06.14.09
Posted in Finance at 10:20 pm by Jim
Last November, I wrote a bit about bubbles. One of the bubbles I talked about was college education. Specifically, the large Universities, their endowments and the current overall cost of education. To follow-up on that, here is an article about Harvard and their dramatic drop in endowment (some $11 Billion) and the decisions that is leading them to make.
An interesting name is pretty key in the article, one Larry Summers.
Further squeezing Harvard was a transaction Summers had pushed it into in 2004, when he successfully argued that the university should engage in a multibillion-dollar interest rate swap with Goldman Sachs and other large banks. Under the terms of the deal, Harvard would pay Goldman a long-term fixed rate while Goldman paid Harvard the Federal Reserve rate.
You can guess how that turned out when the Fed started cutting rates last year. Ouchie. Has this guy ever really made a good financial decision?
Permalink
05.17.09
Posted in Family, Running, Will at 12:30 pm by Jim
Well, I have to say I don’t post here much since I joined Facebook. That is probably bad, I think. Facebook is ok for communication, but it is kinda lacking for historical purposes. So, maybe I should do some more here.
The Fullmoon Run was this last week. I managed a good time - around 25:30. Actually, it was several seconds better than last year, but off my time from two years ago by about 30 seconds. I figure I am older and a bit heavier, so that makes it a pretty good time, considering. I did my 5-mile tempo run this morning. It felt pretty good - time was around 43 minutes, which is right at my typical time for that distance in a tempo. I bought some new shoes this season. They are Nike’s and I learned something. I haven’t worn Nike running shoes in years and so I was surprised to learn they run a bit small. My size nine’s are borderline too small for me. Actually, the right one is probably too small by a hair and the left one feels just right. Anyway, I am going to stick with them and see if my feet/legs suffer any. So far, no blisters or shinsplints so maybe they work out.
Will has to start wearing underpants to school in a couple weeks. So, this weekend we started pull-ups and potty training in earnest. He has taken to it right away, mostly due to the reward technique Melanie developed. He gets to choose something from a bag of dollar store toys or a tiny candy each time he actually uses the potty successfully. Now, he wants to go every 20 minutes!
Mom has moved to town, not sure if I have mentioned that before now. She is a great help with Will and he loves having her around. This week, Melanie is off to another drug rep meeting and Mom is going to pick him up from daycare each day. I’m sure they will have a ton of fun.
Permalink
04.23.09
Posted in Big Brother, Technology at 5:00 pm by Jim
I came across this article recently. It is from 2008. The article details technology Intel is designing into computers that allows complete remote monitoring of your PC covertly. Yes, that means regardless of who is logged into the PC, this technology would allow the right person (or wrong person which to me is basically everyone) complete access to your computer - including all passwords, keystrokes, encryption keys, etc. Got a webcam on that PC/laptop?
Elsewhere in the same article it talks about Echelon. Echelon is a technology already in your cell phone. Guess what it does? It allows the government to turn ON your microphone and go through your phone’s data without you knowing about it. How does that grab you? Your phone won’t look any different, it will just be transmitting everything you say to whoever is listening. I remember way back when people got freaked out just thinking that somehow the government was watching them through their TV. Now, no one is freaked out and they really can listen to you. No big deal you say? Well, you might also want to think about the fact that your phone most likely has a camera on it and can probably record video too.
If you still aren’t freaked out, think about this. The TV’s coming out later this year will be able to connect directly to the internet. Very soon, I am sure you will be able to place video calls from your den/bedroom on your TV. Or, the government might just be watching you. One thing will be sure - if they want to watch you, they will be able to watch you.
Permalink
03.30.09
Posted in Entertainment, Will at 1:27 pm by Jim
Well, I haven’t said much lately. I guess I have been pretty busy.
Let’s do some updates. First off, I joined Facebook.com. So, a lot of my shorter things to say I am posting there. If you aren’t on Facebook, you should give it a try. Within a couple weeks of signing up, I found my best friend from Elementary School, who I had not seen in 30 years, plus many of my old coworkers from Conoco and classmates from High School.
Secondly, if you like sweets, I highly recommend Kupcakz of Tulsa. They have some really good creations on the menu. Not cheap, but sometimes you just have to indulge in a good cupcake.
Finally, we took Will to his first movie at a theater this weekend. It was Monster vs. Aliens. $30 for tickets, popcorn and a drink and we left 10 minutes after it started. It was a little loud and scary for him. I think he would do OK at a kindler gentler movie, but perhaps we will just wait until Toy Story 3 comes out next year.
Permalink
03.05.09
Posted in Finance at 11:46 pm by Jim
I am sick and tired of the news over the last week. Certain stations would have you believe that the recently proposed budget would tax you into oblivion. The latest spin is to imply that mortgage interest tax deductions are going away. Articles like this would leave you to believe the end is near for mortgage interest deductions. The truth is far different. The budget is simply proposing a cap on the rate at which you can deduct it. Essentially, if you are in the 28% or below bracket, you would see no change. Guess what? That includes 90-95% of Americans because that bracket ends at over $200k in income per year. For people above that, IF they have a large mortgage, they will simply get capped at a 28% deduction instead of the full 36% or whatever bracket they are in. This means they lose about 20% of their deduction. Boohoo. Guess what Mr. Over 200k earner? You have been living off of the future incomes of your children and grandchildren for too long, and now it is time to pay the piper. As for the rest of America, don’t let the alarmists out there freak you out about your taxes. You should be so lucky that your biggest concern going forward was a slightly higher tax bill.
