Lazy Day at Java John's

I've slacked off on posting lately. It turned out that when I went to Google Analytics, that I actually have a few viewers of my site. It looked like 5 people went to my site last month. I'll have to get fired up and start posting more often. Site Monitor didn't show anyone as going to my blog so I got discouraged. I think the lesson is to use Google.
My investing didn't go to well, so far. I transferred some money into my E-trade account but then I waited for it to clear before investing. Had I invested right away I might have made $2,000 for an investment of $300. Netflix had a great earnings report and it moved up about $15 a share. I bought the option too late to take advantage of that. I shouldn't have bought it at all. You snooze, you lose.  I now have options in John Deere and Case. They are both machinery makers. Tomorrow I'll be buying Morgan Stanley and maybe, Boeing.
As always, my car started costing me a bunch of money just as I starting investing. I've been running up credit card debt on the presumption that most of my expenses are one-time costs and will be easily taken care of. The trouble is that I have to make money on the options to justify that sort of thinking. If the market tanks due to something going on in Europe, I might have to get a job.
I might have to get a job anyway. I'm tired of being broke most of the time and I need a little more structure to my life. I just don't want to work more than about 20 Hr./wk. I'm happy with having most of my time to myself.
Even the big blizzard that hit Southern and Western Iowa missed us. We got no snow when it snowed 11 inches in Omaha. I'm just not making any money. When it does snow I have a hard time keeping up with the work.
I might have to go to California and help out my sister. I could get free rent by shoveling manure for her horses. I know that she would keep me busy with maintaining her house and horses. I also know that I would be making the least possible working for her. I like having my own apartment anyway. The gold prospecting seems the best bet. I just need to get my car running a bit better before I take that on. I should replace the engine, at least. I'll have to save up for that somehow.
I've been reading a lot about the Law of Attraction, lately. I'm hoping that  it helps me with my investments. The book I'm working on now is "The Intention Experiment" by Lynne McTaggart. It has to do with experiments pertaining to the mind influencing external things. It's too complex to give a simple explanation of it.
That's all that I have for today. I'll be posting some more with pictures in the future.
Thanks
Craig

Sixteen dogs

This is something that my sister told me about. It's kinda fun:  sixteen dogs

Snow day at Decorah

A lot has been happening lately. I signed up for an app named Mint. It's a budgeting thing. While I signed up for it, it offered to check my credit for free. It turns out that I have good credit. So I applied for a credit card at my credit union. If I get one, I'll interpret that as meaning God wants me to trade stock options. As soon as I can move some money, I think I'll invest in Boeing options.

Today I also made a lot of money, for me, shoveling snow. I got up at 5:30, made breakfast and started shoveling at Java John's. Mary pays me by running a tab for my coffee and food, there. Here are a couple of picture of the snow.
I don't know how the second picture got so large. I must have pressed a wrong button. Now I have to wonder how I can make them all larger. Anyway that is Java John's.
I just finished a book by Dr. Wayne Dyer, named "Inspiration Your Ultimate Calling". I recommend it. It discussed living more in tune with the purpose that God and you were intended for. I feel that it has inspired me.
My car still has a problem with the radiator. I put in some leak sealant and I've been trying to get a radiator from Ebay. The first one they sent me wouldn't fit. The bottom hose connected on the wrong side. I contacted the seller and he'll be sending me another that will work. I had to send back the other one and it'll cost me another $25. I'll still be ahead for the cost since a new radiator from the parts place would have cost $50 more than I'm paying. The only thing I'm out is the time that I could have been driving it.

The Eagles are Back

The live feed of the Decorah eagles is back up and the mommy eagle is fixing up the nest. Here is a link to that site. Decorah Eagles . That ought to work. Just click on the blue words. It's fun. Don't be surprised that the eagle isn't there a lot of the time. She's out scavenging for materials for the nest. You can see the new stuff on the nest now. She also may be having troubles with the high winds, today.

