can i graduate?

my title is in reference to the great third eye blind. i use to take the title to this song and switch it with "can i masturbate?" which was a lot funnier and a lot more of a real question.

so i did it. i graduated this past sunday. i sat in cold, damp minute maid park for something like five hours (i had to be there two hours early) and waited for my turn to walk across the stage and shake someone's hand and move along. the first time i graduated, i looked forward to that moment, that end moment. i think that's a change that's happening as i grow older, hopefully more mature. i'm recognizing that the big finale is really only one more moment in that long journey. focusing too much on it or obsessing about it is unnecessary. i'll remember so many other things about these past three years in school than that moment on stage. but it was a nice moment. my wife was able to see me graduate and she deserved it. she was a huge part of my success. she celebrated every triumph with me and picked me up every time i was down and stressed. she bought christmas/birthday gifts for me for family members/friends when i didn't have time. she practically planned the entire wedding herself because that semester was terribly difficult. she's amazing and half of my degree belongs to her. i'm grateful and thankful that i am exposed to her brilliance.

now i'll take a month off, read a few books, workout a lot and then start my next journey. life is wonderful.

i did have a strange moment saturday night when i drove home. my wife was snoozing and i suddenly realized how many times i had driven down memorial from downtown and that i would probably never do it again that often. i realized i knew every crack in the road, i knew every bump. i knew the way the lights changed and where to expect to see cops and where to expect to move over because no one else knows what they're doing. i knew that road backwards and forwards and it was time for me to separate from it. it was a strange feeling.

10 stock picks by fortune from early 2008. see how they did.

the chinese growth fantasy.

i've been thinking of what constitutes a "safe" investment if i determine stocks are a raw deal. here are fours places where money can be "safely" deposited.