel Peace Prize for those endeavors.

Somehow, Angelina holding a crack baby from Camden just doesn't seem as heroic as adopting a baby from Africa. And by the way, do you have any idea where African trained doctors and nurses go once they finish all of their training? Well, they certainly don't stay in Africa! Then, the "Global Community" funnels billions of dollars and resources back to Africa to fight poverty etc. because they have no resources (doctors, nurses and other professionals etc.)

We think - this was my wife's idea - that if there were more oil opportunities in Africa for America, more wealth for America, then our resources would be there. "No resources, no war", she said. I tend to agree.

Later I had a conversation with a businessman who happens to be from South Korea. I told him that I felt that 9/11 thrusted our country into the global community. He said to me that - and I agreed - America's one-sided policy in the Middle East may have triggered 9/11. I have an idea what he was alluding to.

I still believe that North Korea doesn't care about us and that we should mind our f**kg business. At this stage of the game, there isn't too much we can do about them. The fact that they are testing "rockets" to borrow the President's phrase, suggests that they do not care about the U.S., Japan or anyone.

Overall, today turned out to be pretty decent. We went out for sushi and will attend a small birthday party for a college buddy's daughter in New Jersey tomorrow. My wife will go to a Bar Mitzvah for an old friend's son and I will sleep in! Later, we're off to New Jersey!

Nuclear Mistakes & Funky Haircuts

The closest I came to a nuclear accident was in 1979 when something went terribly wrong at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant facility in Pennsylvania. No, I wasn’t at the facility, but I was a student at the private boarding school, Milton Hershey. Our school was approximately 10-15 miles away from the power plant. The picture you see is of the Milton Hershey School founder, Milton S. Hershey and his wife, Catherine.

I was going to post this the other day immediately after the news about North Korea firing their test missiles. And then I thought about posting something that addressed the correlation between stock market volatility and political/global uncertainty. Got tired.

When I picked up today’s paper, I saw that the Dear Leader, Kim Jong II had a small picture (hairdo and all) at the bottom of the local paper, "see page A2 for story", it said. I realized that even the media, to some extent, wants to downplay North Korea’s testing of the nuclear missiles.

It is my belief that our country may not have a choice but to downplay it. Why? Because we can’t control North Korea. It is quite possible that their nuclear program is so far advanced, that the only thing we can do - our government can do - is to downplay it, lest the American public becomes agitated and demands that the government leaders do something more aggressive. If your enemy is superior, and you know it, you walk away. I guess in Chess, if you know that you are beat, you lay down your King. What is America’s next move?

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong II, is testing nuclear warheads - seven of them so far? - and creating worldwide anxiety. Over the past 2 days, my wife and I watched CNN and exchanged opinions about the matter, "the provocation", as the White House has called it. She said, "I’m very nervous about this." I am too, considering we usually hear about "accidents", not some moron (whose country’s streets are littered with dead bodies due to starvation), testing nuclear weapons.

I commented to my wife that this guy is testing for a reason and that I found it quite troubling how some government officials started to downplay the "Dear Leader’s" intentions now that he is testing the warheads, when, in the past, prior to the tests, there were stark warnings against testing. It does not matter to me that his "test missiles" have fallen into the Sea of Japan. What matters is that his long range missiles are capable of reaching the western part of the United States! So, if our government wants to downplay the matter - "they were duds" - then that is fine. However, when he is successful and our friends in Seattle are glowing in the dark, then we’ll know that it wasn’t a test.

I personally think that our President may have - and I am not the only who believes this - rattled the cages of some really nasty people here. Remember the "axis of evil" comment? Iran, North Korea et.al. Remember the American military plane that China captured and would not release?

I find it very odd that our country talks about diplomacy, and yet, we are forcing democracy and our will onto other countries. I find equally disheartening that what we are experiencing in Iraq, our inability to find Osama Bin Laden and now the problem with North Korea, America is still losing it’s global power and that since 9/11 we have been forced to be interdependent. In the end, we no longer can sit back while watching the world destroy itself. Welcome to the global community America.

To be sure, I think Kim Jong II is a nut. But I also think that this is one of those situations - "having a wolf by the ears" - where there may not be a way out. There really isn’t much, in my opinion, we can do with North Korea. They are already isolated. They get nothing from us. Mostly everything they need, they probably get from China and Russia.

