Tom's World

long term stock investing

2009-03-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

I remember in 2000 when I got my first job out of college and I looked over my 401K benefits material. It had a lot of info on the kind of investments you should have and it said especially as a young person you should have lots invested in stocks. It said the longer the period you are looking to invest for, the more you should invest in stocks. I figured a decade most people who invested in stocks would better off 10 years down the road.

Well, around that time the Dow Jones Industrial was at almost 12000 and the S&P 500 was at about 1500. Today almost a decade later both indexes are well below those levels with the Dow in the 7000 range and the S&P around 800. So basically both are over 30% below their 2000 highs. Think about it, if you had $10,000 invested in stocks in 2000 you would have been better off putting $8000 under your mattress and spending the rest on booze, gambling and strippers than you would have investing in the stock market for the last decade. That is kind of sad.

oil hype2

2008-12-07T13:30:00.001-08:00

A few posts ago in the summer I said in this blog that oil prices were too high. I don't want to say I told you so because even though I had thought oil prices would drop a good amount, I had no idea they would plummet to $40 a barrel! I can't believe that the same gas stations that I was paying $4.20/gallon at a few months ago now I'm paying $1.80. I know the financial crisis and a pending global recession are a big cause but who would have thought this summer that gas would be below $2 and a barrel of oil below $50 by the end of the year.

Schuykill River Trail

2008-09-02T11:18:00.001-07:00

Over the past few years I've used the Schuylkill river trail for recreational purposes, but over this past summer I've used probably more than the previous 5 years combined.
Ever since I moved to Conshohocken at the beginning of this year I have started riding my bike a lot more than I ever have in my life. I pretty much ride at least a couple of times a week depending on weather and my schedule. There is one main reason for this, and it's the Schuylkill river trail. Since the trail is right out my front door it gives me little excuse not too ride my bike. I've been riding enough where I can get to center city near the art museum area
going eastbound,(about 10 miles from my apt one way) and Valley Forge park going west bound (also about 10 miles). For shorter rides I'll go to Manayunk which is about a 5 mile ride or the Norristown area. I also have 2 friends who live very close to the trail at different points on the trail so sometime I'll stop by there to take a break. The trail is very nice and follows many miles along the river.
http://www.schuylkillriver.org/Detail.aspx?id=548

Conshohocken fire

2008-08-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

I've had quite an experience the last few days due to a major fire at my apartment complex in Conshohocken PA which caused me to be displaced for awhile. After a 4 day hiatus I got to return to my apartment on Sunday while many others in my apartment complex will not be able to return due to the massive damage. I don't know what the long term future for me holds living here. I would like to live here but think it may become a ghost town as many residents leave and very few are going to want to move in.

oil hype

2008-06-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

As oil is now over $130/barrel there is lots of news about oil prices in recent months but I think this is going to be another bubble that has occurred over the past decade. Here are the others:

1) In 1999 everybody was into stock investing as the stock market was giving 20% plus annual returns. The hottest thing was new internet stocks. Many of them doubled in value in less than a year. The common person started owning stocks and CNBC was a big hit. Yes the internet was the new thing and internet companies had a lot of potential but nothing could justify the huge run up in their stock price. Of course after 2000 the stock market dropped especially the Nasdaq and today, 8 years later, out of the major indexes the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are still below their 2000 highs and the Dow Jones Industrial is just barely above.

2) in 2004-2005 everybody was getting into real estate and housing prices were appreciating 10, 20, even in some places 30% a year. People were buying homes that they could not afford and home building/decorating shows became hits. Yes, interest rates were low and the economy was healthy so housing prices should have gone up a little, but the run up in house prices was out of control. Over the last year or two house prices have leveled off and in many places have dropped. It will probably a rough near future for housing market with many parts of the country prices staying flat or falling for many years to come.

3) Now the price of oil has doubled in a year and is over 5 times what it was just a few years ago. Yes there is more demand from around the world as many countries (particularly China and India) have rapidly growing economies. Yes, there are supply and demand reasons why oil should rise, but does it justify the price of a barrel to double in a year? I don't think so.

All 3 things are examples of speculators driving up the price of something to such high levels that it causes the prices to drop because they simply got to be too high. All 3 have justifications to go up in the long term but little justification to go up as much as they did in the short term.

Pennsylvania in center of it all

2008-04-20T12:39:00.001-07:00

Although, I wouldn't go as far as to call myself a political junkie, nor do I passionately support either democratic candidate, it's kind of exciting to have Pennsylvania be in the center of the political universe for the past month and especially the past few days and next 48 hours. Every 4 years there is always focus on Iowa and New Hampshire, now for the 1st time in a long time all the focus is on Pennsylvania. The candidates and their surrogates are in the Philly area pretty much every day and there are tons of national media all over the place. Even local politicians like Governor Rendell and Mayor Nutter are on national programs news programs like 'Meet the Press' and 'Face the Nation'. Lots of news programs talk about the PA economy and give all kinds of demographic data about the state. A lot of people outside the state (or even in the state) have learned a lot more about Pennsylvania over the past month. I'm sure some people are already tired of all the campaigning, but it will seem kind of weird next week when I turn on a news network and nobody is talking about the PA primary.

100,000 miles

2008-04-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

I know nobody on the planet cares about this other than me but this past week my Nissan Sentra hit 100,000 miles. Since it happened when i was parking my car at home, I took a picture since it's probably the most significant milestone in the history of your vehicle. Of those 100k miles other then a few when i let my friends drive pretty much every mile was put on with me behind the wheel. Now that the car is at 100k it's slowly becoming time to start looking for a new car.

Sixers

2008-03-15T06:38:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest surprises so far in 2008 is how well the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team is doing. I thought they would be really bad this year and as of today they are 32-34 and would be a 7 seed if the playoffs started today. Granted that isn't a very good record for a lot of teams, but did anybody expect the Sixers to be doing this well this late in the season? Although there is still a month left in the regular season and a lot of things can happen, I hope they do make the playoffs, which will make watching the NBA playoffs much more interesting.

Feb 29th

2008-02-28T19:47:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is going to be a rare day, a day that only happens once every 4 years. Maybe I'll save the date from my calendar at work. I wonder when people who were born on Feb 29th celebrate their birthdays on non leap years. Is it on Feb 28th or March 1st? Anyways, I'm going to enjoy my extra day of 2008 tomorrow and I hope everybody does too.

Iowa and New Hampshire

2008-01-03T18:40:00.000-08:00

I never understood why the Iowa caucases and the New Hampshire Primaries are such as big deal. I know they are the first ones, and often candidates that do well there build momentum and gain more media attention. However, both state are very small. They have no large cities. They aren't very racially/ethnically diverse. The population of Iowa is about 3 million, the population of New Hampshire is about 1.3 million. If you consider that the US has 300 million people so only a little over 1% of the population is in these states. So much attention for such as small portion of the country. So to me (and I'm sure lots of other people too) all the media attention on these 2 states is way overrated.

Christmas videos on MTV and VH1

2007-12-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

It seems like only 5-10 years ago every Christmas eve, and Christmas day both MTV and VH1 would play almost nothing but Christmas videos. Sadly this Christmas I flipped channels hoping to catch a xmas video and all I saw was reruns or marathons of stupid reality shows. Not saying that these reality shows are bad, i'm sure some of them i've watched before, but come on it's Christmas, play some Christmas videos. So I'd like to give a big F U to Viacom for not playing Christmas videos this holiday season on either of their 'music' stations.

what happened to fall?

2007-12-02T10:23:00.001-08:00

Seems there was not fall this year, or just a very short one. We went from 70's and 80's in October to 30's and 40's in Nov and early Dec. I guess I can't compain though since Sep and Oct were such nice weather months. This winter has had a different start than last year when it was a very mild December from what I recall.

text messaging like a teenage girl

2007-11-04T15:12:00.000-08:00

Gradually over the last few years I've gone from maybe sending/receving 10 text messages a month to now about 200-300 month. Before I only used it at loud places and it took forever to write a sentence but now I use it all the time, and am much faster at my text message writing. I've looked at my cell phone bills and now I definitely do more texting then calling. It's one of those things that was so gradual that I can't really pin point when I started to text.

