I'm back

I haven't been posting anything for several months. I don't know what got me started again, but I'm back.
This has been more of a journal than anything else and I think I'll keep it that way.
I moved from Calmar and I now live in Decorah. It's a lot larger than Calmar and it has coffee shops and grocery stores that I like to hang out at. I was spending over $300/month just driving back and forth between Calmar and Decorah.
I lost most of my money, trading stock options. The market has been terrible for investing. The last posting I was starting to invest in options. They are a lot more risky than stocks but when you are right you can make a lot more money with them. I had a month or so when I was seeing my options go through the roof and my stocks poke along. I switched to trading just options. I had a couple of weeks that I made over 50% a week in the options. Then it turned sour. I didn't have enough sense to bail out as I felt that it would turn around. Of course, my car had troubles at that time and I had to spend money to get it repaired. I should have just bailed out and forgotten about trading. The trading saying "Sell in May, and go away" worked, this year. I wish that I had done that.
I'll be back tomorrow.
Later

The camera works

It turned out that I was operating the camera wrong. I was snapping pictures before the lens had extended. It just wasn't ready to take pictures before I started taking them. I've got to be patient.
 This is a picture of my van. It's a 1990 Plymouth Voyager. It has the grill off of a Dodge so I suppose it's bi-racial.
I'll post the  eagles' nest link   . That should do it. I've got it on a couple of earlier blogs. Just click on the blue letters.
Well, I've been making money on gold, lately. It's been going up since the Egyptian crisis started. I missed out on the first big move, but it's been moving up steadily since then. So far I've got about an eighty percent gain on my GLD options. I'm thinking about selling my commodity ETF and buying options on Gold Corp, tomorrow. I would like to buy a dip but I don't think there will be one. Now is the time to buy.
I've been struggling with my new desktop computer. It's not really new since I bought it, used, from  Luther College. But it's new to me.
I bought some memory DIMMs from E-bay, last week and they didn't work. After taking them to Luther and NICC it turns out that cheap DIMMs may or may not work with different computers. I gave them to NICC. I'll see about getting new ones from Wal-Mart. Nate can help me.
I've been reading a lot about the Law of Attraction, lately. Basically it means that I can visualize money coming to me. So far it seems to be working. When I had to come up with money for the taxes a lady from the credit organization that handles my monthly bills called me. She said that quite a bit of money had stacked up for me, there. I'm using that for the  taxes. I'll also see about tithing with the monthly surplus. Another book raved about the way that tithing magnetizes money to you. I'll give it a shot for 6 months. If it works, I'll make it a long term thing.
Later

One Picture Worked

I took several pictures today with my new camera and only one worked. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Maybe the batteries are low. I know that if you leave batteries in some cameras, that the camera will drain them even though its not on. Well this is a picture of the Dug Road trail in the wintertime. If you go back on some of my old blogs you can find it in the summertime.
I took the tax stuff to H&R Block yesterday. I had some good news and some bad. First, I made a lot of money with my stock investments, last year. The bad news is that I owe a lot of taxes. That's just the price of success. As much as it pains me, I'll just transfer some money from E-Trade and pay them. My gold options are doing too well to touch, so I'll use money from the commodities ETF.
I've been reading books on the Law of Attraction, lately. I found that in one I set a goal of making $1000/month beyond what I make on Social Security. That was achieved. This year I want to make $200,000 for financial security. If my bonds become worth something, that will be doable. I don't want to limit how I will do it, but I would feel a lot better if I had that amount of money in my portfolio. Maybe I'll win the lottery.
That reminds me. Monday I'm calling the guy with the storage locker for auction. He was going to let the previous owner try to make payment, yesterday. If it's still being auctioned I think I'll bid $500. He said that it had a washer and dryer, a stove, a microwave, and a rolling toolbox. I don't really need any of those things but  if I can sell them I would have an new revenue stream. It's worth looking into.
Later

New computer

Last Thursday I picked up a desktop computer from Luther's auction. They get rid of their old computers by auctioning them off online. It cost me $70, but it had a bad CD player. I took it back yesterday and they put in a good player. I've got 2 forms of Linux on it. They are Ubuntu and Mint. I couldn't get Mint to work with my WiFi module so I loaded Ubuntu. It also has Windows Professional from Luther.
I can now watch CNBC without having it pause. I'm still pirating the WiFi from my neighbors.
I made $425 on my options, today. I'm ahead by about $1000. Of course I didn't mention how I lost over $200 yesterday and another $175 Friday. It fluctuates wildly. I think I'll stick with the gold options as long as I'm ahead.
I haven't heard anything from either Sophie or Clara. Even though they both friended me on Facebook, neither has replied to my message about the Eagles' nest. I think that is the trouble with being a dirty, old man. Nobody pays you any attention. I think I'll post the link to the Eagle cam again. Just in case someone actually sees this blog and wants to go to it.http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/  That was easy. Now I have to get my camera out and get some pictures. The sun came out for a while and the snow was melting. It was pretty. It's too late tonight to take any pictures but maybe the sun will come out tomorrow. 
Later

