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I became interested in the stock market my senior year of high school when we played the stock market game. I captained my team to 2nd place among the 350+ teams in Texas. I was hooked. I also credit that game to my love of all things finance and economics, and a reason I went on to earn a graduate degree in Finance.

Tonight I started playing the virtual stock market, but this time its not about following Wall Street or the economy. It’s a new website/social media game where you can buy share in your friends, businesses, singers, artists, and whoever else creates an account on the site. Buy them, sell them, join them.

The site will come out of Beta and be open to the public on July 28th.

The basic idea of the traditional stock market is buying shares in a company. You look for companies that are creating products or providing services that you expect to do well. Then, you buy a small piece of ownership in that company (shares) if you believe that company will continue to produce great products, content, or services that will add value to their stock price, thus earning you increasing wealth.

Empire Avenue is a new virtual exchange where you can buy shares with virtual currency (called Eaves) in a person, friend, or business that has an account with Empire Avenue. Once you create your account you then link it to your Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, etc. If you post something during the day (creating content), you earn currency for that work. Everyone that owns shares in you also receive earnings (dividends) as an investor. Therefore, its best to buy shares of people who are actually producing content and building their brand. You can then buy with your virtual currency, or reinvest them to build your network and your influence, thus attracting more investors and creating your empire.

So what’s the point? Well, for many, it will be something fun, competitive, a way to test their online influence and that’s where they leave it. However, there is also a way to translate this into real money, should you decide to do so. The underlying crux of the concept is advertising. That is where real dollars are made. You may carry ads for various business that you choose so that you can decide on your content and what message you will send out. As Empire Avenue receives ad revenue, they pass a portion (the majority according to their CEO) onto you for doing all of the work. You can carry advertising through them, or eventually, through your own channels if you wish.

You get currency for the work you do and the work of those whose shares you own. For those that want additional virtual currency, you may purchase it (as in big online worlds like Second Life, etc) with real dollars through Empire Avenue. I can’t imagine wanting to pump real money into it myself, but plenty of people do on other sites, so I am sure this will be a great revenue stream for the company.

My ticker is (e)DPC. If you have an account, or if you sign up, let me know. I may want to buy shares in you so you can make me a mogul! EAVB_MXCHRNEMKN

There is a lot of truth to the recent Liberty Mutual commercials (below) that show people doing something considerate and other people taking notice. I was stopped at an intersection on my way home last night and saw a woman waling down the street carrying two handfuls of grocery bags, obviously heading home. Let’s say that she also looked as if she may not have had the easiest life, which was compounded by the 101 degree heat index, and quite a few years of living.

I am not one to pick up strangers, but it was SO hot and she looked like she really could use a lift. I instantly thought about the rides Trey Morgan (@treymorgan) has given to those in his community. I was first in the left hand lane as she passed in front of me, so I decided I would turn around and come back.

But before the light turned green, a woman in an SUV who WAS first in line in the right lane, rolled her window down and called the lady over. I couldn’t hear what was said, but after a few seconds, the lady very humbly opened the passenger door, got in, and the driver made what was an obviously unplanned right turn (because there was a yield sign she would have turned at if going that way) to drive the woman home.

I hope the woman with the groceries saw a little bit of Jesus in that driver today. I have a feeling it was noticed by many of the other drivers in the enormous line of traffic behind her at the stoplight. Maybe they will be inspired to do something nice for someone without expecting something in return.

One small act of kindness like that can move mountains when repeated with regularity. Maybe that will turn out to be just a ride home, but who knows how much more might have come from it. I suspect the driver spent no more than 10 minutes of her say to make a difference in that woman’s day, but her soul was enriched for it.

Watching the news tonight I see a story about a double murder at a poker party. A poker game was going on in an apartment when a guy shows up to rob the game. He shoots and kills the host. Then another player pulls his (legally) concealed hand gun and kills the robber.

Then I notice this was at the apartment complex I used to live in. Oh, but wait for it…the camera zooms out from the apartment door (showing the number) and shows the most of the building. Holy whaaaa??? That’s MY former apartment, not just the complex, but the actual apartment I lived in for more than a year!

Um…glad I don’t still live there, much? Yep.

Another funny commercial from the folks at Toyota with Brian Huskey and Rachel Drummond.

Source: bagofnothing.com

Got this in an email

I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

Nothing stinks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong. (Luckily, I’ve never experienced this.)

I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.

There is great need for a sarcasm font.

How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Map Quest really needs to start their directions on step 5. I’m pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they always told you how the person died.

I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.

Bad decisions make good stories.

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don’t want to have to restart my collection…again.

I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

“Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this — ever.

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day “Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?” How the heck do I respond to that?

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night, more kisses begin with Miller Lite than with jewelry.

I constantly feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get done all of the things I need and want to do. I found a resource online last night where you can enter how you spend your time each day. I created mine based on the amount of time I need/want to spend on each activity. Go past 24 hours and you’ll get a negative number. This could be a problem…

I edited out my numbers because, but feel free to fill in your own numbers.

If you manage a blog or other website, and have done so for more than a few months, you have surely come to understand how much work is involved. Generating new content, writing the posts, editing and uploading images, etc. This is even more cumbersome if you use a more advanced theme like the grid and magazine style themes that are becoming popular.

Eventually, burnout ensues, you feel like you have nothing to say, or you just get tired of the grind. Happens to everyone.  If you look at my archives by month (bottom right of the homepage) you can see that in 2008 I was posting up to 27 updates a month. By 2009 that dropped significantly and I practically took November and December off.

So now it’s 2010. I have a few things I would like to accomplish this year. However, I often fall into the trap of working all day and coming home with the desire to sit on the couch, grab the remote, and do nothing the rest of the night.  I am hoping I can make this year different.  There is always a laundry list of things I’d like to get done or spend more time on including several projects such as this site and my photography site.

One is trying to focus a little more on doing some writing. That will probably begin with this site.  Writing for this site is sometimes hard because I have never created a specific focus here. This means some times I will sit down to compose something and scrap it figuring its to serious (for lack of a better word) for what I normally post including all the goofy stuff I find online.  Finding the time and energy is also tough. So this year my first focus is going to be on making the time.  I will first have to sit down and have a discussion with my DVR about the shows we are and are not going to be recording! Secondly will be opening the to do list after its created each day instead of just moving things over the following day.

This is going to be an interesting year! I am planning to update more often, keep things going over at the photography site, and annoy everyone via Facebook and Twitter. So, subscribe to my RSS Feed, bookmark my photography site, and stalk me on Twitter!

While V is about aliens that come to Earth and establish contact, I am pretty sure they would pass us by (unless they needed our flesh as fuel or something). See, I imagine that when they do seek us out, the video below is just the kind of thing they are going to find. They will see the things that amuse and amaze us and classify us as morons.

I certainly hope any extraterrestrials won’t be able to access our internet and see just what all we’ve used it for.

And I am fairly certain you just watched that video all the way to the end, didn’t you?

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’ He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so…

‘Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t.’ Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

via email

Supposedly, this is from an article in the St. Petersburg Times. I say supposedly because I couldn’t find the article/letter. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on “How Would You Fix the Economy?” Regardless of whether this is real or not, the author makes some VERY good points. As one who enjoys good economic banter/discussions (with informed people), I thought most of this is right on.

Dear Mr. President:

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America’s economy.

Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.

You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings – Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered – Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage. Housing Crisis fixed.

It can’t get any easier than that!

If more money is needed, have all members of Congress and their constituents pay their taxes…