Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

Beat the Meetles

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People often make glowing remarks about "California weather", particularly if they are visitors. This term usually gets deployed during instances of sunny, hot days. When it's sunny and hot, and people gush about California weather, I want to beat them with a beach umbrella.

There are three kinds of California weather I really like:

  1. Heavy snows – the kind of fluffy stuff that comes down for hours and makes for thigh-deep powder skiing;
  2. Fog-bound mornings with absolutely grey skies and a cool mist everywhere you turn;
  3. And the weather we had today – clear skies, strong breezes, and temperatures in the mid-60s.

That third category I find particularly exhilarating. There's something so uplifting about a blustery day; it feels like everything is being swept clean by nature. I confess it's one of the few times I feel really happy.

But you didn't come here for a weather report. The trouble is, I didn't come here to talk about the stock market either. I've got some other things to do: among them, set up and play with the new Beatles Wii game we got (complete with drum set, guitars, and so forth). I've never had any music games before (like Rock Band or Guitar Hero), but I love music, and I love the Beatles particularly, so this should be a kick.

I'll probably do a post much later tonight. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jagged Edges

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I am now about 24 hours behind on hanging out in the comments section, and the stress is starting to show. I really feel "out of the flow" if I'm not with my beloved Slopers.

Lately I've noticed on the /ES some very spikey behavior is taking place. You may think this happens all the time, but believe me, I have the /ES burned into my brain, and I know how it behaves – – things are changing, because these fake-outs are getting almost commonplace (and, for those who are all thumbs, can be dastardly expensive!)

I just think it's interesting – – and perhaps indicative of a forthcoming change.

0929-jagged

By the way, my Russell puts were my biggest cash winner today. It's nice to be working with my good buddy Russell again after all this time!

No Advice

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I have tried, on my Contact Page, to be as firm as I can without being rude, and yet each day at least several people write to me asking for advice or one kind of another. Right now on my contact page it says:

please do not ask for advice of any kind. I will not offer any opinions about anything to any individual (although if you have an idea you'd like to share with me, I'm all ears). By "advice", this includes stop prices, market direction, whether I'm long or short something (check my watch lists!), what color I think the sky is, etc. I will not respond to anything asking for any opinion on any particular investment or technique. I hate to be rude about it, but so many people have ignored softer warnings that I had to kick it up a notch.

Because I am cursed with good manners, I cannot simply ignore all the emails I get (as most popular bloggers would, I imagine), nor am I inclined to make the above text so obnoxious that no one ever writes me about anything (because folks offering topic suggestions, interesting articles, and so forth, are absolutely welcome).

So please – I'm beggin' – don't ask for advice in any way/shape/form. Pretty please. With sugar on top.

0929-lucy

A Thing of Beauty

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This, my friends, is a head and shoulders pattern. And today – for the first time since last year, I believe – I am accumulating puts on the Russell 2000. And I'm just going to keep buying them. I've been waiting all year for this index to be ready. For me, the time is either here or close at hand. Thus I am starting with a small position and will accumulate, even if we push higher.

0929-rut