Great Op-Ed in NYT

I have to admit, I had this thought as I finished reading the paper copy of the paper (and didn't see this article ), but then saw that it was one of the top emailed articles.  Captures my mood exactly (now is the time to double down on the things that got Mumbai to where it is today...)

The kids are taking over!!

Well, just our kids...  I figure that rather than never posting, I will start using this blog to document the lives of our children (with the random brilliant comment by me on some random news).

So starting off...  we are eight days away from the "green zone" as I like to call it.  Come December 7, the doctors have said that they will not stop labor and when the contractions start - the kids are coming!  So that is the next big date.

Why I love Barack

Writing like this...

I have a hard time imagining President Bush being able to express himself even close to this well in words, and have a hard time believing most of the 535 members of Congress could do it either.

Can't keep from smiling when you watch this...

The Carlton dance...

Welcome to the 21st Century - NY Times...

Was reading the NY Times this morning and noticed that the Sunday Business section had a announcement that they will no longer print the weekly tables (stocks/funds) anymore.  Shocker!!

One wonders how come it took them this long to decide to get rid of a weekly summary of stocks on dead trees when the internet has been doing a better job of it for over 10 years...

Kickball? Yes, Kickball...

Since I have to make up for the fact that Nina played competitive badminton in high school, we started a kickball team at Google this year.  We just completed our fifth game (we forfeit one game because virtually all the team was at our National Sales Conference) and have a record of 3-2.  So we have only lost once when we actually play a game.

I have decided that I am ultra-competitive, and even though I have a lot of fun at the games and with the team...  I really want to win.  More than that I want to get into the playoffs and run the table.  Dance on the heads of our beaten foes!!  (OK, maybe just kidding about that last one)

Stay tuned for the kickball weekly in future posts.

I might just have to get me one of these...

Mother Ship

Since we have like 15 iPods in our house (OK, that is a slight exaggeration).

If people have control over there health records

Isn't that better than many other organizations having that data to themselves?

Plus, do you trust your insurance company or Google to keep your data safe and private?

These stories never get as much attention

As the original "scandalous" stories. But good to see that my alma mater responded well and is seeing increased interest since the potentially catastrophic cheating scandal from last year.

As they say, it is during the rough times that you see the true measure of a man (or institution).

Go Blue Devils...

When folks complain about mermaids on coffee cups...

You know you live in a strange country sometimes. Aren't mermaids supposed to be nude?

Why I don't give money to Duke (or Cal)

Similar to this story about Harvard, which has a huge $35B endowment... Duke shouldn't ask me for my money until it does something better with its large endowment.

I will give to Cal - but only when they give me a diploma with my actual graduation date on it. If you ever want to hear a story about bureaucracy run amok, just buy me a beer and ask me about it.

Nobody watches you anymore...

TV, that is...

Surprise, surprise, the May sweeps is a disaster.

"The writers strike, along with the rising popularity of DVRs and the increased availability of programming on multiple platforms, conspired to make this season the lowest-rated on record for the broadcasters. There was also a dearth of breakout hits, with no new show emerging as the biz's savior."

Maybe that is because all the networks have on is American Gladiator and other reality shows (though I must admit I am stoked to see is the new Mole is as good as the original one - the only reality show I really loved until Top Chef).

You wonder how come they are so surprised that people have figured out that they can entertain themselves by blowing up things on PCs or consoles, or getting outside to smell the fresh air, or countless other ways of entertaining.

Bring more shows like Lost on the air and people will start tuning back in.

David Brooks - Frienemy?

I am conflicted about David Brooks. On the one hand, he is generally one of the few normal and reasoned folks in political commentary (I know, a really low bar to hurdle). I sometimes disagree with him, but I think I have kind of a man-crush on his brain.

For full info - I kind of feel the same with George Will - except I really dislike him when he goes off on the democratic party (like they are any worse than the other side). Stupid, perhaps, but two sides of the same corrupt and insane coin.