I haven't posted any pictures lately. I think I'll post a picture of the outside of Java John's. It's my favorite coffee shop and I scoop snow there for a little extra income. This is the side of the building that I spend the most time scooping. You might notice that it's rather steep. The sidewalk is wide and slippery on this side of the building. Thus far, this year I haven't made much money at shoveling snow since the weather has been unseasonably warm. But the money that I have made is much appreciated.
It's the day after New Years and not much is happening here. I spent a lot of time at Java John's this morning. I was hoping that the snow flurries would amount to something, but they didn't.
My car is giving me more trouble. Now it's the radiator. I sent off to E-bay for a new one. It should be here tomorrow. I think I'll have Dan at Dan's Standard install it. I might get my tenant, Nick, to help me with it. He is mechanically inclined. It'll have to wait until I actually get the radiator.
I haven't invested in anything lately, since I'm broke. I'll have $100 from Nick any day now. That will probably go towards installing the radiator. I'm hoping to go to church in LaCrosse on Wednesday. I'm a Christian Scientist and that is where the closest church is. They have testimonial meetings on the first Wednesday of the month. I'm trying to get Alice to go with me since her car gets better mileage and is more reliable than mine. If she can't go, I'll just go myself. Maybe I could take Jim with me.
I haven't made any progress on buying things at auctions since all of the auctions took time off for the holidays.
Later

touched by a gorilla

I just felt like posting this video to my blog.touched by a Gorilla

Ubuntu 11.10

I just wanted to tell the world how disgusted I am about the latest version of Ubuntu. They got away from the Gnome user interface and they have something, I think is named Unity. I find it to be harder to use than Gnome. Instead of having, easy to use, menus, I have to think of what I'm looking for and type it in. It's kind of like going back to DOS. I think they tried to mess with Mint Linux which copies Ubuntu every revision and improves on it. This time Ubuntu deliberately messed up their operating system to mess with Mint. That's my opinion.

I added a picture of Dug Road that I took last Sunday. I've had a lot of pictures of Dug Road in my blogs. It's rather scenic. During the first part of the Twentieth Century it was, in fact, a road. It was repeatedly flooded so they quit driving on it. At some point it was converted into a bike path and walking trail. However, it still retains the name of Dug Road. Later this winter, I may get some cross-country skies and ski here. They don't clear it for all the skiers.
The stock market is still going crazy. Yesterday it went up 337 points and today its down about 100 points. There  is no way to trade this. I'm glad that I'm out.
I'm thinking about getting into buying things at auctions here and selling them on E-bay. I've done well with coins, stamps, and guns. I'll need to study about jewelry. I'll have to read a book or two about old jewelry and try to buy that, cheap.
Loula didn't show up this morning. She left a message on my phone, which I left at home. I guess I really should carry my cell phone with me all the time. Maybe, I'm afraid that I'll lose it.
Not much going on here. I'll post again in a few days.
later

The geese at Upper Iowa

I took a few pictures of the geese at the Upper Iowa River, just off of Dug Road. This is one.
I've been getting lazy. I intended to walk the length of Dug Road, which is about 1 1/2  miles long, but I ended up just walking a hundred yards or so.
Luther is closed for the Christmas holidays so I can't go swimming. I only went one time and it made me so tired that I could hardly get out of the pool, afterwards.
I talked with Loula last Friday night at the Co-op about my money making schemes. Specifically I told her about my idea of going West and looking for gold. I also mentioned the idea of buying things at auctions and selling them on E-bay. If I discount the silver-plated flatware debacle, I did rather well at that. There is no market for silver plate, no matter how pretty it is, but I did well with coins, stamps and guns. I'll have to keep track of all of my expenses, such as eating and gasoline, but it might be worth trying. I'll have to sell on E-bay, myself, since I wouldn't be able to afford paying 25% to the Game Exchange. I think the gold prospecting will have to wait until I get a better vehicle. It's worth a try.

Last week, when my sister Faye and I went to the Christmas at Luther choral presentation, later we ate at Rubaiyat's. Here is a picture of Faye, me, and Jim and Sherry Slitor. Faye wanted me to send her this picture. I wonder if she can download it from the blog.
I transferred my representative payee account to a local bank. I hope that it works out alright. I am a bit concerned about getting my allowance checks in a timely fashion. I'm hoping to use any surplus for investing either in buying at auctions or on E-trade. We'll see.
Later