Who said there's no such thing as a dumb question?

It's official. I just answered the stupidest question I've ever been asked. And I quote: "On this form, should I check the box next to 'single' or 'married'?" My response: "Well, are you single or married?" That seemed to clear things up.

Got some interesting news on Friday. Turns out my old unit is being eliminated. Well, moved to Southfield, MI. Fortunately, the company is not evil and is guaranteeing jobs and any additional training/certification necessary at this location for everyone who wants 'em. Plus, they can choose which unit they want. Awfully nice for a mega-corporation, isn't it? I say "they" because, of course, I'm already in a new unit, so it doesn't make much difference to me.

Dodged the bullet on that one...

Throw me a frickin' bone, here

So I've been doing the new job pretty heavily recently. Helping people with their 401k's, etc. An experienced CSR from the unit has been sitting next to me and listening to my calls -- you know, mentor-style. The thing is, she never has anything positive to say about the calls I've taken. Apparently, I haven't done anything right. Which is, of course, not true. I simply haven't done things the way she wants me to do them. So I'm trying a new passive-agressive strategy for letting her know how I feel -- after every call, I'm going to turn to her and ask, "So, what did I do wrong on that one?" Maybe she'll get the point. Probably not.

Which is why people shouldn't be mentors unless they know how to do it.

Got a new muffler yesterday. And new pipes for the exhaust, as well. It was costly, but man, it sure helps a whole bunch.

My life is an open book

NASD has received my Series 6 mastery, and I am clear to start doing my new job ... as soon as my boss can coordinate the scheduling stuff.

But here's a fun thing you can do now that NASD's got my info -- you can look me up on their website. Go to the "Look up a Broker/Dealer Firm or Individual" section, enter my name and the place I work, and BAM! The past 10 years of my employment history and other info. is there for your viewing pleasure. Spooky, yet cool at the same time.

150 posts, baby. My blog is da shiznit.

Who da man?

Me, that's who. I just passed the Series 6 exam with an 86%. Which is pretty good, but I had been scoring in the 90s on the practice tests. Oh well. Guess I was nervous. Don't matter, tho, 'cuz a pass is a pass, beyotch.

Yeehaw!

Crazy rat death

If you're my brother, surely you remember this movie. It was this crazy pseudo-animated flick that involved a kid from outer space going on a quest to recover his stolen magical flute. Or something. Right? And didn't it involve a freaky scene toward the beginning that involved the bad guys stealing the flute, and weren't there a lot of dead rats involved somehow? I remember that. It scared me.

The rest of you: find me this movie. I want to watch it again to see if it's as freaky as I remember it being. Next, I'll watch that crazy anime version of Jack & the Beanstalk that I watched 20 times a day when I was 5.

OT for me

Yesterday, I volunteered to go into work to help with this system migration thing. Y'see, they're moving all the 401k plans we administer from one system to another, and they needed people to make sure the bugs were worked out. They asked us to come in at 1:00 P.M. We actually started testing things at 2:00. We didn't go home until 3:00. A.M. Yeah, that's 14 hours. Of sweet, sweet overtime. I'm rich, biatch!

Needless to say, the bugs weren't exactly worked out as well as they had hoped. Around 10:00 P.M., while we were waiting for the tech guys do do some reprogramming and stuff, somebody decided it would be fun to watch a movie. So my boss got a TV/VCR from somewhere, and somebody else whipped out "Laws of Attraction", (not to be confused with "Rules of Attraction"). It's a really stupid movie. Not even worth discussing. But I got paid time-and-a-half to watch it!

Quote of the day

"Looky, every guy likes to think he's action/adventure. Deep down we all wanna be Han Solo. But we can't. Somebody has to be Obi Wan Kenobi."

That's from "Birth of a Nation". No, not the movie. The new graphic novel co-authored by Aaron McGruder and Reginald Hudlin of "Boondocks" and "House Party" (yes, the movie) fame, respectively. It begins with everyone in East St. Louis -- including the mayor, our hero -- not being allowed to vote in the presidential election due to somehow mysteriously showing up on the convicted felons list. The election is decided by 300-or-so votes in favor of a certain bumbling Texas governor named ... Caldwell. So the mayor of East St. Louis declares that his town is no longer part of the United States. Wackiness ensues.

But underneath the wackiness -- and it is one helluva funny story -- is serious socio-political commentary. I don't want to go into details for fear of giving away all the good stuff, but it's a highly enjoyable read. I recommmend it for everyone. Even those of you who've never been to St. Louis. Or East St. Louis, for that matter. God knows, I sure as hell didn't spend a whole lot of time over there.

Back to normal

Just finished my dealings with Cox for a while (we hope). My old email has been restored and is in working order. You may resume sending me emails to that address.

Turns out I kick ass with this Series 6 stuff. I don't know what it is, but I seem to remember obscure financial stuff really well. For example, the maximum sales charge a spread-load mutual fund can charge in the first year is 20%, and the average has to be 16% or less over the first 4 years. The sales charge can't exceed 9% for the life of the plan. Why do I remember this but not people's names? I think names would be more useful.