In other good news, I am happy to report that I have accepted a summer internship as a financial analyst with AVITAS in Chantilly, Virginia. AVITAS is well known in the niche market of commercial aircraft finance and is relied upon by many airlines, banks, and leasing companies to establish the value of commercial aircraft. They also providing consulting services for fleet planning, industry forecasting, valuation modeling as well as aircraft management for banks and leasing companies. AVITAS is a great fit for me and I am really looking forward to working with them this summer. As a bonus my old college roommate, Jon, and a buddy from time in the Army, are both living in the DC area now, so I'll get to catch up with them.
--Chris
Being the typical guy, I figure I'm doing good if I contact my geographically disbursed friends once or twice a year. That is something that I am actively working on changing, though. With that, I was delightfully surprised to learn that a very talented friend of mine has decided to turn his hobby into a business. Check out Christopher Appoldt Photography and if you are in the NYC area and have a pet, he's the perfect person to capture your extra family member in print. Browse his site and it is obvious that he is equally apt at capturing people-portraits as well.
Chris is quickly learning that photography is not the largest task of running a photography business. As he says, not only is he the photographer, but he is also the accountant, the marketing department, and the customer service department.
Good luck with your endeavors, Chris. I have a feeling you'll end up with more business than you know what to do with. Talent has a way of attracting business.
--Chris
I just posted my review of Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan up on my website. I have never taken an economics class and wanted a quick survey of the subject before I find myself in Prof. Frank's econ class this summer. The book was a great read; surprisingly great for a book on economics. I heartily recommend this book to just about anyone.
See my full write up here.
I also just finished reading Freakonomics yesterday. I'll be posting a review of it as soon as I can, but I'll tell you now that I don't think it lives up to the hype. Freakonomics is entertaining, I guess, but Naked Economics is a much more worthwhile read.
--Chris
If there is one thing that I wished I had figured out earlier in life, it is that so called "soft skills" are, more often than not, more important than "hard skills" when it comes to your success. I spent quite a bit of time and energy scrutinizing the way in which I interract with others when I left the military; I knew that some of the habits I picked up in the Army were not going to fly in Corporate America. I've been going through the same exercise again as I prepare to leave the world of software development and head to business school. It is obvious to me that my success after school will be every bit as dependant upon my ability to build professional and personal relationships as it will be dependent on my ability to apply new skills that I learn in school.
With that goal in mind, , I read How to Win Friends and Influence People for my second time. I don't know of a book that does a better job of getting you to be more aware of how you relate to people than Dale Carnegie's classic. I have posted a review here. I think everyone can benefit from reading this book and almost any time in their life or career, but it could be especially beneficial for those of us who are heading back to school this summer. Add it to your summer reading list.
--Chris
Georges Yared states that he believes that Crocs (CROX) will become the next Nike over at BloggingStocks.com. I've heard similar views of Crocs, but I disagree. I just have a feeling that in 10 years, people will look at pictures of themselves wearing those ridiculously ugly foot adornments out in public and be slightly embarrassed. I don't personally have a problem if someone wants to wear their gardening shoes to the mall, I just think that eventually people will realize that is what they are doing and the brand will lose it's luster. The challenge for Crocs, the company, will be to have another product with the same appeal when their current product loses its appeal. They might be able to pull it off, but I'm doubtful.
--Chris
Steve Ballmer is talking about innovation at Microsoft. Riddle me this: When was the last time Microsoft "innovated" anything? Every product launch from Microsoft over the past 5 or 10 years has been either a response to a competitor (C#), a direct copy of a competitor's product (Zune, Xbox), or simply a lifecycle upgrade to a legacy product line (Vista). I'm not being facetious here, really. If you can think of a product that Microsoft has released in the past 10 years that doesn't fall into one of those categories, please let me know. I'm sure there are one or two, but I can't think of a single one. Bonus points if you can think of one such product that actually turned a profit. Acquisitions don't count; must be internally developed.
--Chris
I have to admit, I think Alan Greenspan is talking crazy when he says he thinks the there is a 1/3rd probability that the U.S. economy will enter a recession this year. Then again, I guess it may depend on how he personally defines "recession". If you are talking two consecutive quarters of "negative growth" (i.e., decline in economic output), then I think that borders on "ain't gonna happen". If he just thinks we'll see "a few months of" decline, then I guess 1 in 3 is simply a pessimistic view of our economy, but not an outrageous view.
The cynic in me says that if economists think things will be getting worse, then it is a great time to put more money into the market so you can reap the rewards as the economy strengthens.
--Chris
Kevin Delaney reports in the Wall Street Journal that You're a Nobody Unless Your Name Googles Well. By that measure, I'm doing pretty well. Of course, that is largely a result of owning my own domain name, ChrisKerns.com and running this little blog. Unfortunate, however, is the number of detractors my namesake has; "Chris Kerns" isn't exactly unique. For example, there exists an IRS communications manager, a lawyer, a Highs School Principle, a CEO of a manufacturing company, a bass guitarist in a metal band, and even a cardioligist. All fine people, I'm sure, but they do detract from my uniqueness. I'm sure glad I got a lock on the domain name back when I did (1999, I think). Too bad Calvin Klein already trademarked my initials, though.
