Wow

Been a busy week. Sorry for the delay in getting a post out there. I was working every day except for Christmas and the rest were filled with festivities. Plus, our infant is sick, so it has been stressful.
Got a couple of pet projects I am working on. Otherwise, been busy with swimming lessons, etc. for the family.
Spent an hour playing Smarty Pants on the Wii with my wife last night. It was nice to get some time for us to have fun. My son really enjoys the Lego Star Wars game on Wii.
Will be missing the family get together in NY this year. Kind of sad, but it will be a full weekend and there is so much to do. I need to clean up after the holidays, the older boys have swimming Sat. morning, Brendan and I need to work on his Pinewood derby car for Cub Scouts, Brendan has piano on Sunday, and coming up on Monday is the High School Musical on ice event with Brendan and Mateo.
If you don't know what the High School Musical is, lucky you. It is kind of like the Disney version of the modern day Grease musical. Kids of all ages rave over this thing. Boy did Disney hit a home run with this one!! Anyway, really not looking forward to going into Philly on New Year's Eve for it, but hopefully it will work out. In retrospect I think we have been to every Disney on ice show there is/was. Kind of weird since I don't think I went to a single on-ice event as a kid. Wasn't really into that sort of thing.
Anyway, hope you are all doing well.
Talk to you soon!
-K

Not much

That's about what is new. I am just having fun finishing up with holiday nonsense. Funny how hard it can be to mail a package. I finally succeeded today after trying for the last 4 days. Every time the PO was either packed to the hilt or the automated machine was full or down. Fun stuff. All in all, can't wait until the world returns to normality.
I cannot wait to see my boys in their Christmas concert tomorrow. They were practicing the songs today. They will be so cute up there!
Brendan earned his bobcat badge this week and is on his way to the tiger badge. I was very happy. My whole tiger cub den has earned their bobcat badge and are on their way to Tiger. We are preparing for a trip to the firehouse to learn about fire safety in early January and we will be carving the car for the pinewood derby. I think I can win it using some of my engineering skills. I think the key is straight, easy rolling wheels. Straight is the key, as you don't want vibrations in the wheels to increase friction. I also think that some graphite powder on the axles will do wonders. As for weighting, I would like to be just at weight. As more weight means more friction on the wheels. Otherwise, there is not much else you can do to improve. no fans or other motor devices allowed.
Any bloggers out there have any ideas, I am up for hearing them.
As for the stock market: we must wait it out until next year. People will not be doing much of anything good for about a month. Then its quarterly and annual earning season once again and look out.
Well, its late. I'm tired.
Talk to you soon!
-K

Hello

Hey out there, not much new to report. Had a den meeting last night that went well, but I sort of felt unprepared despite my preparations. I am sure it was okay and that I am being overly critical, but perhaps I need more activities to make the children feel more engaged. At least I can say that my tiger cubs will be getting their bobcat badges.
As for the holiday shopping, I think we are in for it, as we have a lot of shopping to do. I am hoping that we can get it all done. Mostly we have shopping for others to do and only to grab a few things for the little ones.
Boy has the market been a downer lately. All gains over a few days seem to get erased by a single day's decline. I can see how the boomers must be feeling a bit nervous, as their retirement is based on the market performance in almost any fashion. There really is no place to hide from what we are in. I guess the moves to make are in where you are now when the market does recover. It will recover, but is a question of when. Hang in there and we'll make out fine.
Well, I think I will head out with the baby in tow to try and get a Christmas card for my wife. Actually two, one from the kids as well.
Well, talk to y'all soon!
-K

Interesting

So, not much new to report. I will be pretty busy here in the near future, so who knows what I'll be able to get up here in the next couple of days.
Couple of things that astounded me:
Volkswagen created a super-clean, super-powerful, super-efficient diesel engine. It runs cleaner than gasoline, has comparable power to a v6 using only a v4 2.0 L engine, and gets 74 mpg. Amazing. I cannot wait to see that make an impact. (In this month's popular mechanics magazine)
This one takes the cake: MIT has posted its course curriculum online for anyone to download for free. That includes lecture materials, exercises, assignments, and all the other wonderful things you did in college. They are not from this year or last, but range in years from 2003-2005. Not that statistics has changed much in two short years. I think they will be statistically valid ;). I am 100% serious, you want to study like an MIT student, here it is: MIT's OCW materials
That will revolutionize education online.
Well, that's all I've got for now. More when I can,
-K

What now????

