Friday, October 12, 2012

Moving and Shingles

I haven't posted anything here for over a month. A lot has happened in that month.
First, I came down with the shingles. For people who haven't heard of it, it is a skin and nerve condition caused by the Chicken Pox virus. It's very painful and it lasts a long time. In fact I still have it lingering on my chest.
The same day that I came down with the Shingles, I was notified that I had moved up the list to get into a subsidized apartment complex called the Woolen Mill. It's named that because the old building that houses the apartments was built to house a woolen mill in the 1800's. I'm saving a lot on my rent and since I now live downtown I'm not spending as much on gasoline.
I'm totally disillusioned with investing. I still watch Jim Cramer but I don't turn up the sound when I can't really hear what he is saying. I just realize that I can't hope to make money investing. Of course I did everything wrong. I used margin whenever I could. I bought options. I wasn't diversified. I used borrowed money to invest with. I guess I deserved to fail. It will be years before I'll be able to invest in anything and then I think I'll just buy gold coins.
Winter is coming up and I might be able to make some money by shoveling snow. I've lined up to places to shovel for: Java John's and Plan One Financial. I might be able to line up the Co-op as well. That should keep me busy on snowy days. I also may be doing some driving for the VA van. They haven't called me yet but I'm on their list.
I probably should get a job at Wal-Mart or MacDonalds but since I'll be shoveling snow I think I'll wait until Spring to apply for those jobs.
That's all for now, I'm sorry that I'm not more talkative.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Recovering

Well, I'm getting my act together after losing everything on stock options.
I'm reading a book by Robert Collier named Riches Within your Reach. I would advise anyone to read it. This is the second time that I've read it. It's so good. It was written by a man who was strongly influenced by Christian Science. But considering that it was written in 1947 it is surprisingly current.
In it, is a chapter on prayer. Something that I'm missing is to make an offering before praying. I'm at a point in life where I feel that I don't have anything to offer. I can't afford to go to church and donate anything. I can fix old laptops but I don't have the money to buy one on E bay. I could give away some of my etching but I can't afford to have them framed.
Maybe I could get paid to pray for people. First I would have to have some positive results, myself. It's kind of like having a broke investment counselor. There are such people but I can't see trying it.
Well I'm at Java Johns and I'm considering where I should look for a job. I applied for a janitor position and a barista job. I need to be careful not to make too much money as I wouldn't want to interfere with my Social Security.I was thinking about collecting beer cans. The last time I did that I barely made enough money to pay for the gasoline, driving out into the country.  
I haven't applied at McDonald's or Culver's yet. There is also a night auditor job at a motel near here. I need to scrub up and get out there. Something will show up.
Later  

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

When You Have to Make it, You Won't

When you've bet everything on a stock option, it will let you down. That is a principle that I should have learned by now. I turned a winning bet on Sprint into a loser by holding on too long. Wednesday I could have tripled my money if I had sold within an hour window. I decided that I needed to hold out for more money and I lost it all. Sprint did have a nice move Wednesday but it gave up half of it on Thursday and it didn't come back Friday.
Now I'm looking for a job and I'm trying to sell my etchings. I've got a lead on a janitor job. I'm turning in my application tomorrow. I have to stop at Agora Arts and see if I can move an etching.
Maybe I can get a job at the Co-op. They are looking for a barista. I could pour coffee and make sandwiches.
Well Jose is starting to clean up the dining area at the Co-op so she'll kick me out soon.
Later

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Crop Report Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the long-awaited crop report. This is the one where they actually go out to the fields and count the kernels of corn on the ears. They will get a good idea of how much damage the drought has wrought.
My options have been going down like crazy for the last two weeks. I now have 1/6 of what I had 2 weeks ago. It could all change tomorrow. We'll see.
I never made it to Wal-Mart to apply for a job. I'm not looking forward to it.
Today, my sister Faye called and wanted me to house sit her place for a couple of months. I think I'll ask her for a couple of hundred dollars a month to do it. Of course, she'll have to pay for the air fare.
I still need to find a cheaper place to live. I'm paying $460/month for my apartment. If I moved to a tiny town I could reduce that to $265/month. I need an extra 2 or 3 hundred dollars to pay my bills. Maybe I could get a job. I got a job with the DAV, driving a van but they haven't called me yet. I'm on a replacement driver basis and, so far, I haven't been needed. I need to find something more certain. Maybe I'll go to the job fair at McDonald's.
Maybe I could move the etchings. I'll try to find a place to sell them, next week. I'm going to a lecture at the church in La Crosse, next Thursday. On the way I'll stop at an art gallery in the town of Lansing. I'll also be looking for a cheaper place to live. I would like to live closer to La Crosse.
That's all for now

