I’ve written before that I’m a FaceBook bear; never having bought into the hype that built around the stock. I wrote that I wouldn’t touch it with a 10′ pole.

Since that time, the valuation of the company is starting to come back to levels that are at least in the realm of consideration for investment. I believe a fair price is around $15/share – but irrational exuberance is in play so if it even kissed $20, it could be an attractive investment opportunity – if not for some of the baggage the company is toting around.

Meanwhile, much has been made of Facebook’s “failed IPO.” This is missing the point entirely, the company went public to raise money. The company clearly maximized their opportunity to do so by offering more stock and at the high end of the offering price. So by that measure, it’s hard to call the IPO anything but a win because the maximum funds were realized from the IPO.

The trouble with the NASDAQ on day 1 of trading was certainly unexpected and unforgivable. The fact that FB management selectively notified potential investors before the IPO was probably legal, but definitely was unethical. That gives a clue to investors right there, if you weren’t notified, you’re the sucker at the poker table so to speak. And unfortunately, these are the investors who stand to take a loss, not the company or the investors who offered their shares during the IPO.

Even with the baggage, if you were an investor who liked Facebook at $38/share, you’ve got to love it at $26/share. I remain a FB bear. Where I hold an ownership interest in a company, however small, I expect and demand ethical and transparent behavior from company executives. FB management, in the IPO process, has proven lacking in that area.

Sometimes when things get tough, you need to remind yourself of the joy in what you’re doing. Things aren’t going as smoothly as we’d like at Oddyssea, but it’s going to be OK.

Now, I’ve been accused of being an overgrown kid many times and the great thing is, it’s true. I can still find happiness in very simple things. For example, I invested a little time yesterday between serious jobs (satisfying contracts and doing shop related activities) to build a desktop trebuchet – one of the items we’ll carry at Oddyssea.

If you click the image, you’ll be able to see a video of the test firing of that model. The whole episode made me smile and remember why we’re doing this – to have the freedom to share this sort of experience with others and have them enjoy it, learn from it, and take that spirit back home.

So, if you’re in the market for a trebuchet (or onager, or catapult, or other kinetic model) come visit us when we open our doors later this summer. You’ll have a blast. And we will too!

Well, it’s June. And Oddyssea is not yet open.

The front room of Oddyssea is not close to being completed and we’re now executing plan B. Unfortunately, the team we were working with to help get the right fixtures in place suffered a set back in the form of an injury and we’ll likely only see a fraction of the bits we’d hoped to install in the room.

So, I spent the weekend looking at our alternatives and have settled on doing a couple of projects myself, scavenging for other bits at going out of business sales for other stores, and looking around at commercial alternatives. Things are a bit behind schedule and a bit bumpy.

I’m reminded of the old saw “If it was easy, everyone would do it. It’s supposed to be hard.” That’s where we are right now in the Oddyssea odyssey.