Headed up to LA this weekend.
Saturday evening we stayed on Beverly Blvd. and went out to a Comedy Club to see Doug Stanhope, it was a lot of fun. First we had dinner at the club and were pleased to find out that all those who came for dinner had thier seats reserved for them, which meant we got a really top notch spot, right at the front.
The first act was a woman who was about the most unfunny person I could ever imagine. Her jokes revolved around premises such as- using Star maps instead of real maps and Canadians having free health care meaning they just go and have CAT scans for fun, if this wasn't enough she never expanded further than the premise of the joke. She just simply stated it in one sentence and moved on to the next one. Every time a slight courtesy laugh.
The following two acts were much better, although a little cheap in their use of almost purely offensive subject matter. This gets a laugh without any sort of cleverness and is, I think, a little lazy. Still Doug Stanhope himself was great, just long streams of consciousness, moving effortless from one topic to the next, often having five different jokes running concurrently and never seeming to be at all concerned that he was on stage and needed to entertain people. His humor was often smart and inciteful. It was a very fun evening.
Next day we headed of to Buena Park for a trip to Knotts Berry farm. After a very successful trip to Disney's California Adventure earlier in the spring we were eager for more theme park fun. Unfortunately we were a little disappointed. Knotts certainly had more roller coasters than CA Adventure. The Excelorator and the Silver Bullet being among the most fun, as well as a few others, but there was something just wrong about the park. After a morning of wandering around a little disparities we finally realized what this was- there was no theme. CA adventure is a wonderful celebration of everything great in this beautiful state, from the boardwalks of Santa Cruz, to the mountains of Yosemite, to the vineyards of Sonoma the diversity and beauty of the State is all included. From the minute you step in through the mini golden gate bridge to your trip down the fake Hollywood Blvd. You really feel that you are in California, even our beautiful State Poppy is celebrated.
Contrast with this a theme park whose theme is some mix between Peanuts, Pioneers, God Bless America and every tacky children's toy that can be sold at different stands. No thought has gone into the layout of the park, each ride seems to have just been plonked down wherever it might fit. The result is that the only time you really enjoy are the 50 or so seconds you spend on each ride. This isn't good enough.
Additionally the management of the park was poor, no single rider line, no fast track system and no comprehensive map explaining about different rides. The entertainment was hilarious and by far the highlight of the day. 20 kids all dressed up in the colors of the flag singing songs about our wonderful nation and how everyone else in the world wants to live here- really great for the international tourists that was. Worst of all there were maybe 2 drinking fountains in the whole park- not fun in Southern California.

All this got me thinking that the tempers business is really quite fascinating, the difference between an excellent and a really poor job being manifested in so many ways. I've spent the whole day reading Amusement today and the IAAPA ( International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) . I've even found that you can study themeparks. Maybe I will have to think about doing my MBA with a focus on themepark management, I think it would be fascinating to work one up from mediocrity like Knotts to something really great,

Went to a very fun Halloween party last night.

First let me proudly say we spent a total of $14 on our costumes (for the two of us.
I was Clark Kent - Superman t-shirt covered in white button down shirt, black pants, glasses, gelled back hair. Of course top buttons were down to show the Superman T-shirt below.

("I'm very mild mannered" in case people didn't quite catch on. )

My wife was Hermione Granger. Black dress and coat, red scarf, black witches hat, back combed bushy hair and topped it off with a S.P.E.W. badge.
"You can't apparate or disapparate inside the Hogwarts grounds- haven't you ever read Hogwarts, A History."


Anyway, lots of fun was had - some jello shot eyeballs, and other interesting Halloween delights were on offer. The best costume we saw was Lil' Kim in her jail uniform, big booty and all. The worst costumes being soccer players (three different ones, none of whom incidentally knew anything about soccer).

The Prestige-

Wow, what a great movie. Still in my mind I am going back over little details, tiny little plot and character items that had been placed, early on to set the scene. Now that the movie is over and their significance realized this film is even more appreciated in its magnificence. Even now several hours later I am still a little blown away by this film.

Christian Bale was of course just amazing, a really and gritty performance. Hugh Jackman was also so great that I barely made the connection with the actor- this was not what I would have expected for Mr. Jackman. The rest of the star studded cast all did wonderfully, and indeed this was one of Michael Caine's better choices (we still haven't forgiven Miss Congeniality).

At times the plot of this movie seemed slow, but it was all important after the fact, this was simply setting the show, setting the scene for the amazing prestige. Mind you, a movie not for the faint hearted and the rather more gruesome aspects of the movie are still horrifying me as I speak.

Of course you are guessing right to the end, and I am heartily glad I saw the movie before anything was spoilt for me.

i do not want to say too much more, as I am afraid to give too much away. but worthy of Oscars certainly this is an incredible movie that must be seen. Just be warned, if the birds upset you, this is only the start.

This morning at the Hillcrest farmers market I saw my old Boss, (a typical Nazi head chef type). Even just seeing him made a chill go down my spine. It makes me so grateful of my current job, which although perhaps not as excited as work in a kitchen, I nonetheless do not live in constant fear of his tirades. That sort of living is so tiring.
I really don't appreciate having nice bosses enough, what a difference that can make! One of my friends is currently having real trouble with her boss. she loves her job generally, really enjoys everything she does, has no problem working very hard and is really dedicated. The boss however is driving her to a point where she is almost ready to throw in the towel. In contrast to my old nightmare boss, this is not a guy who storms and yells. Rather he is quiet, passive aggressive and is his most hurtful by simply not answering questions he has no interest in and failing to appreciate a single thing that she does.
It is a frightening thing how much power our bosses can have. However crazy and unstable they might be as individuals, however poor their judgment might be, they nonetheless have our future careers in their hands, and through a less than stellar recommendation in the future can possible alter our course for the worst.
Tomorrow is Bosses Day. Something I really think is a stupid excuse to eat more unhealthy food and donate to Hallmark. Nonetheless now appreciating how lucky I am with my bosses I think I will throw in a few dollars for the bunch of flowers our office is planning on getting our top exec.

Hmmm going back to the joint MBA/JD thought and I just don't think it really would have any value. Well, I mean that it just wouldn't be worth it. Plus I am the last person who needs to procrastinate further! I need to decide MBA or JD, or whatever else I will do and just get on with it. It seems to me the joint degree option is really just for those who can't decide, those who have big eyes, or those whose parents will pay for them to do both, and end up with a prestige worthy son/daughter. Searching around I really honestly haven't found a place at it is useful. Especially the option at Northwestern. I mean if you can get a JD or an MBA there you should be pretty set, there's just no reason to do both.

Considering an MBA or Accounting Degree

Recently I've been becoming more and more attracted to the idea of an MBA. I've been hesitant at times due to hearing from some people that it is a degree which attempts to teach skills which cannot be taught, that succeeding in the business world is not about learning theories in the classroom.

Part of my recent change in preference has been due to my internship at a start-up company. It's not until I really dived into the business world up close that I realized how much there is to it that can be taught in general. Business plans submitted to investors, marketing techniques, basic accounting, these are concepts which the people I'm working with would have been fortunate to have learned prior to actually attempting to do it. Theirs has been a process largely based upon trial and error, meanwhile their time line for attracting an investor for their company draws nearer.

Setting my sights on an MBA also gives me more time to really decide if this is what I want to do. Since many MBA degree programs not only recommend, but require students to get multiple years of work experience before entering their programs, I can use this time to not only build my resume but explore other opportunities, including deciding whether this is the right path for me. Hopefully this current internship will do even more to help answer that question.

Until then, if you're interested in getting your MBA, here are some resources I highly suggest:

• How to become an accountant
• Career Information on Accounting
  
• Online MBA
• Types of MBAs
  

Well after hundreds of Craig's List purchases and sales I think we finally have our house the way we want it. The final touch was posting our beat up old coffee table for free (it went in about 1/2 an hour) and finding a replacement. We were so lucky in finding a replacement, some guy up the street - about 3 blocks from our house, selling a really great light wood table, with a matching end table. All for the wonderful price of $25. I think we should be able to make money off this one.
Not so much with the Lazy Boy sofa bed we just bought- got torn on the way in and took the value down t least $100. Oh well you win some and loose some.

Best purchase of the month: Our King Sleigh bed, with accompanying wonderful mattress- all for $450. Not cheap but certainly value for money. I haven't woken with a single back pain since!

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,

I am really loving this show. I'm so happy to have something to replace the WEst Wing so adequately. It certainly ids the best new show of the season. I guess I am still not entirely sure that I like Amanda Peet's character. She does not seem believable and is not as strong as Sorkin's female characters like CJ and Abby Bartlet.
Still I think Matt Perry and Brad Whitford are just great, and it is really nice to see Timothy Busfield also- great role for him. The writing in the show, from the dialouge to the humanity simply puts every other show on television to shame.
One thing I am not quite happy with is the female comic lead, she just doesn't seem funny. Still I will give her a chance, and in the mean time enjoy the show and be inspired to move to LA or New York and start working in television. It looks so exciting and I love how Sorkin removes the trivial.

