Devauld.ca

I love the financial market. A bewildering mix of mathematical theories and psychological ideas creates an entity which I can not help but watch and study. Yesterday I explicitly sat down to trade, and over the span of six hours managed to obtain some of the best returns I ever had. The downside was this trading session went from 8 pm until 2 past midnight.

On the drive into work this morning, I thought about keeping a trade journal. All of my trading platforms keep track of all the entries and exits, but there is no place to hold onto how I felt at that time or what I saw that made the trade so appealing. A blog fits this niche, although I'm pretty sure that only small fraction of people that read this web log care about what I'm doing in the markets. To that end I hijacked the Order of Magnitude site for my personal log and rant space. It was intended for another project, and since that project has slowed down to a crawl for the summer, I figured I might as well use the URL. It's equipped with an RSS feed, should you use tools to help you with that sort of thing.

The Civic Holiday added an additional day without work to the last weekend, and we made the most of it by backpacking up to Ribbon Lake. We wanted to get in a backpacking tour to try out our new camping equipment out before we needed to rely upon it on the other side of the Atlantic. The weekend was very demanding on the body, but the escape from the city and the scenic vistas doubled rewards back on our efforts.

We left Saturday morning with full knowledge that photographic habits would turn the ten and change kilometer hike into a half day affair. Sure enough stops were made to take pictures of various water features, critters and landscapes. The hike to the falls is quite easy, with over eight kilometers knocked off on a very level path with little in the way of serious inclines. Soon after the falls, you start switchbacking up the <delete>hill</delete> mountain, until after over 300 meters of vertical in a single kilometer, you come to the chains. The final leg of the journey does sap the strength, but it wasn't long after the crux of the hike an we were at the campsite. We soon set up our site and were ready to dig into some dehydrated food. A meal of beef jerky and mushroom alfredo filled up the gas tank, and we were sleeping before the sun set.

Sunday morning we knew immediately why we put ourselves through the effort of climbing up here just to sleep on the ground. We had a nice breakfast before we scampered about the lake taking pictures and exploring weird rock covered in colourful fungus. We returned to camp for some lunch, and were pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Colin and Jessica. Colin was even man enough to add a couple of cans worth of weight to his pack just so I could enjoy a cold beer. After that kind of effort I think I owe him some fingers or something. We all went back to the previously explored falls for some lounging and goofing around. On our way back to camp we mentioned to Wayne that if he managed to catch anything with his duct-tape repaired fishing rod that we love some trout for dinner, and he delivered two good sized cut throat for us to fry up. Soon after, Colin and Jess were pretty tuckered from their trek so they retired early while we played a few rounds of crib to make use of the remaining daylight.

On holiday Monday the campsite was abuzz with people trying to hawk off the last of their food, and pack up every little bit waste that was generated over the last few days. Nobody was leaving anything behind, but no one wanted to carry down any more than was absolutely necessary. We seemed to be the only people that were not in a hurry to leave, as it wasn't even eleven and we had the campsite to ourselves. With the new found calm in the campsite we had a couple of visitors while we waited for our gear to dry in the sun. But, all good things eventually come to an end, so we slung up our packs and climbed back down to start the trek back home. We were back in the parking lot by four and in Calgary by half past five, which left us with the perfect amount of time to enjoy running water, refrigeration and plush Lay-Z-Boys before retiring to a very comfortable sleep.

This morning I knew I was up against something when I read this week's Photo Friday challenge. Scanning through my photostream I realized that nothing would that fit the bill. Some new photos would have to be taken in order to get this one done.

I rolled through some of the early entries to get some inspiration. I found some great shots ranging from posible plastic toys and isolated sailors to the more human sea side contemplation and beautifully composed shots of nature. I thought about wandering about downtown to try and find an isolated person sitting somewhere, when this idea came up over coffee. Of course, I could not supply the material, but the timing was right for this photograph.

As more and more snow can be found on the ground, I find that more and more things are in my schedule, and time is moving faster and faster. I've pretty much tied up all time from now to the new year, and already the weekends on the other calendar are starting to pack up.

A quick rundown of what's been going on:

• Last week work was having it's annual United Way campaign. I took some pictures at the obstacle course event, you can see them in this flickr set
• I attended the two day seminar that Blair Singer put on in Calgary regarding his team building, leadership and sales techniques. It was a great learning experience, he is an excellent teacher, if at times way over the top.
• Went to the Art and Craft sale at the Telus convention center. It was packed full of really nice items, although; I'd need another full time job just to pay for some of the items that were being sold there. A lot of really nice one of a kind gifts are available there, if you've got more money than ideas.
• Helped Sonja move. That was a day packed full of picking up, putting down, cleaning, packing, steaming, and re-wiring.
• I went over to Jeff's place to play on his newly purchased Wii. Initial impressions are very good, but I won't be getting one anytime soon, as the X-box I have is way more machine. The Wii will probably be in my house someday, just to enjoy a Nintendo only title, but from the initial release lineup, there wasn't anything overly cool.
• Went to watch The Flames beat Chicago 4-1 last night

This weekend Sonja managed to get a weekend at the resort out in Fairmont. It's going to be a nice relaxing weekend.

I was checking out Steve Pavlina's web site, and came across an interesting article which basically outlines the benefits of being self employed and working for a more passive income. He makes some excellent points, one of which I want to outline here:

Getting a job is like enrolling in a human domestication program. You learn how to be a good pet.

Look around you. Really look. What do you see? Are these the surroundings of a free human being? Or are you living in a cage for unconscious animals? Have you fallen in love with the color beige?

How’s your obedience training coming along? Does your master reward your good behavior? Do you get disciplined if you fail to obey your master’s commands?

Is there any spark of free will left inside you? Or has your conditioning made you a pet for life?

Humans are not meant to be raised in cages. You poor thing…

I find this to be an interesting point. Nobody works a nine-to-five because they want to. We are in effect being domesticated into a work life. I've been a big proponent to being self employed as long as I can remember. My parents, during my lifetime, never worked for someone else. We went from lumber yard, to rental yard, through farming to finally end up with a custom meat cutting facility. Technically my mother now works for someone, but if you think her job is ordinary, you've got another thing coming. Currently I do have a corporate master, but I also have two other businesses in which I contribute some time. The first is a partnership in photography, and the other is as an independent adviser.

I wouldn't go so far as Steve did, and say that you should never get a job. I think they fit into a great deal of people's lives, and most projects can get done in less time with more humans working on them. Skyscrapers would never get built if one person didn't pay a bunch of others to build it. What should be done, is find a job you love, then it feels less like work. I currently enjoy my daytime pen. The work is challenging, the people are fun. It is true that at times it is frustrating, but that comes with the territory. If you think that being self-employed means it's all just a bunch of roses, you are dead wrong.

Everything of value in life, takes time to get, I believe we just need to be efficient in the time we spend. It is, after all, the only commodity we have in limited supply.