October 31, 2001—Halloween

 
Only about seven or eight trick-or-treaters this year, a reduction from last that I'm inclined to attribute to this year's terrorism fears. I think that's a shame because I really doubt there's all that much to be worried about so far as the holiday goes. I hope this doesn't portend the end of Halloween as we know it.

In between the occasional ring of the doorbell, Erin and I watched City of Angels starring Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan. Despite a decent premise and nice cinematography this is one incredibly slow-moving film. The director's sense of what constitutes creepy behavior is also out-of-whack. I'm amazed that Meg Ryan's character didn't have 911 on the speed dial for whenever Nick Cage showed up. Erin disliked this movie more than I did, but that doesn't mean I recommend it. And to be fair, I'll bet I hated the ending even more than she did. Well, it's debatable, but any time the subject of argumentation is "Just how awful is this flick?" you know it's time to see something else.

One windfall of cutting the laurel bushes out back this summer was the discovery of various discarded items. Mostly these were empty beer and pop cans which we collected and returned for the deposit. The best item I discovered was a beat-up CD: Moby's Play. This evening I finally got around to cleaning it up and seeing if I could get anything off it. I hoped that I could rip a song or two for my MP3 collection, but realistically I didn't expect it to run after spending days out in the elements.

Happily, the whole CD play just fine, and let me tell you, this is a fantastic album. Best thing I've heard in years, and since Play was a smash-hit in 1999 I'm only two-plus years behind the rest of the world in finding out. Better late than never, man. Highly recommended.

 October 30, 2001

 
Erin and I watched the Sprague boys' soccer team beat Cleveland 2-1 in the state playoffs at Sprague this evening. As some of you know, I played four years on Sprague's varsity so I have something of a vested interest. Back in '87 we capped a great senior season with a deep run in the state playoffs, finishing third in state. I don't know that this year's team will meet with that kind of success, but overall they are better tactically than we were, so I suppose there's always hope. At the same time, Cleveland isn't exactly top-flight competition....

Anyway, it was a good game under the lights. The rains fell heavy and hard in the second half making control more of a problem, but for the most part Sprague kept the run of play. I think their defense is questionable—the sweeper's positioning is almost perpetually bad—but it didn't seem to matter this evening. Go Olys!

 October 28, 2001

 
LAN Party weekend with Dennis and Matt. We loaded up the surprisingly crash-resistant Evo 4x4, the blazingly-fast-blink-and-you're-dead Quake III: Arena, and the old-standby Carmageddon for literally hours of entertainment. Sadly, the much anticipated multiplayer of Baldur's Gate proved laggy beyond the boundaries of acceptable game play, and we were forced to abandon it. My multiplayer role-playing game hopes now rest of Neverwinter Nights, due out sometime next year.

But Baldur's Gate seemed to be the sole low-light in what was otherwise a really rockin' weekend. We managed a lots of Evo and Carmageddon races, the former even proving more stable than the latter in a LAN environment. Quake III: Arena was a beast unto itself. Not only did we have some monster deathmatches, but being able to play 3 v 3 against some bots was awesome. I'm not saying it was easy (I've never played a more curse-inducing game—even the R-Rated Carmageddon, which does the cursing for you, pales in comparison), but I love being able to play cooperatively as opposed to the blast-all-your-friends approach of the deathmatches.

Many thanks to Dennis and Matt for the great weekend!

I somehow neglected to mention that Erin and I watched Leaving Las Vegas last week. A quirky romantic comedy starring Nicholas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker, and James Caan. You know where this movie is going before it gets there, but it takes some very strange, and consequently interesting, turns before the payoff. I enjoyed it. It's not Oscar material, but it succeeds nicely as a rather weird and pleasant diversion. Recommended.

 October 25, 2001

 
The music recording software, Unisyn and Digital Performer 3, arrived on Wednesday and that's part of the reason I've not been my usual active and verbose self in updating the web site. After some set-up struggles, I have Unisyn synced to the Roland XP-80 keyboard via MIDI and now have full editing control over all the sounds in the machine. This is pretty sweet, and I'm looking forward to monkeying around with it some more over the course of the next couple of weeks.

