Monday, September 14, 2009

No go on the Math... But, actually I ended up with a bunch of math

I finally found my groove and I signed up for "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics / Atomic Physics" this semester at GMU. It is line with the stuff that fascinates me and keeps my interest. I am taking it with the intention to have it help me decide to go the particle physics or cosmology route. Either one I find fully fascinating, really enjoy learning about and would love the chance to work on directly.

So, I would expect even less blog updates than before. (Although I doubt their could be less than I already post.) This class is kicking my butt and I am doing a ton of catch-up math re-learning.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Times change

I have stopped updating this blog on a regular basis. I have decided to not pursue a MSTM or MBA. So, I do not have the need to practice my writing on a regular basis. I am instead pursuing a MS in Mathematics. I will still have to write a bit, but, at least I can break it up with equations. :)

Saturday, April 25, 2009

We just hang it off the back of the truck... yeah... that is how we roll.

Yesterday was a very long day. I got up and headed out the door early to go take a test at the hospital. They were checking for bacteria buildup in my intestinal tract. (Yeah, really yummy subject matter) The test involved breathing into a bag once and they take a reading of my methane and CO2 content in my breath. Then they feed me a substance and they continue to take breath readings every 20 minutes for about 4 hours.

So, I get to the hospital and they check me in with five other people and we go into the test room. In the test room is a big table, a computer for the testing, the bags we are going to breathe in, some magazines on the table and a TV that is turned up really loud on the wall. The test would’ve been bearable if it wasn’t for the TV. The lineup of shows I was subjected to were:

• Good Morning America
• Regis and Kathy Lee
• Martha Stewart

The only positive purpose any of these shows provided was that it reminded me of how important it is to have a job and be employed. There is no way I could become one of the slobs that sits at home watching TV during the day. It is truly unbearable. Good Morning America had such awful guest as the lady who has some personal vendetta against the planet and popped out eight kids all at once. They also had a midget body builder on. Those of you, who know me well, know how much I was looking forward to that. :-/ Regis and Kathie Lee were just as bad if not worse. I really do not know who or what was on that show because at that point I had found that could tune out the blaring TV by preparing my final exam for my class on my laptop. The last show was hard to ignore though. Martha Stewart is an awful speaker. She said, “uh” and “you know” so many times I was surprised that nobody got up and turned off the TV out of sheer annoyance. She also stutters. How anybody can bear to watch this show on a regular basis is beyond me.

Oh… and I forgot to mention… The two nurses who conducted the test… They spent most of the time talking to the TV and the people on it. With such great phrases as, “OH NO YOU DIDN’T!” and “WHAT? TELL ME DAT GURL DIDN JUZ SAY THAT??” It was by far the most unprofessional hospital visit I have ever had in my life.

Then I get to meet with my Gastroenterologist. The lady who checked me in mostly bitched to me about her computer. Then I get back to my doctor and he spends over half of the visit bitching about the computer system to me. One, I find it very unprofessional to be taking my expensive time for a doctor visit to listen to your unsolicited office problems. Two, how does he think that sitting there bitching to an IT guy about his computer system when I am trying to get help is going to help my stomach?!? I think one thing is fairly certain about this visit… I will be finding a new Gastroenterologist. One who has a decent computer system or at least doesn’t bitch me to me about the one he currently has.

Then I show up at my government job where I get told by my boss in not so many words that I need to slow down because I am going to finish my project way too far ahead of schedule. Ahhh…. The old bring it down to the lowest common denominator. Well, I now know my plan for the next couple weeks. I will have to bury myself in outside learning. I guess I will get a lot of reading done and I will work on my Chinese.

Speaking of reading… I am reading two very good books right now. Both are on recommend from Kane. “Against the Gods” is my reading book and “The World is Flat” is my audio book. The latter is insightful and has the added bonus of making laugh hard out loud several times. I also had a funny observation about the first one. While sitting in the test room, a few of the other people had books and were reading them. I noticed that all of the books were about their respective gods they apparently worship. The book I was reading was entitled, “Against the Gods.” I wonder if they understood that it was a book about the concept and history of risk? Or did they just think I was reading a book that was “against” their book? It was the one humorous experience from the whole test hell.

Back to work…. The last thing we did yesterday was shut down and move the EMC Symmetrix DMX1000 Storage System. It is loaded with live data and fully populated. It was sitting in our old data center which we shut down at 5PM yesterday. At that moment we had the EMC tech bring the system down and we unplugged it. We then rolled it out the door of the data center and up the sidewalk to the box truck. Being that the box is about 2000pounds, 8 feet tall and about 4 feet deep, we could not fit it into the door on our box truck. So, about 10 of us got it rolled up the steep lip of the lift gate and balanced on the lift gate. We then slowly raised the lift gate to the back of the truck. Then we had a guy in the back of the box truck with come-along straps. He hooked them to the support beams in the box truck and we wrapped them around the DMX and ratcheted it as tight as we could to the back of the truck. We then took this quarter million dollar piece of equipment about a half mile down a steep mountain road with a couple sharp switch backs. We walked behind and along the truck blocking the road off from traffic while we made the 30 minute move. When we got to the new data center we went to lower the lift gate and at this moment found that the unit was way over the limit for the lift gate. So, when we tried to lower the gate if wouldn’t lower gradually and softly. It would drop hard with each push of the button. So, we had to push the button real fast many times to “bang, bang, bang” the unit down to sidewalk level. We then had the 10 of us roll the unit off the lift gates and onto the sidewalk. The rest was pretty easy and we got it into place on the data center floor. Today will be the real test… we will try to fire it back up. I have to say that I am about 20% nervous about the outcome.

Ok. I think that is enough bitching and complaining for today. I need to go back to work and continue loading this new data center. I really wish I could post a picture for this blog entry, but, alas our government is a pretty paranoid bunch… so, this blog will have no pictures of the DMX hanging off the back of the truck. *sigh*

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Why nobody should ever aspire to be in politics in 1000 words or less

I just finished reading “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” (Yeah, I know… I am a little behind the times) It is an insightful look at the way human relationships work. I also have found that over the last half a year or so I have used some of the habits he discusses without realizing it. This gives me hope that he is on the right track with his philosophy. In that it is inherit to natural human tendencies. I also found it interesting that some of the topics he covers have roots in other books and writings I have read. He would be discussing a topic and it would tie in neatly with a teaching out of Confucius’ “The Doctrine of the Mean” or something from “Tao Te Ching” or another thing would relate well with the content in “Bhagavad Gita.” In short, I found the book to be inspiring and insightful. I would recommend it to anybody who is trying to work on honing their plan for their life and working on being an all around better human being.

This brings me to my observation of the day. I was watching Tim Geithner get grilled by the TARP Oversight Committee today. I was also thinking about what I learned in the book. One thing really stood out in the hearing today. These people in the government have no concept of how to civilly work with each other to reach a positive outcome. Habit 5 in the book is “Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood.” The concept is that you need to first understand what a person is trying to deal with before you can give them advice or direction. This isn’t just parroting what they are telling you. It is taking the time to objectively hear what they have to say and to truly understand their meaning and goals.

This was the exact opposite of what I saw in the hearing today. These committee members asked Tim to come to the hill to explain what is going on at the treasury with regards to TARP. It would seem that they would want to hear what he has to say and to try to learn some things so that they can provide better oversight. Instead the 5 committee members spend the first TWENTY-SEVEN MINUTES giving their opening statements. Then it is Tim’s turn to speak. About FIVE MINUTES into his presentation, Elizabeth Warren starts really pressuring him to wrap up. Huh? Excuse me? Why is he here? I found it just stunning. It also makes me really question what the role of this committee really is. If this is the method they are going to pursue to provide oversight to one of the biggest spending plans in the history of earth, I think we are all in for a really bad ride. They have no interest in first trying to understand the treasury’s position. They just want to grandstand and hold a court of public opinion. You would think that somebody who went to Harvard would have a little more insight into the inner workings of human relationships and how to achieve things.

It really did not get any better. Damon Silvers from the AFL-CIO (why in the hell is the AFL-CIO on a TARP oversight board? I could see UAW since they are the second most funded group in the TARP, but, not AFL-CIO. I guess the new administration has to pay back the people that put them there somehow.) started to question Geithner and he proceeds to call him a banker. There was a long back and forth as Damon tried to figure out just what Geithner does or has done all his life. What is really sad, the answer is: He has been in public service all his life. Why somebody on a congressional oversight committee cannot figure out what the person they brought to speak to them does is beyond me. Although it does take me back to that same hearing on the hill I spoke of in my last posting. That committee was overseeing US activity in the newly independent states that broke away from Russia. At one point a member had them turn around the map of the area so he could figure out which country was which. Ugh. If you were going to be serving on a committee for your country’s government to deal exclusively with a small area of the world, wouldn’t you take FIVE MINTUES to look at a map in your down time and try to learn where the countries are? God forbid you actually go further and learn a little bit about the people in those lands and where they came from. But, I am asking this of the same people who cannot figure out what the Treasury Secretary of the United States did or does for a living.

