Otay, so I haven't posted since the beginning of time. I'd apologize at this point, but I really don't feel like it today so I won't.
Instead I thought I'd mention that there is snow on the ground right now. Now this wouldn't be news unless you know me and realize that I live in central Florida! Well to prevent anybody from having a heart attack, I'm not in Florida anymore. I've moved to Buffalo, New York, home of the high taxes.
I'll post more later...
Peace out...
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, August 30, 2007
A Quickie...
Otay, so I was watching my beloved Cubbies play they Brewers today on TV (they won by the way go Cubs) when the color commenter for WGN (Bob Brenely) had one of the greatest one liners I've heard in a while. The context was the catcher hustling down the first base line to leg out an infield single.
"Running like he was mad at the ground"
Outstanding! As someone who has been described as "deceptively slow" in the foot speed department I salute the imagery.
Peace out...
"Running like he was mad at the ground"
Outstanding! As someone who has been described as "deceptively slow" in the foot speed department I salute the imagery.
Peace out...
Sunday, August 26, 2007
A nice work environment
Otay, so its been another week since previous posts . Its because (insert lame excuse here). Anyways onwards.
I was reading an article on MSNBC about George Hotz. For those of you in a closet, this 17 year wiz kid (with obviously to much time on his hands) cracked the iphone and posted the instructions on a blog. Meaning that if you follow the instructions, have some skill with a soldering iron, and have a lot of luck you can make the iphone work on a network other than AT&T.
Now what I find very interesting is the quote below from the article when they asked about this kid's future:
"I want to intern at Google next summer if I can. I've got a friend there and he's, like, 'Dude, they have a cafeteria 24/7. You can go in there and eat whatever you want. You can go to sleep, hack for a couple of hours and go eat some more'." Who said kids today don't dream big?
Yeah Google is sexy to work for, but if you read between the lines, here's what I see. People want to go work for Google because of the work environment and campus. Google "googleplex" and see the results (yeah it is odd to google google but so be it). Workout facilities, 24 hours free food, massage areas, and letting you bring you dog to work. Google has invested in its future by creating a work environment that employees want to go to.
Now I know a lot of business people think this is crazy to invest this kind of money into a facilities that don't directly increase the bottom line. The thought of grad-students with dot com dollars come to mind. But if Google is crazy, they're crazy like a fox. Here's how I see this type of campus adding to the bottom line:
1) From the quote from Hotz we can see it attracts talent. A kid that cracks the iphone can't be dumb, and attracting this kind of talent will increase revenues in the future.
2) Employees will stay at work longer. This means more productivity per week.
3) Employees are healthier. This means less sick time.
4) Employees are less likely to leave for other places. Meaning you retain your talent and don't have to pay the heavy expense of hiring new people. I know personally one of the biggest down sides to place I work is a dreary work environment. If I were to ever leave, this is one of the big reasons.
5) Employees are more likely to bond as teams, and again increasing productivity.
Anyways, just my ramblings.
Peace out.
I was reading an article on MSNBC about George Hotz. For those of you in a closet, this 17 year wiz kid (with obviously to much time on his hands) cracked the iphone and posted the instructions on a blog. Meaning that if you follow the instructions, have some skill with a soldering iron, and have a lot of luck you can make the iphone work on a network other than AT&T.
Now what I find very interesting is the quote below from the article when they asked about this kid's future:
Yeah Google is sexy to work for, but if you read between the lines, here's what I see. People want to go work for Google because of the work environment and campus. Google "googleplex" and see the results (yeah it is odd to google google but so be it). Workout facilities, 24 hours free food, massage areas, and letting you bring you dog to work. Google has invested in its future by creating a work environment that employees want to go to.
Now I know a lot of business people think this is crazy to invest this kind of money into a facilities that don't directly increase the bottom line. The thought of grad-students with dot com dollars come to mind. But if Google is crazy, they're crazy like a fox. Here's how I see this type of campus adding to the bottom line:
1) From the quote from Hotz we can see it attracts talent. A kid that cracks the iphone can't be dumb, and attracting this kind of talent will increase revenues in the future.
2) Employees will stay at work longer. This means more productivity per week.
3) Employees are healthier. This means less sick time.
4) Employees are less likely to leave for other places. Meaning you retain your talent and don't have to pay the heavy expense of hiring new people. I know personally one of the biggest down sides to place I work is a dreary work environment. If I were to ever leave, this is one of the big reasons.
5) Employees are more likely to bond as teams, and again increasing productivity.
Anyways, just my ramblings.
Peace out.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
The Democractic Debate
Otay, so first I need to apologize for not posting in a while. I've had things to say, but not time to say them. My Bad...
