Note to self: when someone asks you, “What the hell are you doing with your life?”, have an answer.
(0)Archive for the 'observation' Category
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“Hey, I don’t even know what a soulmate is, do you?”
“The person that makes you be the most you you could possibly be.
“Maybe your soulmate is the person who forces your soul to grow the most.
“Not all growth feels good.”
Teddy Roosevelt:
No man can lead a public career really worth leading, no man can act with rugged independence in serious crises, nor strike at great abuses, nor afford to make powerful and unscrupulous foes, if he is himself vulnerable in his private character.
You want insight into my life right now? Here’s the nice little rhyming question that haunts me: What good is it to be self-aware if you’re seemingly incapable of self-repair?
I’ve never been happier to be a shareholder in Google. Not only are they the most innovative company in the world (just ahead of Apple, of which I am also a proud shareholder), but they can actually convert that innovation into financial results that are almost startling they’re so good. To wit:
Google’s rapidly rising profits soared to new heights in the third quarter as its internet-leading search engine churned out a sevenfold earnings increase that blew past analyst expectations.
The Mountain View, California-based company said Thursday that it made $381.2 million, or $1.32 per share, during the three months ended in September. That compared with net income of $52 million, or 19 cents per share, a year ago. Last year’s results included a $201 million charge to account for a legal settlement with rival Yahoo. If not for charges related to a recent acquisition and employee stock options issued before the company went public 14 months ago, Google said it would have earned $1.51 per share.
That figure easily exceeded the consensus estimate of $1.36 per share among 31 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Even the most bullish analysts hadn’t expected Google to fare as well as it did; the highest earnings estimate had been $1.46 per share.
When was the last time you saw the Evil Empire post earnings like that? My uncle mentioned this in passing a while ago, but he’s totally right: Microsoft had to start issuing dividends to their shareholders because they were no longer really giving any return on equity. They’re a dying company, too locked into their comfy anti-competitive, non-impassioned corporate mindset to do anything of real world-shaking value. Thus they’re always playing catchup to something that Google thought up: search, quazi-GIS, increased storage space for e-mail, etc. There’s probably an exhaustive list out there somewhere, but there’s no point in wasting any more energy on it: Google is simply the best company in the world and shows no signs of stopping.
For a news service / magazine that seems to always be way ahead of the curve, I’m really surprised to find out that Wired.com 1) isn’t standards compliant, and 2) looks like ass in Firefox/Flock as compared to IE.
(0)As soon as I get a job, it’s hookers and cocaine from here on out.
He or she was kidding, of course. Straight and narrow and all that…
The New York Times Editorial Board has written a perfect editorial. The reason it is perfect is that it intertwines two things I believe in with all of my being: environmental protection is good for the economy in the long run, and that investors/managers/CEOs need to not worry so much about quarterly earnings, but rather how companies are positioned for the coming world shifts. Much more emphasis and importance should be placed on market analysts who truly understand those shifts and can help companies ride the waves than accountants who cleverly save a few grand here and there.
(0)As much as the weather we’re currently enjoying in Providence is nigh perfect, it’s tinged with a bit of sadness for me. Summer has started to give up, as if taking a cue from the freshman moving into their dorms. All that’s left is a long, slow march to the short days and low temps of winter.
Perhaps this year, rather than being put off by that, I’ll embrace it better and occupy my sun-filled hours in a better way.
Here’s to living more fully in my last full school year.