New oil record - $138.54 / barrel

I've been home from California for about five or six weeks. I've been watching oil climb in price over the past little bit and this is just plain and absolutely ridiculous. Oil jumped on the following news:

"Oil jumped following a Morgan Stanley analyst's forecast of $150 oil by July 4, and in response to a drop in the dollar and fresh tensions in the Middle East."

( http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080606/wall_street.html )

Because some bozo at Morgan Stanley said that it will go to $150 by the fourth of July, the market jumps. What kind of crap is that? Who is this guy? What is going on here? I don't buy into the whole oil shortage argument. I see the price pressure being caused by speculators. People who are dumping their money into oil. Just like houses, this bubble is going to pop. And I'll be glad when it does indeed pop. And I'm sure the rest of the world will also cheer when the oil bubble bursts.

Last Sunday I did something that I've never done before. I sat down and wrote a letter to President Bush. You might ask, why send a letter to the President of the United States about the price of a barrel of oil? What are you thinking? He can't do anything about it? Or can he? Maybe he can. Maybe he can't. But he needs to feel the heat that the common American is feeling about the increase in gas prices. I wrote the letter because I feel part of the problem is that the United States does not have a comprehensive energy policy. If the US had a comprehensive energy policy, then I think the price of oil would go down. Why? Because here is what I suggested in my letter:

The US needs a three tier energy policy. Short-term goals, mid-term goals and long-term goals to help get the price of oil down.

Short-term goals:

• Open up drilling for oil and natural gas in ANWR (Alaska)
• Open up drilling in other locations that are currently prohibited from drilling
• Create incentives so that people will convert their vehicles to compressed natural gas (CNG).
• Encourage businesses to allow people to telecommute
• Create incentives for people to car pool

Mid-term goals:

• Research alternate fuels
• Build more mass transit
• Build geothermal power plants
• Build solar power plants
• Build wind power plants

Long-term goals:

• Build nuclear reactors
• Use fuel cells in automobiles
• Move away from the use of fossil fuels and more to renewable fuels
  
• Etc., etc., etc.

Biofuels (ethanol) are a mistake. They are driving up the price of corn in American and the world. The amount of corn it takes to fill one SUV's gas take can feed one person for a year. That isn't a very wise use of corn. I'd rather eat it than burn it in my car. Fuel made from things we can't/won't eat are OK. But don't use my food to propel my car.

Why will this work? Because if the President can sell the idea that there will be more oil out there on the market in a fairly short amount of time, the price of oil will drop. It has to. People are freaking out about oil. They are dropping money in it. In my opinion, the price is frothing. It is insane. People are going crazy. You drop a comprehensive energy policy on top of that stating that we will have more oil shortly and now the nation as a whole will move away from oil, that will cause these guys to lock in their profits and sell like crazy. The price will have to drop. But the comprehensive energy policy needs to be implemented or the whole feeding frenzy will reoccur at some future time again. And in all honestly, we should probably start moving away from oil quickly. The faster we move away, the better off we'll be. Why? So that we aren't dependent upon foreign oil. So we can quit funding terrorist nations like Iran. So we don't get screwed again by a major oil increase.

You'll notice that I put nukes here as something we should use. The US Navy uses nuclear power to power their submarines and aircraft carriers. Those are safe and efficient. Let's use nuclear power to split water molecules so that we can use the hydrogen to propel our fuel cell cars. If you are opposed to nukes, then use solar power. I really don't care. But use something to power the water molecule splitting so that we can use hydrogen.

Anyway, that's my proposal to President Bush. I think it would be a great thing for him to do. He's a lame duck President anyway. It would push the whole energy crisis into the 2008 election as a campaign issue. I don't know what Senator Obama's plans are for energy. Senator McCain's solution is to repeal the federal tax on gas. Ooooohhh. That's original and exciting... NOT! C'mon guys!! Let's get real here. Suspending the federal gas tax is like putting a band-aid onto an amputated person's leg right after surgery. It just won't help solve the underlying problem. Someone needs to take the energy bull by the horns and tame it. And it sounds like a great job for the President. So Mr. President, we're waiting....

Signed,
Tom

Time flies when you're busy

Two weeks from today is my wife's birthday. Two weeks from today I will be home with my family. I actually leave Cali on April 25th, so I have less than two weeks of my training left to do. Its hard to believe that the time went by so fast. The month of March I went home three times. The company paid for two of those trips. I paid for the third trip home. Since I'm not made of money, I decided to stay here and not go home until the end of April. I think that is better. It doesn't freak out my kids and I'm not so homesick.

