bienes raíces, propiedades, y Inmobiliarias Argentina

Hoy el Superclásico de River y Boca

2011-01-22T17:09:00.000-03:00

Partido a las 22:10 hoy. mí señora lamentablamente va a la cama a esa hora, pero me dice que lo mira conmigo. vamos a ver. También sus padres que estarán en la hinchada son de ir a la cama as las diez. vamos a ver como andan entre gente gritando cuando ya será su hora del sueño.

pero bueno es boca river. En el estadio de Mar del Plata que tendrá algunos partidos en el próximo Copa America.

Via Bariloche

2011-01-20T17:38:00.000-03:00

a pesar del título, vamos en avión a bariloche. para mí, muy raro que el precio era más o menos igual ir en microbus o avión. bueno, vamos en avión al nequen. bueno, en verdad a río negro, pero me gusta decir nequen.

espero no estar aburrido en bariloche.

parte 3

2011-01-19T22:13:00.004-03:00

¡El superclásico de Mar del Plata está en trés días!

bariloche 2

2011-01-18T22:25:00.000-03:00

Mi señora sigue con el tema de bariloche todo el tiempo. bariloche bariloche bariloche. bueno, lago, montanas, dale. si no es el lugar mas fantástico que imaginé -- no solo que ví -- será un bajon.

A Bariloche, Argentina

2011-01-17T11:19:00.009-03:00

La señora me obliga ir a vacaciónes porque es una porteña, y todos los porteños deben ir a vacación en enero o tienen que devolver la tarjeta de la ciudania porteña. en serio, no lo sabias?

Vamos a ir a una propiedad de lago y despues justo en la ciudad. probablemente todos las propiedades y hoteles que vamos son de los kirchners, pero voy a tratar no pensar que les doy dinero a los ladrones.

un domingo especial

2011-01-16T15:36:00.000-03:00

Estoy cansado ya pero tengo que escribir algunas páginas igual. Hoy fuimos a una reunión y nos fue espectacular. Creo que hemos conocido algo que nos sirve en una manera distinta pero necesario para este tiempito que sigue. Ya creo que a mí esposa le gusta mucho.

Y voy a jugar el futbol con mis amigos nuevos este Martes. Vamos!

Boca River en Mar del Plata 2011, parte 2

2011-01-15T17:12:00.000-03:00

Una cosa mas del superclásico de Boca River en Mar del Plata. El partido es el 22 de enero. Pero hay que ir a la cancha para retirar las entradas el día antes o el 20. Y no publican el horario, por supuesto.

Boca River en Mar del Plata 2011

2011-01-14T17:00:00.016-03:00

Che que dificil que fue a comprar las entradas para el primer superclásico del año. En primer lugar, las busquedas de google no me volvieron nada util. Dale, salen de ticketek. Ticketek, hay que registrarse, hay un limite de minutos para cada paso...espero que no tengas que ir al baño. Ojala. Gasté hora y media de mi vida luchando para compras las entradas al superclásico en Mar del Plata.

Tambien, anunciaron cincuenta pesos. ¿Pero cuanto salieron? Sesenta mangos. Igual, creo que será muy lindo en el Estadio Mundialista. Estarámos en la tribuna de Boca Juniors, creo que es del Sur, y que la de River es el Norte, como corresponde.

Un orden de países

2011-01-13T20:22:00.000-03:00

Estrategícamente, como vamos a hacer.

1. Argentina
2. Uruguay
3. Chile
4. Paraguay
5. Bolivia
6. Peru
7. Colombia
8. Ecuador
9. Mexico?

argentina es una decision logíca. no hay muchas propiedades de venda por internet ahora, pero por lo menos, sí, hay de departamentos alquilados. eso ayuda, es cierto. o sea, es perfecto, porque el mercado no está saturado, pero tampoco es completamente extraño.

uruguay segundo sigue Argentina. países hermanos, tambíen uruguay es chiquito y se puede hacer rapido. Chile porque es un vecino, y creo que mas o menos es del mismo punto el desarollo de propiedades vendidas por inmobiliarias del internet.

Paraguay y Bolivia estan allí en la lista porque si hay tres países, vamos a empezar a tener éxito por tamaño, y podemos entrar primer en los resultados busquedos. Peru sigue un poco adelante de los dos, pero es un vecino, y creo que el mercado inmobiliario está donde quiero. De ahi, Colombia. Un país mas grande que el resto de la lista hasta luego. Similar en tamaño a Argentina pero con todos los enlaces del resto, en ese momento creo que serámos bastante poderoso. Seguimos con Ecuador. Bueno, no sé de Venezuela. Probablemente vamos a mexico y despues hacemos los países centroamericanos. De los centro Americanos, Guatemala tiene 14 millón personas. Despues Honduras con 7.5 millón. Todos el resto mas o menos son similar en poblacíon. Costa Rica 4.5, El Salvador 6, Nicaragua casi 6, Panama, 3.5 con la excepíon de Belize con solo 300k personas. Chiquito, y con idioma ofícial Ingles, aunque la mayoria de la poblacion no habla nada Ingles. Bienes raices, che.

Llamada

2011-01-12T19:17:00.000-03:00

La llamada fue hoy y no me fue trabajo. Quizas tampoco totalmente un placer, pero la mas cerca al gusto que sea posible. Creo que hicimos un mapa como seguir adelante.

Partecito de que sabia menos esta resolucionado, creo. que bueno tener un socio que tiene fuerzas para equilibriar las propiedades del equipo.

Los inmuebles y sus propiedades

2011-01-11T19:00:00.000-03:00

Si no hay avanzas siempre en el progreso, todo esta ariesgado. sin el sentido de apuro, nada se hace. hay que mejorar.

Andamos en el caballo de nuevo

2011-01-10T19:16:00.000-03:00

Hicimos una pausa, pero vamos a seguir. el problema es que tenemos todo el tiempo en el mundo, y no es prioridad de ninguno de nosotros. pero bueno

Burbuja inmobiliaria argentina

2011-01-09T19:18:00.005-03:00

Cada día que pasa, mas Argentinos me dicen que la mejor inversíon en la Argentina es la propriedad. ¡Bienes raíces, inmuebles, me hablan con emocíon! "Yo ví todas las inversiones en el mundo fundirse, pero la propiedad siempre es una buena inversíon."

Si hay un mejor argumento que la inmobiliaria Argentina está en burbuja actualmente, yo no puedo pensar de uno.

Sin el hem

2011-01-08T19:00:00.003-03:00

El hem es una distraccíon que no es necesario. suerte que se vaya. vamos a ver.

Tomando decisiones de las propiedades mientras escribo

2011-01-07T00:47:00.003-03:00

Si el primer pais que hacemos es argentina, es necesario tener una subpagina para Argentina? creo que si. entonces, como parece el sitio mayor? necesita la misma pagina de siempre, creo, pero con una caja de busqueda para todo el sitio. agregamos como seguimos.

en el subsitio para argentina, tenemos ciudades a la izquierda, y de nuevo caja de busqueda, pero solo para las cosas de los departamentos y casas que van bajo de alquiler y compra busquedas.

Hay que hacer el progreso

2011-01-06T19:12:00.000-03:00

Tan facil a no hacer progreso. Yo lucho, pero ultimamente me bastan las cosas que ya tengo. y me esposa argentina que no esta bien por perder nuestra porteñita. que vas a hacer.

2011-01-05T18:27:00.015-03:00

El hierramiento de google para las palabras claves de busqueda es en ejecicio en la dificultad de interpretar. a veces mas datos iguala mas confusíon.

alquiler es numero uno, especialmente ya en enero y febrero, pero casi nada hasta noviembre y deciembre cuando todo esta loco de nuevo. el problema es que alquiler es una area ya desarollada un poco. si, podemos competir en google, y quizas se hará, pero creo que prefiero inmobiliaria especialmente de casas. parece que la forma de busqueda es venta y compra, tambien vivienda, y no tanto comprarse, alquilerse...bueno alquiler si es grande. terrenos un poco, pero no tanto inmuebles.

