The data in that last post is obsolete.

I received yet another post card today from the U.S. census bureau.  This time though, they want me to go to work for them.

• Good Pay
• Flexible Hours
• Close to Home

“These are temporary, part-time jobs that offer good pay, flexible schedules, and paid training.”  And when we’re done, you can go back to collecting unemployment that the government will continue extending out until who knows when…

Ok, that last part is mine (in case you missed the significance of the quotes).

I’d go recalculate what this additional mailing is costing the U.S. taxpayer, but it probably have to redo the math tomorrow when I get another post card…

Until then, don’t forget to pay your taxes.

On the census.

Three weeks ago I got a post card in the mail indicating I’d get the census in the mail within the next two weeks.

Two weeks ago I received the census in the mail, telling me I needed to provide the name and number of those living in my house on April 1, but I needed to return the census as soon as possible.  Presumably before April 1. I filled it out and mailed it in two days after receiving it.

One week ago I got another post card in the mail reminding me to fill out the census and mail it in ASAP.  But if I’ve already done it, there is nothing else for me to do.

Thanks.  Got it.

Two out of three mailings weren’t required, one of which wasn’t even applicable to my situation.

So here’s how the math works out.  It costs the average Joe $0.28 to mail a post card in the United States.  There are also just over 110,000,000 households in the United States.

So neglecting any “Government Discounts” on postage, and a varying household rate, that equates to $30.8 million in un-needed postage.

Sure makes that $2.5 million Super Bowl ad seem pretty cheap, doesn’t it?

Last week I sold off some Provident Energy (PVX: chart, web, Y!) stock, and some CREE (CREE: chart, web, Y!).

I’m up about 80% on CREE, and am about back to even on PVX. I’m rarely up 80% on anything (read my posts on Ford before you draw any conclusions on my trading style), and I’m overweight in PVX.

I’m sure there’s more room to run on both of these, but it’s time to score some of those gains.

There are only 24 hours in the day, and I need at least 8 of them for sleep. Otherwise I’m a grumpy bump the next day.

My son just had his first birthday this last week, and I’ve reflected back on the last 12 months, and constantly wonder where the time has gone.

We spent 8 days in Costa Rica in early January, and took the kid and two sets of grandparents with us. Never in my life has a vacation been so… un-relaxing. Constantly chasing the boy, changing diapers, giving a bottle, shoveling Gerber jars.

And I’d do it all over in a heartbeat.

I’ve got hundreds of pictures of my son dipping his feet into the sand on the beach for the first time, his first trip to the pool, and even pictures chasing iguanas and monkeys.

To be sure, I need more than 24 hours in a day to get stuff done. But I’ll never trade in my time at the beach with my son.

My good old Ford F150 has been a bit ill lately.  I’ve had a persistent but not constant misfire in the #4 cylinder that’s been giving me fits for the last couple months.

Spark plugs and wires have been changed in the recent past, and a local shop even replaced a computer they said was faulty, along with an ignition coil.  That seemed to fix the problem for about a week, and then the misfire came back.

So today was truck fix’n day.

Some guys on a Ford F150 forum suggested that I check the heater hoses that carry hot coolant out of the heater core.  If those hoses had a leak, it could drip right down onto the #4 spark plug and cause a short in the plug well.

So today I checked that.  No drips from the hoses, and considering the temperature outside, the hoses weren’t even perspiring; I wish I could say the same for myself.

As a last ditch effort, I pulled the #4 spark plug out and replaced it with a spare I had sitting on the shelf.  Voila that seemed to fix it.

A good test drive down the highway revealed no evidence of a misfire, so I’m slightly relieved.  If I can go several days without a problem, I’ll just assume it was a bad plug.

Money Saved?

I vowed that if I couldn’t find the problem today, I’d make an appointment at Ford for a quality diagnosis.  I’ve taken the truck to my local mechanic, and while I thought he fixed the problem, it showed back up less than a week later.  That was after he spent nearly $700 in parts (the computer, plugs, wires, etc) to fix the problem.

The local Ford dealer will charge me at least $75 for a diagnosis (refundable if I have them do the work to fix the problem) and while I have a high level of confidence they’d find the problem and fix it, it will surely cost me a fortune!

So the fix really cost me about $8 for the spare spark plug I already had, and a half days worth of my time.

Not bad for being a tightwad, do-it-yourselfer…

Perhaps if my current career hits the skids, I could go on to be a mechanic… but only if truck driving school doesn’t work out!

It appears that a pull back may be in the making after yesterdays sharp decline in the markets, and I couldn’t be happier.

I’ve kept my powder dry so far, and am looking for another good trade. Ford is back down to $3.50 per share this morning after topping out above $4 last week. I still look to pick some up around $3 but will continue to monitor the trend.

