George Brassens - Le Maitre. D.

Glass Art + Booze = Patriotism

Sending the US national team some mojo with a handmade yard glass, adorned with the colors of old glory.

Update: This piece is now on display (and sometime use) at O'Brien's Pub in Kearny Mesa - best place in SD to watch soccer, specifically of a US variety.

Glass Vegas Nerve

In no particular order, these are pictures from a recent trip to Las Vegas for the AGE show.

San Bernardino national Forest..
West on I-15
Water Pipes!
Hookahs, Steamrollers, and Water Pipes!

Steam Rollers!

Fireplace!
Display before I unpacked it!
Me after I got home from driving through the desert! With sleeping cat.
Driving through the desert! Rest stop outside Baker, Ca.
San Bernardino national forest!
That rest stop outside of Baker!
More water pipes! And larger hand pipes for those who like the bigger, yet dry style.
More of San Bernardino National Forest!
Rest Stop! Ford Explorer!
Check out them larger water pipes.
The full, final display. Not bad, eh?
And there was a hot tub in the stairwell! With a VIP chain. Sadly I had to wait outside for entry.

Notes from a Wine Tasting

A wonderful summer solstice. Several varietals of excellent wine.

Friday Smorgasbord w/Garden Update

First of all, I'll give you all a garden update...

Compare the picture to the one from this post a few months back and you will see the power of THIS FULLY OPERATIONAL SAN DIEGO CLIMATE.

*The Swedish word "smörgåsbord" is a word consisting of the words smörgås ("open faced sandwich") and bord ("table").

Secondly, my stock picks from my last post? Absolutely fucking tearing shit up. I imagine this may jinx them, but damn, I publish one stock tip and the shit explodes. My Penny stock, Cerro Dorado? Up to 5 cents! That's a GOD DAMN 500% increase. So, then Hubris came over, and, well, anyway..

Thoughts on the Champions League final - Barcelona have a great team. Also, Man United did not show up. I do not truly believe Barcelona was THAT much better than Man U - Ferguson got his tactics and lineup wrong. Truthfully I like Barcelona more, and am glad to see Henry get his winner's medal, but In would have preferred to see a much better game - especially given the presentation, in stunningly clear HD, was the best visually presented soccer game I have ever seen. 

Perhaps some more thoughts as the day continues..

The Great Oil and Gold Play of 2009 - Summer Edition

As a loyal reader to Death Begins in the Colon, it's high time I let you in on a little secret: I am quadra-positioned.

Primed, if you will, for geo-financial, nay, pan-financial dominance. Or, at least, Profitability, situated above the ruins, in a nicely adorned alcove, with a clear view to pounce in the Golden Age of Globalisation.

How, you ask, is this possible?

With my four horsemen of the forthcoming pro-pocalypse - CDCH, MDMN, DBO, and last, but not least, DXO.

What the hell are those, you ask?

The first, Cerro Dorado, or CDCH, is a penny stock (now 3 pennies!), which I first purchased in January, a Gold Mine in Chile, showing "Promising Core Samples." Someone told someone who told someone else about it, and the next thing you know, Whammo! I needed several thousand shares STAT. (That's what I call due dilligence)  I bought in at .016, and it went to around .037 or so before settling around .03, where it currently lay. The big gossip: The CHINESE are showing interest in buying the mine, and if purchased, the stock has potential to reach the $10.00+ range. This would, of course, be a nice chunk of change. My Verdict - Horseshit, but hell, I've already doubled my money (if, of course, I found a buyer, err), so I'm in for the long haul. For now, anyway.

The second, Medinah Minerals, is a sister company of CDCH.  Same idea - Mine in Chile, "Promising" core samples, "Promising" potential JV (that's Joint Venture) with the "Chinese" (love how they throw them Chinamen around to get the investors salivating), purchased at .007, now around .02 - more than doubled my money, but staying in for long haul anyway. 

