Movie Analysis

Pay attention to what messages do movies deliver

It is a conventional wisdom that every movie has targeted messages to deliver to the audience. As everyone watches movies for various purposes, one of the best ways of analyzing movies is:

1. Understand the macro/overall storyline, theme and/or message.
2. Identify parties involved and their duties.
• i.e. government, mafia, civilians, criminals, robots and etc.
3. Do the parties involved in the movie actually exist in real-life, or is it possible for them to exist?
•  If Yes, then pay attention to their capabilities.
•  If No, how certain are you of your decision?
•  Is it not possible because you know so? 
•  OR - is it not possible because you DO NOT know so?
4.  Parties' interaction and transgression with each other.
5.  How do the parties perform their moral duties?
•  i.e.  who causes violence, mischief, lies and etc. VS. who is truthful, sincere, righteous and etc. 
6.  How speculative the message to reality?
•  Is it actually possible to do so (what is done in the movie) in current condition of the society?
•  If Yes, there might be a relevance with the message and reality.
•  If No, refer to Step-3.b.
•  Is it related to past/present/future incidents?
•  i.e. normally documentary movies do, yet need to be precaution for authenticity of provided evidence(s).
7.  Was the message of the movie direct or indirect?
•  If Direct, do you think every single audience understood it?
•  If Indirect, why was it intended to be indirect?
8.  Pay attention to small details, characters, language and techniques used in the movie.
9.  Evaluate overall theme and message of the movie. 
•  Did you learn anything from it?
•  Would you recommend it to someone else?
•  If Yes, why?
•  If No, why not?

This is only intended for self-assessment.

In Laws

A couple were driving on a country road. They got into an argument and stop talking for a moment until they passed the farm where they saw cow, sheep and horses.
Husband (sarcastically): Relatives huh? (with chuckle)
Wife: Yeap, In Laws!

Government vs. Mafia

What's the difference between the Government and Mafia?

For answer - highlight below:
One of them is organized!

Freedom of Speech

In many democratic countries, the freedom of speech exist, but not after you have SPOKEN!

Stop or Slow down!?

A lawyer drives down the street without making a full stop on the STOP sign. A local sheriff happened to spot him, so he pulls over for "failure to stop on a STOP sign." The lawyer thought he could challenge the sheriff.
Sheriff: Do you know why you got pulled over sir?
Lawyer: Yes, and I don't think it's a big deal.
Sheriff: You might think so, but we all have to follow the rules.
Lawyer: I have a question sir.
Sheriff: Yes!
Lawyer: Look, I am a lawyer and have been a good drive, but if you could please clearly show me the difference between a "Full STOP" and "Slowing Down," I would very much appreciate it!!!
Sheriff: Sure things sir, can you please step out of the car for a minute?
Lawyer: Oh of course!
As soon the lawyer steps out of the car, sheriff starts beating the lawyer with his baton and asks: Do you want me to STOP or SLOW DOWN!?

Spend Your Time Subconsciously

Take advantage of your time, even when you are driving

One of the greatest and common value/asset that all mankind possess is - time; and at the end of the day those who spend their time wisely and efficiently will be satisfied with their deeds. One of the greatest change and perhaps a habit that I have developed is - I started listening to radio news stations while I took my undergraduate Philosophy and Psychology courses in spring 2008. These courses made me realize how valuable time is.

•  i.e. If we do a simple math regarding how much time we contribute to learning, self-awareness and assessment, earning for living and etc, the numbers are plainly disappointing, because if we sleep on an average of 8 hours a day, which will equal to ⅓ or 33.333 % of our lifetime; and assuming that we work an average of 8 hours a day, which will cover another ⅓ of our lifetime. So the question becomes, where do we spend the remaining ⅓ of our lifetime? 
• Perhaps it in driving to work, playing sport, leisure time, reading, hobbies and etc.

Analyzing my situation and recognizing the value of time, the best solution for me was switching from listening to FM stations, which majority is music stations, into AM stations that are mainly news, talk-shows and similar stations. AM radio stations which provide local, global, economy, finance, politics, traffic, sports and other related news that kept me informed regarding those subject matters.

