The Progression from Mountain Man to Boy Wonder

So 3 years ago I began the quest on the trail of the bearded man. It began as full beard then went to goatee then back to full beard then back to goatee. Recently, the Drew Manchu was introduced followed by the 'stache with the end result of once again arriving at a state of smooth faced. Having facial hair certainly saves on time getting ready in the morning but I believe I'll try the smooth faced look for a while.

July 4th Fireworks

Here are some firework pictures from the park close to where I live as well as looking down at Worlds of Fun.

Stars and Stripes

Here are some pictures from the weekend of June 28-29 where Pleasant Valley Baptist Church set up more than 3000 flags for their patriotic service.

Serve KC

Over the past few weekends, I've assisted with the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church Serve KC projects at Synergy Women's Shelter and City Union Mission. We poured a concrete slab and repaired a fence at Synergy and did a large amount of landscaping at City Union Mission.













Check out more pictures of these events at the Community Faces webpage.

Guitar Tuning

If you ever need to tune a guitar but have no tuner or other intstrument to tune to, never fear, there are alternative methods. If you have access to a dial tone for a phone, the note is an F so simply tune the first fret of the Low E string to the dial tone. Alternatively, if you have internet access, go to tunemybass.com which will play audible notes to tune the guitar to.

Quote of the Day

The irony of the stock market is that both the buyer and the seller believe they made the right move.

Improve Your Gas Mileage

Over the past month or so, I've started driving around 55 to 60 mph on the highway versus up around the speed limit of 65 mph. This has resulted in improved gas mileage of around 1.5 to 2 miles per gallon. I get around 25.5 to 26 cumulative mpg following this new pattern. I'd heard of gas mileage savings by driving at a slower speed but had not previously tried it.

This will end up extending a tank of gas by roughly 1 gallon per tank. I fill up an estimated 26 times per year so at 26 x $4 that equals a savings of $104 per year just by driving 5 to 10 mph slower. Many people fill up more frequently than this so they could potentially save even more. Try it, it works.

To find out the cheapest gas in your area try out one of these links MSN Auto Gas Prices or Gasbuddy.com.

Dierks Bentley Concert

Here are some pictures from the May 29th, 2008 Dierks Bentley concert in the Power & Light District in downtown Kansas City. Dierks is a great entertainer and put on a quality show. The place was packed with several thousand people all over the courtyard and in the balcony.

If you are interested in licensing one of these pictures, please leave a comment on this entry with contact information and intended use.







Additional pictures are also viewable at this link.

Jesse James: The Last Rebel of the Civil War

Jesse James: The Last Rebel of the Civil War by T.J. Stiles

This is one of the most in depth and well researched biographies that I have ever read. Stiles did extensive investigation into primary sources when performing the research for the book.

There is a great deal of perception of Jesse James as a larger than life myth. Much of what he did was very much grounded in the history of his time and focuses on the Civil War as a driving force behind his actions and behavior.

James's father was a Baptist minister who left the family to go to California during the gold rush in 1849. While there, he contracted an illness and died when Jesse was still a young boy. This left his mother to raise Jesse and his siblings on her own until eventually remarrying.

The James family owned a good sized farm with quite a few slaves and so had a vested interest in maintaining the slavery structure. They were very much a part of the Confederate mindset and supported that side during the Civil War.

Jesse joined his brother as a teenager during the Civil War by banding together with a bunch of "bushwhackers" who were basically guerrillas (or terrorists depending on how you look at it) on the Confederate side. They would walk up to Union sympathizers who were often neighbors and point blank kill them in cold blood simply for being supporters. This instilled fear in the local populace and a general sense of uncertainty and terror.

People from the Union side did similar types of things to Confederates namely Jayhawkers from Kansas. Missouri during the civil war and the days afterwards had a feel like that of Iraq today. People of differing ideological backgrounds resorted to violence and force to push their political agendas and philosophies.

Following the war James stayed with the bushwhackers until they gradually dissipated. At first they targeted banks to rob with Union ties for political reasons. Eventually, however, the targets became less political and more for pure monetary gain.

One of the primary reasons for Jesse James's notoriety and fame was his frequent correspondence with newspapers. He was a voracious reader and constantly maintained his innocence in letters to editors. Newspaper man John Edwards became a champion for James and glorified him and his gang in articles. He cast them as heros and icons for the Confederate political agenda and used them in print to help advance political purposes. In that day, newspapers were very openly partisan and did not try to maintain an appearance of neutrality as news agencies do today.

As James et al gained more and more fame and notoriety, public outcry became much more pronounced against them while encouraging local and state officials to crack down and bring them to justice. After stealing from express companies similar to Wells Fargo who operated primarily via railroad, private business interest arose in tracking them down and preventing future robberies.

His gang branched out into other states as well such as Iowa, Tennessee, Minnesota, Kentucky, and West Virginia obtaining national attention.

The Pinkertons a private investigative agency were hired to find them but most of their efforts were fruitless considering the James/Younger gang's support from local friends and their knowledge of the backwoods.

On several occasions, Jesse was injured in gun fights some requiring lengthy recovery times. All told though he personally probably killed at least 20 men so came out on plus side from his battles.

The gang eventually met their match while trying to rob a bank in Minnesota where the people fought back and injured or killed many members of the gang. Jesse and his brother barely escaped back to Missouri once word got out and posses were gathered to track them down.