White House hottie

2007-10-09T16:37:00.001-07:00

Watching White House press conferences just got a lot more fun to watch. New White House press secratery Dana Perino is quite the hottie.

Best Weather Month Ever

2007-10-02T19:28:00.000-07:00

I think the last month or so has been the best weather I have ever seen in my life. Every day has been in the 70's and 80's in the Philly area with almost no rain, and only a few of the days have been humid. I've watched very little football so far this season since it's so nice outside I feel guilty spending my Sat and Sunday afternoons watching TV.

Iraq war

2007-09-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

When it comes to the war in Iraq there is always a lot of spin. People who are against the war say things are horrible, and point to the contast bloodshed 5 years into a war. People who are more supportive of the war say things are going well, that civilian casualties are down and that former insurgents are now fighting Al Queda.
However, it's hard to spin raw numbers and facts, and if you look at troop casualties counts in 2007 compared to 2006 they point a bleak picture. In the first 8 months of this year, every month has seen a higher amount of casualties then the previous year. Not only that but the highest casualty count last year for a month is actually lower then the lowest casualty count this year. If you're in a 5th year of a war and you're having these kind of casualties things are NOT going well, no matter how people try to spin it. http://www.icasualties.org/
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
2006 62 55 31 76 69 61 43 65
2007 83 81 81 104 126 101 79 84

Phillies 10k loss

2007-07-16T16:35:00.000-07:00

I went to my first Phillies game since the 2005 season last night which was their 10,000th all time loss. Granted, I knew that they were a loss away, but when it was earlier in the week that I decided to go to the game I didn't think it would turn out to be loss 10k.. Anyways, it was a pitiful game for the Phillies as they lost 10-2 and the Cardinals hit a bunch of home runs. I guess maybe it's better to lose this way than to lose a close one. I'm not a big Phillies fans, so I probably don't appreciate being at the game as much as long time die hard fans, but still it's a sport event I probably won't forget attending any time soon.

housing bubble

2007-07-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

There seems to be alot of people that are fear mongers. Whether it's people who on the left like Al Gore who talk about global warming, or people on the right like Glen Beck or Sean Hannity who talk about terrorism, they make it sound like we need to worry about these things none stop. Yes, global warming, and terrorism are very important issues but Manhattan isn't going to be underwater in our lifetime and more people will die in car accidents and of heart disease this month then probably have ever died from terrorism in this country.

The one place where fear mongering is somewhat appropriate is the housing market. Housing prices have been ridiculously going up the last few years. Generally the median price of a home should rise at the same level as the median income. Over the first 5 years of this decade the median price of a home has gone up about 10% a year while median incomes have gone up about 3%. (check out 2nd article below) Some of this is due to being easier to finance homes (mostly lower mortgage rates, ARM teaser loans, etc.) but all things being equal they should go up the same. Most analysts now see a decline in housing prices in 2007. (check out below article) The most optimistic are the NAR (National Association of Realtors) but I would be a little hesitant with them since they depend on the housing market for their well being so they will always try to put a more positive spin. Anyways with housing prices growing astronomically the 1st half of the decade I can’t see them growing over the next 5 years or so. I've been looking into buying a place in the next year or so and I've looked at sales histories of townhouses and condos that I had interest and many of them sold for half of what they are selling for now in 1999 - 2001. To me that was a big turnoff because if something doubled that fast I don't see it appreciating much anytime soon. I'm no fortune teller but I don't see housing prices going up until sometime early in the next decade.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/23/real_estate/prediction_big_home_price_drop/index.htm?postversion=2007052413

http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/29/real_estate/housing_costs_strangling_low_income_Americans/index.htm?postversion=2007090310

Washington DC

2007-07-07T13:27:00.001-07:00

I was in Washington DC for the first time in over 7 years last weekend. Previous trips to DC have been mostly with family and mostly doing the whole tourist thing. Although we did spend a lot of time on the mall doing the tourist thing, it was the first time I spend a lot of time in different DC neigborhoods. I really liked Georgetown a lot. It's not quite like any neigborhood I've seen in other cities such as philly and NYC. It's within a mile or two of downtown and the white house but yet it has a somewhat suburban feel. Georgetown and George Washington universities are nearby, but it's not quote the same as University City in Philly with Drexel and Penn right there. I had briefly been there once before but this was the first time I stayed overnight near there and got to spend a decent amount of time. I also got to experience the DC nightlife. It was surprisingly packed everywhere considering school is out of session but I guess a lot of people are there for the summer and a lot of people in their 20's and 30's live near there as well. I would definitely recommend anybody visiting DC to check out the Georgetown area.

Ben Franklin Bridge

2007-06-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I did something I've never done in the 6+ years that I've lived in the Philly area which is to cross the Ben Franklin bridge on foot. It was well worth going. The bridge gets high about the river and there are awesome views on the bridge you can see for miles up and down the delaware river and great views of the Philly skyline as well as Camden. It was also good exercise as it'a at least a mile plus each way. Here is pic from my cell phone.

old players in baseball

2007-05-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

I'be been following the baseball season a little, and it seems that many of the players that I followed when I was a little kid are still around. In the late 80's and early 90's I used to collect
baseball cards, and many of the players on those cards are still stars today. Names like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, Tom Glavine, Ken Griffey Jr. come to mind. Then there is the ageless wonder Julio Franco who is now 48 years old. http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/players/playerpage/127073

So unlike professional basketball and football where I can't think of any player today that was playing in the late 80's, baseball still has a bunch of them. So here is to baseball for not making me feel as old.

Imus - Vtech - media

2007-04-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

If there was anything good that happened out of the Virginia Tech shooting this week is that it removed Don Imus from the news. How one radio broadcaster calling girls nappy headed hoes has to be breaking news every day last week beats me, when other then people's feelings being hurt there was really no damage done and has absolutely no impact on most people's life. If everytime people were fired due to saying insenstive things the unemployment rate in this country would be very high. This week with the Virginia Tech shooting there was actually significant news that impacted lots of people It's just interesting how news networks (CBS & MSNBC) fired Don Imus since they thought he was offensive yet they were willing to show videos and photos that the Virginia Tech shooter made before the shooting. You would think showing videos the shooter made and showing them only two days after the shooting is much more insensitive & offensive to the friends & familes of the victims then having Don Imus on TV. Shame on the news media.

mother nature teasing again

2007-03-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

Mother Nature is such a tease. Last week we had 2 inches of snow on Wed and highs in the 20's for a couple days. It got warmer over the weekend (highs in 50's and snow melted) then on Tuesday and Wed of this week it hit the 70's. Then on Friday we had 5 inches of snow and sleet, and this weekend highs were only in the 30's. I feel like I had a vacation to Florida during the week without actually going anywhere.

2008 election

2007-02-27T19:35:00.000-08:00

Is it me or is there just way to much coverage of the 2008 election considering it's still like 20 months away. Seriously, the next president doesn't take office until Jan 2009, I think all this early coverage is going to burn people out. Hillary, Obama, Romney, Gulianni, and McCain are getting lots of coverage early on, but I'd like to see some candidates announce their presidential bid later this year, and still end up doing well in 2008.

