Tralfaz

Month: March 2013

  • Foreclosed Houses

    About 7 months ago, we moved to one of the foreclosure hot spots in the country, Phoenix. When I was first looking for houses, I was thought I would be able to pick up one of the many short sales, or foreclosed properties. Clearly, there was a large inventory, and finding a lot of listings in the $150K price range was easy.

    However, it wasn’t as simple as that. First, it is pretty clear that you are coming to a bank owned property when you arrive. To say that there is no maintenance on the yard, or the outside of the home is an understatement. You could tell from half a block away. Next, the insides were often rough. If there wasn’t a family living there (about 50/50 chance) the appliances would be gone and you would see damage to a lot of fixtures. Clearly you could tell that the prior owners had given up, and decided to take their misfortune out on the house.

    After looking at a couple dozen of these choice units, I was losing enthusiasm for finding a deal.

    Then I learned the truth. As someone who was looking for a home, there was virtually no chance that I would be able to buy one of these distressed properties. Whether it was foreclosed and up for auction, or whether it was one of the properties where the bank had acquiesced and allowed a short sale, the people who would be buying the home as a primary residence are pretty much out of luck.

    First, the bank is usually not in a hurry to sell the property. They have already recognized that the value they are sitting on is worth much less than they have it on the books for. They are willing to wait for months to close and write the property off. So people who are interested in buying much write a bid, prove access to funds, and wait. And wait some more.

    The process is rigged. Only investors are successful in buying these distressed properties. The hope that a family might be able to snatch up one of these is pretty much nil.

    We ended up spending $100K more, got a nice house in a nice neighborhood that was bought by an investor, cleaned up, and res0ld.

    The good news is that the inventory of bank owned properties, short sales, and foreclosures is shrinking.  The good news is that means the prices are rebounding, and we got in at a good time.

  • Neighbor Parties

    One thing I miss about Tucson is the solitude we had. We lived on the edge of town, at the end of a street with a fair amount of open space around us. Behind us was county property, SR zoned, 5 acre minimum lots. Not much noise at night.

    party105Here in Chandler, we live in a nice sub-division (Dobson Place), with (mostly) good neighbors. But on one side of us, there is a college aged kid  who lives with his parents. About every 3 weeks, he has a “gathering” of his friends. They drink, smoke (and toss their butts and empty beer bottles in our yard), talk loudly, and in general are annoying as hell. Last night, starting about 9:00PM, getting going good at 11:00, they were really obnoxious. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well.

    About 1:15AM, another neighbor came and read them the riot act. They quickly and quietly cleaned up and cleared out. Finally.

    Next time, at 11:00PM, I am calling the police.

    FWIW, the kid’s parents were home, and they seem to be fine with this. Da fuq is up with that?

  • A cool thing about being a product manager

    Being a product manager is a high stress, diverse job. Every day will certainly be different. However, it also affords some cool moments. Doing strategic planning, I need to read and study what is happening at a macro scale in the world’s economy (I am by no means an economist, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night), and this means that I get to read a lot of different things.

    Friday, my task was to learn about China’s 12th 5-year plan, how that could affect spending on scientific instruments, and what that means to us. One of the stated goals of the plan was to begin the transition from an economy of makers (manufacturing for export), into a center of design excellence (the innovators). That is well and truly on the way, and has been reflected in the activity we see in the market.

    But, beyond reading the text published, I got a chance to read some analyses of the plan by the American think tanks, and investment banks. Some interesting facts come to light in their analyses.

    FOr instance, one of the goals is to shift to a more consumption led economy (where their population buys more of what is produced, instead of sending that overseas via export.) FOr this to happen, wages for laborers must rise, and more migration from the rural to the urban centers is required. But wage inflation also brings price inflation. Furthermore, since there isn’t a very robust security net (the average set aside for a worker in their version of Social Security is < $500USD), these wage increases are being pumped into savings (the average Chinese worker saves more than 30% of their earnings), thus hampering the desire to get the economy headed towards a consumption based model.

    And I work at making microscopes. Cool day.

  • Movie Review: Barbarella

    Jane Fonda as Barbarella
    Jane Fonda as Barbarella

    A couple weeks ago, on a whim, I tossed Barbarella on the Netflix queue. I had seen it when I was 17 or so, and I recalled it being racy and titillating. But that was almost 30 years ago.

