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The Stock Market, which has been punching me in the face since Jan 2008...

Computer Buying

When buying that shiny new computer, the first question to ask is not what brand, but what do you want to do? Travel light, create music/dvds, surf the web and manage your music collection, replace your desktop PC? Buy based on how well it supports your activities. If you are like 99% of the world, you just need it for web surfing so go cheap!

On brands, most computers have the same pass/fail rates since all of their components come from the same place (China) and likely the same factory. Go for cheap. Pay no more than $500 for a laptop or $350 for a desktop. Just don't. In 2-3 years you will either spill coffee on it, drop it (laptop), or just want something new. Treat your computer like a 3-year purchase.

Where to buy? Check out the dealnews.com streams for laptops/desktops to find the best deals on PCs, and then if you're of the turtleneck persuasion you can check out Macs refurbs at the Apple store.

My Movie Theater is dying...

Tickets are now $9.25 at my local AMC theaters here in south Houston. Unreal. Is this New York City? I could buy two dvd's for the price of a single ticket and just stay home. The theater is smelly, people are making noises, I can't pause it, it's out of focus half the time, and now it is $9.25. Alas, this must be Bush's fault.

Reading, but not reading

Inevitably, someone someday will ask you " Have you read book xyz?" and then tell you that you need to read this book because it "changed the game" or is "so far outside the box that it destroyed the box" or something like that. To that I say - it's time to read books via Wikipedia or WikiSummaries. The Wiki is our new Cliff Notes - short summaries of the themes and impact of books (new or old) that can be digested within minutes. Here are a couple I hear about often in my world:

Tipping Point and Blink
Freakanomics
World is Flat

Or for even more depth - check out the chapter summaries at WikiSummaries.org. Here's an example:
Good to Great

Too good of a deal?

Every now and again one of those deals comes by that spits in the face of retail sales. This is one of those deals.

New iBook (new to me...)

I had been putting off purchasing a Mac laptop due to the upscale pricing (basically, you get twice as much for half as much with PC laptops), but finally found my price point - $150. I bought an iBook 500mhz 128mb 10GB with Airport today on eBay. The failure rates for these bad boys are over 50% (motherboard) but I still jumped based on the price. It's a good opportunity to learn the Mac OS X (10.3 to be exact) for a small price.

I did a quick youtube search on the iBook, and found a great video of Steve Jobs introducing it in 2001 - his presentation style is the exact same as today. Another great hit is the iPod Nano introduction (listen to everyone oooohhh and ahhhhh when he takes it out of his pocket). And then of course, there is the recent MacBook Air intro...

Stuff Christians Like

I am a big fan of #17 - just because it melds the personal commentary "meth dealer, money laundering" with the stellar photo of LL Cool J telling us to keep our prayer requests on the DL...

iPhone 3G

You've heard me talk and talk and talk about the iPhone, and let me tell you that the new iPhone is going to take over the world. $199 + new software + ultra-fast = the best mobile device hands down. The new software is effectively a shot across RIM's bow (maker of BlackBerry) saying that Apple is going after the corporate world, and any developer that wants to help can join in for near zero or even free.

You know it is unstoppable when even the naysayers can only cite 2 issues, both of which could be solved with a 5 minute software update - 1) It's only on AT&T, 2) iTunes store is only available over WiFi, not cellular "3G" signal

You know that it is unstoppable when Apple has been in the cell phone business for less than one year, and the biggest and baddest cell phone makers (Samsung, HTC, Nokia) constantly tout their new phones as "iPhone Killers"....in market cap, that's like Lexus saying their newest model is a Kia killer...well done international conglomerates...

You know it is unstoppable when their model for adding features is now left in the hands of anyone, anywhere to meet any need- the possibilities are endless, endless possibilities...

All that being said, here is a reality check on the cost of ownership compared to other "similar" models.

DealNews

Last week Ty and I were discussing just how wonderful DealNews.com is. Naturally, it let's you know if there are any deals in the news. Which is great and all, but the best part is that it keeps a history of deals, so if you are about to make a purchase, you can do some real quick comparison shopping and get educated. I'm a big fan of the laptops....