George Clooney, rest well, this does not change my overall man-crush on you and your Lake Como villa (and the rest of your semi-charmed life).

Posts based on old posts

I love it when I can link to my old posts!

• Barack wins - Hillary, not so much (and my vote for the Democrats seems safe, along with the ire of Sarah!)
• Rob and Sarah either have a car or a chipmunk, after Rob and I spent literally months looking (OK, really just 2 hours). I look forward to being a back seat driver more than once this summer. Plus, actually seeing the car. :)
• Somehow, my work got in the way of Mike Montgomery ending up as Cal BBall coach. I can't really say what I feel about it - I figure he starts winning and taking us to the Final Four and I will start liking him a lot more than Braun.

That's enough for now... enjoy.

High density of posts on weekends...

Because my damn job keeps getting in the way of all this important blogging stuff. I really need to have a talk with Larry and Sergey...

If there was a way to post items from Google Reader directly to Blogger (the new Notes feature comes to mind), that would be tres cool. But I think the only place you can share those is in Reader. :(

Cool new feature from Google Reader

The three people (ok, maybe two) that read this blog know that I happen to work for a really small and upcoming start-up. They happen to have a cool new update for Reader for the iPhone. It makes it easy for "folks who have never used RSS much" to keep up with news and RSS feeds.

(Nina, this means you).

If a tree falls in the forest...

(by the way, I am making up for my lack of posting for a month - and working from home for a few days)

So, if the Republicans ignore you, can you really be considered a serious candidate?

If so, why is Hillary still running?

Maybe now would be the time to say that if she somehow becomes the candidate (and pigs fly) I will either write in Barack or be voting for McCain. Basically it will all depend on how much she pisses me off during that time. So my money's on McCain since she probably has no hope of not pissing me off royally.

He's ruining it for the rest of us...

Seriously, Bobby Jindal needs to stop. Guy is 36 and cramping my style. Already a State Governor (granted only Louisiana), already on the Leno show, sat next to a movie star (though only Helen Hunt), and already mentioned as a potential Vice Presidential possibility. What are all the other Indian boys supposed to do when their moms start razzing them for only being world-class doctors, business leaders, or pillars of the community.



Really. :)

Car Shopping in Manhattan

So Rob and I went car shopping. Me, because I love cars and Rob, because he is seriously jonesing for a car. However, for this excursion, our significant others weren't shopping somewhere else in Manhattan - just us men. :)

We ended up looking at Infiniti M35x and M45x models (nice, I have to say), though I definitely must say that I am 1) an old fart, or 2) NYC makes me feel poor, or 3) an old fart. Simply put, while the cars were really nice, I didn't see myself with a sudden onslaught of feelings about what I am missing by not having a car. Plus I think that Rob was alternating between "cool car" and "does this make sense". We agreed that the Certified Pre-Owned ones made much more sense. $27K for a year old car that is $45-50K new. Yowsah.

Now granted, if we were at the Porsche dealership, maybe I would feel different and re-discover that "damn I want a car" magic. :) Also, we didn't really test drive the cars - just look at them in the showroom -the equivalent of seeing a picture of a stove or kitchen and not being able to actually use anything.

In addition, with the insane idea that Sundays are not a good time to have car dealerships open - Rob and I didn't really get a chance to see any Bimmers or other cars. Dealerships are dumb.

I'm Back!

Yes, I have a job.

Yes, it sometimes sucks the very life out of me.

Yes, the last month (almost exactly) was one of those times.

Let me tell you - setting quotas for a large sales team, not exactly the easiest (nor most fuflilling) thing you can do with your time. On the flip side, I did get a fantastic bottle of Champagne from one appreciative team! I think folks have started to catch on that they can ply me with booze.

Any how I promise to write more (for all three folks that might check this blog - you can rest assured). Plus, this should be the last time I have to deal with all this quota setting stuff. So you can hear from me consistently for many days from now on (until work comes up with the next life-sucking invention).

James Beard Nominees are in

List of nominees...

How many have you been to?

How many do you want to try?

