Happy 1st Birthday!!!

Happy 1st Birthday! The Balanced Guy is now 1 year old...the blog that is, not the writer. On occasion of it's first birthday I thought I'd reflect on a bit of the past year as well as look ahead a bit. First some statistics for you: over the past year there have been 7,703 visits, 7,148 of them unique visitors hailing from 123 countries and all 50 states. There has been a steady increase in daily visitors and while TBG doesn't get the volume of traffic of say...Google...it does ok for a very small blog. Even manage to have a fair number of repeat visitors so at least there are a few intelligent people in the world that realize what I have to say is worthwhile; groundbreaking if I do so say so myself. Of course, a large number of visits have been prompted by having pics of and using as a key search word "Kim Kardashian". Very funny. Hey, whatever works to get 'em in the door, right? (and guess what? I'll use it again for this post since I mentioned her!...GOOOOAAAALLLLL!!!)

The blog itself has changed over the course of the year as I've searched for "my voice" (as it's called; or at least am in the process of finding it). I've definitely been posting less often the last few months as I found it too demanding with my other life commitments to get something out once a week. Although I'll admit that if I was generating significant revenue from advertising it would be a different story. but alas I'm not. For better-or-worse there's nothing dramatically exciting about a blog written by yet another middle-age guy about his life. I really need to come up with a better angle; maybe I'm not controversial enough.  Or maybe my writing essentially sucks and is boring. If nothing else, it's cathartic for me, so you'll just have to endure it. However, I like to think my readers (fans???) find solace in knowing there are actually other common-sense guys out there like themselves who take the time to write about it. For sure I know there are far more entertaining blogs out there, such as Dave Sheridan over at The Savage Truth.

Enough contemplating my navel.

The mid-term elections have come and gone. Really, quite a bunch of silliness this time around (but yes, I voted). I'll never understand politicians, their grandstanding, saying things they know to be patently untrue or bending the truth until it screams "Uncle!", and ripping apart their opponents instead of giving an honest accounting of themselves and specifics of what they intend to do if elected. More often than not it seems they see themselves as akin to the genie in the bottle - rub the bottle (elect them) and they'll grant your every wish. And they wonder why the average man-on-the-street doesn't trust politicians no matter if they are a donkey or an elephant? And at times I wonder about the electorate. If the average voter was on the board of a large company needing to hire a CEO or other senior executive, they'd be looking for the best people - hopefully even smarter and more competent than themselves. So why in the world do voters of all stripes often elect candidates who try so very hard to present themselves as "an average guy"? Look, call me crazy, but I don't want "an average guy" running this country or representing me in Congress or the Statehouse. I want better-than-average...a lot better. What is with our national obsession with demonizing experience, education and intelligence? Blows my mind.

In a crazy, complex world things aren't always black and white, right and wrong. There are always nuances. Yet this seems to escape the notice of many people...except you, gentle reader (as Ms. Manners would say). Take the age-old paradox about lying. Let me begin by stating that it's generally wrong to lie. Unfortunately there isn't exactly a bright line in even this most seemingly simply of matters. Here's the scenario to demonstrate: You are sitting in a restaurant when a man comes in with a gun and asks where your brother is because he is going to kill him. Now, you know that your brother happens to be in the back room having a private dinner with some business clients. So here's the dilemma: do you tell the truth and let the man know where your brother is thus getting him killed, or do you lie and say you don't know where he is at which point the armed man will walk out of the restaurant and your brother's life is spared? Only by lying does your brother live. Of course this is an extreme example but in a black and white world, extremes are irrelevant. It's yes or no. You might argue "well, it's only a white lie and it saved my brother's life" or "the end justified the means". True enough, but at that point you've opened wide the door to shades of grey and dimmed that bright line. If it holds true here, it then holds true in any just about any other situation.

