(the background on this is bush, overseas, seemingly calling out obama as an appeaser.)

Watch DT on CNBC.

Agree:
- Oil companies are just having a field day and making a freaking killing. There was a reason why we had public utilities at one point…some things are critical and necessary to an every day of life.
- I’m ambivalent on his OPEC comments. I would be interested to hear his thoughts on the weak dollar’s impact on oil.
- I think he nails it on the recession and oil’s impact as well.
- And he’s just ridiculously, ridiculously entertaining. This is the DT that I grew up loving and why, when I met him for the first time, I was giddy as a school boy.

It’s a fascinating question. Google was a company started by smart guys with a good idea. They stumbled into a helluva advertising model that printed money based on intent (goto.com actually did the work of invented that). They then used these funds to build the kind of company that people love working at, that rewards risk-taking and innovation, and have since been wildly successful. Now they have one product that mints money ($2B a quarter according to the article), and a bunch of other cool products that people love using…but don’t make any money. And now at 15,000+ employees, they face ‘big companyness’ creeping in and the great early employees deserting for their own startups and many of the younger ones (with a bunch of highly notable exceptions) decamping for -the- hot startup, Facebook. Where does Google go from here? The article doesn’t say it, but we’ll all get the answer when they miss earnings for a few quarters in a row. Though I don’t doubt that Sergey, Larry, and Eric could live with the stock punishment, I’m not sure how the employees will feel about it. Even as Google switches to RSU’s (Restricted stock units. they differ from options in that you get fewer, but you don’t have to buy them…you get the whole thing ‘given’ to you. so you’re much less sensitive to the price getting above a certain price (your strike price) and you make gobs of money just by having them), it definitely hurts morale when your stock is viewed as a dog, old employees retire or go do their own thing, and the kinds of employees you used to get stop coming. Do you double-down and risk big or pare back and try to nail earnings to get your momentum back?

It’ll be fascinating to watch. Disclosure: I have, and still do, own a few GOOG shares.

Lahiri is one of my favorite authors. I loved her pulitzer winning Interpreter of Maladies (though my mom liked it even more). The Namesake was almost a spiritual experience as much as it was an exercise in reading a book. I remember reading it straight through the night on the day it arrived in the mail. I was tired the next day at work, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the book. The newest addition, Unaccustomed Earth, was similarly devoured over the course of a couple of days.

Lahiri, for me, is one of those rare things. Her words have a more profound impact than the mere poetic balance of the words. When I first read her writing, I literally cringed. There’s something special in seeing yourself in someone else’s words. Reading Lahiri for the first time was almost like having a conversation with someone who told me that their experience growing up was similar to my own. It was identification. She talks about being pulled in different directions. The pressure of adhering to the old world that our parents come from, while facing the internal torture of wanting to blend in with the new world. You end up feeling inadequate in both. take today at a conference i stopped by: i commiserated with 2 other guys about how to answer the “where are you from” question.you answer, New Jersey (or Canada in the case of my friend), and the questioner looks perturbed and disappointed. and yet, for us, there is no answer that feels more true. and so when the question is presented in the future there’s a moments hesitation. and convoluted answers such as “ethnically from…” or “my family is…”. this is one of the many experiences that the ‘bridges’ between generations are bound together by. And Lahiri is some of the glue that has helped give the experience credibility, and know that its not because we’re imperfect that this happens to us, but because we are living through a larger, collective experience.

Lahiri’s stories are simple. They’re the immigrant’s story. And the story of the children of immigrants, caught between worlds. The Time article remarks at how astounding it is that her most recent book opened the charts as a #1 bestseller. Most bestsellers are written in a frenetic, sensational, or even a provocative manner. Yet, Lahiri’s stories are slow, almost dry-aged, with very simple themes. I’m not shocked at the high sales. On the simplest level, she’s developed a rabid fan base in the South-Asian American community (one that grew up with few, if any, prominent members to read about, read with, watch on TV, etc). But more than that, at its core America is a country of immigrants. Why wouldn’t her stories be embraced?

