The game was fun and rather challenging during a very volatile time in the market. Many stocks saw a 52 week low and the market fell below 1999 levels.

We saw the almost collapse of the Euro and the beginnings of a double dip recession. It was a challenging time [...]]]> Well, the challenge is over.

The game was fun and rather challenging during a very volatile time in the market. Many stocks saw a 52 week low and the market fell below 1999 levels.

We saw the almost collapse of the Euro and the beginnings of a double dip recession. It was a challenging time to do anything with the markets.

I was thinking that I just didn’t do very well this time. I was super busy at work with a HUGE project underway so I couldn’t do much from work and had to plan my attacks at night when the markets were down.

So I looked and my main board of 3, which would be what I would do if I really had the money to spend ended up in the best shape. Today my best game was titled “Milkman Mainly” was up 17.76% with 1,177,591.47 in the account at the end. I was up 24K in currency trading an 90K in bonus funds which really only puts me at 63K in stock market trades. I was bowing my head in shame as this just didn’t seem all that great.

Then I went over to see the leaderboards to see how badly I must have gotten trounced this game.

Holly Molly… WTF!!!

I was ranked in the top 99.25% of all contestants. That’s my highest ranking ever.

I was 5057th out of some 4 million boards.

I actually did do very very well, and competing against people that do this sort of thing for a living and have all day to research stuff or possibly inside trade all they want because it’s a game.

I’m feeling much better about myself and my stock market skills.

I just wanted to share with the people I know that would understand the accomplishment.

Mike

I need to watch the currency markets and decided when to get out.  I think the British Pound is very weak against the [...]]]> For the 1st day, I have decided to go with the following for the currency trading.
Week one, split GBP and BRL at 40K each, and JPY and EUR at 20K each.

I need to watch the currency markets and decided when to get out.  I think the British Pound is very weak against the dollar now and should be back to parity very soon.  The Brazilian Real looks like it’s climbing too.  The Euro and Japan Yen are on a rise, but should be watched closely.  I wanted to get the upticks, but minimize the down risks.

Well, that idea went out the door.  The challenge only lets you trade about a Dozen currencies.

My quick summary of the currencies at the start of the game.

I had so much fun with this last time it was run.  I hope to do even better this year. I thought I could use my Blog space to list out how I do. what stocks I am selecting to purchase and why.

I titled this entry as day one, but really it’s day 3. It took me a couple of days to realize that I was sending emails everyday to the group I am doing the program with. I decided [...]]]> I thought I might as well Blog about my P90x experience as I run through the program.

I titled this entry as day one, but really it’s day 3. It took me a couple of days to realize that I was sending emails everyday to the group I am doing the program with. I decided I should just Blog about it instead. That way all of my readers can see my wonderful progress. Yeah, all 3 (me, myself and I). Now where did I put those before pictures?? I’d better start on the fake spray on tan now for the 90 pictures so I can look like the ads. Lol

Day 1 was a killer. It was all push-ups and pull-ups. I felt like I needed to soak my chest in ice afterwards. It would have helped me a bit to have had a set of weights, but I don’t at home so I filled a 5 gallon jug with water that had 2 handles and made myself a 42Lbs weight to work with.

I couldn’t get the videos on the I-Pad to work as my computer was still being rebuilt and the new build did not recognize the I-Pad, so I had to start over. I didn’t like doing the workout much in the Office by the computer, but I did what I could.

In the end I felt using the chair for pull-ups was better as doing 10 with the chair vs 2 without, seemed like the 10 was better for a start.

I also started to use my knees for the last push-ups as I could do 8 that way and none otherwise.

Day 2
For starters I never realized how much carbs I ate in a day until one day I could not have Donuts, bread, tortillas, pasta and candy. I have found it challenging to find more proteins.

So day 2 workout consists of: Jump squat, jump squat, jump jump squat. Breath deep sweat a lot, pass out and then do one more squat.

The worst part is that I had 3 flights of stairs to climb after the work out, then 2 flights to walk down to get to the lunch room.
The walk down was harder than the walk up.

I felt I could do most of the exercises and keep up this time, I just need to work on getting lower. And keeping my heart rate out of the 180′s or higher. In all I liked that program as it reminded me of the stuff I used to do for the ski team. It was only missing the ski pole stance, wide jump sideways routine.

Oh, the Ipad worked great. I kept thinking I might have needed a longer headphone cord, but then felt if it was longer it might be more in the way. I found a bike machine where the seat went up way high and was rubbery, so I could place the Ipad there and watch the program about chest high in front of me. I had to use headphones as there was music, 3 TV’s and a workout class in the other room at the same time.

Day 3
ouch, ouch, my legs and my thighs are on fire!

Took the IPad back to the gym for the Arms and Shoulder workout. I think I will get better at this stuff as I watch the videos, because the 1st time you have no clue what it next or what they are doing and what you need to be ready. In the end I had weights (20lbs, 15lbs and 12lbs) along with a few bands. I was using the bands for the stuff that needed a chair as I didn’t have a real chair to use.

I did need a longer headphone cord for this day.

Day 4
Yoga day. Oh goody Yoga is about relaxing and stretching right??

Holy crap!!! I’m sweating my ass off. Plus doing this in the office with no good ventilation is all wrong.

Did I plan this all wrong. It was a pain in the ass and I was toast after 40 minutes and the damn thing is 95 minutes long. For some reason I thought all of the exercises where like 60 minutes. I can’t complete the Yoga today because I started my workout at 9:30pm and I don’t want to stay up until midnight. Plus I don’t think I can sleep after doing an intense workout.

Shit and I found that I didn’t do the Ab blaster thing yesterday. Same reason I was at work and have an hour lunch, my workout was at about 80 minutes when I was done with the arms and I still needed to get something to eat.

Now I’m finding that it’s not the routines that I won’t be able to do, it’s the length of time involved with each. I just don’t think I can dedicate 1.5 to 2 hours for working out everyday. I’m sort of pissed off about this.

Oh, well. Like tonight I am going to do what I can and get better as I go. I will have to plan a little more in advance to make sure I can have the time to finish a workout. Easier said that done with a heavy child activity schedule, and needing to be at work at 6:30 am. That kills the early workout options.

So I can use 11am to 12:30 on a few days and 4-6pm on some others where the kids aren’t busy. I won’t start a work out again after 8pm that isn’t going to work because going to bed will be hard and it will be hard to sleep.

So I still owe myself an ab workout and the 2nd half of Yoga.

Day 5
Postponed because I have Volleyball matches from 6 to 9pm, so I will get my workout.

Hum. Writing this before the Actual day 5 so I think I will do my make up ab workout tomorrow at lunch.

I did do the Ab Blaster today at lunch. Then played 9 matches of volleyball from 6pm to 9pm. Wish I had a heart rate monitor on to see how I did. I won 5 matches and lost 4. It was a bummer to play the best team on the 1st night with a Free Agent team who hasn’t had time to gel. I was getting upset that the team members just didn’t move and then I was making mistakes myself. I ended up being more mad at myself. I don’t know if the program made me stronger, but slower in the matches. I know I was hitting the ball hard. I can feel that I had a pretty good workout and that my legs, arms, shoulder, mid-back and heart ache a little after wards.

Day 6
After not playing well last night I check on the Beachbody web site to see what they say about playing sports during the 90 P90x workout.  The forum said that you can play, but it’s better to do the P90X in the off season.  Darn, I should have started earlier then. I still want to play volleyball and wallyball weekly as that was my workout routine before P90X.  What I found is that while doing the program that your muscles are tired and growing and building.  What happens is that your tend to be slower at the sport.  This made sense as I felt like my brain knew what to do, but my body wasn’t always following along or as quick as I wanted.  I need to know that I will just move slower and react a bit slower for the next match.  I will also see how I do at Wallyball after a couple week break.

The back and legs workout was not too bad or too long.  I found that if I use a chair for support I can do more pullups. More being 7 to 10 instead of 2 to 4 without the chair.

Looking forward to the Kempo workout tomorrow, I hope it’s not too long like the Yoga as I have a short time window for the workout today.

Day 7

Day 7 was a bust.  Life happened.  I was out of town all day and didn’t get home until too late.  It is difficult to schedule an hour plus workout everyday of the week when you have kids, full time job, hobbies and sports that don’t consist of working out.

I won’t let this little thing stop me I’ll get right back up and into the program.
Right after I finish my pizza and ice-cream sandwich.

Here is an example that is only $5.99

For starters most of America doesn’t really work hard any longer at their daily jobs.  A long time ago and in many parts of the world [...]]]> I have noticed over the last couple of months, mostly because it’s now summer and people are wear less clothing, that America is Fat and I can see why.

For starters most of America doesn’t really work hard any longer at their daily jobs.  A long time ago and in many parts of the world there is a lot of manual labor involved and thus a lot of muscles get worked every hour of every working day.  In America most stuff is automated and we don’t manufacture as much as we once did.  What I find interesting is that this has made many Americans lazy.  Think of this list of actions I have seen that shows how lazy we have become.

1. Circling a parking lot for 10 minutes looking for a space 50 feet closer to the door.
2. Taking the elevator in the gym to get to the stair master on the 2nd floor.
3. Pushing the handicap door opening button for every door that has one.
4. Driving you car to anywhere that is less than 4 city blocks.
5. Super-sizing every meal.
6. Oversizing every meal portion.
7. Complaining that you can’t workout or do any physical activity because some part of your body “hurts”.
8. Having unhealthy snacks at your desk, or couch.
9. Spending countless hours watching TV.
10. Just simply doing nothing about it.

Not that I have a beef against people that are overweight.  I know there are those that have a “condition” or that have been fat their whole lives.  I am just upset about the people that get large and just don’t seem to care about it, and in fact complain about how they look, but yet do nothing about it.  Some try some new fad type diet but those just don’t work in the long run.  Ok, oh smart and skinny one, how does someone become unlazy and loose weight.  I say it’s a simple weight loss program I call ELMM, “Eat Less Move More”.   With some slow changes to your live you can still do a lot of the same things you once did, but you will become healthier.  It doesn’t take pounds off in a few weeks, but it does make you healthier in the long run.  Cool another list.

1. It’s been said before, but park father away to everything.  You car will be happier and maintain a dent free exterior much longer.  The extra short walk will do you good.  I’m not saying park in the north 40 and hike in, just pick a spot a couple over from the last car  in a row.
2. If you are only going 1 floor up or down find and take the stairs if you can find them.
3. Open the doors yourself.  In fact try not to utilize the automated anything in your life.  Yes those moving walks are faster, so walk on it, don’t just ride it.
4. Take the time to walk more.  Americans seem like they are in such a hurry to do everything and in the end the rush was so they can sit on their butts for 4 to 5 hours a night.  What’s the rush?  Get a TIVO and watch that junk later.  If the location you are going can be walked in 5 to 10 minutes, do your life a favor and walk.   It may seem painful at first and slow, but after a few times you get used to it.  Save the driving for far away places, bad weather, or if you have to haul something.
5. With meals I found your need to try smaller portions.  Just get a medium size coke and fries next time and maybe everytime.  It about habits. If you always get a large size then that is what you are used to, if you get a small every time then that will be the new you.  It will not be all that easy the 1st few times, but stick with it.
6. Here is a hard one for most people.  You eat these huge portions of food and have stretched out your stomaches to make it fit.  Your body only really needs a portion that is about the size of your hands, maybe even a touch smaller.  Yes, you will feel like you are staving the first few times you make this change.  But over time that is what your body will become used to.  Eat smaller portions on a regular schedule.  Don’t wait until you are hungry to eat.  Eat breakfast at 8 everyday, then lunch at 11:30, and light fruit snack at 3 and dinner at 6.
7. The complaining about some body part that hurts is a funny one.  I can’t walk or take the stairs because it hurts my knees.  No You Are Fat and that is why your knees hurt.  Any muscle that it un-exercised will hurt when used.  Once you make it a habit to start to use those muscle they will get used to moving again. Of course don’t over do it and injure yourself, start slowly and build habits.  I bet the first flight of stairs will seem like Mount Everest, but after a month of doing them you may forget how you used to get to your office.
8. If you can’t help yourself in eating junk food, don’t have any lying around.  Yes you might get hungry, so leave some change at your desk, at least this will make you walk to the vending machine and will make you think about what you are getting.  You can also have some healthier snack around too.
9. We all like to watch TV.  Try and multi-task while you watch your favorite shows.  Do some ironing, at least you should be stand throughout the show.  Watch your shows sitting on an exercise ball, or riding on a stationary bike.  You might find it interesting that you can just stand there and watch a show for 20 minutes and you can just forget that you are standing.
10. Remember it’s all about habits of eating less and moving more.  Change your habits and you can change your life.

I am a little upset that there isn’t a TAB or arrow keys on the virtual keyboard.  It’s [...]]]> I broke down and got myself an Apple IPad.  So far it’s a pretty fun little device.  I won’t say that it totally removes the need for a full desktop, but it does do quite a bit.

I am a little upset that there isn’t a TAB or arrow keys on the virtual keyboard.  It’s a bit of a pain for someone with fat fingers to move around in a block of text when you are editing something.  The finger focus that pops up when you hold your finger on a text screen for a while can do the job, it takes me away from the keyboard and the flow I was on to make the change.

The gist of this article is that I wanted a way to move music from Itunes to the new IPad.  I had a preexisting library of about 10,000 tunes already so organizing the songs has been a bit of a chore.
I did find a trick to be able to mark the songs that I do not want on my IPad.  I’m sure this trick would work for Ipods and Iphones as well.  I set the transfer in Itunes to only put checked songs on my IPad.  On the Ipad I created a new playlist called “Uncheck”.   When I sync back up to Itunes I go and uncheck all but one song in the “Uncheck” playlist.  Bang they are all removed from the Ipad.  You need to leave at least one song in the “Uncheck” playlist or it will not show up on the Ipad after you finish syncing and you would have to create a new playlist on the Ipad and you will end up with duplicates in ITunes.

This is a great way to add whole albums and such to the Ipad.  It is a helpful tool in removing any duplicates that you may have, or just songs you don’t want to hear, but don’t want to delete from your library.