Ah Yea, Baby!

Okay, so I’ve talked to several people over the past few days who have, without realizing it, let me know that they’ve told other people about my blog. Yes, this very blog. And since I’m feelin’ so good this early Tuesday morning I figured that I’d share my thoughts about the purpose of this blog.

Ya ready? Honestly, I don’t have any grand purpose whatsoever. It started by me wanting to have a place post entries and pictures about my trip to Hawaii. “Trip to Hawaii?” you say? Yea, I’ve cancelled it for biz reasons. But since then I’ve enjoyed jumping on late at night to tell my tiny audience vartious random things I’ve been thinking lately. It started with just my family knowing about it. Now a few more people have discovered it. It even pops up in the top Google listings for various search terms. Want a laugh? Do a Google search for “lostwithme daryl” and see what comes up! The helpful little GoogleBot picked a wonderful little sentance from a random post that has to do with “hotties” and “rubbing”. That’s all I’m gonna say!!!!

So now that I’ve gotten off to a serious note with this entry I figured I’d share why I picked the title “Lost With Me”. First of all, it’s because I don’t want ANYBODY to take this blog seriously. If I’m practically admitting up front that I get lost all the time, that should clue you in that it may be hazardous to your health to follow any advice you find here. So I’m hoping when you read my posts you’re just relaxing and want a good laugh more than anything. I’m a peculiar guy with a different outlook on life. And I hope it’s entertaining. If you ever get offended or feel like your feathers have been ruffled by a post just take a deap breath. I promise I didn’t mean to offend you. Maybe I’m just blowing off steam or something. I get in moods sometimes. I promise you, if I ever met you we’d probably have a swell time.

Also, and this is a big one, I don’t have any single person in mind when I’m writing. So if you read something and thought to yourself, “I bet this is about me. ” You can bet your boots that I was not thinking about you. Sometimes I just come up with these broad generalizations and decide to tell the world how it ought to be.  Hey, here’s a tip . . . there’s this little red “X” at the top right of your browser window (if you’re a Mac person I have no clue what shiny little button is up there on your browser). Just click that button. If it makes you feel better you can even pretend that it instantly sends me an email that says, “Somebody was majorly ticked off with your insensitive post.” I promise I won’t do it again. [fingers crossed]. Hey, there are about 6 people in the whole world that have known me long enough to know that I’ll slip up and just run my mouth about some seemingly insensitive opinion of mine without realizing that if I was talking to anybody else they would probably take offense. They humor me when I do that. And I really appreciate it. Because they know I’m about as harmless as a BB-gun. It stings from time to time. But you gotta love the guts of somebody who’ll at least take a shot like that. Rest assured, after about 15 minutes I’ll realize what I said and maybe I won’t take the extra effort to qualify what I said, but nonetheless I do feel bad about it.

I really do. When I was in highschool (a christian highschool) I rarely felt bad about anything I said. After all, I had scripture to back it up, right? Of course! And my interpretation was ALWAYS correct! But since then I think I’ve mellowed a bit. I realize that anybody can think their interpretation is correct. Hey, whatever. You know, I think everything’s better when we both just realize that either of us could be right. Sure, we’ll find out someday who’s right. But let’s just be friends in the meantime. Hey, you could even be a tree-hugging Green Party member. Yo, it’s cool. We can be friends. I’ll laugh and nod my head agreeably when you talk about saving some wildlife by voting against some oil rig or someting. I just ask that you just be agreeable when I talk about how tax cuts are good for everybody too.

Maybe this blog ends up containing more than a few insightful entries, but always keep in mind: I’d probably like you if I met you. In fact, many times, I enjoy meeting somebody who’s belief’s are totally opposite of mine. It gives me a chance to ask questions and see if I have good answers to any of their responses. I may not voice them. But, to tell you the truth, I am very convinced about my convictions. And it’s wonderful! If you make a great arguement against something I believe in strongly, I really cheer you on! Wow! The way you voiced your opinion was very effective! On the other hand, if you make a strong stance for your opinion, occasionally I get special satisfaction from the knowledge that, even though I may not say anything, I know I’ve got all the ammo I need to blow you off the face of the universe.

So now that I’ve said that, I am 100% aware of what this blog could do. This blog could be the sole reason that people, 10 years from now, laugh and say something like, “I knew this really opinionated guy one time and you know what absurd statement he made about this topic?” I know. I know. That’s the downside about putting your thoughts out there for the public to have their way with. But you know what? That risk briefly flutters past my mind with every post I make. And each time I decide that it’s worth it to go ahead and leave whatever I say posted.

