Fresh Idea Cafe Computer

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Tom Trimbath

Welcome to a new feature of my blog: Fresh Ideas.

Ideas are powerful. Ideas are free. A frugal guy like me likes powerful and free. Frequently, or at least often enough, ideas come to mind that might be inventions. Maybe someone else has thought of them too. But for years I’ve compiled these ideas in a notebook, hoping some day to be able to develop and possibly patent them. I will continue to do that with some ideas, but I decided that I’d also like to simply describe some here as a way to speed their development.

Today’s Fresh Idea: what I call the cafe computer – a computer that stands vertically when not in use, but with a detachable or downward folding keyboard.

A cafe computer is very similar to a laptop, but I realized that few people actually put laptops in their laps. Portability and mobility continue to be important, but most laptops end up sitting on tables or desks, putting the sensitive electronics in danger of spills while also taking up furniture real estate. My idea is to have a portable computer that contains the elements of previous desktop computers that stored almost everything in the monitor with the portability and closed shell design of a laptop.

Almost all of the electronics would reside in the same framework as the monitor. When closed, the keyboard would cover the monitor screen and would rest above the desk or table top. The monitor would have feet or supports that would also fold away for transport. Ideally, the entire device could also be mounted on a wall, with the keyboard detached for use. The keyboard and possible mouse could also be wireless. A wireless keyboard would weigh much less than a laptop, so putting it on the lap would be less noticeable; and keeping the main components in the monitor would put the heat source where cooling is easier and overheating laps wouldn’t be a problem. Dropping a keyboard would be less troubling than dropping a laptop.

I call it a cafe computer because it should fit on a coffeeshop table, a cafe table, while being safe from spills and possible sticky residue.

No new components need to be invented. This should merely be a repackaging of existing components.

I won’t belabor the details because I want this Fresh Idea series to be fun. Besides, as with any new idea, it may already have been invented. But any new idea also has one moment when it was first thought of and brought into the world. This is one step in how patents are made, and solutions are found.

If nothing else, being more open with my ideas may encourage others to recognize fresh ideas of their own. There’s more than enough work to do in the world, and many of the old ideas are no longer solutions. This is not the time to hide fresh ideas in notebooks or cabinets.

I’d include a sketch if I could only find some good cheap sketching software, but there’s none on this MacBook. Time to rummage around the web.

In the meantime, what’s your Fresh Idea?

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Instant Expert

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Tom Trimbath

Overnight success can come after decades of work. Work, work, work, smile and nod at those that think you’re wasting your time, and maybe, but not assuredly, something good can happen. I’m finally going to read Malcolm Gladwell’s  frequently referenced book, Outliers, in which he talks about various aspects of success (I think, I haven’t read it yet) and the 10,000 hour rule. A lot of seemingly sudden success is backed up by overlooked work. Anyone who has been awake for 10,000 hours (sorry kids) might reach that goal. It can happen sooner (hey kids, there’s a chance after all). It also might never happen (rats). But I suspect that expertise is more common than appreciated and we have more experts than we realize. We could use some experts right now. The trick is getting them to recognize themselves. Recognition can happen in an instant.

I’ve heard about the 10,000 hour rule through many sources. Sometimes such concepts spread because they are appealing. Sometimes they even have data behind them but many of the ideas that pervade the media are hollow. The 10,000 hour rule seems to be backed up by data and research. I must learn more.

Even though I am “retired”, I was in a meeting the other day. Lots of ideas were being kicked around, and as is usual for volunteer organizations, there was more passion than people, more ideas than money, and more jobs than volunteers. Amidst the cross talk someone asked me to talk about social media and whether it could help. I’m no expert but I mentioned this blog, and how I spread the word beyond my subscribers by also announcing each new post via facebook, twitter, and LinkedIn. A comment or two later someone asked me, seriously I think, about when I was going to teach a class in that, whatever “that” was. I directed them over to a friend who is an expert, Russell Sparkman.

Ducking out of the limelight is common. I see it done by artists, dancers, money managers, tradesmen, orators, and organizers. In some cases they point to official organizations that bestow accreditations, as if the organizations are the only possible authority. I definitely dodge being called a money expert because 1) I don’t think I’m an expert, and because 2) the state and the feds are very particular about financial advice. (If you haven’t noticed, I try to write about what I do with my money, not what you should do with yours. I am an example, not an official authority.) Yet, the lack of a badge or certificate does not change where knowledge and wisdom resides.

There are very few topics that aren’t covered with expertise within my group of friends, officially stamped or not. I suspect we are all in that situation, though to various degrees.

Our worlds are changing. Environmental, financial, cultural worlds are being modified by natural cycles, the impact of our civilizations, and the coupling of the two. New types of problems are arising to which conventional solutions are ineffective. A friend asked me what to do about the debt ceiling and possible economic collapse. We’ve never experienced that in this country. Fortunately, another friend who is an expert addressed this in his regular video. Friends helping friends is one of the frugal person’s most powerful tools. Other problems aren’t so readily addressed. How does an artist exhibit their work online without losing control of the image? How can I know whether my attempt at an organic garden will provide me with a balanced diet? The slugs’ diet seems to be fine. My corn, squash, and beans were all mowed down though.

I’m learning to let others judge whether I am an expert enough or not. The only thing I do better than anyone else is being Tom Trimbath. From engineering through writing across photography and into charitable work, I can always point to people who are more accomplished and effective. But what I’ve learned is that sometimes being considered an expert is a personal thing, and that personal judgement is made by the person seeking the expertise.

