There’s a line from Sarah MacLaughlin’s famous song, "I Will Remember You," that my wife often say to each other when we’re totally exhausted.  "I’m so tired, but I can’t sleep" is perhaps the best line from the song.  It such a fitting phrase sometimes.  I stayed up very late last night catching up on my Korean study, and this morning I headed to work early via the Metro.  Fortunately, the commute this morning was better and quicker than usual.  Still, I was really, really tired all day long.  Some people are like the Energizer Bunny and can keep going and going with minimal sleep.  I need my sleep, and if I don’t get it I slowly wear out like a battery that needs frequent recharging.  Today however I feel strangely awake.  I took a brief nap, but it was more of a catnap.  I have a feeling that these last few days before our move to Korea will be filled with adrenaline.  One week from tonight will be our final day here at this apartment.  The following morning the movers will come and pack up our belongings to ship via air or slow boat to Korea.  It still seems surreal to me.

Google spiked $18/share in after-hours trading when it reported spectacular Q4 results.  I jumped off the Google bandwagon because I didn’t see the stock going much higher than $200 per share in the near term.  I still don’t, but it closed up over $210/share in after-hours trading.  We’ll see what happens tomorrow.  Google appears to be the ultimate contrarian stock.  Whenever analysts say buy it, that’s the time to sell, and when they dismiss it as over-valued, that’s probably a good time to buy.  I’m looking ahead to February when 177 million new shares unlock and potential flood the market.  I see it going down to about $175/share, after which I may buy again.  But I may be just like all the analysts–I’ve been very surprised that it has maintained such a lofty valuation thus far.  If it stays this high for long it will be added to the S&P 500 and then index funds will have to retain shares.  So long as Google refuses to announce stock splits the stock will continue to increase in value.  I’m glad I got in early before the bull rush.

Tomorrow the Iraqi people vote in the first multi-party national elections in Iraq in over 50 years.  No matter where you stand on the war, occupation, and current U.S. presence in Iraq, you surely must be hoping that the elections go well.  The press lately has put a more positive, hopeful spin on the Iraqi elections.  Violence continues, but Iraqis appear to be reacting positively to the elections as candidates and as voters.  According to the Washington Post, a polling place has been set up in New Carrollton, Maryland, a D.C. suburb, to accommodate expatriate Iraqi voters.  Iraqis have traveled from all over the U.S. to vote there.  I hope that the vote goes well and is a decisive one, not an election marred by violence, disenfranchisement, or fraud.  These can happen anywhere in places such as the Ukraine, and even in Washington State where the result of the Washington gubernatorial race is being challenged in court.  Iraq undoubtedly has an even greater possibility of having a marred election.  Let’s hope not.

From the "Things that Make You Go Hmm" Department:  Today while I was pumping gas into my vehicle at a local gas station I noticed a large cigarette advertisement over the gas pump.  Well, that makes a whole lot of sense.  Please…no smoking while pumping gas, but by the way go buy some cigarettes while you’re pumping gas.  Definitely a great example of product misplacement!