Today is Jim's birthday he is turning 21 (LOL). Three of Jim's co worker's are joining us at
Atrias restruant at 5pm. This should be fun.

53? But you are 57....

good morning jim,happy b-day,are you guy's going to be out somewhere today or later this week? would love to buy some drinks,please let me know,larry (aka-drstem)...

As I was working with a fellow Support person (in training) today, a problem came up. We used my new Support Menu to check it out, which resolved the problem quick.
That was cool.
Also, his boss borrowed my electric cigarette to show other people.
He's all enthused. I told him, hey, you have an S-Corp in PA, I have one in NV, I also have the paper work, Lets market this thing!!!
I know I've when I've seen something good, and my electric cigarette is one of my latest gadgets.
Its pretty much unknown to the US, and there is no marketting for it yet. So, we could be on the ground floor.
On the other hand, I really like the way things are now. I wonder what I'd be if I had a lot of money.
We could get rich off of this thing...we're both go-getters as the term used to go. But...
Someone has to turn on the ignition and take the wheel.

Now its not like you think!!!
These are professionals like myself, who are temporarily displaced here in Pittsburgh, and they all are both attractive, and nice or either or neither :^).
We went to an Irish Pub in Cranberry, where they had happy hour AND appetizers for $6 between 5pm and 7pm.
We got 6 stuffed mushrooms that were as big as my foot, and burgers as big as my head!!!
We had a lot of fun.
In other news, we just saw Las Vegas on national news
They were talking about people torching their cars for the insurance, however, I'd swear I've got pictures of the car and truck they were hauling off of Lake Mead Blvd near the lake. I took them over a year ago. I thought it was so interesting, I walked from the road down through a gulch to get to them...
Makes me want to say hmmmmmm about what we see on the news.

We went to Erie, Pa. Watched the sunset over Lake Erie. Hung out and at a local pub off of the lake. Drove around downtown.
We talked to Sonny almost the whole hour and a half back to Wexford on the Truck Phone. That was great.
Coming back through Cranberry, Pa, it was all lit up, and a lot more exciting than anything I'd seen in Erie.
I thought that was strange, that a small town like Cranberry could be so much more exciting than a city off of the Great Lakes.
Anyway, the rest of the weekend was about chatting, writing code and playing Wii. What a life. This weekend seemed to last a month.
Renee set up a three-way conversation with us and GMa. We enjoyed that a lot.
To cap off the weekend, we ate at the Outback, where we got a couple of steaks and a weeks worth of leftovers.
Just another weekend, but, we enjoyed every day.

I got up at 6 yesterday morning, drove to work and it was dark and foggy. I LIKED IT!
I had the same old problems to solve, sitting on my desk, and I LIKED IT!
I came home to my beautiful Becky, and saw some red breasted robins searching the new grass for worms. And guess what...I LIKED IT!
Some think I am crazy for wanting seasonal weather, but I don't.
As the weather changes, its like another year is being reborn, just to dye again. Snow, fog, rain, sunshine, those days when the sun just barely peeks through the clouds,
to me, they are beautiful. I can't wait to hear our first thunderstorm.
Oh, I told a white lie.
I actually picked Becky up at the store.
She grabbed her back pack, took the trail down to the creek's bridge, crossed McKnight Road, and went shopping at Giant Eagle (or as I like to call  it, the Big Bird).
Yesterday was a nice day for taking a hike through the woods.

It explained that the value of a stock is based on what people think it is worth, so when it goes from $10 to $5, $5 hasn't dissappeared.
People aren't willing to pay $10 a share anymore. They think it is worth $5.
My problem with this analogy is this, if those shareholders who own most of those $10 shares sell high, then buy back the stock at $5,
they've created the perception of the stock both not being worth $10 a share, then being worth more than $5 a share.
The stock market isn't a car. Its perception of what that car is worth.
If you bought your Ford at $10,000, but now they sell it at $5,000, then you've lost $5,000 (if you try to sell it).
If it really was always worth $10,000, then its value will appreciate when it sells for what it is worth ($10,000).
The real question that needs to be asked is, why was it selling for $10,000, then for only $5,000.
Its the buyers. In the case of the stock market, the car is the same car...but it doesn't get devalued until people quit buying it.
With the stock market, the perception of what a stock is worth is created by the brokers, the news, and what has been going on with the stock.
If people are selling major shares of corporations for top dollar, the perception will be the stock isn't worth as much as what seemed to be.
I believe that is what happened to the stock market. I believe the perception of a failing economy has created one.

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This is an except: Much of the talk this past week has been around Microsoft's drop in share price since they made public their acquisition offer for Yahoo. SAI has a nifty calculator and tonight Techcrunch Editor Mike Arrington calls the deal a "$80 billion Headache". TC notes that the share price of Microsoft has dropped from $32.60 per share on January 31 to $28.56, a ~13% drop. I agree with Mike that the Yahoo deal might be a factor in the decrease in stock price, but I am not sold that it's the only factor. I am certainly no stock guy (go read Howard Lindzon for that) and will never give stock advice, but I took a look at some other technology companies to see potentially what the market did as a whole during the same time (January 31st - February 8th). Also, check Ashkan's coverage of the deal, it's very thorough.

Company	Jan 31st Close	February 8th Close	$ Change	~ % Change
Baidu	$279.95	$233.91	-$46.04	-16%
Google	$564.30	$516.69	-$47.61	-8%
Apple	$135.56	$125.48	-$10.09	-8%
RIM	$93.88	$89.71	-$4.17	-5%
IAC	$25.94	$22.11	-$3.83	-12%
Nasdaq	2,389.86	2,304.85	-$85.01	-3.5%

What do you think? Is Microsoft stock down because of the Yahoo bid, general market conditions, a combination or neither?

You are not alone.
Last year, I lost a fortune in stocks, I lost a fortune of equity in my home, and I too have a bad loan on my house.
Eventually I may lose everything I have.
But I have hope, that by not being alone, things will turn around.
There's a good chance I'll have to start all over again.
If I do, this time, I'll do everything better than I did the last time.
I'm not sure what happened to the stock market and the housing market.
But I have faith.
Kids will get their higher education somehow, houses will be sold, and people will somehow be able to retire, even though most of us have lost our savings.