Pardon the small personal plug but allow me to mention my upcoming series of classes. Every month for the next few months, and maybe beyond, I’ll be teaching a clinic or a seminar about Modern Self-Publishing at the Center for New Media in Langley. I’ll also help teach a class on Creating Your Photo Book with the folks at Fine Balance Imaging in September. There might even be another class or two at each of those sites. I’m not an expert at the modern version of self-publishing, but I do have some expertise and am evidently good enough at passing it along. I didn’t set out to teach people about publishing their own book. I started out by bicycling across America, which turned into a book, Just Keep Pedaling, which encouraged me to write another book, and then another, which also produced compliments for my photos, which resulted in my series of photo books on blurb. Along the way I started passing along what I’d learned about publishing and now I have a history of teaching those classes. It wasn’t a sudden thing and it wasn’t intentional.

And yet it was sudden, despite how it felt.

I didn’t and don’t consider myself an expert, but at some point, at some moment, someone else did. Within their mind, I was labeled an expert. And maybe I am expert enough for them even though I am very aware of how much more I have to learn.

My point isn’t about me. It is about all of us. Regular readers may guess the quote that comes next.
“You know everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” – Will Rogers
And that I enjoy his unspoken and my inferred corollary which is that everybody is also brilliant only on different subjects. If you’re lucky, your brilliance is right for this time and place.

There’s a lot of work to do. And I am optimistic because within ourselves and our billions of neighbors, we probably have all the experts and expertise we need. But sometimes the key finding a solution is to acknowledge that moment when someone recognizes you as an expert. It will happen in an instant.

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Group Think

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Tom Trimbath

Forget the wisdom of crowds. What do I want? Buying what I want has saved me a lot of money.

Crowds create group wisdom. Like minds gather, share similar thoughts, and build community from their mutual interests. At a minimum they preach to the choir, mimicking each other and repeating those first common thoughts. Their song becomes a chorus constantly repeated, without stanzas. Their canon is concrete and industriously protected. Most groups do more. They build on their common knowledge, returning to their base tenets, but realizing that differences within the group can be used to ratchet up the average as others learn. That’s how universities operate. Though the learning process is voluntary, testing the students recalls the preached choir because everyone gets measured to a canonical standard. For me the most fun comes from freer crowds that have passion in common, but that aren’t very worried about the details. Ideas freely flow, and may never be recorded or remembered, but a precious few may embody genius. The group may not last long though because the members may find themselves chasing an idea and forming a new group.

Groups teach and support, but groups can also exert phenomenal peer pressure. Fashion decrees desires. The fashion community tests many ideas within its ranks and then decides what the general public should want. I was heartened a couple of years ago when men’s shorts were in style to the point that they were included in formal tuxedoes. I wear shorts often, very often. But I’m not trying to set a trend, or make a statement. I’ve had long pants bind at the knee, pull at the waistband, and pinch my back. Long pants have thrown out my back. Shorts are healthier. I even get more vitamin D. Seeing a tuxedo with shorts brought a chuckle. I applauded the exploration of innovation, and acknowledged the possibility that the trend might survive, but I was sure that their motivation was far removed from mine.

The fashion industry, advertisers, politicians, and many ideological institutions evangelize. The more people that embrace their point of view, the more power they embody or the more money comes their way.

Conformity is also comforting. We are social creatures. The social aspect asks for at least some commonality. In the words of one of my favorite authors, “Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased . . .” – Spider Robinson.

I was raised in a conventional neighborhood. Get a job. Go to church. Get married. Wear a tie. Root for the home teams. Collectively those acts define a comfort zone.

Now I live in an unconventional community. The neighborhood of houses is conventional, but my community of friends is built from unconventional free-thinkers, people who are artistic even if they aren’t artists. Their comfort requires stepping out of their comfort zones on a regular basis. Most can only do that because they know there is a community of similar spirits they can return to when it is time to recuperate and share stories.

“If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?” – my mom, ironically one of the great proponents of fitting in.

About the time I went to college I started applying her advice to many aspects of my life. College professors may protect a canon, but college students create a marvelous rebellion against authority and convention. By the end of my first pass through college I’d decided to abandon television and cold beer. I preferred books and warm Guinness. Regular church services were replaced with personal explorations of religious and philosophical texts. A few years later I replaced watching spectator sports with moving my own body by hiking and skiing. Bicycling and running stretched back to my high school days, and they gained prominence until I was running marathons and riding double centuries.

After graduation I entered that bastion of convention, corporate America in the name of Boeing. Suits and ties were the norm, but not for young engineers who worked more with computers than people. I’d moved to the Seattle area, back when it was closer to its pragmatic Scandinavian roots. Lifestyles were judged more on function than form. Hats replaced umbrellas. Hiking boots replaced leather loafers. My beard fit in. I wore business casual before it had a name.

The consequence of accidentally stepping out of convention was that my lifestyle was much more affordable. Instead of buying the things that everyone was supposed to buy, I was spending money on what I wanted. Because I was defining my personal style I was defining my personal fashion. My fashion doesn’t change on a whim. Money invested in clothes, equipment, or lessons meant less money spent chasing yet another whim or fashion. A bicycle may cost a thousand dollars, but it lasted years and cost far less and was healthier than buying season tickets every year.

Frugal living is conscious living, and while that can sound like a lot of work, eventually it eliminates eternally wasting effort chasing the crowd. With practice, that effort becomes expertise and ease.

Learning and understanding what I want has not been easy. I won’t trivialize the task. It has taken me decades to untangle what I want from what I was taught to want. Public media act as a constant pressure pushing in a direction that has no regard for the way I want to head. I’m still understanding my relationship with snack foods and beverages. Sometimes I make my own potato chips. Sometimes I like a bag of Tim’s Cascades. Mine are cheaper. His are crunchier.

Financial advice shouldn’t be given or taken frivolously. That’s one of the reasons it is federally regulated. Everyone’s situation is different and generalized statements are guaranteed to eventually fail for someone. But one piece of advice is powerful and pervasive. Understand your own wants and needs. No one can do it for you. One of the most powerful financial tools doesn’t cost anything except your time, no matter what the group thinks.