Soon after when I fully transitioned into listening to AM stations, Apple Inc. introduced a new service called iTunes U (which stands for iTunes University), which provides free recorded lectures from participating universities, and it made me feel like winning a bonus listening to AM radio stations. Sure enough I started downloading lectures from top universities, podcast, audio books and etc. in my interested subject matter and listened while driving.

I am humbled sharing this with the sole purpose of exhibiting how time can be spent efficiently, contributing towards our knowledge, local and global awareness and etc.

Are you smarter than technology?

How do you know you are smarter than your gadgets?
This is of course a rhetorical question, but is worth noting it. The simple reality check of increasing our productivity is when we know how to use the tool, i.e. latest and greatest gadgets. Yet, there are a lot of people who fall prey into buying the latest gadgets (without knowing how to use it), because that's what's hot on the market. However, not to mention that there are many people who use it to their advantage to the fullest, and that is how it supposed to be.

Nowadays it is much easier to find various ways of operating a new gadget, because "geeks" out there do the testing for you. So to help to make the correct decision, below are some questions to consider before making the next gadget order. Always remember, start simple, then build-up to it.

1. What free technology tool(s) will facilitate increasing your daily productivity?
• i.e. organizing your calendar/schedule, music, movies, notes, information, back-up and etc.
2. Are you familiar with the tool?
• If Yes, how familiar? Are you familiar enough to make it worth the purchase?
• If No, research for tech reviews.
3. If the gadget you are considering to purchase is new to the market, just wait another 3-6 months for geeks to find out the pros and cons.
• But if you are a tech savvy person, then I would encourage you to buy and test it.
4. Is the gadget flexible in terms of use? meaning provides flexibility for the consumer to use it the way they want.
• i.e. Not a single vendor solution, perhaps iApple lovers would not like this.
5. Be sure to know the privacy wiki-leaks.
6. Last but not least, if you are in budget, check out below links before your next purchase or download, you will find great deals.

Online Deals:

• BudgetGadget - http://www.budgetgadgets.com/
• TigerDirect - http://www.tigerdirect.com/
• eDealinfo - http://www.edealinfo.com/
• TechBargains - http://www.techbargains.com/

Free Downloads:

• FileHippo - http://filehippo.com/
• Softpedia - http://www.softpedia.com/
• Softonic - http://en.softonic.com/

Sneeze while your eyes are open

Why say "Bless you!" when someone sneezes?
Have you ever wondered why people say "Bless you!" when you sneeze? I became curious and searched for a reasonable answer too, until someone told me that while you sneeze, your heart stops for a that duration; and that is the reason why you cannot keep your eyes open when you sneeze. I have never thought of that before (when I was 16 years old), and started paying close attention when I sneezed (because I wanted to test it - and certainly, I could not keep my eyes open while I sneezed).

Try it yourself and let me know if you can keep your eyes open while you sneeze :).

To learn more about sneeze click here

Learning/Improving New Language Tips/Skills

Learn/improve your learning new language skills
 Tip #1: Living in the United States of America for little over 6 years, I have developed couple of habits that facilitates me on learning and expanding my English vocabulary. Overtime, as I sought advise from my English professors, writers, and friends, they all gave me different tips on improving my English vocabulary. As I started reading different types of books, news, newsletters, blogs and magazines, I underlined the word that was foreign to me, and wrote the synonym(s) of the word(s) on top of it that was familiar to me; so when I referred back to the reading - rereading the word would refresh my vocabulary.

• i.e. when I first read the word "benevolence" it was foreign to me, so instead of translating it to other language(s) that I speak and understand, I searched the definition of the word in English and wrote the synonym(s) of "benevolence" on top of it, which means: friendliness, kindness, sympathy.

Tip #2: Try to correct your misspelled word(s) without using auto-correction or what is an easy technique now by "right clicking" on the program and choosing the correct word listed. Correcting your own misspelled word will establish confidence in hand writing and will assure that you do not depend on technology to proof-read your work.

Hope you found this tip (my developed habit) useful and benefits you in learning any other language(s) as it did to me learning English language.

