They say that bear markets end when everyone is sick of stocks and would rather go to the dentist than their broker. By then, the bears have ground everyone down and portfolios lay decimated in the financial waste that once was a bull market.br /br /Here is a twist. As a financial markets journalist, I am getting a tad sick of things now.br /br /What’s that, Mikey, you don’t like your job?br /br /Far from it. Writing about the markets and panning for golden nuggets of insight from the river of data is still fascinating. What is getting to be old hat is coming up with the same conclusions.br /br /Yes, its a crappy market.br /No, our tools still don’t work the way we are used to them working.br /Yes, I see a bear market rally forming.br /No, that does not mean it is entirely safe to play in the market.br /Yes, interest rates that are near zero – and below zero at one point last week – tell us things are as far from normal as anyone alive today, er, anyone under 100, has ever seen.br /br /and on and on and on….br /br /How many times can I say the same thing? How many times can you the reader read the same thing? That’s why I am trying to find stocks that are diamonds in the rough that is today’s market. Today’s column was on biotech but while there were some candidates looking ripe there were many more that looked sad. But how many do we need to make this holiday season a little brighter? One or two works for me.br /br /Making hay when the sun shines. Lemonade from lemons. Yadda yadda.br /br /My feeling is that I want to be ready when this market surprises the heck out of us with another monster rally. That’s a lot better than throwing a shoe at it as I chase it higher.