I was listening to the latest TWIT podcast and they had mentioned a pretty cool application. It is the Zarate Labs Password Generator. This thing is a bookmarklet which resides on your browser to help you maintain your passwords. You basically right click on the bookmarklet link and save it as a Favorite or Bookmark (depending on which browser you’re using). When you are adding or updating a website’s password and before you change the password, you would go to that Favorite or Bookmark. This will bring up a pop-up. Just enter you new password phrase and have that generate the new 7 character password.
So what’s so great about this application? This basically allows you to create a new “hardened” password based off of a simple word. This will allow you to use a public machine without any worries of people knowing what the real password is (just remember to delete the bookmarklet when you’re done). You can change your password as much as possible. Hackers won’t be able to run a program against a dictionary if you have a password that contains words. It works on both Macs and PCs. I even added this to my links page.
Forgot to give recognition to Sophorn last week for her birthday. We had a blast singing karaoke in K-town.
Pictures also included dinner with San’s buddies at Red Moon Cafe. We highly recommended the Garlic Butter Crab. Thanks Miss Jamie for the information about this place.
I’ve been riding about 3 years now but never really got to go canyon-carving or taking myself to the twisties in the canyons and mountains. Sunday’s impromptu ride took care of that last riding goal of mine. We met over at Garrett’s place at 10:30am. I sent my invitation to a group of riders I know at work and besides Garrett, Praveen was the only one who showed up. The Friday before, we were playing at a poker tournament at Douglas’ place and found out that he bought a bike that day. So we invited him on the ride as well. He came with his friend Brad. Brad is probably one of the most “hardcore” riders that I’ve ever met. He started riding when he was a kid and now he rides to work everyday plus he services his own bike. He also did some long riding trips with his father when he was younger. You know, the kind where you ride somewhere far, camp out, and continue riding. I can only wish I was able to ride as early as he did.
So at 10:30, we all suited up and rode towards Sunset and PCH at the Unocal gas station to top off our bikes. When we were done, we took PCH up to Las Flores Canyon Road where our adventure began. Las Flores eventually forked to Piuma Road. We eventually got on Mullholland either through Cold Canyon Road or Mullholland Highway. I’ll have to ask Brad. We past Malibu Lake and eventually ended up at our first stop for lunch. The place was called Rustic Canyon Grocery & Grill. One of the popular places where bikers hang out.
At this point Douglas had to go solo to run a few errands so he took off. Unfortunately for Douglas, the ride became much more interesting afterwards. We past The Rock Store and was all over the place in the mountains and canyons. We took roads such as Latigo Canyon Road, Mullholland coming from PCH, and one other one that I forget. Mullholland from PCH was one of my favorites. You’re able to hit 100mph on this road because the road was much cleaner than the rest and the turns are not as twisty so you can really practice your lean. After about 2 or so hours we ended up back at Rustic Canyon Grocery store for some well-deserved hot beverages and fire.
The day ended with a casual ride from Mullholland to Las Virgenes Road / Malibu Canyon Road near Pepperdine University to finally PCH. We all eventually split away from the pack to our relative homes. I had the furthest ride so I got to see everyone go.
I learned alot on this ride and feel much more comfortable with my bike. I guess it made up for some lost time in the 3 years I shied away from riding the twisties.
2006 was certainly a year for me to remember. It was the year I finally became debt free. It was also the year where I learned how to manage my retirement money and began to seriously analyze and save for my future. My goal is to make my first million in 10 years. So far so good.
I am happy to report that my investments from 2006 went up 7.76%. This amount did not include contributions. With contributions, my portfolio rose 11.01%. The first quarter of 2006 I was up 5.74% from previous year’s amount. Second quarter performance sunk my portfolio down to -0.30% when the market sold off. By third quarter, I recovered my losses and was up 2.46%. I began making contributions to my 401K again in the 3rd and 4th quarter.
Based off of Robert Kiyosaki’s “You Can Choose To Be Rich” workbook, I was able to come up with the following analysis of my financial state.
HOW MUCH DO YOU KEEP? I kept 10.6% of my income.
Goal: Increase the percentage of income you keep.
DOES YOUR MONEY WORK FOR YOU? 2.5% of my income is working for me.
Goal: Increase your percentage of passive or portfolio income.
WHAT IS YOUR INCOME AFTER TAX? I pay 35% in taxes.
Goal: Decrease the amount of tax you pay.
HOW MUCH OF YOUR NET INCOME GOES TO HOUSING? 24.7% of my income goes to housing (thanks to coming back home to live with the folks).
Goal: Keep housing costs under 33% of net incoming.
WHAT IS YOUR RETURN ON ASSETS? My cash-on-asset return is 3.67%
Goal: Increase your cash-on-asset return.
HOW WEALTHY ARE YOU? I can live for 9.26 months without worrying about my expenses.
Note: Once your monthly passive income exceeds your monthly expenses, you’re infinitely wealthy because your assets are working for you.
Goal: To purchase assets that generate passive and/or portfolio income in excess of your monthly expenses.
If I was to give myself a grade, it would probably be a B or B-. I think I can do better as far as saving more and improving on these numbers. Let’s see what 2007 will bring.
On a side note, one of my guilty pleasure is being cancelled. Last episode February 22nd. 
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