Phrenzie.com

As a tutor for the better part of 20 years and a parent of a 20 month old son, I know the importance of parental involvement in all aspects of a child’s life, such as education. My parents were involved in mine, so I know how critical it was, especially when looking at my classmates/teammates whose parents weren’t. The evidence is overwhelming.

So when I read the following quote from DC Mayor Fenty, it made me think about this.

“While the increases in DC CAS scores are just one indication, it is powerful evidence of the incredible work being done by teachers, principals and most importantly our students –across the District.”

Mayor Fenty and Chancellor Rhee have taken a lot of heat to improve DC public schools. They can control the teachers and school administrators. But the X factor (besides the students) is the parents.

I think the primary reason why many students in DC don’t perform well in school (on average) is because many parents don’t expect excellence. There’s no expectation that their kids should get As and Bs, nor go to college….or maybe the expectation is there, but there’s no system at home to ensure that it happens.

I understand that some parents didn’t grow up in an environment of such expectations so it’s a little difficult to impart that onto their kids.

A little difficult, but not unrealistic.

Ben Carson, the reknown surgeon from Baltimore, had a mother who fits this exact mold. The thing is…she knew that it was right for her son to perform well in school and wrong for him to hang out all hours of the night. She knew that she could make her kids read to her, even though she couldn’t read at their level. She knew the difference between an A in math and a D in science.  In short, she knew she wanted better for her son.

And I think this is where the ball drops.

I’ve seen bright kids underperform because no one at home cares. As soon as someone begins to expect more from them and spend time with them, grades improve and they move from “I don’t know and don’t care” to “Oh, I get it.”

Sure, higher levels of math, like algebra and geometry, will escape most parents. But having their sons and daughters explain their homework will actually make the kids understand the topic better. My 10th grade English teacher told me that if I couldn’t define a word for someone, then I really didn’t know what it meant. That always stuck with me.

Ben Carson’s mother had the right technique. She didn’t know the topic, but having her son explain it to her, made sure that he knew it.

I was reading an article, “Confessions of a Wedding Planner: 5 Signs a Couple will Crash and Burn“.  One of the 5 signs was that the bride blows 1/2 of the wedding budget on the dress.  It made me think of my wedding

I wanted a big wedding…until I found out how much it costs.  So my wife and I decided to spend “a lot” on a few – quality over quantity (originally, her preference).  We wanted the people closest to us to be there.  For me, that meant my brothers, a few other family and friends.  VERY small.

The whole theory was that our wedding day was “1 day”.  So to blow $30,000 on one day seemed ludicrous.  The real fun and excitement was going to happen in the years after…and many of those days wouldn’t cost us anything, except time.

Nonetheless, my wife did a masterful job of containing costs (we wanted to pay for the wedding immediately; not finance it through debt).

Here are some of the ways we saved money (in no particular order):

1)  Invited a few people (about 60 people in all).  Since it was a destination wedding, only the people who really wanted to be there, would (barring health issues).  For that matter, we kept the wedding state-side (Florida) so it would be easier/cheaper for people get there (no passport issues, many flights available, etc.).

2)  My wife, Cerece, let me dress down for the wedding.  I really wanted to be relaxed and I wanted a suit that could double as business attire.  I knew I’d save money – I’d wear a suit more than a tux, for sure.  Even if I rented a tux, I wouldn’t save as much money over the mid and long-term.  Besides, being in a tux, outdoors in Florida in the spring was NOT my idea of relaxing.

3)  Cerece and her best friend, Kamishia Lee, made wedding invitations.  Kamishia is an art teacher and she did an AMAZING job on these puppies.  Man!  I wish I could scan one and post on the web.  She’s on Facebook, so if you want something nice, look her up.

4) Cerece got her gown used or at a discount place (I forgot which).  She got the dress she liked for a FRACTION of the price.  Neither of us expected to remarry (“some” people don’t), so her thought was, “Why should I blow a lot on a dress I’m only going to wear once???”).

5) Cerece hunted for flowers, decorations, etc.  She actually went to other places besides the ones the wedding planner suggested, and got MUCH better deals and a better selection.  Apparently, this particular wedding planner, got a finder’s fee if we used her people (maybe they all do it; all I ask is just disclose it).  The planner eventually got pissed and made up some argument about how we owed her more in fees.  I would NOT use her ever again.  So unprofessional.

The wedding was beautiful and both the bride and groom were happy and relaxed – Cerece did all her work upfront and was going to relax come hell or high water, and we did the math, I knew we got a $30,000 wedding for $16,000 (thanks to Cerece!).  I LOVE a good deal!!!

My wife, Cerece, was told that over 70% of fathers really want to have a break from being a father on Father’s day (another way of saying this is that the last thing fathers want to be on Father’s Day is a father).

