Wal-Mart: Raise the Minimum Wage

In a page from the "Good PR , really underhanded move" Book, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott will ask Congress to raise the Minimum Wage.

Most of you know that I am not in favor of raising the minimum wage as I believe it actually hurts those it is trying to help. But this move by Wal-Mart is disingenuous at best.

Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer and the world's largest private-sector employer. It has an effect (but admittedly limited) on the wages in this country. Most of it's employees are low-paid workers. If Wal-Mart wants to raise the standard of living for the poor in this country all it has to do is look in the mirror. If Wal-Mart makes a unilateral move to raise the wages it pays its low-cost workers than the other employers will follow or risk losing their workforce. There is no reason they have to wait for a government fiat to accomplish this.

Now Think About It. Why does Wal-mart really want to do this? I tend to think they have an ulterior motive other than trying to be nice guys. First, like I stated, it is a good PR move. But underneath that there may be something more sinister. This wage hike may put out of business the Mom-and-Pop stores Wal-Mart competes against. The Mom-and-Pop stores already face tremendous price pressures against Wal-Mart. They can't negotiate the same deals with suppliers that Wal-Mart has nor do they have the tremendous infrastructures that helps Wal-Mart keep prices down. Force them to raise their labor cost, and you just might be able to squeeze the very last competition that Wal-Mart faces. Of course, what is Wal-Mart going to do when it doesn't face any more competition?

Ben Bernanke: The New Fed Chair

Bush announced today that Greespan's successor will be Ben Bernanke. I personally think this is a fantastic announcement but for very personal reasons.

Ben Bernanke was chairman of the Princeton Economics department while I attended. Hopefully, being trained as a Princeton Economist under his watch will give me some insight to what he is thinking when he starts messing around with iterest rates. In reality, I'm sure this will mean very little to me but it still is a source of pride.

I never took a class with Professor Bernanke. Several of my friends did of course as he taught one of the introductory Economics course. It's funny. I remember people then talking about him maybe one day becoming Fed chair. I didn't think anything of it at the time but it is funny to see it come true. It makes me kind of wish I took better advantage of Princeton's very liberal open door policy for its professors. I wish I would have taken that opportunity to invite him to lunch and speak with him about his thoughts.

Home Loans: More Regulation

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is about to make it harder for people to qualify for interest-only loans and other exotic mortgages. They still will not admit that this will cause a fall in housing prices but say that there might be a "slowdown or even stop some price appreciation".

Aren't these people a little late to the party? I for one would love to see a precipitous fall in housing prices as I'm not in the market and would love to be. I also would love to see them tighten lending requirements as I don't know if the people who are taking out these loans actually know the inherent risk involved with them. But why now? They keep claiming that this won't hurt the national housing market because these types of loans are most prevalent in the high price housing markets out west.

Are these people just dumb or plain ignorant? I am not saying I know that housing prices will tank. I'm saying that can't be so dumb to think it can't happen if they do what they say they are going to do. Markets that have seen this tremendous growth are fueled by expectations. People now expect housing to continue to appreciate at a 10-20% rate year over year. In California, people's expectations are even higher. Markets like these follow a mob mentality. People see how rich their neighbors are getting and joy in on the fun causing even greater demand. When the slightest sign of problems arise, they will be the first to get scared and run for the exit. This causes the exact opposite problem as people see demand softening and try to cash in on profits before its too late.

So now they want to change the rules mid-game. They don't like what the market is doing and want to "fix it". Where were these people earlier when thousands of Americans jumped into these types of loans in the first place? I swear this feeds right into my conspiracy theory of how the rich get rich and stay that way. I'll have to post about it some other time though.

"Investing" On Faith

To stay on the topic of retirement plans does anyone else worry that I'm the only one in my company who asked to see the prospectus of the mutual funds that are available in our new 401K plan? The company eventually sent out a link to everyone so everyone could read them but if it weren't for me continually asking it would have never happened. I'm certain I will be the only one who actually reads it and contemplates how each investment fits with my retirement goals.

This should worry everybody whether you are invested in the stock market or not? Why? Because I believe this will have really bad consequences down the road for the entire U.S. population. The government decided to make people responsible for their own retirement by allowing IRA and 401k plans. This moved employers from Defined Benefit plans (pensions) to a Defined Contribution plan. The problem was that they didn't teach anybody about investing. You can legislate a plan, but if you don't teach people how to use it becomes a very dangerous weapon. The forced people to invest but they didn't teach anybody to become investors. Don't people see the problem with this?

I liken it to playing basketball. I love basketball. I feel totally comfortable playing with people who know how to play the game. However, any idiot can lace up a pair of sneakers and call himself a "player" but that doesn't mean he actually knows what he is doing. The problem in playing in games like this is that people get hurt. These "players" don't have good body control and don't know what they are doing so they just run into people. The chance of injury skyrockets when these types of players are on the floor.

The same can be said with these retirement plans. People have been blindly told to invest in the plan, save for retirement, etc. but not really taught how to do it. As a perfect example of this, during the 401K meeting an older worker complained about how her portfolio was losing a lot of money. All I could think to myself was, "Why on earth are you in investments that have high volatility?" What happens if the stock market crashes and doesn't recover for 10 more years. It has happened before and it will happen again. What happens to these people? The investment strategies they preach are good if you have a LONG investment horizon (even then there are problems but I won't get into that).

I was further dismayed when I asked during the meeting about moving into a money market account. Everyone at the meeting looked at me like I was crazy. Why would he invest in a money market account? Doesn't he know he needs to be in stocks? There is no return in a Money Market. I can easily say that I was probably the most financially astute person in that room. I know perfectly well why I wanted to be in a money market fund and how it fits into my overall strategy. Nobody else in that room knows my personal situation, financial goals, or my investment strategy yet they are willing to blindly believe I have no idea what I'm doing. This coming from a group of people who have no interest in reading about where they are putting the money that will supposedly secure their future and wouldn't understand what they read even if they did. This is not an indictment on these people. The government created this problem by mandating a program and then not teaching people how to properly use it.

All these people playing a game they have no idea how to play. It's dangerous. It's dangerous for everyone.

The Global Shift

We live in a new world economy. Globalization has produced huge benefits to all making products cheaper, quality better, and taming the beast known as inflation.

That is not to say that individuals have not been hurt by this trend. Many workers, both active and retired, are waking up finding out that they are not worth as much as they thought they were. Just yesterday, GM announced they had reached an agreement with their union to slash health care benefits. GM claims it has a cost of $65 an hour for each hourly worker it employs (when health care, retirement benefits, etc. are factored in). In contrast, Delphi's operations (a fromer subsidiary of GM) in China cost it only $3 an hour per worker. We have moved from the industrial age to the information age and it just isn't cost effective to pay the guy who assembled the widget more than the guy who designed it in the first place.

Here is the reality. You can not depend on any one thing or entitity for your financial security. These people are dependent on the health of American auto industry for their livelihood and they are quickly finding out that the American auto industry simply can't compete. Those that are in retirement are now reliant on GM and Delphi to honor its retirement benefits (which they can shed if they declare bankruptcy). What happens to all these people who are too old to reenter the work force yet the benefits that were promised to them are all of a sudden gone?

Here is a lesson for everyone. Don't put all your eggs in one basket (by the way, I hate this advice when it is given to people and their 401K plans but that is another story). This is your financial well-being we are talking about. Don't plan on the government, your company, or anyone else for that matter to be there when you retire. Heck, I would be wouldn't depend on your 401K either. You need to have a broad comprehensive plan, not just a bunch of hope and prayers.

Real Estate: Oh Crap

I feel like all I speak of is the doom and gloom of the financial markets. Here is another tidbit.

Tom Barrack, one of the wealthiest real estate investor in the world, is getting out of the U.S. market. He states, ""I feel totally safe playing polo on a field full of pros. But when amateurs are all over the field, someone can get killed. They have more guts than brains. They charge after every ball and don't know when to hold back." It's the same with the U.S. real estate market right now: "There's too much money chasing too few good deals, with too much debt and too few brains.""

Seriously folks. The peak has been reached. Get out now. The bubble is about to burst. I wasn't as adament about calling the top before but I am now. When the smartest minds declare its time to get out, you best listen up and pay attention.

