Need ideas -- my wife's birthday coming up, what to get her?

Okay my wife's birthday is coming up and I need some gift ideas. And Valentines is not that far either, so I guess I need two gift ideas.

Tips:
1. She likes shopping (as many wives do I think)
2. I don't like giving gift cards. Gift cards are great for friends but when it comes to my wife, I need to give something more personal (and maybe plus a gift card).
3. We don't like jewelry so diamonds are out.

What's been discussed:
1. She likes my PSP and Gameboy micro. So I asked her if she wanted a PSP or a GameBoy DS. She doesn't know and she doesn't think she really has the time to play it.
2. She's wanting a new shelf put in.

What's already understood:
1. I'm already giving her cake and flowers.

Send your emails to me at don ( at ) donsausa.com. If I use your idea, I'll send you this investment book for free.

Apple shares tumbles 6% due to options fraud scandal

Apple is making headlines again, but it isn't about new gadgets.

Justin Scheck reports:

According to people with knowledge of Apple's situation, federal prosecutors are looking closely at stock option administration documents that were apparently falsified by company officials to maximize the profitability of option grants to executives.

The faked documents were revealed in a three-month internal probe — conducted by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges — that concluded in October, said individuals familiar with the case who requested anonymity because it remains the subject of criminal and civil government investigations.

The falsification of documents is perhaps the key issue for government officials trying to determine which of their 100-plus backdating investigations will be pursued as criminal matters and which will be limited to civil SEC inquiries.

Steve Jobs reportedly has hired an independent lawyer to mount a defense against SEC inquiries. Hopefully, this will end soon. Worst case scenario = Jobs quits, Apple gets fined (fines for companies like Apple are like ant bites, the bottom line isn't significantly hurt).

Reduce 2006 taxes by helping Typhoon Durian victims in the Philippines

Over 1,000 people died as Typhoon Durian swept through northern Philippines. They didn't die by the winds. They died being buried alive by the mountains that they thought could protect them from the winds. How did this happen? Nearby mountains became wet and unstable...the end result was an oncoming onslaught of mud and rock wiping out entire villages. See a picture below of a Durian mudslide.



Aid workers on the ground are still trying to recover, with many families separated and children left parentless. One of the first aid groups to respond, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, is currently doing its best to help and assist with volunteers from all over the Philippines. But they need your help!

If you wish to donate to this cause and to also give yourself a reduction in IRS taxes for 2006, click here.

Merry Christmas 2006

I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Hope all of you got what you wanted!

Consumer complains to police - cocaine she bought was not good

This is from Tampa Bay's 10 News. A woman from NC bought crack cocaine and when she tasted it, she complained it wasn't that good. She flags down a deputy at a convenience store, showing him how bad the cocaine was.

Kids, this is what happens when you do drugs. Not only do you lose money, you lose IQ.

HWTHORNE — A North Carolina woman was arrested after complaining to a Putnam County deputy that the crack cocaine she had just purchased wasn't very good.

Eloise Reaves approached the deputy at a convenience store Friday, telling him that another man had sold her 'bad crack,' that contained wax and cocaine.

The 50-year-old woman pulled an alleged crack rock out of her mouth and placed it on the deputy's car for inspection.

The deputy told Reaves that she would be arrested if the crack tested positive for cocaine.

She was charged with possession of cocaine and bonded out for $1,500.

'Pursuit of Happyness' is the best movie of 2006

I don't consider movies as the "best" too often. So take this one seriously. The movie about Chris Gardner, how he went from homeless to success is an inspiring tell-all story of a man who didn't give up even though everybody else was giving up on him. His live-in girlfriend left him as a single parent. His sales job was not paying the bills. Eventually, he was kicked out of his rental home, then kicked out of a motel, and finally found himself on the streets. Yet through this experience, he persevered and looked for a job that would pay well...he was going to be a stock broker, despite the fact that he's barely had any education beyond high school.

Will Smith stepped up as a serious actor in this movie...enough I think to put him for an Oscar nomination. His son made his first film debut. The pair's father and child connection was real which made the movie so much more realistic.

In real life, Chris Gardner was homeless for almost a year, and his child was merely a toddler, not a six year old that could talk and walk. These realistic facts put the movie into a different light. A man who hardly had any education but had the will to go above and beyond his status quo.

It is a clear success story of someone with perseverance. Someone choosing success.

Why we're losing in Iraq (video joke)

The British public, like their American counterparts, is asking themselves...why are we losing in Iraq. See the video below...

Case Study: Why WalMart Lost Sales This November

WalMart today posted a 0.1% decline in sales for November, their first ever decline in nearly 10 years. Stock analysts report WalMart is losing out to Target and other competitors. Below are my observations and perhaps a reason why WalMart lost this round. I've forwarded these observations to their corporate office so they have some feedback on what happened.

