Harry Newton's In Search of The Perfect Investment
Technology Investor. Harry Newton
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9:00
AM EST, Tuesday, August 25, 2009: We finally ended in Beaver Creek,
Colorado. We're borrowing a friend's house. It's "Shoulder Season"
here -- between summer and winter. There are no tourists, no residents, in fact,
nobody. In every shop we visited, we were the only shoppers. We were greeted
occasionally with "May I help you?" To which the answer is
an obvious, "No." Not one seller tried to sell us anything, as in,
"This is breakthrough material. This is really nice because... This
will look great on you."
The recession
has slammed a body blow at high-end, pricey resort towns. One jeweler shopkeeper
admitted it was the worst year he'd ever seen. He was measuring success by having
one sale a day. He hadn't had one when I visited around 6 PM.
The lesson is
simple:You are the master of your own destiny. Selling is not a dirty
word. Having a Sale will bring in needed revenue. As the jeweler said, "Everything's
on sale. What am I gong to do with this inventory? Take it home? Eat it?"
Traveling by road
in the west is a genuine joy. The Rocky Mountain National Park is a particular
joy. No photo can do justice to this park.
This is but one
incredible view. You climb this road to over 12,000 feet. You can see bits of
the road. The road was built in the early 1930s by Washington and has been enjoyed
by millions of people ever since. Would you rather have this road or Cash
For Clunkers? It makes you wonder whatever happened to our imagination.
Travels broadens
the mind. Speak to the people and you learn there's more to life than figuring
the perfect investment. It may be traveling form Bangor, Maine in a much-loved
car:
These guys were big Red Sox fans. I hope their investments are doing better.
Some things I
learned from the few days of traveling.
Hotels look good
on the Internet and in guidebooks. But, the reality often stinks. We found our
best hotels by stumbling on them. We have a recession, so there are plenty of
vacancies.
GPS systems are
a disaster for tourism. The one option they never offer is "most scenic."
The systems have their own minds. Google Maps figured 129 miles for one short
hop. Delorme Street Atlas figured 109 miles for the same trip. The person who
designed Hertz's NeverLost system should be boiled in oil. Hands down it wins
least user friendly. Susan and I argued whether it was most irritating (her
view) or most insulting of the intelligence (my view). In the end, we agreed
it was both. Don't ever pay for it. Take your own Garmin.
No wonder our
healthcare costs are skyrocketing. Everyone is getting fat.
This lady was
my favorite. Maybe she's never heard of diabetes and heart disease?
On all our travels, we didn't see any fat old people. I guess they're all in
hospital enjoying our health care.
Portion control
is the big problem. Portions out west are huge.
This is a cheeseburger I ordered. Note how the patty is too large for the plate.
The west is alive
with motorcycles . Most are Harleys, which are noisy and shake -- allegedly
their great charm.
No one in Colorado wears a helmet. Good for health care.
A new friend has
a Honda Valkyrie. It has six cylinders and will easily do 165 MPH.
The touring Hondas are so heavy, most come with a reverse gear, i.e. they will
go backwards.
It's good to smell
the flowers. Or at least appreciate them.
All taken with
my Canon G10 and all handheld. The G10 has manual focus which is really useful.
P.S. STEC keeps
going up. It will pay for our little vacation.
Traveling
in Wales,
On a beautiful summer's day, two American tourists were driving through
Wales.
At Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogoch
they stopped for lunch, and one of the tourists asked the waitress, 'Before
we order, I wonder if you could settle an argument for us. Can you pronounce
where we are, very, very, very slowly?'
The girl leaned
over and slowly said, 'Burrr gurrr king'.
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 on this site. Thus I cannot endorse, though some look interesting.
If you click on a link, Google may send me money. Please note I'm not suggesting
you do. That money, if there is any, may help pay Michael's business school
tuition. Read more about Google AdSense, click
here and here.
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