Lessons from Fight Club

Tyler from Fight Club, "The things you own, end up owing you."

Here's the article I read today:

http://www.wisebread.com/an-important-financial-lesson-from-fight-club

Retirement Accounts

My 401k account is losing money. Year to date, my return is -8.0% That's right, negative 8 percent. I'm hoping it picks up by year end. This recession is killing my retirement accounts.

But here's why I'm not too worried:
1. I've upped my contribution from 10% to 20% a couple months back. This means that when the price goes down, I'm buying more stock. When the stock market swings back up, I'll be able to see more of the gain.
2. There is still lots of time for me to recoup my losses. 40 more years until I turn 65 means I will have to better absorb the unavoidable downs of the stock market.
3. I'm investing for the long term. Studies show that investing for the long term means lower risks.

Opportunities

It's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you're looking down at your feet.

I find myself needing motivation in the middle of the day sometimes. This is one of my favorite quotes:

"Make it a practice to be true to a higher dream, bound by a greater purpose, and fulfilled by a destiny that to you is not yet fully understood. Never lose sight of that ever persistent march of time: revere yesterday, plan tomorrow, but live today. Understand that you have already come too far to disdain your future now."

2nd Floor Hotness

Our 2nd floor is 85 degrees. Our 1st floor is 65 degrees.

It's amazing how lethargic you get as the temperature rises.

Xavier's Wednesday Party!

Today's Xavier's Weekly Wednesday Party.

And I'm making Taco Meat!

Graduate Research

I have good news (maybe). It hasn't been finalized yet but I may have (cross fingers now) secured funding for graduate school. The catch? I'll need to predict warranty returns using statistics.

How will I do that, you ask?

I'm not quite sure yet. I'll be working with HP on a way to predict the amount of warranty returns based on past history using statistics. Sounds complicated? I think it will be. But it'll be fun!

This is good news. I've been a bit anxious lately on how I am going to pay for graduate school. While my work will pay for it, they will only pay if I continue to work full-time. I'm hoping to go to school full-time and so therein lies my dilemma. If the research pays for the rest of my schooling (my scholarship pays for 25% of it), I won't have to acquire student loans or drain my retirement account.

Sailing and Jetskiing

We went sailing today on Skaneateles Lake with Kevin and Molly. It was very nice, we sailed for a couple of hours until the ladies got off to go shopping in town. That's when Kevin and I started to head back to the marina.

It was uneventful until... it starting raining.

It's me out there on the JetSki, Kevin on the sailboat, and thunderstorms looming on the horizon.

As we're already on the water and halfway to the marina by now, we decided to go all the way. Since, I'm on the jetski, I zoom ahead. That's when I notice lightning. It's raining hard now. The raindrops feel like glass as they hit my face. It hurts and with the wind, it's getting chilly. I notice a NY state boat launch, and I start to head for shore. I'm about a quarter-mile ahead of Kevin by then and I figure he's docked at someone's lake house by now. Legally in NY state, you can request "safe harbor" and dock anywhere on shore.

I tie up at the dock, and I decide to wait out the storm. One of the guys at the dock asks me if I'm staying and when I nod yes, he heads back to his truck. I stand on one of the concrete blocks as I wait. That's when I see Kevin's sailboat cruising along.

Ha! Man really is crazy! I think. As I have no idea where the marina is, I have no choice but to head out again.

It took us close to an hour to reach the marina. By the time we got there, the rain had stopped. We finished the day with a chicken BBQ at Kevin and Molly's house. Boy was I glad to be dry and warm again.

Today we clean.

Rose is coming tomorrow. Rose is Ashley's friend from her SU days.

CEO Interview

Tonight I went to an event where our company's CEO was interviewed in front of a small audience. It was very insightful to hear someone who had so many diverse experiences under her belt. I was especially struck by how willing she was to talk about her failures more than her successes. It was refreshing to hear a senior leader of the organization give it to us straight, about how she criticizes the managers that report to her (she values both positive and negative feedback) and how vital she thinks communications is.

Jule Shimer's Strategies for Success
1. Own your own career goals
2. Ask for what you want; don't expect your co-workers and supervisors to read your mind
3. Realize that you need mentors, and that you need to mentor others
4. Seek honest feedback about your work. Even when the feedback is unpleasant (you don't have to agree with every thing), accept it with a smile.
5. Stay true to your values.
6. Learn to listen and try to understand what others are saying and feeling.
7. Ask yourself: How can I help others achieve?

Wednesdays at Xavier

Today Xavier is having a Pizza Party! Woohoo!

