In Search of the Perfect Investment

No stunningly brilliant ideas this morning. Except I’m looking forward to a peaceful, productive, reading  weekend. Happy with the progress of our portfolio — see list on the right. Not included in list: BBY short which is already earning a fancy dinner at a cheap restaurant.

Everything You Missed From Google’s Big Event. Click here. A conference highlight – a speech by Larry Page. Click here. Fascinating biography of Larry Page, Google founder. Click here.

Larry Page talking. You’ll need to crank up the volume. He’s a little hard to hear because of damage to his vocal cords from a severe cold.

Early Google Glass users find ‘sense of freedom’ says Computerworld. People new to wearing the digital eyewear walked around Google I/O, exaggeratedly nodding their heads to activate the devices, and took  pictures and video. They also checked email, the weather and flight schedules — all without taking their smartphones out of their pockets. Read More.

Google is one of my bigger positions.

My real estate syndication conference yesterday. Some takeaways: What you pay is the key determinant. We bought a building for $10.6 million in 2012. In 2005, when prices were stratospheric, it had sold for $26 million. Downtown office buildings in major cities — New York, San Francisco, etc — are selling at 5-caps — meaning when you buy thing, it earns 5% on your money. You can borrow 70% to 75% at 4%, for now. That’s not enough to allow for likely upcoming  interest rate hikes. They’re coming. Everyone figures sooner than later. An 8-cap or above is better.

The business is, like all, a function of management. There are a remarkable number of office buildings in the U.S. owned by institutions who manage them with a committee of gun-shy children. Hence there are opportunities, if and when the institutions figure there are better things to do with their money.

I’m glad I continue to diversify a portion of my portfolio into syndicated real estate.

 It’s a beautiful boot. I have no idea if it’s comfortable. I don’t own a pair. But it sure is gorgeous. From the latest REI catalog:

It ‘s the Vasque Wasatch GTX Hiking Boots – Men’s. $134.99 until May 27 Use cooupon ANNV13. After that $185. Click here.

Difference between Complete and Finished.
No dictionary has been able to adequately explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED. However, in a recent linguistic conference held in London, England, and attended by some of the best linguists in the world: Samsundar Balgobin, a Guyanese, was the clear winner.

His final challenge was this: Some say there is no difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED. Please explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED in a way that is easy to understand.  Here is his astute answer:

“When you marry the right woman, you are COMPLETE. But, when you marry the wrong woman, you are FINISHED. And when the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are COMPLETELY FINISHED!”

Tasteless Australian humor
Man walks into a crowded local bar in Darwin brandishing a revolver yelling,

“Who’s the bastard that’s been screwing my wife?”

A voice from the back of the bar shouts back.

“You don’t have enough ammo mate!!”

Harry Newton left the city last night for his country palace. Nice weather. Long weekend of reading, rest and catching up. The drive is normally a 2 1/2 hour non-event. Not last night. We hit a dead deer on the Taconic Parkway. It knocked out a few plastic bits and pieces on the Mercedes, but nothing serious. I checked the tires. One looked weird. It was worn through. Its insides were showing. We got the car to a tire place. Upshot: our erstwhile fancy  car was seriously out of alignment. One tire was about to blow. We needed two new back ones. Cost $450. The deer had done us a favor by forcing us to look at our impending disaster. Do yourself a favor. Get your car’s wheel’s aligned every 6,000 miles. Crappy city streets mess up your alignment. And an alignment is a lot cheaper than new tires.