|
I Remember As A Child
You know, sometimes I just can't post everyday. Sorry for those who NEED (their words not mine) their daily fix of news from Croninland. We have another new reader tonight. Welcome JoAnn.
Yesterday, I wanted to impress my lovely wife by relocating her recently painted work bench back in the yard. She told me not to as I was not qualified to move the bench 15 feet and set it on 4 blocks of cement. She did not come out and say I was not qualified, but the way she begged me not to do it was very compelling.
Instead I found another way to please her. I chose to fix and family heirloom. Her parents gave her a 1960sish Day-Lite Flyer projection screen. It got damaged in the flood of 2010. I decided to try my hand at fixing it. I took it all apart and discovered the retracting mechanism (oooo I sound handy when I say that) was inside of a wood dowel. It apparently had rusted and broken.
It was not fixable, but I found one on eBay that was almost identical. I figured I would break the bad news to her then order the replacement. Then I decided I would clean the garage.
When I was a kid, I could not do much to impress my old man as I was basically lazy and a bit dim. He always liked it when he came out in the garage and it would look nice and clean.
After spending about two hours cleaning the garage, I wish I had a son who was lazy and dim. Jack is too smart to get sucked into a routine like that.
I finished the day by playing a round of golf with a former colleague and then dinner at a place called Hanna's. Yes Ted and I eventually made our way to the fab restaurant. I say eventually, because as we were putting his clubs away in his car he exclaimed, "Spit". I think that was what he said.
I waited a moment and then heard him say, "Oh no this is not good." He had lost his keys. Now it was about half past hungry. I suggested we go to his house and get another set of keys so we could go to dinner.
Got a nice hug from his lovely wife (Hey Karen) and we went to Hanna's and I introduced Ted to the pleasure of Waygu Beef. He smiled, he moaned, and he smiled again. He had scooped me on the bill (Second time in a week. Mr. Hanna we need to talk.) after I convinced him to try the Waygu.
I got home in time to say good night to all my family. And begin re-reading "Free Cash Flow and Shareholder Yield" by Priest and McClelland. (Testament to the fact even in retirement I am a boring kinda a guy.) I do recommend that anyone interested in understanding shareholder value, give this 160 page book a good read. Understanding FCF and how it is used properly can really keep you from picking some dog equities.
As a result, I did not blog and fell asleep awaiting the wonderful news from Europe about the Euro Bailout. More on that later.
I got up today and was anxious to head out and meet my old friend and other woman in my life Ellen. She too is a woman of leisure (Not that I am a woman of leisure.), but she is gracing Devin and I with a few more years of her support and professionalism.
Ellen picked me up at the BMW dealership and took me to the old office where I had to pay off my bookie for this seasons football pool, and take care of a few people who helped in getting my butt out of the office last week.
We walked out of PADI and her Cadillac would not start. BUT we were retied so we did not stress. She called AAA and I checked the market. Whoa, something good was happening to the market. All of the portfolios were doing very well. (Excepting the VXX calls that we plummeting.)
We got the car started again and headed to our house for a meeting with Devin to go over calendars and finances. I was getting in trouble the whole time as the three of us sat in my office.
At one point going over the three month calendar, Devin said, "What's November?" asking specifically about an event I had just mentioned. I could not help but reply, "It's a month after October and before December." Ellen and Devin both shook their heads expressing their disgust.
We had to hurry as we needed to be at my new building. I am in escrow in a building that I will eventually move into just to keep Devin and I sane.
Devin wants me to have a place to go, or have an affair to get me out of her face all day long. I am too lazy and dim to find a girlfriend and Devin won't do it for me so I thought getting a new bulding where I can store all the stuff we never use and have a place to go would be a great idea.
I also want to have a recording studio for fun and maybe someday profit. This building fits all of those needs. It is about 10,000 square feet and is walking distance from this cool restaurant called Hanna's. I can't wait to try it.
After the visit to the building I took the gang to Hanna's for two tacos. It really hit the spot. The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning up e-mails, running through a friends portfolio, and picking up some Italian food from San G's.
I was looking forward to getting down to business in the blog as a lot happened today in the market. BUT (Behold the Underlying Truth), before we do, Russ sent me a really cool video we want to share with you. It is amazing two minute encapsulation of the 8 months of NASAs trip to Mars.
| 
Since 7/26/2012