Safety and Ergonomics

Went to RIT today in my weekly quest to meet every professor in the Industrial Engineering department (I think I have 1 more to go).

Had an interesting conversation with Professor Marshall, who specializes in the Safety and Ergonomics of Industrial Engineering. He shared with me a paper based on a research he performed, "Effects of pace and stress on upper extremity kinematic responses in sign language interpreters."

In a nutshell, his research entailed how stress effects sign language interpreters. He showed that psychosocial stress had a worsening effect on the already repetitive motion of signing.

I've never thought about things this way before. Apparently other universities have already proven that being stressed out when moving furniture/boxes/etc hurts your back even more than if you were in a more stable mindset. Mind over body it seems. All in all, it was a very good conversation. It's always a good conversation when I learn something new.

The Great Philly Cheese Steak

I love the philly cheese steak. Thinly sliced beef and fried onions on an Italian sub roll, smeared with cheese whiz and dripping with grease, it is one of my guilty pleasures. It’s now habit for me to get a Philly Cheese Steak on the way to and from my sister’s house in Philadelphia.

Although you can find Philly Cheese Steaks in most places nationwide, the best remain at the corner of 9^th Street and Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia. My favorite is Geno’s Steaks, across the street from the original Pat’s King of Steaks. Either one is great and there is still no clear winner.

I'm not quite sure why the Philly Cheese Steak tastes extra good in Philadelphia. Maybe it’s the water from the Schuylkill River that makes the rolls distinctively flaky and airy. Or maybe its how they use the grease to fry up the onions. Either way, I have been unable to find a place outside of Philadelphia that has successfully reproduced this American classic.

Dinner, Putt Putt, and Party in Auburn

Today we had dinner with Jen and Joel at Buffalo Wild Wings. Mmmmmh... chicken wings. I love chicken wings. I like Buffalo Wild Wings for their wide selection of sauces but they aren't my favorite. My favorite is the chicken wings at Zebb's Deluxe Grill & Bar with their special cajun-garlic bleu cheese sauce. It's pretty awesome. And they have several locations in New York including Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo.

Ashley won at Putt Putt today. I don't think she is going to let anyone forget it. Especially after Joel made it seem like he would be the eventual champion.

After Putt Putt, we went to see a live band at Ukrainian National Club.

Understanding Car Insurance

I don't understand car insurance very well. Is $100,000/$300,000 Bodily Injury Liability enough? Do I need Optional Basic Economic Loss Insurance? What about property damage liability? The conspiracy freak in me thinks this is all a scam to confuse us.

Our current insurance company Liberty Mutual charges us:

Ashley $533.00/year
HeeRak $1077.00/year

Combined that's $1610 a year for car insurance. When I went on the Geico website, they gave us a quote for $979.40 total.

I'm stopping by Liberty Mutual's office today and seeing what they can do for us.

It's my B-Day today.

I've been waiting for this day a long time. Today I get to call up my insurance company and ask for a discount.

Wow, 25 years and I'm getting lamer by the minute.

Wisdom Teeth

So I went to my dentist today to get a filling. After 2 root canals and several fillings later, you would think I would have learned my lesson by now. I need to take better care of my teeth.

Unfortunately, what I should do is different than what I actually do. Funny how that works, eh?

Anyways I'm chilling out on the dentist chair while my dentist is doing her thing when suddenly I hear her say, "Woah, that's a pretty big cavity you got there." To which I widen my eyes and throw her a look of fear. Because really, this is the first time I've managed to surprise my dentist.

"Don't worry" she says, "it's only one of your wisdom teeth so you can just get them taken out."

It's a feeble attempt to calm my nerves. Because what she doesn't realize is that I'm not as worried about the pain as much as I am about the cost of the operation. When she proceeded to tell me the estimated cost of taking out a wisdom teeth (approx $1,000 per wisdom tooth) I could have fainted right then and there.

My poor poor wallet.

Golf at Camillus Country Club

Went golfing today at the Camillus Country Club. Started the day at 8am. Although I'm not a very good golfer I enjoy it. Golf is a funny sport in that where you play matters just as much as how you play the game. I'm not sure if there is any other sport where the playing field matters as much. Hopefully with a little practice, I'll improve. We ended the day around Noon. 18 holes, 3 beers, 1 chicken sandwich later and I was happily done.

1 hour later... We went out on Josh's new (bought used) powerboat on Skaneateles lake. Water was still pretty cold. 60 degrees. We hopped out and hopped right back into the boat.

