chrismcgrath.com

Two tools: WD-40 and duct tape

Saw on Euan Semple's blog: You need only two tools: WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40. If it moves and shouldn't, use the duct tape. - Via Ming

Moved home to Nelson

After almost ten years in St. Louis, Sarajevo, and Vancouver, Gina and I moved back home to sleepy little Nelson, BC. There's 10,000 people here. No traffic jams. No smog. No noise. It's perfect. We bought a tidy little house, kind of like the one I grew up in, with a huge back yard and about 100 trees. We've painted, put down hardwood, and bashed out a few walls. Now we're getting a soundproof office put in downstairs so the kids can play while I work. I've started playing hockey again, after a 12-year hiatus. I'm still not any good, but I'm having a lot of fun.

Video: Ana learns to ride her bike

Ana learned to ride a bike today. And Sam learned to ride his tricycle last week. It's documented on video for posterity's sake: kids_learn_bikes_lo.wmv

5% interest is *unbelievable*

After getting burned in tech stocks in 2000, I became an ultra-conservative investor. Gina and I have our savings in the very boring iShares Bond Index Fund, which plods along at a steady 5% return. 5% seemed really pathetic until I read this: if you invested a single penny at 5% back when Jesus was born, today you'd have a golden sphere a few hundred times the size of earth. Sounds like an exaggeration, right? So this morning I tried it on my calculator. I typed 0.01 * 1.05, and I hit the equals sign 100 times. And then another 100, and another 100... watch this: 1 penny invested at 5% per annum After 100 years..... $1.31 After 200 years..... $173 After 300 years..... $23,000 After 400 years..... $3 million After 500 years..... $390 million After 600 years..... $47 billion After 700 years..... $6.2 trillion After 800 years..... $811 trillion You get the idea. Every hundred years, we're adding roughly 2 zeros. So after 2000 years, your penny invested at 5% is worth around $100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. What do I learn from this?

1. 5% is an unbelievable return.
2. No family has ever had a reliable 5% return for any extended period of time
3. The current economic system is unsustainable. They say the stock market always returns 10% over the long haul? Baloney.

My software launches: ThoughtFarmer

I launched my first software product with my partner on Monday. It's called ThoughtFarmer, and it's a Microsoft-based wiki software product for intranets. Check out the site: www.thoughtfarmer.com.

Audio: Sam sings "Twinkle Twinkle"

Duet: Sam & Dad sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (266K MP3) This is Sam's first live recording. He decided on one of the classics: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Venue: Sam's bed Date & Time: Wednesday, December 21st, 2005, Bedtime Lead Vocals: Samuel Alexander McGrath, age 21 months Backup Vocals: Dad, age 32 years

Ana draws Dad

Ana drew this nice little picture of me. She's 3-1/2. She even drew the bags under my eyes! What a sweety.

Craigslist trumps Buy & Sell

After 6 weeks of advertising my BMW in the Buy & Sell, I put it on craigslist. It sold the next day! And craigslist is free! The bargaining part didn't go as well. I had it listed in the Buy & Sell for $6300. When I finally posted it to craigslist, I lowered the price to $4900. And when the first person came to look at it, he asked me what I'd take for it. I said, "Um, I guess $4000." He said okay. I don't think I'd do well as a real estate agent. Negotiating isn't my strength.

1080 calories in a bag of Clodhoppers.

Turns out a 250 gram bag of Clodhoppers has 1080 calories.

Chris runs his first marathon

On Sunday, I ran my first marathon. It was a perfect day, a perfect venue, and a great race. My whole family was involved in the race in some way or another. My sister and brother ran the marathon. Gina and my other 2 sisters ran the 8k. Ana and her cousin ran the kids' race. My sister-in-law, and even my mom(!), raced the half marathon. It was something to see my mom out there. I finished in a respectable 3:25:43. My target was 3:20, so I'm happy. With some more training, I think qualifying for Boston (3:10) is within my capabilities. The only downer is that my dad hit his head on the stove vent just before leaving the house for the race. It was bleeding and he was dizzy, so he missed his first Victoria marathon in 5 years. But he doesn't give up too easily--I'm sure he'll be running another marathon within a few months.