I fully realize that in 15 years I might look back on some of my entries and feel a little weird about them. I’ll think to myself, “Boy should I delete that post? I don’t really think like that anymore.” But I know I won’t delete it. Why? Because I hate censorship. I don’t like it when somebody changes their opinion and tries to convince everybody, “What , No. I never said that!!!” Yea right. Believe it or not every one of us has different beliefs than we did 15 years ago. Not every belief is different. Maybe even 90% of them are the same. But we will have lived a little since then and are willing to admit that we were a bit narrow-minded back then.

Ahh, anyways. I’m done talking about that. I think one word comes to mind now about the previous topic. What’s that word? “Exhausted.” Right. On to another topic now.

Yea, so when I’m writing a blog entry what are my surroundings like? Well there are several requirements, like having my trusty laptop nearby. But I almost always have some delecacy present. Yep, like right now, it’s my “Extra Sharp Cheedar Cheese”. I love that cheese. I’m not gonna lie, it’s Cracker Barrel brand. Right, you can find it in most grocery stores these days. I wish it was some gormet brand of cheese. But, alas, it’s all the goodness I need right now. Just nibbling and typing. Ahhhhh! It’s quite heavenly. The only item to add to my blog ambiance is some choice tunes. Nope, I’m not gonna tell you what’s playing over my reference studio-quality speakers right now. I’ll leave that up to your immagination. (Hint: No, it’s not rap.) Hahaha! That leaves a LOT of genre’s to guess from though!

Yea, Daryl’s world is a lot of fun. I really do enjoy my single life quite a bit. Why, you ask? Mostly because I’m in that male stage where I don’t feel like I deserve a girl yet. After all, I’m not making millions yet! What respecitable girl would feel at home with me if she couldn’t afford the best? So, I probably won’t feel good about dating till I’m making a boatload on the stock market and own at least 2 serious businesses. Like I was talking about with a friend tonight, “I’m not going to marry no ugly chick.” I’ve had several pretty x-girlfrieds. But unfortunately, I didn’t feel comfortable about my situation in life at the time I was dating them. So I’m still looking for a gorgeous girl. Are you a gorgeous girl? Are you single? Hey, wait, woah, woah. When I say gorgeous I don’t mean average. I mean drop-dead. I mean you have to use all of your feminine tactics every day to keep the guys off you. Like, you have had to change your cell number at least 2 times because you kept getting calls from guys you now put in the “stalker” category? Lol! Well, truthfully, I really like “cute” girls. I’m probably about 5′9″. So if you’re in the 5′0″ – 5′4″ range that is just perfect! Perfect for what, you ask? If you have to ask you’re obviously not a girl. Or you’re just a curious one ) What’s with girl’s always getting away with calling themselves “curious”? When guys do the same thing it’s called “nosy”. Grrr!

Boy, this post is quite the ramble, isn’t it? I always end up taking things to their limit. Ahh, sorry. Since I’m on the topic . . . Um. . . Second though  . . . Okay, well I’ll save that for another post. So nevermind. (sorry) Yea, well, I think I’ve run out of things to talk about.

So are you now convinced that you should just be in a lighthearted and fun mood when you read my blog? I hope so. See, I practically typed this whole entry in a single breath (figuratively speeking). It just flowed out. Boom, done!

Friends, Family & Phones

The Lord has been so good to me. I’ve been around enough of a variety of people to know how fortunate I am. No matter what becomes of me in life I’m sure that my friends and familiy will love me.

Everybody assumes that your family loves you. And I suppose that’s true, for the most part. But what’s even better than your family loving you is that cool feeling you get to know that of all the people on the earth they know who you really are and they still love you. I’ve got a couple very good friends who are like that too.

I think my friends and family are what keeps me sane. I know my sanity is often up for debate. But we’ll have fun with that later, k? Good. I mean, it’s so nice to have people to talk to about anything from time to time. You know? Just somebody who you can call and talk about nothing. And they know you’re just talking to talk. No particular reason for calling. Just calling to “talk”.

I’ll admit, I get lonely at times. Hey, I do. Everybody does sometimes. I’m just walking around my house thinking to myself, “Man, there’s nothing to do right now. What can I do. No, I don’t want to eat. No, don’t want to go near my computer. I’m not tired. Ugh, I wanna talk to somebody.” So I pick up my phone and call a friend or my bro or sis or mom or dad.

My mom will usually only talk for about 5-10 minutes before realizing that I’m just chewing the fat and have no point to the conversation. Then she’ll try to hand me off to D. or Dad. Dad will talk for hours on end. Unless it’s getting to be about 10pm. Then I can tell that he’s not listening to me that closely anymore. He’s getting ready for a shower and bed. D’s threshold is about 45 min  to 1 hour max. If you’re making him laugh, that is. Or if you’re talking about music.

My friend M will literally put up with me for hours on end. A 5 hour phone call is not surprising anymore. It’s happened several times over the years. It’s quite amazing the twists and turns a phone call with M can take. But it’s always good mental exercise. Sometimes he even makes me laugh. But he’s known for being a serious guy most of the time (when he’s sleeping, hahaha). R is fun to talk to also. He’s kind of a inspiration because he is so healthy. And he’s super good at dancing with chicks. I need to get off my duff and learn to dance. Maybe he’s so good at dancing because of all that tuna he eats (hmmmm).

