Long Days... Time to stop trading?

The last couple of weeks have been harsh to my trading accounts. Mostly, I have been burning the candle at both ends and finding it difficult to eek out time to really track the markets and make good trading decisions. The longer I think about it, the more I think I should stop and really just focus on work. At least there I have a guaranteed return on my time invested.

Camera Megapixels - Finally a good use for them

After this past Christmas' huge focus on consumer electronics, especially things like digital cameras, I had to wonder, do all those megapixels that come with the cameras really great for anything? After all, what photos have you been taking that required such serious megapixel detail?

I finally came upon one good use this weekend. This all started when my little brother, who is in high school, lost his wallet for the second time. Then, I was just worried that he hadn't lost too much cash. After all, what do you really have in your wallet in high school?

But this made me think of my own wallet. It would be far different for me. Cash is the least of my worries, primarily because I usually carry so little of it. However, all the credit, memberships, and insurance cards would be incredibly difficult to replace. I'm not even sure I could list everything in my wallet without looking first.

The problem of course is that I'm lazy. So I decided, hey, I'll take out all the stuff (and crap) in my wallet, line them up, and take a photograph. With the high amount of megapixels my camera has, I can go back and zoom in on each card and grab the numbers off of it if I had to. At the same time, I don't have to spend the time to meticulously catalog each card.

Maybe I didn't save that much time, but still, a great use for your high megapixel camera, and it'll help you in case you lose your wallet.

Compensation Time!

Alright, finally some good news in the midst of a bad market and a streak of bad poker nights: I got my first year-end bonus and it should be a nice boost to the networth.

I was handed about a 10% bonus on my base salary, half in cash and half in restricted stock. Additionally, I received a 4% off-cycle raise.

Not bad all in all, but now I just have to figure out the value of restricted stock to my networth.

Feeling better, but the market isn't

I think I gave the market what I had, and it didn't take it well at all. Oddly enough, most people blamed today's giant drop on a lower than expected ISM Services index, or more accurately, non-manufacturing businesses. However, I don't believe this report was the entire reason the market fell.

I think a larger reason is the rising furor of voices demanding the government NOT bail out bond insurers and let the businesses who made bad loans suffer the consequences. This is very different than last week when a government bailout and possible stimulus package was met with much enthusiasm and applause (along with a rate cut).

However, even without a bailout, this narrowly-scoped issue should not be carrying over to the technology sector, where the high profile hostile bid from Microsoft to Yahoo still sits on the table, and with Google behind the scenes trying to grab its own pieces of Yahoo.

I think tomorrow can be a new day for the markets IF we see no unusual movements in crude inventories and we continue to hear renewed talk about a government bailout.

Pats lose, markets tumble, and I'm sick

Coincidence?

Maybe, but it certainly has been a triple whammy.

Its never fun to have a sure thing turn into an upsetting lose, a week-long bull rally turn into a big red bear bath, and finding yourself requiring sleep 80% of the weekend. And yet, it all happened.

My prediction for tomorrow? The market is going to get better because I'm feeling better.

That's right, no technical, economic, or any remotely intelligent reason why, other than I feel lucky.