I've been asked to guest post on a fantasy football blog that a former colleague started. I talk about what fanatsy football looked like back when I first started playing in 1993...
http://ting.hackhype.com/2009/10/what-fantasy-football-was-like-back-in.html
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
A story from my childhood
I'm not sure what inspired me to tell this story, but I think it's a great one and worth telling:
When I was maybe 13-14 years old, my family drove down to Chicago to visit my aunt and my uncle. I remember us going out to some tennis courts near where they lived and hitting around a bit with the family. My dad just didn't look right the whole time, looking like he was in pain. Later that day, we found out his stomach was bothering him a lot. My dad loves spicy food (he was born in the Hunan province of China, which is known for spicy food), but he started having these ulcers and had to cut way back.
The next day, we were going to drive back to Milwaukee, and my dad was so bad he couldn't drive. My mom, who didn't drive the mini-van much, gave it a go even though my uncle offered to drive us back. We did fine, as I sat in the front seat and helped navigate. My dad laid down in the second row of seats, still suffering from pain. When we neared the Milwaukee area, he let out an audible groan, and my mom started getting scared and we decided to go to the hospital where a family friend practiced. We helped my dad out of the car to the emergency room, where they put him in a wheelchair. I'll never forget the image of my dad, in obvious pain, sitting in a wheelchair clutching his insurance card.
I don't remember how long my dad stayed in the hospital, probably a day or two, but I do remember what happened next. Ulcers were through to be a weakening of the stomach lining, causing your stomach acid to irritate the stomach. It was also conventional wisdom to think that stress would cause the acid levels of your stomach to increase, causing ulcers. But one of the doctors treating my dad had read about a new line of thinking for ulcers based off some new research that showed that ulcers were caused by bacteria. They put my dad on anti-biotics and Pepto Bismol, and within a few weeks he was cured.
The doctors that helped discover this bacteria being the cause of ulcers deservedly won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2005. I love this story for many reasons, of course number one being the quality of life my dad now enjoys. The second part of this story I love is how people took a different approach from conventional wisdom and solved an age old problem. They were willing to think outside the box and not be dissuaded by public skepticism (one of the doctors actually drank some of the bacteria to prove to others that it was the cause of ulcers). How many problems are out there right now because people refuse to believe anything other than conventional wisdom? Finally, I love the fact that things can be cured. Tell my dad 15 years ago that they would find a cure for ulcers. Tell me 10 years ago that they would have a cure for nearsightedness (Lasik sugery). So why not a cure for allergies? How about cancer?
My dad has never relapsed and eats spicy food now whenever he can find someone else to enjoy it with (my mom doesn't eat spicy food at all!). One of my favorite images of him now is watching him eating something so spicy it makes him sweat. He usually follows that up by saying, "mmm that's good!"
When I was maybe 13-14 years old, my family drove down to Chicago to visit my aunt and my uncle. I remember us going out to some tennis courts near where they lived and hitting around a bit with the family. My dad just didn't look right the whole time, looking like he was in pain. Later that day, we found out his stomach was bothering him a lot. My dad loves spicy food (he was born in the Hunan province of China, which is known for spicy food), but he started having these ulcers and had to cut way back.
The next day, we were going to drive back to Milwaukee, and my dad was so bad he couldn't drive. My mom, who didn't drive the mini-van much, gave it a go even though my uncle offered to drive us back. We did fine, as I sat in the front seat and helped navigate. My dad laid down in the second row of seats, still suffering from pain. When we neared the Milwaukee area, he let out an audible groan, and my mom started getting scared and we decided to go to the hospital where a family friend practiced. We helped my dad out of the car to the emergency room, where they put him in a wheelchair. I'll never forget the image of my dad, in obvious pain, sitting in a wheelchair clutching his insurance card.
I don't remember how long my dad stayed in the hospital, probably a day or two, but I do remember what happened next. Ulcers were through to be a weakening of the stomach lining, causing your stomach acid to irritate the stomach. It was also conventional wisdom to think that stress would cause the acid levels of your stomach to increase, causing ulcers. But one of the doctors treating my dad had read about a new line of thinking for ulcers based off some new research that showed that ulcers were caused by bacteria. They put my dad on anti-biotics and Pepto Bismol, and within a few weeks he was cured.