I've mentioned the site before but it's worth mentioning again. If you want a pretty non-partisan, straight-dope analysis of world events, I highly suggest you take a peek at Stratfor. George Friedman and his staff do a fantastic job of pulling apart geopolitical issues and examining them in a no-nonsense manner. It's definitely a 50,000 foot view of things but in many cases it's helped me to understand the larger picture of world events and make sense of why the US or some other country did something without all the right/left, political BS muddying the waters. This week's free Geopolitical Weekly, The World Looks at Obama After the U.S. Midterm Election, is a great analysis of what Obama faces going forward with respect to the rest of the world. We also hear a lot in the news about Iran which is now increasingly important in light of Obama losing domestic policy power after the elections. Why important? While Congress can control domestic policy, foreign policy always lays firmly in presidential hands. Between the Aug 31 article, Rethinking American Options on Iran and September 14th's Elections and Obama's Foreign Policy Choices, Stratfor lays out a convincing argument for Obama looking to regain power by dealing with Iran. Let's watch and see what happens.

OK. On to more important things. What is Kim doing this week? Who cares?!! (As an aside - what a hell of a blog! Only here can you go from deep, philosophical questions regarding politics and ethics straight into gossip about it-girl Kim K. You're definitely getting your money's worth; and considering you're here for free...)

So here are the Top Ten Reasons I'm not Kim's latest boyfriend:

1. I'm not rich
2. I'm pretty sure she mostly dates black guys
3. I'm not an NFL player
4. I don't live in LA
5. I'm not rich
6. I've got three kids and don't think she's ready for that
7. I'm not rich
8. I might be a tad old for her
9. I forgot to get in line for a number
10. Most important - I'm already married.

I'm in the middle of rebuilding the shower in our downstairs bathroom. Actually not that bad of a job. While it's certainly not the first tiling job I've done, it is the first shower. Truth be told, I was a bit nervous since there is water involved, but after visiting a few websites to get the skinny, I came away with the one value to hold true to with showers: silicone caulk EVERYTHING. Oh yeah, and don't use greenboard. Only go with cement board. There is some professional disagreement online about whether to use a mastic or thinset for the tiles. Old school guys say only thinset since mastic softens when exposed to water. However, there are a number of newer mastics out there that purport to perform just fine as long as they are not submerged in water, thus shower walls are just fine.

Finally, am I reading or have I recently read anything worth hawking and putting up an Amazon ad for? Not really, but I did recently get a cool little weather station that our family really enjoys. Pretty nifty.

Until next time.

If you've never had a chance to look at one, a Google Analytics report of the traffic to a web site is pretty interesting, especially the map. Not just any old map this. Starts as a world map showing countries traffic is from; click on a country and you get more detailed. For example, I know that people from NJ, CA and TN have read this blog and even someone from India.

1. The Competitor - Sports
2. Mr. Muscle - Fitness and Health
   
3. Your Ride- Cars
4. Greenbacks - Career/Money/Finance
5. Toys - Gadgets (i.e. boys toys)
6. Tasty Licks- Music, Movies, Books and other Entertainment
   
7. Arguing - Politics
8. The Great Outdoors - hunting, camping, extreme sports
   
9. WWWD? (What Would Ward Do?...think about it, it'll come to you) - Family
10. Black Socks - Personal Appearance
    
11. Honeydew - Home Improvement/Tools
12. The Wide World - Travel/Vacation
13. Eye Candy

Mr. Muscle - BMI. Those dreaded three letters indicating how "fat" you supposedly are. What a load of sh*t. Somehow a formula invented more than 150 years ago by Belgian math whiz Adolphe Quetelet has become the method used by many health professionals and even insurance companies to decide if You. Are. Fat. The problem is that it was never intended to be used for individuals but for large groups of people or entire populations to identify trends. Even the National Institute of Health recognizes its limitations -

"One problem with using BMI as a measurement tool is that very muscular people may fall into the “overweight” category when they are actually healthy and fit."

I find this pseudo-statistic somewhat annoying since at 6'4" and 245 lbs with a BMI of 30, I'm supposedly "obese". In order to not even be overweight, I would have to be under 205 lbs! I'd be a damn scarecrow if I was that thin! As a former competitive athlete who still works out regularly, I'm about as far from obese as you can get. A better measure if you have an athletic build is your percent of body fat. Long story short, be wary if your insurance company wants to use BMI as a way to set life insurance rates.

