Well, we went to our first live boxing matches last night. It was quite a bit of fun and we did get to see one bout where one guy got knocked down a couple times before it was stopped. There was even a boxing match with two girls.
The saddest thing about the evening was that the thing we remembered most were two jerks that were there. During the girl boxing we had this guy behind us with some girl and he was whistling his support for one of the boxers. This was an incredibly loud annoying whistle about 2 feet behind my head. I would estimate 110 dBs plus which was painful for Mary and I. I let him do it for the duration of the fight, and thankfully he left after that bout. The great thing about it was the fighter he was supporting was perhaps the worst female fighter I have ever seen and of course we did root against her. She was pummeled from start to finish and when they announced the winner, there was a deafening quiet from the seats behind us as we cheered loudly for the winner, who actually was a pretty decent boxer, and actually looked like a boxer when she threw her punches.
Then there was the drunk guy. It is so sad that there is always some jerk that drinks too much and becomes a pain in everyone's ass. We felt sorry for his girlfriend who quite obviously was annoyed by him. This guy would stand up and be talking to his friends obscuring row after row, and could only offer up some smartass comments when people asked him to move out of the way, which of course, he didn't until he was ready to move.
No boxing night would be complete without one bad decision, at least to us and the many that booed at the end. The last fight was pretty good and entertaining and the judges totally blew the winner of it, which was a shame because he didn't really deserve to win the fight.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Embrace the bad beat
If you play enough poker, you will experience the bad beat. Your Aces or Kings will get beat by some low pair or worse suited connectors. You could let yourself get upset or be frustrated about it, or you could choose to not even recognize the bad beat.
I like to embrace them. I look for them to happen whether I am in the hand or not and when they do happen I smile and say, ouch. Phil Helmuth once said if it wasn't for luck I'd win every one. Well, there is luck involved the cards are going to be dealt and we have no control over it.
I amaze myself at how many times I will predict the next card for the bad beat to be completed and be correct. Again, I just smile. Sometimes I will ask my table mates who didn't see that coming? and then laugh, LOL.
I think this is an important part, maybe the most important part of the game. IF we embrace it, we will not be upset when it happens, thus, no tilting, no making bad decisions because we are still mad about that other hand we should have won, but didn't.
If our opponents never sucked out on us, then it would be unrealistic for us to ever think that we will suck out on someone else, and yet, we do, and we really enjoy those ones. By keeping an even keel we will not wear ourselves down by expending needless energy in the form of getting upset and yelling and screaming at our monitors.
I like to embrace them. I look for them to happen whether I am in the hand or not and when they do happen I smile and say, ouch. Phil Helmuth once said if it wasn't for luck I'd win every one. Well, there is luck involved the cards are going to be dealt and we have no control over it.
I amaze myself at how many times I will predict the next card for the bad beat to be completed and be correct. Again, I just smile. Sometimes I will ask my table mates who didn't see that coming? and then laugh, LOL.
I think this is an important part, maybe the most important part of the game. IF we embrace it, we will not be upset when it happens, thus, no tilting, no making bad decisions because we are still mad about that other hand we should have won, but didn't.
If our opponents never sucked out on us, then it would be unrealistic for us to ever think that we will suck out on someone else, and yet, we do, and we really enjoy those ones. By keeping an even keel we will not wear ourselves down by expending needless energy in the form of getting upset and yelling and screaming at our monitors.
Seahawk note
Well, it has become blatantly obvious that the Seahawks will be drafting a QB in this upcoming draft. The two backups that we have are horrific. Seneca you have regressed to the point that we should try and find another backup out there in Free Agency and move you to another position because you have been here far too long to be that bad.
Charlie Frye, I think the jury is still out on him. He has only been here for one whole season with training camp and then one extra season as number 3. I think he might be okay as a backup if they actually opened up the playbook and tried to be balanced.
Mike Holmgren, it has been fun Mike, but do us all a favor and resign now so that we can start the rebuilding process. Your Play calling has been abysmal, and that is being pretty kind. You have handicapped Frye and Wallace to the point you should have just forfieted those games and saved on the risk of injury because your team had no chance of winning.
John Marshal, Defensive Coordinator. You should be Offensive Coordinator because you are doing a really offensive job. The Defense is constantly out of position. We don't get any pressure on the QB anymore, and we are back to getting beat deep every game, again.
Kelly Jennings, it was fun pretending to be an NFL player wasn't it. Your time has come and gone and I hope they cut you from the squad next year, because you can't cover yourself and stay on your feet let alone any NFL wide reciever. You are a liability on the field due to your ineptness.
Charlie Frye, I think the jury is still out on him. He has only been here for one whole season with training camp and then one extra season as number 3. I think he might be okay as a backup if they actually opened up the playbook and tried to be balanced.
Mike Holmgren, it has been fun Mike, but do us all a favor and resign now so that we can start the rebuilding process. Your Play calling has been abysmal, and that is being pretty kind. You have handicapped Frye and Wallace to the point you should have just forfieted those games and saved on the risk of injury because your team had no chance of winning.
John Marshal, Defensive Coordinator. You should be Offensive Coordinator because you are doing a really offensive job. The Defense is constantly out of position. We don't get any pressure on the QB anymore, and we are back to getting beat deep every game, again.
Kelly Jennings, it was fun pretending to be an NFL player wasn't it. Your time has come and gone and I hope they cut you from the squad next year, because you can't cover yourself and stay on your feet let alone any NFL wide reciever. You are a liability on the field due to your ineptness.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
SNG strategy early
I have been spending some time trying to figure out why my game has elevated itself to a higher level. It is hard to put a finger on success sometimes, because a lot of times we just aren't aware that we did anything differently.
First off, I play turbo SNGs. These are SNGs where the blind levels(the forced bets per round of hands dealt) will automatically go up at a quicker pace, usually every 5 minutes versus 10 or even 15 minutes that some tournaments have. At the WSOP it used to be 120 minute blind levels, I am not sure if it was changed to 90 minutes or not. The longer the blind levels the more the skill of players should shine through, as they have longer to wait for good hands. In turbos the blind levels go up very quickly, thus, putting presure on people to make moves that they don't want to make as their stacks dwindle. This is the time when people incorrectly make calls, and all-in moves that they shouldn't.
I think the key to doing well in these SNGs is to be very deliberate and conservative in the early stages of these tournaments. When you have more than 20 big blinds(bbs) or so, there is no need to be playing a lot of hands or playing speculative hands.
In early position, under the gun (UTG, first to act after the hands are deal), UTG+1, and UTG+2 we don't want to be playing a lot of hands in these positions. We really only want to be raising with hands like AA and KKs. A case can be made for limping QQs, and AK even from early position. I would limp hands like AJ or AQ in early position (EP) so that if there was a raise I could simply fold my hand and move on.
The problem with raising AJ or AQ in EP is that if somebody raises you later you will be out of position, unless it is the small blind(SB) or big blind(BB). If an Ace comes on the flop there will be the posibility that we could lose a lot of chips with a second best hand. What if we hit our J or Q, we could still be in bad shape with AA-QQ against our AJ or AQ hand. I would tend to just throw my hand away and move on.
If I was in Late position (LP) I would be inclined to just limp behind if someone had already opend the pot. If someone had raised I would just fold AQ AJ type hands, and just call with AK a fair amount of time, unless I knew this person to be a loose raiser, then I would raise them to punish them for raising with weak hands, but if the person was fairly conservative, then I might just call and try and trap with my big hand.
The real point of this is to point out that we want to go out of our way to minimize risk early on in a SNG, period. There is no reason for us to give up our percieved skill advantage by taking unnecessary risks. This might mean throwing away JJ on a Q high flop to a bet. We must always remember that we want to be getting our chips into the middle when we are ahead, and not taking chances that we don't have to take.