After that, I'll break into the Digital Performer package and try to comprehend the madness and the magnitude of what I'm attempting. Digital Performer is one seriously complex program, and it's been said that if you want to do any music recording work in LA, you have to know this program inside and out. I'm not planning any trips to the City of Angels, but if it's good enough for the pros in La-La Land, it's good enough for me.

The stock market has been up this week. (My pick of a couple weeks ago, Comerica (CMA-NYSE), has climbed more than 5 percent—prior to my being able to invest significantly in it. Drat.) My crystal ball continues to show a brutal retail Christmas season and no end to the ongoing corporate layoffs. In other words, I don't think we've hit bottom yet so far as the economy goes. Nevertheless, there is literally trillions of dollars on the sidelines of the market, bubbling and percolating in little money market funds. That money is looking for anything that resembles good news, and when it finds it, a lot of dollars enter the game. I think all this wealth just may trump the troubled economy in terms of stock prices.

So I've been tracking a lot of our holdings and attempting to put some money into the ones which have fallen the most. The Scudder International Fund, for example, has been clocked in recent months and is just emerging (I hope) from the lowest point it has hit in seven years or so. We've plopped in a few bucks to lower our cost per share on it, and when it comes back we should do all right. Of course I'm pretty confident that it will come back, a sentiment that I do not have for a variety of stocks.

This strategy of lowering the cost per share on stocks or mutual funds that you already own can be a good one if you're bullish on the investment's long-term recovery. Worth thinking about anyway.

 October 22, 2001

 
If you're looking for a good laugh—and who isn't?—you might take a gander at UC Berkeley's Jester 2.0, an online joke recommender. Based on your response to a sample set of jokes, Jester attempts to line you up with a bunch of items you might find funny. Worked OK, in my experience—sufficiently that I think it's worth looking at anyway.

A few of my favorites follow:

A guy goes into confession and says to the priest, "Father, I'm 80 years old, widower, with 11 grandchildren. Last night I met two beautiful flight attendants. They took me home and I made love to both of them. Twice."

The priest said: "Well, my son, when was the last time you were in confession?"

"Never Father, I'm Jewish."

"So then, why are you telling me?"

"I'm telling everybody."

An explorer in the deepest Amazon suddenly finds himself surrounded by a bloodthirsty group of natives. Upon surveying the situation, he says quietly to himself, "Oh God, I'm screwed."

The sky darkens and a voice booms out, "No, you are NOT screwed. Pick up that stone at your feet and bash in the head of the chief standing in front of you."

So with the stone he bashes the life out of the chief. Standing above the lifeless body, breathing heavily looking at 100 angry natives...

The voice booms out again, "Okay ..... NOW you're screwed."

How many Irishmen does it take to change a lightbulb?

Two, one to hold the light bulb and the other to drink until the room spins.

A Jewish young man was seeing a psychiatrist for an eating and sleeping disorder. "I am so obsessed with my mother...As soon as I go to sleep, I start dreaming, and everyone in my dream turns into my mother. I wake up in such a state, all I can do is go downstairs and eat a piece of toast."

The psychiatrist replies: "What, just one piece of toast, for a big boy like you?"

 October 21, 2001

 
More Joy of Tech comic favorites: 204, 208, 210, 216, 224, 225, and 233. Mac-centric and funny.

I've been in the National Marrow Donor Program for over 10 years now, and though I've never gotten a call to be a donor, I still wonder on occasion if there might come a time when I represent a patient's last hope of survival. The donation process is not pain-free and entails some degree of risk, but weighed against someone's chance to live, I think it's a readily acceptable bargain for most people. Those who might be interested can visit Marrow.org for more information.

 October 20, 2001

 
Erin and I watched Almost Famous this evening. It would be hard for me not to like a movie that loves music this much, especially classic rock. It has been aptly termed a love letter to the '70s, and the film really captures the era. It's semi-autobiographical which lends authority to most of the proceedings, but it would succeed even as a fairy tale. The acting is superb, the story a little long but sufficiently engaging, and the music terrific. Recommended.

I spent a good portion of the day with my folks going over Quicken and setting up some online financial portfolios and such. In some measures it's just one more excuse to hangout, I suppose, but honestly, we did get some good work done. I'm confident it will be useful to Dad at the end of the day.