Propriedades es grande en todo el mundo. me sorprende un poco. inmobiliaria, segun Google, es mucho mas grande en argentina que en el resto del mundo hispano? no lo creo.

Bueno. Alquiler. Propriedad, inmobiliaria, casa antes de departamento (forma buscar departamento es alquiler).

Propiedades

2011-01-04T10:50:00.000-03:00

Me desperté muy tardecito hoy. Que lastima, porque creo que será un día de mucha productividad ahora.

Parece que propiedades es la palabra más clave. No me digas, por supuesto fui por el otro lado.

Hoy cumplo el análisis de palabras integrales

2011-01-03T14:46:00.001-03:00

Como anoté hace un ratito, tengo que analizar cuales son los blancos para palabras de bienes raices. Creo que lo hago hoy, pero vamos a ver.

¿Hago para un país éspecifico o por todo español? Creo que empiezo con Argentina. Y si pudiera hacerlo para Buenos Aires, lo haría así.

A donde va el mundo

2011-01-02T14:46:00.004-03:00

Creo que no hago nada para el concepto hoy. Tengo otro proyecto que tiene la posibilidad a cambiar la direccíon de los eventos humanos. Pero no cobro nada y bueno la posibilidad todavia es chica. Entonces mientras pienso que el otro proyecto es bien importante, igual hay limites a cuanto lo trabajo.

Cuales son los blancos exactamente de bienes raices?

2011-01-01T20:12:00.001-03:00

Vamos a tener que fijarnos a cuales son los blancos a que les queremos apuntar y dirigir nuestros recursos. Yo pensé que ibamor a andar para inmobiliaria, pero quizas bienes raices es mejor. Ahora me parece a mí que sí. Pero quizas vendo, venderse, vender, se vende, para comprar, compra,venda, vende, alquiler, alquila, propiedad, propiedades, hay millones de opcíones.

Así es la vida. Emprender es hacer. Y cambiar cuando se sabe como se puede mejor. La busqueda para mejorar. Lo vemos así y haremos asi. Vamos.

Feliz Año Nuevo

2010-12-31T19:23:00.000-03:00

Despedimos 2010 y bienvenido a 2011. Espero pasarlo mejor que este año, que no me fue tan bueno.

Suerte con luz

2010-12-30T20:46:00.000-03:00

Despues que pusé que pierdo la luz cada tantas horas...no se cortó nunca más. Que barbaro. Por fin...quizas la gente ya se fue al mar. Yo volví.

Electricidad en la provincia de Buenos Aires

2010-12-29T13:47:00.000-03:00

Todavia hoy no se corto la luz en mi partido de la provincia de Buenos Aires. Casi un milagro, che. En verdad muchos barrios y partidos tienen falta de la electricidad en esta semana. Quizas en zona norte cerca al rio (zona de ricos) no hay tanta falta, pero no lo se.

Volvimos de Mar del Plata

2010-12-28T14:11:00.000-03:00

El unico pensamiento que tuve en mí cabeza durante mí fin de semana en Mar del Plata era "estas inmobiliaros son completamente inútil ya."

Mar del Plata, para mí, es mas linda que muchos Argentinos dicen. Claro que la playa no es como Brazil o cualquier otra playa extraordinaria. La arena es bien morón, sí, pero la vista bajando de la ciudad a la playa es extraordinaria, y no hay duda. Por lo menos durante el fin de semana que yo estuve allí, era espactacular. Un flamejante brillo total de agua azul y hermoso.

Igual la ciudad no es mí gusto. Prefiero menos actividad cuando voy al mar...supongo que ya no soy tan joven, y prefiero paz sobre ruido. Encima, todo el mundo porteño entero va a mar del plata en enero o febrero y es un hormiguero. Pero antes del enero, aun en la Navidad, no hay tanta locura.

Vamos por todo, o vamos por un país específico

2010-12-27T18:01:00.000-03:00

Tengo un proyecto de una regíon grande. Trato hacer toda la zona o voy directo para un lugar chiquito? No lo sé.

Feliz Boxing Day

2010-12-26T14:22:00.005-03:00

Los relatores de FoxSports hablan del Boxing Day en Gran Bretaña. Una tradicíon media rara, pero supongo que tiene sentido por una sociedad mas estatica como Inglaterra.

Feliz Navidad

2010-12-25T03:11:00.001-03:00

escribo desde mar del plata. lindo. Escribiré más despues.

Feliz Navidad y todo

2010-12-24T06:37:00.005-03:00

Noche Buena y Feliz Navidad.

Yo arreglé mi ciculo del sueño especialmente para estar cansado en la playa donde vamos para festejar la Navidad. ¡Ojala que sea una Navidad inolvidable!

Español para todos

2010-12-23T06:12:00.000-03:00

Hay Barcelona y Real Madrid y nada mas. ok, vale, vale. Verdad que Villareal juega bastante bien tambíen aunque Marcos Senna ya está viejo. El brasileño Nilmar y el norteamericano Giuseppe Rossi estan bien en forma.

Igual hay Barca y hay Madrid. Madrid tiene Di Maria, quien está sobrevalorado, como titular necesario...no un señal bueno. Barca perdió de los manos de un chiquito (Hercules, era...ni me acuerdo) pero destruyó Madrid y ya ha ganado sus ultimos cinco o seis partidos por como 25 goles. En serio, y incluye el goleado Madrid.

Madrid todavía está solo dos puntos detras, pero van a jugar el futbol miserable de Jose Mourinho para tener la posibilidad con el grande Barcelona.

La única sombra es la burbuja inmobiliaría que existe en España. Parece que nadie quiere ver ni saber la verdad, pero el gobierno socialista gastó demasiado, queda en deudas, y tambíen tienen un crisis de prestamos por sus casa y villas. Uno de los PIIGS (chanchos), y me parece que puede ser que sea el peor. Vemos.

Carlitos Tévez sigue en Manchester City

2010-12-22T05:57:00.003-03:00

¿Si sigo escribiendo sobre el futbol en esta pagina, quien lo leería? Mas probable que nadie.

Igual, voy a ofrecer algunos pensamiento sobre el futbol, global.

Ínglaterra -- sorprendemente competitivo. Clubes chiquitos competiendo aun ahora que llegamos a la marca de la media de la temporada. Uno, o tál vez el, club mas grande en el mundo, el odiado Liverpool, lucha para quedarse en la primera por bastante de la primera mitad. Sus rivales del clasico, Everton, tambíen lucha. Fulham, fresco de su aparencia en los finales de la Liga Europea, está bien cerca al descenso. Manchester United está puntero, solo por el colapso total de Chelsea, tambíen con Manchester City (con Carlitos) bien cerca. Muy raro todo hasta ahora, la verdad.

¿Que tiene que ver todo esto con vender o alquiler casas? Ni un pepino.

Liga Argentina y industria de casa

2010-12-21T06:13:00.001-03:00

La Liga Argentina está al reves. Totalmenta en vuelta, aun mas que en Ínglaterra. River Plate lucha con el descenso, pero con algunas victórias en el fin del año, está justo afuera ahora. Boca Juniors ya no tiene problema con el descenso, pero viene en año y medio si no se mejora.

Independiente ganó la Copa Sudamericana, pero no era nada en la Clausura. La ganó Estudiantes La Plata, y verdad que era bien merecida. Igual, Vélez jugó muy bien y el trofeo no se determinó hasta el final fecha.

Inversiones en bienes y raíces son una constante en la historía de la Argentina, o por lo menos de Argentina...con frecuencía los Porteños se confunden si hay diferencía, pero sí, hay. La verdad para mi es interesante porque a mí me parece que las casas son increiblemente caras en Argentina. Los precios en inmobiliarias quedan en dolares estadounidenses (USD) y con el peso argentina .25 por cada dólar...los precíos estan bien inflados.

Hay burbuja? No lo sé.