There is a time to be aggressive, and there is a time to be raising and playing big pots, but most of the time we want to play small pots. We want to try and control the pots so that we don't have to invest a lot of our stack to get to the river.
There is another big benefit when you limp AK early on and hit your hand. If you play it in a passive way and get to the river not betting that much and checking a street or two, you can really send a message to your opponents when they see your AK. Not to mention you may actually win more by checking an A or K flop to someone who limped with A5 type hand and thinks their Ace is good and bluffs at the pot and then when you reraise them they will call thinking that you hit the river undercard to their big ace.
First off, I play turbo SNGs. These are SNGs where the blind levels(the forced bets per round of hands dealt) will automatically go up at a quicker pace, usually every 5 minutes versus 10 or even 15 minutes that some tournaments have. At the WSOP it used to be 120 minute blind levels, I am not sure if it was changed to 90 minutes or not. The longer the blind levels the more the skill of players should shine through, as they have longer to wait for good hands. In turbos the blind levels go up very quickly, thus, putting presure on people to make moves that they don't want to make as their stacks dwindle. This is the time when people incorrectly make calls, and all-in moves that they shouldn't.
I think the key to doing well in these SNGs is to be very deliberate and conservative in the early stages of these tournaments. When you have more than 20 big blinds(bbs) or so, there is no need to be playing a lot of hands or playing speculative hands.
In early position, under the gun (UTG, first to act after the hands are deal), UTG+1, and UTG+2 we don't want to be playing a lot of hands in these positions. We really only want to be raising with hands like AA and KKs. A case can be made for limping QQs, and AK even from early position. I would limp hands like AJ or AQ in early position (EP) so that if there was a raise I could simply fold my hand and move on.
The problem with raising AJ or AQ in EP is that if somebody raises you later you will be out of position, unless it is the small blind(SB) or big blind(BB). If an Ace comes on the flop there will be the posibility that we could lose a lot of chips with a second best hand. What if we hit our J or Q, we could still be in bad shape with AA-QQ against our AJ or AQ hand. I would tend to just throw my hand away and move on.
If I was in Late position (LP) I would be inclined to just limp behind if someone had already opend the pot. If someone had raised I would just fold AQ AJ type hands, and just call with AK a fair amount of time, unless I knew this person to be a loose raiser, then I would raise them to punish them for raising with weak hands, but if the person was fairly conservative, then I might just call and try and trap with my big hand.
The real point of this is to point out that we want to go out of our way to minimize risk early on in a SNG, period. There is no reason for us to give up our percieved skill advantage by taking unnecessary risks. This might mean throwing away JJ on a Q high flop to a bet. We must always remember that we want to be getting our chips into the middle when we are ahead, and not taking chances that we don't have to take.
There is a time to be aggressive, and there is a time to be raising and playing big pots, but most of the time we want to play small pots. We want to try and control the pots so that we don't have to invest a lot of our stack to get to the river.
There is another big benefit when you limp AK early on and hit your hand. If you play it in a passive way and get to the river not betting that much and checking a street or two, you can really send a message to your opponents when they see your AK. Not to mention you may actually win more by checking an A or K flop to someone who limped with A5 type hand and thinks their Ace is good and bluffs at the pot and then when you reraise them they will call thinking that you hit the river undercard to their big ace.
SNG Strategy for building BR
Lots of people that start out playing Sit-n-Gos look for guides on how to play them, or they should. Sure, there are lots of people that don't read poker books or belong to poker sites or poker forums. They are doing themselves a disservice by not trying to learn from others that have played thousands of these types of events.
Over my playing career I have mainly played SNGs as a way to increase my bankroll and to make money. I have had a lot of success playing these. I was pretty successful when I started out playing these and then I became aware of a poker training site called PokerXfactor.com. I joined this site in the first month that they were up and operating and got in on the ground floor. I learned many things that had not even occurred to me, and as a result I learned the more correct way to play SNGs and of course, was even more succesful at them.
From time to time I would enter multi-table tournaments (MTTs) and would win a little here and there but for the most part the variance associated with these would tend to suck money out of my bankroll (BR), although, I did have a nice run on Ultimate Bet (UB) coming in 3rd two days in a row in a $30 buy-in tourney on there for a nice score. And then I would also play what they call double shootouts (DS) which are SNG tournaments where you have to win your first table then all the winners are seated at another table and then usually the top two or just top one win a seat in a bigger buy-in tournament usually $215 or $530, these had some variance to them as well. Even though I did win a few of these, they are a negative impact on my BR.
I am going to try and resist the urge to play any of these types of things until I achieve my BR goal, which would be $5,000. When I get to the magical $10k BR I will open up and play some other tourneys that I believe will be highly profitable to me, as they have been in the past, but my BR just doesn't support playing them regularly. These would include the $100 buy-in tourneys, which have been very nice to me in the past. Better competition is always a plus for my style of play.
It will be a steady diet of SNGs for at least the next 3 months. I am going to try and achieve a 10% per week increase in my BR. That is my goal and I feel it is attainable.
Over my playing career I have mainly played SNGs as a way to increase my bankroll and to make money. I have had a lot of success playing these. I was pretty successful when I started out playing these and then I became aware of a poker training site called PokerXfactor.com. I joined this site in the first month that they were up and operating and got in on the ground floor. I learned many things that had not even occurred to me, and as a result I learned the more correct way to play SNGs and of course, was even more succesful at them.
From time to time I would enter multi-table tournaments (MTTs) and would win a little here and there but for the most part the variance associated with these would tend to suck money out of my bankroll (BR), although, I did have a nice run on Ultimate Bet (UB) coming in 3rd two days in a row in a $30 buy-in tourney on there for a nice score. And then I would also play what they call double shootouts (DS) which are SNG tournaments where you have to win your first table then all the winners are seated at another table and then usually the top two or just top one win a seat in a bigger buy-in tournament usually $215 or $530, these had some variance to them as well. Even though I did win a few of these, they are a negative impact on my BR.
I am going to try and resist the urge to play any of these types of things until I achieve my BR goal, which would be $5,000. When I get to the magical $10k BR I will open up and play some other tourneys that I believe will be highly profitable to me, as they have been in the past, but my BR just doesn't support playing them regularly. These would include the $100 buy-in tourneys, which have been very nice to me in the past. Better competition is always a plus for my style of play.
It will be a steady diet of SNGs for at least the next 3 months. I am going to try and achieve a 10% per week increase in my BR. That is my goal and I feel it is attainable.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
12 yr old girl called rascist for wearing Palin t-shirt
How sad is it that the party that speaks of tolerance and inclusion and protecting those that can't protect themselves would raise children to treat others with such disrespect. When children call someone rascist for exercising their 1st Amendment rights for Freedom of Speach it is a sad day in America. I wonder if they would have called her an Uncle Tom if she was black?
Rascism is alive and well in this country of ours. It is kept alive by the very people that supposedly are the victims of it. If it weren't for the liberals on the left rascism would die a slow quiet death and we would be done with it, but where would that leave the blacks acrossed America? Every time someone has a difference of a opinion in this election, it must be because you are rascist.
How about the thousands upon thousands of people that are going to vote for Obama just because he is black? Isn't that rascism in itself? Martin Luther King, Jr., would be so disgusted at his people of today that don't want to be judged by the content of their minds and the character of their souls, they want a free pass, because of the color of their skin. They want extra benefits because of the color of their skin.
Why can't they just move on and let it go? If it weren't for the white leadership of the democratic party telling blacks that they are being taken advantage of, they would never think that thought, but what they don't realize is, the liberals are the ones taking them for granted manipulating them like silly putty.
