Collegiate Messiah

The Ten Year Plan.

2011-09-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought the plans hadn't gone far enough, I present to you, the ten year plan.
It is this, at the end of ten years, own or have the cash or cash equivalents to purchase 40+ acres of good land and be debt free with solid savings. So we have three main objectives. Here is how I plan to achieve it.

For the land, I intend to start trading the stock market. Which may be suicidal given what I believe will go down. But I've selected a very specific basket of stocks, and I think on a five-ten year time-line I can adjust. If the stock market just implodes and TEOWAWKI hits, I've other plans. Now, I plan to get a bunch of other investors to join me in the development of our own mutual fund. Ideally it will provide in ten years, all or a good portion of the investment.

For the savings, I'm still going to be investing in physical silver. In ten years, that could be at minimum 240oz, so just under 10k at todays spot. That's fine, I personally expect it to be worth far, far more in ten years.

For the debt, if I can work out a comprehensive plan in the next three months, relatives may be willing to loan me the money to pay off my student debts at 0%. Freeing up a great deal of my income to dump into investment.

The New Three Month Plan:

2011-09-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

Edit: Just so your aware, I'm just waiting for all financial hell to break loose. Its coming. Soon.

Sorry for the delay, I'm back. I will be taking on a new side project the next three months. The formation of a Dojo, using the small space in the backyard. I welcome any advice from DIY, or those who have personal experience with such setups. The space is a small rectangle that extends past the edge of the house, I think approx L 20'x W 10' (200sq ft). The other long-side is bordered by empty office space. One short side dead ends into a rusted chain fence meshed into overgrown crap. The other, is open and facing the nearby apartment block.

The first phase is to cut wall off that short side, to that end I've sunk an 8 foot post into the ground, and intend to find a cheap, weather, rot, and damage resistant way to put up siding between the post and another post already set out about four feet from the edge of the house. Money has been incredibly tight, and I can't afford to buy the siding yet.

After that, its a matter of securing the long back border. Temporary solutions such as stringing fishing line are not satisfactory, but I haven't thought up a cheap way to secure that long trash-tree-overgrown border. I was considering sinking re-bar into cement to form X patterns between the trees. The mosquitoes are terrible, I must buy roundup.

(Roundup $24.99, Siding to cover 45 sqr ft, 2x 80lb bag quickcrete ($6.29), 3x rebar ($7.49).) Est. Pricetag: $50

Phase Two, after fencing and a mosquito elimination, will be the designation of the first sparing square. An 8ft x 8ft square. A larger tournament square nearby would be ideal. This smaller square must be multipurpose, in addition to sparring (primarily striking), it must also be host to conditioning and (potentially) heavy resistance training. Further, It will need to be able to be divided, to allow crowd/and corner. My initial thought is to dig four 1Ft deep channels around each side, then dig out the interior to half that depth. Place four black 4" drain pipes and gravel around the sides. Then drop 6" of sand.

Edit, scrap the drain pipes, unnecessary use of $22
(Gravel might be to expensive. Sand will be expensive.)

Phase Three: Set up room for seating against back fence.

The Road Ahead.

2011-08-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

Things are picking up speed. On Monday I intend to pay off utilities, pay the security and rent on a new place to life, hit the gym, and register for classes. On top of it all I have looming bills to pay, in large quantities, the move-out-in to (not) look forwards to.... and oh yes, the sky seems to be falling on the global financial sector.

Man, I need some longer ranged plans. Some new goals to work towards. Cause My life is about to be consumed by another semester of tech. Health-wise I'm doing great. Financially I'm struggling to keep my head above water, as most of us are. Asset accumulation has slown to a halt, as money goes into pressing debts. But at least I made it out of the summer with some silver. And a pistol. So I'm about as prepped as I'm willing to be.

BARACKALYPSE NOW!

2011-08-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

It's begun. I've seen theDOW dip 600 points, before bouncing back. Link at end. We are rapidly approach the last few resistance levels before a sharp horrifying drop into 2008/09 lows. The same lows that the government used as an excuse to trigger the first two rounds of quantitative easing. Which served only to temporarily prop up (and according to charts, later crash) the economy. If you read that and already are aware of what is going on, keep reading. For those unaware, you are witnessing history unfold in front of you.

If your just joining, you need to start reading up on just what has really been going on. Also through up a quick look at the DOW... it might cause some alarm. Having struck -5% AND dropping during Barrack Obama's speech.

Prepare for the BARACKALYPSE :P

I'm at least hedged in silver. Oh, and to check the DOW - the following:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/live-news-6105570

But, hell, we'll probably see QE3 before it ever really tanks. There is still time.

Endgame?

2011-08-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

One more month... until my tentative concerns over September will roll around. I've not seen anything to really change the foundation of that. If anything, we've just made things more painful when it all comes crashing down. But HOW is it going to come crashing down? Or are we truly about to experience an Orwellian nightmare? It would be one potentiality to see a useless Iran war as the sources of a financial collapse, when the 1 trillion cut is repealed.

"Yeah Ngg, you's a penguin looking motherf****r."*

2011-07-30T21:50:00.000-07:00

*Lyrics from a song by Dr. Dre off of his groundbreaking album The Chronic. Possibly the most recognized west-coast album, and one of the most recognized rap albums of all time.

Those of you interested in geo-finances should click here. This is straight up escape velocity rap dissection. If you are my usual reader demographic (white), and aren't in a situation where you can approach this with an interested mind (actively trying to understand its perspective), steer clear. You've been forewarned, its a sat. night, and I've just jot back from the middle of a five day work week. This heat (106 degrees f.) is hell when my job is so labor intensive, with a good portion spent outside under the sky. But hey, Roofer's have it far worse, and my hats off to them when it comes to stamina.

Not my employer. But similar work.

Back to rap. This is written in hopes to explain to the inquisitive reader (the one who kept scrolling) just what it is that I find so great about rap. I'm not going to try to shove grandiose statements at you... but understand I'm inclined to believe rap is the biggest mainstream musical innovation since the proliferation of music based around the guitar. So here are some examples, of lines from rap and from prose, just to keep you on your toes.

"Son, life is a pool of sin, corrupted with foolish men. An' women with wicked minds, who build picket signs to legalize abortion, the evil eye distortion. I quiz (my) son with my wisdom."

Yeah, that's a rap line. From a song many Christian's would reject as blasphemy, it may not go where you think its going. The song is B.I.B.L.E. and is a collaboration of Killah Priest & Genius GZA. GZA is a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, and B.I.B.L.E. was first featured on his excellent solo album Liquid Swords.

"I'm a cash money millionaire look at my Rolie (Rolex) girl. Drop to your knees top ya hair, ah ah slow me girl. Now hit it strong, won't be long, now catch it slowly girl. No he didn't say that, yes I did girl"

Is it rap? I don't like to make blanket statements, but this is some of the sh*ttiest rap you will find. This is that joke of human being "lil' wayne". This is the ammunition that people use to trash rap. And it is a real shame. You don't judge Rock by Kiss, you can't judge Rap by Wayne. I mean seriously, he uses "girl" FOUR f*king times, its complete garbage.

"This game is Chinese chess, countless issues need to be addressed, before the East nukes the West. Totalitarianistic cause-'n-effect, "Run the words through a decompressor, recompress the depth", Canibus is the most explosive next to meth? The inconsistency of the text, makes me complex Pay attention to 'bis my intention is this, leave you spatially adrift suspended in the abyss."

More Rap, but by a rapper with one of the larger vocabularies (but nowhere near the best rapper) Canibus. Can you spot the difference between that and Wayne? I promise, the audible difference when hearing the two songs is even more drastic than it appears on paper.

Eh, its to late to give some more examples. Work tomorrow.

Righteous Teachers.

2011-07-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

I am aware that we are only what three days from the debt ceiling (used to be known as the debt limit). I am also aware that the sheep are getting restless, and things are starting to reach a fever pitch in the markets. But I'm hedged in silver, own a nice new pistol, a fair amount of water & food, and have a job (knock on wood). So if this is TEOTWAWKI, I'm at least somewhat prepped. Personally, I expect to see the "ceiling raised", though I'd prefer the term "limit breached". In other words, I expect to be able to ride this souring gravy train of America until November. Or at least, September...

So you will forgive me if I try not to concern myself with things out of my control, and deal with more pressing concerns such as my looming roommate issues. Honestly, I'm sort of stuck until I nail that problem. Today is a rest day, in terms of physical fitness, but I've got an eight-hour labor intensive shift ahead of me.

Born to Run....*

2011-07-28T07:50:00.000-07:00

*I explain the hip-hop references, but do you really need an explanation for Bruce? Song at the end of the post.

So, realistically I might be having to move shortly. My current roommate will be leaving for better lodgings, but due to school and other concerns, I am unable to follow. Honestly I've not really spent as much time searching for a roommate. This is something that I will address in this week. After all, if I am going to have to move, I need to plan for it. This looming problem coupled with my trysts with a brunette skirt, and a 40 hour work week, have kept me away.

For those who needed Born to Run explained: this is a brunette skirt.

To get back on track: An order of silver I placed back when spot was 38 has arrived. Of course, this precipitates silvers first dip below 40 in three days... But as I've said over, and over, and over... you don't play physical short term, just paper. I've successfully run my cash reserves down in the last few days, I'll be pulling as much out of the bank prior to the second as possible. Unlike many, I don't expect some TEOTWAWKI scenario where I'll be able to swap a silver eagle for a gallon of gas with ease. But like many, I'm a firm believer that "if you can't hold it, you don't own it" with money.

My health has been great... I've entered the second phase of what has become a four week creatine cycle extension. Basically I'm going to try and ramp up these last four weeks (Because I don't know if I'll be around this city at the end) finish this creatine cycle-cut, and move into a bulk (bulking is cheap compared to cutting strangely. Mostly because it doesn't require such a set home routine, something that would be hugely f.cked for an indefinite period of time if I am forced to move to someplace cheaper.

<- This is a blatant plug, but I am in need of money, and this is an excellent foundation to start with before getting into Ab Ripper X. A portion of all sales through this link go to me, and in turn, supporting the blog.

Nothing will replace low-bodyfat in terms of rapid Ab visibility, but the more muscle your core has, the higher your body fat can be with visible abs. All of the Ab Ripper programs I've tested are extremely good about increasing over-all-core strength (great for martial arts/sports), but also are a great way to improve core aesthetics.

Check it out, & now back to our regular programing:

Phase two is really just a preparatory stage for the bulk - Ala - getting the body ready. For those who have commented in the past and asked for a routine, here is the current one. 3x days a week, each workout day is basically the same. I perform Ab Ripper X about a half hour before going to the gym. Phase 2 at the gym is

#1: Incline DB press: 4 sets, 8-12 reps each, advance in weight at 12/8/8/8. So a circuit might look like: Set 1: 40lb DB's x12. Set 2 45lb DB's x10. Set 3 50lb DB's x8. Set 4 50lb DB's x6

#2: DB Squats: 4 Sets, 5-8 Reps each, advancing on 8/8/8/8

#3 Pullups: 3 Sets, each to failure.

#4 Incline DB flies w/twist: 4 sets, 8-12 reps each, advancing on 12/10/10/10
Honestly, this is more of a gimmick. After these critical 4, I'll do some other work, often rows, DL, OH presses and the like.

September?

2011-07-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

We are about to have three carriers within striking range of Iran just over two months before the upcoming Palestinian state vote. I'm very, very concerned. I am under the belief that we will see a war between Israel and Iran within that time period. It has been boiling and boiling. I think Israel is feeling to much economic pressure, it is nearing the point where it must attempt a "six day war". With further political will around the globe weakening, and with economic disaster looming over Europe, now is the time. If we were playing a strategy game, this would be my six months overview of Israel.

United States Carrier Movements

There are two great dangers to Israel. The first great danger consists of hostile Muslims, and anti-Semitic regimes such as Iran. The second is of magnitudes larger: political climate towards my nation. Now, I (playing Israel) am in a cold war with Iran. Neither nation is eager to pull the trigger and face the clearly gun-happy Americans, and the grey threat of the EU, whose military had been little seen. (Obviously, Israel might face the economic wrath of these countries, while Iran would probably feel bombs.)

But now, the "international community" is in shambles. The united states doesn't have the economic capability to hurt Israel, and probably would not react terribly negatively to an Israel first strike. Europe is rapidly facing economic collapse, and, given the jump in fuel if I struck first, probably would go under very fast. So no international condemnation. The united states is nearing the end of its presence in Iraq, which from Israel's perspective, is only going to hasten a powerful Iran. Striking now, I'd still have the Americans as a buffer. Five years from now, Iraq and Iran might be leading armies of liberation into Palestine following a successful vote.

Egypt is out of commission, as is Ghaddafi, whose gold and unhindered presence could have easily funded some serious bombings (as he's done before). Further, the Anti-missile defense system Israel put into use this spring, has been an apparent success. I doubt there are enough stocks to deal with Palestinian rockets, but if Iranian MRBM's get through Iraq, I'm sure the Israelis' would be confident that never before have they had this level of protection.

A meltdown in the EU and the US (caused by war) would probably also injure china, to a point where it might be unable to sustain any military action (although Taiwan might vanish). Japan isn't going to be doing anything, and in fact, I could almost expect the US and China to do a quick swap, by-by Taiwan, goodbye Iran.

------

But anyway, to far past initial hostilities and we're just talking fantasy. But I think we will see it go down by September and will prep accordingly.

The Godz Must Be Crazy...

2011-07-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

...and paranoid.*
*Lyrics from a track called "The Godz..." featured at the end of the post.

Wow. Two weeks, sorry about that. I ended up dealing with some surprising depression, coupled with a great deal of progress in some of my investments. To be honest, the reason I haven't been posting has been mostly feminine, I've been seeing two different girls. Although I've slacked on some projects (like this blog), I think my respiratory and circulatory system have seen some good exercise. Anyways... Time Enough For Love, I'm back with something of an albums length.

First up, I'll quickly leave those who've been following the financial aspect of my blog an update. I've placed a large order this morning at spot $38/Oz. This is a big jump for me, but I'm growing extremely concerned about the t-minus 7 days until debt ceiling breach. I intend to run as close to minimal bank capital as possible. I'm not above the possibility of an even early breach, as I don't believe the government accountants can account for excess "under the radar" spending. I want at least a months supply to stave off any initial crash. I can't afford more, and I'm an apartment dweller.


A Zepplin fan might recognize.

-----------
I'm really struggling to figure out some longer term goals. I'll be returning to tech in august, looking to finish out a degree, I need to pick up a new roommate (current one is moving), earn enough to stay in school, housed, and fed... all while putting away enough so that I might break free of financial slavery earlier in life. Honestly, I think that is just how extreme my views on the subject have gotten. I'm in some debt from the university, a burden that isn't financially crushing, but emotionally heavy. I just want to be free, as until that debt is paid - all that I accumulate as savings is just collateral.

But I'm really more interested in finding out what I desire, and where I desire to go and do. I'm 22... soon to be 23. I've accomplished almost all of my summer goals, including silver targets, buying a new pistol, landing this new chick (women and cigarettes are my biggest vices), physical shape, getting a job (and staying employed), and furthering my understanding of myself.

This month can't be like the others, I will use the next fifteen days to operate under a new set of goals, erasing some of the past ones. Circumstances are changing, but somethings are immutable. I need to register for classes at tech, run spreadsheets for the new change in cash flow, outline a 3 semester plan, with clear and achievable goals. I will actually back off on the financial worry, allow others to take care of more of my burdens. The get-rich quick schemes of the summer (which have led to a lot of experience, joy, and in some cases, relative profit), must fade to the background in place of the cooler persistence which leads to academic success.

Physically I'm about to kick things into a higher gear. I'm armed with the best and most refined nutrition plan I've ever developed, or had access to (money restricts what food you can buy). I'm seeing very nice results as I start the sixth week of my ten week re-comp. My goal is 168lb 'morning after waking', with a 'combat weight' (<- me in the middle of the day, dressed, having eaten etc) of around 173. Of particular interest to me, with my apothecary hobbies, was a controlled labs product called Oximega. Basically a monster dose of many greens and herbs, any one who is looking to skip the vegetable juicing might wish to check it out. I bought a vegetable juicer a few years ago at walmart, and still whip of some random combinations, but Oximega is a fantastic label supplement.

I'm going to head to the gym in a little bit. I hit a new incline DB press PR, and I intend to really hit the gym hard. I'll report.

"They Shooting!..."

2011-06-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

"...Made you look."
Is the title of the a phenomenal NAS track embedded at the end of this post for your listening pleasure. Today isn't going to be nearly as serious as the usual vein of geofinances and the pursuit to get cash. To put it simply, I'm still living that positive life, and to much focus on things beyond ones control just isn't healthy.

That's how I envision my life.

Its almost the end of the month. I'm probably just feeling the urge to write another monthly recap. They are usually filled with odd but pleasant memories and landmarks for me. Which is to say, they are a written record of (some facets of my life), a sort of diary which all men should keep for introspective purposes. I'll (as traditional) be updating this post in snippets throughout the day.

But first: NAS, Made you Look

A Socratic Approach (Or... Tea With Socrates)

2011-06-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

File this one under philosophy. Those readers looking for financial news should go here, or for silver click here. Those who are interested in my recent firearm purchase, a Hi Point CF 380, should click that.

Of late I've been investigating Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It is astounding to me how closely it has paralleled some of my other research into other fields. Which is to say, if viewed as a Ven Diagram, Think & Grow Rich would occupy a circle within the larger circle of cognitive restructuring and the quantum effects of direct or indirect conscious focus on an ideal. In other words, most of what Hill writes, I've already discovered independently as have others. But Hill is perhaps (along with Carnegie) the most "baseline" economic side of what is a multifaceted field.

Anyway, those of you who have read Hill will understand this post. But then, I don't know what to expect any more than you, the reader do. Call it Tea with Socrates.

