I got my mP3 Players!

Well, I got my mP3 players yesterday from woot! I am either going to sell them on e-Bay, or I am now thinking maybe I'll sell them on my store. I made a little photo booth to take pictures, and I'm pretty proud of them. I used my desk lamp to provide really nice lighting, and they turned out real well (after like 40 tries). I have thought about it and I think I'm going to end up listing them on my store instead. They're priced right, so I think it might generate a little buzz, and if they don't sell, I can always put them on e-Bay. They're Sandisk Sansa m240's. I have one pink and two silver. They're pretty nice (I tested them to make sure they work since they're refurb) and they were quite functional. If I didn't buy them to sell them, I would probably use one. They have a built in voice recorder, and FM tuner; those are both features I think are great. It felt nice in my hand too. I was surprised too, since they're refurbs, I expected them to be of poor quality scratched up, but I couldn't find a single scratch on them, and they all worked fine. The other feature I particularly like is that they run on one AAA battery, which means if the battery runs out...you can just replace it, which is an awesome feature. Anyway, just letting you all know how that is coming. Here's some of the product photos I took, they're not edited yet.

The silver one

The Pink one

The Complete Package

I'm pretty proud of the product photos I have here, they turned out really nicely. I just used printer paper to create the box, and a 20-LED light for the lighting, then my micro zoom feature on my camera. This stuff isn't so hard after all. The last photo used a flash.

Well, that's really all for now. Keep checking for updates, and keep checking out the store for new products.

www.dorm-gear.com

Store is Launched!!! View www.dorm-gear.com

I've just launched my store! It's got a few products up, nothing too much, but it's a start.

Visit www.dorm-gear.com

That's all I had to say, I'm very excited!

Cheap Dorm Food

Well, I tried making the quesadilla's, and they were dynamite! It was simple, tortilla down, mexican cheese spread out on it, meijer brand chili powder sprinkled over top, and another tortilla. Microwaved it for like 20 seconds, and it was awesome. This will sound weird, but it reminded me of the really good spot in a bean burrito from Taco Bell...you know, the sauce pocket that always forms and is really the best part of the burrito. This entire quesadilla was like that; the tortilla got soft, (since there was no direct heat, it couldn't become crispy) but I kind of liked that, it was a very different quesadilla, and I loved it.

My spring break plans are set now. I'm heading to Detroit for like 4 days, and then heading out to Texas for another 4 days. The Canada trip was put on hold due to lack of interest, it will happen at a later time. I like this anyway, I get to see some family in Detroit, and then see my Parents and friends in Dallas too, so it's not too bad.

I am going to upload my webstore soon, it should be coming out in the coming week hopefully...actually, I think I'll wait till after spring break to do it, so I'll actually be here to ship out items in the even that I get any orders.

I had a plan for a little business to start over the summer. Inspired by Neville's water selling idea (see it here) I am going to try to find a way to sell drinks/candy at the pool this summer. I have to contact the homeowner's association to see if I can do this. I figure I'll offer them a share of the profits, and then to help with trash, I'll offer a refund if the kids bring back the trash, to encourage them to throw things away. Of course we'll clean up at the end of the day anyway. I am going to try to get a few friends in on this, so we could share posts, and also the costs. I thought about this for a while last year too, and I figured out we could make a KILLING on this stuff if it sold. There is relatively little startup costs, just the candy, drinks, and wood/paint to make the stand. It folds up real nicely, into very little to carry, if I build it right, it will be great.

The Front of the Stand, with a plastic window to display candy.

The Back of the stand, where we would sit
This is the stand all folded up. The top comes off
Another View

We would paint the stand, and come up with a different name, this is just a 3D model to show what it would look like, approximately. I think it could be a very profitable model. I put together a quick spreadsheet just for the candy, using a supplier I found online. I see high potential. Unfortunately, I can't get the image to work right now, but the numbers are good, ranging from a 44% markup to 114% markup. Woot!

New Highs

Well, oil closed above $100 a barrel for the first time ever today. Scary huh? Tea prices are also increasing, which is crazy, I wonder if this is just a fad, or if it's simply the American market catching on to the greatness that is tea. I have been making more and more Green tea than coffee, and that's saying something since I bought some REALLY good coffee (Kona Coffee, which is absolutely incredible) Bad times for Lipton? Or does Lipton grow the tea too, because then they would be a good buy.

With oil prices continually increasing, would it pay to invest in alternative fuel sources? I checked out some companies that are developing sustainable Hydrogen creation, and quite a few of them are quite cheap. Some are even as cheap as $0.08 per share. That doesn't necessarily sound like the most sound investment, but would it be worth it to throw $50 to them as a purely speculative investment? I mean, $50, minus $4 for the fee, means $46 of stock at $0.08 per share. That comes out to 575 shares. If that goes up to only $0.10 per share, that is $57.50 per share, at $4 to trade, that would be a $3.50 win. What if they developed a serious technology, or got bought up and went up to $0.20, that's $61 profit. I'm not saying it's a sure thing, but it may be a good speculation given the increasing price of oil. Others may have the same idea's soon. My own personal investments are in treasury bond indexes, which haven't been strong lately, but it's a good 3-5 year investment.