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Magical Powerful Words

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Tom Trimbath

Thank you J. K. Rowling. Last night I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. My favorite parts were when the audience cheered a couple of heroes: Mrs. Weasley and Neville Longbottom. Harry, Hermione, and Ron didn’t get as much of an ovation. All of the (surviving) characters, and the author too, demonstrated the power of perseverance. They aren’t the only ones.

Last Saturday I taught my seminar/workshop on Modern Self-Publishing, a digital revolution that is redefining the publishing industry the way digital music and video redefined record labels and Hollywood. Big budget, traditional publishers and movies continue to operate. The Harry Potter franchise proves that. The Harry Potter franchise also sustains them too. What will bookstores sell next year? They’ll still be selling an entire shelf of Harry Potter tomes. DVD sales will survive quite a while too. But while the industry behemoths grind along, hundreds of thousands of writers find themselves looking up to Ms. Rowling, hoping for even a fraction of her success, and then return to stringing words together in new and artful ways.

J. K. Rowling’s story is typified as rags to riches, though I recall an interview where she didn’t see it that way. She had money problems, but she was very aware of people who were in much tougher situations. She wasn’t the only one spending time delving into story, agonizing over detail, and doing more than thinking about it. There are more writers than books. There are more stories than writers. It’s the lucky story that gets pulled from the common subconscious, crafted by a writer, and turned into a book; and it is the fortunate book that is presented to the world where it can enter the public conscience. That process turns a writer into an author, and possibly a very fortunate one. Nice consequence from such a simple beginning as an idea.

Yesterday morning, hours before the movie, I had a pre-interview meeting. Next week I’ll be interviewed on KWPA (live in Coupeville, streaming around the world, July 25th, 10AM Coupeville time) for a show that investigates Why Writers Write. It wasn’t until about my third book that I realized why I was out of synch with what some people expected from an author. They expected an author who was passionate about writing. They’d try to engage my enthusiasm for critique while attempting to coddle my ego because they perceived writers and artists as extraordinarily emotionally attached to their work. As a writer I want to know if readers enjoyed reading the book or got even a snippet of the message. My passion is for people (hello readers, I think you all are people but hello to the aliens too if you’re listening in), and my passion is for ideas.

Before I started blogging I was actively part of a writers group. Some groups are all flowers, rainbows and praise as they try to encourage every writer. Some are merciless as they strive for perfection of the art and the artist. I liked the group I was in because they straddled those two attitudes. For one of my works in progress I was told that the writing was so good that they missed the point. A compliment and a critique in the same line and nicely delivered.

Yesterday afternoon, part of a busy day if you can’t tell, I sat down with Joe Menth at Fine Balance Imaging to look over the preliminary edits of my next photo essay, Twelve Months at Penn Cove.

For the most part I treat digital photography as if it was film. I don’t crop, colorize, add or subtract. I also don’t clean my lenses often enough, don’t use a tripod, and make mistakes. Joe and Nancy (the shop’s co-owner and Joe’s mom) are good at spotting features I miss and covering up some of my most egregious mistakes. For most shots the differences are subtle. For some the end result is dramatically improved. (You can see the difference by looking at my gallery of untouched images on smugmug and the final product on Fine Balance’s gallery page.) I continue to wince when I look at one image that I know took Joe over an hour to clean. Hey, I’m taking nature photos, of course there are going to be dust spots and dew on the lens.

Joe and Nancy have worked with me and my images for years now. They know I look at things differently from most of their clients. They are a fine art print shop. Images are held to the highest standards and each image can be heavily invested with an artist’s vision, passion, and desire. My art is more than one image. Each of my photographs is part of a twelve month series of photos. Each photo is a phrase in a paragraph. Every month of images is a paragraph in a twelve-month-long chapter. Twelve Months at Penn Cove is chapter four of a five chapter story of Whidbey Island. My passion is for the island and its people. My goal is to give people the opportunity to see the entire range of the island across the range of seasons because most folks are too busy to do that themselves. If a print is more likely to end up in someone’s house or office because I tempered the artistic possibilities to keep it accessible, then my art succeeded because my art is the message, not the image.

Maintaining a clear internal goal and voice can be difficult, especially if it is uncommon. The scope of the Harry Potter series is much grander than most writers attempt. J. K.’s genius was partly in crafting good vignettes within the stories while being courageous enough to think into far arcs with complex characters (definitely more complex than most children’s books).

I don’t know where my art sits within such realms. I like to take on large projects, or at least I am aware that I’m better suited for it than most. J. K. Rowling didn’t know where her idea would go when she was in the midst of writing the first book. I don’t know where my art will go or where it will take me. The people that have shown up for my self-publishing clinics and seminars all have passionate ideas that could carry them on unexpected and possibly very fortunate journeys. It may sound trite to say that I am always inspired when I teach the class, but it is definitely true. Putting the seminar so close to seeing the final chapter of Harry Potter colored Saturday’s passions with powerful potential. Any of us could find ourselves on a similar path.

Art begins with ideas. Writers use words. Photographers use images. Ideas are cheap. The frugal part of me likes that: costs a little, worth a lot. Ideas are also ephemeral and powerful, two words which put together sound like a description of magic.

Yesterday was a busy day. Between the morning interview prep as a writer and the photo editing of the afternoon I had lunch. Actually, I “did” lunch, with a guy that brought his acting portraits (head shots sounds violent) and his resume. You see, we have this idea about making movies on Whidbey. It’s only an idea, but if we keep working on it and find some other passionate people, who knows where it will lead? Magical. Powerful. And it all begins with something that costs nothing: words.

(Coincidences happen. As I finished typing this a link came up for a movie being put together by some of my friends. Midway – Heart of the Pacific, a film by Chris Jordan, is powerful and beautiful imagery documenting the impact of plastic thrown into the Pacific. I’ve seen the images. They carry the message well. Go to the site for their eloquent take on the story of the albatross.)