The doctors that helped discover this bacteria being the cause of ulcers deservedly won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2005. I love this story for many reasons, of course number one being the quality of life my dad now enjoys. The second part of this story I love is how people took a different approach from conventional wisdom and solved an age old problem. They were willing to think outside the box and not be dissuaded by public skepticism (one of the doctors actually drank some of the bacteria to prove to others that it was the cause of ulcers). How many problems are out there right now because people refuse to believe anything other than conventional wisdom? Finally, I love the fact that things can be cured. Tell my dad 15 years ago that they would find a cure for ulcers. Tell me 10 years ago that they would have a cure for nearsightedness (Lasik sugery). So why not a cure for allergies? How about cancer?
My dad has never relapsed and eats spicy food now whenever he can find someone else to enjoy it with (my mom doesn't eat spicy food at all!). One of my favorite images of him now is watching him eating something so spicy it makes him sweat. He usually follows that up by saying, "mmm that's good!"
One year later... stock market
I'm having a nice IM conversation with Jim right now about stocks and how the market has rebounded. I keep track on a spreadsheet on my PC, but since I switched over to the Mac I haven't been able to check my performance. I just transferred that file over yesterday, and I discovered I'm up 50% on the year. Now I don't for a minute believe I'm a genius or I should quit my job to become the next Warren Buffet, but it feels really good and I want to continue to learn what I did right. I'm sure a ton of it is timing and luck, but some of it also was being able to go against the crowd and seeing things on your own.
As you might know, I also enjoy going back in my blog posts and seeing what I was up to one year ago. Well coincidentally, the first post I stumbled upon was this post about an article from Warren Buffet, and how I was going to try to take advantage of the downturn. Now the next step is how to continue to be smart with my money, and not get too high on myself and continue to learn...
As you might know, I also enjoy going back in my blog posts and seeing what I was up to one year ago. Well coincidentally, the first post I stumbled upon was this post about an article from Warren Buffet, and how I was going to try to take advantage of the downturn. Now the next step is how to continue to be smart with my money, and not get too high on myself and continue to learn...
Friday, October 09, 2009
Fun with in flight wi-fi
I'm using Delta's in flight wi-fi for the first time today. It's pretty neat... you can track your own flight online. Whoa, what's all that weather in Cincinnati???
Another example of why the market is stupid
Some story came out today alleging Yahoo of turning over info from 200,000 email accounts to the Iranian government. They said flat out denied it. So the stocked dropped 0.71. But check out the after hours trading, it's up the same amount. Just goes to show how much emotion is tied to the markets.
Skyblog
Blogging from the air! On my way back home from my trip to Cali, and enjoying wifi on a Delta plane. Pretty cool!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Venting about liberals and conservatives
I started writing this as a comment on Tom's blog, but it got so long that I figure I better post it on my own blog so I don't take over his comments section :). Tom's a big Obama supporter, but Tom posts a few things he disagrees with him on. I gave him kudos for being able to be free thinking enough to be able to disagree.
Political extremism is extremely hurtful. And it's really stupid. A two party system should give diversity of thought and provide balance so we can get the best of both worlds. But instead we get liberal and conservative extremists who just out of touch. I realize that taking this kind of stance might get people shooting at me from both sides, but I'm gonna take that chance!
Once in a while I get these emails from people (they seem to be more Republican at this moment) who are maybe fringe acquaintances but feel like they need to overdramatize stuff and spam my folder. They're like the people on the street who just yell about the world being damned and how we're all going to hell. I've always wondered what their endgame is... I'm thinking there is none. I've always wanted to go up to these people and ask them, "Hey, I'm listening. What should I do?" I mean do you want me to join your church? Start praying right now?
It's a bit troubling... I had a conversation with a Republican friend of mine about Rush Limbaugh. I said I didn't like listening to him because he thinks he's always right. And my friend said "It's because he is."
The bottom line is extremists don't take into account that there are human beings out there. People who have diverse backgrounds, and therefore think differently. We should be leveraging people's diversity to create a better country. Not be political drama queens dripping with sarcasm when someone has a different philosophy.