Useful links to bookmark and subscribe to that provides different flavors and styles of writing:
Dictionary.com - http://dictionary.reference.com/
New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/
Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/
San Francisco Gate - http://www.sfgate.com/
Wall Street Journal - http://online.wsj.com/






















--

A. Sanginov

alex.sanginov@gmail.com | cell: (213) 5 DRAZDA

"Live, Learn, Apply & Educate!" DRAZDA

Nature of "Free Workshops"

Understand the nature of attending a “free workshop”
I started attending various types of “free” workshops since I was 17 years old. I wanted to learn as much as possible, especially about business and financials. While doing so, my uncle gave me the best advise, “just attend and learn what it is about, but do not subscribe or spend money, unless it is absolutely beneficial.” It went along with my financial situation, I was on my first year in university and I truly didn’t have extra money to spend anyway. So I started attending workshops and interacted workshop hosts and other attendees - to know how they heard about the workshop and why they were there.

If you are curious why businesses host a “free workshop,” the answer is simple - to make money by getting attendees to sign-up for their product/service; however, for people like me, they introduced themselves, the business model, and why to be part of them? I understand that I might not subscribe to their product/service for time being, perhaps I will refer someone else who is interested if I find value into it, and simply become a source of referral. This is one of the common way of publicizing your business and service.

Below find some of the “free workshops” that I have attended and are educational, however, this is not a solicitation and please review their website before your register:

• MoneyShow: http://www.moneyshow.com/
• BetterTrades: http://www.bettertrades.com/
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad Workshop, Robert Kiyosaki: http://www.richdadeducation.com/
• Buckets of Money, Ray Lucia: http://raylucia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=58&Itemid=115
• Online Trading Academy: http://www.tradingacademy.com/
• Investools: http://www.investools.com/

Inexpensive car accident

Rationally drive a car, and avoid expensive accidents
For any reason, if you know - that you do not have enough time/space to stop the car before getting into an accident, just pay attention (and think rationally) what is in front of you; meaning what type of car you are about to hit. If there is an expensive car in front of you, which you’re about to hit, look for an alternative car which is less expensive.

• i.e. if you’re driving on a freeway and it is traffic, and you cannot avoid an accident by stopping the car, look over to the next lane, if there is a less expensive car on the other lane than the one in front of you, just change lane and save yourself and the victim some money; because you are about to hit someone anyway.

• Moral: if you are someone who is on a budget or have bare minimum insurance coverage, this might save you and someone who is driving a less expensive car.

Writing e-mail etiquette, Part 1

Writing e-mail etiquette
In 21st century it is almost a “must” to have an e-mail account. Creating an e-mail account is similar to setting up a tool for communication; however, using the tool in a most efficient way possible will increase your productivity and professionalism. Below find some tips that you might find useful:

• Do NOT use slang even if you write/reply to your best friend or boss.
• To start writing professionally, start with simple template.
• i.e. Greeting phrase/statement → One lane space → Message body → Closing phrase/statement.
• To distinct your e-mail content, try to use unconventional greeting and ending salutations.
• i.e. Greetings, Dear, Good day, and ending phrases: Farewell instead of Take care, Sincerely yours, Respectfully, Greatly appreciated.
• Always express appreciation, respect and include thanks before or as closing statement. Samples:
• I would sincerely appreciate if you could...
• I understand your … and would appreciate if you...
• Thank you for your time and consideration.
• Try to sounds as positive as possible.
• Save e-mail templates on draft, if you know you will reply to similar e-mails in the future.
• i.e. If you are applying for a job and have couple of contacts in mind that you want to e-mail, write one e-mail and save it for the future in case you want to contact more people. Yes, you can always retrieve it from “Sent box,” but you would have to do this every time you want to e-mail someone.
• The benefit of this is you will improve your template every time you e-mail and/or want to include a catchy phrase.
• i.e. You can also apply this in almost any industry, IT (technical procedures that users can follow on their own), Linkedin adding a contact custom message rather than default provided by Linkedin.com, and etc.
• For productivity, use filters to organize your incoming e-mails. For those who are not familiar how filters work, filters are simply as it sounds it “filters” incoming e-mails by domain name and allocate it to an assigned folder.
• i.e. If you would like all your bank messages/alerts to be in one folder, copy the domain (i.e. chase.com, bankofamerica.com, etc.) and paste to: sent from box and save the filter.
• Yahoo Mail filter setup: http://www.ehow.com/how_5578374_set-email-filters-yahoo-mail.html
• Gmail filter setup: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6579
• Other useful resources:
• 101 Email Etiquette: http://101emailetiquettetips.com/
• Email Etiquette: http://emailreplies.com/

Real Estate - Tips

Real Estate properties and insurance - Tips
Most people do not know that HOME BUYERs can actually interview a Real Estate Agent or Realtor. Of course, there are certain questions that you want to ask, in order to make sure you're working with the right Agent.

