I just reached a place

 Where the willow don’t bend

There’s not much more to be said
It’s the top of the end  (Dylan)

40 years ago this coming June i took the biggest leap of my life......at the age of barely 20  i left my home and family and everything i knew to join the United States Navy........truth be told i was terrified by the fact that my life was not my own.....i was in fact property of the US Government.......4 months later that Govt sent me to deserted tropical island in the center of the Indian Ocean for 1 surreal year........12 straight months without a phone, live TV or realtime contact with the outside world.......i survived it all.....and then i lost my brother.....nothing could have prepared me for that and i would never be the same.....never shocked again.....that was the greatest shock of my life....from that point on i mentally prepared for everyone i knew to die......as soon as i heard someone was sick i began preparing for their death....not morbid......just refusing to be caught off guard ...it was a difficult lesson ....but my self defense system would serve me well....and the next 3 years i barely flinched when sent to the Persian Gulf, Mediterranean Sea,  North Atlantic, Cuba , you name it......90 days drug ops.....6 month cruise......crossing the Libyan Line of Death......unfazed..........

25 years ago i took a much smaller leap.........i left Brooklyn for good and moved to the open spaces of Monmouth County....closer to family but leaving all my friends......close to the Ocean, close to the racetrack, plenty of golf courses....but i had to commute to the city....and shortly after i arrived i was knocked out of my seat by the impact of a 767 hitting my building......the 2nd biggest shock of my life.....i went into defense mode and mentally shut down.....on my way home i thought about everyone i knew on the street and on the Cops or Fire and i assumed they had perished..as calls rolled in for the next two weeks i just accepted the horrible news as confirmation.........perhaps spurred on by those events a few more friends came over the Goethals and did enjoy a wonderful 25 year run and i never regretted my time in Little Silver.......great yard, great pets, many parties.

Next week i leap again......this one feels different as i prepare to retire from Wall St after the summer also......i may take a job bartending or the starter on a golf course just to stay busy ....who knows........but having turned 60 i am also putting up the defense system and i am very much aware that as i say goodbye to people....it could be the last time i see them...or the last time they see me..........not morbid....just realistic......i am excited to turn the page and see what lies ahead in the Palmetto state.........i will sit in my new yard with my faithful companion (Matteau Matteau Matteau) and we will  drink cold beer and listen to soothing sounds of the Grateful Dead and the piercing lyrics of Mr. Dylan......i will continue the Blog and hope to be back in time for Sweater Nite......but i know people make plans....and God sometimes has other ideas in mind..........stay safe....stay well.......hope to see you all down the road a spell

2+3=BEEER

Grandma said, “Boy, go and follow your heart
And you’ll be fine at the end of the line
All that’s gold isn’t meant to shine
Don’t you and your one true love ever part”
I been walkin’ the road
I been livin’ on the edge
Now, I’ve just got to go
Before I get to the ledge
So I’m going
I’m just going
I’m gone

hockey playoff predictions

 here we go 

In the East i see Chief Berubi solving the Maple leafs round 1 problems and defeating the Sens

The Panthers have little problems with Lightning

The Caps survive a young Montreal attack 

and my Hometown CANES easily handle the Devils

Out West......I think this is finally the year the JETS soar....but they will have to survive a first rd scare from the Blues.

Dallas will finally solve the Colorado puzzle

The Oilers will outlast the Kings

and Vegas puts the wild out to pasture......

second rd gets trickey 

as  much as i love Chief Berubi.......i think the leafs at their core lack guts and heart......and the Panthers have plenty to spare......sb a good series.....6 or even 7.....but FLA is the defending Champs...and they move ON

Canes are too young, fast and hungry for a Caps team that revovles around a 40 yr old........Go Canes Go 

as much as i love the heart of Winnipeg, i think Dallas may be on a mission........North Stars advance

Oilers are finding their way.....i think they make short order of the Vegas Knights......

Conf finals....where dreams go to die.....

Panthers make short order of my beloved Canes

and the Oilers outhit, outskate and outscore Dallas...

i see a rematch of Last Years Final.........and my prediction is

2+3=BEEER

we shall see.