 

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Ships On The Horizon

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Tom Trimbath

It’s Friday afternoon and the cruise ships are steaming north. More than 190 cruises start and stop in Seattle every year. My house has a nice enough view that I get to see them go by. Sometimes three of them head out at the same time the shipping lane looks like a ponderous and immaculate drag race. Maybe someday I’ll take a cruise to Canada and Alaska. For the price of some of those trips, I’d rather have a sailboat.

Sailing and frugality have a lot in common. Sailors can’t be extravagant. Boats don’t have as much storage as a house. After stowing emergency supplies, maintenance gear, safety equipment, tools, and navigation charts, there isn’t much room left for food and clothing. Every pound slows the boat and every item has to be lashed down or stepped around. Sailors are very definite and aware of needs versus wants, and the value of time. Sailing is an experience, not always a calm one, but always a memorable one. The stuff involved are the tools, not the goal. As for time, ocean coastal sailors are very aware that the time of the tides is not negotiable. The connection with this world, the sun, and the moon can’t be ignored.

Sailing and frugality are also famously embattled opposites. Catch phrases for boat ownership probably go back centuries. “The happiest days for a sailor are when they buy their boat and when they sell their boat.” “A boat is a hole in the water into which money is poured.” Sailing isn’t cheap. Owning a boat takes a lot of time and effort. Many of them have rigging turned into spider catchers, decks turned into moss carpets and sea gull depositories, and in my neighborhood, otters turn cockpits into diners that lack busboy services. And boats can sink.

I want a boat. I want a sailboat. My neighborhood has one of the few marinas on Whidbey Island, and from here, as my neighbor pointed out, it’s possible to sail any ocean by walking down the hill, climbing aboard, casting off and setting sail, assuming the tide’s in and the wind is blowing in the right direction. My ambitions are less global. Between here and Alaska is more than enough water and wilderness for me. Shorter trips on Puget Sound could connect me to the cities of Seattle, Tacoma, and Bellingham; and also to the smaller, quieter places like the San Juans, Port Townsend, the southern tip of Canada, and the South Sound. As long as there’s wind, which is a grand assumption, I could get to all of those places without burning fuel. I could avoid the pavement enabled anxiety attacks of Seattle’s traffic and still get to see Pike Place Market and attend “the theater” (spoken theatrically).

Sail boats are cheaper than usual. I suspect that new sailboats depreciate more than new cars, and in an economy like this used sailboats are being unloaded by people fed up with moorage fees, insurance, and maintenance charges on something they rarely use. The hulls of some are more kelp garden than hydrodynamic marvel. I’ve found a few that have asking prices about 1/4th the price of a new one.

Unfortunately, my economy isn’t very robust either. My stocks aren’t doing as well as I’d like. I think most of the stocks are undervalued, so selling a thousand shares to buy a boat now would get me a small boat while selling a thousand shares at my guesstimate of their true value would get me a boat that I might even be able to stand up in. Boats with more than 6 foot 2 inches of headroom are bigger and more expensive than my self-imposed allowance.

I could rationalize owning a boat. Besides cruising, it acts as guest quarters (especially because it is in the neighborhood), a self-contained emergency backup home (earthquakes happen), a camera platform (my Twelve Month Whidbey series of photos are all from water front locales), and buying now is buying low.

Emotionally, I want a boat; but, I recognize that my rationalizations are excuses, not reasons. As long as I own a house I don’t need a boat. I might follow the example of various friends and buy a boat to live aboard, but I’m not planning to sell my house in this market. Who knows? Maybe someone will knock on my door and offer me a million dollars for this house that I bought for $300,000 four years ago. It could happen. (Evidently extreme optimism continues too.)

Frugality is not about an impeccably rational life, constant denial, getting by on the least amount possible. For me frugality is respecting the resources within my world: time, money, and what the world provides, including community. So, I don’t just say No for the sake of saying No.

One of the reasons I might say Yes, is because sailing, like frugal living, is conscious living. Even deciding to sit still requires an action of setting an anchor or deciding to stay in harbor. I like to think that I live my life consciously. I don’t try to consider every moment, because the constantly examined life is spent in constant examination, not in being alive. Balancing examination with living is one way to respect the resources available to me: time alive versus applying intellect and wisdom towards a better life. Sailing requires attention, opens access to other ways of living, and can do so using the wind provided by nature (but make sure there’s a motor on board.)

One of the boats that fits my style is for sale on the island. It is a rugged cruiser, build for function, not for looks. The price is about the same that some folks on those cruise ships are spending for a nicer cabin as they take a few days to sail from Seattle to Seattle. Of course the reason they do that is to see the very sites that I want to cruise to too. The sailboat needs some work. So does my portfolio. The sailboat needs some money poured into that hole in the water. My portfolio needs patience. Patience is easier to come by than money, and with enough patience I might be able to afford a boat that doesn’t require as much work.

Someday my ship will come in, after the financial tide reaches into my little harbor and lifts my portfolio. Until then, I’ve got my kayak, my bicycle, my feet, and occasional forays to the mountains via my Jeep. I may not cruise the world this way, but the world I cruise through is simple and easy to enjoy. And I’ll watch the horizon for ships heading my way.

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Personal Debt Addictions

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Tom Trimbath

Debt. Yuck. Is that concise enough? Unfortunately, without it life can take more effort – until some skills are learned. Debt is a tool. Used well it can ease stresses. It can be the lubricant that lets life flow by allowing action easier and sooner. Used too much and it becomes as destructive as any addiction. During the last couple of years I agonized over a bit of an excess. I’m feeling better now, thank you. It hasn’t been easy, but I’m glad I am tackling my debts.