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?contentId=7664724
Rascism is alive and well in this country of ours. It is kept alive by the very people that supposedly are the victims of it. If it weren't for the liberals on the left rascism would die a slow quiet death and we would be done with it, but where would that leave the blacks acrossed America? Every time someone has a difference of a opinion in this election, it must be because you are rascist.
How about the thousands upon thousands of people that are going to vote for Obama just because he is black? Isn't that rascism in itself? Martin Luther King, Jr., would be so disgusted at his people of today that don't want to be judged by the content of their minds and the character of their souls, they want a free pass, because of the color of their skin. They want extra benefits because of the color of their skin.
Why can't they just move on and let it go? If it weren't for the white leadership of the democratic party telling blacks that they are being taken advantage of, they would never think that thought, but what they don't realize is, the liberals are the ones taking them for granted manipulating them like silly putty.
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?contentId=7664724
Friday, October 17, 2008
Neat facts about the Candidates
Coolest things about John and Cindy McCain:
1) he can fly a fighter jet
2) he survived being a tortured POW for 5 years
3) his father and grandfather have air bases and ships named after them
4) he married a beer baroness!
5) he's not a lawyer
6) she is a massive, globe trotting philanthropist... and never talks about it
7) she is a race car driver (mother/son drift racing)
8) she's also a pilot
9) they've got a son who just returned from serving in Iraq and they never even mention it. They also have a son at US Naval Academy.
10) she's a beer baroness!
Coolest things about Sarah and Todd Palin:
1) she was a state basketball champ.
2) she was a beauty queen.
3) she can shoot and field dress a moose... before school.
4) she helps out on the commercial fishing boats 5) she was a council member, mayor, and governor... without being a lawyer
6) he's been a commercial fisherman since he was 9
7) he's a pilot... and named their daughter Piper after his 1958 Piper Super Cub seaplane.
8) he's a steel union member... and married to a republican
9) he works on the north slope in sometimes -80 degree blizzards
10) he's part Inuit
11) he's a 4 time world champion snowmobile racer
12) he supplies the household with caribou, moose and salmon... and cooks dinner for the governor and family.
13) they've got a son serving in Iraq... infantry in the most dangerous part of the country.
Coolest things about Barack and Michelle Obama:
1) he supposedly quit smoking
2) he's supposedly got a good hook shot
3) she's...
Coolest Things about Joe and whatsername Biden:
1) he overcame stuttering
2) they have a son serving in Iraq (and Biden's not bashful about mentioning it) ... as a lawyer... far from any combat
3) she's...
1) he can fly a fighter jet
2) he survived being a tortured POW for 5 years
3) his father and grandfather have air bases and ships named after them
4) he married a beer baroness!
5) he's not a lawyer
6) she is a massive, globe trotting philanthropist... and never talks about it
7) she is a race car driver (mother/son drift racing)
8) she's also a pilot
9) they've got a son who just returned from serving in Iraq and they never even mention it. They also have a son at US Naval Academy.
10) she's a beer baroness!
Coolest things about Sarah and Todd Palin:
1) she was a state basketball champ.
2) she was a beauty queen.
3) she can shoot and field dress a moose... before school.
4) she helps out on the commercial fishing boats 5) she was a council member, mayor, and governor... without being a lawyer
6) he's been a commercial fisherman since he was 9
7) he's a pilot... and named their daughter Piper after his 1958 Piper Super Cub seaplane.
8) he's a steel union member... and married to a republican
9) he works on the north slope in sometimes -80 degree blizzards
10) he's part Inuit
11) he's a 4 time world champion snowmobile racer
12) he supplies the household with caribou, moose and salmon... and cooks dinner for the governor and family.
13) they've got a son serving in Iraq... infantry in the most dangerous part of the country.
Coolest things about Barack and Michelle Obama:
1) he supposedly quit smoking
2) he's supposedly got a good hook shot
3) she's...
Coolest Things about Joe and whatsername Biden:
1) he overcame stuttering
2) they have a son serving in Iraq (and Biden's not bashful about mentioning it) ... as a lawyer... far from any combat
3) she's...
Why are the liberals always trying to steal votes?
It is really sad that the people that are always clamoring about election fraud and elections being stolen from them are the exact same ones that are usually being caught committing some kind of voter fraud?
If you look historically at all the cases of documented Election fraud, inevitably, you will find that the Democratic candidate is the recipient of the fraud. The fraud always is in favor of the liberal candidate, and yet, they are the ones that are yelling and screaming that everyone is trying to disenfranchise the minority vote. All the while they are manipulating and bribing these same minorities to get them to commit voter fraud.
ACORN is a joke and they should not be permitted to do any voter registrations at all, in any state. People were convicted of voter fraud in this state that were associated with ACORN. I wonder if your Governor's race would have been different if it wasn't for all the fraud on the part of King County and ACORN.
And of course, ACORN supports Obama, big surprise there. They only register people if they vote democrat. The people that yell the loudest about injustice are usually the ones manipulating and taking advantage of those very same people they say they represent, the old, the ignorant, the minorities.
If you look historically at all the cases of documented Election fraud, inevitably, you will find that the Democratic candidate is the recipient of the fraud. The fraud always is in favor of the liberal candidate, and yet, they are the ones that are yelling and screaming that everyone is trying to disenfranchise the minority vote. All the while they are manipulating and bribing these same minorities to get them to commit voter fraud.
ACORN is a joke and they should not be permitted to do any voter registrations at all, in any state. People were convicted of voter fraud in this state that were associated with ACORN. I wonder if your Governor's race would have been different if it wasn't for all the fraud on the part of King County and ACORN.
And of course, ACORN supports Obama, big surprise there. They only register people if they vote democrat. The people that yell the loudest about injustice are usually the ones manipulating and taking advantage of those very same people they say they represent, the old, the ignorant, the minorities.
Update
After a lot of thought we have decided to purchase some stock. I was very disappointed in Scottrade's policies of delaying our ability to use our money to invest. As of right now one of the companies I really wanted to buy has actually gone up quite a bit, almost double from where it was when I wanted to get in on it, which was at an all time low for this company. It is very disappointing because we could have gotten in at the bottom. Hopefully it will suffer a down turn so that we can make up for this delay.
I will now share with you that the company I bought stock in was Ford Motor Company. After reading and researching I feel very very good about this purchase and would have purchased a lot more if I were able to. This company is actually in a very good position and has a great outlook for next year. Since we purchased this stock to hold for about the next 15 years I am feeling that this will be a very wise investment, time will tell.
I have my eye on another stock and if my first choice does not come back down, I may invest in this other company that has a very nice price.
Well, yesterday was another awesome day for me at the tables the TPF actually broke the 800 threshold which is very nice. As long as it keeps going up, even if only by a little bit I will always be happy, but, of course, there will be days where it might end up lower than we began which is to be expected. It really is no different than a piece of stock that you invest in, some days you are up and others you are down, but as long as the moving average is an upward trend it is all good.
I have just been having a lot of fun playing and actually have made some mental adjustments to my game that have really paid off. I have not consciously done anything, but something has changed. I have not let the luck of the draw, the bad beats that we all suffer to enter my mind at all. I have really had a lot of fun relishing in the bad beats that get dealt to everyone. I expect them and when they come, I just move on. While playing yesterday I ran Jacks into Aces twice, and Queens into Kings all in the span of about 10 minutes. On the QQ hand I actually hit a Q on the flop, and thought, well, I have to win one of these, but it wouldn't be that one as a K came on the river to knock me out, but it was all good. Later I ran my 77s into the Small Blinds Aces only to hit my inside Straight Flush draw on the river, which was really nice since my opponent had the A of hearts for a flush as well.