Talk Radio - I'm Getting Old

I have found that I almost exclusively listen to talk radio now. First, it was just sports talk radio but lately I've been listening to things like shows about money and health. I'm not sure when this happened, but I use to think that only old people listened to talk radio.

I just find it much more interesting to listen to talk radio, which is always different, than listening to the same 20 songs over and over again on the music stations.

Why Social Security Tax is Evil

I hate Social Security. I hate the idea of the government taking money form me in order to serve my "best" interest in the belief that I'm too stupid to be able to save my own money (Probably true for most Americans but I should not be punished for the actions of stupid people). But this is not what this post is about. This is about the Tax that they take from you every paycheck. It is a truly evil tax.

1. It is the largest tax most people pay - Yes it is, even higher than most people's federal income tax. That's because not only do you have to pitch in your 7.5% but so does your employer, effectively making it a 15% tax. And it isn't a marginal rate. (You have to earn just under $35,000 for it to break even)

2. It's a stealth tax - You probably don't think about the above reason and thus, completely ignore how large the tax really is.

3. Taxing you multiple times - You pay income tax on your contribution to social security yet NEVER see the money. That's right, your social security contribution is not taken away from your taxable income, thus you pay taxes on it even though you never saw the money. Then, when you actually receive your Social Security check, (if you get that old) you are taxed again.

4. It encourages the government to overspend - since the government currently takes in much more in Social Security than it pays out it is an incentive for the federal government to spend more now since the deficits don't look as big as they actually are. Of course all this does is delay the inevitable, taxes must always equal government expenditures either now or later.

5. It's regressive - That's right. It hurts the poor, the very people the program is supposed to help. How can this be? Because there is a cap on the maximum amount you can be taxed on, about $90,000. After that, you stop paying social security tax. That effectively drops your tax rate by 7.5% as soon as you enter this income bracket (even more considering your employer doesn't have to pay his half either)

This system just keeps giving me more reasons to not like it.

The NBA Dress Code

This upcoming year, the NBA is instituting a dress code for its players. Players will be required to wear a suit for all team events which includes travelling with the team. Many NBA players have come out against the dress code. Some of the choicest quotes include:

"It sends a bad message to kids. If you don't have a suit when you go to school, is your teacher going to think you're a bad kid because you don't have a suit on?" - Allen Iverson

"I don't see it happening unless every NBA player is given a stipend to buy clothes," - Marcus Camby

I usually support NBA players and sports athletes in general. Remember, I'm the one who thinks athletes are not overpaid. But the NBA players make it very hard to defend them.

If Allen Iverson thinks that it sends a bad message to a kid because he WEARS a suit he has to get a clue. It's a fact of life. People judge you by the way you look but what kid is going to think to himself, "Gee I don't wear a suit to school. I suck." What? This kid doesn't see other people wearing suits on TV all the time? What is to prevent the kid from feeling bad because Iverson wears $100,000 earings. What about that huge diamond studded necklace he sports? Are kids going to feel bad because they don't wear THAT to school?

But Marcus Camby just takes the cake. This guy is going to make $7 Million this year and about $40 Million over the next 5 years. He thinks the NBA should give him more money to buy clothes? Hello! Get a real job and ask them to give you a stipend to buy some clothes.

Imagine not being able to wear whatever you want to work! In almost every place of work there is a dress code. I can't come to work in tattered clothes or open-toed shoes. I am required to look presentable. My company doesn't compensate me for these clothes. If you really don't like the new NBA policy I suggest you go find another job.

Fewer Can Afford California Homes

A "recent" study shows that fewer and fewer Californians can afford the median California home. (I emphasize "recent" because everyone who lives here has known this for quite some time).

The median price of a California home is now $568,890. To afford a traditional mortgage you would need to earn an income of $133,800. This means that 14% of California households can qualify for a traditional loan. This of course assumes you can put down 20% of the purchase price which amounts to about $115,000. Now how many households have that much cash lying around?

How on earth do people think this can be sustained? When only 14% (if that) can afford to buy a house in an area something is wrong. What I view as the real problem is that the people this really prices out are those that are younger and just entering the job market. This will cause more and more younger families to look elsewhere when deciding where to settle. This will have serious long term effects as the working population will age and the infusion of young (and cheap) talent will erode California's economy.

What Are the Knicks Thinking?

He might just be the stupidest man on earth. What makes him more dangerous is that he wields a huge checkbook.

Yesterday, Isiah Thomas, GM of the New York Knicks, traded for Eddy Curry. In case you don't know, Eddy Curry was formally of the Chicago Bulls. He had a very contentious fight with the Bulls over his heart (not that he has shown any heart in games but that is a different story). Eddy Curry had to miss the playoffs last year because of heart problems. One heart specialist has suggested that Eddy Curry undergo a DNA test to see if he is prone to heart problems. Eddy has steadfastly refused and demanded to be traded. No Insurance company will touch the contract so if any team signs him, they are on the hook for the FULL amount of the contract.

Now, I back Eddy Curry on his refusal to take the test. It all seems like a scene straight out of Gattaca for me, requiring you to take a DNA test to see what your potential (both good and bad) really is. But there is no way I do what Isiah Thomas does. Give a man with a potential heart problem a GUARANTEED 6 Years and 60 million dollars.

In Isiah's small defense, the contract is reportedly only guaranteed for six years if Curry can play for three years. But my real concern is that Eddy Curry is

• Fat
• has a poor work ethic
• He is a horrible rebounder
• He is a horrible defender
  

My concern if I'm Isiah is not that Eddy Curry will have heart problems. It's that Eddy Curry is going to suck and I will have to pay him for six years (The contract only becomes void after three if Curry can't play, not if he sucks). What's worse, Eddy has an out in four years. So if Eddy turns up to be any good he walks after four years. So you take a huge gamble on a guy, it works out, but when you start reaping the benefits the guy can leave you.

But wait, it gets worse. Since Curry's contract is uninsured he is essentially untradeable. No other team is going to take on such a huge contract when insurance won't cover it, the Knicks are the only team with that kind of money. So you are definitely stuck with Curry no matter how bad he is. Add that to the fact that the Knicks essentially traded a bunch of draft picks that will only get better the WORSE Curry is than you have a really bad deal.

Look up idiot, and Isiah Thomas may have a picture there.

I'm Going to Be Rich

I've decided I want to be rich. I'm serious. I made the decision last night.

I know what you are saying. Everyone says they want to be rich. But few people actually understand what it means to be rich and even fewer go out and do anything about it.

I realized something about me. I have an fear of being poor. This fear of being poor is probably holding me back from being rich. Strange huh? But I have almost nothing to be afraid of. I easily take in more in income than I spend. This is due in large part because I have the discipline to control my spending (which by the way is one of the keys to becoming rich but that is a topic for another day). I also have no debt so even if I lose all my savings it's not like they are going to start repossessing my belongings. Even if they did, I wouldn't care since I, unlike most Americans, do not base my happiness on my material possessions.

So why do I hesitate to take risk and go for broke? I have so little to actually fear but we are taught from such a young age to go to school, get a good job, save money, and play it safe. If I stay on the course I am on now I could be moderately wealthy in about 20 years all the while working hard, saving diligently, and not enjoying myself very much. Is that what I really want? How many really rich men got that way by playing it safe? When in life can you be successful without first failing? Sure, I'm going to take my lumps but isn't that what life is about?

Food Portions

I had lunch the other day at Denny's. I'm not a huge fan of the restaurant but it was conveinent to somewhere else I had to go. I ordered the meat lovers special for $5.00. It seriously had enough food to feed 3 as I only ate about 1/3 of it. Two eggs, two strips of bacon, two sausages, hash browns, a slice of ham, and 3 pancakes. That is just way too much food.

How delusioned are we all in the U.S.? For a mere $5 we get a meal with all that food that we couldn't possibly eat. And then I read a story like this which talks about how americans are overweight. Is their any confusion why this is the case? American food portions are just too big.

The problem is that restuarants have a big incentive to overfeed us. The incremental cost of a restuarant to provide more food is small but the incentive to do so is huge because people's ratings of restaurant are due in large part to how satisfied they feel when they leave. Feeling full is one sure way to make the customer feel satsified. So restaurants cater to the greatest common denominator and make sure that the person who can eat the most feels satisfied while someone like me, who can't possibly eat as much, also leaves feeling full.