Narrator: "I'm asking your help in selecting further member's of my Cabinet."
Socrates: "What are you looking for the candidates to help you with?"
Narrator: "Fulfilling my desires."
Socrates: "And what are they?"
Narrator: "I want to improve my physique beyond past levels, the same with health particularly quitting cigarettes for good, achieve wealth..."
Socrates interrupts: "Define wealth, how much and when?"
Narrator: "A side business making $1,000/month and two degrees in a business field by 2016."
Socrates: "So who would have qualifications to help with business?"
Narrator: "I don't know." Google Time! "Don Draper" (Editors Note: Many purists might scream 'He ISNT REAL', i'm not interested in REAL, i'm looking for abstractions for clear ideas. It is pointless to come up with a name but no idea how their reactions typical act. What matters is perception.)
Socrates:"How?"
Narrator: "I could learn and use the drive, self confidence."
Socrates: "Who else would you need for a business? What other traits?"
Draper: "You need a plan before getting more specific"
Socrates: "What is the plan?"
Narrator: "Continue with current job, trying for advancement, to pay for small entrepreneurial adventures."
Draper: "You don't "try" for advancements, you either put in the work and it happens, or they don't and you move on."
Socrates: "So its a temporary position, are you dedicating enough to it to warrant advancement?"
Narrator: "On some days, but I am making a conscious effort to change."
Socrates: "Great! so what are some of these adventures?"

(And I'm off, later kids.)

"I gotcha back so you best to watch your front...

2011-06-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

....cause it's the niggaz who front that be pullin stunts"
- The Genius GZA, 'I Gotcha back'

I'm to the shooting range with a friend to give a couple of guns some testing. One of them will be my new Hi Point CF 380, which I intend to carefully review. Of course, I'll post my review for you when I finish. In the interim I'm going to touch on silver.

As if I need an excuse, her necklace is silver.

I'm holding off on buying, because I no longer feel that 33 is the bottom. Although in earlier posts I set my buying target at just over $34/oz (and silver is currently $33.90), continued trends have led me to believe that it will continue a plunge. I'd been expecting a dip, but was basing that expectation on events such as the end of QE2, and general market sentiment.

The oil release took me by surprise, and I feel it is heavily contributing to the hurting silver market. In a normal market, I would expect silver to rise again with gasoline, but I feel that by the time oil explodes again (Two months?) the worst of QE2 will be rolling through.

My hedge buy around $34.50 also has given me further confidence to probe the depths. I am considering buying another hedge against an upward spike if it breaks past $35/oz again. Today's charts haven't found any really constant level of resistance, and have been fluctuating up and down wildly. I'm not particularly interested in watching second by second, given my longer-term views on the subject.

Paper players might be a bit more interested in examining kitco.

Missing Silver...

2011-06-27T06:04:00.000-07:00

Early in my silver stacking I lost about $40 on a single silver eagle. Shipped via USPS with tracking, it said "delivered" but never did show up in my mailbox. A called complaint to USPS lead to no results. I still haven't received it, and I don't think I ever will. So imagine my concern when the hedge of silver I bought a while back (against what is looking more and more like the big drop.), said "delivered" online, but never showed.

The right amount of Silver can.

I repeated the song & dance with the post office. No results. Then went downstairs, into the patio of my downstairs neighbors, opened their mailbox (they've been gone for a few days) and pulled out my package of silver. Sigh. At least I have my silver. Which is continuing its slide, with spot dropping into the $33's, this could be it. Here's to a DIP! I want to BUY!

Since I've already got my monthly silver (almost didn't), I'm going to wait and see if the charts drop down to $32/oz and buy another hedge. I'll also buy a small hedge if it goes back to $35/oz. Some on the internet are claiming prices as low as $22/oz, I'm not sure about that, a more common estimate is $32, $30, $28/oz.

Edit: Got this as a question, wanted to elaborate for those interested.

Did the first silver shipment that went missing wind up in the same mailbox?

It is very possible, and if I had to do it over again, I would have knocked on my neighbors door and asked. As it was, I just checked my neighbors mailboxes, but it had been a few days and I was met with no success. Here is a more detailed explanation of events: The first shipment to go missing was "delivered" on a Friday but I was at work. I wasn't expecting the package until Monday and that is when I discovered that it should have been waiting for me in my mailbox Friday night.

I figured that there were three options - 1. Someone stole it out of my mailbox while I was working, 2. The carrier miss-delivered, or 3. (Tin Foil hat alert) - Someone at the post office was stealing it.

You have no real recourse if your package is "delivered"

My first step was to call the post-office to see if there had been a mistake. When that was frustratingly futile, I surreptitiously checked the mailbox of both my neighbors. This yielded no results. Neither were home, and I didn't feel like pursuing a single oz of silver that badly. I figured that if my neighbors had gotten my package they would have returned it, and that most likely it had been delivered to another part of the complex, to some more unscrupulous family. I also didn't believe (until I saw firsthand) that a carrier could make such a terrible mistake (my mailbox is NOWHERE NEAR theirs, and has my apartment letter clearly above it). Now I know.

I've learned to try and be present during delivery times, and to eye the tracking information like a hawk. Because if they claim its delivered, and its not in your mailbox, there aint s%)* you can do. This is the first time I've been caught off-guard since the missing 1oz. As with the first example, I didn't catch that it was "delivered" until a while after.

It makes sure the Jake's respect me...

2011-06-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

Or to use terminology you might understand, without it, all other amendments are indefensible. "It" is the second amendment. I'm proud to say I picked up my new pistol yesterday, and will be taking it to the range this weekend. I bought the Hi-point CF 380 after much deliberation.

But it was shipped fast, hassle free, and I credit http://www.hipointpro.com/ as a good seller. Given silvers current volatility, I might update this post later with financial news. But for now, the rest of this post is about my new gun!


A Hi Point CF 380.

It is not quite the conceal and carry weapon I was initially looking to buy. That said, I knew what I was buying, and its no surprise just how comparatively heavy this gun is. Its also larger than a subcompact, 6 & 3/4" long. Someone facing down this weapon would not be thinking "Pfft... its just a .380".

It works well enough for waistband carry with jeans, and will fit inside the larger pockets of my walking shorts (but not the pockets of the jeans). When placed loose in the pocket, its pretty obvious from the weight and size of the pistol that you are carrying a firearm. I will HAVE to invest in a holster of some sort to conceal/carry comfortably during the summer.

I've currently got the 8 round magazine loaded with Gold Dot Speer 90grain JHP. I also purchased some cheap FMJ round's for training. Ideally, I'll be able to find some critical defense or other Gen 2 hollow point to replace the Gold Dot with.

Improved penetration thanks to innovative tech.

Pursuit to get cash...

2011-06-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

That hi point .380 did not arrive yesterday, but as long as I can pick it up today or tomorrow I will be content. This post will eventually turn to the money chase, cause I'm still working on the $200/month short goal. For the silver/market bugs I've updated this post further down, this is due to continued volatility throughout the morning. A dollar down and its not even the afternoon, could this be the correction? Lets hope so, I've been freeing up lots of cash to buy assets with.


I've been keeping FRN liquidity high.

Websites clocked a new all time high, which is always a good thing. Though CTR has been flat lined recently. Mostly its just a matter of the new sites reaching critical mass, both in terms of views, and in terms of back-links. I would expect another two months, but at this progress, I may meet my goals by august.

-----------------

Well, I said this post wasn't going to be about silver, but the market has been going down recently. Along with it the price of silver has fallen by as much as $1.80, actually breaking in the high 34's before resuming a tedious position about $35/oz. I believe that silver's fall, and that of the market, are correlated with immediate events: Silver has plunged at the same time oil reserves are being released.

This use of our "oil savings" (so to speak) will (TEMPORARILY) drop the price of gasoline. Usually an increase in the price of gasoline makes commodities more expense/scarce, silver is no different, while the inverse is also true. So, my personal theory is, as long as we have cheap gas it will be another anchor around silver's value price.

Gold's price will suffer to.

Another major event that you NEED to be following daily, is the overarching global fiat/credit financial crisis, that looms over us. Here is the recent Bernanke speech that precipitated a further fall in the markets:

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told reporters Wednesday that the central bank had been caught off guard by recent signs of deterioration in the economy. And he said the troubles could continue into next year.
"We don't have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting," Bernanke said. He said the weak housing market and problems in the banking system might be "more persistent than we thought."

Ben Bernanke

If you are a mainstream, hardworking sheep, it looks bad. From where I stand (which isn't nearly as far away from the flock as some of our internet brethren), it looks even worse. For me, this is the sum of all fears, my own nation affected by a Keynesian nightmare and welfare state. Because all the "relief" we are being given is debt-equivalent-poison.

The global banking system has reached a staggering level of power, and are the ONLY party benefiting from this financial crisis, which despite claiming that they "don't have a precise read on why..." has constantly pursued policies such as QE2 that has perpetuated and increased the problem.

To quote Frank Zappa's song "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing":

"Well, people, you ain't even got no
Deal at all
'Cause what they do
In Washington
They just takes care
of NUMBER ONE
An' NUMBER ONE ain't YOU
You ain't even NUMBER TWO"

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Perhaps the next few weeks will be that final monster silver dip I've been predicting for a while. If so, I'll have my money ready to jump in. Cheers Yall. :edit: another hour past, silver broken past its previous low again! This may be it :)

Mid-June Summation

2011-06-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

Its that time again. I outlined last month with "Time Enough For Love". Now it's time for June's bi-weekly review. I'll start with some headlines from the drudge for future reference, then move into my financial plans, health etc. Enjoy.

"SHOCK: Pigs could grow human organs...* "
"Copper Thief Steals Entire Transformer From Power Pole..."
"CITI: Greek debt may be contagious..."
"States look to Internet taxes to close budget gaps..."
"African-American unemployment at 16%..."
"NBC apologizes for cutting 'under God' from pledge..."
"House will move this week to limit funding for effort in Libya..."

*...I'll go check out the pig story later.

------------------
Silver holdings increased slightly, thanks to my purchase of a hedge amount when spot was 35.90 on the 18th. Spot is currently 36.16, but I'm still expecting price to dip again (on big last swoon) sometime near the end of the QE2. My purchase of this small hedge is admittance that the market is volatile I'm willing to resist going all in. Remember, patience is a virtue... but personally, I will patiently buy what I think is a f(*&(*ing dip.

Right now I've got about 10% of the physical silver I want to have by November. I have 0% of the gold I want (gold will be the next step, but I don't feel it is on my priority list yet, and its not particularly large. I'm only planning for single half-oz eagle by November.). My real job is experiencing massive cut-backs in hours, and its barely paying the bills. If it wasn't for my other entrepreneurial stuff, I couldn't invest in the physical metals.


Unsure of my feelings about the design.

On the survivalist side, I've been using father's day sales to stock up on tools. I also spent a moderate amount of paper money on medicine (about $30). Boxes of aspirin, sudafed, Tylenol, Robitussin, etc. (I still need to buy a bunch of band aids.) I'm also still trying to improve my water situation which doesn't consist of anything more than some 24pk bottled waters. The past week I began putting together a Vehicle bolt out bag (really a rubbermade footlocker I've had for years), I'm not well prepped for a bolt out on foot, or bolt in.

Lets put it this way: When you move from an old house to a new, you use the biggest vehicle you can afford to haul all the stuff. To prep for an urban evacuation scenario, it is much cheaper for me to prep for Bolt By Vehicle, simply because I already own a car. If I prepped to leave on foot and cover the same ground as I would be car, it would cost a great deal more to achieve the same level of comfort (durrrr....).

"But there are times you can't leave by car!" Yes, I know. But life is about compromise, just as with my investing, I hedge as best I can around what I view as reasonable events that might occur in the short term. There is a good probability that by the time SHTF to that level, I'd already be across state lines with my family. There is a small probability that I wouldn't, if so, well - that's why I go the gym, and try and stay healthy and mentally sharp.

My city experiences random drive-by shootings.

I'm expecting that CF .380 pistol to ship later today, I had several very positive experience with the company's customer service yesterday, as I worked with them to try and resolve some problems with my bank declining the payment. So I'm not as concerned about it never shipping as I was when I first tried to buy it online. But we will see, the Hi-Point CF .380 should arrive late this week at the FLF dealer for me to pickup. It would be a nice complement to my other firearm, and would let me arm my roommate should something wildly improbable go down. My gun pursuits will die off for a while after this gun arrives and a write a review.

-------------------------------
Health wise, I'm actually about to go the gym. So, I'll catch you later. Have a good Monday.

Pre-emptive look at the Hi-Point CF 380

2011-06-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

I'm expecting my pistol to ship at the start of next week, so I should be able to provide you with a review at weeks end. In the interim, and in response to all of the flack some of you have direct at me over the decision to buy a Hi-Point CF 380, I will present a video later in this post. If you REALLY feel my safety is terribly compromised and care to send me a better pistol (or the cash for one) I will happily use the provided gun instead of the CF 380. Otherwise, my decision remains - I don't have the means to buy a better pistol and need a transitory stop-gap to meet the low-level threats of my daily non-SHTF environment.


Hi-Point CF 380

The pistol (pickup and projected twenty rounds runs a total of $170) is $120 less than the next level of guns I could find at the three local pawn shops and two local gun shops. Examples of the $240 range includes a used Kel-tec or used .22 Taurus PT-22. I feel that I am much better served spending that $120 on medicine/water/food/tools etc. until they are up to a month minimum and I am capable of a 3 day bolt-out by foot or vehicle.

So long as TS-DOES NOT-HTF I think it will be a perfectly useful weapon as a hedge. (Everything's a hedge). And speaking of, I'm planning to buy a few more Oz of silver as a hedge against any random up spike. I'm keeping double that in reserve in case my predicted price drops happens in the next two weeks.
Either way, I'm holding this silver for the long haul, and I expect in five years that I will reap at least my investment.

Edit: This link actually lets you tag people if you feel you know them from the Vancouver riots via facebook.
http://www.identifyrioters.com/
I'm not sure how to feel about this.

Edit 2x: Nevermind, send those yuppies to jail. One typical Bish is flashing the camera for a T-shirt (before you click the link, its censored, calm down). Other pics include clumps of young white guys acting thug.

Huh... Oh well... Back to the pistol.

2011-06-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

Silver didn't end up going very far, not deep enough to make money on physical (which is where my efforts reside). I still think it has a real dip in it somewhere, and am going to try and hold on to as much cash as possible to allow me to exploit any such drop. But in the meantime, I just placed an online order for a new pistol. The cheapest P.O.S. I could find: A brand new Hi-Point CF .380 from "hipointpro.com" (<-good or bad, I'll let you know if they are legit when/if I get my pistol).

A CF .380, not mine.

Let me explain my choice of gun. In previous posts I had outlined specific budget concerns. I needed a gun around $200, with taxes and 50 rounds of ammunition included in that price. The best I was able to do on my previous round of hunting yielded the Taurus PT-22, a well made super compact whose biggest shortcoming (and strength) was its .22lr caliber. I already own .22lr guns and have the ammo. So with a price tag of $249 it seemed reasonable. That said, I did want a bigger caliber.

So I found one, at a price I could get behind, even if it suffers in quality. My neighborhood is getting worse, I'd like a pistol ASAP. As long as it lasts 2 years with acceptable amounts jamming (1 in 100?) I'd be happy. And, for $140ish the Hi-Point 9 Millimeter C9 seemed perfect. Except I couldn't find it in stock. But it had a little brother, that was still a step up from the .22lr, with a price that would allow me the single box of premium ammunition I'd like.

I've had it shipped to a local FLF dealer, free shipping, with a grand cost of $129.90. I figure $20 of ammunition, and $20 to pick it up - I've got a .380 compact semi (with some drawback's I'll point out when I review it (if it arrives :P) and ammunition for self-defense (training ammunition will have to wait 'till next paycheck) for a sum (projected total) of $169.90.

--------------------------

will update later... right now I'm tunneling through red tape trying to buy the damn thing. (Issues with bank zipcodes and sillyness.)

BTFD Silver bitchez?

2011-06-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

Remember that pistol I was going to buy a while back? Now I have the cash for it... but I'm holding off in case silver keeps declining past $35/Oz. I've been waiting for "the real dip" that (depending on who you talk to), could dip as low as $17/Oz. Such a dramatic retraction may be possible, but I'll be pulling the trigger at anything close to or under $30/Oz.

We'll see how far down this dip goes, but if they do it fast, some people are going to make some nice money selling off and buying lower. "Refinancing" their silver so to speak. Personally, I'm to busy and my funds to limited and precious to speculate. I'm just going to keep buying, I just don't want to buy to soon and miss (what some are claiming) could be a serious retracement, the last big swoon before a gradual ascent later this year.

Crime in the local city has started to get very bad. The daily paper has confirmed (what I feel is palpable in the air), copper robberies have tripled from last year, and robberies and shootings are up. I'm seeing bad signs everywhere, and my employment at a big box retailer also lets me look into the corporate world. Things aren't to good, despite strong sales it seems we're cutting back on employment, "making do with less" etc. Anyway, its got me really wanting that pistol - but I'm predicting a single large dip in silver before it heads due-east or slightly northeast for the summer - so I'll hang onto my cash for another week or so.

Many of my sources are firm believers that this month is the quiet before the storm. I agree with them to some extent... I'm not expecting TEOTWAWKI (but you know that I am always open to change my opinion if the situation warrants it)... but rather a slow, steady, and broiling wave of awakening resentment that will be captured and directed towards the polls in November.

Remember, its only been a generation since the watts riots. I would expect things to get at least as bad some time in the next five years.

---------------------------
Health Update 2: (For you, the reader who isn't as interested in the recent financial theme)

Currently my est. 1 Rep max is a combined 105lbs. (2x 52.5lb), real is 100lbs (2x 50lb)

I've been able to get back to the gym after a wrist injury at the start of this month kept me out. I'm gingerly getting back into it. My biggest wrist-stressor and the dumbbell exercise I'm putting the most energy into this summer is the incline DB press (pictured above). My five week routine for this exercise involves 4 sets, three times a week. Ideally 8 reps per set in the following format:

Set 1 (warmup): 2x 35lb DB (70lbs) for 8 Reps (Today I did 10)
Set 2 ................: 2x 40lb DB (80lbs) for 8 Reps (Today I did 8)
Set 3 ................. 2x40lb DB (80lbs) for 8 Reps (today I did 8)
Set 4 ................. 2x45lb DB (90lbs) for 8 Reps
(^Today I did 6, and then 1 rep with the 2x50's to test my wrist^)

Once I can do that (the end of this week), everything will shift up by ten pounds. Eg, my warmup will be 80lbs, and the fourth set will be 100. Body weight still dropping, abs are coming along great.

