Cory Lafferty

Stock Clubs

2012-02-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

I truly enjoy investing and a lot of that has stemmed from my Dad and Grandpa early in my life. In the recent years it's been directly related to my involvement two stock clubs. I first joined DOERs (Dreaming of Early Retirement) in 2006. My Dad had been a member for years and had talked to me about attending several times; finally I concluded that I had enough money, interest and knowledge to join.

At first it was me and the next closest to me in age was at least 25 years my elder, a little intimidating for someone that had only been trading stocks for a few years. For a couple months there was a son-in-law that joined, but he didn't last long. I have to admit it was a little rough for me the first couple years, we meet on Saturday mornings and for a long time the meetings would start at 7am. I was still at the age where I would go out on Friday nights (not having the girls made that possible) so there were many meetings that I was only there physically, mentally I was still in bed. I also came hung over on several occasions. All that aside the hardest part was that I lacked confidence compared to these guys that had been investing longer than I had been alive, so the first year or two I was more of an observer.

Over time I gained some confidence and started to really figure out what I was doing. I learned how to take advantage of my technical and web skills to contribute to the club, this is when I first built "Cory's Picks". It's changed a ton over the years as I learn more and is meant to make stock analysis quicker. I'll never forget the first time we were discussing a stock and I went to my site to look it over, in about three minutes I came back with several compelling arguments for why the stock wasn't a good pick and after the meeting had several guys ask how I had done that so quickly.

Over the years I worked on bringing technology to the group, I created web sites for us to use, started using email much more actively and the funniest thing in my opinion was how all the other guys would come to the meetings with there newspapers and I would sit there with my laptop and hook it up to the projector so we started having real time data. I kind of felt like I was bringing them out of the stone age, no offence, if any of you guys read this.

After several years of involvement with DOERs I started talking to people my age about me being in a stock club and how much I enjoyed it. Much to my surprise there were a handful of guys that were seemed genuinely interested.

After several months figuring out what it would take to create a stock club and finding out who was serious about the club and who had been humoring me I held our first meeting. We came up with the name Duke & Duke in reference to the investors in the movie "Trading Places" an older (some would say classic) Eddie Murphy movie. The only dissenting vote on the name was cast by my bother-in-law who attended UNC and doesn't like Duke anything, also he is too young to know about the movie. We did choose to glaze over is the fact that the the Duke brothers end up broke and living on the streets.

It's been fun being a part of both clubs, because the differences are huge, here is just a sampling of the differences that we have between the two clubs.

Duke & Duke: Everyone brings a laptop.
DOER: I bring a laptop

DOER: We meet on Saturday morning.
Duke & Duke: Saturday morning isn't an option.

Duke & Duke: We do a majority of business via email.
DOER: All business is done at the meetings.

DOER: Like low risk dividend paying stocks.
Duke & Duke: Like higher risk with higher reward stocks.

Duke & Duke: We are lucky to get half the people to show up for a meeting.
DOER: Everyone will show for a meeting.

DOER: Christmas dinner is a nice formal event.
Duke & Duke: If we can get something planned it will involve drinking and no dressing up.

Duke & Duke: Has members that don't even live in the state.
DOER: You move, your out.

DOER: Average age ~55
Duke & Duke: Average age ~35

Duke & Duke: A lot of trades are emotionally driven.
DOER: Most trades are talked through and researched.

DOER: Looks at downturns as loses.
Duke & Duke: Looks at downturns as opportunities.

This is just the tip of the ice berg when it comes to differences, but I'm very glad that I'm a part of both clubs, in one I generally play the role of the student and the other I generally play the role of the teacher. And the best part is that I seem to learn something new at every meeting, I go out of my way to make sure that I don't miss a meeting because there is so much information that is distributed at these meetings. It's one thing to have emails with thoughts and ideas, but to have a good debate and really research a topic is something else.

Here's hoping for big gains for all.

SCUBA AND ANTARCTICA?

2012-01-23T14:13:00.000-08:00

Recently I listened to the book Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson. It's a great read/listen and I would strongly recommend it to anyone that is either adventurous or into WWII history. The audio books started out really slow for me, but that was my fault for not reading the title of the book, let alone the summary. After I finally picked up on the fact this was a true story I really got into it.

I'm not much of a history buff and at times it can be embarrassing to the level of those Jay-walking segment on the Jay Leno show (quick side note I prefer Conon O'Brien over Jay Leno). But that's not the point, in the book two divers, Richie Kohler and John Chatterton, find a German U-Boat off the coast of New Jersey and over the better part of a decade try to learn the identity and the history of the boat.

The book itself is a great thing to write about, but my intention was to write about my Scuba Diving Dream Vacation. I've always enjoyed the thought of Scuba Diving and going somewhere that is so mysterious and unknown. I've only gone a couple times, but they were incredible experiences: The fact that I dove while in Hawaii and Australia encourages that fact. Amy on the other hand went with while we were in Australia and commented how scuba diving was much more terrifying than sky diving, both of which we did while on our Australian adventure. It didn't make any since to me, but she explained that she doesn't like having to trust a machine to do her breathing for her. I thought she was being ridiculous until I listened to Shadow Divers there is something about listening to a true story and hearing the real dangers and people actually diving that have a much more "real" impact. In the book several divers die while diving the U-Boat.

This leads to my new dream vacation, it's new because I've already gone on my original dream vacation of visiting Australia. My new dream vacation is to scuba dive off the coast of Antarctica!

I first came up with this crazy idea when I read about it in National Geographic; it looked absolutely amazing and will help me on my way to visiting all seven continents another goal of mine. After some research I've found several companies that make the trip down there. The ones that I like the most about around 15 days long, you fly into Sydney Australia and take a boat down to Antarctica, once there you spend 3 to 5 days doing dives or sitting on the boat if you are just there to see it. After that the boat takes you back to South America and fly home from there.

For me to do this I have to get nearly the highest level certification which in itself presents an issue since they don't even off that certification anywhere around Kansas. Either way let it be known that I'm going to do this some day and if you're interested in joining me let me know ... considering my wife doesn't like snow or Scuba Diving, I don't think she has an interest in diving the coldest place on earth!

What I Want To Hear From a President

2011-12-09T03:22:00.001-08:00

I'm not much into political discussions, because most of the time they are fruitless. It seems to me that people that are really into politics are like sports fans, it doesn't matter what you say they will always believe that their team (political party) is far superior to your team (political party). When I get drug into a political discussion I tend to play devil's advocate leading the person to believe I align myself with the opposite party they affiliate with. I'm registered Independent and try to vote for the best person. Personally I believe they should not indicate a politician's party on the ballot, that encourages people to vote on party alone which I find absurd. With that lead in here is the speech that I would like to hear from the President of the United States, weather they be Democrat, Republican or Independent.

"Good evening my fellow Americans, tonight I'm hear to tell you that we have failed you, but you could have done something about it; you are the ones that elected us in this position. Our congress currently has an approval rating in the single digits yet over 90% of the incumbents will win re-election. Since we as a collective can't be trusted to vote out the incompetent, I am going to help you out.

The first way we are going to help you out is by instituting term limits, each elected official will have a maximum of two terms, each term of four years. And here is the kicker, there is too much time and money wasted on campaigning, so re-election will simply be a vote of confidence. The American people will simply vote if each elected official should be allowed to stay in office for their second term or not. If not then they are out and there will be an election to replace them. This will be done over the course of one-month, elections used to be conducted in that amount of time and in this day of age where information is abundant: Learning about the candidates in one month should be more than enough time.

Continuing, many of you are upset by the ineptitude that has been displayed in trying to balance the budget and here is my attempt to solve this problem. Until the time comes that we have a balanced budget that we can all agree on, no members of the executive or legislative branches of government will receive a pay check or take a vacation day. How can we expect others to live responsibly if we won't do it ourselves and this is us stepping up to the plate to get our finances in order. But there is a second part to this, for us to be financially responsible as a country not only does the government have to maintain a balanced budget, it is also expected from every other American. The rule of thumb, don't spend what you don't have!