So I watched the Democratic debate today on ABC news. My first impression is that the Democrats are being pretty vicious. They immediately were attacking each other, while the Republican debate seemed to be more civil. As Barack mentioned he was preparing for the debate by riding in bumper cars. Not far from the truth. Kudos to John Kerry who tried to corral the debate in and make it more positive. Some of my other impressions:
1) Obama was kinda a none factor. He really doesn't grab the spot light like you would expect him to. My opinion is that he's starting to lose some of his early momentum. We'll see...
2) Is it just me or does Dennis Kucinich look like Golem from The Lord of the Rings? I kept waiting for a "Yes, my precious." Speaking of precious, is it just me or is his wife Elizabeth way to pretty to be married to Golem? Here is a link to an article about her. Also here is her MySpace site. If I thought Dennis had an outside shot to win, I would vote for him just to have her in the White House. A first lady with a tongue stud, the evening news would be much more interesting!
3) Mike Gravel wins the "not quite on kilter" award. He is the most adamant about pulling our boys home ASAP. And his voice suits his name, Gravely.
4) Hillary was, well Hillary. Love her or hate her she is a good debater, smooth and on target. She's apparently learned a lot from her husband.
5) John Kerry was also pretty smooth, and major Kudos for his positiveness. He's a little to "blue" collar for my tastes but I do believe he believes in what he says. One of my big concerns is with is wife. With her having a high chance of dying in the near term, do we want a president in office grieving for his lost wife? I know that's not very sensitive but...
6) I thought Joe Biden was the most impressive of the bunch. In my opinion he has the most credibility and I think he knows something about foreign affairs. Which frankly our country really needs right now.
So one of my communication professors, Chad Hermann here's his blog, once noted that the person who tends to win the election is the guy you'd most like to go out and drink with. Think about it some time. Based on that I that if I had to vote democrat, and as I listen to Coldplay from Elizabeth's MySpace site, I think it would have to pick Dennis Kucinich. But only if he brought is wife...
Peace out.
So I watched the Democratic debate today on ABC news. My first impression is that the Democrats are being pretty vicious. They immediately were attacking each other, while the Republican debate seemed to be more civil. As Barack mentioned he was preparing for the debate by riding in bumper cars. Not far from the truth. Kudos to John Kerry who tried to corral the debate in and make it more positive. Some of my other impressions:
1) Obama was kinda a none factor. He really doesn't grab the spot light like you would expect him to. My opinion is that he's starting to lose some of his early momentum. We'll see...
2) Is it just me or does Dennis Kucinich look like Golem from The Lord of the Rings? I kept waiting for a "Yes, my precious." Speaking of precious, is it just me or is his wife Elizabeth way to pretty to be married to Golem? Here is a link to an article about her. Also here is her MySpace site. If I thought Dennis had an outside shot to win, I would vote for him just to have her in the White House. A first lady with a tongue stud, the evening news would be much more interesting!
3) Mike Gravel wins the "not quite on kilter" award. He is the most adamant about pulling our boys home ASAP. And his voice suits his name, Gravely.
4) Hillary was, well Hillary. Love her or hate her she is a good debater, smooth and on target. She's apparently learned a lot from her husband.
5) John Kerry was also pretty smooth, and major Kudos for his positiveness. He's a little to "blue" collar for my tastes but I do believe he believes in what he says. One of my big concerns is with is wife. With her having a high chance of dying in the near term, do we want a president in office grieving for his lost wife? I know that's not very sensitive but...
6) I thought Joe Biden was the most impressive of the bunch. In my opinion he has the most credibility and I think he knows something about foreign affairs. Which frankly our country really needs right now.
So one of my communication professors, Chad Hermann here's his blog, once noted that the person who tends to win the election is the guy you'd most like to go out and drink with. Think about it some time. Based on that I that if I had to vote democrat, and as I listen to Coldplay from Elizabeth's MySpace site, I think it would have to pick Dennis Kucinich. But only if he brought is wife...
Peace out.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Subprime Basics
Otay, so I've been asked by several people to explain to them what is going on with the subprime mortgages, and specifically why its affecting the market. I thought it might be useful to explain the basics. Note while I having been doing a lot of studying of finance and economics during my MBA classes, I am not an expert or an industry expert. So take everything I say with a few grains of salt...
Let us start by taking a look at what happens when Jane Q Public goes to the bank to get a loan on a house. Jane will apply for the mortgage at a local bank or mortgage broker. The banker will then look at Jane's application looking at the amount requested, the value of the home, her employment and income history, and her credit history. If her credit score is below 620, or if the requested loan is larger than normal for her income level, she will be labeled as sub-prime. This means that lending to her is considered more risky and will result in higher interest rates.