Before you even call a realtor or agent, check the following list for your own safety.

Things to know about the Neighborhood

• Check for Crime Rate.
• Sex offenders.
• Drive by at different times (to make sure there're no surprises afterwards).
• Look at environment (Trees - the bigger they're the Older neighborhood is).
• Call Police Dept. for the record of the neighborhood.

Questions to ask your realtor:

• Do you do Real Estate Full-time or Part-time?
• Are you a Realtor or Agent? (the difference between a realtor and agent is below)
• How many transactions have you closed last year?
• How many transactions you are working with?
• How many listings do you have?
• How long ago did you close last deal?
• Do you know about First Time Home Buyer Program? (if you're 1st time home buyer only)
• Can you show me the record of past transactions?

Since many people assume that Realtor and Real Estate Agents are the same thing, here is the correct definition by their job/duty:

• Realtor: belongs to an area (county/state) has access to full listings.
• RE Agent: is licensed to SELL properties, DO NOT have access to listings.

You can also call the local Association of Realtors to verify the realtor or agent that you're working with.

Home Owner Association (HOA)HOA fee is applied mainly for condos, which almost plays a role of insurance up to certain percent of coverage (usually covers only exterior part i.e. walls). So if you are buying a condo, you want to make sure what is the HOA fee and what does it cover.

Ask a Realtor/Agent to meet with the HOA president.

Here what you want to know about Condo and HOAs:

• How much is my personal property covered for? (clothes, toys, guns etc.)
• What types of losses are my personal property against?
• What are the limits in my policy? (electronics and cash)
• How much building coverage is covered on my policy?
• How much is covered under the loss assessment part of the policy?
• Does this policy contain replacement cost? (will the stolen thigns will be replaced?)
• How much liability protection do I have?
• What is my being deductible? (The HIGHER deductible, the LOWER premium)
• What are my discounts?
• Do you offer Umbrella Policies? (will it cover cars etc.)
• Where the HOA money is going?
• Can HOA be Financed? 
• Are there any pending "court decision" (suing) HOA or vise verse.
• What does HOA cover?

If you are buying Insurance for HOME:

• What is my replacement cost for my home?
• What cost per square footage is used to rebuild my home?
• What types of losses is my home covered against?
• What are the limits in my policy? (electronics and cash)
• What is my being deductible? (The HIGHER deductible, the LOWER premium)
• Does this policy contain replacement cost? (will the stolen things will be replaced?)
• How much liability protection do I have?
• What are my discounts?
• Do you offer Umbrella Policies? (will it cover cars etc.)

Buckets of Money

Retirement Workshop/Planning, Buckets of Money Seminar by Ray Lucia
Here I will share my insight of what I have learned from attending Ray Lucia's "Retirement Workshop," combined with my own research regarding the subject. This page is solely suggests for retirement planning and how best you can allocate your money/asset for better returns.

• It is better to invest in Multi-Family Real Estate (Apartment complex) rather than Residential Properties, because if the tenant in a Residential Property moves out, the house becomes 100% vacant until new tenant is found; where in a Multi-Family properties the vacancy percentage will be much lower.

• Variable Annuity - a variable annuity is a contract between you and an insurance company, under which the insurer agrees to make periodic payments to you, beginning either immediately or at some future date. You purchase a variable annuity contract by making either a single purchase payment or a series of purchase payments. For more info click here

• T-Bills - is a government debt issued by the United States Department of the Treasury through the Bureau of the Public Debt. Treasury securities are the debt financing instruments of the United States Federal government, and they are often referred to simply as Treasuries. There are four types of marketable treasury securities: Treasury bills, Treasury notes, Treasury bonds, and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS). For more info click here

• There are two "good times" investment in Bonds:

• As you near the retirement age, Bonds are preferred, since they are not as volatile as stocks or equities, and have lower risk.
• During economic recession, since equity market(s) tend to go down, investors seek "safe" investments, which is Bonds market.
• Not to mention, DO NOT forget to sell your bonds before recovery (before the Federal Reserve starts to raise the interest rates, as the interest rates go up - the value of Bonds go down, and vice verse).