Some of my favorite recent deals:

$799 - Panasonic 42" HDTV Plasma (best plasma on the market at any price, not just my opinion)

$399 - The $400, all you need laptop from Dell

And of course, the Amazon list

Learning Golf

Well, over the past year I have been learning how to golf. Giving up my putt-putt ways, I am now a complete sellout. Dress pants, shoes, shirts, gloves, you name it. Learning how to golf is like having your first baby - well maybe not in every way, specifically one way, no make that two ways, either way they are similar. When you tell someone you are learning to golf or that you are having your first child, they invariably have some great advice that you must use immediately. So after 12 months on people getting in my head about my golf swing, I finally took it back to the basics...on youtube. Here's the video that has given me some hope...



AND here's a video of how I used to be (a well done video I might add...)


AND if you ever feel that you'll never learn golf, and your swing is just too bad, there's always Charles Barkley:




Last week, Dan Patrick asked Charles, "Don't they make medicine for that type of thing?"...

It's droppin Monday

Rumor is the new iPhone drops Monday (you probably know this unless you've been stuck somewhere since January), and I am interested on three fronts:

1) Faster 3G data rate will give a true mobile broadband experience, and make taking a laptop on the road thing of the past...

2) Rumored $199 starting price (with contract) - AT&T is supposedly going to subsidize this version of the iPhone, since they are raking it in on the monthly fees...

3) Apple's stock price - Wallstreet was doom and gloom this past Friday (down 3%), but Apple keeps chugging right along - my hope is that the new iPhone release opens even more eyes to the potential dominance of this device - both for corporate and personal use - and pushes stock to $200+

Salvation for $40 a month

I haven't quite wrapped my brain around this one yet...hopefully I'll have an opinion soon...

Step 1 - Have an idea

Step 2 - Make it into a website

Step 3 - Profit...

BabyEidson Update

Susan has taken over as editor and chief of the BabyEidson blog, so check in on her updates from time to time. I think she was tired of my snarky baby comments, so she is now taking the reins.

Business Casual Rules

I violated Business Casual Rule #3 this week (or Biz Caz if you are on the street) - wearing brown shoes with black pants. Not sure which is worse - violating the rule or not remembering even putting on my shoes in the morning. Either way here are the rules:

1) No logos on your shirts - avoid horses, penguins, alligators, swooshes, or anything that says "I've been to XYZ and bought/received this great shirt in order to remind both you and other random people that I visited place XYZ". (I violate this rule at least twice a week, just to make sure people don't think too highly of me)

2) Wear formal attire strategically - wearing a tie/sportcoat can belittle those who don't, making all of us wonder if our attire is somehow sub-par. Your coworkers will then combat your over-dress with a counter-assault of casual: rolling up sleeves, taking off their shoes at their desk, and wearing bluetooth headsets.

3) Don't mix black with brown unless you know exactly what you are doing - I think MacGyver did this once with explosive results, so be careful and make sure you don't cross the line from complementing-contrast to colorblind.

4) Button down collars are the standard - collars that don't button down can cause an unintended 70' vibe. Be even more careful if you have substantial sideburns.

5) Jeans are not slacks - even if you get the dark blue ones that are expensive, they are still jeans, and much like how free-range pork doesn't belong in a burrito, neither do jeans in the office. One caveat - if you can pull off the jeans/cowboy-boots/large-belt look, then wearing jeans could possibly catapult you into Biz -Caz lore...

Addicted to iGoogle

I officially have an unhealthy relationship with iGoogle. What's that you say? How can someone really be that involved with RSS feeds? On my 4th iGoogle tab I decided it was time to scale back and really take a look at my life, and what info I really needed on iGoogle. Here's the RSS feeds and Widgets I currently employ:

Home Tab - Gmail, Daylight Map, Farside Comic of the Day
Deal Tab - Fatwallet RSS, Dealnews RSS, SlickDeals RSS
News Tab - CNN, BBC, Drudge Report, Houston Chronicle (TX edition), Google News, ESPN, CNET News
Market Tab - Google Finance Portfolio, CNNMoney, MarketWatch

Basically, this allows me to review my email, current deals, global/local news, and the market with seconds...and makes iGoogle my quick fix...give it a try...

