Wow, has it really been over two months since I last posted here? I had not planned on dropping off the face of the blogosphere but, to quote that rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Alanis Morisette, life has a funny way of sneaking upon you when you think everything’s okay. Life got busy and other things took priority over blogging, and suddenly months have passed and my pretty little blog finds itself in the blog graveyard. I wish I had a cool story to share about how I spent my missing couple of months training with ninjas, or documenting an underground society of mole people, or playing Settlers of Catan with J. Peterman and Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, but I don’t. So rather than trying to justify or explain or aggrandize my absence, I’ll play scientist and present the cold, hard, empirical data.
By The Numbers:
6: Number of “Where are you? Hope you’re alright” emails received
1: Number of “Your (sic) blog sucks. Its good you blogs just like you quit everything else” emails (Thanks, Mom!)
1.2: Increase, in percent, in RSS feed subscribers during my break from blogging
0.8: Decrease, in percent, in RSS feed subscribers in the preceding 2 months
5: number of requests for guest posts received during my my break from blogging
2: number of requests for guest posts received during the preceding 8 months
1: Number of visitors (according to Google Analytics) who reached my site through the search terms “sort facebook friends by bra size”
2: Number of visitors (according to Google Analytics) who reached my site through the search terms “mouth hooker”
Conclusions:
1. I really miss writing here, and I especially miss interacting with those of you who leave comments and send me emails. Except for the “your blog sucks” guy. That was harsh.
2. People seem to like my blog better when I just keep quiet and look pretty instead of posting stuff. The numbers don’t lie.
3. My upcoming post on sorting Facebook mouth hookers by bra size is going to bring in a tonne of search engine traffic!
There you have it. I’m back, nerds!
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most frugal guy on Thrifty Street, but I don’t like paying for things I don’t use. That’s why I don’t have a personal cell phone, and it’s why I refuse to buy a melon baller in spite of all that flashy advertising from Big Melon. And lately, cable TV has been creeping onto my list of things that I probably don’t use enough to justify the cost. [But wait! There is more!]
Most people know the importance of having mentors and role models in business, particularly for those at an early stage of their career. While I don’t dispute that such people are important, sometimes its even more important to have the exact opposite- a rival, an antagonist, or even a nemesis. Or, as I like to say, a Neil Young. [But wait! There is more!]
About three weeks ago, a number of guys in my office started talking about having a handlebar moustache growing contest as we raced towards our end-of-quarter targets, sort of like a playoff beard ritual for tech geeks with no hope of ever making a professional, semi-pro, amateur, recreational, or co-ed middle school sports team. I’m always game for any sort of competition that requires me to do precisely nothing other than refrain from doing a normal task like shaving, so I was enthusiastically on board. The plan was [But wait! There is more!]
I love getting comments from readers, especially when they challenge what I write or present another take on an issue. I got a very interesting comment from a reader earlier this week stemming from my Globe and Mail article about investment strategies. In the article, my love of tobacco stocks* is mentioned. Here’s what reader D. Warren had to say:
Without a doubt a thoughtful person such as you would debate in your own mind the issue of investing personal wealth in a big multinational tobacco company . How did you come to your apparent level of comfort? Not moralizing on you, but interested in hearing your take.
Also, do you think tobacco is a sound investment given all of the government-forced settlements that companies are likely going to have to enter into around the world ?
This is a question that I’ve received more than once. [But wait! There is more!]