Otro recuerdo

2010-12-20T15:45:00.008-03:00

Interesante, me acuerdo ya que no quise ir a ese navidad que escribí anteayer. No sé porque me pasó pero solo fui por un sentido de obligacíon. Y me fui bien tarde la casa, no les traje nada (igual no tuve nada en departamento, así es la vida soltera), pero todo el día me pusó en mal humor. No tengo idea porque. Eventualmente, me fui el departamento en capital federal por colectivo a la provincia de Buenos Aires. La casa bonaerensa de zona norte. (como me encanta la palabra bonaerense)

Tan mal que me senté en la vereda una cuadra de la casa de mi amigo por media hora. No pude hacerme entrar. Por fin, lo logré y como decía, me encantó

Algo que reconozco: los momentos malos son mas difícil afuera del país tuyo. Te sentís vos un poco...extraño. La palabra que es familiar de extranjero.

Seis días hasta La Navidad

2010-12-19T14:59:00.002-03:00

Hoy es el 19 de diciembre, entonces queda solo seis días más hasta Navidad. Me trae pensamientos de navidades de mi infancia.

Que raro. Ya no soy nada materialista, y prefiero no recibir regalos. Pocas posesiones te ayudan en la vida, pero con frecuencia las posesíones te atrapan. Quiero que mis cosas trabajen para mí, porque por muchas personas, ellos trabajan para sus cosas.

Un recuerdo

2010-12-18T15:41:00.000-03:00

Hace un par de años, fui a la navidad de un amigo. Muy amable de él a invitarme a pasarla con su familia. Es algo que recordaré para siempre. Me fue barbaro, aunque no hablaba el idioma bastante bien para tener charlas y conversaciones con la gente.

Tiene algunas sobrinas hermosas y bien chiquititas (2-6 años en ese momento), y una, la mas grande, me hablaba a mí y no tenía idea que me decía pero era muy buena onda. Me encantó. Le tengo que hablar y agredecer.

un pensamiento que me pasa

2010-12-17T16:02:00.001-03:00

A quien le puedo pedir? Una pregunta bien importante en la vida, y algo que nunca me molesto hacer. pero parece que a algunos amigos les molesta que les pida. que puedo hacer, si alguien me puede ayudar, lo pido, si puedo ayudar, lo ofrezco. no se porque la gente ofiende.

Las Malvinas Argentinas, las letras

2010-12-16T18:26:00.000-03:00

Me encanta este himno.

Tras su manto de neblinas,
no las hemos de olvidar.

"¡Las Malvinas, Argentinas!",
clama el viento y ruge el mar.

Ni de aquellos horizontes
nuestra enseña han de arrancar,
pues su blanco está en los montes
y en su azul se tiñe el mar.

¡Por ausente, por vencido
bajo extraño pabellón,
ningún suelo más querido;
de la patria en la extensión!

¿Quién nos habla aquí de olvido,
de renuncia, de perdón? ...
¡Ningún suelo más querido,
de la patria en la extensión.

¡Rompa el manto de neblinas,
como un sol, nuestro ideal :
"Las Malvinas, Argentinas
en dominio ya inmortal"!

Y ante el sol de nuestro emblema,
pura, nítida y triunfal,
brille ¡oh Patria!, en tu diadema
la perdida perla austral.

Coro
¡Para honor de nuestro emblema
para orgullo nacional,
brille ¡oh Patria!, en tu diadema
la pérdida perla austral.

Cada dia, dos casas por dia y hay un barrio

2010-12-15T20:24:00.002-03:00

Llenando los fechas atras no es la cosa mas divertida de mi dia, pero creo que es importante que lo hago igual.

No tiene mucho sentido?

Revolucionamos las inmobiliarias latinoamericanas

2010-12-14T20:30:00.004-03:00

Mi socio me dijo eso recien. Me encanta. Si podemos hacer una revolucion en las propiedades y cortar cuanto lo que todos los latinoamericanos tienen que pagar para vender sus casas y bienes raices.

una pavada.

2010-12-13T19:18:00.003-03:00

No se porque pero este fecha me pega gracioso. 13/12/10. supongo que sera mas gracioso en un ano con 13/12/11.

San Andrés Colombia

2010-12-12T06:23:00.004-03:00

La esposa quiere ir a las islas San Andres de Colombia. No tengo claro porque se fijó a esa islas, pero sí, lo hizo.

A mí me gustaría ir a las montañas de Colombia. Por ejemplo, a Medellin, donde la temporada estará primavera, porque tiene el clima privaveratico todo el año. y sí, recien inventé una palabra, pero no importa. Quizas nos vamos a punto del diablo en Uruguay, que tiene poco pero está muy tranquilo en la playa y todo. bien hippie.

contamos abajo

2010-12-11T19:19:00.004-03:00

Este fecha en otro sistema de ordenar los fechas seria 12/11/10. o sea, the final countdown (pon tu la musica de la banda Europe). entiendes?

Inmobiliarias

2010-12-04T01:15:00.002-03:00

Nunca entendí porque "real estate agency" se llama "inmobiliaría" o "bienes y raíces" en Español. Igual supongo que en Íngles no hay tanto sentido tampoco que se dice "chatel" y cosas así. Aún "real estate agency" no es exactamente lo que usaríamos si no fue por toda la historia de Ínglaterra. Pero bueno, los inmuebles son bienes y raices

Must have a new web project

2010-12-04T01:04:00.002-03:00

not sure what i'm going to do with this, but we'll see.

no espero esto para nadie, ni mi peor enemigo

2010-12-02T06:27:00.004-03:00

Hasta muy poquito, la esposa y yo perdimos nuestra beba. Iba a nacerse en un mesito. No hay nada peor, y necesito algo para destraerme. Quizas este blog sirve. Escribo en Spanglish, busco un proyecto, que sé yo.

Bienes y raíces

2010-11-22T05:21:00.014-03:00

Bueno, pongo mi teclador en el Castellano y escribo. Parece que he embarcado a un viaje que puede ser imposible. Verdad que no voy a tener idea hasta que vemos algunos resultados buenos. Ni siquiera tengo un destino fijo, pero espero que valga tener solo una direccíon: inmobiliarías, bienes y raices. Especificado a cada pais, con suerte superamos los que ya competen.

Quizas lo que hago es lo que debería haber hecho hace siete o más años, pero no corresponde vivir con dudas de lo debería haber sido o lo que podía pero no hice.

Ya me quedo pensando en los acentos, porque ya sé que los uso malo.

Proximamente

2010-10-02T04:28:00.003-03:00

¿Algo se levanta al superfície? Veremos.

Nos vemos.

distrito federal, capital federal, distrito capital

2010-09-14T04:45:00.014-03:00

¿Por qué tienen muchos de los países latinoamericanos distrito federales que dominan el resto del país en poblacíon? Distrito Federal en México, si incluye la provincias alreador, es una ciudad bastante mas grande que las demas. Buenos Aires en Argentina, Santiago en Chile, Montevideo en Uruguay, Bogota en Colombia, Caracas en Venezuela. Ecuador no es tanto así, pero igual hay solo dos ciudades grandes en Ecuador, si me sirve la memoría.

Creo que hay sentido que Estados Unidos y Brasil movieron sus capitales a ciudades no tan queridas. Igual en fin la capital ya esta mas o menos querida, pero Washington y sus compañeros no sabían que se inventaría el aire, lo que hace Washington DC habitable.

México

2010-08-02T04:53:00.000-03:00

Cada vez que me acuerdo que el nombre formal de México es los estados unidos de México, me pega raro. Y despues, aunque me quedo poquito sorprendido, recuerdo que sí...es así.

Estados Unidos = USA o EEUU (¡Dilo cuatro vezes rapido en voz alto, te animo!)
Estados Unidos de México = México

Diego Maradona is a lucky guy

2010-06-10T00:41:00.003-03:00

Diego Maradona's attacking options: Leo Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Tevez, Diego Milito, Sergio Aguero.

That's possibly the most ridiculous array of attacking talent ever put together.

soccer posts go here

2010-05-15T00:25:00.002-03:00

i've been blogging about football at another site.

Dia de impuestos

2010-04-15T19:15:00.005-03:00

¡Que dia triste, por favor! ¿Es justo que gobiernos te sacan 50% de lo que ganas?

Pero tampoco el parte peor. Todos los papeles que se obligan. ¡terrible! y tambíen que los impuestos tienen una estructura tan mala, porque tarda el crecimiento económico.