To further solidify our future financial stability and help get our line up our incentives I'm enacting the following;

Any elected official that votes for a budget that has a deficit will not be eligible for re-election
All elected members of government will be paid the medium salary of all Americans
All elected officials must obtain their own insurance

The next topic that I want to address is the so called class warfare that is going on. Here's the truth; To those of you in the 1%, the Americans in the 99% are not all lazy individuals that are just wanting to have money for nothing. To those of you in the 99% the Americans in the 1% are not all greedy, money hungry criminals that got lucky. Sure in both case you can find individuals that fit the stereotype, but don't judge the whole by the actions of the few. Opinions are based on sound bites that are cut and edited and made to create ratings. I think back to Homer Simpson in babysitter-gate. The last part isn't very presidential, but I I think get's the point across.

Keeping with the theme, I have a challenge to pose to both those in the 1% and in the 99%. To the 1%, take 1% of the cash that your company has stockpiled and use it to create jobs, I'm not asking you to put people to work building ditches and then refilling them, but create real jobs that people who have had a hard time finding work can do. Jobs that hard-working people can come in and do adding benefit to your company and getting the unemployment rate down. To the 99%, if you are going to complain about not having a job, be sure that you haven't passed up on a job that you felt you were too good for. Sometimes the perfect job isn't available when you want it, so take a job that isn't what you pictured yourself doing as an kid. And when you get the job, work hard, appreciate the work and work yourself up to the position that you deserve.

If we all work together, I'm sure we can work ourselves out of this funk that we have put ourselves into recently and come out even stronger than we were before.

Thank you and good night."

What Was I Going To Write About Again?

2011-11-21T08:26:00.001-08:00

It's seems that I've had a bit of an obsession with memory lately for a couple reasons. It's been in the news quite a bit thanks to Rick Perry; the last two audio books that I have listened too have in one cased focused on nothing but improving memory and the other had a section about it in reference to becoming successful in sales; three I've had several instances where I've run into people from my past and in some cases recalled there name instantly and in others was clueless.

I've never thought of myself as having a particularly bad memory, unlike my wife who you quiz about her childhood for or yesterday for proof. Recently I've learned that I have been wasting the opportunity to remember a lot lot more than I currently do. Using some of the tips in the audio books and doing a little extra homework using Google I now know my credit card numbers, bank account numbers, first 20 presidents of the US by heart. Also, the 7th chapter of a text book that I've been studying (7th because that's where I was when I started working on my memory).

This also lead me to research math tricks, why was I never taught the trick for multiplying by 11 in school? Also, all that time I spent thinking that I was just a bad test taker and that I just have to deal with it, now I know that I could have done better if I had just spent a couple weeks learning how to retain material instead of glazing over it. I came to the realization that the way I read is picking up on keywords that I can later come back to in the instance that I need the information. I don't bother to memorize it because I know where to go in the case I need the info. This works brilliantly in my career, but caused me to be one of the worst students that KSU ever gave a diploma to.

On top of all that, think of all the party tricks I'm going to have in my back pocket. How many times have you been at a party and wanted to show off to the group that you can recall 20 completely random words after being told them once? Well hasn't happened yet, but believe me it will in the not to distant future.

For the most part what I've learned is that better utilizing your memory is all about pictures and ridiculous stories, I know that we are visual people, but I never put 11 * 79 = 869 together before (no calculator needed). You know how you feel like you are good with faces not with names, well probably because we all remember images better than words. So the next time you meet a Brian, remember to make his big forehead into an incredibly large brain (brian = brain), and not just a little bigger, I'm talking bursting out of his head big. Tell me the next time you see Brian you aren't going to remember his name. Dan (fan) and James (diamond from Jamie Diamond) have this trick to thank the next time I run into them and recall their names.

Meet Brian

The other trick that I really liked was the way I learned the first 20 presidents. The book asked me to picture 20 items in my own house, five per room. Then the book went through a list of 20 words and told me to associate each with the items in order. Here is what I ended up with;

Living Room:

1) Couch - The word is WASHING MACHINE, I picture a washing machine eating our couch

2) Fireplace - The word is DAM, there is a dam blocking the rain water coming in through the fireplace

3) Chair -The word is THERMOS, our chair is drinking out of a thermos

4) TV -The word is MEDICINE, commercials on the TV for strange new medicine

5) Stairs -The word is MAN ROWING, a man is literally rowing a boat up our stairs

Kitchen:

6) Refrigerator - The word is DAM HOLDING BACK CUE BALLS, cue balls are coming out of the ice dispenser and being stopped by a dam

7) Oven - The word is JACK, I'm cooking the worlds largest jack for dinner

8) Sink - The word is VAN BURNING, van drove through the house on fire and I'm using the sink to put it out

9) Dishwasher - The word is HAIR, hair is growing out of the dishwasher, kind of gross

10) Kitchen Table - The word is TIE, the table is dressed up wearing a red power tie

Bedroom:

11) Sink - The word is POK A DOT, the sink is painted like my daughters room with pok a dots everywhere

12) Toilet - The word is TAILOR a man is standing on top of the toilet and a tailor is taking his measurements

13) Closet - The word is FILLING CAR WITH GAS, the car is parked in the closest and our clothes are filling it with gas

14) Bed - The word is EARING, the bed itself is wearing a ton of earnings of all sizes

15) TV - The word is BUICK, a 3D Buick is driving out of the TV and into the room

Basement:

16) Desk - The word is BEARD, I've been working so long my beard has buried the desk

17) Treadmill - The word is ANTS DRAWING, ants walking the treadmill while drawing, very impressive

18) Hot Water Heater - The word is CAMPUS, the clock tower is now a hot water heater

19) Furnace - The word is HAZE, the furnace is going out and a smokey haze encompass it

20) TV - The word is GARFIELD, my girls are sitting down watching Garfield eat spaghetti off the TV

And now, here is how the words convert to the first 20 presidents ...

1) WASHING MACHINE, George Washington

2) DAM, Adams

3) THERMOS, Thomas Jefferson

4) MEDICINE, Madison

5) MAN ROWING, Monroe

6) DAM HOLDING BACK CUE BALLS, John Q. Adams

7) JACK, Jackson

8) VAN BURNING, Van Buren

9) HAIR, Harrison

10) TIE, Tyler

11) POK A DOT, Polk

12) TAILOR, Taylor

13) FILLING CAR WITH GAS, Fillmore

14) EARING, Pierce

15) BUICK, Buchanan

16) BEARD, Abe Lincoln

17) ANTS DRAWING, Andrew Johnson

18) CAMPUS, Grant

19) HAZE, Hays

20) GARFIELD, Garfield

Some the connections are a stretch or don't make any since, but I was able to recreate the list and the presidents without any cheating, it's strait from my new and improved brain, so it was obviously effective for me. I'd go into the trick for my credit card numbers, but that's probably not the brightest thing to post on the web.

This memory thing is really catching my interest, so if you have any suggestions for please send them my way!

New Month's Resolutions

2011-10-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

The first of every month I can count on making Amy's eyes roll on a regular basis, even more than normal that is. You see for the past eight months I've starting each month with my list of "New Month Resolutions" (NMR), I've never been much for participating in the tradition of New Year's Resolutions because I they will last for a month or two and then it will be over and I end up with a feeling of guilt for giving up so early and easily. Then the proverbial lightning bolt hit my hit and realized that New Year's Resolutions is in fact a great idea, but is being executed in completely the wrong way.

Thus, I present New Month Resolutions and the reason why I believe these should be the norm in place of New Year's Resolutions;

1. A Year Is Too Long

The first thing that I discovered was wrong was that it's for an entire year, that gives you about 5 weeks to really stick to it feeling great about yourself and 47 weeks to revert back and feel awful for falling flat on your face. I have divided the time by 12, which conveniently is how many months we have in each year. Now instead of feeling the guilt for months you will at most feel guilty for 31 days (only 28/29 in February) and that's if you can't even make it past day 1.

2. Too Much Guilt

I'm not sure that this will work for everyone, but it does for me and I hope that I'm not in the minority. I've replaced the guilt with comfort in knowing that "Hey I may have screwed up this month, but in just a couple days/weeks I get to try again." Each time I fail and give in to temptation, I don't beat myself up, I just say that I'll try and do better for the rest of the remaining month and next month I can try again.

3. Tracking Success

I know that there are a lot of people enjoy numbers and spreadsheets, my enjoyment of number and statistics is borderline obsession, just check out my RecTeamStats website which is dedicated completely to statistics. Personally I have a Google Doc's Spreadsheet that I use to track everything each month, here is a link to a sample; http://goo.gl/lq3JX the one that I use is about twice as long, but I think that's a little much for most people. I make a point to update the spreadsheet every morning, that alone could be a NMR, and at the beginning of each month I reset the spreadsheet and start all over again trying to beat my personal best and my average for each category.