Life is pretty good as far as the poker goes. I wonder if it will carry over when we go to Las Vegas in a few weeks, hmm?
I will now share with you that the company I bought stock in was Ford Motor Company. After reading and researching I feel very very good about this purchase and would have purchased a lot more if I were able to. This company is actually in a very good position and has a great outlook for next year. Since we purchased this stock to hold for about the next 15 years I am feeling that this will be a very wise investment, time will tell.
I have my eye on another stock and if my first choice does not come back down, I may invest in this other company that has a very nice price.
Well, yesterday was another awesome day for me at the tables the TPF actually broke the 800 threshold which is very nice. As long as it keeps going up, even if only by a little bit I will always be happy, but, of course, there will be days where it might end up lower than we began which is to be expected. It really is no different than a piece of stock that you invest in, some days you are up and others you are down, but as long as the moving average is an upward trend it is all good.
I have just been having a lot of fun playing and actually have made some mental adjustments to my game that have really paid off. I have not consciously done anything, but something has changed. I have not let the luck of the draw, the bad beats that we all suffer to enter my mind at all. I have really had a lot of fun relishing in the bad beats that get dealt to everyone. I expect them and when they come, I just move on. While playing yesterday I ran Jacks into Aces twice, and Queens into Kings all in the span of about 10 minutes. On the QQ hand I actually hit a Q on the flop, and thought, well, I have to win one of these, but it wouldn't be that one as a K came on the river to knock me out, but it was all good. Later I ran my 77s into the Small Blinds Aces only to hit my inside Straight Flush draw on the river, which was really nice since my opponent had the A of hearts for a flush as well.
Life is pretty good as far as the poker goes. I wonder if it will carry over when we go to Las Vegas in a few weeks, hmm?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Scottrade nonsense
Well, I got up this morning and was going to make my investments using my new Scottrade account. I was happy to see that the stock had not gone up anymore, having seen it move upward 20% the day before when I could not buy it. I was very pumped that it was still about the same level. I plugged in the type of transaction, the Stock symbol, the shares and hit review order, and to my surprise a little warning flashes acrossed the top of the screen saying insufficient funds. This was quite troublesome, because I could see that I had 30% more in my account than what was needed to buy the stock.
I called the local office and spoke to a person there. They informed me that because I used an ACH transfer method from my bank, which by the way is virtually immediate transfer of funds from one place to another, and was buying a stock that was less than $4 a share that I would have to wait 3 days to use my money. WHAT? He said it was on their site. I looked at their site and sure enough there was some little blurb about marginalizations of stock less than $4 and that you would have to wait 3 days.
I asked this guy what the heck was going on, and he told be that stocks less than $4 a share are considered volatile, whether that is true or not is not a consideration, and that people using ACH transactions actually have 3 days to cancel them. What? I never knew that such a thing was possible. I have used this method to buy things all over the place on the Internet and it never occurred to me that it was not the safest, and most secure way for a merchant to recieve their funds immediately.
I consider this to be a clear sign that I should just bag the idea of investing in the stock market, and told the guy that I will probably(98%) going to close my account because I only opened it so I could buy the stock that was low at the moment, but will surely rise. I don't want to use the name, because I don't want the price to keep going up. Yes, this is silly but loose lips sink ships. lol In three days it will be outside of what I was willing to pay for it, if it continues to rise as it has the past couple days. I will take my Scottrade representative's knowledge of canceling ACH's and use it to me benefit and cancel the transaction, something I would never have even know possible before my call to Scottrade.
I called the local office and spoke to a person there. They informed me that because I used an ACH transfer method from my bank, which by the way is virtually immediate transfer of funds from one place to another, and was buying a stock that was less than $4 a share that I would have to wait 3 days to use my money. WHAT? He said it was on their site. I looked at their site and sure enough there was some little blurb about marginalizations of stock less than $4 and that you would have to wait 3 days.
I asked this guy what the heck was going on, and he told be that stocks less than $4 a share are considered volatile, whether that is true or not is not a consideration, and that people using ACH transactions actually have 3 days to cancel them. What? I never knew that such a thing was possible. I have used this method to buy things all over the place on the Internet and it never occurred to me that it was not the safest, and most secure way for a merchant to recieve their funds immediately.
I consider this to be a clear sign that I should just bag the idea of investing in the stock market, and told the guy that I will probably(98%) going to close my account because I only opened it so I could buy the stock that was low at the moment, but will surely rise. I don't want to use the name, because I don't want the price to keep going up. Yes, this is silly but loose lips sink ships. lol In three days it will be outside of what I was willing to pay for it, if it continues to rise as it has the past couple days. I will take my Scottrade representative's knowledge of canceling ACH's and use it to me benefit and cancel the transaction, something I would never have even know possible before my call to Scottrade.
Obama and spreading the wealth
Yesterday I was watching some news show and they showed a clip of Obama talking to some Ohio man that was talking to him about his tax plan. This man was thinking about buying a plumbing business, but was concerned because he would be in Obama's 200K plus a year bracket and he knows that Obama wants to tax those people. Obama responded to this man that he wants to make sure that the people that are behind him(the plumber) that they could have success and wealth too. He said that we all win when "we spread the wealth around."
When did the US become a socialist nation? Don't get me wrong, if I was your typical ignorant American this sounds pretty good. Why should I try and achieve things for myself if the Government is going to reward me anyway. Obama has promised us all $1,000 each to be paid for by the oil companies. I wonder what effect this will have on oil companies to have to pay such an extreme tax penalty for being successful. Why should people that have been blessed with good fortune be penalized by the Government so that those that underachieve can have more?
I would love to make 250k plus a year so that I had this concern of being taxed, but I don't, unfortunately. I don't want your handouts Obama, because I feel that people have more incentive to make money if they get to keep it. When people make money the economy moves. When the economy moves, my 401k goes up. When my 401k goes up, it gets me closer to the day when I can retire and enjoy the rest of my life, God willing.
When you tax the upper echelon of our society, you stunt growth. Where is the incentive to do more if you just have to give it to the Government? Don't these people then go out of their way to figure out ways to get around paying taxes altogether because it is so onerous on their companies? We will have more and more companies moving jobs overseas to escape these higher tax rates. Look for unemployment to achieve record highs with an Obama presidency, and kiss any raises that you were expecting over the next few years as well. COLAs, ha, a thing of the past. Companies will pinch corners where they can to lower their overhead to deal with the increased tax burdens, which means layoffs and less perks for you the employee.
When did the US become a socialist nation? Don't get me wrong, if I was your typical ignorant American this sounds pretty good. Why should I try and achieve things for myself if the Government is going to reward me anyway. Obama has promised us all $1,000 each to be paid for by the oil companies. I wonder what effect this will have on oil companies to have to pay such an extreme tax penalty for being successful. Why should people that have been blessed with good fortune be penalized by the Government so that those that underachieve can have more?
I would love to make 250k plus a year so that I had this concern of being taxed, but I don't, unfortunately. I don't want your handouts Obama, because I feel that people have more incentive to make money if they get to keep it. When people make money the economy moves. When the economy moves, my 401k goes up. When my 401k goes up, it gets me closer to the day when I can retire and enjoy the rest of my life, God willing.
When you tax the upper echelon of our society, you stunt growth. Where is the incentive to do more if you just have to give it to the Government? Don't these people then go out of their way to figure out ways to get around paying taxes altogether because it is so onerous on their companies? We will have more and more companies moving jobs overseas to escape these higher tax rates. Look for unemployment to achieve record highs with an Obama presidency, and kiss any raises that you were expecting over the next few years as well. COLAs, ha, a thing of the past. Companies will pinch corners where they can to lower their overhead to deal with the increased tax burdens, which means layoffs and less perks for you the employee.
