Far from Wall Street, in a suburb of Green Bay, investment adviser Max Frost gave some bold advice on this day a year ago.

In a column for his local newspaper, Frost took note of September’s cursed history. Given the unwillingness of banks to lend money, he warned at the time, “Houses won’t be built, businesses won’t expand, consumer goods will not be purchased.”

His conclusion: Sell. “If you’re not shorting this market, at least put some of it in cash. You can always buy it back.”

Today, Frost remains pessimistic, especially after stock prices kept climbing over the past few months.

“This market has gone up like a bad moonshot, without enough money to get to the moon,” he said in an interview last week. “Everything’s gotten too highly valued.”

It is, after all, almost September, Frost observed: Look out below.

…And after reading this about Rodgers – as Bob (of Milwaukee’s Bob and Brian Show) put it on Thursday, when Steve Czaban asked if watching Favre would be difficult, like watching your ex-girlfriend dancing sexy-like with a new hunk: “No! I like our new girlfriend. She’s cute,* and not crazy.” Amen!

*…very cute.

We also got a new air conditioner last week, after the forty-year old Carrier gave up the ghost. They figured the old unit’s SEER value was about three, and the new one is thirteen. It’s also so much nicer / more efficient that it needs to run a lot less, so it’ll be interesting to watch our usage over the summer. Then again, with the way the cost of energy has been going, the bill will probably stay the same even if the use plummets.

(>.<)

“Whereas, the winter of 2007-2008 will go down as one of the most severe in Madison history with record snowfall, strong winds, freezing rain, below zero temperatures and now, on top of it all, Brett Favre retires (for cryin’ out loud), and

“Whereas, these conditions make us better, hardier people of higher character than our friends who have fled to places like Florida where they can’t even get a primary election right; and

“Whereas, even with those advantages, we’ve had ENOUGH already; and

“Whereas, Madison has never been a community that simply accepts the status quo whether that be the results of national elections, the realities of nuclear fallout, general market conditions, or, for that matter, mere astronomical forces; and

“Whereas, Spring is a state of mind brought on by the thought of paddle sports and the sight of sleek new canoes and other cool canoe gear;, and

“Whereas, Madison has been described as so many square miles surrounded by reality; and

“Whereas, Madison has been growing at a nice pace which must mean that reality is therefore shrinking; and

“Whereas, reality is overrated.

“Now, therefore, be it resolved that Spring officially begins in the City of Madison at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 9.”