4. No Wiggle Room

Too often people create New Year's Resolutions and don't give themselves any wiggle room, making failure even more inevitable. I've countered this by using the same resolution every month and if I find that I just can't do it for one of my resolutions, then I alter it so I get better results. For example, every morning I make a list of the top five thing that I want to accomplish that day. I would never finish all five, so I changed it to complete 2 of the 5 items on my priority list, this still mean that I was accomplishing important tasks and on top of that I'm more motivated since the resolution is easily attainable.

5. Too Generic

I think we've all heard the resolution, "This year I'm going to get in shape" this person goes out gets a gym membership, eats healthy and switches to Diet Coke. March 1st, that person is sitting on the couch with a bag of Cheetos and a real coke using the gym membership card for the coaster. If the over all goal is to get in shape then examples of New Month Resolutions are; Daily Exercise, 3 Square Meals, Stairs over Elevator and No Eating Out. The next month rinse and repeat.

There is one more piece to this whole plan, there were two items that after months of trying I just couldn't get more than a day or two into the month before slipping up. To deal with these I added "New Day Resolutions" there are two items on this list; Don't Complain and Be Nice to Everyone. Having a 4 and 1 year old plus working in a cube environment I inevitably would complain about something or do/say something that wouldn't be considered nice on a daily basis. Now next to my list of New Month Resolutions I have listed Don't Complain and Be Nice to Everyone, I figure these two are worth starting fresh everyday and the effort is what counts.

Today is the 20th of the month and I've officially slipped up on all of my New Month Resolutions, but you know what in less than too weeks I'm going to start all over again and see if I can beat my stats from each of the past eight month. Overall I feel healthier, more organized, more production and doing pretty well all in all. If you do read this and try it out, be sure to let me know how it goes and any improvements that you can make to my system. Good Luck!

Blog about Amy Lafferty's Blog Posts

2011-09-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

As I've established, I'm not much of a writer, I do this as a form of practice to try and develop a skill that I currently lack. On the other hand my wife is an excellent writer. She has a blog which is worth the read no matter the topic for that post!

Since she's become something of a big deal in the blogosphere I'm going to one promote her blog and two piggy-back on her success.

While it's true that all of her blogs are great, here are my favorites ...

Duplexity

It's pretty simple why this a favorite, it's all about me and my duplexes; wait I mean about us and our duplexes! ... click to read

Little Debbie Snacks

Amy tells me this one hasn't had many views, which is a shame. I think it's the funniest one she's written ... click to read

Tornado

The reason this is a favorite isn't because of the post itself, but in fact it's because it's Amy's most popular post and it's not a close margin. The popularity is all thanks to a picture of a flying monkey in the Wizard of Oz. If you Google "Wizard of Oz flying Monkey", The second image is from Amy's blog :) ... click to read

The infamous Wizard of Oz Flying Monkey image

Boys vs. Girls

I tend to be a big fan of humor, but this was a really good post about the hard-ships of growing up (mostly on the parents) ... click to read

True Parent Moments

This is a great summary of our lives as parents as well as being an overarching theme of Amy's blogs ... click to read

Warrior Dash

I like this one as a reminder of a really fun day and it's one of the best written posts to boot ... click to read

The Ringleader

I love that my little girl has already learned to get a whole group of 20 and 30 somethings to do her bidding ... click to read

Australia Journal

This is from the days of writing in a journal instead of in a blog, but I felt like it had to be a part of this list, it's essentially 26 blog posts, one for each day or our trip ... click to read

Looking For That "One Big Project" - The Know it All by A. J. Jacobs

2011-09-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

GRADE: A

This is the second of A. J. Jacobs books that I've listened too and while I normally don't seek out books by author, I will keep an eye out for his new book, My Life as an Experiment, the next time I'm at Half Price Books. He has a lot a qualities that I (and I think most people) can identify with and the way he works his life into the story makes for a great listen. I will also give some credit to the reader of the book, because he had the perfect voice for the book. At first he was a little annoying, but as the book went on I can't imagine a better fitting voice to tell the story and if possible, I haven't heard Jacobs talk, but he should see if he can get a voice transplant. From the book He and Julie (wife) seem like two people that would be fun to hang out with and how he talks openly about them trying to get pregnant give you the impression you are just talking to one of you quirky friends.

And you know the number one reason that you know this is a good audio book? The fact that "The Know It All" is all about him reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica a truly boring topic and yet it's one of my favorite audio books thus far.

I found myself enjoying this book and for the same reason as his other book; it's all about the quest itself. In this book he sets out to read the entire Britannica and in "Year of Living Biblically" he tries to live the bible literally for a year.

He makes me want to find year long project that I can dedicate myself too. I've done some brain-storming and these are the quests that I've come up with for myself;

Run a 5K every weekend for a year, one per state. The two extra weeks would be needed for Hawaii and Alaska.
Dedicate myself to not complaining for an entire year and document my slip ups on a daily/weekly basis using this blog.
Create an alter ego, that lives completely on social networks and make a goal to befriend all my friends getting them to "know" this person and not figure out it's me.
Learn how to say one single phrase and every single language, maybe something like "Where's the bathroom" since that's always handy to know.
Eat a new food every day of the year.

They are pipe dreams for now, but you never know, you may get a friend request from a Tyler Westbrooke out of the blue in a couple months, or perhaps we well find ourselves in an Hmong speaking country and I'll blurt out "honm naj nyob qhov twb os?"

Books vs. Movies - The Girl with the Dragon Tatto by Stieg Larsson

2011-08-19T14:14:00.000-07:00

Grade: B

I've mentioned in previous blogs that I'm not much of a reader and that's the reason that I listen to audio books instead. I've come full circle on my external perception of me and my view on books. I don't think I've ever been against books, it's mainly the reading part that I don't enjoy. So with that introduction out of the way; throughout my life I've watch movies and people will tell me how the book was so much better. I generally would give a smart-ass comment along the lines of "If you would have skipped reading the book, then you would have enjoyed the movie."

How this relates to the book "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"? It's in the way that it solidified for me that everyone else was right, the book version is always better than the movie. The first instance where I started to notice this was with the Audio Book "21" and the disappointing movie by the same name. This time I was talking to a friend of mine about the book and made a reference to something in it. She said that she would watch the movie on Netflix and get back with me.

That got me thinking, I don't care that much about stories getting ruined and truly enjoy instant gratification. The next day I started watching the movie on Netflix. For the first few days I only watched up to where I was in the book and noticed that the differences were staggering. There was so much that was left out. Had I really been missing this much by sticking exclusively to movies? I'll get my apology to all of you that I made the smart-ass comments to out of the way right now, "Sorry!"

What really stood out to me was that the part I had talked to my friend about in the book had absolutely no mention in the movie and it's not like I had mentioned a clever one liner it was an entire relationship between two characters. Now, this was the Swedish version and not the American version that is coming out sometime soon and from the trailer looks much better and back to my whole thing against reading it will be nice to watch a sans sub-titles version.

I know that about half of the 6 of you that read this like Harry Potter and the others don't. I fall into the camp that enjoyed all the movies and didn't read a single book. Now I feel like I need to get the audio version of all the books to listen to them, if I enjoyed the movies and the books in this case are supposed to be better according to Amy and many others it could be a good use of my otherwise wasted drive time.

This wasn't much of a review of the book, but I think was more entertaining. I enjoyed the book and look forward to listening to the next two volumes once I find them at a good price. Until them I've started "The Know It All" by A. J. Jacobs I'm two CDs into it and it is hilarious!

Audio Book Review - The One Minute Entrepreneur: The Secret to Creating and Sustaining a Successful Business by Ken Blanchard

2011-08-02T03:50:00.000-07:00

My Rating: B-

Who I think should listen to this: I don't think their is anyone that will really dislike this book, but it does kind of speak to you as if you are a child. So if this annoys you then it may not be the book for you.

Who I think should avoid this: See above.

Why I listened to this: Kill time. Actually I listened based on a half-hearted recommendation from a friend of mine. What's unfortunate is that even going in with lower expectations I still ended up grading the book a C.

My summary: This book was a lot of common sense suggestion that you would expect when you go to an introduction seminar that is trying to sell you on the whole package, not that I've ever been to one of those. I know that there were some interesting parts that I thought I could apply to my life, but they obviously weren't all that spectacular give that fact that I'm drawing a blank on what they are at the moment.

