Merry Christmas

I love this time of year. I know it sounds cliche, but it is great to see my family and friends. It makes me wish we had special holidays more often. 

I really enjoy taking time at the end of the year to reflect on myself and surroundings, and also take the opportunity to revisit my goals and areas for improvement.  

I love the "cold" weather, rather cooler weather, at least for a few days. (It was about 70 today). 

This season also brings about great football (well besides the Cowboys) and fun match ups in bowl games.

The sweet smell of candles, pinecones, and crisp cool air make me melt.

It also reminds me to be more giving and grateful for all that I have. Every year I am more and more blessed, especially this year and it felt so good to be able to contribute and share more than I have been able to in the past. What an indescribable and momentous feeling. Thanks to all of my close friends and family that have stood by me to find this happiness and greatness in my life.

Now that Christmas is over...its time to work on my resolutions so next Christmas I will have even greater accomplishments and good fortune to reflect upon.  

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Back to the Basics

I once heard, "You can never run your business like the government" but now I really think you can. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122969367595121563.html

It's amazing now that companies are no longer being held responsible to stay within their budget.

But honestly if I were CEO of a struggling business, the last thing I would want is for a failing government to bail me out. This does not even sound good in theory.

Budgets are so simple, spend less than you make. If you want to take it 1 step further, PLAN AHEAD! These are elementary ideas. It's time to go Back to the Basics.

Oil Giants and the price of Gas

To start, I am partially biased in this blog since I am an employee of the company. But I hope to offer some insight into the corporation. Also note I work in a cost center of the corporation (IT) not a money making company.

First, when gas went up to $4+ a barrel, the news targeted XOM for being a GIANT OIL company, and made it look like they were the reason for the price. This is completely wrong!  The market is the reason for the price. If you have graduated high school, you've taken basic economics.  SUPPLY vs DEMAND.  Its simple, the more demand, the less supply, the higher the price.

Side note: Our country was not in a recession when gas prices were at this level.

Obviously a market cannot continue to go up, there is a model called a business cycle, basically what goes up must come down before it can go up again.  With that being said, the price of a barrel of oil went from $160 to $45 in just a few short months. That's so ridiculous and unheard of.  But did XOM ask for a bailout???  Did XOM layoff thousands of people???  NO, because XOM does not base business decisions on the market.  All projects ROI is stated with oil at $26 a barrel.  Therefore when it is MORE XOM makes MORE, but when it trades at a lower value than anticipated ($50) XOM is still making money.

It is amazing how ignorant many business models are, yet a conservative model that has proved success for over 125 years is hated because it works.  It just does not make much sense to me.  Also, if you look at the price of gas now, its $1.59 or so, but we as Americans are also in a recession.  You can draw your own conclusions.  

By the way, we are still hiring, that's right, no hire freeze, or layoffs.  Just business as usual.  Its so sad how uninformed the media makes us.

Cats for Change

So most of my friends know that I was never a fan of pets. Surprise right????  Well, I had a cat in elementary and middle school, but I don't think I played with him much.  Its pretty sad I hardly remember the little guy.  Then in High School I didnt have any pets plus I didnt really like going to friends houses that had them.  Especially dogs....whew did I really get nervous around dogs.  Same thing went for college.

Then I moved to Houston 1 year ago....and some friends gave me a kitten.  I named HER Rugby, since it is the best name for a cat.  (Thanks Courtney).

Honestly, I didnt think I'd keep the cat, cause I dont like pets, and I really had no interest in owning one.  Well it took about 22 hours and I was IN LOVE!  WOW what a cute kitten!!!!  

This past year Rugby and became super close. I taught her tricks and she even slept at the foot of my bed!  I had really come a LONG way with animals.  (At times I was the crazy cat lady.)

At some point in the madness of my new pet, I realize that I have a secret obsession with kittens and cats.  I love them, ALL of them, they are all cute.  I honestly do not think I would have figured it out if it hadn't of been for Rugby.

So to fast forward to my life now....I live with 3 cats: Raider, Rugby, and Ranger and 2 Dogs: Memphis and Tampa, and then down the road we have a horse: Eliza.  So I now am a partial owner of 5 pets, when on July 15 2007 I had ZERO.  

I'm a believer in change  =)   and love  <3

Cyber Monday

I heard a new phrase today, well new to me at least. Black Friday is followed by Cyber Monday. 

