Army Post Road

     Speaking of the Oracle of Omaha: Berkshire-Hathaway is an incredibly well run company. They’re perpetually profitable. The stock appreciates constantly. BUT THEY DON’T PAY A DIVIDEND! They’re awash in enormous amounts of cash and the only thing it’s spent on is investments. No buybacks, no dividends. The capital appreciation since Buffett started in the mid-60s has been astonishing but c’mon Warren, spread the wealth. Err, spread it a little thicker.

     To paraphrase the second richest man in the world: “I’ve lived in the same house virtually my entire life; my clothes are more expensive now but they still look cheap when I put them on. You’ve got to love what you’re doing every day. I’ve got all the money in the world, why would I be doing something I didn’t love?”

     I was going to post a “happy thanksgiving” message yesterday but I was ushered through the process of getting ready to go to my sister’s so fast by my mother that I didn’t have any posting time before we left and then once we got home last night it was time to get caught up on tv watching.
     So happy Thanksgiving.
     This year I’m quite intrigued by all the shopping insanity. JellyFish.comis having smack Friday-24 Hrs of Deals. The jist is every 2 hours they have a new sale that starts off at regular retail price and then the price drops incrementally until they’re all sold out. Basically it’s a game of chicken with everyone else watch the sale to see who will let the price drop the lowest. In recent weeks they’ve had xBoX’s go for free. It’s pretty neat. The 1PM CST sale is a Nike SasQuatch driver. Earlier today they sold a Premium Xbox 360 for $265 (normally retails for $400).
     CNBC has been going on and on all day about the 5AM sales at the malls and BestBuy and CompUSA and they’re saying it could be one of the biggest day-after-Thanksgivings in history.
     I’m torn. I’d like to go to Iowa City and see Steve but I have a bad feeling it would earn a guilt trip from my mother. I find it amazing that I can feel guilted about something while I’m still just turning it over in my head? How dutiful-little-son is that?

     Election Day came and went. It ended up about as badly as had been anticipated. The Democrats maintained their hold on the Iowa governorship. They won control of the Iowa Legislature and Congress. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has resigned. It’s a combination of things that makes a conservative, a student, and a soldier very nervous. A new SecDef could be a good thing. There had been a number of frustrating policy decisions made by the DoD concerning funding, pay, and soldier living that hopefully will be changed with a new SecDef. I, however, have no good feelings about Democratic control of the two legislative bodies that have the greatest impact on my life.

     I don’t know how I feel about it, but Andrew Sullivan posted an as-of-yet unreleased Army Times editorial on The Daily Dish demanding that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld be fired.
     I’m not sure how far I agree with it but much of what is said is very true.

     A Whole Lot of Arabs With Nukes. That was an article I came across on Drudge. Six Arab countries have indicated to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that they want to develop civilian nuclear power programs. Of course they’ll just stop at that, won’t they?

     It looks like our long draught waiting for Internet access is nearly over. Hopefully in the next two weeks or so we’ll have Internet in our room again.
     This has not been a good weekend so far though. Last night was just about the most stressful weekend night I’ve had since I got down here. Maybe I’ll go on about it later but it really made me sad.

     Iowa football makes me cry. MAKES ME CRY!