Where we're at:
Dow: 17633.11
S&P: 2055
VIX: 13.82
10 yr: 1.81%
S&P P/E: 25.95
equity: 36.7
bond: 55
cash: 8.3
1 yr: -3.3%
The market has retraced itself and is now flat for 2016. Our REITs and bonds are doing well, Larger US equities have recovered, especially dividend payers. I can't get over thinking that they are overpriced right now. Lots of opinions on buying the same companies (P&G, JNJ, T, VZ, REITs....). It reminds me of 2000, when everyone was a stock expert and Tyco, Enron, Worldcom and others were at the top of everyone's list, until they weren't......
Personally, I like internationals. They pay solid dividends and the MSCI P/E is in the mid teens, not the low 20's, but we'll see. I bought some in Jan and early Feb. Company continues to act strange, layoff and relocation rumors now. I don't worry like I did at TXT, but you never know. Spouse is hearing some noise too, especially if her numbers don't improve. Who knows maybe our son will support us starting in the summer. Taking a day trip to KC this weekend.
Finished a consult gig this week, nice pay for a few hours of DBA work. I'd like to do a bit more side stuff, just to keep that skill current. Had a good trip to MS data summit. Power BI is gaining traction and could be a nice tool for the box.
Showing posts with label IT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IT. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Thursday, January 01, 2015
Hello 2015
Where we're at:
Dow: 17823
s&p: 2058
10 yr: 2.17
VIX: 19.20
s&p P/E: 27.03
1yr: 5.8
mix:
equity: 39
bond: 44
cash: 17
2014 was a pretty good year, US stocks and REITS worked, glad we had some. Everything else mostly did not. I beat my modified Swenson benchmark (Swenson & commodities) for the second year running. I kept up my data science specialization and will return to mining early this year. Spouse has been in her new job for ~5 months. She is starting to gain some traction. We bought a car in October, used not new. The 'death march' project at work seems like it is winding down finally. It is scheduled for an install in March, we have a dual plant parallel in January we're pushing for.
I feel pretty secure, much more so than in aircraft. We do have some uncertainty, our department will probably move under corporate IT by the end of FY15, but it does not worry me (much). This year, I'll finish the data science stuff and return to mining and Hadoop. Hopefully I'll find some questions to answer with unstructured data in 2015. Investment wise, I'm selling the JNK and investing it in equities and higher quality bonds. I'll keep an eye on commodities and maybe buy some this year. It seems like it might be time. If we're still here next December, I'll pay off our house and lock in that gain.
Dow: 17823
s&p: 2058
10 yr: 2.17
VIX: 19.20
s&p P/E: 27.03
1yr: 5.8
mix:
equity: 39
bond: 44
cash: 17
2014 was a pretty good year, US stocks and REITS worked, glad we had some. Everything else mostly did not. I beat my modified Swenson benchmark (Swenson & commodities) for the second year running. I kept up my data science specialization and will return to mining early this year. Spouse has been in her new job for ~5 months. She is starting to gain some traction. We bought a car in October, used not new. The 'death march' project at work seems like it is winding down finally. It is scheduled for an install in March, we have a dual plant parallel in January we're pushing for.
I feel pretty secure, much more so than in aircraft. We do have some uncertainty, our department will probably move under corporate IT by the end of FY15, but it does not worry me (much). This year, I'll finish the data science stuff and return to mining and Hadoop. Hopefully I'll find some questions to answer with unstructured data in 2015. Investment wise, I'm selling the JNK and investing it in equities and higher quality bonds. I'll keep an eye on commodities and maybe buy some this year. It seems like it might be time. If we're still here next December, I'll pay off our house and lock in that gain.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Job market improving....
Where we're at:
Dow: 17086
s&p: 1987
10 yr: 2.46
VIX: 11.52
s&p P/E: 26.28
1yr: 9.2
mix:
equity: 37
bond: 41
cash: 22
Interesting July, so this month spouse and two peers are changing jobs locally (sales and IT). So maybe our 'personal' economy is improving. I'll miss my peers, but it was probably time for them. In the 16 months that I have been here, the whole team has turned over. I'm now the most tenured on the team. Weird. Not sure what happens now, probably a team of contractors. Before the second person left, the department threw some money at me, a nice bonus and a raise. Both firsts since I arrived, I'm happy with the comp and they let me do unstructured data work, so I like the place. It's just unsettling, the amount of turnover. My peer from CSNA e-mailed and told me my spot was still open and asked if I was interested, we'll have lunch on 8/1.
