Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Improved Password Recovery

They've improved the password recovery on Blogger. All that I needed was my phone number and email account to get the password changed. I'll have to write down the new password so I don't forget it.
Not much is happening here. I'm still working on old laptops. I got one from E-bay the other day that was quite sick. It had a checker board display and wouldn't boot. I charged up the battery and changed the memory modules and it seems to be good except for a dead DVD player. I have to save up money to change that. When I get one I'll sell it on E-bay. I also decided to sell one of my etchings on E-bay. I'm tired of being broke all the time. If I can move the etchings I'll have plenty of money.
I messed up a couple of my laptops the other day. One of them had a problem that appeared to be with the power board. So I tried a power board out of the other laptop. It turned out that the boards weren't compatible. I ended up messing up the logic boards on both of them. It will cost hundreds of dollars to repair. I might just pull the good parts out and get other laptops to working. I'm giving up on Ibooks. I can't get streaming video to work with them. If they have Macintosh software on them they are fine. Linux doesn't support Flash on PPC computers. That's probably why they are so cheap.
I had a surprise bill from an old credit card the day before yesterday. I'm still paying for credit cards from 10 or 12 years ago. I was afraid that I would have to stop having coffee at Java John's to save up and pay for it. It turned out that I've already paid towards my account here. I'll just cut back to 1 cup a day and I should be fine. It would be nice to have a little leeway when it comes to money.
I've been reading a book by Wayne Dyer that states "There is a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem". I started reading it last September and it took me until now to finish it. It's mostly been sitting and waiting for me to get to it. It's a good book and it's really inspires me. Dyer sees everything as being energy. He feels that everything is simply frequency vibrations. A person who is at a higher frequency has good things coming his way. A lower frequency person attracts bad things. I obviously have been on a low frequency for the last few months. That's why I have shingles and poverty. I need to break out of that thinking. I've been doing the daily lession from the Christian Science Church. I also have taken up reading Dyer's book. I'll read it a second time. There is also a daily meditation on the Internet for Christian Scientists. I'll break this cycle.
That's all for now. I'll try to get back to leaving more blogs.
Later

Friday, November 16, 2012

Password Hell

I've just been in password hell. I forgot my password because I so rarely use it. Normally my computer remembers it. I usually  use a laptop when I'm posting a blog.
I gave away my old laptop so the new one didn't have the password. After about 10 or 15 attempts at passwords I admitted that I didn't remember it. It took a day to get back on. I'm a bit concerned because they asked for credit card info. I gave it to them but maybe it was a scam. I only have $20 in that account so if it is a scam I won't be out much.
Not much is happening here. I'm spending too much on old laptops. I got started with Mac laptops. I've got a Macbook Pro and a couple of old Ibooks. I'm happy with the Macbook, but I can't get the Ibooks to stream video. Nobody supports the old PPC standard anymore. That refers to the Motorola CPUs that Mac used to use. The Macbook uses an Intel CPU so it's no problem.
I've been overbidding on Ebay for parts for these old laptops. With my income, bidding at all is probably a mistake. I find myself using credit to buy a parts machine. Sometimes, I've been lucky and was able to get a good machine out of a bunch of parts but mostly I've ended up with a bunch of bad parts.
I should go back to begging for old laptops to give away after fixing them. That worked out pretty well the last time I did it.
I worked at the polls, last week. It was hard. My shingles came back and I had a head ache, and pains in my chest. I think the head ache might have been due to coffee withdrawals. It was a long day, 15 1/2 hours. I hope to get over $100 for the work. I'll use it towards parts for a 17 inch Macbook. I have everything but a battery and display for another one. They're too good to give away so I'll sell them on Ebay.
I'm still waiting to hear from the VA about driving the van. They asked me for copies of my driver's license and proof of insurance a couple of weeks ago, so they must know that I still exist. Driving once a week would be enough to get me through this period of poverty.
Pretty soon, it will be snowing and I hope to make a lot of money, shoveling snow. That'll get me through until Spring. Then I might have to see about working a Wal-Mart or Subway Sandwiches.
Later

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.