Jesse never could settle down to a life of honest work which resulted in his downfall. He was constantly suspicious of those around him but gathered a new gang to continue his exploits. A couple of brothers in his new gang plotted to kill him and eventually succeeded, collecting a hefty reward in the process.

Stiles book reads like a combination of a pure history and real life historical novel. The first 200 pages are primarily devoted to the historical background of the Civil War and environment James grew up in. The last 200 pages are focused more on Jesse's emergence as a bank/train/stagecoach robber, leader of a gang, and Confederate symbol. As mentioned on the book cover, Stiles debunks the myth that James was a form of Robin Hood and was instead mostly interested in his own fame and fortune.

At times the book moves slowly and is exhaustive in its coverage of the material but if the reader stays with it, he or she will have a very complete picture of Jesse James and the history of Missouri during the Civil War and the decades afterwards.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know here.

Spaghetti Fiscal Year End

Last June saw the genesis of the Spaghetti Score (see here for original post). Over the course of the year I've eaten spaghetti 58 times. This equates to 1.12 times per week. This feature of the Wisdom of Dre has generated a slight bit of interest offline so plans are to keep it in affect in the coming year. To see the current score, be sure to check in the side column under the Spaghetti Score section.

Drew-Manchu

We now embark on a new chapter in the adventures of facial hair. When we last checked in with our protagonist a little over a year ago (see here for details), he determined to go from fully bearded to the suave/hip goatee. In recent times, he determined to take on a contenance to identify more with the blue collar crowd. Or maybe it was an attempt at the retro 70s look. Or perhaps even hearkening to it's origin in the orient. Regardless, the visage of said protaganist now bears the simultaneous resemblance of both Fu Manchu and a modern day truck driver.

The Automatic Millionaire

The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach

The basic premise of Bach's book is to automate as many financial aspects of your life as possible. With today's technology, this is much easier and more accessible than in the past.

A main focal point of the automation is having automatic deductions from one's paycheck go into a retirement account. The benefit being that one learns to live on the lower net income and does not even notice the automatic deduction. At the same time the investor is saving tax if investing in tax deferred accounts such as a 401(K), 403(b), SEP, or traditional IRA retirement account.

So for example if you take a $1,000 paycheck and deduct 15% to go directly into a retirement account, that would be $150. In contrast if you did not put anything into the retirement account first, you would bring home $800 assuming a 20% tax rate. By "paying yourself first" you avoid tax today on the $150 and rather than only bringing home $650 based on the $200 tax on a $1000 paycheck, you would actually bring home $680 due to not paying tax on the $150. This may not seem like much but can make an enormous difference over time.

The millionaire part comes into play by following this system of setting it up one time to automatically deposit the money and letting the power of compound interest work over the course of a number of years.

He also recommends automating things such as a house payment by having payments drafted from your account once every 2 weeks rather than once per month. This results in an additional full payment each year with the advantage of paying off a 30 year mortgage (if using one that long) in only 22 years. This cuts out a huge amount of interest paid and gets you out of debt that much quicker. Rather than relying on discipline and remembering to send in a payment every 2 weeks you've automated it and don't ever have to worry about it.

An additional idea Bach presents is that most people have a "Latte Factor." This essentially is little things through out the day which you may not think about spending money on such as picking up a $3.50 latte and $1.50 muffin at Starbucks in the morning. While this is ok from time to time, the point is that if done on a regular basis without thinking about the total cost, it can really add up to substantial amounts of money in time. Say for example you did this on the way to work each morning (5x50=250x5=1250) $1,250 per year in coffee and muffins. In my book that's a decent chunk of change.

An idea Bach does not mention but which is effective is to give oneself a monthly budget for random purchases. Dave Ramsey calls this the blow category in a budget. Money which can be spent as you please without having to fall in a specific category. If your blow category is $50 for the month, at the beginning of the month you put $50 in an envelope and can spend it any way you choose. But when the money runs out and the envelope is empty, you don't spend any more. It really helps in making you pause to consider a purchase before whipping out the plastic and swiping away that $1,250 in muffins and coffee.

Other elements which Bach promotes are paying off debt and giving money away. Debt will really hamper one's ability to become wealthy so by attacking it, you free yourself to run unfettered towards wealth. The giving aspect helps put things in perspective and give you a sense of wealth and generosity even before becoming "wealthy."

One aspect that I would give caution to the reader about is Bach's chapter on real estate. If not read in a proper context, the reader could get the impression that taking on large amounts of debt or "leverage" great ideas with limited risk. One should always incorporate a big risk factor whenever introducing large amounts of debt. Regardless of how leverage is couched, real estate prices do not always go up as seen recently, and renters do not always make payments. So if taking on a mortgage to purchase real estate, it would behoove the person to make a large down payment and pay off the mortgage as quickly as possible.

Overall, The Automatic Millionaire offers some good ideas on helping to reduce the discipline needed to attain financial independence and comfortable retirement. Automation of investments is a great way to consistently build wealth over a long period of time.

You can also read this review at Helium.com.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know here.

Discount on Bread

If you're ever close to 210 Hwy and Chouteau Trafficway drop by the Roma Bakery off of Chouteau at the red light just after 210 heading north. You can get a loaf of bread for 70 cents a loaf. In the grocery store this usually runs from $1.50 to $2.50.

