1. Be true to yourself
2. Make each day your Masterpiece
3. Help others
4. Drink deeply from good books, particularly the Bible
5. Make friendship a fine art
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day
7. Pray for guidance, and give thanks for your blessings everyday

I might add “you can’t go too wrong by doing the right thing”, and “The secret to success:  Hard Work ! ”

Additionally, when reading his web-site , I found his “Pyramid Of Success” a compelling framework.  I also connected with his Maxim “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail”.

By the way – both Georgetown and Mississippi State won ( the “Sports Savant” strikes again ).

I replaced the dishwasher with a higher end dishwasher from Kitchenaid ( Big Mistake ! )
I have now owned a Kitchenaid dishwasher for 10 months, only 7 of which has the appliance been operational, and it is still not operational today ( 11/14/2009 )

Here are the the top three reasons why not to purchase a Kitchenaid appliance:

1) Their service is contracted out to A+E Service. Note – they do not explicitly say they are not Kitchenaid Service employees. Only by calling the service number back and asking was I told that “we contract out our service”. Here is my experience with A+E thus far:

• Appointment number 1: Technician showed up ( 4 hours beyond the stated arrival time window), but part not  in stock

• Appointment number 2:   No show ( four hours down the drain )

• Appointment number 3:   Installed part, said the problem was fixed, but upon using the Dishwasher the first time, it was obvious the same problem still existed

• Appointment number 4:    Today ( if they show ). Update:  they did show, and they did fix it.  The Service Tech brought an additional part ( the control card that operates the soap opener Servo control, as well as (yet another) soap opener part.  By replacing the control card, the problem was fixed.  It was not drawing enough amps to power the soap opener.

2) Their 888 Customer service number said they had a “replacement policy” for two failed attempts to repair the product under warranty. When I later spoke to a Service “Manager”, I was told that the line agent was mistaken, that they had no policy regarding replacement. I asked him how many appointments it would take before a replacement would be considered – he said at least two more.   I have 28 hours of “wait time” at home invested – he’s asking me to invest a minimum of another eight hours of my time to address his firm’s non functional product

3) The tone and attitude of their Service “Management” desk hit a new high mark in miserable
customer service. I was told to keep following their service process. I never once heard an apology for the number of hours I had to invest thus far. I was told there was no written policy regarding replacements, and was told that one could not be described over the phone.  All of this in a condescending “why are you bothering me by asking all these questions” tone of voice.

Note: In reality, their service policy is to alienate their Customer Base.  The Service Manager I spoke with was “Robin M”, ID# 5245. Robin said his manager’s name was “Mike”, but he refused to provide his last name, last name initial, or ID # of his manager. I wonder what he is trying to hide?

Robin – you might want to check out the concept of “Repeat Customer” in the book “In Search of Excellence” and it’s impact on corporate financial performance.

My next step is to contact consumer advocate Clark Howard, and the state of Texas regarding their Lemmon Law and formally filing a complaint against Kitchenaid with the state of Texas.

My advice: to avoid large Kitchen appliance “issues” – avoid ( make that “run for the hills” ) Kitchenaid Large appliances

To Kitchenaid shareholders – as Cramer would say – “Sell, Sell, Sell”

I would call Pandora the “e-Harmony” on steroids of Internet Radio.  They would call themselves “the Music Genome” project.  Everyday, 50 musicians are showing up, putting on a headset, and listening to music and turning the song into a code of 400 standardized attributes of a given song ( style, melody, loudness, … ).  It takes about 15 minutes to “code” (rate the attributes) a non Classical song.  It takes 60+ minute to codify the attributes of a Classical song.  Those attributes are then put into the “matching” software which determines the delivery of music to the consumer.  They have an inventory of 750,000 songs, with 10,000 additional each week.

The Pluses -

• Multiple personalized radio stations that are geared to your likes ( does not use Collaborative matching logic in the Personalization algorithms.  Ie, just because “Sam” also liked the song you liked, doesn’t mean that you will hear songs similar to what Sam likes ).  It’s all about the “G”  ( Genome that is ).