What did I learn: I need to write my blog posts the same day that I finish a book, If I'm really going to use these posts as a way to jog my memory on what the book was about. Guess I may have to re-listen and revisit this post! One serious thing that I learned is that finding a book that speaks in the way that you are accepting of is very important if you really want to get something out of it.

Audio Book Review - Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

2011-08-02T03:42:00.000-07:00

My Rating: A

Who I think should read this: Anyone looking for a good mystery, tech geeks will get a little extra entertainment.

Who I think should avoid this: No one.

Why I listened to the book: This book was a birthday present from my wife, she knows that I like audio books and she thought the tech part would be fun for me.

My summary: Even though the tech part of the book didn't play that big of a role the mystery got me hooked. I like when there are multiple story lines that are all converging and you can't tell how it's coming to piece together until late in the book. There is also a twist that is common in TV dramas that never seems to full me, but this book was successful, I even told Amy that I couldn't believe that they had written that specific twist into the book it just didn't make since ... Dan Brown had played me well. I'm kind of surprised that this hasn't been made into a movie yet (that I know of) I was easy to visualize and I think could be made into a movie that is an equal to the book. The last part of the book that will interest a lot of people is the thought that there are all these secret government programs going on and that the NSA is reading everyone's email. You've got to love the government is watching me plot.

What did I learn: I learned that it is impossible to create an unbreakable code and that the NSA has a super-computer called translator that can decrypt any message in the world.

Us Vs. Mt. Whitney, Part 3

2011-07-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

I'm "standing" with my crampons stuck in a tree, I'm unable to get my leg out and that's when I look over at my ice ax. Too this point it's been little more than decoration for pictures, a way to try and look tough in pictures that I would unaccountably show to people for years to come and allow the legend of my adventure to grow to new levels, case in point this blog. Back to the fact that I'm stuck and have my ice ax in hand. I let common sense control things at first, the hole is not much bigger than my leg and I'm not in exactly the best position to take big swings at the snow, so I use it more as a shovel to try and dig myself out. Shawn has joined me and is offering advice. I'm pretty sure I wasn't very accepting of the advice at this point. I'm more thinking, "what the hell were you thinking bringing me on this trip!" making progress but getting impatient I grow concerned about my foot, it's getting a little tingly. This leads to me start taking bigger swings with the ax, I want out and this is about the only option there is. I tear my gators and get my leg on the pull back a couple times, any normal day I would be reacting to these mishaps, instead I just keep swinging.

After what felt like an hour, I can see the top of my boot and decide that even if my boot comes off I will be able to to in and get to it, so the fear of losing my boot is gone. I put the ax down and start thrusting my leg upward, Shawn is also pulling me. One thing that I didn't mention is that since we're something like 10 feet above land, I can't use my other leg to get much leverage, if I try and push with my other leg it just goes deeper into the snow. I'm basically jumping on one leg to try and get out. Then finally it happens, I throw myself backwards and this time my leg comes with me. Even better my boot and crampon are still attached, so no need to dig it out. Crisis averted and the game is back on ... after a time to relax and curse, mainly curse.

We are moving at about the speed of your average three-legged tortuous now, just thinking about how great it will be to stay in a hotel tonight, assuming of course we make it the rest of the way down unscathed. We reach a little stream, nothing threatening about it (yes, this is a set up) and there is a crossing with animal tracks so this won't be a big deal at all. Shawn is in the lead and takes a step, followed by the sight of him falling forward. He's fine, but left behind him is a huge whole in the crossing that just moments ago looked to be a perfectly placed "bridge" for us to cross the stream. Once I confirmed that Shawn was OK, I took a look at what I had in store for me now. Not promising.

I need to cross the stream; about a three foot jump. Not a problem for me, until you start adding in variables that I shouldn't have taken into consideration, because thinking is not my friend at this moment. Note to self, over thinking an issue is not helpful. Here's what I had working against me; I have a 40lb backpack with me, I'm wearing snowshoes, I don't know how far I can step out before falling through, pushing off too much could cause the snow to collapse, the stream is small, but a fall would consist of a 5 foot drop into running water and rocks, I'm freezing, my foot still isn't 100% from being stuck in the tree and not to mention I'm freaking exhausted. Now that I've set up the situation, you can imagine that I was hesitant to jump. I've gone sky-diving and cliff-diving, but this 4 foot drop seemed just as bad! I tossed everything I could over to Shawn, prepared myself for a while, closed my eyes and jumped.

From the previous day, but shows all the stuff I was carrying.

I'd been able to push off just enough and made it just far enough for Shawn to grab me. I had made it, but started to fall backwards, luckily Shawn had planned for this and was holding on after a short struggle he pulled me the rest of the way across. I'm safe and sound! Best part is that we don't have any more major incidences on the way down, at least that are worth noting.

We make the trek the rest of the way down mountain, eventually finding the elusive trail and running out of water. You want to know how thirsty I was? When we got to the bottom we found a hiker getting ready to climb who gave use two two-gallon jugs of water, at that moment the man was a saint, nothing less. I, with no exaggeration, finished my water in 5 minutes. My first drink, drained nearly half the water. Our second savior drove Shawn to get the car, reminder when we first got to the mountain we had to park about two miles from the start of the trail. And, in the back of our heads we had known the distinct possibility of reaching the base and then having to walk another grueling 2-miles to get to the car. Alas, this isn't needed.

As I stood there waiting for Shawn to arrive with the car, I thought back on our hike. This should have been a moment of reflection on what we had accomplished and how I'd had an experience unlike any other thus far in my life and may not have again. It was a moment that Hemingway could use to paint a beautiful picture with words. But, I'm not Hemingway and I had just about died on that mountain. My thoughts were more along the lines of "That was the stupidest <bleeping> thing I've ever done!"

Shawn arrived with the car and we packed up our stuff, the fact that I had just carried that bag for two days seemed like a miracle because now I could barely lift it. I stripped off my boots, socks and as much clothing as I could easily remove. We turned the heat all the way up and I put my feet directly on the heater, it was an indescribable feeling.We drove into the "town" too look for a hotel. I told Shawn all I wanted a whole pizza, a beer, a water and a Dr. Pepper. But that would have to wait, we needed a place to stay. There was a film festival in town and we were starting to think we weren't going to find a place to stay, this can't be happening!

Then finally we were in luck, a hotel had one room left. It was the John Wayne Luxury Suite, it was every bit as cool as it sounds, complete with John Wayne wall paper for the border, the perfect end to the perfect trip!

Wait no, I forgot to mention, I got my pizza, beer, water and Dr. Pepper at a local pizza parlor! All that, and a story that I'll be able to tell my grandkids someday, while trying to prove that there was a time when I was a bit of a badass.

Us Vs. Mt. Whitney, Part 2

2011-06-17T21:49:00.000-07:00

So we are hiking along with our "guide" enjoying ourselves, but things are starting to get a little tougher. I mentioned in my last post that we had been below sea-level just one day earlier and we're now approaching 10k feet. It started to feel like like I was being punched in the gut over and over, I was having a really hard time breathing, but I wasn't about to give up, I didn't come this far to not reach the summit. It's a weird feeling as you get higher and higher, I was in pretty good shape at the time, but I felt like I'd been using hostess snack cakes as the core of my training program. Shawn wasn't doing much better, but our fearless leader was just cruising along tough, every time I looked up he was moving effortlessly across the snow covered mountain.

Me and our guide.

Finally we gave our friend the OK to leave us so he could make the top, it wouldn't be an issue for him, but Shawn and I were running about 50/50 on whether we would make the summit or not. I really wanted to since I don't do this often and may never make it back, but I think Shawn was the smarter one and knew what the safer choice was. Also, he lives in Houston so this elevation change without the time to acclimate was killer for him.

We were moving along but time was not our side anymore; then to add a little drama I put my sleeve up to wipe my nose, there aren't many Kleenex boxes on the mountain and not high on the list of things to pack. I pulled my sleeve back it was covered in blood. I wasn't injured our anything just a nose bleed likely caused by the altitude. We don't have a good picture of this, but I'll try and give you a visual. I'm standing on the mountain in my shorts and log shirt wearing snow shoes, there is an ice ax in one hand a my pole in the other. I have a back pack with my crampons attached to it. Now add blood to one sleeve a little dried up blood just below my nose. I'm pretty sure that is the toughest I've ever looked!

Before the bloody nose, but you get the idea.

We fought forward for another couple hours before we hit the wall. We could see the summit, but finally decided that it wasn't going to happen this time out. It was a bitter-sweet moment, I was a little defeated, I was relieved, I was exhausted and I was proud of us. I looked ahead and if we had kept going it was only going to get harder the closer we got to the top. In defeat we took some pictures and took some time to enjoy the view before heading back down the mountain.

You would think that the blog would come to a quick conclusion at this point, after all, the hike back down the mountain the same way that we had come up should be a walk in the park. Plus there were only a handful of us on the mountain there is only one set of tracks to follow. Spoiler alert, it wasn't an easy trip down!

I was cruising down the mountain and I have to admit I wasn't regretting our decision to raise the white flag. I was now able to breath again, apparently lower elevation is a natural inhaler. I was enjoying the hike and the ability to carry a conversation again. We made our way down to where we had camped the night before and took a much deserved break, it was great to get out of all our gear and lay down for a little bit, I lucked out found a comfy bolder, yes a comfy boulder, I was that exhausted.

I moved from my boulder on the left to the air mattress when Shawn got up.

Now back where we started the day we made another important decision, we decided we were going to go to the "town" at the bottom of the mountain and get a hotel room for tonight. As great as it was to sleep on the mountain, I agreed that the most uncomfortable bed in the world would top the conditions that I had experienced the night before. Add the comment Shawn had made about me not breathing at times during the prior night and it was a done deal.

As we were packing up camp a ranger stopped by, I'll tell you this much I'm glad we talked to this guy on the way down and not on the way up, I may have shot up a flare and got the hell off that mountain. Here's just a touch of the stories that he told us in the 30 minutes that we talked to him; He only knew of three other people on the mountain with us; He was glad we hadn't tried to reach the top we may not have made it back down to our camp site; And the best, just a few weeks prior a guy had fallen off a cliff to his death and was the "deadest" person he had ever seen. Thank God we "only" had 3ish miles left to hike down the mountain.

We were all packed up and headed down the mountain towards the "town" and more importantly a warm hotel room. We hiked a long and the warmth of the sun had softened the snow/ice just enough that we started post holing, a term I learned on this hike. For everyone who is unsure, "post holing" is when you break through the upper layer of ice when you take a step and sink as far down as your hip. You see in the morning the snow is frozen and supports your weight pretty easily, you may post hole every once in a while, but as the day goes on and the temperature increase this can start to happen more and more.

It was getting to the point where ever step we were post holing, which is horrible in of itself, but it got worse. Even though we were dealing with temperatures in the 40s we are exerting a lot of energy and therefore we hike in shorts, so when you post hole up to your hip, you are now getting snow up your shorts and in your gaiters. And guess what it does indeed get worse, now I get to tell you about what happens when you hike in shorts with the sun beating on your knees from above and beneath (when reflecting off the snow). Basically we burned the crap out of our knees and thighs! Every step that ended in a post hole felt like someone taking finger nails and scraping across the burn. Our language jumped from PG to R instantly.

Trying to put the torture of post holing aside, we were moving down the mountain and came around the bend to see the lake that was frozen over. Wait, did I say "the lake", what I meant to say is "a lake", this wasn't here on the way up, we'd made a wrong turn! The wind had blown over all the tracks and we were dependent on maps and land marks that were under a piles of snow. We gauged the situation and decided to go around/across the lake to try and keep moving forward. As we crossed, we heard the not so comforting sounds of cracking ice and we even stepped through on a couple occasions in the shallow parts, or so we were hoping it was shallow. We got to the other side and looked for a way down, but there wasn't one it was way to steep and dangerous. We ended up back tracking a little and finally coming up with a better way, unfortunately it still wasn't the trail and it was far from easy.

The elusive trail

On we went post holing and the ice scratching our sun burns as we moved slowly down the mountain, at this point I can admit I was getting concerned, the thoughts of "will we make it down" entered my mind. Step after step I moved carrying 40 pounds on my back, the only nice thing about sinking into the snow was that my pack ended up sitting on the snow and giving my back a short break.

I took a step and went to take the next, but I couldn't move my leg, this had happened plenty of times before, but this time was different, I tried harder and harder, but nothing. I must have really buried my foot this time, I took off my pack to try and get more leverage and yelled to Shawn to hold up. I'm not sure how we figured it out, but my crampons were stuck in a tree and I was in snow up to my belly button, not an ideal situation. I'm stuck, I'm cold, I'm thirsty, I'm exhausted and about to lose it.

I wasn't planning on a part 3, but this is getting long for a single blog post.

so once again, to be continued ...

Us Vs. Mt. Whitney, Part 1

2011-06-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

I sat down to write a blog about something, pretty lame when I think about it, but fortunately was interrupted by my Instant Messenger "ding" it was a friend asking if he was correct in his memory that I had climbed a mountain recently. He was correct and as I chatted with him realized that I had a much for interesting story to share.

I'll go ahead and admit that this may be kind of like the fish that I caught and magically gets bigger every time I tell the story, but I'll do my best to stick to the facts ... unless they are boring and need to be exaggerated.

The trip started simple enough, my cousin (Shawn) and I flew into Vegas where we would pick up our rental car and the supplies that we didn't/couldn't bring with us. The items that I needed were; crampons, ice ax and snow shoes. This is not your normal hike for someone like me that is going on his second hiking adventure ... ever.

Let me back up for a second and let you know how this whole trip started. I received a Facebook message from my cousin asking if I along with three other cousins would be interested in going hiking with him. Seemed fun enough and I got the OK from Amy, so I said sure I would go along. Not that it would change anything, but none of my other cousins could come (didn't want to come in a couple cases). Amy and I were distracted with Charlotte who was two months old at this point, so I didn't do much research about the trip, I just purchased the tickets and counted on Shawn to take care of everything else since he's the "expert". Well we start to get closer to the trip and I believe it was one-week before we were leaving and I get a call from Shawn. In this call he lays out the details of the trip and let me just say at the end of the call I tell him there's no way I'm going to share all the details with Amy until after our safe return.

Back to Vegas; we get all of our stuff and are on our way to Mt. Whitney. I think it was something like a three or four hour drive, but we just chit chatted and caught up, we don't talk a lot so there was plenty to catch up on. Along the drive we go through Death Valley, which is only important because at one point we are more than 100 feet below sea-level and since we don't have much time for this trip we are planning to ascend a long way in a short time, which if you haven't done it before can be very hard on your body.

We get to the base of the mountain and the road is closed, but not as closed as bad as we had thought it might be. By that I mean there had been an avalanche and we thought we would have to hike a mile or more just to get to the start of the trail, one of those details from the phone call. A good ol' boy wanted to drive up to the start of the trail and saw other cars had gone around the blockade so he offers us a ride. We get packed up and gladly accept his offer. After driving us up, with us holding on in the cab of the truck while he is driving way too fast for the conditions, and him offering us some "smoke" we were on our way. Just so you know, we did turn down the marijuana, which I'm sure he used for a medical condition only.

This is where things began to get just a little challenging, first we went about 200 yards and realized we had made our first wrong turn, I'm starting to question my choice of guide. We try again and hit the right trail, and are moving a long.

We get to this small stream and walk across, Shawn is fine, but I don't know what I was thinking and on my third step, I go right into the stream with my boot. Keep in mind it is far from warm and I'm going to be stuck in these socks for the rest of the day, there is no way I'm tearing apart my pack to try and get new ones, plus I need them for tomorrow.

We plug ahead and have a petty uneventful and pleasant climb. Unable to find the campsite that we were aiming for we come to a small patch that isn't covered in snow and choose that as our spot to camp for the night. So you get a better idea, there is snow and ice all around us, in places it's a good 20 feet deep, you can see where there has been falling snow all around. It's breathtaking, but also a little unsettling. After a delicious dinner we settle in for the night.

The sleeping arrangements are one of a million reasons that I will never get Amy to go on a trip like this. For two people to be comfortable in this tent they would need to be toddlers, Shawn and I are not toddlers, we are probably a good 380 combines, so there is no comfort zone. One of the air mattresses broke, so I have my sleeping back followed by the bottom of the tent, followed by a tarp (maybe not sure about that) and then rocks. Not exactly a Tempur-Pedic. Also, the temperature fell to the 20s or lower that night, thank god I borrowed Nikki's winter coat before we left. After a nights "sleep" we got up had some breakfast at this point Shawn informs me that I kept having these moments that I would stop breathing during the night, good to know.

Now the real hike begins, we leave camp set-up and only take the necessities with us, this includes crampons, snow shoes, ice axes, poles, cameras and some food and water. about 10 minutes later we have to break out the crampons, for those that don't know these are basically spikes that you attach to your boot to help you from sliding on the ice, down the mountain, to your demise (exaggeration) I walk about 5 steps after Shawn put his on and knew I needed mine as well. We hiked along for a bit and came across the campsite of our anonymous guide. The previous day and so far this morning we had been following foot prints, the only foot prints, of someone and we finally caught him. It was this really nice guy, probably in his 50s who was by himself and had done this climb many times, jackpot! He was great and let us tag along, taking our picture a couple times and leading us up the mountain. The next few hours were just what we had come, it was a truly amazing feeling.

Then it started to get interesting ....

to be continued

Audio Book Review - The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell

2011-05-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

My Rating: C

Who I think should read this: Be sure that you enjoy National Treasure and can survive a slow start.

Who I think should avoid this: Readers that needs a book to start strong and pull them in early, capture their interest and then end strongly.

Why I listened to him: Kill time. Actually I listened based on a half-hearted recommendation from a friend of mine. What's unfortunate is that even going in with lower expectations I still ended up grading the book a C.

My summary: I love books/movies that are about decrypting mysteries based on obscure clues that have been passed down through the years and for whatever reason has not been solved. This book started out really slow and I pretty much didn't pay any attention of the first 2 CDs, then it got interesting and the deciphering of the riddles became the main focus of the book. After the slow start it got the point where I was sitting in my car for a while after parking to read the solution of the next riddle. And just when the book was getting real good ... it was over. The ending did match the quality of the middle section, it was as if they ran up against a deadline and just had to overcome a tight deadline with an abrupt finish. Also the focus shifted from the mystery of the book to essentially nothing but the drama of the characters personal interactions. To deal with this I focused on the clues from the previous chapters, but I guess the drama may be intriguing for some, however it really lost my interest and the last chapters of the book were a let down for me.

What did I learn: I learned that I really want to engage in hiding clues in my blog that will be discovered hundreds of years from now. For now there are clues that will unveil information about an audio book written in this blog post. If anyone takes the time and figures it out I will send a copy to reader who can figure it out first.

My Thirties

2011-05-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

With my 32nd birthday mere minutes away, I'm taking a moment to look at how my 30s have started out. I made no secret that as my 30th birthday was approaching I was ecstatic about turning 30 and thought it would be the best decade of my life. Thus far they have not disappointed!

MY GIRLS

My girls are doing great, Molly is nearly 4 and Charlotte is 15 months, both are cute as can be and brilliant, traits they acquired from me of course. Molly says that funniest things and says them often, she can talk without stopping for hours on end. Charlotte is go, go, go, she waited a while to walk, but is making up for it now. Amy finally turned 30 this year and has been writing her own blog, her writing makes me smile.

MY HOUSE

Our house is looking beautiful thanks to Amy, she has redone the kitchen and is always doing updates to the house; I give her a hard time for spending money, but the place does look nice. I've also been trying to make improvements of my own to equal what I do on the rentals ... got a ways to go on that one.

MY CAREER

I've now been at my job for nearly three years, which is a record for me. I work as a Database Administrator, which probably means nothing to most of you. But, I like it there and don't plan on leaving anytime soon, this is a big step for me, normally after two years I get the itch to try something new. I was recently selected as one of the top employees and won a corporate wide award, so I guess I'm doing something right.

MY WEB SITES

RecTeamStats has started growing and taking on a form that should help it grow and become profitable in the near future. I've been working on other sites that aren't as big, but I'm having fun with and my code is becoming much cleaner and powerful.

MY RENTALS

We now own two duplexes that are fixed up, it's taken a lot of work (most of it not by me) but they both look great and are fully occupied. So far it seems like real-estate could become a bigger part of my life, as the first year has gone really well. I know that Amy had to put up with a lot of nights where I would leave to go work on the duplex after putting the girls to bed, but I don't see that happening much more in the future and it gave her some time to watch her girly shows without my snarky comments.

Click here for Amy's blog about our duplexes.

MY INVESTMENTS

I've spent a lot of time learning to become a better stock picker and better at all things involving business and finance. I've taken to listening to audio book when I drive so that I'm not wasting the time that I spend in the car. This has made me rethink my investing strategy over and over, just when I think I have it figured out I come up with a new philosophy. I guess I'll just keep learning, nothing wrong with that.

http://picks.corylafferty.com is a site I'm working on about my investment strategy for fun.

MY HEALTH

This has been the area that I've struggled the most with, I've come to the realization that I can't eat like I used to and my body isn't holding up like it used to. I have aches in my knees, I'm slower and the weight doesn't come off at will. But you know what over all I'm still healthy enough and if this is the only area that I'm struggling with, I think I'll be just fine.

All in all the 30s are all that I had hoped for and I can only hope that they continue to stay that way. I know that not everything can be perfect, but I figure if I don't shoot for perfection it makes it impossible to get it.

To My Readers

2011-05-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

Unbeknownst to me I have started to develop a small group of people that have included me in their Google Reader so I feel as though I need to let them know that I have been writing with the intension of becoming a better writer and the knowledge that I have a long way left to go. As most of you know, my wife is the writer in the family. See lifemakesmelaff.blogspot.com for some high caliber writing.

I started my blog with ideas of sharing knowledge about topics that I know quite a bit about and nothing more. But, this is becoming more of a challenge to myself. I want to be able to write in a way that I don't have to apologize when I find out that someone has stumbled across my writing. To help me ascertain my goal I plan to continue writing blog posts, reading my wife's blog, study blogs that interest me and get tips from grammar sites. While this won't make up for my years of bullet point writing, I do hope that I can start to type in a way that better portrays the way that I talk. No, on second though, better than I speak, because those of you that know me also know that I'm not the best speaker.

Something else that I've learned from Amy is that including pictures of the cutest girls ever, doesn't hurt ...

Charlotte at 60 weeks.

Molly at 60 weeks.

"What Do You Do" - Topie

2011-05-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

Topie is name of my LLC, I've been told by pretty much everyone that the name is pretty lame, but it has a story to it and makes up for the lameness, i.e. my personal justification for the name. As any one that knows me will tell you I'm pretty much the biggest tightwad that you will meet. I've loosened up a little bit over the past couple years, but I'm still pretty bad.

This started at a young age and "Topie" is a prime example of my frugalness. Topie is, in fact, the name of my first car. I wrote a check for it as a Junior in High School and drove it until its value as a trade-in was the 3 year warranty on my Honda ... and nothing more, honestly I think I ripped them off. That car had been through it all; from my sister bending the tire nearly horizontal, to Ian putting a whole in the dash with a sucker, to several wrecks, to empty Little Caesars boxes filling the back seat, to food stains (well all possible stains). But none the less it got me where I need to go and saved me from making a car payment all the way to being parked outside our first house.

Now that you know the back story on the name, Topie LLC is used as a holding company for my rental properties. I currently own two duplexes and the goal is to have four before using the rentals to pay for a vacation home on the beaches of North Carolina. North Caroline because Amy grew up there and I like the prices compared to other beaches. I would say I've been interested in rental properties for about five years. But if you go by what I learned in the audio book "The Millionaire Mind" then being a land lord was written into my financial blue print as a young boy. My dad owned several duplexes as I was growing up. I remember working on them, how gross they were, my dad complaining about them, and on and on ... so here I am a land lord.

I think the difference is that I had my dad's experience and my bosses experience (who own somewhere around 20 properties) to make my experience a little easier to this point, I know those of you that have/had rentals are sitting there thinking; just wait for that bad tenant or huge cost that comes up unexpected. Now for those of you that don't have rentals, but are interested in starting here are my top 10 pieces of advise that I have gathered from my dad, boss, other friends and audio books so far. I may have only been doing this actively for about a year, but I think a lot of the best things your learn are in the beginning and over time they become second nature and you forget to share them with others, so here you go;

1) Keep your properties near by so you can keep close tabs on them.

2) Wait until you have enough money to put down a large down payment as well as cover any renovations, so you don't have to go into large debt and can keep your payments low. "Other peoples money" is great, but if you can do without OPM to get started I think it will make a big difference.

