cubanlinks - Blog

Redskins Cartoon Humilation

2008-11-09T16:37:00Z

I’ve been watching old episodes of Family Guy on-line and I ran into an episode where the New England Patriots lay the smack on my Washington Redskins:

It’s a sad day when your favorite team is being demolished by Peter Griffin.

Obamanos!

2008-11-05T14:35:00Z

I don’t have too much to say, except that Obama laid out some frank words of caution last night that we need to listen to. It’s not over. Change isn’t here. And we’re all going to have to pitch in, find a spirit of sacrifice and love for our country, or this election will simply be an empty promise and a dead end. Obama, Congress, America… let’s go!

Portfolio Updates: Amazon, Goldman Sachs and Toyota

2008-10-15T01:29:00Z

The image above is courtesy of one of my new, favorite web services: Mint.

I recently made some new additions to my portfolio:

10/10/08 – Toyota (best and most innovative car manufacturer in the world)
10/10/08 – Goldman Sachs (way undervalued, so says Buffet)
10/13/08 – Amazon.com (beating everybody to the punch on cloud computing)

I’ll be completely honest, I’m not doing a great deal of analysis. Stocks are just so cheap, I’m buying the companies that I admire and who I think are well positioned for the future (ie, GM will never be cheap enough for me to buy).

Texas #1?

2008-10-12T13:52:00Z

Full article on ESPN.com

I'm So Happy The Office is Back

2008-10-08T00:13:00Z

Time to Buy?

2008-10-07T21:18:00Z

Dollar Cost Averaging – an investment strategy designed to reduce volatility in which securities, typically mutual funds, are purchased in fixed dollar amounts at regular intervals, regardless of what direction the market is moving.

Please excuse this uncharacteristic foray into personal finance, but I find myself in a very unique situation. When working full-time from 2000-2006, I was the kind of person who maxed-out my 401(k) and even took the time to set-up a Roth IRA, maxing that out as well. I spent about 6 years doing this before I left IT to start a small business.

As I was leaving my job I decided to migrate my 401(k) to a traditional IRA at my brokerage because I hated the limited choices that the 401(k) provider offered. So, into this IRA came a decent cash infusion, and there is sat. I became too busy to think about what to invest it in and soon forgot about it.

A few years later (2008) I was embroiled in a legal conflict and felt very uncertain about what might happen. So, I liquidated some holding I had in my brokerage account (not my IRA’s, just my normal account) in order to have cash on hand in the case of an emergency.

SO! This brings us to today and absolute wreckage that are our public markets. As I write this, the DOW is at 9,955 and 28% down YTD. My own portfolio is down about 18% YTD. The question is, is this a good time to buy? I sure thought so back in late September. Check-out my portfolio prior to September 22nd:

I decided to make a large investment in an S&P 500 index fun as well as invest in a company I’ve always wanted to own, Google:

To date, I’ve lost 25% on my Google stake and 15% on the S&P 500. Never to be put-off, I then woke up this morning and decided to buy some more firms I admired, Intel, Ebay and News Corp:

How much will I lose on them on the coming days, who knows. All I do know is that things always seem bleakest before they get better. I would like to continue to make investments all the way down, buying stock at cheaper and cheaper prices. If you have a chance, read Mark Cuban’s post about how to get rich. It’s ultimately a diatribe about the ROI you can earn on simply being smarter with your spending (great point) and the value of having cash on hand to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.

I Approve This Message

2008-09-19T16:15:00Z

She Said Yes!

2008-08-19T14:31:00Z

I just got engaged to Carrie Knittel this past Saturday. And wouldn’t you know it? There were fireworks!

more photos of the blushing bride-to-be to come

Facebook Spam!

2008-08-15T14:32:00Z

I knew it was coming, but I wasn’t sure how. It seems my friend Rachel’s account has been compromised, somehow:

Is there a security hole out there? Is anyone else seeing this?

The Bash (not at the Boat)

2008-08-13T22:44:00Z

I will not be able to make Al’s annual drink-fest. It just so happens that a little thing called Austin City Limits is happening that same weekend, and my girl is coming down to Austin to boot. Choices, choices.