    I wasn’t sure what I expected, but it turned out to be a high – “cheese” factor, late 1960’s movie. It starts with Jane Fonda getting out of a “space suit” in zero grav, and devolves into a slapstick series of comedic episodes. Ironically, the “cheese” and the ridiculousness of the situations, combine to make a much more enjoyable film than I expected.

    Also, at 31, Jane Fonda had a really nice body.

  • A shout out to Dover Publications

    Dover Publications, also known as dover press. I first became aware of Dover when I was in college. Dover picked up the rights of old text books that had gone out of print, and packaged them as reasonable priced paperbacks. Since I studied physics, and much of the core material was pretty static (not the modern, high energy, or particle physics that were evolving rapidly, but mechanics, field theory, E&M, and others were quite relevant. Textbooks that had gone out of favor were often packaged for sale at very reasonable prices, as low as $6 up to the mid $20’s.  Text books that if were being used would cost (even in the 1980’s) $40 – $100.

    While I bought my required texts, I also picked up others on the same subject to give me additional points of view on topics. I primarily bought mathematics and physics texts.

    Recently, I have found the need to brush up on some basic topics. The products I work on use PID digital controls. So I started looking for digital control books. Amazon had several, but they were current text books (read: $100 or more). Ouch. Hit dover’s website, and I find dozens of texts for less than $15 each. I pick one up.

    When reviewing it, I realize I need to expand my knowledge of discrete mathematics, again, Dover to the rescue. A classic under grad text (and a companion volume on topology) are on the way to my house. Total cost $27.95.

    Back in university, the internet wasn’t even on the horizon, so I would make the trek to Cody’s in Berkeley. They had a huge selection, ready to be exchanged for my hard earned cash. But today, it is a lot easier, you can buy them online, and browse their entire catalog.

    Dover does have a lot more than just geeky science and physics books. There are books for all ages, and of a myriad of topics. I highly recommend a visit to their site.

  • Driving Smokers

    As someone who for a long time rode motorcycles on his commute, and who now drives a convertible, I can say that there are some smokers who should be fined and incarcerated.

    Note, while I am not a smoker (never been one), I don’t think it should be banned.

    But, people who flick their ashes out the window of their moving car, and then who inevitably toss the butt out the window as well, those people need a special ring of hell to inhabit. YOu have an ashtray, use it. And for those who will pile on and say that most cars don’t come with them today, I respond thusly: All of them have a smoker’s kit as an option that includes the lighter, and an ashtray. Besides there are a large number of ashtrays that are designed to fit in a standard cup holder. If you can afford $6 a pack cigarettes, you can afford these as well.

    Why do I hate it? I live in Arizona, where it get hotter than hades. So I ride in the summer with a ventilated jacket. But sometimes that is too hot, so I will partially unzip the main zipper. At 50mph or so, some jackass tosses a butt out the window and it strikes me mid chest. Then I have a burning cigarette butt in my jacket. Fuck.

    Every state and municipality has laws against littering, and penalties that escalate if the litter is burning, but from the number of butts on the side of the road, it apparently is even less observed than speed limits. Sigh.

    One day, I pulled up to one of these people (who had just tossed a butt out), and asked her why she doesn’t use the ashtray. Her response: I don’t want to dirty it, a used and dirty ashtray lowers resale value (this was in a $50K BMW). Uh, hello, just by smoking in your car, you lower the resale value. That is no excuse.

  • Why I hate my Windows PC

    At work, I am blessed with a HP Elitebook 8460p (15 inch wide screen, core i5) laptop. It has OK specs, and I pimped it out to 16 G of ram.

    But it is dog slow. We probably have 2 – 3 updates a week pushed to us that require a reboot. I have to save all my work, and reboot, and then wait. I have learned to open up the resource monitor and watch the disk get hammered.  For about 15 minutes after boot.

    I know that Windows 7 is a lot snappier on similar hardware, but working for a fortune 500 company, with an eye on security, there is a metric shit-ton of stuff that is running including a full disk encryption package.

    I am tempted to drop in a blank drive, install a fresh Win7 install, and see if that performs better. Probably, but it will be for naught, as I will have to go back to the original drive, image and configuration.

     

  • Music Theory

    I am a guitar player. Have been for a long time (better than 30 years now). I started with some lessons from a fellow BBS’er Vernon Anderson (He ran the”Rat’s Nest” BBS).

