TreeTop vs. Mott's

Many of us have heard stories about dangerous food ingredients from China. Not too long ago, as my children and I were looking bottles of Apple juice by TreeTop and Mott's. On the TreeTop bottles, they stated "CONC from USA, China, Argentina". As on the Mott's bottles, they stated "Concentration from USA, Argentina". So, exactly where do they get their ingredients from and I decided to contact them and asked.

From the respective website, I sent a polite message to inquiry about the source of their Apple Concentrate. No surprise. I got an automated response immediately that someone will get back to me soon. "We'll see", I thought.

On the very next day, I got a very pleasant surprised response from TreeTop with a detail and personal reply from their Corporate Quality Services and Consumer Affair that they are using 100% USA grown apples from the Pacific Northwest. They explained that depending on the crops for the year and the do acquire from China and Argentina. They are to use only USA grown apples for their 64 oz bottle.

That was the best and the most professional explanation that I've ever seen. Not to mention how fast it came.

But for Mott's, still waiting for an response.

Since then, our family has switched exclusive to TreeTop. I am telling anyone who is concern about food ingredient to consider buying TreeTop. Trust me. I don't work for or have any association with TreeTop. But for a company that is socially responsible and great customer service, we, the consumers, would reward them anyway that we can. Their products might be 10 or 20 cents more, and their profit might be a few cents less. That is why they need those that care about food safety to support them anyway we can. Please pass the words around.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 Review

I watched "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1" last weekend and was very much disappointed. I imagine it must be very hard to make a 5-hours movie out of a book. The movie went very very slow with every little detail that would have skipped over in previous movie. The scenery was great and all, but there were no action and the storyline hardly moved at all.

Now, granted, the first half of the story was slow in the book also, but it is the movie maker that decided to split the book into 2 movies. They ought to create some more scene to make it more exciting, wouldn't it. Unless you have read the book, otherwise, this movie didn't even make sense at all.

So, the best way for me to describe the movie is this. You are promised a great meal at a great restaurant. You showed up, and was served wonderful drinks, soap, salad, and bread for two-and-a-half hour. Then, the waiter came by and said "If you like to enjoy the rest of the dinner and our wonderful entree, you need to come back in 6 months."

Sorry, only 2-stars from me.

Election - Result as expected

As expected, the Republican won the House but not the Senate. That is a good thing in my opinion. With that, it sets the stage for the next big election, the Presidential election of 2012. If nothing else, that should get Obama’s attention. I hope ‘the fear of losing’ would make the President more humble and put more focus on economy and job creation.

Now, I am not saying the President didn’t go anything, as some on the right claim, nor am I suggesting he is doing too much. My take is he is doing too much of the wrong thing, the thing that many American people do not care much about. Yet, hasn’t done enough on what American care the most. The problem is compounded due to the fact that he and the White House haven’t communicated to the American of the successes and thus, lost the ‘communication war’.

Now that the Republican control one half of Congress, they can no longer being the ‘party of no’ but in fact, have to make real proposal and be accountable. That itself is a good thing, I hope. The Republican are also looking at the 2012 election as their chance to regain the White House, the Senate, and try not to give the House back to the Democrat. I am no fan of Mr. Brenner or Mr. McConnell, but now is the time to step up, be accountable for their own legacy, if not for the owner party or their country.

I am an equal opportunity complainer. I am no fan of Mrs. Pelosi or Mr. Reid. In fact, I think they are two of the more incompetent leaders in recent memory. I am not a bit sadden to see Mrs. Pelosi lose the Speaker of the House. In fact, I hope she retire so other Democrat can have a clean deck. I'll admit that I was hoping Mr. Reid to lose too, but didn't want to lose the Senate altogether. OK, we will settle with him back in Washington.

All in all, I hope the change on Tuesday represent a wholesale change in Washington, in both in term of policies and personnel. The 2012 Presidential Election will start in a few months. I do hope Obama to get back in the White House but would like to see a better congress whether they are led by Democrat or Republican. I wish everyone luck!

Look forward to Election 2010

Today is election day 2010. I expect and also silently wishing for some changes. I supported Obama and the Democrat for their changes in 2006 and 2008. But the Democratic Congress and the President were disappointed in many way. For whatever reason, this country is made for a 2-parties systems, not one and probably not three either. Whenever a single party rules the White-House and Congress, things hadn't worked out very well.

