Samsung Blackjack 2 - A review

I got a Samsung Blackjack 2 a few weeks ago, and I have to say I like it so far.  Now I have to say one thing up front, I've never really had a "smart phone".  I've always used my phone to make phone calls.  A novel idea I know.  But I decided to get a phone that would allow me to check my work e-mail where I was, so I got this phone.

I had heard bad things about the Blackjack 1.  But to be honest, I just didn't care what I got.  I figured it was all the same so long as I could check my mail.  Despite being a technology geek, and working at a telecom company, I've just never really been into phones.  So I just ordered whatever was convenient and this is what I got.

I have to say, I like it a lot.  The screen is bright, it's slim, and it does what I need it to do which is make calls, check mail, and occasionally look something up on the internet.  It is 3G capable, which means internet browsing is fast, and I like the display and keypad just fine.  Of course like anything it does have its drawbacks.  First off, navigating through this thing was not intuitive.  Now that I got it down, I can get through, but for a first time user, Windows Mobile 6 is not the most user friendly thing around.  I know for a fact that Microsoft is starting to divert a lot of resources over in that division, so hopefully this will improve over time.

Also, the battery life is not so great.  The 3G really sucks the life out of the battery, so if you plan on doing more than just the occasional  search, be ready to find a plug fast.  That's the other thing I don't like about it.  It has a proprietary plug  for out output and input.  So despite the fact that it can play music, you are going to have to buy Samsung's own headphones.

Overall a thumbs up.  But then again, I have nothing to compare it to.

Someone is Happy to Be Back in California

Yesterday we had a very nice, albeit typical, California day. It was in the mid to high 70's for most of the day and even got to the point I turned on the AC just to cool the apartment down a bit. There was one person who was even more happy than me to be back in California. That would be my cat pictured above. One of the big drawbacks in living in a place like Seattle was that we just did not get much sun. To make matters worse, my apartment in Seattle did not really get any direct sunlight.

When you have a kitty that loves to sun bathe, that can be a problem. Now that we are back in Southern California and I have a southern facing apartment, kitty just loves to spend his day sprawled out and laying in the sun. Lucky for him he doesn't realize how much more expensive it is to live here. Despite a higher salary than what I was earning in Washington, I'm really not saving more money. In fact, I'm probably saving less. We will see how it all equalizes as soon as my move in cost are gone and my girlfriend eventually makes it down, but for now, definitely not saving as much money as I was before.

Microsoft and Yahoo - An Ex Employee's view

So my quick thoughts on the proposed Microsoft and Yahoo deal after a comment by bluejay311 in my last post.  . What the hell is Microsoft thinking? Quite frankly this is Microsoft's capitulation that it just can't compete with Google by building it's own solution, so it will go out and acquire one. The hope, I'm sure, is that by combining the second and third largest search providers into one, you can hopefully take out the behemoth Google. I just don't buy it.

Perhaps, and I think its a big perhaps, this strategy might work, but I don't think so. Search will be won by he who can deliver what the end user wants. In most cases this will be relevance, speed, and perhaps content. I'm not sure how by combining forces, Microsoft and Yahoo really address either of the first two. A second and third rate solution combined, don't beat the front runner. I liken it to basketball. In a trade involving a superstar and two really good, but second tier players, the team receiving the superstar always wins the deal hands down. It simply is a matter that there are certain things superstars can do that you can't get anywhere else. In this case, Yahoo and Microsoft just can't compete in the things that matter.

Where the deal does make sense is on the advertising side of things. It might work because Microsoft actually has pretty good technology in Ad Center, it's ad platform, and Yahoo has a much deeper advertiser base. Combining these two things gives the combined company a chance to woo advertisers to its platforms. But the problem here is that this is only a secondary consideration for advertisers. Advertisers want to be where the eyeballs are. A combined Microsoft and Yahoo might have enough eyeballs to make it worth while, but I'm not so sure. There are a couple more reasons I don't like it.

• Yahoo seems to be fighting it - Yahoo is doing its best to find an alternative, even going to the point of exploring a possible partnership with Google.  How likely is it that the new company will integrate nicely with their new acquirers after they fought so hard to find alternatives.  How much of the top talent will just get up and leave?


• Microsoft is overpaying - $44.6 Billion. Really? This will take most of Microsoft's cash horde as well as a stock offering. This deal values Yahoo at over 60% more than the close the previous day. This on the heels of a $6 billion aQuantive purchase, a 200% premium at the time.  Why is Microsoft continuing to pay such steep premiums.  Is this a sign of desperation?


• Mergers are just hard - I've been through a few.  They are never easy.  I can't imagine how hard it would be for two companies of this size with their own very unique cultures.  Not to mention two companies that have been direct competitors for so long.

Microsoft may just have no choice but to make this move.  I believe they realize that Google is just too big to take down by themselves, and so are looking for any means necessary to do it.  If you don't believe what I have to say about it, just look at what the market did to Microsoft stock after the announcement, down double digits.

Don't Panic!

