Update

Back on 6/26/2007, I swapped another $2,000 from Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund into VTSMX for Retiree Portfolio I. For now, it seems adequately-timed as markets have generally increased since then.

That puts us a mere $4,000 left to flesh out the retiree's complete VTSMX position. Dare I say I cannot wait.

Being a new Yelp fledgling, I sauntered over to reviews of a venture I had an opportunity to participate (exclusive SF cafe) but circumstantially didn't. I couldn't believe that the drama I'd heard about via the grapevine had boiled onto the public scene. What's totally ironic is how the business has been closed down for many months, and even so, a fire broke out in that same complex a couple months ago, with my clinically insane friend's dreams of riches literally going up in flames.

I've been toying around with the thought of paying off one of my car loans early. Kind of siding towards the Subaru.

Speaking of which, I'll need to follow up with my request for a refund of the Gold Plus Warranty that the previous Subaru owner transferred to me. I could net an extra $2K if it's approved.

To make a rather drawn-out, boring story short and sweet, MT and I attempted to pick up 2 Southern CA foreclosure properties, but ultimately ended up having just one.

Winder Court seems to have escaped the extensive Texan flooding that had ravaged MT's Pearblossom property. Sometimes I wonder why we're having such good luck with Winder Court-- not that I care not to continue like this.

One of the reasons I've been insanely busy is because a Chicago buddy stayed for a couple of weeks to coincide with some of my absence here. I believe we did a tremendous amount of sightseeing and touristy stuff. Preliminarily, it appears I might've spent somewhere between $500-$700-- which is usually the amount spent in one wild night of partying in Hollywood!

There might be a couple other opportunities that would force me to revive my S-corp that I thought I'd kill off by year-end. Should they occur, developments will transpire in the next couple of weeks.

Update

I know, I know. You all miss me so very much. Once again, my sad, default excuse is simply, I've been insanely busy, training has been quite a pain (but productive beyond belief!), and I've been traveling and flying all over the place.

I'll work backwards a bit, by starting with my weekend project, which is to make my recently-acquired second-hand Subaru Legacy GT (which is my 1998 BMW M3 sedan replacement, which was essentially my 1989 BMW 325i sedan replacement, which is essentially my 1996 Toyota Camry replacement) more fuel-efficient.

Doing so requires actions and equipment that looks like I'm taking a page out of the movie series that I always love mocking, "The Fast and the Furious". Yup-- notebook computer in the driver's seat with a cable hooked up to the car's OBD-II port, a spectrum of colored graphs and charts and what-nots flashing up and down on the screen as I engage and disengage logging.

After spending the latter half of yesterday and the first half of today performing regression-testing of data validity on my notebook computer, I'm now about to fill 'er up with a full bladder of juice, hit up Portola Parkway to find some nice stretches of open road to do 3rd-gear pulls, and record data.

In the middle of all of this, I'll do the most critical part of my efforts: modifying the engine control unit (ECU) to reflect a more civilized, gas-sipping behavior.

All this will be done in my quest to attempt to save anywhere from 20-30% in gas consumption.

Stay tuned!