A VISITOR FROM TORONTO!

I had the pleasure of sharing dinner with one of my former Ontario colleagues who was in town for a course. Due to a last minute meeting, he wasn't able to join me and my other co-workers for a final "fire bum soup" lunch (Pho) before I left Toronto, so I'm glad I got to hook up with him. We decided to go to Joey Tomato, an eatery in the trendy Eau Claire Market, near the hotel where he was staying. The food wasn't too bad, but I strongly suspect that this restaurant has an unspoken hiring rule for its hostesses and servers. Let's just say that if you didn't fit into a size 0 and wore lots of make up, you were awkwardly out of place!

FEEDING
Speaking of "fire bum soup", I've been going to a Pho place just around the corner from where I'm staying. It's called a Touch of Ginger and they serve Vietnamese and Thai food. The quality is alright and the prices are what you would expect. But, they leave you alone and it's a clean place. Usually, I'll bring a newspaper in with me, but I've found it difficult to read and eat noodle soup at the same time (the newspaper gets all wet!). So, for my most recent visit I decided to try something different. I downloaded a sermon from The Meeting House, one from their current series. I had a really good experience eating my noodles and listening to Bruxy! I've realized how much I miss The Meeting House and it's simple, yet profound, message of relationship: God's relationship with us, our relationship with others. It's sad and humbling to realize that our affinity/nature to judge others actually gets in the way of community. I found the message just filled with so many gems: why Tom Hanks creating a companion out of a volleyball is so reflective of how we were created (ala Life of Pi), why God chose to put Adam in a garden of all places (we were created to be creative creatures), what does "the knowledge of good and evil" really mean (and why we make lousy judges), why did Adam come out of hiding when God asked where he was, the real answer to "where are you God?" in our time of trials. The series is A Questioning God and this week was "Where Are You?" Can't wait 'til my next bowl of Pho and message from Bruxy!

WORK'S BEEN GOING GOOD
I just finished a week of "relief", which basically meant that I was working with another trader on the same rotation. Starting next week, I'll be on my own. Looking back (and it's only been 3 weeks), a lot of terms and ideas are making sense now. I've discovered that for even some of the seasoned traders, they will sometimes refer to their notes on how something is done, especially if they've come off an extended period of time off. I'm also starting to see how there are opportunities to grow by learning about trading in other geographical areas (the Pacific Northwest, Ontario), the scheduling of trades, and ancillary services (which are call options sold to the power system operator to help smooth out the system). I've also decided to start studying for the CFA, as a number of my colleagues are working on this and find it helpful in this job. The next level I exam that I'm aiming for is June 2006.