TXT released their 2nd quarter results this week, they had an earnings beat and the tone of the call was cautiously optimistic, as it has been for 4 years. The stock is still hanging around 40 with a p/e of ~23. Still seems high to me and with no dividend, no reason to hold it. Glad I sold our US small caps in January and bought ex-US small caps. They have had a nice run. It seems like the market will still here until the Fed withdraws support (2015?)
I started a data science specialization in May, I'm 3 courses in. Very interesting and I'm enjoying the learning.
Dow: 17086
s&p: 1987
10 yr: 2.46
VIX: 11.52
s&p P/E: 26.28
1yr: 9.2
mix:
equity: 37
bond: 41
cash: 22
Interesting July, so this month spouse and two peers are changing jobs locally (sales and IT). So maybe our 'personal' economy is improving. I'll miss my peers, but it was probably time for them. In the 16 months that I have been here, the whole team has turned over. I'm now the most tenured on the team. Weird. Not sure what happens now, probably a team of contractors. Before the second person left, the department threw some money at me, a nice bonus and a raise. Both firsts since I arrived, I'm happy with the comp and they let me do unstructured data work, so I like the place. It's just unsettling, the amount of turnover. My peer from CSNA e-mailed and told me my spot was still open and asked if I was interested, we'll have lunch on 8/1.
TXT released their 2nd quarter results this week, they had an earnings beat and the tone of the call was cautiously optimistic, as it has been for 4 years. The stock is still hanging around 40 with a p/e of ~23. Still seems high to me and with no dividend, no reason to hold it. Glad I sold our US small caps in January and bought ex-US small caps. They have had a nice run. It seems like the market will still here until the Fed withdraws support (2015?)
I started a data science specialization in May, I'm 3 courses in. Very interesting and I'm enjoying the learning.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Dow 16,000....
Where we're at:
Dow: 16067
s and p: 1804.76
10yr: 2.75%
s and p P/E: 25.41
vix: 12.26
equity: 35
bond: 40
cash: 25
1yr: 7.8%
The upward climb continues, thank you fed. I did my own bit of tapering however, I swapped out our retirement funds from a 2025-2035 exposure to a 2015 to reduce our stock holdings. When the market corrects, (it should sometime right?) I'll rotate back to a 2020-2025. That is a cool way to rebalance without tax issues. I sold the last of my TXT a couple of weeks ago, since it's back over 30 and made a nice 25% profit. Not sure what is moving the stock, no obvious good news, CSNA may have a good quarter (the 4th usually is), but probably not good enough to move the sub into the black. Next year should be better, when the new models begin delivering. Still wish I could have gotten on with Bell.....
I'm beginning to consider IAU again, but I think it has a bit further to fall. I've also started learning about options just to expand my mind a bit.
Work is ok, another team member is exiting, but staying with the company. It's a good move for her, still 3 in 9 months seems a bit high. Although, it was clear the other two were going to be short-timers, as they have no interest in our team's focus area. I'm now trying to predict when our lead will exit, as it is clear he wants to move up and out. Since the obvious replacement is this last departure, who knows what will happen when the lead moves on.
Spouse's work is also ok, she's still having a good year, as is LOGM. She's getting ready for Cancun and warmth. I probably have one more post in me before 2014, to think about moves for next year.
Dow: 16067
s and p: 1804.76
10yr: 2.75%
s and p P/E: 25.41
vix: 12.26
equity: 35
bond: 40
cash: 25
1yr: 7.8%
The upward climb continues, thank you fed. I did my own bit of tapering however, I swapped out our retirement funds from a 2025-2035 exposure to a 2015 to reduce our stock holdings. When the market corrects, (it should sometime right?) I'll rotate back to a 2020-2025. That is a cool way to rebalance without tax issues. I sold the last of my TXT a couple of weeks ago, since it's back over 30 and made a nice 25% profit. Not sure what is moving the stock, no obvious good news, CSNA may have a good quarter (the 4th usually is), but probably not good enough to move the sub into the black. Next year should be better, when the new models begin delivering. Still wish I could have gotten on with Bell.....