Life without debt would mean always saving for every purchase. That is an admirable goal. It would still be possible to spend too much, but the limit is physical and real. It would also mean possibly waiting decades to buy a house (how long would it take to save up $300,000?) or years to pay for some medical treatments. Living without debt worries is one of the attractions of wealth. The wealthy have a much broader range of stuff they can easily buy. Unfortunately, without a fortune, the unwealthy would have a harder time starting businesses or paying for schooling or many of the other avenues for getting ahead. Ah, but the frugal folk have a way around that. But lets put that aside for now.

Many people decide to go to school, start a business, buy a house, and take occasional vacations. Some of that involves work and necessities. Some of that involves play and passion. All of that can make life better. Most folks take on a bit of debt rather than waiting through years of saving. Done prudently, temporary debt is powerful. At the corporate and governmental level, temporary debt eases a lot of bookkeeping. Otherwise, with so many different people depositing money and writing checks, eventually there’d be a slip when a lot of checks bounced merely through a fault of timing.

Most of the current concern is about too much debt. House defaults, maxed out credit cards, and eternal student loans coupled with unemployment and stagnant wages mean lots of expenses happening at a time of lower income. Except in the case of things like medical expenses, we did it to ourselves. It is easy to point fingers at the financial institutions for overselling, but buying houses that were too big, or buying more stuff than we could afford, or spending too much on vacations and dining out are personal decisions and personal responsibilities. Even student loans can be discretionary. Parents who succeeded on state university educations seem compelled to pay for Ivy League diplomas even though they learned in simpler establishments and some of the most marketable skills are taught in community colleges.

Sometime before August 2nd, 2011 the US government has to figure out how to handle its debt. Except for a few years during the Clinton administration, I can’t recall even a hint of a budget surplus. I don’t know anyone who handles money less responsibly than the organization that the money represents. Sadly, the argument over the deadline is reducing to a contention over the debt ceiling. That’s like being able to arbitrarily raise your own credit card limit. It’s an attractive option, but interest has to be paid on that increasing debt, and many people have witnessed that pain. Luckily the government’s interest rates are much more reasonable than most people’s credit card rates. The numbers are unsettlingly large though. The average US debt per person is about $45,000. The average household credit card debt, for those who have credit card debt, is $15,000.

Fortunately, there are wonderful role models amongst us: the Frugal Folk. While I aim for frugality, I bow to those who truly embody its practices. (Simple Living Forum and The New Road Map Foundation) They spend less than they make, pay for their needs first, have money set aside for emergencies; and if there is excess, invest; and if there’s excess excess, maybe pay for some comforts, probably help others, but not spend for the sake of spending. The trick is an awareness of personal needs versus personal wants versus public pressures, and the appreciation of what’s here and now. Use those tools for years and some frugal folk find themselves well off and dealing with that excess excess. Ignoring external pressures to buy and spend uselessly saves impressive resources. Maintaining appearances is costly.

The media and advertisers make it sound like such folks are uncommon and probably odd, but there are enough frugal folk out there to make a major party. Despite the difficulty of buying without debt or credit, about 30% of the population doesn’t have a credit card. Considering that about an additional 15% of the population is under 12, there is a bare majority that account for our personal credit card debts. Thirty percent of the population probably understands personal finance better than the US Government. It’s a good thing this is a country built from We The People. The pity is that the frugal folk aren’t the ones running the country. The ones running the country are typically wealthy, and have an odd relationship with money because of campaign financing. I think it would be fascinating if one of the requirements for public office was to live within the median household income while in office.

Personally, I am making good progress on paying down my debt. Up until about two years ago I almost always paid off the balance each month, but then as the market collapsed I decided to delay some stock sales and let a few of the expenses sit on my card. The costs of publishing the book (Dream. Invest. Live.) while producing a photo essay (Twelve Months at Cultus Bay) weren’t extraordinary, but they came as the market fell. Then came a major car repair, some medical bills, and an obstinate desire to maintain the habit of one vacation per year. The credit card company raised my debt limit, but my emotional limit was more important. I wanted to get rid of that debt, regardless of the charges. I’d rather live within my means. The delayed market recovery delayed my paydown, and the accrued finance charges became more than an emotional issue.

A simple choice here, an unexpected expense there, a habit that should’ve been put aside for a while (though that vacation in Scotland was revelatory), and I began to understand how easy it is to fall into a debt spiral.

For the last year or so, I’ve paid down my debt by about two dollars for every new dollar spent. My credit card debt is much reduced, and a glance at the numbers suggests that costs from delaying the paydown are smaller than the returns I’ve received from my stocks, but that’s not a game. I played it and paid an emotional price. I don’t recommend it to others.

Speaking of other, last week a friend though was able to celebrate paying off a major credit card debt. The onerous interest rate of over 24% is now being charged against a balance of zero. The financial institution wasn’t happy about it and tried to talk them out of it. My friend may have kicked the habit, but the bank is still addicted to debt.

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Accidental Excellence

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Tom Trimbath

Pursue Excellence. Strive to be Great. Oh wait. Those must be typed with exclamation points and more caps. Pursue Excellence! Strive To Be Great! Or. Follow your intuition. Let it happen. Michelangelo spent years painting the Sistine Chapel. A writer can spend a decade crafting a novel. And then there are signature songs written within minutes and iconic photos taken with auspicious timing. The amount of effort and depth of intent behind any work is no guarantee of success, and something done casually may have phenomenal and unexpected impact. Outcomes are uncertain, but even small efforts can generate world-changing results. That’s true in art, finance, and charity.

It is summer here in the northern hemisphere, and the temperature on Whidbey is finally getting into the 60s. Oo. Actually, that’s pleasant and excellent conditions for dancing, especially in open air. Yesterday, on the way to a barn dance, I talked to a multi-talented art market organizer, a photographer/printer, and a photographer/chef/gardener. Some bloggers probably plan their posts, write outlines, and sketch themes. I listen to those around me and hear common threads. Those three artists are capable of elaborate, detailed work, and each has also seen some of their simplest efforts reach further than they expected. The trick we’ve all learned is to let it happen.