My sis can IM for a long time but she usually gets bored with me on the phone after about 10 minutes. And I know the phone call is over if I ever say anything about a pretty girl. It’s the funniest thing, I’ll be driving and talking to her. All I have to say is, “Ooh, she’s nice”. Click! Almost that quick sis is saying, “Oh boy, well I better let you go.” I don’t talk to her husband N that often. He’s a tricky one though. He’s got a way of convincing me to do stuff. Like taking the Xterra offroad. He knows what I’m talking about. He doesn’t last that long on the phone though. Maybe 5 or 10 minutes. Unless you’re trying out the new Skype phone with him. Then he’ll stay on the line for much longer (only for the novelty of it).

My grandma is fun to talk with. She gives me good advice like telling me to eat healthy and pray and such. I like trying to make her laugh. She’s a pretty fun-loving gal. So even I can make her laugh a few times. My grandma is quite amazing. She’ll actually answer her phone and talk with me as late as 10pm! She’ll usually talk for about 30-45 minutes. Her first question is always, “So where are you going?”. Because I almost always call her when I’m on the road.

Speaking of communication, my dad is starting a blog! LOL! I was chatting with sis lately about what he’s gonna use it for. We were talking about how hillarious it would be if he kept it funny and not-so-serious. He’s been doing some mischevious things lately, so you never know. He started the blog off by putting a picture of our old parakeet instead of his mug for the “bio” section. Haha!

I think N&K need to start a blog. Because when she has the Rook she’ll have a place to put pics and such. Maybe she’ll get lucky and have a baby that’s as cute as me when I was a baby. Mom says all the nurses wanted to take me home. But my mom wouldn’t let them.

And she still doesn’t want nurses taking me home.

Hehehehehehehehe! You know I had to say that D

The Tough Years & The Timeline

I guess it’s just part of starting anything. There’s a lot of work up front. I’ve been a bit dissapointed lately knowing that I’ll be missing out on Thanksgiving with my family. I was supposed to have the most felxible schedule of all when I went into biz for myself. After all, if I want to take a month off for Thanksgiving why can’t I?

Well I found out why. You have to work up to it. You can’t just quit the corporate world and never work again. You quit the corp world put in several grueling years on your own biz(s) and then your the president with your employees running the show. Then you can take large amounts of time off with relatively small consequences.

The whole point isn’t to be able to take off anytime you want. The point is to be able to not work but nonetheless the money still flows in. Every bum across America takes every week off. The problem is that when he doesn’t work, he doesn’t eat either. When I get to where I need to be I can take a two month vacation and the flow of money doesn’t vacate for 2 months.

The real point of vacations for me will probably to focus on a new opportunity. I’d go crazy if I just sat on a beach for 2 months. I just cancelled a trip to Hawaii because I knew I’d be going crazy over there thinking about all the opportunities I’d be missing out on back here.

I’ve got a 3 year plan in the works right now. At the close of that 3 years I should be feeling much more free. But right now I’m fighting to get to that ultra-stable point. The fact is that as long as I am in ambitious mode I will be giving up things that I enjoy to achieve a goal. But that’s a choice I’m willingly making.

So now’s my chance to set a clear goal. I’ve been talking about the 3 year plan. But I’ve been talking about it for 2 months now. Most people talk about a 3 year plan for 3 years. In three years you talk to them and they are still working on the 3 year plan. Wait? Weren’t you talking about reaching your goal in 3 years 3 years ago? Yea.

I chuckle to myself when I talk to a particular casual friend of mine. He’s always talking about how life will be good in 5 years. Except that he’s been saying that for the past 2 years. So I guess he’s really on a 7 year plan. At least till next year. Then it’ll be an 8 year plan.

Here’s an overview of the timeline of my plan:

Year 1 (Oct 1 2006 – Oct 1 2007): This is when I’m fumbling around considering different biz opportunities and figuring out what I want to settle down and do for the next several years. At the end of this semi-awkward period I will have a clear list of biz goals and priorities that I’ll be honing in on and perfecting. I’ll finally have the car on the right road, so to speak.

Year 2 (Oct 2 2007 – Oct 1 2008): This year is when I buckle down and get many of my business process in place. This is when I get things set up to be scalable. I’d like to have more than one location and at least a copule of employees by this point.

Year 3 (Oct 2 2008 – Oct 1 2009): This is the year that I take all of the work that I did in year 2 and really put the petal to the metal. This is where I get my employees set up to handle things. By the end of Year 3 I should be able to either start another biz, continue growing my current bizs or step back. This is the point where I’d like to have a trustworthy person trained to do what I usually do.