Ourselves to blame
It is in these times where the Electoral College's purpose in times past becomes very relevant and important. When the founders established our Constitution and the election of higher offices they put into place this often cursed Electoral College. This was to prevent the uninformed from having too much power when it came to the election.
In these days of people voting because: He is a good speaker. Well, he's black. I don't like how she looks. He is old. He is young. She is pretty. I want change. It is a shame that you don't have to pass a test to prove that you actually have a clue before they give you a ballot.
If you ask most people on the street why they are voting for Obama, you find out that they really have no clue about what any of his policies really are, or what the effect will be on America. They have no idea that his proposals that he wants to implement will cost us 100s upon 100s of Billions of dollars. They are clueless that the vast majority of Americans are going to see their taxes go up to fund these welfare programs.
The government could not avert this financial crisis and yet these people want to have the government run the healthcare program for the US? Are they crazy, or just plain ignorant. The answer is very obvious, of course.
We have ourselves to blame. We don't force our children to learn economics or civics in high school so the vast majority of Americas at very ignorant on how things truly work. They are much to involved in their little lives to be bothered with watching real news, or reading papers or books on these subjects. There is no time, wrestling and nascar and reruns of whatever are on and that is more important to them. They just read the headlines or listen to the rhetoric and think it is fact.
We have ourselves to blame, because America is lazy and apathetic when it comes to the economy and government. Liberalism is very appealing for these lazy people. Who is going to go against some slick talker nobody had ever heard of before this year who wants to give them free money. Music to the ears of the Ignorant man.
In these days of people voting because: He is a good speaker. Well, he's black. I don't like how she looks. He is old. He is young. She is pretty. I want change. It is a shame that you don't have to pass a test to prove that you actually have a clue before they give you a ballot.
If you ask most people on the street why they are voting for Obama, you find out that they really have no clue about what any of his policies really are, or what the effect will be on America. They have no idea that his proposals that he wants to implement will cost us 100s upon 100s of Billions of dollars. They are clueless that the vast majority of Americans are going to see their taxes go up to fund these welfare programs.
The government could not avert this financial crisis and yet these people want to have the government run the healthcare program for the US? Are they crazy, or just plain ignorant. The answer is very obvious, of course.
We have ourselves to blame. We don't force our children to learn economics or civics in high school so the vast majority of Americas at very ignorant on how things truly work. They are much to involved in their little lives to be bothered with watching real news, or reading papers or books on these subjects. There is no time, wrestling and nascar and reruns of whatever are on and that is more important to them. They just read the headlines or listen to the rhetoric and think it is fact.
We have ourselves to blame, because America is lazy and apathetic when it comes to the economy and government. Liberalism is very appealing for these lazy people. Who is going to go against some slick talker nobody had ever heard of before this year who wants to give them free money. Music to the ears of the Ignorant man.
Monday, October 13, 2008
The markets are up, hooray, but will it last?
Today was a great day on Wall Street, now, let's hope it keeps going forward and upward again.
I have been on a very nice run playing SNGs. I posted another day of positive movement in my BR, which I have termed the TPF, it is like a stock of sorts, PF stands for Poker Fund. lol Which, after the close of business(I decided to stop playing for the day) today posted record gains sufficient to finally over come the losses that accrued at the beginning of the year. The TPF was up a full 18.3% today, which followed a day that saw 7.7% gain on Sunday and 14.1% gain on Saturday. So as you can see the TPF is doing really well.
As CFO of the TPF I hope that these gains continue into the foreseeable future. At this point there is no reason to doubt otherwise. The TPF has seen a ROI of 26.4% since 8/1/08. Unfortunately, the TPF is closed at the present time to new investors.
I have been on a very nice run playing SNGs. I posted another day of positive movement in my BR, which I have termed the TPF, it is like a stock of sorts, PF stands for Poker Fund. lol Which, after the close of business(I decided to stop playing for the day) today posted record gains sufficient to finally over come the losses that accrued at the beginning of the year. The TPF was up a full 18.3% today, which followed a day that saw 7.7% gain on Sunday and 14.1% gain on Saturday. So as you can see the TPF is doing really well.
As CFO of the TPF I hope that these gains continue into the foreseeable future. At this point there is no reason to doubt otherwise. The TPF has seen a ROI of 26.4% since 8/1/08. Unfortunately, the TPF is closed at the present time to new investors.
I am taking the plunge
Well, I decided that I would take the plunge and I opened an account with Scottrade, which seemed to be the best deal for the small investor with $7 trades and a small balance requirement to open an account. I am a little disappointed that I didn't pull the trigger this weekend so that my money would have been there today, both of my stocks that I wanted to invest in happen to be doing very well today. Hopefully, they stay about where they are today for tomorrow when I can actually get my shares, but if not, that is okay as I expect both of these stocks to have nice successes in the future.
I wish I actually had a lot more money to invest because there are a ton of stocks that are really priced well, but are low right now because of the market effect on everything over the past few weeks. There are a lot of great deals out there, and I am sure the rich will be getting even richer.
I will continue to grind away at my poker BR. This weekend was another very good weekend for me. I have been playing very well and my results have been very nice. If not for lady luck smiling on my opponents yesterday, it would have been an insane day for me, as it was, it was very, very nice. I need to thank the Seahawks for some of my success, because I normally don't play on Sunday, but since I had some extra time after turning them off in the 4th quarter, I decided to play and did very well.
I wish I actually had a lot more money to invest because there are a ton of stocks that are really priced well, but are low right now because of the market effect on everything over the past few weeks. There are a lot of great deals out there, and I am sure the rich will be getting even richer.
I will continue to grind away at my poker BR. This weekend was another very good weekend for me. I have been playing very well and my results have been very nice. If not for lady luck smiling on my opponents yesterday, it would have been an insane day for me, as it was, it was very, very nice. I need to thank the Seahawks for some of my success, because I normally don't play on Sunday, but since I had some extra time after turning them off in the 4th quarter, I decided to play and did very well.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The Seahawks are the worst
Well, yet one more dismal effort on the part of the Seahawks. It was nice to see Holmgren handcuff the offense so that they were guaranteed to lose by not letting them throw any passes. He must have felt sorry for GB for losing three in a row and wanted to make it easy on their defense. This way they would only have to worry about the run which for the most part they stuffed all day, and then when we have that big break out run there is the phantom holding call, well done officials.
This team appears to have quit, or maybe it is just the coaching staff that is looking to their next job assignments after this year. Somebody might let the Defensive coordinator know that the worst defense in the NFL is not something to put on your job application. The Seahawks give up more points in the 3rd quarter than any other team in the NFL. What exactly are they doing at halftime? Not making any adjustments from the looks of it.
This team is just hopeless. They play with no heart, period. This season is over. In order to overcome adversity you have to play with heart. This team has proven time and time again that it has no heart. This team has proven that it is very soft, unable to win on the road, and now apparently, unable to play with any effort at home, the circle is complete.
This team appears to have quit, or maybe it is just the coaching staff that is looking to their next job assignments after this year. Somebody might let the Defensive coordinator know that the worst defense in the NFL is not something to put on your job application. The Seahawks give up more points in the 3rd quarter than any other team in the NFL. What exactly are they doing at halftime? Not making any adjustments from the looks of it.
This team is just hopeless. They play with no heart, period. This season is over. In order to overcome adversity you have to play with heart. This team has proven time and time again that it has no heart. This team has proven that it is very soft, unable to win on the road, and now apparently, unable to play with any effort at home, the circle is complete.
My best investment
Well, I have been thinking about buying some stocks in some companies that actually are really good companies with 2009 projections well beyond their current stock price, but I am conflicted about this. My other option is to take the money I was going to buy stocks with and instead invest it in my poker bankroll. Yes, my bankroll, specifically my online poker bankroll.
