Random thoughts…

This morning I got email from my office regarding some transactions on our bank account. Sheilah, my in-house bookkeeper, wanted to know what did I pay several times through FirePay.com and Click2Pay.com. There are about 12 transactions from $50 to $500 a piece.

Someone is taking money from our bank account. How is that possible I have no idea. They got electronic check withdrawal activated and that’s the way how they take money. But how they got it set up is really mystery for me. I always thought you have to have access to both accounts. I thought you have to confirm the first minimum transaction before you can withdraw money.

South Bay Photos: Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach.

If you have some extra cash and thinking about sending additional principal on y0ur mortgage read this first. Check what is your mortgage rate. If it is under 7% you might be better off not paying the mortgage and invest the funds in I-Bonds.

The reason is current high interest on U.S. Treasury Saving bonds. I-Bonds now offer 6.73% interest rate. It is also important to note that interest is state and local tax free. Also federal tax deferred till you actually cash the bond.

At the same time you will get tax deductions on your mortgages. Depending on your tax bracket it might create another substantial saving. With this current situation you can be much better off with not paying your debt and invest the cash in I-Bonds.

The best saving rate you can get with 100% guarantee are currently I Bonds. If you have some money to save this is really the best option available.

BOND EARNINGS RATE 6.73%
The earnings rate for Series I Savings Bonds is a combination of a fixed rate, which will apply for the life of the bond, and the inflation rate. The 6.73 percent earnings rate for I bonds bought from November 2005 through April 2006 will apply for the first six months after their issue. The earnings rate combines the 1.00 percent fixed rate of return with the 5.70 percent annualized rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The CPI-U increased from 193.3 to 198.8 from March to September 2005, a six-month increase of 2.85 percent.

I Bonds are a low-risk, liquid savings product. While you own them they earn interest and protect you from inflation. You may purchase I Bonds via TreasuryDirect, at most local financial institutions or through payroll deduction. As a TreasuryDirect account holder, you can purchase, manage, and redeem I Bonds directly from your Web browser.

I really liked this picture from Mt. Wilson’s live camera I am watching through Yahoo Widget Engine on my desktop at 6:30 PM

That was the highlight of the day. Otherwise I am already about 12 hours straight without even short brake in setting up our new customer relationship & new online order software for IncParadise.com. Getting new system is always painful, but once it will be running it will be great!

This is my favourite place for relaxation. When I get enough of work I sit on bike ($59 Kmart beach cruiser) and go to the Millenium park in Hermosa beach. This is the bench where I read books or just relax.

Beach is really deserted at this time of year. No turists. No people. I really enjoy it more than in the summer.

Just came from dinner with neighbours. Harmik and Mickey. Really nice people. Very good vietnamiese food. Really good experience. It is nice to meet people with similar life values. It seems to me the area around beach really attracts special sort of people who enjoy the life. If you go to MSN.com you can see often some of the Harmik’s pictures right on the homepage.

It was actually Christmas present, but I came to my office in Las Vegas during Christmas. I came to our Vegas office last week and I found couple of presents from clients and this one from Google. Really cool. Flash memory, wireless mouse, small USB light, USB port replicator all with Google logo. Really good idea! I should do something like that for some of our incorporation clients.

The highest bid on Ebay was $50,100. No sale! My reserve was $58,000 and that was really the minimum I wanted for the car.

Guess I will keep it. It is such a fun car. I just have to find some place to drive it. Too bad I don’t drive to some work every day. I enjoy much rather working from home. Probably take it to Las Vegas. People there always appreciate materialistic stuff like that:-))) Maybe I put the ad in the paper in Las Vegas instead of EBay.

Last couple of days I am intensively looking for office building in Las Vegas. It looks like everything is always coming at the same time I got phone call from broker in Las Vegas. One of the Letter of Intent I wrote recently got accepted and contract is being prepared for 11,000 sq. feet office building in great location in Las Vegas. I love the building and location. It will definitively be headache to move the company again to new location (hopefully this time it will be last moving:-)). For those who don’t know we have started in 400 sq. feet office in April 2003, before that I worked mostly from home or from office in Czech Republic. We outgrow the 400 sq. feet office, got couple of more rooms, then got another 4 rooms to total 1,500 sq. feet. Last year we bought our own office (3,200 sq. feet) and it seems we are outgrowing that one too.

I hope this is the last real estate related deal for today!:-) It seems to me that everything is taking a lot of time and then suddenly all the deals are coming together in the same day. My head is spinning with considering decisions.