Archive for January, 2006
Book Review: The 48 Laws of Power
While not a new book, The 48 Laws Of Power by Robert Greene
Each chapter covers a different law of power, such as law #33: Discover each man’s thumbscrew. Greene provides at least one historical reference where the law worked, and at least one where it failed. He then reviews why they worked or failed, and when the law should be used or not used. The text is full of quotes and parables, and reading can be dry at times. Despite this I found it a very enjoyable and interesting book. It seemed easiest to read a chapter a day, thus reading it over a period of months. The combination of history, quotes, parables, fables, and poems brings power to a whole new light.
Two sleeps forward, one sleep back
I’ve been sleeping polyphasicly off and on for nearly a month now. I’ve come a long way but I have a lot farther to go. It seems that every few days I’ll oversleep a nap for one reason or another. Recently they have been due to issues with alarm settings and placement.
Sale Sale Sale!
The one goal I made that I haven’t been following is #1, to sell something everyday. I have so much junk that I don’t need yet I haven’t been putting in the effort to list stuff on Ebay. I finally sat down and listed 4 items today. I’m going to try to list 2 items everyday this week to make up for lost time. Here’s a list of what I just put on:
Lot of 30 DVDs
CB Radio
Megaphone
Mobile Trunking Scanner
Second time’s the charm
It’s official. I’m matriculated, registered, and paid. I’m going back to college. Which leads me to…
Goal #8: Achieve a minimum GPA of 3.8 at my new school.
This time I’m going to do it right. This time I’m in a program that I want to be in. I don’t feel like I need to be there, I want to be there. I think that makes a major difference in how I perform. If I don’t want to do something I resist it.
Polyphasic sleep adjustment finished!
I believe that I have finally reached the end of the adjustment period. Yesterday was the first day I made it through without feeling excessively tired at any point. Today has been about the same. I’ve been loosely following polyphasic sleep now for 3 weeks. It has been enough time to conclude that it is a very real alternative to wasting your life with normal sleep.
I feel that the nights I slept 8 hours helped my body adjust and refresh itself. I will be using at least one monophasic sleep night a month and I suggest that others on this schedule should try it as well. It doesn’t seem to have any negative effects on the polyphasic cycles.
Options @ Collective2
I have opened a virtual account with Collective2 so that my options trades are automatically tracked by a 3rd party. The public can view closed trades but I will almost always have open trades that you don’t see. So far in the first two days the account is up 15% thanks to APPL (position nearly doubled) and LPL (still open, position up over 50%).
There is a 14 day trial period available for those who want to track my live trades as they happen. Assuming my results continue to be very good I will be going live in about a month. I’m using my main strategy of trading news, earnings, etc and looking for companies with strong fundamentals that have a high probability of rapid growth.
Mmmm, healthy omelets
Being the creative guy I am I occationally come up with recipes that are quite tasty. I’ve decided to share some with the world. Most will be quite healthy since they are geared to fit into my diet. I will also include nutrition information when possible.
This first recipe is a modification of one taken from Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. I created it from scratch but used the idea out of the book. The oatmeal and apples hide most of the egg taste. The sweetness of the apples actually makes them taste more like pancakes! I eat these daily.
In: Health & Fitness, Recipes
Back To School
Ah college. That place where too many people waste away drinking alcohol, staying up too late, and pursuing a piece of paper to get a job. At least that’s how I perceived it when I was in school. Get good grades, graduate with a diploma, get a “good” job, etc.
I’ve since realized that college should have nothing to do with getting a diploma or a job. If you think the way I used to then you’ve fallen into the rat race trap. The original intention of higher education was to expand the individual’s thinking and reasoning. It had nothing to do with getting a job and everything to do personal growth.
In: Education / Learning, Philosophy
No Snakeoil Here
A few people have requested that I discuss investing so that’s what I’ll do here, starting with more specific long term goals.
Goal #7: 5 Year Financial Goal. In five years the vast majority of my income comes from a combination of rental properties, forex, and stocks/options investments.
Here’s a breakdown of each:
Shake your booty!
On Tuesday I went gym shopping. There are 4 within a few miles of my apt. Two are YMCAs, one is a World Gym, and the other is Midtown Athletic Club. I decided to look into all of them and pick which one was best for me at this time.
The YMCA downtown is quite large so the smaller one was out. I’ve heard pretty good things about this Y location so I checked the prices. Promo signup fee of $37.50 and $54.50 a month. Not too bad. I didn’t take a tour of the Y.