To some of you this may seem like a bad choice. For many, most people I would agree. The reason I can intelligently consider this is due to the fact that historically my best investment of money has been my poker playing. Yes, it is true. I have been playing with other people's money for quite some time now. I withdrew out my own money long, long ago.
Looking at my stats for the entire time I have played poker spanning about 3 years now with one year off, most of 2007, I have had a return on my investment playing 1 table sit and go tournamnets of 4.82% percent, which is not bad at all considering this is over my entire career of playing SNGs, some of which I played poorly early in my career. If you factor in every single tournament I have ever played it drops down to 0.79% percent, which is not great, but that includes Multi-Table tournaments where the variance is quite high. For instance, I have only played 4 $100 buy-in tournaments but my return on investment ROI is a whopping 62.24%. Of course, my bankroll(BR) does not support playing at that level at the moment.
If we focus on the period from 8/1/08 which is when I really started back to playing SNGs again, then you find that I have a ROI of 14.6% playing the level I am currently playing. Most people would take that type of ROI any time.
If I invested in myself I could play 2 levels higher than I currently play, and I could win significantly more when I do win. Coincidentally, this would be playing at the level I was playing at when I took a break from playing for a year. The stocks would be purchased for the long-term, so I would be planning on holding them until I retire which hopefully will be in about 16 years or so, so the gains could be nice given the fact these companies' stock is in the dumper right now. And I could continue to grow my BR and just play until it is the higher level without putting any more money in, which has been what I have usually done.
To some of you this may seem like a bad choice. For many, most people I would agree. The reason I can intelligently consider this is due to the fact that historically my best investment of money has been my poker playing. Yes, it is true. I have been playing with other people's money for quite some time now. I withdrew out my own money long, long ago.
Looking at my stats for the entire time I have played poker spanning about 3 years now with one year off, most of 2007, I have had a return on my investment playing 1 table sit and go tournamnets of 4.82% percent, which is not bad at all considering this is over my entire career of playing SNGs, some of which I played poorly early in my career. If you factor in every single tournament I have ever played it drops down to 0.79% percent, which is not great, but that includes Multi-Table tournaments where the variance is quite high. For instance, I have only played 4 $100 buy-in tournaments but my return on investment ROI is a whopping 62.24%. Of course, my bankroll(BR) does not support playing at that level at the moment.
If we focus on the period from 8/1/08 which is when I really started back to playing SNGs again, then you find that I have a ROI of 14.6% playing the level I am currently playing. Most people would take that type of ROI any time.
If I invested in myself I could play 2 levels higher than I currently play, and I could win significantly more when I do win. Coincidentally, this would be playing at the level I was playing at when I took a break from playing for a year. The stocks would be purchased for the long-term, so I would be planning on holding them until I retire which hopefully will be in about 16 years or so, so the gains could be nice given the fact these companies' stock is in the dumper right now. And I could continue to grow my BR and just play until it is the higher level without putting any more money in, which has been what I have usually done.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Beyond Politics
Yesterday I was in Seattle working and while I was waiting for my next proceeding to start I could over hear one AG(assistant attorney general) talking to a couple of judges about the economy and the upcoming election, and it was just mind blowing. How is it that we can live in a modern society and yet have two groups of people so further apart than liberals and conservatives?
After my job was done I could not resist asking my liberal AG a question or two to really try and learn some things, or at least his perception of what is going to happen if Obama wins the election. It was astonishing what this well-educated lawyer told me. I asked him about Obama's economic plan since that is the hottest topic on the planet right now. I said, what is the center piece of the plan? How is it going to spark the economy?
He told me that Obama was going to re-prioritize spending and then get more regulations in place and lastly the tax on increase for the wealthy, oh, and he talked about legislation that would stop companies from moving jobs overseas. Yes, these are the words that came out of his mouth. I said to him, you do realize that de-regulation was not at the root of this problem today, but the liberal program Community Reinvestment Act which started this ball rolling. He had extolled the virtues of Clinton on the economy and blamed Reagan. Yes, I know, laughable. I asked him how he could just forget the record economic growth we had with Reagan, and then again under Bush after 9/11. His answer? Well, he just moved on to another topic.
I asked him if he thought maybe the Corporate tax rate was too high? His response, not at all. He told me that it had nothing to do with companies moving overseas. I am beginning to realize that the liberal party is seemingly either clueless or in denial. It is hard to tell really. To suggest that companies don't move overseas due to the ridiculous tax rate is just naive.
He then told me that he would never vote for Palin. My response was, you do realize that she is not running for President, right? I then asked him why the left is so infatuated with Sarah Palin. He tried to backtrack and say he wasn't. He then said he would never vote for McCain, which of course he wouldn't. Diehards refuse to recognize the better candidate because they are blinded by party loyalty. I asked him why would you vote for somebody that has done nothing. He said how can I say Obama has done nothing? I said can you tell me one piece of legislation he has his name on? Of course, he switched topics and tried a very lame attempt at demeaning Sen. McCain by saying, well, he finished in the bottom 5 of his class and just crashed planes.
It takes some real ignorance to insult somebody who fought for this country in the war and was a prisoner of war for 5 and a half years while being tortured while you are back here going to college and having a good time. He asked me about President Kennedy and his accomplishments. I said, it was a shame that he was killed before he could do anything, because we will never know if he would have been a good president or not.
This is the amazing thing about Liberals, they live in a dream state. Several times during my discussion with this AG he referred to the past 40 and 50 years in the past to extol the virtues of some past Lib or to compare our Tax rates of today to then and say, that was higher then so what. It was amazing at how loud and excited this man came when trying to defend his position and at the same time minimize my questions, or at times just ignore the point and move to something else.
The last thing he said to me was basically that John McCain would die in the next four years and he was worried that Palin would be president. I asked him why is it the Liberals always look to the negative side of life. It is amazing at how often liberals get excited when things are bad, and yet they are very reserved when things are going well for America. He was still screaming from 20ft away as the door to the office was slowly closing as I walked to the elevator.
I asked him about term limits, because I want everyone, Republicans and Democrats, booted out of office, and he told me we have term limits, it is called the constitution. This is an educated lawyer, and yet he doesn't know the difference between a term limit and a term in office. Only the President has a term limit of two terms. If it is good enough for the highest office, it is good enough for the lower houses. 10 years, that is long enough for anybody to be in office, period. I told my AG friend that people shouldn't be able to go to Washington to get rich. He said to me, with a straight face no less, they don't. This might have been the most laughable thing he said to me. I said, well, how about Biden buying 4 acres of prime lakefront property and building a 7,000 sq.ft. house for only $300k. I said we couldn't do that. Mr. AG said, well, he had friends that have done it. Whatever, sure you do. Maybe they are corrupt as well.
My AG friend discounted or ignored any point that I made. He had no responses for most things I asked him about and tried to give me canned answers instead. We are in a sad spot in this country because people care more about winning than they do what's best for the country, and that is why the US is no longer a great country. People are putting their party and themselves first and the country second.
After my job was done I could not resist asking my liberal AG a question or two to really try and learn some things, or at least his perception of what is going to happen if Obama wins the election. It was astonishing what this well-educated lawyer told me. I asked him about Obama's economic plan since that is the hottest topic on the planet right now. I said, what is the center piece of the plan? How is it going to spark the economy?
He told me that Obama was going to re-prioritize spending and then get more regulations in place and lastly the tax on increase for the wealthy, oh, and he talked about legislation that would stop companies from moving jobs overseas. Yes, these are the words that came out of his mouth. I said to him, you do realize that de-regulation was not at the root of this problem today, but the liberal program Community Reinvestment Act which started this ball rolling. He had extolled the virtues of Clinton on the economy and blamed Reagan. Yes, I know, laughable. I asked him how he could just forget the record economic growth we had with Reagan, and then again under Bush after 9/11. His answer? Well, he just moved on to another topic.
