My only piece of news for today

Will have to get going on my lithium mining stock research tomorrow - am hoping that'll be my cash cow for the next couple of years? And the price seems to keep going up instead of down - guess unveilings of new tech products maybe help fuel demand? Looks like at least one person who was able to give it a try seemed to be excited about the new phone

Will get started on that tomorrow

Yea days are definitely getting longer but still in the midst of the season changeover, so just have to remember which board to put in the car each day! On Monday I was down in the snow at -5C and then today's the first real warm day back at home and it's 32C.

If you check out Funny People I hope you enjoy it. I know you curse a fair bit yourself (fiddlesticks, fudge etc) but I must warn you it has some pretty strong language. I wouldn't normally recommend a film with both Seth Rogan and Jonah Hill in as I don't generally enjoy their full-on crude material, and even tho it has a touch of that I think it's well paired with the rest of the stuff going on. It's def not your typical AS movie, I think a bit more mature than his usual fare and there's a great cameo from Eric Bana as the Aussie husband. It's not for everyone tho as you may have seen from any reviews you've checked out. I really like it. But then I sometimes like movies just due to the time I saw it or who I was with etc, so who knows.
I gotta agree with dear SA too and say Netflix is a good investment if you like watching telly. The 2 series he mentioned are well worth a monthly subscription at the very least and I'm sure once you get into it you'll find a tonne more to get stuck into

Oh goodness, well if there's lots of swearing then yes, should definitely feel right at home LOL


They've been talking more about Netflix in the PokerGo thread - guess if it's possible to download shows and watch them offline, a free trial should be a massive deal, with several years of original content to available to check out.

Even went to their website today to check out their different payment plans - wonder how popular their payment plan with the 4 shows at once is? Maybe especially popular with poker players who multi-table? Have always had trouble watching more than 1 of anything at the same time though, so will have to wait for the PokerMasters to be over before signing up

Should be fun checking out a whole bunch of new shows! Thanks for the recommendation ScreaminAsian, marke.!!

It feels like maybe a video detailing the process of creating purple designer clothes might not tend to wind up with a ton of views from the average poker player? Have always enjoyed artistic stuff though, even though am not artistic myself - so really liked this vid with the designer of the purple jacket describing his creative process!

The jacket didn't seem to turn out very purple though?

Heading outside now - looking forward to the PokerMasters later tonight!!

Portfolio Update


Did something a little bit degen today - wasn't going to short-sell any more, because my e-mentor Warren Buffett says it's foolish to try and time the market. Wwill also have to pay interest to borrow the shares, and tax on any gains ...

But couldn't resist!


New Short-Sale: Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC)

Here's my short ...

Guess there was this news a couple of days ago, about China possibly making plans to ban Bitcoin exchanges?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...htens-controls

Although, guess if China were to announce tomorrow that their statements were misunderstood and everything's okay, will be in trouble!!

Price Estimates (?)

Looks like the article says that 23% of Bitcoin trades are in China - guess if the price of Bitcoin was $4,600 when the news hit the internet about exchanges possibly closing, and the market might contract as much as something like 23% ... would the price be expected to drop down to maybe as low as something like $3,600 at the most?

Maybe a bit more, if other people start selling as well?


Betting against the market feels a lot more like gambling than long-term investing does - am a little afraid to hold on to my short for very long, in case something happens, and there's a massive turnaround at the drop of a hat? That seems to have happened quite a bit with Bitcoin, so am fearful it might happen again?

Guess haven't invested more than was willing to lose - and the chance to make some big gains quickly seemed like they might be worth the risk of loss?


Not sure at all how this will turn out! So everybody's invited to come along for the ride - either way, guess it's sure to be a lollercoaster

Day 1 Results

Not sure what the tax rate on capital gains is - may have to lop something like 15-35% off what's showing, for Revenue Canada?

GL me!!

Quick Info on Lithium


Oh dear, look at the time!

Didn't forget to look at the lithium stuff - but didn't do a ton either Here's a couple of things have managed to find so far ...


Currently, Demand Exceeds Supply

From Wikipedia:

And from the Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) Annual Report:

Higher Prices Means More Expensive Mines Can Operate Profitably

Also from the SQM Annual Report:

Guess it's like every other company - when someone starts to do really well, the competition rushes in to try and scoop up a share of the profit? Wonder how much longer before the new mines come on the scene? Maybe time to squeeze some nice profits out for another year or two?

Okay, not really sleepy but should turn in and try to get some rest

Someone said PokerGo's not showing the Poker Masters today (), so guess there'll be lots of time to look over bitcoin stuff tonight ...

So pretty out!!

Back to Trying Out New Foods/Recipes


Guess when it was light out for longer in the day, there wasn't as much time to look for new recipes - now that it's getting darker earlier there's lots of time ...


Am hoping the new Fall menu for Sweetgreen will be released soon, so will have some new ideas to try - got today's bowl idea from Freshii, and added some teriyaki chicken ...

