In April of ought six, I pondered two options for saving for my kids’ college: the 529-plan I have and Washingon State’s 529 program, Guaranteed Education Tuition (“GET“). At the time, I concluded my existing 529 would have a better expected return because the expected returns over my relatively short investment horizon (10 years) would […]
Get versus 529 redux Read More »
Judging from the number of email solicitations from complete strangers to “schedule an appointment” I’ve been receiving, my business email address is ensconced in some marketing database. Below is an example that struck me as How Not To Do This Sort Of Thing. Snarky comments are inline in [red]. Subject: Would like to connect with
Buzzword bullet shotgun Read More »
Woodstock wrote about the Green Dilemma earlier this week. I thought I’d pick off a couple of cases and work through the math parts to determine if savings would really be economic savings. Case 1: consider my 15 year-old Kitchenaid top-freezer with an ice maker. The Kitchenaid Marketing Literature says the technology has improved: if you’re
Taking the motivational page from Glengarry, Glen Ross (link goes to Alec Baldwin’s best role) one further? First prize: Cadillac El Dorado. Second prize: a set of steak knives. Third prize: you’re water boarded. Yet, strangely, this made Fake Steve visiting the used car dealer even better.
Demotivational Coaching Read More »
I found out that the North American Handmade Bicycle Show was being held in Portland. I ♥ Portland. I ♥ bike pr0n. The combination? Day trip! (Note: If you’d just prefer to skip ahead to the gallery, click here.) Portland’s about a 3 1/2 hour fugly drive down Interstate 5. For a day trip, that’s
NSFW (Not Safe For Wallet) Read More »
I started receiving three of “invitations” from spock.com on behalf of former coworkers: “Hi Jim Carson, [former coworker] has invited you to join their Trust Network on Spock. Click here to get started. Spock is a people search application for finding anyone in the world. Your Trust Network helps Spock tailor search for people you
Another blast from the past, and one leading me to realize I have a lot more cleanin’ to be doin’, was finding this pair of trade show badges being used as bookmarks. These are from a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, when I worked in a completely different industry than
Supreme Galactic Commander Read More »
Last Thursday I took a half day off from work to attend a seminar held by UW’s “Center for Innovation and Entreprenurship.” The seminar featured three presenters, a three-panel forum, and a reception. Below the fold are my notes and quick thoughts.
Reality Entrepreneurship Read More »