Is a trillion enough?

In the last 4 months, the U.S. job market has shed nearly 2 million jobs. As of 2005, there were 125 million people employed. Our economy has shed 1.6% of it’s work force and the numbers grow weekly.

Obama’s trillion dollar recovery plan aims to create 3 to 4 million jobs. At the current rate of job losses, will it be enough?

Apple TV, it doesn’t suck

I have wanted an Apple TV since shortly after they came out. I read the articles about how to hack them and was interested in poking around under the hood. During Apple’s black friday promotion, the Apple TV was discounted enough to pay my sales tax. I bought one.

 

Since then I’ve come to really appreciate the addition to my living room. There were several things about the Apple TV that I didn’t realize. In addition to storing and playing my iTunes library from its local disk, it also streams iTunes music to my stereo system. Voila, I no longer need the Airport Express in the living room. 

I had also forgotten that the Apple TV would sync with my iPhoto library. While playing with it the first night, the screen saver kicked on and photos from my computer were gracefully sliding across my screen. As I watched, I recalled researching LCD picture frames. For any of them under $100, I’d have to specially format my photos and then transfer them to the frame. The AppleTV syncs them wirelessly from my computer and scales them automatically.

The value of the photo feature was manifested over the Christmas holidays. We had a Christmas party for family, and then a birthday party for Ricardo. During both we had the photos playing. Having them play in the background evoked many memories and sparked many conversations. It also sparked several, “how are you getting your photos on the TV” conversations. They couldn’t believe it could be that easy or fun. Oops, I just boosted my Apple stock a bit. 😉

Finally, the Apple TV motivated me to do something I hadn’t yet. I have quite a few DVD movies stored on my file server. I started ripping them all to mp4 and dropping them into my iTunes library. After adding them into iTunes, they automatically sync to the AppleTV. Now I have a library of movies available in the living room and the DVDs are safely away from harm (Kayla) and mayhem (Lucas).

And can barely remember the urge to crack it open and start tinkering. I like it just the way it is.

Sold!

As 2008 draws to a close, I’m thrilled to report that our home in Dallas is not just sold, but closed. The funds were wired into our account earlier today. We could not have ended the year on a better note.

Mega-storm hits Seattle

Actual press clippings:

  • prepare now for the “mega-storm”
  • storm that will be “life threatening…”
  • consumers clear storm shelves as ‘storm bears down’
  • “Second worst storm in 16 years”

Actual storm details:

  • snow up to 4″ deep!
  • winds gusting up to 30mph!
  • 47 flights cancelled.

I’m posting because my friends in Michigan, who have been getting feet of snow dumped on them, needed a good laugh. 

In all seriousness, the weather did change last week. We got a little bit of ice and snow. Enough that I drove to work instead of riding my bicycle. Here’s a photo taken during the worst of the “storm.”

1098

Car deals, and car value

My Jetta is getting long in the tooth. We have been considering a replacement for a while and have saved up the cash to pay for a new car. Macro-economic forces have caused the bottom to drop out of the US new car market, meaning lots of dealers have cars on their lots. It is not unheard of to score deals for $5-7,000 below market value on new cars. We are on the prowl.

After hearing that the U.S. Treasury sold $32 billion worth of T-bills at a yield of 0%, Warren Buffett emailed this note to the directors of his company, Berkshire Hathaway:

“This should be bullish for Berkshire. With great foresight, I long ago entered the mattress business in a big way through our furniture operation. Now mattresses have become fully competitive as a place to put your money, and sales will soon take off.”

How to make an old lady blush

This last weekend, Grandpa and Grandma treated us to time away from our children. Eventually, grandma needed to relieve herself. Because Kayla has recently completed potty-training, and Lucas is beginning, we have an open door policy in effect. When Grandma headed into the bathroom, Kayla followed. After a bit of negotiating, Kayla was ushered back out of the bathroom and waited just outside the door. As soon as the tell-tale sounds of success emanated, Kayla let loose a proud cheer, “Yay Grandma!”