I'm not a big fan of corporate buzzwords, so when I am I hope people take notice. Leveraging diversity and leveraging strengths is my mantra. So how do you leverage the diversity of liberals and conservatives? I would say the strength of liberals is they have the vision... Affordable health care for everyone. End all wars. Equal rights. Conservatives are the reality... Put together the system to make the vision work. A thriving economy that doesn't need government support, where everyone makes enough money to be happy.
Maybe you agree or disagree with the strengths that each side brings, but at least I'm trying. We should all be thinking along these lines instead of wasting time listening to each other argue.
Political extremism is extremely hurtful. And it's really stupid. A two party system should give diversity of thought and provide balance so we can get the best of both worlds. But instead we get liberal and conservative extremists who just out of touch. I realize that taking this kind of stance might get people shooting at me from both sides, but I'm gonna take that chance!
Once in a while I get these emails from people (they seem to be more Republican at this moment) who are maybe fringe acquaintances but feel like they need to overdramatize stuff and spam my folder. They're like the people on the street who just yell about the world being damned and how we're all going to hell. I've always wondered what their endgame is... I'm thinking there is none. I've always wanted to go up to these people and ask them, "Hey, I'm listening. What should I do?" I mean do you want me to join your church? Start praying right now?
It's a bit troubling... I had a conversation with a Republican friend of mine about Rush Limbaugh. I said I didn't like listening to him because he thinks he's always right. And my friend said "It's because he is."
The bottom line is extremists don't take into account that there are human beings out there. People who have diverse backgrounds, and therefore think differently. We should be leveraging people's diversity to create a better country. Not be political drama queens dripping with sarcasm when someone has a different philosophy.
I'm not a big fan of corporate buzzwords, so when I am I hope people take notice. Leveraging diversity and leveraging strengths is my mantra. So how do you leverage the diversity of liberals and conservatives? I would say the strength of liberals is they have the vision... Affordable health care for everyone. End all wars. Equal rights. Conservatives are the reality... Put together the system to make the vision work. A thriving economy that doesn't need government support, where everyone makes enough money to be happy.
Maybe you agree or disagree with the strengths that each side brings, but at least I'm trying. We should all be thinking along these lines instead of wasting time listening to each other argue.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
A former crush comes back...
Saw this article today on Yahoo... I had the biggest crush on this girl when she was 10 (I was 13 so shut up). She's the girl co-star in the movie My Girl, opposite of Macaulay Culkin. She's now 28 years old... but alas she's married now.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Sunday night bloginage
It's a beautiful Sunday night, feels more like fall than July! I was tempted to blog outside today. Could use some nicer patio furniture, that'd probably help. I'll settle for a bunch of open windows.
Went to 3 out of the 4 Brewers vs Reds games this weekend. Split the series 2-2.
Did a Jungle Jim's run today... one thing I've been making more now is squid on the grill. If you can find a whole tube or something similar, just season with stuff, put on the grill for a few minutes, and it's actually pretty good!
The countdown to the sabbatical has begun... only 2.5 weeks to go! It will be really nice to be take that break. It'll almost be like a mini-retirement!
I've probably told this story to everyone, but over Memorial Day weekend my parents came to visit. My dad, being the typical parent, went into my yard and started spot treating the weeds on my lawn. But he used grass killer instead of weed killer. I didn't realize how much of the yard he did until a few days later (it must've taken him hours!)
Alas, I've probably done worse things to his yard as a kid...
Went to 3 out of the 4 Brewers vs Reds games this weekend. Split the series 2-2.
Did a Jungle Jim's run today... one thing I've been making more now is squid on the grill. If you can find a whole tube or something similar, just season with stuff, put on the grill for a few minutes, and it's actually pretty good!
The countdown to the sabbatical has begun... only 2.5 weeks to go! It will be really nice to be take that break. It'll almost be like a mini-retirement!
I've probably told this story to everyone, but over Memorial Day weekend my parents came to visit. My dad, being the typical parent, went into my yard and started spot treating the weeds on my lawn. But he used grass killer instead of weed killer. I didn't realize how much of the yard he did until a few days later (it must've taken him hours!)
Alas, I've probably done worse things to his yard as a kid...