It isn't the restaurants fault. Americans are taught to finish their plate because there are starving kids in Africa. (as if your food can be boxed up and sent to them) So we dilligently eat all the food that is placed in front of us, even if we have past the point of being hungry. I'm not sure what can be done. I don't expect restaurants to change their policy and I really don't see American's being more concerned about it either.

Online Dating

I have now dated my girlfriend for a little over 5 months and I thought it was time to put down my thoughts on online dating, and specifically the service I used, eharmony.

First let me say that I'm very happy in my relationship. The girl I'm dating is wonderful and we are very compatible. Other than the fact that she is a USC Trojan she is great, but hey, not everyone can be perfect. I'm actually shocked with how well we get along and how much are interest and beliefs match.

I think most can understand that I was a little hesitant to try the whole online dating thing. Even in this day and age I felt it smacked of a little bit of desperation. But I figured that I was a pretty normal person and there must be other normal people contemplating such a move. I just had problems meeting any new people as doing the whole bar thing isn't for me (even though I have a knack for being able to just talk to complete strangers). In the end I reconciled it by just chalking it up to a change in our society that technology has enabled. After all, why is it any better to meet someone in a complete stranger in a bar than to meet a complete stranger through the internet?

So I took the plunge and signed up. The process is long but I suppose better than say Match.com which just feels like a meat market.

So what is the final verdict? I can't recommend it. What? How can that be if I met someone wonderful online? Well I think I was one of the lucky ones. Of all the people I was "matched" with this is the only one that worked out. I talked to a few people and went on a few dates but didn't really feel like I was all that compatible with any of them except for my current girlfriend. Most of my dates' experiences were the same. They weren't really meeting a lot of compatible people. I think for a few of them it made them feel even worse as if they couldn't make it work with someone online, how hopeless must they be?

Also, just like in the real world, you get a lot of fake people. People who say they are looking for one thing, but really aren't. My girlfriend is guilty of this. She put she was open to meeting anyone from anywhere but rejected anyone she met who lived to far away. You have an option to specify how far away someone can live that you would consider dating, so why even put "anywhere in the world" if you really only mean "within 100 miles"? I also found that a lot of women who think they are open minded aren't. Most women don't think they are racist but more than a few women did not want to date me simply because I was Asian.

I also don't like how Eharmony will match you with people who can't respond back to you. I had my account closed for months but still received "request for communication". These request just remain unanswered and you have no idea what is going on on the other end. They do this to maximize the number of matches they provide to people but don't let communication happen unless both sides are paying members. This can be somewhat frustrating.

But I guess it only takes one, and thus far it is working out for me. Dating is a process, and just like anything else, you probably have to have a few failures before you finally have success. So if you set your expectations low, and treat online dating as just one part of your dating strategy, it might work out for you.

The California Fires

If you haven't heard, their are a bunch of fires going on in California. The air is full of ash and you can see the smoke even in Pasadena, which is quite far from where things are actually happening. These are huge fires and several thousand acres have already been burned with only a small percentage of the fires actually contained.

One of the things that crossed my mind was, when can we expect some Federal Aid? How many billions of dollars should California expect to help pay for the fire recovery. Doesn't the federal government pay for everything when we have a natural disaster. Granted, Katrina probably caused 20x the damage these fires are causing but even that would still leave about $3 billion in aid that should be coming this way.

If people don't have fire insurance, can our attorney general sue to make private insurance firms pay for it?

Natural disasters happen. However, these things are best handled by the state and private companies. Having an expectation that the national government will respond to every disaster is ridiculous. Where does one draw the line? When is a disaster not big enough for the federal government to take notice. Wouldn't you be pissed if you fell right under that line?

It's funny to me that everyone complains about the federal governments response after the Katrina disaster but what do people want? More government! It's like in business when there are too many meetings going on for you to actually get work done so what do they do? They have meetings to discuss how to have less meetings!

Flight Attendants ARE Evil

It seems that the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) is upset over how the flight crew in this weekends #1 movie Flightplan was portrayed. I haven't seen the movie yet but even if they are portrayed as baby-snatching, devil-worshiping, cannibals I think the AFA has to get over itself. Seriously, its a movie. I'm sure people are able to separate reality from fiction. Just the other day I saw a movie where a man could stick to walls, I didn't think there actually existed said man. I didn't think Airline attendants were evil before, but after this boycott I may have to change my mind.

If everyone gets their way, at some point their won't be any movies portraying anyone in a bad light. You won't even be able to watch a romantic comedy because at some point the Association of Slimy Singles (ASS) will argue that they put into a negative light those who like to cheat on their significant other.

Heck, if anyone has a right to complain it has got to be the Asian-American man. Please name me just one movie where you see an Asian man just play some character where is "asianness" doesn't come into play. There are none. He either knows kung-fu, is part of the Asian Mafia, or is some computer geek. Maybe I should just start protesting all movies out of principle.

As The Economy Turns

Don't look now, but I think the economy just hit the turn.

At some point the economy is going to retract. It's not a matter of if it is a matter of when. I think it just took a turn for the worse. Here is why.

1. Consumer Confidence has plummeted. This doesn't always translate into consumers spending less but I think this time will be more predictive than past times where consumers kept spending despite their drop in confidence in the economy.

2. Oil prices keep rising - Despite the drop in demand recently, the price of oil is still very high and looks to be rising. Higher energy cost inevitably hits consumers very hard. Not only does it increase what they pay at the pump, it increases their cost across the board for the products they buy.

3. The Yield Curve is almost flat - A flat yield curve is bad. An inverted yield curve is almost always a predictor of an upcoming recession. The Fed will continue to rise short term rates and I don't see the 10 year bond moving any time soon, it has barely budged despite continued hikes by the fed. Within months, the curve could easily invert itself.

4. Home Sales declined - While it is only a month, this had to happen sooner or later and I believe we finally may have reached the point where the bubble is about to burst. You add this to the fact that Greenspan released a report he authored (this is in itself VERY rare as he has only done it TWICE in 18 years) that shows much of the consumer spending of the last few years was based on consumers taking out equity in their home. Consumers can't continue to do this forever so a decline in consumer spending is inevitable.

5. Consumers are stretched too thin - There is a report out today that credit-card deliquencies rose sharply over the last few months. Much of this is attributed to the rise in gas prices. However, this points out a much deeper problem. Americans have saved very little money over the past several years, feeling the wealth effect of rising home prices. However, this is not cash in the bank and therefore, when times get tough, people are stretched too thin. What is even scarier is that the numbers are for April-June only. This does not factor in the Katrina effect and the record price of gas over the last few months.

Maybe I'm just paranoid and overly pessimistic. That's the beauty of the blog. You can come back in a few months and see if I'm an idiot or a genius.

Movie Review: The Wedding Date

I watched the Wedding Date this weekend. I won't give up anything vital to the movie that you probably couldn't already guess but I may put a spoiler in here and there.

First off let me say that I'm not a big fan of Debra Messing. My main reason is appallingly bad. My girlfriend and I always joke around how she has absolutely no chest to speak of but yet still insists on wearing low cut dresses that accentuate her absence of cleavage. Her character on Will and Grace also drives me up the wall.

All that being said, this was a pretty bad movie. The premise is that Debra Messing hires Dermot Mulroney to be her escort to her sister's wedding. She wants a hunky escort because the best man at the wedding happens to be her ex-fiancee.

Through the course of events, it is no surprise that Dermot and Debra end up falling in love. My whole problem with the movie is that there is absolutely no reason for the two to fall in love. Dermot is a professional escort. He goes on dates with women for a living. You must imagine that a man in his position gets a lot of women hitting on him and he must learn to emotionally distance himself from his "dates". However, all of a sudden, for absolutely no reason, he falls for her. I believe that you shouldn't over analyze movies and of course practice "suspension of disbelief" for most, but give me something to work with.

The movie only had one redeeming scene. Dermot Mulroney tells Debra Messing, "Every woman has the exact love life she wants." I couldn't agree more with this statement. Why women don't seem to understand this is beyond me. I know so many women who complain about their love lives but do absolutely nothing about it or continue to engage in behavior that is completely self-destructive.

