Saturday, October 31, 2009

Trading into Monday, Some thoughts about Patterns, Clint Eastwood and The Full Moon

T2108 (and MACD included within) called the turn within one day - 5 to 6 trading days ago - as I related in a post THEN. http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?c=$spxa50r

More on MACD: http://macd-trader.blogspot.com/2007/01/moving-...

More on T2108 - Search T2108 and read from Trader Mike and Dr. Duru

I have been trading - in the past few days - with 3 15 min Bars/Volume... the profits are greater for less $ in... as the $VIX moved up (what?) 25% yesterday -

What are you watching - what are your signals - what are you missing not using Bar Charts w/ Volume of Course if you have increased the value of your trading account by atleast 125% in the past 6 months well then, what you are using is working well - even atleast 60% - less than that - well you have to look at how centered you are in your trading. Winning is about "how you do it" not what you are (bear/bull/fool) like Clint Eastwood in "The Unforgiven" - slow down and make every shot count - listen to the writer questioning him when he "dropped" the room - "Who did you shoot first? Why, then Who?, etc"

Listen to Whohoo - "so if we get to 950 to 960 area dont u guys think we should be balls deep long" 950 - 960 Why, but when the price gets there - what is happening at the moment - that is how you make your decision - don't pull your gun out and pull the trigger at a # - pull the trigger because a "set-up" is present - and only then!

Finally, in more times than not, The Full Moon represents change. Astrologers differ on the Draw of the Full Moon - does it begin 3 to 4 days prior - or does change occur - within hours, minutes. The Markets have made a change starting last week - so...does that continue as the change or will a change occur on Monday.

I believe the White House made a proper decision in "calling out Fox TV" if the tables were reversed... and a program about abortion appeared on another network - the right wing would call out "The Guard" and intimidate the advertisers. It's time to shove their own medicine up their asses.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Nice Hair, Howie!

Friends (and not) of WalMart

Arrogance is an unsightly attitude observed by others. Actually, Arrogance's most closely related sibling is Ignorance. Arrogance and Ignorance are also closely related to the Evanlelistas, the Far Right and Republican Party!

People's attitude toward WalMart Comes to mind. A town in Oregon decided to challenge the challengers.

CORNELIUS,Oregon -- Walmart won't open here for nearly a year, but a few weeks ago, the city manager sent out an enthused e-mail: "I think you can tell all your friends now that they can shop for the Christmas holidays at Walmart Supercenter in 2010!"

Walmart doesn't usually get that kind of greeting from Oregon cities.

In recent years, metro cities from Hillsboro to Gresham have fought -- and defeated -- proposed Walmarts. The superstore drives out local businesses and increases traffic, opponents say. In those cities, anti-Walmart activists rallied in droves. Hundreds showed up at council meetings, protesting until the superstore gave up.

Not so in Cornelius. In the four years since Walmart first announced its interest in building a store there, only one group -- Cornelius First -- has formed to protest. Its ranks were slight, and in 2006, the group disbanded after losing a state land use appeal.

Since then, Walmart's Cornelius plans have sailed through. When construction crews broke ground in early October, no one protested.

The difference, city leaders say, is Cornelius needs it more.

Jobs, community improvement, retail ... what's not to like?

Cornelius calls itself Oregon's family community.

But, City Manager David Waffle says, "All our parents work out of town." The city has the longest daily work commute of any metro city -- 29 miles.

Nearly 75 percent of Cornelius' assessed tax value is residential; that means residents -- through property taxes -- shoulder a larger share than usual of city funding.

Economically speaking, it is a state-certified "severely distressed" city and has one of the highest poverty rates in the metro area.

So when Walmart representatives arrived, promising increased tax revenue, 300 new jobs and millions for street improvements, Cornelius residents rejoiced.

"The mood is pretty fantastic," said City Manager Dave Waffle. "(The town is) very eager."

Waffle said the city does have a few naysayers, but in the past year, hundreds of people have called him to ask, "When is Walmart coming?"

