Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

I'm still alive. I spent some time during the holidays trying to figure out what to do next. Blogging for the sake of blogging is not at the top of my list, but I do want to provide something useful. So, for now, I'm not going to be just writing about whatever movie or book I just saw/read or whatever random thought entered my brain last.

I'm working on new ideas and I may blog specifically about them as they're developed -- or not. When I get it all figured out, I'll be back.

Thanks for reading and participating. It's been a most enjoyable experience -- to say the least. I'm glad for all the new friendships I've made here and I'll let you all know what's coming next as soon as I can.

Happy New Year to everyone!

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 09:33 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Tuesday I went with my daughter on her field trip to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. I was a parent chaperone for the day. What a great place to visit. If you live in the area, this is definitely something worth seeing.

I'm writing this post for a different reason, though. On that trip, I ran into someone I haven't seen for about 16 years -- a good friend from college. Unfortunately I didn't realize who she was until much later (16 years have really slowed down my brain). In any case I feel bad that I didn't say hi. I know it's about a billion to one chance that she'll ever read this blog post, but I'm going to say hi now anyway.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 06:58 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

As a software developer, I've been a PC zealot since 1986. That was the year that I got my first IBM PC and really started professional programming. I actually got paid to build a collections-agency software application before I finished high school. As all computer nerds of the time, I was aware of the Apple Macintosh -- I had even been an Apple owner back in the days of the //e. However, from my vantage point in 1986, it appeared that everyone was going to be using PCs in business and so all the software opportunities were going to be there. For the most part, that was a pretty good perspective.

Today, though, I'm experiencing Apple Envy. Have you heard about the new Apple OS called Leopard? You should watch this video. There's a lot of eye candy in the demonstration but from my perspective, what's truly amazing is how well integrated everything is. The good news for me is that today the Apple OS runs on an an Intel chip. That means that I can get a Mac, use Leopard for most of my work (it's almost all online now anyway) and if I need Windows, I can install MS Virtual PC and run Windows XP with its applications in a separate window.

I know what I'll be asking Santa for this year.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 02:41 PM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

A while ago, I wrote about saving. I'm curious if you thought about it. Did you do anything?

I'm not a stock picker -- in fact, my past experience is pretty lousy. I took a different approach this time. First of all, I decided to diversify (yeah, that's obvious, I know) and I decided to lean toward the Warren Buffett approach to holding. He's quoted as saying, "Our favorite holding period is forever."

So back in May I started investing $25 per week in stocks using Sharebuilder. The nice thing about Sharebuilder is that you can buy stocks for $4 or less based on the investment program you choose. There are no account minimums (I started with $25) and you can buy fractional shares of stocks. My first stocks were Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG).

Back in May, a share of Apple cost $103. I bought 0.0482 shares. I also bought 0.0107 shares of Google at $466 and 0.0655 shares of Chipotle at $76. Today Apple is at $186, Google is currently $695 and Chipotle is $133. Overall I've had a 25% gain on my investment in just under six months.

Realistically I don't expect to see those kinds of gains, but I'm excited that I'm finally doing something and it's such a small amount ($25 per week) that we haven't even noticed it in our budget. I'm planning on holding for the very long term and look forward to increasing my investment amount over time. I'll pick different stocks as it makes sense, but I'm not day trading or moving in and out of stocks quickly. Slow and steady with a little bit going in every month.

Thoughts?

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 08:44 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out this optical illusion. Interestingly I expected to fall in the left-brain category. I'm a computer programmer with a fairly large mathematics background. However, I've been trying to see the dancer turning anti- (counter-) clockwise for some time now. No matter how much I concentrate I can't do it. I always see clockwise.

What about you?

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 03:24 PM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (4)

This week was supposed to be a relaxing week. By this week, I was supposed to be done with my most recent large work project. This week didn't turn out that way.

However, today things are looking up. The project seems to finally be wrapping up and it's quiet around work again. Lots of things are changing for the better at home. The weather is getting so nice and we've just planted our winter grass and our garden. The kids have been out of school for fall break and both of their birthdays are within the next four days.

Sometimes the longest, toughest days are the ones that just precede change. These have been those days, but now it's really starting to feel like life is turning normal again. Whatever normal is.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 08:47 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

Remember two weeks ago when I posted about Brandon Mull's book, Candy Shop War?

I finished reading it long ago (and I've read a few other books since then, but I've been working on something to simplify my reviews, so I haven't said much). I loved the book, so I was happy to see that New Regency has already picked up the rights to the book. I've heard rumors that the Fablehaven series also has some movie workings in progress, but this is the first official Brandon Mull-to-movie news I can report.