I am not a belabored artist. My approach is more pragmatic because for me, the message is more important than the art. Receiving an Editor’s Choice award for my second book, Twelve Months at Barclay Lake, was an honor, but my first book, Just Keep Pedaling, remains my best seller. It’s been for sale for over nine years and sells better than any of my books, including the one that this blog is based on, Dream. Invest. Live. People come up to me and thank me for the story, or some inspiration that they got from reading about my bicycle ride across America. In my opinion, my writing has improved with each book, but I write to convey a message, not to improve my writing. If I had practiced my skills for years before writing my first book, it might not be finished yet, and no message would have been conveyed.

Diving in and writing a book helped me become a better writer. It is one of the reasons I enjoy teaching others about self-publishing (seminar/workshop July 16th). After enough rejections letters (anywhere from zero to ouch), self-publishing can keep a writer from being stopped by an industrial roadblock. Blogging is relatively easy for me because of the continual practice of writing while aware that mistakes will be made and conventions will be unconsciously ignored. These posts take me about an hour or two to write, including phone call interruptions, and hyperlinking. These are basically first drafts. If I took more time, they’d be shorter. Each time I publish one I think of a rewrite an hour later. But I’ve learned to let them go and use the lesson in the next post. There is no guarantee of striking a chord and outcomes are uncertain. Some of my favorite or overworked posts are rarely read. Some of my old forgotten posts find audiences months later, and I have to remind myself what I wrote. Fretting over posts that no one will care about takes time away from other aspects of life.

For me, one of the distinctions between a scientist and an engineer is that a scientist seeks the truth while an engineer seeks a solution. A truth is an absolute. A solution is a pragmatism. Both are necessary, but at different times. The more common and more inclusive phrase that captures the thought is that “sometimes better is the enemy of good enough.” “Paralysis by analysis” also comes to mind.

Personal finance is important, but only for those of us who live in modern civilization. If you’re reading this blog and are not part of modern civilization, tell me how you manage to do that. Such an important topic encourages people to dive into headache-inducing spreadsheets, eye-straining stacks of reading, and hours of contemplation. Warren Buffett and his portfolio may be the modern day equivalent of Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel, but sometimes personal finance can be as simple as making sure the deck gets painted with spare paint.

The most common approach to personal finance seems to be whistling with lots of procrastination. Ignorance is bliss, maybe, for a while, if you’re lucky. Another approach is to study, study, think, think, plan, plan. With financing though, time is money, especially if interest rates are involved. Delaying credit card debt reduction means interest charges are increasing total expenses. Delaying saving or investing means compound interest has less time to work. One of the most powerful financial tools is starting early.

To me, that didn’t mean become an early expert. I stepped into investing slowly with about $300. A few hundred dollars taught me about stocks versus bonds, what news to consider or ignore, the connection or lack between the market and a stock; and I learned about my interest level, emotional reaction, risk tolerance, and began building my confidence. Three hundred real dollars taught me some things that could be learned from books, but also deeper things that could only be revealed by commitment.

One artist had a windfall, a very nice commission that produced some extra cash. They were smart enough to decide to buy a cd (a certificate of deposit, not a compact disk). I wish I hadn’t suggested they check the interest rates and such. That extra bit of research is appropriate, but not as important as their positive decision to do something besides spend. Ignore what I said yesterday. Do what you feel is right. Doing is the best way to learn. It carries risk, but wasting time increases risk too.

Good enough now is more powerful than excellent later when it comes to work that needs to be done, as long as it truly is good enough. Good versus good enough is the difference between letting someone slip back into the water versus pulling them into the lifeboat. Good is thinking about saving money. Good enough is saving money.

For my art, good enough is an easy hurdle. I’ve learned the lesson that sometimes the art is there for someone else. A photo that wasn’t one of my favorites may be the image that produces serenity for one person. Another may conjure memories. I don’t restrict my exhibits to only my favorites. If intuition says include a photo, I do so. One person touched me deeply by telling me that my photos made her realize that she’d forgotten how to look at and enjoy nature. Wow. I didn’t see that coming.

So, I regularly remind myself to not worry as much. My deck needed painting, money was tight, and some contractor friends dropped off some paint that was headed to the recycle/dump station. It was obvious why some of the colors hadn’t been used. Mismix will happen. After a nice coat of grey I started to have fun. The results may look accidental, but I thank Jackson Pollock for inspiring the ensuing excellence (from my point of view).

Hmm, I wonder if anyone would want me to paint their deck like this?

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Drunken Frat Parties

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Tom Trimbath

Discussion boards are powerful and unregulated, which means I use them, but only with lots of filters. Some are populated with people expressing considered opinions as if it was a collegiate debate society. Many are empty except for a solitary investor asking questions into the void, hoping someone else will respond and initiate a conversation. Some, to use the term from my book, are like the stereotypical drunken frat party, boisterous and obnoxious, with lots of passion and chaos. I use them all, but I keep in mind that the debaters may sound more impressive than they are; and that even at a drunken frat party there might be someone sober and rational worth listening to. Here are the boards I use, why I use them, and how I use them.

The long description of why I use stock discussion boards is in my book, Dream. Invest. Live., but the short version is that I use the boards because I recognize great areas of personal ignorance. If you stroll around my various web profiles you’ll come across a Will Rogers quote; “We are all equally ignorant, just in different areas.” No human consciously knows everything. So, to fill in the blanks, I read and sometimes participate in the various boards.

