By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): Sometimes you just know it is going to be a rough couple of days. As you read this, my soft-hearted, pregnant wife is recovering from a fairly significant surgery. That alone is enough to raise the blood pressure.

But at the same time my better half is asking for a stronger morphine drip, the weatherman is calling for a foot of snow. And worse yet, the phone is ringing off the hook with long-time friends wanting to take advantage of perfect waterfowl hunting conditions.

By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Down in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a four-year-old boy managed to grab a beer, walk out his front door and break into a neighboring house to steal Christmas gifts.

True story. But it gets better.

By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): It’s not an award I would want. First Putin, then Obama, now Bernanke. Big Ben is not joining the best of company with his “Person of the year” award. If history is an indication, the Fed boss’ approval rating will be significantly lower in the next twelve months.

As if being the master of the secret domain known as the Federal Reserve isn’t a hard enough job to handle, Time goes and slaps Bernanke on the cover and tells us the award is due not because of where Bernanke got us today, but because of where we have not ventured.

By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): I spent most of my weekend in the attic of my century-old house. I wasn’t hiding from a hormonal, pregnant wife. She’s been fairly tame lately. And it wasn’t to escape a surprise in-law attack.

By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): We all have a friend like him. For me it’s a guy named Greg. He has some great ideas and his entrepreneurial spirit runs deep, but for some reason, his plans never seem to make it to fruition. Somewhere from the drawing board to the production line, he runs into a debilitating snag.

Most of the time, it’s money.

By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): Somebody get a bucket because I’m about to puke. I am having an impossible time trying to digest what I’m reading and hearing this week.

How could things have gotten this bad?

By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): Want to know when a specific trend has no legs? Simple, when the government backs it, you know its DOA.

Just ask the folks that dumped millions into the biofuels industry. I have never seen an industry fall off the map as quickly as ethanol, except maybe clean coal, but that’s a whole different story.

By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): There’s something about snow – we got two more inches last night – that makes me want to go fly fishing. It’s a great example of the contrarian streak that runs deep within.

If you’ve ever fished any of the Eastern seaboard’s popular trout streams, you know they are popular places almost any time of the year. But from April through September, you had better bring your helmet. It’s combat fishing in most sections.

By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore – (TFN): Get ready for Stimulus Version 2.0. With unemployment in double-digit territory, credit still tight and consumers refusing to part with their cash, it’s obvious Washington’s first bailout did nothing but put the nation even further in debt and give China an even larger stake of the country’s financial future.

By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): As we get older, the list of regrets grows. It’s natural. The more days we put in, the more mistakes we make. Hopefully, the list of successes grows even faster, but today’s about the mistakes.

We’ll say it’s in honor of Tiger Woods, the last celeb to bit nibble the forbidden fruit.

We all have regrets. The house we should have bought. The car we shouldn’t have sold. The girl we should have taken to prom. Or the pilot we shouldn’t have trusted.