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
OK I'm back
So about 4 people have reminded me that I haven't been blogging. I'm not really sure what I've been doing the last few months, but here I am again!
One of the big new things in my life is a 3 month leave of absence that I'm taking starting August. So I've started up a different blog for that. The link is to the right! Hope you guys can help me figure out some places to visit on a couple of road trips I'm planning on doing.
One of the big new things in my life is a 3 month leave of absence that I'm taking starting August. So I've started up a different blog for that. The link is to the right! Hope you guys can help me figure out some places to visit on a couple of road trips I'm planning on doing.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Packer Season Ticket Update
Thought you guys might be interested... my Packer update came. I posted the latest on the Forever Cheesehead blog.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Day off badinage
I took the day off today just because I could. I love having 4 weeks of vacation (well actually we get 3 weeks and we "buy" a week.... but next year I get a full 4 weeks as I near my 10 year anniversary... whoa). I'm sitting at Caribou Coffee right now enjoying the day off... So an update on stuff that's happening in my life:
Today I refinanced my mortgage. Got 5.125% with $350 of closing costs. There are two banks in the area with those low costs: Guardian Savings and union Savings. The closing costs payout in 6 months. The better part is the monthly payment drops a ton because I don't hafta do an escrow anymore.
I headed to Jungle Jim's and got a bunch of food. It's always a good time there!
Softball starts in three weeks
I started a dynasty baseball league with Dave... that starts in three weeks too
I also decided to do a 3 month leave of absence in July, and it was agreed in principle by my boss. I do plan on traveling a little bit (mainly to follow the Brewers on the road!) but also to work on my own projects and to do some reflection on what I want to do with my P&G career. If anyone has any road trip fun places to stop going east (or a little south), let me know!
Today I refinanced my mortgage. Got 5.125% with $350 of closing costs. There are two banks in the area with those low costs: Guardian Savings and union Savings. The closing costs payout in 6 months. The better part is the monthly payment drops a ton because I don't hafta do an escrow anymore.
I headed to Jungle Jim's and got a bunch of food. It's always a good time there!
Softball starts in three weeks
I started a dynasty baseball league with Dave... that starts in three weeks too
I also decided to do a 3 month leave of absence in July, and it was agreed in principle by my boss. I do plan on traveling a little bit (mainly to follow the Brewers on the road!) but also to work on my own projects and to do some reflection on what I want to do with my P&G career. If anyone has any road trip fun places to stop going east (or a little south), let me know!
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Internet myths recirculated
My parents and friends/relatives of their generation have caused the rebirth of those email myths that get sent around. I've usually tried to set the record straight after checking with Snopes.com, which researches these rumors. Here's a nice article on the story of Snopes.com.
Friday, March 06, 2009
One liners
Saw this article while reading through Milwaukee sports news... Check out the very first comment after the article. Had me roaring.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Fun with SecurID
So in order to get into our company internet when we're not at a P&G site, we use a SecurID device. The thing fits on your keychain and spits out random numbers, and changes every minute or so. You're supposed to type in that number at that time when you want to log in. Well I was looking at it one day and the number that was up caught my eye... check it out
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Bailout according to Dilbert
This cartoon pretty much sums up how I feel about people in Congress acting all holier than thou... (click on it to see the last pane)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
My idea to help the housing crisis
OK, so here's my idea to help fix the housing crisis. Instead of forcing banks to not foreclose or giving money to people to pay their mortgages, how about this:
Help people move out of their current house and into a smaller, more affordable one.
This would be a lot more sustainable then just giving people money, and it would be a lot better than leaving people out in the street. If you just give people money or prevent banks from foreclosing, then even after the economy goes back to normal, people are still in hosues they can't afford. Maybe the government would pay for realtor fees or moving fees. This would get people into houses they should've been in in the first place. Then, when things come back to normal, they will be in a better place.
Maybe this helps housing prices increase, except for the most expensive ones. But I'd think this would reduce the total number of foreclosurs. Anyone else care to build on this idea?
Help people move out of their current house and into a smaller, more affordable one.
