Archive for April, 2007

One Day of Blog Silence

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I’m Too Sexy For This Blog

I was watching the #8 Golden State Warriors give the #1 Dallas Mavericks a run for their money tonight when John Chow sent me a link over AIM. What I discovered was the next best thing to the Bloggers Tournament (kidding, Josef). Josef Virek at TrappedByDogma.com has posted a list of the Top 10 Sexiest Bloggers of 2007. My vote is for my blog buddy, Jane May, whose blog, CareerRamblings (see Blogroll), won the inaugural Bloggers Tournament. The list includes the following bloggers:

1. Jeremy Shoemaker
2. Darren Rowse
3. Guy Kawasaki
4. Jane May
5. Becky C.
6. Patricia Hannigan
7. Jennifer Slegg
8. Tyler Cruz
9. John Chow
10. Jason Calacanis

You can vote for me in the Bloggers Choice Awards for Hottest Daddy Blogger. At least I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

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The Landlord Starring Will Ferrell

This month, Will Ferrell launched video site, Funny Or Die along with Adam McKay. One of the first films on the site was called The Landlord, in which McKay’s 2-year-old daughter, Pearl, plays Ferrell’s landlord and harrasses him for his rent check. Hey. I can’t say I condone toddler swearing, but this is histerical.

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Ask A Ninja Interviews Will Ferrell and Jon Heder

If you’ve never seen “Ask A Ninja” before, you’ve been living under a rock. The first time I saw this guy, the first thing that came to mind is “this guy sounds sorta sounds like Will Ferrell”. A buddy of mine told me that there was an Ask A Ninja interview with Will Ferrell and Jon Heder for Blades Of Glory. So, I hunted it down. See for yourself.

Find [via YouTube]

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2007 NFL Draft — Another Year of Unpredictable Picks

Mark my words. Last year, Matt Leinart went in like the 6th round. I was happy just because I didn’t like USC. But I like Matt as an NFL QB. He’ll do great things in Arizona. But what about this year? Look for some big defensive stacking to take place. JaMarcus Russell (QB, LSU) will likely be picked first. Oakland needs a quarterback, and JaMarcus is the most athletically-gifted QB in the draft. They’ll take him. Beyond that, Calvin Johnson (WR, Georgia Tech) and Adrian Peterson (RB, Oklahoma) will be the only other Top 10 offensive picks. What about Brady Quinn (QB, Notre Dame)…or Ted Ginn, Jr (WR, Ohio State)? Brady Quinn isn’t the next best QB in my humble opinion. You have Kevin Kolb (QB, Houston) and Drew Stanton (QB, Michigan State) who are better pure quarterbacks. No doubt Brady is a haus…a badass if you will, but he won’t be picked in the Top 10. That’s my hefty prediciton. Back to Ginn — if any other offensive player goes Top 10, it will be him. But I don’t think that will happen due to the flood of defensive players needed throughout the league.

Look for guys like Darerelle Revis (DB, Pittsburgh), Aaron Ross (DB, Texas), Gaines Adams (DE, Clemson), and LaRon Landry (DB, LSU) to be picked early. Be sure to catch the live coverage on the NFL Network today at 11:00am ET. If you don’t get the NFL Network with your cable provider, catch it on ESPN or check out the picks at NFL.com.

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Friday’s Finds — 04/27/2007

Today’s Friday’s Finds theme is “memorable MyBlogLog avatars”. I’ve seen some pretty interesting ones over the last few months and have been keeping track. I tried to stay away from “memorable MyBlogLog avatars of beautiful women”…at least this time around.

• The Google Tutor features all sorts of random, yet useful Google tips and tricks. On Monday, he posted a link to the Google Maps Pedometer, which uses Google Maps to count the steps in any trek.

• Martin Reed over at CommunitySpark.com sports a funky David Hasselhoff avatar that I see on a regular basis. Today, he talks about using Firefox Live Bookmark for his regular reads.

• Jaan Kanellis has this cool Incredible Hulk vibe going with his avatar. He posted a video on Wednesday from CommonCraft.com that describes what an RSS feed is in plain English. Even if you already know, it’s a pretty cool video to watch.

• Markk is drops by Derrich.com on occasion, which is where I saw his avatar. Today, he writes about social networking and how quickly its growing.

