Stock

I was checking GM's stock price the other day. I check it every so often but recently, I've been doing it more because its been on a nice rise (from $19 to $26.50 a share) over the past few months. The market has decided to appreciate it again after GM's major plans to turn the company around. You can check out the stock here.

As I was saying, I was checking out the stock the other day and maxed out the chart (it goes back beyond 1965) and something struck my eye. It was the giant dip in 1975. This got me thinking -- wasn't the gas shortage around that time? So, I decided to dig a little deeper and found some statistics on the average gas prices for the past 35 years (the data I found was for California -- which can be found here)



As anyone can see, GM's stock price greatly decreased whenever gas prices shot up. The stock took a dive in 1975, 1982, 1992, and once again in 2006 as gas prices, adjusted for inflation, are almost at their highest. The average price of gas in 2005 was $2.47 while it was $2.50 in 1982.

I just thought it was some interesting data that I would pass on. Ford and Toyota showed similar patterns as well, although I couldn't find any data for Toyota prior to 1993.

Perhaps what's good for General Motors is good for America as the saying goes ... and vice versa.

Tags: Gas Prices, GM, Auto Industry, & Stock Market

HomeDock

From Uncrate comes a story about a new iPod accessory that finally has a function that truly is useful. The item is the HomeDock Deluxe from DLO.


The new feature, a first in the industry according to Uncrate, displays the iPod's menu on your TV where you can you navigate from across the room (mainly sitting on your couch) with a remote. Additionally, you can hook up the iPod to your TV or home speaker system instead of investing in a dock and remote with little self-contained crappy speakers. Of course, the home speaker and remote features aren't new, but the TV menu capability is great.

Its too bad the device costs $150.

Tags: iPod, TV & Technology

Hater

So I have a new enemy in the world of blogs. A co-worker of mine recently created a blog about how much my blog sucks. Check it out here. Personally, I think its hilarious well except for the latest entry.

DISCLAIMER: There's an image that is really, really gross on it.

Tags: Blogging

Gore

Have you ever imagined what the world would be like had Al Gore been elected sworn in as President instead of George W. Bush? Well, a week or two ago Saturday Night Live did just that. Here's the opening bit.

Tags: Gore, SNL, & President

Ringtones

I got a new phone this week because my last one died on me. It turns on but for some reason none of the buttons work. Luckily my contract was going to expire in August and I was able to sign a new contract. So I picked upp the RAZR for $80, which is pretty sweet.

The phone is awesome. It looks badass. It has a speakerphone, a camera, and most importantly bluetooth. I love bluetooth equipped phones. I had it on my last phone too. With it, I'm able to sink the address book on the phone with the one on my laptop wirelessly. The best part is that it allows you to browse the files on the phone from a computer. This allows me to make my own ringtones and put them on the phone instead of buying them for $3.99 through Cingular. It kicks ass. So, I pretty much spent my afternoon making ringtones for people. This is what I came up with:

Amanda -- Because she's pretty much obsessed with the song.
Matt C. -- Because he wrote this song and its a slow jam for the ladies. I've heard that Beth dates him solely for it.
Dad -- Because he works for GM.
Dan -- Because his idol is Gordon Gecko.
Dennis -- Because if he was a woman, he'd be having Springsteen's children.
Diego -- Because he and the artist, Seu Jorge, are Brazilian.
Doug -- Because he drives tractors at work.
Matt B. -- Because he once played this song on repeat in his apartment for like two weeks or so.
Mom -- Because she's annoyed that this is her ringtone again.
Qdoba -- Because its in Spanish.
Steve -- Because the song rules and he requested it.

Everyone else -- Because its loud and awesome. Mmmm, Kelly Kapowski.

Anybody have suggestions or requests for their personalized ringtone?

For people who have the phone or pretty much any other phone with Bluetooth and want to know how to make their own ringtones, this is how I did it:

1. Open up iTunes.
2. Export the song you want
3. Open the song up in Quicktime (you may need Quicktime Pro)
4. Trim the song down to a 20 or 30 second segment
5. Save the song as a .MOV file.
6. Import the new file into iTunes
7. Open the Preferences for iTunes
8. Change the Importing function to MP3 Encoder and set a custom bitrate of 64kbps
9. Find the imported file, right-click and select "Convert Selection to MP3"
10. Export the file
11. Transfer the file to your phone

Good luck.

Tags: Ringtones, RAZR, Bluetooth, & Cell Phones

Roast

The White House Correspondence Dinner was a little while ago. This year Stephen Colbert, the host of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, was the guest speaker. The character Stephen plays is one similar to Bill O'Reilly except thats its a very satirical take on him. Colbert's character is a staunch Republican who believes every word the President says and thinks that any criticism or deviation from what the President says is pretty much equivalent to heresy.

So it confused me when the committee chose Colbert as their guest. Why would they pick someone who's TV show blatantly skewers the administration? Did they not get it? Did they not understand that he would harshly lampoon them and the "liberal media" during the entire speech? I guess not. I suppose they thought he would go easy on them. Well, they were wrong and I was right. Well, except that I expected Colbert to mention how he hates bears and their "liberal bear agenda," a favorite topic on his show.

