Patrick's Diary - 5/30/2016

It's a sunny morning on Memorial Day as I had mentioned at the end of my diary for Sunday because I caught it up today. 

My mom cooked the chickens' parts left from yesterday and she still complained how tasteless the fried chickens I made. Getting the agreement with my son, I kept watching International Friendly France taking Cameroon. Both sides scored a beautiful goal to tie the match at the beginning but it had been pretty quiet until the last several minutes. Eventually, French won the match with an amazing free kick curled into keeper's upper right corner. France will be a powerful contender for Euro Cup at home. 

Driving through I-5 under the sunny sky, I dropped my son back to his dorm. It will be the last two weeks for his sophomore year and the final exams for the 3 classes he is taking will be taken. He will have a lot of things to prepare. 

Stopping by the gym, I worked out my weekday routine. I did think about to do 45 minutes more but dismissed that idea because I would go back home to mow the lawn, which would be kind of exercise as well. On my way home, I pumped the gas though the tank was still more than half full. Why I did it was to pump gas into a container. The lawnmower almost ran out of it, so I needed to add gas into the lawnmower. 

Dennis was repairing his motorcycles on his driveway and we chatted back and forth during the breaks while I was mowing the lawn. I told him that I got my childhood life back: living with my parents while reading novels and watching sports/movies. Actually, I lived alone when I was in high school, which made my life more flexible. 

After having the dinner, I went back to my reading room to lie on the single bed to take a nap. Though I didn't really fall into sleep, it was still pretty relaxable. Close to 9PM, I went back to my bedroom to check the movies on HBO and StarZ. Though Fantastic Four made in last years didn't receive positive critics, I still wanted to watch it. My parents were watching Chinese TV series in their master bedroom, so I went downstairs to watch my choice. I had thought why it wasn't well received might be because of low budget. After watching through the later part of the movie, I could tell the special effects might cost a lot of money in this sequel as well. I guess the reason probably was that the story was too simple and actors were not as super as in the first version. 

Before wrapping up the long week end, I quickly previewed the markets outlook on Bloomberg TV. Futures were all up, so my portfolio should be up as well tomorrow. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/29/2016

No, there wouldn't be as many soccer matches to be broadcast as they were on Saturday but one MLS match NYC hosting Orlando City. I had to well arrange how to get through this morning. It's drizzling but might make the entire Lynnwood High School be so quiet. I walked into one of the fields to start practicing soccer. As usual, I practiced PK, FK, Dribbling to shoot, Dashing to shoot. After an hour, I was sweaty. A man with his daughter and son came to the same post to practice, which obviously implied to me to leave because his children were probably only 4 or 5 years old. Had I kept playing at the same post, I would have hurt them with all of my powerful shots. Anyway, I could have moved to another field to play but I had achieved my goal for workout. It had become my weekend routine to practice soccer an hour, then go to the gym to lift weights for another hour several hours later. The sky was still cloudy but the drizzle had gone for quite a while. It's a nice Sunday and I felt so cool.

Getting back to my bed to take a nap, I went downstairs to have the lunch. My mom cooked very delicious fish of which my son and I all loved to eat. Before soccer match kicked off, I watched Mariners' game for a while and happened to catch a powerful home run. New York City Football Club losing 0 to 7 last weekend had become an embarrassment for them through the entire soccer world, especially while they own the stars like David Villa, Pierlo and Lampard. They were trying to rescue their reputation in this match at Yankee Stadium and did score two beautiful goals. However, it's so odd that David Villa missed the penalty kick in a bizarre fashion no one probably had ever viewed. Eventually, the match was equalized a dozen seconds over the extra time. Anyway, with so many vacant seats at a baseball stadium, I didn't feel bad to see Orlando's traveling fans cheering for their team's 1 point.

