Posted: May 31st, 2007 | Author: saldarji | Filed under: business, stuff | No Comments »
Novell announced the Q2 results yesterday and I noticed some new terminology in our reports. Because I am an employee of Novell, I will refrain from putting any personal or subjective commentary. However, I feel like I should blog about it from a finance perspective. There are a ton of news stories on our results, so I will just post a link to them.
I noticed for the first time that we are now using the term “Exit Rate Operating Margin”.
Exit rate operating margins are defined as an annualized run rate expense level at the end of the period that, when compared to the full fiscal year’s revenue, would result in a pro forma operating margin for the year. – Novell 10Q
Operating margins is an industry standard term. However, I could not find anyone else using the Exit Rate Operating Margin term…I even Googled it!
The numerator of Operating Margin, Operating Income, consists of Gross Income minus Operating Expenses minus Depreciation. The denominator of Operating Margin is Net Sales. So, it follows that if the operating expenses are now “annualized run rate” (redundant, IMHO), that management is focusing on the long-term rather than quarterly results.
It should be noted that management is targeting significantly higher Exit Rate Operating Margins next year. Are they predicting higher sales or planning a lower expense structure?
Posted: May 30th, 2007 | Author: saldarji | Filed under: health, stuff | No Comments »
I have been getting some really bad headaches lately. I believe that my eyeglass prescriptions may be out of date. It is really tough to find a decent pair of glasses that are covered by my insurance in Bentonville Arkansas. Delivery time on a set of glasses here is up to a week.
I had a few options. The first is just to suck it up and buy a pair of glasses that will last me two years. The second is to buy a cheap pair of glasses without insurance that will save my eyesight until I can get a decent pair. Lastly, I could shell out the 300+ bucks it would cost to get replacement lenses for my current pair.
I found a pair of 70 dollar glasses that are reasonably wearable. I hope to get them next week.
All these headaches and my bad eyesight reminded me of the classic Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder movie, “Hear no evil, see no evil“. It was one of my ex-roommate-from-high-school’s favorite movies. I’m heading back for my HS reunion this weekend so I guess that is another reason why I have been thinking of it. It’s a good comedy and it’s highly recommended by me.
Posted: May 24th, 2007 | Author: saldarji | Filed under: stuff, technology | No Comments »
I picked up a pair of V-Moda Vibe earbuds. i was tired of flying without a “real” set of headphones. Overall, they are quite good.
There is a good review of them here. I have to agree with the reviewer that they provide a lot more bass than I am used to. The upside is that it actually sounds decent when I am in a noisy environment, such as an airplane. The downside is that sometimes I think that the music I listen to is sort of “muddy” since I am not used to that much bass.
I’m not sure if I would spend so much money on earbuds next time. I would probably even go for V-Moda’s cheaper model.
Also, as a side note, I really, really recommend “Bring it Back” by Mates of State.
Posted: May 23rd, 2007 | Author: saldarji | Filed under: photography, travel | No Comments »
For those of you that see my Flickr account, you have already seen these pictures. They are of a beautiful Karmann Ghia that I spotted in Bentonville. Tracey would die to get her hands on it! I have to agree that it is probably one of the sexiest cars ever made.
Posted: May 22nd, 2007 | Author: saldarji | Filed under: business, technology | 4 Comments »
I have a coworker who stated that the goal should be to increase the adoption of Linux and make sure it is ubiquitous in enterprises and desktops. I agree with this goal and think it is a noble endeavor.
If we achieve this goal, our company has a lot to gain. We stand to make a lot of money through our subscription sales. We will continue to remain relevant. Our shareholders, management team and employees will also benefit.
When developers contribute their code and copyrights to the free software movement, they are contributing to our society. Everyone is allowed to enjoy the contribution as long as they abide by the terms of the license.
Software developers who placed their code and copyrights in trust with the Open Source movement have made an altruistic and immeasurable contribution to our society. It is altruistic because they gave their time and energy up for little or no monetary compensation. It is immeasurable because it is a social annuity which will continue indefinitely.
The problem is the true cost of achieving the goal mentioned above. If it is necessary to give up the freedoms that define free software, then I would argue that it isn’t worth it. If we cannot run, study, distribute, and improve the program freely, the costs are too high.
Imagine that we do accomplish our goal and that we achieve an ubiquitous operating system without the freedoms explicitly stated by the FSF. We will end up where we started – an ubiquitous closed operating system. And we would have done it in the worst way, by trading in something that was developed for the public good for our personal gain.
Cross-posted to my other blog.
Posted: May 21st, 2007 | Author: saldarji | Filed under: business | No Comments »
My lawyer (my brother) got back to me on a question I had about starting an investment fund. The real goal of my fund is to invest money for family. Perhaps in the future I may open further and allow friends, but it will be a long time from now!