My Old URL

I'm so embarrassed. If anyone remembers my old URL go visit it. It has turned into a site with a bunch of hardcore links. No, I won't link to it as I try and keep my name out of this blog and I don't want to support hardcore p*rn.

In similar news, the FBI is looking for people to join its P*rn Squad. No joke. It seems that the FBI thinks this is a high priority as Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and the Director of the FBI Robert S. Mueller III want to root out all this obscenity.

Can you believe this? I mean it's not like they are going after people who engage in child p*rnography. They are going after everyday p*rn that many Americans watch all the time. P*rn people! One of the largest legal industries in the United States. Two consenting adults engaging in an act everyone does, they just happen to do it in front of a camera.

I'm not advocating everyone go out and watch p*rn. But seriously, do we need the government spending resources to stop this? In the wake of the Katrina disaster, the Iraq war, and ballooning budget deficits, does the FBI really need to waste money trying to stop perfectly legal activities. Here is a clue people. The industry is HUGE. It has revenues estimated to be $57 Billion world wide. That means a lot of people are watching it and paying for it. That means that in all likelihood, your next door neighbor or your best friend watches it. If the FBI wants to hunt down these people, why not just investigate its own agents, because I guarantee you a large percentage of them watch it.

Opera is Now Free

The Opera browser is now free. I'm using it right now and so far it is OK. Blogger doesn't seem to play nice with it as I don't have as many options to help me bold, underline, etc. as I'm used to having under Firefox or IE.

I have heard good things about it in the past because it used to cost $40. So I will give it a whirl and see if I like it. This post will change over time as I have more experience with the browser.

Positives

• Seems to load faster than Firefox but maybe not as fast as IE (which cheats anyway)
  
• Bookmark migration was fast and painless
  
• Nice, clean look
  
• Has a lot more built in tab options (although you can achieve the same effect with Firefox plug ins)
  
• Password manager is more powerful than Firefox
  
• Tells you automatically that a website has a RSS feed and allows you, with one click, to subscribe to it.
  

Negatives

• Doesn't work with some sites very well (Blogger specifically)
  
• Doesn't have a Google Toolbar (but does have a search bar with Google as the default)
  
• I don't like how the buttons are laid out.
  

What I Don't Like About Blockbuster So Far

OK here is a quick list about things I don't like about Blockbuster's online rental system:

1. The Website is flaky to say the least. Often times it pops up a window telling me there is an error.

2. They have a problem with their security. I get messages about "domain name mismatch" all the time that the certificate it is sending me is from someone else. In fact it is from Blockbuster but comes from a different server than their www server. This has to happen to everyone because it happens with every browser I use and everywhere I use it. You would think this would annoy enough people and Blockbuster would do something about it.

3. I can't use my 2 free in-store rentals on games. This is a big blow. I actually kind of signed up for this. I may have to rethink this.

4. For some reason their mail is slower than Netflix. With Netflix, I got pretty consistent 3 day turnarounds (when I wasn't being throttled). Day 1 - Mail DVD, Day 2 - Netflix receives DVD and mails new one, Day 3 - I receive new DVD. This is definitely not the case with Blockbuster where the turnaround is closer to 4 or 5 days.

5. Their queue software is horrible. It moves my movies around randomly and I can't seem to line up the movies I want in the right order sometimes without multiple tries.

6. Related to awful queue software, they often send the movies out in strange order. A movie at the top of my queue will say "Available Now" but they will in fact ship a movie from somewhere else in my queue.

To be fair I thought one cool think Blockbuster did do was send me a 4th DVD. There was no explanation why they did this but I think it was to compensate for the slower than expected service. I never complained to Blockbuster about this so maybe they just did it because they know their service can be spotty.

Is it worse than Netflix? Probably. Netflix doesn't have the above problems so Blockbuster has a ways to go. I will probably stay with Blockbuster for now for the simple reason that they don't seem to throttle the users, their service is just bad for all. But I just feel Netflix's practices are a little deceitful and I prefer to do business with companies that are upfront with their policies.

Insurance For Free

There are jokes about how backwards and parts of the South are. The attorney general of Mississippi isn't helping matters. Friday, he filed suit against five insurance agencies seeking to invalidate provisions of homeowner policies that exclude coverage for water damage.

I can't believe how stupid and idiotic this suit is. One of the proper roles of government in a Capitalistic society is to enforce contracts. Two people make a voluntary agreement, neither should be allowed to break it on a whim. Yet the attorney general wants to turn that tenet on its ear and just tell the insurance companies they need to pay for damage explicitly excluded on the policy.

Don't get me wrong. I feel bad for the people in the Gulf. But that does not mean that insurance agencies should be obligated to pay for claims they did not collect premiums to cover.

Let me give you a quick insurance lesson. Insurance is gambling. You are making a bet that you will have some sort of calamitous event where you will need money that you don't have. You agree to pay small money over time so that MAYBE you will collect a large sum somewhere down the road.

Insurance companies pay, and pay well, people called actuaries whose job is to evaluate risk. They determine how likely an insurance company will have to pay out and then calculate the amount of premiums the insurer needs to collect in order to make a profit. Yes people, a profit. An insurance company wants to make money, not help you out. Evil I know. But think about it. To do this, an insurance company has to take in more in premiums than it pays out in claims. That means, most of the time, people actually pay in more money than they collect. You could do just as well saving that money on your own and investing it wisely than you could by paying an insurance company your monthly premium.

You can't change the rules mid game. It would be like going to Vegas and playing poker. You get a great hand, a Full House, and make bets the entire game knowing you have a great hand. At the end of the game you lay down your cards and believe you beat your neighbor, who has the next highest hand, a straight. As you go to collect your chips, the house informs you that no, indeed for this particular hand, a straight beats a flush, you lose.

In the long run, this would kill the Mississippi economy. Why? If you are an insurer, or really any business, and you know Mississippi is favorable to just rewriting contracts whenever the political climate favors it, what do you do? You don't do business in the state. Now, instead of being able to get home insurance that will cover you in events other than floods, you get NO insurance. Or, at the very least, you get very expensive insurance because there is so little competition among insurers, since most will not take the risk their contract will be invalidated. It isn't just an insurance problem. All businesses will worry that at some point, Mississippi will just turn around and change the rules. It isn't a climate people can profit in. You wouldn't go back to that poker table after they changed the rules on you would you?

Why not just make the insurance companies pay EVERYONE, regardless if they have a claim or not? I mean, who cares if they didn't have a contract before? These people need help, and we all know that need trumps rights.

Comment Spam

Comment Spam just sucks. I really wish Google would find a good way to punish those who engage in comment spam to lower the rankings of such sites until they fall to zero. In the hopes of eliminating the above mentioned comment spam I'm going to try out Blogger's "word verification" comments and see how that works. If this is bothersome to some of my regular commenters let me know.

Airline Bankruptcies: It's Getting Ridiculous

Both Delta and Northwest filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday. It's getting a little silly.

Count it now. That is four of the major airlines in the last several years with US Air and United being the other two.

Now I'm no bankruptcy expert, but in my view it is absolutely ludicrous that these huge corporations are allowed to declare bankruptcy, eliminate their debts, and then come back and operate and compete against the other airlines.

If they are going to go out of business, fine, go out of business. In the short term, lots of people will lose jobs, ticket prices will probably go up, and fewer flights will be offered. But in the long term, the overall health of the industry will be a lot better than if we continually prop up failing companies. How is it fair that four of the largest airlines get to continue to operate under bankruptcy protection while the other three get no such privilege. How is it fair that United can default on its Pension obligations, have YOU pick up the tab, and continue to compete against the likes of American and Southwest whose only crime is that they are actually profitable.

Since when is it good to essentialy punish and put at a disadvantage companies that are actually good and can actually turn a profit? If such a system is allowed to continue, it eventually will cause the entire system to come crashing down. It's a simple fact of reality. You can't operate at a loss. It is next to impossible to compete against a competitor who gets subsidized by the government, especially your own government. While this is not a direct subsidy, it is nevertheless a subsidy. Throwing good money at bad business just makes no sense.

