Friday, February 28, 2014

Notification

Sadly, I've come to the decision I have to take a break from blogging.  The reason is I need to make some money and it has become obvious I can't do it writing a blog.  I can and have made money trading stocks and options online.  It is not easy.  It is high stress and requires the ability to accept losses from time to time.  That in itself is reason enough not to do it but it also requires a vast amount of time doing research in addition to spending most of each day following the market ups and downs.

The money is not for me.  I don't need much and I'm comfortable.  It is for my family who is young and struggling.  I can't sit by and do nothing.

I have made friends, at least cyber friends if I never meet you in person.  I don't want to lose any of you.  I have enjoyed reading your blogs and comments immensely.  For that reason I will be reading your blogs whenever possible.  Thank you for supporting my blog, especially "Bugsy" which I loved writing and hopefully and can pick up again sometime in the future.

45 comments:

Valerie said...

Well, I wish you all the best with your endeavors, David, and look forward to seeing you wearing the blogging harness... whenever that may be. Good luck.

ADRIAN said...

Good luck and thank you for the entertainment.

Gorilla Bananas said...

That's a real pity, but l'm glad you're quitting for a good reason.

I'm interested in what your trading strategies are for stocks and options. Are you trying to predict price movements or do you have arbitrage strategies? Do you also trade futures?

Hope to see you around and feel free to email me (my address is in my blogger profile).

Best of luck!

Jules said...

:( That's a shame David but I understand. I hope you make a shed load of money and become a gazillionairre and you and your family can live on a yacht. Each. Please don't give up on Bugsy as you've put so much time and effort into it and done it so well. Best wishes x

Ron said...

David, I'm going to miss your posts and comments like hell, but I totally understand. You've got to do what you got to do.

You take buddy, and I look forward to your return!

The BEST to you!

Fang said...

Aww man what. I haven't even caught up yet and it's already pausing indefinitely? This makes me sad.

Still, sounds like you got some very valid reasons for taking a break and spending time on other ventures. "I can't sit by and do nothing." is a very admirable thing. I'll be sending bunch of respect and the greatest of luck your way as well as I can, but sadly I'm no powerful psychic. I don't think you'll be needing all of it though, you seem like the kind of guy that can manage perfectly fine on his own.
Good luck, hope to see you around, and impatiently waiting for your "Writer's Return"!

Helsie said...

You're not leaving for good so it's OK to take a break. A little post now and then to let us know how your life is going would be a good thing wouldn't it? Lots of luck, the Stock Market is a dangerous place. Cheers.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater said...

Hope you can stay in touch! You will be missed. Go make that money!

David Oliver said...

Valerie, thank you. I need to do this only until Cody gets either an annual job at the college or finds something adequate somewhere else. He is actually working a full time job but is being paid less than minimum wage if figured on an annual basis. It is what is happening throughout the U.S. with adjunct professors and is simply an intolerable situation.

David Oliver said...

Thanks Adrian. I could always depend on you reading my blog and commenting. Even though I won't be publishing for awhile, I intend on working on "Bugsy" whenever I have a bit of free time and of course coming by to see what you are up to.

David Oliver said...

Gorilla, I have every intention of blogging again and at least as often as I can visiting your blog as well as everyone else I follow.

I'm not sure what I would call my trading strategies. My favorite thing to do is sell puts. That said, I exhaust my free cash pretty quickly unless the the stock goes up rapidly and I can buy back the put. Also I do a little day trading whenever I see a stock that is getting hit and I think the reason is temporary. A new issue of stock is a good example or the buying company in a buyout.

Thanks for mentioning the e-mail. It is always good to have that and mine is posted on my profile as well.

David Oliver said...

Aw, thanks Juliette! I'll be happy if I can make a few thousand by Summer. I'm going to try and get at least one or two episodes of Bugsy done so when I begin blogging again I will have something ready.

David Oliver said...

Ron, your enthusiasm is an inspiration. Thank you so much for your terrific support and I'll be heading over to visit often.

I have already begun trading and realized I was going to have to do something different when I began trying to juggle time for trading and blogging. From the days of playing Civ I remembered the saying - if you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both.

David Oliver said...

Many thanks Fang. I intend to keep up with "Caves." I'm enjoying Mitchell's battles with the wyverns and want to see where his adventures take him.

Your other blogs are great too. I want to check out that open source analytics sometime.

David Oliver said...

