May 26, 2006
Buffett's portfolio
Legendary investor Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, publishes their current holdings every so often. Here is a list from their latest disclosure.
- Coca-Cola ***
- American Express ***
- Wells Fargo ***
- Procter & Gamble ***
- Moody's
- Wesco Financial
- Anheuser-Busch
- Washington Post
- ConocoPhillips
- Ameriprise Financial ***
- Wal-Mart
- M&T Bank
- USG Corporation
- American Standard
- First Data
- H&R Block ***
- Comcast
- Costco
- General Electric
- Tyco International ***
- SunTrust Bank
- Nike
- Gannett
- Gap
- Home Depot ***
- Torchmark
- Iron Mountain
- Lexmark International
- United Parcel Service
- Outback Steakhouse
- PetroChina
- ServiceMaster ***
- Sealed Air
- Pier 1 Imports
- Lowe's Companies
- Comdisco Holdings
- Tesco PLC
- Kingfisher (OTC)
May 24, 2006
Wump of Mr. Gump
I made a post about Dr. Suess' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish sometime last year. It is still one of the most read books in the house. Here is another one of my favorite passages (poems) from the book:
Bump!
Bump!
Bump!
Did you ever ride a Wump?
We have a Wump
with just one hump.
But
we know a man
called Mr. Gump.
Mr. Gump has a seven hump Wump.
So...
if you like to go Bump! Bump!
just jump on the hump of the Wump of Mr. Gump.
May 22, 2006
Concerts '06
Roger Waters: "The Dark Side of The Moon"
at The Palace at Auburn Hills, MI
on Sep 18th, 7:30pm.
May 18, 2006
Best moment as a President
When asked by a German newspaper reporter about the best moment of presidency, George W Bush replied:
"I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound (3.402 kilos) perch in my lake,"
This is definitely true considering his abysmal record as a president. But, as pointed out by many, unless he caught a Nile Perch in his lake in Texas (which is very unlikely), the weight of the fish is greatly exaggerated. World record for catching different varieties of Perch is between 4 and 5 pounds.
May 17, 2006
Heartbreaking
How do you answer a five-year old, whose mother is in prison, asks, "Is my mommy a bad guy?"
And then goes on to say, "Maybe, I should do something bad, so, they'll put me in prison with her."
Heard on This American Life.
May 15, 2006
Biting nails, no more.
Don't know when I picked up this habit, but as far as I can remember, I bit my fingernails all my life till about 3 months ago. There must have been periods of a few days or 1-2 weeks when I tried to stop it unsuccessfully. Three months ago, I finally did it.
Sometime in Jan-Feb, I noticed Ashwini putting her finger in her mouth trying to bite off a nail. I was just horrified. If I was going to ask her to stop, I had to make sure that I didn't do the same thing myself. So, here I am 3 months later... I have stopped biting my nails completely. These days, I look forward to the weekly ritual of clipping my nails off.
The things your children make you do....
May 10, 2006
Half way through...
Today, I completed 36 revolutions around the Sun. According to the CIA - The World Factbook, life expectancy of an Indian is 64.71 years. For an American, it is 77.85 years. Considering that I was born and raised in India and then having spent all my adult life in USA, I give myself the midpoint of that range: 71.28 years. That is almost 72 years, give or take a few months. So, I am half way through my life. It has been a great first half and I hope it continues in the second half, too. I am sure Adit and Ashwini will keep it interesting.
Given a choice, I would like to live to 91 years and see Halley's comet come back in the summer of 2061. It is expected to make a great showing. It would be nice to have seen that comet twice in my lifetime. But, the odds are probably against that happening.
