getting started

10/17/08   art class today a little charles rennie macintosh tradition, pen and wash of plants.  fun.  going to do more over the weekend.  metro to lunch downtown.  took an hour as a switch was out.  talked to trader on metro who said her highly leveraged funds were shrinking as people switch out.  Also, that she could not buy 5 year treasuries, they were simply no longer available.  Guess people buying 5 year treasuries as a substitute for t bills, probably paying a little more and can keep them for 5 years if necessary.  The funds she described that her company was running sounded ridiculous, combining swaps, credit default instruments and treasuries, with treasuries being 20 percent of the funds.  weird.