SCUR stock still rising

My company stock closed at 10.53 today, gaining about $1 this week. This is a major turnaround I hope continues onward and upward!

Craigslist selling - part 2

A few weeks ago I posted how great this site was and how nice it worked to sell our old bath vanity. Well, a few other items I've posted have not had the same luck. What bugs me is the people who send "tell me more about your item" emails, even though I post a phone number and ask buyers to call for more info. Some folks I get into an email discussion with suddenly stop responding. They make it sound like they want the item, and are ready to rush right out to get it. Then I loose contact and never hear back, even after a few more tries of "are you still interested" emails. Sure would be courteous if they would just respond with "sorry, I'm no longer interested". My other issue is it seems many buyers are lazy, and do not search for what they are looking for. So if an item is not freshly posted in the last day or so, it falls down into no mans land, where few buyers will find it. Case in point, I've now posted my desk for sale twice. Each time I've gotten about 3-4 "hits" right away via email. But after a few days, all buyers fall silent. This tells me people are most active on new items at the top of the list, and tend not to go to the site searching for a particular item in mind. So, in my experience, selling on Craigslist is hit or miss, takes persistence and patience, and may not always be worth the time involved trying to sell something.

Brooklyn Park Dropping the Ball

Driving down the streets towards our house now is a bit tricky. The city is doing some kind of sewer work, where they have laid new piping that is hundreds of feet long down the sides of a few streets. These pipes are blocking many driveways completely, making homeowners park elsewhere, and climb over these to get to their homes. What if you are disabled and need to drive up closer to the house? How can the mailman deliver to your mailbox? How will you put out your garbage bins for the weekly pickup? The city should have planned better for this MAJOR inconvenience to these homeowners. They should have built temporary mailboxes. They should have built an access ramp over the pipes for a disabled person. This is crazy! Someone overseeing this project dropped the ball big time on this one.

Nice day on the stock market

Stocks surged today on both the Dow and Nasdaq. Secure Computing, SCUR, rode the wave up about 50 cents to 9.67. I haven't seen it this high for about a month. We peaked at 9.99 on Apr 12, then dropped off to low 9's and high 8's until today! I'm cautiously optimistic this trend continues...c'mon market, get out of your slump and take off!

Craigslist SPAM

I just posted some items on Craigslist for my dad. About 15 minutes later I got what I thought was a legitimate email from a guy named Terry (who lives in England). So I responded to him, asking how in the world he expected to buy the item when he lives abroad. Right after I hit the send button on my reply, I got more emails, all the same format. Now I'm pissed that I just replied to some spammer who now has my yahoo email address, doh! Here is the contents of one of the emails from "Terry".

Good Day,
My Name is Terry Lopez, I live in England, I saw your advert and am highly interested in buying the {Dining table, 6 chairs, 2 leafs } which you offer for sale. Kindly get back to me as soon as possible with the present condition and your final asking price and if its still available for sale...I Await your Urgent response..
Regards,
Terry Lopez
69 Huxley South
Great Cambridge Road
London N181jw..

NBC Today Show's gas experiment

Three families are driving from California to New York to show the cost of gas in three different cars. This is not news, it's just a way to push their agenda against gas guzzling SUV's and big cars. It's obvious what the final results will be, why waste all the more gas to prove nothing? The hybrid will win hands down, we already know that! The Lincoln Navigator will use way more gas, but the family will travel in far more comfort and safety than they would get in the little hybrid. This is hypocritical to tell Americans they are wasting gas when NBC is doing just that in this non-news story.

Pics from Iraq

My sister-in-law Amy put up a website for the family and friends of those deployed to Iraq from McConnell Air Force base in Wichita, KS. Please visit the site, read the news, and browse the pictuers. You've gotta check out the wicked sandstorm that came through the base in Iraq. Keep Bonnie's brother Curt and all the troops in your prayers for their safety and courage. www.mcconnell-ce.com

Sliding into first?

I've never understood why some baseball players attempt to slide into first base in hopes of getting there a split second sooner to be called safe on the play. Punto tried this today against Baltimore. I can't think of a play like this where I've ever seen the guy called safe. It's got to be faster to run it out. Sliding requires the decision to dive, and you loose time in the air as your body stretches out. Tell me if I'm wrong, but in my eyes this is the dumbest play and never works in the hitters favor.

Vanilla Coke gone from Quiznos

I went to grab lunch today at Quiznos in Roseville, and was excited to get my favorite pop from the fountain. Until today, Quiznos was the only fast-food restaurant that I have ever seen with Vanilla Coke as one of the fountain options. But as I went to fill my cup, I was surprised to find the Vanilla Coke was gone! Seems that Pepsi swooped in and got the beverage contract. So now I don't know of a single place in the Twin Cities that has fountain Vanilla Coke. If you know of a place, let me know!

Congrats Jill & Aaron

This morning as we were setting up for the garage sale, my dad got a call from Jill and she delivered a baby girl, Taylor, around 4am today. Don't know much more, but will post the details later once I get an update. Ben has a new cousin!

I talked to Jill later in the day. Their new baby's name is Taylor Ashley. She was 7lbs - 6oz, and 20" long. She's got dark hair, and they aren't quite sure who she looks like. In any case, she's a beautiful little gift from God, as well as mom, always shining her love on Jill.

Taylor has a cool birthdate! 05-05-05.
Her first pictures from the hospital are viewable here.

Garage Sale Madness

Today was the start of our 3 day garage sale at my dad's house in Champlin. We were supposed to open at 9am, and we were working feverishly to get everything setup in the morning. Sure enough, the die-hard sale snoopers started coming by 8:15 and getting in our way, asking about prices, and wanting to buy things. We couldn't control them and just had to work around them as we tried to finish the setup. This is gonna be a long 3 days...

Secure our borders petition

If you are in favor of stopping the influx of illegal immigration across our borders, please sign this petition. This is a major part of improving our national security - and we all agree we need to do more to keep terrorists, and all criminals, out of the country.
www.ReformUS.org
I learned about this from Bill OReilly on Fox News. Bill wrote this letter to Pres Bush and encourages everyone to sign the petition.
http://www.billoreilly.com/pg/jsp/general/genericpageblue.jsp?pageID=484

It only takes a second to sign, so please help make your wishes known to our political leaders. Thanks.

MS Walk - a record year!

Despite the cold temps, wind, sleet, and even snow, Bonnie and I completed another successful MS Walk. It seems every year the MS Walk throws a curveball in the weather department, and this year was no exception. The walk gave me time to reflect on my mom, and helped get me through the bad weather knowing she went through "bad weather" every day she lived with MS. Special thanks go out to all who sponsored us this year. With everyone's generosity, we raised more money than ever in our 6 years participating in this event. A grand total of $1592.00 was raised to help find a cure for MS and help those who struggle daily with this awful disease. Thanks again - we'll do it again next year for sure!