« April 2004 | Main | June 2004 »
May 31, 2004
I'm out of it
Since when does Karl Malone play for the Lakers? Just another reason to hope they lose, I guess.
Posted by sam at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)
Back to the bay
Flew in to San Fransisco last night. Lots of fun...
I was flying out of Syracuse so we rented a car to stop at the Waterloo outlet mall on the way. 10 minutes after Breean drops me off at the airport I realize that my wallet is still in the rental car. Call Breean but her phone is turned off. Thank god I had my passport and could board the plane. No money, no lunch.
Land at LaGuardia in nyc and find out my flight to Chicago was cancelled. The oh so friendly (not) United clerk tells me that there's a direct flight to SFO leaving at 5:50. Great! But it flies out of JFK, and oh yeah you'll have to pay for transportation. I explain the wallet situation. He leaves to converse with someone, comes back with a voucher for the bus to Kennedy. Awesome!
Arrive at JFK at 4:40, not having eaten since 8 am. Dig through my backpack and find five British pounds and 10 Swiss francs along with my passport. Also some Bulgarian leva but the exchange counter guy doesn't seem to like that. Lunch, finally! Ended up arriving at SFO one hour earlier than planned.
Now at my Berkeley summer sublet. It's a three bedroom apartment at College and Derby, close to Shattuck and Ashby. There's a park almost right across the street and Andronico's is about three blocks away. Mmmm... Andronico's.
Posted by sam at 09:08 PM | Comments (1)
May 26, 2004
I'm going to stay out of this one
I watched The In-Laws on HBO today and couldn't help think about our own wedding. But whose dad is the foot doctor with a fanny pack and whose dad is the secret agent?
Posted by sam at 06:32 PM | Comments (1)
Wal-Mart News Again
WSJ.com: Big Retailers Face Overtime Suits As Bosses Do More 'Hourly' Work [sub req'd]:
Some of the nation's biggest and most cost-sensitive retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., RadioShack Corp. and Dollar General Corp., are battling a raft of lawsuits accusing them of using low-level managers to do the work of regular employees, in order to avoid paying overtime.
Wal-Mart, a retailing giant with about 3,500 stores and 1.2 million workers in the U.S., and a well-known focus on lean margins, already faces 30 overtime-related suits on behalf of hourly workers in 28 states. Assistant managers who filed suit in Michigan and California, seeking back pay and damages say they spend much of their days on the same tasks assigned to hourly employees entitled to overtime.
It's obvious at this point that Wal-Mart has a corporate culture devoted to low costs no matter the... costs.
Posted by sam at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)
US intelligence fears Iran duped hawks into Iraq war
US intelligence fears Iran duped hawks into Iraq war [from bubblegeneration]:
Larry Johnson, a former senior counter-terrorist official at the state department, said: "When the story ultimately comes out we'll see that Iran has run one of the most masterful intelligence operations in history. They persuaded the US and Britain to dispose of its greatest enemy."
Posted by sam at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)
I live in the City of Evil
I just found out that Ithaca is the "City of Evil." In retrospect it's obvious, of course.
Posted by sam at 09:35 AM | Comments (1)
May 20, 2004
Cellular directory
Coming Soon: A Cellphone Directory:
After years of anonymity, the numbers of most of the nation's mobile phones will be compiled later this year in the first wireless directory.
...
It's also a big money issue for an industry suffering through brutal price wars. A wireless directory could generate as much as $3 billion a year in fees and additional minutes by 2009, according to a study conducted by consulting firm Zelos Group Inc.
Can you think of anything the industry could do that would anger customers more? Wait - don't answer that... these are cellular carriers we're talking about.
At least our trusted leadership is on the case:
"I don't want the world to know my cellphone number," said Rep. Joseph R. Pitts (R-Pa.), who has introduced a bill to prevent wireless phone companies from automatically including customers in the directory without getting their permission and from charging customers if they want unlisted numbers.
I'm tired of Big Co's making money off of my personal info. 5% of the value of cell phones is that Linda Cooper the-robot-voice-that-used-to-call-our-house-back-in-the-dark-ages-when-we-had-a-land-line can't call me. Don't take that away.
Posted by sam at 01:43 PM | Comments (0)
May 19, 2004
The Church of Fools (really)
Virtual Devils Curse Internet Church:
The world's first Internet church has fallen victim to a plague of virtual demons, some of whom have been logging on as Satan and unleashing strings of expletives during sermons.
Posted by sam at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)
So long Verizon
I cancelled our local phone service today. Total waste of money.
Send an email if you need my cell phone number.
Posted by sam at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2004
What price would gasoline have to hit for you to change your driving habits?
From a WSJ survey (sub req'd) today. I'm surprised to see 56% have already changed their behavior or would change above $3 per gallon.
