My Day at Home

Didn't trade at all today. Woke up and my throat feels extremely dry and coarse plus a little tightness in my chest. I stayed home and talk with my dad about the deal we're working on with a potential partner in Memphis. Another good chunk of time setting up some communication stuff for my parents and our wireless network. I wish technology would just work the way they're designed. It's quite frustrating at times. It feels like these technology that's suppose to make our lives easier end up creating more hassles. And what do we do? Create something else to deal w/ that new hassle which ends up complicating things even more.

Last week was actually a pretty eventful week. I got to see Rent here in Austin w/ Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal reprising their roles as Mark and Roger. Earlier that week I also went with my dad to Memphis to visit somebody we're thinking about entering into a partnership w/ and start negotiating some contracts.

Rent is definitely one of my top favorite musicals. Sure, some people might not agree with the subjects involved like homosexuality and drug usage but I think the emotional aspect of the relationships between the character is just beautiful and the music component is exactly what I expect out of a musical. It inspired other pop culture and spoofs (Ref: Lease the Musical in Team America: World Police) instead of having musicals "inspired" by other pop culture items lately like the Shrek and Dr. Seuss musical.

I remember during intermission when I saw it in NYC, this family was sitting near me and the dad was explaining to his two boys about the play. The boys looked no more than what... 12-yrs-old? I'm sure their young mind were pretty confused about why the two men or two women are kissing on stage.

I did a lot of prep work with my dad on who's going to say what so we're on the same page in front of the counter party. We talked a lot about the new project on the drive up to Memphis... it's about 10-11 hrs I think. I really think we should've taken a flight. I got to eat at Corky's as I wished. I knew it was right down the street from our meeting location. When we got there we actually got to meet the owner Don and his son. Turns out the guy we were meeting with went to school with Don when they were young in Memphis.

Corky's is really good, man! If anybody is ever in Memphis I highly recommend their tender juicy pulled pork. I tried the ribs as well. Memphis barbecue focuses on pork and dry rub while in Texas where I am it's more about beef and the sauce. I can appreciate all the spices they put into the pork, I think I just prefer the pulled pork more.

There's quite a few points to the deal and I won't bore you with that much details. We basically have another product that we have a patent on we have been trying to sell for a couple of years unsuccessfully due to lack of contacts and channels. The partner we're in talks with actually marketed the Chip Clip and couple other products. From our conversation I could tell that they were trying to sell us more on the idea of partnering up w/ them plus we have the patent. Sure, we could try to market it ourselves but it'll probably take longer and we won't sell as much. Their initial proposal was 50-50 profit split which I didn't like. I kind of feel them out to see if they'd go for something like a more commission based structure and it was obvious from their responses that was out of the question. At the end of the meeting to recap all the points my father sort of very casually and quickly agreed to the 50-50 point which I had asked him to not to agree on so easily. At the very least, save that for further discussion or even if he's ok w/ that act somewhat reluctant in order to set up leverage for other minor points in the negotiation.

That's basically what we talked about yesterday. I got on his case a little bit about leaving money on the table... but whatever, ultimately it's his decision. I still have some calculation and projections to run. If nothing else, it should boost our bottom a bit and gain valuable experience and contacts.