So, always one to wonder about the value of an MBA, I've been thinking about the advantages of a joint JD MBA, specifically at Northwestern. The program is joint with Kellogg school of business and Northwestern Law school. You end up with a JD and an MBA in just 3 years. First year and summer are spent at Law school, second year at Business school and then the third year you do both. It certainly is exciting to think that in 3 years you could come out with such a huge qualification. Still, I'm not sure what its actual value is. I was also a little put off at first by the thought of having to take the LSAT and the GMAT, but it turns out all you need to submit is your GMAT score.
Still it seems that the majority of students come out working in a law firm- so why even bother with the MBA- but I do like the flexiblity it would give you.

Wife's birthday today.
Her sister e-mailed her yesterday to say happy birthday, her other sister talked to her today and 'didn't realize it was the 28th already in US. so I guess between them they got it right. Her Dad thought she was 25 today, that;s not until next year.
Still we had a fun day, Birthdays are very important to her. I got her a pink Ipod Nano, so thin I can't really believe they make them so small- meanwhile my mother also bought her a pink Ipod- well I guess it shows that was a good idea and now she gets to walk around saying she got 2 pink ipods for her birthday rather than say that her family forgot what day she was born :-)

I saw this new business idea today from Germany about a breaking up agency. It really seems like a stretch and I can't imagine why people would actually invest money into such an idea. It sounds like something out of a futuristic novel. I mean if you really don't want to see someone ever again, why on earth would you spend money on breaking up with them- with all the technology of text messaging and e-mail why would you waste your time and money? I guess we'll have to wait and see if the idea actually takes off, but I doubt it.

Well Craigslist works its magic again. We have managed to sell our TV and our Love Ac for the price we paid for them. It's so great, I think I will just keep changing furniture and appliances every few months, probably good for my brain or something- they always say variety is good. It's also a good thing not to get too attached to anything. That way if we have to pick up and move some day soon it won't be a big deal, we'll just sell it all with no regrets.

Sitting at a beautiful beach front restaurant this weekend I started to wonder why it is that San Diego does not develop its water front more. With the nature of Mission Bay, Coronado and La Jolla Cove, the coastline is immense, it seems bizarre that people haven't grapsed this opportunity more often, especially as it seems you can add an automatic $10 per plate onto a dinner entree if you have a sea view. It's not like there isn't development, the waterfront beach houses are endless and gorgeous. I just feel they would be more profitable as restaurants.
The same is true of the river, in Mission Valley particularly the San Diego River is just beautiful and yet there seem to be no river view restaurants at all. It's one of my dreams, I still hope to open a waffle restaurant one day in San Diego, and I think the river would make a perfect setting for that, nice deck outside, make use of that beautiful free externality.

Why is it so much harder to sell things than to buy them? I have been rearranging my house this week and hope to sell my television and love sac, sadly this seems to be a lot of work and sadly no takers.
Hopefully it will simply be a case of fixing on the right price and then suddenyl BOOM everyone will want them. Still this does seem like a lot of work, and at the end of it I don't come out with cool stuff.....

Pet Peeve of the week:

Blogger's spellcheck. It is just awful and doesn't recognize the most common words. Then when I spell a word wrong by missing the first letter it comes up with some completely random ideas for words I might have missed.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhh

Oh and by the way it didn't recognize 'Blogger's' or 'spellcheck'

I was just recommended this new site: headbutler.com . Very nice review of books, movies, TV shows and indeed all sorts. I was immediately struck by the article on entourage- show we have found ourselves watching at those times when working seems impossible.
At first I hated it, so shallow- I mean what exactly is the point of the show? But then I started to get into the characters, and certainly as Headbutler says, the humor. Ari Gold is a hilarious character, although there is no one funnier than Johnny Drama, played by Kevin Dillon.
One thing that really bugs me however is Eric or 'E'. This character shows no talent as a manager, never really does anything and you wonder what on earth he is paid for. He's also really goofy looking and his liaisons with the intelligent, attractive, affluent Sloane are not even slightly believable.

Still, it's a pretty good show, certainly has some excellent banter written in. I'll be glad when the decent TV shows start back up though.

So today I was sitting at work filling out my time sheet, and sorting to get very very annoyed. This week my semi-boos, (well she is a little above me, but really I do much more than she does) had a flat tire in the morning, she never showed up the whole day! This woman is off sick or on vacation pretty much one day per week, goes home with a headache plenty of days. Filling in my time sheet and having to leave out Monday, a federal holiday, but unpaid for temp employees like myself it hit me how she was getting paid not only for that Monday, but also for the flat tire day and every other day she finds an excuse for. Meanwhile I do her work whilst she plays around on the internet. I was told months ago I would be made into a permanent employee and yet here I am still waiting.

this avenging after work I then went over to my internship, I had been working on a project for them that they were having some trouble with. It has been quite a challenge but is just in the area I am good at- sorting out spreadsheets, making new systems etc. They were so appreciative of everything I had done, and amazed at how quickly I had done it. The difference was certainly stark- if only these guys could even afford to pay me as a temp!

Just watched the season premier of House MD. It was actually really good, the new House fresh from last season's operation is a very interesting character and I love the struggle he has to understand his hallucination and himself. I heard the other day that a theory for the writing of House is that conversations between him and Watson are like the two sides of one's mind. Now I have heard that I can't watch the show without thinking about it.

Looking forward to this labor day weekend. Somehow a three day weekend seems so so much longer than a two day one. Prehaps it is just because my wife is not working this saturday like usual, but it seems like we will be able to do so much.

Prime things on the list: BBQ in Mission Bay Park with friends and Snorkelling with Leopard Sharks in La Jolla. Should be fun, I really want to get into snorkelling. then of course we can catch up on chores, watch movies, cook a nice dinner together.

Can't wait, what I wouldn't give for a 4 day a week job!

Sitting in the car on the way back from a coworker's birthday lunch I was being told of all the many benefits my current job has to offer if I were to be employed full time. Three and a half weeks paid vacation, a weeks unpaid vacation, some of the best medical and dental coverage around. Sometimes it is really hard to make myself dig in, quit this job and move onto something more worth while. At the end of the day I know three and half weeks vacation only really amounts to $2500, nothing compared with what business school will cost me. Still the thought of lying on a beach whilst being paid is some how incredibly appealing.
However I have my resolve, I have already started my internship and know I am heading down the right path.

I am definitely not going to cave in and watch Prison Break tonight. Such rubbish, and yet easily to be drawn into I know.

I was shocked with the Emmy results last night- how on earth did 24 win anything- it is just really really bad television, and how it could win where there are pretty decent shows like Lost, House MD and of course the West Wing (which really should have won). Then there was the most ridiculous of all- Kiefer Sutherland after being denied best actor several years in a row suddenly won for his performance as Jack Bauer- yikes. What exactly did he do better this time?

I don't really understand why these awards exist at all, they are utterly meaningless. The only thing which made any sense was Alan Alda's win- very much deserved.

I went to my proposed internship tonight after work. Met a few more people in the company and looked at some projects I could get involved with. It all seems very positive. They are very aware of my needs and trying to work with them accordingly. I think there is probably a lot I can learn and get out of this opportunity- still taking things kind of slow seems like a good idea for now.

Watched the season 2 premier of Prison Break last night. Utterly awful. I will be happy to give this years season a miss.

Firstly- the last season ended with the prisoners in the dead of night, surrounded by helicopters and police and just totally about to be caught. How would they escape we all wondered. Well, it seems we will never find out as the writers obviously had no clue either. Next thing we see it is daylight and they are still running from the police, the helicopters, the cars etc. Totally ludicrous. They then manage to throw off their pursuers with the aid of running in front of a mile long train- the oldest cliche in a book.

This all followed by a ridiculous FBI agent who makes unbelievable leaps in logic to follow Schofield's every move. And of course a plot all too much a rip off of the Fugitive.

The only good thing I can say is that they killed off the moronic Veronica.

I went to look at the internship tonight. It seems really interesting , a great bunch of young people in an amazing startup with a great concept. Definitely something I could get my teeth into. they were however very reluctant for me to quit my job and join them. They are currently looking for investors, if this doesn't happen it is likely the company won't really get its feet off the ground.

Still it does seem like soemthing very exciting to be a part of, and I would definitely learn a lot and be able to push myself into new skill sets. If the company does get off the ground then who knows- maybe even a job down the line.

It is an interesting decision, I don't feel like I would have too much too loose even if they don't make it. Worst case scenario I go back and find another admin job. You neve rknow what doors will open for you until you get there.

To start out I am going to just go in there a couple of nights a week, without quitting my job. then I will be able to make an informed decision.

Pet Peeve of the week:

I really hate it so much when people send me a group e-mail that starts: "Sorry you guys for sending a group e-mail, I really hate group e-mails but its just the only way I can keep up, the only way I can write to everyone"

Of course it is, it is the same for everyone, that is the reason people send group e-mails! All that you do by starting this way is to make everyone who ever sent you a group e-mail feel really bad about it, whilst conveniencing yourself with this handy solution to keeping in touch.

Arrgh!

