Skiing at Mammoth - Getting There from SD

Horizon Air now has flights from San Diego to Mammoth for the 2008-2009 ski season. The flights connect through Los Angeles beginning with American Airlines from SAN to LAX, and then Horizon from LAX to Mammoth Lakes (MMH).

I checked on a flight for Friday, January 9, returning January 11, 2009 and the flights begin at $99 each way and $226.20 round trip with taxes.

How could it happen that the Careful Movers truck had it rear door damaged, dangerously close to the telephone number. It must have been vandalism, and I caught the truck on its way to the repair shop to fix the door. Taken on Richmond north of University.

Click here to see a few other photos, including the great paint job on the side of the truck.

Urban Trees - North Embarcadero

Urban Trees is a rotating public art display along the North Embarcadero Waterfront. The exhibit is in the pedestrian area west of North Harbor Drive between West Broadway and Grape Street. This is a rotating art exhibit.

Click here for pictures and information on the artists for the 27 of the San Diego Urban Trees.

Amsterdam Brings Fiber to the Boat. SDU5 Has Unused Fiber

Amsterdam is bringing fiber to 450,000 residences, including boats, in the City to bring high speed Internet of speeds in excess of 20 Mbps. The only English language coverage is the BBC. This is a little embarrassing because the City of San Diego put in 17,000 miles of fiber in SDU5, but downtown condo owners cannot get access. In 2007 the VoiceOfSanDiego.com put together a very nice story on San Diego's BandwidthBay.org which covers the history of San Diego's subsidizing the installation of fiber in SDU5.

Who is Steve Francis, and Where Did He Make His Money

Steve Francis is the two-time San Diego Mayoral Candidate (2005 and 2008) who ran through over $5M running to unsuccessfully run for Mayor of San Diego. $5M is a big number to spend to boost your ego. Curious about where Steve got all that money, and how much he has now? Me too. With a little EDGAR we can learn about Steve and his money.

BACKGROUND
"Steven Francis co-founded our predecessor company, AMN Healthcare, Inc., in
1985. He has been an executive officer and director since 1985 and our President and Chief Executive Officer since June 1990. Prior to 1985, Mr. Francis served in several management positions in the hospitality industry. In addition, he served in the Nevada State Assembly from 1983 to 1987 and was elected as the Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987."

When Steve served in Nevada, he was a Republican. Even though the Mayor of San Diego does not declare a party, Steve is considered to be aligned with the democrats because of his support from GLBT and unions. Here is some other local news discussing Steve's Nevada Republican views and his new SD views.

So, where did Steve get so much money, that he could spend $5M to run for office. Steve started AMN Healthcare in 1985 and built up his company from nothing to 629M annual revenue in 2004. During that time, Steve sold part of the company and owned 11% of the stock with over 3.2M shares of AMN.

Revenue in 2002 was $775M, and Steve needed to grow the revenue, so acquisition targets were evaluated, which included the MHA Group. To buy MHA, AMN made a bid of stock and cash.

In the April 14, 2005 SEC filing by AMN Healthcare to sell 9,250,000 share of stock, the stock offering filed with the SEC says "Following this offering, Steven Francis and the Francis Family Trust, a family trust of Steven Francis, will hold, either directly or indirectly, 3,283,271 restricted shares of our common stock or approximately 11.4% of the outstanding shares of our common stock. Subject to volume and manner of sale limitations, these shares can be sold pursuant to Rule 144 under the Securities Act. In addition, we have granted these stockholders registration rights as described in “Principal and Selling Stockholders—Registration Rights.” Sales of a substantial number of these shares of our common stock, or the perception that holders of a large number of shares intend to sell their shares, could depress the market price of our common stock."

On September 28, 2005, the Company granted Steven C. Francis stock options to purchase 100,000 shares at $15.47

AMN Healthcare had a closing price on April 14, 2005 of $15.90, which gave Steve and the Francis Family trusts a stock value of $52,204,008.90. That's a nice number to see on penultimate tax day, especially when you don't have to pay tax on it (for those who didn't take Principals of Accounting, you don't pay tax on gains until recognized).

