Portfolio of the week - 2008

[IIC]

Ski...I believe I was Red...Doug

[New-born baby]

Ski,
I was right early in the week; C jumped up a little. But you really skunked me the rest of the way, and I finished a glorious last! DOH!

Congrats all you greenies!

[skiracer]

Ski,
I was right early in the week; C jumped up a little. But you really skunked me the rest of the way, and I finished a glorious last! DOH!

Congrats all you greenies!

doug and newborn,
you're both right. newborn hit it right on the nose with C this week. i was thinking that today when it was taking that fall. big drop today huh. doug, i'll make the adjustment tomorrow morning.

btw, say welcome to your new scorekeeper for the month of march, Jiesen, it's all yours brother.

[stenzrob]

I don't mean to nitpick, but I exited VLNC at 11:41am, and the price was over 3.70, not 3.67.

[IIC]

Congrats to Nuts, Stenz and Ski

[skiracer]

I don't mean to nitpick, but I exited VLNC at 11:41am, and the price was over 3.70, not 3.67.

you're wrong and right Stenz. your post was at 10:41 not 11:41 as you stated above. and i made a mistake and figured it at 10:46 which was the time of my reply to you. your exit price should be 3.71 which would raise your total percentage to 14.76 % instead of 13.63 percent. the .04 made a big difference. you should be in 1st place instead of peanuts. so you are the winner this week and peanuts is in 2nd place. i'll make the change to the scorecard in the morning. sorry stenz my mistake.

[stenzrob]

you're wrong and right Stenz. your post was at 10:41 not 11:41 as you stated above. and i made a mistake and figured it at 10:46 which was the time of my reply to you. your exit price should be 3.71 which would raise your total percentage to 14.76 % instead of 13.63 percent. the .04 made a big difference. you should be in 1st place instead of peanuts. so you are the winner this week and peanuts is in 2nd place. i'll make the change to the scorecard in the morning. sorry stenz my mistake.

Don't worry about changing the scorecard, ski. You are right about the time, of course. I did distinctly remember, though, actually waiting to post the exit request until the price got back above 3.70. I've heard of people having these kinds of issues with their brokers - LOL!

[peanuts]

Bravo! ski, Bravo!

Ed, Thanks for the fantastic job that you did with the POTW. It has been great fun and the story telling was superb. You've got a gift to entertain and we're all fortunate to have gotten a piece of it. Take a bow!

Jiesen, the bar is set.... good luck!

I'll take VIP short, please

Grats to the greenies this week! Stenz!!!!!!!!!! good show, duuuuuuude! May your felt tip pen run out of ink!

[skiracer]

peanuts had no idea whether he had won this weeks contest or not. he was trying to kill the proverbial "two birds with one stone" this week in taking the TOP spot in the potw and reaching the TOP of the world in the same day. and as it was progressing he just might get "luckier" before the day was over. but there was much to be done yet. his party was just 100 feet from the summit and all he could think of was louetta. he had just successfully climbed the 2nd highest mountain on the planet and she was on his mind. he could feel the small box he had in his front pocket. he picked it up on the black market in the phillipines and got a terrific bargain. everytime he felt it in his pocket he became that much more determined. it was late in the afternoon and they were very close to making the summit but this last 100 feet was straight up and very flat. a very trying and dangerous end to his journey to the summit. he was trying his best to remain focused on the climb.

the markets had their way with a number of the players today and "there will be blood" was the theme as they gutted a number of contestants and left their entrails spread across a broad band of the field. all of the top tier fell from their perches except for "stone cold Stenzrob who made a dramatic move of almost 3 percentage points to take the top spot with a brilliant play on the switchover from COIN to VLNC. the later picking up .17 and pushing his total to 14.76%. peanuts who looked to have an unsurmountable lead the day before takes 2nd in the waning minutes of the last day. but he is at the top of another contest of much larger proportions.
stenzrob flexed the fingers on his right hand and walked out to a screaming croud of groupies. he was smiling so hard that it was beginning to hurt.

and still reeling from several nights of hardy partying with ray long and a number of groupies skiracer somehow managed a 7 point swing on the last day and glides into 3rd place on the back of C at 3.81%. just a percentage point ahead of pete hansen, another jersey guy from wayne, nj. there must be something in the water in jersey as they just don't breed them as filty or a brazen as these guys anywhere else in the country. skiracer had to drag ray long by the boots and throw him clothes and all into the cold shower. tonight they were really going to party. there were disgruntled players with their heads hung over in disgust from todays action everywhere. the markets had fallen over 315 points and taken most of their picks down with it.