My Country She Wants to Get Rid of Me...*

2011-06-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

This story should be plastered on EVERY single mainstream news station across the United States. This is our (thankfully bloodless) harbinger of the next Kent State. You think that's extreme, keep reading. This has the potential to cripple the next generation, the first wave of the police state setting precedent for another wave of in-debt college grads.

"A father was dragged from his home and handcuffed in front of his children by a SWAT team looking for his estranged wife - to collect her unpaid student loans.

From the Dailymail, link at end of post."

What if it was you, and you unknowingly went to meet the violent noise with a shotgun?

The story gets so much worse the deeper you read, I promise this is just the start. I'm going to build a list, highlighting the biggest B.S. but lets take one thing at a time. Here are the first two pieces of information that are causing my blood to boil with outrage.

A SWAT team drug an Innocent father in handcuffs in front of his children.
A SWAT team was dispatched to arrest a woman for unpaid student loans.

That's just the start. We find out it wasn't local cops. In fact, it was the federal government who issued the warrant and sent the SWAT team. That paragraph is quoted from the Dailymail article below. But first:

"He says he was then detained for six hours while officers looked for his wife - who no longer lives at the house...."

Now the part about the federal government, and I'll add to my list.

"Mr Wright was later told by Stockton police that the order to send in the SWAT team came from The U.S. Department of Education who were looking for his estranged wife to collect defaulted loan payments.
Speaking to ABC News 10, a visibly shaken Mr Wright described what happened when he was woken by a banging on his front door[....]
[....]
The Department for Education refused to comment on the incident, saying they would not do so until the case was closed. They did however confirm that their Office of the Inspector General had issued the search warrant.

The office has its own branch of federal agents that carry out search warrants and investigations
From the Dailymail, link at end of post."

A SWAT team drug an Innocent father in handcuffs in front of his children.
A SWAT team was dispatched to arrest a woman for unpaid student loans.
The DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION issued the SEARCH warrant (for a 6am door kicking).
The Department of Education has its OWN branch of Federal AGENTS that carry out such warrants.
These Federal Agents are hunting down student loan offenders (surely there are better targets for SWAT teams?)

NO. Those of us who still want to keep the dying ideals of liberty alive must publicize this atrocity. This is the first repercussion on the young, and it will only get worse with each passing generation. You want your daughter pursed by SWAT teams with SEARCH warrants sent by the Fed? You want your door kicked in because your old roommate didn't pay his loans back? You want your off the grid life to be brutally interrupted because YOU are latent on loans?

YOU CAN"T FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY WITH COLLEGE LOANS.

(Unless you can show that your education loan payment is an "undue hardship" on you, your family, and your dependents, your student loans are ineligible for cancellation (discharge) in bankruptcy.

However It is difficult to prove "undue hardship" unless you are physically unable to work and there is no chance of your making money. To discharge your student loans under this special case, you must file a separate motion with the bankruptcy court and present your situation before a judge.)

........

Thankfully I have silver....
................
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2001010/SWAT-team-launch-dawn-raid-family-home-collect-womans-unpaid-student-loans.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

*Title from Nas' "My Country" from that great album Stillmatic.

Guest Blog: Don't Hold Your Breath

2011-06-07T14:00:00.000-07:00

I am sick, sick, sick with food poisoning from Arby's. So, I'm going to keep praying to the porcelain god and leave you readers with this long, but fantastic article on what to expect the next few months. (Originally from JWRs sirvivalblog). Happy Tuesday!

Don’t Hold Your Breath
By Silver Shield, on June 1st, 2011

1912 Cartoon Against The Coming Federal Reserve

Financial sanity is returning to the world. The silver bubble has burst. The debt ceiling won’t be raised. The government is going to make trillion dollar cuts in spending. Osama bin Laden is dead, signaling the end to the war on terror. Greece is going to be bailed out. Everything is dollar positive and it is time to dance, right? Don’t hold your breath.

Most bear markets follow the same characteristics. They start with a major wave down, followed by a brief counter trend move to the upside, only to be finished off with an even stronger and final collapse. If you look at the 2008 crash as the first wave down, and the following 3 years after that as the counter trend move, then we are due for the final collapse very soon. The reason is quite simple, none of the problems that caused the crash in 2008, have been corrected. In fact, by all accounts they have gotten much, much worse. Not only are things worse, there is no room for error. A major collapse now would be exacerbated by the fact that all of the safety nets we had in 2008, are destroyed.

I am not a market timer and don’t trade, I spot trends and see their inevitable outcome. My job is to pick the right asset, and to stick with it, until the trend changes. The big trend at work here is a shift away from fiat, paper assets to REAL assets. This is a trend that has been in the making for over a decade. If you take any commodity and compare it to any paper asset, you will see that REAL assets are the place to be. This is not necessarily because the price of these REAL assets are going up, as much as it is the value of their measuring sticks (the dollar) are going down. The more dollars that are put into circulation, the less they are worth. This dilution of purchasing power is caused by Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) by the Fed and their Quantitative Easing (printing money out of thin air.) Now that the Fed has announced that it is no longer going to do QE, does that mean the end of this trend? Don’t hold your breath.

Our money system is one that is based on debt. For every dollar that comes into existence, there is a dollar of debt AND interest that is owed on that dollar. Quite simply, the only way for our debt based monetary system to work, is that every year debt must be increased in excess of the debt AND interest accrued the year before. This debt can NEVER be paid off, because if it did, there literally would be NO money in the economy and there would still not be enough money to pay the interest back. Please read that paragraph over again, it is so important that you understand that simple principle.

If debt is not increased on this exponential climb, we get what we saw in 2008, a massive de-leveraging and massive defaults. This is why there are “too big to fails”, because if this collapse was left unchecked, it would lead to systemic collapse. (The end of the dollar paradigm.) The Elite cannot afford to let their quadrillion system of banking, media, military, corporate and political power to collapse. So what do they do? They bailed everyone (the big boys) out and allowed them to consolidate power. The Elite has to be careful, to keep us guessing and in the dark. If the average person or say China, saw this game of money printing, they would seek to protect themselves by buying REAL assets. That would destroy the ability of the Fed to create money that has any value.

The modern Elite always err towards inflation, because we live in a fiat world. Inflation allows for old debts to be devalued and overall debt to increase, because it is more affordable. Can you imagine taking a $750,000 mortgage in 1960? We live in a world unhinged by any monetary anchor, and like I said before, debt must be increased every year in excess of the debt AND interest accrued the year before. There was a time when deflation strengthened the banks positions, but that was when we had hard money that they coveted. Now they get systemic risk of collapse as people walk away from their debts. It does the Elite no good to seize assets if they lose control of the banking system. The game is to create bubbles, pop bubbles and liquify the system again. They make money by knowing what comes next. Since we will never know the timing or extent of their moves, one has to focus on the end game.

So here we are in the eye of the hurricane. We know that the debt must be increased or else we will have a systemic deflationary collapse. Any debt increase will lead to further weakening of the dollar and much higher inflation. This is because smart money and foreign nations to dump their dollars for REAL assets. Given this Catch 22, here is what I think the Elite have in the works.

First attack the Elite attack commodities to scare investors back into the paper system. You can see that the coordinated attack of silver (the anti-dollar) and Osama bin Laden, was a tour de force by the Elite. They essentially said to the world, “look what we can do.” I look at it like a sucker punch from a stage IV cancer patient. The punch hurt, but it does not show that they have any long term strength. There could be one more attack in the works, but I just don’t see that they are going to be that aggressive again. They were smart to wring out all of the weak hands of the bull chasers, but now all that is left is strong hands. Now more than ever, those strong hands only want physical silver. Any further attacks will lead to further pressure on the physical market, which will eventually bring about a physical default of the CRIMEX.

The timing of the next step is tricky. The Elite need to increase the debt to keep their game going. Americans are broke and at their max with mortgage, auto, credit card and student debt. Corporations see the weakness of the American consumer and will not take on more debt and hire new jobs. State and local governments are at their max and desperately trying to keep things going. Which leaves the spender of last resort, the Federal Government. I wrote that the debt ceiling will be raised despite all of the soap opera like antics of Congress. (The Contrived Drama of the Debt Ceiling and Count On It!) In the end, they will either raise the debt ceiling or the Elite will cause a stock market collapse. Remember what they did when Congress balked at the $700 billion dollar Bankster bailout? The next day they smacked the stock market down 777 points. I feel that there will be a coordinated collapse to make everyone BEG at the alter of the money gods. This will lead to QE3, government bailouts of corporations, states, and I believe personal bailouts.

The personal bailout I feel will come out of necessity to keep Americans from revolution. This collapse will cause already desperate Americans to say, “enough is enough.” We are seeing a rise in violence and people shooting over 99¢ burritos. Americans will see a system that no longer benefits them, and they will want blood. I believe that the government will attempt to quell the personal pain with extensions of benefits and actual checks. This will be short lived, as Americans finally wake up to the lie that they have been living.

Foreign holders of the dollar will see any inflationary action as a good reason to dump their dollars for the only logical asset class, REAL assets like gold and silver. This will lead to more dollars eventually finding its way back to American domestic economy, putting even more inflationary pressure on us here at home. Foreigners have already shown that they are not interested in buying anymore of our debt. They have already started dumping their dollars for trade settlment. They are already buy oil with other currencies and not the dollar. They are already buying gold outside of the Anglo American Empire. What are we going to do if we cannot export dollars for 25% of the worlds oil?

I still believe that before all of this is over, the Elite will steal American’s retirement savings. (Read: The Treasury is Coming and Don’t Say I Did Not Warn You.) This may happen as a means to pressure people to raise the debt ceiling or they might just steal that wealth by hyper inflation. At the end of all of this, there is either a systemic deflationary collapse of the dollar or a hyper inflation. My best guess is that there will be a small deflation or panic that will serve only as an excuse for more money printing. There is no scenario that I can even begin to conceive that will not end in the destruction of the dollar and priceless silver. If you try to trade this market, I believe you are crazy. Even if you are right in the short term, you risk having your wealth in a paper system that might collapse overnight, look at Belarus. You may think that we can extend and pretend forever, but I would not hold my breath.

Can't say I agree with everything laid out but when it comes to social trends, you find the outliers to find the median.

Live and Let Die

2011-06-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

I'm living a positive life to the best of my ability. That is to say, this is not a perfect world. You can smile and be polite to strangers around you, but selling your house to feed them won't yeild positive returns from them. What (I believe) many progressives subscribe to, is of a similar concept. I can respect, on a basic level, another individuals opinion. What I don't respect (and this is true on both sides of the aisle), is hypocrisy. Something governments have always been full of.

By the time progressive or conservative ideas from the grassroots reach the policy level, they have become the tools of the politicians to carve out more power. For republicans, the first target they use to shelter spending kickbacks (a natural part of governments), would be war. This isn't always to a nations detriment, just read the annals of the Peloponnesian wars, where the weakness of the Athenian government impeded its ability to fight off external threats. A more modern example would be the states under the Articles of Confederation.

Remember, that the last time I voted, I voted republican. But at heart, I am a libertarian-nationalist. The danger of recent wars (and the same can be said for social welfare), is that they have been built on fear that has been derailed from reality. Particularly this B.S. where we are involved in Libya. At least we justified our invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan based on fears of terrorist harboring AND human rights abuse, in Libya we have just the claim to abuse. Somehow the American people are so detached they don't care.

The same is true of the financial markets. Normalcy bias reigns supreme while we live out what could potentially be the worst financial meltdown since the U.S.S.R.

But remember, a financial crisis ISN"T TEOWAKI... humanity has actually made phenomenal strides in all of the hard sciences, and softer ones such as psychology. Knowledge is something that manages to persevere and survive even in financial droughts. Life goes on.

But, I won't go any further. Right now, in my life, I have to many internal problems to fix to direct everything to others. As I said, I'm living a positive life to the best of my abilities. In these darkening times, I encourage you to fire up your own light, be pleasant with your neighbors.

I'll revisit this post in a while. In the meantime, I'm still investing in silver.

....

2011-06-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

I'm just to tired and happy to really rip into this story the way I did with Debtski*. Suffice to say, I applaud what appears to be a fresh way to present dietary percentages, courtesy of our government. I just can't believe we live in a society where people can't make informed decisions on dietary habits without consulting a
food plate.

How about the government GTFO? And take the money they spent designing this new food plate, and pay back some of the pension money they're stealing to pay for our debts while the politicians fight over the debt ceiling. But its ok... just trust that the FDA is at the forefront of nutrition.

You don't (& Shouldn't) need the Gov. to learn what to eat.

*I feel justified in pointing out, in our current economic situation, just how asinine that "educational" flash game turned out to be.

Then again, if it keep the sheeple happy, by all means.

Is this the time to buy?

2011-06-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm on about silver again. The price is finally dropping before what I presume will be a rise in price over the summer. The question is, how long with the drop persist, and how low will it go? Given the dip, which I wasn't expecting to encounter for another few weeks, I've decided to hold off buying that pistol and consider upping the priority of some more Silver Ounces.

My target buy will be just before the $34 spot mark ($40/ASE). That said, there are a number of sources online who claim a retrace all the way back below the $30's. I've heard (with fewer followers the more extreme), $27/$28, $22/$24, and $17/$18 per ounce bandied about.

Read to jump into this blog? Click the picture.

Personally, here is the theory I'm sticking to until situations change - Lows throughout the next two months before a resurgence near the autumn. All it takes is another shift in the herd.

"This is radio nowhere...

2011-06-01T08:28:00.000-07:00

...is there anybody alive out there?"
- Radio Nowhere, B. Springsteen.

So I will update this post. But for now, I feel that any survivalist needs to take a long, hard look at the markets from the mainstream perspective. Today, as some on the internet have been predicting for months, things took a bad turn. I expect the next week to have a slow awakening of the people, soothed by whatever QE3 pops up.

Here are some headlines*:

"Private Sector Jobs Grew By Only 38,000 in May..."
"EUROPEAN FOOD OUTBREAK SOARS"
"WHO: Radiation From Cell Phones Can Cause Cancer..."
"Goldman Sachs wont face criminal precaution related to sales of mortgage linked securities because such a move could threaten the US financial system."
"Goldman Cuts NFP Forecast To 100,000 - Sheer Panic On Wall Street"

*Of course, headlines are always bad. But I think these will be some interesting quotes to look back on in two years, regardless of how accurate they turn out to be. You know my opinion on the matter....

Time enough for love*...

2011-05-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

I have real business to attend.
*A must read for any fellow Heinlein fan**.

**Don't start with this if new to Heinlein.

Its almost a new month, and its time for me to write up a recap of my progress. I'll be updating this post in snippets for the next few hours, until my next work shift. No updates tonight, I'll be busy selling the moon*** to a particular cashier. I'll start with my financial situation. Then move to a brief overview of my health situation. If I have time, I'll close with a short recap of some of my goals.

***Just a day for Heinlein

This last week certainly saw me slip on the budgeting. But what I slipped on, I made up for by clamping down in other areas. In particular, the expenses came from beer and dinner-out, but I spent less on other recreational pursuits. It balanced out nicely. Compared to my situation at the start of May, I'm doing much better. Next month I will try and clamp down even harder on my recreational spending. Not because I "have" to, but because I want the extra silver money. Even with hours at work at a low, I'm still pulling through with a positive balance sheet.

The best part, even though my FRN's aren't in as good a positive flow as I'd like, my other investments have seen great jumps. Silver of course, is the flagship, and I've invested double the starting hedge I did last month. It has been one of the most positive things I've done, but I have had to fight back the urge to strip cash flow for (my goal of) a five year investment and inflation hedge.

How can you see this & not jump ship?

My stock investments chug along on autopilot, with ultra safe, but almost yield less returns. The amount in the accounts doesn't warrant my attention, I'm simply trying to accumulate more risk capital to invest later, and I want it to slowly (but safely) pool in case I have to drain it for emergency needs since I'm pushing down my liquidity. My solvency is through the roof though.


J/k... Relax.

As far as my health goes, its been going, going great. Despite a particular weekend bender, I've bounced back physically and mentally. Bodyfat is dropping according to mirror, I haven't been able to hit it with the calipers. Weight is stable, triceps growing, as is chest and lower back. I'm about to get back into sprinting, and my water intake and nutrition have been top notch. Even faced with some crazy scheduling, I've feel like I've been able to hit my daily caloric and macro goals.

So cheers to you and I, as we cross into a new month. Let us make it as productive as we can, in all things.

It might blow up...

2011-05-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

...but it won't go pop.
* Your sexual innuendo for the day, courtesy of De La Soul.

I've been spending less time with this blog than I've intended, and some of you have called me out on it. Thankfully, I promise, my relative absence hasn't been due to some stress or problem. The cause is one I'm sure those of you who have followed me from the beginning understand.

I've been spending lots of time with two different girls (one is that cashier) and its costing my writing. But I'm getting back to routine, with the first of the month around the corner, its about time to buckle down.

On the first, I'll lay out some posts on how I turned out financially. Early projections look good.

How about you just learn patience?

2011-05-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

This is wrapping up as another positive month for me. My typing is distracted, I can't resist playing with an American Silver Eagle every few minutes. Holding an Oz of silver in your hand is really titillating on some sublime level. The metal itself is beautiful, and that distinctive 'ring' is incredibly pleasant on the ears. There is no doubt in my mind that precious metals DO stimulate human emotions. Which is exactly why, when buying up bits of shiny metal that ring nicely, you need to remember patience.

If you have to ask...

I'm having difficulty budgeting for the pistol I want and the silver I desire. Whether I need either of those things is up to your opinion. If I couldn't have both, then it might be worth my stress. But I found myself this morning actually subconsciously concerned about not being able to buy a pistol until the end of next month, and also concerns on whether or not I should spend that money on more silver. It was leading me to make some emotional decisions with my budgeting.

Take a step back from things that you desire to purchase. In my case, I've known a want for a new pistol for years, but haven't set it as a high priority. Silver is a much newer vehicle for my libertarian side to express itself. However, my short term needs to raise & store cash and cash-equivalents have served to hinder my purchase of another firearm to keep at the apartment (I already own a .22lr carbine). In particular, I've felt an urgency to ride the market very closely - which means waiting while I accumulate the money for the pistol's I've envisioned during the past would take a month or two. This lead to a change in what I wanted in a pistol.

Basically, I've already shorted myself enough on the pistol. Silver will take a backseat temporarily (unless of course we see Silver < $30), and I should have a new gun by the middle of next month. I'll let y'all know. The first week of a new month is always financially cloudy, as that's when I pay off all of my bills.

Silver Bitchez

2011-05-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

Last night, I almost bought more silver (federal reserve toilet-paper likes to burn holes in my pocket). If I had, I would have paid $2 extra per oz. Silver has retraced its two day gains, dipping back to $36/oz and seems to be climbing past noon, inching over $37. Thankfully, I decided against the buy, and retained the liquidity hedge.

So this morning I've determined to hold on to that silver money, its going towards a pistol if the price/oz jumps in the next few weeks. If the price drops... say, lower than 32, count me in on the first wave. But of course, I'll retain a hedge in case the price drops even further, or rockets to the moon.

Old-school silver mine.

In the interim, I am debating the purchase of a new firebox, specifically for the storage of my ASE assets. I must admit I have even begun to research the subject, but I will, as always, keep you updated if I make a purchase decision complete with a review.

Debating on a pistol

2011-05-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm aware silver has jumped over $2 in the last thirty-six hours, I'll share my thoughts about that with you later. Probably tomorrow after I get more market data. But this post is on guns. Lover's of my other random subjects should check older posts.

For a while I've been intending to acquire a new conceal and carry firearm. My primary constraints in selection are size, initial cost, and ammunition cost. I expect it to tide me over for the next five years until I can upgrade to a duty-size pistol for what I expect to be home instead of apartment and carry-defense.

The guns I've been looking at in particular are 357 revolvers (+revolver +cost ($500-600) +good caliber(357 or .38) +ammunition cost(.38 ammo)) and the small .22lr line of semi's (+size +cost (250-350) +capacity (8+) +ammo cost(.22's are cheap) and +ammo interchange(I already own a .22lr carbine)


Taurus PT-22

The current budget doesn't have room for the revolver, so I've been looking into two .22 semis in particular.
The Taurus PT-22 and the Walther P22.

Each are attractive in their own right, with the PT-22's primary edge in cost. I don't want to be handgun-less for another two months, I'd like to make a purchase within the next three weeks. That said, I'm pretty sure I can squeeze in the sixty-seventy dollar increase in cost of the Walther, especially since with these guns I don't have to factor in additional ammunition purchases (I already have plenty of .22lr).


A Walther P22 with 5" Barrel

Regardless, I will keep you informed of further developments in personal protection.
Feel free to criticize my choice of caliber size in the comments box below.

Treat it like a business.

2011-05-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try and focus my project-related energy into the hours between 11am and 1pm. This doesn't interfere with my work schedule, and if I can stick to it (which is the goal, and key to success for any routine) productivity should explode. Actually, truth be told, I've been sticking to this for the last five days and have gotten a wide variety of things done. Including a silver trade. I know y'all have been demanding updates.

Spot price at time of purchase was $35.17/oz, and I spent about 60% of this months budgeted silver-money picking up some 2011 ASE's at (net) $43/oz. This still lowers my cost-average/oz from my starting days, and if silver drops this week down to $27/oz, the 40% will cover about the same amount I bought with 60%. Its all about lowering my cost average, one purchase at a time. I'm not looking to make huge profits or take huge savings in the short term. The market is just to volatile right now, and will probably remain so through Monday.

My advice, buy the dip with a portion of your cash earmarked for silver and buy again if the price goes lower. At the end of the month, if nothing extreme has occurred, buy more silver with the remaining cash. If your gut or special research tells you to the price is going to drop further - by all means, hold onto your silver. But on a five year timeline, the likes of which I am investing, silver probably will breach 70/oz - and I'm willing to pay a premium and get the silver in hand.

Remember, I personally get a bit of titillation from expressing silver's value in historical values. So here's a quick recap. (the math is in this post)

At one point in history, the Roman equivalent of a private in the army received 3oz of silver in coins per month in pay. Granted, life was cheap in the empire, and Centurions received a much better rate.

And of course, imagine buying this at a roman auction for between 100-650oz of silver.

(Disclaimer: I'm not promoting sexual slavery)

Have a pleasant afternoon readers.
I'm off to other things, like lunch with a cashier I met.

Some Advice On Life

2011-05-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

This can be filed under philosophy. Check the archived posts on the side to visit other topics of this blog, such as the financial markets, physical health, and so much more.

Remember that novel 'cult-blog' I started up years ago to make some money on the side? Well, it has given me extreme room to explore concepts of self-knowledge. The thing is, I've always envisioned a second stage for this blog. I would like at some point in my life to try my hand at living as a Guru.

This, in addition to some other prerequisites (which I'm going to claim trade secretes), requires an actual philosophy. The cult blog required only a marketable one, thanks to the anonymity of the internet. However, if am I want to seamlessly transition into the role in real life, I need something that won't sink my reputation. E.g. I must BELIEVE in what im saying. and for me to believe in something, i have to have determined it true (but always subject to change).

So now we get to the meat of the post. When it comes to making progress, it isn't the days where you are feeling great and go above and beyond the limits you've set for yourself. It's the weeks where you feel like sh*t and still do the routine. I've said this before, but it needed a more concise reiteration.

Captain America, The First Avenger

2011-05-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

I checked out the trailer via web link on a whim. With my love for the works of Heinlein, a blatant nationalist comic book hero fighting Nazis seemed to have potential. I had also been extremely entertained by Fast Five as an action movie a week or two ago. So yeah, I figured I'd check the trailer.

Hollywood has just found the perfect pulp mixture to feed the masses in the comic book. I know several strange die-hard comic book fans who will worship these movies, with no regard for actual content. The trailer left me feeling that this was just an excuse for a guy to magically get muscles and run around in a suit. If I was in middle school, I'd call that sort of movie gay. But since I'm not (gay/in middle school) I didn't bother to comment aloud on what I was watching.

In fact, if the trailer had remained as boring as it started, I wouldn't be writing. Unfortunately, it went from boring to bad in a single final scene. Picture the depths of a WW2 secret military research base, or the Stargate missile silo. Medium sized lab, filled with scientists, our protagonist and the love interest. Our protagonist is holding a newly minted super-shield and he asks the (ithinkshesugly/10) chick if its "bullet proof". She proceeds to responds with what I guess was meant to be a spunky coyness "Let's find out!", and SHOOTS SOME ROUNDS. They bounce of the shield and the protagonist is unharmed.

In real life, I wouldn't be worried about the guy behind the shield. I'd be worried about ricochet's taking out an innocent scientist. NO person in their right mind would shoot towards a metal shield in a room filled with people. This isn't about a superhero jumping into the middle of a war zone and not getting a scratch, its about straight up mental retardation on the part of the writers.

That one scene really irked me. Especially as a gun owner. But now that I've invested that anger towards a positive (filling up this blog), I'm going to return to readying some investment options. Peace.

On the left is a shameless plug for one of Heinlein's greatest works on polyandrous feelings and social politics. Grabbed by people on both side of the isle for different things, from libertarian individualism, explorations of free love, to a simple fascination with aliens.

Conscious Style

2011-05-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, its another Rap post. Those interested in silver markets and finance can check out earlier posts, here, here, and here. Readers who are looking for my posts on health will want to jump to this link. For older posts about more my more youthful woman chasing and recreation.... And Finally ... if you are after my political views, just check the links further on in this post.

Conscious Style is a fantastic collaboration from KRS-1 and little known, extremely political 5%'ers, Poor Righteous Teachers. I'm enjoying the album Conscious Style is from, New World Order. If that doesn't give you a hint to how extremely political this album is, the intro's title "Who shot the president?" outght to clear things up.

Beneath a Steel Sky

2011-05-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

Its pouring rain outside, and I've got a shift in a few hours. Extensive construction is taking place in the residential apartments near mine, and I can hear the drywall drilling over the rain. To say the least, is an unfriendly sky that looks down on the city right now. Much like the economic situation looms above our nation. In someways this is a ride that seems doomed to tumble, but in life there are no guarantees about the future. All that can be done is urge for stability, support the normalcy bias around you, while trying to hedge against rough times.

Thus, I'm living today in similar ways as I would if the economy was booming. Sure, I am allocating my Federal Reserve Notes into different savings. Precious metals instead of stocks, cash instead of pensions/IRA's (but I'm still maintaining 10% in stocks... always, always hedge). But in terms of my health, my recreation? No real change.

I am positive in my actions, confident in my abilities to survive, adapt, and overcome. And this confidence starts with each small goal we set and achieve. Something as simple as eating a healthy breakfast every morning, or going for a nightly run, are be positive. If combined with a large number of other positives and replicated over a long-enough timeline, results will become evident.

It may be dour and grim outside the panes of my window, but inside, it doesn't matter.

(Title of post is in reference to a 1994 adventure game.)

That constant search for progress

2011-05-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

I'm going to give the silver a rest for the next day or two, unless something drastic changes. I won't be able to buy more silver until my paycheck arrives, and that will be another week. In the meantime, I'm working on several smaller projects, and of course - both that short scenario, and the health/personal growth goals I'd set out. I'm working later today, and I'm going to take a moment to speak on these things. File this one under the "Philosophy" part of the blog.

Man is not meant to be stagnant. For thousands of years humanity has always gravitated towards a specific type of athletic thinker. It was the ideal of the Greeks and Romans. And it has been taken to the extreme by our modern bodybuilders, willing to experiment and pave the way for (what I hope will be) a deregulation of steroids, which in my opinion, have tremendous potential in the medical and military field.

That said, learning from the wisdom of thousands of active, strong, generations, we find no pro-hormones or Clen cycles are needed to gain a health, good looking body. Remember, you aren't going to achieve the results of Arnold (if ever) in a single day. Progress will be measured by months, not days - so what matters is increasing your AVERAGE amount of positive physical change and sustaining it for a period of time. What is the timeless "crash diet" critique? They started off strong, then shortly exploded? Whereas the average "built" person started with a less intense approach, and scaled it up over months.

Every little thing you do matters... but keep it in the scale of a month, not a day, when it comes to physical health.

Market Manipulations

2011-05-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

At close of trading on Wednesday, May 4th, the market for silver had seen tremendous selling pressure that drove prices down by 17.3% from Thursday, April 28th. The sell off corresponded precisely to a number of increased margin requirements by the COMEX for trading contracts in silver futures.

Silver speculators who may have been concerned over additional margin increases did not have long to wait. After close on Wednesday, May 4th, the COMEX declared two additional large hikes in silver margin, effective at the close of business on Thursday and another hike effective at the close of trading on Monday, May 9th. As of Monday, initial contract margin requirements would be increased to $21,600 and to $16,000 for hedgers. One year ago, with silver trading in the $18 range, the margin requirement for a speculative contract was only $4,250.

This series of five margin increases by the COMEX created a jump in initial margin requirements for speculators from $11,745 to $21,600 - an increase of 84%. The margin requirements for hedgers also increased by 84% from $8,700 to $16,000. Silver futures traders now would be forced to come up with huge amounts of additional cash or liquidate holdings on price weakness. The collapse in silver prices on Thursday May 5th, triggered by the COMEX margin increases, indicates that many players were forced to liquidate positions.

The actions taken by the COMEX constitute a perfect text book example on how to crash a market. The non stop increases in margin requirements resulted in a dramatic reduction of liquidity in the silver market by forcing out small speculators who were not prepared to commit additional cash for margin maintenance. As prices fell in response to the COMEX margin increases, bigger players in the silver market were forced to liquidate positions to avoid margin calls and large losses on leveraged positions.

The last two margin increases by the COMEX, instituted after silver had already declined by over 17%, created the perfect crash scenario. Silver traders liquidating positions to meet new margin requirements caused a further cascade of forced selling and the silver crash became inevitable. The elimination of liquidity from any market will result in falling prices and the COMEX knew this.

If someone wanted to crash the silver market, the moves taken by the COMEX were perfectly designed to accomplish this by reducing liquidity at a time during which the markets were already stressed from previous margin increases. The result was a collapse in silver prices from $48.70 to the $34 range.

In response to the outrage over the devastating series of margin requirement increases, Kim Taylor, President of CME Clearing, which owns the COMEX, issued a statement explaining CME's actions. According to Ms. Taylor, margin increases are related to risk management and done to prevent default by clearing member firms. Margins are adjusted based on market volatility and are not designed to move a market or discourage investor participation. Among the factors considered in setting margins is a CME calculation of a worst case scenario for possible portfolio losses.

The actions of the COMEX in implementing a rapid series of margin increases, even after silver had already steeply sold off, resulted in large profits to short sellers and reduced risk for CME at the expense of huge losses for silver investors both large and small.

COMEX Silver opens in about four hours.

2011-05-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

Remember, the COMEX resumes weekly trading Sundays at 6PM. From everything I've been reading on the fringe markets, I expect silver to drop in the next few days. But that is my personal speculation, and its not backed by me actually investing anything (paycheck won't be in for another week). If the fringe sites are correct, I would expect 30/oz in the next five days. If their predictions come true, I'll give them more weight in the future.

We'll see starting at 6pm which direction this precious metal heads. I encourage y'all to watch. I will be at work.
Enjoy the rest of the day, its beautiful in the city where I'm at.

An open invitation to come and kick it with Satan.

2011-05-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

"Symetic solar systematically
scramble thoughts like eggs on Sunday morning,
OJ and acid drops [drip drip drip],
Randomly rippin' spots,
like an open invitation to come and kick it with Satan."
- Styles of Beyond 'Holograms' (Embedded at the end of the post.)

This month is shaping up to be one of my most successful both financially, and with regard to budgeting. The two are distinct, good budgeting can't guarantee financial security (expenses happen, sometimes outside of the realm of projections) - and just because you end the month with a bunch of cash doesn't mean you've budgeted well (you may have spent to much money on worthless crap).

So far, the month has been fantastic - and has only seen positives. Remember in order to take steps forward, you have to set out several small tasks and goals to complete. Complete them as best you can, take stock at the end - then prepare a new set of goals and repeat the process. Last night a friend and I went up to the local bar scene, and ripped up the mike on karaoke (got free rounds of beer for our stellar performance of some classic rap).

Just want to inject some positive motivation to my readers out their who are facing the same challenges I do.
Remember, don't ever get numb to the progress you make on your endeavors.

-------------------
Styles of beyond returns to this blog, with anther fantastic track from their album 2000 Fold.

The foundations of the short scenario

2011-05-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

How to make that one-hundred a month in four months? The current goal would be a revitalization of the cult blog, with renewed use of the ad-words campaign. The first two days have shown a tremendous positive response in unique views, compared to the same date range last year, up 340%, and peaking previous year highs. However, these campaigns are labor intensive, and factoring in opportunity costs will not net $100/Month.

The only solution is to succeed in building up either a large enough database to consume traffic, or a large enough draw and culture to generate organic content (<-E.g. what i did with the entheogen forum experiment). If the views die off sharply after I stop the investment, then my time is severely leveraged, and I have to put in more capital. The key is to find a level where the return is stabilized, preferably growing, and then stop further investment to reevaluate.

I will keep those of you interested in this particular scenario updated.

Long Call Explanation

2011-05-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post for those new to the game about what a Long Call is. Since I got a few questions about it.

A long call is simply the purchase of one call option.
You expect the price to rise in the long term.
You risk the price dropping and not being able to sell-off and recoup losses

E.g. I buy twenty shares of paper silver at $38, if the price goes up, then I can make a profit.

Just beware market manipulation and natural corrections when investing. Especially if you are trying to reap each bubble. I wouldn't recommend jumping into that level of trading right away unless you have past experience.

What would you do with $212.93?

2011-05-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

... A stranger on a forum I frequent for health advice posted this query. He had discovered an online account where he had stashed it. That amount is roughly similar to my short-term goal saving's & investment income. So, as I like to do, I drew up a monstrous open office spreadsheet and ran some numbers. After all, earning the money is just the first step - you've got to figure out how to reinvest an inflating federal $1 reserve note.

So currently my spending plan, lets name it Operation Long Call , is thus:

Investment/Savings Balance Start: $212.93

Percent to FRN Cash - 20% - Balance: ($42.586) = $171.34
Percent to PM's - 20% - Balance: ($42.586)=$128.758
Percent to Online Bank - 60% - Balance (+$0.00)=128.758

Now the scenario calls for this to be a self-sustaining project, separate from ongoing concerns such as my job at Home Depot. So these savings would be extra from normal savings. It would at current prices probably fetch 1-2Oz silver, and around an extra $42 in cash savings, and a nice $128.76 in savings.

So now that we know its worth the time, lets see if someone can reach it. You know I'm always trying.

"Everybody wants to rule the world..."

2011-05-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

"Everybody wants to rule the world..."
A particularly poetic chorus from Nas' album Stillmatic will mark the first artistic flavored post in a while. It does a good job on timing to.

I opened the wall street journal today to read an article on the FDIC hiking margins on the FOREX for those investors beneath 10 million. This move is to help "Retail Investors" not suffer from market volatility, but it forces the small investor out. But I won't go that political (<- Check the date on that one ;) with this post.

I used to loathe rap, but have had a complete conversion over the last year, and now consider myself something of an expert. Here is something mainstream but still fantastic.

A much better rap song from the same album, but far less likely to appeal to most of you readers is Rewind. Listen to the lyrics and relax, just tell yourself its "art".

Free-Electron Laser in Hamburg (or FLASH) now at 1.25 Giga Electron-volts

2011-05-11T04:58:00.000-07:00

- Taken from the official website of FLASH at http://flash.desy.de/

"The free-electron laser FLASH (Free-Electron Laser in Hamburg) has set a new record: this weekend, the FLASH accelerator team operated the FEL with an electron energy of 1.25 Giga electronvolts, thus reaching a wavelength of 4.12 nanometres. For the first time FLASH has generated laser light in the so-called water window using the fundamental wavelength – so far this was only reached with laser harmonics. The flashes with the short wavelengths had an average energy of 70 and a peak energy of 130 micro joules."

