Monday, March 27, 2006
his (calendar) life is an open book
I discovered that the DoJ has exhbits related to the Enron case. It's all under www.usdoj.gov/enron. Wow! The Enron exhibits got "top billing" from the "usdoj.gov" directory.
I won't explain exactly how I found this, but it seems that I once had lunch with someone who had lunch with Andrew Fastow. Check out his calendar for November 2001 here. So if you are part of a DoJ investigation, I guess your PDA can be confiscated and its contents can make it to a web site to be read by all.
For Fastow, we see that he had questions about his boat, had lunch with Lea several times, and blocked out time to watch the Jason Alexander show.
Note to self: do not put embarrassing entries like "catch new Britney Spears video on MTV" into my calendar.
I won't explain exactly how I found this, but it seems that I once had lunch with someone who had lunch with Andrew Fastow. Check out his calendar for November 2001 here. So if you are part of a DoJ investigation, I guess your PDA can be confiscated and its contents can make it to a web site to be read by all.
For Fastow, we see that he had questions about his boat, had lunch with Lea several times, and blocked out time to watch the Jason Alexander show.
Note to self: do not put embarrassing entries like "catch new Britney Spears video on MTV" into my calendar.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Freakonomics vs. (Blink & Tipping Point)
Well, we knew it would happen. Two popular books. Two blogs. Similar topics, audience, approach, etc.
Now, they go head-to-head. Check it out.
First, Malcom Gladwell (author of Blink and The Tipping Point) and his thoughts on Freakonomics.
Then the response from Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner, authors of Freakonomics. It goes on... the latest is here.
Is anyone keeping score?
Now, they go head-to-head. Check it out.
First, Malcom Gladwell (author of Blink and The Tipping Point) and his thoughts on Freakonomics.
Then the response from Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner, authors of Freakonomics. It goes on... the latest is here.
Is anyone keeping score?
Sunday, March 12, 2006
selling your car
I recently sold my car that I've had since 1998. Here is one man's tale.
Images of seedy salesmen and scam-artists awaited me as I ventured into this endeavor. In a nutshell, it was easier than I thought, but I did learn a few interesting things. I decided to test the waters by placing a "For Sale" sign on the car (would I get any calls? ). Most of the time, the car was parked in front of my house, where school and park traffic guaranteed a steady stream of potential buyers. I did receive several calls every week for several weeks. Only a few called back and one or two people came by and saw/drove the car.
Then I decided to get serious: I took out an ad. I had recently purchased a used car, and having gone through the experience as a buyer helped me become a better seller... What does a buyer look for? How does the buyer look-up cars for sale? How does the buyer decide what they want to pay?
I had a choice of venues for ads. In the end, I chose autotrader.com. For $44, I got a 3-week run, with 9 photos (on-line) and one photo in the weekly publication. AND, I had a chance to keep the ad running until I sold. I chose autotrader since they seemed to have the most selection for similar cars.
I also built a free "blog" so I could place more detalied pictures and text. The buyer did go out to the site. In the very least, it helped me think through which pictures I wanted with the ad as well as the text I woud use for the "selling points".
Other things I learned:
Images of seedy salesmen and scam-artists awaited me as I ventured into this endeavor. In a nutshell, it was easier than I thought, but I did learn a few interesting things. I decided to test the waters by placing a "For Sale" sign on the car (would I get any calls? ). Most of the time, the car was parked in front of my house, where school and park traffic guaranteed a steady stream of potential buyers. I did receive several calls every week for several weeks. Only a few called back and one or two people came by and saw/drove the car.
Then I decided to get serious: I took out an ad. I had recently purchased a used car, and having gone through the experience as a buyer helped me become a better seller... What does a buyer look for? How does the buyer look-up cars for sale? How does the buyer decide what they want to pay?
I had a choice of venues for ads. In the end, I chose autotrader.com. For $44, I got a 3-week run, with 9 photos (on-line) and one photo in the weekly publication. AND, I had a chance to keep the ad running until I sold. I chose autotrader since they seemed to have the most selection for similar cars.
I also built a free "blog" so I could place more detalied pictures and text. The buyer did go out to the site. In the very least, it helped me think through which pictures I wanted with the ad as well as the text I woud use for the "selling points".
Other things I learned:
- I thought "what would my realtor do?". So I kept the car clean, used good gas, and tried to keep the "curb appeal" high. I also took lots of pictures on a nice day. I used different angles and different placement against the sun. For the shoot, I parked at a nearby park... You'd be suprised at how many people try to sell a car with a picture in a sleazy used car lot or against some dumpy fence or pad pavement.
- Strange, but after I placed the ad, I received calls from brokers and other non-buyers wanting to help me out. A nuisance, but ignorable.
- Do your homework. Every buyer wants to negotiate the price, especially if you are selling as an individual. I had a list of other cars and prices, as well as mileage and features. When someone asked me if the price was negotiable, I told them, "sure, but you have to tell me why... if a similar car is selling for $1000 less, I have to bring my price down".
- This leads to how one should price a car. Do the homework... keep a list across a few weeks (if possible), print it out and have it with you when a buyer shows up. Think about what points should increase a car's price (one-owner, no accidents, etc.) and what would bring down the price (crack in windshield, funny smell). Set limits and goals, and decide how fast you need to sell a car. I priced my car below the dealer's prices, emphasized several key items, and got a buyer with a few days.
- Finally, I was suprised at how many calls I received from folks from Austin & Louisiana. I guess from a 300 mile radius, Houston will have a larger pool of used cars and people are willing to drive in to buy a car. The buyer was a father-son team from Austin who did some research on the internet.
New Template
Hmmm... not sure I love it. I may have to make some more adjustments.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
The dangers of modern art
Jackson Pollock. (1912-1956)
One: Number 31, 1950
1950. Oil and enamel on unprimed canvas, 8' 10" x 17' 5 5/8".
Kxxxxx Xxxx, tired, resting on bench, 2006.
We're in NYC, one of the 1st stops: the recently renovated Musuem of Modern Art (or MoMA). We've both seen this collection many times, including the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the most famous pieces at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston in late 2003.
This is after a day of checking out all six floors of MoMA.
About Me
- Name: Howard Park
- Location: Carpinteria, near Santa Barbara, California, USA
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The Fifth Discipline / Peter Senge -
A New Kind of Science / Stephen Wolfram -
Real Options / Martha Amram, Nalin Kulatilaka -
Against The Gods / Peter L. Bernstein -
The Engines of Our Ingenuity / John Lienhard -
1421: The Year China Discovered America / Gavin Menzies -
Envisioning Information / Edward Tufte
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