Congratulations to Brandon on this!

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 09:01 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

Did you know that since the 1960's the United States has had the lowest net savings rate of any of the G-7 countries (with one or two very minor exceptions)? That means as a group of people (US citizens) we personally save less money than any of the other six countries that make up the most powerfully economic countries in the world. In fact, we save a lot less in many cases.

I've been thinking about saving for a long time and I've come to the simplistic conclusion that we're too complacent. We have an economy that's great, plentiful credit and even in recent bad times, nobody seems to have a long-term memory. I've heard the following quote many times in my life (incorrectly attributed to various influentials):

Those who understand interest collect it; those who don't, pay it.

It's only been recently, however, that the phrase has had much personal interest to me. For me the honest reason that I've never saved much is that I've been looking for a faster investment -- not appreciating the value of compounding interest, I recognize. I've had the mindset that if I could find the right investment that would double or triple in a year or two (yeah, right) I'd put all my eggs in that basket, then diversify after that.

So far that hasn't happened. So this year I decided to start saving the way it's supposed to work. That is, I've taken a little money each week and put it away. I have diversified in three places:

• ING Direct
  I've mentioned ING Direct a number of times in the past (see here). ING Direct is so simple. Just set up direct deposit from your employer or transfer money from your bank account (ING Direct allows you to automate this) and earn at a much better interest rate than your bank offers. ING Direct even has interest-bearing checking accounts!
• Prosper
  I've also mentioned Prosper before (see here). Prosper is a person-to-person lending and borrowing service where you can literally set your own interest rate. I've been an active lender at Prosper for a couple of months now and I've helped fund a few loans. My commitment to each loan is about $50, so my exposure (the chance of losing money) is lower than if I had lent the total amount to a single loan. Prosper provides detailed information on each loan being offered including the borrower's credit grade, current liabilities, debt load and other risk factors. You can fund loans with as much or as little risk as you prefer. One very cool thing is that until the end of the year, if you sign up at Prosper (using one of my links) we both get $25. You get $25 after your first loan is funded -- same for me. If you're at all interested in Prosper, take advantage of the free $25. That's an infinte return on investment.
• Sharebuilder.com
  Sharebuilder.com is a traditional stock trading account, but with minimal investment levels and fees. Sharebuilder.com allows you to start for next to nothing and make small, gradual investments over time. Right now, I invest about $100 per month and I have selected a plan that costs about $12 per month and provides 6 free trades. I then have Sharebuilder.com automatically purchase six stocks that I have selected on the first Tuesday of each month. At $100 per month, I'm not buying whole shares of stocks (for example, I own about 1/5 share of Google right now), but Sharebuilder.com pools the actual stock purchases allowing individuals to buy into the stock market a little at a time. Sharebuilder.com also has a referral program (click any of the links in this article) that pays $25. If you join, you'll get your $25 four weeks after your first trade goes through. I get trading credits if you join, just FYI.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 02:35 PM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to the beginning of season two of Heroes. Last year when the series began, I wasn't 100% sure that I was going to like Heroes. It didn't take too many episodes, though, for me to become completely enthralled.

I hope that the writers can keep the energy and mystery of Heroes up to last season. I think they can. I have a few personal issues with some of the things I've seen in the previews for this season already, but I know that with this series, nothing you see is necessarily the way it is.

So, I look forward to the first episode airing tonight at eight. I'm sure this is just the first of many posts about Heroes this year.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 10:08 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

The official site for National Treasure: Book of Secrets is now online.

That is all.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 03:50 PM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you liked either of the Fablehaven books by Brandon Mull, you'll be glad to know that he's releasing a new book tomorrow.

Here's the overview from Amazon:

What if there were a place where you could get magical candy? Moon rocks that made you feel weightless. Jawbreakers that made you unbreakable. Or candy that gave animals temporary human intelligence and communication skills. (Imagine what your pet would say!) Four young friends, Nate, Summer, Trevor, and Pigeon, are befriended by Belinda White, the owner of a new candy shop on Main Street. However, the gray-haired, grandmotherly Mrs. White is not an ordinary candy maker. Her confections have magical side effects. Purposefully, she invites the kids on a special mission to retrieve a hidden talisman under Mt. Diablo Elementary School. However, Mrs. White is not the only magician in town in search of the ancient artifact rumored to be a fountain of youth. She is aware that Mr. Stott, the not-so-ordinary ice cream truck driver, has a few tricks of his own.

