2007: Taking stock...

It's amazing, that it's a year ago this month, that I've starting blogging for my own journal, not so much (in fact, not at all) for the world to read, but as a handy reference for myself and my kids some day (if blogger is still around).

Such is a time to look back and look forward at the same time.

I was reading my thoughts from 2006 year end, and how I ditched YouTube. I don't find it particularly interesting still, after a year of watch some clips on and off (but not too often). There are movie trailers that I could have found elsewhere, but the streaming is faster on YouTube, so I don't mind watching them on YouTube. And then, I found almost the whole Walking With Dinosaurs documentary series on YouTube, which the kids love. That's probably the most useful thing I've had with YouTube. Most popular clips, like the "Leave Britney Alone" one, are just plain stupid, though partially entertaining. I bet most people watching it to make themselves feel better (since they definitely are not as stupid as those on the clips). Occasionally, there're some amateurish clips that are interesting enough, like the "Battle at Kruger" one. But, that's all I'll say about YouTube. Commercial value? Ah, it's a joke.

There's much hot air from Facebook opening up its private "network" of users for the world to see, with Facebook Ad and Facebook Beacon getting so much scrutiny that one wonders where the 23-year-old CEO is going to hide when he goes to sleep (if he can still sleep).

There's still more hot air from Google going all out offensive against the supposed Facebook platform, by proposing its "open" platform for social networking. The enemies of my enemy are my friends. Google took that motto to heart, and recruit all Facebook competitors into some alliance to promote this hastily put together competing platform.

And then there's the iPhone (the "unlocked" iPhone?!?) that starts with a bang, and ends with a fizzle (so far).

The biggest news was probably the subprime mortgage crisis that Wall Street cooked up. Talking about the growing gap between the rich and the poor, I'd say, the subprime mess is probably one of the greatest way in nature to redistribute wealth from the richer (general/stupider investors) to the poorer (subprime borrowers). It's pretty impressive to see how fast the mess played out, and how contagious it is, considering that various financial institutions (like Merrill Lynch, Citi, HSBC, among others) had need to announce billions after billions of write-down or write-off completely. But the truly richest will always be ready to buy, considering how sovereign wealth funds from the like of UAE and China have been all too ready to scoop in and "invest."

Looking back, it's good that we're "squeezed" to sell my beloved place in BH in Spring 2006. Not that I need the money, but God has a way of telling me that I shouldn't be holding onto it. So we sold, and the market started leveling, then drifting downwards maybe 3 months after the sale. Of course, when a market turns, it'll very hard to swim against the tide. I'm sure if we had waited for another 6 months, we'd be keeping the place for another 10 years, probably. Not that I mind keeping it. But the sale did free up quite some cash that could have been deployed far better elsewhere.

So, I learnt my lesson, that when the time is good, I should cash out and re-balance the portfolio. Yes, yes, those financial gurus always say this, right? The tricky questions are, when? and, am I ready to let go. When it comes to investing, unlike some of my siblings, I'm never very greedy. I invest in only the things I like. I rarely speculate. It's a good call this time with the sale of the property, incidentally. I'll jog this note in my year-end journal for review, to remind myself of this in the future.

And let go I did too, with my second job that gave me great exposure, experience, and good salary, but contributed to a depreciating quality of life. The same tricky questions in investing apply here as well. I seemed never ready to let go, so I was always delaying the "when" part. But I have a few years of good run, and I'm grateful God has given me this opportunity to broaden my view and boost my esteem (that I really can do it and do them all well).

The new venture goes slower than I have expected it. I got upset when it comes to project management (or rather, the way my husband seems to adjudicate the authority to manage the project by the web designer to deliver the web site in a more timely fashion). But I hope this is God's way to teach me to be a better and more effective communicator, to let him understand my point of view. Life is one big learning process, which can be frustrating but it can be rewarding at the same time.