Thursday, December 9, 2010

Getting by without a PC

I was called for jury duty and served today. My wife told me that I wasn't permitted to bring my PC with me, so I left it home. I learned after arriving that she was wrong (this time; she's usually right); they even had free wireless!; and so was pc-less when I could have been connected. Well, it turned out that being without the PC for most of the day didn't result in any damage to my health; and my inability to immediately respond to e-mails didn't cause any challenges.

I brought a textbook with me to study for an exam (scheduled for this coming Monday), and so the distraction of periodically looking on the PC to check e-mail or the stock market wasn't present, which allowed me more concentrated time. And since no one ended up being called (even if I had been, I wouldn't have been picked, given my prior stint as mayor (which allowed me to select both cops and judges, and to be sued a number of times)), I had several hours to devote to studying. A very productive day, I must say. And so, being without the PC for several hours isn't a bad thing. It's funny that I didn't want to go...glad I did!
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2 comments:

  1. Yet Another AnonymousDecember 9, 2010 at 11:26 PM

    Congratulations on rediscovering and reliving a simpler time, when we made fewer decisions that were well thought out and we stuck with those decisions. Your comment about watching the stock market throughout the day struck me that we may have moved to the opposite position: making many investment decisions on short notice, often in response to "news" that is often simply "noise."

    Honestly, what investment decision about your portfolio would you make simply because you saw the market was up a little, or down a little - or even if it were up a lot or down a lot? We don't change the windows in our house because we expect a little more rain this season, so why do we change the asset allocation or selection of stocks in our portfolios based on the market or a sector or a stock being up or down? Are we day traders or investors?

    Fill in the blank: "I'm checking the market throughout the day because..." Often we do this just because we can, but should we? "A watched pot never boils" but we need to be watching for something. Perhaps we should just check that nothing extraordinary happened. And maybe all this market watching is just voyeurism.

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  2. Dave SpauldingDecember 10, 2010 at 6:26 AM

    Thanks for your insights. Yes, our continuous checking has really made the job of the investor quite different from the old days. Our need to monitor our e-mails constantly in order to be able to respond within seconds seems a bit silly. I am off today and will be studying at home, but will have my PC with me; I hope that I can avoid returning to it often so that I can concentrate and focus on my work.

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