Posts (page 2)
So, I installed Ubuntu Linux 8.10 on my Acer laptop that came with Windows Vista.
Verdict: unlike Windows Vista it actually seems to work. This laptop is ridiculously underpowered for Vista. It only has 1 Gig of RAM and a mediocre video card. Vista would never stop swapping on it. Linux on the other hand feels much faster.
Linux appears to have come a long way since I last tried it too. The installation process was trivial, even simpler than Mac OS X. Once installed it feels very snappy and appropriate for my laptop. Everything seems to work -- I can VPN to work (important), I can run Open Office and Eclipse. That is all I need for my productivity.
Awesome!
We put them away for her college education.
When she was born we opened up a 529 account with NJBest as well as a Treasury bond account with US Treasury. We also have a brokerage account.
We liquidated and closed her 529 a few weeks ago after it suffered some losses in the stock market. I reviewed the available investment options and realized that NJBest is not prudently managed. One thing I noticed was that their portfolio for a 17 year old is at least 30-40% in equities. At 17 the kid is either in college or a year or two away from entering it and having that much in stock is waaaay too much risk. With such a short horizon one wants to see a more stable investment configuration. When I say "prudent management" I mean being conscious of the markets and the time horizon and making tough decisions. NJBest is an epic failure at that. Even tax-deferred it makes no sense.
So, we decided to manage Miriam's college savings on our own. We liquidated and closed her 529, moved money out, matched the stock market losses out of our savings, and placed her portfolio with the US Treasury (for now). When rates on other investments improve we may reshuffle.
We were trying to reward Miriam for being a good girl at the doctor's office by taking her to her favorite eatery -- a diner -- where she can eat pancakes with maple syrup. Here is a conversation between me, Anna and Miriam after Miri's doctor's visit today as we were trying to decide on which diner we go to:
Anna: Let's go to Omega because there might be a long line at PJ's today.
Miriam: No, PJ's, don't be a long line -- be a diner!
eating pancakes after a doctor's visit
This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.
