Get Rich Slick

I can’t believe April 21 was the last time I wrote a post.   I have been gone so long that I hadn’t realized that the domain had expired and I needed to get that fixed so that took a while to get fixed.    I have been literally flying every where since my last post.   I’ve flown from the east to the west and north and south.

With work, travel, school (yeah still in the MBA program), and family life, I have not had a moment to write a post.   I have accumulated quite a bit of material from observations, experiences, and other activities but I have not had the time to write.

The one comfort in my life at the moment is my iPad 2 which has made travel and life a whole lot easier and better for me for the things I mentioned above: work, school, family.    I love FaceTime and the ability to video chat with friends and family…it is simply amazing!

I will be writing a few posts for distribution over the next few days but tomorrow is my last final for a class and I’ll take a breather.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

So I’m a few weeks into my return to MBA classes and the arguments with the professor have already begun.   It’s funny but the professor was warning about “groupthink” in business and the perils it holds and I couldn’t agree with the professor more but when it came to thinking there *might* be some groupthink in academia the professor would have none of it!   The fact that most universities have nearly the same identical curriculum, use nearly the same textbooks, use nearly the same grading system, request the same APA formatted papers,  and have almost everything else in common except the rate of tuition doesn’t seem to phase anyone in academia that they have a serious case of groupthink.

I am thrilled however to be back in school for the free student loan money (more on that in a future post) and I am also thrilled that I won’t be doing any group projects this semester and both of my classes don’t seem to have any on the syllabus.  I hope that doesn’t change because today’s students are complete and total idiots.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

It seems like travel is my new way of life.   I have been on the road every week for the last six weeks with only this week as a reprieve in my travel schedule.  I’ll be on the road again at least the next two weeks then I’ll be taking a vacation which will entail travel.    I’m not taking any courses this summer and I wrote that I would likely not return to the MBA program in the fall but I’m beginning to change my mind about that.    My job is fairly secure but this economy is starting to fall off the cliff again and anything can happen.

It  isn’t out of the question that layoffs arise in the near future so it’s best to be prepared.   I’ve also received a juicy award of low interest rate student loan money and it’s just too hard to pass that cheap money up.  We’ll see what happens over the next couple of months.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Although this blog is primarily focused on finance related topics, I have mentioned my side hobbies on occasion, one of which is the study of mythology, prophecy and astrophysics.   Perhaps it’s a crazy coincidence that the day of the big oil spill, a large field telescope named LUCIFER was brought online to see distant stars and galaxies.   You can read about it here.

Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) partners in the U.S, Germany and Italy announced April 21 that the first of two new innovative near-infrared cameras/spectrographs for the LBT is now available to astronomers for scientific observations at the telescope on Mount Graham in southeastern Arizona. After more than a decade of design, manufacturing and testing, the new instrument – dubbed LUCIFER 1 – provides a powerful tool to gain spectacular insights into the universe – from the Milky Way to extremely distant galaxies.

So a new powerful telescope will allow humanity to see distant stars.   Perhaps one was found that will be named Wormwood soon?   Why Wormwood?  Because according to end of days prophecy, a passage reads that a star in the heavens named Wormwood will be the harbinger of 1/3 of the water on earth becoming bitter.

Although the passage reads, “And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;  And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.”

Often, something gets lost in the translation and it may be that simply seeing the distant star’s light land upon earth’s telescope is sufficient to reveal the silliness of the things man does on the planet to seed his own destruction.  It is ironic that the new telescope is named LUCIFER after all.

Read the prior two verses and you’ll easily see global warming fit in nicely along with the recent rash of volcanic eruptions in Iceland, Guatemala and the Pacific.   I could relay more correlations but that would be too spooky…

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

I’ve been on business travel the past four weeks and I’m really tired.   Sure staying at four star hotels, eating at the finest restaurants and drinking the best wines is fun but it does get tiring and quite honestly lame.  I’m at that point now where I need a break but I don’t think it will come.  I will be traveling again next week and quite possibly the next three weeks.

I also just finished my second semester of MBA school and I’m not sure if I’ll return in the fall at this point.   With all the business travel and the expected upswing in the volume of business activity I’m expected to take care of I’m not sure that I can give the courses any focus.  Besides, most of the professors are academic isolationists that don’t know a damn thing about business.

