Thursday's Quick Hits

• Ah, here's the February we know and love. I mentioned before that February is historically the 2nd weakest month of the year, and almost on queue... There is lots of fear out there. Check out the put/call ratio. But on the otherhand, Amazon reported today and YIKES! I hope folks learned their lesson this quarter about guessing ahead of the internet earnings numbers.


• Are you watching Beauty and the Geek? I wasn't, but with Lost a rerun last night I decided to tune in. It was hillarious. The Geeks had to decorate a room. The Beauties had to put together a computer, then download and burn an MP3. Silly but fun.


• I've had enough of the American Idol auditions. Pretty good this year, but now it's time for the real thang...


• One more reality show comment... I've had Dancing with the Stars on. I'm usually reading while it's on, but do watch the pre-dance and post-dance back and forth. I never watch the results show that comes on fridays. So the challenge for me on thursdays is to try to figure out which couple was eliminated.


• Speaking of books, I did finish Jeremy Siegal's Future for Investors. It was pretty good. Basically, stocks that pay good dividends with dividends reinvested beat the index over the long term. He had a bunch of strategies towards the end of the book that may be worth paying attention to. There are some ETFs and maybe some closed-end funds that one can use to mimic that strategy. If one wanted to. Not me, though. On the bookshelf on-deck circle, Empire of Debt...


• President Bush's push for alternative fuels and to get America off of Middle East oil was probably a non-event. According to scientists, we're years away from a realistic alternative energy strategy. And just try to get a nuclear power plant built anywhere or drill in ANWR. Ain't gonna happen. So, learn to love high energy prices until the stuff runs out I guess. Good planning would be to move closer to your job or find a job where you can work at home. Something to get the fuel usage down. Maybe look into whole house fans and pellet stoves for seasonal extremes. Just thinking outloud. Just because energy prices are high, doesn't mean you have to pay them. Reduce usage!


• Did you notice that new Supreme Court judge Sam Alito voted against the conservatives in his first vote? Hmm... I be that was unanticipated.


• I haven't done much trading lately. Still long, and watching my Black Box. Which isn't right all the time, unfortunately. Sometimes, if it gives a signal on a stock, I'll check the other stocks or ETF in the sector. Samething if it gives a signal on an ETF, I look at stocks in the sector. For example, a recent buy on SGP was crazy-whack-funky when I looked at sells on PPH and drug stocks.


• What do you think about raisins? I don't know. Sometimes they taste good. Sometimes I think "Why am I bothering with these darn things?" I know I don't like them cooked, though. If I'm going to eat raisins, it'll be the way God intended it: Straight out of the box they come in!


• Work. Work. Work.


• Lining up The Transporter and Firefly for Netflix flicks.