    I learned a lot very fast. I do remember the basics of music theory. How to build the scales, all the modes, the circle of 5ths, intervals, etc. But it really didn’t stick. I was too impatient to learn to play cool music, and the theory was boring to me. So I learned Scorpions, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, and other great tunes. I got pretty good at just riffing on Em pentatonic (if you can’t play the shit out of E pentatonic minor, you should give up the ‘axe), and playing bluesy licks and riffs.

    Then I stalled.  I practiced a lot when I was in college (it was a good excuse to not study), built some speed and chops. Even played out a few times. I picked up Noad’s Beginning guitar and learned some classical pieces (and how to read music).

    Fast forward 20+ years. I have been playing more, and picking up my skills again, but I am finally beginning to dive into theory. It is hard, because it is so tempting to just rip away. But I know that if I stick with the theory, the rest of my playing will become much better (and I will fumble less for notes when I am soloing.)

  • Dropping Kids at School

    Since I don’t have kids, I don’t know why this has happened. From a very early age (1st grade) I walked to school. We lived probably a mile, maybe a little less, but a group of us neighbor kids would gather and stroll to classes every day. Probably by the 4th grade, I graduated to bicycling to school (I remember my cherry Schwinn Stingray being stolen, and being distraught over it). By high school, I was walking or cycling probably 2.5 miles to school, and there were some kids who came in by bus.  Unless it was raining really hard, we didn’t get a ride from one of the parents.

    But that is not how it works today. There are still buses, and there is a stop near my house, I see high school aged kids get on at 6:50AM. But I also live about 2 blocks from an elementary school. They have actually re-configured the street to accommodate the long line of cars to drop kids off. After school, there is a queue to pick up kids that extends about 3 blocks (and it is hugely disruptive).

    What changed?

    Serious question. I don’t think the streets are any less dangerous (and we has cross walk guardians when I was in grade school, some 40 years ago). I believe that the rate of stranger abductions is about constant (although there is a lot more media coverage that sensationalizes the cases). Are there fewer buses to carry kids who are too far to walk to school? Or is it just expected that helicopter mom’s will be driving little Suzy to class every day? If anything, the idiocy that I see with the parents trying to beat a red light (and wait one more cycle) to get little Johnny to class is more dangerous that walking.

    I learned very early on some simple rules. Memorize your address. Know your phone number. Don’t accept rides from strangers. Strangers offering free {candy|ice cream|toys} are to be avoided at all cost. Never be afraid to approach an adult and ask for help. Cross only in crosswalks, and when the lights permit it. Know the rules of the road (when bicycling) and ride safe.

    One thing that I will say, many of the kids I see being dropped off could use the exercise of walking to school.

     

  • Typical Product Marketing day

    I am often asked what a typical day looks like. It is hard to describe in general, because one of the things about being a product manager is that I get tossed tasks, and crises all the time. So, what does a day in the life look like?

    Rinse, lather repeat, a process that goes on indefinitely
    Rinse, lather repeat, a process that goes on indefinitely

    7:30AM – Arrive. Check email, find an urgent request to do a competitive analysis of one of our products with a down market competitor (clearly inferior, and a less complete solution to boot). Deliver that to the requesting sales engineer by 8:30.

    ~ 9:00AM – Dive into strategic planning homework.

    ~9:10AM – R&D director walks into cube. There is an issue with a component of our main under development project. We discuss for some time (seems like hours). Turns out to not be a big deal, but I am glad to be made aware.

    ~ 10:00AM Back to the strategy work. Research US R&D funding forecasts, and what the effect of the Budget Sequestration will have on funding (and hence the pool of money for many of our customers to buy our products). Fortunately there are lots of good, poignant analyses to wade through. Soon I have 60+ pages to read.

    Noon – Lunch time. Had to run home to turn out the hounds (My wife is out of town).

    1:00PM – meeting with marketing to discuss the new product introduction schedule. Surprise, it lasted a full hour plus (scheduled for 30 minutes)

    2:00PM – meet with our ERP engineers to discuss the additions and deletions to the ERP system (part numbers, prices, ECO’s etc).

    3:00PM – 5:00PM meet with R&D to discuss our bets for the future. Spirited discussion.

    Run home and walk the dogs. Feed them.

    5:00 – 6:30 – Backlog planning with our overseas development team. Glad I made this one (I do make most of the calls) as some key decision points were at hand.

    6:30 – ??? Catch up on email, my news reading, and finally fade into bed at 9:00

    Today will be entirely different. Lather, rinse, repeat.