Steve Nash

2007-02-15T18:14:00.000-08:00

So when did a 33 year old white guy who seems to have thinning hair become the best player in the NBA? It looks like Steve Nash is on his way to a 3rd consecutive MVP as the Suns have one of the best records in the league. Most people who aren’t NBA fans probably don’t even know of him. Nash seems to only get better as he gets older. He gives hope to other guys who may have some thinning hair.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Nash

snow2

2007-01-30T19:41:00.000-08:00

I guess I spoke too soon about no snow in my previous post. Over the past week or so we've had at least 3 or 4 minor snow accumulations that left at least a coating. It's currently snowing, and we are forecast to get more snow on Friday. Plus, over the last 2 weeks it's been very cold, so I guess winter is finally here.

no snow

2007-01-14T10:31:00.000-08:00

Today is Jan 14th and I have yet to see any snow this winter. I cannot remember any winter when there hasn't been snow by now, and I can't imagine going an entire winter without any measurable snow. I'm told by reliable sources that the lack of snow is more due to El Nino then to global warming, but there have been El Nino years before when there was some snow.
Then again, it's still kind of early, we can still have lots of snow later this month as well as February and March. I'm not the biggest fan of snow but it would be nice to see at least a little
this winter.

college football playoff

2006-12-17T07:42:00.000-08:00

A lot of people have been saying for over a decade that college football really needs a playoff system, and I completely agree. (I actually did a report on this for an english class in college in 98 and still feel the same way) It is the only major sport I know of that does not pick a champion on the field of play. My suggestion would be just to use an 8 team playoff, and each year the bowls can switch which round they host. So for example if the Fiesta bowl hosted a semi-final round one year then it could host a final the next and a quarterfinal the next year. This way the bowls wouldn't complain because they would change every year like they do now. Also with 8 teams a team with a loss or two losses would still have a chance to win it all. The 1st round the 1 seed would play 8, 2 play 7 and so on, just like in college hoops and any other type of tournament. I think 16 teams would be too much and 4 would be too little. So hopefully one of these years we will see a playoff in college football.

Philadelphia Eagles - Penn State Nittany Lions

2006-11-19T17:15:00.000-08:00

It seems like over the last 4 years the professional football team and college football team that I
follow the most always seem to go in opposite directions. In 2002 & 2003 Penn State had 2 losing seasons while the Eagles made the NFC championship game and the Superbowl. Then last year in 2005 Penn State had an 11-1 season, won the Big Ten, and won the Orange Bowl, while the Eagles stumbled to a 6-10 season and didn't make the playoffs for the first time since 1999. This year, Penn State is 8-4 and likely going to a new years day bowl game (most likely the Outback Bowl) and lost 2 games to the 2 best teams in the country (Michigan and Ohio State) and 2 games to two other top 10 teams (Wisconsin and Notre Dame) The Eagles are 5-5 and their quarterback Donavan McNabb is out for the year, and it looks pretty likely that they will miss the playoffs for the 2nd year in a row. One of these years both teams will both have good seasons, but seems like they are always going in opposite directions.

It could be worse

2006-11-05T20:14:00.000-08:00

If I'm ever having a bad day one of the things I think about is that there are people who have it a lot worse and nothing comes to mind more then residents of Baghdad. Living in Baghdad under Saddam Hussein may not have been great since if you opposed his regime you had a chance of being imprisoned, tortured and even possibly killed, but as long as you stayed out of politics you would have a relatively peaceful life. Today, there are so many ways you can get killed. First there are death squads and milliats who want to kill you simply because you are Sunni Or Shia. Then of course you can try to get a job in the Iraqi army, police, or become involved in the Iraqi government where you will be a target to all kinds of insurgent and terrorists attacks. (check out some of the high casualty numbers for Iraqi civilians & police http://icasualties.org/oif/IraqiDeaths.aspx ) You can be a bystander in a car or suicide bombing which is basically a daily occurence in Baghdad. You can be a bystander in a shootout being American or Iraqi troops and insurgents. You can go a few miles per hour over the speed limit and pass by a US millitary checkpoint and get shot at because you're a suspected terrorist. You can try to cooperate and help the US millitary and many Iraqis will consider you a traitor and you become a candidate to get killed. You can try to help the insurgents but then you have a good chance of being captured or even killed by american troops. Of course you can also die the old fashioned from health problems and diseases since Baghdad area hospitals are understaffed and have much more pressing issues then dealing with someone who has a stroke. If you don't die at least you can enjoy the 100+ degree heat without air coditioning since you have only a few hours of electricy a day. So there is more freedom in Iraq now, freedom to die in so many different ways. So remember if you're ever having a bad day it could be a lot worse, you could be living in Baghdad.

Florida

2006-10-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went to Florida for the first time in years. My sister started grad school in the fall at the University of Florida in Gainesville and I told myself that when it gets cold I would go down to visit, and sure enough it was getting cold in late October so I went down there for an extended weekend. I had a great time down there. The weather was in the 80’s during the day and upper 60’s at night so almost perfect summer weather by Philly standards. Not too hot and humid, but nice enough to wear shorts, sandals and go swimming. We went kayaking at lake Wahburg and saw some Alligators in the lake. It was the first time I’ve ever seen an alligator in the wild. (I may have seen one at a zoo before but I’m not sure) Also go to see a lot of the campus and checked out a lot of the nightlife there. We went to a cowboy type bar that had line dancing. It was a cool experience since this place had country music to line dance to one minute then dance/pop/hip hop music to dance to the next minute. The UFL bar scene is pretty comparable to Penn State other then at UFL there are 2 main areas of bars while at PSU it’s really just downtown. Also, the alcohol laws were a little more lax as a 20 year old in our group got into most of the bars, and this townhouse complex we hung out at had a nice pool and people drank alcohol there. Also did some pre-gaming at a bus stop before going out, so that is something that people would not get away with in State College . Overall, it was a great time, I met some fun people there and I definitely plan on going down again sometime soon.

Valley Forge Park

2006-10-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

I want to pay homage to one of my favorite attractions in the Philadelphia area Valley Forge Park. (http://www.nps.gov/vafo/) I've lived in King of Prussia PA for almost 3 years now and eventhough King of Prussia is known for having one of the largest malls in the Country my favorite attraction in the area is Valley Forge Park. I probably go there at least once a week (more than that in the summer) because there are tons of things you can do in the park. I've gone running, biking, hiking, and sledding here. It is also a great historic attraction with a visitor
center and lots of replica huts of where revolutionary war soldiers stayed. Plus it is only 2 miles from where I live so it takes 5 minutes to get there. It always surprises how many people from the Philadelphia area who have never been there or only been there a few times. They are missing out. It has tons of open fields and woods for a place that is only 2-3 miles from one of the largest commercially developed areas in the region. (King of Prussia) I created a link to some cool pics of the park that I have. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tdogg158/album?.dir=5adfre2&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tdogg158/my_photos

cover band Velveeta

2006-09-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was up in State College for a wedding. Although I still go up there every few months, Friday night I saw the 80’s cover band Velveeta (www.80scheese.com) for the first time in awhile. I can’t believe they are still playing. I think the guys in the band are all pushing 40 by now. When I started out as freshman in 96, I remember hearing ads on the radio for them. When I turned 21, I saw them many times at various downtown State College Bars. I also see them occasionally in the Philly area when they play here. Those guys still pretty much look the same and play many of same
songs this weekend as they did when I was in college. I think they have played ‘Jesse’s girl’, ‘Pour Some Sugar on me’, and ‘Living on a Prayer’ more times then Rick Springfield, Def Lepard or Bon Jovi ever did. (By the way, does any cover band not play ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’) Anyways, it was interesting to see although many things change up at Penn State (the students, the campus) some
things stay the same year after year (Velveeta playing cheesy 80’s classics).

Tupac dead for 10 years

2006-09-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

I heard today on the radio that it's the 10 year anniversary of the death of Tupac Shakur. Talk about time going by fast, it seems like just yesterday that he was killed. Maybe it's because he released more songs and albums dead then alive, but still it seems like it wasn't very long ago that I heard about his death. It's weird how sometimes time moves so fast and sometimes it moves slow. For example, I've only been using e-mail and credit cards for 10 years yet it's hard for me to ever remember a time when I didn't use either, but Tupac died before I ever had a credit card. So one point in time 10 years ago (Tupac's death) seems very recent yet another (not having a credit card) seems like so long ago.

Rocky Mountain high

2006-09-09T06:42:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend I got higher then I have ever been before. No, I did not smoke any weed, I got to the highest elevation above sea level that I have ever been (excluding being on an airplane). I was at about 12,000ft above sea level. I visited a friend from high school and college who lived in Denver. Now Denver is a very nice city with good views, but the main thing I wanted to see in that area was
the Rocky Mountains. I had been to Mt. Hood in Oregon before and me and a buddy of mine had climbed part of it, but I probably only got to about 7000ft above sea level. This time I got much higher.