Related “Buys” ( I can’t resist the predictive drag / impact on other devices / gadgets ):

• The “iHome” radios.  Right now, I’m listening to my Wolfgang Mozart Pandora station.  It selects and plays songs that have a similar “genome” to Mozart.  It plays just what I like when I want to listen to Classical music.  The radio hardware that can plug in an iPhone or an iPod Touch will now be playing streaming high quality Internet Radio rather than “carefully collected and purchased” music on the device itself
• Demand for Wireless bandwidth

Releated Sells

• Music Purchases.  While Pandora does make it easy to purchase (via iTunes) a song being played, I have yet to purchase one because the “genome” personalization and tailoring is SO good.  Why buy when another one that I will like is just around the corner.  Only if I am in a location without High Speed Wireless access will I be playing music off the device itself.  There is cerainly fewer purchases in the future with this particular consumer ( yours truly )
• Commercial Radio.  The third boom on the commercial radio market.  The amount of time I spend listening to commercial radio is down already as a result of having an iPod / iPhone along with a good set of headphones ( thank you Bose ).   But I was still listening to commercial radio at times for variety.   I’d say the amount of Commercial radio time is cut in half again as a result of having Pandora ( I get both music that I like due to the “genome” approach, but also get variety ( variety by station, and the ability to create many stations ( Mozart, Benoit, Pink floyd, … ) ) ).   The first boom was satellite radio.  The second was the iPod and later iPhone.  The third boom is Pandora.  If devices / adapters come out so I can stream Pandora in my Car ( and can have broadband / wide area wireless connectivity ), even time with commercial radio in the car will be dramatically reduced. 
• Potentially home wireless providers.  My data usage is going to skyrocket again.  I was already a fairly heavy data user with email / calendaring / web-site accesses ( including large VMWare image downloads measured in the GB ) / children that are online gamers / and now Internet TV, the data usage for streaming music in the home will add even more to that.  With an “all you can eat” pricing model, if everyone turned the existing commercial radiowave usage into wireless Internet access - would it erode their margins by having to beef up their infrastructure or the requirements for supporting the number of simultaneous wireless access devices within a given household?   

Whether you use Oracle Data Integrator regularly, are evaluating usage, or just interested in learning more about it, the archives of the twice monthly webcasts on ODI are an invaluable source of information.

Oracle Data Integrator Demo Webcast Archive

According to “the savant”, he expects some  up-side surprises on the gridiron this fall for the SMU Mustangs.  When asked why, he gave the following reasons:

•     Coach June Jones – his 2nd year at SMU this fall
•     Increased abilities on special teams, particularly the kicking / kick return areas
•     A “3 out of 5″ in 2009 compared to last years ”2 out of 5″ QB situation
•     A more consistent defense.  He added don’t be surprised to see a few “surprise” interceptions creating some  “surprise” game ending results

With a little research online, I found projections for SMU this year anywhere from “2-10″ to 6-6, with the most optimistic from ESPN’s Kiper adding  SMU to his 2009 “Sleeper Team” category ( primarily because it is June Jones 2nd year as coach )

Given that, I looked at the SMU Football 2009 schedule to see where some of those surprises might be and why they may very well be 3-0 in September.

• Stephen F. Austin  ( any disagreements here ? )
• UAB                             ( perhaps the toughest of the first three games for SMU )
• Washington State  ( I think SMU could have beat Washington State last year )

As the season progresses, I’m not saying they are going to go 12-0.  But I think 3-0 is a very doable goal for an increasingly talented SMU football team and coaching staff. 

   As the season progresses, regularly check out :

      College Football Central for more news and game prognistications.

The answer is being debated daily on CNBC or Bloomberg TV by guests, analysts and experts.  I do not believe it is a binary answer.  My personal opinion is buy and hold over periods of time with relatively rare events that drive dramatic re-allocation (significantly sloped movements above 200 day moving averages are one indicator to mark candidate events).  The mortgage, housing market, and  banking crisis of August 2008 – March 2009 was certainly one of those events.   The summer and early fall 2008 was the time to have a reallocation to a “conservative” portfolio done and complete.

March 6, 2009 will be the day looked back as “the bottom”.  Do a 3 month or 6 month chart of virtually any stock today, and you will see a “V” figure from January – March (down), March – June ( up ).  I waited until April 3 to reallocate, with additional reallocation May 1, and completing the last leg May 15.  But what about post June?  What about today? 

