I’ve also fixed a few nagging items that were bothering me here and there. Specifically the Music page. I’d really like a way to tie together my web related projects, so you’ll most likely be seeing a “Projects” section soon. As much as this is my personal site, I still need a few tools that I hope you’ll find use-of as well. I’ll be fixing the aggregate news portion of the site that keeps me up to date of skating related news. All good stuff. All about me.

More tomorrow!

I’m surprisingly upbeat about the whole thing really. However, that could also be a circumstance of my employment conditions. First I feel it’s important to designate what area of expertise I focus my efforts on. I’m primarily a Systems Administrator for Windows, Mac and Unix derived systems. I deal with preliminary networking, approximating it to a CCNA, would be good policy. I also deal with end user desktop support, however, am not central to that role. I do know a fair amount of varied languages for web development and when it comes to databases, MySQL is my favor. All of these things are important because IT workers always want to know where they stand. The industry I was currently involved with was non-profit education. A music school specifically. I live in a major city (Los Angeles) which provides thousands of jobs for IT workers every year.

Because I’ve been diligent, I’ve had an opportunity to directly influence decisions related to IT in my organization. I’ve grown professionally since the dot com days. Which should be evident, if any of you study trends in enterprise technology. With the rise in Apple related hardware and software, alongside virtualization, I’ve adapted my existing foundation of knowledge, and applied it to two new kinds of system/services.

Needless to say, things have changed dramatically since 1999 and 2000. The IT industry as a whole may be getting smaller, but the reasons this time around are all too different. I definitely didn’t lose my job from a lack of projects! Technology is pervasive and an essential tool for today’s work and play. Everyone needs a  publishing scheme to give information, or a data gathering plan to take information. I won’t bore you with the pyramid economics that got companies into and surprised by this mess. But what I can tell you is to never stop learning. It’s almost like beating a dead horse, but if you’re not adapting, your not in the right line of work. That also may be what attracted me to IT in the first place. It reinvents itself more than any other industry I know. When was the last time you used a ZIP disk?

My advice to anyone recently laid off is to first update your resume. Make sure whatever proprietary hardware/software is listed by name in your resume alongside your achievements. I treat them as a keywords for searches. Next, find educational materials and study. This can be anything from books on the subject to something like lynda.com. For many of you, this should also include refreshers on subjects you think you already know. Then use simplyhired.com and dice to search the boards for keywords that can be found in your resume. Also, don’t be afraid to doctor your resume for a specific job. NEVER lie, but support your strengths in whatever areas they desire. Whatever you do, if you value your talent, don’t spam your resume everywhere. An example of this would be sending out more than 5 resumes a day. You’ll end up with tons of recruiters for staffing agency’s and unless your hard up for work you shouldn’t give precedence to. It’s better to take your time and find a great fit, if you can afford to do so. Last but not least, experiment. Now is the perfect time to find solutions for problems that suffer from a lack of innovation. Empower people to help them selfs and you’ll end up helping yourself much more.

I’ve written before about the economy and it’s over reaching contraction. Some of my friends commented about my negative stance and I can’t help but feel a bit vindicated today. Even if it is inherently wrong of me. This is an eerie feeling I dare not wish upon you. It will subside eventually, the uncertainly and surprise of it all.

I just returned from my vacation and prepared breakfast in an attempt to get back into the swing of things. I can’t say the writing wasn’t on the wall, as our morning chatter invoked a “what if” mentality. Across the country, the upper crust has utterly mis-managed the last 30 years. My employer of just over two years unfortunately cant be excluded. The race for growth during my tenure there has left a bad taste in my mouth. As the phone calls keep pouring in offering solace and support, I find that I cannot be counted as a victim in this mess. I foreshadowed the first and second round of layoffs months before senior management could possibly come to grips with what was happening. I even went so far as to send an article to the CFO on how to minimize the damage to the stability of the workforce once the realization hits, that not only are their friends no longer around, they have to work even harder to keep up. This would suggest I was in fact prepared for the failures of grey-haired nitwits in charge.

I’m comforted by the knowledge that I can pick myself up off the ground, as I have many times past. For those of you that know my background, I’ve always come from unsuspecting places to race past the commonly held mentality that what go’s up must come down. There is no up or down! There is out, in and around.

Just outside of the terminal, I was reminded why I came to the U.K. The weather is fantastic! Just bitter cold! The drive from Heathrow to Cambridge was nice enough. When we arrived the first order of business was finding a nice establishment for a proper sit down meal. I was looking and feeling haggard from the flight. I only managed to get an hours rest. Tim being a local to Cambridge, managed to find us a quaint little cafe that served the best food. Following this, Tim took Desi and I on a brief walking tour of his posh university town. I immediately fell in love with the grand architecture of Kings and Christs colleges. I was exceedingly glad to have come to Cambridge and catch a glimpse of where many scholars have attended. After the brief tour Tim led us back to his home to rest up before work. This 2 hour period was the worst part of the day by far. I had to fight the urge to sleep, because we’d be heading back into the city center later. I spent the time reading up on Cambridge in my touristy guide book. Learning facts about the oldest buildings (from 1442 AD).

UPDATE: So I’ve since returned from England. I had so much trouble finding Internet Access in London that I haven’t updated since my return. I do, however want to recount my days and evenings spent there mainly because there we so moving.

The evening in Cambridge was spent mainly in Pubs. Defintly the best night life of our trip was spent in Caimbridge of all places.

Muxtape may be down but Justin’s concept lives on through OpenTape. A new kind of mix tape software, it may just be the promiscuous cousin of the former service. It’ll run on just about any PHP5 web server. For those with the means, OpenTape essentially allows us to host our own special version of Muxtape. I missed my library enough to install it and get it playing with even more great music.