Colbert shredded the administration. He mocked the press and even took a shot at the First Lady and her reading initiative. His speech was the talked about for days after the event. Republican and Democrat talking heads couldn't understand why Colbert went where he did. They were disgusted that he didn't make it softer and more respectful, especially since the President was sitting about three feet away.

But how can you blame Colbert? He's famous for doing exactly what he did that night. The committee knew who he was and booked him anyway. Shouldn't the outrage be not on Colbert but instead on the committee that selected him. Of course not, there's no public figure that represents the selection committee. It's just easier to go after Colbert and it's ridiculous.

But, such is life in the public punditry that are the 24 hour news channels. Because they have a lack of material to report, they comment relentlessly to their base on three topics a day, repeating them over and over again.

Personally, I loved his speech even though it was awkward for the location and audience. I found it hilarious. You can check it out here. The other highlight of the night was when Bush was accompanied by a Bush impersonator for a speech. You can check that out here.

There were two lines that I really enjoyed. The first was when Colbert urged Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, "and reality has a well-known liberal bias." The other was when he said that the recent shakeup in the administration was not simply rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic because "this administration is not sinking , its soaring." He went on say that it was rather rearranging deck chairs on the Hindenberg.

Tags: Politics, Stephen Colbert, & Satire

Dumb

I'm dumb and I mean that in the strict definition of the word. I'm just unable to speak sometimes except not because of some physical abnormality but rather that I'm just stupid sometimes and can't think of what to say.

Typically I have no problem speaking with the ladies. I, by all means, have no "A" game, it's more like a "C" game. I have sporadic success but mostly because I rarely have any interest beyond lust. It's not because I'm just looking for a lustful relationship but rather because I rarely find somebody I'm truly interested in. Also, when I don't care a lot, I'm not worried about screwing it up.

The problem is that when I do find someone that I'm truly interested in, my "C" game gets downgraded to near failure. I get nervous. I overthink. I worry. I blurt out inappropriate comments. Ok, I blurt out inappropriate comments no matter who I'm taking to so that's a bad example. The point is that I'm just never myself and that's obviously a bad thing to be.

Everyone's solution to this is always "well just stop caring" or "pretend to be a dick... girls love dicks" and the sad truth is that both remarks are probably right. When you don't care or rather relax and not worry about everything you do and every word you say your true self comes out. Unfortunately that's easier said than done and I haven't been able to master that skill.

This all came up because I've liked somebody since well about October. Over the past few months I've rarely seen her but recently I've been seeing her a lot. And, by a stroke of luck she'll be in town this summer.

But my conundrum has surfaced once again. When I see her I just become an idiot. I get nervous. I become worried. I stumble over my words. I have long awkward pauses. I say stupid things. I don't take any chances. But the worst of it is that I can't read her. I can't tell if she's interested or not. I can't decide if I should make a move or not. Of course, I think that is half of the problem... the trying to read her part. I'm too worried about trying to read her instead of being myself and enjoying the time. I should be just taking my shot and seeing how I do because it is better to try and fail than to not try at all. But, I'm just a wuss.

This was supposed to be cathartic but it wasn't. Oh well. Such is life.

Tags: Women, Dating, & I am dumb

Graduation

My brother Doug graduated this weekend from Michigan State where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Crop and Soil Science. As for his future, he's leaving on Tuesday for New York City where he's taken a position as an Assistant Superintendent at Wykagyl Country Club. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Playing quarters Friday night at Rick's
Obligatory brothers picture
Family photo in the gardens
Doug in front of his major's building
Walking in
That's Doug in the middle. Check out his buddy next to him. His girlfriend created a golf course, pin included, on his hat
Doug about to walk up
Receiving his diploma
Zoomed in version
Dinner afterward at Old Chicago
Tags: Graduation, Michigan State, & Photos

Vanity

I really don't like vanity plates. No matter how creative or funny they are, I don't like them. I tend to make fun of every one I see and think the people who have them are lame.

For one thing, they probably (I'm not looking up statistics) cause accidents. People tend to tailgate cars with vanity plates in an attempt to read and figure out. I include myself in this group. It is impossible to ignore the tendency of attempting to comprehend the gibberish that is a vanity plate. We should be focusing on driving down the road instead of trying to figure out that YTOK BUG means the Y2K Bug. Mind you, I saw this on a model year 2000 VW Bug. Lame.

Well, I was driving up to Michigan State to party with my brother Doug before he graduates tomorrow and I came across this on a Volvo station wagon:



For those who don't understand, GRFNDOR is supposed to represent Gryffindor, one of the four houses within the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the crappy Harry Potter novels. I can't think of a better way to alert the world to the fact that you're a nerd and enjoy sub-par literature that was written for children. Oh, the car had a second bumper sticker plastered on the side window saying something like how the car was protected by magic.

People amaze me.

Tags: Nerds, Harry Potter, & Vanity Plates

Knight

This guy has way too much time and money. Too bad the interior isn't tan like its supposed to be. Personally, all I really want to do is sit in it and push the turbo-boost button. But seriously, where can you buy the instrument panel for this thing? Who makes it?

Tags: Knight Rider, eBay, & Hasselhoff