New Age Rugby Protection

I thought I had seen it all. Rugby players wearing shoulder protection? No way! Yes way! Rugby is synonymous for "elegant violence". Parents do not want their kids to get hurt. More and more we hear a parent call out "Johnny come try on these shoulder pads." Is it football season? No no no, it is rugby season. Time to get the newest and best gear. Where do we find the best gear? The best selection on the internet has to be at this rugby store in California. So, you ask, what is the best gear and who makes it? My personal preference is to go with either Gilbert Rugby or Canterbury of New Zealand Rugby. These companies specialize in everything rugby and they carry the best overall selection of products to help with your decision making process. At Rugby916.com, they carry both companies to help with your selection and allow you to make a decision without searching multiple sites. So, rugby protection is something you need right? What kind do I get?

If you seem to get injured every game, like I used to do, go with something that has padding all around. For this I would suggest the Gilbert Synergie 12. This piece of equipment is a little more spendy, but it comes with the most overall protection. It comes with 12 ergonomically designed pads to give you the best protection. The areas of protection emphasized with this gear are the ribs, kidneys, biceps, back, and sternum. This gear runs around the $100 mark.

For mainly shoulder protection for increased hit power and less bulkiness, I would prefer to try something such as the Gilbert Quest XP or the Canterbury of NZ Club Vest. These mainly shoulder protectors will run you about $45-60.

All of this gear is IRB approved and ready to wear on the playing field. All you have to do is make a decision on what type of gear you wish to wear.

In between these different pads, there are many more choices. I have just given insight on a couple differences between the types of padding. Both work well and have the same purpose. So, when looking at choosing shoulder gear, remember the old boys who refuse to wear this stuff and ruin their shoulders. One coach used to constantly tell us to play smarter than the other team. Now I understand he meant to get equiped with the best gear possible!

Today's Actions

Today I watched TMA trade mostly evenly across the board. The early morning it fell, but stabilized around $1.52 throughout the day. Is anyone else waiting for this sucker to go bankrupt or at least trade a lot lower? If you do not know, TMA is looking for financing because they are broke. They need roughly a billion dollars to pay the banks so they do not cash in their collateral. I believe their deadline is tomorrow to finalize this financing. Either way, the current shareholders are screwed. The deal is only lucrative to the new finance companies. This deal will dilute the current shareholders by 40%.

In other news, I have been reading 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris.
This book is awesome and offers a new way to look at life. It has inspired me to look outside the box and rely on my ideas and strengths rather than the voices of others. Time will only tell if he was right, but I can already tell that my new motivation has allowed me to get more done in current life and for the future.

Rugby916.com Success

Well, today I shipped a ball. All week it seems, I have been shipping items. Two weeks ago, I got my first sale. Not from our marketing trip to San Diego, not from Sacramento, not even from California. Can you say New York? The online e-commerce solution can be seen by looking at this example. Had I not advertised in Google, I would have never had this customer. The success of the company right now relies on money management and clever advertising. Last night I did some guerilla marketing by passing out business cards at our rugby pitch. We had a professional kicker from New Zealand come show us how to kick. Well, high school ruggers from all over cam out to see just what they needed to do to become a great kicker. Taking advantage of an audience that basically came to me would have been suicidal to pass up. Till next time,

Cheers and have a good weekend

Eric Arrieta
President
www.Rugby916.com

Not Too Much Lower Please?

Friday March 7 2008 928AM
Below 12,000?
The market has some thinking a bottom has been placed, but not yet. Today, we are below 12,000 and virtually everything is trading lower. The short sell of SHLD has held up, and we are holding this position below 97. Many companies are now trading below book value. They are not trading off of fundamentals, but trading by market reaction. Bear Stearns (BSC) is one example of being hurt by being a financial stock. Two companies I have taken a holding in are (PALM) and (AKAM). Palm makes cell phones and I believe their marketing strategy of offering their new gadget, The Centro, at a cheaper price will pay dividends. Akamai Technologies seems to be trading up after earlier in the week winning its patent suit over Limelight. Going into the weekend I am taking some profits off of the table and letting my new holdings ride.
One more idea to think about is shorting (ABK) Ambac Financial Group. They just had another money raising offering at 6.75. Today it is down 5% from its Thursday pricing, but still not below its offering price. For a company that just over-diluted its shares, taking the short position seemed obvious. I am short around $7.04.

BUYS
AKAM, PALM

SELLS
SHLD, ABK