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8:30 AM Thursday, August 11, 2005: Careers are happy coincidences. I'm struck by how many people who were shopping for space for their offices or their factory ... and decided that real estate was more profitable than their existing business. Nice thing about real estate is you can convert its use, improve it... be creative. Impossible to do that with stocks.

In Boston today, the market for commercial real estate is weak. Hence, big conversions to residential condominiums, or outright sales. There's a big disconnect in real estate today between rents and building prices.

I'm looking at several office syndications -- with potential 3-5 year IRRs of 12% to 15%. Have to be careful. Have to study trends and comps in the local market. Some areas are booming. Some are sick.

Don't watch the tape: A leading mutual fund company rewards its people if they remove the ticker from their computer. Watching your net worth fluctuate second by second, it seems, doesn't help your sanity nor your productivity.

Walt Mossberg loves EverNote: He waxes enthusiastically about it today. I prefer Net Snippets. Both let you clip and save stuff you find on the Internet. My usual warning: Do NOT install software on your main computer. Test it on another. There are three reasons:
First, 95% of the software I test I don't like and will never use.
Second, you can never remove all traces of software you install and then uninstall. Those traces will progressively slow your computer down and down.
Third, most importantly never accept anyone's software recommendation without testing it first.

Surprise. Surprise: An inventory ordered by the governor this year found that the State of California owns 70,000 vehicles. Of those, 30,000 are unaccounted for.

This email is 100% fraudulent: I received it yesterday. It's the best I've ever seen. If I click on the hyperlink "View the details of this transaction online" something bad will happen to me. It will probably try to wriggle my social security number out of me, or worse. I don't know. I haven't clicked and won't.

This is called an OXO soap dispensing kitchen brush: Push the black button and a touch of detergent makes it to your plates. I no longer mind washing my dishes. I've been trained, finally. Thank you OXO. $7. Highly recommended.

The new international symbol for Marriage has just been approved:

He really caught this fish:
"Hi Gang, just returned from Alaska....it is a beautiful land and a wonderful experience....hope all are doing terrific...". David Rhoden, reader.

Priestly Duties:
One Sunday morning, a priest wakes up and decides to go golfing. He calls his boss and says that he feels very sick, and won't be able to go to work.

Way up in heaven, Saint Peter sees all this and asks God, ''Are you really going to let him get away with this?''

''No, I guess not,'' says God.

The priest drives about five to six hours away, so he doesn't bump into anyone he knows. The golf course is empty when he gets there. He takes his first swing, drives the ball 495 yards away and gets a hole in one.

Saint Peter watches in disbelief and asks, '' Why did you let him do that?''

God replies, ''Who's he going to tell?''

Recent column highlights:
+ Manhattan Pharmaceuticals: Click here.
+ NovaDel Biosciences appeals. Click here.
+ Hana Biosciences appeals. Click here.
+ All turned on by biotech. Click here.
+ Steve Jobs Commencement Address. The text is available: Click here. The full audio is available. Click here.
+ The March of the Penguins, an exquisite movie. Click here.
+ When to sell your stocks. Click here.

Harry Newton

This column is about my personal search for the perfect investment. I don't give investment advice. For that you have to be registered with regulatory authorities, which I am not. I am a reporter and an investor. I make my daily column -- Monday through Friday -- freely available for three reasons: Writing is good for sorting things out in my brain. Second, the column is research for a book I'm writing called "In Search of the Perfect Investment." Third, I encourage my readers to send me their ideas, concerns and experiences. That way we can all learn together. My email address is . You can't click on my email address. You have to re-type it . This protects me from software scanning the Internet for email addresses to spam. I have no role in choosing the Google ads. Thus I cannot endorse any, though some look mighty interesting. If you click on a link, Google may send me money. That money will help pay Claire's law school tuition. Read more about Google AdSense, click here and here.
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