Still considering the internship possibility. One thing I keep coming back to is that this time in life must be for education, not quite at any cost, but almost that way. It will be so hard to learn later on in life. I am not learning much right now as an admin assistant. I mean I have discovered a world of mail merge and every other facet of Microsoft Office that will no doubt be useful in the future, but I think that I have almost reached a brick wall.
This internship I may not learn too much, but surely I will learn something, and possibly a lot. It will open new avenues of thought for me, stimulate new ideas, make me aware of a world of business perviously closed to me.
The lack of income shouldn't concern me too much, college can be $30,000 a year, and this wil be free....

I just had my first real conversation with the head of the start up company I may be interning at. He wanted to make sure to give me some disclaimers about working at a start-up company like his before we get anything started. His warnings were that a) there's not really money for the company to grow at the moment as they are currently seeking investors, b) there's very little delegation and no 'employees' so to speak since the company in its current form is only made up of a few people and c) I would probably be given very open-ended projects with little direction (which I think would be very good for my development). Now the plan is to come by and check the place out with some more face-to-face time.

I'm somewhat on the fence with this internship. On the one hand, it sounds like a fulfilling field as well as a lot of room for creativity and challenges. At the same time, however, it is a significant investment of time, energy and potential money (since I'm working for free instead of somewhere else) without any guarantee of what I will be able to get out of the experience, both in terms of learning and my resume. Hopefully this introductory meeting will help the decision-making process.

Well I have one new angle to peruse in the internship spectrum. I have been hoping for a while to get involved in a small business where I could make my mark and get the feel for what a young start up is like. I wasn't quite sure how to go about this, but fortunately I now have a contact in just what I have been looking for. It is a small company that works with both charities and local business for the mutual benefit of both. As a start-up I hope that interning there may well lead to me being given more responsibility than prehaps would occur at a larger organization,

Well I shouldn't get ahead of myself, but this does look promising

Okay,

Decided that interships are teh way to go- at least to figure out what on earth it is I want to do with my life. So- I have volunteer training at Project Wildlife this wednesday which should at least give me some idea if working with animals is really as appealing as it sounds, then I am looking around for an internship in a political office (most likely city council) another interst of mine. I've doen the cooking thing and definitely decided it wasn't forme, the only remaining area seems to be to get some experience in the business world, see if I like it and then gain enough experince t apply for my MBA.
It seems the economy is slowing and joblessness is on the rise, which makes it all the more important for me to pick the right career I think, and certainly to get the relevant experience ASAP.

New Business idea:

A bit of background-
when I would first go to my now wife's parent's house one thing I was a little surprised by were the strings and srings of pleated garlic hanging all over the kitchen, I hadn't really seen such things before. There were strings of onions also all pleated together by thier leaves. Aparantly every time the family would go abroad to Spain or Portugal they would pick up loads of these strings and bring them home as gifts for friends, and of course to decorate thier own kitchen. They would buy them from local markets, villagers having strung them together. Of course these strings never quite work for me and my wife, we get through the garlic and certainly the onions so fast that the strings never last too long. However they look nice and certainly add a rustic feel to a kitchen. So when I spied a few at our local farmers market this weekend I wandered over to get a look, thinking I might buy a string. Then I saw the price tag......... $22! and this was for the tiniest string, only about 10 heads of garlic. I couldn't believe they could get way with charging that much.

So simply idea-undercut these idiots. Maybe this business idea is not for me- but someone who has a piece of land- grow some garlic string it up and get selling!

So I started doing a bit of a search for internships today- just to see what is out there and my main conclusion- WetFeet.com sucks! Everyone had told me this is the ebst place to look for internships but it is just awful, so commercial and only comes up with those scammy internships they show you on craigslist where you work for "environmental groups" and basically stand on the street with a clip board.
Still google it seems is a much better tool for this than Wet Feet, and I found agood list of internships in the Bay Area which is where I may well be living.
gspp.berkeley.edu/career_resources/docs/intstats_2006.pdf

Maybe I can also try Craigslist up there as it seems to be a lot better than the one we have down here (Not that I am moaning San Diego Craigslist- you are great on the furniture side of things just not so hot with jobs and volunteer oppertunities.)

Still feeling very unsure of myself and the future- getting conflicting advice coming in from all over the place.

I have been talking to people who say you should not even bother applying for an MBA unless you have 5 years work experience- 3 years being the absolute minimum.

Other people have been telling me how useless a Masters Degree in Policy would be and how it isn't worth the money.

I just don't know- it seems like one of the best things that comes out of either of these is the contacts and the internships. So now I am starting to think if this really is the bet thing to come out can I not just do the internships without the high tuition costs and the seemingly almost useless piece of paper at the end? I am going to start looking around for internships and see if this would be a possibility- if it doesn't work out I can always apply the year after.

So one more year and I will be half way to fifty. Yikes I am getting old, 24 is probably time to start making some decisions. I feel like there is nothign I am sure about anymore, like I am undeciding things more than deciding.

I don't have a clue about career yet, which means I don't know what education path to get myself on.

I don't know where I want to live- I thought it was San Diego, but then now I think probably not, I thought it was California at least, but now I think I am not even sure about that, I'm not even sure if I want to live on the West Coast. I uess we are pretty sure we want to live in the US, but even then sometimes we change our minds.

I think we are pretty sure we want three kids- but if there was ever anything as unrealiable and almost unplannable as that.... and even if we do have three kids how can we afford them.

Hmm, I thought life would get less confusing as I got older, not more.

Today we decided to make a big lifestyle change in the pursuit of happiness.
Stop watching the shows we watch all the time, stop with any unhealthy food/ and other such habits, start conciously saving money. My wife wants to get rid of the TV altogether but I'm not sure about that yet.
On the proactive side, go out for more walks, go to the zoo more, go to the beach occasionally, go hiking, camping, snorkelling. All very idealistic probably but I think we should give it a shot. stop feeling so lazy and tired all the time and start to refuel our energy.

I celebrated my 1st wedding anniversary this weekend- an impressive feat I feel, we have at least beaten all the celebrities. In truth it all went by rather quickly, and it amazes me that peoples marriages could ever last less than a year. I guess those are the people who sit around not doing too much else, with tons of time to over analyze.

Anyway my wedding anniversary made me come up with a great new business idea- well it seems it has already partly been done- but I think I could do it better. For those of you (most likely guys) who don't know, each wedding anniversary corresponds to a different material. 1st year is paper, 25th silver etc. Now there are also "modern anniversaries"

Traditional / Modern
1 Paper/ Clocks
2 Cotton / China
3 Leather / Crystal, Glass
4 Linen / Appliances
5 Wood / Silverware
6 Iron / Wood
7 Wool / Desk Sets
8 Bronze / Linens, lace
9 Pottery / Leather
10 Tin / Diamond
11 Steel / Fashion Jewelry
12 Silk / Colored Gems
13 Lace / Textiles
14 Ivory / Gold Jewelry
15 Crystal / Watches
20 China / Platinum
25 Silver / Sterling Silver
30 Pearl / Diamond
35 Coral / Jade
40 Ruby / Ruby
45 Sapphire / Sapphire
50 Gold / Gold
55 Emerald / Emerald
60 Diamond / Diamond


Personally I think the modern ones are a bit dumb- (desk sets? clocks?) plus they have diamonds 3 times, when the only time a diamond might possibly be worth buying would be after 60 years of marriage.

Anyhow here is the idea, create a web business that not only provides great ideas for dealing with all these anniversary gift types, but also sells you some of the ideas. Now this About site almost does this, but I think it could be made much more fun, appealing, and commercial (non offensive commercial) surely just what any guy has been looking for.

My mom's thoughts:

seems like the thrust of response to this world cup has been sadness of defeat.
who would have that that uber-successful Beckham would evoke such
sympathy. But the photos of his response to the loss, his
resignation, even the photo of him returning to England with "wife and
child" were so sad. Joy, such as Ghana's at making it to the initial
rung of the finals matches, fades to the past.
Germany who handled loss with such dignity and acceptance, good words
to say for the Italians even, just took away from the fun of Italy
pulling through. Now I am unrealistically thinking maybe scores
shouldn't count unless unless at least 15 minutes are given to the
other team to respond pull something together) plus Italy also has
these game fixing allegations to deal with
Brasil, whom I truly hoped would win -- at least somebody from
another continent should be there at the end -- seemed to evoke the
least sadness -- I was stunned and in disbelief --I love the fun and
enjoyable skill show-off-ness that can be part of Brasil's play ---
but I did not feel the tragedy of defeat. Is that because of less
coverage and media sympathy/empathy for non-first world/European
countries? Or because the assumption that they will be there strong
again next world cup, so a loss is just a little blip.. Or maybe that
the game still has more elements of fun there?
is the world cup too big, with too much riding on these single games.
luck/serendipity can be such a large part of a too highly evaluated
prize. It needs to be more fun, more communal joy, less tragedy.

I thought it might be interesting now the world cup is over to post some thoughts from my friends and family as to how it all went.