31 Cent Ice Cream

For those of you who enjoy ice cream at an affordable price, check out the 31 cent ice cream night at Baskin Robbins tomorrow evening April 30th. See the Baskin Robbins link for more details.

Tax Rebate

So are you ready for that nice fat tax rebate stimulus check? If you e-filed your tax return, it should be direct deposited into your account between May 2nd and May 16th. If you filed a paper version of the federal tax return there is a different schedule from May 16th to July 11th. When you receive the rebate is determined by the last two digits of your Social Security Number. Check the IRS website to find out when you'll receive the rebate.

Now, the government's idea is for you to go spend the check to help simulate the economy. Whether this will actually measurably affect the overall economy remains to be seen. However, an even better way to affect your personal finances is to use it to pay off debt if you currently have any, use it to start or build on an emergency fund, invest it in a Roth IRA account. Even if you choose to spend a portion of the rebate, try to at least use some of this serendipitous bonus for financially healthy goals.

The $64 Tomato

The $64 Tomato by William Alexander

In this hilarious gardening memoir, we learn the perils of deer, groundhogs, grubs, weeds, and those ever present squirrels to the garden. Alexander began his gardening hobby in his late 20s when wanting some fresh produce not available to the locale off the coast of Florida where he lived at the time.

This began his lifelong obsession with gardening including all things vegetable, floral, and fruit. His Hudson Valley home in New York possessed an expansive back yard which he and his wife had visions of turning into a delightful kitchen garden. As they engage various contractors to complete the work, they learn some of the perils of the hired contractor market such as shoddy work, over pricing, and late arrivals or not arriving at all to perform work.

Eventually they have a workable garden and are able to proceed with planting large quantities of vegetables including many herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes, leeks, potatoes, corn, apple trees, and flowers among others. They quickly learn that not only does the soil produce and nurture the desired vegetables but also a vast array of weeds which require lots and lots of repeated work to remove. The vegetables provide tasty accompaniments to their meals and allow them the ability to add ingredients to recipes within minutes of coming out of the garden.

He faces other creatures who like the vegetables such as deer and groundhogs and resorts to putting up electric fencing to help keep them out. He also has some interesting adventures in his quest to remain organic and still keep out the bugs and resourceful squirrels from his apple orchard. Eventually he breaks down and begins using pepper spray as well as netting which encompasses the entire tree. One especially funny episode occurs when a groundhog he names Superchuck takes up residence and is able to get past the electric fence and munch on the tasty Brandywine tomatoes at his leisure. Alexander resorts to numerous measures to trap or prevent Superchuck from having repeated meals in his garden. Check out an excerpt of the adventures at 64dollartomato.com.

The name of the book comes from a cost analysis he performs to determine how much they've spent over the years to support the gardening habit. With Brandywine tomatoes being a favorite from the garden, he decides to itemize the cost for each tomato for a particular year and comes up with $64 per tomato.

Whether you're an enthusiastic gardener, full time farmer, or just enjoy a good humorous read, you're sure to enjoy The $64 Tomato.

Acronym of the Day

Basic
Instructions
Before
Leaving
Earth

Read it, Learn it, Love it!

Amputate the ARM

In this segment, we'll explore a bit of financial surgery. Adjustable Rate Mortgages or ARMs are a particularly nefarious form of home mortgage. People commonly get these based on the lower initial interest rate. However, in 3 or 5 years, depending on the terms, the rate will adjust and almost assuredly it will be in an upward direction. These mortgages have played a big factor in the the subprime mortgage crisis. When rates adjusted upwards people hadn't budgeted for an increase in house payment and got hit hard by the increase.

At current rates, ARMs primarily benefit banks by protecting them from having to offer low rates for a longer period of time. From a historical standpoint, the fixed rates available today are nearly as low as they have ever been. The current 15 year fixed rate posted on Bankrate.com is 5.21%. This is an awesome long term rate.

Now is the time to move if you are in an Adjustable Rate Mortgage and convert it to a fixed rate hopefully no longer than 15 years. Also factor in closing costs but all things considered this is a great time to switch over to a fixed rate.

An additional benefit of a 15 year mortgage versus a 30 year is that you will save a substantial amount of money in interest payments. We'll use the previously mentioned rate of 5.21% with a 15 and 30 year fixed rate on a $120,000 mortgage. The 15 year mortgage results in total interest paid of $53,187 and a monthly payment of $659. The 30 year mortgage results in $117,485 in interest paid with a payment $962. So we can cut out 15 years of slavery to the bank and $64,298. Where I come from that's something you can hang your hat on.

Thanks to DaveRamsey.com for the mortgage calculator.

So, go ahead amputate that ARM!

Calorie King

If you are so inclined to eat healthily, are interested in getting in better shape, or would simply like to know nutritional values of different foods, check out CalorieKing.com. It provides basic nutritional information on a wide array of foods including those from restaurants. Sample information includes calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbs, fiber, sugar, protein, potassium, calcium. As an example the stats on a medium sized apple are:

Calories 72
Total Fat 0.2 g
Sat. Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 1 mg
Total Carbs. 19.1 g
Dietary Fiber 3.3 g
Sugars 14.3 g
Protein 0.4 g
Calcium 8.3 mg
Potassium 147.7 mg

Certified Financial Planner Program

Hello faithful readers of The Wisdom of Dre. A few weeks back, I began an online program with Florida State University to complete the education requirement to become a Certified Financial Planner. The course work should take a little over a year and I will then be eligible to take the CFP board examine. Obtaining the CFP designation is approximately on par with the professional designation of being a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Long term, my goal is to get into financial planning/advising/counseling as a profession so this is a step in that direction. If you ever have any financial types of questions, please feel free to throw them my way as I really enjoy this type of thing.