I spotted this gem of further reading while digging for information on silver nitrate, and silver in general. I'll update with some of those reads as an investing pitch later tonight. After all, I need to determine an investment strategy to meet the new short term-goal of $100 a month in four.

Health Update

2011-05-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

In addition to financial musings, I also feel its time to start incorporating some of the subjects of my other blog projects. Particularly, those on health. I've already talked the occasional tangent related to to the physical field, but here is an update from a recent doctors visit:

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 169
BPM 60 (I blame this on nicotine withdrawal, I got lots of shaking-bouts, and heightened heart rate)
Heart and breathing good, blood pressure good.
Clean bill of health.

Bodyfat around 11-12% and dropping, mirror almost revealing abs. Summer is off to a good start.

The current "diet" I'm on is a culmination of three years of tweaking - (and remember "diet" is a weak word for what should be a lifestyle change):

During the average workday I wake up and have a bowl of cereal, a protein shake (ON Whey bannana cream and whole milk), and the first Optimum Nutrition Multi of the three for the day. For lunch I often grab a couple handful of nuts and a sliced turkey BLT wrap, and another shake (1 scoop or +24g protein each, so not particularly big doses of whey). For my workbreak and dinner I often grab local fastfood, such as Hardees big bag special (2 double cheeseburger's, french fry, apple turnover + sweet tea for about $5.45) I will also usually drink a starbucks energy drink prior to my shift.

On my days off, I often eat a slimmer breakfast, then a gigantic feast for a late lunch (to a reasonable level, I don't go drastically past my caloric needs). This "feast" today was a loaf of Artisan Roasted Garlic Bread + stick of Goat Cheese (on sale) the large majority of a rotisserie chicken, and about four shakes mixed throughout the day with a few handfuls of mixed nuts.

Bear in mind that I've got a moderately active job (walking for 8 hour shifts, occasionally moving moderately heavy things like paving stones, or mulch bags, etc.), and do my current (limited) workout routine all week long. So my maintenance caloric needs may be larger compared to people with a desk job, or who are older.

Paradigm Shifts Count.

2011-05-10T07:12:00.000-07:00

You know the sort of cultist-holistic approach I take to things - so here's a tangent toward overall financial betterment distinct from silver, and somewhat distinct for this site. With some student loans coming up, my scenario charts show I need to start making $100/month in additional income from these side side projects. I have four months. So another task to overcome.

$100/Month in Four months still seems like an easier goal than Thirteen thousand in six...but that isn't going to make it easy. The main approach will be a renewed interest in Google adwords - which I played around with off of a free trail from hostgator a while back when doing that website. Which later evolved into a browser based RPG based around the rap album liquid swords. I did the coding myself, but wasn't able to finish and completely debug the game before running out of capital. But several friends were able to play in a beta version and enjoyed it.

But back to the point, I think the right investments over the next four months (which of course I will post about to give you, the reader, ideas for your own breakaway pursuits) will let me nail this goal.

Silver isn't dead... But it is toxic to sheep.

2011-05-09T19:54:00.000-07:00

Two days into the silver crash I received a text from my girlfriend in the late hours of the evening. It went something like "Oh honey, you shouldn't have bought all that silver, apparently it crashed today :( " (That smiley face WAS included in the original text.). My girlfriend was duly concerned that I had somehow "lost" a great deal of money because last she heard, I was buying silver.

I kid! I kid!

There are two important reason's why this "bubble crash" never hurt me, and are examples to help you ride this unique market.

#1 Paradigm Shift: I'm not a short term investor in silver.
Repeat after me: "Until I actually have taken delivery of silver and found the best ways to buy in bulk I will not "invest" in silver for short term profit." I'm sure some of you out there are smarter than I am, and might be able to jump right in, but if you don't understand the following terms you should plan to begin by investing for long-term silver holdings. Again, if you don't know what the COMEX is, or what the impact of margin hikes multiple times a month are, or have a fair understanding of the Federal Reserve (and the Federal Reserve Note), you should plan to start out with a paradigm shift.

That paradigm shift is this: I do not plan to sell my silver for AT least another five years. Instead it will replace 50% of my FRN saving's per month towards long term goals like land, or a new car. Rather than pulling for silver to go to the moon over night, you want to dip as low as possible before a slow return over time. At no point should you dump your entire savings into silver without first slowly playing with small amounts to determine the most frugal way to buy.

I bought my silver about $30/oz. But I spent closer to $45/oz, because of stupid newbie buying mistakes. Picking up art bars/mistakes while buying on ebay. However, with a budget of just $200 i didn't do myself any real financial damage, and the lessons I learned were invaluable. I then bought another round of $200, at a spot of $42, but this time reduced my cost-over-spot (including shipping) down to around $47. At this point I was fighting very, very hard to resist blowing the rest of my cash savings on buying more. The internet was full of forums charging ahead crying "SILVER BITCHES!", conflating those who were investing in silver for the first time (like me) and silver hoarders who had been in the game since $9/Oz.

Thankfully, two days before my girlfriends text, I had managed to learn enough about the market to identify several key trends from my internet sources (mostly random forums) the news (the wall street journal, drudge report, al jarzeera) that told me that silver wasn't quite going to make the immediate predictions. So i held on to my FRN's and looked at my small stack of dearly bought metal. See, if I had been in for a short profit, I would have sold because I was 70% sure it wasn't going much higher. But I'm in for the long haul, and there was that 30% risk that I would repeat my $45/oz for $30/oz worth of silver and not be able to get back in the game at a higher price.

So what did I do? I waited, and I've just bought more. In a long term game, as long as I'm always somewhere in the middle of the fluctuations, I'll come out on top when its time to sell. THAT is the paradigm shift you must have when you first start investing in silver.

#2 The Value of Silver: Silver is a metal, not paper.
The initial explanation I was given in second grade as to why we printed money instead of gold consisted of two things: "It was lighter/carry more, we can print more if it gets destroyed or lost." Hahahaha... Yeah....
The public school system completely failed to teach my just how much more complex the monetary system of our government is, and has become.It required my own research to fully start to understand.

But here's the neat thing about silver. It doesn't really "lose" value. At one time in history a roman private was was the equivalent of around three (3) ounces of silver a month in pay. How cool is that? You can measure your savings by months of backbreaking work as a roman soldier. A more sinister, but even more staggering way to view silver....

"The denarius began to experience slow debasement towards the end of the Republic. Under the rule of Augustus its silver content fell to 3.9 grams (a theoretical weight of ¹⁄₈₄ of a Roman pound). It then remained at near this weight until the time of Nero, when it was reduced to ¹⁄₉₆ of a pound, or 3.4 grams. Regular debasement of the silver began after Nero. Later Roman emperors reduced it to a weight of 3 grams around the late 3rd century.^[7]"

^"The price for a male slave in Rome at the time of Augustus has been quoted at 500 denarii. A female could go for as much as 6,000 denarii. One recorded price in Pompeii at 79 AD indicates that a slave sold for 2,500 sestertii or 625 denarii."

-http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-slavery.php

So, the cost in troy ounces for a human life in roman times is a horrifying range of between 62.69 Troy ounces and 665.88 Troy Ounces.

And if you have any understanding of Christian Theology, you will recall that Jesus was sold for a mere thirty coins, maybe around 3 and half oz?

.....This will be continued in a future post.

The new direction: It Ain't Where You're From, It's Where You're At.

2011-05-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

It's taken a long, long time for me to reach the point I'm at now in my life. I started this blog near the beginning of my college career and strangely enough, as far as I've veered from it, I always come back. I've completed thousands of side projects, but I feel this one still has some legs. And the problems I faced then, desperate for money, are problems we all face.

So, from this point further, accept that I will be sharing my financial strategies, thoughts and plans.
After all, who wouldn't want to raise thirteen grand in six months?

Styles of Beyond

2011-03-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

Styles of Beyond is quickly becoming my favorite rap group of the month. 2000 Fold is an incredible album.

Anyone who likes killer beats, great atmosphere, and swinging flow would get behind this album and group. Seriously, I can't praise it enough. Do yourself a favor and at least check out the song embedded below.

"But you can't keep hip-hop captive"

The entire album is sick. Jump on it.

does mountain dew kill sperm

2011-02-19T18:14:00.000-08:00

This is a random post, but since this seems to be a popular google question, i felt it should be answered. Good god but the internet never ceases to amaze. So laugh with me if you stumbled on this by accident, and read some of the blog.

"Does mountain dew kill sperm?"
No.

Ingesting this blog will probably create sperm.

Believe me, I'm a leader in micro entrepreneurial enterprises, finance, and holistic health... a young ex-college kid getting older trying to get by, and succeeding in ways i never imagined.

If you are asking questions like "does Mtn. Dew Kill Sperm", you need to keep reading this blog.

Top 25 Rap/Hip-Hop Albums of ALL TIME

2011-01-25T11:23:00.000-08:00

My roommate and I ate some delicious cookies, and spent about three hours of intense discussion working out a master list of Rap albums. Yes, that's just what we at collegiate messiah blog do. There was no single rubric used, albums were selected based on our own estimation of their value to someone just getting into Rap. In short, these albums if listened to in order, would give a neophyte a broad and well rounded understanding of the genre.

I am going to be pissed when this list gets stolen by google.

CollegiateMessiah's top 25 Rap Albums:
1. Ready to Die (Notorious B.I.G.)
2. The Chronic (Dr. Dre)
3. Enter the Wu-Tang '36 Chambers' (Wu-Tang Clan)
4. Illmatic (NAS)
5. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (Raekwon)
6. Straight Outa Compton (N.W.A.)
7. The Marshal Mathers LP (Eminem)
8. Low End Theory (Tribe Called Quest)
9. All Eyes On Me (2Pac)
10. Paid in Full (Rakim/Eric B.)
11. It Takes a nation of millions to hold us back (Public Enemy)
12. Liquid Swords (GZA)
13. Criminal Minded (BDP)
14. Reasonable Doubt (Jay Z)
15. Life After Death (Notorious B.I.G.)
16. Great Adventures of Slick Rick ("The Grand Wizard, MC, Ricky D!")
17. Follow the Leader (Rakim)
18. Black Sunday (Cypris Hill)
19. E1999 Eternal (Bone Thugz N' Harmony)
20. The Infamous
21. Slim Shady LP (Eminem)
22. Doggie Style (Snoop Dog)
23. Strictly Business (EPMD)
24. Three Feet High And Rising (De La Soul)
25. Whut? Thee Album (Redman)

So why is Biggie over 2pac? How come eminem is featured twice? I'll let y'all ask these questions and more in the comments box.

Flying quadcopters constructing towers

2011-01-16T11:59:00.001-08:00

This is pretty cool as a pioneering thing:

The promised website:

2010-11-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

http://eapothecary.net/<-(Edit Site is down, I've finished this experiment)

Of course, my name isn't Jason, but everything else is legitimate. Content will be slowly added to the main site, I'm more interested in what sort of traffic google adwords can generate for me, so far I'm not terribly impressed. Thankfully, they've got that $100 account start up promotion, so as I've said before, I only need to recoup $15.01 to make back my investment.

Currently the forum is what needs the most work, as with any forum its difficult to get off the ground. But with such a focus on ginseng, sexual health, and herbal remedies I do think there is potential - I don't believe there is a similar community of any size.

The forum is up!

2010-11-16T13:12:00.000-08:00

http://forum.eapothecary.net/forum/index.php
Or I suppose you could just click this link

The main site will be up and running by late tonight, but I'm getting the forum started. Its always such a daunting task to get a forum up and running. I'm using adwords to test some traffic generation, but I won't be able to make any money until I hook up the main account to adsense. Eventually I'll incorporate ads into the forum itself, but for now that is on the backburner. Getting a stable community of around 100 members is what I'm focused on in the next two weeks. Things will become much easier once the main site is up.

On a random note, I have a loaded air-rifle in my lap. I'm waiting on a rat/mouse that's slowly been chewing a hole in the wall to resume. Then I'm going to put the muzzle to the hole, squeeze the trigger, and pray the little fellow wont smell to badly in the coming days.

Edit:
Google bot arrived at the forum seconds after this post went up.

New Website?

2010-11-16T00:23:00.000-08:00

I'm about to launch a new website centered around herbs and adaptogens, with a focus on their use as weight-loss aids (since that is always a huge traffic draw). The website and forum community will promote the exchange of knowledge on this esoteric subject, in an environment that isn't centered around selling crap. As soon as the site is up I'll link to it here so those readers who are more interested in the positive or politically correct portions of this blog can check it out. Unlike the cult blog this is something I do have a legitimate interest in, and I highly encourage you all to check it out when I post the link.

And while we are on the subject, today I threw back a record (for me) seventeen 100mg gingseng capsules. This was based on a post I read online, quoted below for your convenience:

"I have been taking panax ginseng with a 30% Ginsenosides count.
I take about 300-500 mg's per day.
anyone that has taken diesel test, and had that grande bolas feeling.
It is about 5 times as noticable with panax ginseng."

For those of you who don't wish to do the math, 500mgs at 30% still contains more ginsenosides than my 1700mg dose at just 7%. I'm curious if I will experience any noticeable change, the poster whom I'm quoting mentioned that he had gotten no effect off of 300-600mg of 7%, which is about what I've been doing. Eh, we'll see.

Korean Ginseng

2010-11-11T13:45:00.000-08:00

Not going to advertise Ginseng, but I feel writing about my current Ginseng experience is important for those readers who follow this blog for the occasional health tip. For those unaware (how can you not be?) Ginseng is that legendary herb that has been a perennial favorite of herbal health. I picked up a standardized bottle from a local grocery store a month back to take as a placebo (works wonders when your high).

My bottle is standardized at 7% ginsenosides/100mg, and I had been taking about 300mg a day for the past three weeks, with no particularly noticeable effects. I've recently (read, yesterday) started dosing with 500mg+ and am curious as to any results. Its way to early to provide data on this, but I'll keep y'all updated.

Those abs are popping out rapidly now that I'm nearly the end of my cut, and I found out the university hasn't suspended my ID card that I use to access the gym. This means I have ready access to the university's full gym, something I didn't know two months ago.

I'll make a post about the differences between technical college and university life later, right now I'm enjoying the savings on tuition and the newly realized free gym.

Business Partnership and Money.

2010-09-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a suggestion for those of you looking to get into business. Have at least one partner who is an accountant. Give him a small, fixed income, with some incentives if you do well at sales. Most importantly, when that partner provides you with advice, take it.

Those of you who follow this blog on a regular basis are aware of the various quasi-legal entrepreneurial ventures I'm involved with. This particular one is legit, legal, and done jointly with two other guys. One of whom is in charge of acquiring the legal (I feel that this can't be emphasized enough, it's such a pleasant change) proprietary ingredients, the other in charge of selling and packaging, while I run accounting, manufacturing and overall business goals. The guy who is selling, styles himself a marketing genius. Unfortunately, he isn't, and lacks all business sense. Scenes between us are like something out of the movie Blow.

Here is how I planned the night to go: L arrives with blend takes his cut and leaves, I manufacture and take my cut and leave, then N packages and sells at a price based on excel tables I've drawn up for him. Easy? Simple? I thought so.

However, here is how N planned the night, and how it went. L and I arrive, make a few dozen units. Then invite over a guy who he had presold several hundred dollars worth of units to. Units sold at a steep discount, at a price N pulled out of thin air, without consulting me. Following the kids arrival we'd hang out, talk and chat for two hours, then finish the kids preorder. Boot him out and then split the money from the sale on a percentage base between us.

Thing was, as I would have been able to tell him if he had asked, the discount he offered was so steep - that if we used N's percentage idea, it didn't leave enough to go around and cover L's costs (he had invested the most). The Flat rate I had worked out guaranteed L his investment back, and mine, but didn't leave N much at all (since his discount didn't let him profit after our cut). This led to long, drawn out, civil but heated debate about how the money was to be split.

I fail to see what is so complicated about making sure you sell your product at a price that clears your costs. The buyer would have been willing to lay down an extra 20% (the non-retard-discount price), which would have been the difference between N being happy, and him being pissed. Ultimately, since he hadn't actually invested anything except time, L and I convinced him to go with my flat rate, and hopefully he learned a valuable lesson about selling at prices you simply made up. Dumbass.

Don't ever accept a percentage on sale if you aren't the one selling, you might end up with this guy.

Switching over the lease.

2010-09-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

I'm about to have the lease changed over to my name. My roommate will be heading out after graduation at the end of December. This puts some strain on my projected budget, since I have to find a new roommate to share the burden of rent with by the start of the spring. Thankfully, due to my Fraternity, I've already got a pool of twelve guys who are interested and bidding for the spot. Can we say Greek life hath its privileges?

Greek life has gotten such a negative rap, and I am consistently amazed by the irreverence and spite directed towards members of Fraternities and Sororities. Usually I think its directed from a place of jealousy, and occasionally has legitimate concerns (if coming from parents and not students). The labels of "buying" your friends, the constant assumption of alcoholic and drug abuse (which I feel is just a part of college life), and the overhanging stereotypes of elitist phaggots banging sheep pervades lots of internet forums.

First, every Greek organization is different. Then, the chapters that make up the organization are as diverse as the campuses they represent. Of course some chapters are a bunch of tools, and some do participate in barbaric hazing. Others are strictly business, groups of tightly bonded professionals advancing themselves and the community with well organized events that raise thousands. Most fall in between.

The crazy parties we're known for are a fact. A fact of college. And I would say we do it right - with no incidents of alcohol poisoning, no brothers getting arrested, a terrific risk team that keeps the crowd safe... these are the things you should be looking for as an indication of a chapter's positive influence.

Its the non-fraternity house parties thrown by people who don't have decades of experience crafting safe, fun, and wild parties that get in trouble and create problems. That and stupid freshmen who don't follow the advice we provide them.

ITT: We're College Freshmen from 2010.