Here for a start are my wife's thoughts:

It was really quite a disappointing world cup. Not so much because chosen teams didn't get through (although that didn't help), but there was just a lack of excitement, very few goals scored, very denfensive football being played and far far too much coming down to chance alone. I didn't think any of the teams in the semi finals deserved to win the world cup. I guess we had been hyping it up after having so much fun last world cup and this was a little disappointing.
I think our situation didn't help things either- last world cup we were in England on a break from school, watched all the games live (usually along with Ben, Harriet, my dad and my uncle Stephen). This year we often watched in the evensong after the games had been played (which for me somehow is not so much fun), almost always by ourselves, and were deprived of the excitement of a surrounding Nation. Even at Little Italy on Sunday we found many of the people were just there to party, or be belligerent rather than actually watch the game.
I think I am changing a lot too- I don't think sport deserves the emotional energy and substantial time I used to give it. When I was 16 years old I was the most fanatic football fan. Going to all the Cambridge United games I could, watching every Premiership match on the TV, the European matches, everything. I knew every player, every back story- I loved it so much.
However after a few years- mainly after taking a break from it all in Brazil, I realized that it was not worth my time and energy. The leagues I especially found to be so transient. There was no real loyalty- players who had been at a club for years would suddenly start to play for their arch rivals, provided they were paid enough. In the end the league came down to how much money a club had and which players they could buy. Interesting for some perhaps, but increasingly not my thing.
This being the case I still loved international soccer as this was where the loyalty still existed, this is where people really played with passion for their country, selflessly wanting to win for their fans and their nation. Such a sense of camaraderie.
I think this is till the case, but there was too much bitter disappointment in this World Cup- only Ghana and Italy came out winners. Last time around Northern Ireland did tremendously well, so did South Korea, and Brazil of course. England didn't go too far, but we beat our deadly rivals Argentina and the country was in carnival mode. Somehow there seemed less of those minor successes this world cup. I hope I will enjoy it more next year and it is not just that I have grown apart and started to find this a trivial affair.

Had a great day today,

Went down to Little Italy to watch the world cup final. I hadn't actually realized what a huge Italian population San Diego had, they outnumbered the French 100 to 1. A huge screen had been set up in the street, so that all could watch, literally thousands of people were there.

of course along with the good atmosphere you get the bad also. Some guy- who had evidently been drinking since 8am in the morning, was sitting on a chair, and yelling at the 100 or so chairless people in front of him to move out his way as they were blocking his view. This was about the most obnoxious thing I could imagine, and his yelling continued for much of the first half, spoiling the game a little and certainly suggesting that perhaps he wasn't all that interested in watching anyhow.

I was initially supporting Franc- Zidane being my main reason, wanting him to have a good exit out. I have to say I was a little swayed by the huge crowd around me, and my thought of the scenes of celebration- but nothing did more to complete my shift in allegiance than the head but. How sad that it should end like this for him. We expect such things from the youngsters, hot and fiery tempers from the likes of Rooney, Christiano Ronaldo, and the 98 Beckham, that is just part of the world cup. But we do expect these older ones, Figo and Zidanne, the greats of this decade, to set an example, to be sportsmen, It was a shame and left us all with a bad taste in the mouth.

This has been sadly quite a disappointing world cup.

EIN number arrived- already, yay.

I'm actually amazed how quickly it came, I am definitely not used to government doing things at any sort of resaonable pace. My wife's visa, permanent resident card, and work permit have all taken extortionate long to come throuhg- i'm talking years- and yet this one little number came in a matter of days. I guess it shows what this capitalist country values- businesses. And of course not only that, but the government is of course very encouraging of you paying them all the taxes you can.

Okay,

All my paperwork has been turned in and I think I should be just about ready to start my own business once all the tax numbers come back. I never really imagined that thngs would be this complicated, and this is just the beginning, once I set up I will have to figure out complicated tax returns. I didn't really ever think about that side of running a business, I always think of management strategies,how to invest, how to budget etc. I wonder if a going for an online MBA would help with this sort of thing. This aspect never occurred to me, and I bet there will be many more things that occur to me along the way that I hadn't anticipated. It probably is time to start thinking about online business school , it should help me to avoid these sort of pitfalls.

I think I have finally got to grips with the tax laws involved with starting up a business in California. All I need is a FEIN (Federal Employer identification Number) at the Federal Level and a Business Tax Certificate for San Diego.

I don't need to get a "fictious name" for my business as I can use my last name and a one word description.

I can register as a Sole proprietorship which is much less complicated than anything else.

After all the research things turned out to be fairly straight forward, but I can tell you getting to this point of clarity took rather a log time!

The value of whales...

I remember back in school, in my environmental economics class being introduced to the idea of a non-monetary good through a thought experiment with Whales. Often when we talk about environmental econ, we talk about sustainable harvesting, the minimum viable population (MVP) etc, with the thought that it would be economically harmful to kill of a population of a species, as we will be unable to harvest and sell in the future. It is usually an example of a short term gain which is attractive but less financially viable as the long term profit could be.
This is not the case with Whales however, whales reproduce so slowly, that it has been shown in a very famous paper, that for maximum profit it would make most sense to harvest every single whale today and put the money in the bank. The interest the money could earn would grown at a far faster rate than whales can reproduce at. If we advocate keeping whales through economic principles we must look to some other means, some other value. Perhaps as predators they help to control prey numbers in their marine environments, perhaps they form the habitat of some species of barnacle tat like to live on whales' backs. Some people also point to the pursuit of whale watching, saying that this is a more valuable and sustainable use of whales that is harvesting them for their meat.
It seems to me that most people when faced with this thought experiment will try to find some economic reason in the whales' favor. And yet it seems apparent to me that in conducting this search they do so not because they really feel that we need the revenue associated with Whale watching, and not because they care about obscure barnacle species, but simply because they cannot be faced with the idea that whales have no value. To them whales have immense value, and it is this indescribable value, the value they cannot place their fingers on, the value that they just inherently and yet strongly believe to be there. This is not necessarily an intrinsic value of the species, as intrinsic value implies no human application, but some sort of emotional value that is incredibly difficult to tie down.

The Japanese and Co. have won over the International Whaling Commission in their first bid to remove the moratorium on commercial hunting. We are all horrified, and yet do we ever really stop to examine why this shocks us so much, and exactly what it is that we value so much. Indeed how many of us have even been so lucky as to see a whale- is it simply enough that they exist in the world?

Its so nice when you search on Google and the exact (and somewhat obsure) thing you have been searching for comes up on the first page, giving you all the information you need and ending your worries.
This has, fortunately, recently been the case in my search ofhow to work from home in San Diego and report one's own taxes. As I searched for the requirements in California one of the first things that appeared was this highly instructive piece from Daniel Greene . It really is so great and makes me optomistic about our society that people actually bother to put this stuff up on the web, simply for the use of other people. They themselves benefit nothing from doing so but they help people like myself immensley.

So, having recovered from the shock of last night I can report our experiences

It all begins with my decision to buy a 47 inch television, to go with our new love sac and which should make for a fantastic world cup (and beyond).
We had been looking at TVs for a while, and finally yesterday through a variety of negotiating tactics found one we wanted and got it down to a very reasonable price. The trouble was we now had to get it delivered. These TVs just don't quite fit in the back of an SUV.

So, having always had great success with Craig's list I looked in the labor/move section for someone to help us out- expecting some guy with a truck who needs to make some extra cash on the side.

We called around and got a variety of estimates- some were pretty outrageous, and some couldn't do anything for another week or so. We found one however, who seemed really promising, we managed to bargain him down to a great price, and were sold on the fact that he had a padded truck, and was a 'professional' mover- rather than just a guy with a truck. He also said he would bring another guy, limiting the lifting for me which suited me perfectly. We called the guy and arranged to meet him at the previous owner's house at 6.30pm.
"
6.30 came and went so we gave the guy a call, who assured us he was "about to leave", at about 7.15pm we called again and got no answer at all. 7.30 arrived and they called to say they were "on the freeway". By this time we had got out of our car and were sitting in the previous owners house making small talk and endless apologies. Finally a little after 8pm we heard a huge racket, thinking it might be the mover we looked out the door to see a fully 20 feet long truck outside. Not what we had been picturing.

The guy got out, and I'm sorry to be judgmental, looked like the biggest crook around. This was confirmed when he opened up his truck and saw it was full of construction junk- wheelbarrows, old tires, tools and goodness knows what else. There were no pads in site, just a few old blankets. At this point we should have just given up, asked him to leave and come back with a different mover in the morning. However we had been waiting almost 2 hours now and really wanted to get the thing over with- needing to spend today studying.

The guy pops into the house with his Mexican helper who we find out is out on his first job. He looks at the TV and tells us that he doesn't usually move these anymore. Why not? We ask. Oh- because they usually don't work after they have been moved he replies. Nervous laughter ensues and we can't tell really whether he is joking, but alarmingly it seems he is not.