I'm beginning to consider IAU again, but I think it has a bit further to fall. I've also started learning about options just to expand my mind a bit.
Work is ok, another team member is exiting, but staying with the company. It's a good move for her, still 3 in 9 months seems a bit high. Although, it was clear the other two were going to be short-timers, as they have no interest in our team's focus area. I'm now trying to predict when our lead will exit, as it is clear he wants to move up and out. Since the obvious replacement is this last departure, who knows what will happen when the lead moves on.
Spouse's work is also ok, she's still having a good year, as is LOGM. She's getting ready for Cancun and warmth. I probably have one more post in me before 2014, to think about moves for next year.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Getting comfortable....
Where we're at:
DOW: 15,258.24
s&p: 1691.75
10 yr: 2.62
s&p P/E: 24.19
VIX: 15.46
equity: 37
bond: 32
cash: 31
YTD: 4.8%
Since my present employer is not in the turmoil my previous employer is, I don't feel the need to post as often. Sorry, if anyone is following. Over the summer, my team has had some turnover. One guy left in May, another in August. I think they just got tired / bored with the work. I think it may make my spot a bit more secure. But unlike previous, if these guys decide to can you, it will just happen. Lead says I'm doing fine, and I don't worry about the 'layoff cloud' hanging around anymore. If it happens, it happens.
Spouse is doing fine, she is off to Boston in Oct and Cancun in Jan. She should make it through the year and get her 3 year payout. Most days are ok for her, but she struggles with sitting and making phone calls. TXT announced a small fighter jet last week, designed by CSNA (so that's what was going on in the glass house for 2 years....). I hope it can get some traction, it occurred to me this week that layoff time is coming around again, typically early October. The public stuff coming out of the company is not great, still slow. Another earnings call is coming up as well. The market is waiting for any kind of positive jet number, if that comes, TXT will cross 30. I only have a few shares and with the new programs coming on-line next year, deliveries could tick up. So, I'll hang on for a bit longer, try to get low 30's for my shares.
I dumped the IAU I bought in the spring, gold seems to be in a long term downward trend, except for a few rallies when the congressional idiots rattle their swords. I also stared building an international bond position for the long term now that V has the funds. Our house repair work is complete this month, so most of the interior and exterior is in good shape. We're starting to think about staying here after the house is paid for (~3 years). We could do worse.
DOW: 15,258.24
s&p: 1691.75
10 yr: 2.62
s&p P/E: 24.19
VIX: 15.46
equity: 37
bond: 32
cash: 31
YTD: 4.8%
Since my present employer is not in the turmoil my previous employer is, I don't feel the need to post as often. Sorry, if anyone is following. Over the summer, my team has had some turnover. One guy left in May, another in August. I think they just got tired / bored with the work. I think it may make my spot a bit more secure. But unlike previous, if these guys decide to can you, it will just happen. Lead says I'm doing fine, and I don't worry about the 'layoff cloud' hanging around anymore. If it happens, it happens.
Spouse is doing fine, she is off to Boston in Oct and Cancun in Jan. She should make it through the year and get her 3 year payout. Most days are ok for her, but she struggles with sitting and making phone calls. TXT announced a small fighter jet last week, designed by CSNA (so that's what was going on in the glass house for 2 years....). I hope it can get some traction, it occurred to me this week that layoff time is coming around again, typically early October. The public stuff coming out of the company is not great, still slow. Another earnings call is coming up as well. The market is waiting for any kind of positive jet number, if that comes, TXT will cross 30. I only have a few shares and with the new programs coming on-line next year, deliveries could tick up. So, I'll hang on for a bit longer, try to get low 30's for my shares.
I dumped the IAU I bought in the spring, gold seems to be in a long term downward trend, except for a few rallies when the congressional idiots rattle their swords. I also stared building an international bond position for the long term now that V has the funds. Our house repair work is complete this month, so most of the interior and exterior is in good shape. We're starting to think about staying here after the house is paid for (~3 years). We could do worse.
