Today for work, I went to a training by Edward Tufte on the best way to present data.

One of the things Tufte encourages is the use of sparklines, small graphs that are very efficient because they store a large quantity of time series data in a small amount of space.

Here's a book excerpt about sparklines.

DVDs I own:

TV shows:

The Wire: Seasons 1 - 4
Arrested Development: The Complete Series
Family Guy: Volumes 1 - 3
The Office: Seasons 1 & 3
The Simpsons: Season 8

Movies:
Office Space
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
The Simpsons Movie

Sports:
2002 Angels World Championship

The Wire and Arrested Development are the only 2 DVDs I've ever paid for; I've received all of the others as gifts.

I wrote up the following quiz on facebook about FICO scores.

1) How many FICO scores does a person have?

A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4

2) The median US FICO score is:

A) 660
B) 680
C) 700
D) 720

3) Which of the following does NOT affect your FICO score?

A) Gross income
B) Requests for new credit
C) Your adverse public record info
D) Collection agency accounts

4) Which of the following likely affects your FICO score MOST?

A) Amount owed on credit cards
B) Number of credit cards with balances
C) Difference of credit limits minus amount owed
D) Ratio of amount owed / credit limits

5) Which of the following likely affects your FICO score MOST?

A) Time since oldest credit account opened
B) Time since most recent credit account opened
C) Time since oldest credit account opened on active accounts
D) Time since most recent credit account opened on active accounts

6) Which of the following likely affects your FICO score MOST?

A) When your first late payment was
B) When your last late payment was
C) Average length of time your payments are late
D) How many times your payments have been late

7) Which of the following most likely affects your FICO score?

A) Checking your credit report or FICO score
B) Searching for a credit card in the last month
C) Searching for a mortgage in the last month
D) Searching for an auto loan in the last month

8) Which of the following is likely to improve your FICO score?

A) Consolidating debt
B) Closing inactive credit cards
C) Opening new credit cards
D) None of the above

9) Which federally-mandated website allows you to check your credit report for free?

A) credit.com
B) creditreport.com
C) annualcreditreport.com
D) freecreditreport.com

10) Which website has the most useful information about FICO scores?

A) credit.com
B) creditscore.com
C) fairisaac.com
D) myfico.com

11) Which of the following do you need to receive a valid FICO score?

A) An account opened 6 or more months ago
B) An account updated in last 6 months
C) All of the above
D) None of the above

12) What is the commonly-sited FICO score range?

A) 400 - 900
B) 300 - 850
C) 100 - 900
D) 0 - 99

13) Over the life of a 36 month $25K auto loan, approximately how much more will you pay if your FICO score is 660 instead of 720?

A) 656
B) 1656
C) 3656
D) 5656

Correct answers can be found in this post's comments.

Rough day.

DeSean Jackson is leaving for the NFL, which isn't too surprising.

In other news, my company stock dropped 19% today, one of the market's biggest declines today.

Since yesterday: 19% decline
Since the beginning of the year: 28% decline
Since mid-November: 43% decline

I participate in our company's stock purchase plan, where we get a 15% discount on shares at the beginning of each 6 month period. It took less than 10 business days for my shares to fall below that 15% break-even point.

Worst part about this is that I actually put in a limit order a couple times last week to sell my shares. I put the limit barely above the market price but my shares were never sold... Argh... that's what I get for not selling my shares right away...

Season 5 of The Wire started today, and since our apartment recently got HBO, I'll be able to keep up during this season. It was less than a year ago that I was reading the reviews and contemplating watching the series.

Since then, I've seen all 4 seasons and it's the best television series I've ever seen.

The thing that stands out about the show is that there are so many great characters that are developed with tremendous detail, even if they only have minor roles.

The other great thing about the show is that the stories aren't one-sided and don't have Hollywood endings. Instead, the show paints a vivid picture about the challenges that cops, drug dealers, port workers, politicians, teachers, students, or reporters might have in a city where resources are very limited and your reward for making the right choice is to get shot in the leg.

As you can imagine, the show isn't for everyone. The show can be chilling at times and you sometimes start to wonder how reforms ever overcome the obstacles of stagnancy in any walk of life.

Since the story is told with such detail, the pace is slower than other dramas, and your gratification is usually delayed.

And it's a much richer experience if you can start from Season 1 so that you understand everyone's character in context. But of course, it's pretty difficult to commit to watching 50 hours of TV for the first 4 seasons and it's not like everyone has the DVDs easily accessible.

Still, if you have the time, access, patience, and mental fortitude, it's an investment that grows over time. And yes, I realize I'm talking about a TV show...