So there you have it. The first 3 years shouldn’t change too much. But the next three could be a bit different from what I wrote above.

The cool thing is that this stuff is materializing. I’m not dreaming about things that I haven’t even started on yet. Everything that’s part of the plan is stuff I currently have in the works. I’ve already taken at least a few steps toward the goal. So this isn’t me hoping things come together. This is me knowing that things have already come together. I just need to push these opportunities.

Turrets Galore!

Yea Baby! I’ve added a much need piece to my office setup. A 20″ rotatable 1600×1200 resolution flat panel monitor. Check out the pics here (there’s even a sneak peak of my QTurret software). This is truely a huge improvement over the way I’ve been programming lately. I’ve got my new monitor rotated vertically and it gives me probably 4X the code viewing space!

It’s incredible. Surfing the web is even much better. Much less scroling. I was about to settle down to several hours of coding today and I just realized that I really need a bigger monitor to code from. So I went out to about 4 computer stores and finally picked out this monitor. My main priority was to get one that rotates for my coding. This monitor is VERY bright also. I’ve actually got it on a setting that dimms it a bit.

I guess I’m set for the time being. I’ve got an awesome trading turret that doubles as a sick-nasty programming turret too! And I can’t leave out my sweet new QTurret.com site. Yep. I did my news plays tonight with my new monitor and my new QTurret.com and it was like being in some sort of programmer/stock trader heaven.

Oh well, I can’t wait to crank out some DB scripts on this new monitor. If you ever get a rotatable monitor you will agree with me that this is the way computers were meant to be used!

My Recipe

I started writing this entry probably over a month ago. I was driving home from somewhere (I don’t even remember). I was so excited to get home and blog about My Recipe and such. I got home and started writing this. Then an email popped up and I got distracted. But I’m back to my ”My Recipe” entry now! I guess I’m just in a blogging mood. Lol! 

Okey dokey, I’m gonna take this opportunity to share with the world a valuable insight to the way my brain works and the way I communicate with my own self (which is what this blog is about). The way I motivate myself. I suppose that this entry will be quite lengthy. But don’t nestle in for a nice long read because you probably will get fed up with this entry before I’m done. This post can be summed up by one word: “opinionated and abrasive”. So if anything, you might want to get the Rolaids.

All right people. This entry really amounts to nothing. Know why? Because I’m not trying to start a religion with my blog. My blog is for me. My thoughts are for me. I made this thing public because I enjoy knowing that people can find out what I really think if they care to know. What does that do for me? It makes sure that I don’t go around acting like somebody I’m not. As I develop relationships with people I could put on an act. But I’ll be a bit more genuine if I know people can find out the “real” me when they hear about my blog from somebody.

So what does that have to do with “My Recipe?” Nothing it was basically a disclaimer. And, no, nobody said anything about my blog or about being offended by it or anything like that at all. I’m just writing this because I want to get it down in bits and bytes for the record.

So here’s My Recipe. My own personal recipe for navigating this world from birth to death. Note that I said that this is “MY” Recipe. I realize that this recipe suites my tastes. It probably doesn’t suit yours. Has anybody ever told you that it is wrong to not like the taste of some food? No. Think about it, “It’s a sin to not like chocolate.” How absurd. The thoughts in my blog are My Recipe. I don’t expect you to like my recipe. Nor do I think you are somehow stupid or dumb or making a mistake if you don’t follow My Recipe. My Recipe is for me.

So where am I getting the ingredients for My Recipe? I figure that if I want to be successful I need to learn from people who have been successful. So I’m seeking out people that are good at what I’m trying to do.

What am I trying to do? I’m not going to lie or cover it up at all. I’m trying to make millions and millions and millions. I’m talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. Some day I will hear about a CEO of some company getting a rediculous salary of $5 million and I’ll just smile to myself because that’s how much I made in the last month. Who in the world has dreams this big? Me. Why? Because people do it. Yes, it’s rare. But there’s no reason I can’t do this.

I’ve already taken some necessary steps to make sure I am on a path that can lead me to my goal. I quit my corporate job. That was the most important thing I’ve done since I graduated from highschool. I’ve taken two crucial courses (at my own expense) in the last couple of months. A Real Estate course and a Stock Market investing course. Who are the 3 most notable richest people alive today? Let’s see, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Donald Trump. What are their fields of expertse? Software, Stock Market Invsting and Real Estate.

And what are the 3 things I’m focusing on now? Software, Stock Market Invsting and Real Estate. You got it! Every wonder why I picked them? Because there are a lot of people who make millions in each. There aren’t really other fields where a true mint is being made these days. I want in on the millions. “The journey of a million miles starts with the first step.” Well my motto right now can be summed up by a similar statement. That statement is:

“The journey of a hundred million dollars begins with the first step.”

