Initial Post

Good morning friends and family. I thought it'd be a good opportunity to provide everyone with a few quick updates:

Nicole arrived here safely (if not slightly delayed) a little over a week ago. She finished her summer associate position with Kilpatrick Stockton and will be working on applications and some well deserved R&R for the duration of her stay (until August 3rd). It's been really fun to have her here. This has apparently been one of the driest summers on record here, so its actually quite pleasant to be outside most days. The tube and the flat can be a little warmer than I would prefer, but so it goes.

On Friday, I left the office a little early and Nicole and I caught a cheap flight to southern Portugal (see on a map here). Had a quick dinner and enjoyed some air conditioning at the hotel (doesn't exist in the UK, my appreciation for modern comfort is entirely renewed). On Saturday, we had a big English-style buffet breakfast (eggs, bangers, baked beans, bacon and some fruit) and then spent 6 hours at a nearby beautiful beach. Thankfully, much of it was spent on a lounge chair under an umbrella reading or napping. Very civilized.

That evening, we found a brand new restauraunt along a beach road that didn't even have their permanent menus printed yet. It was nicer than we expected, but certainly not formal. We had some great wine and some local mini-clam things followed by Monkfish in a boullabaise-type preparation. Fantastic. On sunday, we had a short time at the pool and then off to the airport for our 2.5 hour flight home. All in all, a pretty nice weekend and my first time at a beach since Barbados (no body surfing available here though).

Unfortunately, I received some bad news on the business side this morning: there has been yet another error in getting the trading bank accounts opened, so I am delayed yet again. I really thought I was going to be operational by this week. Something about the account not being opened properly. To put it mildly, I am a bit frustrated/annoyed/outright angry, so I'll be focusing my attention on some poor assistant vice president with BofA until this gets opened.

Other than that, the business looks promising. We are making the encessary tweeks to our proprietary trading platform to facilitate cross-currency and international business. I think we've also got a rudimentary system for accounting setup. One of the accountants in Dallas has either volunteered or been conscripted to assist me with our accounting needs and will be working the graveyard shift until I either get someone full-time or we figure out the technology to make it easier on this poor trader in London.

Also, Moody's downgraded the debt of Portugal early this morning, so that is conveniently causing some fresh sovereign debt fears and rallying the price of gold back above $1200 per ounce (800 GBP per ounce). Hurray for safe haven buying. Should be fun if I can ever get the handcuffs of this antiquated banking system off. Two sayings I would keep in mind if I could trade actively right now: "The trend is your friend (until the turn at the end)" AND "if you're long, you're wrong. If you're short, you're fired." Eventually this will turn and gold will head lower. That will be fun too as long as I'm right about timing, but until then I'll enjoy the party supplied by the GGUF crowd (Gold Goes UP Forever).

I hope this note finds you all well and hope to see you soon. Come visit. I'm free most of August and for the second half of September, so book now.

Brad