So yesterday I tried to start my old van (5 yrs. really isn't old). It wouldn't start, but made the characteristic clicking sound which usually indicates a dead or low battery. So I ran to Pep Boys to buy a new battery. The guy looked one up and sold it to me. I didn't get to put it in, since I had a party to go to last night. Yes, there was some drinking, but I didn't get TOO loaded. So this morning for shits and giggles I tried the van once more. Still cranked and clicked, but no start. Fine. I take out the battery and its clearly the wrong size. Fudge: back to Pep Boys. But I now recalled that I had just recently replaced the battery and had gone so far as to dig up the receipt, take out the "old" battery and bring it with me while I return the wrong sized one the store guy gave me. He takes my old battery and runs the free diagnostic on it while I return the new battery. Old battery is fine and fully charged. So I buy a Haynes car repair book (its about that time in the life of the can anyway) and determine it is probably the starter. So I go back home and try to take out the starter. About halfway through unbolting some things I decide: perhaps I should buy the new starter first, that way I can see how much of the entire starting mechanism I need to remove.
Great. So after a trip back to Pep Boys buying the starter, I come home and settle in on some lunch and get the kids to nap time. Back to the Van! I try taking out the starter but I cannot losen one of the bolts that mounts it to the engine. Of course, it doesn't help that the idiots at Dodge put it directly under the exhaust manifold so you can't actually see the bolt or get at it.
Regardless, (notice I didn't say irregardless, as that is not a word) I can't finish the job. So I spend another 30 minutes putting the whole kit and kaboodle back together.
At this point I am not happy. But for S&G's (see above) I decide to try the van. It works. With the old starter. Now do I trust it? Probably not. After all this I am going to take it to Pep Boys and have them put in the starter I bought. After all, it is bound to fail again. Do I really want to find out the hard way??
Fun times.
I got a game for my Wii on Black Friday called Red Steel. It is cool. You're like a bodyguard and you get guns and swords. Fighting is cool and the world is very realistic and 3-d looking. I get extra "respect points" for crouching around and cappin' some bad guys from above or through a window. I only have gotten to play it a couple of times, but you can play against other people and stuff, so not bad for $9.99 at CCity.
Big business news: Compusa out of business. That's what my bro tells me. He lives in Austin and they are a Dallas company, so it made the news, which he works for. News 8 Austin.
Alright, time to get this baby to bed. Giggity.

-K

This guy Murphy sucks.

So, today I am working hard, as always. My wife and I chat briefly about how my middle son wants a mummy toy for Christmas. So much so, that he asked Santa for it in both verbal and written form. Not sure what the fascination with a mummy is, but do you know how hard it is to find a mummy during the Holiday (for us Christmas) season????
So, after an exhaustive search I settled on a stuffed DOG toy that looks like a decent mummy. Of course, I have no dog. But it was the only one that didn't look either weird or super-cheap. Funny thing paying $8 +shipping for a dog toy.
Of course, I happen to be in the middle of ordering it when my supervisor walks in. I awkwardly explain that my son wants a mummy and that I could only find a dog toy and yes, I was ordering it right there. Of course, Tuesday he walked in when I was on the phone with my mother and yesterday when I was on the phone with a co-worker. So, I must look like the biggest slacker ever.
Murphy should be taken out back and caned.
His law of humanity is the worst thing ever created.
So, needless to say, he did seem to somewhat understand, but ya know, I AM trying to get hired here....
Anyhow, murphy's law also dictates that if you are trying to sneak out early, he'll happen to be in the lobby. All in all, not too cool.
As for the order: went through and my son will be happy to get a dog toy this Christmas.