A dolly was brought over from the truck and the TV was (I will admit) skillfully placed on top of it and fairly carefully wheeled out- although we did have to jump in and stop them from dragging the electrical cord through a puddle of water.
Next came rearranging the junk in the truck and wrapping the TV up. This took an age. Meanwhile me, my wife and the previous owner stood around casting horrified glances at each other, wondering what on earth we had done. I wasn't sure what I was most afraid of that the guy would break the TV or that he would drive off never to be seen off again. As time wore on and I got his license plate and truck description I started to worry most about the former feeling that there was no way he could get away with the latter.

Meanwhile our mover busied about making very inappropriate jokes , and asking wierd questions such as how much we had paid for the TV (was he thinking how much he could make off it?). My wife stood to the side her mouth fully hanging open in shock and numb disbelief and I thought of the yelling at I would receive if we had just thrown all that money down the drain.

Still by the time it was packaged in I must say the TV did look very secure and well wrapped up- my main remaining worry being that something might fall onto it. Before setting off we shaved a further few dollars from the guy's fee. We wrote down our address for them, and then- this might have been thefunniest moment of the evening- the guy gave us his business card, and gave on to the previous owner, saying he hoped we would use him again. This was so dilusional I would have felt sorry for the guy if it had not been for my already overworked concern about my television.

We drove very slowly down the freeway with the guy following us all the way, making sure he never got more than a car apart from us and were relieved when he pulled in at our apartment. This was now going to be the most difficult part as the TV had be move up 2 flights of stairs. My wife being full of nerves ran inside and hid from the whole ordeal, I stayed out to'supervise' and make sure nothing horrible happened. I was pleased to see that nothing had so far gone wrong with the screen, although I was sure that the guys (the inexperienced Mexican most likely) would not get their delivery safely up the stairs.

Surprisingly however this was something the seemed moderately adept at and the TV arrived safe and sound up the stairs in a very short space of time. It was then rolled into our house and when we turned it on- it worked! Nothing had gone wrong at all, unbelievable.

With the TV intact we were left with not only a very cheap delivery, but also a good story. Still it was certainly not worth the stress and worry and serves as a very good lesson of whynot to do everything on the cheap, and never to trust someone you have just talked to on the phone

Just had the craziest Craig's List experience- has left me exhasuted after hours of nervous tension.
Will explain more tommorrow.

In the mean time check out what some people will do for thier business!

The ideal gift for any business

We are finally moved in!

How it took us 4 days to move our belongings a few blocks I cannot understand. I am utterly bemused as where all our 'stuff' came from. It is incredible to me that we moved down here 9 months ago with just the contents of our sedan. This time around it took 2 U-haul trips and about 12 car loads to relocate. Boxes and boxes of things that we have no idea where to place as they consist of random items, none of which seem to fit in one place or another. At this point we are exceptionally glad that we chose a two bedroom with plenty of storage- the one bedroom with no closets we looked at would have been an utter disaster.
The moving stress being almost over we are just thrilled with our new place- it is spacious and quiet, the new carpets are really nice, two bathrooms com in more useful than I would ever have imagined, the extra space for our many plant pots is a big plus and the high ceilings help to keep things cool.

Now for the unpacking which I suspect will take weeks.

Now that I am a bit settled in California I am thinking of starting up my own small web business. I have thus been faced with all the complexities of registering a business and setting up a Tax ID. The usual bureaucracy you can imagine!
The first thing we need to go is think of a name.

I've had a few ideas;

Aardvark adventures- the idea being we would be first in the phone book.

Sunflower Solutions- after one of San Diego's most distinctive native plants- I'm sure however it will already be taken.

Saffron Solutions- The world’s most expensive commodity by weight.

Dim Cave- A private joke those who know me will understand :-)

and finally Gaia Solutions.

I like Gaia Solutions; Gaia was to be the name of a restaurant I was planning to open with my wife. It encompasses things which are important to me and is both environmental and mythological. If Gaia is taken we can go for Gaian.

My Dad gave me some good general advice for choosing a name.

"Easy to spell and short so that it can be used (or at least a shorter
version of it) as an internet address; check it out to see if it is a
available as a domain name and then register it.

"blank consultants" always sounds important

geographical place names are nice, though not one that is too
identifiable with just one location.

I'm not too keen on made up names (like "exxon", which was chose
because it doesn't mean anything in any known language), nor on cyber
names (though microsoft, for microcomputer software has done okay).

Then there's "apple" which works okay once, but then is overdone.
then there are plant and animal names

maybe a made-up name would be okay as long as it wasn't too cute.
Netflix works well

A lot of companies have gone to just initials, abandoning whatever it
was the initials stood for: BP, MSN, even KFC."


Gaia seems to fit in with this advice, it is certainly short, and relatively easy to spell. We'll see if it's already taken.

Getting really close to moving now.
Pictures are off the walls, boxes are started to be filled.
Superfluous furniture has been sold off on Craig's List.
The U-Haul is booked for Sunday. I hope it's big enough. Unfortunatley the weather for that day is set to be sunny and hot which is wonderful for any other day, but not for the constant lifting of heavy weights, up and down flights of stairs.
Ah well- at least its not raining i guess.

X:Men: (hopefully) The Last Stand

I've been looking forward to X-men III for quite some time now. Though I was never into comic books, the cartoon series of X-men was probably my favorite show as a kid. The first two installments of the live-action film versions were also very good in my opinion--particularly the second. There were inevitable problems here and there about them of course (not a Halle Berry fan, some far-too-cheesy lines, and of course the inevitable problem of feeling they shouldn't have left some of the storylines out), but overall they were quality flicks.

The same cannot be said however for this latest version. For a reason beyond my comprehension, they decided to condense two monumental storylines (Apocalypse attempting to take over the world and Phoenix saving the universe) into a single, relatively short (about 100 minutes) film. In order to do so, they had to completely change the two stories (Apocalypse being completely eliminated and the Phoenix being completely transformed from a cosmic alien lifeforce into merely a subconscious personality of Jean Grey).

Now I'm not one of the people who just moans about films not following the exact storyline of their origin--I didn't have much of a problem with the first two--but the editing and scriptwriting decisions they made for X-men III (not surprisingly, a different director) were simply ill-conceived, with the potential to be something so much better.

All this could have been looked over, however, if the film had quality writing, directing and/or acting. Unfortunately, with the exception of Stewart and McKellan's acting, these three aspects of the film were not simply average, they were atrocious! Characters would die and there was no emotion or gravitas in the scene. Everything was rushed, the dialogue was bad.....ugh!

This film took 3 years to make and it appears that 2 years, 11 months and 29 days of that was spent entirely on the special effects portion (which weren't even that great either). What a waste of time, money and most tragically, an incredible story.

Very disapointed in X-Men 3...

More to come tommorrow

Now here's a marketing challenge for you:

Make donuts look healthy.

LOL sounds like something that should be on The Apprentice

This Seattle company seems to be having a crack at it: Mighty O Donuts . These dounuts are transfat free, and organic. Pretty funny really. I mean I am sure for donut addicts the removed prescence of the trans fats is somewhat reassuring, but at the end of the day these are still pieces of sugary, fried white flour, which have all the bad carbs you could want in addition to a huge dose of fat. As for being organic to my mind that does not have any designation on the healthiness of a product.

I don't mean to give the donuts bad press- I'm sure they are just great. But seriously- healthy donuts????

I'll continue on the coulds and shoulds of a non-profit organization soon, but today I want to share with you our amazing purchase for our new apartment. A six foot love sac!

I've included a photo to give you an idea of quite how massive this thing really is. (I got the kitty to pose to give some perspective although I am still not sure you can quite appreciate the hugeness).



Our love sac story began last September when we first moved to San Diego and I saw their display at the Fashion Valley Mall. I was immediately in love, but my wife, less impressed put her foot down and said this was not something we could do right now. (The prices are rather astronomical).

On moving apartment we have discussed at length what to do with our second bedroom. Having less need for a sofa bed right now in addition to being slightly more affluent than we were last September, we decided to make a cozy TV room with a love sac included.

The first question was whether we needed to actually get a love sac itself or whether one of the imitations would do. I was pretty sure that in buying a love sac we would simply be paying for the name. Their marketing which all involves young attractive people having fun certainly pointed to this conclusion. On reading some reviews however we were surprised to find that the love sac was rated far higher than any imitation, and that it really did have some comfty X factor unavailable elsewhere. Still not yet totally convinced we headed over to the 'Healthy Back' store to try their imitation store and our doubts faded away. The imitation sack being not at all comfortable and an imitation only so far as it looked something like the Love Sac.

So now we had to get the sac- we had tried out the different sizes and settled on the 6 foot (the 5 foot being not quite big enough to fit 2 people not wanting to constantly cuddle). Well to be honest it was me who wanted the 6 foot- I figured if we were gonna be decadent why not go all the way. I also wanted to get the most plush cover- the fake fur (phur). Here my wife put in a veto, especially after discovering how hard phur is to clean, and we decided on Microsuede. She also chose the color- a Shiraz purple that would fit in nicely with our orchid themed room.