I am seriously bummed at missing out. I don’t think I made it last year, and I was really looking forward to redeeming myself and reliving the glory of whupping-up on Gavin Smith during the 2006 Poker Tournament or rolling myself under a car to escape a beating in 2005. I have nothing cool to say about 2004, since I pretty much just passed the fuck out.

For everyone who’s making it up to Al’s neck of the woods, dial-a-shots all around!

Seattle Redeems Itself

2008-06-16T16:15:00Z

It is really strange the kind of immersion you experience when you move to a new city for the summer. It’s not unlike the experience I had moving to Austin and starting my MBA program. You’re moving to a new city, you’re meeting new people and you’re trying your best to navigate the terrain of a competitive environment. I think it’s safe to say that the experience here is similar, but more intense. More visceral. The other MBA’s here are top performers at top programs, and you’ve got 12-weeks to make an impression.

But it’s not all cloaks and daggers. The MBA recruiting team has put-on some pretty great events for us, including an “Amazing Race” that involved Lake Union, electric boats, alcohol, lots of clues and a Polaroid camera. Tomorrow I’m hosting a Texas Hold’em tournament, which should be a blast.

And finally, just when I was about to give up on the weather in Seattle, we were hit with the perfect day on Sunday. Mid 60’s, zero clouds, and a gentle breeze. My buddy Tiju was in town, and Emily and I took him all over Seattle. Literally. I probably put 50 miles on my odometer yesterday, and I think we crossed at least 5 bridges. The nicest part of the day was probably hanging out in Gas Works Park and catching some rays. I could definitely get used to these kinds of days.

Looking For a Fun Challenge?

2008-06-12T15:46:00Z

One of my close friends (Chris Miller) is looking for some more people to join his team for the Ragnar Relay Race (September 26-27, Cumberland, MD to DC).

It’s essentially an overnight relay race where you take turns running, riding in vans through beautiful Maryland in between legs.

Chris has a solid core of runners for the team but is looking for people to fill-out the roster. There are different lengths for all of the legs, so even if you don’t run marathons for breakfast, you can definitely participate and have a good time.

If you’re interested (in signing up, finding out more, etc) just let me know. I’ll put you in touch with Chris.

The Emerald City

2008-05-30T21:49:00Z

I’m typing this post from my desk at Microsoft. I’m an MBA intern for the summer in the OSG Live group. I’m pretty psyched to be here and hopefully will have more to say about this soon.

I’ve been in Seattle since Monday. I recently grouped my pictures of the drive up into a set on Flickr. Check-out Carrie’s pictures too. I just took a few shots with my iPhone, she had a lot more fun with her digital camera.

Austin to Seattle in 6 Days

2008-05-19T04:53:00Z

This Tuesday I’ll be hitting the road. Destination: Seattle, WA. I’ll be one of 50 MBA interns spending the summer at Microsoft, and I decided that it would be fun to put some miles on the Jetta and see some parts of America I’ve never seen.

The only stop that is nailed-down will be in Los Angeles where I’ll be picking up Carrie at LAX on Thursday night. We will then road trip the rest of the way up to Seattle together, and she’ll fly back to DC on Tuesday.

I’m really excited about the trip, and will be keeping a running log with my iPhone (pictures to Flickr and notes to Twitter). The best way to follow along would be to check-out my FriendFeed. Everything will get posted there!

Bill Simmons Drama!

2008-05-15T20:33:00Z

[via Deadspin]

Simmons: I still love writing my column and only re-signed last year because I really did believe that we had hashed out all the behind the scenes bullshit and come to some sort of agreement on creative lines, media criticism rules, the promotion of the column and everything else on ESPN.com. Within a few months, all of those things changed and certain promises were not kept. It’s as simple as that.

Wow, ESPN looks like they’re dicking over the Sports Guy. Don’t they realize the power he wields? Easily 50% of my time on espn.com is spent reading Simmons. If he walks, Disney/ESPN is going to have a shit storm on their hands.