share market picks for 2009

I just found a scrap of paper on my desk that had stock market codes I
liked on it and thought I’d share.

SOL, Soul Pattinson currently trading $7.91.
RIO, Rio Tinto at $46.30
BHP at $28.60
LEI, Leighton at $19.08
ANZ at $13.05
QBE, QBE Insurance at $20.10
WPL, Woodside Petroleum at $35.98
SGP, Stockland at $2.71
WDC, Westfield at $10.25
NAB, National Australia Bank at $17.51
CBA, Commonwealth Bank at $29.80
TLS, Telstra at $3.68
AMP at $4.89
QAN, Qantas at $1.60
STO, Santos at $15.01
WBC, Westpac at $16.65

Anyone else got any to share?

a riddle

Here’s a riddle.

Let’s say your goal is a hamburger, fries, and coleslaw for the best
value possible.

Here are the facts:
A hamburger is 139 baht, and includes one side.
A gourmet hamburger is 189 baht, and includes one side.
Coleslaw as a side is 30 baht.
Fries as a side is 60 baht.
Fries ordered as a size are roughly twice as big as the “included” side
size with both hamburgers.

My solution to the riddle is:
2 x hamburgers @ 139 baht each, one with coleslaw, one with fries. Keep
the second hamburger for the next meal.
Total cost: 278 baht.

Alternative solution:
1 x gourmet hamburger @ 189 baht, with fries. Add one side of coleslaw.
Total cost: 219 baht.

The pro of the first solution is that you get a second hamburger for a
future meal. The con is that they aren’t delicious gourmet hamburgers.
The pro/con of the second solution is the opposite.

Poor solution:
1 x gourmet hamburger @ 189 baht, with coleslaw. Add one side of fries.
Total cost: 249 baht.
I think you’d really need to like fries for this to be a good solution.

Worst solution:
2 x gourmet hamburgers @ 189 baht, one with coleslaw, one with fries.
Keep the second hamburger for the next meal.
Total cost: 378 baht.
The biggest failing of this idea is that the gourmet hamburgers wouldn’t
keep as well on account of their gourmet-ish ingredients.

Discuss.

30 year old bones

Well thankyou for the birthday well-wishes. I had a pretty nice day
yesterday, allow me to brag about it:

First up I enjoyed a sleep-in, with Jack for some reason. I think Mint
woke up with him at 6-ish and put him back into bed without me noticing.
Then when he and I woke up, Mint came upstairs with bacon and egg
sammiches, with birthday wishes engraved upon them in tomato sauce. Very
sweet. I enjoyed these while nerding out for a few minutes watching the
latest episode of Battlestar Galactica and then took Jack for a walk.
While out, Mint started work on a beef stew we’ve been wanting to cook
to use up some celery in the freezer, and I ate stew while watching AFL
on the Australia Network.

I crept out for a movie that afternoon, Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise and
others, the story based on true events of the actions of the German
resistance and their efforts to assassinate Hitler. The movie wasn’t bad
but the chocolate ganache cookie that accompanied it was rewarding. The
aircon in the cinema wasn’t as cool as I’ve previously enjoyed either.

Came home and dilly dallied for a little while, before ultimately
heading out to Duke’s. Mint doesn’t particularly like it, but she came
because it was my birthday. Also, secretly at first and then less
secretly as we went along, she wanted to keep my boozing and eating
under control. Had a good meal, but Jack was squirmy, so it kinda dented
the enjoyment. He fell asleep in the songtaew on the way home, so that
kinda explains that.

Of course, when we arrived home, he was bright as a button again and
wouldn’t go to sleep. This morning he was up at 3am, and obstinately
stayed awake for a good hour and a half. I got him back to sleep shortly
after 4:30am and I woke up today to an empty house. Mint had taken him
walking, and buying stuff from the markets, so I enjoyed a breakfast of
friend chicken drumsticks and drinking yoghurt. Surely the kind of meal
everyone, everywhere, eats for breakfast.

christmas in february

So Bryce has hit a home run with a birthday gift for me: Pandemic.

Not a pandemic as in an epidemic of infectious disease
that spreads through populations across a
large region, but a board game with the unlikely theme of
epidemiologists conducting research to curb the spread of infectious
diseases.

For my money, the most consistently accurate game reviewer, Mathew
Baldwin, loves it.
http://www.defectiveyeti.com/archives/002653.html is his review.

The icing on the cake though, and the thing that makes it blog worthy in
advance of receiving it, is the way in which I’m receiving it.

Bryce is pulling a Homer Simpson and giving me, Marge, a bowling ball
for my birthday. He’s getting the holes drilled for his fingers, and
getting it engraved “Homer”. Not to the same extent of course, but it’s
still funny. Works out well too, since I will have nobody to play with
here in Chiang Mai, and Bryce actually has friends in PNG. They can give
it a few trial runs so Bryce can be even more adept at kicking
everyone’s (well, mine at least) ass when we finally get to play it
together.

Thanks Bro!

Totally nice shirt bro, no homo

This is something the kids are apparently doing these days. Teenage guys
who want to compliment another guy, yet are insecure about their
sexuality and worry that compliments could be understood by everyone in
earshot as an unsubtle come-on line, can now say: “Dude that is a
slammin shirt, bro. No homo.”

And voila. Their friend feels good about his fashion choices, and
neither of them worries anyone thinks the complimenter is coming onto
the complimentee.

I read about this online, see, and can only presume it only occurs in
western countries. Here, for example, you see 3 or 4 sixteen year old
dudes doubling on a motorbike. I’m pretty sure that when I was sixteen
there was no way my crotch would’ve been within a foot of another guy’s
ass. I wonder if they have to explain to every person they drive by,
“Yo, we just doublin’. No homo.” Trips must take a while.

Who’s a slack fellow

Look, I know I haven’t updated this blog, but life can rage out of
control.At least I updated the blog software powering the site. THAT”S
MORE THAN YOU”VE DONE!