Halloween in Healdsburg, CA

Halloween is almost here again, and there's going to be plenty to do in Healdsburg. Whether you're looking for activities for the kids or a party for the grown-ups, there's going to be something in the area that will suit your needs. 

Air Duct Cleaning

What is air duct cleaning? Duct cleaning refers to the cleaning and maintenance of the heating and cooling ducts in your home. Most people forget that these even need to be cleaned, but most people are also more aware that in-home pollution is quickly becoming a hazardous situation waiting to happen if left unchecked. The most common build up materials in home ducts are dust, mold, pollen, and other debris. These materials are all known to cause allergic reactions in many people. So if ducts go a long time without cleaning, household members could suffer from unnecessary allergens and be uncomfortable.

What are some of the signs that your ducts need to be cleaned?

•          If you notice build-up on the outside of your ducts (the air vents) like dust and debris, it would be time to at least consider getting your ducts cleaned.
•         If a small animal or other obstruction has gotten into your ducts, you should have them cleaned.
•       If you have pets (dogs, cats, etc.) you’re at a higher risk for debris.
•        Consider having ducts cleaned once every two to seven years, depending on whether you and your household have severe allergies or lots of pets

When and if you hire someone to clean you air ducts, make sure that you do a background check on the company beforehand. You want to hire people who have been certified through the National Air Duct Cleaners Association. This ensures that the company has invested in appropriate equipment and training. A lot of carpet cleaning services offer air duct cleaning as an add-on service. I would recommend against that and find a company that dedicates it’s entire business to air duct cleaning. Typical sessions can cost anywhere from 300-600 dollars depending on the size of your home, so you want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.

Terms To Know In The Print Industry

A few print terms you should know as they relate to color reproduction in the print process are:

• Color Control Bars: Found on a press sheet, usually at the leading edge, this is a strip of solid, percentage and patterned blocks (CMYK) that are used by the press operator as a guide to measure and check ink densities, dot gain, contrast, trapping and registration.
• Take-Off Bars:  Found on a press sheet, usually on the leading edge, this is a strips ink colors used to help balance the ink across the sheet to accommodate for varying amounts of ink coverage on the printed sheet. Helps the press and press operator to balance the ink across the sheet.
• Densitometer:  Electronic instrument measuring the amount of light transmitted or reflected by placing the "mark" over the ink on the press sheet. There are standard densitometer reading targets for a pressman to achieve to obtain "pleasing color" or target color accuracy.
• Wet and Dry Ink Densities:  Readings, as taken by a calibrated densitometer, that indicate the ink density (how much ink is on the sheet) when the ink is wet and when the ink has dried.  These readings should be recorded on the press sheet for future reference should the same project be run again in the future, and color matching be critical.
• Gray Balance:  Gray balance is the perfect combination of cyan, magenta and yellow dots required to produce a neutral gray at a standard density.

These tips provided courtesy of Ritter's Printing.

Smallholdings - Another Kind Of Business

In my previous post I used a four letter word that I’m not too sure was a good use of the language – crap. 

However, I mention it again because I feel I’m up to my neck in it at home – literally!

My wife has a smallholding and keeps chickens and pigs. She has about 50 resident methane-producing chickens in her flock and sells the eggs. She even sells chickens to people who want to keep their own. For those who want to know more about what’s involved in maintaining their own egg and methane factory she also runs chicken-keeping courses.

The pigs are rare breeds and are kept to produce bacon and pork joints. She keeps the meat from one pig for us and sells the rest. As a final side-line, she also breeds guinea pigs and sells the young to passing trade and local pet shops.

She thoroughly enjoys the smallholding, but to keep it financially viable she has to make sales. (Selling makes the world go round, remember? It's like the ol' JLo Fiat Impatto ads...that's why I now own a Fiat.)The whole family now seems to have been roped in to making sales. We have people who knock at the door and ask for eggs, chickens and guinea pigs. That means whoever is at home has to deal with passing trade. Fortunately, we have 5 kids who can help. It also means that there always tends to be someone at home. Our 6 year-old and 13 year-old girls also do a weekly egg round, selling door to door in the neighborhood. What’s great is that they built the round up themselves and it does very well. You’re never too young to learn the art of selling. It’s all about communicating and our two youngest kids have become very adept in the art. Whatever they choose to do in life, their sales career to date will hold them in good stead.

MBA in Finance – Is it Worth It?

Achieving an MBA in Finance at a great university is no easy feat, but it can yield great rewards. MBA professionals in the business world are hard to come by, and one that has personal experience in the field of finance can give great value to an organization that’s playing with million dollar budgets.