Thursday, August 2, 2012

I'm giving up in disgust

I'm finally giving up on trying to make money on the stock market. I'm losing even though I switched from stocks to an agricultural ETF. I'm now in DBA which is an ETF which follows a wide basket of agricultural futures. The drought is getting worse and yet the DBA goes down.
 I think the thing that drove it down today was that some politician was saying something about cancelling the mandate for ethanol production. 40% of American corn goes to ethanol so it would make a difference in the price of corn. I don't think anything will come of it but it is affecting grain prices now.  
Yesterday someone in Russia said that they expected to export wheat. This was in spite of a drought in Eastern Europe. I think he was simply lying. These things affect the price of DBA.
I saw something on CNBC today. Someone was comparing the S&P to macro events. It appears that there is a positive correlation between the S&P and all the macro events.
Yesterday Cramer displayed a group of metrics that he watches to anticipate where pending macro events will lead. This shows me that people who are in the know can predict what will happen better than I can. So I'm not only competing against events that I can't predict but there are people who have inside information on a regular basis who are betting against me. It's a losing game. As soon as I can get out of the grain position with a gain I'm pulling out and finding another way to make money.
I hate to say it but I'll probably have to work at Wal-Mart. They probably need people to work the graveyard shift and weekends. I just have to be careful not to make too much money and mess with my disability.
I should also try renting out my spare room. It didn't work very well, last winter, but this time I'll rent to someone who doesn't work the graveyard shift. I'm coming up about $300 short each month. I can make it up somehow.  Investing isn't doing it.
I might move into a cheaper apartment. Things would work out if I lived in a truly cheap apartment in a little town. The trouble is that I would be bored out of my skull. There aren't even any Internet Cafe's there. I would also be quite a distance from where I could get a job. I think I'll forget about that idea.
Later.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Thank God I bought DBA

Yesterday, I switched out of CORN which is a fund that only buys corn futures and got into DBA which is a fund that invests in all agriculture. My positions went up and corn went down. I also bought more, out of the money, calls. I'm in position to make a lot of money if the grains and meat keep going up. I think they will.
I'm reading 2 books, now. One has a title " If Success were a game These are the Rules". The other one is about "Creative Visualization". As usual I'm trying to improve my lot in life. They both have me thinking about what I really want in life. After all, how will I know that I'm a success if I don't have a sensible goal.
In Harvey Eker's book I told myself that success is having 2 million dollars, with an income of $200,000/year. That still seems sensible to me. I do think that a person should be comfortable during their declining years. I may have set my goal a little out of reach. My subconscious may be rebelling. I don't know what I would really need all that much anyway. I just need a nice condominium on the west coast of Costa Rica. I could probably get there with $100,000 and a nice income from my bonds would be adequate as well.
If Delphi starts paying on the bonds I could get $36,000/year on them alone.
That should be enough to get by. Maybe I should set my sights lower?
Later

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Sunday night at Culvers

Well, it's Sunday night and I'm eating ice cream at Culvers. It's a chain restaurant in the Mid West that specializes in something called the "Butter Burger". It's a burger with extra butter on the bun.
I'm a little anxious because I'm betting on corn going up. I made $400 last week and I bought more options. So far, the price seems to be heading up. The market in Asia shows corn being up by $ .26. I'm hoping to make $1000, tomorrow.
My car is giving me troubles. If the market for corn still looks good tomorrow morning, I'll take it to Dan's and use my credit card to have it fixed. That probably means that I'll be waiting at Java Johns to hear what is being done with my car. Here is a picture of the staff at Java Johns. Mary is on the left, then Clare, then Kristin. Kristin doesn't work there much anymore. I think she was just filling in for Meg.
That's about all that's happening. I'll spend a sleepless night hoping that corn prices in China transfer to the USA and I make a bunch of money. My car is broken again and tomorrow I'll overdose on coffee at Java Johns. Nothing new.
Later