I don't watch the Belgian Jupiler League often...

2010-04-14T15:09:00.002-03:00

but I might have to try to check out this afternoon's game for Anderlecht v KV Kortrijk. This 16 year old kid Romelu Lukaku is playing for Anderlecht, and if reports are to be believed, he is like Didier Drogba but with more athleticism and football skill.

Yeah. Crazy. This kid could be the alltime great if he keeps working hard. Pretty tough to do that when you're only 16, but...

Ribery to pick

2010-04-14T15:04:00.003-03:00

France winger Franck Ribery has said that will choose his future in the next 10 days: stay at Bayern, or Real Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona.

I don't think he's going to get Cristiano Ronaldo money. Close maybe, but not equal. So unless Chelsea offers to make him number 1 of all time, I think Chelsea can be struck from the list.

My wholly uninformed guess is something like 70% Real Madrid, 18% Bayern, 12% Barcelona.

Rafa Benitez to Juventus?

2010-04-14T14:41:00.002-03:00

Juventus claim to be 90% confident of picking up Rafael Benitez. But the Spaniard is also pretty heavily talked about for the not-yet-vacant tecnico spot at Real Madrid. Everyone assumes that chilean Manuel Pellegrini will get the ax after 250 million euros in spending and no championships, even if it was only a year.

Juventus is historically a big club. The scandal a few years back obviously hurt, but Juve have reportedly offered Benitez 10 days to decide if he wants to join them and their 70 million euro transfer budget.

So Benitez is in a funny place: he might get fired after this season at Liverpool anyway. He could rebuff Juve now and hope for Madrid (or Chelsea or Inter etc). He could hope to stick it out with Liverpool. We'll see. Right now I'm tempted to think that he heads to Juventus...but the relative blahness of Italian football may keep him out.

Europa league second leg games

2010-04-08T18:35:00.002-03:00

I thought they didn't disappoint. I lost the feed of the Fulham Wolfsburg game, but scoring in the first minute pretty much sealed the game. I didn't get to see much of it, but what I saw was exciting. It was going to be very much an uphill battle for the Bundesliga champs after Zamora grabbed the first minute away goal though.

I ended up watching the Atletico Madrid Valencia second half. Great game. The ref made some very curious decisions though. An Atletico defender grabbed Vigic as he was going up for a header that would almost certainly have been a goal...and he ripped his shirt wide open. Yet somehow no penalty? Amazing. On the other hand, the linesman a few minutes before called offsides of Kun Aguero when Aguero was very clearly onsides. He had a one on one with the goalie with all kinds of time that would have definitely been a goal. Strangely the ref gave Aguero a yellow card for leaving the pitch slowly in the final minute, which means that Aguero will miss the next game.

Hamburg SV will play Fulham and Liverpool will face Atletico Madrid.

Europa League, second leg

2010-04-08T00:30:00.002-03:00

The first leg games last week were all exciting. This week Atletico has Valencia at home, Standard Liege has the advantage in Belgium against Hamburg, Liverpool has a chance for redemption at Anfield against Benfica, and Fulham goes to Germany to face defending Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg.

To be honest, I'm pumped about these games. I'll likely be watching and screaming for Fulham in front of my computer monitor because I doubt Fulham will be the game televised here.

By the way, Pablo Aimar's visit to Liverpool will reunite him with Rafael Benitez, after they spent a few successful years together at Valencia.

Robber wonder strike sinks United

2010-04-07T03:41:00.000-03:00

What else is there to say: world class football from Arjen Robben. That was an amazing first-touch half side-touch volley.

Do I think Bayern was the better side? To be honest, no, I don't. But give them a ton of credit for scrapping two goals away to come out with just enough to advance.

The red card not only left Man U a player short, but it induced Ferguson to withdraw Rooney. And Nani had two goals of solid finishing, but the bulk of the labor was done by Ecuador's Antonio Valencia.

Considering Everton

2010-04-07T02:48:00.003-03:00

When Landon Donovan arrived at Everton, they were in the relegation zone. Somehow they've had a crazy few 3 months won a bunch of matches and show up after a week in April with a chance at the Europa League.

Currently 5th and 6th are occupied by Tottenham and Liverpool with 58 and 55, while Aston Villa is just slightly behind with 54. Everton has 50.

Aston Villa and Tottenham have only played 32 games, however, while Liverpool and Everton have both played 33. Manchester City, with 59 points, has also played 32 games and has the pole position for the Champions League.

On Wednesday the 14th, Everton plays at Aston Villa, followed by Blackburn away, Everton at home, Stoke away and Portsmouth at home.

Aston Villa has Everton at home, Portsmouth away, Hull at home, Birmingham at home, Manchester City away and Blackburn at home.

If you were to bet, I'd still put money on Liverpool and Tottenham making the Europa League, but it's not impossible to see Everton in there but it will likely come down to whether Everton and Aston Villa can get a result in a week.

Leo Messi! Messi! Lionel Messi! Messi!

2010-04-06T18:07:00.003-03:00

Some variation of his name 4 times. Why? For the four goals he scored in beating Arsenal today. Obviously a great result for Barcelona. Arsenal is a dangerous club, as they showed by being up 3-2 in aggregate after 110 minutes of the 180 minute two leg match.

In some ways, Arsenal is the perfect team for Messi to face. They attack and play possession (and truthfully, due to injuries were without their 3 best attacking players). That means Messi will frequently find himself with space. Arsenal would never ever shame themselves like Chelsea did in last year's Champions League semis where Chelsea packed 11 men into the penalty area and basically put up a tent. And while Arsenal should be commended, it is true that it leaves them vulnerable to master class displays from Messi.

Barcelona will face Inter Milan in the Champions League semi-finals. But first, they have Real Madrid this Saturday...in Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Barcelona v. Arsenal injury report, leg 2 at Camp Nou

2010-04-05T22:54:00.003-03:00

The injury report will be pretty key to the match.
Lots of key injuries for both sides.

Out for Arsenal: Alex Song, Robin Van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Wlliam Gallas, Andrei Arshavin, Aaron Ramsey
Somewhat Questionable: Sol Campbell

Out for Barcelona: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gerard Pique, Carlos Puyol
Doubtful: Jeffren, Yaya Toure, Andres Iniesta
Thierry Henry is apparently still having calf problems as well.

For both sides the question is: who starts at central defense?

Fernando Torres backs Arsenal to win the title?

2010-04-05T22:39:00.001-03:00

"I want Arsenal to be the champions. They have the best fixtures of the three. Wenger deserves to win the title and to be imitated for his work he has done in his time there."

El Nino is a student of the game if he backs Wenger.

This week's English Premier League action

2010-04-03T17:50:00.004-03:00

I watched everything but the first 15 minutes of the Manchester United versus Chelsea game. There's little doubt that Chelsea was the better side today. Even so, there's also no doubt that Drogba was offside on the 2nd goal that put them up 2-0 and ended up being the difference maker in a 2-1 win that may decide who wins the Premiership. I thought Chelsea goalie Petr Cech looked very shaky on crosses. It was no surprise that Man U ended up scoring on what was arguably a Cech misplay.

And even though Chelsea won, I thought Chelsea's defense looked extremely unorganized at times. Although I'm happy Man U lost and is now behind, Chelsea's defense is unimpressive. They have the advantage going forward, and they are already out of the Champions League so they can focus on the league...with the exception of the FA Cup Final next weekend. Of their 5 games left, 3 are at home (Bolton, Wigan, Stoke) and they shouldn't drop points. The two away games are Tottenham and Liverpool, both of whom will be very motivated to try and crack that 4th Champions League spot.

As for Man U, midfield possession just wasn't impressive. When Park has more offensive spark than Berbatov, you know you have problems. Rooney has really become indispensable for them, and with Rooney I think they'd have found a victory. They have Blackburn, Man City and Sunderland away, while Tottenham and Stoke at home. Obviously the Manchester derby at Man City is going to be a huge game. Carlos Tevez has been scoring goals and would love to score another couple against Ferguson.