In the interest of conciseness in a previous post I wrote that the Dendreon boards tend to have medical professionals and statisticians, but that is a generalization. The longer version fills out more of the picture of how and why I use the boards. The DNDN board on Investor Village includes urologists, oncologists, patients, nurses, hospice, clinicians, academics, and other health care folks. Sometimes the various motivations conflict, or produce dis-similar support. Dendreon’s prostate cancer treatment, Provenge, breaks through traditional professional boundaries (as I understand them) because a cancer that would normally be treated by an oncologist now has a treatment that can be administered by a urologist. Bureaucracies and business models can be upset, and understanding the swaying power struggles explains some of the variation in news items and public perception. On the finance side, the board seems to have long term investors, short sellers, options traders, deal makers (M&A), analysts and researchers. The business types see the implications of company financing and partnerships, while the stock investors and traders see the flow of money, ownership and the influence of reporting deadlines, options expiration dates, and shifting institutional loyalties. No news item captures all of those points of views and motivations.

Trying to learn all of those disciplines would take me decades. Instead I read the discussions, and use basic manners and character judgments to weed out the majority of the nonsense to get at useful knowledge and insight. My gauge of a board is whether it can provide that. Few can reach IV’s DNDN board’s expertise.

There are also practical considerations: cost, ease of use, traffic data, etc. Some are free. Some are free, but with upgrades. Some cost up front. Paying to cruise empty boards is a waste of money, but if I learn one thing that affects a trade, the difference can be worth thousands of dollars. Paying $50 a year (a fictitious price) can suddenly seem more than worth it. Ease of use is simple. If the boards are hard to use, I’m less likely to use them. I want posting to be easy, and I want to readily see replies and tangential posts. Traffic data isn’t just ego-stroking. The number of readers, responses, recommendations tells me if I might be tapping into a crowd’s wisdom or have simply shouted into a vacuum. Some of my posts have received no comments or replies but I know that hundreds have read them, and seeing that there are recommendations tells me that something I said was worthwhile; and that nothing was so outlandish that I needed immense and immediate correction.

Without further dissection of my methodology and philosophy, here are the boards I use.

Investor Village (investorvillage.com)
Without a doubt this is my favorite site. It is easy to use. Provides useful data. It can be used for free, but premium service speeds things along (and I think that’s why I don’t have to wade through ads.) The operators police the site and kick off offenders. People can only have one username, though I think some have figured out how to get around that. Combined, the various features result in more reasoned debate. The site has it’s flamers and Off-Topic screamers, but the site allows me to filter out them and their posts.  Every stock has a board, even if that board is empty. It is the newest site that I use, so many boards are empty, for now.

The Motley Fool (boards.fool.com)
The Fool may be the best known, and has much greater lineage and heritage than IV. As a result, personalities are apparent and their track records can be perused. When in doubt, I’ll check a user’s number of posts, number of recommendations, and their CAPS score (a judge, though noticeably poor judge, of their portfolio performance). Some of the more general boards there are small academies that are very good for training new investors. Unfortunately, the site seems to have a tendency to use its articles to sell it’s various newsletters. It may not be a conflict of interest, but it doesn’t feel right either. The Fool also has a policy of not hosting boards for very small companies, which precludes many of the small-cap and micro-cap companies that I am interested in. It is a parent-child relationship where they are taking care of me by guarding me from temptation. It is a bit condescending to me.

Silicon Investor (siliconinvestor.com)
SI has been around since before the internet bubble popped, I think. Some of my semi-annual reviews can be tracked back many years there (true for The Fool too). It is a fee site, but I bought a lifetime membership way back when. Of the sites I check, SI has the fewest useful boards (for me) and the least traffic (for my stocks) but the people there tend to be very knowledgeable and rarely enter flame wars.

Yahoo (finance.yahoo.com – look for messages)
I doubt that Yahoo intended it but, their name doesn’t convey an image of reasoned debate. The site is free and every stock has a board (I think), but there seems to be very little policing of multiple usernames, inflammatory comments (in my opinion), and misleading statements (in my opinion), and because so many users resort to abusive phrases, I don’t post on Yahoo. I do lurk there though, with very heavy filters, and little expectation. Intelligent and reasoned people post there, but of the sites I check, this one takes the most effort to hear the useful moderate voices. I turn to Yahoo though when the other sites have nothing new. Despite the quantity of useless shouting, the immense quantity of traffic means that news may show up on Yahoo before it shows up anywhere, including the news outlets.

Discussion boards aren’t the ultimate resource. The definitive data resides on the company’s web site and at the SEC. Analysts and researchers may do a good job of compiling data, and may provide insight from a well-defined point of view. The boards are good for finding pointers to the data sources, because while crowds may or may not have wisdom, a crowd of individual investors tend to have similar motivations and constraints and that crowd is most likely to have found the data most pertinent to my questions, even the questions I didn’t think to ask.

If nothing else, that recognition of a crowd of similar souls is therapeutic. There are days when a stock is moving and none of us knows why, and it’s comforting to know it is a shared ignorance. The boards are also the place to find shared solace. The Dendreon boards are regularly touched by personal cancer fights, losses and victories both. And there are shared celebrations. Much of the time, investing news worth cheering is something only other shareholders can appreciate. It may be virtual, but the party gets real on days like that, and it’s always good to know where the party is.

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In Dependent Relationships

Posted on July 2, 2011 by Tom Trimbath

Bang. Bang. Bang. No, the sound has nothing to do with fireworks or the local gun club. The banging is coming from the other artists setting up their exhibits. It’s Saturday morning before the Fourth of July. We’re setting up the Bailey Saturday Art Market, something that started a few months ago with three people melding three ideas into one, and then letting it go and grow. Today there are nine of us. Each is independent, yet each is helping the others move panels, hook up lights, and hang art. Somewhere between reclusive hermits and totalitarian empires exists a realm where most things get done, a place that balances dependence and independence. It is true in art, investing, and the world.

