This is the way to conduct business...

One Saturday every month we meet with our Investools Discussion Group. This is a group of other people who live nearby and started with Investools (stock/options trading) about the same time as we did. It gives us a great opportunity to share thoughts and experiences with others.

Well this past Saturday we held our meeting on Cliff and Sandy's boat. Now, this is how all business meetings should be held! We motored from their house down the New River to the Intercoastal.


Then we anchored in Lake Sylvia and held our meeting.

It was a great day, even if we had to put up with some rain. At least it didn't start blowing until we were heading back up the river. Thanks again Cliff and Sandy for such a nice treat!

We're Winners!

This past Saturday we did the final race (Riverwalk Run) in the Three for the Road Series. The series consisted of a 5k, a 4-mile, and a 5-mile race. If you signed up for the Series, then they tallied up your race times from all three races for a different trophy. It's kind of a long story, but eventhough we knew we were all close (Andy, Alex, and I), Alex and I didn't consider the thought that we would've placed in the Three for the Road after Saturday's race. Andy, however, knew he had a shot. He ran the 5-miler at a 7:48 pace! But we all had other obligations after the race, so we had to head out before scores were posted. But, since we knew Andy had a shot of placing, we decided to stop back at the event after showering and driving to our meeting to check results for Andy's time. Andy placed 2nd in his age group!

Now here's the funny part: later that evening, when we're back at home after our meeting, I checked the posted race results...and found out that Alex won 3rd place in the Series, right behind Andy! THEN we looked at the women's category and saw that I won 3rd, too! What a surprise that was!

We're Famous!

Our friends, Jim and Chris Guld, are full-timing computer geeks. They travel the country teaching computer classes to RVers, installing Datastorm satellite dishes, fixing hardware problems, building websites, and so much more. Well, Chris has just recently started writing and her first published article (I believe this is her first) is in FMCA's magazine this month. Her article is also the cover story. I'm so proud of her!

But, the other interesting note, and the highlight of her article (ok, I'm exaggerating slightly here) is that she talks about Andy and I as part of her topic. Yea, we're famous!

St Paddy's Day Race

I forgot to mention that before we went to the Waterway Cleanup, we had to get up at 5am and run a 4-mile race! Whew, were we beat.

When we woke up this morning, we were drinking our coffee and watching the lightning storm fast approaching from the west. I was questioning if they would even hold the race. But we checked the weather and it looked like a narrow band of bad weather. So we drove to Tradewinds Park with our friends Alex and Noemi with the hopes the race would be on. They delayed the start about 15 minutes, and with the lightning and rains having moved off a little, the race began.

We've had some interesting weather recently. We've broken records in February for hottest days - temperatures reaching 90 degrees. So whenever we get a break from the heat and humidity with a rare and too short 'cold front' we relish it. Today's cool temperatures was one of those nice days (well, minus the storm). I've noticed that on cooler days I can shave several minutes off of a run. I'm not the fastest runner, but I was thrilled to run a 9:09 race pace. Andy has been hitting speeds that I can't catch - he ran a 7:51 pace. Him and Alex are now in heavy competition with each other - which I'm relieved that Andy has found someone else to battle with!

Waterway Cleanup

Saturday was the Waterway Cleanup - one of my favorite events to participate in. Our kayak-scuba club, Kayuba, works the Bonnet House. We've had this same location for several years now. The section of the property that borders the Intercoastal Waterway is all mangroves, and all sorts of trash gets collected in the tangle of roots and branches. This is not a casual 'walk the beach' cleanup. This is hard work...

A picture of my kayak with my first load including a bar chair


Andy and Tammy unloading construction debris


One of the biggest items we found, but my camera was buried at the time, was a traffic barrier. Our common finds generally include boat cushions, construction materials, plastic bags, plastic and glass bottles, styrofoam, shoes, and the such. We only had about 10 or so volunteers this morning (at our site) which is a lot less than normal - but considering the morning started out with a thunderstorm, we can't blame people for bailing. Today we only filled up one 20-cubic yard dumpster, where last year we filled up two.

To add humor to our morning we had to maneuver our kayaks around these two mating horseshoe crabs who were using our small beach area for their rendezvous point.


I have a few more pictures at my WebAlbums.

I Was Pretty

A Yiddish Proverb says:

With money in your pocket you are wise and you are handsome...and you sing well, too.

Well, last week I was pretty...and could sing, too. I felt like I was finally hitting my groove with trading. I was gaining some confidence back and was watching my account creeping up. I thought I was finally hitting a new threshold on my account - one where the market fluctuations wouldn't dunk me back below. But then Mr. Market reminded me that the profits that were there were only 'on paper' and he quickly took them back.

We're finding this current market has been very difficult to work in. The best descriptive word I've heard has been "schizophrenic". Up one day, down the next. We're hoping the market will start trending soon to actually make it easier. Because our time is running out. We have both a time deadline and a financial deadline. If we can't make this work soon enough, we'll be forced to make a change. We've already begun looking at alternative businesses, but it'll be hard to find something we are interested in *and* can take on the road with us.

Got any ideas?

I Wish...

...I had something exciting to share! Life has been pretty basic and routine since we've been home.

We've been getting back into a solid exercise routine since kicking our Christmas colds. This has been a blessing for us, especially as a stress-reducer. Since there are no mountains to hike, we have to find another way to keep in shape. We've taken advantage of some 5k races this year, and this coming Saturday we have a 4-miler and in two weeks we have a 5-miler. We need to sign up for these races to keep us motivated to workout on a daily basis!

We are also beginning to train for triathlons again. Man-of-wars have kept us out of the ocean this week, though, so we're using the Swimming Hall of Fame to practice. What a great place to do laps!

And, we have also signed up for the 2009 A1A Half Marathon. I didn't think I'd ever do a half or a full marathon, but what the heck. I got a year to train, right? Yikes! Andy's two brothers are joining us, along with our friends Melissa and Scott. We have another couple who will also join us I hope - the more, the merrier!

Ok, I'll try to be better about posting...maybe this will help motivate me to go find some *fun* things to do to share with you...