Actually, anybody who wants to track their investments online can do this also. You go to www.excite.com, you create a user name and password, then you click the Edit button on the portfolio window. From there you can enter you stocks, number of shares, price per share, and receive a detailed chart of your investment information. (Be sure you explore the Advanced tab.) Personally, I've found the Excite portfolio thing very helpful. Maybe you will too.

 October 19, 2001

 
My mother-in-law Liz passed a long a link to The Hunger Site, a web site where visitors can click a button once a day and have food donated to the poor. I'd say clicking a link is the least one could do to combat hunger, but then again there's always the option of doing nothing, and that's obviously worse.

Still, I've recently done a lot of pondering of the notion of wealth—something to which the issues of hunger and poverty are inextricably linked—and I'm convinced that the best thing we can do is to help other nations become more capitalist and more democratic. That doesn't mean we should abandon our obligation to specific people in need. I just don't think that the long-term solution to wide-spread hunger or poverty will happen at a local level.

[I'm reminded here of the story of the man walking down the beach throwing starfish back into the ocean so they wouldn't die. He's approached by another man who asks why he's wasting his time. "There are thousands of starfish here. You'll never make that much of a difference," the second man says. "Made a difference to that one," says the first man as he throws a starfish back into the water and continues down the beach.]

Most of the wealth of the world is tied up in the United States and its citizens, and God knows it's not because we're smarter than everybody else. But it may have been because our Founding Fathers were smarter than everybody else. Capitalism, the idea that people should have the economic freedom to use their time, tools, and talents to get ahead in life, and democracy, that the citizenry has the freedom and the right to govern itself, are twin shining ideals which have made the United States the political and economic envy of the world.

Such is the magic of our system that even stupid people can be rich (and frequently are) and that much of our underclass enjoys a high standard of living relatively to what constitutes poverty throughout history. Make no mistake: For all its numerous faults, the US economic and political system is the most successful the world has ever seen, and the best thing we can do to fight hunger and poverty throughout the world is to export these ideals.

In a related vein, one thing that we can say about the war in Afganistan is that unless it is followed by a re-construction of the country, the war will be a failure. In a larger sense, the military does not win wars, it just makes it possible for peace to happen. What wins wars, and that is to say the hearts and minds of those defeated militarily, is the economic aid that follows. Hitler rose to power after the Treaty of Versaille attempted to squash Germany like a bug with punitive economic terms. World War II was the result. I'm convinced that the Marshall Plan and the US reconstruction of Japan following World War II is what saved us from World War III. (It also led Germany and Japan to be economic powerhouses of their regions of the world.)

I've posted my thoughts on understanding wealth in our society in my latest Opinion piece called Winning the American Game.

 October 18, 2001

 
Julie is visiting from New York, and I had a chance to meet her for lunch yesterday. She's holding down two jobs while finishing up her graduate thesis, so New York livin' is keeping her busy. Her studies in many ways revolve around art from the Middle East, so to say that current world events have her perturbed is an understatement.

After lunch, we swung by her mom's neat 1930s home here in Salem so that Jules could pick up her PowerBook 1400 ("Bella") and her new iBook ("Bardette"). We brought them back here so that I could transfer files between the two, effectively retiring the Bella from active service. (Well, Bella might end up as a portable for Julie's Mom, who knows?) After a couple of hours of use with the new iBook, I can tell you that this is one awesome machine, and I really wish I could come up with a business reason why I need to buy one.

Julie also showed me her Handspring Visor, a small handheld device that uses the Palm operating system. These little gizmos are far more useful in some circumstances than I ever gave them credit for, though lack of good handwriting analysis in the operating system remains a stumbling block to me. (I wish Apple would bring back a lighter, smaller Newton.) If you live in a big city like New York or LA, these little Handspring jobbies are definitely worth a look.

 October 16, 2001

 
I'm not much of a fiction reader. I prefer nonfiction and "wisdom" literature specifically. I've read quite a bit in that genre, and, if I may be so bold, there's not too much I read in it any more that surprises me. Still, every so often I'll stumble across a book which fundamentally alters my perception the way Stephen Covey's 7 Habits series and Dr. M. Scott Peck's Road Less Traveled did. Just recently revelation came in the form of a simplistic little tome called Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki.