Saturday, June 01, 2013
Settling in.....
Where we're at:
DJIA: 15,115.57
s&p: 1630.74
s&p PE: 23.89
VIX: 16.30
equity: 35
bond: 32
cash: 33
1yr: 6.2%
After ~90 days, I'm settling in to my new role. The friend who clued me in to the job is leaving the area, it's a shame to see him take off. It still feels different, but not weird anymore. I'm hanging on to my TXT (140 shares), we'll see if the new models can spark an uptick. V started their new int'l bond funds (finally), after the target allocations are made, I'll see if we need to buy any more for a 20% stake.
I finally bought some IAU, just for insurance and just a few shares. I'd like to get it to a few thousand then forget about it. But, I'll only buy as it drops. It's almost time to buy some more REITs and int'l equities as well, they're coming off their highs, so I'll watch them. I'm also wanting to buy some KMR when it comes back some. Had a little SQL consult gig in May, to chip in some $$ and keep my SQL knowledge up. I'm due for my first review at the new place (3 months), it should go ok.
No vacation this year, our house needs repairs after a May hailstorm, plus we have medical stuff to do over the summer. Son turned 18 today, wow the last 10 years have flown by. Work support this week has made me even more determined to 'kiss' off IT at 60 and be a Y towel boy :).
DJIA: 15,115.57
s&p: 1630.74
| 10yr: 2.16 |
VIX: 16.30
equity: 35
bond: 32
cash: 33
1yr: 6.2%
After ~90 days, I'm settling in to my new role. The friend who clued me in to the job is leaving the area, it's a shame to see him take off. It still feels different, but not weird anymore. I'm hanging on to my TXT (140 shares), we'll see if the new models can spark an uptick. V started their new int'l bond funds (finally), after the target allocations are made, I'll see if we need to buy any more for a 20% stake.
I finally bought some IAU, just for insurance and just a few shares. I'd like to get it to a few thousand then forget about it. But, I'll only buy as it drops. It's almost time to buy some more REITs and int'l equities as well, they're coming off their highs, so I'll watch them. I'm also wanting to buy some KMR when it comes back some. Had a little SQL consult gig in May, to chip in some $$ and keep my SQL knowledge up. I'm due for my first review at the new place (3 months), it should go ok.
No vacation this year, our house needs repairs after a May hailstorm, plus we have medical stuff to do over the summer. Son turned 18 today, wow the last 10 years have flown by. Work support this week has made me even more determined to 'kiss' off IT at 60 and be a Y towel boy :).
Saturday, March 23, 2013
New job.....
Where we're at:
dow: 14512
s&p: 1556
10 yr: 1.91
VIX: 13.57
s&p P/E: 23.27
equity: 35
bond: 32
cash: 33
1yr: 4.7%
I changed jobs in March, opting for (I hope) a bit more long term security. Spouse is having a much better March, the first two months of the year were very slow for her and her company. We'll see how the year goes. So now we're adjusting to a bit less pay, new insurance coverage, and a bit less tax deferred savings, but I think it will be a good trade off. I will continue to watch TXT as I have some shares and I am interested in how the company makes out this year. S&P is still targeting a $39 price, hope they're right, but I don't see it. The biz jet predictions have been too optimistic for 3 years now. The call in April will be interesting.
Shortly before I resigned, our team's manager told us he was leaving for a new IT job with another TXT division. We all knew it was what he was going after when he came on to our team. We'll see how he does. I met the new manager shortly before I left, the team seems to be adjusting to that person, although she left for vacation the first week she was in charge. There have been some rumors of IT staff leaving in Texas, I think some were involuntary. I feel a bit sorry for my peer, it sounds like I will be replaced, but who knows how long that will take and he'll be probably on-call a bit more than before.
I have been in my new job about 2 weeks now, the people have been friendly and the work seems to be what was advertised, but we'll see....
