Articles by mgedwards

Morningstar is born

Morningstar’s initial public offering concluded successfully last Tuesday.  I was allocated 100 shares at $18.50 per share, 50 fewer than I submitted in my Dutch auction  bid.  MORN is now up to $20.40 per share.  While not spectacular, the IPO is considered successful because the stock price never slid below its initial asking price.  Usually stocks that go IPO slide after the first couple days of trading.  Morningstar never broke it initial price threshold.  My next challenge is to figure out when to sell MORN.  Do I sell quickly, or do I hold it?  I thought about setting a target price to sell at $25/share, a one-third price gain.  IPOs are typically volatile at the outset, so it is possible it might make such a gain in the short term during a bull market.  Because I purchased shares with cash, I will pay capital gains when I sell.  If I wait one year to sell the shares, the capital gains rate will decline.  If I believe that MORN is a good investment for the long term, I would prefer to keep them over the long term.  My own feeling is that Morningstar will flourish as an independent investment research firm, but in the long term it might be a takeover target by a large financial services firm such as Merrill Lynch or Charles Schwab.  That would be a boon to the stock price.  I’m not sure yet what I will do, but I am glad that–at least for the time being–I was again successful in securing IPO shares of a promising company through Dutch auction. 

Tonight I visited a friend’s house to demo some karaoke songs for the upcoming community talent show.  The talent show was a hit last year.  We plan to sing a duet together.  We narrowed our options down to either "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross, or "When I Fall in Love," the theme song from the movie "Sleepless in Seattle" popularized by Celine Dion.  I’m partial to the second song, perhaps because I’m from Seattle.  I think that song better showcases our voices.  I can pull off a good rendition of Lionel Richie, but I sing more like Clive Griffen, the one who performed the duet with Celine.  (I also plan to sing my signature song, "Oh Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison, solo at the talent show.)  After we settle on a song, we need to work out the logistics at the talent show so that we can sing on stage.  We need two microphones and accompanying music on CD or tape.  I thought that we could use her karaoke machine, but it’s not portable and needs to be hooked up to a television.  We’ll figure it out. 

Catching up on old news

I did not have much time last week to update you on recent goings-on here in Seoul, so I thought I would backtrack a bit and talk about what has happened since last Thursday.  Last Thursday was Children’s Day, a national holiday in Korea.  (I’m fortunate to have time off during most Korean holidays.)  Many American parents would exclaim, "What, why do children need a holiday?  Their special day is everyday!" To that I answer, "Why not?"  After all, we are all children.  Children are a joy and are worth celebrating, even grown-up children.  Of course, many children receive special treatment on an ongoing basis as long as they’re under the care of loving parents.  However, if your child is absent from you like mine was until last week, you too might look favorably on Children’s Day.  I spent most of the day Thursday with my friends, helping them with the 100-day celebration and then joining them in the evening for dinner.  I probably spent too much time at their home while I was a pseudo-bachelor.  They don’t mind at all.  I don’t live far away, and I definitely don’t mind the food, fun, and fellowship. 

On Friday I went back to work.  I spent the morning trying to resolve two difficult issues, and in the afternoon I went to Yeouido, Seoul’s financial district, to serve as a judge for the International Youth Fellowship‘s 5th Annual English Speech Contest.  The contest pits some of the best and brightest English-speaking Korean students against one another in a very competitive speech contest.  I was one of several judges.  I enjoyed serving as a dignitary for the competition as well as reaching out to the local community.  The speeches were excellent, although of course some were better than others.  Unfortunately, I had to leave early for another pre-arranged engagement and departed before the awards banquet began.  In the future, I’ll make sure my schedule is clear before agreeing to another outreach event.  The speech contest was a welcome departure from my normal duties.  On Friday evening, I met up with a group of friends and colleagues for dinner and noraebang.  It was fun, but I felt bad because I arrived late even though I left the speech contest early.  I was the one who originally arranged this get together, and yet I arrived very late.  Again, in hindsight I should have postponed the get together to focus on the speech contest.  As it turned out, I left the speech contest 1.5 hours later than expected.  If it had concluded on time, I would have arrived for the next event on time.  Apologies from me were heard by all.

