Hi Dennis:
Congratulations to you & the wife & may you both, along
with CPX, live long and prosper.
Stella Bella/SBAM...never heard of it. San Diego is 105
miles due South of here, not far but far enough that we
hear very little about it. Californians are very "insular" to
say the least. However, I'll keep an eye peeled and if
I hear anything I'll post it here.
RAIN in LA? Well, we could use some so I'll watch out
for that as well. I thought Disneyland would get the first
one in Southern California so if it's in LA it'll be interesting
to see the area they've chosen. It sounds like it might fit
in at Marina del Rey or on the Westside toward Santa
Monica/Laguna/etc. Not downtown, though, or at least
I wouldn't think so since that's kind of the "Dead Zone"
after hours...mostly just offices and banks, etc. so they
roll up the sidewalks around 7 or 8PM.
I noticed that DANB has been stumbling around lately but
it might just be the overall dumpy environment for the small
cap stocks in general--a lot of them are looking like big
bargains now, at least compared to a few months ago. If
I see anything specific, I'll also post it here.
I'm not too sure that restaurants in general are a very good
investment as there sure has been an explosion in the
competition. We went up to Lakewood to a shopping
center a few days ago, hadn't been there in about six or
eight months, and it was incredible to see all the new
restaurants in about a four-block stretch; there were so
many we had a hard time deciding which to try so we
ended up at Boston Market, formerly Boston Chicken, and
it was okay but nothing to write home about. They sure had
the business though so it seems to be a great concept just
like Starbucks was for the coffee trade. A lot of the big
chain restaurants are losing money like crazy, though; just
yesterday the group that owns Fuddruckers had their stock
go down the tubes because of bad earnings and projected
losses.
Intel's best for the long term? Hmmmm, well, maybe so but
there are a lot of corporations, big powerful ones, that want
a big chunk of Intel's business so I think one of these days
Intel's control of the processor market may not be quite as
iron-clad as it is now. I don't think any of these tech stocks,
even the best of them, are a sure bet anymore.
NOVL...don't mention it...dead money...turmoil...many, many
Maalox moments for all its investors. Other than that, most of
my stocks are faring well. All of the small-caps took big dumps
but they're still way up over my stake in them so I'm sure they'll
come roaring back (cough!).
The wife is fine and she remembers autumn in Chicago very
well and so do I as I used to go there quite a bit. We've been
having Chicago summer weather for awhile because of some
of the storms down south in Mexico off the coast of Baja and
we'll be glad when it's over as we're not used to the humidity
anymore. Anything above 55% or so and we turn into sticky
goo and lately it's been running 68% or better along with 90
degree temps. Maybe you've seen reports about all the
fires in the West over the last month or so...supposed to be
the worst fire season in decades.
I'm keeping an eye on ITT now as it took a nice drop today,
around 8 or so, and I think if it falls any further that it may be
an enticing buy. They're having short-term problems with
their Caesar's Palace property in Vegas but that outfit is a
money machine and should do well in the long run.
SBAM, RAIN, DANB--will keep a watch for any news and
see you here if and when. |
