Every year, Google does an analysis of search queries over the past year. They call it the Google Zeitgeist. It’s interesting to see how ‘what we search for’ is a very accurate historical record of our times. The Apple iPod takes up 4 of the top 10 searches on Froogle, Google’s consumer search engine.

If you liked Zeitgeist, you can monitor weekly updates.

I’d like to become a better writer. In order to become a better writer, you simply have to write more. Funny how most things are like that. Still, sometimes you want a little more structure. MIT has a nice guide to writing that is both simple and useful. Start out by making your document writer-centric. Just get the words down on paper. Satisfy only yourself. Then, revise your writing to make it reader-centric. Add evidence, details, and explanations that your audience would need. I think this is a useful distinction because I often get bogged down thinking about what others might think when I should just be writing.

I ran the NYRR Hot Chocolate 15K (9.3 miles) this morning. It was cold, but then again, it’s the middle of December, so whaddya expect? I’ve only run twice since the marathon, so I took it nice and easy. I planned to run about 10 minute miles, but I felt good around mile 5, so I sped up. I finished in 1:25:22 (9:10 per mile).

Oh yeah… and the Hot Chocolate was awesome!

DUCK lost money both in its most recent quarter and over the past 12 months, so I sold it. I wish I’d been smarter about the way I sold it. I hadn’t decided which new stocks to buy yet, so instead of just selling DUCK and sitting in cash, I thought I’d using a trailing-stop order. With a regular stop, you tell your broker to sell the stock once the price drops below a certain point. If the current price is $23.50 and you set a stop at $23.00, then when the price drops below $23, the broker sends the order to the market and fills it. It’s a way to automatically limit your losses (or protect a certain amount of gains) in a stock. A trailing stop works the same way, except that the stop-price moves up whenever the current-price moves up. You set a trailing-stop at 50 cents below market. If the current price is $23.50, your stop is at $23.00. If the current price goes to $24, then your stop moves up with it to $23.50. I figured this would be perfect for my situation. I knew I wanted to sell DUCK. I didn’t know what I wanted to buy next. If DUCK went up in this period of time, I’d benefit. If DUCK went down, I’d lose very little.

Or so I thought. The stocks that I own are thinly traded - they’re small and unknown. You always want to use limit orders for these type of stocks. But all stop-loss orders are really market orders. The broker holds onto them until the price hits the stop and then sends the order to the market as a market-order. So, in my case, DUCK closed at 23.49 on the day before my order. I placed a trailing-stop at 50 cents. DUCK opened at 21.50. The trailing-stop triggered and my order filled at 21.60. The stock price then jumped back to 23.50 and remained there. I got screwed! The real problem is that I got greedy. Instead of hoping for a few extra pennies per share, I should have just set a limit order at $23.00 and forgotten about it. Live and learn. Either I want a stock in my portfolio or I don’t. Squeezing extra pennies out of it is not the way to get rich.

Here’s how the rest of my portfolio is doing as of 11/30/05

I saw this great idea over at this place called Raganwald. Only show ads to visitors who come in from search engines. I really don’t want friends and family to see ads, so this effectively shields them since they will probably come here by typing kurup.org in the address bar or using a bookmark.

You’re welcome :-)

I had the commute from hell this morning. The 4 train went “Out of service” at 149th street, so we all got off and crowded onto the other nearly-full 4 train going downtown. They closed the doors for a minute, then opened the doors and said ‘This 4 is out of service’. So now there are 2 train-fulls of people trying to get to the 5 train downstairs. It was chaos. I was able to squeeze onto the second 5 train that came by and then we waited there for like 10 minutes. We went 1 stop to 138th street and waited for another 10-20 minutes. We finally got to 125th street. I usually switch to the 6 train at 125th because it goes local to 96th street. The 4 and 5 trains go express to 86th. So, anyway, we get to 125th and I see the 6 train waiting there, so I cross over. Big mistake. The 6 train waited for 5 minutes and then said they would be delayed. They recommended that everyone go outside and get the M101 bus! I waited for a while, just cuz I was too lazy to go up. Thirty seconds after the announcement, they closed the doors and said that the train would be going express to 86th street. I’m glad I didn’t leave to get the bus. So, I finally get to my destination, an hour later than usual, 10 blocks further downtown from where I wanted to be. I usually don’t complain about the subway, but this has happened a lot. Their service in the Bronx is much worse than in it was in Manhattan.