Other than knowing about this new endeavor, this affects you by the possible reduction in frequency of posts. I still maintain a goal of one post per week but the volume of reading required by the program is proving fairly ginormous and may slow down the amount of wisdom, fun, musings, and miscellaneous pursuits seen here. Keep checking back though, I plan to be in action with relative frequency.

Tinyurl.com

If you ever have a long web address to give someone but would rather not send such a long string of text, consider using the website Tinyurl.com. It uses a smaller url and redirects the user to the original website. Simply enter your original url at tinyurl and they'll provide the new address.
For example,
https://communityfaces.kcstar.com/?action=viewall&id=1037&expand=0&s=1&ac=1&ct=1&pc=1&fs=1&stf=1 is a very long and unwieldy address at 96 characters. By using tinyurl, I now have the address http://tinyurl.com/2e7nu3 of only 25 characters, which will take me to the exact same ending website.

Westport St. Patrick's Day Run

Today I shot some pictures for the Star's Community Faces at the Westport St. Patrick's Day 4 mile run. Approximately 3,000 runners this windy Saturday morning. The main race was followed by a kids fun run. There were runners from age 1 to 88 involved in the event which also included an appearance by a leprechaun. Click on the link in the CF section for more photos.

Quote of the Day

"A hound dog can't chase but one rabbit at a time" John Bichelmeyer (butcher)

Upward Basketball

Saturday, I took pictures for Upward Basketball at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church. For those unaware of how the program works, it provides a great way for kids to learn basic basketball skills as well as hear about Christ. The games are structured so that every kid on the team should get equal playing time. This was also an assignment for Community Faces and the link is posted in the CF section to the right. Be sure to check it out for more pictures.

The Beardstown Ladies Common Sense Investing Guide

The Beardstown Ladies Common Sense Investing Guide by the Beardstown Ladies

When you think of your grandma do you associate her with being savvy with the stock market? This group of 16 women aged primarily in the 50 to 80 year old range began an investment club in the early 1980s for the purpose of learning more about the stock market and as a good social outlet. Among the group was a school principal, a secretary, a pig farmer, and assorted other professions.

Some of them had a general understanding of the stock market prior to meeting together and some did not but all of them gained a much better understanding of investing and business in general over the course of the club meetings.

The structure was such that they met once per month to discuss various companies and the pros and cons of investing in them. They used various financial metrics on income statements, balance sheets, and analyst opinions to make informed decisions about stocks to invest in. Each member contributed $25 per month to the club and when enough money had accumulated shares of stock were purchased.

Each member of the group was assigned a company to track and perform research on through various methods such as observing local businesses like Walmart, reading the Wall Street Journal, watching financial shows on television, and the nightly news.

From 1984 to 1993 they claimed to have earned more 23% in the stock market but later audits revealed the actual percentage to be closer to 9%. Regardless of the actual return the women became substantially more knowledgeable about the stock market and much more savvy about investing.

The club also provided them with a great social outlet where they swapped recipes and stories in addition to investing money. Many of these women were widowed and the club gave them a great deal more confidence when managing their finances.

The first half of the book describes the club structure and how they originally started and the second half deals primarily with their investing principles and how they went about selecting stocks to buy, hold, and sell. Interspersed throughout are the ladies personal comments about various investing and other topics. There is also a recipe section towards the end of the book.

This book provides a good vehicle for learning how investing clubs work as well as general tips on growing one's knowledge of the stock market and how to evaluate individual stocks. The beginning investor would do well to first thoroughly research mutual funds and their benefits prior to investing in individual stocks.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know at this link.

Air 1

I've recently discovered a new radio station called Air 1 the positive alternative. Here in the Kansas City area, it plays on 91.9 FM. The format is alternative Christian rock music. I really enjoy stations such as Calvary 88.5 and K-LOVE 97.3 but their style sometimes leaves out good music with an edgier sound. Air 1 plays popular bands like Mercy Me, Third Day, Newsboys, and the David Crowder Band that you hear on the other stations but they also have music by bands such as Switchfoot, Sanctus Real, Reliant K, Lifehouse, and Hawk Nelson. This really fills a hole and can be a great ministry tool for people who enjoy the edgy sound and slightly more rock oriented style. Be sure to let your rock star friends know about it. You can also listen online at air1.com.

Prayer and Breathing

Prayer should be like breathing to us, as frequent and constant and necessary as the next breath. In it we find our sustenance and strength, our life line to God. How awesome that the God and creator of the world desires intimate communication with us. As you breath, pray and draw life from the giver of it.

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and mighty things which you do not know." -Jeremiah 33:3.

