Posted a pic above of George Bush sheepishly struggling to put on a rain poncho that seemed funny at first - but it got me started thinking about stuff, and started to get a little frightened

Guess my coping mechanism for dealing with anxiety is to either make jokes, or just focus on stuff where there's options, like investing in stocks. So guess will go back to focusing on the investing stuff And there was this article today that was saying that 6 months should be enough time to tell how things are going with the new policies?:

They were showing on the local news tonight how everybody the world over was doing the same thing today - watching coverage of the change of power. Guess we must all be watching and hoping for the same thing - that everything's going to turn out *okay*? Big change! Guess will just have to wait and see how things go ...

When a new leader here at home got voted in after the other one being in place for something like 10yrs, you could barely notice a difference.

Such a wider divide between left and right in the US.

Sunday Funday


Gosh, was meaning to try a 'salad week' sometime this month - and the month is almost up


This one looks good too, yum!

Wanted to try a salad week because it seems like these salads should maybe still taste just like a fajita or a wrap ... but with lots of extra veggies? So maybe the easiest way way to get more vitamins and energy, and all that good stuff?

Won't cut out the meat this time, which was torturous last time gave eating more veggies a try Will just see if it's possible to eat more veggies without sacrificing taste - maybe this won't be as hard?


PS. Looks like some of the changes had started making with my poker last weekend may have started to make a difference after all? Guess will give it a bit more of a chance today and try to get a bit of a larger sample?

Hope everybody has a nice day!

My food never looks as nice as it does in the recipe picture - but this salad was incredible. Which is slightly confusing to me, because it's a salad?!

Cooking's such a fun hobby - it feels so great to find a new recipe that's delicious, and healthier and cheaper than anything that's available for sale at restaurants. Am pretty good about eating a little side salad every night - but guess it can be pretty easy to get into a bit of a rut, and wind up using the same dressing and the same couple of croutons?

Was happy to see that adding the honey garlic chicken helped make it feel like a main dish. And the avocado and roasted sweet potato and pita chips were really special. Wasn't sure would like avocado if it wasn't being served as guacamole, but it tasted almost the same? And the tzaziki/hummus made a nice dressing.

Maybe won't be so hard to try to eat more veggies after all?


PS. Didn't wind up playing so much poker after all though - may play a little more tonight, will see ...

Kelleyanne Conway portraying Paddington Bear cosplay was my initial thought too

US Magazine has been doing a lot of political stories lately - guess since so many celebrities are quite politically active? So Kellyanne got more coverage today for her comment about 'alternative facts', after a whole bunch of stars made comments like this one from the actor who used to be on the OC

They had an article about Chelsea Clinton today too - people think her mother may be pushing her to carry on the family torch (or how does that saying go? )

Saw you posting in the Politics section ScreaminAsian - the comments over at US Magazine can be pretty entertaining to read as well

When the guy from Shark Tank announced that he was interested in becoming leader of the party to run against the Prime Minister of Canada in the next election, just kind of dismissed it as kind of an opportunistic thing - like on it's face, it seemed like maybe he was thinking that because a reality tv businessman got elected in the US that maybe he had a chance too?

But he was just on CNN talking to Don Lemon, and he's really smart and is making quite a compelling argument for why he's better suited for the times. His biggest selling point was that with Donald Trump now in power and looking to renegotiate trade deals the world over, countries could benefit from having someone in charge who's equally experienced with deal-making.

Not sure would ever vote for him myself, but could see a lot of people taking a liking to him. Will add the interview later if it gets posted on youtube.

Although ...

Kevin O'Leary's Wikipedia page makes him sound like David Baazov, with a track record of fuzzy accounting, and problems with securities regulators

Will be interesting to follow how he does -

The new US Press Secretary sounds just like '*CHOMP' from the Internet section

yawn! so beat, zzz

goodness

Wound up dozing off for quite a while - not sure why im so fatigued? Guess the weather's been kind of up and down lately ... hope am not coming down with a cold

Salad Week - Chinese Chicken Salad


Fell off the wagon the last couple of days, with my fatigue yesterday - but managed to put a chinese chicken salad together today. It seems like all the celebrity chefs have their own version of a Chinese Chicken salad recipe posted on the internet (eg. Wolfgang Puck, Curtis Stone ... also Chrissy Teigen), so had a feeling this one would be pretty tasty

Have to admit, the highlight of the salad for me was the chicken Am eating less chicken and more veggies with things in salad form now though - and the extra boost of energy's been amazing. Maybe a natural antitode to the 'seasonal affective disorder' (SAD) that's kind of hard to avoid when the sun disappears for weeks on end during the Winter?

Portfolio Update


Today seemed like maybe a good day to do an update - with everything going so well with the market today, and the DJIA hitting 20k?


Hard to tell how things are really going when it's only been three weeks? Would never consider a poker graph reliable with such a tiny sample size, and no downswing - so not sure what to make of things so far, but here's how things are going to date ...

Guess there's no guarantee that what's showing as gains today will still be there tomorrow, so maybe best to take the 'returns' with a grain of salt?


The big update is that guess was really kind of hoping investing would be so interesting, it might turn out to be a nice alternative hobby to poker. But maybe 'buy and hold' is more of a passive thing? So investing as a hobby has turned out to be quite dull and uninspiring

Have been reading a lot, and have been learning a bit. And tomorrow is earnings day for Google - with Amazon and Facebook reporting next week.

May need to start a search for a new hobby to add to the mix?

First Setback ('Learning Opportunity') - Google Misses Earnings, Share Price Drops 2%

Sad times , since the purchase of GOOGL was in hopes that they would meet their earnings, and then price would rise (thereby making me $$). Guess it's feeling quite similar to the tilt that sometimes comes from flopping big, and then getting a really bad run-out ... like after potting it two streets, and then wind up having to fold?



One of the tips from that book From Good To Great was that with any sort of money-making venture, it's crucial that one be able to accept facts for what they are - so one can not only maximize gains, but also minimize losses ... by being prepared for the worst, and being quick to adapt, and stuff like that?

So guess maybe it was kind of an inexperienced fish move for me to not have at least considered the possibility that the stock might drop today, and had a plan in place for what to do if that were to happen, etc?


Going to go finish off my Card Match puzzle , then will come back and look at some of the lessons to be learned from today

Lessons Learned


Pretty disappointed that things didn't go the way had hoped - would have been great to have things go well when trying something new, but guess that expectation was unrealistic for several reasons:

• any time there's uncertainty, there'll likely be variance in the short-term (should know that by now! )
• 3 of my picks are tech stocks - and while they've tended to do well in the long-run, in the past in the short-term they've either missed earnings or issued warnings about high competition and a rapidly changing environment, which has caused share prices to fall
• it takes time to gain experience

On the bright side:

• Google's still doing okay in the short-term, even after today's price drop (up +4% in 4 weeks?)
• the alternative was to put more money in ULTA, which has returned 6% ... so probably it was worth it to buy GOOGL when there was a chance of making +10% if earnings met expectations, or 4% if earnings were missed?
• will be better prepared for a potential miss of earnings from Facebook and Amazon, who'll be reporting earnings next week

Was looking at what happened to share prices the last couple of times Google missed earnings - and it looks like it usually drops about 10%? So guess since it's in a tax free account, it'll probably be better to sell tomorrow, and hopefully still wind up with a bit of a gain?

Not sure if a stop-loss would have helped, if only bankers have access to after-hours trading - but will try to put one in place next week for Facebook, just in case things go South, to see if it helps curb some of the losses.


Didn't have a chance to read these articles, so will try to get to them over the weekend:

Barron's - Alphabet Peppered With Questions on Mysterious Charge
The Street - Google's Execution Remains Great, Even if Pricing and Spending Issues Have Markets Nervous
Reuters - Alphabet posts strong revenue growth, higher taxes hit earnings
Marketwatch - The tax hit that made Google miss on earnings, and the big change that will keep it from happening again
Bloomberg - Google Rides One-Trick Pony
Barron's - Can Google Capitalize on the Mobile Shift?
AP - Google's Pixel phone shines despite misgauging demand
Bloomberg - Microsoft, Intel, Alphabet Results Buoyed by Cloud Boom
WSJ - Google Parent Alphabet Finds New Growth Beyond Search
CNBC - Alphabet's costs are swelling as it makes its big hardware push
Business Insider - Google's CEO didn't have a very convincing answer for a potentially huge weakness in its business

Even though was hoping to make more like a 10% return today, a 4% return in 4 weeks is still pretty decent. Hopefully this idea to try to maximize returns by trying to select high-performers is still a viable one?

Guess it's hard to maintain a long-term perspective, when all there's been so far is a short-term lol

Maybe weathering the initial ups and downs is just an inevitable part of the learning process, and it'll all start to look familiar after a while?

i've been following NOC and LMT as i see you have as well itt, and i wonder if you have any explanation as to why they're being dogged so much the last couple months? republicans and trump are both very big on talk of more military spending. does the market think they're bull****ting? am i missing another major player in defense stocks? Trump Brothers Aerospace and Amazing Tanks Corp, LLC?

Hey SA - have been wondering the same thing about how come there hasn't been very much buzz about defense spending ...




Yes, do remember hearing Trump say some things about defense as well, so yes it's very confusing And it seems like there's still as high a need for defense stuff as there was under Obama, when they all did so well?


There were those couple of tweets in December that sent a bunch of stocks tanking - didn't want to look through Trump's *actual* tweets to find them , but found a couple of articles about the tweets ...

Donald Trump wants to cancel Boeing’s Air Force One contract, says it’s too expensive - http://globalnews.ca/news/3109179/do...too-expensive/
Trump attack on Lockheed Martin foreshadows war on defense industry - http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...-idUSKBN1411HF

And then this other article was saying that lots of different companies make parts for the Lockheed Martin plane, including Northrop Grummond?

Trump's tweet about Lockheed-Martin cuts $4bn in value as share prices fall - https://www.theguardian.com/business...ld-trump-tweet

But yeah, wonder if maybe you're onto something and the reaction from everybody's way overblown There was a bit of that with Amazon right after Trump got elected, because Jeff Bezos had made that comment about wanting to blast Trump off in a rocketship to the moon back when we all thought Hillary was a lock to win And then Amazon *tanked* - but now it's doing fine ...


Have been seeing a lot of articles about David Einhorn's investments for 2017 - guess he's like Bill Perkins, and manages a hedge fund but also plays poker on the side? And it seems like all his picks/shorts for this year had to do with stuff that Trump has made comments about - and he didn't mention defense at all ...

Maybe they're just getting overlooked, or something?

PS. Trump Brothers Aerospace - haha!!

Portfolio Update


Guess high profile stocks like Amazon, Facebook, and Google may tend to be more swingy with all the attention they get? And then with the additional uncertainty that comes with investing heavily in innovation ... guess the volatility can get quite high?

Turns out by this morning, my GOOGL stock had bounced right back, and had even gone up some by the time my sell kicked in - so after all the after-hours volatiity from yesterday, wound up making a tiny bit of profit after all ... before it started dropping back down again


The rapid swings seem to have little rhyme or reason, and kind of make me want to want to just park it all on ULTA, and go for the sure steady thing. It sure has been nice to get those extra returns from Facebook and Amazon though - may hold onto them until Monday, and sell them before they make their earnings reports, and watch the response of the market from the sidelines?

May feel more comfortable just letting things stay in the account after experiencing more of these earnings reports - guess they make take some getting used to ...

Experiment


Had an idea for a silly experiment that's likely to lead to me learning some lessons the hard way - yet cannot seem to help myself from wanting to at least try out a couple of different things


One of Warren Buffett's tips for investing was to avoid the fish move of trying to time the market in the short-term, because there's so much irrationality. However, as a fish, can't seem to help myself from at least giving trying to time the market a try


Guess if the markets are as irrational as they seem, the wild swings that happen every time an earnings report gets released should tend to even out over the long-term? Which seems to be the case upon closer inspection

Google - up 16% in 2016




Amazon - up 40% in 2016




Facebook - up 35% in 2016

Like maybe the only reason to sell before earnings get released (with the intent of rebuying after the price bottoms out) would be if there was a reason to believe shares might fall?


Guess was only going to hold Google and Facebook in the short-term, since they're both in a period of transition. So guess it should be okay to sell Facebook and buy more ULTA instead. But it seems foolish to worry about Amazon missing earnings - when they're all over the map, all the time? And they bounce back really fast too ...

Had the idea to maybe try holding onto half of my AMZN stock, and try selling the other half (and rebuying it in a couple of days) if it seems like shares might fall because they've been building more fulfillment centers? And then after a year, can see how my two different lots of AMZN have done, and if it was worth the while to sweat the short-term movements, or whether it would have been better to just not worry about it at all?


Have a feeling will wind up doing better by doing nothing



Such a silly girl!

Oh well, hope everybody's having a really nice weekend!

On second thought, the idea to experiment with trying to time the market is really stupid


This might be the better thing to do?

• Sell Facebook because they're in a period of transition, and purchase ULTA which is in a period of steady growth
• Listen to Warren Buffett and not try to time the market. Will hold onto Amazon, and use a stop-loss equal to -2%, so will be able to enjoy gains if there are any, and will be able to minimize losses in short-term if there are any (only because it's a tax free account - otherwise would just hold)
• Try to calm down

This should be much easier, because it doesn't involve trying to figure out which way the market might move tomorrow or the next day. Which maybe professionals might be able to do - but am not so sure it's that easy for a recreational to do from home? So will just stay in my 'lane', and try to find solid companies that will likely grow over the long-term

This seems like it should have a better chance of hopefully doing *okay* - hard to go wrong with Amazon in the long-run

Hope everybody had a nice weekend - always nice to have the weekend to relax and catch up with friends and family

Such serious times outside my little corner of the world though - Justin Trudeau even made US Magazine again on the weekend ... and this time it was for something besides just his dreamy hair lol ...

Guess everybody the world over wishes for a better/safer life - and in parts of the world that have had to deal with terrorism, a different school of thought has emerged on how to possibly achieve those things?

Maybe Canada's in a better position to accept more people? Have made a couple of microloans to people in 3 of the countries on the banned list - and their lives look just like our lives ... like they're just trying to earn a living and be happy? Canada's kind of cold, but maybe some people might want to give it a try, who knows

Ubah in Somalia - has a coffee stand




Nazira in Iraq - makes fresh bread

Daily Update


Had a whole bunch of stuff running through my head - like are we on the verge of an apocalypse, etc

Then The Daily Show came on - such a godsend that people are able to find the humour in unsettling times


Sold my FB this morning:

So will wait and see how low ULTA and AMZN go before buying more ...


Lots of change in the world - and it's only been 11 days? This may be a long 4 years

Finding Comfort in Troubling Times


With all the unsettling changes going on in the world the last couple of weeks, couldn't help but wonder at first if maybe it was better to limit the intake of news, just skim headlines at the end of the day, and stick to more light-hearted stuff? Since the changes are likely to be in place for 4 more years ...

Maybe sometimes it can be comforting and therapeutic to be reminded that others hold a similar world view, and that there's productive ways of dealing with change?


The Daily Show's great - because it's not only entertaining (funny), it's also educational ...

And this article appeared in my MSN news feed today, with one of PM Trudeau's appointees offering this reassurance:

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politi...cid=spartanntp

Also, it was just announced that Oprah's joining 60 Minutes to do some special reporting, that sounds like it has some potential?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieb.../#9f1f1079657a

Facebook Earnings Report, and January Progress Report



Facebook

Already sold my FB two days ago - so wound up missing out on the gains today




Am feeling a lot better about my approach to this earnings report than to GOOGL's a week ago though. Last week, wasn't prepared for all the possible outcomes - while this time, it felt like there was a 50% chance share price could go up a little-ish, and a 50% chance share price could go down little-ish (to a lot), based on past performance? So hopefully both selling and holding were ~0 EV?

Guess would have rather missed out on earning an extra 3% than lost an extra 3%, so ... am just happy was prepared for a small gain as an outcome this time around

Also sold my AMZN on Tuesday for the same reason Have a feeling nervous Sam will start to feel more comfortable about leaving things in the account rather than putting things in and pulling things out everytime there's a hiccup in the market eventually - hopefully it'll come with more experience

Progress Bar

Pretty shaky times in the world, but it looks like my portfolio's doing okay? Was hoping to achieve a 30% return by the end of the year, and am so far up to 7%:




Guess keeping the Facebook would have been an opportunity to get up to something like 9%, or a chance to go down to like 5%? And either of those might have turned out to be okay as well. So hopefully there's a lot of different paths to 30%, if things continue to go *okay* in the world this year

Will see how things go - GL us!