Public market, where have you gone?

The market crashed or something yesterday.... or so I heard.

It really is amazing how far I've gotten away from paying attention to public markets.   I'm a finance guy by background, and when I was in college, I rode the boom and bust like everyone else. 

But, when I graduated in 2001 and took a job in the private equity group at GM, I started to get away from it... focusing more on pricing multiples when we were doing buyouts than anything else.  By the time I got to an early stage VC firm, what the public market did from day to day was just a distant memory. 

Now that I'm on the product side...  who knows.  I just toss the max amount allowable (hey, its pretax, why wouldn't you?) into my 401k, set it and forget it.   I don't really believe I can "beat the markets" so I allocate based on risk tolerance.  I guess as a homeowner I'm investing more in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn real estate than anything else at the moment.

Following the public market, to me, is a fulltime job, and I just don't have the time anymore.  I pop on TraderMike every now and then just to see what he's up to, but man, that's a lot to keep up with.  Not for me, not anymore.  Sorry markets...   I'm on autopilot.

Because New York Geek Girls are Where Its At...

CNET Reporter and nextNY Caroline McCarthy is trailing in ValleyWag's VLog TechBabe Contest. 

Show some NYC pride and vote for the hometown girl!   She's only a hundred or so votes behind, so a big push from this blog should put her over the top. 

links for 2007-02-28

• Slide SkinFlix
  (tags: skins mevertising video)

LinkedIn adds easy search for webmail... Upload your Gmail contacts and connect

More LinkedIn fanboy action at TIGTTB...   Now I can just login with my Gmail account and easily connect with all my blog friends.   My comment notifications and nextNY listserv e-mails all get sent to Gmail so a lot of my contacts are sitting over there.  Every service should have this...  death to CSV files!

links for 2007-02-27

• Nokia 9300 Smartphone Features
  ooh... I like this layout
• Apple - Thoughts on Music
  (tags: apple Business music drm)

links for 2007-02-25

• BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » What should local radio be?
  So I asked myself what the strength of a radio station is and the answer’s apparent: promotion. A station can drive a sizable audience to something new online.
  (tags: radio local community)

I'm deranged... (Reprise)

If you've seen it, or have the soundtrack, you'd get it.

links for 2007-02-24

• This is going to be BIG! - Non-commerical use? Yeah, right....who's going to stop me?
  (tags: opensource rights licensing pricing business)
• Gender diversity at web conferences (kottke.org)
  (tags: women web2.0 Conferences Events)

I just spent entirely too much money on tickets to the Police at Giants Stadium

I guess its one of those things you have to amortize over a lifetime of just being able to say that I saw them, though...   like when Sting dies 30 years from how or whenever... I can tell my kids that I saw the Police play live.   I'll also be able to tell them that I saw the Stones, too, but that would be that big a deal b/c they'll still be touring then. 

Who knew this guy would be a trendsetter?? I don't remember this in the Tipping Point...

A while back, I posted a blurry picture of a older guy with a huge safety pin sticking out of his collar, and tried to come up with some kind of explanation for it.  I think it was one of my funniest posts ever, but maybe my humor isn't for everyone.

Well, it turns out that safety pins in clothing are now the hottest thing.

Who knew one old dude on a train could touch off a fashion phenomena?