I saw most of the Arsenal v Wolverhampton tie. Arsenal won it in the final minute on a Bendtner header. They definitely deserved the win, and it was necessary to keep them in contention. While they have Barcelona away on Tuesday, after that they have Tottenham, Wigan, and Blackburn away, with Man City and Fulham at home. They have to beat Tottenham next weekend to stay alive as title contenders, I think.

Tottenham and Man City's performance may not only determine who goes to Champions League, it may determine who is crowned champion. It would be pretty sweet for Carlos Tevez to deny Ferguson a title.

Leo Messi has room to improve

2010-04-03T16:56:00.002-03:00

That's scary, I know. But it's true. Leo Messi could probably double his goal scoring this year if he would increase his conversion rate.

Leo Messi plays football a bit like it's futsal. Futsal is much less about striking the ball past the goalie than flicking it by the goalie. The goal is so small that the goalie always has a chance.

For such a prolific goalscorer, Leo Messi is rather profligate in front of the goal. He creates so many great chances that he can afford to cavalierly let more go to waste than others.

Today's goal against Atletico Bilbao was a great example. He'd already had some excellent chances that he hadn't converted. Pedro got the ball on the right in space. Messi saw the run and cut in front of his defender so sharply that the defender fell down. The ball arrived to Messi at the six yard box in the middle of the goal, with no one within a few yards of him. He one touch deflected it on goal, right at the keeper. It happened to nutmeg the goalie before striking his back leg on the way into the net. I don't think that's what Messi was aiming for.

It's crazy, I know, but I think if Messi works on his finishing he could be scoring tons more goals.

4 good games today

2010-04-01T18:48:00.004-03:00

There were four good Europa League games today.

Fulham 2-1 over visiting Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg
Benfica 2-1 over visiting Liverpool. Everton's rivals were on the receiving end of some poor reffing, and my loyalties would tend more towards Everton than Liverpool.
Valencia 2-2 against visiting Atletico Madrid
Hamburg 2-1 against visiting Standard Liege

I started off watching Liverpool, switched to Valencia Atletico, and then watched 60 minutes of mighty Fulham's win. Roy Hodgson has done a great job with that club.

Europa League games today

2010-04-01T16:10:00.002-03:00

Benfica vs Liverpool
Fulham vs Wolfsburg
Hamburg vs Standard Liege
Valencia vs. Atletico Madrid

I wasn't too sure how this new incarnation of the UEFA Cup would turn out, but this is a pretty solid matchup on all sides. Standard Liege, though it has lost some good players recently including Belgium's Marouane Fellaini and US' Oguchi Onyewu, is still a quality side that should give Hamburg a decent run.

Fulham is in form and got a decent draw against Wolfsburg. A well balanced tie, I assume.

Benfica vs. Liverpool is obviously a good matchup. Given Liverpool's status it will probably be the televised match around the world.

But Valencia v Atletico is pretty similarly fascinating, and features some strikers we'll see in South Africa this summer.

All in all, can't wait to go watch some football.

One more reason to like General Petraeus

2010-04-01T16:07:00.001-03:00

He was on the West Point soccer team.

Arsenal vs Barcelona, leg 1

2010-03-31T17:47:00.005-03:00

Thoughts on Arsenal vs Barcelona, first leg in Emirates Stadium in London.

It was an excellent game of attacking football, as predicted. At one point, Barca had 70% possession, but Arsenal turned that around towards the end.

With 2 away goals, Barcelona is obviously in very good position to advance going into the second leg at home. However, given that they were up 2-0 and at that point should've been a near-lock to advance...but you know that neither of these teams will ever abandon their desire to attack.

1. Almuria. He had an excellent first half, and I was thinking, "wow, Almunia is really answering his critics for Arsene Wenger." But the first goal to start the second half was arguably his fault entirely. It's not a howler, but do you think Victor Valdes or any other topflight keeper concedes a goal there?

2. Wenger. It's trendy to say that his weakness is refusal to care too much about goalkeeping. I can't say I disagree; I think there are some excellent keepers he could buy relatively cheaply (Americans, even!). BUT, his introduction of Walcott into the game changed the match. He won the battle of tactics with Guardiola. The substition of Thierry Henry for Zlatan Ibrahimovic was similarly silly. Henry was sluggish and ineffective. Whatever Guardiola was going for, it didn't work.

Walcott brings a ton of value as a supersub because he can just outrun people, especially when tired. To be honest, I think Wenger planned it out that way, taking off Sagna with 25 minutes left to play. Taking off Arshavin was unusual, but also a substitution that changed the game. Until then, Barca was dominating. Afterwards, much less.

3. The penalty kick. My favorite team in Spain is Barcelona and my favorite team in England is Arsenal. So I'm relatively unbiased when I say this: I don't agree with a penalty kick. And even if so, with a red card? No.

Puyol was in position, and was running for the ball too. He didn't stick out his hip or anything, and while Fabregas was winding up, he took position. In my opinion that is just good defending. That said, it is the referee's judgment call, and I don't think it was a horrible call. It was certainly within realm of debate, though I think probably 80-85% of neutral people would say it wasn't a foul.

I understand that the red card was also given, but I simply disagree with that strongly. Technical assertions of the rules in that spot are a grave error. It was certainly not a tackle-from-behind on a breakway, done intentionally to stop a goal.

4. Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He had two goals, but he could have had 6. His finish on the first goal was nice, although it was an ill-considered challenge by Almunia. Frankly, he could have had about 3 in the first 10 minutes. Ibrahimovic's second goal was ok, he was one on one, so it's hard to fault Almunia. On the other hand, Almunia stuck himself in no man's land when Ibrahimovic cut down his angle. And Ibra has a tendency to try to roof shots near post in situations like that. Good football teams should have people who prepare them for tendencies. I don't really like how Ibrahimovic played it. He was one on one but cut down his angle (a huge no-no for goalscorers) and then wound up. Basically, he decided to gamble by blasting away. In that situation, with time, the best play is generally to just slot the ball where the goalie is not. And if they go down, then go around them.

5. Xavi is a great through-ball player.

So, in the next match, Fabregas (and someone else I think) won't be playing for Arsenal. That hurts, as Fabregas is their creative spark plug. However, Carlos Puyol and Gerard Pique will be out for Barcelona. Losing both central defenders is pretty key for a club that has been very thin on defenders this year. In truth, the only reason Madrid is in the title race is that Barca lost/tied some games this year when they were playing third-choice defenders.

That will certainly add a risk factor that will make it possible for Arsenal to get an early goal. Even so, Barcelona showed itself today to be the superior team, and even if Arsenal should get an early goal, it's doubtful that they would change their style and attempt to win ugly by defending.

Barcelona and Arsenal in the Nou Camp will be a spectacle.

Louis Van Gaal's proposed football rule changes

2010-03-31T15:38:00.005-03:00

Bayern manager Louis Van Gaal would:

1. Position the lineman differently, on the corner flag so they can see when the ball is kicked without moving their heads.
2. Alternately, 2 referees on the field and one watching electronically.
3. Throw-ins should become kick-ins.
4. Instead of 90 running minutes, it would be 70 minutes of ball-in-play.
5. Mandated artificial turf so that all surfaces are consistent.
6. Instead of penalty-kick shootouts, take one man off the pitch every 5 minutes until it is 6 v 6.
7. Goal-line technology to see whether the ball crossed.

I applaud his thinking. There's the problem however, that if adopted you are essentially creating rules for the elite matches that don't match the rules for second division matches and all amateur matchecs.

Number 3: Making throw-ins kick-ins is interesting, but radically changes the game. Instead of kicking the ball out of bounds for a throw in, defenses will now have a much stronger incentive to keep the ball in play. That means that long-balls will be played more, which will spread out the field. That may actually increase scoring, not sure. But it would be a different game. Funny how such a small change would have such a large effect.

Number 2: I think having referees watch electronically is crucial, especially in the World Cup (maybe in Champions League too). The last World Cup had some hideous hideous reffing, especially that Russian guy's Hindenberg-like performance in Holland v. Portugal.