The Course Work

MBA programs that offer a finance concentration typically separate their students from the other MBA students for the majority of classes. Students will cover a range of materials including bank management, financial modeling, venture capital case studies, and other finance related topics.

The Time Frame

A full MBA program with a concentration in finance will run two full years, however there are many programs that run part time that last roughly 3-4 years. Balancing a work and life schedule is often the trickiest part of getting an MBA, and you always want to succeed at both. Plan out years in advance so you know when the best time will be to shoot for getting your MBA. Additionally, many employers help pay for student MBA programs, which can save you lots of money, and help your employer invest in your future.

The Dividends

No one said achieving an MBA was cheap, and it can often cut into the pockets of students at $20,000 - $30,000 a year. However, later down the road, a MBA graduate may be making anywhere from $20,000 - $100,000 more a year than a non-MBA grad for their accomplishments earlier in life. It’s a big personal investment that can easily pay off later down the road.

There are plenty of great MBA programs that offer finance concentrations out there, but we would recommend the MSU MBA in Finance Program if you’re looking for a program that is well respected nationally and has an excellent set of professors that you can network with for the rest of your lives.

So, Does This Mean I'm an Adult Now?

I just cancelled the trip I was supposed to take to Miami this weekend. The reason? Not because I didn't want to see my friends or see palm trees or get a tan or relax on the white sand beaches (well, white in comparison to long island beaches) next to the turquoise ocean... damn.

No, I cancelled in order to meet my obligations here in PA for my MBA and the CFA exam I'm registered for. I have a finite amount of time to prepare for the CFA and my workload for school is already piling up. I've already missed four classes, so I've got my work cut out for me.

Here's what's out of character for me: I'm actually not doing something fun in order to fulfill my responsibilities! OMG, what a concept.

Another accomplishment for me: not buying everything I want just because I want it. I got a Microcenter circular in the mail, and being the uber-nerd that I am, I wanted almost every item on its glossy pages. 8-outlet surge protector? I'll take two! $150 laser printer?! I'm there. $799 iBook? Finally, I can play for both teams! (Microsoft and Mac, duh).

But no. I have $9,000 in credit card debt that I've managed to rack up over the last year. When I was working, I paid my $1,500 bill in full each month, and I when I quit I still had some savings to burn through for when I went back to school. Well, I spent well in excess of my savings, so now I've got to clean up that mess. And I'm doing it. My grandmother is going to help me out with about $400 a month and my father still gives me at least $780 a month ($450 every two weeks). This seems like enough, but transportation alone is about $500 a month between car insurance ($220 a month), train tickets ($203 a month), gas ($80), car wash ($20), oil change ($15), etc. And that doesn't even count the seemingly endless list of things my girlfriend wants (sigh). She sent me this article yesterday about wanting to redecorate the outside of our house. I get that she wants to make it more homey, but I don't have the heart to tell her how little money I have at the moment...

Anyway, I'm going to buy only the essentials now and delay consumption of other goods and services until I pay off my debt. Spending < cash available. Interesting concept. So far, I'm doing well following that. I'm going to shoot for paying about $333 a month towards one card, and about $200 a month for the other. That should put a dent in it until I get a job this summer and then I'll probably be able to wipe out the balances completely.

This is a step in the right direction. I thought I didn't make enough at my old job, but the problem was that I spent too much money. I don't need $350 wallets, and $100 umbrellas or two Palm Pilots, two mp3 players, two DVD players, $250 detailing on my car twice a year, $75 shirts for work, more jackets than there are days of the week, $170 pairs of jeans, $10 on lunch every day, etc, etc. Or do I? Sure I like to shop, but it has to be within reason. I can look good with less.

Breaking this habit is hard to do, but I'm up for it. I know that as much as I like shopping, getting rid of this credit card debt and rebuilding my savings will give me what I'm really trying to "buy."

Related articles

• The Best And Worst Ways To Handle Credit Card Debt
• I Need Credit Card Debt Help - 6 Steps to Get You Started

How the G8 Looks this Year

Next year when Germany takes the helm of the G8 it is expected to refocus on global economic matters and in particular global imbalances, according to an article in The Financial Times. Indeed, the Germans feel that recent G8 meetings have become a little too broad covering areas such as climate change and global poverty - very much a theme of the British leadership.

They also don't seem to keen on admitting new members to the club such as Brazil and China. Apparently, it makes meetings to difficult to manage and hard to find a consensus if there are too many participants. Yet the likes of China, India and Brazil are becoming increasingly important, it seems crazy to exclude from being part of the G8. China and no doubt India will soon surpass Germany in size and the former has already overtaken the UK and France. Maybe Canada and Italy should be dropped in favor of China and India, both are arguably more important economically. However, this doesn't appear to be up for debate right now.