The Candy Shop War is not in the Fablehaven series, but I have heard from several reliable sources that it's just as fun to read. I'll be ordering my copy from Amazon tonight and I'll let you know what I think when I'm finished.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 04:03 PM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (1)

I found this flyer taped to my house this morning.

Wow. This flyer has to me listed among the worst ever created and distributed. Let's analyze.

First, the cardinal rule of printing, emailing, texting, blogging, et cetera is to never use ALL CAPS. Whatever you think you might be accomplishing by using all caps, you're wrong. It's nearly impossible to read and it's just plain annoying.

Second, there's no information about who is providing the service on this flyer anywhere -- no company name, no contact phone, no address. So, just for the sake of argument, let's say I'm interested. Who do I make out the check to? Who do I call if there's a mistake made? What if I'd like to talk to them about the painting before I agree to the work? I infer from the fact that there's no contact information that the people who are doing this would rather not have me call and complain about leaving junk flyers taped to my home. I infer further that they therefore believe that what they're doing won't make most people happy. If that's my first impression of your business, do you think I'm going to let you do anything to my property?

Third, don't try to scare me into using your service. The statement, "homes that are not adequately numbered may possibly cost lives" is completely ludicrous. The emergency services in my area work better than that and I know it. To tell me that painting my house number on my curb will improve emergency services at my house insults my intelligence and frustrates me even more than simply finding poorly crafted junk left on my home.

I'm sure the person who developed this flyer isn't reading my blog, but if you are marketing and advertising I recommend you spend a little time reading Seth and Brian. If you learn something from them, you won't offend me with your advertisements.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 08:43 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (1)

If I had a superpower, today I would wish for it to be the ability to slow or stop time. It's been over a week since my last blog post and it feels like it was just yesterday.

I really do have a lot of things happening ... I just haven't made time to write about them. Gotta fix that.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 04:45 PM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (1)

You were probably going to eat at Chipotle on Wednesday anyway ... but, I just got this in my email: http://www.chipotle.com/email/07-FarmAid/index.htm.

Just another reason to enjoy Chipotle.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:19 PM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week a family friend from Idaho contacted us to build a website for her campaign to run for city mayor. I turned the site design over to my wife (since I have no design skills) and she developed this site: www.DonnaBenfieldforMayor.com.

Didn't she do a great job? Thanks Holly! And good luck Donna!

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 09:25 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (1)

© Photographer:Trevor Goodwin | Agency: Dreamstime.com

This year I've found a very cool web-based chart on 2decide.com that makes it really easy to figure out where the candidates stand. I decided to print out the chart, mark my positions on the issues then compare that to the positions of each candidate. Then I was able to tally the number of consistent positions between me and each candidate.

Let me just say that it was a very interesting exercise. I found that I'm more in line with the party I don't normally vote for. So, now I have to back up and decide what that means. Do I really vote on issues or by party? What about you?

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 08:37 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

Planning a trip to China? If so, you may want to keep in mind that it is now illegal to reincarnate in China without government permission.

I'm not sure that presents any real-world scenario problems, though, because it seems that you could just reincarnate somewhere else in the world and then optionally move back to China. However, that may be a lot of trouble, so you may want to have a backup plan if you're going to China soon.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:19 PM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a promotional trailer for Heroes.

It's getting closer!

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 10:47 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

The above video is best described here.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:24 PM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (2)

What?!? Didn't Superman II release in 1980? Why are we talking about a 27-year old movie today?

Well, actually there's a new release of Superman II that arrived fairly recently. It's the Richard Donner cut (named so for the director who originally shot most of the movie but who was later replaced). So, as a fan of the Superman series, I felt it my obligation to find out what the original director had in mind.

I have to assume that you saw the version of Superman II that was released to theaters and DVD before this version. If you're a Superman fan you probably liked it (for the most part) and only had a few complaints about the hokey "superpowers" that Superman used against his foes at the fortress of solitude. My favorite hokey power is the "cellophane super-logo" as parodied by the Family Guy:

So The Richard Donner cut left behind that scene and other similar scenes. That's the good news. The really bad news is that Donner really didn't have an ending for the movie (perhaps that's why the studio lost confidence in him). Apparently Donner loved the ending of Superman I -- that was the final answer to Superman II. Yup, at the end of this version, Superman reverses time again, fixing up all the broken stuff in Metropolis, repairing the relationship between him and Lois and returning the now dead Kryptonian trio to the phantom zone.

