Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The President's Speech

Yesterday, the president came out strongly for natural gas to reduce carbon emissions. That was contrary to what I hear around the Peace and Justice Center where I work.
I'm the only one, seemingly in this town, who favors the development of natural gas drilling and frack sand mining. Now the president has come out on my side. Good for him. He may not be a total lost cause after all.
I bought a 1/10 ounce gold coin a couple of days ago. Now gold is going down in value. That happens every time I buy something. I think the bottom is close. Gold is selling for $1239/ounce and it costs around $1100 to mine it. It could go below the cost of production but it probably won't do that for long.
I was talking with Holly at the Waterloo branch of the VA hospital. She said that she was glad that I seemed to be focused on something rather than money in my long-term goals. The thing I forgot to mention is that a few months ago I was focused on money because I didn't have any. It's related to Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. Since my debt was overwhelming, all I could focus on was money. Now some of the pressure is off. I still think I'll do the gold panning thing and live in my car, but we'll see.
I'm reading a book by Robert Kiyosaki named "Why "A" Students work for "C" Students", It lays out what Kiyosaki sees as wrong with our financial education system and how to correct it. I'm going to loan it to Jim. Maybe it will help him see what he has been doing wrong with his investments and how to correct it.
I've also been reading Robert Collier's "Riches Within Your Reach". I think this is the third time that I've read it. I'm hoping that something soaks in that will help me break the grip of poverty. Unfortunately, I will probably have to actually do something. I mentioned that in a recent blog.
Well that's all for now.
Later 

Friday, June 21, 2013

Two Topics Today

I've got two topics I want to talk about today. The first is the stock market. And the second is goal setting.
The market seemed to be coming back after two terrible days in a row. It looks to me like the book "Aftershock" is accurate. The authors were predicting a stock market crash after interest rates go up. Well, the interest rates are going up, no matter what the Fed does. That seems to be crashing the stock market.
After a 350 point or so move down, yesterday, the market is up about 60 points. To me, it looks like a dead horse bounce. I expect the market to go down again, later today, but certainly on Monday. If I had any stock I would be selling it now. If "Aftershock" is accurate, the housing market will go down to 30% of its present value. Gold is the only thing that might keep it's value. Platinum might be a better buy since it's used in cars.
I haven't been able to move any money into my E-trade account. I think the VA might have sabotaged my moving money from my credit union to E-trade. They seem quite determined to prevent me from trading. They had me put my money into a Payee account and give me an allowance. I really chafe at this treatment, especially when I think I know where the market is moving. Oh well, I guess I'll just buy gold or platinum from a coin shop.
My other topic for today is goal setting.
Robert Collier in his book "Riches Within Your Reach" tells the story of a Buddhist master who takes his student out on a lake in a boat. He throws the student overboard and holds his head beneath the water. Eventually the student is brought back to the boat and revived. The master then asked to student what he thought about while underwater. The student said that he could only think about getting a breath of air. The master said that he should use that kind of focus to achieve his goals.
The book "Antidote" is the opposite of this kind of attitude. The author of that book disdains the idea of an overwhelming focus on a goal. In fact he feels that a too great of a focus is harmful. So now I have two opposing views.
I'm leaning towards Collier's viewpoint. I just have to find something that will be worth that kind of focus.
I'm torn between 3 different goals:
  1. Becoming an IT tech with Experience Works
  2. Getting my Social Worker degree or working in that field.
  3. Metal detecting for rings at the Pacific Ocean. 
I probably will go for the IT tech job since it pays and I'm doing it now. I do intend to take some Spanish classes at a junior college, not far from here. I would need them for a Social Work degree. Of course, Spanish would be good to know whatever I do.
Well the market is heading down and I think I'll sign off for now.
Later 

Sunday, June 16, 2013

You gotta actually do something.