This would all come to about $600 if we bought form the Love Sac store, and we certainly had no intention of doing that. We therefore set up a stake out on Craig's List - searching every day for the terms "love sac", "lovesac" and "love sack". Several came and went- many 5 footers, and pillow sacs. Then two days ago was posted a 6 foot sac in the perfect color! The asking price was $395 - so we thought we would wait a little while to see if it would go down. Next morning the price was $365, then $350 and finally down to $300. We made an offer of $225- it was accepted and we picked it up yesterday evening.

As you can see its in perfect condition having hardly ever been used. Probably one of our best bargains so far!

After chatting briefly about my last post - Non-profits, missions statements, and viewing the comments made, I embarked on the line of thought about what constitutes a non-profit organization, what should it constitute and how can it be run best- both morally and effectively.
To my mind a non-profit organization is one that in addition to no making a "profit” fulfils an altruistic purpose. It also seems to follow that a non-profit to be justifiable is doing something that a for-profit or a governmental organization cannot do. It is an interesting parallel however that the Board of both a for-profit and a non-profit organization is what should define the action of an organization, and indeed a strong board seems to be a crucial component for success. In a for profit organization the board ensures that money is being made, and in a non-profit the board ensures that the mission of the organization is being met with, the right goals sought for, and the correct paths taken.
The Board is highly important in a non-profit organization as they stand to gain only the prestige of being on the board, and pride that they have been a part of creating something great. This unfortunately is not true of the staff members of a non-profit, who might (correctly) feel that by elevating the status of their organization they will be given increased wages, better hours, benefits, and certain other bonuses. It is not wrong for these staff members to think this way - it is natural to want to be rewarded for hard work; however it does call into question the motivation behind decisions, which are therefore better left to the board members.
It is a sad fact that many non-profits have lost site of the fact that their goal needs to come first- some organizations support several staff members many of whom are simply involved in fund raising and event planning so that the large number of staff may get paid. A "successful" non-profit then, is not one which has met its goals and is carrying them out effectively- but is rather one that will always strive for more, to be better, greater, to more good. A successful non-profit in my mind will always be pushing the boundaries of what it can achieve. Whilst this might be uncomfortable for the staff, I believe it is necessary to maximize the god which can be done, and is therefore ultimately more morally fulfilling.
More on this tomorrow.

In my wife's line of work- i.e. the non-profit world, there is really nothing more important than your Mission Statement. It is something you should know by heart, as it has been carefully put together to best inform people about the essence of your organization. Mission Statements are incredibly carefully constructed, and it is then the goal of the non-profit to be guided by this mission and to attain any goals that it offers up. The definition of a mission is "a purpose, a reason for being". It must be clear, unambiguous, optimistic and realistic.
The non-profit world by its very nature is honestly and transparently guided by this vision statement, and not, of course, by any goal of financial gain. Of course most non-profits do seek to become well established and well known but this will be accomplished automatically if the mission statement is followed successfully.

I was pondering these thoughts today when looking on the internet at our soon to be ex- apartment management company 'Sunrise Management'. Sunrise have as their mission to "provide our residents with a positive living experience they can be proud to call home. We are committed to enhancing the lives of our residents and our employees by continually striving for excellence in all that we do. Through exceptional service, accountability and innovation ......... and blah blah blah.

Take this alongside our actual experience of their management efforts:

No one ever answers the phone, and seldom calls you back if you have a problem.

Any repair needed in the house is seldom followed up upon, and when it is done exceptionally slowly.

Daily dog poop outside my house is not what I would class as a positive living experience. Neither is having to go downstairs, past the homeless people who sleep in our parking lot, with my electric drill and unscrew the fuse box every time I (or indeed anyone else) blows the circuit as the management company lost the key to its lock.

I can't say that an apartment behind a noisy carwash that has had daily construction noise for the past 7 months has resulted in an apartment that I am proud to call home. Nor has it enhanced my life.

So what does their Mission Statement actually mean? Nothing at all? Then why have one, what is its value to anyone. If all mission statements are so meaningless than how can this have value? If all mission statements are not so meaningless then I think it is time to report this company to the BBB of whom they have been a member since 2005.

Some fairly disappointed season finales, and even show finales the past few days.

I was sad to see the end of the West Wing, (which I suppose might have added to my lack of enjoyment of Sunday's episode), but frankly if the writing is going to continue on that poor standard I think the ending is probably for the best. It was almost getting soap operaish in its final weeks. I suppose it didn't help that they had to wrap things up satisfactorily to satiate the fans, and of course they had to re-write a great deal due to the death of John Spencer. The trouble with the last episode was I kept waiting for the appearance of characters that barely came, if at all. Rob Lowe was in the episode, but for about 30 seconds of screen time, with a very few lines. We had kind of hoped for a cameo by Lisa Edelstein as Rob Lowe's undisclosed fiancée. Edelstein now has a big role in House MD, and other actors that have gone on to have their own shows did make appearances as the show wound to an end- Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) and Emily Procter (CSI Miami) both returned. We also waited for Richard Schiff to come on screen- that was perhaps one of the biggest disappointments. The finale was not a success it neither satisfactorily ended story lines, nor did it produce a strong ending. It should have aimed for one of these options and stuck with it rather than attempting them both.

The season finale of Prison Break was also very disappointing- largely due to the fact that it was a season finale and not the end of the show. One of the things that attracted me to Prison Break initially was the idea that it was one story told in 22 episodes. This could have been something strong, interesting and finite. Greed however got the better of the producers, and seeing their ratings soar they decided to extend the show. The writing has gotten much poorer since they made this decision; everything became very drawn out and at times almost dull. The last episode was not exciting for me because I don't know if I shall even bother to watch next year and find out the fate of the convicts on the run.

Lease signed - ready to move in on June 3rd. It's such a huge weight off my mind. Signing the lease was an amusing experience. Working as a temp in the Real Estate office of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority I spend a lot of time around leases, and these are important leases dealing with huge planes landing on runways, being housed in hangers, and every other thing that planes do in airports. These are leases that are looked over by a multitude of lawyers from both sites. However- these are leases that are on the whole a maximum of 25 pages in length. Imagine my surprise then when we were handed a lease for the renting of a small (well small compared to an aircraft hanger), apartment which is well over 30 pages long! It took us almost an hour to read and sign. The lease detailed everything to a minute extent- right to the fact that you may keep planters on your doorsteps, on the condition that the plants within are attractive and well cared for. Whether it could be argued in a court of law exactly what constitutes a well cared for attractive tomato plant I don't know, and hopefully we won't have to find out.
Anyway- a big sigh of relief, that's us settled with no rent hikes until July 2007!

Tomorrow we sign our lease. When all is said and done we are very happy with our choice. After months of constant construction we are looking very much forward to the peace and quite of our new apartment near Morley Fields. My wife is happy that we don't need to sell the 6 person dinner table, and I am excited about the prospect of a love sac in the spare bedroom (Second hand of course!). With our newly gained appreciation of storage space we are also very glad that this new place has closets and cupboards at every turn- which should help to keep the house nice and tidy. The prospect of a dishwasher and an in-site washer/drier is also very wonderful right now as dishes and laundry pile up during the working week.
So no regrets- we look on Craig's List still every day, and are somewhat comforted to see that nothing better has come up. i really think we got a great deal, everything we really wanted at a price we can afford.

The moving saga is finally coming to its end, although last night was one of the more stressful of our marriage so far.

We found three places they were as follows

Place #1

2 Bedroom Apartment, close to current residence, has washer/ drier, dishwasher, big livign space, plenty of storage, peaceful nieghborhood, close to the wonderfu Morley Fields
Smallish kitchen, no yard.

Price $1175

Place #2

2 bedroom apartment, Fenced yard that we could develop how we liked, garage for storage, very private, and near to the great nieghborhood of Kensington.
Small kitchen, no dishwasher, washer drier hookups but we would have to buy washer drier, slightly dodgy landlord.

Price $1295

Place #3
1 bedroom house, shared hot tub, shared vegetable garden, fantastic kitchen, washer/drier, dishwasher,
No storage at all, on noisy flight path, kind of wierd nieghborhood, too many shared amenities with landlords who we may or may not like.

Price $1175

We had a lot of trouble deciding and sat up all night thinking. My wife was pretty dead set on getting a yard, and for a while there we had decided on Place #3. We decided to sleep on it, and it was a good job we did. More and more we realized that 'great storage space', is not just something landlords add in to make a place sound good. It really is worth a good deal- place #3 might have been great, but having all of our things on top of each other would have been awful and would have caused mre rows I am sure than we could have stood.

So we have settled on place #1. The 2 bedroom apartment. It is just down the street from where we currently live, so the move shoudl be easy enough. We are ahppy and have to think of the positives, and not regret the things which we will not have.

