Most recent blog entries

The Economy...again

BigShotSpicyBlog — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:58:00 GMT

Got up this AM and the news says the DOW is set to plummet again, futures are down 550+ in overnight trading...which brings me to my point...

when the market goes down, really, really down, and the news makes statements like "the market lost xxx billions in value overnight", or this week, or whatever....did it really? I mean, was it ever really there? in the stock market, your portfolio has a value at any given time, but really, it's only real--and concrete, if you sell at that point in time. If you don't sell, it's only what "could have been"? am I right?

point being, I think people in general have an erroneous view of the market...if you put all your retirement savings in there, you can never REALLY count you real worth until you cash out....i guess that is obvious now...i guess what I have a problem with is simply the statement that the news folk make about "billions in value vanishing into thin air"....how can that be? maybe it's a function of the communications meduim...maybe that not what they really meant...but the "expanded" truth won't fit in a 2 second headline blurb?

Housing crisis...

BigShotSpicyBlog — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:37:00 GMT

The current economic meltdown has me pondering just what people are thinking--or IF they are thinking....I read that mortgage brokers were basing a lot of mortgage risk taking upon a standard they developed called HAR, "Housing Appreciation Rates"...it seems that they applied an annual appreciation rate on a home and calculated that the value of the home would increase every year by that amount, regardless if the current appraised value....

so let me understand, you build a 3000 sq ft home in a nice neighborhood, and you can count an unending increase in value? I know they based this on averages but, please, it has to top out somewhere....did they think that things in Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, etc., would skyrocket in price to equal the home proces in California? The California housing market was destined to burst. $750k or $1M for a 3br brick house is a joke.

Bottom line, you build a nice 3/4 br home in a nice neighborhood for $200k, it might at best be worth $230-250 in 15-20 years. It will top out. People are insane if they think they can buy ANY house and it will ALWAYS increase in value. I have a neighbor with a $130k home. That is it's top. It is maxed out, it'll never go for more, nor should it.

Methinks folks have put too much stock into homes as a means to creating wealth. We need to refocus on creative thinking, ingenuity and industriousness. If you wanna increase your wealth, I would look at some kind of business venture and use your home for living in and not much more.

I'm back!!!

BigShotSpicyBlog — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:04:00 GMT

wow, been awhile! i was never much good at blogging.....not sure if I should really try harder or what.....but i know i enjoy reading the blogs of others, especially friends, so, I'll try to be a bit more diligent....we'll see how that goes....

I've been interviewing for jobs again....I've got mixed feelings about that....while I appreciate the money...the grind seems to wear on me a bit...the whole interviewing process as it has evolved over the last few years kind of irks me....the industry changes reapidly--this i know...but it seems that so many people have resumes littered with fabrications that it has caused everyone to mostly ignore resume content---they seem to approach each interview with questions beginning at the kindergarten level and proceeding allthe way thru elementary, junior high, high school, then some college level, then they finally get to actual work experience and real world stuff....it tries my patience...."what, did you not read my resume?", why are you asking me these questions?

ugh, it's all so boring....I wish could find a place to stay for a while....(maybe with some honest executives? is that too much to ask these days?)

Allow me to bore you....

BigShotSpicyBlog — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:06:00 GMT

read the paragraphs below, read them slowly, and understand and think about what they are saying a bit....this is absolutely stunning....

The 10 percent of households with the highest incomes account for nearly a quarter of all spending, according to data compiled by research firm Moody's Economy.com from a 2006 federal survey.

Other government data show households in the top one-fifth of the U.S. population ranked by income earn about half of all total personal income before taxes—an imbalance that gives the wealthy immense economic clout, said Sara Johnson, an economist at the research firm Global Insight.

"Consumer spending makes up 70 percent of gross domestic product, and when one group accounts for a very substantial share of consumer spending, they also account for a large share of the economic activity that creates jobs," Johnson said.

this came from this article, http://wcbstv.com/topstories/Wealthy.Spending.Down.2.786657.html

nHibernate

BigShotSpicyBlog — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:36:00 GMT

I've been meaning to say a few nice words about nHibernate. Here goes, nHibernate is good. There -- done. Really, using it now as the data layer for 2 current projects. One of them -- is destined to be portable, will run on Linux or Windows...this is where the nHibernate data layer shines....I'm using Sql Server on Windows and MySql on Linux, i data layer codebase serves both---really, I ahven't written a single line of data access code that is usable with only 1 of the db systems.....

very nice,

btw, I'll talk a bit about Linux soon, I'm using Ubuntu -- 7 -the Gutsy wonder!!!

it's pretty nice, very reliable, very simple to operate....

mo' memory

BigShotSpicyBlog — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:05:00 GMT

working with outdated hardware has its issues, one is NOT cost of memory!!! I was sorely hurting with performance here on these old Dell Optiplex 260's that my son donated to the cause...suffering along on 512mb, then I won an ebay auction yesterday....4 sticks, 1GB each, for $68.99.....quite reasonable, don't you think? The 260's max @ 2GB, so I'll have 2GB in the workstation, 1GB respectovely in the Windows & Linux servers....and then I can pile another 1GB from the 4 x 256 pieces for my old server, I call him "Hot Rod", he's a dual, that's right I said "DUAL", P3 750's -- currently humming along on 384MB of ram, that's right, that's one 256 & one 128, and last but not least, a screaming 8GB SCSI hard drive, yep, that's right, room to spare!!! Actually, when I realized I needed it again, it had been gathering dust for about 2-3 years, but it booted up just fine, amazing, I guess???

exblox

BigShotSpicyBlog — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:27:00 GMT

i used to work for some shady characters....

Hello World!

BigShotSpicyBlog — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:59:00 GMT

Hello World!