Number 4: Eh. I don't mind this, and it wouldn't be as bad as basketball's end of game problems. Still, it doesn't seem necessary, though it would take remove some of the arbitrariness of the game from being dependent on the referee.

Number 5: This just isn't going to happen. I know it is frustrating when you are the better team to get your skill edge removed because the playing surface is poor, but this seems like an over-reaction.

Number 6: I think this is a good idea, although it would change the game a little bit, in that endurance would now be more prized in tournaments where this might be used. Still, it would do away with penalty kicks, which is a change any real football fan should be happy with.

Number 7: Goal line technology is too expensive. Outside of the World Cup, where it might make sense (though I'd rather just use video replay), it isn't worth it.

Champions League games today

2010-03-31T02:30:00.003-03:00

Some huge games today. Arsenal v Barcelona in a rematch of the Champions League final from 4 years ago -- but this time with Thierry Henry featuring for Barcelona and not his beloved Arsenal -- and also the two clubs who play the most stylish football in the world at the moment. They both play posession football.

Watching Leo Messi will be interesting, as he is one of the Barca players who is more careless with the ball. He is definitely not afraid to take risks, which is generally fine for a striker. But

Inter v. CSKA Moscow will also be a pretty good game. Diego Milito and Samuel Eto'o are both fairly in form, yet Moscow looks dangerous.

Jose Mourinho is not happy, but where will he go?

2010-03-30T13:09:00.008-03:00

At pretty much every opportunity, he talks about wanting to leave Italian football. Just the other day he said explicitly, "I am not happy in Italian football." So where will he land?

You sorta have to assume that he won't stay in Italy, and won't go to Germany. So that leaves England and Spain. Assume he will only go to one of the biggest soccer clubs in the world, which I think is fair, as he's shown he has an ego.

In Spain, that leaves Real Madrid and Barcelona. Yes, there are some other clubs, but they are dwarfed by the big 2. Barcelona's job will be held by Pep Guardiola until he doesn't want it. But they are super committed to attacking, and Mourinho is a little more tactical. Madrid's job could be open, as they crashed out of the Champions League already. If they don't win

In England, Chelsea, Manchester United, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal are probably the clubs Mourinho would deem as worthy of him. Man U won't be open until Sir Alex Ferguson decides to retire, and put me in the camp that doesn't seem him retiring soon. Arsenal won't kick Wenger out, as they play the 2nd most stylish football in the world. Chelsea seems unlikely since Abramovich fired him a few years ago, although Mourinho said nice things after he brilliantly defeated them a few weeks ago in the Champions League. I think Chelsea is a very outside chance.

So I think it comes down to Liverpool, Man City, and Real Madrid. I think that if Madrid manages to win La Liga, Pellegrini will be retained. I can't guarantee it, but I think so. Liverpool and Man City are fighting for the 4th spot in the English Premier League, though Tottenham could take it as well, as they have some very quality players -- Wilson Palacios, Defoe, Peter Crouch.

Rafael Beniten is under pressure at Liverpool. Somehow, and perhaps I am crazy, I still think Liverpool is not crazy enough to fire him. Liverpool may be the biggest club in the world historically, so I think they aren't too happy right now. Even so, they've been unlucky with injuries, Benitez has been a little limited in the transfer budget, so I think Liverpool will hold on to him. Of course, if Liverpool does fire him, I think Madrid might furtively interview Benitez even if Real wins La Liga.

As for Man City, after buying Carloz Tevez, Gareth Barry, Emmanuel Adebayor, etc, if they don't get into the Champions League, one has to think that they might fire Roberto Mancini.

To be completely honest, I think there's a very good chance we see Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid, Liverpool or Manchester City within the next 2 years.

2010-03-29T13:25:00.003-03:00

There are alot of wannabe traders out there that worship the ground Steve Cohen walks on. There's not that much out there about him, so his junkies will definitely pore over this: http://nymag.com/news/features/65126/

Might not too

2010-03-27T18:18:00.001-03:00

Might be posting here again soon.

Feliz cumpleanos para mi

2010-03-18T19:29:00.000-03:00

Un muy feliz cumpleaños para mi este año. Me encuentra en Buenos Aires

raro mí estómago

2009-12-28T14:52:00.003-03:00

Me siento un poco enfermo. No sé, a veces cuando viajo internacionalmente, mi estómago se pone molestado. Y aunque ya volví de Brasil hace 10 dias o algo así, sigo un poco menos que ideal.

Trato tomar un poco de vino a calmar la tormenta adentro. Hasta ahora, no funciona...o funciona pero solo por un rato.

chau, capital federal

2009-11-21T15:07:00.003-03:00

Hoy me mudo a la provincia de Buenos Aires. O sea, seré bonarense, supongo. capital, te voy a extrañar.

que los cumplas feliz

2009-03-18T19:37:00.004-03:00

Un muy feliz cumpleaños para. Estoy en los Buenos Aires de Argentina. Y sí eso es medio chiste. No sé que sea gracioso porque el humor es distinto en otro idioma.

voy a la escuela

2008-04-28T18:22:00.001-03:00

Hago el gran comienzo a aprender el idioma. Vemos como me pasa. Por fin encontré una escuela.

Un año mas

2008-03-18T19:39:00.000-03:00

Otro año ya me pasó. ya esta. me siento un poco viejo.

El numero se cambia

2007-03-18T19:40:00.001-03:00

No soy joven mas. O así me parece a mí. Dale. ¿Que puedo hacer?

hace cuatro años

2007-01-07T00:55:00.009-03:00

Oye! Hace cuatro años y terminaba mis estudios en la facultad. y que hice...verdad no parece tanto. siempre una idea nueva, pero ninguna funcionó. odié la facultad de derecho, es un error total. casi empecé negocios, y sí comenze con una, pero sin mucho éxito. ya soy consultador, pero ya no me gusta tanto. mas o menos me mentian. me dijeron que había muchíssimo trabajo y por eso yo tuviera muchas oportunidades a avanzar. supongo que ellos tenían la ilusíon que trabajo venía. pero no vino. y que desastre para mí porque la única razón estar en esta consultadora es un avanzo mas rapído.

Medellin Colombia

2006-11-18T19:45:00.001-03:00

Quizas que me mude a Colombia? ¿Que le parece a usted? El tema de usted y tú me asusta, de verdad.

bueno

2006-03-18T20:47:00.001-03:00

el puesto cuarto, si señor. que puedo decir. cumpleaños.

"Eboys"by Randall Stross Review

2006-01-14T02:08:00.000-03:00

240, 297

[in progress]

Confessions of a Venture Capitalist -- Ruthann Quindlen

2006-01-12T23:14:00.000-03:00

I just finished "Confessions of a Venture Capitalist: Inside the High-Stakes World of Start-up Financing" by Ruthann Quindlen. My reaction: uh, ok.

Who was the target market for this book? It's not really a primer in pitching to venture capitalists, though it pretends to be at times.

It's not a memoir, though she talks about her self in quite a few chapters.

It's not really an in-depth case study to the point where you really feel like you are provoked to think.

I wasn't impressed. Quindlen is probably a great venture capitalist. Indeed, she talked about lots of her own successful deals (despite a foreward/introduction claiming that she would only talk about the unsuccessful ones). But what did I take away from this book? Very little.

If I just wanted general info on venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, how they think, etc, there are better resources.

This book should have been published in blog form. All of those cute little two page vigniettes would have been very interesting in a blog.

FSBO Madison

2006-01-05T10:48:00.001-03:00

the New York Times:

Across the country, the National Association of Realtors and the 6 percent commission that most of its members charge to sell a house are under assault by government officials, consumer advocates, lawyers and ambitious entrepreneurs. But the most effective challenge so far emanates from a spare bedroom in the modest home here of Christie Miller.

Ms. Miller, 38, a former social worker who favors fuzzy slippers, and her cousin, Mary Clare Murphy, 51, operate what real estate professionals believe to be the largest for-sale-by-owner Web site in the country.