First major hike we did was Bear Mountain outside Boulder Colorado. We parked around 6000ft and hiked up to the top which was about 8500ft. I was a little cocky at first because I had done lots of hiking in Pennsylvania over the years and I thought the hike would be a challenge but not that difficult overall since I thought I was in great shape, but it turned out to be really hard. Part of the reason was that it is high up in elevation and there is a little less oxygen, 2nd reason is
that I decided to bring a backback with food, drinks, cameras, warmer clothes, etc. Although the backpack didn't weigh more then 15-20 lbs when the hike got steeper it got really difficult with that thing on my back. Overall the hike was probably as tiring as running the 10 mile broad st. run which I did earlier in the year. It was well worth it once we got to the top as the views from there were awesome. There were a few other people near the top so it was kind of a bonding experience with strangers. The trip up took almost 3 hours but going down was about an hour.

We also went to Rocky Mountain National Park. This was probably the neatest place I went to during my time here. The scenary here was like nothing I had ever seen before. We drove on a road that was the highest elevation paved road in the country. There was a small visitor center and parking lot along the highest point on the road at over 11,000ft above sea level. At this elevation you are above the tree line and no trees grow up here, since the climate is too cold for trees to grow. It is basically tundra and is snow covered much of the year. Since it was late summer there were only small spots of snow and glaciers. It was probably 20-30 degrees colder here then in Denver. Next to the visitor center there was a short trail to a higher peak nearby. Eventhough this trail was not steep at all, this is where the high altitude really kicked in. It was really difficult to walk maybe a 1/4 of mile on a small incline. I had faintly noticed the thin air in Denver (which is about 5000ft above see level, hence 'mile high city') but you could really notice it here. A walk that would be a peace of cake in PA, was a struggle to breathe at that elevation. I now have much more respect for people that climb Mt. Everest, if it's that difficult to breathe at 12,000ft I can't imagine how it would be at 29,000ft. Anyways, we did end up getting to the top of this trail and we got to a spot with a sign that said we were 12006ft about sea level.

Other then hiking I did check out downtown Denver and some of the nightlife there. Like any major city it had lots of cool bars, the one difference I noticed in Denver were that there were a places that had bars on rooftop decks which I though was pretty cool, so you could people watch from above and breathe in the fresh (although slightly oxygen deprived) rocky mountain air. The 3 main things Ethan told me that I would like about Denver were the gorgeous mountains, sunny weather most of the year (I read it was one of the sunniest cities in the country with almost 300 days of sunny weather) and all the hot girls that live in Denver area, he turned out to be right about all three :-)

Fidel Castro

2006-08-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

With news that Fidel Castro gave up power in Cuba the other week due to illness and turned 80 this week made me think just how long he’s been in power. In 1959 he took power, that’s 47 years as a head of a state. Think about just how long it’s been. Most people work roughly 40-45 years their entire life (assuming you start around 22 after college and retire around 65), let alone head an entire country for that long. Think of all the President we’ve had since he’s been in power: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton, Bush Jr. In 1959 the personal computer and internet were decades away, color TV was the hot new technology, The Superbowl didn't exist and the south was still segragated.
Whatever you think of Castro you have to admit that the man has longetivity like few others.

Vanilla ice coffee from McDonalds

2006-07-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

I never consider myself to be one who gets addicted to things easily but I’m really hooked on iced coffee especially the vanilla flavor one from McDonalds. Last year I remember trying iced coffee from Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts and I wasn’t all that impressed with it. Earlier this summer on my way to work I stopped at the McDonalds next to my work because I was tired and needed a little coffee. However, it was hot and humid outside so I didn’t really want a hot drink, so I decided to try the vanilla flavored iced coffee. A month later I’ve probably had it 8-10 times and it’s just hard for me to drink anything but ice coffee when I get to work in the morning. I don’t know if it’s just the vanilla flavor that gets me hooked, but I just love drinking it in the morning. I’m sure as fall hits I probably won’t drink it as much because I'll go back to drinking hot coffee as the weather gets colder, but for now I'm hooked on the ice coffee.

PSU arts fest

2006-07-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend will be the first time in a decade that I will not be at PSU during arts fest (http://www.arts-festival.com) weekend by choice (I had a wedding in 2002 and a bachelor party in 2005 so I had almost no choice). The groom and groom to be for both events were PSU alum, make you wonder what kind of alum they are to schedule their events during that weekend? jk. Every year it seems like less and less people go up and I know less and less people that are in SC. Even my youngest sister is now going to be an alumni. I’m getting old.
So many memories though from my first arts fest during freshman summer session in 96 to the craziness of the riot in 98. (I know you remember that one Tim.) The fun of 99, and 00 where memories remain fuzzy, the slightly calmer arts fest of 01 and 03 as alumni, and some of the crazyness of 04. Maybe I’ll go up again in 07. We’ll see.

jealous of teacher friends

2006-06-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

At this time of year all my friends that are teachers are finished with their school year and have summer vacation to look forward too, or at least a summer job where they work outdoors like a camp or lifeguards at a pool. I have the joy of doing the exact same thing I do during the rest of the year which is to leave for work at 8am and sit in a cubicle all day in front of a computer and then go home around 5. I'm a little jealous to say the least. Before I was 23, I always did something different in the summer then I did during the school year, but over the last 5 years I do the same thing year round so it kind of gets a little depressing. Although the advantage of my job is that I can take vacations at any time of the year (which can be good because fall, winter and spring are good times to go to warm places like florida. In the summer it's hot here and hot there so why bother traveling somewhere hot), while I know that many teachers have trouble taking off days during the school year (although they do get spring break and christmas break)Overall I still would probably pick the yearly schedule of a teacher over my current schedule.

bike race

2006-06-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

I went to the pro cycling tour Philadelphia Championship Bike Race earlier today. Although I've lived in the Philly area for over 5 years now, this is the first time I've watched it in person. It was fun to watch and it was a great atmosphere in Manayunk with perfect weather. Its pretty amazing how good those cyclists are. They go up that steep street (a.k.a the Manayunk Wall) multiple times during that race, and I know I couldn't go up that thing even once on my crappy bike. We also did something I usually don't do on sunday afternoons which is partake in some boozing. The bars were pretty packed and there was definitely alot more craziness then you would expect on a Sunday. I'll probably post some pics up at my photo site at some point.

girls guys & body weight

2006-06-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

There are obviously many differences between men and women but one that I find interesting is that women no matter how slim and athletic they are still wouldn't often want to reveal their weight. With guys, it's sometimes the total opposite, there are lots of guys who are close to being obese and will gladly let everyone what their weight is. Anyone with good eyes can probably estimate how much a person weights yet you are probably more likely to get guys admitting that they cried during a movie then get a girl to tell you their weight. If I tell a guy friend that he's packing on a few pounds in his gut most guys don't care, but if female friends tell that to each other, feeling are hurt and friendships maybe lost. It's just interesting in our culture how body weight is such a different subject for males compared to females.

Lebron James

2006-05-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

When Lebron James first turned pro in 2003 I thought there was too much hype surrounding him. Sure he was a great high school player and could one day be a star in the pros but I honestly thought he was overrated at the time. I knew there were some players such as Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett who came straight to the pros out of high school and became stars, but for them it took 3-5 years before they really became impact players. Then other players such as 2001 draft #1 pick Kwame Brown who came out straight out of high school turned out to be somewhat of a bust. So I though it would take Lebron time to develop into a star player like it did many other players who turned pro at such a young age. Well, it turns out that Lebron James is definitely worth the hype. He's been huge in the playoffs (despite the Cavs losing their series today to the Pistons) and regular season. I don't know if he will become the greatest basketball player ever, but he's probably the best 21 year old to ever play the game.

bush immigration speech

2006-05-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

I watched most of Bush’s immigration speech last night, and it was probably the best speech I’ve seen him make. He was very balanced, full of comprised ideas, and not overly one sided. If he acted close to this on other issues especially Iraq he would have had a more successfully presidency (at least in my eyes). With Iraq the attitude was basically the administrations way or the highway. It didn’t matter what some people in congress said, members of his fathers administration said, pretty much every other country in the world cautioned, the administration was determined to invade Iraq during March 2003 no matter what.

