Good news! I just saved over $400 switching my car insurance back to Geico.

I guess I wasn't the only one to skip out on yesterday's Circle of Blogs meeting. The Cheese took the time today to subtly reprimand us for the truancy and the atrocious pace of non-blogging going on. It's Spring Fever, I tell ya. Happens every year. My kid's just been walking for a month and loves going outside. The weather's better, and who the hell wants to hang around glued to the computer after hours? Only the Cheese. He's shared some of his mountainous "backlog" of material with a few of us at past meetings. It's discouraging for those of us who can only dream of keeping up with him.

The only person I can say competes with the Cheese in prolific-ness(?) and consistency is the Incredible Hulk, whose blog HULK'S DIARY THAT IS ON THE INTERNET has been steadily rolling along since he started in October, 2001. I will nominate The Incredible Hulk for induction into The Circle of Blogs next Saturday. The chances of him getting in are admittedly very slim. I have almost no say in the Circle and even less respect. They used me to get their links, but have totally rejected my idea for the Russian Babes ads.

The biggest things in my life right now are:

1) I will be referring to my son here as "fearlessbaby" from now on. I'm jealous and bitter that lobsterboy in HC always gets greeted with a "how's lobsterbaby?" while I stay mum in the corner like a wired potted plant and nobody gives a shit about my baby. Disgruntled room spies have feelings too.

2) My wife and fearlessbaby will be going on a trip to Korea early next month to visit my mother-in-law. I don't have any mother-in-law jokes. She's a nice enough lady, I think. We don't speak (total language barrier) so that goes a long way in keeping a cordial relationship, plus she's on the other side of the planet, so that's great. She stayed with us for 5 months to help with the end of my wife's pregnancy and with the newborn fearlessbaby, so it's been awhile since she's seen the baby.

They'll be gone around 7 weeks, which is an eternity. I'm afraid fearlessbaby will return speaking Korean and not remembering who I am. Maybe that's my wife's plan. She told me it'll be a good time for me to concentrate on my trading and to start making money for once. I hate those subtle jabs.

She's right though. If I'm ever going "turn the corner," this is a good chance.

Woodie's interviewed in SFO mag by the executive editor herself, Gail Osten (GO - not to be confused with gio).

The Woodman Tradeth...

I'm happy to report that Sport continues to pick pockets clean when the spread is green, and knock 'em dead when the spread is red. However, friends are starting to worry that he's pouring every last dime of his monstrous profits into more concrete. This is one home do-it-yourself project that's gotten a little out of hand, and there's no end in sight to the construction.

Ana Maria over at actio-et-reactio (see sidebar for link) has been writing about emotions in her most recent entries. She mentions a speech Dr. Ari Kiev gave at the New York Merc, which I watched this morning and found pretty informative and helpful. The webcast, which is about an hour long, can be accessed here.

I'm in the psych mood this weekend, so I'm also re-reading Mark Douglas's Trading in the Zone. Same title, different book as pictured above.

Also in Circle of Blogs business, everybody please update your links. The Big Cheese has now moved onto blog #3. This is the one where Rocky fights Clubber Lang.

The Club is experiencing a relatively peaceful period now. Woodie has gone "open source" with the CCI, actively promoting all the different ways people in the room have been fiddling about and using it. I think that's smart. Maybe Woodie's hit the wall after coming up with that FibCCI creature over the winter. Maybe not. I bet he's got something special up his sleeve for the upcoming London TAL. Call me gullible if you wish. I'm still waiting for the Sierra Sidewinder.

Anyway, on the open source front, I've got to say this drbob 50 CCI has been the runaway winner so far. I've even got the 50 on my charts. It's so popular now, the room calls out for him to do a daily recap instead of Woodie.

Last week, there were two new seminars. The first by Wolfson introduced his 50 CCI ghost setup, which is what it sounds like. He showed it on the 250V ER chart and likes to see the ghost develop outside or near the +/- 100 lines.

The second seminar was by JeanYus, who introduced his "accelerator trade" which includes looking smack dab at the price bars. Have you guys seen JeanYus? Screw the CCI trade, I want to see his accelerate your six-pack abs video. I've gained 14 pounds this year and I'm pinching inches that weren't there before. I should get back on the South Beach diet, but man, I'm just a much more pleasant person when I'm full of carbs.