I am hoping that my wife and I do not have to prepare for yet another exposure to some kind of nuclear phenomenon. I hope not. But then again, maybe I will get a funky haircut like Kim Jong!

Homerun Kings

The Phillies are 10.5 games behind the New York Mets in the National League East. They are now an awful team.

I have attended several of their games this year, and if you ever want to see someone hit homeruns without the assistance of human growth hormones, then you should watch first baseman, Ryan Howard. As of this post, he is leading the Majors, with Albert Pujols of the Cardinals with 28 home runs.

Howard is not the brightest player, but he will hit and bring in runs.

Driving While Being Stupid

My wife tells me that I drive like I need to retake the driving exam. She complains that I drive too slow and at times, react too slowly.

What she doesn't want to acknowledge is that maybe it is the people who are going over the speed limit who are the problem. Or perhaps it's the guy multi-tasking on the freeway.

Today I took a trip to visit my mother which required me to take the expressway. Lately, this route, during the weekdays has construction hours posted, but for some reason, they don't apply to most motorists. The signs read, "40 mph" and my speedometer says 40, but everyone else is passing me and giving me dirty looks. But today I guess it was the norm, 50, which means 65 or whatever your car can handle.

I passed a motorist and quickly moved back over into the right lane. When I turned to the left, I could not believe what I saw! Some guy - no kidding! - was flying down the road with his Blackberry on top of the steering wheel. What could be so damn important on Sunday afternoon that he needed to access his freakin' Blackberry?

I recall reading an article that suggested talking on the cell phone might be as dangerous as driving under the influence as alcohol, but if you are multi-tasking with a Blackberry, then you are really pushing your luck.

I predict that someday in my state, Pennsylvania, there will be a law passed that will make it a felony to use a cell while driving. But before that, I wish they would lower the speed limit to make things safer for 40 year olds like me!

Bookstore Etiquette

Sometimes if you go to a bookstore on a Friday evening, you may get lucky and can have the place to yourself because everyone else is doing other things.

Of course if you live on the East coast, specifically in Pa., then you have been inundated with rain over what appeared to be the last 48 days, so you probably would not find a trip to the bookstore on a Friday night on the top of your list. Just getting in the boat and heading out to the market would be nice I guess.

I opted for the bookstore to see what a few authors had to say about anxiety.
At the end up my trip I would find that I also may need an opinion on anger management!

Initially, it turned out to be a really good bet; very few people were there and it appeared as though I had the entire cafe' to myself, except for a few odd looking characters that sometimes frequent the place.

Then all of a sudden two middle-aged women arrive with their coffee talking about their family members' problems. You could hear their conversations easily, in part, because the place wasn't crowded. This should have created some awareness for them to tone it down just a little. Maybe I am getting cranky in my old age, but I was tempted to do something an old professor friend of mine used to do when we would go out to lunch; he would have asked them to "keep it down a little". I will never forget him asking someone not to smoke in an area designated for smoking! "It's very hard for me to breathe", he explained. I was shocked.

Within 15 minutes, this guy's cell phone rings with the most annoying tone I have ever heard. Okay, I will admit that I probably heard it before, since it sounded like one of the basic ring tones you get when you buy the phone. I turn my phone on "manner mode" - I hate saying "vibrate" because it sounds a little embarassing.

But this guy had his volume up as loud as possible. He took the call with, "John's Auto!!" or some kind of repair shop and I'm thinking 'wha' the f_ _ k kind of moron is this?' Who answers his cell phone in a bookstore as if it is his office? I swear, I wanted to take his phone and throw it on the floor and then crush it with my foot. (anger management issue?)

The problem that I had - I turned around and saw others looking at him too) - with this tool was that he didn't care. He did not care that there were other people in the bookstore, the cafe'; all he cared about was his freakin' call that he had to take.

To be sure, those two women didn't care either. As far as I was concerned, they thought they were home or at a bar or something.

And that is the problem with people nowadays; they just don't care. It is all about me, me, me...me first, it's what I want, when I wanted it...my needs and who freakin' cares about anyone around me. If I need to kill time and wait for a phone call, I will not go to a bar, hell, I'll just sit in a quiet bookstore and disturb other people.

Maybe these people should stay home or go to a bar. Or, maybe the bookstores should sell alcohol. Better yet, why not install televisions and video games. Next time, maybe I'll stay home.