Haven't posted in awhile...

...thought I would chime in with a couple of thoughts. Despite thoughts to the contrary I think the market is acting scared right now, it may be appropriately fragile but I am unsure. I think solid value investing of solid straight forward companies with large cash savings are the way to go. ABB and PM come to mind. VTI has almost recovered my Roth completely and I think proven that is the "safest" place for money, so props to Bogleheads.

As for me, I am still unemployed. Manufacturing in KC is down, and engineering jobs are then. I don't plan on moving and I don't see a turnaround here coming soon. Thus, I am working towards opening my own bike store, hopefully can put something together by February. In other words, when times are tough, I am going to invest in myself.

Good luck out there, more to come when I feel like it. Happy holidays...

Busy at Home

So a few ads on craigslist and a website later and I am making some pocket money. I am busy, so busy in fact that I haven't posted anything here. It is hard for me to give financial advice when I myself don't really have the money to invest. Not that I don't have money (Thank you Missouri and craigslist), I just don't have anything extra. Nothing is tapped out or in despair, but nothing is gaining so to speak.

If I had money, I would be watching ABB. If the the green boom is really going to occur this company is going to make lots of money. They make electic motors, PLC controls, robots, and most importantly transmission lines. If the US is going to go green, the power grid (ie transmission lines) is going to be overhauled. ABB has some promising technology that will likely make it happen. Last time I looked the stock was around $15 but I think it will go a little lower again. Long term, it looks fabulous.

If this whole bike thing continues at a steady pace and the current economic situation remains dire, I may make a bike store here in KC. I just don't know, maybe I am just cheap labor and have basically no overhead. But I have been pulling a small but decent amount of cash from the work, so if that was added with sales it may be okay, I just don't know.

Anyway, all is well. Sorry to all that have followed wondering what is going on, inspiration and time just isn't here right now. I will continue to post but it just may be in spurts for forseen future.

This Week: Making Something Out of Nothing

This week I learned a lot about type of people here in Kansas City, and I have nothing but good thoughts for this town.

This week my time was spent fixing bicycles, truing wheels, and cleaning parts. There was big, free bike swap meet in KC today and I worked my butt off this week getting ready. It was quite the ordeal, but I am committed to making my life more simple and if I can get this stuff all sold, I will be that much closer. I guess I need to share, if you hadn't guessed already that a great love in my life is riding bikes. When I was in high school on through college, I think I had 2 mountain bikes, a road bike, 3 BMX bikes, a unicycle, and 5-6 huge Rubbermaid bins of bike parts. Well in the past 5 years I have sold all of that stuff down and am down to 2 bins of parts and 3 bikes, 2 of which I am trying to sell right now. So this week was pushing to get more and more of that sold off, and so far, so good.

This week I was amazed by how powerful Craigslist has become. I predict Ebay is going to fall out, if you have your money in there stock, pull it out ASAP. After preparing all of this bike stuff for Saturday's swap meet, Thursday night I posted my four ads on Craigslist late that night and by 6AM the next morning, I had an inbox full of potential customers. Craigslist is the new king for me. Another story to share about Craigslist is that you can post your resume there anonymously, which I did weeks ago, and (other than the random weird emails) someone shot me a lead for a job here in KC that isn't posted anywhere. No idea why or who, or if it will check out, but it was a solid lead. He said he was just helping out a fellow machinist, kind of cool.

This week I felt the great sense of community at the swap meet. I have never been around a bike group at large that wasn't snobby, uptight, and think that they are faster than you. Traditionally bicycling is a deeply personal sport. How many miles I did, what my bike is, how fast I am, etc. Lots of non-team sport kids that grew up. However, I am amazed to say I saw just the opposite. Lots of friendly people, that just love to ride, like to shop talk, and work on bikes. Bicycle community is definitely the best way to describe it, I really felt like I met 20 new friends this weekend. This has to be what it feels like to be a Star Trek fan for a long time and then to finally go to a Trek convention.

This week I have decided to start a small no cost business. Can you guess it? Bike repair out of my home, it will be kind of a litmus test to see if it is an avenue I would like to pursue for a real business. This swap meet probably put together a small list of clients for me to start with and I can see how it goes. If it feels right and like something I can actually make money with, I might step forward with something more bold. Either way it will feel like I am progressing again, it will be fun to make something out of nothing.

Yup this week was pretty fun. And next week, Dyslexic Research will have a contest!!! Details coming soon...

2008 Taxes Turned in Yesterday...

And I clearly feel like the winner. I purchased a new home last year, paid off student loans, and worked in a different state than where I lived, and you know what, I came out ahead $2,900 total. Needless to say that keeps me in my house another two months (if I need it) after the unemployment wears out. So all in all, I am super happy.

Also, job update is both good and bad. The bad is that the good engineering job I interviewed for is going to wait 3 weeks before they get to finish their interviews and select the final candidates for the position. Craptastic. Good news is tomorrow I am having my second interview for the project management position, they are flying in to talk to me so that is pretty good sign.

Guzzo dropped more posts than I have the last two weeks because I felt that I don't have money to invest right now, so I don't have much advice. I am on, as my GF describes it, financial lock down so I won't do anything stupid with the money that I have. Interestingly enough I spent roughly 7% of the money I brought home my last month of real work (January) on eating out. That is a lot in my opinion, so eating at home is helping a lot. We dropped cable as well so the savings is adding up.

More later, but don't be surprised if I am a sparse poster for awhile.

Tour de Broke - Not coming to a town near you, unless you live in Boulder

Well, my GF has outdone herself this time. She convinced now in the time of my dire straits that I should get out of the house and travel to go see my brother. I told her the whole when you have work you don't have the time for a vacation and when you don't have work you have the time but can't afford the trip. Well she 86'd that idea and out the door I was pushed on Wednesday. I love that gal. 9.5 hours of driving later I am in beautiful Colorado with my brother, sister-in-law, and my two favorite nieces hanging all over me. It just recharges the batteries a little. My job search needs a search party currently since I have only heard from one recruiter for an out of town contract engineering job. He won't call me back either now.

It is rough out there, but at least the unemployment money is coming in with it's +$25 (thanks Jesus II) and I am not dipping into any savings so far. At the risk of becoming a statistic, I am going to take advantage of this time to try and get that mortgage rate down (not that it is that high). Then see what I can do out there, my two positions that I am most qualified for aren't exactly in the best shape right now. Do you know any non-producing factories that need a manufacturing engineer or any underwater businesses that are in need of a capital projects manager? All joking aside, it is going to be interesting to see what I end up doing. For right now, I have to go read my youngest niece a book. Hope the rest of you are enjoying your work.