I’ve been writing since December of 2006. And that’s just in earnest, the idea was born Fall of ‘06. I’m currently on my third restart. The material was at first bad. Then it was good, but ridiculously dry. Now I’m trying to bridge good and readable into a draft 3. If it read like a hundred pages of blog posts that would work for me, but doing that and writing in general has proven to be way harder than almost anything I’ve ever done before. What keeps me constantly attempting to still write? It would have to be articles like this. They’re total validation of the topic and the way I’m looking at what’s coming. I’ve been writing for a little under two years, and in that time, book after book, and article after article has come out that reinforces that the next 25 years (and beyond) are going to be staggering. For America, for China, for India, and for the world at large. We are, no doubt, living through one of the most monumental periods of change. This is interesting. What’s more interesting (and infuriating) is the degree to which my government has been alternating between ignoring what’s going on or actually exacerbating the long-term harm to the American people through their actions. Anyway, I’m hoping to have a strong start to revision number 3 and get back to a rapid-fire delivery schedule on the sections. We’ll see…

And as a side-note, I’m sure everyone has seen Iron Man. Amazing. I love deep, heavy dramas. Those are easily my favorite. But what I also love is just a rip-roaring fun movie. And Iron Man is that to perfection. It’s witty, fast-paced, sharp, and action-packed…I want to see it again. You. Have. To. See. It.

In Vegas staying at the Wynn. This trip prompted a couple of random thoughts:

Flew Virgin America. It’s actually a pretty great airline. Their employees are shockingly friendly. The flight attendants in addition to being friendly, have this really upbeat attitude. They sound excited to be flying on a VA plane, and it rubs off. The colors make it seem like you’re in a club and you can text other seats to flirt with people, bother co-workers you’re traveling with, etc. All-in-all, a very different experience from dealing with disgruntled traditional airline employees, crappy planes, and late flights. But having said all that, I don’t get how anyone makes money flying airplanes. Here’s one industry that could use a little collusion. What other industry goes into bankruptcy en masse every few years?

The Wynn hotel is sweet. It’s across the street from Trump’s new gold-laden tower. Anyway, whenever I stay in a nice hotel, here the Wynn, when I was with P&G, the W’s, I would always have the same thought. “Man. I wish I could live here.” And I still think that. I’m shocked that someone hasn’t built one of these in the NY’s, LA’s, SF’s, etc and sold some units and rented them out. A lot of 20-somethings I know would be happy to have a small space that had a nice bathroom, and an efficient use of space. Young people also all love living with each other. Madness ensues. I feel like all of us, in some way, wish for freshman year of college all over again. Anyway, I think that business idea would kill. So if there are any rich people in Asia or the Middle East with a ton of extra money since you’re not investing in US treasuries any more would like me to build that for them, just say the word. Oh, and sovereign wealth funds are also open to apply to work with me.

I’m opening the blog up to more frequent posts about a broader range of topics. Until I update the about page, I figured this would be a good place to talk about what I’ll be ranting about from now on:

- the current political environment and news
- economic & financial related news
- international events
- silicon valley/SF
- technology (specifically, Internet related stuff)
- marketing & business strategy
- writing
- other random things.

For now, I’ll once again confess my undying love for Amazon.com. I’ve been buying from amazon since 1999 and it’s amazing how much it continues to delight me. In fact, just yesterday, I ordered four books:

Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present
Mr. China: A Memoir
The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play
Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism

And thanks to the magic of Prime, all four will arrive at my door about 18 hours later. Beautiful. Further showing off the power of Amazon in my life, when I first moved to SF and didn’t have a car (well, I still don’t…), I ordered all the random things I needed from Amazon (think shampoo, deodorant, random food stuffs, etc) and sure enough, not only was it convenient but way cheaper than buying the stuff from the expensive city supermarkets that exist solely to rub your face in the fact that they’re ripping you off.

Maybe the next post will be all about the different things that have totally changed my experience in the last 15 years. A “then and now” comparison.

Oh. And if you want something good to read: A NYT Magazine piece that examines Moody’s, et al.

So a summary: LOST is great. Amazon rocks. The economy is in tatters. Fuel and food prices soar. People are still losing their homes. I’m in my 7th month of paying a mortgage on a condo that sits empty. Gas is at an all-time high. OPEC thinks it will still go higher. Oil companies have made record profits. Airlines record losses. People still can’t afford fuel and food. The stock market miraculously is increasing each day. And somehow the Celtics and Hawks are tied 2-2.

Crazy times.

from the left (and be taken w/grain of salt): “the myth of the surge”

a good piece on the current (and future investment market)…mirrors a lot of my sentiments: “shape of the future”

the new yorker on “the news business”

some good ones!

The most heartbreakingly-intelligent, real piece of television. ever.

Must see TV? Damn right.

RIP.