I asked him if he thought maybe the Corporate tax rate was too high? His response, not at all. He told me that it had nothing to do with companies moving overseas. I am beginning to realize that the liberal party is seemingly either clueless or in denial. It is hard to tell really. To suggest that companies don't move overseas due to the ridiculous tax rate is just naive.
He then told me that he would never vote for Palin. My response was, you do realize that she is not running for President, right? I then asked him why the left is so infatuated with Sarah Palin. He tried to backtrack and say he wasn't. He then said he would never vote for McCain, which of course he wouldn't. Diehards refuse to recognize the better candidate because they are blinded by party loyalty. I asked him why would you vote for somebody that has done nothing. He said how can I say Obama has done nothing? I said can you tell me one piece of legislation he has his name on? Of course, he switched topics and tried a very lame attempt at demeaning Sen. McCain by saying, well, he finished in the bottom 5 of his class and just crashed planes.
It takes some real ignorance to insult somebody who fought for this country in the war and was a prisoner of war for 5 and a half years while being tortured while you are back here going to college and having a good time. He asked me about President Kennedy and his accomplishments. I said, it was a shame that he was killed before he could do anything, because we will never know if he would have been a good president or not.
This is the amazing thing about Liberals, they live in a dream state. Several times during my discussion with this AG he referred to the past 40 and 50 years in the past to extol the virtues of some past Lib or to compare our Tax rates of today to then and say, that was higher then so what. It was amazing at how loud and excited this man came when trying to defend his position and at the same time minimize my questions, or at times just ignore the point and move to something else.
The last thing he said to me was basically that John McCain would die in the next four years and he was worried that Palin would be president. I asked him why is it the Liberals always look to the negative side of life. It is amazing at how often liberals get excited when things are bad, and yet they are very reserved when things are going well for America. He was still screaming from 20ft away as the door to the office was slowly closing as I walked to the elevator.
I asked him about term limits, because I want everyone, Republicans and Democrats, booted out of office, and he told me we have term limits, it is called the constitution. This is an educated lawyer, and yet he doesn't know the difference between a term limit and a term in office. Only the President has a term limit of two terms. If it is good enough for the highest office, it is good enough for the lower houses. 10 years, that is long enough for anybody to be in office, period. I told my AG friend that people shouldn't be able to go to Washington to get rich. He said to me, with a straight face no less, they don't. This might have been the most laughable thing he said to me. I said, well, how about Biden buying 4 acres of prime lakefront property and building a 7,000 sq.ft. house for only $300k. I said we couldn't do that. Mr. AG said, well, he had friends that have done it. Whatever, sure you do. Maybe they are corrupt as well.
My AG friend discounted or ignored any point that I made. He had no responses for most things I asked him about and tried to give me canned answers instead. We are in a sad spot in this country because people care more about winning than they do what's best for the country, and that is why the US is no longer a great country. People are putting their party and themselves first and the country second.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
What to do with investments, 401k
What a frustrating time it is to be an American. I hate to even look at my portfolio nowadays. My company recently switched 401k providers and they did it at the worst time possible the middle of September. I know that they planned on doing it for some time, it is just a shame that the new provider cared more about getting the account then advising us to wait it out. So my whole portfolio got sold off, which by that time I has already lost 10%.
Since 9/16 when it was official I have lost another 15%, so in the last two months I have lost 25% of my portfolio. Just a few days ago I had lost about 5% and was thinking of moving it all into my inflation protected bond fund, which had actually gone up a little bit, but I keep hearing in the back of my head when all the experts say don't sell, don't sell. So I didn't, now I have lost another 10% and I am faced with what the heck should I do. I have lost so much that it really is frustrating because it took so long to get what I had and now it is going away everyday, more and more.
I am torn between keeping my dispersments the same as they are now, basically 1/3 to 3 funds. two growth funds and one bond fund so that I can take advantage of the low prices on these other stocks, but then I say to myself is this the best thing to do? Will I have anything left by the time these idiots get down taking all their profits.
And then on top of this I get to worry about how devstating it will be to the markets of Obama wins this election. What a terrible time to be an American.
Since 9/16 when it was official I have lost another 15%, so in the last two months I have lost 25% of my portfolio. Just a few days ago I had lost about 5% and was thinking of moving it all into my inflation protected bond fund, which had actually gone up a little bit, but I keep hearing in the back of my head when all the experts say don't sell, don't sell. So I didn't, now I have lost another 10% and I am faced with what the heck should I do. I have lost so much that it really is frustrating because it took so long to get what I had and now it is going away everyday, more and more.
I am torn between keeping my dispersments the same as they are now, basically 1/3 to 3 funds. two growth funds and one bond fund so that I can take advantage of the low prices on these other stocks, but then I say to myself is this the best thing to do? Will I have anything left by the time these idiots get down taking all their profits.
And then on top of this I get to worry about how devstating it will be to the markets of Obama wins this election. What a terrible time to be an American.
Monday, October 06, 2008
6 out of 10 think depression is coming
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/06/news/economy/depression_poll/index.htm
This poll really does prove the theory that most Americans are ignorant and clueless. To somehow believe that we would have millions homeless and unemployed because of a few banks going under is laughable.
The left has got to be loving stories like these, because they will convince these people that they need to vote for Obama to rescue themselves. What a shame that after they elect their man, this is a real possibility after he engages his assinine economic plan.
This poll really does prove the theory that most Americans are ignorant and clueless. To somehow believe that we would have millions homeless and unemployed because of a few banks going under is laughable.
The left has got to be loving stories like these, because they will convince these people that they need to vote for Obama to rescue themselves. What a shame that after they elect their man, this is a real possibility after he engages his assinine economic plan.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Seahawks, worst team in NFL?
After today's lackluster effort I have to concede that the Seahawks are just a terrible team. It appears that they were still on vacation today. I really don't want to hear how tough it is to fly to he East coast to play a game.
Where to begin with the critique. Let's start with Billy McMullen. That guy needs to be cut tomorrow. He is simply overmatched out there on the field. He runs terrible routes and invites the defender to have a clean shot at any pass thrown to him. He has no clue how to achieve separation or how to run a route. Kerry Colbert, hands of stone.
The secondary today was as usual, terrible. Kelly Jennings might be one of the weakest corners in the league. He is small, and weak. He gets terrible jams on the line of scrimmage and seemingly can't cover anybody. Even when he interferes with a receiver they still catch the ball, because he can't even do that right. I hope he was benched and not just hurt, because it looked like they finally were fed up with him and put Wilson in there, who, in an act of solidarity with Jennings promptly got beat deep.
Julian Peterson was absolutely awful today. As a team leader it was pathetic watching his terrible tackling all day long. Does he really think Jacobs is going to go down just because he hit him? Try wrapping your arms around him next time. The Seahawks are one of the worst tackling teams in the NFL.
Dion Grant, where to begin. This guy constantly was out of position and losing contain on the outside. If he needed to go inside, he went outside. If he should stay outside, he went inside. On one play he was behind a lineback who was already on the outside of the lead blocker and instead of going to the inside where the cutback lane was, he continued to the outside on Hill's hip and got pushed out of the play. He help the lead blocker block him and Hill on the play which went for a big gain. He was out of position all day long. Josh wilson was another guy who gave up big plays because he was out of position.
The Defense had no clue where they were supposed to be. They had no energy, no pressure, no presence on the field. The Giants ran/passed at will. It was one of the most dominating performances ever. The Seahawks were outclassed, outplayed and outcoached. Maybe Holmgren should step down now and let's get the rebuilding started.