Both of the above, of course, have the potential to crash to 0.00, but that's the nature of penny stocks. But they can RISE! Like a glorious Phoenix, doused in Gasoline with a firecracker up it's ass. Beautiful spectacle.

That, my friends, represents the Great Gold Play of Summer 2009. The Great Oil play awaits!

Act One of said Oil Play? DBO, the oil ETF also known (formally) as "PowerShares DB Oil Fund." I bought at the (current) 52 week low of 15.75, and it is now hovering around 22. The reason I bought? It's 52 week high - 55.65. Sure, this was when the Oil prices peaked like a phish fan on a ten strip last summer, but hey, with Peak Oil and whatnot, it's sure to come back around. Right? (Silence.) False economic recovery? Um, er, well, Maybe! Hey, I'm up on it, but we'll see. I'm going to wait with it and see what happens.

Act 2, the final act of our summer of profitability and, possibly, shame, ends with my final of the quadra-positions, DXO, also known (even, sadly, to it's closest friends and relatives) as "PowerShares Crude Oil Double Long ETN." Truly, I don't really know what this means. I bought at 3.17, and unlike the DBO before it, it immediately went down, to around 2.60 something, and I was unhappy. Then, it rallied, and currently sits around 3.50 or so. It's a strange beast, and I don't really know what it truly represents. But it did have a 52 week high of 28.61, so if it gets anywhere near those levels I would certainly be quite delirious with an emotional reaction resembling joy. 

The rise in the price of oil lately has been attributed to a feeling (and hope) of economic recovery, so all of this could blow up when the world realizes that hey, we're not really recovered, and another gas gauging comparable to last summer might just be a death knell to any near term stability (or point for recovery). But hell, we're printing money again, and summer's around the corner - everybody get in your car and drive! And if you know any Chinese, specifically "The Interested Chinese Parties" encourage them to buy both Medinah Minerals and Cerro Dorado. Thank you and drive through. 

Successful Overstock.com Cancellation story!

I have successfully, unequivocally, cancelled a purchase with overstock.com, AND received a refund. In a timely manner. Praise the Lord.  

Here's the deal. About three weeks ago, I drank a very large amount of coffee. Thusly caffeinated, I decided I definitely, 100% to purchase a new rug for my new room. After much careful searching, I decided I needed something made of "Natural Fibers," with Seagrass leading the way.

So, I navigated the morass of Seagrass rugs through the various sites - I believe my favorite was NaturalAreaRugs.com, but frankly I didn't want to spend $500. But $284! Yes! I will, in fact (and in deed) spend $284 on a rug. A "Jute" rug! THIS one, in fact. Why not Seagrass? Impatience!

So I made the order around 10:00 am on a Tuesday. By 5:00 pm, I was down off the coffee and suffering from serious buyers remorse. So I called them up and requested cancellation. "Well," the guy (not verbatim) explained, "Once something is ordered, it's ordered. It will ship from the  warehouse. What I can do is send a cancellation email to the warehouse and see if they can stop it. We'll let you know in 1 to 2 days." I asked, can't you call the warehouse? No, it apparently doesn't work like that. Just where was this warehouse that you cannot call? "Georgia, I think," he stated.  What are the odds this cancellation will be successful? "About 50-50."

Then I proceeded to google "Overstock.com" and "cancellations" and a whole slew of bad information came up - basically everyone stating what happened to me in the above paragraph, and never getting their money back or sometimes even the product at all.

So, the next day I called them again to try to cancel and recieved a similar response. I called my bank to see if a stop payment was an option, which it was not, as I authorized the transaction. Then I just gave up on it, accepting that I had purchased a giant rug and it was coming. Oh and did I mention my girlfriend completely hated it? Well that was a small part of the cancellation desire, bien sur.

But then - Salvation! On Friday (same week) I get an email saying "We believe that we have resolved your inquiry." The following Tuesday, I had the money in my account. 

So, in light of all the bad experiences out there on the interweb w/overstock.com,  just wanted to put out some good mojo.