JeanYus is going to moderate tomorrow, I believe. That should be a kick. He's the slickest talker I've heard in the room, calling everyone "brother" and "girlfriend." I like that. It's very engaging. I'm going to ask him a question tomorrow. See if he calls me brother or girlfriend. Maybe he'll call me "homeslice." I've always wanted to be called that.

So Woodie has incorporated all these new ways to trade the CCI into the Club. It's just good business, but you know at heart, he's still a stickler for the "old, basic CCI." So folks in the morning today were kind of poo-pooing the ol' ZLR. Woodie comes on to moderate the afternoon, and you can see he means business. He's pumping that "basic CCI" line, doing that thing he does where you don't know what's going on but it looks like he's calling out a zillion winners, and he's got the choir singing "hallelujah ZLR!" Then someone wrapped a robe around him and he's helped off the stage. An announcer comes on the PA system to announce "Elvis has left the building" and we're all looking at each other like "Wow, whatta show! I'm taking all this shit off my charts right now! Basic CCI rocks!"

I love these gartley butterfly charts. It's uncanny stuff, and so gosh darn pretty (unless they bust out wrong). Wish I had charting software to automatically spot them myself instead of swiping them. It's all about traders helping traders anyway, right? What's mine is yours, and if I can right-click and save it or clip and paste it, it's mine. If anyone is looking for downside targets, these are neat to keep in mind.

this is today's hotcomm chat:

{xxxxx} zlr's suck
{xxxxx} zlr's have been terrible since june 2003 or maybe it was february 2004, i need to check my stat sheet again
{xxxxx} I'm getting a 3% win rate on ZLRs
{xxxxx} they suck
{xxxxx} Is that with the sidewinder?
{xxxxx} No. My win rate is 2.7% with ZLRs with the SW
{xxxxx} Thanks. That sucks.
{xxxxx} zlr's suck
{xxxxx} the sidewinder sucks too
{xxxxx} i agree
{woodie} zlr with sw or gb 34 work...it's people who don't use them right
{xxxxx} gm woodie!
{xxxxx} hi woodie!
{xxxxx} gm woodie!
{xxxxx} hi woodie!
{woodie} here's this morning's YM chart: zlr - winner, zlr - winner, zlr - winner, zlr - winner
{woodie} just basic cci, 38 trades, zero losers, what's the problem?
{woodie} zlrs work, everybody see that?
{xxxxx} y
{xxxxx} y
{xxxxx} y
{xxxxx} y
{xxxxx} y
{xxxxx} i agree
{xxxxx} woodie's right
{xxxxx} you da man, woodie
{xxxxx} thanks woodie!!

You know I had totally forgotten the initial reason why I suddenly took time off last week. It wasn't Spring Fever overwhelming me as I stated before. It was goddamned Comcast crapping out on me and booting me off the internet. I remember now because Comcrap did the same damn thing this afternoon and tonight. Same nationwide DNS problems as last week or so they say.

Anyway, the comments that were supposed to go with that Nasdaq chart below posted midday was going to be something along the lines of "if there's such a thing as the PPT, then they better get their asses moving this afternoon before we close below the wedge support early."

So what happened? The FOMC minutes came out and the markets took off. I'm assuming Greenspan announced he had bin Laden chained up under his desk. Am I right? I missed it all.

Similar chart shows the Dow touching some significant support too.

My charts are all in agreement. I wonder if "sell in May and go away" has struck early this year?

The one thing I've been remiss in doing on this blog (besides discussing actual trading) is to fill up my sidebar thingy with links to other blogs. Unless you've reached this webpage randomly by clicking that Next Blog button on the navbar, you're familiar with this tight knit group of blogs and bloggers that's grown. We meet weekly in a private hotcomm room to discuss ways to attract more eyeballs and develop ideas to generate money out of this to help those of us who are struggling to make living wages.

For the past month, I've been vigorously pressing that we join the Russian Hotties XXX ring. We just sign our blogs up, put these sweet banners up on all that wasted space on the margins, and then sit back and let the money roll in. Nobody wants to listen to a guy "who doesn't even link to us." How can I even have a discussion with such people? So there, the links are in. If I've omitted anyone else or somebody new is joining the circle, let me know and I'll put 'em in right away.