I am waiting for a pullback, before I invest more spouse IRA money, the goal is still to empty her rollover cash into equities, but the market seems too high right now. I like everything else we own, except for some of the TXT stock :)
dow: 14512
s&p: 1556
10 yr: 1.91
VIX: 13.57
s&p P/E: 23.27
equity: 35
bond: 32
cash: 33
1yr: 4.7%
I changed jobs in March, opting for (I hope) a bit more long term security. Spouse is having a much better March, the first two months of the year were very slow for her and her company. We'll see how the year goes. So now we're adjusting to a bit less pay, new insurance coverage, and a bit less tax deferred savings, but I think it will be a good trade off. I will continue to watch TXT as I have some shares and I am interested in how the company makes out this year. S&P is still targeting a $39 price, hope they're right, but I don't see it. The biz jet predictions have been too optimistic for 3 years now. The call in April will be interesting.
Shortly before I resigned, our team's manager told us he was leaving for a new IT job with another TXT division. We all knew it was what he was going after when he came on to our team. We'll see how he does. I met the new manager shortly before I left, the team seems to be adjusting to that person, although she left for vacation the first week she was in charge. There have been some rumors of IT staff leaving in Texas, I think some were involuntary. I feel a bit sorry for my peer, it sounds like I will be replaced, but who knows how long that will take and he'll be probably on-call a bit more than before.
I have been in my new job about 2 weeks now, the people have been friendly and the work seems to be what was advertised, but we'll see....
I am waiting for a pullback, before I invest more spouse IRA money, the goal is still to empty her rollover cash into equities, but the market seems too high right now. I like everything else we own, except for some of the TXT stock :)
Sunday, March 03, 2013
March 2013.....
Where we're at:
Dow: 14089
s&p: 1518.20
10yr: 1.85%
VIX: 15.36
s&p P/E: 23.39
equity: 34
bond: 32
cash: 33
1yr: 4.7%
Well...the sequester happened and the world hasn't ended yet. Not sure what the impact to TXT will be. The stock took a hit on Friday, -1.32%. I remember Scott D. was pretty confident we would not get to this point during the 2012 Q3 call, wonder what he thinks now. Our group manager is off to bigger and better, it is a good move for him and deserved. Not sure what it means for our team. We've been put on notice that our application is not meeting expectations and we have to step up our performance. Spouse is having a rough start this year so far, I think the economy is just holding everyone back (what's new?).
We gave back some gains in February, the AAII index is pulling back as well. People have easily given up their bullish outlook, me I'm waiting to buy again :) I'm learning about technical analysis to take some of the emotion out of when to sell, it is kind of fun, though I still like our holdings. My goal is to invest a chunk of cash in spouse's IRA.
Dow: 14089
s&p: 1518.20
10yr: 1.85%
VIX: 15.36
s&p P/E: 23.39
equity: 34
bond: 32
cash: 33
1yr: 4.7%
Well...the sequester happened and the world hasn't ended yet. Not sure what the impact to TXT will be. The stock took a hit on Friday, -1.32%. I remember Scott D. was pretty confident we would not get to this point during the 2012 Q3 call, wonder what he thinks now. Our group manager is off to bigger and better, it is a good move for him and deserved. Not sure what it means for our team. We've been put on notice that our application is not meeting expectations and we have to step up our performance. Spouse is having a rough start this year so far, I think the economy is just holding everyone back (what's new?).
We gave back some gains in February, the AAII index is pulling back as well. People have easily given up their bullish outlook, me I'm waiting to buy again :) I'm learning about technical analysis to take some of the emotion out of when to sell, it is kind of fun, though I still like our holdings. My goal is to invest a chunk of cash in spouse's IRA.
Saturday, September 08, 2012
more Fed accomodation?
Where we're at:
s&p: 1437.92
dow: 13306.64
10yr: 1.66%
VIX: 14.38
s&p P/E: 23.10
equity: 33%
bond: 30%
cash: 35%
1yr: 5.2%
After the 2nd qtr beat, not sure how the 3rd qtr will be. The macro environment is still 'up in the air' (pun). The public face is positive, CSNA programs our moving along and BH is doing well. My morale is still shaken from the June layoffs, but I can't worry about what I can't control. I'm continuing to increase my visibility and learn new skills. I'm still looking for a work use for Hadoop, but I'm enjoying using it to track the 50 day average of various stocks :) Spouse continues her great year, she knocked it out of the park again in August. Glad LOGM lets her fully fund her 401(k).