2010-09-27T07:40:00.000-07:00

BRB Getting thrown in jail for public urination after a party.
Seriously, this kid texted me at 2 a.m. asking me to bail him out. He was drunk and walking from a party to another, and decided it would be a great idea to relieve himself ON CAMPUS. A cop rolled by, and that was that.

BRB Spilling guts to police about drugs that had already been consumed.
Three guys were out at the local lake, after hours, smoking a joint. Having finished, one went off into the bushes to water them, while the others remained at the car. Campus Police rolled up and separated the two remaining. The first freshman denied their accusations about the weed, and asked to see evidence. The cops left him alone and went to the other one, who broke down and admitted that they had all been smoking.
I'm all for being polite to police officers... but that doesn't mean you admit to a crime without asking for evidence.

BRB Getting knocked up the first week of school.
Self explanatory. It happens EVERY year. I turned the same girl and her friend down for a threesome the first party I met her at. When freshman girls are offering those sorts of sexual trysts to upperclassmen the first party they meet, invariably the girl is just one of those.

BRB Thinking they can outsmoke/outdrink the fraternities.
So many freshmen walk into college with a chip on their shoulder. They want to look like bigdogs, and they look down on the upperclassmen. Especially since most of us don't party on the regular basis we used to (its why we are still here). At some point they come over for a small, private event, and nine-hours later pass out from shell-shock. I don't like to boast about my drinking/smoking, but now and again it feels good to put these kids in their place.

BRB causing drama.
Girl dated a guy until her other boyfriend, that the guy didn't know about, got out of prison.
Calling a sorority fat and ugly, in their earshot.
Going to the ER after trying to beat up at a roommate for taking one mountain dew to many.
Pouring lysol on roommates bed because it smells.

The Broke College Student Diet

2010-09-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

As you should all be aware from my situation, I don't really have much discretionary money. However, I like to look healthy and be extremely active and physically fit. This requires quality food... something that doesn't jive with the normal dollar menu diet of my peers. So here is a list of the foods I buy at the grocery store, and a general overview of what I eat everyday. I should note that I don't have any food allergies, or things would be a lot harder. Props to those who live with lactose intolerance and nut allergies.

Per Week:
Milk, several gallons.
Whey powder, a tub or two.
Peanut Butter, a big jar.
Triscuit Crackers (cracked pepper and olive oil). <- These are awesome.
Tuna and frozen chicken.
Vitamins.
Cheap Juice.

Eggs. Eggs. Eggs. Eggs. Eggs. Eggs.

-------------------------------
I usually consume three protein shakes, four eggs, 12 crackers (for fiber) w/ Peanut butter, the vitamins and a cup or two of juice a day. And that is around what I eat everyday, with some tuna and chicken on workout days. I try and save up $10 dollars each week and spend five or more hours at the local golden corral pigging out on salads, greens, and other foodstuffs I don't normally eat.

If I had the money, there would be more variety. But I don't. And I've consistently been able to clean bulk using those foods each semester. This summer I climbed back from a post surgery weight of 155lbs @ 12% Bf, to 168lbs @ 11.4... and I've seen similar results each time I go on it. Right now I'm approaching 175, and am looking to be 180 by November with 11-13% Bf.

Since you asked...

2010-09-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Since I've been getting this question from my female friends, and since I would consider myself a doctor in broscience, I'm going to go ahead and throw up a weight/high chart for women. Bear in mind, bodyfat + height/weight + lifts/condition should all be taken into account when determining whether or not you are healthy.

That Party Last Night...

2010-09-25T01:44:00.000-07:00

It is the expert opinion of a friend that Asher Roth was a leading cause of the freshman dropout rate a few semesters back. Banal lyrics, and a carefree, unrealistic look at college life. I consider myself to have a very high standard in musical tastes - from Frank Zappa to A Tribe Called Quest - and Asher Roth normally would have no business in my vocabulary. However, some nights just require the title's tagline. 'Cause yeah, its 4:30AM, but the party don't stop. I've returned to my New Castle binges.

The key, as with everything is moderation. Early in the semester its easy to get away with week-long all night drinking binges. Everyone has money, and all the fraternities (including mine) are trying to grab freshmen interest with house-hopping keggers that span six or seven hours. At my local college, in the first week of this semester, on one street within a block of campus there were two keggers and three parties. Freshmen were called up and marched out in droves, and at two am that street was covered with groups of threes and fours staggering back to the dorms.

It's nights like those, and this one, that imbibe (no pun intended) me with a feeling that yeah - college life is certainly more than the parties - but that parties are more unique to the college environment than any academic bullshit the administration would try and sell. You can get nearly the education yourself, or at tech (which I'm technically [pun intended this time] enrolled in this semester)... but the sub-culture of Animal House-Esque exploits are something that define the college experience for anyone who seeks it out.

Of course, if you continue the intensity of the first few weeks, you will soon join the other 36% of the freshman class that drops in their first year.

Here is a tool... Not a game.

2010-09-23T11:52:00.001-07:00

Back to Basics.

2010-09-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

No, I don't own the Fundraising For Dummies book. But I feel its about time I give an update on the progress I've been making in my own efforts at personal monetary gain.
I'll admit I've gotten pretty distracted at times, thanks primarily to redheads, and in some cases alcohol.

Right now I'm making forays into the world of herbal cigarette blends. Those who read this blog already know that I'm a Merchant of Death when it comes to smoking, and are also aware that I may or may not have dabbled in entheogens. Well, imagine smoking a cigarette that contains a proprietary (legal!) herbal blend that gets you stoned. Prototypes are in the works.

Unfortunately for me, any profit from such is at least a few weeks off, but I will keep y'all updated. In the interim, of the forty-five job applications I've submitted, the closest I've come to a real job was a non-interview where the manager told me that while there were no position to fill, he'd contact me in the event of any vacancies. After three days of phone tag, and showing up in person only to find he's busy in a meeting.

Persistence is a virtue right?

Halo Reach, Buy It.

2010-09-21T13:04:00.000-07:00

Four good friends, four controllers, one big television - and hours of alien carnage the likes of which haven't impressed me since the original Doom series. Halo Reach's campaign is a candle beside the nuclear blast that is Firefight. Endless waves of alien bastards for your killing pleasure, with progressively harder waves and hundreds of user-defined variables, offer a sandbox of violence.

Halo ODST pioneered Halo's vision of a Firefight mode (something as old as gaming, despite what bungie would have us believe.), and Halo Reach gets it right. With specialized "loadouts", you can fight against the tide with SPARTAN's equipped with jet packs, special bubble shields that never run out, temporary but unlimited invulnerability, and other gear that offers an expansive experience that hasn't been matched in recent console first person shooters.

My one complaint (and its not really a complaint), is that after getting spoiled by ODST, I constantly find myself missing the seemingly endless barrage of grenades that I used to be able to through. New weapons, including a covenant multiple-grenade/missile launcher, and standard grenade-gun, make up for any decrease in 'nade power. If you haven't bought this game for yourself, click the amazon link above and do so now. One of the few modern video games I can get behind 100%.

Crockpot Cooking…

2009-12-26T16:38:00.001-08:00

Or trying to. I purchased a small crockpot, hoping to capitalize on some nice recipes. However, I bought the crockpot prior to purchasing stuff to actually make those recipes with. This resulted in some nifty bachelor logic that justified the concoction currently brewing in my kitchen.

1 can cream of chicken. 1 can whole potatoes. 1 can navy beans.

My belief was: None of those require intense heat (E.g. I won’t give myself food poisoning), and they all seem like they would go well together.

They’ve been in the pot for about two-hours, and I figure I’ll let them sit there on high for at least another two. In the interim, internet research has led to the following conclusions:

1. The potatoes will have been waaaaay overdone and will probably resemble mush.

2. The same with the beans.

3. Cream of chicken =/= Chicken broth.

----------------------------------

I’m just hoping that should the worst case scenario occur, that my sink can handle all that yellowy sludge simmering beneath the plastic lid.

New Years…

2009-12-25T14:10:00.001-08:00

Is a ways off. However, I have always found that if you are serious about fulfilling “New Years Resolutions” (NYR), its best to start a few days in advance to work out the bugs and get into a routine.

Here are some of my goals for next semester, in order -

Bump my grades up a little.

Tack back on ten pounds of muscle that have been lost.

Get a job. (Still seeking… I must be well over a hundred applications by now).

Land a new chick.

And here are the detailed plans for each:

#1, Grades: Buy differentiated notebooks for each class, purchase a white-board to keep track of tests and exams (lost the one I used sophomore year). Attend class (some things are harder to do than others).

#2, Bodybuilding: Get my diet back on track, solve the various medical aliments that have cropped up this semester (hernia etc.). Establish a gym routine (probably just Starting Strength).

#3, Job: I suppose I’ll just keep plugging away on this one.

#4, Chick: This one is usually contingent on #2 and #3… If both of those fall through, it wont be worth the effort. Seriously, sex is wonderful, but (nice)guys tend to let women destroy their lives.

Happy Christmas. Merry Holidays.

My Descent Into Alcoholism…

2009-12-18T01:33:00.001-08:00

Sorry, I still wouldn’t categorize myself as such. Although today, or rather, yesterday at precisely 5:30 pm I and several friends began chugging. Four movies later, and we’re still drinking. In fact, we may continue to drink until the party tonight. The problem is beer.

At this particular stage in our lives, it is nigh impossible to get “to” drunk off of beer. And I would like to dedicate this post to broke college students everywhere, who in their youthful hubris, make the mistake of thinking a couple of cases will negate the need for hard liquor.

Let us prove once and for all (via questionable assumptions, and using today/tonight as an example), that you should never leave the tequila on the shelf at the store.

One handle of Jack: Thirty-five dollars. Split between four guys, and consumed within a reasonable time period (two-three hours), will leave us with liquor left over, and four passed out guests. But did we take that simple route? No.

Instead, TEN HOURS, three and a half cases of beer, cigarettes, B-movies, and Mcdonalds… have left us with nothing more than churning stomachs, crystal clear urine, headaches, and a general feeling of sickness.

An average of 2 beers an hour is simply not enough. Even doing our particular version of the simpson’s movie drinking game (Drink: Every time you see homer, any time there is a scene change involving homer, anytime homer is on the screen for more than fifteen seconds) at the start of the night, where beers disappear at shot-gunning speeds… it just wasn’t enough.

One of these days we will realize: you simply cannot substitute beer for liquor (but you can substitute ghetto-wine).

I assure you, our livers look forward to that day.

Inhale… Exhale… Just got an ounce in the mail.

2009-08-13T11:29:00.001-07:00

My lack of posts should indicate just how content I’ve been with this new apartment lifestyle. Although a shortage of money has left me somewhat bereft of alcohol, entheogens and some cutting edge legal research chem. substances have helped pass the down time between sleep, parties, and the gym.

With an incoming class of freshmen arriving within the next two weeks, I feel it necessary to offer another public service announcement about drugs:

They. Are. Everywhere.

And barring some of the synthetics (Heroin, Crack), they really aren’t going to ruin your son or daughter’s life. Unless your son or daughter is a complete idiot in how they pursue the acquisition and use of said substances – E.g. they get busted, shot, OD’d, or poisoned.

In such cases, I feel that the illegality of most substances is well warranted*: If you’re not smart enough to do the drugs without getting wasted on the way, you have no business doing them. So keep up the ban on weed, meth, coke, X, salvia, DXM, opiates. If I want them, I can get them. And if it helps keep the dealer employed, and the local high-school kiddies away, all the better. Think of it as a further level of natural selection.*

So come along, take a hit from the bong!

*A comment below has made me realize that I didn't quite make clear my intent - which is that I am a proponent of age-related drug and alcohol laws (I have some posts that touch on this theme). I do however feel that with the majority of "drugs" consumed (Esp. Marijuana, Mushrooms, Acid, Salvia, JWH, DXM, Mescaline, etc.) should be made legal to adults.

And efforts should be made by the government (in a perfect world) to inform the public as to the product, rather than propaganda aimed at motivating them to buy or reject (see cigarettes, which i have quit to save $). That is my current position on the subject, but flexibility of ideas is a must in this world.

Thanks for making me check this post after so many months! :)

Scented Candles? What was I thinking?

2009-07-06T11:40:00.001-07:00

Packing is never fun. You know it, I know it, there’s no point in pretending. Not only is there the physical effort of moving ones crap from one box to another, but you have to deal with the emotional side too.

Remember, just because it cost you a fortune only to end up forgotten in a closet, doesn’t mean it’s a reflection on your character. That said, I really have no excuse for the orange-slice shaped scented candles I found in my closet. Or the four brass candle sticks hidden in a cupboard.

I don’t even remember buying half this shit.

A few empty liquor bottles, and some disturbing beer cans with a funky smell were discovered in the back of an old closet. And an ancient pack of unfiltered camels made an appearance from a small shelf, tucked inside an even older shoe (possibly dates from when I was underage to smoke? But I wouldn’t have had to hide them! Meh, a mystery for the ages). Two condoms appeared amidst a bunch of old papers… but as there are few things are worse than old, dry condom sex… they were pitched.

In short, I’ve been wallowing in mountains of the cheap incarnations of my paychecks for the past couple of hours. I did find some more air rifle ammunition. But on the whole, I have simply reaffirmed that my money is best spent on consumables. Those old bottles of 151? Do they try and guilt trip me like those scented candles? No. They don’t.

In fact, I can’t even remember those nights. Probably because they were just to epic.

Up yours, responsible spending, take a Debtski, and run it up your wallet.

Newcastle kick.

2009-07-05T13:09:00.001-07:00

For the past two days, I’ve been going through New Castle six packs like candy. Something about the smooth ale has captured my fancy for the moment, and I am on a bit of a ale kick. It doesn’t help that I have a fridge full of alcohol as a result of finally moving in to my new apartment!

Full kitchen, giant bedroom, large living room – balcony… the place is awesome. As is my roommate, a laid back member of my Fraternity. I could wax poetic about breaking the shackles of Residence Life, starting afresh, the mountains of empty booze bottles that mark my arrival parties. The list of suitably romantic material goes on.

This Thursday, I will be breaking my Res-Life contract and going job hunting. As the apartment is in a bigger city than my old base of operations, I’m hoping for more job opportunities. I also need to get to printing out those pinups…

Jews and Red Heads.

2009-07-05T12:54:00.001-07:00

I hooked up with Miss Red Head somewhat early… I was expecting to spend some time with her later in July, however the internship landed me within an hour’s drive of her summer-school. Something about matching carpet and drapes attracts me like Argentinean women attract Gov. Sanford. I spent a wonderful two nights, and then drove back down to my new apartment (more on that later).

Speaking of Sanford, I would like to revise my earlier position – I’m now certain he is mental (remember, I am an avowed libertarian, and supported many of his policies). Not only are his actions inconsistent with a reasonable human being, but his emails and speeches are completely divorced (heh) from reality.

You don’t ask your wife if you can go visit your mistress. Repeatedly.

At least he obeyed the forty mile rule.

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On another note – the local citgo carries Organic American spirits. Not only does the organic variety have better looking packaging, but the taste and flavor is cleaner, and makes my mouth water with anticipation. Five stars, I almost prefer them to my Lucky Strikes and Unfiltered Camels.

I was sitting, smoking one of them at the Carowinds theme park, when a black dude came over to light up. Noting the isolation of our smoking section from the rest of the park he commented, and I quote: “Man, they got us back here like jews or something.”

He was dead serious too.

Smokers… the new Jews.

Yes I’m back.

2009-07-05T12:19:00.001-07:00

Wow… last week was a haze of good times, alcohol, and explosives. Many, many posts forthcoming.

Let’s start with the internship: It went extremely well, and cemented my decision to switch majors to accounting. For those looking to grab a bit of experience, it would be well worth your time to pull an internship. If at all possible, try to network with a friend of a friend – to insure that the experience is more than just fetching coffee. As it was, I had a blast, and learned a great deal from a management perspective.

But you’re not really interested in that – so let me get to writing the REAL posts

‘Cause rust never sleeps

2009-06-27T09:07:00.001-07:00

Met with some old co-workers of mine, ended up attending an outdoor BBQ/drinking session with them for a few hours. Only had a couple shots and a few beers, so no hangover to speak of, which is good considering all of the stuff I need to do today. But I’ll get to all of that in a moment.

First, a few words about these guys: None of us are exactly ‘high class’, but you could consider D. to be trailer trash. A twenty-something with a pregnant girlfriend, working an entry level job, his is a sad case. The worst part is, over the course of the last year, he hasn’t changed one bit.

Another guy, L. hasn’t changed either in the past year, but he’s in his late fifties. Further, he’s already gotten his life mostly straightened out, although he still deals with feelings for a crazy ex. Back in the day, L. was a member of a local motorcycle gang, did the party scene, and travelled around the country. Now he’s working entry-level and saving for a new custom motorcycle. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind ending up like this, minus the crazy ex.

What I don’t want to end up as, and where D. is heading, is T.

T. from all I can gather, never went through the whole explore and grow phase. He’s in his late fifties, like L., but has no interesting past, no great accomplishments, no particular hobbies or goals. The man works entry-level management. It’s sad to speak to him on matters other than work.

After the BBQ, and the drive home (I sobered up quite nicely), it just struck me – in the midst of researching a change in major, how vital it is to avoid getting stuck on autopilot. You’ve got to constantly be growing and seeking some new goal, or you stagnate. Better to burn out than to fade away, and this cliché is hammered home by what I saw yesterday.

I’m blessed (and I don’t really see why, considering the nature of my lifestyle), in that I have grown and changed a great deal over the last two years. And for the whole, it has been for the better.

Meh. If I write much more it will turn into something akin to a stoner rant.

She’s running on

2009-06-25T09:05:00.001-07:00

Remember the two different female friends of mine who had to leave college due to pregnancy? Apparently, the one who ran off has deleted her personal cell and is now ‘using’ the cell of her ultra-controlling “boyfriend”. No one, family or otherwise, has been able to reach her. Sigh. For the last time: Make us wrap it up? M’kay?

Whatever we may tell you otherwise to get into your pants, we aren’t worth it.

Speaking of, I’m looking forwards to seeing a certain redhead later this July – and in august, especially if my tour of the new apartment this Sunday leads me to sign a lease. What better way to break in the new rooms?

An interesting side-track, I think the ads for alcohol and rehab are worth much, much, less than ads for transcendental meditation and inner-peace. Although I have more clicks on this blog, earnings per click is substantially less than the occasional click on the cult-blog. Ah well, if you need the treatment, click anyways…

Speaking of alcohol, I’ve got some favors to call in, and I think they’re worth exactly one bottle of spiced rum. I’m not a particularly big fan of rum (From favorite to least: Scotch, Tequila, over-proof bourbon, American Whiskey’s, Everclear, Vodka, random liquor, rum, good wines, bad wines, and in last place, Ghetto wines and liqueurs) … but Ms. Redhead should appreciated it.

Catalogue

2009-06-25T08:17:00.001-07:00

I’ve got to stop smoking for approximately the next week, as I prepare for the internship. For whatever reason, although my cigarette intake has fluctuated between a pack and two singles a day – I have always been capable of taking weeklong (and one two month) breaks. Nicotine has not made me a complete slave, though I do experience cravings.

Speaking of the internship, it’s time to start studying what little accounting I know. As per usual, the things learned in college have vanished into the air. Even though I’ve only taken a basic course, in some ways, the fact its basic level stuff means I should know it all the more. As it stands, adjusting entries are a vague nightmare, I confuse GAAP with the clothing store, and trial balances are my savings after paying the court.

Onto something completely different, my Salvia shipment has another week before I can call and figure out what’s going on. Due to the summer backlog, it can (and has in the past) take 4 – 6 weeks after ordering to have the thing shipped. It’s been five. So at this rate, July is going to be very, very busy:

Internship until the 2^nd, followed by a doctors appointment on the 3^rd, I hope to purchase my new apartment by the 7th, I’m going to receive my shipment sometime around then, before I light up will need to saturate my new hometown with job applications and personal visits, on the 23’rd – 25^th, I’ve got a Fraternity retreat, and somewhere in all of that there’s a FWB who wants to spend a week with me.

So yeah, July is going to be crazy. In a good way. August will be even crazier, we’ve set up two mega-parties within the first week, and are holding a mixer… and it only gets more inebriated from there.

How ‘bout them Latin women?

2009-06-24T11:57:00.001-07:00

Governor Sanford has declared his infidelity during the past year, with a “dear” friend from Argentina. I’m not going to say anymore on the subject, except that I’m disappointed; I’m sure there will be plenty of pundits elsewhere who can devote far more time to tearing him apart. I for one am more concerned with the health-care plan and the further waste of my tax money – Sanford has admitted his “mistake”, and is taking the responsible course.

Hearing such stories on the news, especially when delivered in such a heartfelt manner, can lead to some reassessment of one’s personal life. I’m proud to say that at last check, I’m still just hurting myself. And speaking of my vices – I suddenly have a ton of alcohol/drug rehab ads on the site. Has google finally gotten the measure of my content?

Actually though, I really haven’t posted much on the alcohol scene, and the two whiskey bottles in my trunk are nearly empty. Does google know something I don’t? Am I about to fall into a windfall of liquor?

Not at the rate the cult blog is going – visits continue to merely trickle in. The organization is now running a charity. This blog is doing much better, thank y’all, but I think it’s not quite time to stop submitting more job applications (60+ and counting atm).

Early morning Cigarette.

2009-06-24T06:19:00.001-07:00

It’d be nice to check my mail right now. But the university where I hold my primary address has lost the battle with the internet, again. Today’s downed server follows on the heels of our switch to google mail, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we got hacked within twenty-four hours. I like google, but I also like having a private mail server, with its physical location just across from my dorm.

Yes, we do get a nice storage increase, but come on! I’ve already got SIXTY (that I can remember) gmail accounts. I don’t need a sixty-first. And of course, I am highly wary of the security of all of this. The fact that the entire system is down right now doesn’t help my anxiety.

On a side note, walmart photo printing has some good deals. Nothing beats the Kinkos/fedex $3 for 14x17” prints I’ve gotten in the past, but $15 for a 20x30” isn’t a bad price at all. Still, I have yet to gather enough pin ups to make it worth an investment and I might hold off and buy a carton of cigarettes instead, depending on how quickly the FDA is moving to curtail nicotine content.

On to another side note,

I’m really hoping they hurry up and institute the graphic warning labels. What better way to for the government to turn off young males seeking a way to rebel than to make my drab pack of American Spirits a badass portrait of death? I know I’ll buy one just to put on display. This whole silliness about protecting the children is being done the wrong way.

I’ve had a friend come down with throat cancer, and I have friends with asthma to whom smoke is more than just unpleasant. Don’t tell me Phillip Morris has lied to me about the safety of my cigarettes. Don’t tell me that I smoke American Spirits because I’ve been mislead think they’re healthier* (see bottom of page). Don’t patronize my peers, who smoke to relieve stress or who are addicted, as helpless victims… give them real help, not more government.

This is a shameless tactic to expand government authority, giving it power where it should not. Next we will regulate the saturated fat in our burgers, and the alcohol content of our whiskey and beer.

It is a sad year for America and any libertarian who resides within our borders.

*I find that American Spirits DO NOT leave me with the same negative physical symptoms as my unfiltered camels and pal mals. That said, I prefer their flavor, length and buzz, to other filtered brands, and smoke them for those reasons, not health. (For some odd reason, I’m not a fan of their unfiltered variety.)

… Wait, does that say sample carton? How did I miss this?!

Competing with Messiah College.

2009-06-23T10:46:00.001-07:00

I loathe manual submission blog directories. But I’m stuck, thanks to this sites similarity to another site. A search for college messiah, or collegiate messiah, and you will end up at Messiah College. Really? Is this some sort of godly karma for my past deeds? (Actually, I think that would be rather hilarious: Hell is starting a blog about a cult, drugs, sex and money, and then watching the traffic redirected to Messiah College.)

Either way, the struggle is on to at least get on the first page with my own keyword. The Cult-blog never had this trouble, it was up and running within twenty-four hours thanks to a slash and burn Yahoo-answers campaign. Plus, it’s got a unique name that isn’t conflicting with a college institution.

So a quick recap of what’s going on: I’m probably going to get a new apartment, The trip to Washington D.C. went well, I’ve got an internship coming up, and I’m still trying to find more pin-ups for said apartment.

For more political stuff: I’ve lost two more female friends to pregnancy, and am unhappy with Obama’s use of the word “witness”.

Honeymoon over.

2009-06-23T10:20:00.001-07:00

Forgive me for the politic; I am still a political science major. Ignore this one and skip to my attempt to get out of res-life, or my search for pin-ups, or my plan to radically switch my major, if politics isn’t your thing.

“Honeymoon over.”

That is what MSNBC’s host Chris Mathews claimed of Obama’s presidency, prior to this morning’s public address. Apparently, his approval numbers have hit a plateau, amidst growing concerns over the economy.

Obama’s address this morning, focused on three particular subjects: Iran, a Green Economy, and Health-care reform. Meh. I am less interested in the speech, in which no politician ever lays out specifics, and more interested in the question and answer session at the end.

First impression: Obama is sticking fast to the “witness” buzzword: The United States will be a “witness” to the courage of the Iranian people. The United States will be a “witness” to the woman shot to death in the streets of Tehran. Sigh. A witness and no more.

When asked by one reporter if there was going to be any penalty for the crimes of the regime, Obama answered that the international community was a “witness”, and that if the Iranian regime wished to have the respect of the international community, it would heed its citizens.

Let’s restate this: “Is there a penalty for Iran’s crimes against its protestors?”

Answer: “Yes, they will lose respect in the international community”

When asked if there was a red-line that the Iranian regime could not cross without the United States intervening, Obama responded that “I’ve laid out a path for Iran’s leadership, to come into the international community. Part of this requires that they listen to the current dialogue in their country.”

Let’s restate that: “If Iran starts widespread Stalinesque purges, will we do anything?”

Answer: “We won’t let them be a part of the international community”

I’m sick of watching rhetoricians dance around the real issues. Now, I personally would take the same position as Obama, but for vastly different reasons. Because I am not a hypocrite, I will happily stand up on my Nationalist principles and cite that military intervention in Iran is not yet viable… yet.

There is a great difference between that, and those who would champion “Universal Human Rights”, only to turn around and say that those Universal rights end where another nation’s begins. But, hey, I love nothing more than “witnessing” the suffering of other human beings.

Hypocrisy is what galls me. Not opinion differences. If Obama came flat out and said he didn’t give a rat’s ass about Iranians and therefore wasn’t going to do jack, I’d have more respect for him than I do now. Don’t preach to me how courageous these men and women are, and then deny them help.

Have we forgotten the civil right’s movement? When white preachers claimed that they were “witness” to the suffering of the protestors? Remember how that clearly empty word drew such flack for its blatant hypocrisy? It was, and is, a blatant cop-out to allow those in power to preach one thing, and then do another.

Another girl down.

2009-06-22T18:48:00.001-07:00

News has come in today, that yet another female friend is pregnant and has dropped out of college. That makes two this summer that I knew personally.

Now, don’t mistake me, I am hardly a champion of abstinence (only a few days ago I ended up with a charming waitress)… but the level of irresponsibility that pervades this campus infuriates me.

This young-adult bull shit that the media portrays at all levels (from Juno, to the Secret life of the American teenager), is so counter to reality, so hypocritical, and makes such a mockery of the reality I see everyday… that I am at a loss for words.

I’ve seen two girls lose a shot at their education, and while one at least was putting out to a guy who took responsibility and will marry and support her, the other ran off with an emotionally abusive sack of shit. Neither was using any form of protection.

Come on! The health center offers free condoms! The administration is doing everything they can to empower me to act like a mad bunny (Not that I’ve needed any prodding)… the least you can do is make us wrap it up.

The last thing the up-and-coming generation needs are more “Can do!” stories from the media. What we need are REAL stories. I particularly enjoyed a show I watched on MTV a couple years ago where the producers picked up real young adults, and followed them... let our high school kiddies see the real consequences of children, of quitting school, of living paycheck to paycheck.

Real life is a better teacher than any Flash game, or “Can do!” teen pregnancy flick.

Yeah, my life was and is certainly no morality highlight from the fifties – but that doesn’t mean I condone it: Especially when I believe good chunk of humanity is several fries short of a happy meal.

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I’m now going back to collecting pin-ups for my new apartment.

Giggity giggity goo!

Searching for pin ups…

2009-06-22T08:00:00.001-07:00

Still trying to piece together how blogger’s redirect service works. On some days, this blog has gotten stellar numbers passing through, from people clicking the “random” blog button. Of course, the button is hardly random. Two things I’ve noticed, my chances of receiving traffic are much higher if I post that day, and secondly, if I make multiple, long posts. This is rather critical to getting traffic, especially for a new blog like this.

All those people coming from Dig seemed to have been interested in the “went home with the waitress” title… and somehow, I don’t think they were searching for Warren Zevon’s song. But whatever, sex sells, and I’m not about to judge. In fact, I’m actually in the process of expanding my personal pin-up collection. What better incentive to cover the walls with scantily clad women in risqué poses (aside from male hormones), than a new apartment?

The search is actually quite difficult. If I wanted straight-up porn posters, I’d just go by the nearest sex-shop or visit some bookmarks. On the other hand, I would like the portrait of our young female to be somewhat suggestive… and the old-school WW2 cheesecakes aren’t doing it for me. So it’s off to find a middle ground. Man Ray’s work, visible in the upper right, is exactly the sort of thing I’m looking for, preferably more sultry, but equally classy.

If you’ve got any suggestions, drop a comment.
Remember, the idea is to put up a poster that won’t make the first female visitor throw up her hands in disgust. I’m all for misogyny, but only after the night is through.

See the two pictorial examples of good and bad above.

Stressing over the small things…

2009-06-21T09:51:00.001-07:00

…Is really a waste of my time. Nonetheless, preparing for this internship, trying to bulk back up (that won’t be happening until July), dealing with the finances (rather, dealing without finances), doing my duties for the Fraternity – all of those big stressors seem to create a two mile pile-up when they run into “cleaning the dishes” and “shopping for food”, or “Blogging to make sure blogger redirects”.

Unfortunately, the usual salves for these things (sex, pipe smoking, cigarette smoking, alcohol, salvia, America’s favorite herb), never provide a permanent solution. They are useful when you are facing circumstances out of your control and need to chill… but when you’ve GOT to get that cover letter written, or that blog post typed, suddenly you’re on your own.

(Although a drunken post may eventual provide ya’ll with some hilarity.)

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So I’m just going to tackle the big things one at a time. Starting with this blog post. Making a list, as much as I resist it, always ensures I get at least the first thing done. And that is better than getting nothing done.

So, blog post…Food shopping… Cover letter… Fraternity… and we’ll go from there.

Then we can get back to the Alcohol.

Well I went home with the waitress…

2009-06-20T16:59:00.001-07:00

…The way I always do. How was I to know, she was with the Russians to? (Actually, if anything, I think she would have been with OPEC.)

------------
First let me recap some of the important bits – The Cult Blog is still pulling in the occasional reader, the charismatic individual who leads the little group is currently calling on a war against deceit, and if I get some time I’ll see about some other tangents. If you have any ideas for cultish-posts let me know, I’ll be happy to include them in the cult blog. Adsense revenue is low, but then, I really don’t expect these blogs to take any real chunk out of the thirteen grand.
No major parties on the horizon.
Sex was covered in my trip to Washington (though apparently not as explicitly as some readers would like.)
And as for Drugs… still waiting on a shipment of legal stuff, and SWIM probably isn’t going to cook anything hard until the fall.
Speaking of drugs… A friend’s roommate was finally busted for dealing the infamous marijuana. And since possession with intent is a nasty sentence in this state, he isn’t going to be contributing to the rent. Since the guy was a complete dick, and I felt bad for my friend, I made the courteous offer to be a replacement roommate… The rent, just three hundred a month, may have also factored in.
It’s such a sacrifice to move off campus… you know? Get a room to yourself, pay three thousand instead of four thousand for rent, and get your own kitchen, deck, and bathroom? Not have to deal with RA’s? Be able to finally give your liquor collection the monumental shrine it deserves?

Yeah, I'm going to sign that lease.

Internment in an internship.

2009-06-20T12:11:00.001-07:00

I’ve returned from the capitol… All I can say is, wow. From the gorgeous eye-candy (I swear, the closer they are to power, the more beautiful women become) – to the megalithic monuments, and the museums, it was incredible.

Some great moments included a long conversation with a tipsy girl named Ashley on a bench outside of some embassy in the evening hours… Visiting the Air & Space museum (along with every other tourist in the city)… Hiking from one end of DC to the other (my leg still hurts)… chatting with an awesome young waitress who’s been around the world from Saudi Arabia to Louisiana… the hotel room that night… the hotel room that morning… and dealing with rush hour traffic on the way out.

I promise plenty of pictures in the coming days.

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Anyways – I’m back.

And I have a letter in my inbox.

I have a three day internship opportunity. (I know, three days?)

The good news, it is at a hospital building in a nearby state, and I will be talking with and assisting a CPA. I’m hoping that this will help me decide whether or not to continue plans to drastically switch my major. There is a friend’s place nearby I’ll be crashing at… so that will make this trip cheap… and until next weekend when I leave, I’ll be studying every night.

But right now I’m still recovering from the trip.

From Washington With 56k…

2009-06-17T15:09:00.001-07:00

That was a long drive. A long drive. But I’m at an extremely well priced hotel in downtown Washington (cheaper than buying metro tickets + out of city hotel), the Windsor Park Hotel.

Nothing could have prepared me for seeing the pentagon in person. Just from the car, it possesses a scale and presence that is completely belied by video on television. That, and spotting the top of the Washington monument as I drove up a rise on 395N.

To tired to do much but sleep right now. That trolley ticket gets used tomorrow, then I hit the streets on Friday… I hope drinks are cheap here, but I doubt it. Some very nice eye-candy throughout the city… both architecturally, and pedestrian wise… can’t wait for some face-to-face contact in the morning.

Time to play the Tourist.

2009-06-16T20:08:00.001-07:00

I’ve noticed a surge in ads targeting depression treatments on this blog. This has me completely mystified… after all, I’m blogging about unemployment, the crushing cost of higher education, a cult that I’ve founded, and how I’ve turned to the carnal pleasures of life to deal with the financial stress of it all. Depressed? Pfft.

I’m going to blame it on my decision to switch my major to accounting.

Anyways – It’s time to get the travel ads back, so here’s a paragraph about my recent purchase of a trolley tour ticket. Yes, its official, I’m waking up and driving seven and a half hours to the Capital tomorrow. Once there (if I can find a cheap hotel), I’ll take a trolley tour, find another cheap hotel/sleep in the car, and then go visit places such as the Smithsonian, Vietnam Memorial, and hopefully the Air and Space museum (the Hot Air and Empty Space museum is located at the White House).

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Oh, I picked up a fresh pack of American Spirits. I figure I should splurge, before the FDA cracks down.

Moving to Live Writer

2009-06-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

I know, I should be continuing to check up on hotel pricing, and figure out the intricacies of the DC metro as I prepare for a no-notice road trip to the Capitol. But I thought I’d give posting in Live Writer a brief shot first.

Hopefully, this will give me better control over the font (still can’t find one I like), and the ability to update without having to log on to the site itself (which is nice, for analytics purposes).

Sweet! Just noticed I can set a delay, and publish automatically at a future date. And I can preview with a full template? And I can futz with the source? I may be sold.

Anyways - consider this a filler post, content will be forthcoming. Especially if I can wash enough clothes in time to drive to DC.

Road Trip!

2009-06-16T12:41:00.001-07:00

Washington D.C. – I may just be there tomorrow. When you’re near broke, still haven’t gotten any job leads, are questioning your future, and still getting over the results of minor alcohol poisoning – what better plan than to hope in your car, drive across three sates and visit the capital of the United States?

No, I’m not going to join the ranks of the homeless wandering the DC streets, or lobby for government aid to students… I’m just going to spend two or three days as a tourist… Since I may not get this opportunity again for a long time, it just might be the perfect plan.