Permalink
02.03.09
Posted in Gadgets at 7:33 pm by Jim
Well, that was surely a lot faster than I anticipated. After submitting an online form at Live’s cashback website, receiving a reply that blamed Paypal and responding to that email with a rather nasty nastygram, I am now in possession of all my cashback funds.
Kudos to the Live team for coming through for me. Final cost on my laptop was under $350 due to the cashback.
Permalink
01.30.09
Posted in Finance, Gadgets at 11:29 pm by Jim
During the holidays (November/December 2008), Microsoft made an interesting effort to gain search engine users. Essentially, if you used their Live.com search site and followed all the rules, you could get cashback on your purchases at various stores. Big deal you say…you’ve heard of sites that offer this like Fatwallet.com, right? Well, the difference here was that some sites offered up to 35% cashback..in fact, some very random purchases were eligible for much higher amounts of cashback.
Ebay was a pretty steady 25-35% number during this time. I took advantage of the offer and bought a laptop on Ebay and some handmade flannel racecar sheets for Will’s bed. I love a bargain and made sure I followed all the rules to the letter…even going so far as to NOT use the coupon Ebay sent me because the cashback was voided by any use of coupons.
My live.com cashback account immediately showed the monies, but said I had to wait 60 days before I could claim the cash. No, problem. That is pretty typical of other sites that do things like this. By making you wait, they ensure you didn’t return the item.
Well, to make a long story short, this week my 60 days are up and my Live.com cashback account is now showing that payment to my paypal account “failed”. Specifically, their error message elaborates to say:
We’ve encounterd a problem depositing your cashback reward into the PayPal account that you used for your eBay purchase. But we will keep trying.
Sounds weird right? Well, plenty of other people are getting the same message. Here is a thread on Fatwallet about the Failed issue.
So, I’m going to document my pursuit of my approximately $150 here on my blog. We’ll see how it goes. I have screenshots and emails that prove my case. So, worst case I figure I file in small claims court and get my money there.
EDIT: Found another thread on Slickdeals where people are getting the same issue.
Permalink
01.23.09
Posted in Development at 4:00 pm by Jim
Working with databases and code is pretty cool most of the time. But sometimes, you get one of those weird errors that you cannot explain. If you get this message “report item not linked to dataset” when you try to add a second dataset to a Sql Server Reporting Services report, save yourself some time and do this:
1) go to your layout tab
2) right-click your object there (outer-most layer for complex objects)
3) look for dataset and set the dataset property which is now most likely blank because somehow it forgot what it should have been.
Another symptom is a message something like “report definition invalid” when you try to preview/run the report. You can get this sometimes just for adding a new dataset that you will use only for parameters. Don’t ask me why. I have been using Reporting Services since it first came out, and this was a first for me. One little issue cost me half a day as I tried things until I figured out what happened and why.
Permalink
01.06.09
Posted in Books at 4:00 pm by Jim
I have one of those obsessive personalities. I know it…most people that know me know it. For Christmas, I put a lot of Science Fiction/Fantasy books on my Christmas list at Amazon. I really enjoy the epic series where you get to read at least three novels with the same world/characters. Reading a lone novel is ok, but due to my obsessive nature of basically not being able to put a book down, I finish the thing in a day or two and am left wanting more story.
My family got me most of the books on my list, and I have already read many of them. I will get to them all eventually, but at the moment I am trying to finish off a couple of the series before I start new ones. My new Tulsa Public Library card has come in real handy as I have been checking out the books I don’t have in the series. This library thing is pretty cool (someone should have thought of that a LONG time ago, eh?).
Anyway, I highly recommend these two series. First, Mistborn
by Brandon Sanderson is excellent. The books have all the needed elements - an interesting approach to a magic system, political intrigue, war, death, strange creatures and some romance. The main character is a girl that rises from basically a slave class to nobility. The second series is Codex Alera by Jim Butcher. It has all the elements of the Mistborn series - with a boy that grows into a man as the man character. The timeline here is much longer, but still not an extended timeline by some series standards. The firstbook of this series is the weakest, so if you find yourself not liking it as much as you had hoped, don’t give up. The later books are much better.
Permalink
12.14.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:41 am by Jim
Well, the holidays have arrived. Will is enjoying the Christmas lights and the Christmas tree. We haven’t wrapped any presents, yet. I’m not sure he would understand the not getting to open them until Christmas morning part.
Melanie and I enjoy Cirque du Soleil and thanks to the new BOK Center, we got a chance to see a show without leaving town. Last night we went to Saltimbanco. One act in particular had me squeezing my armrests with genuine fear for the performers. I was actually thinking, “No, not again!” each time they started another daredevil move on the trapeze. So, if you get a chance to see the show - go. We found the new BOK center to be a good venue. There really wasn’t a bad seat in the house for this show. They only had about 30% of the arena open for the show, though.
Permalink
« Previous entries