I am beginning to work on several things. First, we need a governance structure. Secondly, we need investing principles. We also need to form a partnership, which has several legal requirements. There is the small matter of setting up and funding an account. And lastly, we need a working space.
The last is the easiest. I will be turning darjix.com into an interactive forum for my family…probably through phpbb or a similar solution.
The other stuff will take a long time, but I hope to have it up and running by the end of the summer.
Posted: May 20th, 2007 | Author: saldarji | Filed under: photography, travel | 2 Comments »
I stopped by my friend Andy’s place today to pick up a print. While I was there, he showed me his Canon scanner that can scan negatives. We fiddled around with it for a while and I was able to scan in one of the Holga pics I took in France.
Note that this is one of about 4 rolls that I took. It looks like I may purchase a new scanner soon. The one I have is useless for anything other than documents and photos.
The picture below was not modified very much from the original negative. Since I didn’t have anything to flatten out the negative, it bowed a little bit, which gave it a very interesting effect.
Posted: May 16th, 2007 | Author: saldarji | Filed under: technology | No Comments »
I was trying to find out the number of registered contributors to Wikipedia. I wasn’t able to find current statistics, but I found out that there were about 150,000 registered Wikipedians, about 4500 of which contributed more than a 100 edits in October of 2006 (link).
There were “131 million unique visitors aged 15+ in March 2006″ (link). That is before October of 2006 and doesn’t even count the kids. That is a very, very, very small ratio of contributors to consumers.
Very few users, in proportion to the total number of users, actually contribute to Wikis. I also believe that this can be contrasted with Flickr and other social networking sites, which I suspect have a much higher contribution rate than most Wikis. The reason I believe that this is true has to deal with human nature and our needs. Specifically, I believe that the reason for this disparity can be found in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
(image is released under GFDL and was created by JFinkelstein)
Simply put, I believe that wikipedia contributions satisfy what Maslow called “esteem.” Other social sites, such as Flickr, really provide feedback that fulfills social needs and provides a sense of belonging.
Although both sites are social, one stimulates a higher rate of contribution than the other because it fulfills a more basic human need.
Posted: May 16th, 2007 | Author: saldarji | Filed under: business, travel | 1 Comment »
I’ve been thinking a lot about traveling and being a consultant. Right now, I am averaging about two to six nights a week at home, per month. This is partly because my girlfriend lives in Boston. I also end up attending various events in other cities, such as graduations, weddings and reunions.
Sam Palmisano, CEO of IBM, believes that the world is moving towards Globally Integrated Enterprises. I saw that this sentiment was echoed in a recent Economist article. And it makes sense, because there is so much talent and expertise in foreign countries. It makes sense to move functions to those areas in order to use those resources.
“The barriers that used to block the flow of work, capital and ideas are weakening.” A side-effect of the GIE is that employees travel more and go to places where their skills and expertise are needed most. One of my coworkers is from Columbia, and is living here in Bentonville for this project. The Indian firms, such as Satyam, are very good at shifting human capital to where it is needed. And there is news that IBM may layoff a lot of people to focus on this type of enterprise.
The travel, especially for large projects, can have a drastic impact on your personal life. Being a consultant in a GIE is a trade off – you trade off your personal life to take part in challenging projects with like-minded people in exotic locations (such as Bentonville, AR). Right now it seems that this is the career path that I am on – working for consulting in a GIE.
My brother was telling me about an article he read about a consultant who decided to give up his home altogether. Financially, it may make sense for me to give up my apartment and put my things into storage if I continue to travel this much. I’ve searched for the article online without success, so if anyone has a link, please let me know!
Posted: May 14th, 2007 | Author: saldarji | Filed under: photography, travel | No Comments »
I went to my younger brother’s graduation today in Philadelphia. The speaker at the ceremony was Lakshmi Mittal. Although he has had an amazing career, his speech wasn’t the most exciting or inspiring. I feel like he could have been speaking to the Chamber of Commerce for the City of Springfield.
The day before his graduation, I had the chance to see the liberty bell. Right across the street from it is the Bourse at Independence Mall. Unfrotunately, because of construction, most of the view was obstructed.
The Philadelphia Bourse Building, the first commodities exchange in the United States, was completed in 1895. The building was one of the first steel-framed buildings to be constructed. Three types of masonry were used on the facade: Carlisle redstone, Pompeian buff brick and terra cotta. Inside were large columns and pilasters leading to a balcony surrounding the main floor. Bow-top girders were used to support a skylight at the third floor.
I like the row of satellite dishes to the left of the building. I made it a point to see the bourse buildings while traveling n Europe, but this is the first US building I am posting.