I still like the same stocks / funds today as I did on on April 3.  They fit into three categories:

• International Stocks
• US Midcap stocks
• Commodities

The above reallocation has performed (very) well,  and will  continue to perform well as long as the set of assumptions that have made them successful to date remain.  What are they you might ask?  Let’s take a look:

1. Interest rates remain low.  With the Fed wanting banks to recapitalize themselves, a steep yield curve ( lower short term yields,  higher yields on longer term bonds ) is likely to remain for some time.  A steep yield curve is a “money making machine” for banks and financial institutions ( borrowing at near zero, lending at higher rates ).
2. Depreciation of the dollar.  With international economies coming out of “the crisis” faster than the US, and the vast amount of  additional dollars injected into the banking system, the dollar is not likely to climb unless another “crisis” presents itself ( resulting in a flight to safety ).  When the dollar depreciates, international stocks return positive returns even in a flat market ( because the international assets are worth more dollars over a given period given a dollar that is worth less today relative to the other international currency than it was last month ).
3. The US and international economies continue to stabilize ( a positive first derivative on quarter to quarter comparisons of growth ( even if comparing two negative numbers ).  This is likely to continue through the Fall of 2009 at a minimum
4. The areas “hit hardest” will have the “best returns” in a rebound ( financial stocks fit this category ).  2007 – early 2009 will be a 50 year event on “hit hardest”.  If you believe that, then the premise of a 50 year event appreciation in certain sectors follows
5. The prospect of positive first derivative quarter to quarter comparisons of inflation ( even if comparing two negative numbers during the early part of the recovery ). 

So, given the above, what are my favorite equity picks:

• LZEMX – Lazard Emerging Markets fund.  It has a 47% YTD return, close to 80% if comparing March 6 -> present.
• TMGFX – Turner Midcap Fund ( US Midcap fund )
• XLF – Financial Services Spider fund
• BAC – Bank of America.  While it was down to $5 at one point, it is still less than half of what it was a year ago.  Had the good fortune of starting to get in at $7.50 (currently $16)
• USO – Oil commodity fund whose performance is supposed to track the price of oil. 
• SIVR – Silver commodity fund whose performance is supposed to track the price of silver

There are a few others of interest ( such as “C” (Citigroup), and commodity exchange traded funds RJZ,  DBA, but the above six comprise the bulk of the reallocation on April 3, and feel those same picks remain as valid today as on April 3. 

I would like to thank numerous appearances by Mohamed El Arian ( PIMCO ), and Jim Rogers on CNBC and Bloomberg over the past six months for allowing me to map this “financial crisis” to one of my more important personal beliefs – “With every change comes opportunity”.

#1 is a strong statement.  Yup, they absolutely have a 9 – 4 record.  They are not a Utah with an undefeated season.  They are not a USC, Texas (yes, my friends, Texas will beat Ohio State ), or Florida ( hint hint ).  But here is why I think Ole Miss is the best College Football team in America during the 2nd half of the season:

• The only team to beat Florida.  If (when) Florida does beat Oklahoma and is crowned #1 – what does that make Ole Miss?  They beat #1.
• Won their last 6 games of the season
• Let their opponents ( three (3) of which were SEC teams ) score only 20 total points their last four (4) regular season games.   That’s 5 points a game.  Meanwhile, they scored 152 points during those four (4) games.   152 – 20 :  I did not hear that statistic mentioned once by any of the ESPN commentators or other Pundits ( speaking of pundits … Kirk Herbstreet move over on Gameday – my Notre Dame ( big ) over Hawaii call was much … well… more correct ). 
• New coach ( Houston Nutt ) and an ever increasing shift in momentum / success each of the last 6 weeks of the season.  It’s this last item that really makes them the #1 team at the end of the season.   Why?  Because as a Team ( capital T ), they can go out and execute better than any other top 20 team today ( including Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and certainly Texas Tech ).

As I mentioned early on, I found 2008 to be an exhausting year.  So many changes and new things to learn throughout the year as the seasons unfolded.  But as Spring turned to Summer, Summer to Fall, the  economic changes added “stress fuel” to the already hot “change fire”.  Don’t get me wrong – 2008 was a great year professionally and personally.   I’m just hoping for a little less “stress fuel” and a little more sleep in 2009 ( oh, and a few more Badger Football wins    ).

The patch can be obtained from Metalink ( http://metalink.oracle.com ) . 

The patch number is 7485029.   The ODIInvokeWebService fix ( bug number 7238234 - ODIINVOKEWEBSERVICE IS UNABLE TO PROCESS LISTS AS WS ARGUMENTS ) is within the 10.1.3.4.6 patch.

Have you got your application / solution to connect to ODI by WebService?  Have you integrated from ODI to another application by WebService?  Which Application / Solution?  Post your answer as a comment, I would be interested in knowing the user experience of inbound/outbound applications that ODI has been used successfully when integrating by WebServices.

If using ODI and WebServices, I highly recommend being on at least patch level 10.1.3.4.4, and going to 10.1.3.4.6 shortly.  I am upgrading my Oracle Data Integrator environments to 10.1.3.4.6 today.