News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana. Weather dipped to -30 early in the week, but it returned to above zero temps with rain this weekend—wild extremes! Now, they are threatening us with a return to -30! The markets also suffered through extremes as we moved up nicely early in the week, however when fears of currency problems around the world arose, the indexes climbed into the proverbial hand basket and hit descend! As a result, I lost most of the gains I had accumulated at the start of the week and only ended a little bit up. Wendy has gradually recovered from her illness, and is busily engaged in shopping and taking care of the rest of us! I've come down with something today, and spent most of the day in bed. The North American team easily won the Continental Cup of Curling in Las Vegas. I turn my attention to the national championships over the next several weeks. This week it's the Juniors. We suffered a plumbing failure here at the house, so the bathroom wall is cut open and repairs are being planned and done. American football has taken the week off, however Peyton Manning easily handled New England last weekend, and has moved into the Super Bowl, so I remain engaged!

Eric/A and the boys are keeping busy with life in Parksville. We haven't heard much from them this week.

Erin & Kristian experienced some down time with the flu. Both were home ill at the start of the week, and Kristian spent Thursday here with us as it appeared he wasn't quite over it. 

Trav & Joanna keep busy with work and sports. They scored a contract for their Stickerz spin-off to develop a tournament logo and imprint the specialty pucks for the upcoming hockey tournament. Trav's team lost in the semi-finals of the tournament last weekend.

And that's about enough for this week.

News Update

We've enjoyed a week of beautiful weather here on the shore of Lake Wascana, with single digits every day, and many of the days above zero. The melting has considerably improved the streets and roads as I've been driving bus all week. The first assignment has gone well, and I was able to drive by memory on Thursday and Friday. Next week, I change to another route, which, it is planned, will be my assignment until we leave in March. Investments have continued to go well even though the markets have been a bit wonky. I have been blessed with the quota for the month already, so I hope to build on that during the next two weeks. Jeff Stoughton scored the big win in the Curling Skins. Lawton will represent Saskatchewan at the Scotties. The curling this week is the Continental Cup being played in Las Vegas. My American football interest remains as Denver won, but they come up against a tough opponent tomorrow! Wendy keeps busy with home care, shopping, and has now fallen victim to the big D—there's something I hope she keeps to herself! She's in the market for new skates as she's found her old ones unacceptable. I'm thinking I should replace mine as well. 

Erica has been very busy with facility reviews and other meetings. She also got medical testing, and has not experienced the same success as I have through going gluten-free as some of her blood chemistry came back asking for attention! A recent trip saw them losing $4 on the way, but the search revealed Liam's hat they thought had been left in Chicago—win some, lose some! Haaken has been accepted into the summer program at Emily Carr University, so the family is trying to build a month in Vancouver into their summer plans. Liam, Eric/A have determined to start going to a gym program each week—only once each week as it stands right now! 

Erin has been suffering ill health all week, but she has continued to struggle to work. On Monday, she answered a call for Jury Duty, but that was short lived as she was dismissed as soon as she walked in. We're thinking the trial must have come to an early end. Kristian is back at school and achieving some good ratings. He had a skating day this week as well. We're hoping Grandma gets new skates and all of us can get out skating soon.

Trav & Joanna were in Minnesota for a hockey tournament last weekend. That was fun, although the team did not experience much success. Now they're back at more usual routines of work and business. This weekend, Trav's team is in a local tournament and have struggled to a 2-2 record in pool play. Now they're in the playoff round. They're also taking care of our house. Thanks for that! 

And that's about it for this week.

News Update

Another week has passed, and we have returned to the shore of Lake Wascana. We drove down to Nanaimo Sunday morning, caught the 12:30 ferry and drove up to the five-star Howard Johnson's at North Bend—thanks How and Di for a nice visit, great rest, and fine food! On Monday, we continued through the mountains and stopped for the night in Banff. We hoped to get Kristian a trip up the Sulphur Mountain Gondola on Tuesday morning, but the ride was down for maintenance, so we packed up and completed the trip to Regina. On Wednesday afternoon, I stopped in at First Student to see when I might have some bus driving, and they asked me to start the next morning! So, I'm back at the bus driving game! Investments have been tricky this week as we seem to be back in the headline watching game, and we're looking for a Goldilocks' story. First it was data being too good, so investors feared removal of stimulus, but finally on Friday the jobs data was just the right amount of poor, so investors were encouraged that stimulus would continue and got back into buying mode. All told, I had a great week and am back on target toward my monthly quota. Curling is back on the agenda with the Skins game in Banff where my old favourite Kevin Martin is into the final tomorrow, and the Sask Women's championship in Tisdale. American football continues in their playoffs; one story ended for me as Aaron Rodgers and the Packers lost last weekend. The other continues with my big game tomorrow afternoon in Denver. This morning, we enjoyed a visit with Marti, and then she accompanied us over to Moose Jaw. We got in a short visit with Elvin & Grace, enjoyed a fine meal, and perused a small sub-section of the photo albums they've assembled. Thanks a lot cousins! Tonight we had music practice with Dave, Heather and crew.

