“For some of us, a hobby is a wonderful way to pass the time. For others, it quickly curdles in the sun of our curiosity until it becomes a disease.”

~ Helen Razer on hobbies (The Big Issue 8 Nov)

This is rather relevant to my arid plant hobby, quickly becoming an addiction. I’ve got six weeks off work to help with the little bear, and seem to spend every spare moment hunting rare, old or unusual arid plants.

Little bear has been amazing so far, a real delight to see and hold.

I also read a very sad story in the NY Times this week about Dragon Mums: mothers and fathers of terminally ill children. It taught me to cherish every moment with little bear and junior pixels.

“This is a love story, and like all great love stories, it is a story of loss. Parenting, I’ve come to understand, is about loving my child today. Now. In fact, for any parent, anywhere, that’s all there is.”

“This is not an issue of credit rating. The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that”

Alan Greenspan on the USA’s credit rating being downgraded on the weekend.

Print more money? Seriously? Is that really the solution to the whole world, Australia included, being addicted to debt and having been on one huge debt binge for the last decade? Confidence inspiring.

Video here.

Australia is one of only three countries in the world that allow speculators to negative gear:

Deduction of negative gearing losses on property against income from other sources for the purpose of reducing income tax is illegal in the vast majority of countries, the exceptions being Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Their new material was especially enjoyable, I look forward to their new album later this year.

I really enjoyed his latest Mickey Haller novel: ‘The Fifth Witness’, and find it especially interesting that he writes courtroom fiction so well having never been a lawyer.

“…the mental satisfaction of having $1000.00 (in 1939) laid away where you can put your hands on it, is worth more than what interest it might bring, especially if you have the investment in something that you could not realize on quickly.”

Warren Buffett’s grandfather Ernest Buffett writes a letter in 1939 on the importance of what Scott Pape calls Mojo Money, some money tucked away for just in case.

I can’t stress how important this is, or how much it changes your attitude to life. I have quit jobs I wouldn’t have without my mojo money. It allows you to think rationally in non-rational situations.

“Home ownership makes sense for most Americans, particularly at today’s lower prices and bargain interest rates. All things considered, the third best investment I ever made was the purchase of my home, though I would have made far more money had I instead rented and used the purchase money to buy stocks. (The two best investments were wedding rings.) For the $31,500 I paid for our house, my family and I gained 52 years of terrific memories with more to come.

But a house can be a nightmare if the buyer’s eyes are bigger than his wallet and if a lender – often protected by a government guarantee – facilitates his fantasy. Our country’s social goal should not be to put families into the house of their dreams, but rather to put them into a house they can afford.”

~ Warren E Buffett – the world’s third richest person, even after giving billions to charity, applies some common sense thinking to the dream of home ownership in his entertaining yearly letter to his investors.

In Australia, we still have hugely overpriced houses, and banks willing to facilitate the common fantasy of owning a hugely expensive dream home with lifelong debt. It makes even less financial sense to own an overpriced home in Australia.

“Amy and Wes Rogers are 32-year-old parents of two young boys and the owners of four investment properties, one of which they are selling because they are frightened the government may abandon negative gearing on investment properties.”

This cry-poor article in the Australian newspaper about a family with four investment properties made me feel sick. Seriously, there are struggling Australian families that can’t even afford one drastically overpriced dwelling to house their own family, let alone four as investments, or five if you count their own house.

At least there is a little schadenfreude thrown in for good measure.

But the market is working against the Rogers. The house has been on the market for more than 180 days and, although there have been many viewers, there have been no real offers and the agent has already persuaded them to drop the price by $20,000 to $290,000.

“And now they want us to drop it by another $35,000,” she says. “This house we are trying to sell is tied to another in the way we financed it, and, if we sell Oakdale at this low price, the bank will require a valuation on the other property that’s tied in, and then, if negative gearing laws change, we believe it will drop the value of that second property.” If that happened, they would be left with the much higher original debt to service.

via whocrashedtheeconomy.com

Good times.

NoteSlate is low cost tablet device with true one colour display, real paper look design, long life battery (180h !), together with very handy usage and very simple and helpful interface for pen and paper. This easy, compact and portable gadget is used anywhere you want to make any notes, drafts, sketches, any ideas for future reference. Paper for everyone! Write a note and check it later, save it, or delete it. Maybe send it after. Just one colour is enough to express the basics. Keep your life simple. You will love it. For $99.

Because of daylight savings (something we don’t have in Brisbane) I’ve walked to Bondi Beach from Miller’s Point after work (about 10km), and ate fish and chips on the beach.

The view from my office isn’t bad either.

I also managed to find some street art around the city, but it was part of an exhibition, which kinda isn’t the same.

~ Bill Bryson – The Lost Continent (1990)

Even though this was written 18 years before the Global Financial Crisis, it’s rather poignant if you ask me.

Image by lucamascaro via Flickr

How do I stay focused when life is full of distractions? That’s a good question, but my answer is not very well.

I’ve recently been trying the Pomodoro Technique which is Italian for tomato. It was created by an Italian guy who used his tomato shaped egg timer to create a technique to stay focussed.

You simply chunk your time into 25 minute slots:

• Work for 20 mins solid – jot down any distractions, but don’t follow them; then
• Have a 5 minute break, where you can check your distractions
• Every four “pomodoros” take a longer break (15-20 mins)

I’ve tried using this at work with reasonable success. The key is to break your work down into chunks that can be managed in 20 minutes. Once you have this down pat, you become really productive, and the time spent on distractions decreases over time.

How do you stay focused?