Oh well. I need to go do more productive things than to rant about something that is waaaaayyyy out of my sphere of influence. All I ask is that we as human beings try to take a few minutes each day to understand one another. I know I sure need to take a long sit-down and try to figure out these members of congress and these committee people. *sigh*

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

I just cannot find a good side to this at all

I usually like to root for the underdog that stands up against the government. I usually support anybody who is willing to take a stand for what they believe in and put themselves on the line to execute on their beliefs. But, in this following story, I cannot find any good from this at all.

Pakistani Peace Deal Gives New Clout to Taliban Rebels

All of it is just sick. How any of these people can justify their actions as being just and good for the human race, I have no idea. The only thing I could even remotely come up with to feel any compassion for them is that they are human beings and that religion can make people do some pretty messed up things. If you want to see what the flogging looked like here is a video of it that was released by the AP:

Woman flogged in Pakistan - DISTURBING FOOTAGE

While it isn't debilitating or lethal, it is so cruel and barbaric. I remember being on the hill back in 1998 for a meeting in the Senate and the issue of the Taliban came up. It was a 10 minute rebuttal from one of the committee members informing the representative from Unocal why they were not going to support building a pipeline through Afghanistan. It took him about 10 minutes of non stop talking to get through the list of atrocities that the Taliban had committed on its people and its nation in general. Nothing has changed since then. It is still a barbaric group of people and they have no business being given any kind of leniency or legitimacy.

I am 100% against going in and bombing them like so many Americans seem to be quick to want. But, I do NOT think giving them the leadership of a region of ANY country is a good idea at all. I try to tell myself that it isn’t as bad as I see it right now, that I just don’t have the big picture, nor an understanding of where these people are coming from. My problem in the end is that I cannot drum up any compassion for these people. I really hate to get to that point about anybody, but, I fear I am at that point with this group. I know that it isn’t everybody in the Swat district that is this way. It is only a select group. Unfortunately, this select group is the one that just had the power over the people granted to them. What a complete and utter disaster.

On the other hand... this story did help put in perspective the other story in the WSJ today:

Harassment Is Said to Persist at a Mint Branch

While this is a bad thing also, it does show how much better we have it here in America than in some other countries. That is not an excuse to just sit back and rest. We should still be outraged by the activities at the Denver Mint. But, it does help keep it in perspective. And possibly remind us of where we could end up if we do not stand up for what is right.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Personality Test

My wife and I both took personality test today. It was very interesting to see how we (ahem... um...) "matched" up. Wow, all I can say is... I guess opposites attract. :)

Here is mine:
Click to view my Personality Profile page

Here is my wife's:
Click to view my Personality Profile page

All I can say is wow... It makes for an interesting relationship. :) That's for sure. And the positive way to look at it is, we both bring a unique perspective to any situation.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Too much thinkin'

I had the day off yesterday and today was pretty slow at work. This fortunately or unfortunately (I am unsure at this point) this gave me a lot of time to think. I have really been trying to get my life back in order lately. I sometimes feel like I have let about a half decade slip away. I have experienced a lot of good things over the last five years, but, I feel that in many aspects of my life I am spinning my wheels. Part of this problem I think stems from a lack of direction and purpose. Here I am at 35 and I really still have no realistic idea of what I want to do with my life. I have the big dreams and goals, but, I fear that I may have let way too much time slip to really actualize any of them. This means that I need to hunker down and focus on the more obtainable and realistic goals. The big problem I face is sitting down and really assessing my values and my situation. I have some short term goals in place and I am working on them, but, they do not address the big questions. Some of the short term goals are things like get to 200 pounds and attain a graduate degree. I am 70% of the way from 300 to 200 on the weight front and I am knee deep in the graduate school process, but, these are just short term, temporary stops along the way. I still need to really figure out what I realistically want to do. *sigh* I was hoping that writing about it tonight would get the mental juice flowing and I would have some epiphany. It doesn’t appear to be the case. I guess this process will be as it should be… a long arduous journey that I will never really complete. Until then, I will just keep on chugging along, reading, studying and trying to learn from anybody and everybody I can.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Paddles! Clear! *Pop*


A friend of mine is out in Utah this week and I was wondering if there were any In-N-Out burgers out near him. Turns out they are building several in Utah right now. But, that isn't the important part of this. What I found during my research is the holy grail of In-N-Out Burgers. Check out this group of 2 girls and 6 guys who polished off a 100x100 on a crazy Halloween trip to Vegas. I am so jealous. (except for the raw patties at the end)

SuperSizedMeals

Monday, April 6, 2009

This is a public service announcement

Sometimes we don't always think things through. That was the case on Saturday afternoon for me. I decided that the wind didn't seem that bad so, I could take the Ninja out for a ride. I came up through my valley and things seemed ok. I then went east out the road for a good ways through the flat land and never felt any ill effects from any wind. Then things changed... I turned around and began to make my trip back west. At this point I came to realize that the steady 30-50MPH winds were in my face instead of at my back. This meant that the apparent wind speed of 15-35MPH when I was heading east was now an apparent wind speed of 95-115MPH. This makes riding on a small Ninja sport bike a bit hair raising to say the least. It took a good bit longer to get home than it did to leave. All I could think was that at least it wasn't a nasty crosswind. That would be much worse.

The rest of the weekend went very well. Our hockey team won 4-0 and I spent a decent amount of time relaxing around the house. We even went out for a couple nice meals over the weekend. The icing on the cake was a down S&P500 today. I have been hoping for a reversal for a few days. This is a good sign that things are going in the right direction for me. I'm just crossing my fingers for some really bad earnings reports tomorrow. Come on Alcoa! You never fail to disappoint! Do your magic!

Well, I better go rest up. I have a long day of not having to go to work ahead of me tomorrow.

Friday, April 3, 2009

All this positive stuff has me feeling queazy

I guess I just have to keep myself distracted. Every time I look at my portfolio I want to sell something. This has been such a rip to the upside over the last few weeks. I keep telling myself that it has to run out of steam at some point. There is no real substantial economic data put there that point to a real good bull run. If I spend too much time looking at the screen I just want to start selling and selling. But, for everything I have sold, it has been too early. Or at least it seems that way. I guess I just need to keep at it and keep lightening these positions. I think this is the hardest time of trading. It is easier to get out of a bad position on the way down because you stop the bleeding and feel like you have avoided sure death. On the way up, it is a whole different ballgame. Whenever you lighten a position and it continues to rip higher, you just feel like you were too antsy and to scared of success. Deep down inside I know this tear to the upside has to come to an end. If it goes on for a while longer, I think I will be sold out over everything except for a little bit in the core positions to just keep a dividend income stream flowing. Right now this sounds like a scary proposition. But, I have faith that it will get back to work on the downside. Don’t get me wrong, I like seeing a recovering economy and investor enthusiasm. I also find it a lot less painful to sell stocks that have made money instead of down position that is starting to bleed me. I just would like this latest movement to be over so I can get back to the day to day. I miss range trading CCL day after day. It was so much easier and a lot less stressful. For the time being, I am saying good-bye to some CAT, INTC and NAT. I am also continuing to walk slowly into some more SDS. Come on plummet of the S&P!!!

In other news, I got to go in the ARMORED van today. It is pretty sweet inside. It has solid metal plating all down the sides, roof and floors on the inside. The windows are all very thick bullet proof glass. The only real drawback I have found so far is the weight of the doors. They are a bitch to open and close. They have to weigh about 500lbs a piece. Luckily it is already black. So, I do not need to paint it. I do think it would look good with a stripe down the side like the A-Team van. But, that may be a little too flash and I am unsure if Zombies are attracted to flashy things. I will have to do some research….

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Some things you just gotta have...


My job has some interesting side perks occasionally. One of them came about today. We have GSA auctions occasionally at work and today’s posting caught my eye. Usually they are selling old trucks, trailers and such, but, sometimes there is a real gem that pops up. Today was just that kind of day! Listed on the GSA schedule for auction at our site was an ARMORED Ford Econoline Van. How freaking cool is that?!?!?! I know it isn’t exactly my dream vehicle of all time. (That is a BMW 750iL with the armor package that has been shot a few times while being operated in a foreign country) I am thinking I would probably gut the insides of the van and put in shag carpeting and velour drapes. It would be the ultimate mobile love machine. An added benefit would be that no girl would have to ask if I was using protection. I would just have to tap the 1-3/4” thick bullet/bomb proof walls to drive home that point.