It was hard to drive east on Sunday after enjoying our week with Eric/A and the boys. Thanks guys. Now they're all back to school and work, although Liam was under the weather and missed the restart of school. 

We enjoyed having Kristian travelling with us while Erin continued with work in Regina. Now, he's back in classes, but at least we get to see them often.

Trav & Joanna are with his hockey team in Minneapolis this weekend. We hope they're having a safe trip and a good time at the tournament. 

And that's about enough for this week.

Investing 2013

Another year in my training program has come to an end. I find I am gaining some proficiency, and perhaps a dangerous level of confidence! Certainly, 2013 was my best year since I started this game. 

The year was marked by big gains on the US indexes with the broadly based S&P 500 up 29.6%, and the narrowly listed DOW up strongly as well at 26.3%. We had a good year, but nothing close to those numbers as the TSX was up 9.6%. 

I had a great year as my gains matched my percentage quota, however I had reduced my capital investment to only about 50% of my accounts, so I did not gain the dollar amount I have established as a quota. Perhaps that may play as, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained!", but I prefer to see it as being able to sleep at night! Certainly, there is no way to know that further investments would have paid off at the same rate. In retrospect, I can see how I would have done better if I had maintained discipline to operate strictly within the guidelines of my strategy, so, I enter 2014 with renewed resolution to follow my plan! I do well on the buying end, but am always reluctant to sell, and that often results in less income that I should have gained. I feel that my prayers for wisdom and blessing have been granted; perhaps I need to focus more requests on discipline! 

In 2014, I plan to continue my policy of continually scrutinizing my plan, and investigating alternatives that may prove more worthwhile in a changing economic environment. My current focus is on dividend paying stocks that are exhibiting growth. I play them with a 10% Trailing Stop, and am finding this results in little trading action, but good gains. 

Happy New Year!

News Update

Another week has passed; it finds us far from my hometown, on the shore of the biggest lake—the Pacific Ocean! We had quite a struggle to leave John & Marion's on Sunday morning as fresh, wet snow had fallen overnight. However, thanks to Shop Dry and Wendy's shovelling we eventually made it out to Vernon for breakfast and church. On Sunday afternoon, we headed over the Coquihalla, out the lower mainland, and across to Nanaimo on the ferry. There was some compacted snow on the connector, and it was a bit slushy at the summit, but overall the trip went fairly easily. We have enjoyed our week in Parksville, being graciously hosted by Eric/A and the boys. The weather has been temperate, if rainy, and toward the end of the week the sun came out and I even got to enjoy a game of golf. That went surprisingly well since I hadn't played in months; I managed a +9 for the 18 holes which is very good for me. Investments were shaky around the New Year's holiday, but I was blessed with an over quota week all the same, so I'm thankful. I finished December with a good rally, but didn't quite make quota for the month. I plan to write up a little summary of the year's action in a separate blurb once I get settled back in Regina. Our Junior Men's hockey team is playing in the world championships, but they have fallen short for the 5th year running. They are set to play Russia for the bronze medal tomorrow morning. American football is in the playoffs. I will be cheering for the Broncos because of Peyton Manning, otherwise I don't care much about it, although I will be interested to see how far Aaron Rodgers, just returning from a broken collarbone, can take the Packers. 

Liam had a hockey tournament this weekend, so we got to enjoy that along with him. Eric and Erica have had some work days around the New Year's holiday. We all went out bowling one evening, and to the movies another. I enjoyed the second instalment of the Hobbit trilogy with Eric/A, while Wendy, Haaken, Liam and Kristian took in The Frozen. We have enjoyed our week of puzzle-making, recycling, shredding and spending time with this section of our family. 

Erin has been struggling to survive in the cold weather that has descended on Saskatchewan. She did manage a trip to Yorkton to see her brother, Eric, play hockey, and meet up with other members of her birth family. She managed to FaceTime with us a few times, most notably at the summit of the Roger's Pass connecting on Wendy's iPad via my tethered iPhone. 

Travis & Joanna are holding down the fort in TBay. It has also turned bitterly cold there this week. We keep in contact via text, phone and FaceTime. Everything seems to be under control! 

And that's about it for this week!