I enjoyed the day working in the yard and found myself appreciating Brenda’s gardening talents. As the landscaping around our yard continues to mature and the varieties of different flowers bloom one after another all spring, all the hard work to plan, plant and tend is beginning to pay off. Today’s overweight Peony blooms were just too beautiful to pass by without snapping a photo with my cellphone (Palm Pre photos).
Sailing solo around the world in a small sailboat is an impressive feat for anyone and inspirational to those who love ocean adventure to say the least. It’s a combination of endurance, skill and luck for all who accomplish such an endeavor, but doing it when you are a 16 year old girl is indeed impressive (or some might say “crazy”). While I don’t disagree with those who question sailing around the world just for the thrill of breaking records, I’m both envious and impressed with Jessica Watson seamanship and abilities. Congratulations on becoming the youngest person to sail solo non-stop and unassisted around the world.
From her blog after completing a solo circumnavigation:
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Hi everyone just a really quick update to let you know I’m across the line and have had the most amazing day (mega mega under exaggeration!). I ended up crossing the line a few hours late, to a totally overwhelming welcome, way way beyond anything I’d ever imagined. It would take a very long time to tell you all about it, so I’ll save that for another time. Seeing everyone again and finally getting those hugs was really something special!
I’ll keep writing this blog for a little while, to tell you all about how I’m finding life back on land, but I have a feeling that there’s going to be just too much to tell so you’re going to have to wait for the book!
Thanks again to everyone who’s sent me a message and was thinking of Ella’s Pink Lady and I out there, It made all the difference.
Well that’s it from me because there’s fresh food to eat, more hands to shake and pretty soon a big non-rolling bed to sink into. What a day!
Mahindra & Mahindra to be the first company to sell a small pickup truck made in India to the U.S. market. A company spokesperson announced that they intend to sell their compact diesel pickup truck here by the end of the year.
The company’s president of auto and farm equipment, Pawan Goenka, stated that the truck has been road tested according to the U.S. requirements and expects certification from the EPA no later than July. Production will be in India and should arrive in showroom by December 2010.
See WSJ article for more details on the announcement.
According to company specifications, the 2.2 liter common rail diesel is expected to return 30 mpg on the highway and have a payload capacity of 2765 lbs. (PDF spec sheet)
Gold, the investment that rises when risk becomes too great has reached its highest level trading up on Tuesday and continuing to push record areas on Wednesday morning. The $1240 per ounce price has investor’s worried about markets and inflationary pressures. The stock market is opening higher today renewing a bit more confidence that the economy is improving and that last week’s drop was panic and not a reflection on business in the U.S.
Personally I think its a little to trendy to be buying gold during the moment of excitement, but those wanting it add it to their portfolio have a few options. ETFs are probably the most popular way and a couple of those with the most shares are GLD and IAU. Owning a share is like owning 1/10 ounce of gold.
We’ve seen the engineering students at Stanford University work with ‘self-driving’ VWs before, like in the DARPA challenge and computerized driving … but how about parallel parking the hard way.
Who to believe … those evil capitalist insurance companies [sarcasm] trying to balance customer satisfaction while remaining competitive and profitable … or the Obama administration and congressional Democrats orchestrating leftists policies on America? Hmm … a rotten choice to be sure.- see Battle Plan below.
With the Obama administration openly attacking capitalism and big business, be it generalized in speeches, by seeking additional control over Wall Street or targeting the ‘state regulated’ insurance industry, it is hard to know who to believe when it comes to ‘the war of words.’ President Obama … rightly or wrongly … has pointed out that companies are making business decision based on short term decisions which handsomely reward executives. From the outside, this practice is not good for business, long term investing, employees and customers; if left uncheck by the owners (shareholders), all involved will be punished in a slow and painful way – hmm, the way free enterprise in the U.S. corrects itself. Oh … that is unless the Federal government decides to regulate, to pick winners and losers, to declares a business too big to fail using taxpayer funded bailouts or the heavy hand of Federal regulation to dictate “business wisdom.” Only politicians are smart enough to run big businesses … I’m sure they know best. [more sarcasm].