My only obstacle at this point is getting approval from the wife. I am guessing that this blog posting should get the conversation started. I am pretty sure she reads this blog sometimes. Ok. I am off to figure out what color I should paint it. Black seems too easy….

Saturday, March 28, 2009

I guess this is what old people do....


I went to the Gastroenterologist yesterday. He checked out my stats and is now trying to narrow down what causes my stomach to be so prone to irritability. Since it has been going on for the last 20+ years he says he can rule out cancer and most ulcers and such. He thinks he can narrow it down to either a buildup of bacteria in the digestive system or the more common irritable bowel syndrome. To further narrow it down I need to come back next month and they will take a series of breath samples to determine the bacterial content of my digestive system. While sitting around in a doctor’s office for 4 hours, breathing in a bag occasionally sounds boring and tedious. I have to believe it is a much better option than a colonoscopy. I was relieved to hear that he sees no reason to do one and that I don’t need one till I am 50.

He also gave me a prescription for Hyoscyamine. It is apparently an anticholinergic sedative. Which means it relaxes the muscles in the bladder and intestines while reducing stomach acids. It is a mixture of belladonna alkaloids and barbiturates. So, I am guessing it will come with one of those warnings to not operate heavy machinery while taking. So, I guess I better lose some more weight. It would be really nice if this works to reduce or mitigate my symptoms. I guess the only way to find out is to take it and see what happens.

On a funnier note, I have some friends out visiting in the valley this weekend. The husband is on this survivalist kick and I think his wife is just along for the ride. It is pretty funny to see the suburbanites come out to the woods. I am not saying that my wife and I are die hard outdoors people. But, I will say that we have learned a lot living out in the middle of nowhere. They are technically roughing it out in the woods in the rain right now. But, once they got everything setup last night it kind of looked like a Pottery Barn catalog picture morphed with a LL Bean catalog picture. It is truly amazing how much stuff some people think they need to survive in the woods. I am thinking that if they continue down this path much longer that they will reduce their foot print considerably. Mainly because they will tire of carrying so much stuff with them to their campsite and getting it all setup. Oh well, at least it is entertaining to watch. As soon as I am done with this blog I need to go deliver them water since they accidentally let their seven gallon jug drain out last night when they left the spigot open.

Well, off to make breakfast and deliver water. Then we will see what the day has in store. I think the wife wants to blow some of our tax return windfall on a new washer and dryer. Woo hoo…. :-/

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Up is confusing

I am still chugging away on the data center move at work. There is so much to do to get this all ready, but, it is nice to have a change of priorities for a bit. I am knee deep with Linux from teaching the class, so it is nice to not have to do a lot of Linux administration at work for a bit. I’m currently setting up a bunch of servers in the new data center to do a load test of the system. It is a lot of manual labor, but, it gets me out and about and it has the added bonus of getting me in shape. I have been working like a dog carrying tons of equipment. I actually think it is starting to pay off in toning up my physique.

I am still completely torn about what to do with grad school. I think my next step is to go take the GMAT and see how I do. That should answer the rest of the big questions and then I can focus on the last few issues. It would be awesome to blow away the GMAT, but, I am sure I will do average, just like most things I try to do. I still have to give it my best shot and see what happens. Or I will always have the what-if in the back of my mind. The last thing I need is yet another what-if in my head.

Class is coming along ok. I handed back the latest quiz in class and there were a few 100s but, several Ds and Fs. I am trying to help along the slower kids without sacrificing the education of the faster students. I think I am going to give the slower students one last chance at working back into the class and then I am going to have to cut the line for them and get the pace back up to where it should be. It is frustrating to see some of them struggling along, but, at the same time it is nice to be the teacher and know that I can progress at the pace I think we should be at.

The good news this week was we got our taxes back from the accountant and for the first time in many years, we do not owe anything. We are actually getting a refund. It is just crazy to think about it. We usually owe thousands every year. This time we are getting back enough to cover the cruise. The sad side is that it is a sign of the times. I think part of the change is a realignment of deductions. But, partially it comes from our capital gains form showing capital losses this year.

On that note, it has been a perplexing last couple weeks. I have become so comfortable sitting on the positions that were upside down and just trading in and out of the SDS that I am now all befuddled with this latest strong upturn in the market. Luckily I didn’t buy too much SDS last week. But, now I am still holding it and the S&P has just gone up, up, up. I see no reason to really sell out of any of my long positions; since they are all more dividend based and core positions. I will revisit that if we break across where we were before the Fed said they had a plan coming but, no details. Which I think was still up in the mid 8000s on the Dow. Until then, I will just keep a sharp eye on the morning markets and maybe buy some more SDS in the next few days to enjoy the next leg down on the market. Who knows, I may get my wish in the morning. I have to think that politicians talking about the economy on primetime television should be good for a double short of the S&P.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

What a nice weekend

Yesterday was frustrating. I went to the Center for Innovative Technology to sit in a on a couple EMBA classes. I was hoping that this would finalize my decision to go with the Technology Management program. Unfortunately, my experience was the exact opposite. I really enjoy the classes I attended and the program looks exactly like something I would enjoy taking. The subject matter was riveting and the class structure is the kind of environment I learn best in. It was interactive and participatory.

Although it created confusion in what I wanted to do, it did help me gain confidence in one thing. I had absolutely no trouble following along with the material they were covering. This was a second year class and I had no trouble understanding where the instructor was going with his questions and what the answers were. This was a relief, because I have had some apprehension about how I would do up till now. Most of this stems from the fact that I do not have an undergrad business degree. It looks like my passion and interest for economics and finance has paid off in me learning enough over the years to do just fine in a business program.

I spent the rest of the afternoon visiting an old friend in Herdon since I was in the area. She just got FIOS and it looks really cool, but, I cannot imagine I will be using it very soon. The two main reasons I see standing in the way are: It won’t be in my area for another 10 years and we got rid of ALL of our TV service about 7 months ago and have not missed it. So, she can enjoy her 1000 channels. I will continue to enjoy the beautiful area I live in.

I picked up a new Daytimer and gave the wife back her old one. My new one has a larger 2” ring and is more along the lines of what I need. It may look like a man purse, but, it is getting the job done for me and that is what matters. We met some good friends for dinner last night and I was about 10 minutes early, so I sat at the table working on my to-do list for the next day. Needless-to-say, they teased me a good bit when they saw it. Oh well, I will just have to be comfortable with who I am and accept it.

Speaking of the Daytimer, it has really increased my productivity. Today is a great example. On sunny, warm days like today in the past, I would have just lazed around all day and not got anything productive done. Now with the planner, I can sit down in the morning and get my list of things I need to do down on paper. Then I can start knocking them out. Today I have knocked out the following this morning: Situps and Pushups, Fed the goats, Cleaned the Ninja, Cleaned the garage, tilled the garden, cut down the birdhouse, mowed down the tall grass from the old brush pile and chocked the grill on the back porch. Not a bad morning. All I have left on my list is to complete the quiz and projects for Chapter 9 in my class and to update my blog. So, I pretty much have the rest of the afternoon to truly enjoy.

Ha! The neighbor just pulled up on his four wheeler. I am assuming he is wanting to go buy hay. It is a great day for a drive. So, I am outta here.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Life is one big continual lie

It has been a week since I blogged. Alot has happened in that week, but, alot of it I cannot blog about. That is why I haven't really had any updates. As far as what I can say.... this is what went down over the last week:

My wife and I are going on the cruise. We have booked it and are in the room next to our friends. I am still a little curious how it will be, but, I think it will be fun. It has to be better than my last vacation, but, that is not setting the bar very high.

I have been back at work for a full week now. It is good to be back in the grind and things are going really well at work. My boss seems to be very pleased with me and I am getting positive feedback from people outside my group even. While this won't translate into any real financial gain, it is nice to know that you are appreciated and are doing a good job.

The boss has added to my list of responsibilities at work the title of HP Blade Expert. Thus he is sending me to Columbia, MD for 3 days of training next week. It will be nice to be back in the learning world for a few days instead of the teaching world. I have been messing around with a couple blade chassis we have at work, so I should be fairly up to speed for next week's class.

I have ridden the Ninja three times in the last two weeks. Maybe the weather is starting to make a turn and we will see some warmer weather soon.

Speaking of warmer weather... I signed up for hockey again this summer. I thought long and hard about not doing it. But, I really do enjoy it and the team I play on is a group of good guys. So, I am signed up for another season.

I am off today to attend a couple EMBA classes at GMU. I am still leaning towards the Masters in Technology Management. But, who could turn down a chance for a couple free classes in a graduate program? I think it is only fair to give each program as much consideration as possible anyway. Today should also do a good job of shoring up my decision.

