Talk about getting it wrong . . .

"Just days into his second turn as CEO of Sallie Mae, Albert L. Lord couldn't find the right words to soothe Wall Street. Lord, who assumed the chief executive's seat on Friday and said he plans to stay in the position for at least two years, called his recent sale of about 1.2 million shares of company stock to meet margin calls "embarrassing and troublesome to me personally" but not a reflection of diminished confidence in the company's long-term future." AP report

Chuck Stearns

Chuck is the only skier in history to maintain a position at the top of both tournament skiing and ski racing at the same time. Perhaps his most remarkable achievement in ski racing was winning the Grand National Catalina Ski Race 10 times. The last time was his competition swan song in 1979 when at age 40 he finished the 52-mile open-ocean course in the record time of one hour and two seconds.

Remembering Dan Fogelberg

One of my favorite songwriters has passed away . . . . it was "Part of the Plan" and his "Run for the Roses" is over. A moment to remember the songwriter whose father was "The Leader of the Band".

Dan Fogelberg

taxing services in California????

One way to raise revenue would be to apply sales tax to services, such as those provided by attorneys, accountants, consultants, architects and auto repair shops, Levy said.

"This has been widely discussed around the country for 10 to 20 years. We are a service economy, and we have this sales tax (on goods) that's doomed to grow slower than the economy," he said.

According to his research, California's services industry is worth about $700 billion a year, the biggest chunk representing health care.

That alone could raise about $10 billion in additional revenue to the state and local governments, Levy said.

Shocking Housing Revelation

"We now find out in hindsight it played an important role and a very dangerous role," he said. "For the first time that I can remember, you saw investors coming into the housing markets and trying to play it into almost like a day stock."

Jerry Howard, chief executive of the National Association of Home Builders, told CNNMoney.com today

Ever check out the true production figures for oil producers, exporters, consumers and importers?

Big Wave Photo from the Central Coast

I took this photo of the big surf on Tues Dec 4 looking towards Point Sal. The "cloud break" is almost 1/2 mile off shore.

SC UCLA photo

an abstract photo for sure but cool.

$50 to park at the Shrine

Call me crazy but I wasn't the only one. Parking at the Shrine Auditorium parking structure was $50 on Saturday for the SC-UCLA football game. 6 stories and at least 100 cars per story and the place was full!