So, how has it been? Busy. Stressful. If none of you have ever done technical support of a product that is mission critical, you don't know stress. Today was a good day. I took care of several people. Got them all fixed up. Its a good feeling. I was able to actually get caught up on my work. Last week was nuts. Slammed to the hilt. Today wasn't so bad. I've been told that later in the month it will get busier. I don't doubt it.

So when you're busy, time flies. That has been so very true. The days I'm busy, time goes fast. It doesn't drag on. You don't get bored. Its when you don't have anything constructive to do that time drags. And drags. And drags.

UPDATE: I'm finishing this blog entry out on April 22. I go home in three days!! Yea! I really can't wait to go home.

Married, but single

Strange posting, I know. That is the only way I can describe my current situation. I'm married. Heck, I'm married with half a dozen kids. But yet I live alone in a 700 square foot condo in Silicon Valley hundreds of miles away from my family. I have a sister that is married. She lives in Texas. Her husband lives in California. They see each other about once a month or so. Now I understand to a small degree how she lives her life. I don't care for it much. I prefer my six noisy kids and my beautiful wife to solitude. Solitude will come with time when the children move away and I become older and (hopefully) wiser. Then it will be my wife and I. The children probably will not be gone until 2022 or 2027. That's a long time away.

Today was my first day on the phones. I took three calls in a three hour period of time and I closed two of those three calls. It was a good day. I'm glad to be here and contributing to the cause.

California

The summer of 1989 was the last time I spent any considerable time in California. In 1989 I sold books for Eagle Marketing. They sold illustrated scriptures with cassette tapes to families. I did OK, but other guys on my team did a lot better than I did.

Now I'm back in California for some training. The last time I was here, California didn't seem like it was that much different than the rest of the country. But this time around, there are some noticeable differences. Bottled water seems to be out. Instead, drink water from a tap. People are a lot more conscientious about recycling, good gas mileage, mass transit, turning off equipment when not in use. I have seen more Toyota Prius cars here in my short two weeks than I have in my entire life. Businesses have multiple garbage cans so that recyclable materials can be placed in bins that get recycled. Its amazing how people are conscious about recycling, about using more fuel efficient cars, etc. I'm not an avid recycler, but it is refreshing to see that kind of an attitude make its way into a society that accepts and encourages recycling.

My first photo sale

Last year I purchased my first real digital camera. I've taken approximately 5,500 photos in the eight months or so that I've had the camera. One of my friends suggested that I submit my photos to an online, royalty-free, stock photography web site. So I decided to take him up on the offer and I did. The website is www.istockphoto.com . Well, I uploaded one photo and nothing happened. I uploaded two more photos and nothing happened. I got busy doing the job interview thing and ignored my photo portfolio. Well, I checked it a few weeks ago and I actually sold a photo! Yea! And I checked again today and I sold another photo! Double yea! So how much money have I made selling photos? Well, about four bucks and some change. I know. Its not a lot of money. But I only have three photos. And the site has millions of photographs for people to choose from. Its a psychological "high" that you get when someone thinks your photograph is good enough to purchase and use in whatever way they deem. Perhaps its being purchased as an example of how NOT to take a picture. Hopefully not. Hopefully the photos will be put to good use.

A new job...

Right now I'm sitting in a one bedroom condo in San Jose, California. No kids. No wife. Just the three of us - me, myself, and I - are sitting here with my laptop blogging away. What am I doing in California? Well, a couple of weeks ago I quit my job with my former employer to take on the same position (tech support engineer) for a firm based in California. I was with my former employer for eight years and a month and some change, but who's counting anyway, right? My former employer has struggled for years. The last couple of layoffs at the company were a little scary. So I decided to look for other opportunities. The amazing thing is that when you start looking for another job, you usually find one. So how did I get here? Here's the story....

Backup to October 2007. My former employer was in the throws of their annual layoffs. I happened to be in Wal-Mart when I bumped into another former employee of my former employer in the store. We talked for several minutes and I told him what was going on. He said that his current employer was hiring and they were growing like crazy. So I decided to send him my resume. Well, one thing lead to another and I got a new job, leaving my old job far behind. Was it hard to change jobs? Absolutely!! When you've been with a company for 8+ years, you start to have a lot of friends and feelings about the place. I knew a lot of people in the support organization that I worked in. I had won awards for doing a job well done. I had sacrificed being with my family for the fourth of July one year to go onsite to Belfast, Ireland to take care of a large customer. So I had plenty of skin invested in my employer.