Greenbacks - Far be it for me to claim to be a financial whiz, let alone a Wall Street "Master of the Universe". Yet it seems that once again - when not too long ago a lot of people were claiming value investing to be a thing of the past, a dried-up investing philospohy, a financial dead end in this new world we find ourselves - it seems that the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, is once again coming out on top. Granted, he can do a lot of deals few others can...his cost of capital is low...people want to do business with him. But, by my reckoning his philosophy is sound. Seems to me that it's worked for him....to say the least. Geez, he's only the 2nd richest guy in the world and he did it through investing - not computers or oil or real estate. Never quite understand how naysayers can claim value investing is a bunch of crap.

Anyway, if you didn't see it, Mr. Buffett this past week made what he called "...an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States..." by purchasing 77.4% of Burlington Northern railroad for $26.3 billion in cash and stock - that's BILLION with a really, Really, REALLY big "B". Total value of the deal? $34,000,000,000. (I had to check that twice to make sure I actually needed all those zeros). He's betting that as the economy recovers, producers need raw materials and then ship finished goods and as trucking becomes increasingly expensive, railways will see an increase in business, especially Burlington Northern. In recent years they have been modernized and made more efficient despite remaining in many way essentially unchanged in it's 200+ year history. This is a classic Buffett deal - a well-run, simple, unglamorous company in a simple, unglamorous industry that is fairly straightforward and produces steady returns year-in and year-out. Nothing flashy. Yet clearly he thinks it's an "outstanding company at a sensible price" - keeping with his value investing philosophy.


Arguing - Stratfor has a great free article this week about US global strategy the roots of which go back to the Roman Empire. George Friedman makes an astute observation: "In short, enough power to be secure is enough power to threaten others." He doesn't mean that it gives a powerful entity the right to go threaten others, he means simply by having that level of power others feel threatened. From this fact, he then explains American global strategy, which as the proverbial elephant in the room, is not as easy as one might expect. Whether the US wants to or not, we cannot ignore the rest of the world nor can it ignore us. We are simply too big.

This is actually a very, very good read with respect to the bigger picture of how American global strategy is driven in large part by the size of the United States and events since 9/11. It steps back from partisan politics and recasts Bush and Obama more as players on the stage with a script handed to them, much as has been done for centuries to other world leaders.

WWWD? - If you haven't had a chance to check out The Princeton Scoop, I suggest you do! It's a great website/social networking-linked in/twitter-updated site dedicated to informing you about happenings, deals and other goings-on in the Princeton, NJ area. While it's got great family and social events listed, if your significant other is a shopper, she'll be glad to hear about The Scoop as it has special deals only available to Scoop followers. You can find an intimate restaurant for a night out on the town with your girl...and the follow-up benefits are all yours!






The Wide World - "What Exit are you from?" The ubiquitous question you hear when you're from Jersey. If you're from Jersey you know the following to be true, if you're not you may find it quite surprising - the vast majority of NJ is stunningly beautiful. I've traveled quite a bit around the state in the three different times I've lived here and I have a penchant for exploring back roads, so have come across a lot of great, out-of-the way places.

Recently I had a chance to take the drive between Trenton and Phillipsburg along the Delaware River (the western border of the state). You'd be hard-pressed to tell you were only an hour from New York City. Taking Rt 29 north out of Trenton, the trip quickly becomes rural. Not too far out you come to Washington Crossing State Park where General Washington crossed the cy Delaware en route to defeating the Hessian troops at Trenton and turning the tide of the Revolutionary War. Next is Lambertville, well-known for its antiques, restaurants and art galleries. A little further up are Stockton and Frenchtown, both great weekend getaways with your gal.





Once you get north of Frenchtown the road narrows and things get really rural, especially if you stick to the river road (619 between Frenchtown and Milford and 627 north of there). You'll drive right alongside an abandoned railroad track, overgrown with trees, on one side and sheer cliff looming over you on the other. Although it's a two-way road, at some points the road narrows to one lane where it threads its way between the cliffs above and river below. If a car is coming from the opposite direction, small shoulders are provided every few hundred yards to allow one driver to pull over and let the other guy pass. The scenery is great, winding its way along the river, through small hamlets, past old farms, and abandoned buildings. This is definitely not the NJ of Turnpike notariety!