Tuesday PM Notes - Spanning the Globe

The thrill of victory and agony of defeat? OK, a poor attempt at humor given the market's recent craziness.

I'm actually referring to a new feature in the left hand column of the blog that plots where the last 100 recent visitors are from (no names and just a general location so privacy isn't an issue). What I found interesting was that according to the traffic log, parts of this journey have now been read in 61 countries. Hmm ... maybe I should be selling something (kiddddddding!). I wonder how they say "U.S. Market Crash" in Slovakia?

I'd also like to say a quick hello to Larry Connors, who co-authored the popular "Street Smarts" with Linda Raschke, and whose company co-produced various instructional videos and simulations with me a few years ago while giving me a daily online platform to vent my thoughts in the days before blogs were popular. Like me, Larry is a fervant Red Sox fan, and it seemed we were emailing each other daily in 2004 when the Sox finally broke the curse (yes Larry, it really did happen). I even remember FedEx'ing all of the Boston papers to him on the morning after.

Larry has put together great stuff over the years, and if you're into using statistics as an edge to your trading, he's your guy. While it was tough for me to trade, teach, and write simultaneously during those years -- which is one reason my market attention is now focused 100% on trading during the day -- I enjoyed the experience and more importantly, our relationship. Larry is a man of exceptional integrity and character and has seen my trading records first hand over the years. He was also highly supportive when my youngest daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes five years ago at age 11, and put one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen on anyone when he sent "Wags" -- a stuffed dog about the size of my daughter -- as a gift during her initial fight. Wags is still an important member of the family, and that was a thought that I'll never, ever forget.

Times change, but people don't.