As some of you know, I am endeavoring to pass my Chartered Market Technician examination; I have passed the first two tests, and my third and final test is on the 25th of this month. I'm more than a little concerned about my ability to pass it, given the stories I've heard.

One of the books on the reading list is Constance Brown's Technical Analysis for the Trading Professional.  I'm about 60% of the way through it, and although I'm not that keen on it, there was one interesting chapter so far on Gann analysis.

One of my weaker characteristics is that I don't push myself to learn new things, and it's something I have to fight, particularly given what I do, so when something intrigues me even a little bit, I push myself to learn more. I'm going to start poking around the web to see what's out there, but I'm interested in what opinions exist out there on Gann and its effectiveness. I mean, that's why I'm in Jamaica, right?

Oh, and late-breaking news; thank God Captain Phillips is OK! This man rocks.

Happy Easter (to Easter-celebrating Slopers out there). This will be quick (which will be the case for the next three days across the board). Regarding the S&P 500 chart………..

 I've been citing something just north of 1,000 on the S&P as the countertrend target for months now. My failure – – and I consider it a big failure – – has been, my IRA notwithstanding, not taking advantage of the rise that I've been pointing at again and again.

By my measure, we are over 50% of the way there, but there's still plenty of upside left. Those huge white candles obviously represent a lot of strength. I think ~1,000 works for three reasons; one, the Fibonacci retracement level; two, the underside of the broken channel; and three, psychologically, getting just above 10,000 on the Dow would be just the sort of "Phew!" event the mass media would love to talk about.

Again, Happy Easter (or Passover, or Flying Spaghetti Monster buffet, or whatever you celebrate).

Hello Everyone,

I have a million thoughts raging through my head right now, but most of them having nothing to do with charts. I get really rattled when I get out of my element – – not in a bad way, but in a mess-with-yo-head kind of way – – and traveling to a new place and seeing different people makes my habit of thinking too much almost oppressive.

One thing I can say without hesitation is that the economy is definitely having an effect here in Jamaica. It's Easter weekend, and this place is practically deserted. At this very moment, on the huge lawn below, DJs are playing music, and there isn't a solitary soul out there. Well, there were a couple of kids pushing each other around in a cart with the phrase Life Is Good painted on the side of it. Painful.

I also wonder how much of the "Yah, Man' and "No problem" is an affectation and how much is just a regular speech pattern. It's kind of charming the first couple of times you hear it, but after a while – – sort of like the Ritz Carlton's "It's a pleasure" – – it sort of grates on you. Man, I'm a miserable creature to be worrying about stuff like this.

Anyway, things will continue to be weird and spotty. I hope Slope still has its audience by the time things are back to normal on Wednesday.