To finish off the day we ate dinner at Wacky Wyatt's Tex Mex with Brenda and Allen. Afterwards we went on a nice walk of Baldwinsville and the canal path of Seneca River. We finished the night with a fun card game called Killer Bunnies. I didn't win but that's ok. I'm plotting for next time. Next time will be payback. You just wait. Soon I'll have my carrot and eat it too!

It's too hot in here!

92? Really? In Syracuse?

We got an early out today at work. 6 hours of work and I was done! Sweet. This is definitely one of the things I like about my company.

So with the extra hours, I...
1. Went to Driving Range at Sunset Ridge (In order to prepare for my golf outing Saturday)
2. Put Blue Shutters on the House
3. Go to Xavier and use his pool

Obama.

Although I probably won't vote for Obama (I like McCain's track record better), I find him to be very inspiring and his message of change to be quite appealing.

I find it no wonder that many people of my generation agree with Obama's message. I think my generation is tired of:

1. Social Security that doesn't work.
2. Worrying about rising health care costs (and seeing headlines of record profits by HMOs)
3. The hypocrisy of corporations when they say they "value" employees and at the same time layoff workers.
4. Politicians that do not relate to their constituents (seriously, how do you connect with your voters when you've spent the last couple decades in Washington DC?)
5. Wall Street profits off our money but doesn't pay us back when they lose it.

Academia here I come!

As I look forward to starting the step in my life, (academia here I come!) I am constantly looking at ways to reduce expenses. And while there are many expenses that are relatively fixed, one thing that always frustrates me is how much we spend on gas.

Although neither of our cars is an SUV or a Truck, they are not gas misers either. My 2003 BMW gets 23 mpg and Ashley's 1997 Toyota Camry gets 26 mpg. I've debated on getting a 2000 Honda Civic (which gets on average 30 mpg) but the savings don't justify the total cost. It is weirdly still cheaper to keep both our cars even if gas goes to $5 per gallon. Don't worry I've done the numbers. I guess I'll just have to look at another expense to trim.

On a positive note. I bicycled 8.2 miles today! Camillus has renovated part of the Erie Canal and it's absolutely great! I'm glad to see my property tax dollars at work.

Today's Steps: 11,163

Before I forget. Please visit our pictures from Prague:
http://heerak.photoshop.com/

Blue Skies and Lots of Land

For about half my life, I lived in Seoul, Korea. I have many good memories there but a few things I know that I won't miss are...

grey skies and no trees

To be fair, Seoul is probably one of the cleaner cities in the world. Compared to New York City, Philadelphia, or Washington D.C., the subways and streets of Seoul are relatively urine and puke free. But the smog from the numerous cars and the effects of industrialization are apparent. The Han river that runs through Seoul is brown and the skies over Seoul are forever grey. There are very little trees (the effects of napalm during the Korean War) and yards are nonexistent. Parks have fences around trees and there is more asphalt than grass.

Which brings us to...

One of my long term goals in life is to buy a cabin in a forested area. One of the things that I find amazing about America is the abundance of blue skies, forests, and untainted rivers. I only hope that I can save and earn enough to achieve this.

Today's Steps: 5608

The Crossover Point

One of the financial books I'm reading "Your Money or Your Life", talks about the Crossover Point, the dollar amount you need so that proceeds from your investments exceed your living expenses.

Up until now I've been saving for 2 buckets:
1. Things I want to buy (short-term)
2. Retirement (money saved up to spend later on the beach)

The Crossover Point lets me look at savings another way. Instead of saving to spend, the Crossover Point lets me look at investments as a way to subsidize my expenses.

Here is a visual example I took from "The Simple Dollar":



Today's Steps: 9572

We're Home in Syracuse!

We're finally home in Syracuse. After a 11 hour flight from Prague to Atlanta, 4 hour layover, and a 2 hour flight from Atlanta to Syracuse, we have made it to our beds. Boy are we tired! The creature comforts of home never seemed so inviting.

Including gifts to friends and family we spent a total of 11,000 Czech Crowns (CZK) which is just under $700. We came under my projected budget of $800.

There are a lot of things we will miss about Prague. The most will be the food. I have grown to love meat and dumplings paired with goulash (soup). And of course a half litre of beer (pint) with every meal.

Our favorite places to eat/drink:
1. Ceska Kuchyne (Havelska 23, 224-235-574)
2. Restaurace u Pinkasu (Jungmannovo Namesti 16, 221-111-150)
3. Hostinec u Cerneho Vola (Loretanska)
4. U Fleku (Kremencova 11)