you cannot make this stuff up and the odds of arriving at the top of the world's 2nd highest peak at the same moment in time without knowing they were both climbing the same mountain simotaneously are incalculable. but that was just what was happening. peanuts was just below the top of K2 on the south side. louetta on the north side was at the same elevation. she and the 3 men had talked this over just hours earlier in the driving snow late in the afternoon. they were running out of time and light. there was no way they would be able to make the summit and return with daylight if they didn't stop their ascent and turn back now just 200 feet or so from the summit. the wind and the blizzard had taken it's toll on them and their progress. it was closing in on 3pm and they either went for it or turned back now. going for it meant somehow spending the night on the summit without tents or any type of cover against the elements. it was almost certain death. not one of them voted to turn back being so close to accompolishing their goal of reaching the summit. they would go for the summit and dig in as best they could to brace themselves against the cold, wind, and driving snow. each of them knew they were only fooling themselves if they thought they were going to get off the summit alive tonight or tomorrow. but the fact that they had done it was enough for each of them to sacrifice it all and continue on to the top. it was dark and getting darker when louetta and her party reached to top. she had never envisioned any sight could be a dramatic as this. she was above everything else and it was exhilarating beyond description. they didn't have much time to enjoy themselves as they started piling snow into some sort of wind break and shelter as dark fell over the summit. it was all they could do for themselves. she had made it and felt good about that but she knew there was no way they were going to make it thru the night alive. she resigned herself to that and began writing a note to those that were important to her about her last thoughts. peanuts was on that list. it was so cold and she was having a hard time feeling her feet. resigned to the fact that this was it they laid down together and huddled as close as they could to protect themselves from the wind and elements. louetta was knodding in and out of a light dream and she thought the end was near. the white light was what everyone was drawn to at the end and the one coming over the south side of the mountain ledge was what she thought was the end. it was just the beginning. the first sherpa from peanuts party lifted himself up and over the edge and stood in front of them as some apparition might in a dream. then the second on and another and then peanuts. she was thinking that death was not that bad or that hard to deal with as there was no pain and the hullicinations were neat. she and the rest of her party had stiffened up and were near unconsciousness when something was shaking her rather violently with their face in her face. focusing in the dark with the headlamp directly in her eyes made it hard to see but was she dreaming or was that peanuts.

peanuts party had known beforehand they would have to spend the night on the summit and had made accomodations to carry 5 small one man tents tents just for that purpose. small one man tents but large enough for two or people in each tent if you squeezed in tight. each of peanuts party had carried their own cocoon sleeping bag.
there were 4 in louetta's party and 5 in peanuts. it worked out fine as they lined two tents up opening to opening in two rows and crawled into them together. that night was going to prove to be the most memorable night of all their lives as they realized they were going to live thru this. fate had brought them all together at the top of the world at the same time. could it get any better than this.
as peanuts and louetta slid into the sleeping bag together their clothing still on peanuts said he had a surprise for her. she didn't know if she could stand another one after this last one. as he handed her the box she realized this one was bigger. the words that spilled out of her mouth would always provide them with a good laugh through out their years together. louetta said, " did you know that you didn't win the potw this week"? they didn't speak another word the rest of the night together: and the scorecard please:

I wouldn't want to go out of this stint on a mistake. adjusted the scores and the story accordingly. sorry stenzrob and peanuts. good luck with the your your turn this month jiesen. it's all yours.

[jiesen]

Ed, Thanks for the fantastic job that you did with the POTW. It has been great fun and the story telling was superb. You've got a gift to entertain and we're all fortunate to have gotten a piece of it. Take a bow!

Jiesen, the bar is set.... good luck!

I'll take VIP short, please

Grats to the greenies this week! Stenz!!!!!!!!!! good show, duuuuuuude! May your felt tip pen run out of ink!

Yes, thank you, Ski, for putting on such a fantastic contest these past months. I have a very high bar set indeed, but I'll do my best to make it good for all. First, I'll set the rules so you will know what's coming...

I'll borrow the 2007 POTW rulebook,
see Peanuts' post here:

http://www.mrmarketishuge.com/showthread.php?t=1814

with a few minor changes:

1) Anything that works for a long will also work as a short (I'm not looking it up). So scratch rule #5.

2) You might not get real-time prices (I won't look these up either). I will default to daily opening and closing prices (whichever comes first after your picks) unless you post your price with your pick. I'll do that on the honor system, but if your price is wrong by more than 0.50% and someone else corrects it, you'll suffer a 5% penalty for the mistake.
2a) If someone posts all of the prices (not just those he would like to be used) of the picks before I update, I will use those, so don't assume you won't get a real-time price because you didn't post it. The 5% penalty will not apply to the generous individual who would make that effort.

3) I'll also allow a limit trade, but only for the day, and only if you monitor it and call it on the day it hits. Again, if you do a limit trade but miss-call it (say it hits and it doesn't, or vice versa) you will suffer a 5% penalty unless you catch it yourself that day. (Scratch rule #7)

4) You have until Tuesday's close to make a pick or declare "CA$H" with no penalty, after that you lose 1%. If you continue to snooze, you will lose another 1% at Thursday's close, and the last 1% if you don't make a pick by Friday's close.

5) You may make a third pick, but you must hold this until the end of the week, and you will receive a BONUS 3% for being such an avid POTW fan- but only if all of your picks end up winners, otherwise you lose 1% extra for each loser (besides not getting the 3% bonus).

So with that, good luck everyone!

By the way, congrats Stenz for drinking both Peanuts' and my milkshakes. You drank it up!

I'll start off with (what else?) LJPC long for this week.

[New-born baby]

Thanks, SKI; HELLLLLLOOOOO JIESEN!

Thanks, Ski, for a great job. We look forward to your return, and best wishes with your upcoming exams!

Welcome, Jiesen! Start me off with: C SHORT!

[IIC]

I would like to select HQS long at the open...thx...Doug(IIC)

[Karel]

Long QMAR

Congratulations to stenz, and to peanuts and ski. And ski, you did a wonderful job!

Surprise, surprise: still long QMAR!

Regards,

Karel

[RL]

AZK-LONG Is my pick this week

[RL]

Azk-long Please