Investing is a funny thing, because when you think about it, the stock market doesn't really depend as much on whether or not a company is doing well. If you are investing long term, it does matter, but for day traders, the only thing that matters is how the market will react. We could just invest in companies X, Y, and Z, and we might have the same effects on the markets. I read Liar's Poker, which my Uncle sent me, and it was really amazing how the world's events could affect the markets. For example, would you think that Chernobyl would cause the price of potatoes to go up? Maybe, but not 3 minutes after it was announced. There is a story who just minutes after Chernobyl was announced recommended a buy for potatoes. Just an interesting thought.

I have found a few new things to cook in the dorm room to save money. Beside the Sushi that I have been making (write to me if you want instructions) I am also now making Ramen (original, I know) and I just bought stuff to make quesadillas, in the microwave. They're quite cheap, just tortilla's, cheese, and some spices (I'm simply using some chili powder, and I'll steal Tabasco from the cafeteria) I'll let you know how it turns out.

I am excited, the leadership conference with Philip Morris is coming up. That should be GREAT. It's through the Business honors program, Eli Broad Scholars. We'll go to some site and do some shadowing, and hear many speakers, all provided for us by Philip Morris (it's FREE!) I also have a trip to Traverse City coming up with the Glee Club, and it looks like I will be going to Texas for Spring Break. That's most of my travel plans for the upcoming months.



A congratulations to Barack Obama who has now won Wisconsin as well (that makes 9 in a row). A congratulations to John McCain as well, who is warding off Mike Huckabee's fight in the GOP Primary (even though he cannot statistically lose) I encourage EVERYONE to vote in the remaining primaries if your state has not been visited yet, and in the general election this November. Whether it's Obama vs. McCain, or Clinton vs. McCain, you should vote for whoever you feel is the best candidate (even if they are a third party). Use your right to voice your opinion; a single vote might not make a difference, but if you don't vote, you are not voicing an opinion. It's a small voice, but in a nation of 300 million people, everyone deserves a voice, if you don't vote, you are losing your right to speak up, no matter how quietly it happens.

Here is the remaining schedule for the Democrats and Republicans. Unless specifically listed, each state applies to both parties. I urge you to utilize your right to vote.

• March 4th
• Ohio
• Texas
• Vermont
• Rhode Island
• March 9th
  
• Wyoming (Democrats Only)
  
• March 11th
• Mississippi
• April 22nd
  
• Pennsylvania
• May 6th
• Indiana
• North Carolina
• May 13th
• Nebraska (Republicans Only)
  
• West Virginia (Democrats Only)
• May 18th
• Hawaii Convention (Republican Only)
• May 20th
• Kentucky
• Oregon
• May 27th
• Idaho (Republicans Only)
  
• June 3rd
• Montana (Democrats Only)
  
• New Mexico (Republicans Only)
• South Dakota

Please note: any financial advice given here is merely my opinion, and is not meant in any way to provide legitimate suggestions. All investment decisions are solely your own decision, and your liability.

My first Woot! Purchase with intent to sell

So I made a purchase on Woot! the other day, and I'm pretty excited about it. I bought three Sandisk mP3 players, which sell for about $20-$25 on e-bay, for $35 total. They're pretty nice actually, I just don't need one 'cause I have my iPod. I'm hoping to make a couple bucks on this, and at least I'll have the experience of buying something on Woot! For those who don't know what Woot! is, it's a website that offers deep discounts once a day on certain products, if you get the product, you get the discount, but once they sell out, it's over. It's found at www.woot.com

Every so often, they'll get some products that are re-sellable (there's a limit of 3 items per person) and this is the first one that seemed pretty solid on e-Bay. I'm trying to find something to get me back into the e-Bay groove, but I just can't think of anything, I've hit a sales wall :'( Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated, although I know anyone reading this would probably keep those to themselves.

Valentines Day is coming up, and...well, I think it's a fairly pointless holiday, but it does help to stimulate the economy to a small extent, so it can't be all bad. It's definitely a consumer holiday though; however, whoever enjoys it, enjoy it with all your heart, just because something might be a consumer holiday, doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy it if you want to.

It's been a little while since my last post, sorry about that; I had 3 exams in a matter of 2 days, and that kind of adds up the other work to be done, I wasn't really thinking about the blog. I ended up getting:
ITM 309: 33/40 (82.5%)
MSC 303: 44/50 (88%)
ACC 202: 17/18 (94.4%)

I'm pretty pleased with those scores, I expected a perfect score in Accounting, but the others went well. I usually score around an 80% on the first exam, then step it up to around 95-98% on the last exams, which so far has always averaged out for a 4.0. This isn't exactly my toughest semester (I just moved on to Oxy-acetalene welding in my Welding class) but these classes still require some work. I also started thinking about what to do with my schedule: I think I'm keeping the Supply Chain major, I'm also taking all the Accounting classes (though they won't give me the extra degree) with a specialization in Entrepreneurship and maybe International Business. This should get me a good first job (goal is $60,000 a year) and from there I should be good to get a free MBA.

Anyway, I am still looking for an effective way of making money on the internet from this room. I am going to make custom magnets, if anyone has a funny idea for a magnet, I would love to hear it, if I decide to use it, you might make a little cash :)

I'll keep you all posted on how things are going. Also, the senate approved the stimulus package with a few changes, I won't outline them, but if someone wants to guest post them, I'd be happy to put it up.