Looking back for a second

Just a quick second... Referencing my last Cal post, I resigned myself to a crappy NIT run and a boring summer until football started. Well...

1. Cal barely beat New Mexico in the first round (at home) and then got demolished by OSU.
2. Cal then fired Braun.

As much as I respect Braun, I have to say that I am in favor of the decision. I think we need a new leader on the team and while he was a great recruiter, the teams just didn't perform up to the level they should have.

Here's hoping we bring in someone that can take us to the next level and have us in the NCAAs and at the top of the heap in the PAC-10 year over year.

Holy Crap - less than 30 days left

Before I have to tell Uncle Sam how much Nina and I paid them for funding a war, looking like idiots, and generally mis-using my money more than I would all by myself.

On that note, one of Obama's economic advisors has been pushing an idea I thought of all by myself like five years ago.  If TurboTax tells me they can connect to all these online databases and get a lot of my W-2 info, etc., then why the hell can't the IRS?

Why can't the IRS send me my bill, all itemized like AT&T Wireless, and then I can review, confirm or not, and then send a check or tell them where to send the cabbage?  I bet that for most people with either no money, one job and a house, or something relatively easy, this would be doable, right?

Anyhow, it makes me heart Obama even more. 

O'Hare is an inspiration

Well, not really.  But you are going to get a rather rambling post from me.  Consider yourself warned...

Let me tell you a story about how I came to write this post sitting on O'Hare's lovely floor waiting for my super lovely wife to arrive on American Airlines.  This is what happens when you and your wife fly two different airlines at two different times (me at 7 PM and her at 8 PM), during a snowstorm (so I leave at 9:30 PM and she leaves at 11 PM from LGA).  But at least it left me time this weekend to put up a few blog posts and get a bit of work done!

Now, for a commercial interruption.

Noise-canceling headphones are the best traveler's invention.  Ever.

The iPhone is a close second.  So far I have seen a Pixar short, a "How I Met Your Mother" episode, and listened to a lot of great music, checked Nina's flight, my email, and the latest NCAA games.

Springtime in Chicago...

Is a fallacy.  Really, a snowstorm on March 21 doesn't meet my expectations of a great start to spring in Chicago.  Of course, I truly believe that the season of Spring actually just waves at Chicago as it flies overhead and settles down on the East Coast.

So Nina and I are in Chicago for one of Nina's friend's wedding.  Rebecca gets to have a white wedding like some people have a white XMas.  We are also here to see Nina's dad who just had his knee replaced.  I also get to try out my new nickname for him, the "Six-Million Dollar Man" and see if I can make it stick!  (full disclosure, when I called him that before the surgery, it seemed to go over well - so I am diving in full force).

Here is to better weather in Chi-town the rest of the weekend.  Happy Spring everyone!

Economics Pop Quiz

If you had to guess how much money we (as Americans) spend trying to "beat" the stock market, what would you come up with?

$100B sound about right? (and yes, that is a "B").

More striking, the number is 1980 was $7B. So in 27 years, the number has grown by over 14x.

Since I am a nerd, I did the math - that is basically a 10.4% CAGR in money spent to beat the market, and from 1980 to the end of 2007, the market went up 14.9x (or about 10.8% CAGR).

So I am not an economist by any means, but basically as a whole, the market went up by 10.8% every year and American's increased spend at 10.4% each year to try to beat it. So good money chasing a bad idea.

Still don't believe me? Well maybe Warren Buffet can convince you better:

Everyone expects to be above average. And those helpers - bless their hearts - will certainly encourage their clients in this belief. But, as a class, the helper-aided group must be below average. The reason is simple: 1) Investors, overall, will necessarily earn an average return, minus costs they incur; 2) Passive and index investors, through their very inactivity, will earn that average minus costs that are very low; 3) With that group earning average returns, so must the remaining group - the active investors. But this group will incur high transaction, management, and advisory costs. Therefore, the active investors will have their returns diminished by a far greater percentage than will their inactive brethren. That means that the passive group - the "know-nothings" - must win.

