Cory Lafferty

7% Stop Loss Rule

2013-11-26T07:10:00.000-08:00

I can’t remember where I first heard of the 7% stop loss rule, but it’s one that has stuck with me and one that I’ve successfully implemented into one of my stock clubs and discussed and used less successfully in my other stock club. As for me personal stocks, they are all buy and hold stocks so there isn’t a reason to apply the rule. Below is an excerpt from the IBD web site where they reference the rule

“The 7%-8% stop-loss rule refers to cutting losses when the stock price falls 7%-8% below the purchase price. Commission costs are not included. Following a breakout, stocks will often briefly pull back. This rule was set specifically at 7%-8% because our research shows that successful stocks rarely fall in price more than 7% or 8% below a proper buy point. If you buy stocks at the pivot point, you may want to cut your losses even sooner. Eight percent is considered a maximum stop loss.”

As a case study my stock club started using the rule with every stock in the last couple years and thus far we’ve only had one instance where the stock bounced right back after selling and that was on Apple which is not a very good stock to apply the rule to in the first place. The rest of our stocks have either not dropped the 7% or they sold and continued to drop which is what we are hoping for, providing for a chance to buy back into the stock at a lower price if we determine it a good stock to own. Or we may decide the drop wasn’t an anomaly, but more a sign that it was a bad stock to get into in the first place.

The thing that I could see people failing to do and why it didn’t work with my other stock club is keeping up with the movement of the stock and moving the stop price up when the stock has had a run up. If you put a stop on a stock to protect from a loss, but never readjust then you are saying that you won’t sell unless you loss 7% of your investment. I’m pretty sure even the worst investor out there would advise against this strategy. The best way I’ve found is putting an alert on a stock with a 7% stop loss to notify you once it’s had a 10% gain. As an example say you purchase UTX for $100, so you put a stop loss on it at $93 and an alert at $110. Once you’ve hit the target price you move the stop up to 7% below the new price. Now you have locked in your gains and can continue to repeat at the stock hopefully continues to go up.

One warning is that I have not used this strategy during a downturn or a “flash crash” so I don’t know what the end result would be. All of the stocks would sell, but I’m not sure if this would work in favor of the investor or not.

If you have tried this strategy I would love to hear how it’s worked out for you!

Corporate Challenge

2013-08-21T09:00:00.001-07:00

I couldn't have been more excited when my company (Penton Media) announced this year that we were going to participate in Corporate Challenge, I was able to be a part of it at my last company but I switched jobs and my first year they had to stop doing it. So when I heard that we were doing it this year I was ready to do everything. You see, I'm capable of doing just about every sport that exists and I really enjoy them, but I'm not all that great at any of them; quantity over quality I guess! Here is the list of events that I signed up for day 1 ...

3-on-3 Basketball
3-on-3 Soccer
Dodgeball
Horseshoes
Long Jump
Racquetball
Softball
Table Tennis - Doubles
100m Dash
400m Dash
Mile Run
Triathlon - Team Relay
Tug-of-War
Volleyball
Mile Walk

For those of you keeping score that's 15 events, if you ask Amy she would say that it seemed like many more than that. And while I admit I over did it, I really enjoyed all the events and had a chance to take the girls to most of them. Here's a summary of what happened at each event, you see a common theme, I was a great participant, but not the best competitor :)

3-on-3 Basketball

We had Martini Mile and Molly's recital the first day of the tournament so I didn't make it to our first games. Our team lost one and won two making it to the second day. I got up early in the morning and took the girls out to our game, it's a game to 11 or 10 minutes, we lost in 5 minutes. It was so quick, I didn't even get a feel for what was going on when the game was over. I scored a goose-egg, but got a couple assists and only one turnover (that I remember)

3-on-3 Soccer

I used to be a pretty decent soccer player and think I could have held my own a little better, if I hadn't been sick for this event, I normally count on my stamina to make up for a lack of skill, but the stamina was shot and I had to resort to skill. Considering our team only had 4 players and the other teams we played had at least 6 I think we did a good job hanging in there and with 2 more player I'm sure we would have done better than our 1 win (forfeit). We did go out for post game drinks which make the event a success!

Dodgeball

This may have been the most fun of all of the events, Perseptive Software has a real dodgeball court at their office and the event was a blast, our team got off to a slow start but finished with a winning record and I would like to think we came very close to advancing to the next round. In dodgeball, I felt like I was a decent contributor to the team and was able to knock out a lot of the opposing dodgeballers, I learned the one thing I need to work on is blocking with a ball, three times I would block a ball then drop it, which I also learned after the first one means you're out.

Horseshoes/400m

I ended up not participating in these two events, so really I only did 13!

Long Jump

We had quite a bit going on the night of this event, I had to run home, pick up the girls, go out to jump and then head to a meeting. We when got to the Long Jump, the line was much longer than I expected, so I decided that I needed to stick the first jump since I wouldn't have time for more than one jump. It made it kind of fun, I waited in line with the girls, when I got close I asked them to go wait under the tent, my turn came, I ran, I jumped, I grabbed the girls and we were out of there!

