http://www.parablog.com/wp A repository of facts and thoughts Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:11:02 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en For the last couple of weeks, Venus and Jupiter have been lighting up the evening sky. They came very close to each other (about 2 deg) and a young Moon joined in to make a spectacular sight. People in Europe could actually see occultation of Venus by Moon. It was ... http://www.parablog.com/wp/2008/12/02/triple-conjunction/ A few months before Ashwini was born, I read about a website, Upromise.com. It is a consumer spending trend tracking program with a twist. Instead of a usual cash-back program, they put the cash in a Nevada-based "529 college-saving plan" run by Vanguard. More about 529 plans can be found ... http://www.parablog.com/wp/2008/11/24/upromise/ During the last couple of years of graduate school (1995-96), I discovered National Public Radio and have been listening to it ever since. Among the multitude of NPR shows that I like, A prairie home companion is one of the best. I really like how Garrison Keillor and his cast ... http://www.parablog.com/wp/2008/11/20/a-prairie-home-companion/ This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password: http://www.parablog.com/wp/2008/11/18/photos/ I was looking at the electric bill and our conservation efforts are working rather well. Comparing our consumption for the month of October, we used significantly less electricity in 2008 (17 Kwh/day) than 2007 (22 Kwh/day). That is 22.7% reduction. I was quite impressed given the fact that the average ... http://www.parablog.com/wp/2008/11/17/utilities-usage/ Sold some stocks over the last week to capture some losses. After offsetting capital gains, upto $3000 of losses could be taken out of ordinary income. There are so many positions with loss in my portfolio that it was a difficult decision to make. Finally decided on Tata Motors and ... http://www.parablog.com/wp/2008/11/16/capital-losses/ Overheard Ashwini telling Adit... Adit, you have to listen to what Aai and Daddy tell you. They are the boss of us. http://www.parablog.com/wp/2008/11/16/boss/ Ashwini had an epiphany in the car this morning. "Daddy, did you know? The slow songs have slow music and fast songs have faster music." On another note, she is absolutely positively certain that the person depicted in the "Statue of Liberty" is a man. No matter how much we tried ... http://www.parablog.com/wp/2008/11/14/really/ The interest rate for I-bonds is getting attractive again. For the next 6 months, the fixed rate will be 0.70%. Adding 4.92% of inflation rate, brings it to 5.64%. I'll be buying I-bonds monthly for next 6 months and wait for the May interest rate announcement to make decision about ... http://www.parablog.com/wp/2008/11/11/i-bonds/ This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password: http://www.parablog.com/wp/2008/11/05/mr-adit/