Archive for July, 2008

Getting Back on The Horse

Ever since my weight loss stalled at the beginning of the year, I’ve drifted away from this blog as a tool to track my weight loss journey, and used it more as a scratchpad for whatever I was thinking about at the time. As a result, I’ve regained almost half the weight I lost, and I’m running slam up against the 400 pound mark, which I thought I would never see again. I’m drawing a line in the sand, and as of tonight, the fridge is stocked with the food I ate when I started losing weight back in October. This is my life we’re talking about here, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to eat right. I’m going to use this diary entry to go over some of the bad habits I’ve picked up over the past few months, and how I plan to correct them.
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Why Do Fannie and Freddie Need a Bailout?

There is a great column by Paul Krugman in today’s New York Times that does a great job of explaining explains why the government is being forced to ride to the rescue of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. One thing I found interesting about this column, as opposed to the majority of reporting about the bailout proposal is that Krugman makes it clear that Fannie and Freddie don’t have any subprime exposure themselves, it is the decline in asset values due to the subprime crash that makes them vulnerable. What Krugman implies, but doesn’t explicitly state, is that this doesn’t bode well for the rest of the financial sector, because anyone who makes mortgages loans is exposed to the decline of asset values, regardless of whether or not they cavorted in subprime lending. That means that bank stocks are in for a rough ride until housing prices recover. It wasn’t entirely unexpected that a bank like IndyMac went under. But if housing prices decline to the point where even those with conforming loans are willing to walk away, we could see much worse. (Full Disclosure: I gambled on 400 shares of IndyMac stock two months ago and lost.) So, if bank stocks are looking cheap to you, be aware that the market is pricing in risk you might not even be thinking about.

Apple-Haters and the iPhone 3G Release

I spend a decent amount of time surfing internet forums, between research on professional topics and just plain goofing off, and one thing I have noticed that I just can’t understand is the way that Apple products tend to polarize people. You either completely buy into the “reality distortion field” and vociferously defend Apple, or you take every new Apple product release as an opportunity to slag on the company for being expensive, elitist, and (most often) for not releasing the exact product you wanted at a price where they would lose $100 a unit. The release of the iPhone 3G has been no exception, but it did appear to me that the haters were out in force.

And you know what, I just don’t get it. The iPhone is the one product where Apple has gotten it so spectacularly right that it’s hard to believe anyone could complain. And yet, they do. I’ve taken my some of my thoughts on this phenomenon and put them into a short essay that’s right after the jump. Enjoy!
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Living Life One Gallon At A Time

It’s easy to think about rising gas prices in the abstract – I know that when I fill up our family car, it costs about twice what it did when we bought it in early 2004, but seeing as I only stop at the gas station about once a week, I really don’t think about it that often. However, this evening I saw something that made me think about how the gas crunch is affecting people who are less fortunate than I am. I had to fill up the car tonight around 11:15PM, and while I was filling my tank, I happened to watch as someone pulled up to the pump next to me, ran inside to pay the cashier, and came back out to pump their gas. Then, before I even realized it, their car was pulling away. I looked over at the now-empty pump, and what I saw amazed me.
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Are You The Most Knowledgeable Silverado Clone?

The contest ended last night, so I’ll share my entry in Jim Rome’s contest. Basically, the idea was to show that you are the most knowledgeable “clone” (Rome’s semi-affectionate term for his listeners) in The Jungle when it comes to the Chevy Silverado pickup. The prize is a VIP trip to a NASCAR Race at The Brickyard. Entries are judged 40% on Silverado knowledge, 30% on entertainment value, and 30% on humor. Since the judges are the XR4Ti a.k.a. Rome’s on-air staff, I went heavy on the meta-humor. My “take” is after the jump…
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If ONSTAR Was Like Tech Support

The following conversation is not real, however, it was inspired by events in my office. It took place between an ONSTAR representative and a customer on July 1, 2008.
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