Investment choices for 2009

Last year, I made my annual deposit into my Roth IRA and then did the best thing I possibly could have with that cash -- nothing. 2008 was obviously a bad year for the stock market (worst since the thirties). I still managed to beat the S&P 500 by about 2%.

And outside of stock market, I did pretty okay with some credit card arbitrage. Hopefully in this era of shockingly low interest rates, I'll have more opportunities for that.

The stock market always has down years. You can't have the big up years without those occasionally plummets. And long term, the stock market is still the best investment choice out there. So I will continue to put funds I don't plan to need for 10 years into the market.

After the plunge, there are bound to be some good bargains out there. I'm in the early stages of my stock shopping now. I'm doing more research in the coming weeks, but here are the companies I am considering as investment opportunities.

• Apple
• Alaska Airlines
• Allscripts
• AMD
• Best Buy
• Costco
• Exxon Mobil
• Ford
• FedEx
• Google
• Intel
• Microsoft
• Starbucks
• TiVo
• Toyota
• US Bank

I already own some of these, but I will take a look at every thing I already own and decide whether or not to keep it. The key factor in deciding whether or not to keep it will be, "Would I buy it at this price?" If not, it's gone.

Any thoughts on those companies as investment opportunities? What stocks are you looking at as we head into the new year?

Shatner-Palooza: Valerie Bertinelli

Good news, Shatner fan!

William Shatner has a new talk show on the Biography Channel beginning 2008-12-08 You can learn more about the show here.

Shatner's Raw Nerve is William Shatner's own edgy and off-beat celebrity interview series. In each episode Shatner will attempt to probe his guest's most sensitive subjects and touch upon a Raw Nerve to explore life's most intriguing questions and unearth his guests' strange and unknown stories that are most surprising, revealing, funny, touching or bizarre.

Guests include fascinating figures from the pop culture universe such as Valerie Bertinelli, Tim Allen, Jenna Jameson, Jimmy Kimmel, Kelsey Grammer, Judge Judy and many, many more.

In the video below, Shatner interviews Valerie Bertinelli on a stage reminiscent of Victoria Jackson and Kevin Nealon's Love Toilet.

Shatner and Bertinelli discuss the nature of sin.

Set your Tivos, folks. It's going to be awesome.

Upside to the writers' strike

The TV writers' strike is mildly annoying. It's given us a Heroes season cut short, the return of American Gladiators, and more reruns as the networks run out of new shows.

But my TiVo is tired and bloated. It's filled with shows that I've haven't gotten to yet. I haven't started watching ER yet this season, but the episodes are sitting on TiVo. I have folders filled with assorted Law and Orders and CSIs. I have three episodes of Pushing Up Daisies -- a show I haven't even see yet -- waiting to be watched. Throw in the random episode of Chuck or Life, and I am drowning in programming.

On top of it, the new Battlestar Galactica movie "Razor" showed up on TiVo one day.

This strike is the perfect chance to get caught up on all the programs I still have to watch. I anxiously await the Zen like peace that comes from seeing a TiVo with no new programming on it.

It's a challenge. It's an on going battle. It's not easy consuming mass quantities of pop culture on TV, and sometimes it makes me gag. But I'm up for the task. And the longer the writers' strike goes on, the more the battlefield advantage turns in my favor.

Tech Product I Want

I want goggles.

Or glasses. They can wrap around my head, or be like traditional glasses. Perhaps it's a monocle. Or perhaps it's just a small projector that uses my retina as a screen.

I can plug this device into my computer. I will get a minimum resolution of 2048 X 1536. And it will look like I'm standing in front of a 72" display.

It will be comfortable for hours of use. They will have their own power source -- probably a AAA battery or two. It should get a minimum of 10 hours on a single charge. And maybe it should also have the option of AC power.

I want this for several reasons.

First, I want to use it on an airplane.

Using it to work on the plane will help with security. I can use these goggles to see my data, and no one else can look over my shoulder at sensitive information.

It will also be easier to work with data. I won't be straining my eyes to see small text. With that virtual 72" display, I can see a lot more at once than I can on my smaller 12.1" display. It will make work easier and less tiring.

It will also mean I can work longer. I can turn off the display on my notebook. The screen on a notebook typically draws much of the battery power. Since I am using the goggles rather than the screen, the battery will last longer.

I also want to use them to watch TV or movies on the plane. Some material on TV may not be appropriate for viewing in an airplane. CSI, for example, can get pretty graphic. Those who are squeamish may not be able to handle the gore. When I wear the goggles, I won't have to worry about what the person sitting next might see when they glance over at my screen.

I will also get lost in my programs more easily. Sitting in coach can be uncomfortable and annoying. I prefer to disappear into a great TV program on my notebook. The goggles will make it easier to shut out the rest of the world.

Of course the plane is just the beginning.

The goggles would also be great in a hotel room. The sheer size of the virtual workspace means I don't have to worry about how big my notebook screen is. It would simply make work easier. Multitasking would be easier. Working in big spreadsheets would be easier. Managing email would be easier.

If these products were available, I imaging companies would use them to shrink cubicles. They would need less space for monitors. And workers could be closer together without distracting one another as each got lost in their virtual world.

The benefits are:

• Better Security
• Improved Privacy
• Increased Productivity
• Longer Work Time
• A More Pleasant Work Environment
• A More Pleasant Entertainment Environment

And I'd be willing to pay up to $800.

I think we're a few years off still...

The Flight Home

1. Plug in head phones
2. Turn on notebook
3. Launch Law and Order: Criminal Intent episode through TiVo To Go.
4. Discover corrupted audio on the show.
5. Make sure headphones are plugged into the notebook right.
6. Raise volume
7. Hear corrupted audio on the show.
8. Try another episode
9. Hear corrupted audio on the show.
10. Check software settings.
11. Hear corrupted audio on the show.
12. Check detailed software settings.
13. Fail to understand detailed software settings.
14. Try changing random things that might be related to sound.
15. Hear corrupted audio on the show.
16. Uninstall new Codecs.
17. Hear corrupted audio on the show.
18. Reset notebook to setting three weeks old when the damn thing worked.
19. Hear corrupted audio on the show.
20. Decide machine must be broken.
21. Hear corrupted audio on the show.
22. Give up.
23. Decide to write a book review.
24. Discover book is in the overhead blocked by tons of carry on baggage because I didn't think I'd need it.
25. Check to see if corrupted audio file went to Confession to redeem itself. No dice.
26. Hear corrupted audio on the show.
27. Realize I have another notebook I can try. Fire up other notebook.
28. Discover none of my USB flash drives are big enough to move the TV files from the broken notebook to the good one.
29. Give up completely and plug headphones into iPod.
30. Hear corrupted audio on the iPod.
31. Silently scream "What the hell?!" so I won't be asked to step outside somewhere over the mountains.
32. Rip the headphones off my head
33. Accidentally push the cable plug the rest of the way into the headphones.
34. Hear perfect audio on the iPod.
35. Try Law & Order: Criminal Intent again.
36. Hear perfect audio on the show.
37. Undo earlier "repairs"
38. Sit back and enjoy the first 5 minutes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

*Bing*

*Bing*

Ladies and Gentlemen, that tone means the Captain as turned on the "Fasten Seat Belt" sign for our descent into Seattle. Please turn off and stow all personal electronics at this time.

Check to make sure your seatback and tray table is in the full upright and locked position. Make sure your carryons are stowed in either the overhead compartment or completely underneath the seat in front of you. Make sure your seatbelt is fastened low and tight across your waist.

Flight Attendants will be coming through the cabin one final time to collect all remaining service items regardless of their contents.

We'll be on the ground shortly.

39. Seethe

NBC Gets It

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the best new show of the Season -- Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The episodes that followed the premiere haven't been quite as good, but that's to be expected. They have, however, been excellent.

Of course, I don't watch live TV. TiVo changed my life. But Studio 60 is on opposite one of the CSIs or something so TiVo doesn't record it. But I still haven't missed an episode because NBC gets it.

This year, they have a site called Rewind. Here you can watch 2 minute clips of most programs, or in the case of Studio 60 and other select shows, you can watch the previous week's episode in its entirety. After Studio 60 airs, I go here within the next week and watch it on line through streaming video. As long as I have a broadband connection, I can keep up with my favorite shows.

NBC lets me watch the programs when I want. But they're not just doing this for my convenience. They break each show into segments that align with the commercial breaks for the on air version. Before each segment begins, I have to watch a 30 second commercial that I cannot fast forward through. I've watched a bunch of ads for the Toyota Tacoma pickup truck. In past weeks, the sponsor was AT&T.

Think back to the last live TV program you watched. Who was the primary sponsor? Can you remember the primary sponsor from several weeks back? With Studio 60 and NBC.com, I can.

As we've seen with The Apprentice, networks are trying to find creative ways to get ads to the TiVo generation. In Donald Trump's show, it by making the game about the advertised product. On Rewind, NBC takes a more traditional approach.

They show one commercial before each segment, and there is a static ad next to the video window.

So we have a win-win-win situation here. I'm watching the program when I want to. NBC is showing me the commercial. And after the video, since it wasn't drowned out by competing ads, I remember Toyota's ad.

Nice job, NBC.

My constant traveling companion

My favorite toy lately is my TiVo. I don't know how I got along without it. Now there is never anything bad on TV. I won't belabor the point with the usual preaching your will get from the TiVo converted. I just want to talk about one feature.

TiVoToGo is the coolest thing because I travel a lot. While my TiVo dutifully records all my favorite programs, I used to still have to find time to watch them. Now, since I have my computers and TiVo networked at home, I can transfer recorded programs on to a notebook computer. Or multiple notebook computers.

A few months ago, I watched season two of Battlestar Galactica on multiple airline flights. I did the same thing with the West Wing, the Apprentice, and the ubiquitous CSI and Law & Order. Since the programs are on my notebook hard drive, I have plenty of choices for a long flight or flight delay. Plus notebook batteries last longer when they play video from the hard drive than when they play from a DVD.

Of course, this traveling companion never complains when I set the hotel thermostat to 64 degrees.

And for those other airline passengers who might get a little queasy watching ER, well, quit leaning into my seat.