"I get my hair cut across the street from the proposed site," he said, "And when I go in there, they always get excited and ask me about the progress so they can tell all their customers. People come in there asking them when it's coming."

Never mind that two of the city's larger stores are a Fred Meyer and a Grande Foods grocery store.

"That's just good competition, and people deserve to have choices," Waffle said. "Our residents are mostly lower and middle income, and they can really benefit from Walmart's low prices."

Walmart is also a destination, says Jose Orozco, an Intel engineer and a member of Cornelius' planning commission. Orozco writes a blog detailing even the most minute details of Walmart's arrival.

Since starting the blog in February, he's heard from people across the state who say they'd drive long distances to go to a Walmart. Orozco himself often drives 45 minutes to McMinnville to shop at Walmart. The same isn't true, he says, of Fred Meyer stores, which proliferate throughout the metro area.

But, Forest Grove City Manager Michael Sykes adds, "I'm happy for them. They're very excited, and we hope it does bring the positive benefits that they're anticipating."

-- Casey Parks

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Time finally, to move from PC to MAC - Windows XP will not move to Win7


I bought two Apple MacBook Pros this year. The transition from a PC to a Mac is very easy. Only called tech support once. I don't think there is a person in the whole world that after using a Mac for a month, would ever go back to using a PC.

The Mac experience is wonderful. If you have a question, they have tons of staff available to answer any question you might have.

Oh yeah. lets see I bought 5 HP notebooks 3 years ago. How many are actually working today? Only 2, and one of those one had two mother boards replaced. HP's are total POS.

Let's compare some stats. My high powered HP notebook takes like 5 to 6 min to boot up. My Macbook Pro takes 23 seconds. My HP takes minutes to shut down. My Mac 7 seconds even with 10 plus apps open.

My HP will run for maybe 20min on its battery. My Mac will always go 5 to 6 hours and as many as 10 hrs.

My HP will lock up oh on average once every other use. My Mac locked up once in 9 months.

You screw up installing something on a HP, you end up getting out the original backup disks and starting over.

I completely did a no no upgrading to snow leopard, my butter fingers. The Mac recovered flawlessly from me doing a bad thing during the up grade process with no hitch what's so ever.

Buy a PC ever again. Not a chance in hell. Frankly you couldn't even give me one free.
From Greg at The Slope

Monday, October 12, 2009

musings from El Viejo on several of our economies - The Future of the Economy in the USA will probably be discussed in catagories - some down some up


Hard to think in %’s. I think the average $300m home today was thought to be worth $450m by the owners. So they are waiting, some renting, and others are waiting to be processed out (forclosed.) Over the next 3 years the value could go down to $225,000….Then, yes 5% per year increase after that (2012.) How does that sound – from my economic assessment company – I am neither Case nor Shiller. One thing we have learned – those out front pontificating are wrapped up in their own “mechanics” of thought and prejudices. There are still few bargains out there – and there have to be many more – Inventory (supply) of private sellers (many who are putting their properties on and off the market – to avoid “spoilage”) We haven’t even reached the kind of “Pain Point” required to call a bottom…a real bottom unaffected by artificial stimulus (like $8000 for first time buyers) We are now seeing “Absolute” auctions (no price retainage) We will be seeing more – lots more…. The Corporate Builders have yet to face their biggest nightmare (who wants to live in a gated community?) Originally thought to keep the “unfit to own” out of the community – now “it is thought by many” Gated communities are gatherings of refugees – no one wants to live with.
After, what will be a Xmas, of market dumping (from old merchandise packed deep in the warehouses we will see storefronts (strip malls, etc) fold up – Drive in to return a movie to Blockbuster and find the store is empty – commercial property – will be the next “Dong” in this “Ding Dong” fall apart – with another round of major layoffs – who will pay their mortgages, utilities, Taxes, etc… the local governmental economic environment facing a “spending” and collection disaster – RECOVERY? Did I say enough? We are in the eye of the storm – quiet, almost pleasant and reassuring – and the second “things didn’t line up” wave – The need to have everyone have a safety net in Healthcare is ABSOLUTELY necessary – because the healthcare system has to remain viable during “disastrous” times. Why are the markets in “Recovery?” Because everyone wants the “eye of the storm” to continue in peace. The Real Estate Industry’s selling techniques have not changed, The Automobile Dealers haven’t changed either. Credit availability is on Vacation….Earnings Season is the “hope” before the storm – which should continue after earnings season is over….The Republican Party and supporters are acting in “surety” to enhance this failure. It’s going to be a very cold win
ter!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Jackpot
P1010220JackpotP1010218
paul