• Perhaps you have heard or read it many times, but DO NOT forget to diversify your portfolio, especially now that we are in a "Global economy." Consider these securities in your retirement portfolio:

• Annuity/Variable Annuity
• Bonds/Government, Corporate etc.
• REITs
• Stocks

• Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) and Reverse DCA.

• DCA - invest the same amount each month during the accumulation phase. When prices are high, you can buy fewer shares; when prices are low, you can buy more shares. Over time, assuming the market grows over the long term, and assuming that you retire at a market high, the average share price might be lower than if the investor tried to time the market and invest 100% of their money all at once.

• Reverse DCA - can produce the opposite effect as Dollar Cost Averaging, and potentially increase the risk to a portfolio running out of money before the investor’s needs run out (i.e., death), especially during a bear market at the wrong time.

• Always match your assets with liabilities - meaning live within your means and make sure you have the money to spend not credit.

Credit Score (FICO)

Understand your Credit Score (FICO)
There are several simple tips that if someone adapts these habits, they can succeed in managing their personal finance and establish an excellent credit score.

• What makes up your credit score?

• 35% - Payment History
• 30% - Debt
• 15% - Life/Length of Credit History
• 10% - New Credit
• 10% - Types of Credit Used

• Always make your payments on time (this will save you money on your interest as well).
• Try to pay-off your credit in full per cycle.
• Try to make more than the minimum amount due.
• Stay within your credit limit. In order to establish excellent credit score, try to use only 10% of your credit availability per card. There is a misconception of using 10% of your total credit limit, but applying 10% per card has a different positive impact, because each lender monitors your credit history separately.

• i.e. if you have a credit card with $1,000 limit, spend only maximum of $100 (10%) on that card per billing cycle.
• To stay on top of your credit card charges, setup alerts to remind you of your credit availability. Take advantage of available tools that your credit card provider(s) offer.
• Review your interest rates and annual fees on a regular basis.
• Review your credit report annually. Free annual credit report can be obtained here: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

PURPOSE: To create a virtual instance that is useful to testing different environments and not to risk our own OS in case anything goes wrong.

Install VirtualBox
Install VirtualBox Extension Pack
Install Virtual Machine with Windows 2008
Run VirtualBox
Click New
Name it W_OBIEE11g
OS Type Microsoft Windows: Windows 2008
Base Memory Size 2048 minimum (4096 recommended) Keep in multiples of 8 e.g. 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 etc.
Check Boot Hard Disk, Create new hard disk
Dynamically expanding storage
Location: Win_OBIEE11g Size: 70GB

Click the Virtual Machine you just created and then click settings
System/Motherboard disable Floppy
System/Processor enable as many possible
System/Accelleration Check both boxes.
Display/Video Memory Set to the Max
Storage/Empty Click the Disk icon on the far right
Click choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file...
Browse for Windows 2008 iso that was downloaded
Shared Folders/
Click the + folder icon
Click the down arrow for Folder Path
Click Other...
Browse to the location of all your downloaded files
Check Auto-mount
Click OK to exit the Settings window.

Start the Virtual Machine
Use Left Command Key (Mac)/Right Ctrl (Windows) key to move mouse pointer in and out of Virtual Machine until Guest Additions are Installed in future steps
Install Windows 2008 Enterprise
Uncheck Automatically activate Windows when I'm online
Click No
Click Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (Full Installation)
Check I have selected the edition of Windows that I purchased
Check I accept the licence terms
Click Custom (advanced)

Change Password to Welcome123
In Initial Configuration Tasks, click Provide computer name and domain
Click the Change... button
Change Computer name to WOBIEE11g
Restart Later
In Initial Configuration Tasks check Do not show this window at logon, then close.

In Server Manager check Do not show me this console at logon and close the window.
Press Left Command Key (Mac)/Right Ctrl (Windows) key + D then Run VBOXWindowsAdditions.exe or.....
Click Devices at the top of the Virtual Machine
Click Install Guest Additions...
Click Run VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe

Press Left Command Key (Mac)/Right Ctrl (Windows) key + del to log on