Web Robin

Filling a Need

Last month proved to be the deadliest month this year for the Marine Corp with at least 18 casualties. The heaviest losses have been sustained by units from Camp Leatherneck (where Ken is) who are patrolling the Sangin region.  Well over half of these casualties were sustained by two units, the 3rd Battalion-5th Marines (3/5), and 1st Recon (Ken's unit) both units from California's Camp Pendleton.  As you can imagine it has been a very difficult month for all of the men serving.  On top of the list of casualties, the number of wounded is staggering. Ken hoped we might visit some of the wounded that have been brought to Bethesda since most of them have no family in the area.  Well, we thought we could do a little more than just visit.

Can You Type 100+ WPM? This 5th Grader Can.

No pressure, but this 5th grade girl can run circles around you on a keyboard.

Want to find your own speed? Try: http://www.typingtest.com/

'Tis the season.... to SHOP!

I confess. Tonight I went straight from work to the Mall, and didn't leave 'till they kicked me out.

My favorite store? Macy's -- in fact, it's the only one I had time for tonight. It's my favorite because they carry some nice things at almost decent prices, at least during sales. 

Tonight, when I was at the register with a pair of Ralph Lauren brand pants (for myself) and debating whether I could justify buying them, the sales clerk found out they were 40% off... AND she got me a coupon for another $50 off, bringing them down to a price I could bear. (Tells you how much they were to begin with.) I wouldn't have considered them at all, except they fit better than any pair of pants I've had on in years.

Thank goodness for holiday hours -- After leaving the mall, I swung by Target to get PJs and Slippers for the Giving Tree kids' gifts... and also a few small gifts for the Secret Santa name I drew today at work. Being able to shop at my night owl time is one thing I really like about living in Sacramento.

Unfortunately, I still didn't find shoes -- my real reason for going out to the mall. Poor Kristine suffered with me at Famous Footwear in Folsom last Saturday, trying on every possible pair of ankle boots (to wear with pants at work). After getting home tonight, I found a couple of prospects at Zappos online. Zappos has free shipping, so that's helpful.

When is your best shopping time? Do you shop the same stores online and off? What are your favorites?

Huh....!

What happened to the format of Web Robin?  It looks different.  How did that happen?  It has looked right for the past 4 (?) years.  Why did it change?

Awesomesauce and Being a Rockstar

I may not always post everything here, but I thought I'd highlight a few things...

1. Following the release of our latest products earlier this week, I have held a few interviews with just me and interested reporters. Despite being at the company 7 years, it's among the first times I remember being enabled to act as the sole spokesperson in articles. The first posted today. (See: BlueArc's Titan is Flexing Petabytes)

Example quote: "The high performance computing capability is now needed in every environment, not just the heavy compute research labs," Louis Gray, director of corporate marketing, told InternetNews.com."

2. This whole "blogging" thing is getting a lot of recognition I didn't originally expect. On Twitter, a site for microblogging in 140 characters or less, I saw the following exchange on Wednesday morning:

From: @SheGeeks: "I recently hit my 1000 mark & I just realized that I share A LOT of Louis Gray's posts on GReader. He's awesomesauce!"

And then from: @MarshallK: "... agree that Louis Gray is awesomesauce, enough to make a professional blogger quake in his boots!"

What is awesomesauce? Apparently it means "more awesome than awesome". Silly me.

We Love Our New Cars

I have put over 1600 miles on my new Mazda 3.  [Thanks for all your suggestions when I asked for input.]  Today I re-fueled it for probably the 5th time.  It had 404.5 miles on it since last fueled and I pushed 12.9 gallons into it, getting over 31 mpg.  The gas gauge was on empty since last night, when I drove it to Sacramento and back, to "downtown" Folsom today and out to El Dorado Hills to fill up.  I checked the owner's manual, which says the fuel capacity is 14 gallons, so I still had a 30 mile margin in it, at least theoretically.  It looks good, handles well, is relatively quiet, and has a good sound system with an auxiliary jack for my iPod.  i think it was a good choice for a little commuter car and relatively inexpensive.  I hope you are happy with your choices as well.

The Kinkos Story

I alluded to this story in a comment on Stephen's airplane post. Now that it's been resolved, I'll share it with you.

Saturday, one of my chores was to run to Kinkos and photocopy (copyright-free) music for choir practice. I took four pieces to make sure we'd have enough to last for at least a couple of months.

When I got to the store, saw the self-serve copy machines, went to the closest one, and started copying. I made 25 copies (back-to-back, collated) of each 4-7-page song.

Imagine my shock when I hit the Finish button and saw my total was $232! I couldn't believe it and promptly went to the counter.

Shock #2 was being told that that number was correct because I was using a color copier -- even though my copies were black and white.

Well, I felt both stupid and horrified. However, there was no warning sign that ANY copy on that machine would be charged at the color rate. After complaining that because there was no sign, I shouldn't have to pay the full amount, I was passed off to someone else. He suggested I come back Monday to talk with the manager.

On Monday I spoke to the manager by phone and told him that "I made a terrible mistake" and hoped he could help me out. I also explained that this was music for church choir and that I simply couldn't charge the church $232 for 100 copies of music.  Fortunately, the manager was very kind and told me to go by any time; he would instruct the assistant managers to adjust my bill.

Yesterday I went in after work, explained the story again, and was refunded $200!

Now THAT'S customer service!

Shocking, but not illegal

I read a story in the Sacramento Bee today that is astonishing. You've seen those cash advance stores? Now there are quicky loan sites that make it easy to get money, but charge usurious rates.

Take a look at CashCall.com. They post a 99% annual rate for a $2600 loan. Someone who follows their payment plan of 42 monthly installments of $216 each will ultimately repay more than $9000.

This just doesn't seem right! Sites like these must be run by criminals who prey on the mis-informed and desperate. And, notice that you can see the site in Spanish, so they can cheat the unsuspecting in two languages!

Truly a case of Caveat Emptor--Buyer Beware!!!

(Read the full story at http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/409531.html)

And so it goes...

I mentioned previously how I'm amused by how the economics of investing work.  Today, according to my account information on Principal's website, my investment income is nearly back up to the 10% it was previously, when the DOW was at 15000.  It has only come back to 13-something, but my yield has already recovered, obviously not tied to the DOW.  And so it goes that I will continue to watch it fluctuate, but the trend should be gradually upward, and if that trend is in the 10% range it should double my investment every 7 years.  So, if it's 2007 now, I'll see where I am in 2014.

How Quickly Things Change!

The world of economics amuses me.  Just a couple days ago the DOW was over 17,000 and my investments had gained over 10% on the year, YEA!  Now there has been a big sell-off and my earnings are more than 2% to the negative, BOO!  In other words, for all the money I have put in, most of it is there, but some of it is gone.  I now have less than I put in.  I'm not worried about it, because it will go back up again, as always, and I'll keep buying more mutual funds and when it goes back up I'll have even more when I'm back up to the 10% gain.  Regardless, if I were to be depending on those funds now it would be very distressing.  Fortunately, what matters is where the market is when I cash it out for retirement, and I wont need to worry about that for several years.  I hope the rest of you are enjoying watching your fortunes rise and fall with the market.