I went to the ever reliable Wikipedia and read the following: "The term Cyber Monday refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday, the ceremonial kick-off of the holiday online shopping season in the United States between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. Whereas Black Friday is associated with traditional brick-and-mortar stores, "Cyber Monday" symbolizes a busy day for online retailers. The premise was that consumers would return to their offices after the Black Friday weekend, making purchases online that they were not able to make in stores."

I'm a bit ashamed for being a "techie" and not knowing that phrase. Just thought I'd share. Also, I promise not to write about business one of these days.

What does $1 buy?

A list of a few top CEOs that are only making $1 a year in salary:  

Steve Jobs - Apple

Terry Semel - Yahoo CEO

Eric Schmidt - Google

John Mackey - Whole Foods

Edward Liddy - AIG

Considering the other 3 components of Executive Compensation, What kind of statement is really being made?  Is there a way to qualify its success? If nothing else it gets analyst talking.

The minimal salary is definitely not stating that the CEO is "taking one for the team."  I think it is more a component to instill confidence into a company. There are many reasons confidence is necessary, either to raise stock in an already profitable company such as Google, or in AIG's place to help from folding completely.

The other components of executive compensation will ALWAYS make up for the $1 salary. How does it look to the average person when they see "CEO has $1 salary" in the newspaper?  Do not be fooled, bonuses, stocks, and options are more than plenty for the CEO.  That's not even to mention the perks and benefits included in their high profile position.  I wonder if they actually even take the $1. It would make for an interesting pay stub at least.

What are we bailing out of?

I looked around for a complete list of stores going under this holiday season...below is a look at other that have not benefited from the glorious bailout plan. Also, what does this do for inflation over the next few years?


Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing Bombay closing remaining stores Cache will close all stores

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)

Dillard's to close some stores Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January. Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores. Footlocker closing 140 stores mo re to close after January GAP closing 85 stores Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick ) J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots) JC Penney closing a number of stores after January K B Toys closing 356 stores Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide Levitz closing down remaining stores Linens and Things closing all stores Lowes to close down some stores Macys to close 9 stores after January Movie Galley Closing all stores Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots) Pep Boys Closing 33 stores Piercing Pagoda closing all stores Sharper Image closing down all stores Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores Talbots closing down specialty stores Whitehall closing all stores Wickes Furniture closing down Wilson Leather closing down all stores Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January

Another note to add, if you have gift cards to these stores, USE them ASAP, if you not, do NOT buy any.

Cost - Analysis?

Interesting Article from ABC News:

The CEOs of the big three automakers flew to the nation's capital yesterday in private luxurious jets to make their case to Washington that the auto industry is running out of cash and needs $25 billion in taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy.All three CEOs - Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler - exercised their perks Tuesday by flying in corporate jets to DC. Wagoner flew in GM's $36 million luxury aircraft to tell members of Congress that the company is burning through cash, asking for $10-12 billion for GM alone.

===========================================

How can I help but realize the total irony of the article?  Even beyond the obvious, "Hey why are you asking for money as you live in luxury." What about the fact that it has become so normal to those guys to fly on a personal jet that they did not even consider how ridiculous it looked? Is there any question why we as middle class citizens live outside our means when the most intelligent Business Men of the country are flying around in private jets.  It just reinforces how sad things have gotten.  

To really let it sink in, I decided to gather some statistics on owning and operating a private jet.

Cost of Jet: $6 million to $50 million

Operation Cost:  $1800 - $5000 an hour

Examples: Light jets ($3 million to $8 million) can take 5 to 8 passengers roughly 2,000 miles (3,219 km); midsize executive jets ($9 million to $16 million) can take up to 9 passengers from 2,000 to 3,000 miles (3,219 to 4,828 km); and large executive jets ($17 million to $45 million) can carry 12 passengers more than 4,000 miles (6,437 km)

First Blog

Here goes nothing.... I have caved to the pressure and created a blog. I'm still not sure why at this point, but hopefully through the next few posts I'll start to develop some kind of theme. Knowing my inability to focus and not be side tracked, there will most likely be no theme, rather a mix of random thoughts, emotions, and ideas.  Nonetheless, I hope someone benefits from my pointless ramble.

The picture: I am creating a Rock Band character with a HOTT Hawk...I'm a Rockstar!