I'm not saying that I agreed with everything in the book or that it was entirely revelatory, but there are some dynamite ideas here. A lot of it ties into what I've thought for a long time, but synthesizes it in such a way that it's more readily understandable. For my take on it, and my thoughts on wealth in general, I'll have a new Opinion piece posted in the next few days.

As part of this revitalized interest in wealth creation, we bought a gob of Zweig Total Return (ZTR-NYSE) today. This is an income fund (currently yield is 9.1 percent) with monthly dividends. This is not a high-flying growth stock but as an income producer 9.1 percent sure beats money market yields right now. That doesn't mean you should park cash here if you're gonna need it in the next year or two, but if you can stick it out at least 36 months, this might be your cup of tea.

I also did some stock research at the library with Dad. My pick of the day is Comerica (CMA-NYSE), an A-rated financial services company with strong growth potential and a relatively low 12.17 P/E. It also has a nice 3.5 percent dividend yield. If it stays in a viable price range for another month or so, I'll pick up some shares for my Roth IRA. (This transaction is delayed because I must first fund my Roth IRA. Hehe) Investors should also note that a Dividend Reinvestment Plan is available.

 October 14, 2001

 
Erin and I met with Joe and Carol for dinner at a local Thai restaurant on Friday night. It was there we received the harrowing news that on September 11 Joe was at a medical conference in a hotel that overlooks the Pentagon. If hearing something like that doesn't make you just shake your head and thank God that he's all right, I don't know what will.

Carol's enjoying her new job in Battleground, and especially digging the reduced commute time. Their dogs Hampton and Porter are doing well, though Hampton will need to be given some medication for a disgusting habit which I shan't detail here. Suffice to say, it's gross but not life-threatening. Joe's been helping his dad put a roof on his house during the weekends—and hopefully in time before the winter rains really start pouring. Given Joe's construction talents, I'm tempted to beg for his help in fixing up the downstairs storage area, but I'll probably wait until I've got a little more clue what I'd need help on.

In all, a great get-together. Thanks to Joe and Carol for making the journey south.

I spent the weekend down in Eugene with Dave who, thanks to lots of Sudafed and high pain tolerance, is doing OK. Surgery has straightened everything out for a his jaw and teeth, and he's on the road to recovery. It'll be a bit before he's able to return to solid foods, so hopefully he's not getting tired of milkshakes just yet.

We went to a Home Improvement Show at the county fair grounds, and it gave me some wonderful ideas about remodeling our downstairs bathroom. Unfortunately, they're expensive wonderful ideas, mostly involving a DuPont material called Corian. I'm gonna need to talk with some people who know more about this sort of thing than I do, which is to say that Erin's sister's husband Mark Peterson (of Peterson Remodeling) will be getting a call one of these days.

The Corian stuff is very expensive, but it looks to be almost perfect for our downstairs shower surround. I don't know if I can use Corian there and on a vanity countertop and still do this whole project under $10k, though, and that's more than a bit of a concern. The plus side of Corian is that it's non-porous, so it doesn't stain or have seams for mildew. It looks great, and definitely adds value to a house. (Many if not most high-end homes have Corian in them.) Repair work is also relatively easy, with most minor nicks able to be sandpapered out.

The downside is simply that it is very expensive. I was quoted prices ranging from $30 to $55 a square foot. If my calculations are correct (it's worth noting I wasn't a math major), at $40 a square foot the shower remodel alone could run about $3300. Ouch.

Dave and I also played around with Evo 4x4. In a LAN environment, when it's good, it's very good; when it's bad, it's crash-happy. We weren't able to isolate a single cause of the problems, but running fewer extensions didn't hurt.

Dave showed off his new Asanté FriendlyNet 4-port 10/100-Base T ethernet router/firewall, and I came away impressed. Except for Trinity, everything I have is 10-BaseT so it wouldn't be super useful for me (yet), but anybody else running multiple Macs on a DSL or cable modem oughta check it out.

 October 12, 2001

 
I've heard from Dave, and he doing fine. Pretty doped up on painkillers maybe but fine nonetheless. I'll be heading down to Eugene to hang with him over the weekend.