\\geekrolling.com\remux

Pretty much what I’ve been listening to recently. Some peaches, I’d like to think rare, but mostly things you haven’t heard before. WARNING: Ed Banger and DFA are up in this bitch.

1. Imani Coppola – This song just jumped out at me for having funny lyrics. The reason it’s first, is because it’s the truth.
2. Lykke Li – My favorite song at the moment. Just easy jammin and she’s easy on my ears like the Cardigans.
3. Vampire Weekend – What’s not to like when white kids play African pop riffs.
4. Nine Inch Nails -The first single without a label. The best things in life ARE free.
5. Late of the Pier – I’m sorry, but this makes me feel like I’m coked up in a french nightclub cir 1973.
6. Crystal Castles – I go absolutely bananas to this shit.
7. Fujiya & Miyagi – I adore how this builds and builds until it’s perfect.
8. Busy P – Did I mention I enjoy repetitive dance music!
9. Beck – Consistently delivers good, amazingly produced music.
10. The Cool Kids – Gotta have the EQ just right on this one.
11. Nujabes – Perfectly blended jazz and hip-hop.
12. Bird Peterson – Mashing Sabbath all day every day.
13. Beastie Boys – The best song you’ve heard a hundred times.
14. Justice – Passionate sounding, but how do you know really?
15. Hercules and Love Affair – Throw back synth filled with 90′s connotations.
16. Hey Willpower – I fucking hate this song enough to make you hate it too.
17. Hocus Pocus – Swinging international hip-hop.
18. Nujabes – Intellectual beats from Japan.
19. Jackson And His Computer Band – The composition on this song alone. It’s just ridiculous.
20. Nujabes – Just kills. Everything about it from the lyrics to the piano.
21. JDilla – Austin bringing me home again.
22. Vampire Weekend – Two words. Hammer and Tongs.
23. Justice – A sweet remix that puts it all out there.
24. Kate Nash – I want to talk with this bird so bad!
25. The Blood Arm – From their garage to your headphones.
26. Tapes n’ Tapes – Straight ahead rhythm rock.
27. Kill The Noise – Obscure, but tells you how it is FTW!
28. Mr. Oizo – Heavy, heavy ruckus.
29. ABX – What could go wrong mashing Lil Kim and MGMT?
30. Digitalism – A remix that caught my attention.
31. Nujabes – Another exquisitely produced track to rock to.
32. Royksopp – Most. commercial. sounding. track. ever.
33. Sabastien Tellier – Great drama, filled with strings.
34. Hot Chip – A soild DFA remix. Wait for it now!
35. The Chemical Brothers – The closest to a radiohead song this duo can get.

However, that said, I choose to recently manage my own 401k and in the  pursuit of knowledge and learning, I’m posting my experiences here you for you to examine.

Much of the investment advice/learning material I’ve been able to find on the internet is focused on the ever evaluation of practically living stocks. The market breathes, if not by some imaginary force, also by an invisible pulse. I follow day traders, penny stockers, investment and portfolio managers, angel investors and hybrid media/investment types. Hardly ever can I find the static long investor, eager to share his wisdom. The breed of my fathers age, who in a time of deep perspective decided it would be a good idea to develop money, just doesn’t care about the little investor. Obvious reasons for this could be lazy investors don’t bother with the internet. They are after-all, baby-boomers, utterly inept when it comes to blending technology. And yet another reason could be disclosure. If your not trading your not shouting.
The first trade I ever performed was a buy of NVDA at 18.29 and a sell at 24.52. I had nailed a 52 week low and sold at near it’s peak. I held my investment for 2 months and made a 34% return. Beginners luck? I’m willing to think so.

As so eloquently detailed in my first post, I bought into BCS thinking it would be immune to the U.S. Economic slowdown and my naiveté got the best of me. I had been watching BCS since the March decline and decided, because it was a European bank, and it was minimally invested in the sub prime mortgage debacle, it should remain a sound investment. I bought in at 28.30 and after watching my pick loose envious amounts of steam, I decided it was time to cut my losses. I sold @ 25.80 for a loss of 8.6%.

I’m under the impression that because I have a smaller amount of capital to invest, I should invest more often. However, that too may eventually lead to false logic. Not to discount my own analysis, but I feel as though larger portfolio’s have more to loose. I for one would be cautious, so would you. As I look to tomorrow morning with the knowledge that there WILL be a rally, I’m attempting to decide which of my P/E winners that are at or near their 52 week lows AND have decent analysis, will be my monetary development. Round 2 anyone?

This may be the previous stomping grounds for what once was (will always be), a rollerblading website, but the times just keep on changing. And when I say new, I mean that in every sense. I deleted the previous database which you can still find if you look hard enough. I wanted to really start clean, manage my level of fun, and leave the rest to you. What I will say is with age, your interests skew. Some weeks I devote more hours to rollerblading websites than actual skating. Both of course pale in comparision to the multitude of hours spent living and working. So there you have it Work Life and Rollerblading. One and two are not mutually exclusive.

More on more… later

I picked up Barclays Bank last week during decline @ 31.40. I had been waiting for the drop since March, and upon falling past 31.70, it’s been a very attractive stock in my eyes. While practically all financials have had write downs and reevaluations, Barclay’s was forthcoming quite early, and didn’t hesitate to take action. As a result, they’ve ridden a very fine line against losses. BCS has also not taken the opportunity to raise capital, something I believe would help the stock. It has some great upside potential in my eyes. Should they choose to raise capital, I expect a buyout of an undervalued M&A or equities capital markets broker. The decline was an expected bump in the road, but of all banks Barclays calls peers (notably UBS and RBS), they were the most attractive.