Need ideas -- my wife's birthday coming up, what to get her?

Okay my wife's birthday is coming up and I need some gift ideas. And Valentines is not that far either, so I guess I need two gift ideas.

Tips:
1. She likes shopping (as many wives do I think)
2. I don't like giving gift cards. Gift cards are great for friends but when it comes to my wife, I need to give something more personal (and maybe plus a gift card).
3. We don't like jewelry so diamonds are out.

What's been discussed:
1. She likes my PSP and Gameboy micro. So I asked her if she wanted a PSP or a GameBoy DS. She doesn't know and she doesn't think she really has the time to play it.
2. She's wanting a new shelf put in.

What's already understood:
1. I'm already giving her cake and flowers.

Send your emails to me at don ( at ) donsausa.com. If I use your idea, I'll send you this investment book for free.

Apple shares tumbles 6% due to options fraud scandal

Apple is making headlines again, but it isn't about new gadgets.

Justin Scheck reports:

According to people with knowledge of Apple's situation, federal prosecutors are looking closely at stock option administration documents that were apparently falsified by company officials to maximize the profitability of option grants to executives.

The faked documents were revealed in a three-month internal probe — conducted by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges — that concluded in October, said individuals familiar with the case who requested anonymity because it remains the subject of criminal and civil government investigations.

The falsification of documents is perhaps the key issue for government officials trying to determine which of their 100-plus backdating investigations will be pursued as criminal matters and which will be limited to civil SEC inquiries.

Steve Jobs reportedly has hired an independent lawyer to mount a defense against SEC inquiries. Hopefully, this will end soon. Worst case scenario = Jobs quits, Apple gets fined (fines for companies like Apple are like ant bites, the bottom line isn't significantly hurt).

Reduce 2006 taxes by helping Typhoon Durian victims in the Philippines

Over 1,000 people died as Typhoon Durian swept through northern Philippines. They didn't die by the winds. They died being buried alive by the mountains that they thought could protect them from the winds. How did this happen? Nearby mountains became wet and unstable...the end result was an oncoming onslaught of mud and rock wiping out entire villages. See a picture below of a Durian mudslide.



Aid workers on the ground are still trying to recover, with many families separated and children left parentless. One of the first aid groups to respond, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, is currently doing its best to help and assist with volunteers from all over the Philippines. But they need your help!

If you wish to donate to this cause and to also give yourself a reduction in IRS taxes for 2006, click here.

Merry Christmas 2006

I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Hope all of you got what you wanted!

Consumer complains to police - cocaine she bought was not good

This is from Tampa Bay's 10 News. A woman from NC bought crack cocaine and when she tasted it, she complained it wasn't that good. She flags down a deputy at a convenience store, showing him how bad the cocaine was.

Kids, this is what happens when you do drugs. Not only do you lose money, you lose IQ.

HWTHORNE — A North Carolina woman was arrested after complaining to a Putnam County deputy that the crack cocaine she had just purchased wasn't very good.

Eloise Reaves approached the deputy at a convenience store Friday, telling him that another man had sold her 'bad crack,' that contained wax and cocaine.

The 50-year-old woman pulled an alleged crack rock out of her mouth and placed it on the deputy's car for inspection.

The deputy told Reaves that she would be arrested if the crack tested positive for cocaine.

She was charged with possession of cocaine and bonded out for $1,500.

'Pursuit of Happyness' is the best movie of 2006

I don't consider movies as the "best" too often. So take this one seriously. The movie about Chris Gardner, how he went from homeless to success is an inspiring tell-all story of a man who didn't give up even though everybody else was giving up on him. His live-in girlfriend left him as a single parent. His sales job was not paying the bills. Eventually, he was kicked out of his rental home, then kicked out of a motel, and finally found himself on the streets. Yet through this experience, he persevered and looked for a job that would pay well...he was going to be a stock broker, despite the fact that he's barely had any education beyond high school.

Will Smith stepped up as a serious actor in this movie...enough I think to put him for an Oscar nomination. His son made his first film debut. The pair's father and child connection was real which made the movie so much more realistic.

In real life, Chris Gardner was homeless for almost a year, and his child was merely a toddler, not a six year old that could talk and walk. These realistic facts put the movie into a different light. A man who hardly had any education but had the will to go above and beyond his status quo.

It is a clear success story of someone with perseverance. Someone choosing success.

Why we're losing in Iraq (video joke)

The British public, like their American counterparts, is asking themselves...why are we losing in Iraq. See the video below...