As for the immigration problem, I don’t what the best solution is, maybe the White Houses will be good, maybe not, but at least it seems well thought out which is a step in the right direction. The basic issue is really globalization. Just like many service jobs are getting outsourced to other countries such as India due to lower labor costs there, many jobs in the US are getting taken by lower wage workers to save on labor cost. If a company can get a worker to do a job for $8 an hour why would they want to hire somebody for $16 an hour, it’s just basic economics. Short term solutions like a fence or temporary worker programs don’t address the root cause of the problem which is issue of globalization and multinational corporations being able to get cheaper labor from poorer countries. The best (and probably most difficult) way to solve the problem is to improve Mexico’s economy so workers there have a higher salary and have less reason to sneak into the US to work.

Broad St. 10 mile run

2006-05-08T16:38:00.001-07:00

This Sunday I ran the Broad Street 10 mile run. (www.broadstreetrun.com) It was a great experience, I got to see 10 miles of Philly on foot. I had never run in a race with thousands of people before, and I definitely want to do it again sometime. I had ran track in high school and had been running basically for the last 5 years but usually only a few miles maybe a couple times a week. For this race I upped my training and had to run longer distances in the weeks prior to the race. 10 miles was definitely a record for me in terms of distance. The race was actually easier then I thought probably because the weather was perfect, the course is actually downhill and it's always easier to run when there are lots of people because you seemed to get pushed more to run harder. I broke 100 minutes which was my goal but my roomate beat me so now he has bragging righs until we run in a race again.

disaster TV

2006-04-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

What's up with all the disaster shows i've been seeing on TV. Tonight I saw a little bit of a show on the history channel on the 1906 San Fran earthquake and what would happen if a similar quake hit today. (it was pretty interesting) The name of the show was 'mega disasters'. I briefly saw another show on the discovery channel on what would happen if a tornado hit downtown Dallas. Then I saw a commercial on the weather channel about another disaster scenario show. I know we've had the Asian Tsunami, Katrina, and Pakistan earth quake over the past 16 months, but I didn't think disaster TV shows would be everywhere. In one night of channel flipping I saw 3 different channels showing either a disaster show or commercial preview for future show.

Barry Bonds

2006-04-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

I generally don't feel sorry for people who are well known to be jerks, but I make an exception for Barry Bonds. Rarely do I ever see a professional athlete attacked so much. Many people think Bonds uses steroids, and it may well be true, however there hasn't been any definite evidence of it, as Bonds has passed previous drug tests. It seems that now days people are guilty until proven innocent. It's kind of similar to Saddam Hussein who everybody said had weapons of mass destruction, yet during the 90's weapons inspectors never found any, during 2003 before the war started when the weapons inspectors went back in none were found, and over the past 3 years of American occupation no WMD's have been found. It looked like Hussein didn't have any and it could as well be possible that Bonds may have never used steroids.

Even if he did use steroids he definitely wasn't the only player, and it's not like using stroids is some kind of serious crime. He's not a rapist or murderer, yet the publicity he gets is something that is warranted for a criminal. He may have been a jerk to the media in the past, and maybe he deserves some bad publicity but I'm beginning to feel sorry for the guy. Steroids or no steroids he is without a doubt the best baseball player over the last decade (if not ever) and eventhough steroids may help with power they don't help with hand eye coordination or with patience at the plate both of which he probably has more then any other player in the league. He should be in the hall of fame and he shouldn't have an asterik to any records that he sets. If O.J. is in the football hall of fame Bonds should definitely be in the baseball hall of fame.

going back to Cali

2006-03-20T20:00:00.000-08:00

Before 2006, I had never set foot in California, and now this year I'll be going there for a 2nd time in 3 months and neither time will I have to pay a single dime. In January I was in the San Diego area for 3 days because my company has an office in Vista California (about 30 minutes north of San Diego) Now, I'm going to a SAS conference (http://support.sas.com/usergroups/sugi/sugi31/index.html) in San Francisco this coming week for 4 nights. I don't like everything about my job but the trips to Cali are a nice plus.

March Madness

2006-03-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

It looks like March Madness is upon us again with the NCAA tournament starting this year. Although, I haven't followed college basketball as much this year as in past years it's always exciting to follow the tournament. I'll probably fill out a bracket at work or do one online with some friends. I'll probably be rooting for Villanova since Penn State isn't in the tournament and the Villanova campus is probably only 10 miles from my apartment. So they are the local team that I will be cheering for. Go Nova!

Philly vs. State college bars

2006-03-06T20:35:00.000-08:00

It seems that recently State College crime has been on the increase with a stabbing at a bar a couple of weeks ago and then another murder of a college student at an apartment. (check out article below) As I thought about it I don't think I've seen a fight in any philly area bar that I've been to in at least a year or so. However, I do remember seeing one in State College during that time. (although it was a fairly minor fight) It seems Philly bars are becoming safer then State College, or at least the bars I go too. I'll be up at PSU next weekend and again for Blue and White weekend in later April. Maybe I should bring a bullet proof vest up for the weekend.

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2006/03/03-01-06tdc/03-01-06dnews-04.asp

10 year anniversary

2006-02-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

This month marks the 10-year anniversary of an event that turned out to be more significant then I thought it would be. Sometime during February of 1996 my dad got a new computer and got this new thing called the 'internet'. I was a senior in high school at the time and I thought it was pretty cool but nothing that special and didn't see what all the fuss was about with e-mail and the World Wide Web. E-mail was a cool idea I thought, but why would I use that when I could use the phone. Little did I know that when I became a freshman at Penn State all the sudden I would use e-mail a lot for school and e-mail high school friends and family.
Well, 10 years later I use the Internet a lot to say the least. First off I have this blog. Then I have my regular webpage. I have a webpage just for my pictures. I look at friend’s webpages online. I use the Internet for e-mail. I probably get at least 10 e-mails a day (some are junk, some are semi-junk like reminders to pay bill, and others are legit e-mails from friends & family) I probably get over 20 e-mails a day at work. I use the web for research at work. I use instant messaging services like AOL IM. I pay my bills online, I check my bank account, retirement account, brokerage account online. I buy airline tickets online. I'm a member of internet communities like myspace and friendster. I've done job searches online. I read newspaper articles online. I check sports scores online. I’ve downloaded songs and videos online. Occasionally I even look at things online that I probably can't discuss in this blog ;-). Basically in 10 years I have gone from never using the Internet to using it a lot in my daily life. Hard to believe that the first 18 years of my live I spent without using the Internet.

Dick Cheney

2006-02-16T19:14:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of news this week about Dick Cheney accidently shooting somebody during a hunting trip. I agree with people who defend Dick Cheney and say that it is completely overblown. I also do understand to some extent why it got media coverage since it's not every day that a high profile figure shoots somebody but still it's not something that should be in the news for more then a few days at most. I agree with people that say there are more important things to worry about in the world then some minor private incident. However, I do sense lots of hypocricy in some people since wasn't it only 7 years ago that another high profile figure (Bill Clinton)had some personal matters that were completely overblown. With both of these issues there were many more important things to focus on in this world. Sure it would be better if high profile people in government didn't accidently shoot people or have sexual runins with interns, but since neither of those things are a serious crime it's not something that should warrant extensive news coverage. The people who want the news coverage are the media (which always like these type of stories) and members of the opposite political party who think they can score political points when a rival has some bad press. Basically when it comes to politics to say there is hypocricy on both sides would be the understatement of the millenium.

