Holy Dow!

We live in interesting times, indeed.

I've always learned that you play the stock market for the long haul. That there will be ups and downs, but over a multi-year time horizon, the stocks do well and always trend upwards. Over these past few months, as I've watched our funds lose more and more money, I've had to repeat that mantra over and over: "We're in this for the long haul. We're in this for the long haul."

But the end doesn't yet seem in sight. Another "tumble" in the Dow this morning (I love how analysts use that word, like it's Humpty Dumpty sitting on some wall), falling more than 700 points before regaining 300 of those points.

I'm a little sketchy about the details of the bailout plan. One thing I want to ensure, though, is that government doesn't become too involved in our economy. Government involvement in healthcare, surely. Government involvement in the environment, possibly. Government involvement in the market, definitely not. Our markets to very well and the model is good. Of course, it seems like there are things that precipitated this fallout and maybe there needs to be more regulation of some sort, but we start to walk on some thin ice. I know it's unfounded, but I have these visions of our country becoming this communist state and everything that we once held dear and treasured are memories of the past.

A bit gloomy, I know. The strange thing is, no one I know has felt the effects of this economic downturn. We still go on living our lives as normal, driving to work, putting away money into investments. I'm in Kansas City on a project as I type. Nothing has really changed.

I can't decide if that's a good thing or not.

Fall is here! Fall is here!

Monday marked the official start of fall, and the cool weather couldn't be more on time. Monday was really our first day of cool weather and it seems like it's a little earlier than normal. Driving along the interstate this morning, I could make out just the faintest blushes of color on the trees. I guess the annual turning of the leaves has begun.

We got our first true taste of fall in Boston this past weekend. We were up there for my cousin's wedding and, after adjusting to 90+ degree heat in NC, the 70 degree weather in Boston was quite a shock to the system.

I love the very beginning of fall. There's something about the changing of the seasons that's exciting - the leaves turning colors, the approach of Halloween, the crisp apples and baked goods, squash soups and chunky sweaters. Of course, this excitement only lasts a few months and then I'm ready for summer again - the fresh veggies, grilling out, running around in shorts and a tank top. I guess the beginning of anything is always fresh and exciting and then looses it's luster after some time.

But for now, I'm excited about fall! I'm planning a full-out Halloween party (with costumes!) so that will keep me busy for awhile. I'm ready for the apple pies and warm soups!

And we've got a winner

I love advertising. And when I come across a particularly genius idea, I feel compelled to pass it along to others.

This is a viral movement by Wendy's. You may have seen the "meatatarian" commercials promoting The Baconator. If you go to meatatariansunite, you sign up to become part of the movement and receive a coupon for a Baconator. Pretty ingenious, I think. You get people talking and then you give them something free for the effort.

The commercial is pretty funny, too, and totally appeals to their main target market - guys who like to eat meat (I guess that's redundant, huh?).

Crazy Lettuce

Peer Pressure

This past weekend, Scott and I had dinner with several of my Fuqua friends. There were a total of four couples that went out to dinner - all four of the couples met through Fuqua and we're all still in town.

One of the couples already has a nine month old baby. So we were asking how the baby was doing, since this couple just recently moved back into the area. And then the big announcement came - one of the Fuqua friends is nine weeks pregnant. There were claps and cheers as the sonogram picture was passed around. And then the second big announcement came - the other Fuqua friend is nineteen weeks pregnant. Everyone hugged. And then everyone looked at us.

This is one eggo that is not preggo.

It's very strange that just one of my college friends has a baby and no one is even pregnant, but several of my Fuqua friends are already pregnant. I wonder if it has to do with where we all are in life - my Fuqua friends are all at a similar stage: advanced degree, settled, good jobs; whereas my college friends are all at different stages: some are back in school, others are changing jobs, some aren't married, so there's less congruency in terms of having a baby.

It's amazing the peer pressure that these pregnant women exert on non-pregnant women. Whether it's explicitly asking when we're going to have a baby or talking with other pregnant women about day care and matters-of-the-belly (a conversation to which I can contribute nothing), there's this constant pressure to join the "club."

In school, you learn about how to resist peer pressure when it comes to smoking, drugs and drinking. About how to say "no" when you feel peer pressure to have sex. But no one tells you about the peer pressure you feel ten years later when these mothers try to get you to have a baby.