Tire Buying

I recently had to purchase tires for my Dodge Ram's 20 inch rims (oh yes, I have been rolling on dubs since March 2003 - as a side note, Kyle once asked Susan, who at that time was my new girlfriend, how she liked "rollin on dubs?". Susan, believing that Kyle was referring to her recent 20th birthday, answered that she enjoyed rolling on dubs, and that was that.)

So, back to tires - unless you know someone at a tire store, here's my favorite way to buy tires: First, go to TireRack.com and using your tire size (printed on the side of your tire), do a quick search and find out the lowest and highest tire prices. Next, go to Discounttire.com and do the same. For the most part, TireRack will be cheaper, so take note of their cheapest tire for your car and head into your local tire store with that price as your target. Buying tires is almost like buying a new car - the price they quote you is full of profit margin, and can usually be cut by 10%-30%. Having the online prices in hand helps you break into negotiations and get the best price.....my 2cents.

TV 2.0 News

TV 2.0 is alive and well....

Netflix box - $100 + $8.95 a month for unlimited access to 10,000+ movies from your Netflix queue, but not HD just yet...

Tivo gets HD downloads from Amazon UnBox - I had a sneaking suspicion this was coming. AppleTV beat Tivo to the punch, but this is what I love about competition. Add to this that the Tivo box (like AppleTV) can be given new firmware, functionality, and content all without any additional cost to the buyer, and you have an evergreen product. I covered this in a previous post on the iPhone...

Guitar Hero

I'm finally diving into Guitar Hero, Amazon dropped its price to $59.99 for the whole package. I had stayed away due to my pompous "I really play guitar" attitude, and have found myself on the outside of this dinner party phenomenon.

Carbon Footprint

Has anyone paused to think that maybe we are actively becoming carbon neutral? My point is in how online technology has changed my physical behavior - I connect with people online instead of driving to see them (sad, but true), I check prices and do my shopping online which again avoids driving, I use telecon and video-conference at work so that I can work from home instead of driving or flying to another location, I send an email (or write a blog entry) instead of mailing a letter which requires both paper and fuel to deliver....see what I'm saying? Gore acts like we are in a perpetual landslide toward oblivion, but technology has already begun to take a bite out of carbon....but of course, Al invented the Internets....

The Pain of Gas Guzzlers

Check out this article about people trying to sell their gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks. Then look at the picture of the guy and his truck at the pump - he has to fill up 3 times a week at $75+ a pop. Typical American experience? Notice the 22 inch Mopar SRT wheels, and the body side moldings - this guy is driving an SRT-10 Viper Powered Dodge Ram that get 6 miles to the gallon. Yes, trying to drive a Viper back and forth to work and the grocery store will cost you at the pump. When you buy a vehicle that has single digit gas mileage, be prepared for the worst...

I think most of us are experiencing the pain at the pump, but in some ways I view this as a much needed diet for America - both literally and figuratively. For the past 20 years our economy has been driven by cheap oil, leading to huge cars and bad habits that need to be modified if we are to continue as a world power. High oil prices mean several things for me -

1) Higher returns on your mutual funds and pensions that invest in energy stocks (before you trash Big Oil, check your fund prospectus and see how much Big Oil stock you own),
2) More expensive food and pinched budgets, forcing us to eat from our grocery store and not McD's - could this be the obesity solution we need?
3) Demand has created incredible monetary motivation for alternative fuels - now that it is profitable to make solar panels, lithium batteries, electric/hybrid cars (or even small cars), we are seeing an explosion in the alt fuel markets and will see leaps in technology now that venture capital is behind the green wave
4) More efficient use of resources (driving less, carpooling more), and spurring on public transportation

This will not be a popular post, but just my positive take on the issue at hand.

One last thing - don't be fooled by electric power (just yet) and those who tout it as the solution to save us all - a majority of our electricity is created by coal and natural gas, meaning that plug in car is really still burning fossil fuels....