Bonus Content


Oh, also found more geography trivia (or is this a different 'y' ... oceanography? marine biology?? )

It reminded me a bit of Finding Dory lol

Gosh, 2+2's so quiet, feel like posting more silly stuff just so there'll be something fresh to read!


Was feeling kind of bummed at not seeing anything photo worthy on my mini-jog today, but bumped into a neighbour on the way home who's a real chatterbox. So as she was talking and talking the sun started to go down, and wound up having the chance to take a photo of something after all.

The photo course also sends daily email tips, and one of them was to point the iphone camera at the light to take pictures of things in silhouette. Have walked by this spot a gazillion times, even at sunset, and the scenery makes Costco look exciting because it's nothing special whatsoever So it was pretty startling to see notice such a pretty sunset peering through the trees today?

And then saw this youtube clip of a bunch of creatures that live way down at the bottom of the ocean - some pretty unusual stuff!

Guess will try to do my 1st Quarter review tomorrow after Survivor - the results are still coming along fine, but have made a lot of mistakes this month, so that felt really meh when there was $ on the line Some people in the Investing section of 2+2 were offering tips to someone who had a friend who was going to be starting investing (for a hedge fund), and they were all emphasizing that mistakes are unavoidable ... so guess mistakes are part of the learning process, and hopefully will learn from them and ... go on to make new ones? Guess things can't be going too bad if have not gone busto just yet

Anyways, guess that's it for today ... zzz .....

Gosh, used to do updates on a daily basis, so there was room to go into lots of detail. But since there hasn't been an update in about a month and a half, am really struggling with how to put together an update that summarizes a whole month and a half


So hard to be concise


PS. Some pics from a local park from today

These two were so cute together, enjoying a little fresh air after dinner

You know what can be nice about living in Canada ... sometimes there's so little 'serious' happening, that the evening news will cover stuff like lost cat stories just so they'll have something to fill the hour:



California family's missing cat 'BooBoo' found in Guelph, Ont.

Gosh, looks like this 1Q review is turning into a 2 day event! And that's with trying to be concise!




Will have to pick up tomorrow - still lots more to write

Just when it looked like Spring was about here ... it started to snow again! So no jogging and photos today - instead:

(Getting going on the review now )

First Quarter Results - so how are things going?


Guess this thread starts off wondering if it might be possible to invest from home and get returns higher than the market, using only the resources available on the internet? And since it's only been 3 months, maybe trying to answer that question might be like trying to figure out how poker is going after only about 5k hands - just too soon to tell?

Maybe 3 months has been long enough to have noticed a couple of things though? Some early observations:

1. When was first starting out with poker, made every mistake new players are warned not to make - now the same thing's happening with investing

Did everybody start out doing these things, or was it just fishy Sam?

• played too loose
• chased draws without getting odds
• made curiosity calls on the river, even though it seemed obvious was beat
• played bingo, rather than consider what the other players at the table might be up to
• went on a heater and then moved up stakes too quickly and wound up playing sharks
• tilted and spewed off my stack rather than regroup and be patient
• etc

Maybe some lessons are just meant to be learned the hard way? Here's some of my mistakes from my new hobby

• invested a bit too much on risky investments, more than once (too loose)
• keep buying impulsively on days when the market is up, hoping to catch a 'heater', only to find that it's variance and the price drops the next day or the day after, which is chipping away at my returns (chasing)
• started to veer away from relying on earnings, hoping to make bigger returns on riskier more complicated stuff ... (playing bingo)
• ... where the pros all hang out (eek)
• continue to focus on too short a time frame of highs and lows, rather than just wait for the price to calm down and reflect earnings (impatient)
• etc

2. Tax-free Accounts Are Like Promos for Fish - it's like not having to pay rake

What a huge gift from the government to be able to make trades tax free. In addition to not having to 'pay rake', guess these tax free accounts give beginners a cushion to make all those mistakes that we'll tend to make - like buying and selling too often?

Also, guess it offers recreationals a chance to get nervous and sell everything and sit on the sidelines. And then calm down and buy back in the next day? And then sell everything again two weeks after that?

3. The Pros May Be Playing a Bit of a Different Game - like 100nl with higher rake and more sharks?

Some stuff that may be different for hedge funds (?)

• guess when trying to beat the market, they have to beat the rake (taxes), AND the fees they charge for their services as well?
• as a business, guess they have to offer customers something different from what they could do at home - like if they were to just buy and hold Amazon, maybe people would just copy them instead of paying their fees to have them do it?
• So guess they *have* to do more complicated stuff, along with all the other pros - like value invest, short-sell, or trade stuff like options?

Results

So here's my RRSP and TFSA gains for the year-to-date - have stuck mostly to growth investing, looking for earnings estimates that seemed reliable. And was fortunate to have run-good from the economy, and the chance to trade tax free. But also made lots of mistakes - like buying high and selling low quite a few times ... and invested in gold twice and lost money both times! Looks like the market's up 5% for the year, but these graphs are a bit deceptive, because March wasn't super great because a lot of things were flat.


RRSP

TFSA

Margin Account (the drop should be over the whole month so the shape is a little off, but the number is accurate)


This next graph is maybe the more interesting one, because it's got the *really* big mistakes Tried short-selling SNAP, which can't be done in a tax-free account. It's supposed to be really risky, guess because stocks can have a tendency to go up instead of down? And there's no cap to how high stocks can rise. And in addition to that, there's a 5% charge for 'borrowing' shares from the bank.

On top of that, was really late getting the account set up - and then it took an extra couple of days once the paperwork got submitted, so the price had already dropped below the IPO price. And then, didn't realize that the investment banks that do the IPO for companies can't offer a valuation for 25 days - so the valuations was relying on were much lower than the ones that just recently came out

Thank goodness the $ amount is only a fraction of my growth investments. But it totally sucks to be stuck with this holding, rather than having the money free to invest in something else. And even if it does wind up going into the plus - will have to pay capital gains on it! Which'll likely leave me with practically nothing!!

So this really sucks

Guess will post this and continue in a fresh post, in case my internet disconnects and the post gets lost or something

Plan for the Next Quarter (April to June)


Guess one of the reason was so eager to try out new things in March was because the market was so flat. But after hardly anything went well, except a tiny bit invested in MBLY, it feels like it was a really huge mistake to veer away from growth investing and relying on earnings estimates to buy shares of quality companies with a strong chance of growing steadily over the long-term. Maybe the hedge funds wish they could have my tax breaks, and could just park all their $ in Amazon and people would still be willing to invest in their funds? And then on the other hand, maybe they have extra programs and databases to help them gain an edge on the more complicated stuff, in addition to having more knowledge and experience because they're pros?

So this next quarter, am just going to stay in my lane and try to trust that it's enough, and that things will hopefully go okay?

If the Market is in an Upswing

Will try to stick with growth investing - it looks like ULTA may reach $300 by the end of June - guess would that still be 4-5% after today? And FB may reach about $146?

If the Market is Flat

Looks like it did more harm than good to just sit and do nothing So will have to try my hardest to just sit and wait for things to start going in an upward direction again, if the market start to stall?

If the Market Goes on a Downturn

Have been trying to prepare for a downturn - especially after experiencing a 15% drop in my Margin Account , but am not totally sure what to do, or if it's enough?

Guess have been trying to study past downturns, to try to find all the conditions that may tend to be present when one's about to happen - like inflation that's around at least 4%, and some sector that may be in a bubble?

Also maybe the repeal of banking and energy regulations may be a factor, so have been trying to keep track of anything that Trump may be changing?

It's nice to have almost everything in tax-free accounts so will be able to sell any time things may start looking a bit dicey, and will only have to pay the $9.99 transaction fee (but no tax). Guess there's a danger of selling and sitting on the sidelines for too long as well, if the market is just taking a rest and starts up again, and wind up missing the upturn.

Just noticed how much my RRSP has gained in about a year and a half - just lucked into buying Amazon last year, and then totally forgot about it, and got super lucky to have them have a good year. Guess if the market continues to stay hot, then maybe more important to err on the side of keeping things in the market rather than out (but only because it's a tax-free account where it'll be possible to sell at any time)?

So will have to see what happens - really hope the market doesn't crash any time soon! And hopefully will be able to resist the fish spew!!

GL me!

Sunday Funday


Lots of tricky spots today with my various hobbies, where Sam didn't know what to do


Poker

Freerolls can be such a nice place to get lots of practice - such a shame the poker sites aren't into giving away free money as much these days There's one going on now though with some Spin & Go tickets as prizes, and just got into this spot:

Here had both villains tagged as being fairly straightforward - but only had 5bbs ... would it have been better to fold? Or was this likely going to be the best spot??

PokerStars - 150/300 Ante 25 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Chrischi1083 (MP): 3.25 BB
alak10 (MP+1): 18.87 BB (VPIP: 21.43, PFR: 18.52, 3Bet Preflop: 18.18, Hands: 28)
motorolaMEX (MP+2): 3.33 BB
xin_di fu (CO): 9.24 BB
Jon7Snow (BTN): 11.42 BB
TrustySam (SB): 5.41 BB
ariellybp (BB): 8.6 BB
claiton*sant (UTG): 10.16 BB (VPIP: 27.78, PFR: 25.00, 3Bet Preflop: 33.33, Hands: 18)
KILATON177 (UTG+1): 27.62 BB

9 players post ante of 0.08 BB, TrustySam posts SB 0.5 BB, ariellybp posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.25 BB) TrustySam has A Q

claiton*sant raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, alak10 raises to 18.79 BB and is all-in, fold, fold, fold, TrustySam calls 4.82 BB and is all-in, fold, fold

Flop: (14.4 BB, 2 players) 3 9 8

Turn: (14.4 BB, 2 players) 4

River: (14.4 BB, 2 players) K

Spoiler:

TrustySam shows A Q (High Card, Ace)
(Pre 30%, Flop 48%, Turn 27%)
alak10 shows A K (One Pair, Kings)
(Pre 70%, Flop 52%, Turn 73%)
alak10 wins 14.4 BB

Maybe my biggest mistake was letting my stack get so short in the first place, which left me with so few options? Am trying so hard to de-nit, but guess it's been taking some time

Photo Lessons

After flying down South for the Winter, all the geese come back home in the Spring ... perhaps to make sure they maintain their OHIP coverage? So have been seeing lots everywhere - and they're so striking! It feels like photos of them ought to take care of themselves? So how am i managing to screw these up??

The photo course has been so great so far - am still on Lesson 1, and have learned so much already! Am worried my non-talent may be too great a hurdle for even the classes to overcome though lol. Was looking ahead to see what other topics are covered, and it looks like Lesson 3 covers subject matter and composition, and stuff like that? So will maybe try to move onto the next lesson this week, and see if any of the new material makes a difference?

Amazon Prime

Tried subscribing to another Twitch channel today, but it wouldn't let me. It said we get one a month - guess is it only one at a time as well, or was my button not working?

Guess can try again next week, or may just have to wait until the end of the month ...


One other fun perk of Prime - just noticed that the movies on the US site work when the Hola app's turned on, although the movies are a couple of years old. Saw a couple of those poker movies available that were mentioned in NVG, that people were giving about a 3/5, like Mississippi Grind? And there's this Will Ferrell comedy

Hope the weather's not as rainy this week as it's supposed to be?

Hopefully it'll start raining soon, so will have a valid excuse to not go jogging today lol

yawn!

Pic of my jogging route today - time to get started on the next photo lesson lol ...

Guess it turned out better than these geese - oh well, surely the new tips from the course will help, so will get going now

Girl Guide/Scout Cookies - with Sales Tips from their Top Sellers


Am not much of a sweets person, but since these only go on sale once a year, will have to pick up a box while they're available!

Looks like the big selling week in the US might have been last weekend? But maybe there might be some to be found on their cookie locator app?

Sales Tips


Used to be a Brownie when was little, but guess my local troop saw get-togethers as more of a place to have fun than a place to teach us new skills and stuff like that? Usually we'd just do recreational stuff like play games and make crafts, or look at the birds and and the stars outside.

So that was pretty fun, because it was everybody from school without any of the homework Although it might have been interesting if they'd encouraged us to try out new things to earn different badges? Mostly everybody pretty much just stuck to their comfort zone - so just stuck with badges like the pet, math and reading ones ...

Maybe should have given the dance one a try, just for kicks? And it might have been neat to learn more about cookie sales - oh well, guess better late than never ... wound up learning a lot from these kids!

Played a $0.50 turbo on 888 tonight, in case they're one of those sites that charges fees or penalties for anyone who doesn't play after 6 months? Will probably play a $0.20 turbo on Party tomorrow and get those both out of the way

Thank you so much for making the edit Mike Haven - usually try really hard to have everything set before pressing the post button, so there will be enough time to make edits before the post becomes permanent.

Will have to try to be extra careful with future posts, so will not have to ask the mods for help, when you must have better things to do with your time!

Thanks!

Hard to believe, but am *still* in the hole with SNAP, even after today

The hole's gotten much less deep, but am still in the hole


Am also still fishing it up with the buying high - must work on this! Guess there's *lots* of room for improvement, so hopefully it shouldn't be so hard to make at least a little progress



The weather reports say it's not going to rain until around 8pm? So hopefully have time to squeeze in a jog?

Watched the lesson on composition a couple of days ago - then was trying so hard to find scenes today that would fit into the 'rule of thirds' tic-tac-toe square, wound up screwing up the lighting ... possibly the composition as well

Luckily the lesson on lighting is next But it's supposed to rain tomorrow - so will maybe have to play that $0.25 tourney on Party tomorrow instead? Forgot to do it today - oh well, will do it tomorrow

oh boy


Have to go out to No Frills to pick up some lettuce and a couple of apples, mandarins, and bananas ... also maybe some yogurt? Always lots of great deals to be had there - not sure there'll be too many photo opportunities though

oh well ...

E-Trip to Visit the photos on the National Geographic Site


Since have been taking photos lessons, visiting the National Geographic site sort of felt like it did back in school when there was a class trip to go see the dinosaur bones at the museum or something ... guess it was nice to visit somewhere special and get a break from daily lessons to go see some cool stuff


Was hoping to spot some of the stuff have been learning about from the lessons, like the 'rule of thirds' grid that's supposed to help make photos look a bit more interesting?

The sailboat on the left looks like my geese photo

So many spectacular photos of spectacular sights on the National Geographic site - guess photographers must really have to go the extra mile sometimes to get an interesting shot? Not sure how they managed to get some of these?? But it was kind of neat to see them sticking to the rule of thirds - maybe it's as much of a staple of photography as playing tight is to poker?

Mecca

Switzerland

New Hampshire

My photos are going to look especially bad compared to these Kind of a hard act to follow Guess will just have to see what will be able to find around my neck of the woods, and hopefully there will still be some nice stuff to practice on - the weather's supposed to be really nice this weekend ... can't wait!

After pouring rain all day yesterday, woke up to see fresh snow on the grass this morning - and now it's sunny out ... what a turnaround!




April's one of my favourite months - with the longer days and warmer weather, and the chance to do more outdoors. And then all the pretty daffodils and tulips start blooming, along with the cherry blossom trees. Maybe some of the farmers markets may even start opening up soon?

Still kind of chilly out, but guess we're getting there ...

Maybe was supposed to wait another half hour for the sun to get into the 'rule of thirds' grid? But compared to the stuff have been able to find during the week just puttering around the neighborhood, guess this subject matter is probably a huge upgrade?

This picture practically took itself - so that was a nice change

The parks should look a lot prettier once the leaves start sprouting - not too much longer probably


PS. Do the boards seem super quiet these days? Hopefully that means everybody's been finding lots of interesting things to do, in addition to poker

Can you take this picture so that the details of the building are visible? Basically can you set the object against the light somehow? I spontaneously think "no", but am not sure.

A visitor! Hello friend!!


Hey, what a great idea to double-check the lighting - was so excited to have something more interesting to take a picture of today, didn't even do any editing of the photo

Have been using a free photo editor called 'PhotoScape' that's available on Cnet - there may be even better ones, but this one already does a lot of things ... was able to lighten up the photo quite a bit, and get the details of the buildings to show:

What a difference the editing makes! Thanks so much for stopping by to ask about the lighting, because it looks so much better now ... much more like it did in person


Are you into photography, or any other sorts of artistic things? Have really enjoyed doing crafts in the winter time when there's not as much to do at night indoors - but most of my stuff have been copycats of stuff have found on pinterest with step by step instructions on how to make something that's shown in the picture. Like here's something have saved for a rainy day project:

Poker's gotten so hard, am always looking for other stuff to do these days

Thanks for stopping by!!

I never did a photo course, but I do try experiment myself a little bit with my camera. And you can change so much in the picture through different lighting or through deviating from default by aperture, or time, or focus. Nowdays with smartphones people often don't even know that such things exist .

So I am definitely interested in your posts about photography.

And I do also a lot of smaller crafting. I don't know..... It is somehow meditative, it is a nice to be able to create something with my hands and it also appeals to my frugal side. And I mean comparing with poker....... Poker is everything else but definitely not meditative
So posts with crafting projects

Yes, it sure is nice to be able to make/cook/create something nice - and then it sure is a plus to be able to do it cheaper and have it turn out better than anything that's available at the stores


Sometimes things wind up being more expensive and worse than what's available at the stores, leaving me wishing had just gone out and bought the thing instead Guess sometimes it's still fun to try though


Looks like should be able to make this shopping bag for $0.99 ...

Maybe be a nice change from this?

So beautiful out today!!

Someone at the beach was feeding the birds, and they got so excited. Maybe the key to taking better photos of birds is being willing to share a snack with the 'talent'?

It feels like this turned out better than the photo of the geese? Not sure if everything's lined up in the right spots, or if the lighting's ideal, and stuff like that though - the weather's been so beautiful the last couple of days, haven't had a chance to keep up with lessons.

Guess maybe there'll be a chance to catch up this week?

So pretty out! Am heading out the door now ...