P1000051

home farm
Thanksgiving 07 The Farm PondThanksgiving 07
On the road
P1010028IMG00062-20090506-1030.jpgHome

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

I read the posts here about "when" I'm too old to have all the technical data that many of you have mastered.

Look - it's simple for me - after the market closes on Tuesday, October 13, Intel will report earnings - and "Talk the Talk" - that will tell me more about where I'm going and the market is going than all the "Talking Heads, and hundreds of subscribed and free guru sites on the Web.

full disclosure:
a full up load of INTC calls January 2012 - deep in the money - runs penny for penny with the stock
Long Term Stock position in PWE Dividend yield 10.81% (stock price $11 in July $15 now)
Long Term CLWR various date calls, in the money
Long Term Calls PALM various dates deep in the money (held and rolled for two years)
Stock Position in UNG since early September - thanks to Tim - still holding.
Long-Term Calls GE deep in the money - not doing much + or -
If GE begins to break-up and keep their Core (which is not consumer, entertainment or financial)
strip that value out and something will happen - GE cannot go forward as a Dinosaur.

My trading account is waiting for the VIX to get off the toilet - closed below 27 today -

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Verizon - unfortunately balks at correcting Mistake

Verizon and RIMM - Rush to Market a year ago with "The Storm" - they have tried to change the programs, etc - but the big problem still remains - probably Hardware - It is "low rated" everywhere by almost everyone. It is being dumped by Verizon at very cheap prices - and... and
RIMM is hurrying out an update - Too BAD for the folks who relied on the manufacturer and Verizon - we all signed 2 year contracts on good faith. At this time the following equipment is "new generation" and high rated - iPhone and the Palm Pre - the rest are 2nd rate. A new and faster Broadband is arriving in 4G - where ATT and Verizon are scurrying to match...but not ready, while there are more than 10 markets (cities) that have 4G w/Clear (who?) Oh, yes, backed by Intel, Google, Sprint and some other deep pockets.

Between my Storm and Broadband Card I am paying more than $150 - for services on October 3, 2009 (today) are last generation and outdated...

The Storm did not come out with planned obsolescence - it came out obsolete! Slow, Sure Type poor keyboard - lots of redundancy - inconsistent - screen providing what was not asked for - some freezes after their corrections - afterall all the updates most of the problems are still present - so they are coming out with a Storm 2 (why - hardware cannot be corrected with updates)

Verizon is stonewalling - and about to lose me after 15+ years.

These are times where we should not accept - profit squeezing at the customer's expense

Good Bye Southwest Airlines (Chase) credit card who watered down the benefits and held their fees - Now I have a Schwab Visa Card and get automatic deposit of 2% monthly for my use

Good Bye General Motors - who failed me in producing a quality $50,000 Diesel Truck

Good Bye Cabelas - who was equal to LLBean - and is now a schlock house

My Dentist - who was patronizing me for profit. The new dentist - is on the right track and as good or better - If you live near Cave Creek - I would on

Good Bye - PC - Microsoft cannot even upgrade XP to Win7 without having you buy Vista - Moving toward Apple Mac - late winter

More to come - Verizon is on the Good Bye Bench - along with 6 other companies I deal with.



Update:

After much correspondence and a phone call Verizon realizes that they are losing a 15 year $30,000 account (for 15 years) while I have a goodbye fee of $175 - It will be interesting to see how a big company loses a long-time customer over a cost to them of about $500 (3 months current bills.) Lets see how a giant company makes micro economic decisions - I also related that I would sign an agreement not to divulge any deal.