Noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Strayer Education, a name I mentioned a few posts ago, has plummeted. I did not short as I wanted to have time to do a little research. I'm also on vacation, which makes it difficult to watch things closely, especially a new name. Since the article in Barrons, the stock has dropped 60 points. Ouch. How I wish I had just gone ahead and purchased a few puts.

Not doing to much even though this is monthly expiration week. I have made a couple of quick trades in GOOG but not much else.

Visiting Boston and noticed an article in the Globe announcing the third baby by Kiki a Western Lowland Gorilla. Kiki is one of 7 of this type of Gorilla at the Franklin Zoo. The species is extremely endangered. Zoo officials used an over-the-counter home pregnancy test to verify her expectedness. The very same test used by people. Take that creationist 'tards. AND. While taking a Duk Tour, (which I highly recommend) I was seated next to a guy that, on his right arm, had a tattoo on the inside of his arm, the word Jesus and the figure of Jesus, and on the outside of his arm, in cursive, the words "waiting for you." Yeah, keep waiting bud. It's going to be a loooooong time.......

Intra Day Sha la la la la

Short GOOG 500 calls for a mere pittance but it's $400 for ten so hard to pass that up. Short $490 puts for $7.30. These are both weekly. Which is just an absurd amount of premium me thinks. Short 20 AAPL 250 puts for an average basis of $1.65. This is a double position and I should have traded it today ie closed it and resold but I missed the boat a little bit. At this point I will leave it be, it's positive about a grand. My CME continues to implode. Must the stock go down EVERY day? I mean this is crazy. What a hideous chart. Why did I buy calls? Through the 20, through the 50. Gaped down yesterday on serious volume. How much more evidence do I need? This could be my worst trade of the year.

Holly won Hells Kitchen. Good for her. I thought she and Autumn had a chance with Autumn being a long shot but deep down I thought it was Jay's to lose. As long as Ben was sent packing, all was right with the world.

CSCO

John Chambers used the words "unusual uncertainty" when describing the economy and combined with a slight miss on revenue (100 M on $1.9 B) the afterhours investors (speculators) ran for the hills taking CSCO down 10%. Really? CSCO's business is now worth 10% less than it was yesterday? To say I think this is overdone is an understatement. This will cause selling tomorrow morning in AAPL, AMZN, GOOG etc and if you are looking to add to positions, buy calls (long) short puts etc there should be good opportunities to trade manana. I have no position in CSCO. I am long AAPL, GOOG calls, SIVB and CME calls. The CME calls have absolutely imploded and I expect them to be a complete loss. I don't usually lose 100% on any one investment decision but I think I will on this one...

YouTube. I had no idea. I had no idea the amount of lunacy on YouTube. I watched a video the other day by a guy (who I will leave nameless for his sake) that has decided to sell his house and his cars because all debt is bad and he wants to live debt free. When challenged about having to pay rent for a home for his family he tried to argue that rent wasn't debt because you could always choose somewhere else to live. He actually stated that once you had paid first and last you were good to go. As if somehow rent wasn't debt because you didn't have a payment due right then and that you could choose at that point to go somewhere else. When notified that FASB and GAAP require that entities capitalize leases as both current liabilities and long term debt, he didn't respond. His lack of critical thinking ignored the fact that landlords can raise rent, rent never expires etc etc. Yet, to him, it wasn't "debt." Debt being, for him, nothing more than a tool of the "banks and the brokerages." Aye carumba.

Good Friday

No, not the Catholic kind. I'm curious about something though. I was raised Catholic, went to catechism, got confirmed. Never really did understand the Holy Trilogy. Haven't been to Catholic church for eons. Why are you Catholic because your parents were Catholic? Is it something I can undo? Sort of a reverse baptism kind of thing? As Russell said, Que lastima.

Speaking of True Blood, and I will get to talking about trading in a minute, dreadful episode last night. Guh, this show is maddeningly inconsistent. Please stop forcing Sookie and Bill to do scenes together. It's torture. There is negative chemistry between these two. It's painful to watch. More lesbian scenes with Pam. There, I said it. Ya'll want that too, you just are afraid to say so....

Friday. First full week of trading the August week one contracts for GOOG and AAPL. I was short the 510 calls for GOOG the 500 puts and 500 calls and the AAPL 260 puts. It worked to perfection. I was getting a little concerned midday but the institutions came in for the afternoon and bought and drove both stocks to strike. GOOG closed at $500.22 and APPL at $260.09. I cannot state it enough that when this pinning takes place it is great to be short both sides of the strike. I would have been short the 260 calls on AAPL as well but I was out of margin.

Updates

Closed my AMZN long call for a base hit. Leaving my MA short put to work, currently positive. I may let this option expire. Basis is poor to hold for another 2 plus weeks with the margin requirement associated with a $200 stock. We are now post the earnings release and I think the chances of MasterCard getting anywhere close to $195 based on the chart is essentially zero. Unless I can find a better trading thesis for the use of this margin I will leave this position open. I am short the weekly GOOG 480 put. Still long AAPL, with a weekly covered write, long SIVB also with a covered call write though this is the August monthly and long IBM call and long CME call. The IBM call has recently turned green while the CME position languishes.

Barrons had a good interview in this past Saturdays paper with Mark Roberts whoose bias is short. Please bear in mind that everything you read with respect to folks that manage money in any capacity are talking their book. And there is nothing wrong with that as long as you realize that that is part of the equation. I am drawn to folks with a short bias, just very interested in those ideas. I have added Strayer Education to my watch list. Mark has them pegged to decline to $150 from the current $230. I may jump on the coattails of this trade after I put some time and effort into researching them.

Is the Jon Stewart goatee a joke or is it permanent? Hate it.

Ka-Ching

Closed my AAPL long and my GOOG call long for basehits. IBM call long is coming around as is the AMZN long call. Shorted MA puts on the weakness today and in advance of their earnings release tomorrow. The 195's, for $3.40.

True Blood: Another strong episode. Love me some Lafayette.