Among many people, although by no means all, there seems to always remain the inner struggle of whether to do something really worthwhile in life, or whether to make some money. Not that the two are necessarily mutually exclusive, but they do seem to come into conflict more than we would like. I often worry about this issue, and was somewhat blown away by an article I saw on the BBC today. A British guy is being criticized for his business practices. What does he do....... he sells gallows to Zimbabwe! Well to be fair he sells the gallows the a variety of countrys, but Robert Mugabe's government count among the number.
"Business is business" says the farmer, and it shocks me to the ground that this is something that one could actually say- and a phrase that has become all to common. Business is not just business. There is such a thing as responsible, ethical business. business need not be solely about dollar profit maximization. We need to remember this and not just sit back on "Business is business".
It is interesting, selling gallows to Africa is certainly no worse than the business behind any military technology. However it still seems, and I think is, more shocking. Although it does not excuse those involved in the manufacture and sale of arms they can to some extent disassociate themselves with the end result. This, as I said, does not excuse them, but it does help them to seem more human, more feeling.
I worry a great deal about the moral implications of my career, but I am safe and happy in the knowledge that I will not have to lay awake at night thinking of all the possibly innocent men swinging dead from the fruits of my labor.

Going into the real renting business has always seemed pretty hard to me. You have to find the right tenants, take care of the property, and are ultimately liable for anything a bunch of strangers might do to your house.
Some people it seems do not want to be inconvienced by such worries, and would rather just turn a profit. Well yes so would we all.
check out how this guy choses to run his rental business:

There is no way for me to timely respond to the numerous e-mails I have received after placing the Ocean Beach house rental on the market.

Therefore, I will attempt to describe the house a little better in order to weed out anyone who might not be interested in what the house has to offer.

Please excuse my long e-mail, it is just that there is no way I can possibly drive over to show the home every time someone e-mails a request for me to do so. The home is located on the corner of Seaside Street and Nimitz - which is a cul-de-sac next to a busy corner. You will hear ambulances go by

-- even through the new double pane vinyl windows. The home does have an attached yard and has a small dog door installed. I would prefer to rent to someone who does not have any pets, but I will consider a small dog (under 30 lbs). I will not rent to people with cats yet -- I just had the carpet changed and cats seem to stink up carpets. I will not take anyone with more than 1 animal. The kitchen is small, but has a new oven. The bathroom does not have a tub -- only a shower. There is no garage - just one off street parking space. I will give priority to the person who can drive by the house and know that they are "OK" with the location. I am not interested in anyone letting me know that they will be moving to the area some time in the future

-- I need to have a signed rental agreement and new tenants by June 1. I DO NOT have time to wait for someone to visit/move to the area, look at the home, and then tell me that it is not what they want. I want a tenant who can mow the grass in the yard with the provided push mower. I want a tenant who can call a plumber on their own if there is a plumbing problem. I want a tenant who can figure out how to turn on & program the automatic sprinkler system if the power should ever go out. I want a tenant who is self sufficient and does not call me with problems - for I am not a plumber, electrician nor a handyman. The last tenant let one of the fruit trees die

(i.e.: never watered it or noticed that it was not receiving water from the sprinkler system) - I don't want another tenant like that. I will not consider someone who does not have good references. I will not rent to anymore than 2 people -- it is a 1 bedroom home! I will rent the house to the first person who can drive by the cul-de-sac on Seaside street, figure out which house is the one pictured in the for rent ad, and provides me with a filled out rental application (which I can e-mail to them) and deposit of $1150. The tenant who lives there now does have a large dog - DO NOT TRY TO LOOK THROUGH THE WINDOWS WITH THE DOG THERE. I WILL NOT RENT TO ANYONE WHO SMOKES.

Wow! I'm sure he is going to end up wiht the tenant of his dreams!

Well the apartment was very nice- great dishwasher, washer drier- tons of storage space lots of living space. A few minuses- electric stove rather than gas (although that will make for fewer accidents), bedrooms are slightly smaller. On the whole it looks great, we sent in our notice to our current apartment today, along with a lengthy letter explaining the numerous shortcomings of the management team. It was only after we sent this in that we realised we will be asked to give a reference for the new apartment. Ah well, we have been model tenants, they can't bad mouth us too much for simply telling the truth.
Now we have started to look else where to get the full range of options. Tommorrow we will head out to Point Loma to a very promising looking place.

Moving is going to be horrible, but fresh new starts bring fresh new oppertunities and we are really quite excited at the prospect.

We're moving! Well hopefully. We have been meaning to for a while now, and today everything suddenly came together. It all began as our neighbor had a bit of an altercation with one of our other crazier neighbors- I won't elaborate too much but dog pee figured and a quick change of clothing before running to work. The consequence of the meeting was the discovery that, if we give notice to our landlord today we can move out 30 days from now- we needn't give notice on the 1st day of the month. This news got us looking on Craig’s List for an apartment, really in a half hearted sort of way, but after a quick browse we came across an apartment with a dishwasher, a washer and a drier and well nearly everything we could want. The location of this new place is only a few blocks from our house, although in a slightly nicer, calmer neighborhood- (Read: not behind a car wash!). It is located very close to Morley Fields which will be wonderful in the summer. So we are heading round there tomorrow to check it out- if we like it we'll be giving notice ASAP.

So I just finally got to watch the Stephen Colbert performance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. I know I am a little late into the game here and the blogosphere has been crawling with this stuff. But really I can't be blamed too much- I get my news mainly from mainstream new sources- BBC and New York Times, who seemingly haven't reported a word of it. All I saw was a little article about how Bush was gracious enough to make fun of himself with an impersonator. I have never been more disappointed with the US media, and feel the non showing of this story is a far bigger story than the performance itself.
Anyhow, for what it's worth here's my two cents: I thought the performance was brave, important, not the Colbert at his funniest, but still very amusing nonetheless

Back in the days of college when I didn't have too much time to devote to a full time job I always thought it would be cool to start a small business on ebay. Thinking of something that was creative and hadn't been done before was not so easy- it seems to be everyone’s way of attempting the American dream. After our wedding my wife almost gave it a shot- selling home made wedding invitations like the ones she had made for our wedding. This is a category well canvassed, although there seem to be few which are genuinely homemade. The reason for this is the same reason that my wife gave up on the idea- the time it would take her to manufacture the cards would result in ridiculously highly (and uncompetitively) priced invitations if she were to value her time as it should be valued. Unfortunately there are many people out there who value their time at a far lower rate than we do and thus it is hard to be competitive.
I think I have mentioned in an earlier post how much I currently dislike ebay.com. It used to be such a great place to find bargains, but now, with people having similar dreams to myself everyone is out to rip you off- everyone is running a business and no one seems to be just selling the junk in their garage (for this I assume they use Craig’s List or the more old fashioned garage sale.
I was interested today to find an article on Entrepreneur.com about ebay millionaires. These Extreme power sellers are arrayed among a variety of wares- jewelry, computers hardware, clothing and stereo equipment are among the main items being sold. All big ticket items. My favorite story however was a guy selling model trains and train accessories.
The verdict seems to be that running a business on ebay cans work- but is a great deal of work, and in no means guaranteed success. The main draw for me would be being able to live somewhere away from the city, or at least not have to worry about job prospects when choosing the perfect location to live at.

May 1st protests today. This impacted us in the main as there was no noisy construction outside of our house- the mexican laborers sending us a sharp reminder that we couldn't live wihtout them taking 7 months to build a car wash. The situation is made even more amusing by the fact that due to the May first walk out they came to work on sunday instead- I think maybe they missed the point. My wife (who doesn't work mondays anyway) jokingly called into her boss saying she couldn't come into the office due to her immigrant status- that would really show the non-profit organization she works for!
On a serious note though, I think the boycott is a peaceful and effective way of reminding this country how much we do rely on the immigrant workforce, and would be probably even more effective if most immigrants could afford to take a day without pay to join in. Scott McClellan (the legend) reported that the Preseident is "not a fan of boycotts) which I thought rather amusing language. I assume he is more partial to them than bombings- but who knows.

Oh dear, Microsoft shares tumbled down today as they failed to live up to Wall Street expectations. I thought this would be a good time to have Microsoft shares with the Xbox 360 - however sales have bene less than expected and else where the company has been loosing out on many different frounts. The good news is that Microsfot has been funnelling a lot of funds into devlopment- trying to compete wiht google and Yahoo- so hopefully we will some some good reults down the line. Still an 11% drop is not exactly what I needed right now. At least I can trust Mirosoft to know what they are doing to some extent- its not like the company is going to crash and burn.

I spent yesterday volunteering at Earth Day, its amazing how non-profit organizations have to sell themselves just like commercial businesses. There are so many non-profits in San Diego, all doing good work of course, that each one of them has to vie for the attention of the public –for their funds, their votes, their volunteer support. My job on Earth Day for the San Diego River Park Foundation was to stand outside the booth and attempt to get people to stop so that I could persuade to join the mailing list. It is too much to accept that people will give donations at an Earth Fair, or make any real commitment, so our job was to get that all important e-mail address as a point of contact for future attempts at garnering their support. I hadn’t realized before quite how much the skills of running a business and running a non-profit overlap- it is perhaps another avenue I could explore.

When it comes down to it, so much of business is selling your product or service--convincing customers to ignore their instinct to hold on to their pocketbook, and make an exception for you. This website I came across gives a fascinating look at what goes on in the mind of a salesman. It is a series of articles written by a man who goes undercover as a car salesman. It is not only valuable as an abstract look at the art of selling, it also gives some great tips for that inevitable time when my 13-year-old Infiniti will break down and I have to make my way towards the intimitading sales lot outside town.