I am in training right now. I am learning what is out there. I may decide that Real Estate is not for me. Or that Software isn’t for me either. Or I may find a unique way to combine all 3 to form something powerful. Who knows how it will all pan out. But you’ve got to start somewhere.

I am also building a mentality. A rich person’s mentality. Why? Because I have to know what to do with money once I have it. The funny thing is that I am really working off of something I’ve had since I was a kid. My dad always used to say, “You’ve got wine taste and a beer budget.” And he was right. Someone recently also said, “Your way of looking at life is out of sync with your surroundings.” He’s totally right also.

Right now I think like somebody to whom money is no object. Yet my surroundings indicate that I am not made of money. In fact, I am not rich right now. But I totally understand that. I know that I’m “In launch mode” like a freind recently told me. I’m not in orbit yet. But at least I’m not sitting on the launch pad simply thinking about outer space. Or like other people who haven’t even built their rocket or even thought that they could even make it to outer space. No folks, I’m in my rocket, the flames are propelling me upwards.

Each of the past few months since I left the corporate world has taken me to a whole new level. It’s amazing. My goal is for that effect not to just to continue, but to compound. Each month gets it’s power added to the past months. Every month I can do more and make more $$$ than I could last month. I want to have record breaking months every month till I’m making a hundred million a year. Then I’ll put my rocket on auto-pilot.

So all of that is out of the way now. Here are the details of My Recipe. It’s actually quite simple.

The highest priority is learning to be a successful Stock Trader. This is the most important simply because it is “scalable”. When I learn the ropes I can do the same trade with $1,000 or with $10,000,000 and the technique is the same. Eventually this technique will become second-nature to me. In addition, I can trade stocks from anywhere in the world. There’s also the beauty of it being a simple one-man operation. Software and Real Estate both require cooperation with other people to make money.  The final and most compelling one is that I can make money in bear as well as bull markets. Secure, comfortable and exciting are some words that sum up what it’s like to be an expert in this field. Learning to be a successful trader is the foundation for my other pillars of success.

So that being said, my next priority is Real Estate. This is because I want to have the inside track on the most beautiful/valuable property that I can invest in. Investing in Real Estate is a great instrument for storing your wealth. There’s also another reason. Based on research I’ve done, the USA is headed toward a 20 year or so depression. It won’t be sudden like in 1929. It will be gradual, starting around the 2016 timeframe. During this time Real Estate will become very cheap. I want to “know the ropes” so I can be right on top of these great investment opportunities when they become common. Most people will be flat broke and struggling just to keep their head above water during this time. The people with the money will be able to have almost anything they want at a realtively inexpensive price. I want to be in position to be on the good side of that.

The third ingredient of My Recipe is Software Development. The main reason is simple. It’s how I am currently making good money. It is a field that I have become an expert in. I’m specialized in this field. If the stock market disappears and the USA turns into a Communist country where the government owns all property I’ll still be able to make good money with my software skills. Software is also a good way to lock in recurring income. If I’m able to capture a niche market or two with an e-commerce website of some sort that is money that keeps rolling in without me having to do much. I just hire some employees to maintain the biz and everything keeps running.

 _____________________

Okay, by now any normal christian person is thinking something along these lines, “Well . . . he sure thinks he’s invincible, doesn’t he? We’ll see what happens when the Lord decides he needs some humility and sends something his way that he doesn’t exepct. Then he’ll be in the same boat as all the rest of us. You know, there’s a reason that most people don’t think like that. It’s because it’s arrogant and unrealistic. You should have faith instead. Just trust the Lord. Let the Lord bless you. Don’t try to do everything your way. Like Cain in Genesis. He’s trying to use ‘the arm of the flesh’ to get what he wants. I won’t be a bit surprised if the Lord knocks him back on his butt at some point.”

Ahhhh, yep. I’ve dealt with this for years now. I don’t believe that the Lord is evil and is only looking for reasons to punish his children. “Look at that flat broke christian family with every sort of problem you can think of. The Lord must love them because he’s putting them through all those trials.” WHAT!!!! The first blessing he gave every human is also the most important one. YOUR BRAIN!!!

And I think he wants us to use it. The answer to most of the problems we encounter in life can be solved by simply taking a second or two to use OUR OWN BRAIN. There’s nothing “arm of the flesh” about that. God gave our brain to us to help us. After all we wouldn’t be able to read our Bible without it. We make dumb mistakes when we don’t use it. We end up in trials when we don’t use it. We never get out of our ruts when we become content to continue not using our brain. Some christians think it’s more virtuous to be a spiritual-vegitable. They are always playing the faith card. They talk about life in such impotent, helpless and pitiful terms. “Having faith” and plain laziness look very much alike these days. It’s too bad. God’s already given them the solution to their problems right between their ears. But they just want help the easy way. They want a blessing to be provided just because they had faith. That’s what I call looking for a holy handout. Or maybe we can call it the Wednesday Night Welfare program.

