I finally found my old DLJ brokerage statements of a small portfolio back in 2000. I’ve been trying to find out if they’re still anything there, but DLJ was bought by Ameritrade, who was bought by TD Waterhouse and it’s a pain to see who wound up with it. Most were bought right after the NASDAQ bubble popped but they still took a beating afterwards. Unless the shares double in value at some point, I’m still quite underwater. At some point DLJ started charging me a quarterly maintenance fee so my suspicion is that they’ve liquidated my shares to cover it and closed my account. Nevertheless, it’s still my money and I’d like to reclaim it.
Akamai Technologies (AKAM), bought at $59.68, currently at 34.60
Cisco Systems (CSCO), bought at 54.94, currently at 27.07
Metromedia Fiber (MFNX), bought at 25.50, went chapter 11 and is now worthless
RMI.net (RMII), bought at 3.05, went bankrupt in a spectacular manner
Williams Communications (WCG), bought at 34.37, went bankrupt.
Somewhere I had some Foundry (FDRY) but I was nailed by a margin call and had to sell it to cover.
I’m a couple months away from topping off my short-term savings account, then I’m back in the market for some long term buying. Hopefully I’ll be a little smarter about it this time around. As part of gaining clue, I’ve spent the past two days reading Berkshire Hathway annual reports and reading about the companies acquired. It’s some interesting reading. I wish all executives wrote in Buffett’s plain english style.
My truck has decided to quitely revolt against me. I’ve slowly been losing coolant over the past couple months. I finally took it to my mechanic last week. They ran a pressure test on it, couldn’t find anything but agreed it was going down. No obvious leaks, no stains around fittings or the water pump, nothing in the oil nor transmission fluid. Everyone tells me it’s probably the water pump venting tiny amounts of vapor, so before too long I’ll take a shot at replacing it. Three more payments to go on my truck, the bastard must last me another four years before I replace it.
I finally got around to eBaying stuff in my closet. Anyone want to buy a stack of Portmasters? A couple of Atari 2600s and a shitload of games? Or a bunch of Cisco VIC and WICs? Next up is my stack of Sun SPARCstation and Ultras. I’m in a giving mood too, anyone want any bath towels? Champagne flutes, wine glasses? A toaster? A roman chair workout stand? A fiber optic Christmas tree? Help me free up valuable cubic footage in my apartment! Come see me at Crazy Bryan’s Houseware Bazaar!