Of course, I’d need to wash some clothes, get directions… but assuming I complete those droll tasks – at 8am tomorrow I’m going to hit the highway like a bat out of hell, lit cigarette in my mouth, stereo pounding, and with my ghetto car pushing the limits of its engineering.

-----------------------------------------

On to the cult-blog… visits have dropped again, as has adsense. But since I haven’t advertised it in nearly four days, that drop is to be expected. I’ll start a new campaign this Friday (assuming I’m back from DC), and will be sure to alert you if anyone actually develops real interest in the fabricated organization. The youtube videos for the cult-blog are slowly gathering hits… I think they will be the key to really ramping up future traffic.

When I get some time, I’ll grab a friend and make a truly decent video, or five… and start the link dropping.

I know I promised a post about women, girls, and college females. I’ll get it done.

Heh, I’ve got enough stories…

‘Till then:

Follow, Follow, Follow - Do follow.

2009-06-16T10:34:00.001-07:00

This blog is now a "dofollow" blog.

Basically, for those who don't know - "no follow" is a marker in the code that tells search engines (such as google) to ignore backlinks. If another blogger, for example, left a comment with his site's link on a "no follow" page, google would not count his link as a backlink.

As a high number of Backlinks is a critical part of getting good traffic, "No follow" sites are sometimes passed over in favor of sites that can generate backlinks.

What this means to you? A few spammers may start popping up in the comment box, however, we should experience increased traffic.
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Just consider this filler while I chug more psyllium husk.

Accountants have fun to... I think?

2009-06-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

I promised myself to write two new posts today, and I may still make that quota… but, fact is, I’m still experiencing some of the wonderful gastrointestinal symptoms of excess alcohol consumption. Remember kids – take your Metamucil BEFORE your liquor and beer.

Moving on -

There is something afoot when out of a sample of ten friends, two have joined the military, one had to drop from college and go tech due to financial reasons, two are juniors and nearing their fourth change in major, one is closing in on a fifth and final attempt to pass general education level writing, two are questioning their ability to stay due to rising costs, one is planning on transferring to another school, and the tenth is the only one out of that bunch with prospects of happily graduating… she will hold an art degree.

I myself am considering just about every option above, joining the military, transferring schools, switching major, and yes – dropping everything thing and taking up art.

On the military option, I’ve spent the last two summers speaking with a recruiter and filling out forms, but my pursuit of a tour in the National Guard has been crippled by dental-work (surgery/bone grafts etc.)… It will be next summer before I’m through all of that, and can enlist without too much hassle from meps. Money is not, and has never been my reason to enlist, but some of the deals they are offering college students would really ease my mind.

When it comes to transferring schools I have looked into all the other instate colleges (all of which are cheaper, save one, than my current institution)... however, my school is renowned for crippling its former students with classes that won’t transfer. Indeed, the guy who’s transferring will need to take an extra semester to make up for this. I don’t particularly want to stay in college an extra semester (more on this later), but after investing so much in this school, it’s hard to cut-bait. But cheaper tuition is so tempting…

As for doing the art thing… I may have exaggerated when I suggested this was an option. I enjoy some anime, and I appreciate the counter-culture side of it, but when it come artistic skills, I am sorely lacking. Once I thought art was easy… then I got some art major friends… I’d make better grades, and experience less stress as a Organic-Chem double major with Biology.

But I didn’t write this post to complain about not having any viable options. I am probably going to switch my major: At the cost of an additional year of school.

Political science is extremely enjoyable, its professors and its classes are not. I know three political science majors who are not professors… one is a National Guard recruiter, another a Volvo mechanic, a third works middle management at Lowes. I know, I know, there are plenty of other political science majors with a good career in government… but after all these semesters, I’m just tired of it. I want to switch my minor to my major, and vice-versa.

The good news, because Accounting…

Yes, I’d become an accounting major.

Seriously.

Cease the laughter.

Anyways –

The good news, because Accounting is my minor, I need to take a number of accounting classes this coming semester. I’ve already had a few Accounting classes, and really enjoyed them… I think taking these will confirm my desire to switch majors, and if not, I just keep right on the track I’ve been riding.

Just giving you, my dear readers, a heads up.

I'm Back and hungover... or is it overhung?

2009-06-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

Iranian protesters for the opposition party are under fire by supporters of the current regime. This is not a surprise to me, and I fully expect the violence to escalate. Of course, the Iranian government is already working to shut down telecommunications and the media to limit a global view of the chaos. Although it was initially reported as “gunmen”, video leaking out of Iran shows their official police starting to become involved in the fray. Did anyone really believe this would be a bloodless election?

Had a blast this weekend, did I mention the bottomless Green God Damn? I remember some aspects of the party, a few moments of quasi-sobriety smoking with some girls on the back porch, serving shots, talking business… all of that good stuff. About a hundred people at midnight according to the guest log… absolute blast. I think I remember losing my shirt after the fifth tequila shot, it certainly wasn’t on me when I came too Saturday afternoon, sprawled on a couch alongside a cute brunette... alas both of our pants were in place.

I did make about two dollars off of these blogs over the weekend. So, I covered just less than half of my $5 all-access bar pass. Really need to work on the conversion of views to clicks. Data proves that without advertising the cult blog cannot stand on its own… views steadily decline without a constant source of publicity. I’m working to fix that, making it a bit more radical. All I need is one true-believer and things will really take off. I’ve got five more months…

I promise far more witty and riveting installments upcoming, including posts covering women, politics, and drugs. Right now I’m still recovering from Sunday morning and the send off party. Bookmark me, link to me, and if you see an ad that interests you, click it.

Pick your side...

2009-06-11T15:14:00.001-07:00

These are truly grim times… and since I’ve covered drugs, the cult-blog, and college parties, I feel it’s time to get down to the political side of this blog (I am, after all, a political science major). Now, there are several different life-philosophies when it comes to government. Some of them I respect, one of them at least, I do not understand.

Recently, Congress passed legislation that if signed into law, will give the FDA the power to regulate nicotine yield in cigarettes, flavoring additives in cigarettes, and cigarette advertising. I am aghast.

Whatever your position on smoking, and I very much respect the opinions of non-smokers, this is clearly a level of government involvement that is heinous, and against every principle I hold dear.

Are we going to give them the power to regulate the alcohol content of Jack Daniel’s next? Or limit the amount of saturated fat in my burgers? They’ve already begun the processes of forcing me to buy cars that fit Big Brother’s definition of a utopia.

I am all for laws against public smoking, a listing of a cigarettes content, and what-not. The first is based on speculations (although after reading many medical reports, I believe false) of health hazards to non-smokers… and the other is giving power to the consumer. This is taking power away from the consumer.

It is shameful, and no different than the moralizing legislation the Left used to condemn. But then, no politician has ever shied away from hypocrisy. Either ban cigarettes flat out. Or let us pick our poison. Some of us like to experience our vices, and don’t give a damn about those who want to protect us from ourselves. I’ve had a close friend who came down with throat cancer, just one year into college… I still choose to smoke unfiltered.

Fix your own life, don’t legislate mine… and remember, the oldest woman who ever lived smoked until she reached 114... don't buy into all the fiction.

Any press is good press?

2009-06-11T13:02:00.001-07:00

Number of things to cover today: First, Thank you to my readers, y’all are awesome – I really appreciate all of the emails and support. Second, massive party this Friday… so I may not update until Monday morning… bottomless green god damn at the door… I’m sure you understand.

On to the two other items:
Cult-blog Numbers leveled off yesterday, pulling out of a dangerous drop. Ad sense revenue was up last night, just under a dollar (Wow. Thirteen Grand one dollar at a time.) so not really what I need. Time for some more media stunts. We’ll begin by bashing the cult, and see if we can get some hits… extremism sometimes garners sympathy with the target. Let’s see if that theory holds.

Edit: Well, perhaps not support, or visits… but it kicked up a huge conversation. I wish Google analytics was up-to-the-moment… I could track individual attempts at traffic mongering.

Finally, my thoughts and prayers go out to the security guard killed while defending the Holocaust museum. An eyewitness report I heard, indicates the shooter never even made it all the way through the front door before he was incapacitated. Initial reports were unclear about the type of firearm used, but it was rather alarming to hear that the man (convicted thirty years ago for attempted kidnapping), was almost ninety.

Big Brother Google

2009-06-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

Adsense revenue for the cult-blog stood at a stark $0.00 for yesterday. Hits were down too; lowest they’ve been since its third day. Since it hasn’t even been up a week, it is difficult to discern whether this is due to Tuesday traffic or my limited advertisement campaign that day. So far, the largest visit spike followed my most successful media campaign on Sunday… garnering a bunch of hits within about half an hour.

There is some good news – average time on site, and number of pages viewed per visit is on the rise. Those are good things. Now if they would just click the damn buttons. (A reminder, if you see a link that interests you, give it a click…). So far, working as a cult leader has taught me one thing –

The “don’t drink the kool-aid” joke is used, far, far too much. You think I’m kidding? Every single thread on yahoo answers about my cult starts with someone getting a few cheap laughs off of “Don’t drink the kool-aid”, or “Wait until everyone else has drunk the kool-aid”, or “Just have water instead of the kool-aid”. It really isn’t funny anymore, but it is proof that the phrase is ingrained in our society at a depth I never even imagined.

------------------

I would like to take this time to thank Big-Brother google. Without you, I wouldn’t know what cities my hits were coming from, what operating systems my visitors are using, what sort of connection, browser, screen colors, the site they came from, what they searched for… dear google, you are the PI’s wet dream.

(I was able to track down the myspace of one visitor, via some sleuthing and google’s tracking… ain’t that creepy?) But hey, I kiss my privacy goodbye every time I get on the internet. We do what we must do.

MTV creates another classic...

2009-06-09T11:49:00.001-07:00

MTV is offering a flash game for those of us with debt… a chance to win up to $250, via lottery. You control a pink-piggy on a flaming jet-ski, and plow through obstacles in pursuit of the necessary stuff to support your chosen lifestyle. It's goal is to help teach financial responsibility.

Personally I think the first mistake piggy made was buying the jet ski.

I appreciate MTV’s attempt to educate us about spending, I appreciate that offer of $250 (I played and entered). The game is actually entertaining, and I spent some time sailing up and over ramps, and collecting tokens and debt. At the end though, I’m not sure what we’re supposed to take from this… and I feel it was actually a subversive advertisement campaign for sea-doo. Maybe I’m wrong, perhaps all of the times I’ve had to choose laundry over food, or gas over food, or rent vs. food have utterly failed to teach me the lessons of fiscal responsibility. Perhaps it took a pig and a water sport vessel to really shift my spending habits.

After all, I now want to buy a jet skit.

Or fry up some bacon.

Or have her fry me up some bacon. I prefer this idea.

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Did I mention it’s called “Debt ski?” Get it? Ahahaha… haha… ha…no…

MTV, millions of teenybopper girls may follow your ‘reality’ programs with serious emotional investment, and I will credit you for swaying half my generation to blindly walk into the voting both… but come on. That old fart on Fox is more “hip”, and “down with the kidz”, than “Debt ski”.

Our generation is going to have to step up to the plate, buckle down and get things done… should a pretty pink piggy really be the mascot? I also laugh at the co-partner of “Debt Ski” – the Peter G. Peterson foundation, a hot-air politico group with an empty message of fiscal thrift.

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One final comment: I will give MTV some credit. Debt Ski IS less patronizing and more fun than "Darfur is dying" ... but rates the same 0 on the education scale.

The Cost of Moving out

2009-06-09T11:22:00.001-07:00

Well, I’ve been surprised by the number of hits to this blog. I wish I could breakdown the reasons: cult, drugs, sex, or the promised political theories? Whatever it is, y’all are streaming in. So, congratulations if you are a new viewer, and a sincere thank-you if a repeat customer.

Back to business, still no word on my most recent job applications… I’ll probably visit the local place tomorrow, hunt down the human resource manager and give him an offer he would be grievously chagrined to refuse. Then it’ll be a matter of passing that drug test… not that I would ever have reason to question my toxicity… I may be a walking poster for Bacardi 151, and camel, but drugs? Me? Nah…

(This feels like a good time to include the disclaimer that I do not promote, or encourage the use of illegal substances, and believe in moderation for everything... /innocence)

-------------------------
Onto today’s feature:
You would think, that the residency contract would allow the student to review their financial aid before committing themselves. But then, higher education is not interested in what’s best for the student. So, the deadline for breaking the residency contract without incurring a $150 fee, is roughly three weeks before we were slotted to receive our financial aid package. So just when I find out I can’t afford a residency contract (with requires a meal plan, and is experiencing a 6% hike)… I also find out I need to come up with $150.

Our running total is now: Thirteen thousand, one hundred and fifty.

You’re welcome to be an optimist and subtract the six dollars I’ve made off of the cult blog.

Entheogen abuse.

2009-06-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

I don’t know what your stance is on the use of entheogens. Generally speaking, plants (or fungi), that are used as part of a religious ritual… often for their hallucinogenic effects. My stance is the one I use for everything – scaled moderation.

In the off chance you fail to comprehend that, let me make painfully clear: Everything has a unique level of proper use. Sex = as long you can keep getting it up. Weed = as long as there isn’t too much resin in the bowl. Meth = depends on if you’re using L-meth or D-meth. Schoolwork = as long as you’ll make a B, have another beer. Salvia divinorum? See below.

Ignorance is anathema to me. I am sick of watching youtubers completely fail to achieve the correct Savlia experience, as they attempt to take the biggest hit of the highest extract they can find. Compare it to watching a pair of new drinkers who skip the single-malt scotch for a bottle of Thunderbird, or sips keystone light instead of grabbing some red stripe, blue moon, or hell, ANYTHING else.

Salvia can’t be used like those twelve shots of tequila all lined up for you. You don’t just pop it back… you do that, and like doing those twelve shots, you’ll wake up the next morning without a single memory.

That’s fine with alcohol. Not with salvia. Because you’ve just missed what could have been the most epic hallucination of your life. We’re talking ego-death, revisited memories, purging of feelings, closed eye visuals of heaven and hell, and of the multiverse… what feels like a lifetime journey through your ass and back out your cranium, all in the real time of just five minutes. Read up on it. Email me. Educate yourself. Be aware of local laws, regarding Salvia and its more intriguing entheogen friends.

Do not roll into a joint. And do not buy that mass-market crap “purple sticky”.

I can give you a very good vendor at the cost of an email.

Honestly there are times I wish Salvia was like some of the poisonous entheo’s out there. Then at least I could have the satisfaction of watching stupidity get its just reward. But whatever, keep on sipping your keystone light, suckling on your bottles of Wild Irish Rose and MD 20/20.

Musing on Cult-Content

2009-06-09T01:17:00.000-07:00

You Got That Rock N' Roll Soul
(Points if you can spot the lyrical references strewn throughout this blog)
--------------------------------------

There are some challenges to getting a cult out there. The first is crafting a message. At first, I intended to start all guns blazing – “here is the prophet reborn”, “Lo! There is a star in the east!” sort of stuff. I decided that was not going to work… and after some research into cults, and throughout the course of my advertising campaigns, I feel my other approach was justified.

You see, as it stands, my cult is really nothing more than a philosophy. It doesn’t offer salvation, its leader refuses to take donations, and there is no clear message. And that’s the rub… that is what gets people hooked (at least, that is theoretically what gets people hooked). Countless responses to innocent questions about the nature of my organization by puppet avatars, have been replied to with statements along the lines of “That’s how they all work, they ask for nothing at first, and then once they know all about you… boom.”

Sometimes, I think it is wise to do exactly as people expect you to.
I’m about to start some new advertisement campaigns, focusing on the fringe element of the internet. I’ll let you all know when I tackle /b/ - that will be fun.

(Ignore this link...)
Feed Shark

Collegiate Messiah

The Ten Year Plan.

The New Three Month Plan:

The Road Ahead.

BARACKALYPSE NOW!

Endgame?

"Yeah N*gg*, you's a penguin looking motherf****r."*

Righteous Teachers.

Born to Run....*

September?

The Godz Must Be Crazy...

"They Shooting!..."

A Socratic Approach (Or... Tea With Socrates)

"I gotcha back so you best to watch your front...

Missing Silver...

It makes sure the Jake's respect me...

Pursuit to get cash...

Mid-June Summation

Pre-emptive look at the Hi-Point CF 380

Huh... Oh well... Back to the pistol.

BTFD Silver bitchez?

My Country She Wants to Get Rid of Me...*

Guest Blog: Don't Hold Your Breath

Live and Let Die

....

Is this the time to buy?

"This is radio nowhere...

Time enough for love*...

It might blow up...

How about you just learn patience?

Silver Bitchez

Debating on a pistol

Treat it like a business.

Some Advice On Life

Captain America, The First Avenger

Conscious Style

Beneath a Steel Sky

That constant search for progress

Market Manipulations

COMEX Silver opens in about four hours.

An open invitation to come and kick it with Satan.

The foundations of the short scenario

Long Call Explanation

What would you do with $212.93?

"Everybody wants to rule the world..."

Free-Electron Laser in Hamburg (or FLASH) now at 1.25 Giga Electron-volts

Health Update

Paradigm Shifts Count.

Silver isn't dead... But it is toxic to sheep.

The new direction: It Ain't Where You're From, It's Where You're At.

Styles of Beyond

does mountain dew kill sperm

Top 25 Rap/Hip-Hop Albums of ALL TIME

Flying quadcopters constructing towers

The promised website:

The forum is up!

New Website?

Korean Ginseng

Business Partnership and Money.

Switching over the lease.

ITT: We're College Freshmen from 2010.

The Broke College Student Diet

Since you asked...

That Party Last Night...

Here is a tool... Not a game.

Back to Basics.

Halo Reach, Buy It.

Crockpot Cooking…

New Years…

My Descent Into Alcoholism…

Inhale… Exhale… Just got an ounce in the mail.

Scented Candles? What was I thinking?

Newcastle kick.

Jews and Red Heads.

Yes I’m back.

‘Cause rust never sleeps

She’s running on

Catalogue

How ‘bout them Latin women?

Early morning Cigarette.

"Yeah Ngg, you's a penguin looking motherf****r."*