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.