It’s been a frustrating year for gas prices in Southern California (and California in general). While the rest of the country has been paying well under $3/gallon for gas, we’ve been dealing with prices that are around $4/gallon. Some of the so-called reasons for the price disparity are special gas formulations for California, refinery capacity issues, and shortage of raw materials for making California’s special gas.

Either way, it seemed like a good time to update my gas price vs oil price analysis to see if the current price of gas made sense given the drop in oil prices over the last year. Last summer, oil prices were around $100/barrel, and gas prices were around $3.60 – $3.70. This summer, oil prices have been hovering around $50/barrel. In year’s past, when oil has been this price, gas prices have been in the $2.20 – $2.30 range. How does this year compare?

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On June 13, 2015, Lisa, the family, and I traveled to Davis, CA for to watch our oldest graduate from college. It was nearly 19 years to the day when I graduated from UCLA with my MBA degree. Amanda’s graduation brought back memories of my graduation, and there was one particular moment from that ceremony that I will always remember.

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For the third consecutive year, my good friend Dr. John Johnson invited me to be a judge for the ECE189 Capstone Projects at UCSB. Given my experience the last two years (which I documented here and here), accepting was a no-brainer.

This year, there were only two projects. It was a much smaller number than the last two years, which should have made the judging easier. On the contrary, both projects were so well done, that me and my fellow judges, Shelly Villata and Ali Yousefi, had a very difficult time choosing a winner. Here’s a quick overview of the two projects, and the one we selected as the winner after a lot of deliberation.

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I’m not the biggest fan of modern day baseball. Even though I played quite a bit growing up, I lost interest in the late nineties. Free agency, labor strife and changes to the game to maximize television revenue undermined the reasons why I played and loved the game as a kid. I like baseball because of all of its history and traditions. So when I had the opportunity to see my first game at Wrigley Field on a trip to Chicago at the end of April, I jumped at the opportunity.

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The start of this year’s golf season has been special. Jordan Speith’s record tying run at the Master’s that ushered in talk of a new face for American golf. Rickie Fowler’s win at The Players’ Championship showing he can back up his flare with talent. Rory McIlroy’s run away win at the Wells Fargo showing he will be a contender the rest of the year. Throw in the excitement that surrounds every tournament Tiger enters, the media attention Phil draws, and things look great for golf.

So why are people complaining that golf needs to change?

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I just saw an article on ESPN where Mark Cuban went on a rant saying that college basketball is hurting the NBA. While I don’t agree with his sentiment and feel his take is a bit self-serving given his position as an NBA owner, I do agree that college hoops needs change. This past season, on the whole, was not very exciting. Even an exciting, suspenseful, and drama filled NCAA Tournament was not enough to rescue the regular season.

Scoring on the whole was down. Games lacked action. There were far too many controversial calls. The officiating was variable and inconsistent. Game times were up.

To illustrate how slow and painful the games have gotten, an AAC tournament game between UConn and Tulsa played in March had a final score of 47-42. UConn’s games this past season were so slow that 80 points was scored by a team in only 2 of their 35 games. This year’s ACC regular season champ, UVa had only 2 games out of 34 where a team broke 80. Contrast this with teams playing a more up tempo style like Duke and Notre Dame where 80 was broken in 19 and 20 of their games respectively. I’m not saying that points scored is the sole indicator of game quality, but it is a significant factor.

If I were able to influence the rules committee, here are the changes I would recommend they implement to improve the game.

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I just finished making this year’s tuition payments for my two oldest children who are in college. Coincidentally, this past week, I went on a number of college campus tours with my third child who will be starting college in the next year or so. With all of the student loan reform talk that’s been in the news recently, it got me thinking about the source of the problem.

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