Again, the best way (if you are a long term investor) is to keep a large portion of your money in an broad-based equity fund and let it work for you over the long haul.

So ends my Econ class of the week.

One thing I learned at Cal was to always look forward

Now that the Cal Basketball season is heading towards yet another end steeped in mediocrity (imagine a college team with two first-round NBA picks at .500?!?). By the way, it was great having you Ryan and don't let the door hit you on the way out Devon.

I figured the only thing I have left is to look forward to next season's Cal Football season.

"Coach Tedford's on us harder than he's ever been," Follett said. "He's reinforcing the 'Tedford Law' around here. When I first got here, I saw how it was. Then two years went by, and I saw how much lenience was being allowed.

"He kind of recognized that. That's the No. 1 change that he's been making. That's helping our team."

Follett said he welcomed the return of a tougher, more demanding Tedford. After what happened last season, it's not surprising that Tedford's players are receptive to anything that will help them avoid a repeat.

Here's hoping that Cal gets back to the top of the heap next season with Riley at QB and not reading their own press clippings. Please (for the love of all things holy), let us get to the Rose Bowl.

Being the dutiful husband...

I am posting this for my wife - who can't get enough of Top Chef. Especially now that it is in Chicago and they shop at the Whole Foods near where we used to live.

A list of where all the Chefs from this season used to cook for in NYC.

Next place to check out on the UWS?

I always wondered about the Empire Hotel as Nina and I went to the Opera and gazed out during the intermissions... now maybe we will have to check it out one day before we see a production or anytime the night is warm.

Best reponse to a Press Release. Ever.

I gotta admit - when a co-worker sent me this link, other than the fact that it was posted on Time.com, as I started to read, I keep thinking "really?!?, this has got to be a spoof or something from Comedy Central". But then I found out it was actually a real Press Release from the Obama campaign as a counter-point to a Clinton release.

A mere snippet (you have to check out the entire release - especially the "Huh?" moment)

If Barack Obama cannot reverse his downward spiral with a big win in Pennsylvania, he cannot possibly be competitive against John McCain in November.

[If they are defining downward spiral as a series of events in which the Clinton campaign has lost more votes, lost more contests and lost more delegates to us – I guess we will have to suffer this horribly painful slide all the way to the nomination and then on to the White House.]

[Thanks for the laughs guys. This was great.]

As they used to say - "Three snaps in Z formation!"

Michigan and Florida politicans are idiots

Ok, maybe that isn't the biggest news of the week. But really, complaining how your delegates are not going to be seated when you knew the rules, broke the rules, and crowed about it? Now that it is politically expedient to have your delegates seated because apparently you are important states - you go around saying that you should get private donors to fund re-votes so we can end up having basically 50% of the delegates go to Obama and 50% go to Clinton (and on the other side 70% go to the already-decided nominee McCain).

Here's a plan - instead have the states give ME all the money, and I will go back into a secret vault (aka my bedroom), and award delegates based on a complicated formula (a coin), and then everyone will be happy with the charade, and I will be $20M richer. Win-win, if you ask me.

Another reason the UWS rules

Gray's Papaya and Barack - together at last.

Cool mash-up of Kayne song

The Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis

In simple to understand terms...



[beware there is a few four-letter works, nothing you wouldn't hear in an R-rated movie]

Is Splenda making me fat?

OK, maybe not "fat" exactly - more like slowing my metabolism down?

Does this mean I should go back to sugar in my morning tea at least so that my body gets started with a big dose of real sugar instead of a fake dose of sweet?

"Tower, this is Ghost rider requesting a flyby."

"That's a negative Ghost rider, the pattern is full."

Apparently after saving the world from communists, Maverick became a pilot for Cathay Pacific. Well unless he pulled one of his trademark stunts!

Seems like Maverick might be looking for a new line of work as well.

The Chronology of my Vote

I have an announcement. If Hillary somehow manages to become the Democratic nominee for 2008, I will "quit" the democratic party and officially change my affiliation to Independent. Plus, I will write in Barack's name on the ballot.