The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This is a beautiful story about a young lad from Spain embarking on the journey of life. After completing his formal education, he chooses to become a shepherd in order to help see more of the world. He learns the ways of shepherds and sheep for several years then has a dream about treasure near the pyramids in Egypt. He sells his sheep and travels to Africa where, upon arrival, all his money is stolen by a thief. Back to nothing, he doesn't lose heart but is industrious and trades cleaning services at a crystal shop for lunch. The shop owner offers him a job and he helps grow the business over the next year.

At the end of the year, he has enough money to return to his home and purchase twice as many sheep if he so desired. This however, is not his calling or "Personal Legend" as the book describes it. He instead hooks up with a caravan traveling to Egypt. On the journey, the caravan stops at a town in an oasis. While there, the boy sees an omen warning the town of an attack.

An alchemist subsequently approaches the boy and plays teacher and sage to the boy in his quest to find the treasure. The alchemist helps him see beyond the physical desires of man and go much deeper to the elemental core of man's true desire. He helps him see that sometimes choices involve taking a chance. Though one's current position in life may be comfortable and relatively safe, it can fall short of his or her dreams and Personal Legend.

The boy eventually arrives at the pyramids where he begins digging and is promptly robbed in the process. The evil doers ask him why he's digging and he tells them he had a dream that treasure was buried there. One of them says he also had a dream that treasure was buried under a tree at an abandoned church in Spain but that traveling across the desert would be too long and foolish to follow such a lark. The boy recognizes the church's description and returns to ultimately claim the treasure. His great gain was not in finding the treasure but in developing character and experience through the journey he embarked upon.

Religious elements from the major world religions are woven throughout the story. The boy had training in Christian studies so this is his base but he then works with and interacts with many Muslims so learns about their faith. Also ever present are the philosophies and teachings of Buddhism which seems to be the predominant current running through the book.

Even setting aside the religious elements, the story is a great lesson in seeking out goals and dreams and not settling for the status quo.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know at this link
Article also posted at Helium.com.

Kansas Caucus

This weekend I went to the Kansas Republican caucus. It was my first time at a caucus and was interesting overall. A caucus differs from a primary election in that everyone voting comes together then listens to speakers promoting each candidate. After politicking and electioneering, each person casts their vote. There were tons of people at the site I went to in Overland Park, Kansas. The candidates with the most visible supporters were Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. People had all kinds of signs, shirts, stickers, and paraphernalia promoting their candidate.

This was also an assignment I completed for the Community Faces section of the Kansas City Star's online website Kansascity.com. As a service to Wisdom of Dre readers, a section in the column to the right has been added which provides links to the most recent photography assignements. Be sure to check them out and if for some reason you're interested in purchasing a picture for the low low price of $2.50, please do so. I'll get a massive paycheck of $0.63 per picture downloaded and purchased.

Bringing Down the House

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich

Is it really possible to beat the casino at black jack? This true story by Ben Mezrich chronicles how a team of MIT students studied Basic Strategy and developed an intricate queuing system designed to capitalize on favorable odds and ultimately win money from the house. The book reads like a suspense thriller novel with all kinds of twists and turns, mutiny, subterfuge, dark alleys, shady men in dark suits, complex video surveillance, private detectives, false identities and pretty much anything you've seen in your basic thriller centered around Vegas.

The story follows Kevin Lewis who begins as a straight A MIT engineering student and is recruited to be a member of the MIT black jack team. He learns how to count cards and determine ways to increase the probability of winning at blackjack. If played by oneself, a skilled card counter may have a 2% advantage over the house. But when working in tandem with a team, much larger returns can be made.

The teams used different role players such as spotters, gorillas, and big players. Spotters sit at a table and play the minimum bet while counting face cards and low cards. Low cards are 2 through 6 and receive a point value of positive 1 and high cards are 10 through Ace and receive a value of minus 1. The 7 through 9 cards have neutral value. Each time one of these cards is played the spotter either adds or subtracts from the total to determine the probability of drawing a high card. High cards favor the player over the house. So when the count gets high, the spotter signals the big player to come in and put down big money. This allows large bets with high probabilities of winning. The big player then leaves the table when the count drops back to unfavorable odds. In casino play, they commonly use 6 decks of cards at a time so the counter improves his or her ability of predicting favorable outcomes the deeper into the deck (or horseshoe) that the game goes. The best hand is if the player hits black jack or 21 which pays out 1.5 times the bet. By working as a team, wins are maximized. The system doesn't guarantee winning every time but over a long period of time allows for a good team to win and make lots of money.

The team would fly to Vegas on weekends strapped with as much as half a million dollars strapped to their bodies going through airports and play in the big casinos. Eventually the casinos began to notice patterns of players who consistently won and would ask them to leave to stop the outflow of money. Casinos hire private investigating firms to help identify cheaters and card counters. Eventually, the MIT team is found out and begins getting barred from playing in any casino. They try to circumvent this by developing disguises but these end up failing in time as well.

Some of the members of the team ended up walking away with hundreds of thousands of dollars up to as much or more than a million dollars in winnings over the course of a few years. Card counting is perfectly legal and is not considered cheating since it does not alter the outcome of the game. Casinos clearly do not like to lose money so try to limit losses by identifying card counters.

The amateur should not think he or she can emulate the success of these MIT students. They practiced and practiced countless hours and memorized charts, patterns, signaling systems, and dealt many many hands of Black Jack before even entering a casino. Keep in mind that they were also some of the most brilliant students at MIT which speaks for itself.