So I’m taking this brain God’s given me and am trying to use it to the fullest. I’m taking this body of mine and am going to work it hard and get the most out of it.

______________________________

Here’s the reason I’m doing all of this. The reason I want to be highly successful. The reason I want security, a comfortable lifestyle, and riches.

It all started in around 9th grade in High School. I realized that I had the same desire that Soloman had. I wanted wisdom more than anything else in the world. No, I didn’t make a promise to God that I’d try to want it. I just wanted it. I liked observing everything I could. I loved asking “why?” I was always trying to figure everything out.

At about this same time I realized that what I wanted was to be the world’s best father. I realized that this is the primary goal of every Christian man. Some guys think that they have to put their ”religion” above their family. I think that is flat wrong and a sin. It’s God, Family then Church. These guys that can barely feed their families but have a big library of theology books absolutely disgust me. They drive around in embarrasing cars. Their kids get made fun of because of their Goodwill clothes. Their wives can’t even afford decent makeup. They spend their time perfecting the art of thinning out powdered milk instead of just figuring out how to make more money. It’s quite absurd if you think about. The effort people go to to make due with what little they have. I’d rather use that same energy to just figure out how to make more money.

Anyway, I want my wife and kids to know that their father/husband takes care of them. That they do not lack for anything because “Daddy” is successful. They don’t have to understand anything about what I do. I just want to know that I take care of my family. This also includes my parents. I hope to be able to take care of them in grand style someday.

These religion-first types (notice I didn’t say God first) that put acting and looking religious before even their family end up dying broke. They saw their parents put in a nursing home with nothing they could do about it. When asked if they could help they always recited the laundry list of problems in their life that left them with no time, energy or money to help. This is NOT what the Lord wants.

I want to be like Abraham. If any of Abraham’s friends or family needed anything they could count on him to help. He always had the means. He was a hard worker. He didn’t just sit in a cave and pray. He used his brain and body that the Lord gave him to literally fight for what he wanted.

And that’s what I’m doing.

Stock Market Priority

Well I’m pretty happy today because the first aspect of my QTurret.com website has been finished and the goal has totally been acomplished!!! The problem is that one facet of my daily stock routine has been literally a major pain for me to do. This part is the 6 news practice plays that I have to do. It takes about 2+ sheets of paper to do. And since 2nd grade I’ve hated writing by hand because my hand gets real sore. So I wrote a website instead. My 2 goals were to make it much easier than doing it by hand and to organize it in a more useful way than paper could ever do.

Well it took some thoughtful planning to accomplish this. But now it is done. I estimate that it used to take me at least an hour to do just the prediction part (not the analysis part). After I finished the software today and uploaded it to the WWW. It took me less than 20 minutes to do my 6 news plays! And no sore hands!

The reason I picked the News Plays to write software for first is because that took the bulk of my stock time each day. Plus it is the most stratight-forward to write. Actually the very first thing I did is write a handy dynamic important reminders calendar that always stays in the top banner of the site. This has the current market time (continually ticking second by second), the current options month plus months 1-5 away from today’s option month. It also tells you how many days away “drop dead Friday” is and how far away “Expiration Friday” is. It’s a very handy reference that should help me to never purchase to little or too much time (till expiration).

But with this site just started I’m already anxious for December. I don’t have a whole lot going on in December. I’m hoping to write at least one more facet of the site during Dec. It’s hard to decide which one though. They are all really cool/helpful but have different difficulty levels. Also, as always, I don’t want to start developing a feature till I feel comfortable with my design. Usually a design concept will pop out and hit me in the head. Then I’ll totally be psyched about writing it because it’s so cool and helpful.

The other cool thing is that I built the site with my AS3 “Foundation” technology. Which means that the site already supports multiple users, db-driven settings and a sweet role-based security system. So sorry, nobody but me has a login at this point. But after a couple years people will probably want to know how I do what I do (in the stock market). So I’ll have a website that encapsulates my personal trading system. I can let them be a member of the website and teach them my routine. Here are the features that I hope to develop sooner rather than later:

• Dynamic Market Calendar (with global items and personal-only items)
• Research Organizer (to organize research by stock symbol)
• Market Diary (daily market observations)
• Trade Tracker (track practice and real trades)(hopefully will track several details of real trades)

Here are some main goals in writing this web. One of them is so I don’t have to lug around 3-ring binders everywhere. Even if I didn’t mind lugging around 3-ring binders I would only be carrying around 1 years worth. With my website I can access all my data without having to carry anything but my laptop (which I always take with me anyways). The other reason is to help me trade smarter. If my info is better organized and faster to access I will be able to make decisions quicker based on better information. This will help the learning process as well as the money-making process. The only drawback is that I have to take time to write it. Hopefully I won’t be sacrificing stock-learning time with QTurret-writing time. 

