The Balanced Guy

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!