I can’t help but think we’re watching a bear market bounce with the DOW back up over 7,000 today.

Do you sell this rally or is this the turning point in the market?

An interesting and enlightening clip from today with Rick Santelli at the Chicago Board of Trade talking about Barack Obama’s mortgage bailout plan.

Evidently there isn’t a whole lot of support from traders, and I suspect there isn’t a whole lot of support from markets in general.

“You can’t buy your way into prosperity.”  Can’t agree more.

Yesterday I wrote a post on buying good quality American-made products.  After work I came home to a soaking wet basement ceiling and a leaky kitchen faucet.

Unfortunately, 18 months ago I bought a cheap American Standard kitchen faucet for about $130.  At that time, I thought $130 for a kitchen faucet was outrageous.  Now I’m wishing I paid the premium for quality.

The faucet was one of those where you can pull out the spout and use it as a sprayer.  Evidently the metal coiling inside the sprayer that protects the rubber hose inside of it split, pinched a hole in the rubber hose, and leaked water down the inside of the faucet and into the cabinet below.  From there it found the hole in the floor, and the drywall ceiling below that.

That’s what I get for buying crap.  American made or not.

I called Home Depot, where I originally purchased the faucet only to find out they don’t carry parts.  I had to call American Standard, who’s offices were conveniently closed (at 4pm Central time, no less).

To be honest, I really wasn’t interested in replacing junk with more junk, under warranty or not.  I really wanted to give the company a piece of my mind.

After cooling off for about 10 minutes, I headed back to Home Depot.  I found the nice old guy (Harold) working in plumbing, and wanted to know what he thought the best kitchen faucet manufacturer was, price not withstanding.  Spending the extra $100 would have saved me much more in drywall repair, for sure.

Kohler, Delta, or Moen was his preference, with Delta being the league leader in quality.  He even talked me through the traits that made Delta the best.

He helped me pick out a great Delta faucet, and I was on my way to the tune of $230.

Personally, I think it was money well spent, especially if I don’t encounter another leak within the next 18 months.

Interestingly enough, I just replaced both bathroom faucets in my master bathroom after they both started corroding from the outside in!  Flakes of metal were just crumbling off the faucets.

What brand were they, you ask?

American Standard.

So to MJ over at Dyslexic Research, don’t bother adding American Standard to your quality, American manufacturers list!

A guest post from MJ at DyslexicResearch:

If you’re reading this it means that Grant’s family had their first child and it may tie up his typing hands temporarily.  So please congratulate him and realize that the regular well written, well research programming will return eventually.  In the meantime I have provided Grant with a couple of filler posts if he so chooses to them.  If you don’t know me (MJ) or my blog (dyslexicresearch.blogspot.com) don’t be afraid to click over and peruse my corner of the internet.  It has to do with a dyslexic (me) doing market research (not dyslexia research).

Let me give a little bit of background on Grant and I.  We are both engineers, we both lived together for three years in college, we both consider ourselves entrepreneurs, we both dabble in the markets, and we both live below our means and attempt to be good savers, beyond that we typically see things wildly different.  Think of us as two sides of the same coin.  Grant will tell you he is a conservative, straight forward person and I am a liberal, irritating difficult person (he’s right), yet I appreciate his friendship and opinion greatly.  He is far from close-minded however, and he and I can spar over a given topic for hours.  A lot of my opinions and choices, more specifically financial decisions, were after learning and arguing with Grant.

It is important to have these types of people in your life.  A secret in life is that, ta da, you are not always right and having someone with just as strong a personality as you can be beneficial while also being frustrating.  In college, Grant opened up the world of investing to me, related some of the benefits and regurgitating the most important part of long term investing: the-getting-started-early-part.  For that I have always been grateful.  With a lot of my first purchases, I consulted him, not for a buy it or not answer but just an opinion of the company and continue to do so with current purchases.  (To those who don’t know Grant is an expert in the energy and petroleum markets).

After college he moved to the south side of town while I moved to the center, we are not that far apart actually but distance and the usual other excuses made it hard to keep in contact as regularly as we should.  Hey, we both have our own families to provide for, it happens.  He slowly let me know that he had put together this blog, which I read and liked.  It also served as that phantom nudge for me to do the same and my blog, dyslexic research, was born soon after.  The result has been a return to our college days arguing over a myriad of subjects ranging from politics, money, and markets.  It has kept me sharp, plugged in constantly to the economy, and most importantly renewed a great friendship that is carried on mostly over the internet now-a-days.

If you have a sparring partner in life (other than spouse), keep them involved.  Forgive them for their mistakes, cherish their opposition, punish them when they are wrong or slip up, and thank them for friendship.