Lets fast forward a little and assume the mortgage was issued and the house was closed on. This now means that Jane has a house, monthly mortgage payments and the bank has a loan to an individual which has a higher than average possibility of defaulting on the loan. Now in the olden days the local bank would hold the loan and that would be that. However, today's investors have found that they can mitigate risk by pooling a bunch of loans together. So a company, such as Countrywide, will buy the loans from the bank from all over the country and the world and assume the risk.
This of course goes another step. The company will then pool all the like risk mortgages together and then sell a percentage of that pool to an individual investor, hedge fund, or retirement fund in the form of bonds. Effectively what is happening is that investors are funding the loans to consumer through a number of steps.
Now fast forward to today. Many of the subprime loans are being defaulted on because, surprise, the loan was high risk and the individual couldn't afford the payments, etc. Now the company that holds the loan will foreclose on the property and then resell the home to recoup the loses on the mortgage. This is expected thus the higher interest rates to help recoup the losses (remember its a numbers game). Everything should be fine because they planned for a percentage of the loans to default, right. Sort of, but now comes the rub. The value of homes has been dropping recently and more than the expected number of loans are being defaulted on. This means that the subprime market is getting hammered because they are losing more loans than expected and they recouping less from each foreclosed on house.
Many of the subprime lenders are declaring bankruptcy, meaning basically that the bond that the investor purchased is now effectively valueless. This is rippling through the markets as investors are reevaluating their portfolios and their returns.
Hope this helps. Heres a link to wikipedia that has a description of the subprime crisis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_meltdown
Peace out..
Let us start by taking a look at what happens when Jane Q Public goes to the bank to get a loan on a house. Jane will apply for the mortgage at a local bank or mortgage broker. The banker will then look at Jane's application looking at the amount requested, the value of the home, her employment and income history, and her credit history. If her credit score is below 620, or if the requested loan is larger than normal for her income level, she will be labeled as sub-prime. This means that lending to her is considered more risky and will result in higher interest rates.
Lets fast forward a little and assume the mortgage was issued and the house was closed on. This now means that Jane has a house, monthly mortgage payments and the bank has a loan to an individual which has a higher than average possibility of defaulting on the loan. Now in the olden days the local bank would hold the loan and that would be that. However, today's investors have found that they can mitigate risk by pooling a bunch of loans together. So a company, such as Countrywide, will buy the loans from the bank from all over the country and the world and assume the risk.
This of course goes another step. The company will then pool all the like risk mortgages together and then sell a percentage of that pool to an individual investor, hedge fund, or retirement fund in the form of bonds. Effectively what is happening is that investors are funding the loans to consumer through a number of steps.
Now fast forward to today. Many of the subprime loans are being defaulted on because, surprise, the loan was high risk and the individual couldn't afford the payments, etc. Now the company that holds the loan will foreclose on the property and then resell the home to recoup the loses on the mortgage. This is expected thus the higher interest rates to help recoup the losses (remember its a numbers game). Everything should be fine because they planned for a percentage of the loans to default, right. Sort of, but now comes the rub. The value of homes has been dropping recently and more than the expected number of loans are being defaulted on. This means that the subprime market is getting hammered because they are losing more loans than expected and they recouping less from each foreclosed on house.
Many of the subprime lenders are declaring bankruptcy, meaning basically that the bond that the investor purchased is now effectively valueless. This is rippling through the markets as investors are reevaluating their portfolios and their returns.
Hope this helps. Heres a link to wikipedia that has a description of the subprime crisis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_meltdown
Peace out..
Friday, August 10, 2007
Golden Day
Otay, so the current house I live in has dog doors that lead to the outside. To take advantage of these doors I also happen to have two fuzzy, tail wagging, shoe chewing, fur shedding, 95 pound golden retrievers, named Mieka and Sage. Living with these sweet hearted, fun loving demons has taught me many things. For example:
1) If its not nailed down its fair game for a good chewing (someday I will post a comprehensive list of everything that has suffered this fate, however I just don’t have that much time right now!)
2) However the corollary is not true; just because it is nailed down doesn’t mean it won’t get chewed.
3) The phrase “Working like a dog” apparently means sleeping on the couch all day
4) Just because the squirrel they brought in looks dead doesn’t mean it is!
5) A golden always has the location of the six nearest tennis balls committed to memory.
