In Search of the Perfect Investment

Stocks for new-born Sophie Newton Maloney, courtesy my wonderful readers:

Nike, Disney, Facebook, Apple,  Google, JNJ (for the bandaids she’ll use), NSRGF (Nestle which owns Gerber), MBLY (Mobileye), BA, HON, 13 Canadian Maple Leaf 1-oz. gold coins, held in a Canadian bank’s safety deposit box, BRKB, IBB (IShares Nasdaq biotech), SDRL, RIG, VZ and T, WOOD (IShares Global Timber and Forestry), ESRX (Express Scripts Holding Company), BBT (BB and T Corporation), HCP, OHI (Omega Healthcare Investment), O (Realty Income Corporation), NNN (National Retail Properties), BX and KKR, ETF (Aberdeen Emerging Markets Smaller Company Oppotunities Fund), WDIV, MON (Monsanto), SYT (Syngenta).

Writes my friend Steve:

As a history, my mom was the first creative (ie artist) woman to work at Disney.   She designed street characters for Pinocchio, also worked on Dumbo, and fantasia.  My father (also a famous annimator….worked on Peanuts for example….if you ever see Snoopy really playing tennis in the specials or Metlife commercials…that was his work..) became the president of the Screen Cartoonist Guild back in the 30’s and fought Disney as Disney tried to bust the unions.

The story goes that my mom insisted on buying 100 shares of Disney back in the late 40’s or 50’s.   As of 3 yrs ago, when my father passed, it had split into 4500 shares…

1. The key with the Internet is having complex passwords and never having the same ones. This makes remembering them difficult. PC World, the magazine, suggests Keepass Password Safe as a password manager. Click here. I don’t use a password manager at present, but probably should. I keep all my passwords in a text file — less safe than a password manager. Paranoia is good, but time consuming.

2. ESPN is carrying the US Tennis Open, which has started. You can also pick up a free iPhone app, US Open 2014, which gives you scores and schedules:

3. Yapta Alerts You to a Cheaper Airfare in Time to Rebook Your Flight. Even After Cancellation Fees, Travelers Say They Save by Buying a New Ticket at a Lower Price. From The Wall Street Journal. Click here.

The Service Dog racquet.
If I take a pet on JetBlue, it’s $100 and I get frequent flyer points. If I take a Service Dog” on JetBlue, it’s free. You can buy these $39.95 vests on the Internet. They come in all sizes, including very small.

This is me and Rosie last night awaiting our JetBlue plane to Boston to go visit Sophie, our new grandchild.

I’m not an outdoor nut. But I did enjoy my rafting trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, run by a company called OARS. Here are three photos taken on an OARS trip by photographer Justin Bailie. If the pictures are too big for your iPhone or iPad, click on them once.

OARS tells me they still have spaces on trips this summer. Take the kids. Click here.

Irish golf
On a golf tour in Ireland, Phil Mickelson drives his Mercedes into a petrol station in a remote part of the Irish countryside. The pump attendant, obviously knows nothing about golf, greets him in a typical Irish manner completely unaware of who the golfing pro is.

“Top of the mornin’ to yer, sir” says the attendant.

Phil nods a quick “hello” and bends forward to pick up the nozzle. As he does, two tees fall out of his shirt pocket onto the ground.

“What are those?”, asks the attendant.

“They’re called tees” replies Phil.

“Well, what on the god’s earth are dey for?” inquires the Irishman.

“They’re for resting my balls on when I’m driving”, says Phil.

“Jaysus”, says the Irishman, “Mercedes thinks of everything. “

Harry Newton, who walked around Boston’s Beacon Hill at 6:30 this morning. It truly is a wonderful place, wonderfully similar to many parts of Europe I love. Sophie is doing well, eating every 90 minutes. What a convenient schedule for her mother, my daughter!