But the company changed in the eight years I was there. The benefits slowly began to erode. Annual pay increases turned into semi-annual (every two years, not every six months) raises ("Just be grateful you have a job....." was the quote from my boss one year when I didn't get a raise). Bonuses and other fun stuff dried up and went away. And then came the outsourcing. Jobs moving from the States to India. And not just development jobs, but support jobs. I knew when that happened it wasn't a matter of if, but when. When would I be disposed of like a used Kleenex (I'd use another metaphor but I may offend), cast off like 70's fashion? (Wait... 70's fashion is back in fashion!) When would my number be drawn and when would I be asked to leave? I decided that I didn't want to be left hanging, so I started taking things into my own hands. No better way to shape my destiny than to decide to shape it myself. Yes, to a small degree, you do control your destiny. You don't and won't get everything you want (I'm still waiting to get my Corvette), but you can control what you do and what you spend your time, talents, energy, and money on. And when you focus your energy on change, change does indeed come.

So with the writing clearly written on the wall, I made my quest to search for new employment. It was in the midst of this quest that I ran into my friend at Wal-Mart last October. I had applied for and interviewed for one other job. This was the second job that I applied for and I got the job. Yes, I was extremely blessed. And yes, I did feel the hand of Divine Providence in my life as He took care of me like no one else ever could. And yes, I openly acknowledge my faith and belief in a God and His divine nature. And He cared enough about me to take care of me and my family in our needs. I am truly blessed and cannot complain.

My new job requires that I spend three months in California being trained. Hence the one bedroom condo in Cali. I get to fly home once a month to spend the weekend with my wife and children. I've installed Skype on my home computer and my laptop. And I've spent considerable time watching and talking to them over Skype. Its fun to see them. We've even had family prayer a few times. So we're able to be a family as much as possible. But to say that's its hard to be away from them is the understatement of the year. My wife comes out to California for President's day weekend. I can't wait until she arrives. Once you've been married, it sucks being alone again. But I take it a day at a time. I try to stay busy. I'm exercising about 15 - 30 minutes a day.

Well, I've got to get into bed. I need to get to work early in the morning.

Oil at $100 per barrel

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Nothing rings in the new year like oil hitting an all time record of $100 per barrel. So what's driving up the price of oil? Speculators and speculators and, let me see, speculators. Yes, demand is high and supply is tight. And yes, there are problems out there. But the oil is still flowing. There haven't been any real shortages like there were in the 80's when oil hit $40 a barrel. If there were real shortages, the US government would release oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to help meet those shortages. That's what they did for Katrina and Rita a few years ago. I think there is this fear factor in the oil business that something is going to come in and whack supply without affecting demand and that is causing oil prices to spike. OPEC announces that they won't be able to meet their share of global demand by 2024. Hmmmm.... That's like 16 years away. The higher cost of oil is dampening demand. I know that I don't drive near a much now as I used to. Sooner or later we'll experience stagflation (this same economic situation happened in the 80s), the economy will tank, and demand for oil will drop like a rock. And the price of oil will drop as well. But until the US and worldwide economies cool down enough, oil won't plunge. And we'll all be held hostage by increased oil prices, which in turn raise the price for everything else that we consume. Have you noticed the price of food lately? Can you say sticker shock?

And yes, it doesn't help when the dollar is at an all-time low against practically every major currency in the world, and that is caused by lower interest rates here in the States. But still, I don't think half a percent drop in the interest rates in the States would have this profound effect on oil prices.

So I'll sit and wait. I'll wait for the economy to cool. I'll wait for the speculators to get burned. Because they are burning everyone else right now. They are making some incredible money right now, but eventually normalcy will return. One good thing that this has done is it has caused people to purchase more fuel efficient automobiles. It has caused Congress to pass new mileage standards for automobiles. This is a good thing.

Again, Happy New Year! Have you hugged your oil speculator lately? ;-)

'Tis the Season to be . . .

jolly. Broke. Cold. Enlightened. Pick one. Or add one to it.

Two days ago was Christmas. My wife and I decided earlier in the season to not go into debt to pay for Christmas. For the most part, we did pretty good on that decision. I think we only put about $150.00 on a credit card for the two of us and six kids. And that will be paid off the next time I get paid. The rest of Christmas was paid in cash. Thank goodness I got a year end bonus from my employer, or life would have been very bleak. So, what did we end up getting the kids? Here's a run down of presents:

* 1 Nintendo Wii, a few games, an extra controller, numchuck and some Wii points. I paid full retail (considering that a lot of other people were paying several hundred dollars above retail for the console) for the game console. I bought it at the end of October from Amazon.com. The Wii and assorted games went to my three oldest kids.