Of the many lessons I have learned, one of them may surprise you. Goldens are excellent at telling what the weather is outside. You see every morning around 6:30 when my alarm goes off, my canine’s wakeup, stretch, and then go outside to do whatever Goldens do outside at 6:30 in the morning. When they come in I am instantly aware of the current meteorological conditions. Here are some of the indicators:
A) If there is a wet dog in my bed—Its raining
B) If I have a cold nose pressed against my side—Its cold
C) If they are rolled over on their backs under the air conditioning vent—Its hot
D) If they have wet feet—There’s dew on the grass
E) If they have wet feet and chest—There’s dew on the grass and I need to mow
F) If they are white—Its snowing (I’m guessing at this one)
This morning, however, was my favorite indicator. Head on bed, tail wagging, and tennis ball resting against my side. For those that don’t know, that’s the it’s-a-perfect-time-to-go-out-and-throw-the-ball-and-play day. And that is my favorite lesson I have learned from Mieka and Sage. Take a moment out of everyday to be a kid, run around, laugh, jump, throw a ball, whatever, but don’t forget to play.
So have a great day, smile, and don’t forget to take a moment out of your day to just throw the proverbial tennis ball around for a couple of minutes with those you love. Have a Golden Day!
Peace out…
1) If its not nailed down its fair game for a good chewing (someday I will post a comprehensive list of everything that has suffered this fate, however I just don’t have that much time right now!)
2) However the corollary is not true; just because it is nailed down doesn’t mean it won’t get chewed.
3) The phrase “Working like a dog” apparently means sleeping on the couch all day
4) Just because the squirrel they brought in looks dead doesn’t mean it is!
5) A golden always has the location of the six nearest tennis balls committed to memory.
Of the many lessons I have learned, one of them may surprise you. Goldens are excellent at telling what the weather is outside. You see every morning around 6:30 when my alarm goes off, my canine’s wakeup, stretch, and then go outside to do whatever Goldens do outside at 6:30 in the morning. When they come in I am instantly aware of the current meteorological conditions. Here are some of the indicators:
A) If there is a wet dog in my bed—Its raining
B) If I have a cold nose pressed against my side—Its cold
C) If they are rolled over on their backs under the air conditioning vent—Its hot
D) If they have wet feet—There’s dew on the grass
E) If they have wet feet and chest—There’s dew on the grass and I need to mow
F) If they are white—Its snowing (I’m guessing at this one)
This morning, however, was my favorite indicator. Head on bed, tail wagging, and tennis ball resting against my side. For those that don’t know, that’s the it’s-a-perfect-time-to-go-out-and-throw-the-ball-and-play day. And that is my favorite lesson I have learned from Mieka and Sage. Take a moment out of everyday to be a kid, run around, laugh, jump, throw a ball, whatever, but don’t forget to play.
So have a great day, smile, and don’t forget to take a moment out of your day to just throw the proverbial tennis ball around for a couple of minutes with those you love. Have a Golden Day!
Peace out…
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Some Tunes
Otay, so for those of you who enjoy good lyrics and good singing, here are two female artists that I recently "discovered." Hope you enjoy as much as I did...
Colby Calliat
Colbie Caillat (aka CoCo) is an admitted California beach girl, and she sings like it. Her songs and voice reflect her bubbly and dare I say innocent personality. Really good music when you want to be uplifted or are in a fun mood.
http://www.colbiecaillatmusic.com/default.asp
Amy Winehouse
Imagine yourself in a hole in the wall New Orleans jazz bar. The room is dimly lit and cigar and cigarette smoke fill the air. The floor is slightly sticky, the beer is cold, a small stage is in front, and a pool table with a shark willing to play for cash is in back. Now imagine the perfect performer for the place and you got Amy Winehouse. Amy Winehouse, is a polar opposite to CoCo. She sings like she's forty years older, and her lyrics are as blues as it gets. Great music if your in a chill'in blues mood.
http://www.amywinehouse.com/
Peace out...
Colby Calliat
Colbie Caillat (aka CoCo) is an admitted California beach girl, and she sings like it. Her songs and voice reflect her bubbly and dare I say innocent personality. Really good music when you want to be uplifted or are in a fun mood.
http://www.colbiecaillatmusic.com/default.asp
Amy Winehouse
Imagine yourself in a hole in the wall New Orleans jazz bar. The room is dimly lit and cigar and cigarette smoke fill the air. The floor is slightly sticky, the beer is cold, a small stage is in front, and a pool table with a shark willing to play for cash is in back. Now imagine the perfect performer for the place and you got Amy Winehouse. Amy Winehouse, is a polar opposite to CoCo. She sings like she's forty years older, and her lyrics are as blues as it gets. Great music if your in a chill'in blues mood.
http://www.amywinehouse.com/
Peace out...
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