Good Times Stop Rolling: Vegas Meets Recession from Time Magazine

With Las Vegas in the grips of its worst economy since the early 1980s, the storm that dumped four inches of snow on the desert metropolis in mid-December felt like piling on. The city's cocksure swagger is gone.

Gaming revenue in Clark County, which includes downtown Las Vegas and the Strip, is down 8.5% for the year, to $8.3 billion. But the revenue for October, the last month for which figures are available, is off an ominous 24.3% vs. the same month in 2007. Visitor volume is down 3% over last year, though the city's convention business is holding steady.

The Strip's restaurants have seen a proportional decrease along with overall visitor traffic. David McIntyre, vice president of food and beverage at MGM Grand — which counts among its stable of high-end eateries such restaurants as Shibuya, Nobhill and a pair from French maestro Joel Robuchon — notes that visitors have become more careful with their dollars. "They're still going out to eat; they're just not spending as much money," McIntyre says. "They might not have that second glass of wine." (See 10 things to do in Las Vegas.)

The recession is hitting Las Vegas on all fronts. Nevada legislators have struggled to close a deficit of more than $1 billion in the 2009 budget. Budget projections for 2010 and 2011 also look grim. Construction on Boyd Gaming's $4.8 billion Echelon resort was stopped last August just as three of its towers reached the 12th floor (the tallest would have risen to 55 stories). Construction won't resume until 2010, though the cranes will remain towering above the site (it's cheaper to leave them in place — and these days no one else in town needs them).

A mile or two down the Strip, MGM Mirage just sold off Treasure Island for $775 million to billionaire casino operator Phil Ruffin. The cash infusion should help the corporation finish construction on its $9.1 billion CityCenter, the largest private construction job in the U.S. Yet even in the best-case scenario, Vegas — and the rest of the country — won't begin to drive out of the ditch until the end of next year, as consumer spending improves, new hiring resumes and the city's battered construction industry gets back on its feet. The worst case? The recession deepens, and the ditch turns into a cliff.

From any vantage point, the situation is grim. Construction in the area dropped 92% in October, compared with the same month a year earlier. In November the county issued 80 new home permits, down from an average of almost 500 permits a month in 2007. Housing prices have deflated with a deafening groan. Keith Schwer, who runs the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, estimates that 50% of homeowners owe more than what their home is worth. Perhaps the only positive note is that housing prices have returned to more reasonable levels. "We're getting back into the affordability range," Schwer says. "The only problem is we don't have credit to buy them, and we're losing jobs."

Nevada's unemployment rate jumped from 0.4% to 8% in November, the highest rate since 1984, and Schwer says it could rise to 10% next year. The figure translates to more than 111,700 unemployed Nevadans, according to the state's Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. (The national rate is 6.7%.) Meanwhile, the city's largest food bank, Three Square, which supplies food to nonprofits throughout the city, budgeted $250,000 for purchasing food in 2008. The total food need for destitute families throughout the Las Vegas Valley is closer to $1.3 million.

Las Vegas, however, is nothing if not optimistic. Its history gives it good reason to be. Boosters point to the coming 2009 debuts of CityCenter, the Fountainebleau and the M Resort, which add up to $20 billion of construction, as proof that the Vegas brand is fundamentally strong. "There's a resilience to Las Vegas that's unlike anything else you see in the country," says Dick Rizzo, vice chairman of Perini Building Co., the largest construction firm in town.

And then, as if on cue, here comes Steve Wynn. Three days before Christmas, he opened the new addition to his swanky Wynn Las Vegas resort, a $2.3 billion, 2,034-room playground called Encore. The new property is easily the most decorative and jubilant in the city; it lets in an abundance of natural light while somehow managing to keep the view of a struggling city at bay.