Sounds harsh, I know, but it also sounds about right.

If you do it right, being a Daddy is a LOT of work.  I mean a LOT.

My wife and I work hard in caring for, teaching and guiding our 19 month old, Aryeh.

Judging by his progress and people’s reaction to him, our hard work is paying off.  I love it.  Like most things, yo get out what you put in.

And honestly, I don’t know where the patience is coming from.  Well, kind of.  It helps to know that reinforcement is key (like saying “Don’t touch the outlet” for the 1,000th time), that he’s looking at me in knowing how to conduct himself and that my wife and I work VERY well as a team (thank God for our couples counselors, Wendell Cox and Kristen Quigley).

But all that said, anyone who loves what they do and works extremely hard at it wants a vacation day every now and then.

And for 70% of fathers, that day is Father’s Day.

I love seeing Aryeh’s face light up when he sees me.  I love to play with him, teach him things…and on Father’s Day, I love to give him back to Cerece for the heavy lifting.

It’s like being a Grandfather for a day.

So let’s call it Happy Almost Grandfather’s Father’s Day!  It’ll be like Festivus.

Colleges have been receiving a LOT of new applications from students, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.  I can’t say that I’m surprised.  Whenever there’s a recession, people use this time to increase their IQ, retool their skill sets and/or hideout before (re)entering the workforce.  This is in addition to the general trend of increasing numbers of high school graduates.

Businesses that service the education space, while not recession proof, are in a pretty good position, recession-wise, depending on the nature of the business.  These companies are hurt by the recession, since their customers make budgetary cuts, and thus, may slash certain spending.  However, this issue tends to be a little mitigated because they offer solutions that either save money or produce incremental increases in costs that are mostly offset by the benefit. 

Think about it. 

More students, means more tuition & fees.  Attracting students…and then retaining them is key to making money.    Duh!  After all, a four year student pays more in tuition, fees, books, room and board, than a student who drops out after the first year…and way more than a student who doesn’t go to that particular institution.  You’d be surprised at how many institutions still don’t get this…

Nonetheless, intuitions are generally seeing more applications.  Imagine being in admissions and receiving 75% more apps than last year.  You’d pray for a solution that could help you more efficiently and accurately manage the influx (this is classic benefit > cost).  Companies like Intelliworks make such apps.

So that’s one aspect.  Another is the non-traditional route, where students are doing distance learning or some hybrid (maybe some lecture and some web-based learning) or are “non-traditional” students, like working adults.  Institutions such as Strayer University and the University of Phoenix have long been fixtures in this space.  Others, like K12, hit the primary education space.  They’re content companies…they provide the curriculum. 

Other companies provide the tools to make learning easier and better, thus, enhancing retention rates.  I’m thinking of Blackboard, which provides the software for web-based learning (among other things).  When I was in school, we used a different app, but had the same functionality – profs could post lecture slides on the site; student groups can post their work from a group project, etc.  It made learning a heck of a lot easier.

And think about other companies in the vertical, like Princeton Review.  No doubt that before the increase college applications, there was an increase in college admission test taking.

So, I don’t think that revenues will necessary sky rocket for these companies.  But I do think that, among the companies in a recession, education companies can make a case for being well position in a recession.

Since gas prices are coming down to more normal levels – presuming this is a trend – I’m seeing more Hummers, Escalades, Sequoia’s and the like on the road.

It’s amazing actually.  

Not that you didn’t see them before.  But you could see the look of “poor driver – I wonder how much (s)he pays for gas ” as people with more fuel efficient cars drive pass them.

Now, I saw my first Hummer in MONTHs right behind me, with headlights blinding me in my rear-view mirrors.

Made me think of what Obama has been saying.  It’s a visicious cycle.  Gas is low, people get the guzzlers.  Gas prices go back up, and it’s panic and heavy discussions of reliance on foreign oil abound.  As soon as prices go down, it’s back to guzzlers and “let’s focus on something else” discussions.

I so glad Obama is focused on green technology and stopping the viscious cycle.  It’s kinda like a cycle of abuse that starts parents beating up on their children, then those children beating up on their children.

The NY Times wrote a piece on Michael Eisner.  One of the dotes came in the form of saying his web-only ventures, namely Prom Queen, which I heard about shortly before launch (he invested in Vuguru, through his company, Tornante), reached over 20 million viewers.  

So, I was thinking, why are all these web properties that I’ve NEVER heard of, having these massive amounts of viewers?  Then, thanks to the manna from heaven compete.com, I checked out the unique visitors of Prom Queen.

Here it is…

I know Compete isn’t guaranteed as it doesn’t count certain traffic, but it’s a decent gauge on the total traffic, give or take a few thousand.  But being a few thousand off here, won’t add up to 20 million.

