Friday, November 14, 2008

Someone saw our crisis coming!

Wow. We need to be listening to this guy! 10 minutes - worth every minute.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Voting

Went to my polling place at 6:30 this morning and was #13 in line. Was signed in and waiting for a voting machine by about 7:10. I was amazed at how long it took some people to cast their ballots. Were they just now reading the choices and the referendums?

I first found a sample ballot so I could familiarize myself with some of the less publicized races. 7 candidates for one Judge position! Some more searching led me to the Georgia League of Women voters site which produced a ballot for my precinct. Then for each race, it presented position statements made by the candidates (except in a few cases where they chose not to respond). It was a huge help for races that I was unfamiliar with.

Because of that research ahead of time, I was able to get my ballot cast in just a couple minutes.

Monday, October 6, 2008

US Holocaust Memorial Museum

We visited Washington DC recently, and had a chance to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Words cannot adequately describe the experience. I learned about the holocaust in history classes in school, of course. It has been in the news from time to time. But I didn't expect this museum to have such an emotional impact on me. But then again, how could it not. I simply can not imagine treating a fellow human being like that.

As I began a new Bible study this fall, I was reminded of God's covenant with Abram: "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." - Genesis 12:2-3

I thought about Ahmadinejad's rantings as I read further background material. In 1836 there were approximately 3 million Jews in the world, according to a world census. Many were killed in various persecutions, particularly in Russia. Despite that persecution, a 1936 census showed a Jewish population of 16 million.

The Nazis killed about 6 million Jews.
[Let that sink in a moment.]

The population estimate as of 2002 is approximately 13.2 million.

Despite persecution ever since the days of ancient Egypt, God's chosen people live on and I have no doubt they will continue to do so until His return.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Do we dream too small?

"Disturb
us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams
have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive
safely because we have sailed too close to shore. Disturb us, Lord, to
dare more boldly to venture on wider seas where storms will show Your
mastery; where losing sight of land we shall find stars. We ask You to
push back the horizons of our hopes; we ask You to push in the future
in strength, courage, hope, and love."

-- Sir Francis Drake - 16th century English sailor

Monday, June 9, 2008

In or heading for a recession?

From cnbc.com, last Friday, Kudlow caucus discussed the job report.

"The latest overall job loss numbers showed a loss of 49,000 jobs in May and a jump in unemployment rate up to 5.5%. The drop is still well below the six figure numbers seen in past recessions."

The panel was posed the question: Does today's jobs report spell recession? First, it was interesting that the panel was evenly divided.

My favorite reply was by Jerry Bowyer, Chief Economist, Benchmark Financial Network. He said NO. His explanation was priceless:

No bloomin' way.

A couple of hundred thousand college kids can't get summer jobs because the economic flat-earthers in congress just hiked the minimum wage and priced the kids (110% of whom plan to vote for Obama) out of the job market.

Fraternity pizza-budget impact: substantial.

GDP impact: minimal.

Seeing markets react to stupid congress just the way we said they would: priceless.


Friday, May 16, 2008

First big options profit

Just took my first big options trading profit.
Bought 1 contract for BUCY 120 July calls a month ago @ $14.00
Sold today for $26.00 - for an 86% profit.
Yeah, BUCY may still climb, but decided not to get greedy. It dipped about 5 points a couple days ago, which was a bit concerning. My original target was only $135, so decided now was the time to take my profits.
Cool.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Are you a preacher-man?

Got asked that question yesterday, right out of the blue. My brain immediately asked, I wonder why he would ask that? And how should I have responded?
What was I doing? Our company has a truck and 10T trailer for sale - parked out front. Two guys wanted to look at it. After just a couple minutes of looking and talking, one popped out that question. Curious.