Rick Sommer's

Books

A two week cruise is great for my reading. I somehow love reading on a ship….my eyes can flick off the page to check the horizon for passing ships or fruitless quests of a whale spout. There are numerous spots on a ship for quiet reading in a comfy chair.

Some of my recent books:

• Jack Kennedy by Chris Matthews. This is a varnished biography that reminded me how much we loved Kennedy. And reminds us how much he was flawed. Very well written.

• On Gold Mountain by Lisa See. I have, by now, read all of See’s books. Her novels of Chinese immigration and China Mainland have captivated me. Gold Mountain follows her family from earliest immigration to America….Gold Mountain. This is a terrific book

• Mrs Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill. Mr Hill is the Secret Service agent who jumped onto the back of Kennedy’s car to push Jackie back in. BTW, Jackie was crawling out in an effort to retrieve a piece of Jack’s skull. I liked this insiders look into Jackie’s life. Even better were the tales of troubled and accepting relationship between Jack and Jackie.

• Calico Joe by John Grisham. This is a great, great story. Grisham continues to stretch. Like baseball? Read this.

• The Last Coyote by Michael Connolly. Probably not Connolly’s best but still a lot better than the average LA who done it.

• The Aran Islands by John Synge. Written over 100 years ago Synge teaches us of the Irish soul. He also teaches us how to write a travel book.

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I first read this in high school and remember really liking it. I don’t know what I was thinking. After recently slogging through 3/4′s of it I gave up.

• Sarum: The Novel of England by Edward Rutherford. Inspired by recent visits to Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral I am in the midst of this monumental work. Sarum is helping me put time lines to historic events. I have always been a bit fuzzy about when Rome occupied the UK or how Saxons got to the UK, or why Wales has a different language. I’m learning that.

There are several more recently read but I can’t remember them. HH is the only person I know who remembers everything, and I mean everything, she reads.

Nada

My status with Fidelity is at its highest level. They love me. I get calls from their institutional trading desk just to take my temperature.

Well they don’t love me to bits, evidently. I had entered an order for 1000 shares of the Facebook IPO. I received zero shares.

I’m now ambivalent about buying FB on the opening trade. The price by then should be at least ten dollars higher. The valuation of FB is absurd, of course, but they could get even wackier. Fidelity won’t take market orders until 11am so I have time to consider.

Addendum: a few minutes before 11am I entered an order to buy FB at $46. When NASDAQ had trouble opening the stock I became uncomfortable and withdrew my bid. Shares opened at $42.05 and went to $45 in the first minute. They dived back to $38 where underwriters supported the stock. I’m steering clear of FB until the dust clears.

Going to the Mattresses

Just as the Mafia finds a secluded “safe house” and loads it with mattresses I’m heading to cash.

The correlation of all stocks to the market is just too high to outperform. Sure, this capitulation phase may be at just the wrong time. But it’s easy to get back in.

North Carolina

After a long road trip Her Highness noticeably brightens as we reenter North Carolina. After 25 years in Connecticut she has grown to love North Carolina. As have I.

It takes about eight hours to drive the length of the state, from the coast where we live, to the Appalachians. It’s a long and beautiful drive. Every kind of topographical change can be found.

North Carolina has been good to us so it pains me when it’s residents revert to the state’s past bigotry. The recent passage of the amendment banning gay marriage is nothing more than that, bigotry. Supporters of the amendment use the one man/one woman doctrine. Where did that come from? Then there is the sanctity of marriage baloney. Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce and adultery apparently runs rampant. Sanctity? And the very people who decry government restrictions the most layer on yet another.

Perhaps this feeling about homosexual behavior is the straights’
belief gayness is acquired. And, that gays can turn straights. Come on. Get with the program.

Supporting the less-than-sanctity issue is John Edwards sordid trial. Paying for mistresses didn’t start with Edwards but most philanders don’t run for President of the United States. Edwards has put another black eye on the face of the state.

So North Carolina voters have disappointed me and have hurt the state’s reputation. Already there are cancellations from vacationers and conventioneers. Over time the amendment will be forgotten by most residents. But never, I’m thinking, by gays or by more clear headed straights.

California

All eyes on California.

The state is providing the rest of the country a window into voter response to higher taxes and spending cuts. The state’s projected deficit has widened from $9.1 bil to $15.7 bil….in only five months.

Like the rest of the US, California must somehow reconcile lower tax revenues, higher expenses and growing social services. Governor Brown is asking residents to approve a temporary tax increase of 3% on those earning more than $250k and raise sales tax by a 1/4 to 7.5%.

Brown is suggesting that should the November initiative not be passed then school expenditures will be cut by $5.5 bil. This is on top of billions already cut from education.

As California goes so goes the nation? Stay tuned.

• On May 1st the stock market was up more than 8%. In fifteen days that has been cut in half. Sell in May and go away may still be the operative approach. If the rallies continue to be sold I’ll liquidate even more than I have.

• I’m getting luke warm responses to my idea of banning smart phones from our beach vacation. Am thinking I’ll moderate the proposal; no phone use from 9am till 9pm. Any takers?

The weather here has been stupendous. After our dismal weather during the two week cruise to Europe I am again swearing to never leave here during May.

I’m going to have a great day. So should you!

Fidelity, through which I trade, regularly offers me the chance to participate in IPO’s. I’ve only done this once since Fidelity has stringent rules about “flipping”. This is when I would receive an allocation of an offering, watch the opening, and if shares popped, sell them. I wouldn’t even have to pay for the shares (in a margin account with sufficient funds) just pocket the profit. Because I would be selling to the underwriters during the early stages of trading you can understand why flipping is discouraged.