The market continued to shake off bad news, probably because the ECB is still publicly backing a wide scale bond buy program. China is expected to ease over the weekend, that may drive the movement early next week. The US market thinks the Fed will continue its ways because of the poor jobs report. I still haven't decided who to vote for in Nov. Whoever will get Congress working again will get my vote and that's probably the repub.
s&p: 1437.92
dow: 13306.64
10yr: 1.66%
VIX: 14.38
s&p P/E: 23.10
equity: 33%
bond: 30%
cash: 35%
1yr: 5.2%
After the 2nd qtr beat, not sure how the 3rd qtr will be. The macro environment is still 'up in the air' (pun). The public face is positive, CSNA programs our moving along and BH is doing well. My morale is still shaken from the June layoffs, but I can't worry about what I can't control. I'm continuing to increase my visibility and learn new skills. I'm still looking for a work use for Hadoop, but I'm enjoying using it to track the 50 day average of various stocks :) Spouse continues her great year, she knocked it out of the park again in August. Glad LOGM lets her fully fund her 401(k).
The market continued to shake off bad news, probably because the ECB is still publicly backing a wide scale bond buy program. China is expected to ease over the weekend, that may drive the movement early next week. The US market thinks the Fed will continue its ways because of the poor jobs report. I still haven't decided who to vote for in Nov. Whoever will get Congress working again will get my vote and that's probably the repub.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Q2 2012...
Where we're at:
DJIA: 12,822.57
s&p: 1362.66
10 yr: 1.46%
s&p P/E: 21.89
VIX: 16.27
equity: 31
bonds: 33
cash: 35
1yr: 2.1%
The TXT earnings call was this week (19). TXT had a good quarter overall, including CSNA. An increase in jet deliveries bumped up earnings and profits vs 2011. Still, the call was cautious, the analysts seemed to be baiting the leadership to increase guidance, but there was nothing doing. It seems prudent given the state of the world economy now. There was also a lot of discussion towards the end about HBC and whether TXT had in interest. Some of the TXT message boards seem comical. The comments complain about the dividend. It appears that these people aren't paying attention. HELLO, TXT has a number of R&D and new programs ramping up simultaneously. The company is not going to raise the dividend AND rollout 3 new airplanes.
Spouse took two trips this month (Boston and Mexico City), she crushed it in June. But July will be a down month because she has been gone. I had my mid-year review, it went ok. I guess since I didn't get canned in June, does it really matter? The offshore team seems to be slacking off since 4 of them were cut, not sure they have much interest in our work anymore. Looking forward to vacation...
DJIA: 12,822.57
s&p: 1362.66
10 yr: 1.46%
s&p P/E: 21.89
VIX: 16.27
equity: 31
bonds: 33
cash: 35
1yr: 2.1%
The TXT earnings call was this week (19). TXT had a good quarter overall, including CSNA. An increase in jet deliveries bumped up earnings and profits vs 2011. Still, the call was cautious, the analysts seemed to be baiting the leadership to increase guidance, but there was nothing doing. It seems prudent given the state of the world economy now. There was also a lot of discussion towards the end about HBC and whether TXT had in interest. Some of the TXT message boards seem comical. The comments complain about the dividend. It appears that these people aren't paying attention. HELLO, TXT has a number of R&D and new programs ramping up simultaneously. The company is not going to raise the dividend AND rollout 3 new airplanes.
Spouse took two trips this month (Boston and Mexico City), she crushed it in June. But July will be a down month because she has been gone. I had my mid-year review, it went ok. I guess since I didn't get canned in June, does it really matter? The offshore team seems to be slacking off since 4 of them were cut, not sure they have much interest in our work anymore. Looking forward to vacation...
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Again!?
Where we're at:
DJIA: 12,880.09
s&p: 1362.16
10 yr: 1.66%
s&p P/E: 21.88
VIX: 17.08
equity: 31
bonds: 33
cash: 35
1yr: .1
Withiut warning, IT had another (4th in 3 years?) reduction, 10 people cut on 06/28. This one 'feels' different though, not just a cost reduction, but the 'business' saying "you people don't add any value, so you are GONE." Several long timers and several who were assigned to a particular project that doesn't seem to be going very well. Also in the month, 4 of the offshore people on my team were cut. They're fine, I'm sure. So, the layoff cloud moves back over and stays in place the rest of this year. I'm not too nervous but I think most people better be looking over their shoulder.