I'll play the link game for a little while, but I've got my solo backup plan going on in the background. Keen observers have been hip to the transitioning going on here. For the rest, if one day, you arrive here to find a new blog title: "How SAHD -- Facing the inner demons everyday in the (futile?) attempt to be a successful Stay At Home Daddy," then don't be shocked. You'll know that I've either quit this circle of blogs or have been banished. The Russian Hotties banners and the penis enlargement ads on the margins will be the telltale sign.

So without further ado, I present the Circle of Blogs lineup accrued from my various bookmarks. For all the navbar visitors, here are some brief descriptions:

cheese chat II -- The very successful sequel to the blockbuster original cheese chat. The latest shocking update is the Big Cheese's breakup with kiwi and the secret plan to all things awesome. Cheese has discovered the addiction of picture blogging (it is a sickness I know very well), and is currently punishing everyone with microscopic squint font. He may or may not be "Mad Dog" Lassiter. I keep bugging him at the weekly private blog get-togethers and asking if he's from Woodlynne, was his grandpa a dead ringer for Anwar Sadat, did God create man before beast... stuff only a retired radio legend would know. He never answers me. Just keeps muttering, "where's my fuckin' link, kid?" So here it is.

Evolution of a Trader -- A new blog by (whee-os). 10 entries so far for April. Charts too. That's a prodigious pace that'll be tough to keep up. The over/under for May is 13.

Globetrader -- Globetrader is actually a longtime journal keeper. As Croc, he maintained a long-running journal at the suddenly gone eminitraders.com site (it's now become a links-r-us page that certainly gives r7 a run for his money). I always assumed Croc is pronounced "crock" as in crocodile. Woodie always called him "crosh" with a long o. Anyway, long before all these "aww damn, i can't daytrade for shit" blogs sprang up, Croc was doing that same thing in his journal, complete with see-sawing account balances and all. Happily, Globetrader has advanced to a more secure moneymaking level. He keeps the blog strictly to trading and his entries are scholarly in length. There's always good stuff there, and if anyone can stick to a blog, it's Globetrade.

keep moving.... nothing to see here -- Title says it all, right? Like many recent blogs, this one was inspired by Cheese. It's actually all about trying to figure out the recently trashed secret plan to being fat and joyous. The author, Ed, promises to keep it going as long as there is "community involvement." I'm going to raise a motion to disband this one at the next meeting, or at the very least make it into a Spanish speaking blog or a coffeechat blog.

olmikey -- olmikey is a Galapagos tortoise blogger. I'm not referring to his age, just the rate at which he blogs. He may or may not ever write a thing in there ever again. The blog had a blowout revival for a short time as commenters took to it like kids taking over an abandoned house for a keg party. It's since quieted down again. I predict another revival in 2005. Maybe 2006.

Stalking the Geek Within -- This is the all purpose blog by LionessTrader, covering everything under her sun, including trading. She and Edison were my earliest commenters so I have a fond spot for them. I see that Lioness is doing the Todd Mitchell system now. This is why we're a circle. She's where I once was, and when I took up the CCI again last summer, I was where she once was. Good luck to you, Lioness. Hope it speaks to you and you find success with it.

T&J's -- T has a great little blog firmly underway now. Nice charts and gives the daily P/L for those keeping score at home. Also keeps you updated on what's on his Tivo. He invited me last week to join his public flickr.com group to post charts. That was awfully nice of him. I signed up with flickr to see how their posting pix to blogger worked. I didn't like it. My charts aren't worth sharing anyway. T and Lioness are not using Blogger. That's why their blogs are more attractive. Blogger is for retards, and the preferred choice for most of the circle.

Tack Trading Concepts -- Tack posts at a measured pace. They're rare, but when you spot an entry, it's a gem. The only hints of actual charting technique are links to slings and the bline. The rest is good trader's brain food, and that's the most important part of all this.

The Open Wheel -- A blog by Racer's Edge. I don't know if this is the same Racer who made a newbie splash in Woodie's room last year by making a new personal trader's plan revision every week, kept saying "plan your trade, and trade your plan" until you wanted to smack him, and then suddenly took a long break (blown out account?). I don't think if it's the same person, but who knows? He has a lot of tinyurl links. His blog is like a box of chocolates, and you have to click on each link to see whether you got a nice caramel nut chocolate or a disgusting cherry nougat one.

TradersParadise -- Sport's back with a blog and also his own hotcomm room. Sport's a good guy and successful trader that has a lot to teach if people listen. I'll definitely have to check both the blog and chatroom out because I'm always in dire need of some serious learning. Evidentally, he's also building a giant castle in the Tennessee mountains, and he might be using his kids as slave laborers.