Storage Wars

I've been watching a lot of television shows about auctioning off the contents of storage lockers. Now one has come up for auction at a town near me. The trouble is that they are doing a phone auction and I haven't been able to see the contents of the unit yet. They are starting the bidding at $300, so I want to see it before I bid on it. I called the owner of the storage units, yesterday. The guy wasn't there and he hasn't returned my call. I'm afraid that I'm just gambling. I would love to get a bunch of silver coins and collectible stamps.
The eagles are working on their nest at the fish hatchery so I'll make a link to it http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/   It's fun to see both of the eagles working on their nest. I'm showing this feed to a bunch of people at Java John's
I've been talking with Gary T. He's going to Vail soon. He skis a lot. I asked him about starting an investment club, but he wasn't interested.
I think I'll need about $20,000 to invest enough to really be diversified. Maybe a club with 4 or 5 members who really have some money to invest is the answer.
I've got 7 options on the gold ETF GLD. I was hoping that the Egypt thing would drive gold through the roof. Apparently, that won't happen. I still think gold will do well before April. The Chinese are supposedly buying a lot of gold for their central bank.
I canceled my cable television, last week. My bill went from $43/month to $180/month. I was on a year long special deal. I'm now getting my internet from my neighbors. I pirate it with a USB wifi connector on my computer. I'm able to watch CNBC and listen to music all day. I just have to get used to not having the normal TV shows.
Later

Selling laptops

I haven't posted anything for quite some time.
I'm doing well with my stocks. I've been buying Jim Cramer's recommendations. They are doing better than the market. I think I found a way to make some Mad Money. I'm up about $2000 not counting the money I spent on my car and paying a creditor. Even today, with the market heading down, I'm making money.
The car has been a problem. I had to spend over $200 last week on a fuel pump. This week the headlights are going out so I can't drive it at night. Thursday I'm having the headlight switch replaced.
While I was having it troubleshot I looked at another car for sale. It's a 1995 Chevy. I might buy it. My van is getting too old and tired.
I'm taking my laptops to the E-Bay store in Decorah to have them sold. I have 8 of them. I hope to get $150 a piece for them. That would pay for the car and any more repairs on the van. I think I'll keep the van for the move to Decorah.
I may not have mentioned that I'm going to move back to town. Calmar is just too boring. There is no coffee shop with Internet access. Until there is a Student Union building at the community college there is no place to hang out. I end up spending $75/week going to and from Decorah. I can't afford it. I'll find a place that includes the heat in the rent and it'll be as cheap as living in Calmar. Where I'll save money is in the traveling. In fact I might just get by with a bicycle.
I was thinking about discussing Jim Cramer's recommendations on my blog, but I think you should watch his show on CNBC and make up your own mind on what to invest in.
Later,
Craig

Trouble with E-Trade

I had a problem with E-Trade today. It was charging me for trades that I didn't make. For a while it looked like I owed them $319 for bonds that haven't had any value for the last year or two. I called them and they said that they would have it straightened out at the start of trading, tomorrow.
It's been an interesting day of trading. I was up by $150 at the start of trading. Then it went down to where I was down by over $200. Its been coming back so I think I'll be alright at the end of the day. I saw what looks like an inverted head and shoulders pattern on several charts. That should foretell a big upside potential for the rest of the day or maybe tomorrow.
The beginning of the day was driven by good jobs figures. At least, it wasn't as bad as it has been. I don't know why it went down during the middle of the day.
I now hold Caterpiller, Cognex, Ford, Freeport Mcmoran, Lazzard, Microchip, 3M, Nvidia, and Red Hat.
I recently sold A T&T because of something I heard on CNBC about Verizon getting Apple phones and that A T&T customers being ready to switch when Verizon got the Apple phones. I also bought some silver options.
Well the markets are about to close and I have to go to a WRAP meeting soon. That stands for Wellness and Recovery Action Plan. It's a support group that I go to every Thursday.
I checked my account balance and it shows me as being up by about $500, today. That's a mistake but I can hope that they start valuing my bonds instead of showing them as worthless.
Later,
Craig