Thrasher

 It was then I knew I'd had enough

Burned my credit card for fuel
Headed out to where the pavement turns to sand
With a one-way ticket to the land of truth
And my suitcase in my hand
How I lost my friends I still don't understand  (N. Young)

2+3=Sneaker Bomber Beers

You don't need no Gypsy

to tell you why
Ya can't let one precious day to slip by
Look inside yourself, and if you don't see what you want
Maybe sometimes then you don't

But leave your mind alone and just get high, oh yeah (G. Allman)

tonight we head to the worlds' most famous arena to see a tribute to one of the worlds greatest bands . it'a slice of apple pie with a jack daniels chaser.......the Brothers Tribute to the Allman Brothers Band....giddy up

But meanwhile, I ain't a-wastin' time no more

'Cause time goes by like pourin' rain, and much faster things

 

slippin and a slidin

 and playin dominoes....

Lefting and then Righting,
it's not a crime you know.
You gotta tell your story boy,
before it's time to go.  (N. Young)

are you ready for the country ?

because it's time to go 

2+3=Palmetto brewing Company BEEER

China Town

 Chasing that old dragon down

Madam Wong's
We play the blues with the curtains drawn
Sidewalks of white
While the L.A. sun beat out the night
Pounding brain
My last transmission down the drain ( John Hiatt)

this has sure felt like a spin on the Cyclone.... a roller coaster ride for the ages.....i have spent all my sideline money.....i'm all in on equities...and i am confident...ride the wave......don't sell......this summer will be a rocket ship straight up...

Captain Chaos may have pulled off his biggest victory...... while the media was losing their minds over what they perceived as a switch in policy or even Trump caving....the truth was far from that.

I too wondered why the Donn put Tariffs on Everybody....at first i too couldn't rationalize why he was tariffing goods from countries that we barely trade with or countries that have been our friends......and then i caught an interview with Jamie Dimon on Maria and it was like a lightning strike.

Mr. Dimon said what we all know....Tariffs HAD to be implemented , and the time was Now.....we could not sustain for much longer on our current path of increasing debt and widening trade gaps........he also said that the tariffs , if implemented correctly; would accomplish two things.......weaken China , BUT also strengthen our friends........and that's when it Hit me..........who are our Friends ??   Let's find out.

And so by casting the widest net......one big enough to encapsulate the entire free world (and some commies) we would be given the chance to SEE how everyone reacts in crisis.......talk is cheap.....anyone can vow to stand with you....but let's drop the gauntlet and see who really does.

In the 72 hours that followed many countries in Europe  and the Pacific were approached by China in an offer to form an alliance against US trade.......those that sided with China have exposed themselves for what they are....fair weather acquaintances .......and more importantly the likes of Australia and others told China to Fuk off........have demonstrated that they are true Allies....that is a friend.

And so as China further isolates itself from the world.....the USA has learnt a great deal about the rest of the world......Canada is a lil bitch that will eventually get bitch slapped.....but Japan and India accepted the tariffs as part of doing business and wish to reach deals with the USA....they did not waiver, they did not cry, they did not increase their already high tariffs......you can watch golf all day......you can read a library's worth of books on how to play golf........but until you have to put your BEEER down and hit that Driver .....you can't say that you can play golf........and now we know who can and will play.......and who just dresses like Tiger and never leaves the clubhouse.....

2+3=BEEER

When the master of disaster
Gets tangled in his Telecaster
He can't play it any faster
When he plays the blues
When he had the heart to ask her
And every note just shook the plaster
Now he's just a mean old bastard
When he plays the blues
Now he's just a mean old bastard
When he plays the blues

We used to play for Silver

 Now we play for life

One's for sport and one's for blood
At the point of a knife
Now the die is shaken
Now the die must fall
There ain't a winner in this game
Who don't go home with all
Not with all... (Hunter-Weir)

This is the fight of our lifetime......this is the fight for the future of our country....I wrongly assumed that everyone understood the premise......or at least everyone in my industry understood what this was really about......and then i found myself on a conference call with some naïve simpletons.....defeatists......crybaby loosers......people were actually arguing that the Administration should immediately drop all tariffs....so that things could go back to normal ........NORMAL ??