It looks like a fish shack, but the service is much more attentive. We had clam chowder and crabcakes as appetizers, then the fish & chips and BLT tuna sandwich as entrees. The tuna was seared just on the edges. It was mixed with bacon, hard-boiled eggs, and avocado on fresh chewy bread. Mala says, “Best Tuna Fish sandwich ever,” and I can’t argue. All of the fried stuff was delicious and not too greasy. It’s more expensive than any other place with “Shack” in the title, but the food is good enough to make it worth it. Great beer list as well.

Amazing etched door

We honeymooned in California Wine Country. We stayed at the Hilton in Santa Rosa, about halfway between Napa and Sonoma. In Napa, we visited Sterling, Peju, V. Sattui and Artesa. I enjoy wine, but not to the point that I can tell the difference between a good wine and a great one. So, I grade vineyards on different criteria. Go to Sterling for the view and the self-guided tour. Go to Peju to see the stained glass and the etched door. Go to V. Sattui for the free wine tasting, the gourmet deli and the picnic area. Go to Artesa because, well, it’s a nice stop on the way back to San Francisco.

I had my first-ever massage at the Golden Haven Hot Springs in Calistoga. We also did the couples mud-bath and spa. They say the mud in Calistoga is therapeutic because of the hot springs. It seemed like regular old mud to me.

Mmmm Ribeye Mirepoix

Our favorite meal was at Auberge du Soleil. We had the tasting menu and every course was spectacular, especially the rib-eye. Get an outdoor table at sunset and you won’t be disappointed. Thanks to Sarika for the recommendation. We found another quaint little place in Windsor called Mirepoix. The service was very friendly and the food was great. We were not as impressed with Greystone Restaurant - the Culinary Institute of America’s restaurant. It was fine, but not as good as our other meals.

We liked hanging out at the vineyards in Sonoma better than Napa. It just seemed more relaxed and the wine tastings were cheaper. We tasted at Ferrari Carano, Clos du Bois and Simi. Don’t miss the meticulously manicured gardens at Ferrari Carano.

Ferrari-Carano cellars Beautiful garden Peju fountain

Arch Rock Mala is tiny!

We had a bread, wine and cheese picnic in the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve. We couldn’t resist the draw of the Pacific Ocean, so we drove a couple hours west through some beautiful winding wooded roads. We declined the dip into the ocean because it was a bit chilly.

Sung & Peter

We drove back to San Francisco, just in time, apparently, for the Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival. The crowds were huge. Who knew that so many people loved chocolate? Sung, Lei, Peter, Jay, Cody, Andy and Nicci celebrated our departure with some great Chinese food. What was the name of that place? The dumplings were amazing!

Our honeymoon was over, but our adventures aren’t. Next in the series: Our trip to France! (This blog is getting exciting now, isn’t it?)

Mala and Vinod

Life update time. If you’re a keen follower of this site, you’ll have noticed the little box in the upper left hand corner announcing my wedding to Mala. We got married a few months back and it was documented in photos by friends, family and even an official photographer. (Time wasting warning: There are 500 pictures from friends and family, 1200+ proofs from our photographer).

My brother Manoj created a touching slide show which had our guests laughing and Mala and I cringeing. That hasn’t made it to the website yet, but negotiations with the concerned parties are in progress (“C’mon Mala, it’s not that embarrassing!"). We can’t thank enough the people who made our wedding day magical. It was, without question, the happiest day of my life.

Next up in the “Life Update Series”: The Honeymoon

A-ha! This article by Eric Meyer explains why <ul> and <ol>’s can appear differently in MSIE and Mozilla browsers. Both indent the list items, but MSIE does so by setting the padding to 2.5 em, while Mozilla does so by setting the margin to 2.5 em. These are on the <ul> and <ol> selectors, not the <li>. So, in order to get consistent display on both browsers, you need to set both padding-left and margin-left to whatever you want.