Oh well, I’ve blabbed long enough. I’m gonna heat up some lasagna and call a friend. Ttyl!

The Long Awaited Lasagna Pics

Yes folks, that’s right! By now you’re probably figuring that it didn’t turn out that well because I haven’t posted any pics for prolly 5 days. Well, it turned out fine as you can see in this slideshow. I’ve just been super busy and haven’t had the time or inspiration to blog much. But I’ll tell you what, my house smelled AWESOME with that lasagna in the oven! I’ve eaten about half the pan now. It’s good stuff!

I’m looking for another pan of stuff to cook now. I don’t want lasagna every week. But I definately love the convenience of having food ready in the kitchen. Plus I’m totally tired of any sort of fast food (except for Zaxby’s). So if you have any ideas for what to make next please proffer your advice (as it were – in days of old – upon the cru-el tree - by the place of the skull). Anyways.

Saturday Night

Saturday night has got to be one of the best times of the week. Why? Well because you’re smack dab in the middle of the weekend. Everybody loves the weekend. It doesn’t matter whether you’re employed by a big company or self-employed, like me. It’s 3am right now and all I’m doing is nibbling on a fresh slice of Parmesan cheese and listening to Radiohead’s “Kid A”. Oh, what a lush combination. Yea, I said “lush”. Get over it.

Anyways, I’m between a rock and a hard place. Right, Parmesan cheese is hard; but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about what I  should do for the next few days. “Well you need to show up to work on Monday!” Uh, nope I don’t. I just love thinking about that. Ahhhh! I should really have that date memorized. Yea, the date I retired from the corporate world. [hold on, I've got to go down stares and get some more cheese] . . .

Ahhh, Pecorino Romano. In thin little slices that I can just chew on for minutes on end. Kinda like beef jerky. But more lush. Right, I said “lush” again.

Okay, so here’s my delima. I’m totally stoked about this new website I’m writing for myself called QTurret.com. No, it’s not on the www yet; so don’t bother opening your browser. So here’s the whole reason behind it. GW, the options class teacher, always says, “It’s a work thing!”. Well, he’s prolly the hardest working dude I’ve ever known. Plus he’s got a near-photographic memory. So, you say, “Daryl, he makes $220 million each year. Wouldn’t you be content with the $100 million you could make with your non-photographic memory and your desire to not work as hard???” Content? Did you say “content”? Content is for people who aren’t allowed to have lots of money. There’s plenty of “professions” that could go in that list. But I won’t waste time with that. If I was a “content” kind of person then I would still be swiping my BJU ID card to get in the door to the BJU IT department every morning. I’m not “content” in that sense. I’m very driven. Driven to squeeze the most out of this brain the Lord has given me. We should be good stewards of what the Lord has given us. Most preachers forget that the Lord gave us our unique brain. We shouldn’t waste it.

Oops, sorry for that rant. So I’m stoked about QTurret.com. The reasosn I’m so excited about it is because I’ve already written about 10% of it and it is turning out to be very sweet! Yep, I’m building it on top of my “Foundation” code-base. Which means that it’s already an enterprise-grade app, ready for multi-users and lots of other cool jazz. [ . . . sorry, I had to get another slice to nibble on.] So yea, I desparately want to add 2 more modules to it that will make my daily options trading routine much quicker and more effective. GW thinks tha that the harder you work the better you’ll become. But in order to top his $220 mil/yr I’ll have to work smarter, because I don’t/can’t work harder than him.

See, GW can’t write automation software. I can! So that’s how I’ll get ahead of the curve. Plus it will make traveling much easier. I don’t have to lug around a library of 3-ring binders. I just hit my website! Everything’s right there. All linked together. Efficiency. That’s the name of my game. Work smarter not harder. I’ll say, ”It’s not necessarily a work thing, it’s a smart thing!” I’m just sitting on a beach in Hawaii knowing that when I get back to my grass hut on the end of my dock out in the crystal-clear blue water I’ve just got to flip up the lid of my little laptop to have my entire trading world right at my fingertips. No duffle bags of spiral notebooks and file-cabinates of printouts. Blech! Nope, just one thin little laptop That’s the Daryl style. Yea. Crankin’ out the mils and snorklin’ with the gills. (Shut up. I know it was lame.)

 Ahhhhhhh! Yea, so now it’s 3:36am and I’ve decided that it’s probably best to get as far as I can by Monday on my QTurret.com and then work on my Xterra project (the one that’s gonna pay of the X) till I finish it. QT is cool. But, right now, it’s not paying the bills. So, that’s kinda how the priorities go right now. Hey, look at that, something that makes sense.