As planned, I drove to the gym to work out and made 300 weightliftings to make me equally sweaty as the soccer practice had made the same in the morning. Stopping by Fred Meyer, I picked chicken breast, drumsticks and thighs. Reading the recipes, I had taken a note to record all the stuff I needed to buy for making KFC for our dinner. Searching buttermilk, I wasn't able to see any. A pretty woman just standing next to me was pulling out something from the freezers, so I asked her if she could see any because I had never bought it myself, I might not be sensitive. She tried to help but couldn't find either. After asking one of the staff around, I learned it ran out and wouldn't be restocked until tomorrow. There were so many species and herbs needed for this KFC dinner I never heard the names of. However, it's pretty easy for me to sort them out on the shelves in the section for Spices. Getting cross the road, I found the buttermilk at Safeway where I frequently shopped from 2000 to 2004 while I was still living in the neighborhood of Ravenswood. I remembered that I walked there to buy some stuff during the snows. Actually, my ex-wife imed me last week to tell a sad and mysterious story about one of the neighbors. Yes, I knew that family very well while I was living there. The husband and the father was a very die-hard football fan and they were Seahawks' season tickets' holders. During those years, I actually played the basketball a lot at the court with the kids befriended with my stepson. I was actually a very good three-points-shooter and periodically went to watch Sonics' games at Key Arena. I believe that I am still a good three-point-shooter today after I warm up for five minutes.

Following the recipe, I broke eggs into a bowl I bought at Fred Meyer too, then poured a stream of buttermilk into it. Peeling off the skins of breast, drumsticks and thighs, I soaked them into the sauce.

Another process was to have 6 pieces of wheat bread fully toasted, then crushed them into bread crumbs. Putting the crumbs into another bowl combined with all the spices and herbs, I started rolling the soaked chickens' parts over the mixtures. Finally, they were ready to be baked in the oven.

After 50 minutes, the KFC dinner was ready. Honestly, it wasn't a success because my son and my mom didn't like it and my Dad was trying to be positive. However, the sauce was really tasty, which was promising for my future experiment. The issue was it didn't penetrate, so the whole pieces of the chickens' parts were kind of tasteless. My son had mentioned that he would like to learn how to cook but he didn't participate at all. I will keep trying. No matter if the baked chickens I made was delicious, it must be very healthy because my blood sugar was measured at 106 this morning, the best result in a year. Of course, it was driven by the combined impacts of healthy foods and workouts. It's so sunny outside now in this Memorial morning. I am wondering if I should go to Lynnwood High to practice soccer for another hour. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/28/2016

I forgot to mention that I received 100 bucks credits from Kylin last week. Since they over charged me 80 bucks for unsubscribed 1.0 package replaced by 2.0 upgrade, they had been doing great jobs for my family. First, they corrected the mistake to credit me back 80 bucks; Secondly, they had been charging 2.0 upgrade correctly; Thirdly, their new package had been working very well because my parents enjoyed watching all the channels; Now, I got this 100 bucks credit, which might be the initial fees I paid for the upgrade. It might be a deposit, which was supposed to be returned at the end of contract term, I guess. 

It's super soccer Sunday. After updating my diary for Friday, I started watching the first televised International Friendly - Belgium vs. Switzerland. I already missed the first half, so didn't catch the 2 goals, which had this match tied before halftime break. In 2nd half, Belgium scored the 2nd goal to win the match. They have so many star players who played for BPL last season, so I predict they would be a successful team in Euro Cup16. 

Taking a shower and vacuuming the carpets, I started watching the most important soccer match over this weekend: UEFA Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. The pre-match show was fantastic, Bocelli sang the songs to have the match kicked off at San Siro that triggered me to recall so many Milan derbies in which Trois Dutch Mousquetaires fiercely fought with Three German Horsepowers back in early 90s. Italians always can blend sports and arts perfectly. 

Read Madrid played a good match in the first half, though Ramos' goal might be an offside. Atletico caught up in the 2nd half. During a short period of time in 2nd half and extra time, I might fall into sleep for a couple of minutes, so missed a penalty kick hitting the bar by a Atletico's player, which I spotted at a post match highlight. If it was true, Atletico should have won the cup. However, it was so sad to see their fans' tears after they lost in shootout. Yep, I just checked on youtube, Griezmann did miss the shot. 

Switching to ESPN From FOX to keep watching, I found Mexico playing Paraguay at an International Friendly in Atlanta. There were several familiar faces in Mexicans' squad and I saw Valdez subbed in the last 15 minutes to play for Paraguay. He had been injured so hadn't played for Sounders much in this season. 

Next came Sounders' match with Revolution. Seattle Homegrown Kovar struck a clear-cut goal not long after the kickoff. A ridiculous penalty kick on Friberg was given to the host to have the match equalized. Revolution players did make more opportunities in the rest of the match, they won it at the end. I was a little disappointed not to see Ivanschitz shining at attacking midfielders' position. With his former Austrian National Team's captain's credential and experiences, I had expected his leadership present in this match. Evans got a head injury and walked out of the match, which pushed the defense more difficult while missing Marshall. 