They have turned Madison, a city of 208,000 known for its liberal politics, into one of the most active for-sale-by-owner markets in the country. And their success suggests that, in challenging the Realtor association's dominance of home sales, they may have hit on a winning formula that has eluded many other upstarts. Their site, FsboMadison.com (pronounced FIZZ-boh) holds a nearly 20 percent share of the Dane County market for residential real estate listings.

The site, which charges just $150 to list a home and throws in a teal blue yard sign, draws more Internet traffic than the traditional multiple listing service controlled by real estate agents.

Madison is home to the University of Wisconsin and a city where the percentage of residents who graduated from college is twice the national level. It is also a hotbed of antibusiness sentiment, which turns out to be the perfect place for a free-market real estate revolution. Bucking the system is a civic pastime here.

Elsewhere, the Justice Department, free-market scholars, plaintiffs' lawyers and countless entrepreneurs are vowing to make real estate more competitive and to bring down sales commissions. To do that, they advocate forcing the Realtors' association to share control of its established listing services. Those critics seem to view the listings as an unassailable monopoly.

And who can blame them? Those 800-plus local listing services, controlled by local branches of the Realtors' association, help dole out about $60 billion a year in commissions to real estate agents and the firms that employ them. Despite numerous attacks, the association has been remarkably successful to date at protecting its turf. Through lobbying, litigation and legislation, the Realtors' group has managed to keep control of the crucial listings.

Ms. Miller and Ms. Murphy, however, built a separate and alternative listing service - a parallel market, much like the Nasdaq, which rose in recent decades to challenge the New York Stock Exchange's dominance and sparked competition that eventually reduced transaction costs for all stock investors.

The price competition is startling. FsboMadison listed about 2,000 homes in 2005 and said that about 72 percent of its listings sell. If those 1,440 houses averaged $200,000 per sale, the real estate commissions under the 6 percent system would have been about $17.3 million. Ms. Miller and Ms. Murphy collected about $300,000.

...

William A. Black, a lawyer for the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing, says he does not think consumers who bypass real estate agents are missing much. "The majority of residential transactions are very simple: 99 percent can be done without a broker. And the 1 percent screwed up - the broker couldn't have prevented it."

Alternative listing services would need to reach a combined 50 percent to 60 percent of a market to topple a multiple listing service, Steve Murray, an industry consultant, guessed.

That is what David B. Zwiefelhofer, Webmaster for FsboMadison, would like to see, and he constantly encourages Ms. Miller and Ms. Murphy to expand. "I think this is the one place in the country where FSBO could overtake" the multiple listing service, he said.

His clients, not surprisingly for a social worker and a nurse, are embarrassed by their success, Mr. Zwiefelhofer said. "It bugs me to no end," he said. "The Web site still looks like it was designed by some high school student five years ago."

This is the future. The 6% that realtors have been raking in is what economists call "economic rent." And it's a bad thing. Economic rent is basically when consumers are paying more than they should be because of a lack of competition.

Real estate agents simply collect more than they should, and somehow the market hasn't yet adjusted. But it will.

Sometimes, luck is good.

2005-12-28T02:56:00.001-03:00

I find this totally unconvincing:

Richard Rainwater doesn't want to sound like a kook. But he's about as worried as a happily married guy with more than $2 billion and a home in Pebble Beach can get. Americans are "in the kind of trouble people shouldn't find themselves in," he says. He's just wary about being the one to sound the alarm.

Rainwater is something of a behind-the-scenes type—at least as far as alpha-male billionaires go. He counts President Bush as a personal friend but dislikes politics, and frankly, when he gets worked up, he says some pretty far-out things that could easily be taken out of context. Such as: An economic tsunami is about to hit the global economy as the world runs out of oil. Or a coalition of communist and Islamic states may decide to stop selling their precious crude to Americans any day now. Or food shortages may soon hit the U.S. Or he read on a blog last night that there's this one gargantuan chunk of ice sitting on a precipice in Antarctica that, if it falls off, will raise sea levels worldwide by two feet—and it's getting closer to the edge.... And then he'll interrupt himself: "Look, I'm not predicting anything," he'll say. "That's when you get a little kooky-sounding."

Rainwater is no crackpot. But you don't get to be a multibillionaire investor—one who's more than doubled his net worth in a decade—through incremental gains on little stock trades. You have to push way past conventional thinking, test the boundaries of chaos, see events in a bigger context. You have to look at all the scenarios, from "A to friggin' Z," as he says, and not be afraid to focus on Z. Only when you've vacuumed up as much information as possible and you know the world is at a major inflection point do you put a hell of a lot of money behind your conviction.

Such insights have allowed Rainwater to turn moments of cataclysm into gigantic paydays before. In the mid-1990s he saw panic selling in Houston real estate and bought some 15 million square feet; now the properties are selling for three times his purchase price. In the late '90s, when oil seemed plentiful and its price had fallen to the low teens, he bet hundreds of millions—by investing in oil stocks and futures—that it would rise. A billion dollars later, that move is still paying off. "Most people invest and then sit around worrying what the next blowup will be," he says. "I do the opposite. I wait for the blowup, then invest."

The next blowup, however, looms so large that it scares and confuses him. For the past few months he's been holed up in hard-core research mode—reading books, academic studies, and, yes, blogs. Every morning he rises before dawn at one of his houses in Texas or South Carolina or California (he actually owns a piece of Pebble Beach Resorts) and spends four or five hours reading sites like LifeAftertheOilCrash.net or DieOff.org, obsessively following links and sifting through data. How worried is he? He has some $500 million of his $2.5 billion fortune in cash, more than ever before. "I'm long oil and I'm liquid," he says. "I've put myself in a position that if the end of the world came tomorrow I'd kind of be prepared." He's also ready to move fast if he spots an opening.

Very smart people often do very foolish things. Quite frankly, I think this guy is about to jump off the deep end. I'd love to explain to him why, but I know he wouldn't believe me anyway.

Furthermore, just because someone has made a couple billion doesn't mean that his gambles were made for the right reasons. Later in the article, it appears that Rainwater got lucky on his 94-95 oil and gas gamble. It certainly doesn't sound like he gambled for the right reasons.

People always underestimate the role of luck in success. Luck is a huge, huge part of success. This guy has put himself in the position where luck would make him very wealthy, and congratulations to him.

I think he's about to put himself in the position where luck will make him very UNwealthy. I hope he saves a few million to live on.

2005-12-24T23:18:00.000-03:00

Trying to bring it back, yo:
I think I may start writing here again.

I haven't started any businesses lately, but I've kept the dream alive. It will happen one day. Right now I'm trying to decide whether to stay in law school or try to do something entrepreneurial right now. Law school will always be there, but the opportunity to start something unencumbered by wife and family may not.

But I think I may just start writing about whatever is going on in life. It'll be good for me to write occasionally, and their should be some business talk as well.

**In case you didn't catch it, the reference is from some show back in the early 90s. In Living Colour, maybe? Yo no se.

Something that amuses me -- Budweiser Select

2005-12-03T01:40:00.001-03:00

This blog is still 18th in Yahoo for Budweiser Select. It probably wouldn't take much work at all to be top 10.

11 months

2005-12-03T01:38:00.000-03:00

Eleven months since I posted. That's a long time.

Not much has changed, except that I pay more in tuition now.

Como arena en el vaso de la hora

2005-03-18T20:48:00.002-03:00

así son los dias de nuestras vidas. Se pasó de nuevo.

yikes

2005-01-29T18:51:00.000-03:00

I moved and forgot about my blog.

More Budweiser Select

2005-01-03T19:35:00.003-03:00

I've been posting on Budweiser Select a few times now.

As I predicted, Budweiser Select is being tagged as a low carb beer, even though Budweiser (or Anheuser Busch, rather) isn't marketing it as a low carb beer. They have Michelob Ultra for that already.

Edit several years later: actually, they were sorta marketing it as a lowcarb beer, they just didn't seem to be clear on it at first.

Malcolm Gladwell has a new book on the way

2004-12-26T23:33:00.000-03:00

The author who inspired the current viral marketing/customer evangelism/whatever-else-people-are-calling-it is coming out with a new book: Blink.

Malcolm Gladwell, whose first book The Tipping Point was a surprise bestseller, is now seeking to understand how people make snap judgments.