How did I get to this place? Here is the chronology of my vote for 2008:

• I read Audacity of Hope, and told Nina that Obama should run.
• Nina said "What? He will never win." I said, "I don't care, he would make the primaries better by his presence and change the conversation for the better."
• Many months pass - Nina is slowly worn down by my unbelievablely great rhetoric about Barack's candidacy. :) (more importantly, she reads his book)
• I announce one night - and this is at a point that Obama is well behind and Hillary is "inevitable" - that I more impressed with Hillary and her command of the issues. I tell Nina that I would be "OK" with voting for her if Barack doesn't pull it out and she becomes the nominee.
• Nina says "What?!?" I explain that she would be a good president and certainly better than any of the Republican candidates at this point.

So, a little break. At this point I was still an Obama supporter, but planning to vote for Clinton if she pulled it out. So Democratic candidate either way. (If is was Edwards, I would have voted for McCain or wrote in a name). Back to the timeline...

• Flash forward many months - now Obama-mania has captured more of the country. He wins Iowa, loses New Hampshire, etc. I am feeling good about things.
• Super Tuesday comes and goes and Obama is still Barocking the Vote.
• People start talking about super-delegates. Nina says, what if the Superdelegates make Hillary the nominee. I say, "that won't happen, the Democratic party can't shoot itself in the foot. They have a chance to win a voting bloc for a generation." (That voting bloc is voung people, btw).
• Hillary and her camp start talking about Florida/Michigan, and getting superdelegates to vote for her. I start to get annoyed, but still think that the world and the democratic party is a bright and shiny place.
• Hillary goes postal and "angrified" waving flyers around.
• Nader gets in the election as a useless third party candidate.

So I reach the decision this morning - that for me staying a Democrat is simple. Obama as a candidate, I am in. Hillary I am out. For good.

I am at the end of the day, only one vote and one person. But I am serious.

Democratic Party - what will you do?

TiVo shows on my iPhone

I need to figure out how to make that happen.

One piece of the puzzle.

Now I need to figure out how to get my TiVo content to my iPhone so I can watch the stuff Nina doesn't like to watch on my commute!

Anyone know how?

Point. Counter-point

Just make sure you have headphones on or won't offend your neighbors...

Round 1:



Round 2:



The rap section in the first video is priceless...

Funny mash-up with Barack

Bollywood and Barack. The wife will love this...

Yes, the site looks different

I flipped the layout and changed the font to Arial. Exciting stuff I know.

Maybe a surprise to no one...

...but I am a nerd. Or most certainly I am turning into an economics nerd. If these articles don't prove it, I don't know what will. Between my interest in blogs like this, and reading Age of Turbulence, I think I would have been an Economics professor in an alternate universe.

On the popcorn article, given that theatres are in trouble these days, I wonder why some theatre chains don't just drop the price of a movie really low and charge better food? Kind of like how the "upscale" bowling alleys are remaking themselves into bars and places to hang out with younger folks. If the margin on food is way higher then why don't they just have the movies on as a way to drive people into the "store" and then sell better food and drinks to the audience?

Finally, some of the dumbest people seem to be cashiers at movie theaters. That is in fact a gross generalization, and I have interacted with some really great cashiers at theaters, but by and large I avoid food at movies because of the long lines, slow processing, and rude service, and that is on some of the highest margin goods in the place!?!

Nader and Clinton - the Obama foils

So, Ralph Nader is running for office. For some reason (well, assuming that Obama is the nominee), this doesn't really worry me that much. Seriously, how egotistical can one man be? I would support a Ron Paul or Bloomberg candidacy WAY more than Nader. For one reason, his time has passed him by, and second, Barack Obama is able to dis a person with so much more class than I can:

"You know, he had called me and I think reached out to my campaign — my sense is is that Mr. Nader is somebody who, if you don’t listen and adopt all of his policies, thinks you’re not substantive. He seems to have a pretty high opinion of his own work. Now — and by the way, I have to say that, historically, he is a singular figure in American politics and has done as much as just about anybody on behalf of consumers. So in many ways he is a heroic figure and I don’t mean to diminish him. But I do think there is a sense now that if somebody is not hewing to the Ralph Nader agenda, then you must be lacking in some way."