This would be a lot more sustainable then just giving people money, and it would be a lot better than leaving people out in the street. If you just give people money or prevent banks from foreclosing, then even after the economy goes back to normal, people are still in hosues they can't afford. Maybe the government would pay for realtor fees or moving fees. This would get people into houses they should've been in in the first place. Then, when things come back to normal, they will be in a better place.
Maybe this helps housing prices increase, except for the most expensive ones. But I'd think this would reduce the total number of foreclosurs. Anyone else care to build on this idea?
Monday, February 16, 2009
Eavesdropping on traffic control
The plane I was on when I was flying back from a recent trip to San Francisco had one of those channels where you can listen to what the air traffic controllers are saying. I've always been mesmerized by all the communication and stuff going on, and I would usually listen to it for quite a long while.
Aside: So why do they still use this archaic technology? You'd think they'd at least have caller ID, so when someone transmitted the plane ID would automatically show up. And instead of manually and verbally telling "American 1650 climb to 20 niner" and then having the plane go "Climbing to 20 niner American 1650" they could just send the equivalent of a text message by touching a few things on the radar. Or even have a computer figure out the best configuration for all the planes coming in and automatically sending out commands as to where a plane should go. Of course you could have a few live humans monitoring it. But seriously.
Anyways... I remember a couple of funny moments as I was eavesdropping. A long time ago I was listening and the guy on the ground would say "American 1560 blah blah takeoff position" except he would say it like "takeoff posi-SHAWN" like Cajun Man of SNL fame would.
So on this flight back from SF to O'Hare, we were making our final approach to O'Hare so planes were lining up to land. The following took place:
Tower: United 1250 cleared to land on runway 42L
United 1250: Requesting runway 48R, running a little behind and would like to cut down on taxi time.
Another voice: Aren't we all
Another voice: Me too
Another voice: me three
Another voice: 4
Another voice: 5
Then silence. The tower never did respond to the request. He got DISSED! I wonder if his request was really out of line or what. I suppose O'Hare is one of the busiest airports in the world so they probably weren't too keen on taking requests.
Aside: So why do they still use this archaic technology? You'd think they'd at least have caller ID, so when someone transmitted the plane ID would automatically show up. And instead of manually and verbally telling "American 1650 climb to 20 niner" and then having the plane go "Climbing to 20 niner American 1650" they could just send the equivalent of a text message by touching a few things on the radar. Or even have a computer figure out the best configuration for all the planes coming in and automatically sending out commands as to where a plane should go. Of course you could have a few live humans monitoring it. But seriously.
Anyways... I remember a couple of funny moments as I was eavesdropping. A long time ago I was listening and the guy on the ground would say "American 1560 blah blah takeoff position" except he would say it like "takeoff posi-SHAWN" like Cajun Man of SNL fame would.
So on this flight back from SF to O'Hare, we were making our final approach to O'Hare so planes were lining up to land. The following took place:
Tower: United 1250 cleared to land on runway 42L
United 1250: Requesting runway 48R, running a little behind and would like to cut down on taxi time.
Another voice: Aren't we all
Another voice: Me too
Another voice: me three
Another voice: 4
Another voice: 5
Then silence. The tower never did respond to the request. He got DISSED! I wonder if his request was really out of line or what. I suppose O'Hare is one of the busiest airports in the world so they probably weren't too keen on taking requests.
Friday, February 13, 2009
A great story
Here's a great story... I love the attitudes of both the firefighter and the other woman. "Thanks for thinking of me." What a great line!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
A good day on the stock market
Man you live for a day like today when you portfolio looks like this... too bad they don't happen enough for me to retire yet.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
At the UC Berkeley campus
I called my dad from here (visiting some friends) and had the folowing exchange:
Me: hi dad guess what I'm on the Berkeley campus
Dad: what are you doing there?
Me: getting a PhD
Dad: ha yeah right
Me: hi dad guess what I'm on the Berkeley campus
Dad: what are you doing there?
Me: getting a PhD
Dad: ha yeah right
Friday, February 06, 2009
My take on Miley Cyrus
Thought you guys might be interested in my take on the latest controversial Miley Cyrus picture...