OK. I better go get ready. When I have some free time I will try to get a rant in on how f-ed up the concept of a democracy is. Have a good day and enjoy the weather.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Mooooooooo


I am sitting here contemplating something I didn’t think I would be considering any time in my near future. I am considering going on a cruise with another couple at the end of May. They are really nice people and I know we would enjoy hanging out with them for the week. I just have never thought I would enjoy hanging out on a boat with a bunch of other people. I don’t like Disney World or Branson Missouri. I don’t even really like amusement parks. These experiences are just too many people being herded around doing mindless things.

In light of all that, I find it surprising that I think I would actually enjoy the concept of having nothing to do for 7 straight days. Not in that I would sit around bored, but, that I would have no set schedule or list of things I had to get done during that time. I think there would be enough things on the ship that I could do, that I wouldn’t feel totally under stimulated. I could also easily avoid the big cattle lines and heavily organized pieces if I wanted to. It may actually be really good for me to just take it easy for a bit. I could go work out in the gym and then sit in the hot tub for a bit. I could just lie in bed or sit on my balcony for the day if I wanted to. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea actually.

The destinations sound interesting also. We would be going to Grand Turk, Little San Salvador Island and Nassau. Nassau I am sure will be a zoo. But, the rest look like they would be fairly quiet and interesting. I don’t think I would enjoy the shore side planned activities, but, I would enjoy just getting off the boat and wandering off onto the island. My only regret is that we wouldn’t be going to the Dominican Republic. I have always wanted to go there, but, I am sure I can get another opportunity since one of my good friend’s mother built a house there and lives full time.

Well, we will see. For the meantime, my quizzes from Wednesday and graded and put up on the blackboard for the students. I am going to bed. It was a long day out shooting on the range and visiting the pig.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

And the beat goes on

It is official; I am now back on contract at my job. I will find out tomorrow how long this extension is for. Regardless of length, it is nice to have a steady income stream again. The hardest part will be getting back into a routine. I have been slowly getting up later and later as I went through the week. Tomorrow I will have to actually get up and go to work on time. It will be very nice to not have to commute into the city tomorrow. That part I will not miss.

In general, everything seems to be going pretty well right now. It is such a change from the beginning of the week. On Monday I was trying to find out why I still did not have a contract, picking through the wasteland of an office space where everybody was laid-off and the market was absolutely in the dumper. Now I have a new lease on my career life, I am almost wrapped up with the vulture fest down in the city and the market is screaming to the upside.

On another happy note, I had lunch today with a friend who is back in school, working on her undergrad. She declared her major this week and is going down the finance route. It was really good to have a chance to bounce my thoughts off her today and to listen to what she has experienced along her journey over the last few months. I was relieved to find out she had toyed with Economics as her major. This gives me comfort to know that I am not alone in this desire and that maybe I am not completely out of my gourd to want to get a doctorate in Economics at some point. Who knows....

I know she occasionally peeks at this blog, so I want to congratulate her on her endeavor. I think it will set her on an exciting and interesting chapter in her life.

Well, I better go grade quizzes. I'm sure my students are interested to see how they did on the exam. I am just as interested to see how they did. I was concerned that this quiz may have been a bit hard. But, from what I have glanced at they seem to be doing alright on it. We will see when I am done grading.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

A different kind of capitulation


Lately the only real capitulation I have felt is in the stock market. Unfortunately, this has happened a few times over the last year. This morning one year ago today for example... The cost to insure $10Million of Bear Stearns Debt in Credit Default Swaps shot past $1Million. Two days later they were sold off to JP Morgan for pennies on the dollar. Those types of moments were real capitulation moments for me and the market.

Today I am feeling a different kind of capitulation. I took a job contracting with the government last October. At the time, the market was about to have its biggest down move in... um... ever… and my employer at the time had no sign of turning their ship around in the next... um... never. These two things told me it was time to move to a job where I could hedge the down side as much as possible. Nothing said stability to me like working for the government. I could take a job that is actually half way interesting, a decent commute and would be stable and secure. Unfortunately, I was really really wrong about the last part of that. This job has been about as far from stable as it could ever be. I have yet to go a couple months without some kind of funding issue with my position. This leaves me on the brink of being on the street at any moment. I also have no way to do any long term planning. My current experience is what I would like to think is the nadir of this whole thing, but, what if it isn't? The longer this drags out, the less optimistic I feel about a new contract being signed. And even if one is... how long will it last? Will it go to just June 30th like many of the others? Or will it go out to all the way to the end of September? Either length isn't really much to hang your hat on. Both put me back in this situation again in a short time.

I think the saddest part of this is that it comes at the same time I would have probably been released from my previous employer. Yesterday they had a big round of layoffs and I would have picked up a severance out of that. So, now I am without severance and looking at the same boat. Just another great example of how I make some of the worst choices possible in my life.

Oh well, I guess I will go back today and continue to pack up the laid-off people’s stuff and wait to see if some anonymous faces downtown will sign a contract to give me another lease on life for a few more months. I think the other plan today is to find another job. I have no idea where or doing what, but, I better figure it out. And figure it out quick.

I know that out of great adversity comes great opportunity. I really need to start searching for that opportunity.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Oh joy. I am on vulture patrol.


Boy do I have alot to catch up on. It has been a crazy few days. I will try to go in topic order since chronological will be all messy.

I am still sorta not employed kinda sorta. I am still employed by my employer but I still have no project code to bill to. I am currently billing to overhead each day. The contract is still not signed. It is starting to get me a little concerned. Even more depressing is the work they have me doing while I wait for my contract to be renewed so I can access my job site again. I have the joy of cleaning up an office of my employer where everybody was laid off. I am going through and shutting down all of the equipment and packing it up for shipping back to our main worksite. So, you are thinking it can't get more depressing than that? Wrong. I do not have access to the building, so as a stop gap. They gave me the badge of one of the laid off people to use for access. It is just sad. I have to look at his mug every time I go to badge through a door. I do not know the guy at all, but, I sure feel bad for him. Nothing says vulturing an empty office like using the laid-off guys badge for access.

I did have a good time over the weekend; when I kept my mind off the job situation. The wife and I week ended in the city. We had a series of events evenly spaced out over Saturday and Sunday down in Northern Virginia, so we got a hotel room at the Courtyard. This became our base of operations for the weekend.

We went to an information session for GMU's MS in Technology Management on Saturday morning. It was a very good experience. We got to peek in on a couple classes in session and they introduced us to the two class co-leads of the junior class. One of the students had followed a very similar decision tree to the one I am dealing with and he ended up in the tech-man program. I think this is a good sign that it is the way I should go. I have a pro and con list in my Daytimer now and it is leaning heavily to the tech-man over the EMBA. I still plan to go sit in on a couple EMBA classes in two weeks, but, in the meantime I am going to keep myself busy by working on my application for the tech-man program.

We went to a fun party on Saturday night for my hockey wife. She turned 30, so she is not part of us old people. I had a chance to grab lunch with her today and it looks like she is fully recovered from the debauchery on Saturday night.

On Sunday we had a really nice lunch at Charcoal Kabob with good friends. Unfortunately, I found out that the husband got laid off at his job of 15 years last week. The good news is that he will get enough severance to make it through the end of the year. That should give him enough time to find a new job. He had a good idea it was going to happen, but, I am sure he is disappointed to see the good run come to an end. He is a smart guy with alot of experience, so he should do well out looking on the market.
Sunday ended on a bit of downer as we lost our hockey playoff game 8-3. I was thinking about not playing next season so I could concentrate on all of the other things I need to get done. But, I have decided that the hockey is very therapeutic and is a good break from the rigors of everything else. So, I am going to sign up for another season. I am even looking forward to it.

Well, I have rambled enough for tonight. I am going to go get crap done so I can get up late and wander into a job I really don't want to do. Have a good night and keep shorting that market!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Can haz job? Mebbe?

I am now sort of employed again. The contract still hasn't been signed, but, I do not have to burn vacation days. They are letting me charge to overhead while I wait for the new contract. I will be going into my company's main office on Monday so I have something to do. At least this ensures that I will still be getting paid through all of this.

Last night I attended an informational seminar on the different graduate programs for the George Mason School of Management. It was informative, but, I am still up in the air on what I want to do. Both their EMBA and MSTM programs are very interesting.

The EMBA is more expensive, takes longer and has a staggered schedule, but, it has some very interesting qualities. One of those is the fact that it has 3 residencies; one in Asia, one in London and one in New York City. I think all of those would be very educational and informative. The NYC residency would be fascinating in that you would get some exposure to the workings of the (still) financial capitol of the world.

The Masters in Technology Management would still give me exposure to economics, finance and accounting, while costing much less and taking less time to get. It also has the bonus of being only on Saturdays. So, it would work with about any job I would have in the future. Its drawbacks are that it would not get as deep into the business topics as an EMBA. It also has only one residency. Although this year it was in Dubai! That would make up for the lack of the other 2 residencies.

Tomorrow, I am attending an informational session specifically for the MSTM degree. It will be on campus at GMU and will have current students in attendance. So, this will be a good chance to drill down into that program deeper. I am also setting up a visit to the EMBA program. I am going to sit in on a class and then go out to lunch with the group at the end. Hopefully, these two events will help me push forward to making a decision.

One thing I think I have decided on is, unless I blew the cover off the GMAT (770+) I think I will be going to GMU. I would still love to go to Wharton, Kellogg or Booth, but, I am sure it would be a long shot to even imagine getting to go to one of those institutions. But, I can still dream... and besides, it gives me some motivation to study for the GMAT.

Oh, and on an unrealted note... I just have to say. Dropping down from 300 pounds to 230 pounds has made clothes shopping alot more enjoyable. Except when you just happen to walk into Brooks Brothers and try on a Sport Coat that makes even ME look good. Then it is just painful. $585 *sigh*

Thursday, March 5, 2009

And the drama continues

I am (once again) in a pickle at work. My contract that I am currently working on ended yesterday. The contract is up for extension and just needs a couple signatures to be extended. But, it is the government, so it is taking forever to complete. This means that I have no project to charge my hours to, so I essentially have no job. I am still being paid by my contracting employer, but, I cannot go into work. It is like a mini-vacation without a clear prospect of whether I will have a job starting next week. This makes it a little harder to enjoy it as a mini-vacation.

My way of handling it right now is I am going to the joint graduate information reception for GMU at the Tower Club tonight in Tyson's Corner. I am also going to work on lining up some temporary work back in the oil industry in case I need something to keep me busy for a short term till I can go back to work. I also think I will go for a hike tomorrow to relax.

This also gives me a chance to take a little time to work on my investment positions. I got a nice bounce off the China news yesterday because I had increased my positions in the energy and materials trade the day before yesterday. It is nice to sometimes get it right occasionally.

Speaking of making money... I won my weight loss contest at work and I picked up $320 for the efforts. I think I will end up just putting the money in my savings account. But, it would be fun to spend it. I had aspirations to go to NYC over my spring break, but, the wife is showing resistance to the idea. So, I think it will just end up in the savings account. I guess it isn't the worst place for it to go.

Well, even though I am unemployed, I have a busy day ahead of me. I just have some extra time to get everything done today. :)

Monday, March 2, 2009

Bleh

I feel pretty blah today. I think it is a combo of eating stuff I shouldn't have yesterday, a market that won't stop going down (depressing even with SDS doing well), the continuing cold of winter and just general thinking about becoming 40 soon. It all combines to a good case of the blahs.

I think the main root of it has been me thinking too much about all of the cool things I have missed out on in life because I talk myself out of them. The main issue is my lack of desire to travel. (especially air travel) I don't understand it. I used to have no problem flying anywhere, then I couldn't do it at all for a while, then I got better and now I am back to just not wanting to do it again. I am really going to focus on taking one overseas trip in the next 6 months. If I am going to do 95% of the things I want to do I need to get this whole issue out of the way.

I think losing weight and getting my stomach in better shape would go a long way, so I am really focusing on that part now. I am down from ~300lbs to ~235lbs so I have to imagine that would help. I also am working with my doctor to get the stomach issues under control. I guess the next step is to pull the trigger and hop on a commercial flight to somewhere.

Ugh. It just sucks.

Friday, February 27, 2009

The problem with dating strippers


Today I am pondering exactly how some of these handy little ETFs I like to trade actually work. For those of you not exactly in the finance game, an ETF is an Exchange Traded Fund. You can get a good primer on it in wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange-traded_fund

My investigation has actually left me a little skeptical and nervous. I find them to be good trading vehicles to take advantage of market movements where I would never have the ability to trade nor the tolerance for risk to directly invest in. But, I do not think most of them are a good long term investment strategy.

The best way for me to hash this out is to make a pro and con list. First I will start with the positives:
+ A much safer way to short an index or just about anything. Compared to actually shorting an equity where you could end up owing mountains of money, the worst that can happen owning a ETF is it goes to zero.
+ Allows you to get a broader exposure to markets with a smaller investment.
+ Can be bought and sold in 15 second increments. Much better than a mutual fund. Mutual Funds only trade at the end of the day.
+ Their operating expenses are lower than most mutual funds and are alot cheaper than trying to buy and sell all 500 stocks in the S&P by yourself.
+ You can utilize leverage against just the movement of an index.
Now the negatives (these answers will be longer because this is what I am trying to figure out):

- Arbitrage is risky. Especially when it is done on large scales. Just think of the crash in 1998 and what happened to Long Term Capital Management(LTCM). In September 1998 they lost $4.6 Billion in arbitrage gone horribly wrong. I know that arbitrage is one of the great ways that ETFs stay in check and return to fair prices, but, with so many ETFs out there, this has to expose risk to other arbitrageurs going after the same piece of the action. This would mean that the faster computers are going to win each time. Thus, if you get on an ETF that doesn't have the edge, you could potentially get hosed on one of those transactions.
- ETFs are exempted from the Investment Company Act of 1940. This makes them very similar to a hedge fund in that they can use derivatives. That is a short path till you get into Credit Default Swaps and Credit Default Options which we have heard enough horror stories over the last few months to see how risky these can become. AIG needing $85Billion to just not go under, $7.2Billion at SocGen for futures mis-use... the list goes on and on...
- Volatility can be a real bitch on the long term performance of an ETF. If volatility of the market is high (think the VIX) then the deviation of the performance of the ETF from the index it is tracking will be greater.
- The whole bubble aspect. Whenever this much money moves into one place, eventually something will cause the bubble to pop. It can't go up forever. By the middle of 2008 there were 680 ETFs in the US with $610Billion in assets. Something will eventually have to give.
- And then the last one which is the foundation of why I think ETFs are good short term trades but leveraged ETFs, in particular, are terrible long term investments is because: These leveraged funds are designed to give a positive or negative multiple of an index on a daily basis and NOT for greater periods of time. Thus, the fund will not return a simple multiple of an index's return for much longer than periods of one day. This is the reason why so many of the short oil ETFs did not track along with the plunge in crude last year.

So, as much as I love my SDS (ProShares Ultra Short S&P 500)... I doubt I could ever bring myself to hold on to it for more than a few days at a time. No matter how bad the market looks for the next month, quarter, year, decade.

I will end with the great observation from Fast Money trader Jeff Macke: They’re not for buy and hold. ETFs such as the SDS are like dating a stripper, he says. “It’s fun but it’s not going to end well.”
I think that pretty much sums it up.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Still clinging to their guns and god....

Everyday I see stories about the outrage people have that bank executives are being paid at all and that they still have corporate outings in a time of financial crisis in their sector. There is the large argument on who is to blame and what responsibility each of us carry for this mess. But, that is not my issue today.

I want to focus on the strange inequity in the country and how the average American deems something to be just and fair. That inequity rears its head in the form of NASCAR. If I am correct, GM took $13.4 billion of tax payer money just recently to stay afloat. Chrysler took $4 billion in bridge loans also. At the same time they are going to be spending an estimated $25 million a year to have race cars go around in a circle. Aside from the outlay of taxpayer money to fund these events, this does nothing to help the environment and reduce gas consumption. I do not see how GM and Chrysler having corporate tents and sponsorship at these events is a good use of our tax dollars.

It seems as if this is something that the average American should be outraged about. But, you don't hear any outcry about it. Instead the average American is all up in arms that the oncoming CEOs of failed banks may get a salary as they try to lead these institutions back into solvency. I understand the anger over somebody who drove the banks into the ground getting a bonus, but, most of them are gone. Most of the people that the American public want to punish are the people who have come in to try to fix things.

On top of that, NASCAR itself is getting direct bailout money in addition to the money from the bailed out auto industry. They are getting $128 million to revamp some of their racetracks around the country as part of the stimulus plan.

Guess this is how a democracy works....

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Happy Rant


Last week I was inspired by an old college classmate to go hike the ridge above my valley. It turned out to be a stunning place and now I just keep wanting to go back.

I went on Saturday morning again with a friend, her dog and my dog. We had a great time and the weather was great. She summed up the experience best... She said that outings like that remind her of why she lives where she lives. I completely agree.

It is really amazing how nice of an area I live in. Sometimes you just get so into the grind of things that you forget to take the time to enjoy what you have. This inspired me to write a little about where I live and why I like it here.