Besides targeting the Wall Street banks and oil companies, President Obama has been in the insurance reform game and is putting them, or at least one of them (presumably Wellpont) “on notice” with accusations that they are “systematically dropping coverage”… in particular coverage for women diagnosed with breast cancer. For most of us who dislike the health insurance industry bureaucracy in general anyway, its becomes which side to believe. For the less sophisticated insurance consumers there is a war of words erupting and each is stating opposite positions. In this war, the administration is moving their big government philosophy forward and picking battles with big business. They are shrewdly targeting those we all love to hate: Wall Street banks, big oil and health insurance companies.
Battle Plan
From my observation, the Obama administration’s plan is to highlight the most distasteful business practices and companies (spun as only a Chicago politician can do) in order to achieve “change” for our country – change which includes even more Federal government and more control over our lives — they might just convince Americans that all is in their best interest? Those looking at things with their eyes wide open see the political philosophy akin to European style socialism … where the bigger and more powerful bureaucracy in Washington DC administers the social and economic justice they see best for all of us.
WSJ article and Wellpoint’s CEO Angela Braly’s letter below highlight the latest in the battle to reform (change) America.
Nice rebound for those watching the volatile stock market.
Stocks posted their biggest one-day gain in more than a year, boosted by a nearly $1 trillion bailout package to stem Europe’s credit crisis.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 404.71 points, or 3.9%, to 10785.14, helped by gains in all 30 of its components. The average had its biggest one-day gain in both point and percentage terms since March 23, 2009.
The Standard Poor’s 500-stock index rose 4.4% to 1159.73, led by its financial and consumer-discretionary sectors, up more than 5% each. All the broad measure’s other indexes posted gains as well.
“Bueller… Bueller… Bueller“ Who can forget the Ben Stein line from one of the enjoyable comedy movies in the 1980s – Ferris Buellers Day Off. The movie continues to see success reaching near cult status for some and even found a following on social networking giant Twitter last week. A group of Chicago based Twitter and Foursquare uses decided to ‘tweet’ lines and scenes from the original 1986 movie characters brought back several of the key characters with Twitter accounts. It was short lived but another interesting way to use Twitter.
The Twittering of the movie plot has me wondering just what movie could get the same treatment or generate a similar ‘smile.’ I think Back to the Future would work well?
Here’s the top 10 movies of all times from Filmsite.org(adjusted for inflation)… maybe Star Wars, ET or Jaws … but the others … not so easy:
A friend put this on his Facebook wall; I liked it and am reposting to my blog for Mother’s Day. (the mom’s in my life are angelic)
A baby asked God, “They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?”
God said, “Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.”
The child further inquired, “But tell me, here in heaven I don’t have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.”
God said, “Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel’s love and be very happy.”
Again the small child asked, “And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don’t know the language?”
God said, “Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.”
“And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?”
God said, “Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.”
“Who will protect me?”
God said, “Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.”
“But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.”
God said, “Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.”
At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, “God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel’s name.”
My wife’s aging 1998 Toyota Rav4 has been a great car for 215,000 miles. We’ve had minimal maintenance over the years and although it is showing signs (and has been) of heavy use, it’s still running strong. The Rav4 has offered both my kids a good platform to “learn to drive” and has seen its share of bumps and bruises over the years as well.
This weekend I replace the brakes one final time … or at least the rotors … and continue to be impressed at how well this vehicle was engineered. The brake parts put on this mini 4 wheel drive SUV are surprisingly beefy. The lack of corrosion is impressive too. Even the rubber parts, like brake lines and bleed screw covers seem to have held up much better than many vehicle of this age. Kudos to Toyota as the two Camry vehicles in the mid and late 1980s and our 98 Rav4 have all returned over 200,000 miles and were both easy and inexpensive to maintain.
I’d be curious to know if the same can be said of their newer models?
On a completely off topic … father embarrassing his son blog inclusion …Taylor received his first ticket this past week while his car was parked at college. He hasn’t had his car at college previous to the past week, but asked to have it for finals week so he could pack up his dorm room and bring his gear home for summer. We agreed and drove his car over to Miami University and he found an available legal street parking location nearby in Oxford, Ohio. Unfortunately the local police keep a close eye on violations like cracked windshields, bumpers hanging over sidewalks or in my son’s case … no front license plate. What made the ticket almost worthwhile was Taylor’s irritated 2 minute “RANT” on my voicemail.
