Sunday 2/2/2014 Thoughts

I had been meaning to write a post for few weeks now, but life got busier as the new year started. One of the ironies of a buy and hold approach is that it is plain and boring. This is why I did not have much to report on this blog for the past few weeks.

The market has lost some of the ground it gained last year. But, I think that was to be expected. You can't have two back to back double-digit winning years and not expect any correction. Anyway, I am not making any changes to my portfolio. I am continuing to buy mutual funds in my portfolio as I had done in the past. If you are worried about the market, then I would say do not worry if you had a proper diversification in place as this is a good time to buy funds while they are cheaper in cost now.

On Tuesday of this week, I had one of the worst commutes ever. A snowstorm passed through Atlanta that brought the city to its knees. A mere two inches of snow during the middle of workday wreaked havoc to the 1+ million commuters who work in the city and commute every day from the suburbs. The problem was that the schools, government offices, and public and private employers let go of employees at the same time around noon. This caused traffic jams instantly. Snow quickly turned into ice by the evening. Lots of people were stranded on the highways. Many people had to abandon their cars and had to walk their way to homes or nearby shopping complexes. It took me 11 hours of commute, but I made it home safely.

Switching gears, I wanted to mention a couple of things I have been trying lately.

I recently downloaded a to-do list app called Any.do on my iPhone. I was looking for an app that syncs between a browser and the smart phone. This app fits the bill perfectly. Last year, I had trouble keeping track of things that resulted in un-necessary errands.This app allows me to quickly add items when I'm in front of a computer during the day in the office, and access that to-do list on my iPhone when I'm running the errands and vice versa. This app is available on iOS, Android, and Google Chrome platforms. After having used this app last month, I must say that my smaller tasks are now better streamlined.

I had written a blog post previously about how I was utilizing Bluetooth in my car to listen to podcasts and audiobooks during my commute. Now, I am listening to YouTube videos over Bluetooth in my car. One of the advantages of YouTube is that there is a wide variety of content and I'm just a search away from finding it. The problem with podcasts is that I don't have great enough control over what I want to listen on a given day. I will try to switch back and forth between the two.

This past month, I listened to a number of videos from Dr. Deepak Chopra, who has been one of my favorite authors. I like him as an author and as a spiritual teacher because a lot of his work is based on science. Dr. Deepak Chopra says that many of life's challenges can best be addressed from a spiritual perspective. But, the secret is that the level of the problem is never the level of the solution. In this interview at Google, Dr. Chopra talks about how we can expand our awareness to address difficulties in our lives. Enjoy the video.