Last week I received an email from a representative of Wikinvest.com asking me to check out their site.  I get tons of these emails, and I’m selective in the offers I look at.  Most get sent to the electron recycling bin.

What impressed me about Wikinvest was the tools they offer for bloggers.  They have an embedded chart tool (see below) that allows you to post stock charts on your blog that look much like a Google Finance chart.  It’s even interactive.  I’ve been cutting and pasting the small charts from StockCharts.com, which is time consuming, to be sure.

They also have an automated stock quote plugin that embeds the ticker inline with the post with the most recent quote. For instance: Provident Energy Trust.

I’ve been looking for an automated tool for my inline links.  To date, I’ve been including the ticker, link to a chart, website and Yahoo! finance link, all by hand:  (PVX: chart, web, Y!).

So now I’d like to hear from you.

I’m trying out both the embedded chart feature and the stock quote plugin.  And will see how I like them both over the coming weeks and months.  If you have a preference as to which is most appealing to you, please chime in below.

In my effort to break my own Christmas Funk, I give you this.

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

-The Corner Office Blog

I finally went out and started my Christmas shopping yesterday, and before I even made my way to the checkout line in Kohls I had found I came down with the funk.  You know, that feeling that on some level even larger than one man can comprehend, there’s something wrong with Christmas?

I have a feeling that the state of our country’s economic affairs has somehow infiltrated my emotional side, as hard as I try not to let it.

At some point in time while in that store I took a step outside the box.  I just sat there and watched what people picked up for others for Christmas, what they talked about, the expressions on their face.

I’ve found that I’ve become very pragmatic about what I give others for Christmas.  If you don’t have a list of what you want for Christmas, you probably won’t get much from me.  I’m not about trying to pick out something for someone else, hoping they will use it.  Chances are, they’ll pack it away in the basement only to collect dust.

I’ve thought about giving consumables (not edibles) this year like toothpaste, toothbrushes, toilet paper, etc. You know, stuff people can actually use and then throw away, spit out, or flush.  It takes up space only for a limited amount of time, and then goes away.

I’m also an anti-clutter type of guy (just ask my old college roommate, MJ).  If it doesn’t have a spot for storage, or if it never gets used, it must go. Trash, Goodwill, garage sale…  I don’t care, but it ain’t staying here.  There are very few tangible items I’m emotionally attached to, and I have no problems making donations to the local landfill.  In fact, I actually look forward to Thursdays… (trash day).

Anyway, while standing in Kohls, I noticed that the majority of stuff people were carrying around (besides clothing) was junk.  You know, the gimmicky cocoa frother who’s only purpose in life is to put a head on your cup of hot chocolate. I’ve got a wire whisk (actually two) that will do the same job and take up less space.  It also does eggs, jello, pudding, cake mix… a true multi-purpose tool that costs less that $3.

What about the smoothie maker which is really nothing but a blender with a tap in the bottom. Can you not make smoothies in a regular blender?

The thing I watched most people carry around was a giant insulated mitten with the head of an ice scrapper attached at the end.  $17.99 for that bad-boy.  I guess a pair of gloves that you can even use when your windshield isn’t icy and a $1.99 truckstop-version scraper just won’t due these days.

Just let me sulk, I’ll be alright.

It seems the spirit of giving has morphed into “giving for the sake of giving’.  And the opportunities started popping up two weeks before Halloween (soon Christmas will be a year round holiday).  Three months worth of Christmas music on the radio, and I’m burned out three days before the actual event.

In an age where we’re strapped for money, or so the media seems to indicate (I don’t know who to trust any more), it seems like Americans are still spending money on crap.

Perhaps I’ll just stick to sending out Christmas cards.

Does anyone else have a case of the Christmas funk?

P.S. If you get a Christmas card from me this year, I expect you to have thrown it away by February 1st next year.  I’ll send you another one next year, I promise.

I’ve been trying to ignore the markets lately.  I’ve been trying to ignore politics too.  Unfortunately that makes me the silent one at the water cooler at work.  I also imposes a silent streak in the blogosphere.

The Reserve has closed their funds (after breaking the buck), which makes me look like a genius for moving my money out of RYPQX a week prior. if only by reason of being lucky.

To be honest, I’m not sure what this financial situation means for me.  I’ve still got plenty of cash at Emigrant Direct making a measly 3%, but it’s guaranteed money, and good enough for an emergency fund.

None of the stocks I own have gone under, and they’re actually holding up rather well.  PVX dropped under the $10 mark, and even flirted with the sub $9 level for a few days.  Unfortunately I ran out of cash after I bought another chunk of shares at $9.75 thinking I was really timing things well.  You can time the markets, and then wish you hadn’t even bothered.