Friday, January 30, 2009
A great website that helps out guys deal with women
Wow, what a great invention... I remember when I had my first long term relationship (over a month) how this kinda blindsided me.
http://pmsbuddy.com/
http://pmsbuddy.com/
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
For once an accurate statement on the stock market
So what causes the stock market to be at the price it's at? There's probably a trillion billion million variables. But yet, at the end of the day, there's always one nice sentence that explains why the market did what it did. "Stocks down today due to fears that the bailout won't happen quickly" or "Stocks up today on stronger retail sales."
Well today, we finally got an accurate statement. Yesterday, stocks dropped a ton. Today they're up a ton. I thought I was gonna see something about stocks going up because of optimism for Barack Obama. But instead, we got this line from AP:
"Investors acted Wednesday as if they had overdone it a day earlier. Wall Street snapped back from a steep sell-off with a rebound in the same financial stocks that were pummeled Tuesday."
I love it! Investors acted as if they had overdone it a day earlier. Perfect.
Well today, we finally got an accurate statement. Yesterday, stocks dropped a ton. Today they're up a ton. I thought I was gonna see something about stocks going up because of optimism for Barack Obama. But instead, we got this line from AP:
"Investors acted Wednesday as if they had overdone it a day earlier. Wall Street snapped back from a steep sell-off with a rebound in the same financial stocks that were pummeled Tuesday."
I love it! Investors acted as if they had overdone it a day earlier. Perfect.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Sunday night badinage
So back to normal life after a nice Christmas break... and of course it's nice because we have a long weekend again coming up next week. A few tidbits:
- The Denver Broncos hired Josh McDaniel to be their new head coach. Why's that a big deal? He's one year older than me. I can't imagine being 32 and a head coach! It's nice to see someone 32 years old being referred to as "young."
- Over the break, I helped my dad with his version of a W&DP (that's Work and Development Plan for the non-PGers). I'm really sure all the HR people at these companies all went to the same MBA schools because these things are all the same. Anyways you're supposed to show how you followed certain "success drivers" or something like that. One of the success drivers from my dad's company? It was "Passion for Beer." I kid you not. I wonder who has trouble with that one... can you put "regularly attend happy hours" on there?
- Forever Cheesehead... I decided to startup a bunch of public blogs and see what sticks. I talked about "Wok This Way." Now I've resurrected the blog "Forever Cheesehead" where I talk about Wisconsin sports from someone who doesn't live in Wisconsin anymore. Feel free to go on there and trash talk (I rip on the Bengals on there).
I just realized Martha is a customer for all of my blogs. Geez. Guess she's "the Who" in P&G talk.
- The Denver Broncos hired Josh McDaniel to be their new head coach. Why's that a big deal? He's one year older than me. I can't imagine being 32 and a head coach! It's nice to see someone 32 years old being referred to as "young."
- Over the break, I helped my dad with his version of a W&DP (that's Work and Development Plan for the non-PGers). I'm really sure all the HR people at these companies all went to the same MBA schools because these things are all the same. Anyways you're supposed to show how you followed certain "success drivers" or something like that. One of the success drivers from my dad's company? It was "Passion for Beer." I kid you not. I wonder who has trouble with that one... can you put "regularly attend happy hours" on there?
- Forever Cheesehead... I decided to startup a bunch of public blogs and see what sticks. I talked about "Wok This Way." Now I've resurrected the blog "Forever Cheesehead" where I talk about Wisconsin sports from someone who doesn't live in Wisconsin anymore. Feel free to go on there and trash talk (I rip on the Bengals on there).
I just realized Martha is a customer for all of my blogs. Geez. Guess she's "the Who" in P&G talk.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Cookies!
So one Milwaukee secret is Midwest Airlines... They have a nice flight out of Dayton, Ohio to Milwaukee (they have a hub in Milwaukee) so I can head home for the holidays for a decent price. What's the big secret? Well they serve fresh baked chocolate chip cookies right on board. You gotta love it when they give you two cookies with the chocolate chips still gooey. I usually take a nap on the flights, but I manage to stay awake on Midwest flights!
Monday, January 05, 2009
Naps!
(This post dedicated to Winston)
Naps rule! Here's a great blog entry on the great benefits of napping... and a book that I might want to read (the author looks pretty hot too).