Kitty For Sale

I have a kitty for sale. He is a male, three years old, very playful, toilet trained, and will sit on command. If you know a good home for him, please let me know.

This week has not been a good week for me cat-wise. I spent most of my Saturday stuck up a tree, literally. I decided to be a good owner and take Bandit for a walk in the park. When we got there he was a little scared and darted for the nearest tree. Before I could get him he was half way up the tree. If only my problems ended there. He then proceded to keep going up the tree. If you know cats, you know its much easier for them to go up than down.

Try as I might for the next hour or so, Bandit, would not come down. I couldn't leave him there because we were at a park far from home and he has no collar; so if I left, I ran the chance of never seeing him again. So I decided to go up the tree after him. And before you say something, neither the Fire Station, Humane Society, or the Police will come get your cat for you. We called.

By the time I started climbing the tree Bandit was at the highest point in the tree. The branches were much thinner and barely supporting his weight. I am hoping that if I go up the tree Bandit will come down part way, no luck. I am literally 18-20 feet in the air at this point in a very awkward and difficult to hold position but Bandit will not budge. I have to go up the next level of the tree, nothing I'm keen on doing as this is a very thin part of the trunk. Bandit starts motioning toward me but his grip on the tree is precarious at best. Several times, he almost loses his grip. Finally, after about 30-40 minutes in the tree, I'm able to reach out to him and bring him down. You should have seen Bandit, he was very scared until I was able to get him and very grateful as I was brought him down the tree.

But the fun doesn't end there. Yesterday I let Bandit out in the back yard. Big mistake. As I pick him up to bring him in, he isn't too happy. He starts hissing at me. That isn't so bad, I'm use to it, but then he decides to take it a step further. The stupid cat takes both his front paws and swipes at my face; his claws, scratching my face.

So there you have it. If you want a kitty I have one. I'm not asking much so make me an offer.

Americans Are a Bunch of Sheep

Not being a Bush fan, what I'm about to write is going to be very hard.

Four years ago today, in the wake of September 11th, Bush's approval rating was well over 80%. The United States rallied around its leader to form a united front against terrorism. At the time I thought Americans were a bunch of idiots, giving a president, who did little to stop the terrorism in the first place and even less to stop it after the fact, their overwhelming approval.

Now, in the aftermath of Katrina and the anger over soaring gas prices, America has turned the other way, Bush's approval rating has dipped to a low of 39%. And yet I still feel like Americans are a bunch of idiots, or at the very least a bunch of sheep, following whatever the latest trend may be. The latest trend is blaming Bush for every bad thing that happens.

Americans greatly overestimate the influence the President has on their lives. When things are going good, all the praise goes to the President. When things are bad, they all blame him too. The fact is, the President has very little influence on the day to day lives of most Americans. The President has very little influence on the overall direction of the economy. Certainly he sets policy, but he is just one voice, albeit a very loud one, in the very complex machinery that is the United States.

While the federal government has certainly made mistakes over the last few weeks, they can hardly be completely blamed for the devastation that has hit the South. They certainly can't be blamed for the spike in gasoline prices that followed. Yet Americans seem to look to their neighbors to figure out how they should feel. Post 9-11, America was great so Bush was great. Post Katrina, America not so great so Bush is the devil. Believe me, Bush did nothing fantastic that anyone else couldn't have done post 9-11 and he hasn't done anything so heinous recently to suggest the precipitous fall of his approval rating (other than be who he has always been).

Bush is Bush. I feel his policies and politics have remained fairly constant over the course of his Presidency. If you hated him before, you should probably hate him now. If you liked him before, you should probably still like him (but you may want to get your head checked).

Waiting to Get a New TV

I want a new TV. I wouldn't mind the one on the left, the Sony Qualia 70" which retails for about $10,000. More realistically I would accept the one next to it, the 50" Samsung DLP which retails for around $3,000. Both sets are absolutely gorgeous.

For a technology geek like myself my TV is very embarassing. It is relatively small and quite old, about 11 years. I have been eyeing a few new TV's but have now decided to wait. With new
technology like HDTV it's all about how long can you hold out. I almost went and bought a new TV this weekend when a strange green blob showed up on my TV screen. But after I turned the
TV off and then on again the green spot went away, and thus no new TV.

Why the wait?

*** WARNING: Technology Geek Speak Next! ***

So I'm waiting because HDTV is still in a state of change. Until this summer, HDTVs were sold supporting either 720p or 1080i. The number refers to the number of scan lines it supports (higher being better resolution) and the "p" and the "i" stating whether it is progressive or interlaced (progressive being better). So while 720p has less resolution, it displays all the pixels at once where as 1080i has better resolution but must draw the screen twice.

Now comes along 1080p (nicknamed Ultra-HD). The best of both worlds. And according to some, the picture it is capable of creating is nothing short of spectacular. As of now, there is really no source material capable of displaying at 1080p, but considering I plan on having this next TV for at least 10 years I don't want my new TV to be dated to quickly.

*** End of Geek Speak ***

That combined with the fact that HDTV flat panel prices are falling rapidly due to large supplies and you have the fact that I'm going to try and sit out a little longer; hopefully this time next year I will finally take the plunge.

An Evil Movie

I watched a truly evil movie last night. I rented Before Sunset with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. It was the sequel to a 1995 movie called Before Sunrise which I actually saw when it first came out 1995. Most people would probably not enjoy the movies. There is absolutely no action in either movie. The movies are a character study; you learn about two people, their beliefs, desires, etc. and that is it. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the movies despite the lack of action however this last movie was just evil. I am about to give away plot elements in both movies so if you plan on watching them in the future stop reading.

In the first movie, Hawke meets Delpy on a train to Vienna. They decide to spend the night walking around the city and talking. The next train leaves in the morning so they have until "Before Sunrise". They instantly hit it off and it is clear that their is a strong chemistry there. They both have obligations that must take them away but they agree to meet again 6 months later. They exchange no other personal information and decide to let fate take its course. If they both show up, so be it. If one person doesn't, than it was never meant to be. The first movie ends with them parting ways, the audience has no idea what ever happened.

The second movie is staged nine years later. Hawke has become a successful author by authoring a book about that fateful night. At his last stop in Paris, Delpy comes to the book store to find Hawke, she happened to see his picture on a poster in the bookstore and knew it was him. The audience finds out that Delpy never made it to the meeting spot; her grandmother died only days before and the funeral was on the day of the meeting. Hawke on the other hand made it and was heart broken that Delpy did not. They pick up where they left off. They walk around the streets of Paris just talking about what has transpired the past nine years. This time, they only have until "Before Sunset" when Hawke must catch a flight back home.

You find out that Hawke is now married with a son he deeply loves. However, his marriage is loveless. You can tell that he still pines for Delpy and regrets that she was the one who got away. At first Delpy acts strong. She pretends that night didn't mean too much to her. But as the movie progresses you learn that indeed that she too regrets not meeting up with Hawke. The movie continues to build up the tension until the final scene where Hawke is in Delpy's apartment. Having just sung a song to Hawke about that night, Delpy prepares a cup of tea and begins another story. In the middle of the story the movie just ends.

WTF? You wait nine years to find out what happened in the first movie and they go and do it again. You have no idea what actually happens in that apartment. Did they hook up? Did he remain faithful to his wife? I can't believe I fell for it again. If they ever come out with a movie called "Before Dusk" or something like that I'm not watching it ..... OK, maybe just to figure out what happened this time.

Chief Justice Roberts

Chief Justice Rehnquist died this past weekend leaving open one of the most powerful positions, if not the most powerful position, in the United States Government.

I had fully expected Bush to nominate Justice Scalia or Justice Thomas, two of the most outspoken conservatives on the bench. Their decisions fit in nicely with Bush's politics so I thought their nomination would be a shoe in. I was wrong.

Instead, Bush has nominated John Roberts to take Rehnquist's seat rather than Sandra Day O'Conner's. I view this as proof that Bush knows his power is waning. By all accounts, Roberts will be very difficult for the Senate to not confirm. Republicans love him and Democrats can't find any dirt or reason to not confirm him. Bush's approval rating is at an all-time low. For him to nominate Scalia or Thomas would start a political battle that Bush probably can't survive. He and Republicans have drawn sharp criticism for both the rising price of gas and their handling of the Katrina Disaster.