I took my Spring Break. Didn't go anywhere super special, but just had to get out of the house. We took the toddler (I'll still be calling him "baby" though officially he has graduated to the next level) last Wednesday for his follow-up checkup for his cold and ear infection. Everything's cleared up and we got the greenlight to go out and about, so we did. The little guy is walking now so he's dying to go outside. The weather's been great. A little windy, but who can complain? We visited Antelope Valley to see the poppies, and the LA County Arboretum for the 2nd time this month. We'll probably make the long drive out to see the poppies again in a week. I was expecting a bumper crop after all the rain we had, but it was pretty disappointing. Folks were saying maybe another week of sun would kick them into gear. I want to see that. If it's good, I'll take some photos to show you why it's worth the drive.

I'm not exactly diving back into trading today. In fact, I'm thinking there's a million other places I'd rather be and things I'd rather be doing than sitting here, pretending to be looking at my charts. It feels like a job right now. All the worst aspects of a job without much of the benefits. Maybe that's my spring fever talking, but it's been a growing feeling for a few months since I went back to real trading again. The inner hype of renewal and the excitement of treating this like a "real business" has morphed into dull business as usual, sucking my passion dry. This isn't new. I get restless, bored and introspective every now and then. I'm sure many traders do, which is why we're drawn to such a solitary profession with flexibility. As always, I'll work through it.

Hmm, like the tire commercial says: Wider is better.

You know I'm a reality TV junkie. They've announced the cast of the next Surreal Life: steroids user Jose Canseco, ancient model Janice Dickenson, that Pepa chick from Salt-n-Pepa, unfunny funnyman Bronson Pinchot, Omarosa from the Apprentice, some British model named Caprice and some motorcross dude. They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel this time.

I'd like to see a reality show called "The Moderator," with all the usual suspects on one team, and the assorted banishees and abandoners returning to form the other team. Both teams would live in the same house. Each team would trade in a designated team room. It would be a competition foremost to gain the most profits as a team and individually. Additionally, there would be a different team leader each day (the moderator) who would actually call out the trades for their respective team. Whether the other team members actually follow the moderator's calls is up to each person.

The losing team in total weekly profits would head to the private hotcomm chatroom. Only the individual profit leader for the week would have immunity. The rest of the losing rats would battle it out in front of the ultimate judge, Woodie, blaming each other and their lousy moderating and trading skills for the overall team loss. Woodie would consult with his two assisting judges, Robin Dayne and Adrienne Toghraie, and using the general guidelines of "traders helping traders," "no egos, no boasting," and "don't tick off gio," they'd eventually whittle it down until one unfortunate trader would hear the dreaded "You're outta here!"

The ultimate winner gets all the Woodie perks for a year: free airfare and accomodations around the world, free hotcomm rooms, free esignal, and a personal website run by tony_UK.

Well, as you may also know, I'm a hardcore baseball junkie. The Yankees and BoSox got things going last night, but ESPN is just starting coverage of Opening Day right now. I got some YM ticks in the morning on the downside, so I'll be watching how Pedro fares for my Metsies the rest of the market day. I had a chart that I thought I uploaded, but blogger is all screwy (as usual) so who knows if it'll show up. I don't even know if this will get posted. Good trading to all.

This is sure to tack on some evil percentage points for the blog. The Pope is knock, knock, knockin' on Heaven's door, Frank Perdue has passed, and Abe Vigoda keeps going on strong. Ever think that the Pope and Frank Perdue were separated at birth, or was it just me? Separated at birth, reunited in... ahhhhhh, ok enuf of that.

I just took the YM elevator down for 40 ticks. Longest ride ever for me. I'm very weak at hanging around. Mostly because I'm still trading 1 contract 98% of the time and you know how it is with single car trading. I'm getting better though. Woodie says prices scare you. I don't know what he's watching because the CCI flickers in the wind and can be just as scary as watching price bars moving. They move together, after all. I'm trying to stick with the 9 ema or the hi/lo of the previous bar for my exit strategy. Nothing written in concrete. I basically still play the exit by "feel," for better or worse.

Also, I admit it. I'm a damn flip-flopper. 48 hours after switching to only 3 min charts, I've brought back the 89 tick charts. So I've got the 89 tick and 3 min charts for the YM, ER and EUR. I'm using the 89 tick charts only today.