Where to begin with the critique. Let's start with Billy McMullen. That guy needs to be cut tomorrow. He is simply overmatched out there on the field. He runs terrible routes and invites the defender to have a clean shot at any pass thrown to him. He has no clue how to achieve separation or how to run a route. Kerry Colbert, hands of stone.
The secondary today was as usual, terrible. Kelly Jennings might be one of the weakest corners in the league. He is small, and weak. He gets terrible jams on the line of scrimmage and seemingly can't cover anybody. Even when he interferes with a receiver they still catch the ball, because he can't even do that right. I hope he was benched and not just hurt, because it looked like they finally were fed up with him and put Wilson in there, who, in an act of solidarity with Jennings promptly got beat deep.
Julian Peterson was absolutely awful today. As a team leader it was pathetic watching his terrible tackling all day long. Does he really think Jacobs is going to go down just because he hit him? Try wrapping your arms around him next time. The Seahawks are one of the worst tackling teams in the NFL.
Dion Grant, where to begin. This guy constantly was out of position and losing contain on the outside. If he needed to go inside, he went outside. If he should stay outside, he went inside. On one play he was behind a lineback who was already on the outside of the lead blocker and instead of going to the inside where the cutback lane was, he continued to the outside on Hill's hip and got pushed out of the play. He help the lead blocker block him and Hill on the play which went for a big gain. He was out of position all day long. Josh wilson was another guy who gave up big plays because he was out of position.
The Defense had no clue where they were supposed to be. They had no energy, no pressure, no presence on the field. The Giants ran/passed at will. It was one of the most dominating performances ever. The Seahawks were outclassed, outplayed and outcoached. Maybe Holmgren should step down now and let's get the rebuilding started.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Show solidarity as Americans
There are fewer than two months until the election, an election that will decide the next President of the United States.
The person elected will be the president of all Americans, not just the Democrats or the Republicans.
To show our solidarity as Americans, let's all get together and show each other our support for the candidate of our choice. It's time that we all joined together, Democrats and Republicans alike.
If you support the policies and character of John McCain,
please drive with your headlights on during the day.
If you support Obama, please drive with your headlights off at night.
Thank you and God Bless
The person elected will be the president of all Americans, not just the Democrats or the Republicans.
To show our solidarity as Americans, let's all get together and show each other our support for the candidate of our choice. It's time that we all joined together, Democrats and Republicans alike.
If you support the policies and character of John McCain,
please drive with your headlights on during the day.
If you support Obama, please drive with your headlights off at night.
Thank you and God Bless
Surprise announcement
Well, Mary and I are pleased to announce that coming this Spring we will be welcoming an additional grandchild to the family. The exact due date has not been given as of yet, but it is looking like around March. The February to May time seems to be when the majority of the grandkids have been born, coincidentally.
This will be our 5th, and I am quite certain that when it is all said and done, it will not even remotely be our last.
This will be our 5th, and I am quite certain that when it is all said and done, it will not even remotely be our last.
VP Debate
Well, one of the big questions heading into the debate was how impartial was Gwen Ifil going to be as the moderator given the fact that she is a huge Obama supporter having written a book on him that is due out on Inaugaration Day. I think that the answer is fairly obvious that she was very biassed allowing Biden to break the debate format rules that were agreed upon by both parties.
You ask how did he break the rules? The format was the question was asked to a party and they had 90 seconds to respond and then there was a 2 minute rebuttal by the other party, then the next question would be posed. Joe Bided was repeatedly allowed to have a second bite at the apple and respond to everything that Sarah Palin said. In debating circles this is incredibly unfair to allow the party that started the round to end the round repeatedly.
This did not happen once or twice, it happened repeatedly throughout the night and Ms. Ifil never stopped Biden from talking. She never asserted any control over the debate when it came to Biden changing the rules. She allowed him to do whatever he wanted to do.
I thought it was really telling that he would answer a question with his canned prepared answers and then Governor Palin would respond to the question, or in many cases, she responded to what Biden said when he didn't answer the question. She was very colorful and herself. You could tell that her answers were pretty much always genuine by the way she answered them, not some canned response. And then there Joe would go on a tirade after she would asnwer piling on negative after negative comment about John McCain. The fact Gwne Ifil as the moderator allowed Biden to do this over and over again shows how incredibly biassed she is and should disqualify her from every moderating another debate again. She is simply unqualified to do the job.
What a shame that she would put her political party affiliation ahead of what is right and compromise her career as a journalist. What a shame that she would rather be partisan then to do the job she was hired to do. Gwen, you are a disgrace to the profession you are in.
On a sidenote CNN had an interesting presentation of the debate having 6 "analysts" grading the debate as it was going on. The point I want to bring up is that Begala, a democratic hack, through the entire time that I was watching CNN, about 45 minutes, never had a negative mark for biden while the others had several negative marks for him. It just goes to show that you can never believe a word out of Begala's mouth because of his over the top bias.
You ask how did he break the rules? The format was the question was asked to a party and they had 90 seconds to respond and then there was a 2 minute rebuttal by the other party, then the next question would be posed. Joe Bided was repeatedly allowed to have a second bite at the apple and respond to everything that Sarah Palin said. In debating circles this is incredibly unfair to allow the party that started the round to end the round repeatedly.
This did not happen once or twice, it happened repeatedly throughout the night and Ms. Ifil never stopped Biden from talking. She never asserted any control over the debate when it came to Biden changing the rules. She allowed him to do whatever he wanted to do.
I thought it was really telling that he would answer a question with his canned prepared answers and then Governor Palin would respond to the question, or in many cases, she responded to what Biden said when he didn't answer the question. She was very colorful and herself. You could tell that her answers were pretty much always genuine by the way she answered them, not some canned response. And then there Joe would go on a tirade after she would asnwer piling on negative after negative comment about John McCain. The fact Gwne Ifil as the moderator allowed Biden to do this over and over again shows how incredibly biassed she is and should disqualify her from every moderating another debate again. She is simply unqualified to do the job.
What a shame that she would put her political party affiliation ahead of what is right and compromise her career as a journalist. What a shame that she would rather be partisan then to do the job she was hired to do. Gwen, you are a disgrace to the profession you are in.
On a sidenote CNN had an interesting presentation of the debate having 6 "analysts" grading the debate as it was going on. The point I want to bring up is that Begala, a democratic hack, through the entire time that I was watching CNN, about 45 minutes, never had a negative mark for biden while the others had several negative marks for him. It just goes to show that you can never believe a word out of Begala's mouth because of his over the top bias.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
What a disgrace
Yesterday as I was driving to Port Angeles I heard on the radio that there was a debate for the Governor's race that night. I was saddened to find out that this was the 3rd debate, which was news to me since I had heard nothing of the two previous debates. After I arrived at my hotel room I started checking the channels at 6:00 p.m. and then 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00 then I gave up.
What a shame that the most important election race in our state is not getting any television coverage for the debates. I asked an attorney today about it and he said it was on Channel 9. This is something of importance and should not be hidden on some PBS station that many people don't ever click onto, and a channel not likely to be in my hotels as they have limited channels to begin with.
What is even worse is that I listen to the radio and watch local channels quite often during the week and I never heard of the first two debates. What a pathetic job of promoting the debates.
What a shame that the most important election race in our state is not getting any television coverage for the debates. I asked an attorney today about it and he said it was on Channel 9. This is something of importance and should not be hidden on some PBS station that many people don't ever click onto, and a channel not likely to be in my hotels as they have limited channels to begin with.
What is even worse is that I listen to the radio and watch local channels quite often during the week and I never heard of the first two debates. What a pathetic job of promoting the debates.
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