Yup, based on my prior posting you can deduce I am the proud owner of a new surfboard. An 8'6" epoxy longboard that has treated me very well so far. I had it out for three hours on Sunday and was very pleased with it. However, I have quite a lot of ground to cover before I can truly call myself a surfer.
On the bright side, the kind gentleman who sold it to me - Ed - has also graciously offered to teach me how to surf. This could take quite a while but I am excited about the prospect of having a mentor. And the first lesson was actually far superior to Surf Diva's teaching. I'll keep you updated on how the lessons go. Unfortunately, it's raining here today which means the earliest I can get back out in the water will be Sunday.
Happy Turkey Day!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Coldplay
I had the good fortunate of having floor tickets to the Coldplay concert this past Tuesday up in Anaheim, about an hour north of San Diego. The concert was great - Coldplay is probably my favorite band and Chris Martin was amazing (as always).
However, where the night got really interesting was after the show. Luckily, my very cool (and even keel) co-worker Scott drove up to the concert with me. We get out of the show and it is raining cats and dogs outside. I have been in San Diego almost five months and have never seen it rain like this. We have to walk about 15 minutes back to the car, during which period of time we get absolutely soaked and are freezing (although at this point it's maybe 59 degrees outside).
Getting out of the parking lot after a big show is never fun. We get in the car, crank up the heat and wait. That is when the night took a turn for the worse. This idiot backs into my car and takes off. To give some more color to the incident, this kid was so messed up he had no idea he actually backed into us, Scott gets out to assess the damage and then he almost runs Scott over. After Scott tried to talk to him (he denied hitting my car), he claims he can't see any damage and takes off. And when he ran, he got a solid three cars ahead of us.
We got his number, called it in, etc., but I have a feeling this is only the first chapter of this saga...more to come later on the blog.
However, where the night got really interesting was after the show. Luckily, my very cool (and even keel) co-worker Scott drove up to the concert with me. We get out of the show and it is raining cats and dogs outside. I have been in San Diego almost five months and have never seen it rain like this. We have to walk about 15 minutes back to the car, during which period of time we get absolutely soaked and are freezing (although at this point it's maybe 59 degrees outside).
Getting out of the parking lot after a big show is never fun. We get in the car, crank up the heat and wait. That is when the night took a turn for the worse. This idiot backs into my car and takes off. To give some more color to the incident, this kid was so messed up he had no idea he actually backed into us, Scott gets out to assess the damage and then he almost runs Scott over. After Scott tried to talk to him (he denied hitting my car), he claims he can't see any damage and takes off. And when he ran, he got a solid three cars ahead of us.
We got his number, called it in, etc., but I have a feeling this is only the first chapter of this saga...more to come later on the blog.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Surviving My First Earthquake
I survived my first earthquake out here in California. It was very small, and it felt like a large truck was driving by. I actually didn't know it was an earthquake until my co-workers started talking about it. Our company is on the top floor of a six floor building, however, and we can feel even the small earthquakes. I think it was like a 5.5 or something. And I'm still alive. Whew.
DJIA Breeches 8,000
I had previously polled the readers of this blog if the DJIA would breech 8,000. Although only two people voted (and I was one of them), I just wanted to note that Thursday the DJIA did close below 8,000. Although it popped back up above 8,000 on Friday, I am keeping a weary eye on this technical level. There isn't much support below it (gulp). It was interesting to watch the last hour of trading this past week. Yay volatility!
Mark Cuban Pulls a Martha Stewart
Apparently, several billion dollars is not enough. Mark Cuban has been charged with insider trading, as he (allegedly) used insider information to sell some shares of Mamma.com and save a whopping $750,000. Now for me, $750k is actually a lot of money. For Mark Cuban, however, $750k is a mere drop in the bucket. As of 2007, Cuban is #133 on Forbes’ “World’s Richest People” list, with a net worth of $2.8 billion.
Think about it this way: the amount Cuban saved was about three basis points of his net worth, or 0.03%. Like the Martha Stewart case when she unloaded a bunch of ImClone shares to save a (relatively) marginal amount of money, Cuban is going to end up dealing with an immense amount of negative publicity and stress (even if he is not guilty).
Which begs the question why, why, why do people with this amount of money contemplate doing illegal things to save a teenie bit of money? There is always the thrill of doing something you’re not supposed to do and not getting caught. But I’m guessing in Cuban’s case it was more a matter of thinking he was above the law. Welp, only time will tell how the situation plays out but I’m guessing he’s going to wish he would’ve just taken a loss on Mamma.com. The thought of spending a couple of months in jail is just not attractive.
Think about it this way: the amount Cuban saved was about three basis points of his net worth, or 0.03%. Like the Martha Stewart case when she unloaded a bunch of ImClone shares to save a (relatively) marginal amount of money, Cuban is going to end up dealing with an immense amount of negative publicity and stress (even if he is not guilty).
Which begs the question why, why, why do people with this amount of money contemplate doing illegal things to save a teenie bit of money? There is always the thrill of doing something you’re not supposed to do and not getting caught. But I’m guessing in Cuban’s case it was more a matter of thinking he was above the law. Welp, only time will tell how the situation plays out but I’m guessing he’s going to wish he would’ve just taken a loss on Mamma.com. The thought of spending a couple of months in jail is just not attractive.
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