Yep, as Arnold said, "I'll be back." :)
I've no illusions about the the stock market. I learned some hard lessons when the dot come bubble burst. That's the reason I only try to make money on a short term basis when it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, I do the buy and hold strategy, buy a few bonds and only occasionally sell a put or a covered call.

Hope all is well down under and the temperatures have moderated.

David Oliver said...

Dr. Ken I will be by to visit. It is always great seeing the next thing you come up with. I only expect the unexpected from you.

goatman said...

As you may know "you can checkout but you can never leave" (complements of Hotel California) .

Just a thought . . .

David Oliver said...

I'm not great at deciphering symbolism but I have managed to get a handle on the idea that acceptance of everything society dictates is a road to hell. So if that is checking into the Hotel California, I'm there. And I'm leaving only long enough to replenish the wine stock.

Jules said...

Good on ya! :)

DeniseinVA said...

I wish I had discovered your blog sooner than this David, but I understand perfectly your reasons for taking a break. I wish you all the very best.

David Oliver said...

Thank you Denise. I feel the same about your blog and will be posting on it as time permits.

HermanTurnip said...

This is, indeed, sad news. Here's hoping that you can at least find the time to post perhaps once a week? It'll be a lonelier place in the blogosphere without you!

David Oliver said...

Aw, thanks. You are one of the good guys in this world.

I am going to get back to blogging as soon as possible. It has been impossible lately. I'm sure you've noticed I've been late or completely missed some of your blogs and I hate when that happens.

On top of everything else I've got my income tax to finish and because I dabble in the stock market every year, this is a huge pain. At least this is temporary. So there is at least one bit of daylight ahead.

A Beer for the Shower said...

Well, we hope you still pop in to visit us here and there. And we'll definitely be happy to see what happens to Bugsy when you return to blogging. You can't just leave off like that and NOT resume it!

Also, we tried making money from blogging before. It just doesn't work. We just do it for love of the game now, and hey, if you can make Bugsy into a book at some point, maybe you can sell that. That's definitely going to net you more money than a few clicks here or there.

David Oliver said...

I popped in at your site today and I'm still laughing. You guys are always good but sometimes you are really hilarious.

My plan is to finish Bugsy by posting episodes the way I'm doing now. I seriously doubt I'll ever try to publish it but of course that's always an option. I thought I could make a little money with the ad but it has become painfully clear that little in this case is tiny. But some of those clicks pay good. I had one that paid a dollar! No idea what it was or who clicked it but that's as much as some e-books cost. One of the problems with the ads though are the feeder sites that copy the post, then post it to their site. I'm not sure if anything can be done about that. My older son (the lawyer) says they pretty much rape, pillage and plunder because they can get away with it...

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

I am very sad to read this, David, but it's understandable. I'm sorry your family is suffering financially. You have a generous heart and soul. They, and all of us, are better for knowing you. Let's please stay in touch. We know where to find each other.

You are a gifted creative. Don't ever forget, doubt, or lose that.

Much love and blessings,
xoRobyn

David Oliver said...

Robyn! You say the nicest things and the best thing is I know you mean them. You have encouraged me so many times; you are great friend.

Of course I will stay in touch. I might occasionally be late or miss one of your blogs but it will only be in a "have to" case.

It is writing that takes so much time. Well, not the actual writing but thinking about what to to write. That's the time when I need to be thinking about what I can do in the market.

HermanTurnip said...

Well, in that case, I'll keep the faith and continue visiting in hopes of an inspirational update. I can relate to the need for a break, but damn it if my OCD doesn't kick in whenever I think about skipping a day of posting. What the hell is wrong with me? ;-)

Carol Kilgore said...

Make tons and tons of money really quick so you can come back to Bugsy. But you're so good hearted to help your family in this way. God bless. I'll miss you while you're gone.

David Oliver said...

Many thanks Carol! I'm going to try and keep visiting all the sites I follow and am looking forward to getting back to Bugsy when time allows.

David Oliver said...

I'm pretty sure there's nothing serious wrong with you. :)

It is not I need a break. I'm just in a position now where I have almost no time to do blogging. That won't last forever, hopefully not even months.

rhymeswithplague said...

David, as you know the Bugsy Chronicles were not exactly my cup of tea and so I have not been stopping by your blog on a regular basis in a while, but what a shock when I popped in today and learned that you have stopped blogging.

Your voice in today's post is the real you, I think, and better (imho) than another 38 Bugsy posts. But that's just me, probably.

