Where will we fight next?

I have no idea why the Ed Center was pushing me to learn Urdu and Hindi, it seems like Korean, Arabic and Farsi are far more likely to be useful over the next 2 decades.

The Secret Billionaire That Never Was

Chuck Feeney is an amazing man, one who truly lives by the saying "You can't take it with you", or better yet, a Gaelic proverb which he is fond of, "There are no pockets in a shroud."

Which reminds me, if you work for the federal government, Combined Federal Campaign really is a great way to give back to the people. There are more than 10,000 participating charities of all kinds, and you can find the listing here, complete with a short blurb on what they are about, how much of your donation goes toward operating expenses, etc.

Prosper Risk Analysis: 4 months later

While I was bored in Pueblo, I posted some graphs showing the historical risks associated with Prosper.com loans vs. various parameters. Here's the latest, with data pulled from LendingStats.com. These are all the loans from the inception of Prosper and thus not a snapshot of the conditions now. Compared with the last analysis, there's a general rise in risk levels across the board. Of course, the percentage of Defaulted loans would be higher since the delinquent loans a few months ago became defaulted over time. Use these to modify your search criteria when choosing which loans to bid; my preferences are below.

Disclaimer: I'm doing this mainly for investment, and my comments reflect that. Even though Prosper.com contains an element of people helping people (something that drew me to the site in the first place), I can't be too liberal with my small amount of income, especially after my first and only (so far) default with a high risk loan. The performance of my portfolio can be found here.

I used to search anywhere from AA-D, but now I generally invest in AA-B grade loans now only.

Lower DTI ratio loans are still risky, but notice the higher risk of higher DTI compared with the last analysis. Now I'd probably limit my search to somewhere between 20 to 40, which could substantially limit my options.

Sorry for the lack of title. This is the loan amount chart (of course you were smart enough to figure that out!). It used to be that the higher the amount, the safer the investment, but no longer. I'm thinking $10k to $20k as my new param.

Again, always, always, always bid only those loans with account verified. If some newbie borrower hasn't done it yet, use the Q&A feature to let them know that they should, for everyone's benefit.

This parameter used to not concern me, but now with the risk levels rising all over, I just might start limiting my bids to homeowners. After all, that's a collateral you can count on for small Prosper loans.

Auto-fund means that the loan closes as soon as the amount of bids equals the amount requested; it's for desperate people who can't wait another few days: dangerous investments.

UPT: Phase I (The Fun Parts)

When you see pilots hanging off a parachute, they never tell you how much it hurts the nether regions.

Pretty smug before being dragged by a truck to 150 feet. And then fall to the ground.

Pull that ejection handle....and the sounds of a toilet flushing comes on. The best of Air Force training technology.

Nika watched helplessly as they took us up to 35000 feet pressure altitude. And then we took our masks off.
It's like being drunk, within 5 seconds. But no hangover!

Better healthcare in Cuba? Not so fast...

It's not the main point of this article, but semi-capitalist America remains a much freakin' better place to live.

Another Place, Another Summary II

I wouldn't really count our living arrangements in Cal City as "having our own place" because we were hardly there to own it. Laughlin is different, we got assigned our own house, and except for Xmas/New Year's break and maybe Thanksgiving, we are stuck here in our shweet new home.

My name is above the front door, how tacky awesome is that!

We did our best decorating minimalistically. Gotta thank a few people for the dining room. Thanks to Brian for the table and chairs. Thanks to Shannon and Maxim for the adorable salt and pepper shakers on center display. And thanks to Yan for the bottle of Armenian Kognak.

I don't know if this wall in my study was meant to encourage me or scare the rest of you. That condemned G-suit has my name on it, and no, you can't borrow it for next Friday night.

No more of Andy's handcrafted nasty-ass projector stand. My seat is beneath Darth Vader. Recognize.

Despite the spartan furnishings, we do still get visitors from time to time.

Another Place, Another Summary I

From California to Texas, this PCS was definitely my longest road trip ever. 3 weeks and 3 states later, I finally have time to blog about it. I prefer letting the pictures do the talking.

Disclaimer: Practicing photography while driving is highly awesome, and should only be done by awesome people. If you suck in general and at driving in particular, don't be stupid.

Hyeah, it really was hot outside.

Cacti!

Storms are always beautiful.

The Open Road.

A quick stop at Fort Bliss in El Paso. The Army is just...different.

Who knew that Texas is a scenic state?