Of course independence is on my mind today. It’s July 2nd. Back in 1776 one of my ancestors (Francis Hopkinson) signed the Declaration of Independence. For me, my lineage emphasizes that event, the ensuing struggle, and the resultant nation. Thirteen independent states (and commonwealths to be more correct) decided that, somewhat counter to their various concepts of liberty and freedom, they were also dependent upon each other. They decided to unite for their common benefit despite their differences. It hasn’t been perfect, but it has been working better than the critics and pundits of the late 1700’s predicted. Of course, the colonists had a common external enemy. Today’s politics seems to focus on fighting each other instead of focussing on our common pursuits. Maybe those historical pundits will be proven correct.

It is easy to become discouraged while launching a new venture, whether it is a cause, a business, a party, or a project. Rough spots inevitably arise. They are excuses to stop, but a simple concept like Just Keep Pedaling, can eventually overcome or steer around potholes.

I may follow my passion when producing a Twelve Month series, but the details can be daunting. Visiting the site is the easy part, except for timing sunrises, sunsets, tides, and rain. Contrails, boat wakes, trash and power lines can smudge great photo opportunities. Reviewing over a thousand images to find the four dozen that artfully describe a place takes hours of squinting at details, diving into flaws, and finding reasons to put aside over 95% of the photos can be demoralizing. I am in month twelve of photographing Penn Cove, one of Whidbey’s quieter marine havens. At this phase, simple logistics mean I spend more time with the 95% than with the final 5% and it is easy to be overwhelmed with what didn’t work. But I remember that my passion is people and ideas. Eventually I get to focus on the final 5% that become the essays, and that they are the instruments, not the products, of my passion. The final criterion is whether the photos independently and collectively convey a message or inspire a response, and of course the attendant sales that fund the work and compensate me for my effort.

The Bailey Saturday Art Market has growing pains. Originally, it was easy. Three people that had low expectations, but who recognized a common cause, goal, and opportunity, started something that cleared that hurdle and continues to evolve and mature. Fitting nine people and their art into the same space requires much more coordination and negotiation. This week we actually had to pick a name. Evidently we crossed some legitimacy boundary even though we are still independent individuals. Now we have enough artists that photographers are selling beside photographers. Encaustics artists can sit together and compare techniques. Some businesses don’t like similar businesses moving in beside them. Others buy into it, like the garment district story from You Got Mail; but of course, the bookstore equivalent in that movie didn’t see the same synergy.

Independence is instilled in artists because there’s usually some necessary step when the artist immerses themself in the art without interruption or outside influence. Books usually aren’t written in crowds. Actors get to know their characters. Ultimately, one person presses the camera shutter release.

Dependence on others is necessary and requisite for armies, bucket brigades, and emergency relief. Sometimes everyone has to come together and follow the same rules to get something done.

Individuals can invest independently, but there’s a lot of free help out there, especially amongst the community of independent investors. My previous post provided links to the boards that I visit the most. I take the work that I do independently, my semi-annual portfolio review of my stocks, and post them so others can agree, argue, or embellish. Sometimes the conversation never gets started, especially if no one else cares about that stock. Of course, I learn from that silence too. It could mean that I am so wrong that people don’t even see a reason to visit the board. It also could mean that I am in the right place at the right time, an early discoverer able to take advantage of an unfound treasure. I rarely had readers of my FFIV reviews while the stock went from $5 to about $90 (split adjusted). Other stories are more complex. I understand Dendreon (DNDN) better because of the medical professionals and statisticians on the Investor Village DNDN board. Microvision (MVIS) has technical, supplier, and finance issues that benefit from the education I gained on a flame-free private board. It is a small community, but a common goal and freedom of expression is very powerful.

Personal finance benefits from sharing stories, insights and resources. Find a nexus like the New Road Map Foundation and the Simple Living Forums, and it can be easier to find that initial impetus that works for you, or to find that trick or rule of thumb that simplifies your life or a money management task. Yes, it is personal, and yes, personal is also part of the effective definition of independent, but even while avoiding dependence, reaching beyond independence can be powerful.

The artists are settled in. The last things to get set up are the chairs we occupy for most of the day. The lattes are at hand (herbal tea for me). Customers, tourists, and patrons are wandering through. We’re sitting quiet, seemingly independent, identified by our art. And it happened because, for a while, at least to some extent, we decided to depend upon each other.

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Semi Annual Exercise Mid 2011

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Tom Trimbath

Welcome to my exercise routine. I finished posting my review of my stocks, as I do every six months. The methodical part of me decided that the end of June and the end of December were the most appropriate times. I post them to start conversations and discussions which might help me and others. The realist in me knows that there won’t be as much discussion because the end of June is near the 4th of July and the end of the year means I post when everyone is partying. Ah, but some habits are maintained despite such realities because really, the main benefit is to me from me. I see for myself what I think about my stocks, and I can look back over many years and see if that opinion has changed.

For details into why and how I do this, look back one post.

In general though, this time I realize that some of the companies seem to be doing the right thing (DNDN, GGOX, RSOL), some have hit stumbles (AMSC, MVIS), some are slowly making progress (GERN), and one is falling from favor despite being in a good position (GAIA). The markets may be up, but all of my stocks are down except for DNDN, and I think it is very undervalued. AMSC probably overcorrected. MVIS, well is MVIS, always just about to become stellar. My portfolio value has dropped, especially because I’ve had to sell some DNDN to pay bills. Groan.

For the details, here are the links. I’ll probably blog about why I use those boards and not others in a later post.

Motley Fool
AMSC
DNDN
GAIA
GERN
MVIS
RSOL
Economy and Markets

Investor Village
AMSC
DNDN
GAIA
GERN
GGOX
MVIS
RSOL

Silicon Investor
AMSC
DNDN
GAIA
GERN
GGOX
MVIS

Keep in mind:
My semi-annual exercise is to see if I remember why I own the stocks I own, and so I can check back and see if their stories have changed. I post in case it helps others too.
And this works better if I don’t do it alone. Join in. Add to what I’ve said. Add yours too. The more points of view, the more likely we individual investors can understand the companies, the stocks, and our options.

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