This afternoon, Apple announced blowout numbers, including profits of $546 million on 1.6 million Macs sold (1 million portables) and nearly 9 million iPods in the just-concluded quarter. As a result, the stock is up more than five percent after hours, to $79 a share, and I'm not benefitting, as I sold all of my AAPL shares at a measly $72.87 a week ago Wednesday.

I have followed Apple Computer stock closely for the better part of a decade, and started investing with a measly 25-share pickup in 1999. Though not always invested in AAPL, it's always been on my watch list. I thought I had the stock figured out. In 2005, along with my Google (GOOG) stock, I had made a good profit, but the heady times where I could expect a 2-3x improvement are long behind us. As a result, I've bought and sold the stock frequently, hoping to cash in by timing the dips and the peaks.

In the last two weeks, with CEOs losing their jobs over accounting stock options issues, I believed that Apple was still at risk for yet more bad news. I thought that even if they had a strong quarter, the uncertainty and potential restatement of previous quarters would be a drag on the stock. Beyond that, anyone who watches AAPL closely knows that even the slightest hint of weakness can cause a tidal wave of financial negativity. With a product transition to Intel processors, and the occasional analyst note regarding slowing iPod sales, I thought I was the smart one by selling my stock for a profit and getting out below $73. Maybe a decrease after earnings would get me a chance to buy in again in the mid to high 60s?

Clearly, I was wrong. Again. And now, while my money sits in cash at eTrade, those who kept the faith and tried not to game the stock are reaping the rewards. I still love my Macs, but I'd love them even more if I wasn't such an idiot investor.

The minor to medium changes continue to take place on this blog, as I work to make it more navigable, search engine friendly, etc, or to better represent what people can find when they do drop by. Most clearly, the site now has a title identifying it as a "Silicon Valley Blog" with a focus on technology, sports and politics. Many blogs are successful through niching themselves in a segment that is underserved, while others largely cater to friends and immediate family. This one, so far, is in between. It's not heavily marketed, but people should know what they have found.

Another addition is a slogan (for now) that says to "Never Assume Rationality". It derives from a conversation I had with a coworker nearly five years ago, where the two of us were debating internal strategy and how we could pitch a concept to those at higher management levels. When I questioned how it possibly could be turned down, and wondered aloud as to one individual's reaction, I was told that my big mistake was in "assuming rationality." If I came in with the fundamental expectation that those around us were rational, I could be blindsided. Instead, the new approach was to make the case and withstand all potential objections, be they rational or not.

We don't live in a Mr. Spock world of black and white, logical or illogical. Much of what we do requires the input and/or approval of others who may have widely different viewpoints, goals or expectations, and though we may both be trying to act rationally, our own actions can seem way off the mark to others.

Additionally, on a more fun note, it's not entirely rational to devote so much energy and value to non-essential things such as sports, or technological gadgets. One's "fandom" for the Oakland A's, for Apple Computer, or for one political party over the other can sometimes border on the irrational. And here, at least, that's okay. As a blogger, I'm not a journalist. I don't need to be impartial, and I don't need to be rational. So don't assume I will be all of the time.

Listening to ''Cherry Pie'', by Underworld (Play Count: 4)

Well, that certainly didn't take very long. Only two days following the A's elimination from the playoffs at the hands of a four-game sweep by the Detroit Tigers, manager Ken Macha was fired from his post, for the second consecutive season, and this time, it looks like the canning will stick. You might remember that he was similarly let go in 2005, only to resurface a few days later as the A's "new" manager, but this time around it seems that General Manager Billy Beane is ready to move on and give an opportunity for a new face to guide the team, who reached the ALCS for the first time in 14 years.

Ken Macha has never been a flashy, energetic manager.  In his time as the A's leader, he had a complacent, laid back attitude, and this often led fans to think he didn't care or wasn't as involved in the games as he should have been - especially in stark contrast to managers who were as commonly seen on TV as their own players, like the Angels' Mike Scioscia, the Tigers' Jim Leyland or the Yankees' Joe Torre. He also tended to make decisions a lot less quickly than fans wanted - whether it was leaving pitchers in way too long, until a game was out of hand, or sticking with ridiculous lineups that didn't take advantage of the players' skills. Even when those lineups would fail, you could bet your bottom dollar they would be trotted out the following day.

Yet, somehow his teams tended to win, at a 57% clip (4 of every 7 for years), which isn't a bad mark. Every season, his A's were above the break-even .500 mark. Following a disastrous May, Macha helped lead the team to the division title, and there has been talk of his being a candidate for Manager of the Year (behind the favorite, Leyland). I believe that a team's success is more indicative of the players' talent than the manager's slight of hand, but it didn't look as if Macha was all that strategic, and reports have said that Macha rapidly fell out of favor with a number of his players, both backups and regulars, some of whom said they did not want to return to the A's if he were still in charge. When a manager has lost the respect of his players, it is very hard to regain it. Sports history is littered with managers who ran afoul of the players and didn't last long.

Macha's failures have been a longtime running joke at Athletics Nation, where seemingly every poll included an option to "Fire Macha Now", as if that rash decision would fix everything. Now that he has been fired, a new era will start for the team, who in large part will come back to 2007 intact. As the cold winter months move on, and Spring Training looms in the horizon, a new man will be running things in Oakland, and you won't have Macha to kick around any more.

Related Links:

The ANtics, Issue 8: Ken Macha - Kung Fu Master!
The ANtics, Episode 2.27: The Mind of Ken Macha
Athletics Nation: The Internal Candidates
Athletics Nation: FIRED MACHA NOW!!!

Listening to ''The Misterons Mix'', by Underworld (Play Count: 5)

One of the most-common themes you will see in the blogging world is the story of the echo chamber, where it's believed a blogger truly has an audience of one: themselves, or that an echo chamber exists - where they continue to post despite a lack of interaction, and even where there are occasional comments, they are from a small group who keeps to themselves. As a result, the blog, like a black hole, collapses onto itself, signifying nothing.

While some would argue a blog's success should not be counted in number of page views, or visitors or comment count, those blogs considered the most successful very often have a vibrant of community of people sharing ideas, and bouncing their commentary off experts. Otherwise, you may as well just be posting your diary online for everybody to read, and quite honestly, very few people really care what you had for breakfast.

Louisgray.com was started as a natural metamorphosis from a static Web site to one updated more frequently, to share experiences, and offer a new take on news, sports and technology. It has no budget, and I have a real full-time job, so it's not as if I expected to retire on Google AdSense revenue any time soon (I haven't even looked into the possibility). But while I've continued to post, with more than 500 entries since the beginning of the year, the lack of comments at time seemed surprising. I felt the topics we were discussing were of interest and timely, and the ANtics never failed to get responses elsewhere. So why the silence here? Was it truly because this blog signifies nothing?

Turns out the answer is likely somewhere between the two. While making a follow-on comment to last night's post on how my iPod was trying to commit suicide, I noted the comment didn't immediately appear on the front page. It turns out, of all things, that every single comment that has been posted to louisgray.com since the end of March has been pending moderation, and I hadn't gone through and approved them. Oops. To make a long story short, I went into Haloscan and approved them all last night, meaning the "Comments RSS" link isn't empty, and if you had anything to share, we're finally listening.

And - one last thing... yes, I hate it when stuff like that happens. Makes me feel like a tech newbie.