America is a funny place. Americans are so very short-sighted. They worry about the here and now. It's one of the reasons that Americans have such a low savings rate and such a high consumption rate. Most of middle-class america voted for Bush because they believe Republicans are better able to handle the economy and because of the War in Iraq. However, a majority of America is Pro-Choice. An even larger majority do not want to see Roe V. Wade overturned. A majority favors Affirmative Action. Yet Bush's impact will be long and far-reaching. Judge Roberts, if confirmed will serve and lead the court for 25 or 30 years. Whoever Bush nominates to fill the other seat will most likely serve the same amount of time.

One of the reasons I vote Democratic even though I have strong conservative views on the economy is because I have very strong views on personal liberty and freedom. Being able to nominate Supreme Court Justices is a very powerful thing, being able to nominate a Chief Justice is even more so. It was a power I did not want to give Bush. Now that this seat is going to be cemented with a conservative for the next quarter century and the balance of power is going to be firmly cemented in the conservative corner, it will just give me one less reason to vote Democratic in the 2008 elections.

Power of Compound Interest

A quick financial lesson.

Let's say you decide to invest in a Roth IRA, my favorite investment vehicle. You decide to start one today and invest the maximum $4,000 every year. You invest it wisely in an index fund that follows the total stock market which has historically returned 10% a year. In 40 years, your $4,000 a year, ($160,000 in principal payments) turns into $1,947,407.24, All of it tax free.

Now imagine if you were a good little saver and have saved the last 4 years. With a modest gain over the last few years you have $17,000 in your account. With the same investment strategy above you now have at the end of 40 years 2,716,814.59, All of it tax free. That is almost $800,000 difference for saving a little bit earlier. That $17,000 turned into $800,000!

Still not convinced? How about this? You do the above strategy from the ages of 25-35 and then stop. So for 10 years you invest $4,000 and then nothing after that. By the age of 65 you will have an account worth $1,223,633,58. Your $40K turned into $1.2 Million.

Or instead, you do nothing from the age of 25-35 and instead save from the age of 35-65 with the same strategy. Your final balance will be $723,773,70. Your $120K turned into $720K. Not bad until you consider that that's a half-million dollar difference from the previous example of $1.2 Million! And you put in 1/3 the amount in principal and saved 3x as long!

The lesson? Save early, save often. I can't stress this enough to my young friends. I know it is hard to save money now, but in the long run, it makes a BIG difference.

The Price of Gas

You know how I know the price of gas is getting out of hand? My boss just recently stopped driving his SUV to work and started driving his wife's sedan instead to save on gas. My boss makes six-figures.

When you have people who make lots of money start worrying about the price of gas, you know the rest of the country has got to be nervous. Most of the stations around here are hitting the $2.90 mark. No doubt about it, it will hit $3.00 by this weekend.

I'm not all that nervous. If it hits $3.00 or even $4.00 so be it. I'll just have to find a way to drive less. Crap, that San Diego drive every other week is going to kill me.

Death of the Union?

Most people know I'm not a big fan of unions. I think unions have their place in certain industries where there is a monopoly by the owners; the sports industry is one of the few examples I can really think of, education is another. But overall, I think unions just don't make a lot of economic sense.

Whenever you deal with a group, you are going to get a wide spectrum of talent. You are going to get high, average, and low performers. Unions ensure a set wage structure with little latitude for performance based differences. That means if you are capable of doing twice the work of someone else, you will still get paid exactly the same. This of course builds in an incentive to do as little as possible, why strain yourself if there is no incentive to? As a diligent and hard worker, I want the ability to negotiate my own wage.

Union membership has been on the decline. In 2004, 12.5% of Americans belonged to a union. An even smaller percentage, 7.9%, if you count those workers in the private sector. The latest strike by a large union is happening now. The mechanics of Northwest have refused to accept a 25% wage cut and have gone on strike. Northwest in turn has hired replacement workers to fill the void. They seem to be doing the job. This past weekend, Northwest flew 98% of its schedule. Many of the Northwest mechanics have expressed surprise that Northwest was able to fly as many flights as they have been able to.

This is the new age of labor economics where companies are playing hardball with their employees. Employees are quickly finding out just how replaceable they are. Look at some of the major strikes in the past few years. The NBA had its players, all millionaires, crawling back in 1999. More recently, the NHL absolutely crushed its union and got major concessions. If you don't care about the problems of millionaires there are the examples of the California Supermarket Strike or the Catepillar strike in 1995. In each case, the owners played hard and refused to back down and each time the "workers" caved in and gave back major concessions.

Almost all employees have an over inflated sense of how important they are to the company's bottom line. However, as several examples have shown (some personal to myself), companies are finding it easier and easier to replace their workers. Is this shift of power toward employers permanent? Given the fluidity of today's workforce, the erosion of loyalty (both by companies and their employees) and the decreasing expectation of lifetime employment, I think labor is in for a tough battle.

Price Caps

OK, just another reason why government is a bunch of idiots. In Hawaii, they are instituting a cap on the wholesale price of gasoline. This is a horrific idea. Living in California I am accutely aware of the pain that high gas prices can bring but having government place caps on the price of anything is just a bad idea.

Free Markets depend on supply and demand. If prices are not allowed to adjust than there is an imbalance somewhere. My incentive as a supplier is to supply gas at a price P I can make a profit at. When the price of my product reaches a certain level I have an incentive to produce Q amount. If the price goes up I have incentive to produce a little more. As a consumer my incentives are reversed. These two forces almost magically move the price to a point where all the consumers demands are met for a given price point.

Governments mess with incentives at great peril. Seriously, incentives move humans. If you put a price cap on a free market system the effects are quite obvious. The price is lower than what the producer can make a profit at. He has no incentives to produce more. However, since the price is artificially low there will be greater demand for the product. Therefore a shortage will ensure. People who want gas will not be able to get gas. Producers will not produce more gas at a loss so the supply curve can not shift outwards.

Imagine for a second if government, to stem the tide of housing cost, put a cap on the sale price of homes. Now all homes have a maximum price of $100K. Don't you think there would be a huge rush of people wanting to buy homes? Don't you think the people selling their homes would look at that and say, "No way in hell am I selling my $500K home for $100K!" Builders, not able to turn a profit on new homes, refuse to build more and instead concentrate on commercial real estate. Many people want homes but none are for sale. People are unable to relocate for work because they are not willing to sell their homes or can not find any homes to buy. The economy would grind to a halt because there would be an inefficient allocation of resources.

So tell me again, what is good about price caps?

Who do Asian Men Date?

My girlfriend (who is Asian) and I have taken up a new pastime. Every time we go out we try and notice inter-racial couples. We have noticed a very disturbing fact. There are very few inter-racial couples involving Asian men.

Inevitably when we see an Asian man as part of a couple he is with an Asian woman. We have seen plenty of other mixtures, White Male-Asian Female and Black Male-White Female being some of the more popular combinations. But seriously, of the hundreds of mixed couples we have spotted thus far, maybe only 1 or 2 have involved an Asian Male and something other than an Asian Female.

Now I have dated other races before but of the people I would call my girlfriend, all of them have been Asian (all different types of Asian). This is not some bias on my part (actually my girlfriend tells me I have a thing for white women) but just how the chips have fallen. My girlfriend has never dated an Asian guy until me. Actually, this is the case for most of my ex-girlfriends; I'm the only Asian guy they have dated.

My girlfriend and I have discussed this in length and believe it’s a societal thing. The stereotypes for an Asian male do not bode well for his success in the dating arena. But it begs the question, if Asian men are only dating Asian women, and Asian women are dating a lot of White men (and Black men for that matter) as our un-scientific sample suggest; whom are all these Asian men dating? Are Asian men resigned to a life of celibacy and being single?

Canceling Netflix

I canceled my Netflix subscription. I wasn't really unhappy with their service but I wasn't really pleased either. My main problem is their idea of "unlimited". Basically, Netflix service degrades the more movies you rent. I tried renting at different frequencies and found that "unlimited" ends at about 12 movies a month. After 12 they pretty much start throttling you by giving you much worse service. They "receive" your movies later, they ship out your movies later, and you get less desirable movies from your queue. I don't have a problem if they want to give better service to those who make them more money, but I do have a problem with them not being up front about it.