I am (we are) just not ready for a baby now. I admit it - I'm selfish and can't imagine sharing what I have with anyone else. But this peer pressure will get to you.

I'm staying strong.

Shattered Ceilings

As we Americans prepare to enter a political sprint until the November 2008 elections, I can't help but look forward to the 2012 elections. This year, we have seen some historic events, with the first African-American presidential nominee and second female vice-presidential nominee. Either way, come November 2008, our country will have made a historic decision - either the first African-American will become president or the first female will become vice-president.

What will this mean for 2012? Will the political scene change forever because of this race? Will we see fewer white faces, fewer men take charge? I wonder if that glass ceiling will be shattered forever and future elections will ever be the same.

While part of me is excited about the potential change in mindset when it comes to the leaders of our country, part of me is also indifferent. And maybe this is the greatest testament to where we, as Americans, are today. It doesn't seem that odd or strange that an African-American or woman is running for president. And while I know that our country - like most countries in this world - still has a lot of ground to cover to forever bash the prejudice and discrimination that continues to live in this country, I think it says a lot that our generation barely seemed to notice that something historic was in the making. That our generation doesn't see what the big deal is that an African-American may be president; that a female may be vice-president.

And if that's the case, then anyone, truly, can be president of this country. I wonder if 2008 will have forever changed the old-school mindset and if 2012 will be more representative of who and what this country was founded for.

Wine Whine

During our wine trip to California in June, Scott and I fell in love with Kunde Winery's Chardonnay. Unfortunately, we only picked up two bottles, thinking that we can always order more if we wanted (wine was so much more expensive in California than we expected, so we didn't quite stock up as much as we wanted to).

After all, you can get anything from anywhere these days, right? Want that special perfume that's only made in Paris? No problem - a few clicks of the mouse and it's on it's trans-atlantic journey to your front door.

So I didn't think anything of it when I went online to order a few more bottles of that delicious, buttery Chardonnay. I added the bottles to my "shopping cart", entered my mailing information and then....click...."We cannot ship to that address." Confused, I called to find out what was wrong with their website. Apparently, nothing.

Not every state will allow wineries to ship direct to consumers. North Carolina is one of them. Apparently, the law is pretty complex, so not every winery is blocked. Just some. And apparently there is a lot of paperwork to fill out if you want to ship to certain states.

I'm not ordering Uzzies. I'm not transporting illegal drugs. I just want my Chardonnay. Just two bottles, as that. Not even a case. I feel like I'm living in a Communist country - my right to drink California wine is being violated.

I guess even the internet has its limitations.

Say what?

I think all Americans should be required to learn a second language (at least) in school, starting at a young age. The fact that Americans, as a majority, only speak English is a bit of an embarrassment, especially as we now live in a global economy. Speaking a second language is something I think all parents, as well as the school system, should expect out of their children.

I also love that this country has so much diversity and that it is accepting (usually) of people from all walks of life and from different backgrounds. It's neat to walk in a city and hear different languages being spoken.

Saying that, I also think that America should step up and claim English as its official language. Sometimes I feel that we are so scared of offending someone, of being politically incorrect, that we end up not having a backbone and, as a whole, we suffer as a result. I think those who choose to live in this country should learn to speak English - whether that's an initiative supported by government, religion organizations or personal responsibility. That doesn't mean giving up their own language, culture and customs - but it does mean being able to interact with others around you.

I was in Target the other day and couldn't find an item. So I went up to a sales associate working in the aisle and asked for help. She brought me to a second sales associate, because she couldn't speak English. The second sales associate spoke broken English. My husband was at McDonald's the other day (don't ask me why) and had to literally point to the value meal he wanted because the cashier didn't speak English.

If I was in France or Mexico or Kenya, I wouldn't complain about these incidents. The oneness should be on me to know the language of the country in which I'm visiting. And if I didn't know the language of the company, I wouldn't mind being shuttled as they found a sales associate who could speak my language.

But I'm in an English-speaking country. It is poor business practice for Target or McDonald's to have non-English speaking associates helping customers, unless they are there for the explicit purpose of helping non-English speaking customers. But I guess I can't complain because, after all, English isn't the official language of this country.

Now the LPGA is under fire for requiring all its competitors to know English proficiently in order to compete in its tournaments. The LPGA is a US-based tour, with sponsors and fans and media who primarily speak English. From a business standpoint, it seems to make sense. It will be interesting to see how it plays out legally.

Sweet Home Chicago

About two weeks ago, Scott and I took a jaunt to Chicago to see our friends Abby and Nathan. It was quite an exciting weekend. Between experiencing a Cubs game (vs. Pirates, Cubs won), walking around the Magnificent Mile, laughing at Second City, gambling at the Arlington Heights horse racetrack and stuffing our faces with sushi, we saw a lot of Chicago and had a great time!

A few pictures from the weekend. The sign in Japanese says (hopefully) Fukedome, which is one of the Cubs' players and whose shirt I was wearing. And the giant polished steel structure is what, I am told, Chicagoans affectionately refer to as "The Bean." You can see the Chicago skyline reflected.

Thank you, Abby and Nathan, for such a fun weekend!

Olympic Fever

I am totally addicted to the Olympics. For the past week, I haven't gone to bed before 1:00 in the morning because I've been glued to the TV. Things that have gone out the window this past week include working out, reading and talking to my husband. All because I am obsessed with the different sports.

I'm a pretty competitive person, so there has been a lot of jumping around the living room and general yelling, hoping that I can send some karma across the world to my American counterparts, propelling them through the water or pushing them to run a few hundreths of a second faster on the track.

Mostly, I just want us to get more medals than China. Preferably, more gold medals than China. Call it ethnocentricity, call it national pride. There's something about getting those medals that helps to shine our tarnished international reputation.

By the way, has anyone else noticed that almost every non-US competitor resides in the US? They are either going to college in the US or just chilling out here. I think there should be some kind of requirement that you have to actually live in the country which you are representing. By that count, we are totally kicking it in the medal department...I think we can take credit for just about every medal that those other countries have earned.

Of course, I'm totally kidding.

Kinda.

It's a doggy-dog world

My local Starbucks is running two donation drives.

Donation #1: For our troops - donate a pound of your favorite Starbucks coffee (or donate a box of tea) to help caffeinate the troops. As a special treat, you can write a message to the troops on the bag. This donation has been running for about three months now, and there are 6 bags of coffee and one box of tea in the donation basket.

Donation #2: For the Orange County Animal Shelter - donate any items (food, toys, grooming products, etc) for the animal shelter. As a special treat, when you make a donation, you're entered into a raffle to win a (1) free Starbucks drink. This donation has been running for about two weeks and there are three baskets overflowing with doggy items.

It seems a little sad that the dogs get all the love and our troops get a few measly pounds of coffee. I was talking to the barista about this and she thought it had something to do with the fact that the pound of coffee costs about $10 and a dog toy could be purchased for about $1.

I hope that's the case...I'd hate to think that we value our dogs more than we do each other.

A picture says it better

I came across this editorial cartoon in the paper this weekend, and thought it nicely summed up my previous post.

The collective media - a soapbox rant

Can I just step on my soapbox for a moment?

Let me preface this rant by saying that I don't like to be told what to do. Ever. Just ask my parents.

I am sick and tired of the collective media making the election decision for the American public. Obama is on the cover of Time Magazine this week, with the caption "And the Winner is...". Fortune's cover has a picture of Obama with a headline about the two candidate's positions on the economy (where's the picture of the second candidate?). CNN seems to only report positive stories about Obama and negative storis about McCain. What happened to telling both sides of the story and letting the people make the decision?

Answer: the media is tired of Republicans in office and have decided not to trust Americans to make the decision at the ballot box again. After all, the American public had been given a second chance and blew it, electing GW into office a second time.

But that shouldn't matter. How is what the media doing any different than when developing countries/dictatorships stuff the ballot box? Or intimidate people when they go vote? Or just having a dictator make the decision himself, without the hassle of an election?

News Flash: we haven't had one debate yet between the candidates nor do we really, truly know what these candidates stand for. All of it is rhetoric at this point, on both sides. How can the winner already be determined if we don't even know where they stand on the issues?

I'm not suggesting that we should swing the other way and glorify McCain. But I am suggesting that we give the relevant information to Americans and let them vote based on the facts and figures. It makes me so angry - physically angry - that the media is essentially making the decision for us. Yeah, our freedom gives the media the right to say whatever they want. But now they are just being irresponsible and a bully.

It's almost enough to vote a certain way, just out of spite.

Tour de France

So I finally got around the uploading this video. I spent this past weekend in Paris, as I previously posted, and was lucky to get a front row seat of the last laps of the Tour de France. The whole experience was truly incredible.