Racquetball

I have always loved playing Racquetball and this was the first event that I signed up for, normally no one else is interested so it's an easy one to get the company some bonus points, however this year one of my co-workers also signed up and while I was doing a lot of events and in most cases would just step aside I really like this one so we decided to have a "death match" to decide who would be the one to represent Penton. We played 3 games and I won them all, but 2 of the 3 went to tie-breakers we were very evenly matched so I felt a little bad taking the spot, but I did anyway. When the real competition came along I got there just in time with the girls to go in and play, I waxed the first guy 15-0, 15-0 and was feeling good until I saw my next round draw. I recognized the guy from other years and knew he was really good. We talked beforehand and he told me that he had never lost at corporate challenge, I played my best, but was really no match for him. I scored 7 in the first game and 8 in the second. He didn't take it easy which I appreciated, so I learned a lot. I'm also confident if I'd had a better draw I could have been 2nd or 3rd.

Softball

This was another "must" event for me, I've played for 11+ years and build a small business, RecTeamStats, around the sport. I captained the team so we had a couple practices, lots of emails and several strategy talks with my teammates. There was a lot of skill on our team, but not playing together before hurt us and we were short on girls which doesn't help in co-ed. Our first game we were beat and they were a decent team, but after a rough couple innings to start we started coming back and made it close. The second game we played really well and won it. The third game was close and we had a good chance, but fell a little short ending our run and not making the second day. If you would like to see our stats they are of course on RecTeamStats, www.recteamstats.com/Team/PentonMedia :) Another highlight of the day was that the girls came out for the entire day, 7+ hours at the softball complex to watch the games!

If you look close you will see Molly photo bombing the top pic.

Table Tennis

I was hoping I would miss table tennis because that would have meant that we had done well in softball, but since we didn't make it to day 2, Molly and Charlotte got to come out and watch me try and play doubles ping pong, something that I had never done before. The first round Curtis and I did really well considering we had no idea what we were doing and won. The second round we played guys that brought their own paddles and made us change to follow the "official rules" that confusion cost us a lot of points and well they were a lot better than us, ending out ping pong glory.

100m Dash

This one was frustrating, while I knew I wouldn't place or anything, I at least wanted to try, but when I got to the sign-in they told me that I was 2 minutes late and wouldn't be able to participate. It's my fault for not reading better, but everything that I had looked at made it appear that I had plenty of time and I had been there in time, but since Charlotte had fallen asleep in the car I let sleep a little extra before taking her into the race, oops. The other guy from Penton that was supposed to run in the 100m did the same thing that I did and so we had our own unofficial race, he killed me!

... to be continued

RecTeamStats Scorebook

2013-04-26T07:14:00.001-07:00

Last year I got one of my crazy ideas for a new project to work on. Normally they just come and go, but this one kept coming back to the front of mind so I decided to move forward with it. I run a website called RecTeamStats that is used by recreational softball and baseball teams to store statistics and it will do all your calculations and leader boards for you automatically. I have a lot of teams that are using the site, but I know that there are even more teams out there that fill out stat books, but don't put the results on my website, so the question is how do I get them to move the stats from the book to the website. The first thought was obvious, create an app, however I'm not to the point were I can pull that off so what's the next best thing? Replace the book they are already using with one of my own.

And so I contacted a printing company that I used to work for and was off. I learned a lot during this process, which isn't complete quite yet, but it's the type of things that will help me in a lot of different types of business ventures.

1) Getting advertisers is tough - I'm not a sales person and for a good reason, getting rejected time after time is rough. This was good practice and hope I'll do this again so I continue to improve.

2) Don't count on others - I had someone lined up to help with the sales, but they ended up not being much help. It wasn't their fault, I don't think I provided enough incentive to help me out and the project in my head and no where else, hard to sell something you can't see. I think the next go around will be much easier with a product in hand.

3) Family is great - My Dad is a real-estate agent and bought the back cover for my project, if you need an agent use him! Here is a link to his home page or just contact me; http://PatLafferty.com

4) If you don't have a hard deadline and don't need one, don't be afraid to push it back. I think I could have spent a couple more weeks on the project and been able to land several more advertisers, but I was afraid that I would just keep pushing it back which I think was a legitimate fear.

5) Distribution should not be overlooked, I had no idea how heavy and how much room can be taken up by 500 score books. The next time I will look into having a bulk of the books shipped directly to the ball fields.

Recent Audio Books

2013-03-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

I haven't written about my audio books in a while, so I thought it might be a good time since last week when +Scott Davis and I were trading books I couldn't even remember if I had listened to one that I was giving him or not. Guess that means I need to write these reviews more often so they stick in my brain a little better. Also, I've developed quite the collection and they are taking up a lot of space, so if you are interested in borrowing/having some of them shoot me an email and I'll share my list of books with you and we can find a way to get them to you.

First up "Steve Jobs", I had heard about what an A-hole he is, but this book did a fantastic job of reinforcing it. With that fact notwithstanding and my true disdain for encouraging others to embrace that kind of behavior it is truly amazing what he did to the tech, music and movie worlds. I know he didn't do it himself and the book may have given him more credit than he deserved, but it sure seemed like it if wasn't for him computers, music players and digital movies would be many years behind where we are now. His drive for perfection and attention to design were second to none. I've always been more interested in the Apple stock than the products, and here's what the book told me. One the stock very well could suffer with his loss and the product may be more technologically advanced, I think the design will suffer as well as the time lines for completion.

Next up is Public Enemies, this take a close look at the criminals from the 30's. It goes into the stores of Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillenger, Machine Gun Kelly and other criminals of the time. This is an account of their stories based on FBI files that weren't release when Hollywood was creating their versions of the criminals. It's funny to hear just how different the real story is from the tales that are told by the movies. Also, it's a great history lesson on the FBI and Herbert Hover.

That Other Website

2013-02-21T08:51:00.001-08:00

Those of you that know me know about the various projects that I work on because I tend to talk about them quite a bit, probably too much. But there is one project that I've been working on for years that I never bring up.

It's not that I'm necessarily embarrassed by the website, though if you look at it the coding and design is a little embarrassing. It's been more of an experiment, I started as a test site so I could develop code and try it out before putting it onto my better sites. But then I found a "good" use for the site and decided to use it for a little more than testing.

I have a friend that is a genius when it comes to finding good forwards, almost as good as George Takei, and using his forwards alone I have around 1,700 forwards! I realized that I actually enjoy a really good forward and thought others might as well so I created Forward A Day as you can probably guess from the name the premise is to have a new funny forward on the website every day. It's simple I have a forward, a spot to rate it and then the top fowards listed on the side. I'll add an archive at some point, but right now that seems like a lot of work. By doing nothing more than posting the forwards and creating a twitter account the site turns a small profit on the ads, has good traffic and has a little over 200 followers.

Now, for the other reason that I've avoided broadcasting that the website is mine is because it's not PG rated and some wouldn't be able to get a PG-13 rated not to mention there are all kinds of jokes that are sure to offend someone. I try not to filter the content that goes onto the site to try and gauge what forwards bring the most people, but by doing that if someone was to think that I pick the forwards based on my sense of humor they would probably have a different opinion of me.

At some point I will start cleaning up the forwards to fit my audience, but for now it's a free for all and I'll just avoid telling my grand-parents that I have a website out on the Internets that has profanity and insults on it :)

In as you are interested in what forwards are my favorites, here are some samples :)

Last Minute Shopping

Funny Exam Answers

Don't Piss Off An Engineer

My Day Job - DBA

2013-01-24T09:04:00.001-08:00

The other morning I was talking to my oldest daughter and asked her what I do for a job. The response made me laugh, "you buy houses and let other people live in them." By which she means the duplexes that I own, but I realized that I should probably spend a little more time talking with her about IT and being a DBA since I would love to see her have an interest in technology and engineering as she gets older even if it doesn't end up being her chosen field.

In that spirit I'm going to embrace my inner DBA and post some useful scripts ...

1) In the rare case that Activity Monitor isn't working and you need an alternative, use this hand SQL Statement.

DECLARE @Table TABLE(
SPID INT,
Status VARCHAR(MAX),
LOGIN VARCHAR(MAX),
HostName VARCHAR(MAX),
BlkBy VARCHAR(MAX),
DBName VARCHAR(MAX),
Command VARCHAR(MAX),
CPUTime INT,
DiskIO INT,
LastBatch VARCHAR(MAX),
ProgramName VARCHAR(MAX),
SPID_1 INT,
REQUESTID INT
)

INSERT INTO @Table EXEC sp_who2

SELECT *
FROM @Table
--where DBName = '<db_name>'

2) If you need to update data in an XML column here are two examples.

--delete data

UPDATE <table_name>
SET Attributes.modify('delete /cpCollection/group/property[@id = "Email"]/values')
where <xml_column_name> = 'xxxxx';

--insert data
UPDATE <table_name>
SET Attributes.modify('insert <value>01749</value> as first
into (/cpCollection/group/property[@id = "PostalCode"])[1]')
where <xml_column_name> = 'xxxxx'

3) This isn't something that I though would ever be needed, but once I had to do a case sensitive compare.

SELECT *
FROM <table_name>
WHERE <column_to_search> = 'xxxXXX' COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CS_AS

My Personal Boycotts - From Sears to NTB

2012-12-20T14:01:00.001-08:00

From time to time a company will annoy me to the point where I'll instate a boycott against them; I'm sure my one person boycotts have a tremendous impact on their bottom line. Some of the boycotts have come and gone over time, I enjoy a grudge as much as the next guy, but sometimes it's just not worth it or they "fix the glitch" as was the case with Sonic and Fazoli's. Sonic was because of a series of commercials that pretty much everyone seemed to enjoy except for me, they drove me nuts so I refused to go there. This lasted for a little while, but then they ended the series of commercials and I married someone that has an addiction to Route 44 drinks. Fazoli's was a favorite of mine mainly because of the unlimited free bread sticks the day they changed that policy was the day I spotted visiting their establishment. I don't care that it was only a quarter, it was was the principle of it. After a few months they learned from there mistake and went back to free bread sticks but now you had to get out of your seat and fetch them yourself. This I could live with that and after I felt they had been punished enough I returned as a loyal customer.

Some boycotts are a little more heated and I don't expect to end anytime soon, that's why NTB and Sears made it into the title of this blog, if people search "boycott NTB" I want my blog post to be one of the ~370,000 results returned. I not as concerned about being counted in the results for Sonic and Fazoli's.

My Sears boycott is directly related to a lack of customer service and the poor choices they make when partnering with companies to warranty their product. I honestly don't care if they say they're not directly associated with the company, their name is listed and they choose to use them. We purchased a treadmill from Sears several years back and after having it for only a few months we had an issue, not a big deal since I bought the extended (expensive) warranty. Well about two months later we finally had a treadmill that we could use again. A while ago Amy told me I would get further with people if I tried being nicer to customer service and they was great advise, but after the first couple weeks that went out the door and that repair became the worst experience I can remember with a company. To this day I refuse to shop at Sears and at the time has owned there stock which I promptly sold taking a loss. I've even seen an item or two that was cheaper if I bought it at Sears, but that has not deterred me because I know what will happen if I cave, another horrible customer service experience.

The next boycott is much more recent and is what gave me the idea for this blog post, NTB is the worst place you could possibly take your car for a repair. Why I took it back after my last experience is beyond my understanding, but now I promise that will not happen again. For the next time Google indexes my blog I want to make sure they quote this "NTB is the worst repair shop on earth." I will admit that this is fresh and so the frustration is still strong, but here is the motivation. I'll start with last week, my car was acting up so I took it in for an oil change and check-up, for some reason I choose NTB. They call and say blah, blah, blah, $1000. Well crap, much more than the way over-priced oil changed I had planned on, but the items seem somewhat legit. I say fine, working in a joshing "I get the oil change for free, right," I'm smiling when they come back with a "We don't do that." Smile falls from my face and conversation is over.

Later that day, I get a call and my car is ready, only three hours late and I was out anyway so great, I go and get it. I drive over to Target to pick up something for a party we're headed (I currently have the opposite of a boycott on Target). Target is about 1/4 mile from NTB and get there fine. I get back in the car after shopping, start to pull out and my steering wheel locks and an awful sound is coming from car. It's Friday right after work and during the Christmas season so you can imagine the scene with my car screaming and me pretty much stuck in the middle of the parking lot blocking the flow of car and pedestrian traffic.

I somehow make it the 1/4 back to NTB and call NTB on the way, somewhere during the conversation I say "Can you hear that?!?" referring to the squealing sound, I eventually get my car back to NTB and they look at it. I'm told they did test it out (lie) and that it wasn't there fault (lie) and the replacement part is on it's way (partial lie). So while they try and fix my car I'm going to be late and have them get someone to drive me home.

Next, I'm riding home with a very insightful kid that is a "mechanic" for NTB. He proceeds to tell me the following, they are slightly paraphrased, but not much; "They (NTB) will work two guys, but schedule more cars than they can handle on purpose", "We aren't paid much and will make mistakes, quite a bit", "I had to drive you because one guy doesn't have a car and the other guy's is broken down" (yes a mechanic with a broken down car.) Also, I don't know much about cars, but I asked some very basic trouble-shooting questions and he had no clue what I was talking about.

So the next day, I didn't hear from them that night, I call and say I'm on my way to pick up my car. To which I get the response that there is a part missing and won't be in for four days. I ask about the part that was supposed to be on it's way the previous night, well there was another part that was missing. I ask for an explanation on how a part was "missing" this isn't furniture from Wal-Mart, I'm pretty sure a car shouldn't have a part "missing." Anyway I tell them I need a car and eventually get set up with a rental that they pay for. The rest is less eventful, but at no time does NTB make any attempt to reconcile what a pain my experience has been. And seem to be perfectly fine with my bad mouthing them to my hearts content.

Oh, and the previous bad experience ... I went in for an oil change and they forgot to put oil back in my car. That's right the one thing you need to do during an oil change is change the oil and they screwed that one up royally... pure genius at that place!

* Other boycotts; Comcast, Zio's, Freebird, Mazda Dealership (not the car), Jiffy Lube (recently recinded), Notre Dame Football

Morning Runs And The Police

2012-11-21T07:28:00.001-08:00

About a year ago I started getting up at 4 in the morning two days a week to run, clean, take care of paperwork and whatever else I can get done. I've mentioned before, but it's truly amazing what you can accomplish when you have 2 to 4 hours of uninterrupted time fresh off a good nights sleep.

That being said there are some down sides to running outside so early. I've learned that it's too early for the motivated to be out being productive and it's not quite late enough where the trouble makers have gone too bed. Leading to three early morning interactions with the police.

Incident #1 - The street is blocked off for a reason.

Coming up on the last leg of my run there was a cop car with it's lights on blocking the road that I normally run down. Since it was blocking the road and not the sidewalk I figured they surely weren't trying to stop me, remember I run very early and I'm not always fully awake during my run. As I got farther down the street my mind started to play tricks on me.

I see shadows everywhere and start thinking how this may not have been the best idea. I can imagine the cop running out to tackle me, this guy who is running away from him in the middle of the night. I picked up the pace and then noticed that there was another cop car blocking the street on the other side, strange, I guess they really wanted to keep people out.

I kept running and saw one of the cops, he walked toward me shining his flashlight at me and signaling for me to stop. I did and I think the fact I was in running clothes and pretty non-threatening looking put him at ease. He said they had cornered a guy on the street and that he was near my size and build. Thanks to some smooth talking (and lack of guilt) I was able to convince him I was not a criminal. After explaining why I was out running so early and why I had ignored the police car blocking the road I was allowed to pass.

I confirmed that I didn't need a police escort back to my house and headed home.

Incident #2 - Why I don't wear headphones anymore

Running in the peace and quite of the morning I'm startled quite often, bunnies, skunks and dogs are the normal culprits, but at times a shadow or spooky looking box can do it as well. These are made worse when you have headphones on because you are even less prepared for the inanimate object to suddenly pop out in front of you, which I swear they do at times. The use of headphones ended after my second encounter with the police.

Running down the same stretch of road from incident one I all of the sudden heard a blood curtailing scream, it made me stop in my tracks because it had been so loud. I froze and then there was a second scream before I had pulled off my headphones. I stood there waiting, listening; deciding what I needed to do next. After several minutes of starting to leave then coming back to the spot I decided I had to make the phone call. The police showed up and I explained what I thought I heard. I said several times that I didn't know for sure, but wanted to be safe. He got my information and went off in the direction that I though the scream came from.

In and anti-climatic finish I didn't hear any more about the incident and over time, I've come to believe that I must have heard some kind of animal. Nonetheless I'm going to go sans headphones when running in the morning.

Incident #3 - I'm being chased!

The last incident was by far the most exciting and every time I tell the story it gets even better and I seem like even more of a superhero. I'm not far from telling a tale of being chased by ninjas and me taking them all out with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back.

The real story however goes something like this; I was at the end of my run again and again in the same area as the last two stories. As I'm walking I see a guy walk up to a car that is parked in a driveway and try to open the door. Once I registered what was going on I decided to change me course a little bit and avoid walking right by the guy. It was pitch black, but we did meet each others eyes for a moment and there was no doubt that I knew what he was doing and no doubt that he knew he'd been seen. I continued down the road and then turned around. Now his partner from one block over was with him and standing on the sidewalk about 200 yards behind me talking. I kept walking just assuming they would head off the other direction. I wasn't so lucky, the next time I looked over my shoulder they had pulled within 100 yards. Each of them was much taller than me and they definitely had the edge on the intimidation factor. For those of you that know me you know that I couldn't intimidate a small puppy, also I would never do such a thing. So at this point, I decide cool down is over and it's time to continue my run. I start running again and since I run with my phone I called 911 while on the run.

The dispatch operator answers and I start with "I'm being chased" I now believe this is a gross over-exaggeration, but at the time it seemed appropriate. The calm lady on the other end of the line starts asking for details and where I'm located. This is when I think back to all the cop shows Amy watches and realize what a bunch of crap they are. I want to yell at the lady, "Shouldn't you already know where I'm calling from!" Eventually I get out my correct location, it's harder than you would believe to do such a simple thing in that situation.

Before the officer arrives which is only a minute or so, I made one more trip back to see if I was still being followed. Yes, at this point I've downgraded the situation from being chased to being followed. To my relief they are no where to be found. The cop asks me where I last saw the guys and says he's going to go look for them and that I should walk home. I make a confused look and mentioned that this means walking right back through the area I was just followed out of, but he assures me I'll be fine. He drives off and I start walking home ... very slowly. before I get off the main roads the cop is back and says he'll drive me home to get more information from me. The front seat is full, so I get to ride in the back seat of the squad car. I could only imagine if one of my neighbors saw me being let out of the back of a cop car at 5 in the morning (I later learned that one did). For about 30 minutes I talk with the officer and he collects more information from me.

I tell him this isn't my first time calling them and he says to keep it up, the only way they'll catch people is if they know what's going on and that I probably kept the guys from breaking into other cars that morning. This I felt warranted the wearing of my Superman shirt that day.

Follow-up

Since the last incident I have changed my route, but still run at the same time in the morning. There has only been one more incident that may have been worth a call to the cops, but the kids causing trouble didn't give me the impression they were going to be worth the call. I never did hear if they caught the guys, but I hope it at least made them think twice about breaking into cars. I also have a new respect for the infrastructure of our police system. At 5 in the morning I made a call and had an officer there to help in under two minutes and three cop cars cruising our neighborhood within 15 minutes. It's a very comforting feel and I really appreciate it. But, I'm still calling BS on the ticket for rolling through an "optional" stop sign!

The Lists In My Life

2012-09-20T09:21:00.001-07:00

Unless it's just me it seems like the most common answer to "How are you doing?" is "I'm really busy." While I occasionally feel like there is a lot going on in my life, I for the most part don't feel busy and it's a rare occasion that I'm truly overwhelmed. I think what's made this possible for me is that I'm always looking for ways to simplify my life and know that there is always a better way. It's pretty amazing how as we get older the more and more we learn that nothing can beat experience.

So, I want to share some of the ways that I prevent my life getting "busy", but I realize that I may look back on this blog a few years from now and say, "Man I was clueless, on how to do things back then!".

Step 1: Lists, Lists and more Lists

I have a lot of lists and they are pretty long and they are very daunting if you were to just look at them without knowing anything about how I use the lists. The biggest thing is that I don't care if my lists are ever completed, in fact some of them have the sole purpose of never being completed. The lists are just there so my life is organized, at any point in the day if I'm not sure what I should do next I just refer to the appropriate list. Reading this, I can understand it sounding a little crazy, but if that's what it takes for me to have a no stress life, I'll take it.

As of today, I have the following lists; Morning, work, night, daily priority and weekly priority. My email is also a list, but I'll get to that next. The morning, work and night lists are generic and longer than it's possible to complete everything. Morning list; includes work out activities intertwined with cleaning and organizing. Work list; is obvious, it makes it so I have all my work completed and I'm never far behind, it's a great feeling when a request comes in and I can complete the work and respond to it immediately. Night list; basically is a priority list of rooms to pick up, but that list doesn't really start until after the girls have gone to bed.

From the time I get home until the girls go to bed is listless, because I don't feel like a list is needed when it comes to family time!

The priority lists are to make sure that things that are important get done and working on priorities is included in my others lists, I should probably create a flow chart.

Step 2: Email

I have three email accounts; one that is used for work only, a Gmail account to keep in touch with friends and for calendar reminders and my Hotmail account that is used as the one that I give out to anyone since it's my lowest priority account. At this moment, I have one email in my work inbox for something that needs to get done today and I have zero unread and one starred email in Gmail and I don't worry about Hotmail. I remember at my last job how I would let email pile up, so when I started my current job I made a conscious effort to keep my email under 5, I've found this pretty easy to do by using LOTS of rules and not letting myself fall behind, because if I did I could see a snowball starting.

Step 3: Calendar

I put everything on my calendar, I hate to be late or to miss something, plus my calendar lets me squeeze in as many fun activities as possible. So if you look at my calendar there is excessive number of things on there, but it's all in the overall effort to keep me organized and each event will send me an email which automatically gets the item onto my other lists. When I mentioned simplifying in the start of my blog I was thinking primarily of my calendar, I used to have things scheduled to the minute and too many events with times assigned to them. I've removed, consolidated and changed the events so they aren't as scheduled, by that I mean that I schedule a time for it to be put onto a list. For example, I need to remember when to get the oil changed in my car, but it doesn't have to be scheduled to the minute.

I know this isn't step by step and may be confusing, but I've also found that anytime someone lays out a step by step solution for me it never works. I need to modify and tweak to make it work for me. I suggest you try and the same, but if you are interested in working on a "plan" for yourself and want some real examples, I'm always happy to help!

Books by A.J. Jacobs

2012-08-23T07:13:00.001-07:00

I just finished listening to "Drop Dead Healthy" this is the third book that I've listened to by A. J. Jacobs and he's put himself at or near the top of my list of favorite authors. Now before he reads this and gets too excited I have to admit it's not a very long list yet. His first two books "The Know-it-all" and "The Year of Living Biblically" were also favorites of mine. I think in this series of books having the author read the book made a big difference, as an avid audio book listener I can tell you that the voice can make or break a book. I've had to quit listening to a couple that were recommend to me by book readers because the voice was just awful.

In Jacobs books, you can tell that he really enjoys what he's doing and that he's "normal" someone that you could imagine hanging out with, especially since we are very close in our stages of life; 30s with young kids. However he's in New York about as different as you can get from my life in Kansas. I'm not sure why he set out to do the projects that he did, but I can just picture him sitting around with his wife saying, "You know what would be kind of fun, to read the entire Encyclopædia Britannica, I can picture it because I can see myself saying stuff like that to Amy. The difference is that his ideas are on a much bigger scale and he follows through on them.

I'm also not sure if he intended to be motivational, but after each book I've been very motivated to do something "big", the definition of big changes based on my mood that day. Following "Drop Dead Healthy" I really wanted to get in shape and I've done pretty well so far; I dropped 10 pounds (most put on during a vacation right before starting the book), I've been working on my push ups and can now do 20 as opposed to 10 and I'm eating healthy food that I had always declared as "gross". Similar to what he does where he goes to an extreme then picks and chooses which attributes he is going to incorporate into his daily life. I've also worked some of these ideas into my Monthly Resolutions.

Each time I listen to a book by A.J. Jacobs I try and come up with a year long project and post that I'm going to do so, maybe I'll come up with one this time or else it will take him writing a few more books which I'm fine with as well.

A Funny Post

2012-07-20T08:14:00.001-07:00

This will be short and sweet, if you watch Charlotte laughing without smiling then there may be something wrong with you!

Also, I appreciate FUNNY forwards and the chance to make a little extra money so I put together this site; http://www.forwardaday.com and of course the corresponding twitter account https://twitter.com/forward_a_day so of the forwards are pretty good, some are bad and warning some have adult content. I try to cater to everyone's type of humor.

That's all for today!

SQL Server Scripts

2012-06-20T09:17:00.002-07:00

My day job is database administrator and it's uncommon for me to go one day without searching for some useful scripts to make my work life a little easier.

Here is a collection of scripts that I use all the time, hopefully some other DBAs out there will get some use out of them.

If you are trying to run a file from the command prompt via SQL Server Agent you will need to enable xp_cmdshell. Listed below is the script to make that happen.

sp_configure 'show advanced options',1
GO
RECONFIGURE
GO
sp_configure xp_cmdshell,1
GO
RECONFIGURE

Any time you are restoring a large database it can make you a little nervous not knowing if the restore is still going or not since you only get an update every 10%. This script will let you know how far along the restore is and give you an estimated time remaining.

SELECT command,

s.text,

start_time,

percent_complete,

CAST(((DATEDIFF(s,start_time,GetDate()))/3600) as varchar) + ' hour(s), '

+ CAST((DATEDIFF(s,start_time,GetDate())%3600)/60 as varchar) + 'min, '

+ CAST((DATEDIFF(s,start_time,GetDate())%60) as varchar) + ' sec' as running_time,

CAST((estimated_completion_time/3600000) as varchar) + ' hour(s), '

+ CAST((estimated_completion_time %3600000)/60000 as varchar) + 'min, '

+ CAST((estimated_completion_time %60000)/1000 as varchar) + ' sec' as est_time_to_go,

dateadd(second,estimated_completion_time/1000, getdate()) as est_completion_time

FROM sys.dm_exec_requests r

CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(r.sql_handle) s

WHERE r.command in ('RESTORE DATABASE', 'BACKUP DATABASE', 'RESTORE LOG', 'BACKUP LOG')

I've had many times where I have needed to find every location where a column is being used in a stored procedure and this script makes that very simple.

SELECT Name

FROM sys.procedures

WHERE OBJECT_DEFINITION(object_id) LIKE '%<text to search for%'

USE WITH CAUTION, you should only use these scripts when you know what you are doing. That being said sometime it's necessary to shrink a database, here is how to do so in SQL Server 2008 and pre-2008.

--- PRE 2008 ---

backup log MOSSPROD_ConfigDB with TRUNCATE_ONLY

USE MOSSPROD_ConfigDB

DBCC SHRINKFILE ( MOSSPROD_ConfigDB_log, 100)

--- 2008 & 2008 R2 ---

USE dbname;

-- Truncate the log by changing the database recovery model to SIMPLE.

ALTER DATABASE dbname

SET RECOVERY SIMPLE;

-- Shrink the truncated log file to 1 MB.

DBCC SHRINKFILE (2, 1); -- here 2 is the file ID for trasaction log file,you can also mention the log file name (dbname_log)

-- Reset the database recovery model.

ALTER DATABASE dbname

SET RECOVERY FULL;

There are times, like prior to a database restore where you need to kill all the active processes on a database. This script makes that simple;

Declare @spId Varchar(30)

DECLARE TmpCursor CURSOR FOR

Select 'Kill ' + convert(Varchar, spid) as spId

from master..SysProcesses

where db_Name(dbID) = @DbName

and spId <> @@SpId

and dbID <> 0

OPEN TmpCursor

FETCH NEXT FROM TmpCursor

INTO @spId

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0

BEGIN

Exec (@spId)

FETCH NEXT FROM TmpCursor

INTO @spId

END

CLOSE TmpCursor

DEALLOCATE TmpCursor

After restoring a database you will end up with orphaned users in the database; this is the easiest way to fix those.

USE <db_name>
GO
sp_change_users_login 'Auto_Fix','<user to fix>'
GO

UPDATE:
Jason pointed out that sp_change_user_login will be removed in future versions so you need to use the following.

USE <db_name>
GO
ALTER USER <username> WITH LOGIN = <login>
GO

Google Solutions

2012-05-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

Like everyone else I use Google to solve a lot of issues that I run into at work and try to give back from time to time. Here are some issues I've resolved lately that will hopefully come in useful to others that work with technology.

#1

Error "Unable to use SQL Server because ASP.NET version 2.0 Session State is not installed on the SQL server. Please install ASP.NET Session State version 2.0 or above."
In my case I received this error connecting to a SQL Server 2008 R2 Database Server. This happens when you need the ASPState database (to keep it simple)

Solution: Run the following command:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727>aspnet_regsql.exe -ssadd -sstype
t -S <server name> -U <user name> -P <password>

#2

You need to schedule the processing of a SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services (SSRA)

Create a new SQL Agent Job
Create a new Step
In the "Type:" drop down pick SQL Server Analysis Services Command
Pick the server
Use the code below filling in your specific information;

<Batch xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine">
<Parallel>
<Process xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<Object>
<DatabaseID> <SSAS Database> </DatabaseID>
</Object>
<Type>ProcessFull</Type>
<WriteBackTableCreation>UseExisting</WriteBackTableCreation>
</Process>
</Parallel>
</Batch>

#3

You have a Dell laptop and when you turn it on you get a black screen with a blinking cursor and an continuous annoying beeping sound.
Solution(ish): Unfortunately there are several things that can cause this issue, but more often than not it's a hardware issue. For me once I replaced the battery everything was good. Since the battery is easy to remove the first thing you should do when encountering this issue is to remove the battery and connect the power cable if you can boot into windows now, you have your solution.

#4

You need to cancel a checkout and you are a server admin, but don't have the option available.

Solution: Go to the page that you need to cancel the checkout on and append "?PageView=Personal&ToolPaneView=2" to the URL. Now you will have the option to cancel the checkout.

Stocks By Cory

2012-03-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

There are 5 reasons that I enjoy investing in the stock market;

1. There is money to be made (yes I know it's there to be lost as well)
2. Numbers of all kinds, I enjoy math and statistics
3. I like researching stocks and looking for correlations
4. It's something I can talk about that makes me sound smart
5. Between my two stock clubs it's a way to see guys I wouldn't normally see

I apply all of the reasons listed above to my stock picking method, which over the years I've been changing and refining. Most of my thought processes are documented on my website "Cory's Picks", http://picks.corylafferty.com/ it's an ever changing website that give you a look into the way that I think stocks should be analysed. Along with the site is my spreadsheet that I use to rate stocks, you can view it here, I've been working on this just as long as my website and I try to keep it up to date and do in fact use it when deciding which stock to pick. Lately, after I've finished researching a stock I summarize my research on Google+ I spare most people and have a circle of people that are in my stock clubs I share with; I figure the rest of my friends have zero interest in my stock research. If you are interested in my posts; add me on Google+ and send me a message asking to be in my "investment circle"

For the couple of you that are still reading and want to see my recent posts, here you go. Assume there is a bunch of fine print here about no gauntness and results may vary ...