Take 1976-1980 under Carter, 1992-1994 under Clinton, 2002-2008 under Bush, and 2008-2010 under Obama. None of those time period are great for the country. One party rule doesn't work in this country for whatever reason. After-all democracy requires compromise, give-and-take, and sharing responsibility. We can't afford to have King Bush, neither can we afford to have a King Obama.

I look forward to seeing the Republican winning the House but hopefully not the Senate. I hope they win enough seat to apply pressure on the White-House, but not too much to force a stalemate and impede progress. We'll find out the election results within 24 hours. God bless America and go vote!

Congratulations to the Giants ... World Series Champion

Did I say the Giants in 6? Well, I was almost right, Giants in 5, close enough. You know the real reason why the Rangers lost ... because George W. Bush was in the house ... ha ha ha ...

Congratulations to the Giants, all the Giants fans, the city of San Francisco, and all the misfits and underdogs out there.

This Giants team is made up of, beside the solid pitching staff:

• Posey - rookie catcher joined the team in June
• Huff - an old and an unemployed first baseman signed in January
• Renteria - a washout shortstop
  
• Uribe - a shortstop forced to play third because the Panda struggled all year
• Burrel - an old and struggling out field joined the team in mid-season
• Ross - another mid-season come via waiver
• Rowand - another washout outfielder
  
• Sandoval - this Panda needs to go on a diet

How can such a team of no-namers win? Work hard, play as a team, and most important of all ..... DON'T STOP ... BELIEVING ....

Giants lost but look forwrad to a great game 4

As I predicted, the Giants lost. That should not be a surprise because the Rangers is a good team and would never fold even down 0-2. The good news for the Rangers is their big guns (Hamilton and Cruz) started hitting. Plus, this Feliz guy is good at 99MPH, wow!. The not-very-good-news is 3 of the 4 runs was scored by a home-run by Moreland, their # 9 hitter. That is not what the Rangers want to count on. Without that home-run, the could have lost.

From the Giants perspective, just one bad inning. The good news is they score the last 2 runs of the game and had little more (just a little) momentum going into game 4.

Now, the game in Texas, DH is in used, which favor offense and benefit to the Rangers. The Giants' Pat Burrell still not hitting and look terrible at the plate. Pablo Sandoval looked like what he did all year, which isn't very good and simply chopping at the balls. Boche has done a great job managing, I am hoping to see some adjustment in these 2 spots.

Game 4 will be a true test because at the end the series would either be 3-1 or 2-2. I expect a great game tomorrow.

California has a couple interest races for governor with Jerry Brown vs. Meg Whitman, and for Senator Barbara Boxer vs. Carly Fiorina.

I would consider my political stand as a moderate Democrat. But for the governor's race, I voted (via absentee) for Meg Whitman. I am sorry Mr. Brown, you were a governor once and the record was so-so. You were the mayor of Oakland, and the record was so-so. Maybe because of my Silicon Valley gene, a good CEO like Meg Whitman is appealing to me. After-all, California has become very business unfriendly and someone with a business background would be helpful. A career business person is more appealing than a career politician to me.

Now, on the other race, I can say the same about Barbara Boxer (career politician) and Carly Fiorina (career business person). There is one BIG different, however, Meg Whitman is a SUCCESSFUL CEO, yet Carly Fiorina is a FAILED CEO. Mrs. Whitman helped built eBay from small startup to a multi-billion dollar business. Yet, Mrs. Fiorina took a highly successful and respected company in HP and nearly destroyed it.

So, in this election, I voted for the Republican Meg Whitman for governor and for the Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer. Although the polls show Brown is winning and Fiorina might win. Well, what do I know?

Can Harvick ever win the championship

Despite all the World Series excitement, there is another close contest of the Nascar Sprint Cup Championship going down to the last 4 races of the season. Effectively speaking, there are only 3 drivers have a good shoot at the Championship; Jimmie Johnson, #48, the 4-time defending champion, Denny Hamlin, #11, and Kevin Harvick, #29.

Here, I am going to talk about Kevin Harvick and why he will not win and probably will never win until he grows up. He is a 11 year veteran, but yet is immature like an rookies. For example,

1. Remember how he took out Joey Logano, the shouting match afterward (those are all understandable giving the heat of the moment), then Joel mentioned Kevin's wife (that was immature and over the line), but then Kevin jabbed at Joel and on and on. Remember, you have an 11 year veteran and a 2nd year kid. Instead, you have 2 kids, not an adult and a kid.