Naps rule! Here's a great blog entry on the great benefits of napping... and a book that I might want to read (the author looks pretty hot too).
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Most commented blogs of 2008
As I'm winding down before heading to work for the first time in the new year, here are the top commented blog entries of last year:
Fess up, whoever's reading this in Florida - 1/21/08, 10 comments - This was fun with Google Analytics, as I tried to figure out who was reading my blog based off of locations that it indicated.
Noodlesblog - 1/25/08, 10 comments - Martha got this one going as I blogged about one of my favorite places to eat. Apparently Noodles made for good discussion.
Fractions should be scrapped! - 1/30/08, 10 comments - Some pretty funny stuff, including Dave saying "What if fractions were reading this?" and Jim talking about carpentry
Sunday night badinage - 2/10/2008, 12 comments - Lots of topics here, everything from global warming on Mars to Chinese New Year
Voting Asian because I'm Asian? - 11/8/08, 13 comments - Inspired by Barack Obama's election as president.
Fess up, whoever's reading this in Florida - 1/21/08, 10 comments - This was fun with Google Analytics, as I tried to figure out who was reading my blog based off of locations that it indicated.
Noodlesblog - 1/25/08, 10 comments - Martha got this one going as I blogged about one of my favorite places to eat. Apparently Noodles made for good discussion.
Fractions should be scrapped! - 1/30/08, 10 comments - Some pretty funny stuff, including Dave saying "What if fractions were reading this?" and Jim talking about carpentry
Sunday night badinage - 2/10/2008, 12 comments - Lots of topics here, everything from global warming on Mars to Chinese New Year
Voting Asian because I'm Asian? - 11/8/08, 13 comments - Inspired by Barack Obama's election as president.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Time to tax the poor and middle class
I've got a proposal... a tax for the poor and middle class. Would that ever fly? Doubt it. I sometimes hear commercials for the Ohio lottery, which says something like "Take a chance on education" because the proceeds go towards education. Something just doesn't ring true for me on that... and I think I've figured it out. It essentially is a tax on the poor and middle class!
First, think about who buys lottery tickets. It sure isn't the rich. So the people who buy the tickets spend $1. The odds of them winning times the jackpot is set to less than $1 (the jackpot I think is even defined as a certain percentage of playing revenue). So there's a profit to be made. That profit goes to the government. Here's the second part. The money is paid over 20 years, or a smaller lump sum is paid immediately. Increases NPV for the gov't. And to top it all off, the government taxes the winnings at like 40%. So net, it's like printing money for the government. So this is basically a tax on people playing the lottery.
I'm lukewarm about the government having a lottery in the first place, tricking their people into handing over cash. And they have a monopoly on it. But it really makes me mad when they start advertising it as you being patriotic or helping education if you play the lottery. If you really want to help education, donate your $1 directly to the school.
First, think about who buys lottery tickets. It sure isn't the rich. So the people who buy the tickets spend $1. The odds of them winning times the jackpot is set to less than $1 (the jackpot I think is even defined as a certain percentage of playing revenue). So there's a profit to be made. That profit goes to the government. Here's the second part. The money is paid over 20 years, or a smaller lump sum is paid immediately. Increases NPV for the gov't. And to top it all off, the government taxes the winnings at like 40%. So net, it's like printing money for the government. So this is basically a tax on people playing the lottery.
I'm lukewarm about the government having a lottery in the first place, tricking their people into handing over cash. And they have a monopoly on it. But it really makes me mad when they start advertising it as you being patriotic or helping education if you play the lottery. If you really want to help education, donate your $1 directly to the school.
Top 5 Things of 2008
Here's the rest:
5. The 5 weddings I attended this year... I had two good friends, including my very first high school dance date, a cousin, and of course my sister, get married this year.
4. My sister's wedding reception at Miller Park in Milwaukee. It was a great venue, with the baseball field in the background, and the entire extended family showed up in Milwaukee.
3. My sister's destination wedding ceremony in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands... The beach was beautiful, the food and drink was all inclusive (I had four drinks a day... but it was spread out from noon to midnight, so it wasn't that bad). And of course a cute bridesmaid's roommate doesn't hurt.