what was normal before January 20th ? the truth is that our country was in a death spiral.....since the end of WWII our country has been sold out by both sides of the aisle....the internal fight against American Exceptionalism began shortly after we ended with war in the pacific by dropping some calling cards on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.......driven by guilt or a self loathsome trait, we have propped up every other country on the planet at the expense of our own.....we have been and continue to be raped and ripped off in every trade deal....we have allowed our goods to be tariffed and we have refused to tariff incoming goods.......hey, we're rich....we can afford it......and the thieves of Wall Street hide behind the curtain of free trade.......and then for over a half century their insatiable greed forced publicly traded companies look everywhere else in the world to make their products cheaper and increase their profit margins....NIKE and others moved plants to viet nam , cambodia, thailand etc and paid pennies a day to workers, and raised the prices on their sneakers back home.........one isolated example ?  NO......a trend.....Hoover vacums moved to Mexico ....Big pharma went to Ireland....and on and on......to the point where very little is made at home and because of our unions and the costs of doing business , the products that are made at home cost significantly more......that is a strategic problem.........add in the fact that Washington DC ....both sides....have spent so much money that our debt is unsustainable .......we are a house of smoke and mirrors......we are the make believe Rock Ridge.......behind the facade of the Buildings there is Nothing there......we have, have, have to draw a true line in the sand.....gig in......and force the pendulum to swing back......this may be our last chance........Our enemies and allies look at Americans as being soft....unable or unwilling to engage in the long term battle.......ignore what they say publically...privately they are convinced that we the people will cave......we will toss out Trump and Vance in 3 years......and the Gravy train will start running again.....the good old days of paying for Europes wars in the Ukraine...and singlehandedly financing Nato will be back.......our tariffs will go away while their tariffs remain or even increase.......we will go back to paying enemies to like us..we will return to a foreign policy of appeasement......we will offer financial aid to nations that are thriving, while we drowned in debt.....do you think i am being overly dramatic ?  take a look at the protests on the campus of Columbia University....in broad daylight....under the watchful eye of the school administration; they are calling for the end of Western civilization values....they don't want a library upgrade or to change the school mascott....they want you and me burned at the stake.......wake the F up........it is critical for the future of the Republic that we do NOT cave.......this is not just a passing negotiation to get a slightly better deal....this has to be bigger.....we need to do our part......immediately stop buying anything from China........if you need a product, take the time to research, find and buy products made in the USA........Wall street is tricky, they like to hide the country of origin or us phrases like 100% assembled in the USA.......dig deeper....find the plant.....and only buy American....this may be our last chance.

as for the market.......we talked about this two weeks ago.....this really is the American Liberation......this remains a beautiful buying opportunity.....but even if you do not have the fortitude to BUY MORE like me......whatever you do........DON'T SELL in a down market.....i believe the long term future of America is so bright, we indeed gotta buy shades

2+3=American BEEER

 Gotta get to Tulsa

First train we can ride
Got to settle one old score
And one small point of pride...

Ain't no place a man can hide, Shannon
Keep him from the sun
Ain't no bed will give us rest now
You keep us on the run

The Cold Blooded Moon

 The captain waits above the celebration

Sending his thoughts to a beloved maid
Whose ebony face is beyond communication
The captain is down but still believing that his love will be repaid  (Dylan)

Dylan sang and warned of the Changing of the guards.....and that is what we have today.

Just a football fields length from where Secretariat set the High Bar for Equine Greatness, Alex Ovechkin sits one goal away from Hockey immortality. The record that was not supposed to be broken in our lifetime has been tied. Today on National TV against the Gilligans Islanders the Great Eight  will etch his likeness on Hockey's Mt Rushmore...........and just as Gordie Howe passed the torch to the Great One.......Gretzky (and the lovely Janet) will hand over the keys to Ovie. 

I remember the night Gretzky broke the record in Los Angeles.......the Rangers were actually in Edmonton playing the Oilers, and they cut away from the game to go back to the studio to give an update and show the Goal.....it was March 23, 1994.......and now 31 years later we get to see it eclipsed a second time...........Congratulations to Alex Ovechkin.

2+3=895 BEEERS

Gentlemen, he said
I don’t need your organization, I’ve shined your shoes
I’ve moved your mountains and marked your cards
But Eden is burning, either brace yourself for elimination
Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards