John invited a quartet of friends to bring over their instruments, and play chamber music. Once they found their groove, they were quite good. I listened to them all afternoon long, and in to the early evening. They then ran out of the house to frollick on the beach.
The markets were pretty good today, and my spreads went exactly as planned.
Much more to post tomorrow.
Jeff
I had delusions of grandeur before trading today, but didn’t see anything I wanted to do. I was tempted to sell the crap out of the S&P, but that little voice told me to not do it. Instead, I watched my spreads and options do their magic. I found a few other spreads that I’m going to be legging into during the next couple of months. When I put on a spread, I have a certain method I use to pay a little less for the spread…..most good pit traders know this same trick.
I’ve been thinking about that trip to Cafe L’Europe the other night. While I’m glad that john was able to have fun with his girlfriend, he did notice the distant thoughts deep in the recesses of my mind reminiscing about times the three of us would bet dressed up and go eat there. John learned how to properly eat, continental style, at that place. It holds a lot of memories, almost to the level of Pelican Alley, which is the classiest dive in town. Speaking of Pelican Alley, I might stroll over there for a nightcap or 6.
Jeff
I took John and his girlfriend out to Cafe L’europe last night. We had a great time and spent as much money as one could spend in Manhattan. However, the food was exquisite, the atmosphere was romantic, and I let the kids swoon over one another….In other words, I tried to not embarrass John.
We’ll be staying at the Wakulla over in Cocoa Beach in a couple of weeks combining some surfing with a little trading….probbly very little trading. Going over there is real vacation,except that Denise won;t be around spreading her cheer. She’s looking down on us every day, so won;t miss anything.
I have found myself with the interesting manifestation of my grief(and it’s non-stop and never ending). I feel like Denise is watching over all of my moves, and is trying to communicate with me through dreams. Although the scientist in me would scoff at such outrageous claims, I’m still feeling her presence 24/7.
In september, John will be back to school and I’ll be truly alone, left to my books, writing, music, surfing, and trading. Something’s gotta give 
I’m looking forward to the markets tomorrow,as there will be some great trading opportunities available. I can do that now that the waves are flat
Jeff
Jeff
I got up at the crack of dawn, made coffee, and headed out for some small waves. The waves were only knee-thigh high, but I took full advantage of them. I ended up staying out all day long, pausing only to get some water. I blew off lunch, and surfed until 4:30 when I finally got too tired to stay out. This swell has been one of the best summer swells I’ve seen in years, and has provided welcome respite. Sadly, tomorrow the waves will likely be gone, and all I will have is a memory of a good solid week of surfing.
John wants me to take him and a “Friend” out to Cafe L’Europe tonight.
Although I’m a bit tired, I might just take them out for a little dinner. Cafe L’Europe is a great restaurant, and we have very fond memories of the place. It’s also a place where I can get into easily without having a reservation. The cafe is one of those places where you never know who you’ll run into.
My sister finally left to go home, and we are going it alone. It’s tough trying to run a house by yourself, even as small as our place is. I seem to have fallen into a pattern of not picking up after myself, and there’s books and other assorted flotsam and jetsam all over the place. I did give my sister a nice little sketch by Degas when she left. I had it re-framed to go with her own decor, and it will be a pleasant addition to her house.
I’m having trouble believing that the Tampa Bay Rays are still in first place.
Jeff
I snapped this picture inside my favorite restaurant, Pelican Alley, last night. We spent the whole day surfing, and ended up closing out the place. This was taken right before we were leaving. John and I ate a lot of food last night after surfing all day. We ended up surfing all day today, and I missed out on a lot of market action. My spreads kept working, which is the important thing.
Surfing has been my savior as of late, allowing me to think clearly. Since I really don’t have my mental edge 100%, surfing has provided some good relief. Much better than any type of meditation, although my yoga helps considerably. I had an interesting encounter last night at Pelican Alley. I had some charts at the table that I was pouring over, and a guy came over asking what they were. We ended up talking, and I found out that he was a retired CBOT oat trader, and he knew my uncle, and a few of my cousins. Actually, we knew a lot of people in common. We had a good chat, and he told me that he was having a nice vacation, and was looking at this area to buy a house. John and I gave him the good, bad, and ugly talk about this area. After all, as nice as it seems on the surface, our area isn’t all “Palm trees and paradise.”
Tonight, I plan on cranking out some more work on the book. I’m very happy with the progress, and hope it turns out to be a quality read.
In other news, check out:
Woot is a one day, one deal store. They have great deals, and only charge $5.00 shipping. Their customer service is legendary, and they ship the product out FAST. I spend way too much money over there, and have never been unhappy. Case in point: I bought a Phillips 24″ LCD flat screen TV from them for $199+$5.00 S&H. I looked at my history of purchases, and found that I’ve bought over 24 things in the last year. For a guy like me that hates to pay retail, Woot is heaven.
