My other half may just start contributing to this blog!

My "other half" has a lot of responsibilities and with that comes a lot of experiences.  I have been trying to get her to contribute to this blog and she just may start doing that in the near future.

I think some of the things she would write about is homeschooling our kids, cooking, crafts, and music.  I am sure there are tons (well maybe many) other things she could write about.

I think we could collaborate on some projects such as her writing about different recipes she has tried while I take pictures of the process and the end result.

Stay tuned...

Photo Blog has been launched!

Just in case any one is interested, I launched a photo blog which can be found here: http://leftyphotoblog.blogspot.com/

It has been around for over a month, but I finally started to upload some pictures.  If you see the first post, I had been mulling over what should be the "first" post to get things started.  In the end, I was just fighting internally with myself and not able to get the project started.

Check them out and hopefully you will find something you enjoy!

Stock markets are trading in a very tight range

Not sure where things are headed at this point.  A very tight range is now appearing which means it typically could break in either direction (hopefully up).

As a side note, I only held my long position for a short time and locked in my profits.  No complaints.

Suze Orman's advice from tonight

I know that a lot of people don't like her, but Suze Orman was on the late night Channel 7 news program.  Here's some of her advice:

• If you carry a balance, opt out for a store credit card or a credit union credit card ONLY if the interest rate is cheaper.  Just remember to try and not carry a balance.
• Avoid promotions.  Make a list and don't buy or spend more than you planned "just because" it was a deal.
• Sometimes you can afford it.
• Define the things around you instead of having the things define you.

You can buy some of her books and other products at: Amazon.com's Suze Orman Products

Looks like the DJIA is setting a base for a 400-point move

Just looking ahead...  It looks like the Dow Jones Industrial Average is setting a base to make a potential move.  Sure it may have a little more consolidation in the next day or so, but if everything continues as it has been, we could be around 10,750 in the next 10 trading days.  Call it an early January effect, a Santa Claus rally or what not.  Maybe it will be part of the $10 trillion sitting on the sidelines that I addressed in this earlier post.

At this point I think the risk and reward is leaning toward accumulating positions and increasing holdings.

Disclaimer:  I have a position where I benefit if the Dow Jones Industrial average increases in value.

Save $10 off a purchase of $25 or more at JCP.com

For a single purchase of $25 or more at JCP.com (JC Penney), you can save $10 by using your MasterCard for the purchase. This is not as nice as the TRIM10 Coupon Code that I posted earlier.

I haven't tried it myself, but received a mailer.  The purchase must be made between December 7, 2009 and December 24, 2009.  The Coupon Code to use at checkout is FROST25.

Free frequent flier miles (or other stuff) ?

Now I guess I missed this opportunity.  The US Mint was lots of 250 $1 coins with free shipping.  The story goes that some people racked up to $800,000 in coins which were all promptly taken to the bank and deposited and then used to pay off the credit card.  This amounts to 800,000 miles.

I would have used it to get $8,000 in rewards of some other sort (like money).

Click here for the story on WSJ.com

Baby Hammocks are recalled by CPSC

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall of Baby Hammocks made by Amby Baby based out of Minnesota.

Click here for more details.

Save $10 on a $10 or greater purchase at JCP.com

For a single purchase of $10 or more at JCP.com (JC Penney), you can save $10 by using your MasterCard for the purchase.

I haven't tried it myself, but received a mailer today.  The purchase must be made between December 7, 2009 and December 24, 2009.  The Coupon Code to use at checkout is TRIM10.

Exited my Gold Position

In this previous post, I reported that Gold was overbought and that I had a position where I would benefit from a fall in gold prices.

Here is an update on my risk and reward estimate.  I have exited the position since the price has dropped about $6.50 based on GLD and about $65.00 on the spot price.  My initial target was a support of $108 for GLD or about $1,080 for the spot price.  At this time I am not ready to risk about $6.50 in profit to wait for another $3 or $4 to develop.

I expect prices to fluctuate for the next two weeks in the range of $108 and $113.  I would not be a buyer at this time unless it fell below $108.

New iMac quad-core machines better than current Mac Pro?

Apple posted a link to this article by MacWorld.  In their tests, the new iMac quad-core machines with the i5 or the i7 processors are better than either the current Mac Pro with the entry-level quad-core or the 8-core machines.  The obvious question will be "When will Apple upgrade the Mac Pro entry-level processors?"  That would seem to be the next logical step from a product line perspective.

From a cost vs. benefit and performance vs. space issue, spending this kind of money is an individual decision, but in round numbers, you could get two 27" iMacs for the price of one Mac Pro with a 30" display.  This is based on not paying for any RAID configurations and extra drives on the Mac Pro.    Add those features and you could easily increase the ratio of three iMacs to one Mac Pro (or more than three). The iMac is a lot less cluttering to any work space whether this is your home office or a business.

The 27" iMac display is the same width as the Apple 30" display at 2560 pixels, but a little shorter at 1440 vs. 1600 pixels.

To view the graphic that shows the processor comparison, click here.

For the complete review click here.

Gold appears to be the most overbought in 2 years

For at last the short term, Gold as represented by the SPDR Gold Shares ETF trading symbol GLD appears to be overbought.  Even when you look at the 5 year chart it is just about as overbought as possible. 

There is this report that Billionaire investor John Paulson (known as the "other" Paulson) is taking long positions in mining companies and the metal.  This in addition to recent positions in several large banking stocks.  Click here for the video.  This is the investor who actually started placing investments against the housing market in 2006 and made about $20 billion for his hedge fund.  He personally profited about $6 billion to his benefit.

If there is a short-term correction, I would expect support to be around $108 at the time of this post.

Disclaimer:  I hold a small position where I would benefit from a lower price of Gold.