* Geo Tracks Grand Central station for one of my boys.

* A bicycle for another boy.

* Nerf "you'll shoot your eye out" dart guns for another boy. This one reminds me a lot of myself when I grew up as a kid. Scary.

* New denim pants (blue jeans) for the wife along with movie tickets and gift certificates to our favorite local Chinese restaurant. Enough movie passes and gift certs for two dates.

* A shirt, tie and a bench press set (need some free weights) for me. Its sad to say, but I'm getting very fat and flabby in my older age. I need to tone down.


The kids were absolutely estatic about their presents. I must admit that I enjoyed playing on the Wii as much as they did. I'm utterly amazed at how Nintendo revolutionized game play with their game console. I'm even more amazed at how popular their gaming console is. I thought after being out for a year that demand would finally relent. Well, not the case for the Wii. I was in one store a few days before Christmas and I stumbled upon newly arrived Wiis. That is the only time since their release that I've ever seen one in a store. Crazy. Anyway, the thing is fun to play. I played boxing within the Wii Sports with my son. My arms are actually sore from the game play. So if this fat guy can get some exercise from playing the game, then this thing isn't such a bad thing after all.

Today, I am lucky to be alive

I am lucky to be here writing in my blog and not in a hospital room or worse, in a morgue. Tom, what is up? And why are you saying that? Well, I am part of a van pool. Today there happened to be seven of us in the van. One of my collegues was driving and I was in the front passenger seat. We had been in the van on the road for about five minutes or so when all of a sudden the driver slams on the brakes and says, "Holy Crap! Holy Crap! HOLY CRAP!". I was not paying attention when this happened and I looked up to see this Isuzu Rodeo rolling (vehicles are not meant to roll) and rolling and rolling... He rolled on the right side (northbound) median, rolled through a fence and finally rolled to rest on the tires on the frontage road next to the freeway. The van stopped. I got out and ran to the Isuzu Rodeo (or what was left of it). I didn't know what to expect. I did not see the driver ejected during the rolling action. The two things going through my mind were - 1.) Is the driver dead or alive (do we need to get an ambulance ASAP)? 2.) Is the vehicle leaking gasoline and will it explode and burn the vehicle and occupant? I'm the first person over to the vehicle (there were other people coming up quickly) and the man was still alive. Whew!! He looked stunned/dazed, but he was alive. He was strapped into his seat with his seat belt. His seat belt saved this man's life. I walked around the vehicle a bit and did not smell any gasoline. Other people who walked/ran up talked to and worked with the driver. Several people called 911. Because he was not in any imminent danger, we left him strapped into his seat in the vehicle. Within about five or ten minutes the police were on the scene. And about five minutes after that the ambulance and fire department were there. The fire department looked like they were using the jaws of life to extricate the man out of his vehicle

I looked around the man's Rodeo. There is a two pound bag of white flour that had come out of a sack that hit the pavement and had partially ruptured, spilling flour over the road. The hood of the vehicle was gone, exposing the engine. The windshield was shattered, but still somewhat attached to the vehicle. On the ground were coins, personal belongings, various vehicle parts, etc. It was a debris field that was scattered over about 100 feet or so. Back at the interstate there were huge black marks where the Rodeo landed. There were gouge marks in the asphault where the rims dug into the asphault, and a chunk of asphault came off the road.

So, what happened? Since this happened around 7:35 AM, I am guessing the man fell asleep at the wheel. He was traveling southbound on I-15. He crossed the median, did a Dukes of Hazzard leap across the left lane of northbound I-15, landed on the right lane of I-15 and then he started to roll his Isuzu Rodeo. I honestly don't know how many times the vehicle rolled. Watching the vehicle roll, it sure seemed like it rolled a lot with stuff coming out like crazy. My guess is at a minimum eight rolls, probably more than that.

Once the police and fire department showed up, we packed up and drove into work. It wasn't until I arrived to work that I realized what had just taken place. Had we been driving just a tad be faster and had been on the road two or three seconds ahead, the outcome would have been much different. Had we been two or three seconds ahead, he would have crashed into our van, potentially killing myself, the driver and other passengers in the van. If we weren't dead, we would have been in the hospital. Luckily, no one else was at the location where the other vehicle landed and it ended up just a single vehicle accident. But nonetheless, it makes you sit and wonder. It makes you appreciate your life. It makes you think about if your personal affairs are in order. Are you "ready to die"? I personally think that the seven of us in the van today were taken care of by a higher power, that our lives were spared. And I am ever so grateful that my life was spared earlier this morning and not taken.