My mortgage is still secure, and I’m still able to pay it.

My 401(k) and other retirement accounts have taken the same beating my trading account has, but I don’t need that money for another three decades or more.

So now I just sit back and watch.

I’m finding myself actually enjoying watching things unravel, which is almost sick, I know.  However, I think this period in time should remind everyone that no one should have more knowledge of where your money is than you.

It’s kind of funny.  You don’t ever know who’s swimming naked until the tide goes out.

If you don’t watch television, you may not know Randy Pausch.  If that’s the case, let me introduce you.

Randy Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August of 2006.  One year later the cancer had moved into his liver and spleen, which meant the cancer was terminal.

As part of an ongoing lecture series, top professors are asked to impart some advice and knowledge upon the world as though it was their last chance to do so.

Randy gave his last lecture, entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” on September 18, 2007.  For him, however, it really was his last lecture, as he had been given three to six months to live.

Randy’s lecture inspired many, but even beyond his lecture, he truly influenced the world.

Randy passed away last Friday, July 25th at his home in Virginia, surrounded by his wife and three children.

With that, I offer you Randy’s Last Lecture:

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” -Randy Pausch.

Below, the Wall Street Journal’s Jeffrey Zaslow remembers a man who inspired so many with a lasting final lecture and a best-selling book.

Would you be proud of your final lecture?

Additional Resources:

Carnegie Mellon’s news story on Randy Pausch’s passing

Carnegie Mellon: In Memoriam, Randy Pausch

Buy the book: The Last Lecture

I’ve been aimlessly wandering the business journals for the past couple weeks, and really haven’t been all that excited about the financial markets… until now.

The Fed is set to convene on Tuesday and is expected to announce another quarter point rate cut. Up until the last few days, most have expected a half point rate cut, but it appears the calm in the markets has lowered that prediction to just the 0.25% mark.

What would be better?

I think a pause in the cuts would do the markets even better. Over the past several months, rate cuts have been perceived as a way to help soften the blow of credit and housing problems to the financial markets. Consequently, if the Fed thinks things are starting to bottom out, the easiest way to send that signal would be to make no additional cuts…

If the the rate does fall by another quarter point, the rhetoric from the Fed meeting will be very important.  Look for any change in focus on downside risk to growth… it will be very telling.

It’s becoming increasingly apparent to me that our airline system is broken.  Today it has been revealed that airline pilots are raising concerns about the minimum amount of fuel carried on board aircraft, with several incidents being filed with the NASA ASRS reporting system of arriving at a destination or an alternate airport with minimum fuel.

It seems that the cost cutting measures management is employing at their airlines is starting to spread into the margins of safety mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

This is serious business, folks!

There is a fine line between efficient operating practices and infringing on the safety of customers.  I’m all for airlines having the ability to make money.  As I’ve said before, it’s the beauty of the competitive environment stimulated by a free market.  However, when you cut costs in areas that directly influence safety, any freedom to make money should go out the window.

Many of us have lost sight of the fact that you can fly half way across the country, and back, in less than 10 hours for less than $300.  Does no one else out there think that is absurdly cheap?

You have to pay extra for pillows, blankets, drinks, meals, additional checked bags, aisle seats, exit row seats, direct flights, and of course first class service (which you would think would include all that other stuff free of charge, but doesn’t).

I’m OK with that.  Charge away.  But when you ask the flight crew to carry the absolute minimum amount of fuel as a way to cut costs (you see, the less fuel the lighter the airplane, the better fuel economy, the less operating expense) that’s flat out dangerous.

Unfortunately, the flying public is too naive to realize why the tickets are so cheap… even with jet fuel prices at all time highs…

Think about this next time you pay for that $99 fare on Southwest!

I completely forgot about daylight savings time. It’s not that I didn’t know; I’ve had numerous reminders over the course of the last week. The fact that I had to adjust the clocks before I went to bed last night just didn’t cross my mind.

One of the most important things you can do (aside from adjusting the clocks so you’re not late to work) is replace the batteries in your smoke detectors, and test them.

It’s better to do it now than to wish you did later.

Comments are being held for moderation until February 29th.

I did a little surfing over at the Wall Street Journal, and while perusing the videos, came across a clip from on of my favorite comedians, Drew Carey. The title of the video was “The Middle Class is doing fine”, and it really touched on how bad we have it… err, how bad we think we have it… err, how bad we are led to believe we have it. Yeah, that’s it.

Our television sets force feed us stats and rhetoric about how tight our budgets have become, how fast we’re losing money, and how difficult it is to make ends meet. The truth is, we’re not that bad off, really. Especially if you compare the standard of living of today vs. 20 years ago. Heck, even 5 years ago.

Check it, out.