Super Hair Cut, not Supercuts

When you spend several years in a particular location, you develop a routine. It could be when you get up in the morning, a time of the week when you go to the grocery store, or your dentist. Some routines are harder to break than others.

Today, I needed to get my hair cut. My hair was starting to get too long, and I should not have an afro given a couple 'business professional' meetings at work next week. I decided to brave the frigid cold this morning to find a place that was up to the task of cutting my hair. (sidenote - I know that some people are rolling their eyes at the frigid cold comment given that it is above 0F in Philly this morning)

After nearly 7 years of Bob's Barber Shop in Bloomfield, I had no choice but to find a new place for the simple job of cutting my hair. I didn't want to pay that much for an easy and fairly frequent job, but I also wanted to find a good place. Given that this is one of the more stressful changes for me, I asked around for potential barbers.

Sadly, most people I know pay ~$40 to get their hair cut in the salon in the mall next to the office (even guys). I thought that was ridiculous for me, even though I knew it would be more expensive to get my haircut in Center City than in suburban Hartford.

I spoke with someone I know in CT that recently moved there from Philadelphia. He gave me two recommendations. While he knew the location of the two places, he did not remember the names. I walked to the place I was pretty sure he recommended based on location. After about 30 seconds in the place, I knew I would not get my hair cut there. Maybe the place was perfectly normal, but I saw no men in the place (cutting hair or in the seats). Additionally, the place was called Three Sisters Salon. Maybe it was a joke, or maybe I mis-read his directions, but this place was most certainly not for me.

I decided to try the second place on this list. I walked in, and it seemed more "manly". It was a simple barber shop run by two Italian men. I was probably the only person under 50 in the place, but that was fine for me. The conversation was good and the haircut was quick and very good. It might even have been better than the place I went to in CT. The only downside was that the haircut was about 30% more expensive than CT ($30 incl tip for a very simple cut). However, I'll chalk that up to the cost of operating in Center City Philly.

I'll definitely go back there in the future unless I can find a cheap and equivalent alternative (Supercuts need not apply).

One stressful change down, and a couple others to go. Now I need to find a dentist...

Where's the Snow?

Winter is my least favorite season. I hate the cold. I hate the early sunsets. The only think that makes winter bearable is snow. There's something about a winter storm dropping 10+ inches of snow that I really enjoy. I stopped playing in the snow after valiantly, but unsuccessfully, defending South Quad's honor in the annual snowball fight with neighboring West Quad in college, but I still like a big snowfall.

With the move to Philadelphia, the winter is not quite as cold, and it's much less snowy. It's January 11th and I still have not seen more than a dusting of snow in almost a year. Something is just not right about that. After living in winter wonderlands like Michigan and Connecticut for the first 28 years of me life, I've gotten used to the snow. At least I should be someplace warm like Florida if I am going to not see any snow for the winter. However, I don't think would feel right either.

I think I miss winter. Other than that, I've had a lot of fun in Philadelphia so far.

Liberal Lunacy in Detroit

I'm going to make a rare anti-liberal rant tonight. I came across this article about auto insurance rates in the city of Detroit. This is probably just a prospective mayoral candidate pandering to the public, but it is outright stupid. Let me count the ways:

1) "...car insurance rates based on a ZIP code rather than a person's driving habit is unfair" - in other words, all safe drivers should have low insurance rates regardless of the fact that some stranger is much more likely to steal their $20k car in Detroit than in Ann Arbor?

Insurance companies know what they are doing. If a driver's zip code was in no way correlated to the cost of insuring all cars owned and operated by that individual, then some company would be making a fortune in Detroit by slashing auto insurance prices. The insurance industry is highly competitive in markets like individual auto insurance.

The same comment applies to credit score. The insurance business is all about risk selection. Insurance companies are looking for ways to find the best risks, and they will offer those groups much lower rates. It's basic economics.

2) "The city of Detroit was twice as high as the second highest city in America, and there’s no reason anyone can give me as to why" - I'm sure there are plenty of reasons why, and I also think Hendrix may have exaggerated. Just a little.