--Chris
CNNMoney/Fortune, have listed the Top 100 MBA Employers. Generally, the list isn't too suprising, except that Google hires more MBAs than McK.
- McKinsey
- Goldman
- Bain
- BCG
- Apple
- Microsoft
- GE
- Nike
- B of A
I guess I would have expected to see another Investment Bank on the list before I saw Nike. What do you think?
[Edit: May 4, 2007] I just quickly skimmed the list yesterday and misread it thinking it was a list of companies that hired the most MBAs, when in fact the list is simply the most sought after employers from the MBA's perspective. The title of the article is a bit misleading in that regard.
--Chris
I read how Sears is supporting its employees called to active duty this morning and thought that was information worth passing on. I know that there are several companies that do this; I would ask/suggest that we support those companies who support our citizen-soldiers so well.
--Chris
I'm a heavy Debit Card user, so I get asked the "Debit or Credit" question several times a week. I've never really known which answer was best, but this story makes me think I should opt for "credit" every chance I get.
--Chris
The SEC charged 14 people with insider trading today. I believe this mainly revolves around the recect TXU deal. the guys on Fast Money made a brief comment about the unusual and suspicious looking volume in options traded just a day or two before news of the deal broke.
Looking at the list of those who have been charged, it's hard to have a whole lot of sympathy for them if they end up in jail. Undermining our capital markets can cause serious damage to everyone involved.
Go get'em SEC.
--Chris
Here is a brief case study in how unlicensed digital media eventually generated revenue for the music industry:
Last December (November?), Microsoft was running this commercial for a new video game that was coming to the market soon called "Gears of War". The commercial really struck me as it paired apocolyptic scenes with solefully sober background tunes, which I thought was pure marketing genius. It set up the framework to invoke emotions while looking at a video game.
I found the song a bit hypnotic, and a bit familiar. So, a month or so later, I got the itch to figure out what that song was. A search on Yahoo! led me to youTube where I found the commercial in its entirety, as well as some discussion about the music. There, I learned that the song was a cover from the old Tears for Fears song "Mad World". The cover actually came from the soundtrack of the movie Donnie Darko.
Further poking around the internet gave me more information about Donnie Darko, which really picqued my interest. Elizabeth and I rented and watched it a week or so later (great flik). A few weaks ago, I bought the soundtrack.
I always said this back in the day of Napster, too. So what if I listen to songs for free? Can't I do that on the radio anyway? If I like what I hear, I'll buy the CD. It's free advertising. Don't assume that you lost any revenue because I got the song for free as I wouldn't have bought it anyway since it wasn't until I listened to it that I even realized I liked it. We'll see if Steve Jobs recent comments on DRM have any impact.
--Chris
The big business news last week was that Michael Dell is returning as CEO of Dell, but all I can keep thinking is "so what?". Why would anyone expect Michael Dell to be able to turn Dell around any more than Kevin Rollins (notice that his bio was quickly removed, so that link is to a capture)? Sure, Dell may very well be a better CEO, but here is my point: Dell has had continued inolvement in running Dell (the company). I can't imagine that Michael Dell has some new strategy that will turn the company around that he has been keeping a secret until he pushed Rollins aside. So, if Mr. Dell has strategy/vision for the Dell company , it is surely already on the table.
I'm not saying it will be bad for the company, I just don't see how it will matter either way.
Personally, I've never cared for Dell (the company) because they did not offer AMD processors for a long time. I believe competition is always best for the consumer, and Dell was limiting the consumer's choice. Of course, now we know why. I do my best to avoid doing business with anti-competitive companies.
Sidenote: I didn't realize that the infamous Donald Carty was Dell's CFO. I always wondered what happened to ousted CEO's. I think the fact that Dell hired Carty sends its own kind of signals about the company's leadership.
--Chris
There are some very interesting posts (see links below) over at Ticker Sense that graph out the historical Price/Earnings ratios over the past five years of some well known stocks. For the most part, they indicate that even though stock prices overall all are generally up, the P/E ratios are actually pretty low when compared to the previous several years.
Most notable to me were General Motors, with no earnings, and GE and Boeing, both with pretty narrow gaps between P/E and share price.
Overall, though, these charts make me pretty bullish. Compare these P/E ratios to the dot.com days, and the stock market looks pretty fairly valued, generally speaking. I have heard a lot of talk about an economic slowdown in '07, but with corporate earnings high and going higer, and P/E ratios at very sane levels, combined with a government almost sure to be in deadlock for the next two years, and I think we have the makings for a good run in '07. Perhaps more importantly, even if things do turn sour, it looks like most stocks are valued fairly enough to keeping the bottom from dropping too far.
Or should I be drawing a different conclusion from these charts?
--Chris