My WalMart Experience
I went to my first Black Friday ever -- waking up at 5:00 am to look at the stores in my area. Places I looked at were WalMart, Target, and CompUSA. My main goal was to secure an XBox 360 Premium console, home theather, LCD TV, and a digital picture frame.

WalMart advertised online that they were selling XBox 360 Premium systems for $399 with a free $50 gift card. The ad stated there were at least six consoles per store. Believing that this ad was true, I went to WalMart exactly at 5:00 am and was the second in line for the XBox 360 -- but then the bad news, they didn't have any in stock! The employees and acquisitions manager didn't even know about the promotion.

Suffice to say, I was disappointed at WalMart, one of the most aggressive retailers in the world, known for its ability to be effecient and delivering products to the masses. One of the most important sales days of the year, my local WalMart failed miserably.

My CompUSA Experience
The CompUSA store in my town is relatively new, they've been opened less than two years. After being disappointed at WalMart, I went to CompUSA and asked if they had XBox 360's. My business contact who I usually buy from says he was told there was no more. As I came out disappointed again, another manager overheard what I was saying and said there were two at the back. I waited for a few minutes and finally got my XBox 360! I looked around for other sales but really found nothing -- they apparently opened on Thursday night (Thanksgiving) and sold most of their products. So I went off to Target.

My Target Experience
Target opened at 6:00 AM. An hour after other retailers. This tactic seemed to work because I was able to go to other retailers (WalMart/CompUSA) and still had the time to go to Target. As I parked in the parking lot, there was a huge line of people gathering outside the door. I told myself, "I guess I better wait at 6:15 AM when everyone clears out."

When I finally came in, the whole place was packed, but I was able to move around without any problem. I looked for their sales and for some odd reason they moved all of their electronics that they advertised for sale away from the electronics section. Why? Nobody knows. Perhaps space concerns.

I found one employee who was refilling other inventories and I asked him where the electronics were. He said, "They're in the infants section." And when I looked there, there were LCDs, home theater systems, DVD players, etc. all stacked up. Tons of inventory available!

I bought what I wanted and didn't have to really "fight" for it. They had enough for everyone it seems.

Lessons Learned

1. Target was clearly the winner with my money. They advertised items and they were in stock.

2. CompUSA was in the middle ground. Better communication of what's in stock would help. Still, I was happy to get an XBox 360 from them.

3. WalMart was the clear loser. They didn't get a penny from me because they didn't have what they advertised. Employees and managers also didn't know about the online promotions/advertisements.

Republican-held Congress fails to support seniors, Medicare for seniors capped in 2007

On the eve of the elections, the United States Congress, previously controlled by the Republican party, failed to enact legislation to stop Medicare caps on speech and physical therapy. A person in need of outpatient physical or speech therapy will be severely limited starting January 1st, 2007.

Who are these people in need of physical or speech therapy?

You see, after a serious surgery, you need to rehabilitate. For instance, after a knee surgery, you need to strengthen your muscles, exercise, and other long term treatments to bring it back to full functionality.

Almost 1 out of 7 senior patients require such treatments. People with hip surgeries for instance will take several months to heal. Physical therapy increases the likelihood of functionality and often times reduces the length of time to heal.

What's happening on January 1st, 2007?
On January 1st, 2007, patients will only be allowed $1,700 worth of treatments from outpatient clinics. That means for most patients, 3-4 weeks of treatments and from there, they can no longer go to the clinic. Instead of months to heal and rehab in a specialized facility, they are given weeks.

Why does Congress ignore the elderly?
The problem is, the elderly doesn't make their voices heard. I receive AARP news bulletins and there's even barely a sentence covering this. So often times, they won't know this problem exist until its too late -- when they are on the wheelchair wanting to be able to walk again but they can't because the government won't pay for their rehab. Additionally, due to enormous commitments elsewhere in the world, Congress has to re-allocate its resources from helping its senior citizens.

Well Congress got some drug plans out!
Physical therapy brings someone back to functionality and removes the pain, and often times saves a patient from going to surgery. This means less surgeries and less dependency on pain medication. In other words, Congress limited the ability to fix the pain by therapy and instead supported the drug industry's route which hides the pain (not fix it).

What can I do?
Ask your congressman or senator to support S. 3912/HR 6132, which effectively puts an exception process to therapy caps. Write, call, e-mail, or fax. January 1st, 2007 is coming around the corner.

Dohgirl is born!

As the country turned on election day to choose their new U.S. leaders, a new generation was born. The cutest baby girl in the world was born!

