The SoapBoxers

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Johnny's new house?

Johnny Is Leaving!

Normally I write sports related articles but this week I am taking a different twist on things, and I might continue to do so in the upcoming month.

This week – it is exciting times.

Johnny Goodman is leaving……his existing home and moving into a brand spanking new one.

Now don’t hold your breath, I am not leaving the Soap Boxers – (I know, all of you were crushed momentarily there weren’t you) – my family is building a new home.

I approached Kosmo about the idea of writing about building our home as I could see it be a case where some people could read along, ask questions, and maybe gain an idea or two along the way if they are building a home someday.

I will try not to get too detailed as there are books that can beat this subject to death, but at the same time I will give you a little bit of insight as to how it is all working out for me in our situation of building a home.

I’ve Kind of done this before, but….

I have been moved a few times by the company I work for and I can tell you this is a benefit of working for a large, national company. Selling and buying your house is easy, they take care of a lot of the “junk” including moving your things. It really is pretty seamless and a fast process as the company wants you to be up and running and established at your new location and focused on working.

This is a whole new venture for Mrs. Goodman and I. Building a new home is much different than buying an existing one. There are lots of things to consider.

We have been considering this for some time as we had already picked out the neighborhood, liked the location and the amenities, the schools, pretty much everything about it.

I am sure this is a difficult decision for most people when they are looking to build the house. Location. For us, that was one of the easier parts of the process.

Once we decided to actually build, the next thing to do was to choose a lot. The development area we are in has lots all for sale, and then once you have selected the lot, you have basically 6 months to get your building going. The nice thing here is that all lots are available – until they are sold to a private party for building a home – and are not owned by individual builders. We found a nice walk out ranch corner lot, that offered a lot of square footage for the price comparable to other lots that were available so the choice was pretty easy.

At this point you pretty much need to get your builder selected (unless of course you did that prior to purchasing the lot) We did both of these things about at the same time. We had looked at some houses that were constructed by the builder that we ultimately chose because we liked a lot of the design characteristics and features and the quality of work that they have done in the past.

We are working with a builder that has a fabulous and experienced architect as part of the business. One of the benefits of this is we have been able to take the builder some of the ideas, and then he can quickly put them to paper. The bad news is he can quickly put them to paper.

The Wheels are Turning

Mrs. Goodman and I have been grinding over “slight” revisions to the plan – add a few feet here, take away a few here, add a door here, remove another one here…all in attempts to stay close to our budget.

We both know that we will likely go over budget (as that is what we always hear from everyone we talk to) so we are trying to stay close to it as possible out of the gate.

We hope to have the floor plans finalized and the 3-demensions CAD drawings which will also show what the exterior of the home will look like from all angles done in the next few days. In the meaning, this means lots of nights of little sleep, as my brain continuously works overtime thinking about house plans and options when I call it a night.

Here is hoping that picking out color schemes, cabinets, faucets and countertops down the road will be easier.

Have questions about building a home for the first time?– ASK!

I will periodically give some insight to the process as we go through our house construction. In the meantime, if you are reading along and have any questions of me, feel free to post them and I will give you my honest opinion of how it has been for my wife and I during our construction of our home.

Until next time, Stay Classy Churchill Downs, Kentucky.

Jimmy Buffett, thinking about taxes.

Back in February, my friend Lazy Man discussed the different tax rates paid by the Brothers Buffett. The gist is that Jimmy gets hammered with a 35% tax rate on his earnings, while Warren wheels and deals his way to a rate near 15%, due to the majority of his income coming from capital gains. There was some lively discussion on the matter. One assertion was that Warren was actually paying a higher tax rate than Jimmy, as the companies owned by Warren had already paid corporate income taxes, essentially paying taxes on behalf of owners like Warren Buffett. Add this rate to the individual tax rate of Warren, and he pays a higher rate than Jimmy.