Even with two inservice days this week, Erin's been pretty busy with school. On the whole, it's been a very good year so far. There were some definite classroom management issues in one class, but that's turned around considerably in the last few weeks (meaning Erin's winning), and it's now become perhaps her favorite period.

Erin's joined a weekly technology class sponsored by Intel mainly because it's worth four graduate credits and it's paid for by the District. My understanding is that the class is centered around Microsoft Office, and happily, anything she learns there should cross-apply to the Mac version. It's good in general to have Word, Excel and PowerPoint skills, but it's even better when you get academic credit for it and somebody else foots the bill. Thanks and kudos to computer teacher Barry Jahn who recommended the course to Erin. For a PC guy (meaning non-Mac), Barry's a pretty swell fellow.

France Trip fundraising and such continues. Not a lot to report on that front, actually. I believe the group is down to 12 students still going. Erin flies free if even eight kids make the trip, so the fewer in number down to that point, the happier I get, because in my mind fewer students equals better experience. Twelve is a good number, though, and I know Erin likes every kid making the journey.

 October 10, 2001

 
I ordered MOTU's Digital Performer today, and got a sweet deal on Unisyn, a MIDI device editor/patch librarian, to boot. I have had wonderful luck dealing with Kraft Music, and today was no exception. Unisyn is a program that allows you to edit the sounds of various synthesizers (like my Roland XP-80) and save those tweaked sounds on the computer so they can be easily recalled later. Normally the program costs around $225. At Kraft I paid $49 since I was upgrading to Digital Performer. If you ever buy music equipment, I highly recommend these guys.

Both Digital Performer and Unisyn continue to ramp up the learning curve when it comes to my recording studio, but the additional flexibility and power should more than compensate. I'm particularly looking forward to using additional plug-ins so that I can achieve some of the sounds that, so far, I've been unable to generate. I hope to have another MP3 posted by early next week.

 October 9, 2001

 
Dave's headed in for jaw surgery tomorrow, so please send prayers, happy thoughts, and good vibes in his general direction. The expectation is for a fine and dandy recovery, though he'll be pretty doped up for the next several weeks. (I know what that's like!)

I'll be seeing him on Saturday, and I've promised him that I will try extra hard to spot a difference. Hehe. 'Course I've probably always kept him guessing in that regard, too.

 October 7, 2001

 
After four-plus hours driving I-5 up to Kirkland, Washington, I joined my friend Helana and her family in celebrating her marriage to Michael Jones, a Canadian fellow whom I'd not met before. I am happy to report that in the limited time I had to talk with him, he struck me as quite affable. Since Helana has two brothers living in the Willamette Valley, I'm hopeful that Erin and I will have the pleasure of spending more time with Michael and Helana in the future.

The wedding and reception were held in Kirkland's Shumway Mansion, a beautiful Victorian-style home. The dinner was superb, and I heartily enjoyed being able to reconnect with Helana's brothers and parents. It was also a treat to see Helana's son, Keith, since I'd not seen him for a couple years.

Many congratulations to the happy couple!

The trip up to Kirkland was time filled mostly by listening to A Prairie Home Companion, snoring to a tedious Christian rock radio station, and playing various tapes including, most notably, Joni Mitchell's Court & Spark.

I've long enjoyed Prairie Home's folksy Midwestern charm and sense of humor. It's undeniably not everybody's cup of tea, but I find it pleasant diversion and can readily apprehend why it's as popular as it is.

 October 6, 2001

 
I watched Con Air yesterday, another in the series of mindless Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action flicks. I would rate Con Air stupider than most. The movie features large plot holes, amazingly over-the-top violence, and an astounding lack of intelligence. For a movie with Nicholas Cage, John Cusack, and John Malkovich, this should have been much, much better. Leonard Maltin called this "Megastupid" and for once I'm inclined to agree with him. Not even close to recommended.

I've been playing hoops in the park the last couple of evenings with a local high school sophomore, Hugh. He's taller (6'3), faster, younger, and frankly better looking than me, but experience and guile have enabled me to win most of the games we've played. I'm thinking I need to enjoy these victories while I can, though, because by the time he's a junior or senior, I'm hosed.