I love the silence and seclusion of my valley. I love the trails and the wilderness that is around me on all sides. The creek that flows out of this valley into the Shenandoah River is as gorgeous as anything I have seen in the Rockies. My neighbors all around me are friendly and nice folk. We also have a great mix of people in the valley and they all add to the fascinating fabric. The wildlife is abundant and we are surrounded by untouched National Forest. The weather is always interesting and can make some mornings just breathtaking. On clear nights I can stand out in the yard and see a shooting star gauranteed in 5-10 minutes no matter what. You can also see the milky way very clearly and most of the major constellations. The pond is great and is so nice to swim in during the heat of the summer. During the winter when the weather is right, nothing is better than pond hockey. All in all, it is truly a wonderful place.

That isn't to say it doesn't have its struggles. We have frozen sump lines sometimes in the dead of winter. Gnats invade the valley in the summer and are annoying. To get ANYTHING not available at the general store it is 20 minutes minimum. We have zero cell service within 15 miles of the house.

But, all of these seem pretty minor when you are sitting up on that cliff hundreds of feet above the narrow passage below.

Well, that is my happy "rant" for the day.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

I'll let the president of the EU speak for me





It is nice to see that they care enough to send a letter to the governor. But, I am afraid it won't matter much. Folks round here just love frying a black man. Sad.....

Man do I hate the death penalty. It makes me sad to be a member of this state and country.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Maybe a compromise?


I have a good job and the work I do is interesting.... but....

I feel like I am in a rut. I am tired of dealing with the same IT issues over and over again. I feel like I could do more with my life than fix Linux systems. I know it is a pretty glamorous job and one that many Windows Admins would dream of doing. But, it isn't really as glamorous as it looks on TV.

To remedy this, I think the only route is through grad school. I was seriously pursuing the EMBA program when I was at AOL. But, now I am going to have to throttle back that ambition a bit. I still would like an MBA more than any other degree out there, but, I fear that they are now just a dime a dozen. So, I went off searching for something outside of the MBA tract, but, still interesting to me.
I think I may have found it in the George Mason School of Management. They offer an MS in Technology Management. This would give me the MBA exposure I wanted while giving me a degree in something other than an MBA. It is also in a field I have a good bit of experience in to boot! I have signed up for the March 7th information session. This should be a good opprotunnity to find out what the program is really like and to meet some of the current students and faculty.

Last week I purchased a GMAT review book. I am going to work on a time to take the GMAT in March. I think that regardless of whether the MSTM program is a fit for me or not, I need to get the GMAT out of the way so I can work on applying for whatever program I finally decide on.

The MSTM has a possible start date of Jan. 2010. I think this may be a bit aggressive, but, we will see what I can get done between now and then.

The other bonus to this is that my wife is a Mason grad... So, I am sure she would approve of my school choice. ;)
Ok. Off to bed. I need to get up early so I can be at class on time tomorrow. I am going over inodes and hard and soft links tomorrow. So, it may be a long class.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Coding leads to distractions

Sometimes when I write code I just need to step away and let what I am doing simmer for a bit. When I come back to it I am fresh and ready to keep plugging along. That is where I am right now. I am writing a bunch of scripts to automate hardening of systems at work. It is coming along, but, it is tedious and I just need to stop for a bit. The good thing is, I finally have an excuse to take a break for a few minutes and update my blog. You would think that I was shipped off to Pakistan after the meeting based on how I have been updating my blog lately.

I went to my new contractor's orientation on Monday and it was actually fairly interesting. They are a huge company with alot of opportunities. I even have some interest in staying on with them even if my current job moves to another contract. I have only been officially working for them for 2 weeks, but, I have interacted with them frequently ever since I got up here. They treat everyone very well and to boot... when I put in my salary requirements, they came back with a number above what I asked! That is a good way to make a happy employee. So, we will see. I am sure I will have to make a decision by the summer. But, I like my options at this point.

The weight loss is chugging along. When we started the contest I was at 267. My latest weighing at home has me at 241. So, I think it is working out so far. I am happy with the results, but, I still struggle with it at times. But, the longer I do it, the easier it is to keep up. Tomorrow we have a double date for Valentine's Day. That should be fun and a change. I just need to watch my food intake. Since we are doing Japanese Steakhouse, I plan to avoid the grill and just have Sashimi. It should be filling and delicious, so that should do the trick.

Class is plugging along. I gave them their second quiz on Wednesday. Just glancing at it, they seemed to do alright. Nobody aced it, but, I think I am being fair in my questions. I will see how it is once I have all of them graded. At that point I may need to change the scale a little bit. But, we will see. It is one of the advantages of doing a class for the first time. I can adjust as I go because I have nothing to base it on outside of what I am doing.

On the should be happy, but, is just plain frustrating front.... My wife and I have some major purchases that we need to make in the near future. I am trying to budget it all out, but, of course we just won't have enough money when it is all said and done. That is just the way it is. There are three items we need, I will list them in increasingly expensive order:
- New Washer and Dryer
- Decent personal laptop for me
- Pickup Truck

Needless-to-say, the washer and dryer are important because it makes our lives ALOT easier. We are just going to have to decide on whether to go with the front loading washer to cut down on water consumption, but, pay more.

The laptop isn't an absolute necessity, but, it is a pain borrowing my wife's Mac whenever I need to be on the road or something. I can't use my work laptop for really anything due to the nature of my job and the security on it. So, I need to break down and actually buy myself one. I have not done this in years, so I am not sure. I would be happy to get a MacBook Pro, but, they are waaaay to expensive to buy for myself. I think I am going to end up buying an HP or Similar with the 17" screen. I guess I will have to get Windows on it. But, I plan to blow that away as soon as I get it. After that it comes down to what flavor of Linux I want to put on it. We will see....

The truck is (of course) the big one. Sometimes I think, "eh, I will just get a small truck and save money." But, if I do that I fear that I will tire of it after a couple years and want to sell it and buy something else. I might as well buy what I really want. I started out wanting the F-250 so I could really haul stuff, but, after a while I have settled on the F-150. I want a SuperCrew and I want the longest bed I can get with it. After that, there is a long list of items I want, but, I would be flexible if it meant getting the price down. The deals right now are awesome, so I may be buying it sooner than I planned. The other thing that is pushing up my decision is that it looks like the interest off of the purchase would be deductible. This means I would WANT to finance it instead of saving up and paying with cash. I am going to keep looking and doing my homework, but, I plan to be ready to make the purchase as soon as the time is right and the situation makes sense. I was hesitant to make the purchase with an uncertain job outlook, but, now I feel that I am looking at steady employment here for the next few years I am more inclined to make the purchase.

Ok. Back to coding. They want me to do some work with an Avaya system. Ugh... friggin phones. :)

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Should be a fun day


Today is shaping up to be a pretty enjoyable day. It is going to be in the upper 50s, we have an interesting lyceum this morning and I have a bunch of friends coming over to shoot, skate and hang out this afternoon.

I am especially looking forward to the lyceum. It is a lecture series we hold here in the valley and it always has excellent speakers. Well, except for that one guy who talked about oil last year, he (me) was a little suspect. Today's speaker is Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin who was the former ambassador to Pakistan and is now President of the Middle East Institute. She was ambassador to Pakistan during 2001-2003, so, I'm sure she will have some very interesting stories and insight on what happened there during that time and what is going on right now.

Pakistan is such an interesting country. It is not even twice the size of California, but, it has over 5 times the population. It sits at the crossroads of just about every ancient civilization on earth. The people there can trace their ancestry back to Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Greek, Scythian, Hun, Arab, Mongol, Persian, Baluchi, and Afghan roots. It is such a diverse country, yet it is heavily Muslim (95%) and a majority Sunni (75%). It is a fairly undeveloped country, but, a nuclear power. It has been in a constant war for the last 2000 years and will probably be in one for the future due to its geographic location. So many countries would like to own and influence this section of the world due to its access to so many other places. The only way I see Pakistan being able to break the cycle of violence around it and thrust upon it is to make major gains economically. With the size of workforce available, the location of the country and the natural resources available to it, it should be able to climb up to first world status with the right goals, direction and leadership.

It has done the first most important step. It is no longer a militarily ruled country. Musharraf stepped down they now have an elected Prime Minister. This wasn't till after the main candidate was assassinated and yet another constitutional crisis. This trimming of the military's power will help redirect the goals of the country and bring many aspects of the country back under private control. While it will be a slow and sometimes unstable process, it will have some really good results in the end.

The second step is to get their economy back under control. It had a good run from 2001-2007. This was spurred by large amounts of aid in the beginning and a steady flow of foreign investment after that. They saw a GDP growth of 6-8% and even more importantly for the war on terror, a drop of 10% in the poverty levels. Unfortunately, the commodity boom of 2007-08 hurt Pakistan's economy and devalued their currency significantly. They are now seeing a spike in inflation from all of the spending over the last few years too. (America could learn alot from the right now) Inflation jumped from 7.7% in 2007 to 20.8% in 2008! Not a good sign for spurring growth and foreign investment. I am going to guess they are going to have to go to the IMF for more conditional loans if they haven't already. From this aspect, Pakistan stands at a tenuous juncture with the US. They really need the aid and support we offer, but, they are also afraid that one day we will back out, or they will be forced to give up the aid. (i.e. our continuously increasing raids into their sovereign soil) Hopefully, this issue will be addressed and a solution will be hammered out by the new administration. This is one glimmer of hope I see in the message of "change." I really hope that the US's policies with Pakistan "change." We need to cease the raids into their country, we need to help them financially wherever possible and we need help them where we can without them becoming dependent on us, nor having to answer to our directives.

I really think that with a strong economy, most of their other problems will stand down. They would become a viable trading partner with India which would do more to ease tensions than any peace talks. They would become a positive and guiding role for some of the other undeveloped countries in their region. It would help squash the rebellions in the NorthWest territories and bring that part of the country back into rule of Islamabad. It would also decrease the number of unemployed youth in the country and cut off some major feeding grounds for the less than desirable elements in the world.

Ok. I think I have rambled enough today. It was good to type out my thoughts so I could be more informed today during the talk. I really look forward to it and I will share any interesting insights when I get back.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Working on my resume

Since they are going to cap the pay of executives who work for companies taking TARP money, I imagine that alot of them will be hitting the exits shortly. While they may not find a $500,000/year salary acceptable...

I do.

So, I would like to use this moment to announce my intention to sign on as the CEO of one of the TARP banks. I think I am going to start with a resume and cover-letter to Citigroup. I was a heavy shareholder for quite some time and have a decent understanding of the structure and organization of the company.

I want to write more... but, I need to go work on my cover-letter. If anybody has any good ideas of what to put in it, I am all ears. :)

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

My name is Chubby

Sorry for the long hiatus. It was a fairly busy weekend and I am finally back to a decent level of rest and have most of my pressing stuff done at the farm, so I can actually blog tonight. Besides, I sorta blogged on Facebook this weekend by writing 25 things about me. It probably wasn't the most uplifting or inspiring list. But, that's what you get when you write it at 5AM.

On a humorous note, I went bowling this weekend. I hadn't done that in years. I started out with a pretty poor showing but, I rolled a 167 in the second game. So, not too embarrassing in the end. It was 10 pin, so it wasn't as much fun as duck pin. But, I made do and the company we bowled with were fun. I also got to wear one of my bowling shirts and insist that I be called "The Dude." So it was all good.

We also did a Super Bowl party at a couple friend's house. We had a really good time and I even got a little jumping on the trampoline time. The game was actually interesting AGAIN this year. I am starting to imagining myself getting excited to watch the actual Superbowl game one year. Nah...

I also made an announcement at lunch on Saturday. I have decided to go back on the Atkins diet. I have done it before and it got me down from 298 to around 210. I slowly gained the weight back on right up to the 300 mark around the middle of last year. I then brought it back down to around 260 by last October. But, I have been hovering around there ever since. This contest at work gave me the spark to get things going again. I cut my calories and shed some weight fairly well. But, I just don't think I can maintain it with the calorie method. It is too hard to decide what to eat and to not cheat. So, I have switched to Atkins and I have stuck with it since Saturday with little difficulty. I have finally pushed through the 250 barrier I had been trying to get through for a while. I really hope to continue to push this month and get through the 240 barrier by the end of it. Then I can continue to work at a good pace towards my main goal of 210.

I think Atkins isn't too bad for me due to my diet habits in the first place. I think most people picture a steak when they think of Atkins. But, I am not a real steak fan. I prefer meat in this order:
- Fish
- Fish
- Vegetables made to resemble meat
- Chicken
- Pork
- Other fowl (except for Turkey)
- Beef
- Turkey

So, with that preference tree. I actually eat a decent amount of healthy food on Atkins. My diet ends up mostly consisting of: Fish, Vegetables, Salads and Chicken. Which I would say isn't too bad. So, I will give this a run and work it with lots of exercise and see where I can get to. Maybe I can stay in this and stay focused and eventually get down to my dream weight of 185. But, that is a loooong ways off.

And to close, I will add an update on my current employment status:

I am now with a new contracting company doing the same job. I started on Monday. This contract is good through 3/4/09. We will see what happens then... or before then...

Thursday, January 29, 2009

I'm no economist... but...

I sure would like to take a couple economics courses. There is nothing like a world-wide financial meltdown to really get you interested in a subject like that. I have always enjoyed markets and business, but, recently it is just fascinating. Every time I turn around there is something else that perplexes me. I would really like to learn more to assist in figuring it all out.

Take this "bad bank" idea... So, the US government wants to take $1-2 TRILLION to fund a bank to hold all of the bad assets (mortgage backed securities and such). This will get those assets off of the current banks books and free them up to be clean, money lending institutions again. In a 5 second snippet this sounds great. But, where does this money come from? I know they would want to use the rest of the TARP money, but, that still leaves us looking for well in excess of a TRILLION dollars to fund the rest of it. Where would that come from? The only place I could see it coming from is the issuance of government debt. Thus the government would be called upon to buy this stuff and from that they would be MONETIZING DEBT.

There is only one time when that worked... WWII. (See my previous blog about how that would work in the current world situation "Party Like It's 1929") Unless we started or got engaged in a World War or implemented price controls like some 4th world despot-run country, we would rapidly increase the money supply. This would shove down the value of a dollar to lows we have never seen before. That would HAVE to force interest rates higher and any chance we ever had of a recovery would be out the window.

To make matters even worse... You could say to yourself at this point, "Hey! I will buy gold! That way I would be in a sweet spot when the US Dollar tanks (further than it has)!" Ummm... I don't think that would work out as well as you imagine. What currency would the world turn to instead? The Euro? Which is in the same boat and in for a possibly rockier ride than the dollar? The rubble (oops I mean ruble!) Ha ha ha! I'm not even going to bother explaining how many ways that wouldn't happen. The Yuan? Even with China's progress in their economy, they are far from being able to float a currency on the world market. This means that there is nowhere to go with your gold "investment."

In an effort to not have this be one giant negative posting... I do have to say, "Way to go Ford!" It was very nice to see a company doing what it should. Borrowing when they needed to and spending wisely. It was comforting to hear at least one company who is having a very hard time announce that they do not have any intention to get government bailout money.

Makes me want to go out and buy an F-250 Supercrew with the logn bed to support them! :)

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Kinda... sorta... maybe...

Today was a a snow day in some sense of the concept. I went to work on an hour delay. The drive was awful, but, I took it slow and made it there. The reward for going to work today was that liberal leave was available. So, that meant there were only 5 people in my department today. This meant I was able to get done all of the things I had needed quiet concentration to complete. Then about 11AM I got the best news of the day! The college had canceled all classes for the day AND evening. Which meant I didn't have to teach! woo hoo!

It isn't that I don't want to teach. It just gives me some time to continue to get ahead in developing my presentations. Since I am making the curriculum up as the class goes along I can be flexible with what we need to complete to finish the course. I can move a bit around and cut some material out and still hit my stated course objectives in the syllabus. So, a day off here or there is great. I won't tell my students that I liked the day off. I want them to keep focused and moving forward. ;)

I also finished grading my first quiz and it looks like we are on track. The results were:
9 - A's
7 - B's
2 - C's
2 - D's
1 - F (Didn't show up, so they fail the quiz)

It looks like my distribution is reasonable and the majority are at least sort of on track. We start to get into the real hands-on portion starting next week. So, I think that should really start to separate the group out. We will see how they handle working with the CLI.

I also picked up a Chinese Coach for my DS today. I have been trying to learn some basic Chinese for a while. I have a good book I practice in for writing characters, but, I don't have anything for help with pronunciation. Hopefully this will help on that front.

To close this evening... I would like to give a shout out to all my old co-workers at AOL. I know that the news today wasn't exactly uplifting. But, I still think there are alot of good things going on there and it is a great group of people. 10% isn't as bad as it could be. Besides, most every person I have worked with there is a pretty smart cookie and would do well in just about any position in any company. I wish you all the best of luck and I will keep my fingers crossed that the ones who want to stay, get to. And the ones who want a change in their career will get the opportunity with a nice severance. :)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Not how I wanted to get here... but...


I mentioned a few days back about how I accidentally scanned a large portion of our network. Well, it has finally played out and strangely enough... in my favor! I gave a presentation today to several muckity-mucks at work on what we did and how the tool works and they are very interested in using it on purpose for good. I now have a nice high-profile assignment at work and it is a very interesting one. So, things are looking good on the job front. Not exactly the route I wanted to take to get there (Last week was pure hell), but, I will take it.

The weather today was awful. I left on very icy/snowy roads and it took about 2 hours to get to work. On the way home the road off the mountain was fine and all of the roads to the top of my valley were fine. But, as soon as I started into the national forest it started to sleet hard and the road was completely untreated all the way home. So, it was slow going getting back to the house. Now I am just waiting to see if my work is delayed or canceled tomorrow. The college is already on a delay till noon. So, there is hope that my class tomorrow will be canceled and I can use the extra time to work on getting further ahead of my class as far as presentations go.

We also started a bet at work. (We gamble on anything and everything at work) We all put $20 a piece in this morning and then weighed in on a scale in the warehouse. We are competing for one month to see who can lose the most percentage of weight. This came about because we decided we should bet on something healthy for once. The pool is somewhere between $200-300, so this should be interesting! I had a piece of baked chicken and steamed veggies for lunch. I had a salad with some pork on top of it tonight with 0 calorie dressing. So, day one is complete!

Well, sled riding and hiking in the snow this evening sorta wiped me out. So, I think I am off to bed.

Oh! And the wife finished my "Jayne Hat" today! I am soooo stoked!

Monday, January 26, 2009

I'm not jealous... I am in awe....

I had a pretty nice weekend. The wife and I spent it in the big city. We checked the dog in at the kennel and headed into Arlington. We stopped in Fair Oaks and bought a bunch of tea supplies. (Which reminds me... I should go make some tea!) Ah... ok. where was I? Oh yeah! So, we went down to Arlington and checked into the Courtyard for the weekend. Walked up the street for some really good Thai food and then back to the hotel for a couple hour nap. Then it was off to the party. It was a really nice party in a really nice house in Arlington and we had a really good time. Although, while I was there I had a very interesting conversation.

I was standing around talking to the host for a bit and ended up asking him what he did for a living. He responded that he worked for AOL up to 2000. (mind you he is about the same age as me) I asked him what he has done work wise since then. To make a long story short... not much. He retired in 2000 at approximately 28 years old! Now that is the way you do it! He realizes he may have to go back to work someday when he is older. But, he is enjoying the retired life while he still has his youth. What a great way to do it. I wasn't jealous of his situation. I was just in awe. That is such a great way to do it!

Unfortunately, the party wasn't all fun and happiness. There was good food (the buffalo chicken dip was out of this world) and great people, but, we were there for a sorta sad situation. Adam and Jenny, two really great people have to leave the US and move back to Ireland. We will all miss them very dearly and I hope they are happy and enjoy being back with their families in their home country. I think we will be visiting them this summer or the next. I plan to make it a two-fer trip and visit them and my good friend Jason over in Brussels in one trip. We will see...

After the party we walked the two blocks back to the hotel, ordered room service and crashed. I was so lazy the next morning. I got up at 10:00AM and wandered downstairs for some breakfast in the lobby. Then I went back upstairs and took a nap. Finally I got a shower, checked out around noon. We then met the gang for brunch at Witlows. We had a really good brunch and we will really enjoyed everybody's stories and company. The highlight of brunch was Jenny laughing at Mandi's story about her pig dying from a ruptured bladder. The look on Jenny's face after she realized she really really shouldn't be laughing at this was really priceless and we all got a good chuckle out of it. I am very sorry for Mandi's loss, but, I hope she can find some comfort in the fact that her pig's death can bring so much amusement to Jenny. :)

We left brunch and I was a total girl, spending over $300 on a couple pair of shoes. But, they are nice and I really needed some casual dress shoes. I got a brown pair and a black pair and they feel great. We hit Trader Joes on the way out of the city for our last hurrah and then headed to pick up the dog. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend.

Now I will hit the sack and see what old man winter brews up overnight....

Friday, January 23, 2009

Sometimes it just all goes right

Today is turning out to be a very good day. Work went really well (the crisis of yesterday is actually turning out to be good in my favor). I left work at 2:30PM and went to the golf course to help a friend fix up his golf game. I waited for him by sitting on the porch of the clubhouse in a rocking chair with the sun beating down on me, drinking a beer. And then the big moment came....

I found my long-lost putter while at the golf course!!!!! I lost it a while back while trying to play golf with an Irishman. (I am guessing 2-24 too many beers was the problem) I have had the putter since I was about 14 years old and I am kind of attached to it. It was like finding your lost dog.

From there we went and had a few beers and now I am off to play cards for the rest of the night.

Not a bad day at all.....

P.S. I am so friggin' happy that XM65 is playing old skool hip-hop again. It is just the icing on the cake!!!!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Work and sleep

I thought things would quiet down after Tuesday, but, things are still busy at work. I have been working on a special project which has me in the office in the 4 o'clock hour this week. It makes me pretty groggy by 8PM at night. On top of that, I was doing some IT work today and we put in the wrong IP address range into our very invasive asset discovery tool. Long story short... instead of sniffing up my internal network for our lab and such, I poked my nose into a bunch of systems I should not be seeing. It made for a stressful day at work. The only thing that was good, was my boss thought the whole thing was hilarious and he took care of any fires it started. I still feel bad for having it happen. Oh well, you live and you learn. And it is really hard to break things if you aren't doing anything. As my boss put it, the only thing I did wrong today was I was over-productive.

It will be all better tomorrow. I have to be at work at 4AM again. But, I am going golfing in the afternoon and it will be in the mid 50s. So, life will be good starting out the weekend. Saturday the wife and I will be staying at a nice hotel in Arlington. It will be nice to get away for a couple days and order room service and such.

Well, it is well past 8PM. I am off to bed. Keep on shorting that stock market and have a wonderful evening!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Let's Party Like it's 1929!!!!

I have a very funny friend who's Facebook status said it all on New Year's Eve. It simply said "(The Person) is partying like it is 1929!!" While it is funny on the surface, it is actually very sad. The guy is one smart cookie, so I think he saw the humor and the sadness in his posting. I included the little graphic to the right to explain what 1930 should feel like.

We are on a perfect course to repeat history once again.

We have a populist president coming into office who plans to put infrastructure projects in place to stem the downward spiral of the economy. (I don't think anyone has the illusion that anything is going to spur major growth anymore.) Besides, if we had major growth we would be slaughtered by inflation from all the spending we have done in the last 3 months. (Remember that the Federal Reserve was spending $177,500 per SECOND for the entire month of November.) The problem I see with spending on work projects is that they are not long term. They do not build the foundations for a growing economy, they just stave off its free-fall. The only way to create stability to grow out of is with long term projects. Just like in the last populist president's time... the long term growth strategy will come from the war machine.

I know the country is war weary right now, but, they will quickly get over it. Remember, this is the same country that thinks that just by changing the head of the executive branch everything will get better. While all the time ignoring the fact that we still have the same people enacting laws in place that have been there for a very long time. World War I was was a very costly and very gruesome war. Iraq and Afghanistan come nowhere close in terms of the barbaric nature and the casualty numbers. So, it will take even less time for this 15 second attention span populous to forget all about any of that. And besides, we have the WPA and the CCC to distract us till Russia and company bang the drum long enough. Russia needs a war very badly, their stock market was closed for long periods in the second half of '08 and dropped 80% between June and December.

So, enjoy the speech today. Because we are in for a long dark period in this country and most likely all of the free world. (With the exception fo China, I think they can weather this pretty well.) I hate war. I hate it so much. But, as we watch the country nationalize the banks and now turn their eyes to the manfuacturing sector... all I see are plowshares being banged into swords.

Until then, lets all think. And think real hard. There has to be some ground breaking idea we can go for that will stimulate truly sustainable growth for the US and just as importantly, for its allies AND enemies. We need something and we need it in the next couple years!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Back up and "running"

I am now back and part of the living again. I slept in this morning, but, then I got up and had my requisite 2 pieces of toast and headed off for another pee test.

I am really tired of taking drug test. It is getting to the point that if I actually start peeing in a regular toilet I almost panic and look for the cup I should be peeing in. It is a sad commentary on where we are as a society. I am starting to think that I may actually be DOING drugs. At least I can proudly say that I fill the cup all the way to the brim every time. :)

I felt a bit dizzy and tired mid afternoon, but, I got some pork fried rice in me (Big boy food!) and I felt better. I made it all the way through teaching my class, but, I skipped out on my office hours after class. Everybody was cutting out to deal with the weather anyway. Oh well, off to get some more rest to prepare for the VERY LONG day tomorrow.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

So sick...

Ugh. I have a nasty stomach flu and am spenind most of my time laying on the floor. So, no updates for the last couple of days and probably not for a few more.

*sigh*