Sometimes capital gains results in double taxation

I’ll concede the point that sometimes a capital gain does result in double taxation. If the capital gain results from the corporate earnings that have accrued over time, then the capital gain would indeed be double taxation.

Should we feel sorry for people who find themselves doubly taxed as a result? I don’t. Why not? Because there are several ownership types other than a C-Corporation (the “normal” type of corporation). Partnerships and even S-Corporations (small corporations) only file informational tax returns, with each owner being personally responsible for taxes on their share of earnings. If two people each have 50% ownership in a partnership that has a profit of $100,000, then each partner has $50,000 in income as a result. The earnings are taxed only at the individual level, resulting in single taxation. Companies that form C-Corporations volunteer for double taxation as a result of opting for that form of ownership – they aren’t forced into it.

Why, you ask, would anyone form a C-Corp, then? Because there are a lot of other advantages, such as the ability to easily buy and sell an ownership stake. Sometimes factors other than taxes can form the foundation for a sound business decision.

Sometimes capital gains aren’t double taxation

Amazon.com was incorporated in 1994 but did not make a profit until 2001. During this time, the company was growing and increasing market share – but losing money. Effectively, taxpayers were subsidizing the growth through tax refunds and net operating loss carryforwards. If you combine capital gains taxes with a shareholder’s proportional share of corporate taxes – exactly what is being proposed by others as the “correct” way to calculate an individual’s tax rate – the rate is effectively LOWER than the capital gains rate.

Amazon’s seven year odyssey to profitability is a somewhat extreme example, but it’s not uncommon for companies to lose money during the first few years.

Even for companies that are profitable, the gain on a sale will often exceed what you’d expect based on the accumulated profits of the company. Why? Because people are buying the promise of future earnings. Obviously, these earnings haven’t been taxed at the corporate level (they haven’t even been earned yet), so there’s clearly no double taxation for the portion of capital gains that relates to expected future earnings.

It’s not all about stock

While people tend to get locked into the mindset that all capital gains are related to the sales of stock, this isn’t the case. There are a variety of assets that can generate capital gains. Some are income-producing assets (farmland), but some are not. That gold nugget or T-206 Honus Wagner card don’t generate any income, but they do generate a capital gain when sold. There’s definitely no double taxation when you sell non-income generating assets.

Photo: #1 overall pick Andrew Luck.

Last night was the first night of the NFL draft. It was one of the more exciting drafts in some time, and also seemed to move along fairly quickly for a change.

One thing was for certain last night, there was more moving going on than a NASCAR race.

I cannot remember a first rounds chock full of trade after trade after trade. I am sure the new rookie contract caps that are in place were the reason for creating so much action last night. Teams are not going to leverage hundreds of millions of dollars on some of those early picks, which has been the case in the past.

Overall I would not call this a very strong draft in terms of depth of talent. I could be wrong but as with most drafts, it really takes a few years for this to all pan out and realize which players turned out to be as advertised and which ones simply did not pan out at all.

Is Ryan Tannehill overrated?

Minnesota did a good job of gaining some extra picks by moving down in the draft. They had various people hit them up for the services of drafting Trent Richardson, but eventually the Browns offered the best deal and go his services. No way were the Vikings going to chase out a guy to replace Adrian Peterson at this time, even though he did have a season ending knee injury last year? Are Vikes fans wishing they WOULD have taken Richardson anyway?

The pick I like the least is Ryan Tannehill to the Dolphins. I am not sold at ALL on Tannehill. I saw him play against Nebraska, and frankly he didn’t look that good, unless you want him to complete 2 yard out routes. All I hear is how great his arm is blah blah blah…All I see is how many games A&M lost in the last two years that they were in control of…..so if he is THAT good, shouldn’t he be leading them to wins as their quarterback?

Morris Claiborne went 6th overall to Dallas.

I like Dallas’s pick (Morris Claiborne) as for the loyal Cowboy fans that means that they can finally quit complaining about Terrence Newman. Why the heck the Cowboys kept that guy around as long as they did is beyond me. All he did was get schooled on a regular basis and give up huge yards to opposing receivers.

