Taiwan

I just arrived in Taiwan late last night and took a bus to Taichung. It's nice being here with family again and I'm eager to start the year in Taipei!

Time with God

I love traveling by myself bec time alone is time spent with God. I did a lot of reflecting and reading on the flight over here, especially about how dangerous it is to be a Christian while living / working deep inside the secular world. Few Christians can really step up to the challenge, since working the politics / entertainment / business world is much trickier than life in the sciences / research / ministry. A parallel that I drew, in my mind, is that it is like a diplomat being sent overseas. Their loyalty and trust must be unmatched in order to overcome the temptations (bribes, espionage) abroad, and this is done through rigorous training, looking at their domestic track record, security clearance, and polygraph. How much more so must a Christian stand stronger in their fellowship while working in the more sensitive and worldly jobs. If they can handle it and if called, they should definitely go but first make sure that their loyalty is unquestionable.

Red Hat
I bought Red Hat with an exit strategy of divesting in exactly 3 months from time of purchase. I researched their SEC filings and determined that they were undervalued at $10 a share so I bought $1500 3 months ago. I recently sold at $15, receiving $1950... which is a 38% return over 3 months. I'm very lucky, and I do mean luck. My biggest lesson from this is to not touch stocks because it's such a gamble without inside information... and even then it's illegal.