Starbucks - good time to buy?

With some extra time on my hands, I have decided to take up investing.

6 months ago I did not know the slightest thing about it, but now I hope that I can say that I am beginning to become an informed indepedent investor.

One stock to check out - Starbucks - down 20% over the past year

Cons

- struggling with some challenges and competition - both McDonald's rise with their "premium coffee" and Dunkin Donuts coffee are among the top. Suprisingly enough, McDonald's coffee beat out Starbucks and Dunkin for best tasting coffee by consumer reports.

- dairy costs have risen recently

Pros

- huge growth - a company that is opening up stores on every corner of the US and soon around the world. Some look at this as a downfall in maintaining quality. But Starbucks has already grown tremendously - they have already proven their quality. I have had the unruly experience of some of McDonald's premium coffee - I had a traumatic flashback to the watered down stale coffee of my non-profit agency I work for. Who brews your premium coffee at McDonald's? - most likely, it was some 17 yo first day on the job who had never brewed coffee in his or her life and just figured out how not to. Will this happen at Starbucks? - hardly - the employees their often are college grads - my friend works with Master's level coworkers.

- Starbucks takes care of their staff with benefits and quality training.

- Dropping P/E ratio - it used to be excessively high, now it is reasonable for the first time in a long time.

Hope you were enlightened by my analysis - if not, well, it was my first one! (chart from TD Ameritrade)

Long Lost Triplet - Rob Bell?

Who is this guy to my left?

No, it is not me, although it is uncanny how similar this picture of Rob Bell looks like Michael and I.

My older brother found it on Wikipedia - I wish I could say that I was published in an online encyclopedia, but nope, I am not.

Click here to see the article about one of the leading pastors of our day, Rob Bell.

Impressive Spartan B-Ball

David just showed me an impressive article. The Spartan basketball program was said to be the best program in the country over the past 10 years by Andy Katz, ESPN's sports analyst.

They have been great, and should return to even more greatness with their future recruits. I finally have satellite TV so I can't wait for the next couple seasons - maybe this will be an excuse for me to buy a 42" plasma! - but what did I just say about buying into the excess in America - dang it.

Check out the article if you get a chance.

Convicting

Here is a good quote I found from Sojourners online magazine.

"You will never prevent people living in bonded labor or from getting caught up in sex trafficking while they are so desperate that they have no other choice but to sell themselves. As long as we in the West crave ever more excess, we conspire in their desperation, exploiting it and make ourselves sick in the process."
- Clare Short, Member of British Parliament and former Secretary of State for International Development.

I write this blog after I just purchased a used 2003 Honda Accord EXL. I was a little convicted after I purchased it - thinking about how much I buy into the excess every day of my life. Melissa and I have lived humbly compared to many we know, but living humbly takes on new meaning when you have even the smallest exposure to the rest of the world.