I tried to write the author, Tim Arango, to inform him of the potential discrepancy, but couldn’t find his email.

Wired recently blogged about Twitter. A snippet of the blog was about how dealt with its failed whale that plagued it earlier in the year.

The premise is that you find the weakest point in the system, fix it, then, move on to the next weakest point. And so on.

This made me think…Twitter’s servers are uniform…so fixing a weak point, any weak point, is critical to keeping the system/site running and not overloading other servers.

But what if the system isn’t uniform? What if one weak point isn’t as critical to the overall system as another weak point. Then focusing on the unimportant weak point is a distraction.

So let’s say that I make two products, A and B.

A has horrible margins (1%), and while its sells, and the company can’t make enough to meet the demand.

B is hot and has huge margins (60%) and demand is outpacing supply, but not as much as A.

Clearly, A is the weaker of the two as far as meeting demand, but I’d focus A. It yields considerably higher margins and making more will have a much more dramatic impact on results.

So considering utility is critical to fixing the weakest point concept.

I just got this email from what looked to be Wells Fargo.  These jokers have gotten a little more sophisticated.  The email seems to be legit LOOKING since the sender address was wellsfargo@wellsconnect.wellsfargo.com (although, apparently a mask).  But fake was written all over this one.

1.  I don’t have a Wells Fargo account

2. They are asking for private info (social, ATM/PIN…giving the PIN is incredible)

3.  Numerous grammatical errors towards the end

What’s funny is that they even have a link to go to learn more about fraud at the end.

I already notified Wells Fargo of the email.

The Wells Fargo email.

Dear Customer:

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the credit and debit cards system. During a recent screening, we noticed an issue regarding your account. Your account may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party.

As a precaution, we are requesting additional verification of your payment and personal information in order to protect your Wells Fargo account against unauthorized transactions.

Please send a fax with the following informations to remove any holds on this account. If we will not recive your fax within 24 hours your account will be temporary suspended.

Fax number: 1-609-228-5841

BILLING ADRESS:

-First name :
-Last name :
-SSN :
-Adress :
-City :
-Zipcode :
-Phone number :
-E-mail address :

Account Information:

-Credit/Debit card number(16 digits numbers of your card):
-Expiration Date :
-Code Verification number(3 digits number of the back of your card):
-ATM PIN ( for bank customer verification):

For your security we deactivated your card account.

Sincerely,
Wells Fargo
Online Customer Service

Protect yourself from fraud and identity theft. To learn more, go to
http://wellsfargo.com/privacy_security/fraud_prevention/

If you have a question about your account, please sign on to your secure online banking session at wellsfargo.com, click the Sign On button and then select “Contact Us.”

A little bit ago, I wrote a blog on why video games are recession proof. The theory is that people want a nice form of entertainment that, in a recession, is extremely low cost. Think about it. For about $50 for a brand new game, you get unlimited play for the LIFE of the game. The means the cost/play or cost/hour of play is as close to zero as you can get. Compare that to the movies. That cost is $9/play or maybe $4.50/hour. It’s off the chain for most popular concerts.

So why would movies do well in a recession? I have a couple of thoughts…

1. People like going out. In a recession, this truth still holds. And in an environment when there are so many reasons to stay home, it’s still true. For example, the ungodly number of social networks, video chat, AIM and other ways (like the phone) to maintain contact with friends, in addition to movies on demand and the old tried and true, TV, are some of these reasons to stay home. These should not be underestimated.

2. Compared to other forms of entertainment, going to the movies is relatively cheap (assuming that you eat before/after the movies and avoid the concessions, which can eat a whole in your pocket). It always gives you something to talk about afterwards too.

3. The reason to go out to a movie is because something is good. There were so many movies I wanted to see this summer it’s ridiculous (The Hulk and Batman being two of them). This is very crucial. If there were horrid movies at the box office, theatres would not be doing well at all.

What’s interesting is that some theatre chains (the industry is coming off of a period of consolidation) are doing okay. Theoretically, consolidations should be good since you can squeeze synergies out of most of them. With the theatre consolidations, initially, I was wondering whether it would good, since the industry wasn’t doing that well. I kept myself in check, because you can never scold good companies in a bad industry (don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater – type of thing).

Here’s a wonderful blog from Wired.com that gives some stats on the matter.

Well, this isn’t the kind of tech news that I was thinking about writing about, but it is, technically, a technology (chainsaws) being used to power a motorcycle (a form of entertainment).

I don’t know if this actually runs. The video below didn’t cover that . But I’m into sport bikes…came across this one when looking at sport bike crashes (I already crashed on a dirt bike, so I think I got my first crash out the way – 100% dislocation of right ankle).

Here it is.

Btw – here are some tricked out bikes..these are HOT!!!