A few months later in October 2005, AMN Healthcare, agrees to buy its competitor, Merritt, Hawkins and Associates (MHA) in a deal with 75% stock, and 25% cash. Click here to see the acquisition agreement.

On November 2, 2005, AMN Healthcare Services issued 2.3 million shares of its common stock and may issue up to an additional 0.8 million shares for payment to certain shareholders of Merritt, Hawkins and Associates (MHA) in connection with the acquisition. The purchase price is comprised of $160.0 million plus acquisition costs estimated to be $1.5 million, the assumption of $5.5 million of debt and an earn-out payment of up to $51.9 million of additional consideration based on the twelve months ended December 31, 2005 performance of MHA, of which $35 million is guaranteed.

For 2006, Steve was to "receive an annual base salary in 2006 of $350,000." On September 25, 2005, as the new stock was going to be issued, the company issued to Steve a "Stock Option Plan" whereby Steve received options on 100,000 shares of stock at $15.47 to prevent a dilution of his total ownership percentage in AMN.

The combined company would have proforma revenue of $889 million for the year ended June 30, 2005. The closing price on August 26, 2008 was $18.54, giving Steve a net worth of over $60M.

3 Star Priceline "Name Your Own Price Hotels" in SDU5

In my blog on August 6, 2008, I provided a map of 4 star hotels that participate in Downtown San Diego in Priceline's Name Your Own Price. This is a follow-up of the 3 star hotels that are available in Priceline's "Name Your Own Price," along with a map, and a link to their Tripadvisor.com page, and ranking. If you are wondering where I got the information about the hotels that participate, please see my June 23 article on "Priceline's Name Your Own Price; or How to Find a Discounted Hotel on Your Next SD Visit." If you use Priceline's "Name Your Own Price," you will get one of the seven hotels below. You will not get a hotel that is not on the list below.

If you are looking at the 3* hotels for Downtown and Harbor Island, this is a place where you can save yourself over $125 (<$100 per night for a room typically costing >$225) per night by following the prior link and find your hotel by going to the map of 3* hotels. One of the differences in the 3* and 4* hotel maps is that for the 3* hotels, there are two hotels that are on Harbor Island, which would mean you will need a car if you are coming to SDU5.

Overall Map of the 3* Downtown/Harbor Island Priceline "Name Your Own Price hotels

3* Courtyard by Marriott San Diego
530 Broadway San Diego, CA 92101 (619) 446-3000 - Tripadvisor #19 of 242

3* Doubletree Hotel San Diego Downtown
1646 Front Street, San Diego, CA 92101 (619) 239-6800 - Tripadvisor #136 of 242

3* Holiday Inn San Diego - On the Bay

1355 North Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101 (619) 232-3861 - Tripadvisor #116 of 242

3* Sheraton Suites San Diego at Symphony Hall
701 A. Street, San Diego, CA 92101 (619) 696-9800 - Tripadvisor #60 of 242

3* Westin Emerald Plaza

400 West Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101 (619) 239-4500 - Tripadvisor #111 of 242

3* Hilton San Diego Airport Harbor Island (Harbor Island)

1960 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego, CA 92101 (619) 291-6700 - Tripadvisor #149 of 242

3* Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina (Harbor Island)

1380 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego, CA 92101 (866) 716-8130 - Tripadvisor #100 of 242

Free Quick Downtown Museums to See - Former SD Trust and Savings Bank

Recently I went to a meeting at the The Courtyard by Marriott at 530 Broadway (Broadway at 6th Street). The Courtyard by Marriott is the site of the former San Diego Trust & Savings Bank. In the basement you will find a small museum, with a vault, historic pictures of the bank, and a meeting table set up within the vault.

Alternatively, if you need to have a meeting, there are several nice meeting rooms with several historic pictures of San Diego as well as bank memorabilia.

If you are going to Horton Plaza or the Gaslamp, and have 15 minutes, it is worth the trip. The Courtyard is across Broadway from the Sam Goody in Horton Plaza.

For a map to the museum, please click here