The San Diego Film Commission publishes an annual guide called the San Diego Film & Video Resource Guide.

This past year I logged a half-dozen international trips, mostly to Asia, and dozens of domestic trips, cross-country and up and down the West Coast. I'm always trying new gadgets and software applications that are designed to make my trips more productive.

Here it is, Christmas time. The holiday season if you prefer. This time of year citizens feel charitable. Perhaps more so this year with a renewed hope for change by President-elect Obama. What better time to consider our national financial plight?

Pending home sales in the West were down 2.4 percent in November but remain 19.3 percent higher than they were in the same month a year ago. The National Association of Realtors says that nationwide pending sales -- homes that are in the escrow process but have yet to close -- were down 4 percent in the month and 5.3 percent compared to November 2007. "It's crucial for Congress and the new administration to move quickly to remove impediments and offer homebuyers the incentives they need to tap into today's historic low mortgage rates," said NAR president Charles McMillan.

Bernard Madoff was once simultaneously the darling and enemy of Wall Street, made so by creating the NASDAQ and ushering in automated trading of stocks and other financial instruments, thereby vastly reducing the commissions paid to brokers. Now he is the poster child of a failed Wall Street, apparently a victim of his own inscrutable automated gremlin.

"Trust" -- a word that connotes reliance, belief, hope, faith, responsibility and care. It is a word that means to be counted on, and speaks to the integrity, ability or character of a person. A trustworthy person is one whom we can believe and on whom we can rely.

There is indeed a little innovation in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's new state budget plan, revealed by his top aides during the quiet week between Christmas and New Year's Day. But the plan completely ignores the single largest potential for raising revenues without imposing new taxes.

Conflict of interest is front-page news. Are you comfortable with how you are managing this potential problem at your workplace?

[I]Editor's note: To get any sense of the spending spree that the lame-duck government is committing to taxpayers, programs for bailouts have been reviewed in this column over the past week.[/I]

A sales principle that leads to wealth: It's all about them.

The U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") has published new regulations interpreting the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"). Although the regulations have been years in the making and will require significant changes to policies and supervisor training, the DOL has given employers only 60 days (until Jan. 16) to implement and comply with the new rules. Employers need to update their policies and procedures to reflect new or changed requirements, obligations and options under the new regulations.

Short of which contestants are being voted off "American Idol" each week, the most pressing domestic issue in the news these days is the distressed condition of the real estate and mortgage markets.

Relax, you're not crazy -- people are becoming more disingenuous and disrespectful. Rage is no longer limited to the road-agitated and angry people are showing up at work, too. Common courtesy and civil behavior are being replaced by an in-your-face attitude that not only breeds contempt among peers, but also dampens their collaborative spirit.

In these trying times, with recession looming, Californians are being called upon to look to their future with bold, far-reaching initiatives to implement the state's Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. These initiatives amount to a "green" economic development program for California which promises to slash our greenhouse gas emissions, grow our economy through cleaner and more energy-efficient technologies and create jobs. San Diegans can do their part, and share in the benefits.

I'm attending a reunion today. There won't be any of the pomp that often goes with reunions. It will be a quiet affair attended by 10 or so men. We'll meet at a local restaurant hardly noticed by the other patrons. There'll be the usual embraces and smiles that come with seeing friends. Talk will start with updates on careers and personal lives. Someone will brag that at 60-plus years he can still run a marathon. Another will point out that he's now as fit as he was when he was 25. Side conversations will abound and at times we'll crane to hear what someone is saying at the other end of the table.

We are at a crossroads, and depending on your perspective, it could either look like we are on the precipice of a new era or that we have gone over the cliff. The incredible run of all aspects of real estate sure felt good while it lasted.

The Wal-Mart stampede in Long Island, N.Y., last month exposed the ugliest side of the Christmas season. But not all Americans live by "The Blitz Line Starts Here" credo. Not all of us rush to store shelves in search of the greatest gifts. Sometimes, they can be discovered in the hearts and souls of total strangers. If only you look.

Caroline Kennedy has expressed an interest in being appointed to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Hillary Clinton’s designation as secretary of state by President-elect Obama.

This week the corridors of academic centers around the country emptied out as the American Geophysical Union put on its annual fall meeting in San Francisco. The event, in which scientists present their latest research to each other, usually draws tens of thousands of academics as well as science journalists.

While the videogame industry as a whole has shown itself to be quite resilient in the face of the current recession, a string of bad news indicates that it is not entirely immune to the economic slowdown.

Many lawyers pick juries the same way case after case. They use seating charts and little yellow Post-it notes, and as the potential jurors go down the list of routine questions and provide information, they furiously cram as much handwriting as they can fit on the note in order to remember what they said.

We are at a crossroads, and depending on your perspective, it could either look like we are on the precipice of a new era or that we have gone over the cliff. The incredible run of all aspects of real estate sure felt good while it lasted.

This is to follow up on last week's story about Jerry and his great accomplishments in getting his college degree while working full time and helping his wife raise a family.

The federal government has recently implemented new rules that are directed at preventing identity theft and these regulations may affect your business if you issue credit to consumers.

"Dear Stan,

I thank George Bush for his service to our nation.

I was reading that famed investor Bill Miller could be washed up. His fund has fallen from a peak of $20.8 billion to $4.3 billion as investors redeem and head for the exit. From 1991 to 2005 his value trust outperformed the broad market every single year -- no other fund manager has come close to such a record. But like all good things, his performance has come to a halt with a one-year performance loss of 58 percent.