In another International Friendly, USA beat Bolivia 4 to 0 at the end. I don't know how far Team USA can proceed at Copa Centenario. At least, I would like to see them to top Group A, then I can watch them playing in the Quarter Final at Centurylink Field in person on June, 16th. I plan to take a day off that day. However, I won't buy the tickets until the result of Friday's opening match comes out. If Team USA isn't able to play in Seattle, I definitely will go to watch Messi on 14th. It will be a big spending because my son also wants to go watching, we only can go for one of these two because I plan to buy the tickets at 200 bucks each. 

Having the dinner, I lied on couch to watch the match to the end, then switched to HBO to surf the movies for several minutes. I hadn't had chance to go to the gym to workout because having been watching soccer matches since early morning, and the gym was to close at 7PM. However, I could go to Lynnwood High to take a walk. It was drizzling and I didn't see anyone on any field at Lynnwood High. Going into its official game field for football and soccer, I got onto the running track for 8 laps combining walking, jogging and running. After 45 minutes, I had been fully sweaty. I don't know how to upload the clips from Periscope to my blog, so had to transfer it from my twitter page through the digital camera. 

It's been a busy day in different capacity: Enjoyable. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/27/2016

It's a busy day, as I shared, everyone hoped to leave earlier before Memorial Long Weekend but had to complete everything in the plates. I was able to get rid off the last piece of the stuff and left at 3:30PM. On the way to my son's dorm to pick him up, he called me to ask what time I could arrive there. Observing the heavy traffic on the bridge on Lake Washington, I told him it must be after 4:30PM. However, I parked the car beside his dorm building even 1 minute earlier eventually. 

On the way back home, my son bragged to me his average grade in 3rd midterm exam of Biology again and told me several classmates asking him to study together for the final next week. As he had told me that he always could express his ideas, thoughts and knowledge very well, maybe even exceed true level of his understandings, so others sometimes were misled that he was so outstanding. However, he might exaggerate it because I know he is not stupid and even pretty smart in some of the areas. For example, he does have talents in many subjects in social sciences and humanities, for example, his grade on Public Debate is close to perfection now as he told me. In physical sciences, he can be an average student if he puts more efforts, which he is not willing to in most of the time. I encouraged him to pursue English major. After graduation, as he also plans, he can pursue a law degree at top schools such as Yale Law, Harvard Law or Stanford Law if he wants to be on national stage, or he can try UW law if he wants to stay at State level and be close to home. If he doesn't want to pursue law degree but plans to continue academic development, he can try to enroll PhD in English at UW, then becomes a lecturer in one of the local higher education institutions. During the summer, I will start training him to trade stocks, which may make him millionaire without working for others, a UW bachelor degree is well enough for his lifetime. Meanwhile, I can help him publish short stories and novels through online publishers, you never know he won't become a millionaire writer in future. He also took two acting classes and I can tell his real interest is more in acting. He knows it is a very difficult career path, so doesn't want to talk about. However, you never know if he will become a performing artist to make his living out of it. 

Coming back home, I watched CNN for a while before dinner. It sounded Trump dismissed the proposal of debating with Sanders. As I said, this Presidential Campaign had been very funny.

Twitter's stock price bumped up more than 5% because investors were seeing the turnaround possibilities after two executives would be gone. I confidently believe Twitter will be great someday because of its popular platform. Recently, I tested Periscope frequently, it is a fantastic product as well. Twitter's price going back to 50 bucks level is just a matter of time. 

My SeaPower Index is poised to increase. In the second half of the year, the only risk factor is the raise of interest rates but I don't think it to be raised significantly. Presidential Campaign will eventually become a normal process toward November, so I am with a lot of hopes in the markets. RBC raised Price Target for Costco to 170ish this morning, which would help its price keep up toward the next release. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/26/2016

I planned to send my car to Firestone to have the noise checked out but called Dennis next door first to see if he was available to come over to take a look for me. The reason I hadn't bothered him was that I had been home too late or left too early in the last two days, so I didn't feel comfortable to call him. Dennis was always reliable and helpful. After five minutes, he came to my driveway and instantly spotted the problem, which was actually very easy to fix. He went to Fred Meyer to buy one bottle of Power Steering Fluid and another bottle of supplement, then poured them into the small container, the noise was gone. It only cost me 10 bucks to have this fixed. He'd driven my Dad to Lowes' to buy fertilizer for grasses care on Wednesday. I am lucky to have him as my neighbor next door. As I shared, we wouldn't fly anywhere for a formal vacation this summer because we had gone to Hawaii but would drive around ours and nearby States during the weekends. Before doing it, I would like to have Dennis doing maintenance for me. 