The reader should be cautioned that there is a good bit of graphic detail about the seedy side of Vegas, the gambling industry as a whole as well as some moderate violence. If the book were a movie, it would easily be rated R.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know at this link.

Multiplication Trick

In the spirit of mathematical quirks, here is another trick. When mutiplying by 9, hold up both hands and put down the finger corresponding with the number you're multiplying by. Then count the number of fingers to the left and right of the finger that is down and you'll have the respective ten digit and single digit number for 9 times X. So for example if I were multiplying 9 x 7, I would hold down the index finger on my right hand. There are 6 fingers/thumbs to the left of the index finger which is down and 3 fingers to the right. So 9 x 7 according to our finger calculator is 63. Doing a little math by hand, if you will.

The Rule of 72

A quirky little mathematical trick you can use to determine how long it will take a sum of money to double is called the rule of 72. The way this works is say for example you put $1,000 into an investment growing at 8% per year. Divide 72 by 8 which is 9. This means that your investment would grow to approximately $2,000 in 9 years if growing at a rate of 8%. This formula will closely approximate the number of years for the majority of growth rates that are commonly seen. So a 10% growth rate would double an investment in roughly 7.2 years. It stops working when using exorbitant growth rates or very, very tiny growth rates.

More Than Enough

More Than Enough by Dave Ramsey

This book by Dave Ramsey has much of the same basic principles contained in his books Financial Peace and The Total Money Makeover. The main difference comes in that More Than Enough is oriented towards his philosophy on life. The state of arriving at "More Than Enough" is the end goal for the path Ramsey encourages the reader to follow. This place does not necessarily mean material wealth but is more a state of consciousness and arrival at contentment. The way one arrives at "More Than Enough" is by taking ownership of contentment.

Ramsey says: "When you have contentment you can easily get out of debt. When you have contentment you can easily save and invest. When you are content it changes your giving habits and your relationships. When you are content it brings an inner strength that will push you into another zone. You are able to move fast or slow, and you are able to have patience or intensity when you are content. "

He further discusses this concept by talking about happiness and what it is and what it's not. He says, "Happiness that is dependent on someone else's actions or on the purchase of stuff is not real happiness, and chasing happiness there shows you haven't reached true contentment." This can be so difficult to remember as we go through life and are constantly bombarded with advertising and media trying to convince us we need something bigger or better. Our own human nature also gets in the way of this and can prevent true happiness and contentment by a “gotta have a little bit more or a little bit better” mentality.

The main sections focus on topics such as goal setting, having patience, being accountable to others, discipline, and being generous with one's time and resources.

A feature of the book that is also present in Financial Peace is the "Thoughts from Sharon" section in which Dave's wife Sharon provides some of her insights on the preceding topic. This helps to add color and a slightly different feel to the book than if it were absent. Another component included from the other books is the financial planning forms. These allow the reader to walk through his or her current financial situation and determine net worth, budgeting, paying off debt, planning ahead for big purchases, and generally arriving at a state of financial peace. Another similar component to Financial Peace is the inclusion of steps at the end of each chapter which summarize the key concepts. In More Than Enough , Dave terms them “Keys to the More Than Enough mansion.”

Much of the material is repeated from the other books but it does move beyond the strict focus on money and financial decisions. The order of Ramsey’s books that I recommend is first Financial Peace followed by The Total Money Makeover and then More Than Enough.

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Photography for Kansas City Star

As a way to get more into the world of photography and photo-journalism, I'm now taking pictures for the Kansas City Star's online website Community Faces which can be found at www.kansascity.com on the top left side of the page under the Entertainment->Community Faces link. I may start a recent CF shoot link on the right column of the blog but for the time being you can see my most recent endeavors at this and this link. Enjoy!

Icey Goatee

This is what happens when you go running outside in single digit weather. It was a chilly but good experience. After running on the treadmill for a while, getting outside was a welcome experience. From a purely functional standpoint, facial hair, especially in beard or goatee format, provides a nice guard against the biting winter wind. I've thought of going to a cut down format but each time I've recently been outside have reconsidered the benefits of said hirsuteness.

Plugged In

If you're ever interested in getting a good take on what a movie, television show, or piece of music is all about, check out www.PluggedInOnline.com. It is the website companion to the magazine Plugged In, which is published by Focus on the Family.

All too often one hears about this or that great movie or television show only to check it out and find questionable or objectional content. Plugged In provides good reviews of various popular media to give the discerning viewer advance warning. The reviews also provide a good overview of what movies are about and is written from a family oriented perspective. I've found the reviews beneficial in knowing ahead of time what I'm about to let enter my mind. You know the whole garbage in, garbage out thing. I hope this resource helps you too as you decide on entertainment options.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." -Romans 12:2

Hindu Temple

Over the holidays, while visiting my family in Atlanta, we took a field trip to the Hindu temple known as BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in my home town of Lilburn, GA. This was my first experience being inside a Hindu temple and one word I would describe it with is intricate. It is the largest temple of it's kind outside of India according to Wikipedia. At 75 feet tall it also makes the structure the tallest in the city of Lilburn.

When entering, visitors are required to take their shoes off which I assume is out of respect for the place as well as generally a good housekeeping policy. After spending some time looking around I have a vague sense of what the BAPS demonination of Hinduism is about. Basically, a man named Bhagwan Swaminarayan started this denomination during the 1800s. There were several idols inside and figures of previous spiritual leaders known as gurus.