Valentine's day

2006-02-14T16:36:00.001-08:00

I'm happy this Valentine's day. Do I have a new year girlfriend you ask. No, I don't. I'm happy this year because unlike last year I can relax, talk to who every I want, do what ever I want on Valentine's day and Valentine's day weekend. Last year I had a girlfriend during Valentine's day and she was very nice, but she kind of drove me nuts during that weekend to be quite honest. There were so many things I was expected to do and just a lot of unnecessary pressure. (Lots of this was due to the excessive commercialization of Valentines's day) Don't get me wrong I prefer to have a girlfriend, but sometime I think I would prefer to have one 364 days of the year and take that one day off:-) Plus as a lot of guys can tell you, sometimes the best time to be single are the weeks before Valentine's day because girls are usually looking for a Valentine much harder then guys are.

winter is back

2006-02-11T20:55:00.000-08:00

Looks like winter is back this weekend! King of Prussia got 17 inches of snow. It took me an hour to get my car out this afternoon. I had to improvise and use a dustpan since I don't have a shovel :-).

Let's go Steelers!

2006-02-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

Being that the Philadelphia Eagles season was over about 2 months ago I've been rooting for the other Pennsylvania NFL team the Pittsburgh Steelers. So with the Superbowl coming up this weekend, I'll definitely be rooting for the Steelers. I'd like to see Bill Cowher win a Superbowl just because I think he's been one of the best coaches in the game over the past 10-15 years and same for Jerome Bettis who's been one of the best running backs in the NFL for the past 10-15 years. So let's go Steelers on Sunday, bring one home for Pennsylvania!

Canada politics

2006-01-21T12:42:00.000-08:00

Canada is our neighbor to the north and the closest foreign country to where I live. (probably only a 6-8 drive or 1-2 flight to Canada). I am interested in world politics and feel I have a lot of (sometime useless) knowledge about leaders and recent history of other countires. However, it dawned on me that I know almost nothing about Canada and I have no idea who their prime minister is. While I know of the Fidel Castros, Hugo Chavezes, and Vicente Foxes of Latin America, the Tony Blairs, Jaques Chiracs and Vladmir Putins of Europe and the Hamid Karzai, Hosni Mubarak, Ariel Sharon, and many others of the Middle East, I don't have the foggiest idea who the Prime Minister of Canada is. Granted, a lot of this is because the news media doesn't really cover Canada, (Canada just isn't in the news quite like the middle east) so I'm sure many people don't know either, but I just feel weird that I have no idea who the leader is of the closest neigboring country. I think for a lot of people it may be easier to name every Russian/Soviet leader of the past century or every Israeli Prime Minister then just one leader in Canada. Let's see the Soviet Union had Lenin, Stalin, Krushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Yeltin & Putin, Israel has had Rabin, Peres, Netenyahu, Barak, and Sharon while Canada had ???. Come on Canada! Make some news so I know who your prime minister is.

fog on Friday the 13th

2006-01-14T09:56:00.000-08:00

I don't know if it's just me, but last night may have been the foggiest night I have ever seen. You could barely see 100 yards ahead. I don't know what the official visibility was, but it sure wasn't much. It looked almost eerie outside. Maybe it's appropriate that the heavy fog came on Friday the 13th.

New Years resolutions

2006-01-01T18:13:00.000-08:00

I hope everybody had a happy and fun New Years Eve! Can't believe how far into the 21st century we already are. 2005 was a pretty good year. I traveled to some new places I had never been to before (Caribbean, New Hampshire&Maine, Oregon) Met some cool new people, reconnected with some old friends I hadn't talked to in a while. I hope 2006 is another good year.

Every year people make new years resolutions and generally people make some of the same ones (lose weight, pay off debt, etc.) Two of my new years resolutions are:
1) drink less alcohol
2) spend less time in front of a computer.

Drinking less alcohol is a resolution I made the last few years, and for parts of 2005 I did a good job (I think I went over a month this summer without drinking a single beer) but over the last few months I feel like I'm back in college going out multiple nights a week. If you look at my previous posting from the other week about going to bars you can see that I've spend much of my 20's inside drinking establishments. I still like going to bars because it's fun and I'm sure I'll still be going to lots of bars in 2006 and still be drinking beer, but I'll try to do less drinking than in previous years.

My blog is somewhat counterproductive to #2 since maintaining a blog will require more time in front of a computer. Since I look at a computer screen most of the day at work I want to lessen the amount of time I'm in front of a computer at home. I guess how much time I spend in front of a computer is a function of the weather. During summer when there is daylight past 8, I'm often outdoors whether riding my bike, hiking, playing basketball or traveling somewhere, but in the winter there isn't much to do so I end up spending a lot more time at home and a lot more time in front of the computer. Looking at a computer screen all day isn't really a bad thing, but it's something I would like to do a little less of in 06. Plus I'd imagine it's got to be bad for your eyes to look at TV and computer screens all the time.

Larry Johnson

2005-12-18T13:38:00.000-08:00

Penn State football has had a lot of players that have had pretty good NFL careers. Some of the most prominent of the past decade that I can think of are Kerry Collins, Kyle Brady, Lavar Arrington, Joe Jurevicius, and Bobby Engram. (Engram and Jurevicius were both the starting receivers on the Seahawks when I watched them beat the eagles the other week on MNF) However, Penn State has been cursed with running backs. Curtis Enis, Ki-Jana Carter, and Blair Thomas were all high profile running backs taken early in the NFL draft whos careers were big flops. Looks like this curse of the PSU running back may be over with Larry Johnson. He is having an awesome season, and will likely rush for over 1500 yards. I believe yesterday was his 7th straight 100 yard rushing game. He may turn out to be the biggest star of all the PSU players in the NFL.

bars

2005-12-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

I heard somebody tell me this week how they had been to one bar over a 100 times. At first I thought that the person was exaggerating. But as I thought about it, I realized that over a span of 7 year since I've been 21, I've probably visited lots of bars at least 5 times each. So going to one place 100 times didn't sound like that much. I made a list of all the places that I think I’ve been to at least 5 times (includes places that don't exist anymore) followed by the approximate amount of times I think I've been there. Here are my estimates. I don't go out as much as I used to but these #'s sure add up over time.

Reading area bars
The Works (Kind of like Dave N Busters) - 5-10 times
1402 (The brownies of the Reading area)- 10-20 times

State College Bars
Darkhorse 10-20
Shandygaff 10-20
Players 10-20
Cafe 210 20+
SportsCafe 50+ (I'll probably hit 100 over the next couple of years)
Rathskeller 20+
Crowbar 20+
Saloon 10-20
Lions Den 20+
Gingerbread Man 10-20
Brewery 5-10

Philly Bars
Tiki Bobs 5-10
Finigans 10-20
McFaddens 5-10
Paradigm 5-10
Pluough and the Stars 5-10
Fat Tuesday 10-20
Manayunk Brewing Company 10-20
Chemistry 5-10

Philly suburban bars
General Lafayette 5-10
Great American Pub 20+
Brownies Plymouth 10-20 (I miss this place)
Brownies 23east 20+
Fox N Hound 20+
Rock Bottom 20+
The Barn 10-20 (I miss this place)
Boathouse (conshy) 5-10
Reeds 5-10
The Ridge 5-10

college hoops in Philly

2005-12-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

One of my biggest dissapointments since moving into the Philly area over 5 years ago is that I haven't seen many college Basketball games here. (I've only seen one and that was a Temple game in 2003) I used to love watching college basketball growing up and went to lots of Penn State games when I was at school. Philly is arguably one of the best cities for college basketball. You have 6 division I schools in the area: Villanova, Temple, St. Joe's, Drexel, Upenn and LaSalle. Temple has a legendary coach in John Chaney and in the past been a power house team who usually makes the NCAA tournament (Although I know they've had a dry spell the last few years). Two Years ago St. Joe's had an undefeated regular season and ended up in the elite 8 during the NCAA tournament. Last year Villanova came very close to beating the eventual champion North Carolina in the NCAA tournament. This year Villanova is ranked #4 in the country and could have another great season. Sure I like the Sixers and I usually go to at least one game a year, but I think college basketball is much more exciting to watch in person. The arenas are smaller so you have a much more intimate setting. Plus I think they players play harder partially because they don't get paid and also because they play a lot less games so each game means a lot more than in the NBA. (You lose 20 games in the NBA you will probably have the best record in the league, you lose 20 in college and it's going to be a losing season) So one of my goals over the winter is to go to a college basketball game in the Philly area.