I read today that might soon find our stores stocked with Camel cheese, camel ice cream and other camel milk products. Camel's milk is purported to be slightly salty and has three times the vitamin C and ten times the iron content of cow’s milk.
The industry expansion is being headed by the UN and could give a great income and better standard of living to those nomadic herders living in dry desolate conditions- this will be even more important with the advent of Global warming- soon many areas of the globe may look like Mongolia.
I think this is an idea of genius and it makes me think- maybe there are other areas where I can but my business mind to work- creating innovative ideas, working to find the best way to sell things to customers etc. Working in such a way to develop industries in the developing world seems like it would not only satisfy my moral concerns, but would also be precisely the area in which I could excel.

1st quarter reports in and my portfolio is looking good- mixed, but generally good. Google has risen 60% in thier first quarter profit. They had been pretty rocky there for a while and I was regretting not having sold my shares at $450, but they look set to make things up again, rising $4.50 a share today, and then another $32 a share after hours (7.7%). Google now have 42.7% of the US search engine market, which is pretty incredible, and I can only imagine that will continue to rise- if only computers didn't come with MSN built in as the default homepage! google is also expanding rapidly, employing on average an extra 12 people per day this past year with a total of 1100 new staff.
Elsewhere the stocks were not looking so rosy- Ebay fell 8.87% after a less than expected quarterly report. I'm still gonna hang in there with them- I am sure they have some rabbits up there sleeve somewhere.

When I was first setting up my portfolio I looked closely at shares in Disney and was very close to buying them. After visiting Disneyland and California Adventure the past couple of days I think maybe it is time for a second look. Disney certainly knows how to do good business and make good money. This article is pretty interesting in showing how Disney has been outperforming. After my recent trip it comes as no surprise to me that the theme parks help out to a large extent with the companies profits- with the movie sector actually loosing money. Apparantly the 50th anniversary in combination with the opening of the Hong Kong branch has done wonders for Disney's profits. The question is whether it is too late to buy- the shares have been rising steadily since last october- but with the release of Pirates of the Carribean coming this summer, the home video release of Narnia and millions of themepark going tourists wending thier way to Disneyland/world this summer it may still be a good buy.

Library day today. Unless of course it is closed for Easter, I'm never quite sure where the separation of Church and State begin and end. I was recently going through a calendar from the National Parks and found this quote sprawled across the month of October

"The best remedy for those who re afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple, beauty of nature." Anne Frank

This seemed to be a little close to the edge for a Federal calendar, but then Is uppose so is "In God we Trust".

Anyhow, assuming the library is open i am going to check out 'Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management' by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton. The book aims to do away with the conventional wisdom of how to run a business and deal instead in evidence based management. The book has been extremely well reviewed and I think is a good one for any aspiring or current entrepreneur to check out.

Time to start studying for the GMAT again, I've been pretty lax lately. I'm gonna take today to sit down and do a full test, including the essay. Then I also think I'm going to start working on getting myself a really good internship- it seems the only way to find a decent job these days- temping is certainly not serving me too well right now, although I am at least getting some office experience. I've been checking out this site about how schools evaluate your application, and it makes the point that Admissions officers are humans, and not computers- so it doesn't just come down to bare scores- GPA, GMAT etc. I have to find a way to make my personal side of things work for me. The trouble is trying to combine that with also supporting my wife, saving up for travels- paying vet bills etc is pretty hard. Come to think of it maybe I should train to be a vet- they must be raking in the money. We took our kittens down for their shots again this week- and sure enough we left with more than we came in for. This time it was a rabies shot that lasts a year- how my cats are going to get rabies when they never leave the house I don't know- but they talked me into it somehow. Next thing they want is a sample of their poop in a jar, which they will send to the lab for $25 a cat. The most annoying and superfluous expense we have had there yet was $12 each for a cone for their heads after neutering. We were pretty upset when we came home and found that not only do these flimsy pieces of plastic normally go for around $3, but that they aren't even very necessary for a male cat after a neuter. Of course we know where part of the money goes- every couple of weeks or so we will get some little greeting card or other "To Hermes and Pigwidgeon"- just checking to see how they are doing. It’s such a transparent marketing ploy it makes me extremely angry. Still there seems to be good money in being a vet, not so much stress as having sick humans on your operating table, and the chance to get to work with cute furry animals also- I'll have to give it some more thought.

Feeling a little bit blue about my stocks today- I know I need to hang in their for the long haul, but it is hard. I have some money to invest in my IRA and I figure I'll choose something safer like an index fund rather than risk it on individual stocks which I haven't done spectacularly with of late.
Anyway as I said, I was feeling blue and glancing around for something to cheer me up came across this site Funinvest.com - thought I would share it with you.

I especially like the quote from Mark Twain-
"Banks will loan you money if you can prove you don't need it"

I think we can all sympathize with that.

Came up with a good idea for a business last night. You see there is still a very large part of me that would like to skip the GMAT prep, skip Business school and become a young entrepeneur. The trouble is I have the great ideas, but certainly not the captial and possibly not quite the inclination to see them through.

Anyway this one is another idea for the catering industry and came to me whilst searching in vain through take-out menus for something not too unhealthy. It seems to me that there must be a huge sector of society searching for low carb, low GI, low fat take out food, and the answer doesn't seem to exist. Sure there are some low carb options at any place- but what if you get take-out reguarly. How about a company that specialized just in low GI food. You could have wholewheat pizza, wholewheat pasta dishes loaded with veggies. Burritos in wholewheat tortillas, served with brown rice and low fat sour cream. Indian curry dishes made with low fat yoghurt, vegetables fried in olive oil.

I really think it would work.

So it's tax time again, all over the place I see unhappy and increasingly panicky faces as everyone makes the mad rush to get thier returns in by the weekend. I actually am feeling quite smug having filed my own taxes last month. Instead of the last minute dash I have been spedning my time looking at where our taxes are going to- FederalBudget.com gives a pretty good break down- although it is very libertarain in its commentary- zFacts.com being a lot more objective.

West Wing finally had to deal with the loss of John Spencer last night, and I think they did a pretty good job, it was very tastefully done and allowed the actors to show their grief for the loss of their friend--the funeral will certainly be interesting.
As for Josh and Donna, well to be honest it was a little forced. The show has been cancelled now and they have to hook up before it goes off the air- it's hard to forget that impetus, however the writers did the best they could and it certainly could have been a lot worse.
The election result was pretty tense, and brought back horrible memories of the last election- waiting up all night as the news slowly got worse and worse (I was in the anybody-but-Bush camp). Its funny, the whole season I knew what the outcome would be--would have put a LOT of money on it in fact--however they still had be guessing to some extent right until Nevada was called. Very impressive.
I have mixed feelings about the show being cancelled. When I watch the early seasons it reminds me how much better it was with Aaron Sorkin- still I am quite sad it has to go, there are not many better programs on TV.

After seeing it reviewed consistently high on Amazon I finally went to the library today and checked out Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T Kiyosaki. The basic idea of the book is that there are two types of dads - poor dads who teach you how to work hard for your money, and rich dads who teach you how to make your money work hard for you. As Kiyosaki puts it: "One dad would say, 'The love of money is the root of all evil.' The other, 'The lack of money is the root of all evil.'" The book takes the role of the rich dad and tries to empower and educate its readers - improving their opportunities and expanding their horizons. I have to say I am a little cautious about a book which is seemingly so ruthless - although I embrace the idea that we get rich by being generous- this certainly seems to be the case from the rich and successful people in business I have encountered.

Spent this morning in hospital unfortunately. Last night I played soccer at my usual indoor soccer league- well never again..... For the last but certainly not the first time i was indecently hacked by one of the opposing team- this time I wasn't even on a run but was just standing still when he caught be from behind. What really makes me incredibly angry is that the referee (again not for the first time) didn't even call a foul, meaning that if these guys can't see what’s going on there is no way I am going to be protected in the future. I'm gonna write a very nasty letter to the league management that's for sure.
I was in agony last night, and pretty worried that it was a meniscus tare- I hobble around the house and after passing a horrendous night was convinced to go to the doctor. ( At least I have health insurance). So I spent the morning waiting around as I was lead from nurse to doctor to doctor with a healthy interval between each meeting. Finally after several X-rays I was informed, to my great relief that it was not a tare but a strain. I have to lay off the soccer for a few weeks and have extra strength anti-inflammatory medication plus a knee brace to show to my wife that i am really injured :-)

Went up to LA this weekend to meet my sister in law off her flight. It didn't take us long to get from San Diego to LZ but once we were there it was absolute chaos. I knew everyone said LA has the worst traffic in the country, but I didn't realize quite how bad. After meeting her we headed up to Hollywood which was so dreary and lacking in any sort of star quality that we were incredibly disappointed. We decided to head home earlier than planned only to get stuck in yet more traffic and a 4 hour trip back own to San Diego- boy were we glad to be back! Anyway all this amounted to a firm decision that Id o not want to go to UCLA Anderson- this is slightly unfortunate as it was at least a place with decent weather- oh well.