A new casino opening always pumps some energy into Las Vegas. But Vegas shares with the rest of the country the feeling that things will get worse before they get better. Whether Encore signals a new beginning for Las Vegas, the way Wynn's Mirage did in 1989, is not a bet to take lightly. "We're still in a fairly early phase in the downturn," says Schwer. "I don't see Steve Wynn sticking his finger in the dike and holding it back."

A letter from the president of GM and Gregory Knox's response!

Abridged letter from Troy Clarke, President of General Motors - followed
by a response from our son, Gregory Knox:

Dear Employee,

Next week, Congress and the current Administration will determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis.............As an employee, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices.

I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.

Thank you for your urgent action and20ongoing support.

Troy Clarke
President
General Motors North America
------------------------------

----- --------------
Response:

From Gregory Knox,
President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin, Ohio 45005
In response to your request to call legislators and ask for a bailout for
the United States automakers please consider the following, and please also
pass this onto Troy Clark, the president of General Motors North America
for me. You are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has bred
like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and
whose plague is now sweeping the nation, awaiting our new "messiah" to wave his magical wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time
allowing our once great nation to keep "living the dream".

The dream is over!

The dream that we can ignore the consumer for years while management
myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that
our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant,
ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the
price for these atrocities.and that still the masses will line up to buy our products

Don't tell me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I
have called on Ford,GM ,Chrysler,TRW,Delphi,Kelsey Hayes, American Axle
and countless other automotive OEM's and Tier ones for 3 decades now
throughout the Midwest=2
0and what I've seen over the years in these union shops can
only be described as disgusting.

Mr. Clark, the president of General Motors, states:
There is widespread sentiment in this country, our government and
especially in the media that the current crisis is completely the result
of bad management. It is not.

You're right - it's not JUST management.how about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass.so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time. for a job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour week

How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics.for putting out too many parts on a shift. and for being too productive (mustn't expose the lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?) Do you really not know about this stuff?!?

How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea:

over the last few years .we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps
with our competitors.

What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years? Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them?

The K car vs. the Accord?
The Pinto vs. the Civic?
Do I need to go on?

We are living through the ine
vitable outcome of the actions of the United
States auto industry for decades. Time to pay for your sins, Detroit.

I attended an economic summit last week where a brilliant economist, Alan
Beaulieu surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the
banks a penny of "bailout money". Yes, he said, this would cause short term
problems, but despite what people like George Bush and Troy Clark would have
us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next day. and something else
would happen. where there had been greedy and sloppy banks new efficient ones
would pop up. that is how a free market system works.it does work.if we
would let20it work.

But for some reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is
right and that capitalism doesn't work - that we need the government to step in
and "save us".save us, hell - we're nationalizing. and unfortunately too many
of this once fine nation’s citizens don't even have a clue that this is
what's really happening.but they sure can tell you the stats on their
favorite sports teams.yeah - THAT'Simportant.

Does it occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing
vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades now in this country?...

How can that be?
Let's see.

Fuel efficient.
Listening to customers.
Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul.
Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr W Edwards20Deming four
decades ago
Ever increased productivity through quality, lean and six sigma plans.
Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like "the enemy".
Efficient front and back offices.
Non union environment.

Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone anything they really don't already know in their hearts.

I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into - my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did at their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way) - I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work them through. Radical concept, huh?

Am I there for them in the wings? Of course - but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults. I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government. Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins.

Bad news people - it's coming whether we like it or not. The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go away" I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately after t he vote count was tallied.
we might not do it in a year.or in four." where was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for the office? Stop trying to put off the inevitable .

That house in Florida really isn't worth $750,000.

People who jump across a border really don't deserve free health care
benefits.

That job driving that forklift for the big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year.


We really shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products
acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has
the most atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe.

That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be living in that $485,000 home.

Let the market correct itself people - it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it is a nation=2 0 that appreciates what is has. And doesn't live beyond its means. and gets back to basics. and redevelops the work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world. and probably turns back to God.

Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you the"bad news"

Gregory J Knox
President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin, Ohio 45005

Merry Christmas From the Stock Market

Remember it isn't the Grinch who stole Christmas it is the economy!

What I am looking for in a boyfriend from match.com

I find being treated like poop a turn-on. I often look for a boyfriend that likes to sleep with other people, because I personally enjoy being treated with that little respect. I like boys who don't like me back and like to play mind games. I am looking for someone who wants no sort of commitment, but has no problem sleeping with me when convenient for him. I like doing things for boyfriends who do not appreciate them or me. I also enjoy being called babe or little one especially in public places, because it is nice to use terms of affection before you go home from the bar with someone else. Please do not return my phone call, text messages or emails for days because that makes me feel really confident in not only our relationship but also in myself. Great guys and liars need only to apply.

It was just my birthday!

MY LIVING WILL

Last night my sister and I were sitting in the den and I said to her,'I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle to keep me alive. That would be no quality of life at all,no quality of life at all, If that ever happens, just pull the plug.'

So she got up, unplugged the computer, and threw out my wine.

She's such a bitch.

Cartoons speak louder than words!

No on Prop 8

What is Politics?

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, “What is Politics?”

Dad says,

“Well son, let me try to explain it this way: I am the head of the family, so call me The President. Your mother is the administrator of the money, so! We call her the Government. We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People. The nanny, we will consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we will call him the Future. Now think about that and see if it makes sense.”

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what his Dad has said.

Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper.

So the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy says to his father, “Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now.” The father says, “Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about.”

The little boy replies,

“The President is screwing the Working Class while the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and the Future is in deep shit.”

3 Men who brought down Wall Street... and where they are now!

Here is a quick look into 3 former Fannie Mae executives who have brought down Wall Street.

Franklin Raines was a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie Mae. Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae when auditing discovered severe irregulaties in Fannie Mae's accounting activities. At the time of his departure The Wall Street Journal noted, " Raines, who long defended the company's accounting despite mounting evidence that it wasn't proper, issued a statement late Tuesday conceding that "mistakes were made" and saying he would assume responsibility as he had earlier promised. News reports indicate the company was under growing pressure from regulators to shake up its management in the wake of findings that the company's books ran afoul of generally accepted accounting principles for four years." Fannie Mae had to reduce its surplus by $9 billion.

Raines left with a "golden parachute valued at $240 Million in benefits. The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of the accounting scandal became clear. http://housingdoom.com/2006/12/18/fannie-charges/ . The Government noted, "The 101 charges reveal how the individuals improperly manipulated earnings to maximize their bonuses, while knowingly neglecting accounting systems and internal controls, misapplying over twenty accounting principles and misleading the regulator and the public. The Notice explains how they submitted six years of misleading and inaccurate accounting statements and inaccurate capital reports that enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and unsound manner." These charges were made in 2006. The Court ordered Raines to return $50 Million Dollars he received in bonuses based on the miss-stated Fannie Mae profits.

Tim Howard - Was the Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard "was a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that would ensure a "stable pattern of earnings" at Fannie. In everyday English - he was cooking the books. The Government Investigation determined that, "Chief Financial Officer, Tim Howard, failed to provide adequate oversight to key control and reporting functions within Fannie Mae,"

On June 16, 2006, Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., asked the Justice Department to investigate his allegations that two former Fannie Mae executives lied to Congress in October 2004 when they denied manipulating the mortgage-finance giant's income statement to achieve management pay bonuses. Investigations by federal regulators and the company's board of directors since concluded that management did manipulate 1998 earnings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard resigned under pressure in late 2004.

Howard's Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!

Jim Johnson - A former executive at Lehman Brothers and who was later forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO. A look at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's May 2006 report on mismanagement and corruption inside Fannie Mae, and you'll see some interesting things about Johnson. Investigators found that Fannie Mae had hidden a substantial amount of Johnson's 1998 compensation from the public, reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million when it fact it was $21 million." Johnson is currently under investigation for taking illegal loans from Countrywide while serving as CEO of Fannie Mae.