female leaders

2005-12-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple weeks I have heard news about women being elected as leaders of countries. The African country of Liberia elected the first ever female president on the African Continent recently, Germany elected its first female Chancellor in Angela Merkel . I have constantly heard how Hillary Clinton and Condi Rice may run for President in 2008. So I tried to look at what countries have had female leaders and what countries have not. One of the biggest surprises to lot of people may be that the 2 most populated Muslim (http://www.aneki.com/muslim.html) counties of Indonesia and Pakistan have had female leaders (look below) while the US hasn’t. Here are some prominent countries with female leaders now or in the past.
UK – Margaret Thatcher. (You can also include some prominent Queens in power through history including Queen Elisabeth now, Victoria in the 19th century and Elisabeth in the 16th century)
India - Indira Ghandi
Israel – Golda Meir
Pakistan - Benazir Bhutto
Indonesia - Megawati Sukarnoputri
Philippines - Corazon_Aquino

It's just interesting how countries not exactly knows for women’s rights have had female leaders while many countries that you think of being very modern with women’s rights (US being most prominent, but others such as Canada, France, Italy, Japan) never had. This may change in 2008, but it’s hard for people to believe that Pakistan a country that basically founded the Taliban (one of the most suppressive regimes in terms of women’s rights) and where many high level Al-Queda leaders still hide, beat most western countries to having a female leader.

Christmas

2005-11-29T16:48:00.000-08:00

This time of year I always hear people argue about using the terms 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy Holidays'. It's not often that I'm in agreement with the Christian right, but when it comes to using the term Merry Christmas I back them 100%. In this country a vast majority of the population celebrates Christmas. There is no reason why saying 'Merry Christmas' should be replaced with generic terms like 'happy holidays' or 'seasons greetings'. Saying Merry Christmas should not offend anybody. It's like moving to Israel and telling people they can't say happy Hanukah instead they need to say happy holidays, or moving to Egypt and telling people they can't say happy Ramidan but need to say happy holidays. If I was in either of those countries I would be a minority(as a Christian who celebrates Christmas) and would respect the rights of the majority to greet each other in their respective holidays greetings. If somebody wished me a Happy Ramidan while I was in Egypt I would take it as a nice gesture even though I'm not a Muslim and would not be offended by it at all. I understand the need for some political correctness in this world, but not being able to say Merry Christmas is taking it too far. It's not protecting a minority, it's trying to remove a beloved word like Christmas for the majority.

On the flipside of this, some people may take their passion for the word Chrismas too far and will get offended if you say happy holidays or season greetings because you don't use the word Christmas in the greeting. I feel that they are also in the wrong because those greeting are positive and not something that should offend anybody. Bottom line is if somebody says Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season Greeting, Happy Ramidan, Happy Bastile day, Happy whatever it's a positive greeting and it should be not something to be offended by. It's not like people are saying 'You suck, go die' or 'You're a muslim or jew, you can't work here' Now those words would be something to be offended by, but not 'Merry Christmas'.

Michael Robinson heisman consideration

2005-11-21T21:04:00.000-08:00

I know I may be biased because I'm a Penn State football fan but I'm a little surprised that Penn State quarterback Michael Robinson hasn't gotten more heisman trophy consideration. In sportline.com heisman watch he wasn't even among the top 8 candiates. (although maybe that will change this week) I know Reggie Bush, Matt Leinert, and Vince Young all had awesome years and they may be more deserving. (I personally think Reggie Bush should win the heisman. I think he's the most exciting running back to play football since Barry Sanders. I have seen many highlights of him over the past 2 seasons and I've never seen someone have so many great runs. He will definitely be a huge NFL star) However, Robinson led a team that went from being 4-7 last year to being 1 second away from an undefeated season. The other 3 guys all play on teams that were very good last year (USC and Texas) and are good again this year. His stats may not be as great as those other guys, but he still has over 15 TD's passing and 10 TD's rushing, and in my mind is without a doubt the Big Ten MVP. Not saying he should win the heisman but he should be among the top 5 vote getters. To read more about Robinson's accomplishments check out the link below.

http://www.gopsusports.com/football/MichaelRobinson/

football season2

2005-11-20T15:53:00.000-08:00

Well, looks like nothing has changed from my last posting on the polar opposite season that the Philadelphia Eagles and Penn State Nittany Lions are having. Penn State won their last regular season game of the year against Michigan St this weekend and are Big Ten champions for the first time since 1994. The Eagles lost today to the Giants. However, it wasn't as bad as last week, when they blew a 2 touchdown lead with a few minutes to go in the game, to their hated rival the dallas cowboys, at home, on Monday night. I may just have to jump on the other Pennsylvania NFL team bandwagon as it looks like the Steelers (eventhough they lost a close game this week) will be the only NFL team from this state playing football in January.

football season

2005-11-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

What a crazy football season it's been as my 2 favorite teams to follow are heading in opposite directions. Penn State is 9-1 and one game away from winning its first Big Ten Championship since 1994 and now is #5 in the BCS (They are only 1 second away from being undefeated after their last second loss to Michigan) The Philadelphia Eagles are just the opposite. They are 4-4 and in last place in the NFC East (could easily be 3-5 if it wasn't for miracle win against San Diego) They have a good chance of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1999. Their star receiver Terrell Owens is off the team for good. (Which I think is a good decision by the Eagles) Who would have thought 2 months ago that Penn State football would have a much better record than the Eagles going into the 2nd week of November? I think the Eagles may be underachiving and can still make the playoffs and PSU could be upset at Michigan St, but this football season just shows that you can never predict what will happen at the beginning of a season. As Chris Berman says on ESPN primetime 'That's why they play the game'.

SEPTA

2005-10-31T19:43:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest local news stories this week is the SEPTA (www.septa.org) strike. I know very little about the details of the labor dispute so I can’t really say if the Unions or if SEPTA is more at fault. However, I do feel bad for all the people that depend on SEPTA to get to work. I feel lucky that I have a reliable car and don't depend on public transportation to get to work.

What I do know is that in my opinion Philly has one of the worst mass transit systems of cities in the country, especially considering that it is one of the biggest cities. I haven’t taken mass transit in that many cities, but the few that I have all seem to have a better system than here.
First downside is that there aren’t that many places in the city where you can get on a subway or regional rail. By comparion, in NYC at pretty much every point in Manhattan you are within 5 blocks of a subway station. Another down side is that regional rail stops running here around midnight (although I know that the subway lines run later than that) while in other large northeast cities like Boston, NYC and DC their systems run later. Another downside is the cleaness of the system. The metro in DC look very clean, sleek and modern while our subway lines seem old and dirty, they look worst than what I saw in NYC and Boston. Another downside is price. Last year I took Atlanta’s light rail/subway from well north of the city to the Airport south of the city and I think it cost like $2. Then this year, when I was in Portand OR I took a 40 minute train/subway ride to the airport and it also cost around $2. Yet in Philly taking a septa train from the airport to center city costs $5.50. Not only that, but in Portland and Atlanta I had friends that lived at least 10 miles from the airport yet they could drop me off at a train station only a couple miles from where the live and I could take a train/subway directly to the airport while in Philly I have to go downtown and then switch trains to go to the airport. So in summary from personal experiences Philly mass transit sucks compared to other cities in different ways. Obviously I don't ride any of these systems often but here are the overall grades I give mass transit in the 6 cities that I have used it based on my impressions.