My sense was that it was a good works oriented faith and that you can either be "god" or eventually through reincarnation work your way towards a state of nirvana. While it seemed that those following the principles of the religion would be moral people, there was also a certain sense of emptiness to it from the standpoint that there is no ultimate authority who can give power to overcome sin like Jesus Christ. There also does not appear to be a relational aspect to it but rather one must of his or her own power come to a greater state of being and peace. In my experience the only times I have true peace and fullfillment is when I'm walking daily with Jesus through reading the Bible talking with him through prayer and worship whether that be singing, playing guitar, running, being outdoors or some other form of worship.

Grande Expectations

Grande Expectations by Karen Blumenthal

Have you ever watched a particular stock go up and down in value in the market and had trouble understanding the rational behind why it moved as it did? In Grande Expectations Blumenthal, a former long time writer for the Wall Street Journal, examines the historically "hot" stock of Starbucks. In it, she examines varying players in the buying and selling of a stock and spends time with each of them to understand why they choose to buy, sell, or hold Starbucks stock. The company had their Initial Public Offering of stock in 1992 and since that time has rocketed in growth.

One clever stylistic portion of the book is the text on the first page of each chapter is tapered in the form of a coffee cup. The chapters are divided by months and Blumenthal examines different things which affected the stock price. One example is an examination of how a price increase in coffee or the introduction of seasonal products affect sales and consequently the stock price. The book is not only a chronological account of the stock's price over the year of 2005 but also delves into the roles of analysts, mutual funds, hedge funds, investment clubs, individuals and varying other investors.

She attends the shareholder company meeting, which is put on as an entertaining spectacle and huge pep rally for shareholders. Additionally, she speaks with CEO Howard Shultz and a number of other executives to understand company strategy and why they do what they do. She also talks with local Starbucks owners and learns about the company's purpose in sometimes having multiple stores within close proximity such as directly across the street.

The stock market prices stocks based on expectations and potential for growth. It rewards companies which consistently produce strong growth and punishes companies when numbers slip even slightly from what its high expectations are. This can be seen in high growth companies who report solid earnings and yet the stock price takes a hit. The market has come to expect extraordinary results and prices the stock as such so when results are simply good and not extraordinary the stock price can fall.

It would have been nice to have seen the stock followed during 2006 so more recent history could have been followed but having a record of the stock's actions during 2005 was also educational. At times the technique of using months as chapter breaks did not seem to work from a literary standpoint. To some degree, we revisited the same characters whether individual investors, analysts, or investment clubs but I would like to have maintained the same cast and visited with them more frequently during the year to better grasp their thinking on actions with the stock. At the same time, the book tried to dig down to understand the various elements involved in why a stock price moves. The book felt like a journalistic style of interview, background, and research which provided a good end product but perhaps could have excelled more if it focused either on the story of how the individuals interacted with the stock or more strictly on the various components of why the stock moves.

Regardless of the aforementioned suggestions, the book provides a great historical and relatively current look at what is becoming a classic company recognized worldwide as well as insight into why a stock price moves as it does. Whether you're a coffee lover, stock market buff, or financial nerd, this book provides good reading material and lessons along the way.

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The Pelican Brief

The Pelican Brief by John Grisham

In this early novel by Grisham, he dives into the intrigue and secrets of Washington insiders, the murder of 2 supreme court justices, and the conspiracy behind it. A law student at Tulane University writes a brief nicknamed the Pelican Brief in which she proposes one of the president's financial supporter's link to the murders. This happens to fall into the hands of the FBI then makes its way to the President and CIA. They launch an all out investigation but apparently whomever ordered the original murders doesn't like this and begins knocking off more people. The law student connects with a reporter from the Washington Post and they go on a wild chase to prove the veracity of the brief while running from the killers.

Written in his classic legal thriller style, The Pelican Brief is quality Grisham fiction and will keep you turning the pages to the end.

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Captivating

Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge

Captivating is the complimentary book for women to the book Wild at Heart for men by John Eldredge. In it the Eldredges describe the things that every woman longs for: to reveal beauty, to be romanced, and to be a part of a great adventure. They dig down to examine things like why little girls like to twirl around and play dress up. Another component is the discussion of relationships and how women are very much relationally oriented and many times define their well being by how their relationships are going. These may include relationships with friends, a husband/significant other, those they act as a mother to (whether their own children or other people), or their relationships as a daughter.

The Eldredges describe how vital it is that a woman develops foremost her relationship with God and fills up the desires of their heart with Him rather than seeking it from other relationships whether those be their husband, children, parents, or friends. Ultimately, they must get those heart desires answered by The Bridegroom.

Throughout the book, they use examples from both the Bible and popular movies/books. Some may be uncomfortable with the large number of examples from fiction vis a vis strictly Biblical examples. My feeling was that some of the examples from fictional stories may help the reader gain a perspective on femininity from stories they enjoy outside of the Bible.

I was not able to personally identify with some of the components of the book but believe it would be a good read for any female to gain a greater understanding of the desires of her heart or men who want a glimpse into how women work.