• Everyone knows who this guy is…Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker posted pictures of AdTech Booth Babes and asks you to vote on your fave. It was tough, but I voted for Cpxinteractive.com.

There were many other memorable avatars out there, so if I missed you and you have a bad-@$$ avatar…don’t worry. I’ll do it again.

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Stock Watch — 04/27/2007

The Dow broke the 13,000 mark today. Yay! Anyway. Moving right along. For the first time in my life, I’m going to sound a little bearish. But I’m really optistic about the market and the potential to make money in 2007. Certainly 13,000 is a nice new tier, but it’s no reason to get excited. Some analysts are predicting 14,000 to 15,000 before the year end. Seriously? What about focusing on the dollar and maybe on why gasoline is so high this early in the year. It’s not even summer yet. Give us a chance, oil guys. I haven’t cashed in my stocks yet.

The Derrich.com Portfolio is chuggin’ right along. As of the close on Thursday, April 26th, the portfolio is up 8.06% (before any sales) versus 10.47% on Friday, April 13th. This is in large part due to Sify Ltd (NASDAQ: SIFY) reporting a Q4 loss (period ending March 31, 2007) on Monday. Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) got hammered after its earnings announcement and is down to a 6.03% gain versus a 16.90% gain as of April 13th. Jones Soda (NASDAQ: JSDA) shareholders have likely taken profits on this stock as it has been up over 120% this year. Since it was added to the Derrich.com portfolio, it has been up as high as 107.50%; it is currently up 77.35%. And based on my “don’t be greedy” rule, we’re letting this one go.

Sify, Ltd.
Shares fell nearly 8% on Monday following the company’s earnings announcement. For the full fiscal year, Sify Ltd earned $2.3 million, or 5 cents per share, versus a loss of $3.5 million, or 10 cents per share, in 2005; and revenues rose to $128 million from $108.7 million, or 17.9%. According to a company press release, Mr. Pijush K Das, Chief Financial Officer, Sify Limited, said,

We have taken some bold financial decisions, particularly with regard to doubtful debts, in the interest of our financial health going forwards. We are also reworking our billing and collection systems to ensure that these are minimized in future.

One thing remains. Sify is still the premiere broadband provider and Internet portal in India. Don’t write this one off yet. They’re making money now. And priced at $8.34/share (as of April 26), it makes for a great buy.

Big News Equal Big Gains. Don’t Let Euphoria Buy Your Stocks
Is it a good idea to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach? Probably not. I don’t know about you, but I end up buying more than I need…or would have if everything looked so delicious. With all of these excellent earnings announcements, stock prices are skyrocketing to new highs. Sure. Let the news bring your focus to these companies, but don’t buy without doing your due diligence. Thursday brought a couple of well-known examples of what I’m referring to.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) revenues were up 65% on robust sales of Windows Vista. Cool. But what’s next for Microsoft? What does the company have left to follow up with another knock out quarter? The XBox remains unprofitable. The Zune has been a disaster so far, but promises to be a great future eBay collectors item like Beta Max.

Ford Motor Company also (NYSE: F) on “stronger than expected” results as stated by Ford President and Chief Executive Officer, Alan Mulally.

Our first quarter results came in somewhat stronger than expected, but there are many uncertainties going forward. We remain focused on improving our quality, productivity and business performance.”

First-quarter highlights included strong performance of new U.S. products including Ford Edge, Lincoln MKX, Ford F-Series Super Duty, Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner. European sales were up $154 million, Premier Auto Group revenues were up $250 million and the company cut operating costs by $500 million. Ford is cutting back on fleet sales, which will translate into a loss in market share. And no new products are planned sooner than 2008. So what’s next? Simple. Focus on productivity and cost reduction in the near term. Mulally also says that 70% of its product will be refreshed by 2008, and 100% will be refreshed by 2010. This will be a good one to watch…perhaps a good one to add to the Derrich.com portfolio. I still need another quarter or two of progress. Stay tuned.

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BlogRoll

• Milk Was A Bad Choice
• CrackBerry.com
• Stock Trading 101
• For The Love Of Sports
• Project Spurs
• Busted Coverage
• WallStreetFighter

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