The pick I don’t like is Brandon Weeden to the Browns. The Browns keep swinging and missing on getting their quarterback (where have you gone Brian Sipe) Weeden is old, and is reminds me more of Chris Weinke than Roger Stabauch coming into the league as an old QB.

Should be much more excitement in the next two rounds…..until next time….Stay Classy Radio City Music Hall!
 

 

Only one GOP candidate will reach the finish line.

Well folks if it was already pretty much clear after Rick Santorum decided his cause was not worth it after all and called it quits, the results from Tuesday’s primaries made it resoundingly clear that the General Election has arrived. Yippie! Well not really, for me at least. I am now kind of burnt out and disappointed in the whole thing. Without anyone that matter campaigning against him Romney swept the primaries on Tuesday and made it clear that he will get to that magical number of delegates at some point to claim the nomination officially – something that would have been more difficult had Santorum stayed in the race. Sure he still would have had the most delegates and Santorum was never going to get to that point before the convention either, but that is what made it so entertaining. The convention was going to be actually worth paying attention to, now it will just be the standard rubber stamped coronation of the nominee.

So now its time to move on to the next thing to talk about. Who will Romney choose to be his running mate? It is really to early to tell and tons of names get thrown around on a daily basis, but one thing is abundantly clear is that it will be someone well to the right of Romney. Whoever it is I just want it to get announced soon so we have all the players in the General Election revealed and I can start caring about following things again.

And now for the Bad Nuts of the Month, in no particular order…

Rep. Allen West

Does Allen West want a McCarthy-era witch hunt?

Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party? Florida Congressman Allen West seems to think many members of the Democratic party in Congress are. Earlier this month at a town hall meeting, West asserted that he has heard that at 78-81 Democrats in Congress are members of the Communist party. 81! Now why does that number sound familiar to me. Oh yeah it’s the same number that the guy he is trying to copy with this insanity, Joseph McCarthy said were loyalty risks in the State Department in 1950. Welcome to the return of McCarthyism! Next thing you know we are going to hear that the master of pointless Congressional hearings, Darrell Issa is going to do a remake of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

It’s the age old tactic of the Republican Party, fear, brought back in its vintage Cold War wrapping. The assertion is quite absurd, but then again so is the Republican Party. Calling anyone who is progressive a Communist is like calling members of the Tea Party a Nazi, a hard core conservative a Fascist or saying that all evangelical Christians wanting to bring about a theocracy. Did West give any names, or say who he heard this from? Of course not. Like most Republicans these days, West doesn’t worry about those troublesome things called facts.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant

This week on a radio interview discussion on the TRAP (Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers) bill he said the following referring to everyone on the left. “Their one mission in life is to abort children, is to kill children in the womb.” Actually if I did have a mission in life it would be to not have vile pieces of trash like you in political office. As far as abortion goes I just support CHOICE. It’s not my choice, but it’s also not my position to put my own choice upon others.

Brian Fischer

The American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer is going berserk over Mitt Romney choosing an openly gay man as his foreign policy and national security spokesman. Stating that “Gay men have hundreds, if not thousands, of random, frequent, and anonymous sexual encounters and that becomes a significant issue when we’re talking about appointing somebody to a post as sensitive as a spokesman for national security and foreign policy” and then going on to correlate this selection with the Secret Service prostitution fiasco and calling for him to fire his spokesman to “contain the collateral damage from this spectacularly misbegotten decision”

Jake Varner (red) will represent the United States in the 96 kg freestyle class.

Why Iowa City?

This year’s US Olympic Wrestling Trials were held in Iowa City, where I live. For those unfamiliar with the sport of wrestling, this may seem like an odd choice. To those who are familiar with wrestling, it probably seems very logical. The University of Iowa – located in Iowa City – has been a dominant force in collegiate wrestling since the mid 1970s. Since 1975, they have won 23 national titles, fifteen of them by wrestling icon Dan Gable.