Johnson's Golden Parachute was estimated at $28 Million.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

FRANKLIN RAINES? Raines works for the Obama Campaign as Chief Economic Advisor

TIM HOWARD? Howard is also a Chief Economic Advisor to Obama

JIM JOHNSON? Johnson hired as a Senior Obama Finance Advisor and was selected to run Obama's Vice Presidential Search Committee

Buy American. I Am.

By WARREN E. BUFFETT

Published: October 16, 2008

Omaha

THE financial world is a mess, both in the United States and abroad. Its problems, moreover, have been leaking into the general economy, and the leaks are now turning into a gusher. In the near term, unemployment will rise, business activity will falter and headlines will continue to be scary.

So ... I’ve been buying American stocks. This is my personal account I’m talking about, in which I previously owned nothing but United States government bonds. (This description leaves aside my Berkshire Hathaway holdings, which are all committed to philanthropy.) If prices keep looking attractive, my non-Berkshire net worth will soon be 100 percent in United States equities.

Why?

A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.

Let me be clear on one point: I can’t predict the short-term movements of the stock market. I haven’t the faintest idea as to whether stocks will be higher or lower a month — or a year — from now. What is likely, however, is that the market will move higher, perhaps substantially so, well before either sentiment or the economy turns up. So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over.

A little history here: During the Depression, the Dow hit its low, 41, on July 8, 1932. Economic conditions, though, kept deteriorating until Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March 1933. By that time, the market had already advanced 30 percent. Or think back to the early days of World War II, when things were going badly for the United States in Europe and the Pacific. The market hit bottom in April 1942, well before Allied fortunes turned. Again, in the early 1980s, the time to buy stocks was when inflation raged and the economy was in the tank. In short, bad news is an investor’s best friend. It lets you buy a slice of America’s future at a marked-down price.

Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a flu epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.

You might think it would have been impossible for an investor to lose money during a century marked by such an extraordinary gain. But some investors did. The hapless ones bought stocks only when they felt comfort in doing so and then proceeded to sell when the headlines made them queasy.

Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn’t. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value. Indeed, the policies that government will follow in its efforts to alleviate the current crisis will probably prove inflationary and therefore accelerate declines in the real value of cash accounts.

Equities will almost certainly outperform cash over the next decade, probably by a substantial degree. Those investors who cling now to cash are betting they can efficiently time their move away from it later. In waiting for the comfort of good news, they are ignoring Wayne Gretzky’s advice: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.”

I don’t like to opine on the stock market, and again I emphasize that I have no idea what the market will do in the short term. Nevertheless, I’ll follow the lead of a restaurant that opened in an empty bank building and then advertised: “Put your mouth where your money was.” Today my money and my mouth both say equities.

Warren E. Buffett is the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, a diversified holding company.

Drunk Emailing

Google with its infinite wisdom has yet again found a way to solve problem, that I didn't know even had a feasible solution. Google has put a stop to drunk emailing by installing a feature with gmail that when activated requires the user to correctly solve a series of math problems before it will send the email. It is still in its early phases, so it has some kinks, but still pure genuis. Now if only someone could do this for texting.

From: Time Online

For a company that's dominated the Internet by doing one simple thing well, Google has also managed to build a thriving side business in bells and whistles: its features offer everything from the ability to search inside books and videos to the ability to watch a kid fall off a bike from the privacy of your own home. So when I heard that Google had unveiled a new feature called Mail Goggles that is designed to stop you from sending embarrassing e-mails while drunk by requiring you to do math problems, my first thought was, That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. My second thought was, I want to try it.