Stock market melt down - August 9, 2007

If you eat too much, you get fat and you die. If you drink too much, you kill your brain and your liver and you die. If you drive to fast, you get pulled over, you're given a ticket (and even possibly hauled off to jail), and you eventually loose your license. Game over.

So, how many credit card offers have you received in the last week? I think we average one or two credit card offers per day. We went on vacation last month. We were gone for about 10 days. When we picked up our mail from the post office, there were approximately 20 credit card offers or second mortgage offers, or "convenience checks" (convenient for who?) that were mailed to us during that period of time. There were two or three from Washington Mutual. There were probably six or more from Chase (I'll never do business with them ever again). There were convenience checks from other people I do business with. Blah, blah, blah...

OK, I understand why we receive all these offers. I pay our bills on time. We're never late to pay on our debt. But what would happen if I started to apply for all these credit cards and I started to use them? I would get to a point where I could not keep up on my payments. Just the minimum payments. I would fall behind. And I would become delinquent. My delinquency would lower my credit score. The "easy" credit cards would go away. If it got really bad, I could loose my house and become homeless. OUCH!

I feel like the banks that issue credit cards are like drug dealers. Instead of being on a street corner trying to entice you to do illegal drugs, they are trying to push easy money. Everyone does it. Practically every store has some sort of credit available so that people can buy on time. Here is the problem.... They don't warn you about paying the money back. Or they advertise low payments (You can pay $15/month for the rest of your life!) that go on forever.

I remember when I was a kid it was cool to smoke. (Tom, what does smoking have to do with credit card offers. Give me a minute and I'll do the tie-in...) Everyone smoked. Then some research was done on the effects of cigarette smoke on the human body. The Surgeon General has been putting warning labels on cigarette packages for years. I remember as a kid reading the warning label: "Warning: The Surgeon General has determined that cigarette smoking is hazardous to your health." Hmmm..... That doesn't sound good, does it. But people still do it. Some people get away with it. Most people end of dieing from cigarettes in some form or another. If there are such dire warnings, then why do people continue to smoke? Because they gain pleasure from smoking. Besides, the effects from smoking won't happen for years to come. BUT, there has been a change in people's perceptions about smokers. Non-smokers have become annoyed. They have legislated that non-smokers should not have to bear the unwanted smelly second-hand smoke. There have been advertising campaigns against smoking. And people are quitting. Fewer people smoke today than they did 30 or 40 years ago.

I believe that easy money is bad for our economy, just like cigarette smoking is hazardous to our health. Maybe, just maybe, businesses should put warnings on credit card applications: "Warning: The Federal Reserve has determined that too much revolving debt can be fatal to your credit rating. It can lead to bankruptcy and foreclosure on your home. You can become homeless because you're buying on time. If you fail to make timely payments, your financial life will be ruined." Then there should be a spot to initial next to it indicating that you have read the and understand the stern warning you've been given.

________ (Please initial here): I understand the above credit card warning. I understand that if I fail to pay my debts that my financial life will be miserable. I will pay more for my car and house loans. I will pay more for home and auto insurance.

Or maybe credit card issuers should be required to send out a one or two page pamphlet that enumerates the consequences of too much credit. There could be a debt prevention hot line that people can call to talk them out of using their credit cards. Or maybe we should create public service announcements that tell people to not do drugs, err.. I mean to not use credit. Right now there is no social stigma against those who are in debt and those who go bankrupt. There used to be, but that stigma has gone away. That stigma needs to come back. People need to learn to save before they buy. It worked for smokers, so it should work for credit card-aholics.

Will there be opposition? You betcha! Big tobacco fought long and hard that their products were not addictive or that they caused bodily harm. That was an enormous fight. But we won. Credit card issuers have really, REALLY deep pockets. The fight to curb consumer debt will be huge. Bigger than big tobacco. So the financial institutions will fight to keep these measures away from the consumer. Will it be work the fight? I think so. Our society's debt will be a hinderance on our financial institutions. One good jolt and the nations largest banks can and will fail...

So the next time you receive that credit card application in the mail for that shiney new credit card, ask yourself if you think its worth it. Chances are, you won't think that it is.