Stock Market Roller Coaster

When I was young guy I loved to ride the roller coaster. I would ride it, thrilled with the ups and downs and sharp curves and high speeds. As soon as the coaster came to a stop I would jump out and get right back in line so that I could ride it again. I would do this repeatedly until I had my fill.

I am no longer a young guy. I don't really care for the roller coaster anymore. Yet, now, I find myself riding one again, over and over. It is this damn stock market.

You see, I buy and sell stocks at home on my computer in the hopes I can make enough to pay some bills. This year, though, has been a real challenge. Yesterday the Dow dropped over 250 points and the Nasdaq over 60 points. My worth and the worth of anyone else who has stocks or mutual funds dropped like a rock in one day. Then, this morning, the Dow started up over 250 points and the Nasdaq up over 45! What a bounce. Now, as I look at it, it is settling back down again and who knows where it will be at the end of the day.

Most people know that investing in stocks can be a risky proposition. But, you know the old saying about how you have to take risks if you want to make money. Well, I do that. I take risks. Sometimes they pay off and sometimes they don't. I take educated guesses, which means that the stock market is not quite as bad as, say, playing a slot machine.

This market, though, is making it very hard to take educated guesses! It soars down and then it struggles back up, and then it drops like a lead weight, then it huffs and puffs and slowly makes its way back up. In the meantime, us "investors" are either holding our breath, throwing our hands up in despair, trying to think about something else, or trying to get a prescription for something to reduce anxiety.

Stocks can be fun when they are going up), or they can be torture (when they are going down), and sometimes they can be boring (when they are going nowhere). But one thing is for sure: the stock market is seldom predictable. I guess I must like that. Maybe I am still that young guy, after all.

The PC Gamer's Dilemma

I have been looking at laptop computers. I have a desktop, and I just gave my wife my laptop. So, I am thinking about buying one. Here is the problem: I like to play PC games. My main preference is first person shooters, but I also like other types of action games, strategy games and simulations.

My desktop computer handles these games pretty well, though not as well as I would like. It is a fairly powerful computer. I am thinking of upgrading the graphics card, but it is doing okay, so maybe I will just wait until it becomes time for me to get a new desktop. I have had my current one for two and a half years. It started running into problems a couple of weeks ago. It kept shutting down. So, just last week I replaced the power supply and that seems to have taken care of the problem. It's running fine now and I was just playing Call of Duty 4 on it this morning. I digress.

Back to the laptop situation. As I said, my problem is that I like to play PC games. If I am going to play them on a laptop as well as my desktop, then I am going to need to get a powerful gaming laptop. Have you seen the prices on those things? They are outrageous! To get an Alienware or a Dell XPS that would have the kind of processor, hard drive(s), memory, and graphics chip that I need, I am looking at an expenditure of over $5000! This pretty much applies to any extreme gaming laptop out there. They are not cheap. Also, as with just about anything technological, within a year after you have bought it you would be able to get the same thing for much cheaper, and isn't that the rub? It gets frustrating. It is a dilemma. Should I buy it now, or wait a year and get the same thing for a lot less? Yes, but by then it will no longer be king of the hill. Where today it is the most powerful laptop out there, a year from now it is only second fiddle. It is maddening.

In the world of the PC Gamer, you either have to suck it up and spend the bucks, or settle for an inferior computer that makes it far too difficult to play the games because they run at a slow, choppy frame rate. I mean, how are you going to accurately place a shot in the middle of a monster's forehead if you have a choppy frame rate?

Christmas is here soon. I guess I can make an excuse like "Hey, I deserve it...as a Christmas present to myself." Yeah. That's the ticket.

Time for A Real Change

The new NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) report came out and told us that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program a few years ago. Okay. So this clearly means that when Bush was in so many words telling us that we needed to attack Iran or we would face World War III, he was feeding us a line of crap. Now, I know that for most of us the fact that President Bush would feed us a line of crap is no surprise at all. But, let's face it, there are quite a few Americans out there who believe every word this man says. Why? Hell, I don't know. I'm a registered Republican (not for much longer) and I turned against this administration the day they started talking about invading Iraq because the "smoking gun" would soon be a "mushroom cloud". I had no problem with us going after Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan. As a matter of fact I fully supported that action. But I just could not see how Iraq had anything to do with 9/11. I thought invading Iraq was a ridiculous idea and that it completely distracted us from our mission of going after Bin Laden in Afghanistan. I would say I was right about this because unless I missed something somewhere, Osama Bin Laden has still not been captured after all these years since 9/11. I clearly recall Bush saying to Bin Laden things like "you can run but you can't hide", or "we will hunt you down". Turns out he wasn't serious about that because he had Sadaam Hussein on his mind. So, he started using the fear factor. This administration, and the Republicans in general, have been trying to scare the bejesus out of Americans for years now, and they have, in great part, succeeded. But now I think people are starting to wise up to the Republicans' game. People are starting to think, "Are we in any more danger now than we were during World War II or the Cold War?" They are starting to come to the conclusion that we are not. They are starting to realize that this administration has been playing them for fools. That is why the American people did not start freaking out when Bush started playing the World War III card in his attempt to scare us into attacking Iran. And it turns out that the American people were right. Iran presents no imminent threat to us any more than Iraq did.