2. Remember Cliff Bowyer won at Dover, then failed the post-race inspection. No, I am not going to comment whether the inspection was fair or not. After Denny Hamlin made comments accusing RCR, Harvick hit Hamlin during practice. I understand he is upset. But Mr. Harvick, why bring the attention and distraction to yourself as you go into the Chase.

3. Just 2 weeks ago, opening complain about this crew. And they probably weren't the best and a change did happen eventually. But it definitely didn't win any friends.

4. Last week, he and Jeff Burton, a teammate, started a fight in the middle of the race by banging on each other, then complain to the press. Wow. Right in the middle of a championship fight.

Can you imagine the Giants and Rangers to start a flight among themselves rather than the opponent. His immaturity makes it ever so difficult to really win it all while under pressure. Until he grows up, it is hard to see that right now.

Mr. Jim Cramer

Early on, I was never much of a Jim Cramer fan because he is such a loud-mouth and crazy, even though I watch him on the Kudlow & Cramer. Then, I ever made fun of him when he made some bad calls.

Then, this summer, while attending TDAmeritade investor workshop, Jim Cramer's name came up as one of the all-time top investors. I have my doubt but decided to watch his Mad Money show and read this book.

For the past 3 months, I watched his show every day and finally understand what make Mr. Cramer special. He recommends good solid stocks which have STARTED the run up. If you are looking to follow Cramer and get 200% or 300% gain, forget it. But for 20%-30%, even 60%-70% run (I'll take that).

Consider his C.A.N.D.I.E.S recommendations:

CMG - from $88 to $210 YTD up 139%
AAPL - from $210 to $305 YTD up 45%
NFLX - from $55 to $175 YTD up 218%
DECK - from $34 to $54 YTD up 59%
ISRG - from $303 to $262 YTD down 14%
ESRX - from $43 to $48 YTD up 11%
CRM - from $73 to $115 YTD up 69%

That is only YTD in 2010. I don't know about you but those are pretty good picks. All investors will get it wrong sometime, Cramer is human too. As Cramer suggests, we can't simply follow his advise blindly, we need to do our homework as well (I guess that is his ways to minimize criticism).

But in any case, you need to have you own investment styles and preference. No matter what any advisor say, you got to evaluate based on your own belief before investing.

All in all, my view of Jim Cramer has changed 180 degree. I used ridicule him but now I respect him. If you are like me, skepticism is good but it is OK to change your view sometime.

Go Giants!!

Did I say Giants in 6? It looks more likely that it will happen. The Rangers will win 2 of 3 in Texas and the Giants can finish it off in game 6 in AT&T Park. Yea.

Now, looking back to game 1. Obviously, it was great to see the Giants broke out of their hitting slump by scoring 11 runs, but do it against Cliff Lee, who all the experts say is absolutely un-hittable. Naaaa! The best news coming out of game 1 was obviously the victory. The second best news was they beat the unbeatable Cliff Lee. The third best news was they scored 11 runs. But the bad news that I didn't like was the Giants reliever gave up 3 runs in the ninth which I thought shift the momentum to the Rangers.

But tonight, game 2 was much different than I expected. One, I thought it might rain, it didn't. Two, I thought the game could be sloppy if it rains and windy, no it didn't. A great pitching dual until the Giants broke it open in the eighth. That 7 runs in the eighth can really send a message. Not just the Giants pitches beat Lee, Wilson, and the bullpens also. Now, the Rangers can think out this 0-9 lost in game 2 and 0-2 in the series as they fly home and think it through for an extra day. The momentum is clearly on the Giants side.

Clearly, this is the time to test the team's character. The Rangers can fold and lose in 4, which I doubt it would happen. After-all, they came back and beat the Rays and Yankees. My prediction, game 3 to Rangers, game 4 to Giants, game 5 to Rangers, and game 6 to Giants!

Blog renewed - Go Giants

This blog started right after Super Bowl Sunday in 2008. I know ... I have been lazy. But today is the San Francisco Giants' match to their first World Series Championship since moving to San Francisco. I admit it is a bit premature but that is what fans do.

Serious speaking, the Texas Rangers would have to be the favorite again, but don't worry the Giants has always been the underdog all years. Assuming the pitching match-up of
Lee vs. Lincecum, then Wilson vs. Cain, Lewis vs. Sanchez, Hunter vs. Bumgarner, the edge goes to the Giants. As for hitting, no doubt the edge goes to the Rangers. As we all know, pitching wins Championship.

My prediction: another series of exciting, nail-biting, torturing 1-run games. And Giants will win in 6. Go Giants!!!!!!