rough week...

The market flopped up and down this week, its sentiment apparently driven by the European activity on Greece and the other PIGS. The S&P and the DOW both finished down about 4%. The DOW is down about 2.25% YTD, s&p is down about 2.5% YTD. TXT bounced all over the place this week as well. Makes me glad I sold a bit at $22 in April. Spouse was mad this weekend that we did not go to a concert or out of town. She blamed me and thought I was being cheap and giving excuses. Sometimes she doesn't get what I do on the weekends. Chores and work take a lot of time and I don't particularly want to do everything on one day.

CSNA continues to make me nervous. If Europe starts to tank, that's one less potential market for airplanes. Who knows how the 2nd quarter is going, we won't know until a workforce planning update or the earnings call in July. This shop is ridiculous, two PMs to manage a dink departmental project. As I told the lead last week, all of the processes are around to support a bloated, self-important staff.

no forced time off in July...

Where we're at:

DJIA: 10620
S&P: 1135.68
10yr: 3.44%
VIX: 31.24
s&p P/E: 20.6

equity: 28
bond: 32
cash: 40

1 yr: 14.5%

Two weeks ago, the rumor came down that we'd be forced to take off during the first week of July. This is the normal 1 week facility shutdown for CSNA. This week, the IT head said that was not correct, so we can take vacation in August instead. I'm still optimistic, but will hedge by hoarding vacation time until the EOY. I still believe we'll have some sort of furlough this year. Group lead reported 14 orders from a European conference and we have >400 proposals out to people. So some optimism is warranted. This was a fast school year. Like I tell myself, the older I get, the faster time passes. A minor milestone, I crossed over 3 years this week at TXT.

progress on studies...

I'm about 2/3 through my data mining studies. The familiar material is over (basic statistics), now I'm reviewing classification theory. The videos in you tube are very good and follow the material well. Ever since I earned my Master's online, I felt that that would be the way to learn IT material. Brick and mortar won't die, but it doesn't keep up tech like online learning.

I enjoy being an Oracle DBA, but I increasingly believe that those skills are becoming a commodity and the ability to use a company's information will add more value that just backing it up and tuning querys. Data mining skills are transferable across industries as well, so my marketability should increase. Plus, it's always fun to learn new stuff.

mostly cloudy...

Lead and first level both mentioned no planned furloughs for now. We seem to have hit bottom in sales activity and may start climbing out. First level seems to think the place will be idle the first week of July, but we asked him to verify that. Even if things deteriorate, I'm not too nervous. I seem to be on the lead's radar and may start six sigma training this year.

Spouse had a surprise this week, a commission check. It looks like she will get them quarterly. Now that the twitter queen is gone, I think her "stock" will rise a bit. She just has to be careful about the "nug", who apparently offends easily. We're enjoying the new vehicle greatly and I don't feel a bit stupid anymore for buying it. Somebody has to keep the economy moving.

When life hands out lemons, make lemonade.