I was up a lot on AAPL, and I didn't think it would continue much further (and I wanted to spend the money on something else). So I decided to sell all my shares ( Read more... )

Last Sunday (Aug. 16) I bought a Herman Miller Mirra chair (loaded) from Sam Flax. The only Mirra they had was the floor model. They gave me a 10% discount because of that.

It's so nice to sit in an ergonomic chair. Most office chairs are simple, non-conforming, and terrible for one's spine. It's unfortunate that the good chairs are so

On July 25 I planted a Magnolia tree in my front yard. It is 51" tall.

I like Magnolia trees because:

• Their leaves are bigger than oak leaves (so they won't get caught in the nooks and crannies of my car).
• They're more resilient to hurricanes than oak or pine.

Here's something interesting from the Wikipedia page:Magnolia is an ancient genus. Having ( Read more... )

On July 17 I made an order to buy 2 Chinese-oriented mutual funds for my Roth IRA.

• Matthews China (MUTF:MCHFX)
• Matthews Asian Growth & Income (MUTF:MACSX)

Shortly after, I read these articles:

The Long-Term Budget Outlook

Socialist America sinking

excerpts:The deficit for 2009 is $1.8 trillion, 13 percent of the whole economy. Obama is pushing a ( Read more... )

Last Friday I got the new iPhone 3G S. It is awesome. :-)

My old LG 1150 has been retired after almost 5 years of (mostly dependable) use.

Also, last Friday I sent my first text message.

Capitalism Goes Out Of Tune
By George F. Will
Sunday, May 10, 2009
In "Democracy in America," Alexis de Tocqueville anticipated people being governed by "an immense, tutelary power" determined to take "sole charge of assuring their enjoyment and of watching over their fate." It would be a power "absolute, attentive to detail, regular, provident and ( Read more... )

/etc/sysctl.conf
vm.swappiness = 10

Ingress Korea
From:ATLDeparts:Sun, Jan 25, 11:55
To:ICNArrives:Mon, Jan 26, 17:05
Duration: 15h 10m

This will be my first time leaving America. I'll miss you, United States Constitution. And I'll miss watching the Super Bowl on a Sunday night. Instead I'll be watching it live on a Monday morning. I'm fairly sure I'll have a severe case of ( Read more... )

This past week I had to take a computer-based USFK Theater Specific Required Training Course for my trip to South Korea.

Here is the intro portion:Civil Gatherings are a daily occurrence in Korea. The two main types of civil gatherings are demonstrations and cultural events. It is important to know the differences in order to identify and avoid ( Read more... )

Personal Rate of Return from 01/01/2008 to 12/31/2008 is -40.9%

After more than 4 years of investing, there's less money in my retirement savings than I have put in. C'est la vie.