CONeal

Looks like one shareholder is stepping up to and putting his 10cents on the Soko Scandle. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Berkshire-and-Buffett-sued-rb-2488434827.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

I’ve let me foot off the gas considerably the last couple of day. Sold all of my SD position and reduced another position by half. Currently sitting around 33% cash and will wait for better times to deploy it. The bar has been raised quite a bit over the last year; prefer not to see how high I can hurdle. I’ll just wait for the game to come back to me and the prices I’m willing to pay. If the next guy can continue to make a good return over the next year good for him.

After the recall today they need to close up shop and try their hand at another business. I will be writing a consumer letter to the board, although not sure if it will do any good.

I bet ol' Donald will be pitching those damn golf courses at ever state of the union address.

I took it as... of the fund that was set up, Munger's family money makes up about 50% of the total assets in the fund. That fund owns 3% of the BYD company.

" In our first talk about Lubrizol, Dave mentioned that he owned stock in the company. It was a passing remark and I did not ask him about the date of his purchase or the extent of his holdings." Without knowing the full details of what has been going on behind the scenes it seems to me Sokol did what he should have done. He disclosed his position at the very beginning. It's not like he bought the shares once he knew BRK was interested.

For my estimated qtr tax bill I pay everything that is due from the gains in that qtr. Might be able to hold off until April 15th in some casses but if your a little off the penalties rack up pretty quick.

I enjoyed "How To Read A Book" by Alder http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Touchstone-book/dp/0671212095/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301161883&sr=8-1

You might want to take a closer look at the personality of the company. If you can handle a very structured organization where you can operate within a very set limit of boundaries these might be your type of companies. Down the road if you they to move to a smaller company, working at one of these companies will be a hindrance b/c they are viewed as being very rigid. Smaller companies need people that are flexable and can work with shades of gray (not exactly knowing what is needed for aproject or needing multiple skill sets). Smaller companies will bring this right out in the I interview.

Worked at BAC, first company I worked for out of college was bought out by C, and a friend use to work at MS. If really pushed toward a decision... I'd rather shoot myself ;D And they were all technical positions

3 positions SD, AVNR, and NEOP.

I've been reading everything I can about Mr. Chou over the last few days and have a question. What is Mr Chou's relationship with Fairfax now? From reading some of the material is seems like he does not work there anymore. Is this correct? Clarity would be greatly appreciated. Don't really have the detailed history as some of you have regarding Fairfax, just wondering if the mutual funds are his top priority now or if he's still moonlighting..

Someone just posted this as a short on VIC, fyi. Is there anyway you could send me what was written. Tried to reset my password but having problems getting into the site also I only have a guest account. My email address is I really appreciate it.

I'll take Avanir Pharm (AVNR) with current management in place. The cash this thing can throw off in a couple of years would let me look at other areas. I own the stock but wish it could be more

Sure some of the large investors that have been holding for a while would like to see some value unlocked. http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2011/03/14/pfizer-shares-rise-as-analyst-note-sparks-spin-off-talk/?mod=yahoo_hs

It's a fixable problem... stop cutting corners and shut down the plants till the problems are fixed. It might cost you a few quarters in revenue but in the end people would be more comfortable buying JNJ brands. These issues that keep popping up is tarnishing the JNJ image and brand. In my view when a drug company manufacturing process comes into question you have to over compensate in order to correct the issue. It makes consumers more comfortable when a company is going the extra mile to make sure that tylenol you give your kid is safe. JNJ is not sending out that warm cozy feeling when issues keep popping up.

Two of the plants are still operational. http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/10/news/companies/johnson_mcneil_fda_action/index.htm?hpt=T1

I like the Black Swan reference bc it fits in perfectly with my pick. Natalie Portman

I've got to hand it to the guy, he can fleece the company like he won the lottery and still state its in the best interest in order to deliver long gains to the shareholders.

Knda figured the cost of gas driving back and fourth would have been brought up in the article. If gas gets back near $4 would expect more people to be willing to try the Amazon route. Especially people that live in rual areas.

Maybe he'll learn you can attract more bees with honey.

Noticed in the paper that Apple has dropped be cost for the original iPad by $100. Know some of you have been waiting on the new tablet to come out before buying one. Seems like the only real difference between the two versions are the cameras.

Myth, if you have a chance you would enjoy listening to the analyst meeting that is posted to the site. Rodney Johnson breaks down the reserves and the accounting for them. N gas has been added back on the books and the PUD 5 year window for development was reset. The benefit of doing this now is to run out what they can on oil and still have some time to drill for N gas under the 5 year window. Rodney does alot better job explaining this that I can.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Overstockcom-Reports-FY-and-prnews-2114981516.html?x=0&.v=1

Thanks for the Swiss suggestions and the link. It would be nice if Mars was public, oh well, figure one of these days Warren will own it.