We have to wait over a year, though, before Bush and his clowns are out of the White House. So...who should we get to replace them? Well, my vote is for Barack Obama. Yes, I know I said I am a registered Republican, but I am also an American, and for me, being an American trumps being a Republican. The Republicans have done major damage to America in a relatively short amount of time. Re-electing them would be idiotic. They are under the control of "neo-conservatives" (and those people are not really conservatives at all). We need change and we need it big time. I look at the current bunch of candidates, both Republican and Democratic, and I see only a few that represent real change for the better. I see some who would represent change for the worse. I also see some who represent no real change at all. Then, I narrow it down to who would represent change for the better and is at the same time electable. My conclusion: Barack Obama.

For most of my life I have paid close attention to politics. Since I was a boy I have always watched both the Republican and Democratic conventions every four years. I keep up with current events and politics. So, it is no surprise that I have read both of Barack Obama's books. And I like what I read. I believe that Obama represents a clear change from the politics of Bush/Clinton/Bush II. I know that Hillary Clinton is the front runner for the Dems, and I feel that she represents no change. If she is elected, she represents Bush/Clinton/Bush II/Clinton II. What is this? England? We don't have a monarchy here, but it is starting to look like it! No, we need real change and we need to vote for someone who not only represents real change, but also is electable. Hey, I would love to see an Obama/Edwards ticket, you know? As for the Republicans, well, they have me quite disillusioned. They need to make some serious changes to the party before I can ever go back to them. I am going to change my status from Republican to Unaffiliated. But this time around, I am voting for Democrats all the way down the line. I look at the Republican candidates and I cringe. Giuliani is scary as hell and looks to me like Bush on steroids...God forbid if this man ever gets elected president. If he does, then I think we can definitely start talking seriously about World War III and Armageddon and all that biblical stuff. I like Ron Paul for some of his ideas, but then he has other ideas that I do not think would be good for our country. Huckabee is likable, but he is also a former Baptist preacher and I have had it up to here with religious whackos, whether they be Christian or Muslim. Certainly, he seems to have compassion more than any other Republican candidate, and I admire that because I feel that one thing that is killing the Republican Party is its incredible lack of compassion for the least among us. (Weren't real Christians supposed to be compassionate)? Nevertheless, I don't feel that Huckabee represents any real change. Plus, he is a Republican, and like I said, they have made a mess of things and we need to "throw the bums out".

Obama represents a new kind of politics. We need that. I have contributed to his campaign and I fully support him and encourage you to read his books so you can really get to know him, and then visit his website at barackobama.com to see videos of some of his speeches. It is time for a real change.

My First Blog: An Introduction

I have heard of blogs, but never before tried doing it seriously. Now I am going to give it a shot. This blog, "All The World's A Stage", is kind of generic in the sense that it will not deal with any one subject; thus, the name.

I have been involved in the performing arts, mainly theatre, off and on for many years. I have been, at various times in my life, a composer, a singer, a playwright, a director, an actor, a DJ, and a musician (guitar). My interests do not stop there, though. Politics is a strong interest of mine, and I keep up with current events. I love the outdoors: camping, fishing, hiking, four-wheeling, and scuba diving. I like to read books and listen to audiobooks and especially love thrillers and historical fiction. I absolutely love movies and have seen more of them than any one person should. I love computers and PC gaming, which is unusual for a man my age. I don't know anyone in my age group who plays computer games like I do. I like to watch and be active in the stock market. I have other interests, of course, but these that I have mentioned are my main ones.

So. Why have I started this blog? I don't know for sure. Because everyone else is doing it? Because I might have something to say? Maybe I am starting this blog just to see what it is like to have a blog. It is not important why I am doing it, though, and as it develops I am sure it will turn into something cohesive. We will see. For now, that is all.