From a review

Utilizing case studies as diverse as speed dating, pop music, and the shooting of Amadou Diallo, Gladwell reveals that what we think of as decisions made in the blink of an eye are much more complicated than assumed. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, he shows how the difference between good decision-making and bad has nothing to do with how much information we can process quickly, but on the few particular details on which we focus.

If the book is anything like The Tipping Point, it will be well-written and provoking. Which I think is really all anyone can ask for in a business book.

Blink's release date? January 11th, 2005.

I have opened a currency trading account...

2004-12-25T07:58:00.000-03:00

and I am not afraid to use it. That is all.

Merry Christmas!

Budweiser Select

2004-12-24T23:45:00.000-03:00

I've been getting alot of hits for searches Budweiser Select, Bud Select, or other variations on the theme. This means there must be some buzz going around, as I'm not even that high in the search engine rankings.

I'd been travelling for the past few days, so I haven't bought Budweiser Select to try it out. I intend to buy some Bud Select after Christmas and give some sort of review.

In the meantime, if anyone has tried out Budweiser Select, I'm interested in hearing from you. Let me know your thoughts.

Budweiser Select and viral marketing

2004-12-15T04:31:00.000-03:00

I often cruise down the beer aisle at my local HEB (best supermarket ever!), though I purchase only extremely rarely. [Extremely rarely = whenever a 12pack of Shiner is on sale for $9. And then you make several purchases. -- ed.]

In that last month I've noticed a new, attractively-packaged Anheuser-Busch (A-B) product called "Budweiser Select." I took note of it because I thought A-B might have simply renamed Anheuser World Select, a relatively new premium lager. I've been curious as to whether or not Anheuser World Select would succeed. It's a pilsner, but not a remarkable one, in my opinion. It's also expensive, and I tend to not associate Budweiser with expensive or quality.

So I did some research on this Budweiser Select. It is not Anheuser World Select (which is not on the shelves at my local HEB, indicating to me that it isn't doing spectacularly).

Here's some excerpts from A-B's local paper, St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

Anheuser-Busch Cos. will begin test-marketing Monday a new Budweiser product that has slightly more hops flavor, while offering a lower carbohydrate and calorie content than any product in the Budweiser family, including Bud Light.

Though it has more hops flavor, Budweiser Select remains an American-style lager, said Don Meyer.

With only 99 calories and 3.1 grams of carbohydrates per 12-ounce serving, Budweiser Select will have the lowest carb and calorie count of any Budweiser product.

Budweiser Select is expected to have broad appeal among beer drinkers, though it may be skewed to the white-collar and upscale market given the sophisticated packaging, Meyer said.

"I think it will be equally attractive to males and females, and it also should appeal across the whole age demographics, 21 plus," Meyer said.

The beer will be priced the same as Budweiser and Bud Light.

The seven test-markets are: Austin, Texas; Deptford, N.J., a suburb of Philadelphia; Athens, Ga.; Des Moines, Iowa; Green Bay, Wis.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Nashville, Tenn.

To generate some buzz, A-B weeks ago set up billboards that directed consumers in these test-markets to go to an Internet site. For example, Austin consumers are sent to www.areallygreatnewbeeriscomingtoaustin.com, where they go through a humorous presentation of "great moments in beer history." The teaser ends with Nov. 8 left as the "next great moment."

"We don't reveal it is from (Anheuser-Busch) in this teaser Internet campaign," Meyer said. On Monday, consumers going to this site will be directed to another site, where they can access the brand and retail information, he said.

A-B also will support the product through new local television, cable and print advertising as well as promotions at on-premise locations.

To boost 'word of mouth,' the brewer will hold Sunday 'bartender balls' at each of the test-markets aimed at introducing the beer to select bartenders, waiters and waitresses.

I'm in Austin, so hence why I've seen the product on the shelves. Here's some thoughts:

1. I didn't see any of these advertisements...or at least don't remember any of them if I saw them. That doesn't bode well.

2. Lowcarb and lowcal publicity. What exactly is their target market? A-B already has Michelob Ultra in the low-carb beers, so I assume they don't want Budweiser Select to compete with that.

They say they want to have "broad appeal" though it "may be skewed to the white-collar and upscale market. . ."

Uh, ok. It doesn't seem to me like their marketers have really figured out a profile of their target customer. They're sending mixed messages. Apparently they aren't targeting light beer drinkers, but every article notes that Bud Select has the lowest calorie and carb content of any A-B beer. So it must've been in their press release.

When people hear lowcarb and lowcal, I think they assume that it lacks taste, because it's a light beer. I certainly do.

3. Packaging. The packaging is great. It's eyecatching, classy, and it looks like a premium beer. It was so good that it made me do this research on the beer.

4. Price. Yet they're pricing Bud Select the same as Budweiser and Bud Light. It's premium packaging, yet BudLight pricing. There's a disconnect there that is confusing to me as a consumer.

5. The product is shelved with all the other Budweiser products, which tend to be on the lower-end of the beer pricing and quality spectrum. My guess is that many premium/microbrew folks don't check this area out unless they want a light beer or something of that nature.

6. I don't think that A-B's Budweiser Select viral marketing campaign will be in any business school case studies in the future. A website that doesn't reveal what the beer is? I don't like that. Also, I went there today and I put in a zip code that I knew wasn't in their target markets. The website froze. They apparently didn't plan for anyone to visit the site from outside their target markets...not a good way to create buzz outside your target markets.

7. I like the "bartender balls." Bartenders have the ability to tell their customers about a great new beer, if they like it. I don't know how standard this is in the industry, but potentially it seems like a good idea. Malcolm Gladwell -- who helped kick off the viral marketing trend -- might call bartenders Mavens of their subject.

I haven't tasted the beer yet and I'm not sure I intend to. It seems to me that there are too many mixed messages. If they were going to choose that packaging, they should've marketed it as more of a premium beer. If they're going to note it's low-carb, low-calorie nature, I think they should market it as a light beer. I think they're already going after the low-carb premium market with Michelob Ultra.

Perhaps it really tastes wonderful -- they seem to think so, since they're marketing it very broadly. But with all the contradictions in packaging, price, and low-carb, low-cal publicity, I don't think this beer will take off.

What I would have done: if they think this beer tastes so great that they're going to market it broadly, then I think they should have done two things differently: raise the price to match the packaging and omit the low-carb information.

Lots of unfinished posts as of late...

2004-12-07T07:49:00.000-03:00

I've been drafting posts, and then not finishing them. I don't know why.

Tomorrow I'll probably go in and finish most of the old posts.

Today is Pearl Harbor Day, a previous generation's 9/11. Will we meet the challenge as our forefathers did?

An idea...

2004-12-03T00:19:00.000-03:00

I suppose it would be pretty easy to start a company that did exactly what I described in my bleg yesterday.

As far as I have found, there are no companies that do what I asked about yesterday. Geocities offers free sites, but if you want to host a domain, then you have to pay. Other companies offer free hosting...but there's a catch: you have to pay a high price to register your domain with them.

I don't think it's really in my area of interest, but I think it's a profitable idea. Go buy a cheap server somewhere, write a contract up for your users, sign up for Google adsense, and then place an Adsense bar on each webpage.

Your marginal costs are extremely low -- electricity for the server? -- and thus should be easily covered by Adsense.

It may be a little difficult to find consumers. Free webpages are easy to find, and it's not expensive to host a domain name. Plus, most people who get a domain name are willing to pay the hosting fees.

Hmm. Except bloggers. Bloggers might be an easy way to find folks to sign up for free domain hosting.

MSN search

2004-11-30T04:22:00.000-03:00

I've been using the beta version of Microsoft's new MSN search.

Frankly, I'm impressed. And not just because my own sites do well in the rankings.

I've only been using it fulltime for a few days, but so far it is outdoing google. There are some searches where Google returns better results, and others where MSN returns better results. Considering that MSN Search is still in beta, this is pretty impressive.

If MSN Search returns better results, Google will have to tweak its algorithm. Quite a few of us think Google has gotten lazy about maintaining vigilance of its results' relevance.