And the University of Iowa isn’t the only program in the state. Intrastate rival Iowa State (my alma mater) has won eight national titles. Additionally, two of the greatest collegiate wrestlers in history – Gable and current Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson – wrestled for the Cyclones. Suffice it to say that wrestling is far more popular in Iowa than in most other states.

Oddly, Iowa City had never hosted the Olympic Trials before. When the location was announced, many expected the 2012 Trials to break the attendance record. The record was 9434 set in Dallas at the final session in 2000. Session 3 set the all-time record with 13,784 fans. The other three sessions all drew at least 13,500 fans. The record wasn’t simply broken, it was obliterated.

Kosmo is in the house!

I’m a casual fan, but I love the Olympics, and this seemed like a chance to attend a very cool event. My wife agreed to watch the kids on Saturday while I attended session 1. The kids were already up when I left the house at 7:15. I got to Carver Hawkeye Arena, scored a good parking spot, and bought a single session ticket for $20. Fifteen minutes later, the doors open and the crowd entered. I bought a t-shirt and found my way to my seat. it wasn’t a great seat, but the view wasn’t too bad, considering that I bought a ticket at the last moment.

I also bought a program so that I could figured out what was going one. The weight classes had been split into two days. In the first session each day, there would be a “challenge tournament”, with the top two wrestlers at each weight advancing to the night session. In the night sessions, the top two wrestlers would face off in a best-of-3-matches contest, with matches at least a half hour apart. Wrestlers who had done particularly well in international competition were given automatic berths in the championship round.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere was very cool – lots of excitement in the air. It was also cool to see wrestlers who weren’t part of the first session milling around the arena. 2008 Olympian Dremiel Byers (who would end up as the Trials champion in the 120 kg Greco-Roman class this year as well) showed a woman to a seat in my row (more about her later).

When the matches started, it was pretty crazy. There were 148 matches scheduled for the session, which was slated to run between 9 AM and 3 PM. There were four mats being used, and the action was fast and furious, with one match beginning quickly after another ended. To add to the craziness, there were men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle, and men’s Greco-Roman matches all occurring at the same time. Although I’ve watched wrestling on TV before (yeah, college wrestling and the high school state tournament is televised here), I had never actually been to a live event before. So it took some time to get my bearings.

Iris Smith (red) in 2005 photo.

About a half hour into the event, the woman next to me casually mentioned that her daughter had wrestled earlier. The woman had been cheering someone in nearly every match (or so it seemed) and I had no idea one of them was her daughter (Iris Smith, 2005 World Champion at 72 kg). from that point on, our little section cheered for Iris (who, sadly, finished third in her weight class, much to our disappointment). We saw a former world champion and member of the US Army who had a rooting section of one person – and we felt that she deserved more fans. Smith’s mom was very classy in her rooting style – not a bad word about any of the other wrestlers.

I spent some time getting to know Iris’s mom. She was very impressed by the turnout, and she discussed some of the events she had been to over the years. Also, she told me to avoid the New York New York casino in Vegas, because the slots didn’t pay very well. In turn, I shared my knowledge of Iowa with her. At one point, she turned to me and asked “what year are you in college?”. I turn 37 next month, so I took this as a compliment.

The action

My favorite bout of the session was former Iowa State wrestler Trent Paulson facing Kyle Dake at 74 kg freestyle. Dake had won the second period in overtime by carrying Paulson out of bounds for the one point. It was a quick move and Paulson couldn’t reaction. It would have seemed that Dake had all the momentum – but then Paulson came out and dominated in the third session to win the match. The crowd’s response was one of the loudest of the session … for a guy who had wrestled collegiately for a big rival.