3) Take the time to make sure the place looks nice before you rent it out, don't cut corners this will get you better renters and even though it takes longer to get ready you will rent it quicker.

4) Create a team of people to help you, it's best to get these people lined up beforehand, my boss does all the work himself, but I'd rather get someone else to do the work at a good price since I'm not nearly as handy as he is. You will want the following people on your team;

i) Plumber

ii) HVAC

iii) Carpet Layer

iv) Tile

v) Insurance

vi) Electrician

vii) Carpenter

viii) Loan Officer
ix) Realator
x) Handy man

5) Don't take the first person that looks at the property, it may take a little longer but hold out for a renter that will last and not cause problems for you. It's kind of like baseball, there's nothing wrong with taking the first pitch. Note: sometimes you will get the perfect person on the first showing and you should take them, but show it to at least two other people first.

6) Look into getting a property manager, at this time I don't have one, but I could see the value in having one if you don't have a good team working with you. Do your research and make a decision, you can always change your mind.

7) Include everything in the lease, don't make any verbal agreements. In fact you should include in your lease that you don't make oral agreements.

8) At the time of this writing there are a lot of foreclosures, so I can hold out and buy properties for pennies on the dollar, I believe these unbelievable deals will always be there, but you can always walk from a deal if you don't think the price is right. There will always be another deal out there.

9) Get a P.O. Box, this is used by your renters to mail you a check, you shouldn't rent to anyone where this is needed, but just in case don't let them get your home address. Also you could consider creating a Google Voice account just for your rentals.

10) Have fun! If you don't truly enjoy the experience or you have done it for too long, sell.

I love talking about rentals and I'm sure I'll have some more posts about them, but feel free to contact me if you have any question or comments, I promise to get back with you.

Understanding Munin Chart for MySQL Queries per Second

2011-05-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

Task: Determine if the chart below (Figure 1) show that virtualizing a MySQL database performs as well as it did while running on a physical server.
Learned while researching;

Munin graph indicates that the average queries / second increased significantly after being virtualized.
Munin graph indicates that the average queries / second once again increased significantly after having CPUs added.
Munin gets it data directly from MySQL using the command “mysqladmin extended-status” and captures that following values; “Com_delete”, “Com_insert”, “Com_select”, “Com_update”, “Com_replace” and “Qcache_hits” these respectively correspond to the values “delete”, “insert”, “select”, “update”, “replace” and “cache_hits”.
Munin then takes this data and stores it in rrd database files. These can read using the rrdtool. The command “rrdtool dump <filename>” this will allow you to view the database data and you can also write it out to an XML file.
Inside the rrd files is the data that is used to produce the graphs. Stored is an average over a five minute time range for the one day graph, it is converted to a 30 minute range for the one week graph, next converted to a two hour range for the month graph and last a one day range for the one year graph.
Since all we store is ranges of time it isn’t possible to see if there was infact an increase in the number of queries that were run. All we can tell is that the time that more queries wher run per/second.
To help understand the graph we found this definition for the cache hit information; When in use, the query cache of the MySQL server stores the text of a SELECT query together with the corresponding result that was sent to the client. If an identical query is later received, the server will retrieve the results from the query cache rather than parsing and executing the same query again. The hit rate indicates the ratio of queries that were cached and queries that were not cached. The higher the hit rate, the better the performance of the server regarding SELECT queries
The number that is stored in the rrd database file is the value listed above divided by the uptime.

Figure 1: Munin graph showing the query / second improvement post virtualization and adding CPUs

Graph analysis:

Looking at the “MySQL queries – by month” graph you can see that there was a significant increase in queries / second. The first increase was when the server was virtualized and the second increase was when extra processors were added. The difficultly in understanding the results is trying to determine if there was an actual increase in the number of queries that were completed or if they were just running faster. The data that is collected and used in the graph is an average over a period of time so we don’t know how many queries were completed just an average.

Educated Guesses:

Given the knowledge gathered about the performance on the servers we are lead to believe than one of the following is the explanation for the increase in queries / second

i. The same number of queries was completing, but they were completing much quicker.

ii. The number of queries increased due to the CPU(s) being able to handle the number of requests as opposed to before where there were no more resources available and the queries were not getting logged.

Audio Book Review - Your Money Of Your Life by Vicki Robin

2011-04-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

My Rating: C- (CD 1: F, CD 2: B-)

Who I think should listen to this: No one should listen to the first CD, but the second CD is useful and would be good for anyone that is interested in an awareness based financial program.

Who I think should avoid this: Anyone that already happy with there life and financial state.

Why I listened to it: Anything that has the word money in it catches my eye and at $5 I figured it was worth the listen.

My summary: The first CD was honestly awful and I'm still wondering why I continued to listen to the book. I'm not sure what she was talking about and just kept hoping that she would eventually get to the point. If you are about to start this audio book skip to track #7 or to the second CD. Now the second CD I started to enjoy, this may be in part because I like bulleted lists and she finally got to her 9 bullet points; obviously the bullet points are figurative since I was listening to the book, but in my mind there were there clear as day. One of the parts that I really liked was when she said that you need to calculate your true hourly wage and then look at your expenses and ask yourself; "this this really work so many hours of my life?" A unique piece to the hourly wage is that she says your hourly rate that you think you make is just the starting point. So if you make $20/hour you have to take out the taxes and so you are down to $15/hour, next you don't actually work 40 hours a week, it's more like 50 and your drive time is because of work so you have to include that as well and now you're down around $12/hour. Yes there is more, the clothes you need for your job, the gas to get there and the wear and tear on your car, there is more, but I'll stop now. So at this point your true hourly wage is now around $7/hour. The author then has you look closely at your expenses and determine if it was worth that much of your time. So using this example if you go out and buy a new pair of shoes for $140 you have just spent 20 hours of your life, if you are OK with 20 hours for this pair of shoes then great if not then you need to rethink your spending.

What did I learn: I have taking the time in the past to calculate how much I make per hour based on 40 hours a week and nothing else. This idea of finding your true hourly wage is pretty eye opening and makes you think even harder about any purchase that you are considering. That being said I'm such a tight-wad, that when I look at some things that I spend money on I now am OK with because I'm just fine with trading X hours of my life to that purchase. All in all this book was probably right on the border of being worth the time of my life spent to acquire it.

I'm To Busy To Come Up With A Clever Title

2011-04-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

How many times a day to you say the word busy? If you've said it to me then that's one too many times in that day! That's an exaggeration, but I will say that the word "busy" is probably the one word that will cause me to cringe in a way similar to nails on a chalk board. But for the sake of fairness this blog post I'm going to put some real thought into why "busy" irks me so much.

The first thing that comes to my mind is there are several uses for "busy";

#1 Excuse

- This is when you are asked to do something and you reply "I'm too busy"

#2 As a generic response

- You are asked how you're doing and you reply "busy" or the more playful "busy, busy, busy" because once just doesn't get the point accross

#3 Bragging

- In the middle of conversation you drop in something like, "I'm so busy with blah, blah, blah"

#4 Job task
- "Busy work" a task that you believe is beneath you

Number two isn't an issue for me, four I'm guilty of myself, but one and three annoy me to no end. So let us look into why.

Using "busy" as an excuse annoys me because it will normally happen like this.

Me: Hey, can you help me this incredibly simple task that will only take a second?

Busy Bee: I would, but I'm really busy right now.

Me: What are you so busy with?

Busy Bee: I need to do these things that are completely unnecessary and could have been done

while I was wasting time the rest of the day.

Me: Wow, that sucks do you need some help with that?

Busy Bee: Yes, that would be great since I'm so busy.

Me: What the hell just happened?

And so what annoys me the most about using busy as an excuse is that you are saying that everything that the "busy" person is doing is more important than what the other person is doing and no one likes the feeling of being told that they are less important.

The other type of busy person annoys the most is the person that uses busy as a form of bragging. We all know several of these people and have probably been this person at one point or another. This is the person that the thought of them gives the same feeling you get when an eye roll can't be contained. You can easily remember each time that they have started a sentence with "I'm so busy ... " and often they work in something about how they don't have time to do stuff because of how busy they are. It annoys me just to write about these people and if I do this to you, you are justified in slapping me across the face!