This post hasn’t been very fluid. Woot Woot! Yea, I said “fluid”. But hey, it’s 3-forever o’clock. So did you really expect this to look like something Charles H. Spurgeon wrote? Wouldn’t it be funny to read a Spurgeon love letter? Yea. Believe it or not Suprgeon was a human being. He did love his wife. And he probably wrote her a letter telling her how much he loved her. LOL! That would be awesome to read that.

But now it’s getting close to 4am. I’m feeling like my old self now! I think it’s great! Everybody else’s alarm clock is sitting there on the pedistal getting anxious. It just can’t wait to blare it’s annoying tone in your ear and wake you from your sweet dreams. But my alarm clock has been trained. Yep. It sits there and knows full well that it will be slapped at least 5 times before I get out of bed. But chances are good that I’ll take the extra effort to just turn it off instead of getting up. I love my little alarm clock though. Yea, I haven’t even installed a new 9v battery in it in 9 years. It keeps ticking. It loves me. It faithfully does it’s bleeping job every morning! And it deserves respect for that, right?

And It’s Only Wednesday

Wow, what a busy last 8 days! I’m finally done with my Real Estate course. And I passed the class’ test. That means that I’ve got one more test to pass to get my license. It will be nice to get that over with. I won’t have to pass any more tests to stay current. I’ll just have to take “continuing education” classes every now and then. I really hope I can take the final test before Thanksgiving. It just depends on how long it takes the state to get my paperwork back to me so I can sign up to take it.

I’ve been waking up at 7am and I’m starting to get used to it. I still don’t like it though. But I’m going to hang in there for a few more days.  Tomorrow morning I’m meeting with the mortgage brokerage that I hope to do business for. This should be an awesome opportunity if I play it all out right. It totally fits my style and I can hopefully grow it to a pretty large size. It’s a good time of year to start this thing up. Real Estate isn’t at it’s peak during the winter holiday season. So hopefully I’ll have time to learn the biz so that when things start hopping I can keep up.

 Well, I took a 2 hour nap after I got home today. It’s about 1am now and I’m super tired! Grrr! I can’t wait till I can get back to my normal schedule. I’ll have to play it by ear though. I want to make sure I absorb enough about processing mortgages so I can make progress from Greenville without having to make trips to Boiling Springs where the company is based.

I’m also starting on the big project that will pay off the X. I’m real excited about that! I’ll probably get the design done for it on Friday. Maybe I’ll reward myself by going to the unnamed eating establishment for lunch on Friday and asking out that super cute hottie. Mmmm. . . she’s nice to think about. There’s something about the way a girl looks sometimes that can be so comforting to me. Like being around her would make all of the world’s details seem like nothing. That’s why I don’t date much. Because not many girls fit that that description. Plus, I like girls that rub my back. Hahahaha!!!! Hey, I do. Like when we’re in a wait line for a restaraunt or something. And she just snuggles up puts her head on my shoulder and rubs my back . I’ll tell ya what. That is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo nice!!! 

So I better get some sleep so I can keep a sharp eye out for single hotties that would have a high probability of wanting to rub Daryl’s back.

 Yeaaaaaaaaaaaa Baby!!!!!!!!

More Hotness

Yep, I’ve been talking a lot about hot stuff lately. Well today I went to my favorite store, Williams & Sonoma and bought me a sweet little package. Yea! I’ve been dreaming about it for prolly about 2 months. I’ve just got this little $16 cheapo from Wal*Mart and I use it all the time. Way more than I use my Microwave. So I decided it was time for an upgrade.

As soon as my Real Estate class got over I jumped in the X and headed str8 to W&S. I also coudln’t resist buying a special All Clad spatula with a long spatula part; perfect for scooping tasty baked items out of the new toaster oven.

Yea, so anyways, we took our first review test in the RE class today. I was pretty happy because I finished a bit early and scored above average. The teacher said that the students generally think this test is harder than the one we have to take for real at the end of the class. There are definately some things I need to study but I feel like the concepts are gelling now. The first 3 classes it was all fresh and difficult. But today it seemed much better.

Anyways, other than that my day was pretty good. I’m surprised that I’m not going crazy from waking up so early every day. I’m definately getting to bed earlier though. That helps. It’s so cool not having to take 2 weeks off of work to take this class. Last week I worked for 20 hours and got a check for 2 weeks worth of Rubbermaid pay. Boy, ’tis certainly a good thing! So now the game is, “How many new big skills can I learn all at once.” Yea. Real Estate, Options, Mortgage Lending, Running PNL. A very wise and rich person recently told me, “You’re going to [stink] at anything you try for the first 2 years.” So going along with that, I should be decent after 2 years. So by 2009 I’ll be proficient at all 4 of the above. Which I will be very happy about if it works out that way. Who knows what will happen.

One thing’s for sure. I’ll be 30 by then. Thirty. That’s halfway to 60. Hmmm. . . But maybe I’ll be married to a super hot chick who worked at a certain nameless eating establishment