I think I may have bumped into why I'm such a failure. It turns out that you actually have to do something in order to succeed at something.
I bumped into that idea on the Internet, somewhere. The idea is that after reading all the inspirational books, visualizing, and getting all hyped up, at the end of the day, what really matters is what gets done.
I think Collier's book "Riches Within Your Reach", mentioned this as does Eker's book.
I've been doing a lot of reading and no actual doing anything. 
That's why nothing is going my way. It hasn't all been bad. After all I sold an etching, yesterday. But basically, not much is happening.
I contacted Jason about doing the two websites I thought up a couple of weeks ago, but he has been putting me off. I tried to make a website for the Peace and Justice Center and it turned out to be very difficult. I couldn't make it work.
My efforts to contact Wilmington Trust about the Delphi bonds have been ignored. I know the treatment. When I was on the verge of bankruptcy I would avoid creditor's calls and my lawyer would hang up on them. I'm on the other end of that treatment, now.
I haven't been metal detecting, yet. I don't have any excuse. Today was a beautiful day and I spent it in coffee shops, surfing the net. I should have gone metal detecting.
I was telling Nick (a good friend) about something I saw on YOU-Tube about metal detecting at old river fords. Someone on the East Coast was searching for old coins at old river fords. And he found them, in abundance. It got me to thinking about taking a kayak down the Upper Iowa to the Mississippi. I would use my dowsing rods more than the metal dectector, but the idea is the same. Nick said that he heard  of an old French fort near the where the Upper Iowa enters the Mississippi. That would be worth finding. 
He also said that I could buy a kayak for a couple of hundred dollars, at Wal-Mart. I'll have to get off my rear end and do that. I'll get back to you after I get that done.
Later

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

The Antidote

Just as I felt that I had my personal philosophy nailed down pretty well, I read another book that shakes everything up.
The book is "The Antidote", by Oliver Burkeman. It's basically an attack on our trying too hard to be happy. It simply says that it's alright to fail. Trying to achieve goals too passionately may be, in itself, the cause of our unhappiness.
He starts out by going to a seminar held at the "Glass Cathedral". Thousands of people are getting hyped up and enthused, but do their lives really change or is it just a temporary "fix"?
From my experience, I have to say that setting high goals and positive affirmations and goal collages haven't really done much to improve my life. In fact, when it comes to finances, it may have done me a lot of harm. I always start off with the goal of becoming a millionaire and then I lose everything I have and more in the effort. If I set the goal of moving to Mexico and living on the beach I may have achieved it years ago.
In this book the author talks about how being too focused on a goal can be disastrous. He used as an example the 1996 expeditions to Mount Everest. That was a terrible year because three teams decided to summit on the same day. There was a traffic jam at the "Hilary Step' a bottleneck near the summit. Had they turned back at the time they should have there would have been no causalities. But each team was too focused on reaching the summit, that day. Well, it turned dark and it started to blizzard. It was a disaster, much like my stock, option, and commodity trading. Only I have yet to die because of it. Although there have been many times that I've been suicidal.
The book goes on to say that it's alright to fail. In fact failure is a normal part of life. Basically he explores the acceptance of our lives and being happy with it. It reminds me of an old song "You Can't Roller skate in a Buffalo Herd, but You can be Happy if You've a Mind Too". If I remember right, Roger Williams sang that. It summarizes much of the rest of the book.
Well, I've got a lot to think about. I think I'll go back to my visualizations, and goal setting, but I won't worry about it so much. In fact, it may be that I have to find out what God has planned for me since my plans rarely work out, anyway.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Book Recommendations

This is just a blog on books that I recommend. I'm into metaphysics, investing, working the welfare system, and researching living abroad.
Starting with metaphysics since how you view reality has a major effect on how everything looks:
  • "Illusions" by Richard Bach, This book has had a major effect on my life. It deals with the fact that matter is an illusion. This may be hard for someone who hasn't been exposed to that paradigm but from what I've seen I have to say that it's true. Don't be surprised if you find yourself outside, dissolving clouds, shortly after reading it. That is a normal side effect of reading this book. Some of his other books are well worth reading as well.
  • "Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddie. This is the book that started the religion of Christian Science. It is the source book for a lot of Metaphysical writings. 
  • "Riches within Your Reach" by Robert Collier, Collier was influence by Eddie's writings but in my opinion, his writings were clearer than Eddie's and I find him to be very inspiring. 
  • I also recommend books by Wayne Dyer, Depok Chopra, and Eckhart Tolle.
Collier's books tend to get into wealth building and investments but some of the writers that influence my thinking on investments are:
  • "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" By T. Harv Eker, This is a good starting point to change yourself so that you can accept more money into your life.
  • "Getting Back to Even" By Jim Cramer, I recommend all of Jim's books although I haven't read his first one yet. It will help you become a better investor. Also if you are serious about investing you would do well to watch his show "Mad Money" on CNBC at night.
  • "Aftershock" By Wiedemer, Wiedemer and Spitzer. I have the feeling that they are doing a good job of predicting the coming collapse of the economy. I almost hope I'm wrong but it should help a person prepare for the future.
  • "One up on Wall Street" By Peter Lynch. This is a classic on how the common person can beat the Wall Street experts. Lynch was one of the most successful mutual fund managers of all time. 
That's all of my recommendations for now. I'll probably add some later concerning the "Law of Attraction" which for me seems very real.
Later