The market has been quite turbulent. I myself have decided to walk away from it and not pay too much attention. Even in my regular portfolio, I'm not that heavily invested in stocks, so I can afford to not worry too much. That being said, with the wild swings of the market as of late, I have seen one day drops in my portfolio in the $1000 range which makes me nervous.

However, when things look bleak, it is time to start looking to buy things. You can essentially think of the market as going on sale, and don't we all like a good sale? Like my man Warren Buffet says, “Unless you can watch your stock holding decline by 50% without becoming panic-stricken, you should not be in the stock market”. Given this bit of advice, this little 10% drop or so at the beginning of the year is nothing. I'm in fact somewhat excited by it because I really want to buy into some good stocks.

That being said, wait a few more percentage points down. The perfect case study in this is Google. Google is down to about $500 from a high of $740. This stock is in no mans land at this point. I would not be a buyer of it, but I also might not be a seller of it. Google has good long term prospects, but right now the stock is getting beat up along with the rest of tech. Is this panic selling? Absolutely! But if you can't stand to watch the stock drop another $100, you shouldn't be in it. It can easily go down another $100 because it is so tied to online advertising, and in a recession, which everyone is predicting, advertising is one of the things businesses cut back on first.

If however, you can buy the stock and ignore it, than this would be an excellent time to consider buying into it. It is all about the type of person you are. Long term investors want to seriously start looking at the market, and trying to pick some stocks up that you have wanted for a while. All others who let their emotions ride the roller coaster along with their stocks are best to avoid the market until things start leveling out.

Sushi Land

I went back to Seattle this past weekend, and one of the places I stopped was good, old, cheap Sushi Land. Actually, I went twice. Considering I only had four meals there, taking half of them at Sushi Land should tell you how much I miss the place. My two meals there came to a total of about $20 each. For that price, I was able to eat until both me and my girlfriend were quite full. Since I normally focus on nigiri rather than rolls or noodles, I'm able to eat quite cheaply. Most of the nigiri is $1.50. The one general exception is pictured to the left, the sockeye salmon.

Sitting here in bright, warm, Southern California and thinking about the sushi almost makes me want to move back. OK, maybe not.

To Tip or Not to Tip

I'm one of those people who in theory, don't really believe in tipping yet I do it anyway, even when I get horrible service.   The side of me who doesn't really believe in tipping believes so because I believe I pay for a service up front.  The price of the service is built in into my bill.  When I go to a restaurant, I pay a premium to eat there.  If they wish to charge me more to cover the salaries of their workers, so be it.  But I do not feel obligated to do the job of the owner of the restaurant, which is to pay his workers.  While some may argue that the wait staff is paid less  because tips are factored into their pay, I simply respond that again, I'm not responsible for other people, however callous that may sound.  Pay is between an employer and an employee, and if the employee is not being paid enough, it should be brought up with the employer, not the customer.

With all that being said, I always tip, even when I'm generally unhappy with the service.  Not sure why I do it, but something just compels me.   Perhaps it is a sense of guilt, although I like to think I live my life pretty guilt free.  For whatever the reason, I almost always tip and it is almost always quite generous.  However, I had cause tonight to not tip.

My movers came to deliver my stuff to my new apartment.  I tipped the crew at the origin and planned to tip the crew (who was different) at my destination.  However, the guy who showed up was clearly unorganized, and wasn't sure what was my stuff and what was another persons.  He also shows up woefully understaffed, he brought only one other guy with him.   Since he showed up at 7:00 p.m., I decided to help lest he be here till Midnight.  What upset me even more was that it was very clear that many of my belongings were mishandled and not treated with care.  There were boxes with water damage (most of the contents were safe however), there were boxes labeled "This End Up" that were upside down, they dropped the bed (that was thankfully covered in plastic) onto the wet grass.  The list goes on and on.  So I decided to not tip them.  I felt bad for about 30 seconds, and then I got over it quickly.  I'm up typing this at 1:30 a.m. because they left at around 10:30.

So what do you think.  Do you always tip?  Are there times you don't?  Why  not?

Work - Learn Not Earn

I was having lunch with a former colleague from Microsoft. She was telling me how she was reading the book Rich Man Poor Dad and thought of me as she read it. In that book, Richard Kiyosaki describes how each job he took he took more for the experiences he would have and the lessons he could learn rather than the money he could earn from the job.

It is true. Each job I have taken I have taken with purpose. I have done this because I know that life is much more a marathon than a sprint. It is like my lesson on compound interest. Small sacrifices now can have a big impact down the road.

Now, that being said, I've been pretty lucky.  It's not like any job I took forced me to live in a box and survive on Top Ramen.  But as I was considering whether or not to take a certain job, I definitely focused much more on the characteristics of the company and the job than on what my paycheck would look like.  This continues to pay off with each subsequent job I take as I'm very easily able to articulate why I took the job and what I gained from it.  This actually means I can generally get a job that paid me significantly more than what I made previously because I have had great experience and have a career with purpose.

So I am not advocating ever taking a significant pay cut just to get a job that gives you slightly better experience and learning opportunities.  Doing so has other bad side effects later on down the road.  But never ever make salary your primary concern.  Working to learn not earn will keep your career trajectory aimed very high.