I have asked Fidelity for 1000 shares of Facebook. Fat chance. Should I get shares I’d be very tempted to flip them.

Volume expectations on the day of the offering is likely to be upwards of 300 million shares.. in just Facebook. So there will be all sorts of liquidity, easy to sell. But if I sold within six months Fidelity would freeze my account from future IPO allocations. Figuring I won’t receive shares I’m tempted to enter a market order to buy on the first print….which is likely to be 40% higher than the offering price.

A Fun App

HomeSnap allows you to take a photo of any house, almost anywhere and get a current valuation estimate. You must allow the app to acquire your location. Then take the photo and, voilà, an estimate appears.

Am not sure how accurate it will be for you. After I took a photo of our house my comment was “yeah, from your lips to God’s ears”. Anyway, it’s fun.

A Nasty Proposal

Her Highness and I have rented a beach house for a week in August. If all goes well there will be about seven adults, four children and four teens in the house. HH and I will remain at our house, ten minutes away. We’re not stupid!

The house itself isn’t any great shakes, it’s large, not pretty but has a killer view of the ocean. It also has a roof-top widows walk that offers potential real sun downer experiences.

If you are a child summer vacation with adults can be a drag. We all remember “there’s nothing to do” complaints. Yet, I have grown to feel those vacant moments, for me, to be some of my most memorable. Just lolling around, no schedule, no summer camp….just existing. Board games, made-up games, walking outside alone, having a brief but important conversation with an adult, observing wild life, interacting with a stranger-soon-to-be-friend….all these enrichments available “’cause there’s nothing to do”.

Something has changed this dynamic of summer beach vacations.

Smart phones now provide entertainment to teens during those moments. The phones give them endless things to do, to communicate with dozens of people—not in the room—and to avoid the nothing to do moments. That’s too bad. It’s especially a shame since I can almost guarantee that a texting conversation will be forgotten the next day. Interacting with a cousin or a new friend may be remembered for a lifetime.

OK, so here is my proposal: All smart phones will be confiscated upon entering the beach house, including mine. The lone exception will be No 2′s phone, he needs to be available. If the proposal is adopted I suspect No 2 to even more popular than ever.

I can already hear the howls. I’ll let you know how this turns out. Pray for me.

Yogurt is very satisfying. It’s cold, creamy, can be fruity, low cal, high cal….endless variations. From the days when Dannon was our only choice we are now in a yogurt renaissance.

Grocery stores are giving yogurt more and more shelf space. It sells and offers good margins. Greek yogurt began to change shopping patterns for yogurt consumers. This offered us a meal. Put a little honey on Greek yogurt, add a banana and, presto, we are full.

You should know about a new yogurt: Libertè. It’s made in Quebec, has a high calorie count (270), comes in various flavors and is expensive. And it is amazing. Start with vanilla. You will think you are eating silk. Work up to wild berry and you will think you are in an orchard.

We were looking forward to Ireland. We had been to Cork (or Cobh in Irish…h has a v sound, so it’s Covv) last November. We loved it then and we were anticipating our scheduled van tour to the Ring of Kerry. So it was with mixed emotions that we heard the Captain’s announcement. We had just pulled out of the Azores when he informed us we were headed into a major storm. Winds of 60 knots and waves of 26 feet could be expected. To avoid the storm Ireland was scratched and we were headed to La Caruña, Spain. Where? It’s on the coast of northwest Spain.

I cannot imagine the levers needed to be pushed to make this change. Provisions, fuel, tour operators, dock hands, etc., all had to be diverted. Cork missed the money of 4000 passengers. Spain was going to get it. Or not. We disembarked pretty early to find all of Spain shut down for it’s Labor Day. On the pier most ports have an information booth. At La Caruña we were greeted by a lone young woman who really didn’t want to be there. She told me everything was closed, no cabs or rental cars. Nada. I couldn’t help asking her why, with 20% unemployment and 4000 cruisers eager to spend money, wouldn’t the shops open. She responded tersely “it’s a holiday.”. As our friend, Doug, said later…she felt a holiday was their right. So, Socialism got in the way of big pay day.

We wandered on to the pier and were met by a strong wind and pelting rain. Marcie turned back almost right away. Can’t blame her, we were all dispirited. The three of us trudged on. I spied a rank of cabs; so much for the info lady. A group of drivers were gathered, smoking. I chatted them up in my best Spanish, trying pronounce it in Castilian. We settled on a price, to take us to Santiago de Campostelo.

Campostelo is the third ( Rome and Jerusalem) most holy destinations in Catholicism. St James was one of the twelve apostles; he preached in Spain after Jesus’s crucifixion then returned to Jerusalem. There he was promptly beheaded by Harod and the corpse returned to Spain. James was buried in a cave. seven hundred years later the corpse was discovered by a shepherd. So, a huge cathedral was constructed to hold the relic/corpse. Anyway, the town has been a destination for believers for thousands of years. They believe that to make the pilgrimage cuts time served in Purgatory by half. Yeah, hard to believe.

The cathedral is a blur. There were so many visitors it was difficult to see it. It’s beautiful but mobbed. We escaped to the town which is really lovely but filled with curio shops, mostly selling holy trinkets.

Rather than simply walk around I pushed into one of the few open shops. This was one of the famous chocolate shops of Spain. You get a cup of hot chocolate, no milk in it, just chocolate, and dip churros into it. Sinfully delicious.

We returned to La Caruña, HH headed back to the ship while Doug and I checked out the Labor Day parade. We found a bistro which serves Serono ham and beer. We sat in the sun and people watched.

Not a totally successful day but memorable in its own way. We overcame a negative greeting and made something happen. Hey, we spent a day in Spain for Pete’s sake!