The Happy News thread

[justTripn]

I was about to tell you that it is a fallacy that economists actually apply their economic knowledge to practical investing. We published a paper a year ago that showed that even economists only take about 15 or 20 minutes to allocate their work-related retirement funds and that they simply pick three funds out of the universe of funds available and split their investment 1/3 in each. When the economists were asked why they all had only three funds, they said, there were only three lines (if you wanted to more than three lines you had to click to the next page, which was enouph to cause almost everyone to pick three funds.)

On the other hand, my former big boss (last year) was a billionaire because he is a genius and because of his investments. And he literally pulled himself up by his own bootstraps, so . . .

[justTripn]

Happy news . . . The pressure is off. My boys are off to the mall to shop for themselves and each other using a Christmas allowance from me plus their own money. And they sound happy. Ahhh . . . . ! I am not the worst parent in the world. (I had no idea what to get them.)

PLUS . . . my deadline here at work has been relaxed. Which means I will still come in after Christmas to work during the vacation, but I won't feel like there is a gun to my head. Ahhh . . .

And I am in a christmassy mood. I'm wearing an early Christmas present: A t-shirt with a picture of Hockey Skates.

[WarpGirl]

Thanks JT but I'm pretty sure your boss didn't play the market like in roulet my dad plays it like roulet, 13 red all the time! He's insane.

[Alelou]

How's that hockey going, JT, anyway?

[Bether6074]

Glad you like it, JT.

[justTripn]

I LOVE the hockey. We are on a short break for the holidays. The second session starts on the weekend of the big Econ Con, lol, so I will miss the first class. The last day of first session friends and family were invited, so we got to play with kids and husbands in the mix. It was fun! It is so intense that each minute on the ice feels like 5 minutes. So you are sitting on the sidelines, going, Let me on, Let me on! and you get out and get to play, are having a wonderful time, and feel like well, I've had my 10 minute rotation I better let someone else have a turn, and you look up at the board and it's been two minutes, lol . . . I'm not that good at hockey but it is very good for my mental well-being. All care in the world reduced to "put the puck in the net." And it's very exhilarating. It makes you feel healthy and powerful. I am no longer the best backwards skater, or best anything, BUT! for some reason I have no trouble jumping over the wall into the box and that seems to impress people. I do it because I temporarily forget I'm not that young person who used to be able to anything like that. See, good for my mental well-being.

[Alelou]

Cool. I wish I had a picture of you doing that!

[justTripn]

Another cool thing: there are lots and lots of other women my age who like to play hockey and other sports (most of the ones my age are in the intermediate class, but we cross paths in the locker room). And there are lots and lots of women who care more about their athletic abilities than their appearance. Last week one woman announced, "I'm going to have to start eating more now to keep up my weight." Everyone is like, "Did you say eat MORE to keep UP your weight? Wow." She says, "Yes, I play football and in my position I can't be any lighter than this. In the winter, we practice every other day so I need to eat more or I'll lose weight." What a refreshing perspective.

[WarpGirl]

AWESOME! One of my sisters married a Canadian. Now she impresses everyone by having the best fantasy hockey team. She's not allowed to play, hubby is overprotective, and she's a SHRIMP! But she goes to his games, watches on TV she's a fanatic now. And she kickes herself because once when I was in the Hospital in NY the NY Islanders came to visit. This was just after the Nagano games. So we had a lot of signed stuff, and she ditched it! She still wants to die thinking about it. Me I can't handle cold at all, so I'm into it in movies and TV.

[Aquarius]

Grades were posted today.

I did, in fact, nail down a 4.0 for the semester!!

'Bout damn time I get some good news around here.

[justTripn]

Congratulations Aquarius! AND very similar results for my three boys in college

[Dinah]

Congratulations on the 4.0, Aquarius! That's fabulous!

And congratulations on the brilliant boys, Just Tripn!

[Aquarius]

^ woo-hoo, jT!!!!

[Alelou]

Woo hoo! Congratulations all around, ladies!

[Linda]

Wow, not only are there smart, hard working people on this site that get 4.0s, but the people on this site produce MORE smart people who get 4.0s.