Europe decided to intice people to buy risk assets again on 06/29 by coming up with an agreement to loan money to recapitalize their banks. I rang the register twice this quarter on TXT, just reallocating within the overall portfolio.
DJIA: 12,880.09
s&p: 1362.16
10 yr: 1.66%
s&p P/E: 21.88
VIX: 17.08
equity: 31
bonds: 33
cash: 35
1yr: .1
Withiut warning, IT had another (4th in 3 years?) reduction, 10 people cut on 06/28. This one 'feels' different though, not just a cost reduction, but the 'business' saying "you people don't add any value, so you are GONE." Several long timers and several who were assigned to a particular project that doesn't seem to be going very well. Also in the month, 4 of the offshore people on my team were cut. They're fine, I'm sure. So, the layoff cloud moves back over and stays in place the rest of this year. I'm not too nervous but I think most people better be looking over their shoulder.
Europe decided to intice people to buy risk assets again on 06/29 by coming up with an agreement to loan money to recapitalize their banks. I rang the register twice this quarter on TXT, just reallocating within the overall portfolio.
Friday, May 11, 2012
More Hive fun...
I have been spending time learning Hive using the VM (CentOS) on my laptop. I have loaded a few hundred job logs and begun querying for analysis. I am continuing to meet with the Linux server team to install the Hadoop framework on RHEL. I think they'll have it for me by the end of May.
Next, I'm going to demo Hive to my EDW team and write a M/R wordcount app processing long text we extract from SAP. I'm still trying to build some momentum around the tool.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Using Hive ...
This weekend, I started working on my pilot and I contemplated map reduce vs hive. Since my background includes extensive SQL use, I opted to give hive a try. I loaded 100 log files from our ETL server into hdfs, loaded them using hive, and began running queries to process the data, looking for the longest operation in our transformation operations. While I'll probably need MR for better text parsing, hive is very cool for high level processing.
Next week, I'll discuss installing hadoop on a linux server for a pilot.
Next week, I'll discuss installing hadoop on a linux server for a pilot.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
met with EU team ....
This week I met with the consultant and the EU team to learn about their app and possible uses for Hadoop. I also met with our infrastructure team about installing CDH on a single node Linux server in pseudo-distributed mode for an application idea I have.
The EU team is very excited and thinks they have a use case for the platform. I'm not sure if I'll have the opportunity to participate or if the project will get funded, but I do think I'll get to "show off" Hadoop with my smaller app. I'll update the blog in early April after I meet again with the infrastructure team.
The EU team is very excited and thinks they have a use case for the platform. I'm not sure if I'll have the opportunity to participate or if the project will get funded, but I do think I'll get to "show off" Hadoop with my smaller app. I'll update the blog in early April after I meet again with the infrastructure team.
Saturday, March 03, 2012
Stranger in a strange land .....
I'm starting a new series on my experiences with the Hadoop stack. I attended training and passed the developer cert test in February. The technology is very cool and could potentially extend this gen-X person's IT career by a few years.
My background is RDBMS and various programming languages. I'm not going to write about what Hadoop is, there are already plenty of articles about that. This will be my experiences in trying to learn and stand-up an environment and complete a project with business value.
In our DW, we're starting to collect a large amount of text data from various SAP tables. I'm not sure if any of it is used currently, but this looks like a good place to start. I'll see if I can carve out some space and cycles on one of our servers and create a pseudo-distributed environment.
My background is RDBMS and various programming languages. I'm not going to write about what Hadoop is, there are already plenty of articles about that. This will be my experiences in trying to learn and stand-up an environment and complete a project with business value.
In our DW, we're starting to collect a large amount of text data from various SAP tables. I'm not sure if any of it is used currently, but this looks like a good place to start. I'll see if I can carve out some space and cycles on one of our servers and create a pseudo-distributed environment.
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