I pay the same money everyone else does I should get the same service. I am taking advantage of the system they created and advertise yet I'm punished for it? Doesn't make a lot of sense. If you want to provide different service than state that explicitly up front. Don't pretend your service is "unlimited" when it clearly is not.

I still think that 12 movies a month is a pretty good deal for around $20 and Netflix did have many other good qualities. I'm going to try out Blockbuster again for the next few months. I didn't like them last time but supposedly they have better service now. We shall see.

The Bubble Is About to Burst

No, not the housing bubble, the Denim bubble. Since everybody gets on me for paying so much for my jeans I figured I would post the link. See, I'm not the only one riding the high-end denim wave.

A Rare and Terrible Disease

I think I have a disease. Most people in America have a problem with spending too much money. They can't seem to save any money and go more into debt every month. They treat credit cards like its free money and buy expensive gadgets as if they were food. For some, it is a serious addiction.

I on the other hand suffer from an even rarer disease; I suffer from the exact opposite problem. I can't seem to force myself to spend any money on things I don't really need but would really enjoy. Case in point, I just received a rather large sum of money from my company since it is "closing" its doors. (I still have a job, don't worry) They paid me out all my vacation (which was at its max), my personal days, and my two weeks of severance. This turns out to be quite a bit of money. What am I going to do with this money? Put it in the bank and find a way to invest it.

I actually have started a program for myself. I have told myself that every month I have to spend a small but significant amount of money on something I would not normally buy myself. This can't be used for things like dining out, clothes, etc.; things I would buy myself anyway. Hopefully, slowly, I can find a way to beat this disease. I started last month and believe it or not I didn't spend the money. It's hard, believe me. This month I forced myself to buy the aforementioned DVD burner. I'll have to beat this thing with Baby steps.

Pork Everywhere

Bush signed into law the Highway Bill. Yet another reason to hate government. The small town of Ketchikan (population 15000) just got a grant from the federal government for $223 million for a bridge that goes nowhere. And that is just one of many cases where government is wasting YOUR money. That's right, you are paying for that bridge.

I hate the idea that to get anything done in this country, you have to grease the wheels and allow the representatives of our country to get pet projects for their districts. Whatever happened to just doing the right thing?

The problem with a large, national government is that everybody's money gets put into one big pot and then it is parceled out with some people having power disproportionate to the constituents they represent. To get a road built in highly populous California for millions of people, you have to give something to the guy who represents 5 people in the state of Alaska. It's just ridiculous.

Imagine a company where IT decisions are made by each department head and resources are allocated by who has more pull. It just so happens that the Sales department in this fictitious company has the most pull. It comes time to buy new computers. The Sales department, being the most persuasive, gets all the new computers assigned to them and their friends in Facilities; nobody in either department really needs it for anything more than surfing the web and playing Free Cell. The guys in the engineering department, who need powerful computers to run CAD software or CPU intensive development environments are now left to choose between the 266 and 333 MHZ Pentium II's that are left. Doesn't sound like a very good plan does it, but in many respects that is how the government is run.

I hate to keep harping on it but we need to reduce the size and scope of the government. When you give these children so much money to play with, they treat it as if it will last forever and they can spend it on whatever they want. Giving them more money doesn't work, it just makes them buy bigger toys.

Strange Definitinon of Soon

I ordered a DVD burner from Amazon.com on Sunday. Supposedly the item "usually ships within 24 hours". As of right now it has not shipped. It has been in the "Shipping soon" stage for the last two days. I don't know about the rest of you but 72 hours is not "soon" when it is compared to 24.

I have ordered from Amazon a few times and have been mostly satisfied. I have to say that my patience wears thin with every passing hour.

What's wrong with the Movie Industry?

When I was a kid, we would go to the movies almost every weekend; not so anymore. It has been reported that the Movie industry is in a record slump. Almost every week this year has done worse than the year before.

Is it any wonder? Going to the movies is not what it used to be. If I take me and my date to go to the movies that's $20 just to walk into the door. Normally my girlfriend and I don't get any food but most people probably do and can expect to drop $10 on popcorn, drinks, etc. That's $30 for you and your date to go to the movies. You know what you can do with $30? That's like 4 rounds of minature golf. That's a whole lot of video games and air hockey. That's like 7 movie rentals or 1.5 months of Netflix.

There are just too many alternatives to going to the movies these days. Combine that with the fact that a lot of people have really sweet entertainment setups in their homes and that DVD's hit the shelves faster than they ever have, and well you can see why I only go to the movies when I really want to see something. And I don't want to hear about how Piracy is taking over. You know how long it takes to download a full-length high quality movie? Maybe a few college kids who run their computers all the time and have access to the University's high bandwidth but the average consumer just has a lot of options. Options that usually don't include crying babies and ringing cell phones.

Moving once again

Due to the downsizing of my company we have found it necessary to shuffle people around and consolidate space. I am now in my new office, my 5th new space in 2.5 years. It is probably the worse space I have had thus far but I'll get use to it and adjust. I have always said I could work so long as they gave me a computer and a patch of space on the floor. I just never thought I would really have to prove it.

Dance Dance Chipmunk

Took this when I went to Disneyland and I thought it was cute. I have to say that the chipmunk wasn't half bad.

The Shoe Horn

It's amazing to me what a difference something so small can make. This weekend I finally found a shoe horn. You would be surprised how hard it is to find one of these things. I ended up finding one at a Nordstrom Rack of all places. I looked at Target, various shoe stores, etc. all with no luck.

Anyway, when I went to put on my shoes today, they went right on. No need to hurt my fingers as I tried to jam my foot into my shoe. I know it seems silly but really, it made my morning.

I Thought I Didn't Want Kids Before ....

I went to Disneyland two days ago with my girlfriend and her little 12 year old brother. If I wasn't so sure I didn't want kids before, I just became a little more certain.

I don't think her brother was as bad as my girlfriend thought he was but he was acting kind of bratty. The entire time he complained about how he didn't want to wait in line (we averaged about 25-30 minutes a line which is very good at Disneyland), how he was bored, how the rides were too short, etc. He was completely unappreciative of the fact that his sister took time out of her schedule, and spent money out of her pocket, to treat her brother to a day of fun. We did our best to show him a good time but for him, that just wasn't good enough for him.

My girlfriend was quite flustered at the end of the day but I was perfectly fine with all of this until he opened my backpack to look for something and did not close the zipper. I said to him in a very nice tone, "Hey, next time you go into my backpack can you close it?" He decided to respond to me, "You close it if you want it!" Um, excuse me, no. I had been nothing but nice to this kid up to this point. We would have gone home much earlier if it were not for me saying I would take him on the rides (My girlfriend was feeling quite ill toward the middle of the day). At that point I realized that kids are just a real pain in the ass.

If there was only a 45% chance I wanted kids before, I think that just dropped 5-10%

Harry Potter: A Review

OK, here it is. I will be not spoil the book for those who have not read it yet until later in my post and I will clearly mark that section. It took me only two days of reading to finish the book but I've waited to post to give those who are interested in reading it some time to finish.

I enjoyed this book. Probably one of the better ones in the series. I didn't particularly care for the fifth one and this one is much better than that. However, one of the things I liked about the other books was that I felt they stood on their own and this book does not. If you haven't read the other 5 books, I would not read this one by itself. You will be totally lost.

It is by far the darkest of the books in the series. I'm not so sure its appropriate for very little children. It does seem that Rowlings' writing style is evolving and maturing along with the characters in her book which may account for the more mature themes in this book.

If you like the Harry Potter series this is pretty much a must read. A lot of things have happened in this book that are essential to the plot and several loose ends are tied, but many more are created.



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Wow, I can't believe they killed Dumbledore. I had heard rumors that a very important character was going to die and I guessed who it was from early in the book but was still shocked when it happened. Now here is the question, what's going on with Snape?