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Excelsis Deo

Have you ever been singing "Angels We Have Heard On High" and gotten to the chorus of "Glooooooooooooooooria in Excelsis Deo" and wondered what the heck is Excelsis Deo? The Wisdom of Dre has researched this very question and found it to correspond to the Latin phrase "Glory to God in the highest." A literal translation of excelsis indicates lofty, high, elevated. Some more modern renditions of the song such as that played at Pleasant Valley Baptist on Sunday include a tag in the song that goes: "Glory to God, Glory to God, Glory to God in the highest." So next time you sing this carol, you'll know the meaning of that quirky little phrase about excelsis.

The Christmas Candle

The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado

This nice little novella by Lucado is a tale about a small community in Victorian rural England. Every 25 years just before Christmas an amazing event occurs where for several generations past an angel appears in a candlemaker's shop touches a candle which lights then is extinguished after briefly lighting up. The first candlemaker who encountered this was terrified and astonished but after giving the candle to a needy person and instructing her to pray when lighting the candle the woman's prayer for financial provision was miraculously answered. Other such miracles occurred every quarter century.

Due to a mix up when the angel visits in the year of the story, the candlemaker isn't sure which candle is "the one" and has to give out multiple candles to various people in need. The result is people engaging in prayer and consequently receiving God's blessing though they didn't actually receive the miracle candle. It is a good lesson for the community in remembering the ultimate source of power and not to worship the miracle candle.

As mentioned, this is a nice little story which can be read in one sitting and has a feeling to it similar to Lucado's children's story "You Are Special." It's definitely not heavy on biblical theology and can focus a bit much on the importance of the angel rather than Christ as the reason for the season but would be fun to read as a bed time story to a child.

The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner

This autobiographical story of Chris Gardner chronicles his impoverished upbringing in Milwaukee, homelessness in San Francisco, and ultimate rise to riches through sheer determination and hard work.

Gardner's childhood was wracked with the violence and abuse of a step father who routinely verbally and physically abused their family. He found some solace in learning through reading books at the library. He ran with various crowds as a youth and generally stayed out of trouble.

After finishing high school, he went on to enlist in the Navy having heard exciting stories from his uncle of traveling overseas. However, the majority of his time in the Navy was spent as a medic stationed at a Marine military base in the States. Through his solid work as a medic he was introduced to a leading surgeon who opened a research clinic in San Francisco and asked Gardner to join him there.

He helped with the surgeon's research and was respected as a very knowledgeable expert in training medical interns on surgical techniques. He eventually married and after prodding from his wife sought higher pay through a medical sales job. After several years of marriage he had an affair which resulted in the birth of his son and breakup of his marriage. He continued the sales job for a short period of time until meeting a stockbroker with a nice car and decided to change careers.

The internship offered a very low stipend and he was forced to live out of motels, homeless shelters, and sometimes sleep on trains or public restrooms. His tenacity at the internship as well as commitment to study resulted in passing the securities examine required to be a stockbroker and ultimate hiring at Dean Witter.

He then went on to build a portfolio of business first in San Francisco then working on Wall Street. Currently he owns his own investment company based out of Chicago and has a net worth estimated upwards of $60 million.

I first read the book and then saw the movie and though the book offered a good story of honest hard work the movie in this case had a better feel good aspect to it. The movie covers only about a third of the book and focuses on the positive elements of Gardner's relationship with his son and pure determination in reaching his goals. The book in contrast incorporates a generous amount of profanity and detailed descriptions of his promiscuous behavior. While overall I would recommend the book as a good read, a cautionary note should be kept in mind regarding the "adult" elements of the book.

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Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire

Fresh Wind Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala

Cymbala's book more than anything is a call to prayer and earnest seeking of God. As a young man in the early 1970s he began pastoring the fledgling Brooklyn Tabernacle having had no formal training. Through his own brokenness and seeking God, he came to understand that God would bless the ministry and continue to bring people for them to minister to and introduce to Jesus if they would truly seek Him and not rely on their own devices or abilities.

As a result, the Tabernacle saw a great deal of growth and tremendous Christian ministry opportunities were opened to reach out to the people of Brooklyn and New York City as a whole. From the very beginning they made the cornerstone of their church the Tuesday evening prayer service during which they called to God and sought Him. Many extraordinary events occurred as a result and continue to happen today.

People who were once very closed towards Jesus come to true repentance and a real relationship with Him through this ministry. The Tuesday evening prayer ministry is so important that Cymbala will not accept speaking engagements if they keep him away from the prayer meeting more than one prayer meeting at in a row.
As a result of allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and direct them through seeking Him in prayer, they see lots of really cool stuff that could in no way be scripted.

Prayer is also an integral part of their Grammy award winning choir ministry with the weekly rehearsal incorporating at least 30 minutes of prayer to the practice.

Far from being a feel good type of book, Cymbala challenges the reader and today's churches to truly come before God and passionately seek Him in prayer and study of the Bible. He mentions various trends and how some churches try to cater to popular culture and make things cool and hip and while those things aren't bad in and of themselves, he emphasizes that it is a mistake to promote these flashy programs and neglect the ministry of prayer. Contrastingly, he points to the early church "These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer..." Acts 1:14 When believers and the church are in constant communion with God, He tends to work more actively and mightily.

I highly recommend this book as a reminder on the importance of prayer as well as a good high level overview of the history of the Brooklyn Tabernacle.

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