The guy who impressed me the most in session one, though, was Tommy Rowlands in the 96 kg class. Rowlands had been a two time national champion for Ohio State at heavyweight, but had since dropped down to the 96 kg freestyle class. Rowlands absolutely steamrolled is way through the early session on Saturday, allowing just two points to be scored against him in three matches (while scoring 22 points himself). I’m definitely a novice fan, but Rowlands caught my eye time and time again.

When the first session ended, it was time for me to go – but the Trials continued. My favorite moment of the Trials was one that I didn’t see – when the previously dominant Rowlands fell to former Iowa State wrestler (and 2011 world bronze medalist) Jake Varner in the finals at 96 kg. We had a chance to have two Cyclone wrestlers on the team, but Travis Paulson (twin brother of the aforementioned Trent) lost in the finals at 84 kg.

CAPTION: Did Saints GM Loomis eavesdrop on opposing teams?

We knew that Saints liked to play dirty, we just did not know how dirty or deep this really went.

We can remember the cheap shots, the late hits and Bret Favre getting tossed around like a rag doll in a playoff game just two years ago. Amazingly, the NFL, known for being “ultra-protective” of their quarterbacks, had an officiating crew that apparently forgot they were carrying flags and whistles in that game.

Fast forward to 2012. Former Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams is found to have been running a bounty scheme in the locker room. Some players spoke up about this “anonymously” An investigation had actually been going on since 2010 when the league was asked to looked into some actions during playoff games going back into the 2009-2010 season.

Roger Goodell is known for his iron fist. He tries to run a league that is not only clean, but holds players to a higher standard. Goodell makes the players accountable for their actions and tries to keep the image of the League that of respectability. His initial punishments were swift.

Gregg Williams, now a defensive coordinator with the Rams, was suspended indefinitely and will not be allowed to apply for reinstatement until the end of the 2012 season at the earliest.

Sean Payton, the head coach, was suspended for the entire 2012 season, effective April 1. He is the first head coach in modern NFL history to be suspended for any reason. Mainly due to his inability to have control over what was happening on his staff with the “bounty scheme”.

General manager Mickey Loomis was also suspended for the first eight games of the 2012 season.

And now Loomis is making headlines again, and once again for bad reasons.

An ESPN OUTSIDE THE LINES report has claimed that Loomis had an electronic device or devices in his suite at the Superdome that would allow him to listen to the conversations of visiting coachers during the 2002-2003 and 2004 seasons

This investigation is in its infant stages, but this further tarnishes the golden helmets and the reputation of a franchise that has long been the laughing stock of the NFL. Known by such monikers as the “aint’s” New Orleans rose from the flooding and devastation during Hurricane Katrina to bring the first major sports championship to the city that needed a boost in the arm after suffering through a horrendous set of circumstances in the wake of a natural disaster.

Now it appears the natural disaster is becoming more and more self-inflicted. Accusations of cheating, large sanctions and suspensions are already out there from “bounty gate” and it is still likely that some of the players involved in the bounty scheme will be facing fines and suspensions.

In the meantime the Saints are going to need to do some serious spin doctoring to try and change their image, which is starting to take on the appearance of some of the clientele on Bourbon Street on a raucous evening. Not thinking clearly, doing what they can to get there way, and ending up in the morning regretting some of the decisions that were made the night before.

Yes, this is turning into the Big Sleazy.

This installment of discussions about types of writing and using examples from successful writers will focus on Historical Fiction. Fiction alone is far too broad of a topic and must be broken into several parts. Earlier, in the discussion of series, the focus was on fantasy fiction. Some of the works of historical fiction are also available in the series format.

Historical fiction is specifically stories built around historic epochs. This is different from period fiction, which occurs in but is also written by authors of that period. Examples of this would be Tolstoy with War and Peace or any of the Jane Austen novels. A better example of historical fiction would be Shogun by James Clavell. Published in the 1970’s, the story is about a pilot of a tall ship and his adventures in 19th century Japan. Obviously Clavell was not alive in the time period of his work, he used the historic evidence to build a framework around his story. The historic structure provided both unique opportunities and restrictions on his characters and plot.