If I wanted to be really snarky (which I don't), I would say that sitting around doing nothing is what most people in the northwest Alabama/northeast Mississippi area are really good at and that you are to be commended. Please forgive me; I'm sure it's the result of having lived near Atlanta for so long.

Anyway, I do hope you continue to pop in at my blog from time to time in between stock-put-selling bonanza celebrations. It's always good to hear from the real David Oliver.

David Oliver said...

Hello Mr. Brague. :)
Actually I was working on another episode of "Bugsy" when I saved my work and saw your comment.

You are not wrong about this post. At least I don't think so. It is the real me but only part of who I am. There's a part that craves creativity and that need is only partially filled by writing about something I think, feel or believe. Enter "Bugsy."

I doubt there is anything you could say about this part of the country that would insult me. There is nothing to forgive. Even though all my roots are here and this is home to me and was home to my ancestors, I have few if any illusions about the place.

I will visit your blog to see what you've been having to say lately. Hope all is well with you and your family.

A Beer for the Shower said...

I don't want to piss in your cornflakes but we used to use rhymes-with-BadTense. Once our blog started getting bigger and we reached the cashout threshold we were pretty excited. Free money. On the VERY day that we were slated to cash out, Google canceled our account without question. Their reasoning: suspicious activity. We are permanently banned and can never use it again. We can't even ask why we were banned.

After doing some research, Google does this to a lot of people. A LOT. They get your hopes up by thinking they're paying you, then when you get to cash out they rip the rug right out from under your feet. We've even posted about this before. So your son is right. They rape, pillage, and plunder you for free advertising simply because they can. They're not even required to tell you, by law, why they canceled your account and can't pay you. Because it's their service and masking everything "protects their sellers."

It's a brilliant scam, really.

Also, don't short sell yourself. It's slow to start off with, but we've made more money with selling books than we could have ever imagined through 5 cent ads. No, neither of us can afford to quit our day jobs, but selling books is a very viable "hey look at that, I've got some extra cash this month" money.

David Oliver said...

Woh! Thank you! This explains a lot. I had wondered why you guys and almost no one else had an ad on their site. That kind of business practice is just sorry. I'll be looking at some other way to go. Maybe I'll finish "Bugsy" and e-mail all of you who have commented on it a copy if you want it and then do the publishing thing. Or maybe I can set it up where you can get a free e-book copy.

I had already become suspicious of Google - in fact just last week I dropped Chrome in favor of Firefox.

A Beer for the Shower said...

It's true, most of us older bloggers have already been through the heartbreak of "Wow, free money! Is this too good to be true?". In fact, most bloggers that use ads will just find people and ask them for money upfront to advertise for them. Or they'll advertise on the banner of their site "buy this space for ($) a month" and see if someone e-mails them an offer. That's another option.

Also, if you publish with Amazon (which is free, of course), they give you 5 days every quarter in which you can give your book away for free. So you can give it to friends, or use it as a promotional tool, etc. Just something to keep in mind.

Feel free to e-mail us if you ever have any publishing questions.

David Oliver said...

I've taken the ad down from this page. I like the idea of "buy this space for ($) a month." I don't like banners though so maybe I'll do a 2.5x2.5 ad on the side. For now I'm leaving Google's ads on my other blogs. Those blogs get very little traffic anyway and I think Blogger will not be free forever if there's nothing in it for Google.

Thanks. You guys are great!

Lorna said...

I read with sadness that you are leaving.

~Lorna
_______________________________________


David Oliver said...

Don't be sad! I just needed time to do other things. Hopefully I'll be blogging again soon. Thank you for stopping by. It reminded me it has been awhile since I visited your blog and I'm heading over there now.

Jimmy Fungus said...

I know how ya feel. I have had the blogging blues lately too. I am sure you will be back.

David Oliver said...

I had wondered what was going on, glad you are back!

Electric Addict said...

I pretty much took a year break. I want to post again on a regular basis. We will see.

DeniseinVA said...

Hello David, hope you get this. Just wanted to thank you for all your lovely visits and leaving such nice comments. I hope life is treating you well and that you will return to blogging one day :). Life in General takes the forefront though, I know that. Have a great day!

David Oliver said...

Hi Denise, it is easy to leave comments on your blog. I always leave it feeling good. I love people who love life and you have a gift for showing us that.

I'm hoping to get back to blogging soon.

David Oliver said...

I did go over and take a peek at your blog even though I didn't have enough time to listen to the music. I will try to do that soon.

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