Unfortunately that's not the worst part. Do you remember that right after Supe relinquishes his powers in the molecular chamber, he then gets beat up by a redneck in a greasy diner? Then at the end of the show he goes back to exact revenge on the redneck? Well, they left that scene in the movie -- after Supe reverses time and undoes all the events of the entire movie. Nice. So, assuming that the reverse-earth-spin time travel mechanism really works, some poor redneck get his butt kicked by an unknown city nerd for no reason at all.

Not good. Not good at all. Some things (even some things that weren't great to start with) are best left alone.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 03:52 PM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

My regular readers already know the The Bourne Identity is my favorite movie of all time across all genres. You also know that the act of picking a favorite movie is very difficult for me, so actually saying that I have a favorite movie out loud (or writing it down) really challenges me. However, if I ever had to pick a movie that was the only movie I could ever watch again, it would be The Bourne Identity.

So, I have to admit that the sequels to The Bourne Identity have always made me a little nervous. I'm always really afraid that the studio is just looking to cook up another financial hit and is more interested in the bottom line than the film itself. In many cases the sequels (or prequels) damage the original story lines (Star Wars, The Matrix) in such a way that actually takes away from the original story.

Not so with The Bourne Ultimatum. This third installment of the Bourne series is a rare example of a great sequel. I liked the second installment, but it wasn't nearly as good as this one. The Bourne Ultimatum is better in almost all aspects: camera work, story line, timing and plot progression. It unfolds quickly and engages right from the start.

Without spoiling the movie, I will say that I loved the way that this installment is weaved into the timeline of The Bourne Supremacy. It took me by surprise, but when my brain figured out how it was all fitting together (which took a little while -- I'm not that smart) I felt like the writers were speaking directly to me because that's how I would have done it.

If you haven't seen The Bourne Ultimatum yet, click the link and buy your tickets. You won't be disappointed.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 07:07 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (1)

The sequel to National Treasure is out this December.

I thought the first movie was a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to the sequel. Some trailers are now available online at http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/nationaltreasurebookofsecrets/hd/. Looks like the sequel is going to be fun to watch, too!

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 08:41 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been fascinated with the long tail since I finished reading the book last year. It's an amazing concept that I see over and over on the Internet. Just recently I found a web site called Prosper. This is the long tail of lending. Basically Prosper is the lender, but people like you and me can participate in borrowing and lending through this service.

As a lender, you fund your lending account with money from your bank, then you can search through potential loan opportunities. Many borrowers are consolidating debt, funding businesses or doing home improvements. Each borrower fills out a loan profile and then you (as a lender) can look at the borrower's credit rating, debt-to-income ratio and other important factors to decide whether you want to lend to that particular borrower. The cool thing is that you only lend a fraction of the loan. You may only lend $50 toward a $10,000 loan. You can participate in lending, but you don't have to commit to large amounts or expose your entire amount to a single borrower.

I've only known about this service for a short time, but it seems like an interesting way to diversify one's investments. Prosper has been around long enough for small groups of investors to form online teams and communities so there is plenty of helpful information available on the web site.

I don't know much about borrowing on Prosper, but it looks like it's pretty much the same as getting an unsecured loan through a bank. They will do a credit check and the other due diligence required to reduce the risk of their lenders, so it's not necessarily easier than getting a bank loan but it may be another avenue for finding money for your next venture.

I'm interested to learn if any of you have used Prosper and if so, what are your experiences?

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 09:02 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm getting a little tired of the really hot days. It happens.

But I still love the monsoon. Holly has some great pictures and video from a storm at our house last week.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 04:27 PM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's a special day in my life when I see a movie that can actually be added to the worst-ever list. This is due primarily to the fact that a movie really has to suck for it to even be considered for the list. These movies have a special place in my heart because they are the ones by which all other movies that I dislike are judged.

For example, when I saw The Fountain with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz I said to myself, "That was one weird movie." But when comparing it to the worst-ever list, it was just too much better than those to even be considered. The Fountain was at least a visually stunning movie.

Then I watched Premonition with Sandra Bullock. Wow. What a terrible movie. It's the kind of movie that makes you appreciate the better experiences in life -- root canals, junior high gym class and the smell of week-old, coagulated baby formula.

The good news about the worst-ever list is that there's always room for more. Just because Premonition makes the cut doesn't mean that any of the others somehow get abandoned. If you made the same mistake as I did and have already seen this film, contact me, I'm starting a support group.

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Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 08:32 AM | Email This | Permalink | Comments (0)