He followed up with several more books that marched through time, not quite getting to the present. These works could be considered a series, as Clavell was comfortable in the epoch he chose to use, but the story is not continuous between the books. Tai-Pan and King Rat followed. Together with Shogun, they became television miniseries. In this way, Cavell’s works are similar to an even more famous book turned to mini-series, Roots by Alex Haley. [Editor’s note: here are links to the videos for Shogun, Tai-Pan, and King Rat.]

Roots is fascinating no just because of the story, but also because of the genre that it covers. It is biographical, autobiographical, historic, period, fiction and non-fiction all rolled into one. Haley moves easily between the genre as his story progresses. It is a simple story of a man searching for his roots to help define himself. The story progresses through each of his ancestors, until he get to himself searching for that beginning.  [Editor’s note: video link for Roots.]

One of the best historical fiction works comes from a man who spent most of his life studying the historical period in question, then filling in details that give you the feeling that you are actually there. This book, actually two books, are I Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves. It is the story of the Emperor Tiberius Claudius (know as Claudius to differentiate him from his uncle the Emperor Tiberius). Claudius grew up under Augustus, his step grandfather, and survived the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula (his nephew) to become the emperor himself. He was lame, stammered and was considered an idiot by most historians, but he survived, became emperor and wrote more documents, histories, and books than any other roman emperor. It is written in the first person, and although all of the dialog and action are conjecture, all of the story fits within the known historical context.

A vice president at Monster.com once attempted to pay me for a freelance job with a lightly used copy of Stephen King’s It. This is an absolutely true story, and the craziest part is that I accepted the offer!

Why would I accept a job for such meager pay? Well, there are a few good reasons.

• It was a partial payment – I think I also got five bucks in cash.
• Stephen King is a great writer
• This was twenty years ago, when Eric and I were high school classmates. At the time, I was a freelance typist who typed reports for a sizeable chunk of my class.

King is the King

I’ve always been a fan of Stephen King.I’m not sure that he has ever been my absolute favorite writer, but as other writers have jumped to the top and later dropped into the category of also-rans (sorry, John Grisham, but this describes you) King has been a mainstay in the top 5.

While King draws the largest following for his supernatural tales, I’ve always felt that he was at his best when he writes “straight” fiction. I’m sure there are many who don’t realize that the movie The Shawshank Redemption is based on a King story (you can find it alongside another great tale, Apt Pupil, in the novella collection Different Seasons).

I’m digressing, but my point is that 11/22/63 is a book without any of the supernatural themes many would expect from a King book – unless you’re the sort of person who finds the idea of time travel to be supernatural. Nonetheless, King spins a grand tale.

The premise

The premise is that Jake Epping, a high school English teacher, goes back in time in an attempt to prevent President Kennedy from being assassinated. The proprietor of Jake’s favorite greasy spoon is on his deathbed when he confides a secret to Jake. He has found a porthole into the 1950s. All Jake needs to do it pop through the porthole, determine that Oswald acted alone, and whack him. While he’s at it, correct a few more wrongs while he’s at it. Need some money? No problem – just bet on sports.

Sounds simple enough, but as Jake finds out, the past is obdurate (Jake’s favorite word) – resistant to change. At each step, the past puts obstacles in his way – some subtle, some not. And each time Jake does something to change the past, the butterfly effect means that the future may also change.

Does Jake succeed in his mission? Sorry, but I’m not going to include a spoiler in a review – you’ll have to read the book to find out.

Historical backdrop

I have a casual interest in history, but I’m not obsessed with Kennedy by any stretch of the imagination. Before reading 11/22/63, I knew the basic details of the Kennedy assassination. While King necessarily fictionalizes the past in order to advance the plot, much of the content is based on fact. Quite a lot of the book focuses on Lee Harvey Oswald and his family. If you’re not terribly familiar with the Kennedy assassination, you might actually learn some history from the book.