While I agree that this seems strange, it would have been nice for the Free Press to cite auto theft and vandalism rates in Detroit vs. the rest of the country as well as traffic accident rates. Furthermore, the stats provided in the article comparing insurance rates between Detroit and the surrounding suburbs apparently debunks this BS statement anyway.

3) “When people literally pack up and leave this city, one of the two or three reasons they always give is their car insurance.”

So the reasons are 1) car insurance rates, 2) incompetent school district management, and 3) higher probability of being murdered. They all seem like equivalent reasons to leave the city to me.

Maybe it's absurd that auto insurance rates are nearly equivalent to the cost of buying a house within the city of Detroit, but it's absurd to point fingers at the auto insurance companies. You might want to take a closer look at state and city insurance regulations. Insurance business are often most efficient and effective when government stays out of their business. Legislation forcing insurance companies to insure erratic and unsafe drivers at affordable rates is fine, but when everyone else is paying dearly to subsidize those poor drivers, you run into situations like the one that Hendrix is whining about. He should take a look in the mirror if he is looking for someone to blame. Government regulation should be limited to prevent insurance exclusion of events that of great interest to the state/federal government (i.e., like requiring maternity coverage in medical insurance plans).

If you were to sue successfully, the auto insurance companies would simply pack up and leave the city/state, leaving people with fewer options and higher prices. No company will write business where the possibility of making a profit is 0%.

E-A-G-L-E-S

EAGLES!

Well, the Lions suck, so now I have an excuse to root for another team! (Other than the Steelers, of course...)

Pyramid Sized Government Incompetence

I'm sure some heard the story about Bernard Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme a couple weeks ago. I've been reading many articles about this theft and I'm just stunned that someone could get away with such a gigantic fraud for so many years, especially when the SEC was constantly warned about so many red flags in Madoff's money management business.

Two questions stand out to me:

1) What prompted Madoff to design this scheme?

It's clear Madoff is a sociopath. He probably feels no remorse. The man ripped off so many great causes, and completely plundered the Elie Wiesel Foundation. It's human nature to ask this question, but I think I might vomit if I had to listen to Madoff try and answer this question. It's not like I'd believe whatever he says anyway.

2) How can we avoid other con artists out there if we can't trust our government to look out for us?

One individual, Harry Markopolos, was on the scent of this scam in the late 1990s. Initially, he worked for a competing money management firm and was getting hammered by his boss for his inability to produce the returns that Madoff achieved. After further investigation, he alerted the SEC of a potential Ponzi Scheme. The SEC did nothing. Markopolos didn't give up for the next ten years, but the SEC continued to do little to investigate potential crimes (they accepted Madoff's explanation). Markopolos sent the SEC a memo in 2005 outlining nearly 30 red flags of Madoff's firm. It's incredible and prophetic.

I guess the moral of the story is not only to diversify where I invest my money (large cap vs. small cap, domestic vs. international, etc), but also to diversify assets across multiple brokerage firms in case one of them is corrupt. I'm not smart enough to spot these red flags on my own, so I may as well just play it safe.

I am not going anywhere near hedge funds until they are properly regulated. In fact, given the incompetence of the SEC, I doubt I'll ever chase the attractive returns that hedge funds have historically delivered. Hedge funds are an incredibly shady and unregulated industry. I've always had an uneasy feeling about these funds, but it didn't really matter since I don't have enough money to even consider such an investment.

I suspect that this is not the last scam we'll learn about as the recent economic boom comes to an end (and I'm not referring to the Ponzi scheme that is Social Security).

It's a shame that many people and charitable foundations will be ruined. Fiscal conservatives (like myself) will argue that these people share some of the blame for not performing any due diligence that turned many other people away from Madoff. However, many people that lost their money never even realized that they were giving their money to Madoff. The stock market is too complex and the importance to the public too great to allow a $2 trillion hedge fund industry to operate almost completely free of regulation. The hedge fund managers that funneled their clients' money to Madoff without the knowledge of their clients should be sued for professional malpractice and looking for a new career.