lots of the top brains in the country. Companies go private: they win. Companies go public, they win. The companies owned by the top tier of individual investors are throwing off lots of cash that needs to be managed and invested.

dynamite products that I'm in love with. All of the IT gurus seem to gravitate to MAC computers. The Apple store by me is a wonderful retail experience. iTunes is pretty much of a monopoly. They are poised to monopolize the IP TV market because all of the other providers deliver a geeky do it yourself product. [update 5/4/2007] MSFT's vista was a big yawn. I see a lot of people switching over to the Mac in the coming months and years instead of being bored with windows. The Apple store near me in Southlake, Texas is always packed. The apple stores always seem to be located in high net worth shopping areas which probably translates into decent margins. My confidence level is very high.

I was talking to a Mercedes-Benz dealer general manager who also happened to run BMW, Buick, Suzuki, Toyota and Hyundai stores. He said that of all the brands, people go to the Toyota store to buy a Toyota, not just to buy a car. Warren Buffett calls that "durable competitive advantage." We'll see.

former employer (Texaco). I remember that they could make money at $11 bbl back when it was below $15bbl. ka-ching! Nice buy back program to boot.

Stable performer. People love their cancer stick products at any price. The legal stuff is mostly history now. [update 5/4/2007] I sold Kraft the day that I got it a la Cramer suggestion and banked a nice gain. I could not come up with a reason to own KFT so I followed the advice.

An Ag company. Play on the substitute for crude oil. The conference call 11/07 sounded like UPOD.

I'm a pvt pilot and aviation enthusiast. TXT product rock. What's not to love about supplying the military, too. [update 2/4/2007] A friend does engineering contract work for Bell Helicopter and thinks that the top management are a bunch of morons. This makes me nervous but I still like rest of the businesses. Cessna is coming out with a new light sport plane and the next generation C182 replacement. I don't think that the numbers on these will move the needle but I listened to the CEO talk about it an I just have a lot of confidence in this area. The UAV's are the future of military and police aviation. There is a lot of upside here, I think.

Australian miner. Mining metals is going to profitable as long as the Chinese have an insatiable appetite for raw materials. I think that this is going to be the case for a long time. This adds to the portfolio's international exposure.