Characters and scene

As is generally the case with King, his characters are interesting and multi-dimensional. Jake himself fits the bill of a complex character, of course. He’s a mild-mannered teacher who is now willing to blow a man’s brain’s out. As Jake settles down into a “normal life” for a few years while he does the necessary background on Oswald, he interacts with a rich cast of characters who make him feel at home – rather than an alien from the future. His life becomes entwined with their lives to a degree he never could have imagined.

The book includes a full array of characters. Although the main plot of the books is Jake’s mission to save Kennedy, many other subplots develop as the book moves along – which each subplot spinning up new protagonists and antagonists. Schoolteachers, bookies, murders, self-righteous women, kids, communist sympathizers – 11/22/63 has them all.

King also does a great job of setting the scene with his descriptions of the environment. You can visualize the inside of the diner and can easily hear the children playing jump rope – and, of course, you can see the bruises on Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife. I found it very easy to get immersed in King’s version of the early 60s.

The verdict

I loved the book. It’s long – 849 pages in hardcover – but I doubt you’ll find many boring passages. If you buy the Kindle version, you have two options. You can pay a few extra bucks and get a version with some extra media included. Alternately, you can simply buy the bare bones edition (currently $14.99). Since I was buying it just for the story, I opted for the cheaper version.

Don’t have a Kindle? You can buy one here (for as low as $79).

Minneapolis, MN, August 5, 2007 -- Cars and roadway litter the river where the I-35 bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. FEMA/Todd Swain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Despite the loads of debt talk in American politics recently there’s an interesting thing that’s been going on that a lot of people haven’t noticed: the yield on the 10 year Treasury Note (the main way the government borrows money) has been consistently low.  In fact, it’s been trending downward for months now, despite the debt fiasco from last year.  What does this mean in layman’s terms?  Other people can’t get enough of American debt.  Despite all our problems, people still see US debt as one of the safest things on the planet to invest in, and they’re willing to accept almost no return at all on it.  In fact since inflation is around 2.5% and the yield fluctuates between 2 and 3% investors could actually be losing a bit of money to hold American debt.

There’s another interesting trend that’s been going on longer and only occasionally gets press time when something REALLY bad happens.  That trend is failing infrastructure.  Remember back in 2007 there was quite the tragedy when the I-35 West bridge in Minneapolis, MN collapsed during rush hour.  Thirteen people were killed, a schoolbus of kids almost fell.  Millions were spent in the repair and close to a quarter of a billion dollars was spent on a replacement bridge.  A dozen people were directly put out of work because of the collapse, and possibly hundreds more had reduced hours or were laid off later from the aftermath.  The state of US infrastructure is just now starting to get so much press because so much of it is near the breaking point.  A simple search on “failing infrastructure” on Google News gives 1000 results.  Nearly 70,000 bridges in the US are considered “structurally deficient” at this time, meaning engineers have decided the need major repairs or all-out replacement.  That’s more bridges than there are McDonald’s restaurants.  It’s not just safety, either; Detroit, Orlando, San Diego, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Atlanta, and the big daddy, LA are all meccas of one thing:  Horrible Traffic.  Hundreds of man hours each year can be wasted by just a single person sitting in traffic.  Multiply that times the entire commuting work force.  Don’t care about traffic?  There’s sure to be an infrastructure problem to suit your interest.  The Power Grid needs major overhaul, and just about everything needs electrical power these days.  Cyber Security is also a huge deal these days, a very well-funded and clever organization could probably cause billions in damage and/or losses in just a few hours.