I still think Snape can be counted in the good column. Am I crazy? How can he be good when he killed the greatest wizard of them all, Dumbledore? I just have that much faith in Dumbledore. For him to be this wrong about someone is very out of character. Throughout all six books, Dumbledore refuses to believe anything bad about Snape and insist that Snape has done something that warrants Dumbledore's absolute faith. Additionally, do you really think Dumbledore would beg for his life like he seems to when he pleads, "Serveus ..." No way. Dumbledore would have stood tall and proud and taken his death like a man. Instead, I truly believe Dumbledore was begging Snape to do what he must, protect his cover and do as they agreed to before, to kill Dumbledore no matter what. There is the argument that Hagrid overheard Snape and Dumbledore having which is yet to be explained. It is my belief that this was Dumbledore telling Snape that if it comes down to it, Snape must finish the task that Malfoy did not in order to save Snape's own life (he made the unbreakable vow) and continue working as a double agent against Voldermort. Maybe I'm wrong. I guess I have to wait and see.

One thing that disappointed me was that I believe that Rowlings is playing games with the books. From the start, it seemed that there would be 7 books, one for each year Harry was at Hogwarts. But now with the ending being that Harry is leaving Hogwarts, I think Rowlings is attempting to lengthen the series, and thus the money she can make from it all. I hope I am wrong about this. As much as I like the series and would like to see more books, I also think there is something to be said about the original intent of the novel and for the story to reach a natural conclusion. Than again, its all from the minds of this woman so any ending she sees fit I guess the rest of us are going to have to take it.

Harry Potter Mania

Last Friday I went with my girlfriend to the movies. It just so happens that the movie theater is in the same parking lot as the Barnes and Nobles. Our movie ended at 11:45 or so and we walked out into a very full parking lot. Now, this parking lot can get quite full but at 11:45 at night it is unusual that it is so full that it is full of stalkers. In fact, the movie theater is normally the only thing open that late. But on this night the lot was completely full with people following us around waiting for our spot.

It didn't occur to me till the next morning what was going on. I went to Target that morning and bought my copy of Harry Potter: The Half Blood Prince. There was no line and so I walked up to the counter and paid for it without any hassle. But then it occurred to me what was going on. People were lining up waiting to buy the book at midnight. I just really don't get this behavior. I was able to buy the book, only 9 hours later, without having to make any sort of extra trip nor wait in line with other obsessed fans. What possess people to have to be the first on the block to get a book, watch a movie, etc. is beyond me. If I can do the exact same thing only slightly later, without the hassle of waiting in line, you better believe I'm going to do it.

Oh, and it was cheaper at Target than anywhere else.

I finished the book already and will probably give a review in my next post.

Albertson Trying to Rip Me Off

So I went to Albertsons today to get some snacks. I bought a Snapple and on my out the door I noticed that I was charged $3.00 for my Snapple. My ONE bottle of Snapple. I know there is such a thing as inflation but this was ridiculous. So I asked about it and it turns out that I was charged for a 6 pack. They refunded me the difference.

Now, I am one of those who doesn't check the receipt too carefully but now I'm a little worried. What if this happens to me all that time. Its completely possible. I could be losing a lot of money because I'm so lazy.

Even More Reasons to Hate Doctors

I had a doctor's "appointment' this morning. Why you ask do I put that in quotes. Well I had an appointment "scheduled" for 9:30. I arrived promptly for my appoinment and filled out the normal paperwork. I than proceded to wait one 1.5 hours for my appointment to start. I was not put into a room until 11:10. Can you believe that. I mean seriously. What is the point of even scheduling an appointment in that case?

Kobe's New Nike Ad

Kobe Bryant is in his first major National Advertising campaign since he was accused of rape in Colorado. Notice I put "accused" in bold because that was all that happened, he was accused. The state dropped all charges.

But wow. The Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault just gave a bad name for all Women's rights group. I'm a big supporter of women's rights. I think sexual assault is quite possibly the worse crime out there, even more so than murder. But I can not believe what this group is spouting. Their spokeswoman came out and said:

"We would ask corporations like Nike to act a little more responsibly. They really are creating a role model that millions of young kids across the world are going to see. They could have put up someone who is not only accomplished as an athlete but also is a person who has a reputation as a fine, upstanding citizen."

Are you kidding me? What is their beef with Kobe Bryant? Drop it already! Your Friggin state dropped the charges! And I don't want to hear anything about him being an adulterer. You know how many pro-athlete endorsers cheat on their wives. Try all of them. Shaq, Jordan all the big names have been shown to have cheated on their wives. I don't hear this woman group protesting anything about that.

If you don't like him as a person fine. If you think he is a bastard for cheating on his wife, great so do I. But for a national women's rights group to single out Kobe Bryant for something he was accused of and nothing more is just stupid on their part.

Closed Captioning said what?

I was watching TV on mute, the channel 5 news, and the closed captioning read:

"and the man was respectfully beaten to death"

I have no idea what was really said but I assume that somehow the closed captioning got this wrong. Can someone be respectfully beaten to death?

Welcome Back Hockey

I didn't even realize you were gone. Seriously, I'm a sports fan and I barely realized that they didn't play hockey last year. Did anybody not in Canada really care that we didn't have a hockey season?

Man the NHL players are stupid. They gave up a whole season for nothing. Here are the highlights of the expected terms:

Salary Rollback: Players will give back 24% of their contracts to the owners. 24%!

Salary Cap: There will be one, about $37 Million

Individual team-by-team player cap: No one player can earn more than 20% of any one teams payroll. This one is going to be interesting how it plays out.

Escrow: A still to be determined percent of players salaries will be placed in an escrow account. In the new deal, league-wide payroll can't exceed 54 percent of total league-wide revenue. If league-wide payroll is determined to be more than 54 percent of revenues, the escrow account will be passed back to the clubs. If league-wide payroll is determined to be less than 54 percent of revenues, the escrow account will go to the players.

So basically the Players lost on every front. Way to give up millions of dollars guys and still get screwed!

One of the things this shows me is that Athletes are NOT overpaid. The market takes care of it. The athletes thought they were worth more, and they were dead wrong. The owners took a stand and said, look we can't pay you this much and we won't. In the other sports, athletes want more money and the owners gave it to them because they were still able to make a profit. It wasn't the case in Hockey, and the NHL shutting down for a season just proved it.

When Did I Become Old

I'm home from work today because I pulled a muscle in my lower back and it hurts to sit up for too long. This is actually the second time in the last month or so that this has happened to me and its quite painful.

I thought back problems only happen to old people. When the heck did I get old? I'm not sure what is causing all these back problems. I had no idea what I did last time. This time my back started to hurt when I had to reach over my desk to open the window. Nothing crazy but I felt a twitch in my back.

Sign, I wonder when I will have to start using a walking stick.

Why is the U.S. Worried Now?

There has been some hub bub about Chinese based Cnooc's bid for Unocal. My question is why now?

Do people not realize that the U.S. has mortgaged its future anyway to the Chinese? The U.S. has a GIGANTIC trade defict. The U.S. runs a deficit of $57 billion PER MONTH! The largest portion of that goes to China. It's not like the Chinese are just giving away the things they make. It's like your credit card. The U.S. can only feed its current excessive consumption by paying for it later and paying with interest, mostly in U.S. Treasurey bonds.

But now the U.S. is worried about China buying all these U.S. assets (like Maytag) and for what reason? The Chinese already own a very big portion of U.S. assets which is just getting larger by the day. It is only because these assets are tangible that there is complaining but in reality its the exact same thing.

It's like those people who think using your credit card is free. Let me tell you something, it isn't. You can ignore your monthly statement now, and pay the minimum, but sooner or later, they want their money and they will come collect.

Being Responsible

I hate being responsible sometimes. I am now in charge of making sure my Basketball league pays its bill to rent out the gym. It fell to me because I'm probably the most responsible person and so I will make sure that it all works out.

It's not something I want to do but I will end up doing it anyway because I won't let it just go by. I'm really upset at the situation though because the person before me did not pay the bill in time so I am scrambling to try and get enough money for last quarter and this quarter.

Yes, I still Blog

I know I haven't blogged all week. Things are just kind of hectic around these parts these days. Don't really have much to say. I was going to talk about the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor but I just don't feel up to a deep and heavy blog.

So I have nothing to say. I keep thinking about blog topics during the week but then I am not by a computer and forget what I want to blog about. Oh well. Next week I will be better.

Happy 4th of July everybody!