Miscellaneous
« Previous EntriesPardon My Skepticism
Friday, July 3rd, 2009Under pressure from newspaper articles uncovering congressional expenses, Nancy Pelosi announced that congressional expsenses would be published online beginning August 31.
It turns out that the date has been pushed back to mid-November due to “concerns” about security and support. I don’t quite follow the security claim, which wasn’t discussed in the article I read [...]
An Interesting Interview with Joel Greenblatt
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009GuruFocus posted an interesting interview with Joel Greenblatt, author of The Little Book That Beats the Market*.
You may or may not remember that I followed Greenblatt’s Magic Formula for awhile here on AFM. I gave it up—not because I think the strategy is bad but because I didn’t have the time to update the [...]
An Example of Excellent Customer Service from Sam’s Club
Monday, June 29th, 2009A friend of mine is looking for hot dog bags for a function she is helping with. I googled “hot dog bags” and this entry for Sam’s Club popped up. I noticed that there was one one-star review for the product by someone named “Editor”:
These are represented as a “bag”. They are not [...]
How Do You Measure Jobs “Saved?”
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009Reading assignment: The Media Fall for Phony ‘Jobs’ Claims
I know I’m probably going to catch some flack for linking to an anti-Obama opinion. But, if you read the piece, you will find that even Max Baucus (a Democrat) questions these “jobs saved” claims:
During a March hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Chairman Max Baucus [...]
Surprise! People Are Spending Less on Weddings!
Monday, June 8th, 2009Read this on the WSJ.com website:
The average cost of a wedding in the U.S. was $19,212 in the first quarter, down from $21,814 last year and $26,450 in 2005, according to Wedding Report Inc., a market-research company. A survey by Brides.com earlier this year found that 82% of the couples who responded set a [...]
Check Out This Interactive Unemployment History Graphic
Sunday, June 7th, 2009Check it out: Unemployment History Graphic (Give it a second to load)
It’s amazing what you can find on the internet.
Citigroup and GM Are Knocked Out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Cisco and Travelers Are In
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009Here’s a look at the old and new Dow Jones Industrial Average (the additions and deletions are highlighted):
3M
Alcoa Inc
American Express Company
AT&T Inc.
Bank of America Corporation
Boeing Co.
Caterpillar Inc.
Chevron Corp
Cisco Systems
Citigroup, Inc.
The Coca-Cola Company
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
Exxon Mobil Corp
General Electric Company
General Motors Corporation
Hewlett-Packard Co.
The Home Depot, Inc.
Intel Corporation
International Business Machines
Johnson & Johnson
JP Morgan & [...]
The 20 Largest Homebuilders in Houston
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009The Houston Chronicle published the Chronicle 100 a week or so ago. In the issue was a table showing the twenty largest home builders in the Houston area and their year-over-year closings. Bottome line: 2008 was a BAD year (even in Houston)!
Kiplinger’s 10 Best Cities (it’s all about the jobs)
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009Here’s a quick look at Kiplinger’s 10 Best Cities for Jobs. I’m surprised that only one city from Texas made the list. Click on each city to go to Kiplinger’s write-up on each city.
No. 1: Huntsville, Alabama
No. 2: Albuquerque, New Mexico
No. 3: Washington D.C.
No. 4: Charlottesville, Virginia
No. 5: Athens, Georgia
No. 6: Olympia, Washington
No. [...]
My Plumbing is Fixed and I’m Happy!
Thursday, May 21st, 2009Yesterday was the first day our plumbing has worked properly in a LONG TIME!
As some of you may recall, I wrote about having plumbing issues over a year ago. The first plumber to give me an estimate, told me it would cost $6,700 to solve my problem. I put off making the repairs [...]