It started with a parade around the city, with the most fun car floats I've ever seen. The whole thing was very campy and very tongue in cheek. Then about an hour later, the cyclists started to arrive into the city. Near one end of the Champs Elysee, there's a huge jumbotron that showed the cyclists entering the city. At that point, we started to walk down the line of people and find a spot where we could squeeze in. People from all nationalities lined the streets of Paris for miles, holding country flags, foam hands of their favorite teams and emitting an buzzing energy.

The cyclists do about eight laps around the city, before finally ending at the Arc de Triomphe. So we were able to see the cyclists whiz by about six times. On the first lap, they were just one big clump. By the second lap, they had begun to spread out, and spread out more and more with each subsequent lap.

This video was taken on my smartphone, so the quality isn't the best, but it gives you a sense of how fast these cyclists are going.

There are a few things in life that I feel lucky to have experienced - attending a Presidential debate, going to (what was) the Sugar Bowl - and being a stone's throw from the Tour de France cyclists is one more to the list.

And a few still pictures in a bit slower motion...

Oil Speculations...continued

In the New Yorker this month (I usually catch up on my issues during air travel), I read another article about oil speculation. This author also agrees that punishing the speculators isn't the answer to climbing oil prices, but he has a slightly different perspective.

A ruined woman

Most of the air travel I've ever done in my life has been spent sitting in a coach seat. You know, in the peon section. Not First Class. Not Business Class. Not even Economy Plus, whatever that means. I'm basically the passenger that barely got a ticket onto the Titanic - stuck in the bowels of the ship while the other passengers feast on duck and caviar.

So when I discovered that we travel Business Class across the Atlantic, I was super excited. The plush seat reclined a good 120 degrees. The leg rest came up. I even had lumbar support. The flight attendants served me vegetable lasagna and complimentary reisling and even ice cream for dessert. I had my own video monitor and a real blanket. "This is the way to travel," I thought. I knew then that I could never go back.

Until the flight back. The gods smiled upon me at Charles de Gaulle and I got upgraded to First Class. First Class across the Atlantic! No one has this kind of luck! The seat fully reclined into a bed - I got the best 3 hours of sleep on an airplane ever. Real pillows, a real quilt. A three course meal with salad, chilled carrot soup and tortellini. A choice of three desserts. My own little pod, where it was just me, my recliner and my cubby. An ameneties kit with toothbrush, mouthwash, toothpaste, lip balm, socks and face gel. When I got my "wake up" deli tray, I knew it was over. I was ruined forever.

I have another trip to the UK coming up in about three weeks. I'm slated for Business Class again. I don't know if I can do it. I don't know if I can go back to Business Class. Now that I've tasted the duck and caviar, I just can't go back to the bowels of the ship. Maybe the Fergie gods will smile upon me again and grant me another First Class voyage.

A hop, skip and a jump over the pond

Today I leave for London and Paris! While most of the week in London will be spent doing actual work, we should have some time to enjoy the food and sights. Paris is purely for fun. I figured I flew 7 hours to get to Europe, I might as well enjoy things while I'm there.

The exciting thing is that the Tour de France will end in Paris on Sunday. I'm sure it'll be a mad house, but I'm thrilled to be able to watch it. We'll be squirming our way through the crowd, with cameras held high to catch the bikers on their final push home. Hopefully I'll get some good shots.

It's amazing, but it's been 7 years since I've been to Europe (wow, that makes me sound old). When I graduated college, my friend, Lindsey, and I backpacked for about a month through Europe, starting in London, circling around, and ending in Paris. My French has definitely rusted since then so I'm a little nervous about navigating around Paris, but I'm also excited to be back in two of my favorite European cities!

Enjoy the week!

SOS

In business school, Finance was never my strong point. There were concepts I found fascinating, but they seemed very nebulous to me, and lacked that concrete feel that you could wrap your brain around.

Last week, I received an e-mail from 12 airline CEOs, asking me to pressure congress to Stop Oil Speculation (SOS). Their argument: speculators have put upward pressure on oil prices, thereby causing their operating costs, and costs to the everyday consumer, to skyrocket. At the time, I didn't pay it much mind and deleted the e-mail.

But I came across it again this week. And I wondered if they had a point. Then I had a chance to read the counterargument by Walter Williams and all those lectures in Finance class came back to me. His argument: speculation allows for the distribution of resources over time. While speculation may increase prices a bit now, curtailing speculation now may decrease supply available in the future, thereby increasing prices by a lot more.