One of Gmail's optional features — along with more sensible applications like keyboard shortcuts, an e-mail signature or a profile picture — Mail Goggles operates on the theory that if you're sober enough to complete a series of simple arithmetic problems, you're sober enough to decide if you really want to e-mail your ex-boyfriend and tell him you still love him. With Mail Goggles enabled, Gmail will send your e-mails only after you have completed five arithmetic problems within 60 seconds. By default, the feature activates during weekend nights between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., although the settings allow you to change the date and time. If you're more of a Tuesday afternoon drunk, Mail Goggles will be there for you. Of course, at that point, you might have bigger problems to worry about.

I decided to test Mail Goggles in the most systematic way possible. I surrendered my Saturday night to research, experimentation and the scientific method.

Hypothesis:
Mail Goggles will keep me from sending e-mails that I might otherwise regret.

Supplies:
2 bottles of wine
1 laptop
My college friend Laura, who once helped me climb up a concrete pedestal in order to dress a Civil War statue in a Hawaiian T shirt.

The test:
10:03 p.m. Mail Goggles is activated. I send a control e-mail to test my sober math skills. I subtract 12 from 22, and wonder if I'll ever be too incapacitated to come up with the number 10. "You know you can change the difficulty level," says Laura. We pour ourselves some wine, change the difficulty to Level 3 and start watching a movie.

10:25 p.m. I've had one glass of wine. I reply to a friend's e-mail about her recent bad date. Mail Goggles doesn't work — no math questions appear and the e-mail is sent. "Maybe you have to sign out and sign back in," suggests Laura. That works. If this is a necessary step, though, it's a huge flaw in the Mail Goggles system; nobody signs out of Gmail after every use.

10:45 p.m. Two glasses of wine. I e-mail another friend and tell him that his eyebrows are too big and he looks like one of the Jonas Brothers. I have this thought every time I see him, but I usually keep it to myself. The e-mail goes through. My friend will now ignore my phone calls for the next few days. I decide to change Mail Goggles' setting to maximum difficulty, Level 5.

11:10 p.m. Three glasses of wine. The problem 420+152 is not hard enough to keep me from e-mailing an acquaintance to tell her that I don't understand her religion and her clothes are out of date.

11:35 p.m. Three and a half glasses. I feel great. It takes me two tries because I mistype my answers, but I successfully e-mail Laura to tell her that I want more wine. "But I'm sitting right here," says Laura. She politely opens the second bottle.

12:17 a.m. Four glasses. To my unemployed friend with a master's degree: "Why don't you move out of your parents' house and get a real job?"

12:43 a.m. E-mail a co-worker and complain about the economic depression.

1:09 a.m. Mail Goggles makes me answer "8 x 2" twice. I use this opportunity to tell my cousin that her feet smell.

1:37 a.m. I drink some more wine and try to tell a friend that his hipster arm tattoo is going to look ridiculous when he gets older, but I can't type the words correctly and I get stumped on 517-139. I keep forgetting to carry the numbers. "Water and bed for you," says Mail Goggles, but then it lets me try again. And again. My insult succeeds on the third try.

1:52 a.m. You know what? I should e-mail my ex-boyfriend, even though we're not on speaking terms. Mail Goggles makes me divide 42 by 7 but otherwise has no problem with my incredibly bad decision. Maybe the program would work better if it filtered certain phrases like "What's your deal?" or "jerkface."

2:32 a.m. I write one last e-mail, apologizing for the previous e-mail, but I'm too tired to do the math.

2:47 a.m. I fall asleep on the couch and wake up half an hour later, thirsty and confused. Laura has apparently gone home.

10:15 a.m. I have three responses asking what my problem is.

Conclusion:
Mail Goggles' math questions are too easy to deter any but the sloppiest of drunks. However, my last e-mail remained unsent. If you have to do math at 2:30 in the morning, you're more likely to stop sending e-mails because you give up, not because you actually get the answers wrong. As a purely dissuasive tool, then, Mail Goggles works as advertised. Of course, there's still the text message, the Facebook message and the good old-fashioned drunken phone call. There are plenty of ways to humiliate yourself if you try. And for those determined to reveal their true feelings via e-mail, the company that brought you Mail Goggles helpfully provides a way around it as well: the Google calculator.