Thursday, May 30, 2013

A Long Week is Almost Over

It's been a long week. Last Saturday, I told Jim that he should sell half of his Fannie Mae stock. It had already gone up by 980% and I told him he should take half of it off the table. Monday was a holiday so I went to LaCrosse. It went up another 35% on Tuesday. Wednesday it started out by going up then it cratered. By the end of the day it was down to where it was on Monday. Today it went down again. By the time I saw Jim it was below where it was Saturday.
I expressed the importance of being on top of one's investments. He said that Sherry (his wife) was managing it but she was too busy to track things on a regular basis. I encouraged him to get more involved. I don't know what he invested in the first place so I don't know how much he lost, yesterday and today. I do know that he can't afford to make the same mistakes over again. I only wish I knew how he came to invest in Fannie Mae in the first place. It was a great trade, only messed up by not tracking his investment. He did a similar thing with oil in 2008. Maybe he'll learn from his mistakes.
I sent off an e-mail to Wilmington Trust, yesterday. I hope to get some good news from them. At least, they answer their e-mails. It's really important to me. So important that I called a Christian Science practitioner and asked her to pray for me.
I've been struggling with Google Voice at work. We might be able to replace the phone with that. It's a free phone service from Google. I've also been working on Google Sites.  We want to replace our webpage with Google's. I haven't been able to get anything to work. I did get Skype to work with my account. The trouble with that is that I had to pay them $10 to  get my account working. I might have to do that as well for the Peace and Justice Center.
That's all for now. I think I'll get back to posting more pictures on my blog. I could load pictures of the etchings I'm trying to sell.
Later

Friday, May 24, 2013

See-saw day

I've been going through emotional ups and downs all day. I woke up at 3:30 or 4:00 and couldn't get back to sleep. I was excited because I found a phone number of somebody to call who might know what is happening to my Delphi bonds. Delphi is an auto parts company which was spun off of GM in the 1990's. They went into bankruptcy and I bought a bunch of their bonds when they were really cheap.
Now I'm hoping that I'll get something for them.
I sent off an e-mail to a company named Wilmington Trust. They are something called an Indentured Trustee for Delphi. Someone there seemed to know something about the bonds is question. At least I got through to them but it seemed that the news was that the bonds are worthless.
Later in the day I was reading some legalistic gobbledygook that makes me think that my bonds should have been traded for some, more recent, good bonds. I'll have to call again, next week, and see if I can make some sense out of all this.
I'm going to call my Christian Science practitioner and have her pray about this. I've been doing a lot of studying and praying and reading about the "Law of Attraction", lately. I feel that I'm due for a breakthrough. I have to let something good happen.
I spent most of the week at classes with the workforce people. It was good to get away for a while. I've had similar classes in California, years ago. At least I got paid for it this time. I replace the negative battery cable on my van, today. Something was wrong with it and I now feel more certain about my van's reliability. Dan of Dan's Standard did the actual work. I now have no reason to not go prospecting for gold in Eldorado, Iowa. Tomorrow I'm meeting Jim at Java John's. Sunday, Jim and I are going to church in Onalaska, WI. That leaves Monday, which is a holiday (Memorial Day). I'll go then. Maybe I can take Jim with me.
Not much is happening tonight. I'm just hanging out at Culver's and drinking coffee. I'm tired from lack of sleep so I think I'll go home and go to bed early.
Later
Craig