Dry Ships Stock Has Tanked

I am always looking for a good deal in the stock market. Shippers of dry goods were extremely volatile in the past few weeks. Their stocks jumped off the charts two weeks ago. Who knows why? Rumors are that Donald Trump won the election, and his policies would bolster the shipping business.

Then the bottom fell out. The stocks crashed hard. Those that rose the most fell the hardest. I spied on a stock I liked. It had gapped up to $70 or so. I think it might have traded North of $100. Then it fell down to $11. I wanted in.

The next day I tried to buy some at the open. It had jumped back up to $21. Too high. Then it fell back to $11. I saw it bounce back up to $14. When it sank back below $11, I knew I had to go in. I picked a ton up at $9 per share. Figured I could sell it if it jumped to $21 or $14. Could make a pretty penny.

Oops. The stock continued to fall. Went down to $7. Now it is $5 and changes. Ouch. That has got to hurt. I have not sold yet. But if I did, I would lose all the gains I have been making in the stock market for the last few months. And then some.

I am hoping the price will rise so that I can exit this position. I have been in this situation before with another stock. That one turned out to be a happy ending after much pain in between. Maybe I can get a repeat on this latest stock?

Sold This Old House

Today I stopped work an hour early. My brother and I drove out to the title company office to sell dad's house. We took the back roads because we were travelling during rush hour. It took a while to find the building. It was tough to get to the entrance. We circled around, and made some U-turns before locating the entrance.

Then we needed to get some dinner. My brother took the main road for a while, but there was nothing in site. I directed him to the closest strip. Immediately we say Popeyes Chicken, Arbys Roast Beef, and Chik-Fil-A. We stopped for some Chik-Fil-A. They bring your meal out to your table. We had a quick bite to eat.

Even though we found the building once, it was harder once it was dark. We get there and all the doors are locked. I tried called security, but they said we were not on the list. Our processor came down and let us in. The buyers were waiting outside too.

The main buyer did not speak English at all. His agent was bilingual, but he left his reading glasses at home. Somehow we struggled through the forms. I opted to have the sale proceeds wired to my dad's account. There was a surprise wire fee at the last minute. But that was water under the bridge.

The buyer did complain that one door in the house did not open. I would have obliged him, but the time for inspections and notice of defects had long passed. So I just told him it had been 40 years since that door was open. Now this chapter of our lives is finished. Maybe we will drive by the old neighborhood next summer.

Rent Me

Momoko needed to put her car in the shop. We did not know when we would get the car back. She needed to drive on Monday. So we decided to get her a rental. I brought her to the last place I rented my car.

Thought we would start at the cheapest rental available. Turns out the standard vehicle in that class is the Chevy Spark. Nope. Kit Kat and I test drove one before. Way too small, even in the front seat. The rental car rep told us she could rent us a Fiat 500 for even less money. Bingo.

We got a red Fiat 500 to go. Momoko followed me home. I encouraged her to drive a lot yesterday. And I went with her everywhere. We even had a test run with Kit Kat. I grabbed two pillow, sat across both tiny seats in the back, and we drove around our town.

I should have put my name as a driver for the rental. Then I would have had fun without Momoko having to drive me around everywhere. Maybe I might add my name to the rental so I can have some fun tomorrow.

Rock the Vote

Momoko had the day off because her school is used for election voting. She was getting ready to leave to go vote when the lines were short. I got some time off work and joined her. We drove the short distance to the local school. There was no parking.

I advised Momoko to just park by the curb. It is not illegal. She decided instead to leave the school and go park out in the neighborhood. We walked from her car to the school, noticing a house that had a front door which seemed oddly higher than the stair that lead up to it.

Inside the school, pandemonium, was starting. First we had to go to the far end of the room to check in. Then we were told to stand in the middle line. I saw no middle. But eventually I found a table that represented where the middle lines should start.

We got in another line to vote. It was easy to fill out the ballot. We knew all the questions ahead of time. This year they had paper ballots where you used a pen to fill in an oval. Then we got in yet another line to scan our ballots.

Afterwards we picked up some Chinese food. At home, Little Kat arrived shortly after us. He had voted already too. He got to park in the school parking lot. He was jealous that we got delicious food, but he did not get any.

Car Types to Survive Accidents

I was thinking about buying a new car. The Fiat 500 Abarth to be specific. It is a small two door hatch back. Got a supercharged 4 cylinder engine. They say it sounds like a race car when you drive it. Very exciting little car. I figure it will be easy to park in tight spots too.

Today I heard the details of a bad car crash from a student I go to school with. She stopped due to traffic on a highway and was rear ended. Then another car struck the car behind her causing a chain reaction. She got messed up due to the accident. Back got hurt. Can't feel some toes in her legs. Etc.

The thing that I took away was that she lived to tell and walk because she had a big SUV. That made me wonder what I would look like in that type of accident if I was in a Fiat 500. Could have been mashed up real bad. Or even killed. Is it time to switch plans and get a Nissan Rogue?

Perhaps the Soul of the World has warned me.

Work Attire for Kit Kat

Kit Kat's job provides shirts to wear from the company. However employees are expected to purchase their own pants. They are supposed to be black slacks. Kit Kat had initially got two pairs of pants when she started. Now she is working a lot and needs some replacements.

We had scheduled to visit her old clothing stores that she worked at today. Left the house around 11:00am. When we got there, the doors were locked. They don't open until noon on Sundays. Doh! Well we returned home, and came back around 12:15pm. The doors were still locked.

Kit Kat peeked inside. There were people there. I tried calling the store on the phone. Eventually a customer inside the store left and let us in. The store was open. There was just a problem with the front doors not being unlocked.

Turns out Kit Kat found some pants she liked. At least one of them had pockets that come in handy. Not all women's slack have them. They had a buy one get one half off offer going on. Turned out to be a successful shopping trip.

Unprepared

My car has been complaining about tire pressure problems for a week or two. I have been trying to ignore it, as the car is sensitive when the temperature changes. Yeah I might have a tire that is a few pounds of pressure low. So what.

The nagging got me to drop by the gas station today. I went there after lunch. Did not have my little pad to kneel on the concrete with me. But I keep my digital tire pressure gauge in the car. Somebody had just pulled out of the space next to the air machine.

The air machine was still running. So I tried to hurry up to use some of the free air from the last guy. I used my gauge to try to determine the current pressure in my driver's side front tire. Had trouble getting the gauge on the valve on the tire. Maybe it was because I was standing and did not have my knee pad to get closer.

Eventually the pressure gauge broke, and the free air from the machine expired. That's when I figured I was doing this all wrong. The right way was to first measure all the tires at home so I know what I am dealing with. Also I need to bring all the tools that I need with me. Then I will be prepared to fill up the tires with ease.

Luckily I have a backup tire pressure gauge at home. I will go back there and regroup.