Atlanta B (easy and cheap access to airport, overall clean, doesn't reach all suburbs)
Boston B (runs late at night, nice looking trolley, somewhat dirty)
New York A (basically go anywhere with subway, runs late at night, relatively a good bargain compared to everything else in NYC)
Washington DC metro A (clean and modern, easy access to main tourist areas)
Portland A (very clean and modern, easy and cheap access to airport)
Philly D (subways dirty, regional rail doesn’t run late at night, seems expensive considering quality)

guilty pleasures (Laguna Beach)

2005-10-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

Everybody has a guilty pleasure that they may be embarassed of telling other people. Well, my guilty pleasure is a show on MTV called 'Laguna Beach'. http://www.mtv.com/onair/laguna_beach/season2/main.jhtml/

I usually don’t watch reality shows especially based on teenagers. (Although I guess I've watched the Real World here and there over the years, however that is more on 20 somethings.) I never really watched Beverly Hill 90210 or the O.C. However, there is something about that show that I like. Yes, 2 of the hottest girls I have ever seen are on that show (Kristin and LC) and that is a very small part of the reason, but I just like the silly immature drama. I don't know why. I like the opening song by Hillary Duff 'Come Clean' That song fits in perfectly with the opening of that show. "Let's go back Back to the beginningBack to when the earth, the sun, the stars all aligned 'Cause perfect didn't feel so perfect Trying to fit a square into a circle Was no lieI defy. Let the rain fall down and wake my dreams, Let it wash away my sanity, Cause I wanna feel the thunderI wanna scream Let the rain fall downI'm comimg clean, I'm coming clean"

Basically my TV viewing habits now days are mostly news, sports, occasional random channel flipping and Laguna Beach.

NBA dress code

2005-10-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

One of the bigger news stories in the world of sports this week was the NBA starting a dress code http://cbs.sportsline.com/nba/story/8977030. This will mean that players will have to wear business casual attire when they participate in team or league activities. Now, the first player I have in mind when I heard about this rule is Allen Iverson. I don't think I've ever seen AI wear anything close to resembling proffesional or business casual dress. (Maybe draft day in 1996 was the only time I can remember ever seeing him in a suit) Not sure if AI will make a big fuss over the rule, but the way I see it, it's really only an issue of clothes and I personally don't consider it to be a newsworthy item. Whether AI sucks it up and dresses nicer or dresses in his usual attire and gets fined is is not really a big deal. Just like AI said a few years ago when discussing practice "Practice! we talking about Practice!" I say "Clothes! we talking about clothes!"

lottery

2005-10-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

I heard everybody at work and friends talking about the big lottery jackpot. Did I buy any lotterly tickets? Of course not. The way I see it is that for every ticket I buy I'll just be giving more money to some extremely rich person (the eventual winner of the jackpot) and the odds are at least 99.9999% that I'll be giving money to a millionare and .00001% that I'll win the jackpot. I honestly have a better chance of marrying my favorite female celebrity than I do of winning that jackpot.

world travel

2005-10-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

One thing that is kind of cool (at least I think it’s cool) is that you can fly to basically every major city on the planet within 24 hours and often only 1 layover from Philly's airport. Pretty much every major US city and western European cities you can fly to directly from Philly. Some cities like Miami have flights to most major cities in the Caribean and South America. West Coast cities like LA and San Fran have flights to most major cities in Asia, and western European cities have flights to major cities in eastern Europe, the middle east and Africa. I know a lot of people my age may not appreciate this but for people who are much older I'm sure they are impressed that you can go pretty much anywhere often for around $1000 in less than 24 hrs and having only 1 layover. I checked on a travel website (I was a little bored and curious) and you can fly from Philadelphia to Tehran, Shanghai, Rio De Janerio, or Istanbul with one layover and get to all those cities in 12-18 hrs. It's a small world after all.

PSU Ohio St weekend

2005-10-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

I was up at PSU this past weekend to partake in festivities surrounding the Ohio St. vs PSU game, and some things seem to be changing just from a few years ago. Maybe it's just me, but the cops seem more lenient than they were in years past. People could easily cross the street between tailgates with can/bottles of beer in their hand. I saw people actually drinking at the HUB lawn, and carrying open containers through east halls. I don’t know if people just have more balls or if the cops are more lenient or a mix of both, but I definitely didn't see that a few years ago.

I didn’t go to any bars at all (other than to watch the game at sportscafe) this weekend since pretty much every bar had lines at least 30-50 people out the door. However, I went to lots of apartment parties. (It's good to have a sibling still at PSU) One party I went to I did feel a little old because I think pretty much everyone was under 21. However, other parties you had alumni who were parents of college kids, you had older friends, siblings, cousins, uncles etc. where I didn’t feel old at all. Of course at these parties people seem to leave based on age. The 50+ crowd leaves around midnight. The late 30’s 40’s crowd leaves around 1-2. People in the late 20's (including myself) leave after 2 and the college age kids go strong to 5 am.

It’s interesting how much more energy I had up there this weekend then I do at home. Usually here I’m tired by midnight on a Friday but I remember it was about 2 am on Friday and I still didn’t feel tired at all. Must be something in the air. Maybe the feeling of a big football game the next day, or being back at your alma matter, or maybe just be the presence of thousands of girls between 18 and 25 in downtown State College that makes it hard to be tired :-)

PSU football is back

2005-10-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

Penn State Football is 5-0 for the first time since 1999 and they have one of the biggest games in years this coming weekend vs. Ohio State. I’m going up to Penn State this weekend, and I can already tell that the atmosphere will probably be similar to many of the big home games they had in the late 90’s. I heard that ESPN Gameday is going to be in State College for the game, which I’m sure hasn’t happened in a long time. The last big game night game I remember at PSU was in 2002 when Penn State beat Nebraska. It was the first big game Michael Robinson had as a freshman, and I remember he scored a couple of touchdowns that game. It will be nice to see him have another big game at a nationally televised night game as a senior. Win or lose against Ohio State, I think PSU is doing a lot better than most people thought, and it's good to seem some excitement about the PSU football team again.

Caribbean trip

2005-09-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went to the Caribbean. I left on Friday morning and came back on Monday night. I was in Curacao (http://www.curacao.com/) one of the Netherlands Antilles. It is right next to Aruba. It is also the home of Atlanta Braves Center fielder and 2005 home run champion Andrew Jones. I was there because my sister was lucky enough to get sent there for her work. Her company has a client there so they sent her and some of her co-workers down there on and off for a few months. The opportunity to visit and have free housing was too good to pass up (My sister was also in Omaha at the end of last year for work, however Omaha just never seemed a very exciting place to visit hence I never went there.) I put up some pictures on my yahoo photos site(http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tdogg158/my_photos), as well as some short videos on my castpost site (www.tomwiesak.castpost.com)

The Island was nice. Eventhough is very far South (less than 100 miles from the coast of South America) it wasn't as tropical as I though it would be. It was very hot but a lot of the area seemed like the Southwest since there were a lot of cactuses and shrubs around and not really any type of rain forest. However, the beaches there were awesome. Both the main tourist beaches and some of the more natural beeches further from the tourist areas were all very nice.

New Orleans

2005-09-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

With Hurricane Katrina doing a lot of damage on New Orleans during the past couple of weeks, there is a lot of talk that New Orleans will never be the same again, and the city maybe finished as a major city. I kind of disagree, because if you look at past history there were many cities that suffered much worse disasters than New Orleans and yet bounced back. First example I can think of is the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. That killed hundreds of people and destroyed much of the city, yet today San Francisco is one of the biggest metro areas in the country. Another example is European cities during World War II. Many cities suffered heavy damage from bombing. Some cities such as London, Dresden, Berlin, and Warsaw, were pretty much destroyed. Yet 60 years after WWII all those cities are thriving. The best example I can think of is a city that has gone through destruction from both natural disasters and war is Tokyo Japan. Not only did Tokyo suffer one of the worst earthquakes in modern times (http://www.eas.slu.edu/Earthquake_Center/1923EQ/) during the 1920’s but it also was heavily bombed during the end of World War II. Yet is Tokyo some ghost town today? No, by many estimates the Tokyo metropolitan area is the most populated of any city in the world. (it is #1 according to this link http://www.citypopulation.de/World.html) So my point is that many cities have suffered through destruction that is much much worst than New Orleans and they have all rebuilt and continue to be major cities, so I don't see why New Orleans can't be the same.

starting a blogger

2005-09-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally decided to start my own blogger since a lot of other people have one now. I hope to update this once in awhile but I'll probably get lazy and not update it often, but I guess we'll see. I'll still update my picture page, at http://photos.yahoo.com/tdogg158 and maybe update my regular page at www.geocities.com/tdogg158 I think I'll probably also transfer some of my random thoughts postings from my regular website to here as well.