I think I have to side with Williams on this point. Yes, increased gas costs suck right now, but those prices will (hopefully) cause us to decrease demand (consumption) for oil, thereby increasing supply available.

Williams goes on to say that by drilling for American oil, we will effectively decrease the price of foreign oil. Even if we aren't able to realize the efforts of that drilling for another 5-10 years, OPEC will see the writing on the wall: increased supply will decrease prices in the future, so it's better to sell now while the cost per barrel is high. I agree, but...

Now we throw the environment into the equation. I do think we need to decrease our dependence on foreign oil, but I don't know if that means drilling at home. The implications mean a continued dependence on oil and the destruction of our environment. But Williams' construct should still hold true if we invest and invent new ways of creating energy - wind, solar, bio, nuclear. Some of these new ways means changing our infrastructure - wind power grids, more hydrogen fuel stations, easier access to biofuel - which could be costly and time consuming at the front end. But, like speculation, we have to look towards the future. The upfront cost now means a much lower cost for energy all around, including oil, in the future.

So increasing regulation on speculation isn't our answer. It's looking for alternatives at home and changing our mindsets as consumers. The higher prices supposedly caused, in part, by oil speculation may be the best thing that happens to this country.

And I like it

It's a guilty pleasure. I really like "I Kissed a Girl" by Katie Perry. It has a really good beat. And it's kind of a fun, naughty song.

The problem is, I find myself singing it softly in the grocery store, in the airport security line, in Starbucks. Then I realize that I'm singing, and what I'm singing, and I look around frantically, to see if anyone has heard me and mistaken me for, er, a girl who kisses other girls...and likes it.

The funny thing is, this song would never have made it on the radio if the genders were reversed and if it was sung by a boy:

I kissed a boy and I liked it
The taste of his cherry chapstick
I kissed a boy and I liked it
I hope my girlfriend don't mind it

Why is that? Why can a girl sing about kissing another girl and we love it, but no one would ever - has ever - heard a song about a boy kissing another boy. I don't know whether I should be insulted from a feminist point of view (is it OK for a women to be an object, a plaything and not for a man?) or a social one (do we favor lesbians over homosexual men?). Maybe I'm reading too much into the song.

In the meantime, I'll continue singing it (softly) to myself and hope no one comes to conclusions about my feminist or social points of view, based on the song I'm singing.

The best movie of all time?

I'm going to call it. Best movie. Hands down. And yes, it's an animation.

It's true, though. Pixar has given us another gem that is not just clever, not just creative, but pure genius. The movie has so many meanings on so many levels that it's something you can turn over again and again in your mind and find a new nugget to consider. On the surface, the movie is about a robot that follows his love to explore new things. But there are so many other things that it touches on - mainly a call to take our heads out of the sand and make a change. That change can be to reach out to humanity or reach out to our planet or discover a world outside of the one we know.

And it's moving - after the movie was over, not one moviegoer left their seat. We just all sat there, taking in what we just saw. Who would have thought that the greatest love story this year would be between two robots? And that that love could be conveyed with only three words spoken between the two (Wall-E, Eva, Directive)?

The animation is incredible - the moment the movie started, I forgot I was watching a cartoon; everything is so realistic. I can't believe that the animators can create humanity in a pair of two-dimensional robot eyes.

So if you're looking for a good place to plop down $9 this summer, go see Wall-E. It's an incredible movie and you won't be disappointed.

California or Bust

We had a terrific time on our vacation! Between drinking lots and lots of wine, we also went up in a hot air balloon, canoed the Russian River, went horseback riding through Jack London's Park, squirmed in mud baths, biked across the Golden Gate Bridge and ferried to Alcatrez.


Of the eight wineries we tasted at, our favorites were Kunde and Benzinger. We found some amazing "winery only" wines at Benzinger. Can't wait for our UPS shipment to make it's way to our front door so we can relive the grape adventure.


The vacation, of course, wouldn't have been quite the same without our friends Abby and Nathan. This marks our fourth annual vacation with them and we can't wait for next year. Now we just have to find another location that starts with a "C" (we've done Charleston, Cape Cod, Costa Rica and California).

The view from our balloon...Before the big climb to the Golden GateGrowing baby grapesThar she blows! Old Faithful Geyser near Calistoga