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Well it is that time of the year when one is supposed to say ‘Happy New Year’ to everybody and make a list of those things which should change in their life. So, Happy New Year folks. Also here is my progress report and next step list:

• Buy a house/condo - Still on my list of things to do.
• Get my murdercycle endorsment - I am actually planning on taking the classes this winter, so I have a bike this upcoming season.
• Website - We will see.
• Learn personal finance - I am going to call this one complete. I think I have a grasp of the concept I wanted to get and have laid out a plan and goals for where I want to be and how to get there.
• Get more in shape - I got a bit lazy, followed with getting out of the habit of running and/or lifting in the last few months. I am going to start doing all this again.
• Stop those bad habits - Habits are hard to break, but I am working on it.
• Be better with phone calls - I am impressed how lazy I can be some times to not even pick up the phone. ugg.
• Learn about Financial Engineering - As a follow up goal to learning about personal finance, I have found I am fascinated with financial engineering - the process of using computer track the stock market. Think of this as a way to have computers do half of the job of the analysis. Holy crap it is fascinating.
• Continue reading - This is not really a ‘resolution’ since I do this regularly now with no hope of stopping. Financial engineering is definitely on the reading list, but any topic is fair game as long as I find it interesting.
• Post more - I got lazy and busy with other things in the last few months and my exercising, habits, and this site - among other things - took a back seat. I am going to try to get 10-15 posts a month.

That looks like a good list. If I put the bar too high, I will not accomplish anything.

Today at work one of my coworkers asked if I was an owner of a specific company and what I thought about the company. I told him I was, and we talked for quite a while giving our thoughts on its qualities and failures as a stock. While talking to him I was trying to decide whether or not his question was too personal.

Is telling somebody the securities in your portfolio at the same level of invasion of privacy as telling them how much money you make? Or your age? Your shoe size? I have actually been trying to decide if sharing this information was out of my comfort level for quite some time. I guess since I continue to answer these questions means I am ok with it for now. I refuse to answer what my purchase price was or how large of a stake I own though. Where do I draw the line?

These questions are some what hard to answer since I love personal finance and investing oh so much. I would love to sit down and talk out these issues with somebody and learn more about them, their securities, their methods, their successes, and their failures. For now, I guess I must make my decision.

I was also thinking if there was a point where a person should be morally responsible for sharing this information. For example, if one was a Senator or running for Senate (state or federal), would it be advantages to reveal this information publicly? Doing so or not has many implications. I am fairly certain American Presidents and candidates have to do so by law. What about senior exec for corporations? Would this information reveal their loyalty to the shareholders? What about a fiance?

What about all of you?

This week Oct 21-7 is National Save for Retirement Week. You only have four days left otherwise you will have to wait until next year to save again.

For a few months, ok more than a few, I have been toying with the option of learning German. One problem is that I do not know the best way to do this. I am not going to go to Germany to learn the language; although I would love to, this is a bit out of my desire at this point. I am also incredibly cheap and do not want to pay for a class. I would consider this if it were a better solution though. So what else is there?

There are a few software programs out there. A guy I work with said he would let me borrow his copy of Rosetta Stone if I wanted to. There are also some others I have heard about in the mix lately such as Mango and LiveMocha.

The problem is I have not tried to know a new language since I took Spanish classes in high school, so I do not know the best way to accomplish my goal of being bilingual.

So I ask the readers… What is your favorite or the best way to learn a language?

Full Title:The Log 2006-2007 Volume 73
ISBN: n/a

Summary: An illustrated novel of sorts of the people, events, stories, clubs, and organizations of the University of Portland during the 2006-07 school year. The UP yearbook.

What I thought: I only saw one issue with this finely establish piece of literature: I graduated in 2006. I am not really sure why UP decided to send me the yearbook one year after I graduated; I did not get last years. My name is not even in the Index.

Sarcasm completed.