But the refocusing on economic matters and in particular global imbalances is interesting. Looking at the back of my Economist the US is forecast to have a current account deficit of 6.8% of GDP for 2006. Others come in at -7.7% for Spain, -5.6% for Australia, -2.9% of the UK, -1.8% for France and -1.6% for Italy. The last two countries had surpluses in recent years. On the other side of the balance sheet you have Switzerland at +13.4%, Sweden at 6.6%, Netherlands at 5.9%, Japan at 3.8% and Germany (now the world's biggest exporter) at 3.7%. Then there are various Asian countries running surpluses of 2 to 7%.

Then there are other imbalances. The US economy tends to motor with rapidly rising productivity to boot. By contrast Europe tends to be much more pedestrian in these areas. Much to discuss about imbalances then. So when Angela Merkel takes the helm she could consider setting an example herself. German policy makers seemed to have decided to rely almost exclusively on exports to generate economic growth. This is fine as part of a strategy for growth. Consider for a moment that exports generate one third of the economy and contribute a quarter of the jobs. It sounds impressive and it is.

But the other 2/3rds of GDP, the domestic side of the economy, generates 75% of the jobs. This is arguably the much more important bit and it seems to be ignored with the result that Germany has a very low average growth rate - about 1%. Merkel could start focussing instead on stimulating domestic demand, ie scrapping those VAT hikes for example. This would be good for Germany, create more jobs and make the country a little more self-reliant for growth. It would also help stimulate growth across the rest of Europe, which in turn would be good for German exports. A kind of virtuous cycle. Germany is after all the number three economy in the world. But, Germany is very vulnerable to any vagueries in the world economy.

The Anglo-Saxons in contrast rely heavily on consumer spending (plus public sector spending for the UK) to propel their economies along and this has insulated them from slow downs in the world economy. However, they to have generated imbalances, in the case of the US they are extreme and matter a lot more to the world economy than the German ones.

Quite simply the US is relying on the status of the dollar to get away with those imbalances. It is the world's main reserve currency. But the Americans are debasing it by running huge current account deficits and the dollar will only hold its own out there for as long as people have confidence in it. Arguably, US deficits are compensated to an extent by the fact that the US regularly clocks up stellar economic growth figures. It makes the country very attractive to invest in. Also, the dollar is used as the main currency for commodity and many other international trade transactions, thereby creating a demand for them. With commodities prices rocketing this means people need more dollars to buy oil, gas, copper, nickel etc... Then of course there are the Euro markets which recycle all these offshore surplus dollars into loan instruments such as Eurobonds. Strong global growth helps recycle and mop up many of these surplus dollars.

But the general trend of the US importing $2 worth of goods for every $1 it exports must be unsustainable in the long-run. There will be a day of reckoning. That's regardless of clever theories of "dark matter" dreamed up by economists to talk away the seriousness of the deficit. They are basically nonesense. It is a problem the US must address or it and the rest of the world faces a potential financial meltdown at some point. As the deficit grows so does the potential for a hard landing as opposed to a gentler more managed landing. I wonder if Merkel has considered that her country's fortunes are so heavily tied to US imbalances? A US meltdown would hit Germany and many of her clients particularly hard.

But Germany is in a very different situation to China which absolutely needs exports to develop and grow. Germany is well beyond that stage. She has a large wealthy domestic population and if she can get them spending Germany would have a much healthier balanced economy and would be better insulated from the vagueries of the global economy. Germany would also import more and would act as another pole of growth in the world economy. China to an extent is starting to do that particularly for the Asia Pacific region. Then at least the status of US imbalances won't be quite so critical to the health of the world economy.

So far signs aren't encouraging. The Americans tend to see it more as everyone else's problem. However, they might change their tune should the Asians ever decide to pull the plug on the dollar. They not only help prop it up, but have played a key part in keeping US interest rates relatively low by buying sack loads of US Treasuries. Of course that is in their own interest, but one day it might not seem so important to them. Once the US is fataly weakened economically one can only imagine what that would do for world peace with the global policeman effectively bankrupt! All the thugs out there would feel free to settle scores as they pleased. It could be anarchy.

In the shorter-term, talking about imbalances at G8 Summits, particularly US ones, will no doubt bring markets to focus more intensily on those deficits thereby further weakening the dollar.

Related articles

• The Eurozone's giant sucking sound
• Euroland's debt strategy is an economic and moral disgrace
• Update: Merkel: Germany Cannot Decouple From Global Slowing
• Would Global Recession Boost US Power?
• Germany 6% Current Account Surplus a "Threat to the Continent" Says EU Commission; Solution is Gold Coupled With Eurozone Breakup