OK #2 and #1 are going to be combined into a one mega top 10 item. Each one individually would've been on this top 10 list, but put the together and you get one mega item...
#1-#2 are...
My trip to Hawaii combined with the first $1 in profit from NOTtheBookstore.com! It was a really wonderful taste into what could be... money rolling in while I was blogging on the beach, a true "4-Hour Workweek" moment.
The trip to Hawaii itself was wonderful, I was able to spend time with my mom and also able to cheer my dad on as he received an award for his research into hops. It must be lonely being really good at something only a select few understand, so at least we were able to show our support.
So there you have it... the best of 2008. It's hard to beat both 2008 and 2007. 2009 is beginning like a lamb, with things being pretty quiet. Here's to hoping 2009 is a great year for me.
5. The 5 weddings I attended this year... I had two good friends, including my very first high school dance date, a cousin, and of course my sister, get married this year.
4. My sister's wedding reception at Miller Park in Milwaukee. It was a great venue, with the baseball field in the background, and the entire extended family showed up in Milwaukee.
3. My sister's destination wedding ceremony in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands... The beach was beautiful, the food and drink was all inclusive (I had four drinks a day... but it was spread out from noon to midnight, so it wasn't that bad). And of course a cute bridesmaid's roommate doesn't hurt.
OK #2 and #1 are going to be combined into a one mega top 10 item. Each one individually would've been on this top 10 list, but put the together and you get one mega item...
#1-#2 are...
My trip to Hawaii combined with the first $1 in profit from NOTtheBookstore.com! It was a really wonderful taste into what could be... money rolling in while I was blogging on the beach, a true "4-Hour Workweek" moment.
The trip to Hawaii itself was wonderful, I was able to spend time with my mom and also able to cheer my dad on as he received an award for his research into hops. It must be lonely being really good at something only a select few understand, so at least we were able to show our support.
So there you have it... the best of 2008. It's hard to beat both 2008 and 2007. 2009 is beginning like a lamb, with things being pretty quiet. Here's to hoping 2009 is a great year for me.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Top 10 of 2008
So with the New Year upon us, here's the top 10 things that happened to me in 2008... 2008 was quite the year for weddings, which made for a lot of travel and family time. It also was a year of major purchases... So without further adieu, here's the first half of the list:
10. OCA (Organization of Chinese Americans) Graduation Party return - I returned home for the 20th anniversary of the OCA graduation party, where the tradition is for the graduates to plan the party and the alums to return to talk. I planned the party back in 1996, and got to give the speech in 2008
9. New violin - I got a new violin this year to replace my high school violin. It made me feel great that after so long I was still playing! The new violin also sounds really great with high notes.
8. iPhone, therefore I am! - That was the first text message I sent out after getting my iPhone. So far so good for the iPhone, the convenience is amazing. It does have some annoyances, but the benefits far outweight them.
7. Acura TSX - Got a new royal blue pearl, 6 speed Acura TSX. Somehow I got the exact color I wanted and the manual transmission for invoice price... had to pick it up in Indianapolis but it was worth it!
6. Brewers in playoffs! - The last time the Brewers made the playoffs I was 4. And they did it in such dramatic fashion, with Ryan Braun hitting the game winning home run and the Mets losing.
10. OCA (Organization of Chinese Americans) Graduation Party return - I returned home for the 20th anniversary of the OCA graduation party, where the tradition is for the graduates to plan the party and the alums to return to talk. I planned the party back in 1996, and got to give the speech in 2008
9. New violin - I got a new violin this year to replace my high school violin. It made me feel great that after so long I was still playing! The new violin also sounds really great with high notes.
8. iPhone, therefore I am! - That was the first text message I sent out after getting my iPhone. So far so good for the iPhone, the convenience is amazing. It does have some annoyances, but the benefits far outweight them.
7. Acura TSX - Got a new royal blue pearl, 6 speed Acura TSX. Somehow I got the exact color I wanted and the manual transmission for invoice price... had to pick it up in Indianapolis but it was worth it!
6. Brewers in playoffs! - The last time the Brewers made the playoffs I was 4. And they did it in such dramatic fashion, with Ryan Braun hitting the game winning home run and the Mets losing.
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