Whatever Dood - July 2018

What's up everyone? It's July and time for a monthly Whatever Dood! For those in the US that celebrate, hope you had a wonderful fourth of July! Also many shouts to my Canadian friends and hope you all had a terrific Canada day!

So I'm sitting here a bit hung over. It was July 4th yesterday, independence day in the USA. Like so many others I found myself drinking much alcohol, and barbecuing. Today I find myself a bit hungover, tired, and a little on the grumpy side. Besides a slight hangover though, I guess I'm doing pretty darn good!

Over the last month or so I've been putting together a 50th anniversary party for my parents. 50 years they've been together. The Dood couldn't even make it 10! In the neighborhood I grew up in, I think I only had 2 other friends who's mother and father were still together. 50 years is such an accomplishment. For the most part, the anniversary party has been taking up a lot of my time.

We'll be celebrating their anniversary this weekend, then right after that, I'm planning on doing some traveling. I've got a couple local destination/camping trips I want to plan. Then plan on going further and further with each venture. Right now I'm waiting on some backup parts, for things that commonly fail. Gear shifts from wiping out in the dirt, break levers, chains, tire tubes. Once I have my backups, I'll be venturing out of the state.

I did get a luggage rack installed on the bike. I now have all my gear, camping equipment, and everything else I should need to live comfortable off the back of a motorcycle.

As far as plans for a cross country ride... I still have them, but may be pushing the dates up to spring of 2019. Several reasons... Finances, wasn't really expecting 70% loss in my portfolio since December 2017. I will admit, the thought did cross my mind, but I honestly didn't think that 6 months later we would be revisiting the previous years lows, yet here we are :( With that said I just don't think it's the best time for a cross country trip, and a month long vacation! Regardless though, there will be lots of traveling planned for the remainder of the summer. Destinations currently include, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and several places in New York state like the Adirondack Mountains. Should be a fun summer. I've got all my gear, and as soon as my backup parts and tool kit arrive I'll be doing some cross state traveling.

So, as I mentioned, taking a 70% loss in the old portfolio is quite the crypto ass kicking! With that said, my portfolio is paid for with profits from previous trades but it really hurts to watch it lose value. I was prepared for this though, and did consider this a possibility before it happened. I felt it unlikely, but as I said earlier... "Here we are!" LOL

During the last "Bear Market" I kept my head above water by swing trading. Making small trades based on chart analysis and market sentiment and taking small gains. A few percentage points here, scalp a little here, and by the end of the week I've made a small paycheck for myself. In the meantime, I build bags of coins I feel are currently undervalued and wait for better days to come!

Some of the coins I'm liking right now.... IGNIS, ARDR, FTC, BAY. I think there are currently a lot of strong undervalued projects worth looking into right now. During times like this I like to look into those projects that I thought I missed the boat on. Look at some charts, buy into some nice entries. This is also a good time to look for previous bottoms, I often buy when I see some price consolidation around a previous bottom. This is also a great time to learn basic "TA" or Technical Analysis skills if you don't have them already. Although nothing is for sure in this industry, understanding TA can really weigh the odds in your favor.

On a final note I've been getting along just fine working and trading off a Chromebook. For the most part, the only thing I'm really missing is Gimp. For that I found an online site called lunapic.com ... I will admit though, I can't wait to get back on a real PC. I recently started building a desktop computer. Still plan on getting through the summer on my Chromebook, but by the end of the summer I should have a new desktop built my me. I just ordered the case. Now, I'll just start ordering parts as I find them on sale. Between the parts I have around the house, and research, I figure the project should be done by the end of summer. On top of that I want to see how cheap I can go, and then upgrade off that as time allows. I used to build desktops as a hobby, and haven't in about 10 years. I'm really looking forward to learning about all the new tech, and incorporating them into my builds. I'll post some images up here soon.

Well for the tweeted version: "Celebrating mom & dads 50 year anniversary, traveling soon, cross country trip on hold, bear market killing me, buidling new PC." Thanks for reading, till next month... Whatever Dood! Peace!