This was the first time have tried roasting edamame - wasn't super fond of it all by itself ... it tasted like a pea, but without the sweetness? The bowl was super yummy though, with everything else mixed in

Whoops! Added too much to the bowl, and had to take half of it out - guess dinner's all ready for tomorrow

Am still constantly being surprised at how tasty healthy food can be - guess that was my other thing was going to try out this year, and am super happy it's been so easy to stick with things (Most of the time! )

GBTC Short-Sell Update


Am in full-on degen mode now - haven't sold my short yet!


Guess $3,600 seemed like it should be about the point where the withdrawal from China got 'priced into the market' as they like to say in all the articles? But wasn't sure if maybe there'd be some panic selling, or bubble deflation, or 'price correction' (another phrase that seems to be popular with the business journalists? 'Profit taking' seems to be another one ) ... and if so, how much there'd be?

Here's the price graph for Bitcoin from today - it looks like after the initial sell-off, there's been three points where a bunch of people have swooped in to buy?

So maybe a bit of a battle between the panic-seller/profit-takers and the traders/bargain-hunters - wonder if there's enough people who may still want to sell at like $3,400 or $3,300, for the price to possibly go down all the way to $3,200? Or maybe there's enough people who may be willing to pay $3,500 or $3,600, that this is as low as it's going to get?

There doesn't seem to be any way to measure how many of each there is either, to better be able to possibly tell if the price in the short-term may start going down again or if it'll keep going up and up - so guess that's what makes holding onto the short-sell so degen Guess it's really pure gamble at this point ... yikes!!


Should probably just sell tomorrow, and not be greedy about any possible extra hundred or two - otherwise it may wind up costing me that much if the price winds up going the other way?

On the other hand, my bank wire arrived at the exchange a couple of days ago - so if the price does wind up dropping a little more, after selling my short may turn around and buy some Bitcoin! Russia's supposed to be passing legislation that will make trading Bitcoin legal sometime before the end of the year, so that should open up a whole new market ... guess the price of Bitcoin should start to rise again after that happens?


Day 2 Updates

Will try to curb my degen, and sell my short (buy to cover) tomorrow

And this is why will usually try so hard to avoid any sort of activity where there pros all hang out - this is like 10nl all over again ... so much work, and so sooo little return

Am kidding a little bit Just going to a friend's place for dinner - will add more later

Figured we'd be missing out on all the action, with PokerGo stopping streaming for the day Looks like we're at least still getting PH tilt and nap updates, via twitter!!

GBTC Short-Sell Update


Looks like Bitcoin went for quite a wild ride over the course of the night!

Went to bed and it was trading around $3.4k - then woke up ... and it looks like it had dropped all the way down to below $3k overnight (), but had already bounced right back by the time had woken up? Then by the time markets opened, the price was all the way up to $3.6k and there was barely any profit left to my short - so there was no point selling ... and it's still in my account


Was checking today's headlines, and it doesn't look like there was new news - like, nothing fundamental seems to have changed since yesterday? So maybe the current price should still be somewhere around $3.6k-ish? With the range of possible prices over the next while possibly being between the ranges that Bitcoin hit today, $3k-$3.8k?

Low Price: $3000

It's interesting that the price skyrocketed so fast, the second it fell below $3k - and it seems to have happened at night for Asia and morning for the US, the two places who do the most trading? Wonder if maybe a bunch of traders maybe had buy orders in place that got triggered when it hit their target price?

Was hoping (??!) that the price might go down to $3.1k - guess that's maybe an advanced move to use those limit orders - they have them at my Quadriga exchange ... although maybe the price may not go down that much again?

High Price: $3,800

Have heard that people are buying Bitcoin the way people used to buy gold - as something of a security blanket when times get shaky? Is there maybe a chance the subway attack in London and the ongoing terror threat may have contributed to today's high? Or was it maybe more just people who were worried they might be missing the next potential rally?

Summary

Guess was finding with my stocks that it seems like it's only possible to catch signs of possible future movements about half the time - so am never totally sure what to expect from these investments! If something goes awry, hopefully won't wind up losing too much Otherwise, guess there's always some value in the 'learning experience'?

Day 3 Update

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrustySam

Guess will just have to wait and see where Bitcoin goes next? It's been quite a wild ride it's been so far!

My internet's been so good for the last little while, started to get used to having a reliable connection

It's been super patchy all morning though, so that's a bit unusual ...

Guess there's a bunch of different little neighborhoods in my city, and each of them sort of take turns having their own little festival throughout the course of the summer - they're good about spacing them out, so everybody has a chance to visit a new one every couple of weeks

There's two happening out in the West end of the city today - the Ukranian/Romanian one is in an especially beautiful part of town, and there's another Polish one happening right around the corner ...


And then in between the two there's a big park - some of the leaves on the trees seem to have already started to turn red and yellow already, even though it's not quite fall just yet

Will have to see if there's a chance to visit the park, and see how the Fall foliage is coming along?