Is sin part of Christianity? Thoughts on Ted Haggard

Rev. Ted Haggard, with a following of roughly 30 million evangelicals, recently admitted that he bought drugs but didn't use it and had massages from a gay man but never had any other type of relationship with the gay man. This admission comes shortly after he stepped down as the pastor and head of his evangelical Christian association.

A man by the name of Mike Jones, announced on the radio that he had a gay relationship with Haggard for over 3 years. He came out out of the "closet" so to speak because he said Haggard was a hypocrite for denouncing homosexuality publicly and campaigning against it. Mike Jones then later failed a polygraph test about having a relationship, with the tester saying that there was some deception in his answers.

Bottom line
1. The reverend denies he had a gay relationship and the gay massager showed deception during a polygraph test. I think you can make your opinion out of that without any problem.

2. The reverend admits to buying drugs but not using it. This is like Clinton saying he did marijuana but never inhaled. This is the problem.

Is hypocrisy and sin part of Christianity? The answer is yes. All men and women have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), meaning all of us have sinned and will continue to sin until Jesus Christ comes back. This is no excuse for breaking laws or sinning, but merely an understanding of our human nature. We have that tendency and propensity to sin. The main difference between Christians and non-Christians is that Christians admit they are sinners, that they cannot get fulfillment from the world and only through Christ. They understand that they cannot save themselves from their own human nature, only through Christ.

So if you're a Christian, how do you respond to this type of scandal? First, Christianity by in large put their faith and their doctrine in Jesus versus any human person. If someone put their faith in Haggard or any earthly leader, they are going to be in a world of hurt. A proper response is one of prayer and forgiveness, to pray for his family and for Mike Jones and also to forgive any party that you might have negative feelings of.

Pray for your leaders, pray for yourselves, and above all, pray for His soon coming.

U.S. troops declare war on Democratic Senator John Kerry

Gotta love the U.S. troops in Iraq, they know how to respond to botched jokes. Source: http://www.drudgereport.com/. Keep up the fight guys!

Democrats show true colors: Kerry suggests U.S. troops uneducated

In a speech to college students, Democratic senator John Kerry tells his audience to try hard in educational opportunities because if you don't, you'll end up in Iraq. If Kerry is a representation of the Democratic party and their attitudes towards the U.S. military (which is the most educated military in the world), you won't find me voting for that party.

In fact, the United States military is considered to be more educated than the general population.

"In summary, we found that, on average, 1999 recruits were more highly educated than the equiv­alent general population, more rural and less urban in origin, and of similar income status."

Source: Heritage Foundation
URL: http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/cda05-08.cfm

Use of mobile phones causes male infertility?

The Cleveland Clinic, a clinic reknown for its fertility studies, have recently released a study that seems to suggest mobile phones as the cause for some cases of male infertility. According to Dr. Agarwal, he found that sperm count, viability, motility and shape declined as mobile phone usage increased.

While some may say that the electromagnetic waves or heat is causing this, there may be another reason that's more common. You see, if a person is on the cell phone for four hours a day or more, more than likely he has:

1. A high stress job, which is known to cause adverse effects to the body
2. A non-physical job, where he is less mobile and doesn't exercise as much

At any rate, further study needs to be done in order to make a conclusive decision on whether cell phones really affect male fertility. But if this study suggest anything, it is our habits and our lifestyles that affect us the most. Get off the phone and do something useful.

Some iPods carry viruses due to Apple's negligence

Apple announced recently that some of the new iPods they released had viruses in them.

Critics claimed this is unlike Apple. They usually have a good process for quality checks. What was disheartening to hear was that Apple blamed their stupidity on Microsoft. This was posted on their web site:

"As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it."

How unfortunate that they blamed Microsoft for their stupidity versus looking at themselves in the mirror. I've learned in life that when you make a mistake, you admit to the problem versus trying to say it's someone else's fault. It'll save you headaches.

At any rate, this was a bad PR blow for Apple. First for not having proper quality checks and for bad sportsmanship. Don't blame others for your mistake. I've had Windows XP since it was released and never had a single virus. It isn't the operating system, it is the user.

Note to Apple marketing execs: Just because you have 1% market share and don't have as many uneducated users, that doesn't mean your operating system is more secure. It just means no viruses are infecting Macs because nobody cares about Macs in the hacker realm. Why would hackers design a virus for 1% of the Internet population?

Sudan genocide continues - Bush might be facing Clinton's Rwanda

Man killed by helicopter gunship burning village.

Man murdered outside of his village.

Village burned down by hostile helicopter gunships.

There is currently inaction in Sudan, because the country refuses to accept UN peacekeepers. The United Nations does not want to impose on the country that's killing its citizens.

Come on people! Wake up. We have people dying every day because of killings, diseases, etc. The country of Sudan is a shameful example of what happens when an Islamic government (church and state) takes power. It is a killing machine.