---------------------------------------

The fundamentals for $RIO have fallen apart in the last year. It was a favorite of my stock club back when it was $RTP, but we sold in and I'm glad we did, I have no interest in it right now.

---------------------------------------

Stock of the day is $CMI, nothing to special about it, but it's a good low risk stock. That is better than leaving money in cash.

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For stock club I did a comparison of $UPL and $KOG. They are very similar, $UPL is slightly better but it's a bad time to buy. I say stick with $KOG as they have more momentum, if I was looking long term I would go with $UPL ... actually I'd go with neither.

---------------------------------------

$ZAGG is a recent favorite of mine since first finding it @ $2.30. It's lost some of it's flare recently, but the fundamentals are still very strong and if the stock can regain some momentum I would certainly buy more.

---------------------------------------

I still have the opinion of $BAC is a good buy at $4, not because it's a good stock ... it's not. Just that enough people will bring it back when it hits that level.

---------------------------------------

One of my favorite stocks is $COH and based on fundamentals it's every bit as good as it was the last time I did a complete analysis of it just over a year ago. The only stocks it rates lower than in my list is $GOOG and $MCD.

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$GS as intertwined as they are with the government and the financial sector you would expect them to be able to succeed no matter what. However after doing my financial analysis I seem them as quite a bit worse than they were 2 years ago which is really surprising. I expected them to be better off, but still not worth the buy.

---------------------------------------

Good old $CSCO, if it wasn't for my personal ban on buying the stock again, it seems like a good time to buy ... you should know the reason I have a ban on them is because every time I feel it's a good time to buy they continue down.

---------------------------------------

$CHL just put itself as number 7 out of the 71 stocks that I follow on a semi-regular basis. I think the biggest limiting factor for them growing is the fact their largest investor is the Chinese Government and their size. Note: I can see an argument for those being a plus. http://goo.gl/Y7cqG

---------------------------------------

$APA has been a long time favorite of mine, but I haven't look at it in a while. It's financials have improved greatly and I think I may pick up some more.

---------------------------------------

I haven't looked at $ABB in a long time, but the only thing that I found interesting today is that is looks like a great time to buy if you ignore some of the fundamentals and are looking for a trade and not investment.

---------------------------------------

$VZ has awful customer service, but now I know they have a similar balance sheet. That being said they're "Cory Score" has gone up significantly in the last year.

---------------------------------------

$RDS.A is a stock that I owned for a long time and was a favorite, but then it stopped interesting me and as I look at it again ... it's still of no interest, moving on.

---------------------------------------

I just looked at $TEVA for the first time in years. As a stock it's really fallen, it was a favorite of mine for years and I sold it just before a run up. But now it's an average stock at best.

---------------------------------------

+Chris Rahimian brought $KOG to my attention. It's a small cap that doesn't meet my normal criteria. However, there are some interesting things about it.
1) They are rumored to be a takeover target.
2) Analysis have been raising estimates like crazy.
3) The price of the stock has upwards momentum.

The technicals will prevent me from buying for my portfolio, but not for my stock clubs.

---------------------------------------

I was researching $MMM today and realized that Microsoft has changes the links to all of their financial data, breaking my site; http://picks.corylafferty.com. I've fixed most of the links, but some won't work anymore and while I'm changing the links anyway I might as well us a different site, any suggestions?

Also, I did finish my research on $MMM and have put a sell on it at $90. It's not the stock it used to be, but I think it will get up to $90 and I don't need the cash right away.

---------------------------------------

Well $JEC is about as exciting as it was the last time I owned and I'm still not sure what sold me on it the first go around in 2010. Good intrinsic value and a lack of debt, but that's it.

---------------------------------------

While I would have been better off buying several months ago I still think $CVX and oil as a whole is a good buy right now.

---------------------------------------

I saw a story about $BA possibly closing the Wichita plant so I did my research on them. I don't like the fundamentals all the much, but found it interesting how they kill estimates every quarter. They might be a good by right before announcing their numbers.

---------------------------------------

I sold $FCX at the right time a couple years ago, but they are looking like a buy again.

---------------------------------------

Looked at $DD today and with it's debt and earnings inconsistency I just can't imagine buying back into at any point. However they tend to beat estimates no matter how good or bad the estimates are.

---------------------------------------

The best way to describe the fundamentals of $CME is "weird"

---------------------------------------

Today's stock is $XOM, their intrinsic value is over $100 and it's selling for ~$70. Also, Oil prices are headed the right direction for them.

---------------------------------------

Today's stock is $UTX, always been a favorite of mine and is now in even better shape than the last time I analyzed it several months ago.

FYI, if you are seeing these you are in my "Investment" Google+ circle

---------------------------------------

I was doing my random stock research and evaluated $SU today. I think it's headed in the right direction after an off year.

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.