I’m sure some of you are wondering what the Treasury Note and infrastructure have to do with each other, right?  A lot of you see two problems, I see a solution.  If people can’t get enough of debt, let’s give ’em some of ours and use that money to fix what is more vital to our way of life than troops in Afghanistan or the next generation stealth fighter or whatever it is the military spends its trillions on.  As it stands right now America is an obese teenager with Birkenstocks held together with duct tape concerned about buying the latest Glock 9mm handgun.  Not unlike FDRs New Deal, infrastructure problems like these will put people back to work, which will get people spending, which will increase tax revenues, which will give the government more leeway on paying back debt.

I’m sure some of you are thinking it’s stupid to spend at this point in time, but let me put it to you this way:  What’s more fiscally responsible, spending X dollars now to replace something before it breaks, or spending X dollars plus Y lives in the future when that thing breaks, plus have the breakage cost millions more in lost business.  We’re going to pay for it either way, why not pay less before it breaks and ensure safety than wait for it to break and pay many times more?

Recently, my wife and I tried out Amazon Prime, mostly for the free Amazon Instant Video selections.  Although I used the free month to watch the Swedish version of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, the overall selection of movies left something to be desired.  So we’ve decided to go to NetFlix instead.  I’d been using Amazon Instant Video on the computer downstairs, and was unpleasantly surprised to find out that it didn’t quite meet the hardware requirements for NetFlix (just 0.17 GHZ too slow).  Boo.  I’d need a different option for the downstairs TV.

We had just recently purchased a Blu-Ray player for the upstairs computer.  It was a Panasonic DMP-BDT210 (since replaced by the newer BDT220 model).  We’ve used it far more for streaming video than for playing Blu-Ray at this point.  We paid $130 for the 210 model, but the 220 model is $190.  That would be an expensive option … and not even a workable once, since the player only has HDMI output (the TV is 10 years old and only has coax and RCA).

Replace the TV with a newer model that supports NetFlix out of the box?  That’s an option, but I can’t justify spending $500+ on a TV at the moment … especially when the existing TV is working just fine.

Apple TV?  I’m a Mac guy, so I take a look at this.  Alas, only digital output.  The requirement for RCA output is becoming a larger stumbling block than I had hoped.

My search then took me to the Roku.  There are a few different models of the Roku, but I wanted the bare bones model, the Roku LT.  The price – $50.  I ordered it and a few days later, it arrived on my doorstep.  The size of the device caught me a bit off guard.  As an IT guy, I logically knew that this sort of a device didn’t have to be very big … but the Roku was about the same size as the remote.

(Here’s a question: why doesn’t NetFlix partner with a hardware supplier to sell a similar box?  They could sell it for the same price and include a three month trial of NetFlix.  In return, they’ve made it slightly harder for someone to switch to a competitor, since they have a NetFlix-only box).

The setup

The setup was pretty quick and painless.

• Physical – Attached the RCA cable to the TV.  Plug in the AC adapter.  Note: the Roku does also support HDMI output.  720 for the cheaper options, 1080 for the more expensive ones.
• Account setup – During the initial setup, you’ll be asked to get on your computer and register your Roku, using an activation code that appears on the screen.  Note that you are asked to enter a credit card to be used when you purchase premium channels.
• Add channels – You’re ready to add some channels!  I added Netflix via the web site.  Then I went back to the Roku and used the Roku remote to enter my account credentials.  It would have been easier if I could have entered this info on the computer instead of Roku’s site, but it was still a pretty quick process.

Overall impression

I’m really not using many of the advanced features of the Roku.  I’m going to use it for NetFlix and maybe a few other channels (of which there are hundreds including NetFlix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Pandora, sports channels, etc).  I wanted something relatively inexpensive and easy to set up.  The Roku definitely fits the bill.  It’s so easy to set up that there’s not point in looking at the instructions.

The Roku will pay for itself next year.  The Roku and Blu-Ray player both support MLB.TV, so I’ll be able to subscribe to that instead of MLB Extra Innings.  That’s a cost savings of around $75 per year.  #Winning.

You can purchase the Roku by clicking on the image below (which will take you to Amazon) or you can purchase directly from Roku.  We do receive a small commission on each sale.