Here is one of the African Union's pictures regarding Sudan's violations of the cease fire. The photographer is an ex-US Marine (Brian Steidle) who's quite saddened that he couldn't fight people that was killing civilians. All he had was a camera and a pen.

What Can You Do?
Write to your politicians! Don't let Sudan become another Rwanda. Let people know that you care. Write letters to newspaper editors and TV broadcast stations -- make them cover this and put it in front of the media.

Support S. 3912/HR 6132 - extension of Medicare therapy caps

Contact your congressman and senator to support S. 3912/HR. 6132.

It's important that we support our disabled and senior Americans out there in whatever way possible. The following bills in the Senate and House just does that by allowing exceptions to Medicare caps for physical therapy and speech therapy.

In the past, disabled citizens and seniors would not be able to go to outpatient rehabs after they exhaust $1,800 worth of Medicare benefits. What that translates to is a person recovering from a stroke or a patient with major hip surgery can only go for about two months and after that, despite not being well or fully functional, they are no longer allowed to come back to the clinic.

I believe this is an injustice, especially for folks that have paid their Medicare benefits since the day they started working. Secondly, I don't believe in socialistic policies for people that are able to work; however, we as a people should do our best to support and protect those that are not able to fend for themselves.

Tony Blair: The world's best statesman gives his retirement speech

If you thought the U.S. Congress was a tough place to debate at, you should see the British Parliament. Politics in Britain mirrors much like the United States, except their debates are quite fierce and often times, quite loud. But out of all of the confusion that comes from Britain's legislative body, there is one man that has always been a cut above the rest - Tony Blair.

Blair's achievements during his tenure as prime minister is a long one, so I'll highlight some big ones that dramatically pushed Britain into the 21st century as a viable power in the world stage:

* A Human Rights Act was introduced in 1998
* a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly were set up
* Most hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords in 1999
* The Greater London Authority and the post of Mayor of London were established in 2000
* The Freedom of Information Act was passed later in the same year
* Leading out in the Kosovo War against Milosevic
* Helping topple Saddam Hussein
* Olympics awarded to London in 2012

His close ties with the United States has earned him praise and criticisms, but in the end, he is known for someone that stands by his convictions and believes in doing the right thing even if it is unpopular. He has helped topple two dictators that have committed genocide -- that's already an achievement for a lifetime.

Clinton get's angry when asked why he didn't kill Bin Laden

This is the first 20 minutes of Bill Clinton’s interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. In this clip, Wallace asks Clinton why he didn’t do more to capture or kill Osama bin Laden while he was in office. Clinton clearly feels like he has been set up and doesn’t hold back in telling Wallace just how he feels. He definitely feels guilty. Full transcript here: http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/24/fox-clinton-interview-part-1-osama-bin-

Chavez's anti-US comments unite Republicans and Democrats

Venenzuela dictator Hugo Chavez with Cuban dictator Castro

The White House's lack of response against Chavez's anti-US remarks during a UN session was appropriate. But I was surprised to hear that people across the U.S. political platform denounce Chavez, not only Republicans but Democrats. I welcome anytime both of these parties actually agree on something and it is for the good of the people.

What Chavez said

Chavez called Bush "the devil" and went on to say unfounded allegations that the United States tried to start an uprising in his country. The State Department conducted its investigation and found completely the opposite. The United States tried to WARN Chavez of impending coup attempts and his government would always pridefully say, "Yeah we know."

It's one thing to attack the policy of a government but another to attack people personally. As a nation, we must take pride in the Office of the President. The president has responsibilities, but has privileges, and one of those privileges is respect for his office.

As an American, I'm insulted by Chavez' remarks, calling our president the "devil". And I'm equally impressed with the White House's silence, the turn-the-other-cheek approach which makes Chavez looks like the only devil on the platform.

Democrats and Republicans unite

Democrat Congressman Charles Rangel said this about Hugo Chavez, "I just want to make it abundantly clear to Hugo Chavez or any other president - don't come to the United States and think because we have problems with our president that any foreigner can come to our country and not think that Americans do not feel offended when you offend our Chief of State...any demeaning public attack against him is viewed by Republicans and Democrats, and all Americans, as an attack on all of us."

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, said, "He fancies himself as a modern day Simon Bolivar, but all he is an everyday thug."

"I think Chavez would be much more effective if he would say something that's true," Mr. Clinton said on CNN. "You know, to me, that would be a much cleverer thing for him to do, where he'd really be doing something good, and he could say, 'I disagree with President Bush,' instead of calling him the devil."

I guess we could say thank you Mr. Chavez. You actually helped find an issue that our nation can unite against...YOU!