Jeff
Back in 1984, I had a lawyer buddy ask me to put on a couple of trades for him. I opened an account for him with my clearing firm, I talked them into opening an account with just $1,000 in it. Guys who weren’t brokers did this kind of stuff for friends all the time, so my firm didn’t think it was a big deal. He got a good deal on comissions, paying $12 per round trip, which wasn’t bad in those days. I didn’t make a dime off the account and was just doing a friend a favor. I remember the first trade was for a couple of wheat options, where he made a few hundred dollars. I started trading 10,000 bushels(2 contracts) of wheat for him capturing several cents a week, net. We went for the base hits, and low risk trades. I ran his account for 3+ years and he ended up with $46,000 in the account(after taxes). He wanted to trade bigger size(at that time we were putting on 25,000 bushel(5 contracts), which I disagreed, but eventually went along with. One morning, he asked me what I thought the market was going to do. The cash market was very firm, and I thought that wheat was going to rally(the whole floor had been bullish for a couple of weeks). He told me that he wanted to buy 100,000 bushels(20 contracts) at the open. I objected, but he demanded that I get it down. Needless to say, the market opened 12 cents higher, and closed down a dime. I talked to him on the phone when the market was at the lowest, and he was pissed, telling me to sell. We sold the wheat at the very bottom tick of the day. His account lost over $20,000 in a day. Nevermind the fact that he started with $1000, he was really pissed at me for “Losing his money.”. I told him that I preferred not to trade any more for him, and had the clearing firm cut him a check for the balance. To the best of my memory, the check was for $24,000 and change. We didn’t speak after that. Several weeks later, the exchange started an investigation of me for acting as a broker(I was never a broker or dealer, just a local trader). Since most locals ”helped” our friends, I didn’t think that it would be a big deal, but the exchange was being prodded by the CFTC, with whom he also lodged a complaint. I ended up getting suspended by the exchange for 30 days, and fined $5,000 from them. I was OK with that, and took my lumps like a man. When my ex-friend dragged me into Civil court, my lawyer advised me to cover his “losses,” which I eventually did as a settlement. This expensive lesson made me realize that I should never, ever do anybody a favor when it comes to trading. I made the guy an enormous return on his money, and he sued the crap out of me when he lost half. He was still $23,000 richer than when we started. I did him a big favor, made him a whole lot of money, and still got fucked.
This is why I don’t trade other people’s money.
Jeff
I’ve been spending a lot of time surfing these past few days, and have neglected everything else. Well,almost everything. Last week, I bought FRE and FNM at fire sale prices. My rationale, (and it wasn’t a gamble), was that while the rumors of them going belly up were all over the place, I looked at their paper and the spread with treasuries hadn’t widened a whole lot. Since I figured that the bond market was yawning at the whole thing, I figured that it would be a good time to buy their stock. You know, the old saying, ”Buy when there’s blood in the street, sell when the trumpets are blowing” Today, I got in from surfing, and while the trumpets weren’t blowing, sold both stocks at the opening. I know it’s probably premature to blow out a stock that doubles or triples in a week, but I saw a lot of money on the table and took it.
We have a good company here in Sarasota called Sun Hydraulics(SNHY) that’s known for making quality products. A local group of investors that I know want to start messing around with the stock, and invited me aboard to handle the logistics. I respectfully declined, as I don’t really do the stock manipulation thing, and wouldn’t want to bear the wrath of the SEC anyways. Plus, I don’t work for investors, having learned that lesson the hard way. I should probably tell the story of the one investor (friend) I helped, made him a ton of money in three years, and ended up in a lawsuit where I ended up losing, suspended from the exchange for 30 days and paying a large fine from the CFTC. I don’t do investors. I’ll tell that story another time.
Enough for this lunch time post, as I hear the siren call of the waves. The surf has been really, really good for a week. John has been hitting the waves pretty hard also. We’ve enjoyed surfing together, and have matching sunburns to boot.
We’re going over to Cocoa Beach in two weeks, for a couple of weeks vacation. The place has been rented, and I’m pretty stoked. I’ve been having a wild hair for awhile to go buy a shack on the beach over there for awhile, and might look while we’re over there. The neighborhoods at the beach over there(south side) haven’t been gentrified like ours have, and most of the houses are from the late 50’s early 60’s. It’s a kind of trashed out neighborhood, but then again, I don’t mind trashed out.
I wrote a piece the other day over at Daily Speculations(which is on my blogroll to the right), about misleading surf reports, which is pretty interesting. You ought to check out my blurb. I called our local surf shop and they were calling the waves 1′. The reality is that it’s 4-6′ and glassy ground swell, pretty epic conditions. I’ll probably spend the rest of the afternoon hitting the waves. I’ll probably spend tonight nursing a sunburn, and working on my book.
Speaking of my book, I’ve selected iUniverse as my self publisher. It was recommended to me from some friends who know those kind of things. I will be giving away a number of copies.
I’m getting the art itch again.
Jeff
Today, I respected my rule that 6′ waves win out over trading. That hurricane in the gulf is sending a groundswell in our direction, and I just had to be on it. I put stops all over the place, forgot the markets, and surfed all day. The waves were just sooooo good. I haven’t seen a decent groundswell in awhile, and it was nice to be all over it. I surfed for at least 6-7 hours, and John joined me for about 3 hours. It was pretty good, and I brought out a longboard, and my i-Pod. I listened to some jazz, and rode some serious waves, with a few of my friends. We surfed until our arms became noodles, then sat in the parking lot of the jetty, talking story. There were minimal crowds, the air temp was 90 and the water was 88 degrees. The water gets hot in the gulf, and there was no cooling refreshment. However, the great waves made the lack of refreshment worth it. Now, I’m chilling, nursing a sunburn that has gotten worse, and am going to soak in the cool tub. I might go out later tonight for a midnite swim. I might take John over to a friend’s house, and have a few beers…..I just don’t know.
My sister is moving back to her house, telling me her job here is done. I’m gonna miss her.
There is some more art on the horizon.
Jeff
I spent the entire weekend surfing. The waves were about waist high, and lots of fun. I ended up getting way too much sun, and am now nursing a sunburn. The waterproof container for the i-Pod has really changed my life. Music and surfing go together, and hearing music while flying down the line is an exhilirating experience.
Check out a cool accessory here:
Trading didn’t go very well today, as my positions stayed in red ink all day.
I have a couple of interesting set-ups planned if my targets are confirmed.
Jeff