Hope everyone has a nice Sunday Funday!!

giggles

The Emmy awards are on right now - don't recognize any of the nominees, since all their shows seem to be on Netflix

eg.

Will have to sign up for the trial once the Poker Masters are over - then will be able to catch up on all the hot shows like Stranger Things

The Director who just won the Emmy for Comedy Series is wearing a purple jacket that looks quite like the Poker Masters jacket!

Will have to try and find a photo of it on the internet - it looked quite nice next to the Emmy Award

Perfect timing for Netflix to have an ad showing them as the place to be for fresh material from everybody's favourite comedians - now for sure want to give it a try

Look who was invited to present an Emmy award tonight ... my 'celebrity sighting', Shemar Moore!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrustySam

Guess a trip to Los Angeles wouldn't be complete without a celebrity sighting - wish the photo had turned out better ... it's Shemar Moore from Criminal Minds ...

Yes, it really is him!

Must admit, whenever have told people about spotting Shemar Moore at the airport, the vast majority of people have responded with, "who? "


He's got a new show starting in a couple of weeks - will maybe give it a try

Gosh, the Usain Bolt promo took me 914 hands to complete - which isn't a ton, unless one tends to be a bit slow ... and then it's a lot!


Hopefully my blueberry snack will help perk me up a little bit ...

^Saw you on the Zoom tables. Cool cat

Hey, a fellow 2nl-er - hi!!

Have been playing forever and am still so terrible!! Thanks so much for not calling me a fish


The 2nl tables are so much fun - always lots of pennies flying around! As a matter of fact, lots of mine were flying around tonight ... mostly in the wrong direction lol!! Hope you managed to get some of my $ tonight, while it was being donated all over the pool

So fun that you stopped by to say hi - hope you're having a great evening, cheers!!

Am looking forward to giving the new iPhone X camera a try when they become available - wonder if this pic of dancing at the Ukrainian Festival today might have come out a bit clearer on a newer version than it did on my iPhone 5 knock-off?

Something else was doing today - guess was a bit sidetracked by Bitcoin for a couple of days, but before that guess was starting to look at marketing stuff? So in between pretend-racing with Usain Bolt on the 2nl zoom track, was reading a couple of blog articles, written by people who have started their own businesses ...

These seemed (?) like they had even better info than the Inc articles have been reading, not sure? So it was interesting to hear their stories - only had a chance to clip some excerpts from the first one ... will have to leave the other article for tomorrow ...

11 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Business

Misc. Updates


Guess it can be nice to take a couple of days off to unplug? Have just been up to the usual - which isn't much Was going to follow up with the other marketing article though - guess maybe a good idea to post the link before it gets lost in my 'organization folder', and am never able to find it again?


Marketing Stuff

This article was maybe even better than the last one - so many interesting insights about what it's been like to try and start and run a small business ...

9 THINGS I’VE LEARNED FROM RUNNING MY OWN BUSINESS


Confidence Issues

Trying to Find Like-Minded Friends

Dealing with Burnout

Someone in my family has a small business, and they've been wanting for a while to pass it on to one of us, so they can cut back hours and just kick back and bank the $ One thing though is that it's kind of technical, so the person who signs on would have to understand the product - on the other hand, guess like 95% of the time, most of the work is maybe pretty administrative, and not so challenging? So no one's signed on so far?

Am starting to wonder if maybe it might be kind of a neat opportunity though? The company doesn't have a lot of competition, so they've never analyzed customer data or anything like that, and there's no vip program ... there's not even any customer outreach or anything like that. And the price hasn't been changed in something like 10 years, even though the Euro's fluctuated quite a bit.

On the other hand, this makes me hesitate - someone posted a link to this survey in a Forbes article ... haven't made my way through all 25 questions just yet, but things aren't looking so hot so far ...

Ahhh, so not so sure Guess it doesn't cost anything to keep reading up to try to learn more though?



Investment Stuff

The short has gone South!

Guess the highs with Bitcoin can be really high - although apparently the lows can be really low as well? It seems like maybe once the exchanges in China actually start to close, maybe there's a chance the price might start going lower again - although maybe not? And maybe not by very much? So will have to see what happens in the next couple of weeks, otherwise guess will just have to sell (buy to cover) my short at a loss ... again. Never seem to learn lol


Also bought some lithium stocks a couple of days ago, so that's helped balance everything out - it looks like the stock is very overvalued, but it keeps rising and rising ... not sure how much longer may hold onto it, because it seems quite risky? Guess may sell that soon too, because it's almost the start of 4Q and that seems to be when stocks usually rise the most?

Network TV

And in case everybody was busy watching Netflix and missed the season premiere of DWTS - there was another purple jacket spotting last night

Guess he's off to a bit of a rough start with the 15/30 score - was going to root for him this season though, since he seems like such a character!