• That dog has a big mouth


• Yo quiero dignity


• Smurf mummy didn't make the cut.

So on with the show. Small slide on the market. Timed the viacom stock.It is a roller coaster and I'm gonna make some (small) spread using my free trading account. God Bless BofA for that one.
Open an e-trade account and save some spread: no minimums, free $25, $1 deposit to start. Easy transfer in and out of your account.
Etrade free $25
Not a bad place to park some money, even if only a little. High rate around 5%. Good deal. No referral bonus for me, so just looking out for y'all. Save a little for a rainy or snowy day.
Or both, like today.
Well, if anyone out there in dreamland can tell me how I can make some money on the side to populate the above mentioned account, I would love to hear it.
There used to be this site called itmoonlighter.com back in the day. One could go and put in a bid on a job and the it was sort of like getting a road paving contract: lowest bidder wins. The site made money by handling all the billing (and of course making a cut) and by posting the jobs/projects in the first place. I never had any luck with that. I just want to use a couple of hours (at most) a night and do something useful and make some money. Not even a lot of money. Just something to stash away to help pay for the $400,000 or whatever the 3 kids will cost for college.
Well, peace to my homies!
-K

Perspective

Hello world.
This week has been a bit much, all in all. I was not able to get around to blogging and there are very good reasons. I don't think I can mention them all just yet. But there are.
Tuesday night I was completely chewed out by my lovely wife for being late leaving work. Long and short of it was that she waited in the van for me for 45 minutes, while I didn't answer her calls to both my desk and cel phone. I was talking to my Director, but he would've understood if I had answered the calls while we chatted. But I was rude and my wife let me have it. I didn't speak more than a few words to her the rest of the night. As for making up, didn't happen as another little bombshell diverted our attention. She is pretty sad and now I need to focus on trying to bring her back around to the happy side of life.
I guess that is the way it is sometimes, huh? Things can go well for a while and then life challenges you. Looking at life, I think I tend to be a glass half-full kind of person and my wife is the opposite. I suppose the balance keeps us under tension at times, but helps to balance our view of the world; our perspective.
At any rate, the holidays are approaching (started already for some ;) Happy Chanukah!) It seems like this year snuck past me while I worked. I don't know that I like that feeling. I really like to enjoy life more.
Seems like an eternity since I worked at Commerce. The more time passes, the less I miss the folks who don't keep in touch, and the more I miss the folks reading this here and now. Thanks guys for keeping in touch. I am surprised that some people I thought would stay in touch dropped me like the plague. I suppose to some extent I must have mis-judged them. Well, I cannot let that get to me. Perhaps I'll send people fruit baskets or something to remind them that life is "sweeter" than work alone.
I actually had a longing for one more long commute, but after the recent "blizzard" ;) I thought better of that longing. I am not missing the commute at all. (Even when commuting in silence while being yelled at.) Yes, you heard right, me in silence!
As for stocks, the rising market makes me even more skeptical. What fundamentals have gotten better? Perhaps oil, but the housing and "credit crunch" are in their Little Nicky stage on their way to full-fledged devilhood. Jobs, spending, and consumer sentiment are at 5 year lows. Yes, that means people are about as bummed out as they were after some crazy fuckers dropped two buildings and killed thousands. That is certainly not a good sign. And though the fed has lowered rates and banks are getting their funded money cheaper, the consumer doesn't see much of that, which means the banks are pocketing the difference to make up for the "people" who decided to buy too much against their home equity. Why do we always pay for those idiots? I suppose in a free-society that stuff happens.
Well, hope everyone is getting on out there in happy land.
Some funny posts to make you laugh:
Classic example of how rich people think they are environmental, but aren't
Notice the taglines: premier usually doesn't equate to cheap and poisonous and one of the 100 best citizens (where... in North Korea??)
Classic picture humor. Spend hours. They're damn funny.
That's all for now.
-K