Another Easter has come and gone. My niece Sandra and her family made the trip to Brooklyn from south Jersey. She is in her tenth year as a special ed teacher and doesn't think she'll last much longer. It is grueling work and she does not get much support in the disciplinary aspects. Her son Ronnie made the freshman baseball team. He's the third-baseman and closer, batting over .400 and giving up only one run so far. His sister Danielle is on her junior high track team, running the 100 yard dash and a leg on the 4x100. Both continue to do really well academically. Ronnie already has a college curriculum in mind - Pharmacology, although that is a long way off and no one would be surprised if he changed his mind. We all had a good time stuffing our faces. Pasta, bracciole and sausage was the first course, leg of lamb the main. There were several side dishes, of which the asparagus with tomato and feta cheese stood out. Kudos to my brother in law Al for his usual great feast. Of course, we had dessert: cannolis and other pastries, and cookies. We retired to couch, bloated, but not so much as to prevent a pillow fight where Ronnie and I ganged up on Danielle. We also watched What Happens in Vegas (2008), starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher, which takes place in part on the NYMEX trading floor. I was still working there when it was filmed. I declined participation, recalling the long hours I put in on Trading Places (1984), which starred Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy - and Jaime Lee Curtis, who unfortunately, did not have any scenes at the Exchange. I did not recognize any of the extras surrounding Diaz in her job scenes. Most must have been traders in the energy markets. I worked strictly in metals. I caught a glimpse of a phone clerk who might have been Rui T, who lost his place with us when he refused to cut his long hair (and lost a law suit), and who eventually landed at the Cotton Exchange and back in our building after the old trading floor at 4 World Trade was destroyed on 9/11. He rose to supervisor, eventually shaved his head bald, and eschewed headbanger garb for the GQ look!
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