Wise Words From a Wide Man... advice from John Thorpe (did the Got Milk ads)

1) We all need mentors. Find good ones and use them well, but sparingly.
2) Rigidity fails- most of the time. But it is not an absolute.
3) The plural of anecdote isn't data. Know how to know. Be rigorous. Not rigid, there is a difference.
4) There is always a better idea. It usually won't be yours.
5) Don't worry about being cool. It's boring and unproductive.
6) If you haven't got a good memory, take good notes.
7) Life isn't always about being more right than anyone else, but sometimes about being less wrong.
8) Learn how to park your ego somewhere.
9) Nobody remembers the smart things you said- they remember whether they liked you and wanted to work with you.
10) Never get a photograph taken at 5 minutes notice.

An official announcement from the White House

The aftermath of Ike!

You can thank me for sharing this later!

Well Now We Know Where the Term Dickhead Comes From...

So I completely stole this from my Twitter update, but I thought I would share it because it is pretty awesome!

10 Skills to Succeed at Everything!

1. Public Speaking

The ability to speak clearly, persuasively, and forcefully in front of an audience – whether an audience of 1 or of thousands – is one of the most important skills anyone can develop. People who are effective speakers come across as more comfortable with themselves, more confident, and more attractive to be around. Being able to speak effectively means you can sell anything – products, of course, but also ideas, ideologies, worldviews. And yourself – which means more opportunities for career advancement, bigger clients, or business funding.

2. Writing

Writing well offers many of the same advantages that speaking well offers: good writers are better at selling products, ideas, and themselves than poor writers. Learning to write well involves not just mastery of grammar but the development of the ability to organize one’s thoughts into a coherent form and target it to an audience in the most effective way possible. Given the huge amount of text generated by almost every transaction – from court briefs and legislation running into the thousands of pages to those foot-long receipts you get when you buy gum these days – a person who is a master of the written word can expect doors to open in just about every field.

3. Self-Management

If success depends of effective action, effective action depends on the ability to focus your attention where it is needed most, when it is needed most. Strong organizational skills, effective productivity habits, and a strong sense of discipline are needed to keep yourself on track.

4. Networking

Networking is not only for finding jobs or clients. In an economy dominated by ideas and innovation, networking creates the channel through which ideas flow and in which new ideas are created. A large network, carefully cultivated, ties one into not just a body of people but a body of relationships, and those relationships are more than just the sum of their parts. The interactions those relationships make possible give rise to innovation and creativity – and provide the support to nurture new ideas until they can be realized.

5. Critical Thinking

We are exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of times more information on a daily basis than our great-grandparents were. Being able to evaluate that information, sort the potentially valuable from the trivial, analyze its relevance and meaning, and relate it to other information is crucial – and woefully under-taught. Good critical thinking skills immediately distinguish you from the mass of people these days.

6. Decision-Making

The bridge that leads from analysis to action is effective decision-making – knowing what to do based on the information available. While not being critical can be dangerous, so too can over-analyzing, or waiting for more information before making a decision. Being able to take in the scene and respond quickly and effectively is what separates the doers from the wannabes.

7. Math

You don’t have to be able to integrate polynomials to be successful. However, the ability to quickly work with figures in your head, to make rough but fairly accurate estimates, and to understand things like compound interest and basic statistics gives you a big lead on most people. All of these skills will help you to analyze data more effectively – and more quickly – and to make better decisions based on it.

8. Research

Nobody can be expected to know everything, or even a tiny fraction of everything. Even within your field, chances are there’s far more that you don’t know than you do know. You don’t have to know everything – but you should be able to quickly and painlessly find out what you need to know. That means learning to use the Internet effectively, learning to use a library, learning to read productively, and learning how to leverage your network of contacts – and what kinds of research are going to work best in any given situation.