As for personal finance quips, I haven’t had the chance to write up too many posts but I do have many stories to tell about the places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen.   I was having dinner in downtown Naperville not too long ago and the place was packed and happening.   I was having dinner in downtown San Diego and the place was dead.   The airport in Chicago often feels like a ghost town while the one in San Diego is happening and jam packed.   I don’t get it.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Well I meant to write this post on the 31st of January but I’ve been too busy with MBA school, work, projects, family and more.  But on the 31st I weighed myself and lost a whopping 18 lbs in one month!   I seem to have hit a plateau for now but I’ve also been eating a bit more carbs than I should be.    If I hope to lose another 10 lbs in February since it is a shorter month and I will inevitably fall off my Atkins wagon during Valentines Day as I go out to eat or otherwise celebrate the holiday.    I have to keep up my writing before it falls into complete disarray.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Well… haven’t been posting lately because I am swamped at work, school, family, and other obligations that I just don’t have enough time to write any posts.   It literally feels like every single hour of my day from 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. is accounted for leaving me very little free time to do anything.    I normally write posts on the weekend and have them post daily but even my weekends are gone.   Yeah, corporations are making money because they keep letting go of people and everyone left behind is picking up the slack!

Unfortunately, with the holidays coming up, I will have less time as I will be traveling and engaged in other activities.    I am seriously considering going on hiatus until the start of the new year so if you don’t read any more posts you know why…..

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Are you freaked out about swine flu yet?  It seems every time I log on to the net there is something about the swine flu.  Evertime I watch the TV news there’s something about the swine flu.   At work, I’m being offered FREE swine flu vaccine and now when I come home I have a pre-recorded message telling me that swine flu vaccine is ready at my local health provider.

Perhaps I live in a bubble but I personally know of ZERO people who have gotten the flu.   The news reports in my city say a few people have gotten sick but no one has died and only a couple of people in the state have died from the disease the best I could tell so what’s with the fear-mongering?

According to the CDC, Fifty six thousand people die of flu/pneumonia every year so why is it now on 24×7 all the time.   What is really perplexing are conflicting news reports that there is a shortage of vaccine then I get calls and e-mails that flu vaccine is available everywhere!    This is taking the whole supply vs demand paradigm to a whole new level.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Once again, I am considering putting my blog on hiatus for a long while as, despite being unemployed, I find myself busier than ever.   Between gardening (just replanted corn seeds), mentoring people over at LiveMocha, learning a new language at LiveMocha, spending time with kids, checking on my investments and preparing for going back to work and possibly school (MBA) I am feeling a bit stretched but I also have a few blogs and other forums that I contribute material to almost daily and it’s getting a bit overwhelming.

I was recently asked to go get a Breathalyzer test as part of my pre-screening process for a potential new job.   When I got to the lab, I asked the technician if it made any sense for me to take a Breathalyzer test.  She asked who I was working for and I said I was unemployed but doing a pre-screening.   She said it doesn’t make sense because you’d have to be an alcoholic to show up to a Breathalyzer test knowing full when, where and how it would be taken for you to fail.

I’m guessing these tests cost a few hundred dollars and I’m not sure what the purpose was since the job I’m intending on getting isn’t a driving job at all.   Oh well, I guess some companies have money to burn…

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

I’m sorry to hear of the passing of a great capitalist Billy Mays. At first I was usually annoyed by his late night commercials but after watching the show Pitchmen it became one of my favorite shows and I found a whole new level of respect for the man and his profession. I had planned on writing a series of posts on the show and the inventors featured but I never got around to it.

I guess that’s an example of how procrastination isn’t good for any of us long term.

By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer Mitch Stacy, Associated Press Writer – 25 mins ago

TAMPA, Fla. – Billy Mays, the burly, bearded television pitchman known for his boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean, has died. He was 50.

Tampa police said Mays was found unresponsive by his wife Sunday morning. A fire rescue crew pronounced him dead at 7:45 a.m.

Goodbye Billy, I’m gonna miss you and in your honor, I’m going to buy some Oxi Clean later today.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites