MoodyPeople.com - Fun flies when you're doing time.

BTW if you slackers go to the root of http://www.m...

BTW if you slackers go to the root of http://www.moodypeople.com there is a poll up to tell me if you like or hate the changes I've made. While your at it you can subscribe to the new RSS/ATOM/OPML feed since this is going the way of the dinosaur soon.

New ATOM feed is available at the following link: ...

New ATOM feed is available at the following link:

Click Here

This of course goes with the transition to Mambo.

Lets Mambo I will be transitioning Moodypeople.co...

Lets Mambo

I will be transitioning Moodypeople.com to use Mambo instead of Blogger. Mambo is a full featured CMS system and I think it will let me transition Moodypeople.com into something with a whole lot more flavor, it will also allow for real dynamic polls, allow others to post 'articles' and a whole lot more.

If you want to check it out click here, note that I have not yet changed the template from the stock setup but that will come soon enough.

All these Options I've been playing with exchange...

All these Options

I've been playing with exchange traded options and having a bit of success. I am finding that they are a new way to have a comprehensive investment strategy. The bulk of my portfolio is managed so I really haven't thought about this much, I'm leaving that alone and am using my 'funny money' accounts. I have always been afraid of options as I remember the speech I was given when I signed my option agreement. Essentially it was that I could lose EVERYTHING fast and anything I could possibly ever make could be garnished. That is when you play with uncovered options, I haven't gotten the balls to step there yet.

Basically when you buy options you are purchasing the right to buy X amount (each option contract is for 100 shares) of shares at Y amount of dollars (strike price) before a certain expiration date, however you are not bound to purchase those shares at any time and for the most part it seems most contracts expire. Most option contracts are only purchased a few months prior to expiration, there are also things called LEAPs (forget what the acronym stands for) LEAPs are usually a year out.

One of the neat ways to use options is to hedge a bet on a stock that you have a hunch is going to go up, you would by PUT contracts on that stock to offset your investment in the company. A gambling analogy I could use would be while playing craps while you have the bulk of your wager on the PASS line you sometimes also put a few bones on the C&E buttons to offset if you crap out. If you roll a seven you win your PASS wager and lose your C wager but your PASS line winnings are usually far greater than your C wager, if you happen to crap out usually a C button pays 15/1 you do the math. If you happen to hit 11 which is also a good number on a coming out roll but statisticly slim then you win your pass line wager and you get your 15/1 E wager. Options are the C&E's of the market sort of or at least when options become a part of your whole strategy.

The other way I have been playing them has been buying option contracts on stocks that I knew or know are going to hit. For example one stock I feel is overvalued due to takeover hype, I have a pretty good feeling this will fall through as the LBO is sort of stressing right now and I just feel even though this company is profitable I think it is overvalued. The bottom line is I think this stock is going to drop so I bought some PUT contracts at 90 strike price for July. So far I am about 2 dollars away from my strike price.

Another issue which just hit its strike price today was Google, I had CALL options with a strike price of 270.00/s I bought each contract at aproximately 6.90 per contract and sold them today for about 13.00 a contract.

They all haven't been winners though. I had about 4 different issues expire on the 21st (options always expire the third Friday of the month). One was Wynn resorts with a 50.00 call another was Orasure with an 8.00 Put (i am also playing a longer term call option on Orasure). The Wynn and Orasure options together only cost me about 200-400 which is a nice chunk of change but overall the potential profits outweigh the risks. I also won on a Call option for the first issue I mentioned thats going to be potentially bought out. Its a neat way to play both sides.

Some blurbs about options, I have read in several places that most options traders will lose their ass the first several months of trading until they build up a proper strategy. I can totally see that happening which is why I am stealing from the best and trying to build up a proper strategy with help from certain books, software and professional mailing lists. I also think if I continue playing issues that I KNOW I can minimize this. The other blurb is a quote from my father who used to pimp options to his clients, he said "the only person who wins consistently in options trading is the broker" which makes it a bit more like Craps at the casino, you can consistently minimize the house advantage against you but you can never totally neutralize it over the long term. While I believe that to be true in most cases I feel its worth the risk to go and test the waters a bit.

Certifications, degrees, awards and other useless ...

Certifications, degrees, awards and other useless pieces of emergency toilet paper.

I've been talking to people this week about different things related to work and business and a common topic comes up, certifications and degrees.

First off lets start with degrees, I first went to college when I was 14 granted it was a community college but still it wasn't high school either, it was more fun actually. As long as the ladies didn't know I was 14 it didn't really matter did it? Back on topic so the natural choice of degrees would something in IT but soon after starting I realized a few things;

1) Most instructors were lifers, when the hell did they get a chance to learn this to a proficient enough level to actually have the nerve to educate people
2) I knew more than the instructors.
3) 95% of all class material was extremely outdated, the exception to this was the graphic design classes I took, most of those guys had side businesses so it was in their best interest to be fairly knowledgable.

I also started working professionally shortly thereafter as the assistant network administrator for the college and then consulting. I had actually been in the computer scene for quite some time so getting into consulting as I already had a name (even though what I was known for wasn't really a good thing). After doing the work thing for awhile I realized that everyone who I met that had a computer science degree was terribly uninformed and couldn't handle real world problems. The exception being people that come from a research school like MIT or Stanford. So as my income kept climbing and I started getting in more trouble for hacking (ended up getting me in trouble at the school) I decided that a degree was not worth the effort, I had 10 more units to go for an AS. Even though I have no use for an AS as its about the equivelant of a high school diploma these days it would of been nice to have I still doubt it would bring me any real value except personally. I would like to go back to school and get a MBA but of course I would be in a completely different field.

Second topic would be certifications, in the IT world the right certifications can be worth more than a Phd in a certain field. Certifications are gold in the IT world or at least they used to be. A Certification demonstrates you have certain product specific knowledge, I used to have a ton of certifications but in my current job it has been extremely hard to maintain any of them as we are constantly buying new companies or getting ready for harvest or fighting fires. Certifications have lost a lot of their value in the IT industry too. Some companies in efforts to get more people to actually pass their tests (i.e. MS and Cisco) have dumbed down their certification requirements, that disgusts me. If the information is out there and other people are passing the tests then anyone should be able to pass the test. To dumb it down dilutes a product, in this case the product is skilled people in which the IT industry seriously lacks. Employers still really value certifications though so I suppose they have a higher value than a degree. They are like the ultra soft charmin of the emergency toilet paper.

Third topic are awards, I have a few awards printed on pretty paper with foil seals and everything, with the exception of stock certificates most awards are useless pieces of paper also. All they really do is stroke someones ego for a short period of time and then are just a line item on a resume that is usually overlooked.

The bottom line is all these items are is emergency toilet paper, I used to jokingly keep my certifications in the bathroom with a note on top that if toilet paper is out to use that particular pile. Sorry for the lack of an interesting finish, I got distracted and lost steam after #1.

Fusionflux.com We finally have our hosting websit...

Fusionflux.com

We finally have our hosting website essentially done. FusionFlux.com is one of my latest ventures. The blog you are reading now is on one of our servers. I hadn't really thought about getting into hosting but the money seems right. My business partner is in Singapore and also has business interests in China and that whole region is pretty untapped.

If anyone needs some affordable web hosting check it out.

Phobia of the day: Phobophobia - Fear of phobias ...

Phobia of the day:

Phobophobia - Fear of phobias

It would really suck to have phobophobia.

Anyone in California Please Contact State Assembly...

Anyone in California Please Contact State Assembly Members!

Another one for the 'California is rediculous' file. Actually it is another in the Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-LA) is rediculous file. Koretz introduced what's mentioned below, he is also the 'person' who introduced and got AB50 passed which bans all .50 BMG rifles (there has never been a crime committed with one in the USA EVER). This guy is a real out of touch dirtbag who makes Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein look moderate.

As early as Thursday, May 12, the California Assembly may consider Assembly Bill 352. This legislation could essentially ban all semi-automatic pistols commonly used by California gun owners.

AB 352 expands the definition of "unsafe handguns" to include semi-automatic pistols that are not designed and equipped with an array of microscopic characters, which identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol by imprinting the character on each cartridge case when the firearm is discharged.

Please contact the following Assembly Member`s Thursday, May 12, and ask him or her to OPPOSE AB 352:

AD 08 Assembly Member Lois Wolk (916) 319-2008

AD 11 Assembly Member Joseph Canciamilla (916) 319-2011

AD 31 Assembly Member Juan Arambula (916) 319-2031

AD 69 Assembly Member Tom Umberg (916) 319-2069

Blinding.... That's what my scalp is, for the hel...

Blinding....

That's what my scalp is, for the hell of it when I got home today I shaved my head with a razor. So I am shiny and pale. As if being Irish my skin wasn't pale enough as is.

Phobia of the Day: Dishabiliophobia - Fear of Und...

Phobia of the Day:

Dishabiliophobia - Fear of Undressing in front of someone.

On another note, I think I have fixed the broken pictures for the last post. My poll is essentially stuck in limbo on Richard's last poll question. Time for new poll software.

Gone Fishing Part 2: Lately I have become obsesse...

Gone Fishing Part 2:

Lately I have become obsessed with aquariums and fish. It started out as a hobby now it's pretty much an obsession. However I have done some learning the bad way (fish dying). Apparently I wasn't cleaning the tank good enough and a lot of thing's were building up below the gravel.

I do have a few interesting additions to the tank, first is the Blue Australian Lobster, this is a real one not a strangely bred crayfish.

Above you can see ?him? the second picture is the guy chewing on a lilly bulb. He sometime's catches some of the other fish in the tank and eats them also. However he is not the deadliest creature in the tank. Believe it or not the deadliest creature I have in this tank is this mystery snail below.

This mystery snail has eaten at least 4 of my fish, 1 neon tetra, 2 guppies and one betta! You would never think of a snail as being predatory but apparently they are, he sneaks up on the fish when they are resting and attaches himself to them. It completely devours them so usually you only find a tail or something. If he keeps on eating my fish I might be tempted to salt him.

Phobia of the Day: Russophobia - Fear of Russians...

Phobia of the Day:

Russophobia - Fear of Russians.

Phobia of the Day: Logizomechanophobia - Fear of ...

Phobia of the Day:

Logizomechanophobia - Fear of computers.

This post is pretty much pointless. Just bored.

New poll.... I put a new poll up, I'm having a se...

New poll....

I put a new poll up, I'm having a server error when people post their response but everything is working in the backend. If you just hit refresh it should show up or just back up and reload moodypeople.com afterwords.

Driving to Lost Hills after a good storm.... Th...

Driving to Lost Hills after a good storm....

The drive to the office for the most is dull and long, however during and after stormy weather there's always a good opportunity to take some nice photos. Although it prolongs me getting home it usually is worth it, the air was very crisp, it still smelled like rain, in fact to the right (North) there was another massive cloud formation.

'Out of the Woods' - Furniture that is not all abo...

'Out of the Woods' - Furniture that is not all about yew.

That was the title of an article in Robb Report about Joseph Walsh's19th-century-style studio in Ireland. He uses woods like bog oak and Irish yew which are very twisty and yew is absolutely beautiful once it's been turned. I can't even begin to imagine how you would even go about creating pieces like his once you had the raw material.

I stumbled onto an photographer named John Sann ...

I stumbled onto an photographer named John Sann a couple months ago after looking up Bob Green and what he is doing these days. He had several links to photographers on his band's website and I visited them all, some were pretty interesting but I really dig John Sann's work.

Over the last several months we have been talking a bit and it looks like I'm going to purchase the 'photographer's proof' from him of the print above called "Tehran". There is something about it that just draws me to it. There was another piece of a female Israeli soldier that I really dig but I think I should tackle one at a time.

The Wire is a absolutely great show by HBO, it a...

The Wire is a absolutely great show by HBO, it almost didn't make a fourth season but apparently has just been picked up. It is a really gritty look at the Baltimore streets which in real life boasts one of the highest if not the highest homicide rate in the US. It is a very character driven with multiple stories lines wrapping all the characters together in a weird but comprehensible way.

I think Carnivale is still up in the air whether it's going to be renewed or not. That show was hard to watch at first because I missed the first episode and it has such a bizarre story line that it's hard to follow unless you watch everything. It's also such a twisted show that you have to be in the right mood for it.

Thinking about it does HBO have any bad shows? With the exception of FX who is making great television anymore? Showtime is starting to have a few good shows like Bullshit from Penn & Teller who just released the second season DVD set if you haven't already seen this show you probably should.

Other than that TV is crap. I think it's best to maximize the TV you do watch with a TiVo or something so you don't have to sit around for more thans needed and don't have to watch what you don't want to.

Well after a particularly painful to listen to blu...

Well after a particularly painful to listen to blues jam at the Firehouse Brew Pub in Hanford on Tuesday I was a little bit burnt out on blues so I bought some hard core rap. And who is really harder than the Geto Boys they have just released their first album in over 5 years.

They sort of invented the shock rap scene and were the only rap group singled out by both Bob Dole and Tipper Gore. Since they don't like them it must be good right? Bob Dole may know Viagra but he sure as shit doesn't know music. Most people have heard a Geto Boys song and they just don't know it. If you have ever seen the movie Office Space then you've heard the Geto Boys. The one most recognizable is "Still" it's the song playing when they are killing the laser printer.

This album is great and I dig every song on it. I was a little worried that they would of lost their edge because with the exception of Scarface, Bushwick Bill & Willie D. hadn't put out any music in quite some time. Willie D. has actually been doing real-estate in Azerbaijan (country in between Iran and Russia) and Bill has just had drama. They go into that drama in detail on the album. If you are a fan of current groups like the Ying Yang Twins or Lil Jon you should listen to the Geto Boys and hear where this shit started.