9. Relaxation

Stress will not only kill you, it leads to poor decision-making, poor thinking, and poor socialization. So be failing to relax, you knock out at least three of the skills in this list – and really more. Plus, working yourself to death in order to keep up, and not having any time to enjoy the fruits of your work, isn’t really “success”. It’s obsession. Being able to face even the most pressing crises with your wits about you and in the most productive way is possibly the most important thing on this list.

10. Basic Accounting

It is a simple fact in our society that money is necessary. Even the simple pleasures in life, like hugging your child, ultimately need money – or you’re not going to survive to hug for very long. Knowing how to track and record your expenses and income is important just to survive, let alone to thrive. But more than that, the principles of accounting apply more widely to things like tracking the time you spend on a project or determining whether the value of an action outweighs the costs in money, time, and effort. It’s a shame that basic accounting isn’t a required part of the core K-12 curriculum.

Sorry for not keeping current!

God! I suck... I apologize for not writing more lately, but this summer has just seemed to fly by. I really couldn't tell you where most of July went. Between working, traveling back and forth to San Francisco, the 4th of July, opening day at the Del Mar race track and training for a half marathon I haven't even had time to turn on my tv! For crying out loud, when did season 5 of Project Runway start, I seriously had no clue! But life has been good, just busy and the opposite of sober. I promise to keep up more and fill you in on everything you missed while I was gallivanting around San Francisco, the Del Mar race track, seeing Cold Play (AMAZING) and hanging around the vortex that is the Volcom house!

Talk again soon! Promise!

Here is the 4th of July (and the 5th of July, the party kind of carried over) Video, and I hope that by seeing this you will understand why I haven't been as diligent as I should have been with my blog.

Current Lotion Obsession

I am obsessed with the Charity Pot lotion from Lush! Not only do all the proceeds from this lotion go to charity, but it is also the best lotion in the world. It smells fantastic and it makes sure skin so soft without being oily. Unfortunately, there is not a Lush store close so I have to savor my charity pot!

These are a few of my favorite things

This list will periodically update and I do ask anyone to comment on some of their favorite things as well.
1) Frozen yogurt - current obsession is Red Mango with almonds and graham cracker
2) Sleeping
3) Running when it feels like it is just about to rain
4) Running Shoes
5) The Surf n Saddle
6) Anything that comes out of Craig's or Viet's mouth, because it probably means I am laughing
7) My new jeans (or any new article of clothing)
8) A clean apartment, like cleaning lady clean
9) Baths
10) Mothership Wit (if you don't know what this is, google it, try it and thank me)

11) A good Syrah
12) Accomplishments

13) Apple flavor Clight
14) Tapatio or Rooster Sauce
15) My ipod

And the Buffalo crosses the road...

This is what an idiot looks like!

I ask you kindly to comment on what your favorite part of this photo is. I am not sure if I am going to go with the sport sandals supporting the surge protector or the extension cord duct taped to the wet piece of wood. Please share your thoughts.

Check this out

I am working as a PR intern for this super cool company called Robust Flavor. RF is the parent organization of a bunch of super cool clothing brands like UNIV, Coup De Grace, Alphanumeric, etc etc. It is one of the most amazing and fun jobs ever. The clothes are awesome and I am obsessed with their new skinny berlin jeans! But here is Audrina, from the Hills, in the store last week wearing UNIV... so check them out online www.robustflavor.com!

And sometimes I write and/or put up stuff on their blog too so check that out too! And let me know if you want something, I have tons of discount codes!

Things I get really mad I have to pay for!

While I understand nothing in life is free, however there are a list of things that anger and frustrate me that I have to pay for. I view these items as like human rights and feel that no one should have to pay for them, just like we don't pay for air.

1) Toilet Paper
2) Tampons
3) Salt and Pepper
4) The internet
5) Stamps - anything under 8oz should go for free!

It isn't a long list, but this items are things that should be made readily available and this list will probably be constantly updated when I find new things I don't think people should have to pay for.