Another Short Week – Sort of — and a Hodge Podge of Other Things
Tomorrow (Friday) is Indonesia Independence Day – the equivalent of America’s 4th of July. Naturally the office is closed. But, that doesn’t mean I won’t be working. I have a gazillion things to review / work on from the office and will be bringing a lot of work home tonight.
Plus, Decy and I are trying to develop a proposal associated with a “Charity Work” where we would organize a group of company volunteers to help a facility (orphanage, old folks home, school, etc). The company will help with the preparations and pay all the costs. We just have to come up with the idea – and then organize the event (if approved). We thought we had a plan / concept – but that didn’t mature like we thought … so Decy goes back to the drawing board today. We only have 2 weeks to finalize the proposal – so it can be accepted into next year’s budget/program, if approved. (Sorry Chris – this is impacting our speed on the website – but, in this case – helping others is more important than doing something for ourselves).
Internet access was really strange yesterday. I could access the Indonesia based sites – but not the US sites (yahoo, blogging, etc). The internet provider said “everything was fine” … but we know it wasn’t. Today – things are better.
Tomorrow – for Independence Day the security guards around our subdivision are having a competition – such as tug-o-war, tree climbing, etc. There are prizes. We donated $60 (equiv) to the cause. Some of our folks are going to compete. Don’t know if we will attend or not.
The stock market is in a bit of a funk right now. No doubt that those who were highly leveraged and/or were following “the next hot thing” have taken some BIG losses. For me … there’s been some impact but nothing that worries me. Things are starting to get close to a “buying opportunity” from my perspective – so I am watching the market carefully.
RE the market and my philosophy – there was a recent interview with Bill Miller, one of the all time greats in investing (beat the market 15 years in a row). The way he characterized his philosophy is comparable to mine – It is not that he is unemotional but inversely emotional – that is – worried when the market is making people happy and feeling good when everyone else is worried. Reason – When stocks are trading at their lows – its a buying opportunity. Besides – stock prices / trends / moods change much more rapidly than business trends. Thus – the market always tends to OVER-REACT. Said another way – slow and steady wins the race … its better to be a turtle than a hare (although both might end up in soup !!).
ciao ciao