Now don't get me wrong I'm sure these people all feel as though they are busy, but come on, none of them are doing anything that is going to solve any world issues, they just want to be told "Oh, wow ... I don't know how you do it, you are an amazing person" and they may get that response from some people, but I tend to respond with, using the most sincere voice that I can muster up, "Oh really with what?" This will often lead to a couple things that are taking up some time and I'll follow with "OK and what else is keeping you so busy?" At this point it all depends on the person, I'll let some people off, but others will get 20 questions from me, in a futile attempt to get them to understand they really aren't that busy. It often feel like trying to convince someone that their sports team isn't as good as yours or their political party is the lesser choice, you aren't going to get through ... ever!

The last type of busy is "Busy work" and it is the one I'm sure I'm guilty of, there are tasks that I have to do at work and feel like it's a waste of time for me to do and someone else should be doing it. So anyone that reads this blog can call me out on this one, I deserve it and will work on doing better. My only potential saving grace is that I actually do the work myself and only want other people to do it so I can get something else done, not because it's beneath me.

In conclusion, I won't for a second try to say that I'm perfect and have never used "busy" to brag, but I do my best to slap myself across the face when I do it and on that note I'm going to cut this blog post a little short because I'm just too busy to write any more :)

Audio Book Review - Green Hills Of Africa by Ernest Hemingway

2011-04-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

My Rating: B-

Who I think should read this: Anyone that enjoys classic literature or hunting.

Who I think should avoid this: Anyone that doesn't like hunting or can be offended by the "good old days"

Why I listened to it: This isn't one that I would pick out on my own, a friend of mine that I share books with picked this one out as a change of pace from all the business and finance books that we normally listen too.

My summary: I'm not a hunter, never been and probably never will, so a book about nothing but a hunting adventure didn't seems like something that I would get into and part way through the second CD I found myself glancing over at the eject button on a more and more consistent basis. I was listening to the details of the hunt, finding the perfect shoot, shooting the animal after stalking it for hours and finally the skinning of the head after it had been killed; and considered moving on to the next audio book. However, I went ahead and allowed the CD to continue turning. I started getting appreciate the incredible writing of Hemingway and how he can tell a story. I went from being on the brink of hitting the eject button to sitting in my car to listen to a couple extra minutes when I pulled the Civic into the office parking lot. I've never been much of a reader and always a fan of Cliff Notes when forced to read classics in school, so this was the first time that I have "read" a book written in the first half of the 20th century. The way he tells a story is something that I can appreciate ... now.

What did I learn: I'm not a fan of hunting, but through the way that Hemingway writes I can better understand what it is that hunters feel during the hunt and why they do it. Also, I learned that 'm a fan of classic writing and that a great writer can write in such detail that gets you into the story to the point that you get lost in the book and really shouldn't be trying to drive at the same time.

Audio Book Review - The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design by Jonathan Wells

2011-04-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

My Rating: C+

Who I think should read this: Anyone that believes in Intelligent Design, anyone that watches Fox News

Who I think should avoid this: Anyone that believes in Darwinism, anyone that listens to NPR

Why I listened to it: I enjoy any book that will teach me about something and I really don't know about Darwinism and Intelligent Design at any significant level. Also, in some part I liked the picture of the monkey on the cover.

My summary: I found the first two to three CDs of the book really interesting and really got me thinking about the difference in Darwinism and Intelligent Design, the author had some great information and shared it in a way that was very well done. After that point is where I believe the author started toughing in portion of his book that was supposed to fill in the "Politically Incorrect" portion of the audio book. However, he did it in a way where he sounded like a middle-schooler upset that he wasn't picked first for baseball. I know what he was trying to accomplish, but he just didn't do it in a way that was enjoyable to listen too and it's disappointing because the content was there just not delivered well.

What did I learn: First I learned that the debate of Darwinism versus I.D. is much more fierce than I would have imagined. It's just as bad as Democrat vs Republican or Red Sox vs Yankees. Also, I didn't really learn it, but now find it very hard to believe in one over the other. The concept that we were created by an "Intelligent Design" or that we all spawned from a single organism are both so far fetched with what I've learned and seen during my life-time that I don't know which way to lean.

Why Does My Stomach Growl

2011-04-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

I was sitting at work when all of the sudden my stomach let out the biggest growl that I had ever heard. Most people would have the reaction of embarrassment as I would in most places, but today I just sat there and thought to myself, "How in the world does my stomach know when I'm hungry and have the ability to pronounce the fact to everyone near by?"

Where else would I go to find an answer to a question like that? But of course, the global document repository, aka Google. So I began with the search phrase "what is the cause of stomach growling." Simple enough and now I have about 663,000 sites to peruse and discover the answer. Trusting that only the best results would be on top I start with result #1, "Discovery Health "Cause of Stomach Growling""

As I skim the site (skimming is the only way that I know how to read) I see words like peristalsis and chyme and start to think this may be a bit advanced for me. Then I see phrases like "irritable bowel syndrome" and now wonder if I even want to know the answer. Next there is information on how to avoid it, somewhat interesting and pretty logical; eat more smaller meals and eat less gaseous food. I also learn that there is a technical name for stomach growls; borborigym which comes from the greek word borboryugmos. And anyone that was watched "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" can tell you that every word comes from Greek.

But we still don't know what actually makes the sound!

I finally had to resort to reading the entire article, no more skimming and there it was right in the middle of the page was the answer. To paraphrase ... there are pockets of air and gas created during the digestive process and as they get squeezed they produce the grumbling sound that we all assume come from being hungry. Now you know and well never again have to wonder.

On that note, time to eat!

Audio Book Review - Steve Martin: Pure Drivel

2011-03-06T21:04:00.000-08:00

I'm not exactly sure how to approach a review a book like this. I could pretty much stop at "It was really freaking funny" and it would be just as good typing any more about it ...

Audio Book Review - How To Make Money In Stocks by William O'Neil

2011-03-02T06:37:00.000-08:00

Let's start by saying that you shouldn't listen to this book (and probably could skip this blog post) if you are looking for pure entertainment. However, if you are a step above an amateur investor then this is a good listen for you.

It's by a founder of IBD (Investors Business Daily) and has a lot of smart investing tips. Here are the key points that I took from the book;

1. Buy on the way up not down

The common belief is that you want to purchase a stock when it is on it's way down and you are going to purchase the stock and it will turn upward. This book goes into details on why a stock that is currently sitting on its 52-week high could be ripe for the plucking. Remember that all the best stocks have hit new 52-week highs over and over again.

2. Sell 8% down always

This is a difficult strategy for most people to follow, basically you are saying that every time you pick a stock and it instantly drops 8% you were wrong about the stock, dump it. It's extremely hard to take a loss on a stock, but selling at 8% loss is a much easier than selling at a 50% loss and if you are a smart investor you will have much more large gains than 8% losses.

The other part of this strategy is that you protect your gains, while you can be more liberal about the 8% once you are up large on a stock, what you don't want to do is turn a large gain into a loss. There is a great story in the book that I'm going to paraphrase.

"A man has set up a box with a rope attached to it that he is going to use to catch chickens. There are 13 chickens in the box and 1 that is standing just outside the box. He thinks I'll just wait a minute and the last chicken will walk under the box. However while he is waiting 3 of the chickens walk out. Now there are still 10 chicken, much more than he needs, but he tells himself that he'll just wait for one of the chickens to come back and then he'll pull the string. Now 4 more chickens walk out and he is down to 6 chickens under the box. In the end the man goes home with no chickens"

3. P/E isn't significant

A lot of new investors use the P/E to pick stocks, this number can be useful as a comparison to the rest of the stocks in it's sector but by and large it's a useless number. There is more too it, but I don't feel I need to go into details.

4. EPS is significant

While the P/E is not significant the EPS (Earnings per Share) is very useful, this is the best indicator of how a company is performing, now the current EPS isn't particularly useful, but the performance over time will tell you a lot. If you have a company that is steadily increasing it's EPS year after year, you know that you are onto something. If the company has one stand out year after 5 years of sub-par performance you are likely looking at an anomaly.

5. Dollar cost up not down

This one really won't make since to most new investors, but the strategy discussed in the book is to buy more on the way up. Basically you purchase shares of a stock and the price goes up confirming that you made a good pick, if you do some more analysis and decide that it's still a buy then you buy more. Don't sell just because you have a gain, IF the stock is still a good one. Dollar cost averaging down is basically trying to save a bad pick. Stick to the 8% down and SELL from above.

6. Charting

This is well covered in the book and I will have a blog post later that will cover all that I have learned about charting rolled up into one.