On Saturday morning I spent the morning straightening up the house before my family came home.  I went to buy Mother’s Day flowers for my wife as a way to thank her for all she’s done for our son and to welcome her home.  After that, I drove to Incheon to pick up my family.  The trip to Incheon International Airport did not take long, but the return trip was horrendous.  It took us almost three hours to drive home once we approached Seoul.  It’s some of the worst traffic I’ve ever seen.  I know that traffic can be really bad in other cities such as Bangkok and Cairo, but Seoul has to rank as one of the world’s most congested cities.  It’s legendary.  Someone once told me it took them 11 hours to drive back from Seorak Mountain in eastern Korea to Seoul.  It take 3.5-4 hours on a good day to drive to Seorak Mountain. 

We spent Sunday, Mother’s Day, at church with our friends and joined another family for some delicious Chinese food.  It would have been nice to listen to the pastor’s message, but we were much too preoccupied with our son.  He is so active that I had to take him out of church and let him wander around the alleyways of Seoul.  He is not at all interested in joining other children in the small children’s play area.  He’s an explorer like his parents.  It’s eerie sometimes to see how much he takes after his parents.  It’s like seeing a miniature version of yourself.  You can look at this little person and ask yourself, "So, that’s what I’m like?  Do I like myself?"  Most of the time you end up deciding that you do, unless your child is throwing a temper tantrum like my son did tonight.

Note to BJJ:  I found out that a good friend of mine at work was given the coveted, highly-visible job I mentioned in an earlier entry.  I am very happy for him.  It was not the outcome I expected, and I was overjoyed.  I will move into his current job soon, much sooner than I expected.  I did not anticipate that the move would happen so fast, but the job I will do is a major coup.  I am very happy with the outcome.  I was wrong in my prediction.  Thanks for the kind words and positive outlook.

Family reunion

My family returned from Shanghai, China yesterday after a five-week absence from Seoul.  I was very happy to see them, and I missed them very much.  If you’ve read my blog entries during the past five weeks, you might ask, "Are you sure?  You sound you were having too much fun."  Of course I had a lot of fun while they were away, but now that they’re home I can emphatically answer, "Yes, I am glad they’re home"  It feels right to have a stable family.  I’m happy to have my wife back and would never trade what I have for the single life.  My son changed a lot during the time we were apart.  He is now talking up a storm (mostly in Chinese), and he wants to spend most of his time with "baba" (daddy).  It warms my heart that he wants to spend so much more time with me now than he did when he left.  I can tell that he really missed me.  For example, before he left he never let me put him to bed.  Now I’ve put him to bed two nights in a row.  He is sharper, more interactive than even before, and he listens to us.  We communicate better.  We can guide him better now.  It’s wonderful to see how much he’s grown up in such a short period of time.  We’ve reached a time in our son’s life when we can mutually communicate, a window that will close once he learns how not to listen to us. 

Life won’t be as unfettered for me as it was when I was here alone.  I can’t go out for evenings with friends like I did; at least I choose not to do so.  Still, my wife and I have decided to go out more often than we did before we moved to Seoul.  We plan to go out with friends, and on occasion, I will join coworkers and friends occasionally after work.  My wife can go out as well if she wants to get together with friends, and I will stay with my son.   We still have to get him used to being with a babysitter.  He still panicks when mommy (and now baba) is not nearby.  We will trade off and either feed or bathe him to get him used to both of us at night so that he is more flexible in his routines.  My wife is also determined to be more active around the house and help out with many of the things I’ve been doing.  We’re a team.  Separation can be hard, but it can also be the start of a new beginning.  Life is very good for us, but we know that it can always be better.  Now that we’re back together, now is the time for us to make the most of the time we have.