Touche!

On the Clinton front, she has managed to piss me off, feel for her (just a little), a bit of schadenfreude, and a bit of a "Dead Woman Walking". I don't for a minute think that Hillary is out of the race by any means or couldn't be a good president. I just don't think at the end of the day she is in the race for the right reason (to that end, I think McCain falls into the same trap as well).

To further the point, here is a quote from a NYT article:

In interviews with 15 aides and advisers to Mrs. Clinton, not a single one expressed any regrets that they were not working for Mr. Obama. Indeed, some aides said they were baffled that a candidate who had been in the United States Senate for only three years and was a state lawmaker in Illinois before that was now outpacing a seasoned figure like Mrs. Clinton. And to a person, these aides and advisers praised Mrs. Clinton and said that she had been a better candidate than her campaign strategy and operation reflected.

If they don't get it (and are baffled) at why Obama is surging, then that just proves that there were too many yes-men in the Clinton campaign that couldn't get out of the way of their own aura of invincibility and had convinced themselves of facts not in evidence.

Any sadness I might have had for Hillary evaporates in a cloud of incompetence. If she can't run a winning campaign or a health care initiative, she now has two strikes in my book.

So, will we have a big or small family?

I always had the opinion that the "richer" a society, the smaller the family. Japan and a lot of Western Europe being a prime example of negative population growth. On the flip side, I was under the impression that developing nations had larger families since there wasn't a "Social Security" type of program or a safety net, so having a larger family was the alternative in order to have more kids survive to adulthood and eventually take care of the parents.

But this article was interesting and thought provoking. I have to admit I was drawn to it by the title and the fact I would figure out what made me so special as an only child! But it actually talks about family sizes and when you look in an already wealthy country, the ultra rich actually have larger families than the middle class, etc.

I bet if you drew a graph with net worth on the X axis and number of children on the Y axis, you would get a inverted bell curve or something with larger families at both extremes.

Picture is a Kennedy family picture to prove my point. :)

Justice

So, this guy has to pay a pretty penny for being a dick (and a skeeze).

Course, one would think the cost of diverting a flight, and having to land, refuel, and time, etc. would cost more than a nice watch, right? Especially as seeing as how he has to pay a fine that is more than the cost of diverting a flight.

Of course, if I was on that flight I would sue the guy just for spite in small claims court for my time. :)

Title Inflation at work

300 VPs? Seriously? No wonder they have looked lost the last few years...

Back in the Big Apple

So, I am back in NYC after about a week of traveling, first to San Francisco, where I stayed here, and went to an offsite here. Weather was beautiful and a big break from NYC, who was going through this.

So Sarah said she was waiting for a post - so to ensure that she has something to read when she and Rob get back from vacation... I promise a few posts in the next few days (note to self, a way to post from my iPhone would be kick ass).

Yes We Can...

I am not as cool as the folks in this video, but yes we can...

Fun with Google Trends

I am in LOVE with Google trends... so cool.

The Hillary v. Barack throwdown...

Are we going into a recession??

Why voting on Feb 5 matters

At least in New York City, it isn't winner take all. Plus Obama could win NYC and all of the delegates, since there are 8M people that live here.

Story at the Sun.

Like they say in Chicago - vote early, vote often.

Will one of our soon-to-be-married friends have this experience?

I pray not (being a guy and all)!

Cool bridges

Continuing my fascination with architecture, here is a list and pics of 18 cool bridges.

My favorite stat from last week

Well, other than Obama kicking ass...

Was this. Proving (if maybe just for once) that sex (or sexy people) might not sell.

Buy Indian...

It is official - if I want to support the motherland, I should buy a Jag or Land Rover.

Gotta say - that beats buying a Mahindra. :)