Posted by sam at 07:03 PM | Comments (0)
May 16, 2004
Wee Stinky Glen
One of our favorite places on campus is Wee Stinky Glen. It's an isolated spot right between my school and Breean's job. Surrounded by trees.
I don't know if it's named after a rich alumnus but I have to thank whoever is responsible for it.
Posted by sam at 01:26 PM | Comments (3)
May 13, 2004
Current weather
72° and 73% humidity right now. It feels 10° hotter than that inside. I can't take it.
Posted by sam at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)
End of year self reflection
Something I've learned about myself this year is that the visual presentation of information is something I care more about and happen to be better at than many of my classmates. For that I think I have to thank my mom.
Posted by sam at 07:28 PM | Comments (2)
Sam's third b-school lesson
If you forget to bring a calculator to an accounting final, you can always use the one built in your cell phone.
Posted by sam at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2004
UFOs
Mexican Air Force Pilots Film 11 UFOs. Watch the video.
Posted by sam at 06:33 AM | Comments (1)
May 11, 2004
Say goodbye to the phone company
In this day and age, could one get rid of local phone service? We're paying about $150 per month for internet access + two cell phones, do we really need the extra $25 to Verizon for a phone line we hardly ever use?
My first choice would be to switch to free pc-based services like Skype and (shameless plug) SightSpeed, but somehow I doubt that the same people who insist on calling our home line rather than a cell phone (read: family) will start using these.
The best choice seems to be voice over ip service from Vonage or Packet8. They'll send you a little box that plugs into your home network, and you plug any standard phone into that little box.
Sometimes you can even keep your phone number. Calls to other subscribers of the same service are free and the low cost plans allow about 500 nationwide minutes for $15 - $20 per month.
Vonage claims that we can keep our current phone number - I'm going to look into it.
Posted by sam at 10:28 AM | Comments (3)
May 10, 2004
Clinton coming to Cornell
I found out today that Bill Clinton will be speaking at Cornell the day before commencement. It's the day before my flight out to Cali, maybe we'll go if there's time.
Posted by sam at 06:56 PM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2004
The newest b-school look
If you've ever wondered what I might look like with a goatee, wearing a beater and a gold chain, this is it. We had a mustache party last night and the goatee came off, leaving only the Matt Dillon-in-There's Something About Mary/used car salesman look. See that over at 18% miscellaneous.
Posted by sam at 12:47 PM | Comments (11)
Britney Spears - In The Zone
Breean's not going to like this, but I have to say that I really like Britney's latest cd, In The Zone. I'm not a big fan of her earlier 'art' but this one has a great sound. I like the fifth track, Early Morning; the sixth track that's getting all the airplay (Breean really hates this one, haha), Toxic; and the 11th, Brave New Girl. Madonna's appearance on the first and last songs doesn't hurt.
Posted by sam at 12:11 PM | Comments (4)
May 06, 2004
Global Warming's Bottom Line
Global Warming's Bottom Line (thanks mom!):
JUST AS ENRON and other off-sheet accounting debacles spelled disaster for many US investors, evidence shows that global warming could do the same. Without aggressive action to reduce the financial risks that global warming poses for companies, trillions of dollars of Americans' investments, many of them controlled here in Boston, will be jeopardized.
...
Worldwide insurance claims for extreme weather events and disasters like drought and forest fires have jumped tenfold in the last 40 years, hitting $55 billion in 2002. So serious is this issue that the world's second-largest reinsurer, Swiss Re, is telling its corporate clients to come up with strategies for handling global warming or risk losing their liability coverage.
Posted by sam at 06:31 PM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2004
Trump the chump
Trump Still a Chump (thanks Cookie!). His "penny-stock empire" lost $1.63 per share last quarter, and closed at $1.80 on Friday. Meanwhile he paid himself $1.87 million last year. If I was a shareholder, I'd sue.
And I won't be buying any of his books (not that I would have anyway).
Posted by sam at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)
Comment mystery
Just got this comment about national peanut butter lovers day:
NaTiOnAL pEaNuT DaY iS oFf ThA cHAiN!!! HoLLeR BaCk AtChA GuRL!Any idea what it means?
Posted by sam at 09:51 PM | Comments (0)
May 03, 2004
DivX Networks
DivX Networks raised a $7 million series C at a pre-money valuation of $100 million. Two things come to mind:
- Maybe I shouldn't have turned down an interview there in 2000 to work at Code Ventures.
- Welcome to bubble 2.0.
Posted by sam at 12:08 PM | Comments (0)
May 02, 2004
The great bumblebee massacre of 2004
There are currently no fewer than seven dead bumblebees on our porch. What could have killed them?
Thank you spelling police! Now I know how to spell massacre.
Posted by sam at 04:46 PM | Comments (2)
"Thank you, unbiased stranger!"
Dilbert is great today.
Posted by sam at 09:01 AM | Comments (0)