My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on May 9, 2010

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.

Category: Audio, Automotive, Humor, Personal, Photos | 1 Comment »
Tags: brakes, miami, mp3, oxford, Rav4, taylor, ticket, toyota

Posted By RichC on May 8, 2010

I’ve enjoyed lunch with my friend Jeff nearly every week for many years and one of his quirks is to collapse his taco salad shell after finishing his meal — yes “mom” … he plays with his food. I told him that someday I would post a video of “his talents” for posterity. So today I used my Palm Pre to record and upload to YouTube the blog-worthy behavior. Thanks for lunch Jeff!

Category: Cellphone, Personal, Video | No Comments »
Tags: camcorder, lunch, Restaurant

Posted By RichC on May 7, 2010

How draconian is the new Arizona illegal immigration law? Read for yourself below:

Category: Politics | No Comments »
Tags: arizona, illegal, immigration

Posted By RichC on May 7, 2010

If the whipsaw moves in the stock market didn’t make you sick to your stomach today, then you’d make a great bluewater sailor. I’ve followed the market as an investor and occasional daytrader since the crash of 1987 and I don’t ever recall as rapid a selloff as we saw Thursday afternoon.

As I was driving between sales calls and checking the market on my Palm Pre (screenshot below), I notice the market going south at about 2:40 p.m. Minutes later the DOW took a breathtaking 998- point drop as I pulled over to tune into the financial news on my computer. By the time I could log in the collapse below 10,000 saw buy orders push the oversold panic back to levels bring the market close to “just another lousy day for investors.” Markets all closed down, but not as bad as it could have been.

Most pointed their fingers at the situation in Greece where rioting continues in protest – link. Today’s action inflamed protestors even more as their parliament passed a package requiring deep cuts to government services, government paychecks and government controlled retirement pensions — one of the many problems with over promising socialist political system (don’t get me started on the road the U.S. is ‘currently’ heading down!).

The last few days has seen selling in the face of unrest in Europe, but today it was near panic … or what many on Wall Street are blaming on “trading glitches.”  (part of WSJ article below)

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said they were working with other regulators to review "unusual trading activity." The major U.S. stock exchanges said they were looking for trading glitches and examining potentially erroneous trades in multiple stocks. Major exchanges said they will cancel erroneous trades that occurred during the selloff.

Multiple stocks, ranging from Accenture PLC to Boston Beer Co., momentarily lost nearly 100% of their value, changing hands for just one penny. Exchange-traded funds, which are index funds that trade like stocks on exchanges, were also temporarily vaporized. The $9.5 billion iShares Russell 1000 Value Index Fund went from $59 to around 8 cents in the blink of an eye.

"It happened so quickly, it was like a torpedo," said Scott Redler, chief strategic officer at T3 Capital Management, a hedge fund. "It was mayhem."

Unnerved traders frantically searched for an explanation, scouring the trade blotters for clues to the cause. Many pinned the blame on an erroneous trade for a basket of stocks which caused shares for companies such as Procter & Gamble Co., one of the market’s most stable blue-chip stocks, to fall 35% in two minutes.

Category: Financial, News | 2 Comments »
Tags: investing, stock market, trading

Posted By RichC on May 7, 2010

I can’t forget Patrick Flanigan’s 11 clay targets posted a couple years ago, but how about with one hand?(video below)

Category: Misc, Sports, Video | 1 Comment »
Tags:

Posted By RichC on May 6, 2010

Sixteen year old solo sailor Abby Sunderland has sailed safely into Cape Town South Africa in her circumnavigation adventure. She was met by her father and brother who took the same trip last year.

Although I’m an advocate for those who cruise and sail oceans (Jessica Watson and previous post), the record seeking trend to be the youngest has me concerned as to how young is too young. In Abby’s case, she is well equipped and experienced having support from sponsors and family, but others may not be as ready. (video of her arrival below)

Category: Sailing, Video | No Comments »
Tags: circumnavigating, record, sailing

Posted By RichC on May 6, 2010

Here’s Newt Gingrich in a one minute MP3 sound-bite offering clear, concise and commonsense solution for our SW border problem. His short talking points would make a great template for those in Washington DC who are suppose to be securing the borders, addressing illegal immigration and protecting the citizens of this country.

The short audio snippet was part of a longer question and answer of his interview with Greta Van Susteren Wednesday night. 

Category: Audio, News, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: greta van susteran, newt gingrich, Politics

Posted By RichC on May 5, 2010

The ping.fm app failed to post a photo from my Palm Pre to the blog last night … so I’ll ‘tweak it’ and manually add it today. It could have been my fault, but with so many posting options I’m not sure I’ll spend all that much time using it.  It was a beautiful evening.

Category: Cellphone, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: palm, ping.fm, sunset, webos

Posted By RichC on May 5, 2010

Category: Automotive | 2 Comments »
Tags: wsj

Posted By RichC on May 5, 2010

As the population of the United States continues to expand, particularly with those of Mexican ancestry, Cinco de Mayo celebrations are becoming more and more popular in all parts of the United States. Not a single American I asked knew why May 5th has become such a popular day of celebration for all Americans (me included). Most ‘guessed’ that it was Mexico’s independence day … no, that would be September 16, 1810 …and none guessed that is was due to the Battle of Puebla (what???). Add to the mix that it was against the French forces and most admitted that they were clueless that the French were even in Mexico – one friend said, “you mean a battle against the Spanish forces?”

The date May 5th is celebrated because on that day in 1862, much larger and better equipped French army was defeated by the Mexican army, lead by General Ignacio Zaragoza Sequin in the Mexican state of Puebla.  The victory really wasn’t the beginning of success for the Mexican army, but one which just delayed the French from advancing on Mexico City. The French invaded Mexico after President Benito Juárez refused to make interest payments their nation’s debt. Eventually the French went on to occupy Mexico and put a puppet leader in control in 1864, Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico. It wasn’t until 1867, pressured by the U.S., that the French removed their forces which saw Benito Juárez return to power (executing Maximilian I).

What makes the Battle of Puebla impressive is that the odds were stacked 2 to 1 against the Mexican army, yet they still defeated the well-equipped French army, something that hadn’t been done for 50 years. Interestingly in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is a regional holiday limited primarily to the state of Puebla. For the most part the celebrations combine food, music, and dancing.

In the United States, the holiday has expanded over the years and is celebrated by Americans of all cultures; it has become a day much like St. Patrick’s Day, Oktoberfest and the Chinese New Year which celebrates the culture and experiences of Americans with a particular ancestry. All I know is that I love Mexican food and hospitality … and that I’ll be celebrating even closer to home every week of the year!
🙂

Category: History, Holiday, Millitary | No Comments »
Tags: cinco de mayo, Holiday, mexico