When I came back home, it already passed 7PM. Watching CNN for a while, I realized that Trump had clinched GOP Nomination and he even thought about to have a debate with Sanders, which would put Clinton into an embarrassment. General Election seemed to be very wild but Americans always can go through the oddities eventually. This country has been the leader for more than a century, so she has the capacity to contain any chaos, which seem to be uncontrollable to any other countries. Oh, after watching this clip, I just realized why people might be using the word of "Unwind" recently. I actually never used this word before. 

Costco had got over 150 bucks as I initially predicted until the market was to close. If you bought calls at 145 bucks expired on 27th, you would quadruple your money. However, it would be traded between 140 to 150 for quite a while prior to next earning release. My SeaPower Index finally exceeded the base value I initiated on 5/26. It would be in up trend toward the end of the year.

My son called me earlier when I was at work. Since my cell phone was set vibrated, I didn't notice. He texted me then to deliver good news that he got an average grade in 3rd midterm exam of Biology. He was confident in getting a slightly above average grade in final. I was happy for him and he needed the confidence of taking any classes of Natural Sciences. However, this might be the last one for him. I would talk to him on Friday when I picked him up at his dorm to come back home for Memorial long weekend to encourage him to pursue an English major, which could bring him an even much brighter future if he could plan and manage his studies and career path thoughtfully. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/25/2016

It's 2:12 AM on Friday now, I just woke up 15 minutes ago and got up to catch up my diary for the last two days. 

As I had shared, the noise from the engine of my van annoyed me so much before I left home for work, however, I had a group conference call I needed to attend and as usual, I didn't bring my laptop home, so wasn't able to do it from home. 

It's a very busy day but I managed to leave on time to go to see my buddy at high school I hadn't seen for 30 years. I'd scheduled to see him at 5:30 PM but his daughter sent me a text to ask me if I could go to their hotel half an hour later. The traffic from Renton to Downtown Seattle was very congested during rush hours anyway, I assumed I would be there around 6:00 PM anyway. Eventually, I saw my buddy and his daughter in the lobby at 6:20 PM. Why? I actually arrived at 8th Street close to Paramount Theater at 5:50 PM but made a wrong decision to try to park in their hotel. Because I wasn't able to locate their hotel exactly, it took me 15 minutes to drive around and eventually had to park at Conference Center, then I walked to the wrong hotel to wait in the lobby for another 10 minutes while checking out with his daughter. When I saw my buddy in the right lobby, I recognized him immediately. He said that I didn't change much either, yes, fatter now. This was probably the same impression for everyone after not having seen each other for 30 years. 

We chatted a little bit in the lobby while his daughter went back to their room to be with her mother, then they came down to join us to go to a restaurant across the street of Conference Center I had seen earlier. Because it was Wednesday night, there were only several people sitting in the bar and no one had dinner at that moment. My buddy's daughter just graduated from CSU Chico, so her parents came over to attend her commencement and the whole family drove up to Washington to have a nice trip. We talked so much about our lives in high school. We both were student athletes, I focused on soccer and he represented the school for Pentathion. I remember he was the tallest and probably the most healthy guy when my height was officially measured at 182.5 cm and relatively slim at the graduation. Our school was one of the designated high schools in Beijing and there were many talented student athletes. my track and field records were pretty average but was one of the best soccer players. Had I been trained, I would have been a good sprinter and excellent long jumper at high school as well. This was proved at my college. The first month we were enrolled, I won the championship in long jump at Freshman's Olympics after just being trained by an experienced senior for several times. My record was 5.9M. Can you imagine my best record at high school was only 4.15M I had made probably just 6 months before? After selected into Varsity Track & Field team trained with a bunch of professional athletes who enrolled our college then, I ran 5'9'' on 50 meters dash. 

It might be because we were both student athletes, though we rarely talked about sports, the conversation went through very smoothly. His wife was also born and raised in Beijing and they both graduated from the same college with the same major in Japanese, they were pretty popular then because Japanese started doing businesses with Chinese, their language skills helped them start great careers. My buddy became a tour guide to make decent money and his wife was hired by FESCO to be assigned to one of 9 largest Japanese trading conglomerates. In early 90s, I dealt with it a dozen times but didn't know she worked there, otherwise I would have known her 20 years ago. 

It's a great reunion, and they would go to visit our factory in Everett on Thursday. However, I got multiple issues the next day, so didn't promise to go with them. First, I would have to get car fixed. Secondly, I would have a lot of things to take care of during the month end close process especially before long weekend. Of course, I have been working in Renton since leaving 787 program 6 years ago in Everett. This was another key factor I couldn't join them for the tour during the weekday. 

Drinking a big glass of draft beer, I had to stay in the car for an hour and a half to get my alcohol level dropped below limit, then arrived at home close to 10:30 PM. While in the car, I chatted on the phone with another high school buddy who had kept communications with me since graduation, he actually gave my contact information to the other buddy after confirming with me.

Costco reported mixed result but this wouldn't hold its price recovery because of system-preset tradings. Humans only could delay the trend but it eventually would happen. As I initially predicted, it would hit 150 level on Thursday morning. Oh, please don't relate my investment advice to my professional job for making a living at the largest airplane manufacturer in the world. It's purely my personal hobby as the owner of my one-man boutique investment firm - South Archer Enterprises LLC. Oh, I will add my son as co-owner, then he will have to file tax return by himself if we will run our trading business successfully. I just found a slide I made three years ago when I planned to publish my own coverages on several social media stocks but never executed. I probably should resume it but my current coverage should be my SeaPower Index and FGTZ portfolio, so Zillow and Twitter are still on.  

Patrick's Diary - 5/24/2016

I left home at 5:15 AM and arrived at the office at 5:45 AM, it's incredible. As I recalled, I had never been so fast door-to-door. The traffic must be super smooth. 

Coming back home at 3:30 PM, I felt very sleepy. While having TV turned onto CNN, I fell into sleep most of the time before dinner. Trump was in Albuquerque to hold his rally but New Mexicans embraced him with fires and rocks. 

Leaving gym 15 minutes ago, I heard noises spreading from the engine. Hopefully it wouldn't fail me tomorrow because I need to go for a meeting at 8:00 AM, and drive to downtown Seattle after work to see one of my high school buddies whom I haven't seen for 30 years. He and his family came to Seattle to stay for three days. The worst case scenario is that I can drop the van to Dodge Dealership in Renton, then rent a car at Enterprises. Unless it won't break down on freeway tomorrow morning on my way to work. 

Markets rallied today but I didn't monitor it. Had I noticed Costco would report before markets open tomorrow morning, I would have bought 100 shares to speculate. Given the trend of technical chart in the past month, which indicates hedge funds might set up the trades, supported by the estimates of positive earnings for a discounted wholesaler in this moderate economy from fundamental perspective, I bet its prices may go up between 145 to 150 tomorrow. Buying 10 calls at 145 expired on Friday may bring you 3,000 bucks. However, I didn't buy anything because I had thought it would report after the markets close, I won't take any risk of losing all the premiums either.

My SeaPower Index came up very close to the base I set up several days ago. Expeditors has been the best performer. Expedia was upgraded with a target price as high as 180. Alaska Air kept going up. 

Twitter was downgraded again. Whenever markets bounced, a handful of analysts jumped out to downgrade it. This might be because Twitter's insiders often try to take the opportunity to dump their shares. However, another reason is it has become a completely platform for free speech. I don't expect to make money on Twitter in near term but will happily use it especially its clip functions that are working very well on my new cellphone.

Gopro got injection from Red Bull, let's see how meaningful this partnership will be. 

Again, hopefully my van won't fail me, at least, it won't happen before I drive to see my high school buddy tomorrow evening. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/23/2016

It's been a long day especially I left for home very late because I went to work pretty late. Given the time I arrived at home, I had planned not to go to the gym to work out because I also wanted to go to work early on Tuesday. However, I would go to the gym on Tuesday night for sure. 

I didn't pay attention to the markets in the morning but noticed Facebook's price dropped more than 1 dollar. Hadn't I sold it decisively on Friday, I would have lost almost 150 bucks. Day trading must be decisive. In addition, it is against machines, more accurately, systems instead of humans, so traders have to be fully energized all the time. 

One of my twitter's followers, I am also this person's follower as well, keeps encouraging me to continue my Presidential Campaign and believes I will win. Though I only know this person living in Portland, I mentioned this person to be my running mate. A friend of this person is a street artist who created a banner for us. No matter what, I should keep posting my Presidential Declarations.

Before sleeping, I updated the table of SeaPower Index. It dropped again but I will closely watch Costco and Alaska Air, Nordstroms seemed being recovered. 

Talking about day trading, I insist it a low risk but high return business for anyone. Let's only focus on stocks' tradings by ignoring options' tradings, which are more risky: if you can make 0.5% a trade, 4 trades a day, assuming 20 trading days a month and you take a month off every year, cashing out the earnings every month for living without adding them into capital, you will make 440% a year. Is it daydreaming, definitely not. For a middle class person, it shouldn't be very difficult for you to get 50K somewhere from your financial resources as capital, then you will get 220K return a year as a full time day trader. The key is you have to be very discipline to follow strict plan and ensure not to lose in any trade. If you lose one trade, take a break for a day or two. If you follow this advice, the worst case scenario is that you will make 100K a year with 50K capital. Of course, you can short sell, so the markets will work for you almost all of the time. The real enemy is the markets completely die, which is impossible. 

Now, it is actually 6:51 PM on Tuesday, I will go to the gym to workout in half an hour. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/22/2016

I had planned to go to the gym in between the matches of MLS Soccer Sunday in the afternoon, but surfing the TV guide on Xfinity spontaneously had me changing the plans for the entire day. First of all, I noticed US Men's National Soccer Team was going to play an international friendly in Puerto Rico at 9:00am, so decided to finish the diary for Saturday, then came back to my bedroom to watch it. It had started for 10 minutes when I turned TV onto it, but both team hadn't scored. Most of the players looked not very familiar to me except Yedlin. Klinsmann might give the young players more time to show their capabilities. In addition, most of the starters were still playing MLS matches at home. Puerto Ricans were very enthusiastic for their national team because I could tell many fans standing on the stands to cheer. 

Later on, when I checked the kickoff time of first MLS televised match on ESPN, I accidentally found Copa Del Rey to be broadcast on ESPN2. It's such an amazing surprise. I hadn't watched Messi playing for a long time. Honestly, the match was a little bit boring especially after a Barce defender was sent off due to a professional foul right in front of the big box. Messi's free kicks were saved by the keeper easily because of powerless. Suarez got hamstring injury on one of his legs after stretching it to receive a mid-range cross and was out of the match in 2nd half. Neymar was pretty active but didn't create scoring opportunities. Barce had defended fiercely until the last several minutes of regulation when a Seville defender was sent off due to the similar foul. Eventually, it's still Messi to play the key roles to make two perfect passes to have Barce winning by 2 goals, Neymar scored the 2nd one. I didn't hear the introduction, but a couple who was filmed frequently probably was Spanish Prince and Princess. It's royal families' showtime at soccer season finales during this weekend.

Then, I switched to ESPN to watch the 2nd half of Cascade Rivalry match between Timbers and Whitecaps. The hosts beat the visitors 4 to 2 and I caught a beautiful free kick even Messi wasn't able to make earlier. 3 penalty kicks were given by the referee at this match, which devalued the goals a little bit.

Next came the dilemma: Should I go to the gym to work out or keep watching the 2nd televised MLS match on Fox Sports I? Without much hesitation, I decided to catch this California Civil War because I could go to Lynnwood High to practice soccer after the match though the gym would be closed then. Watching the match, I just realized so many current and former foreign national teams' players playing for LA Galaxy: Gerrard; Keane; Santos; De Jong; Young; Van Damme. However, it's so difficult for them to score at home in this match. It ended up with a 1:1 draw. Earthquake probably was very happy to make a point in Southern California. Again, a former sounder, Barrett made a perfect cross to have another player heading the goal into the net to save Earthquake. 

Without wasting time, I drove to Lynnwood High. A family of three taking half of the one of the fields was playing drone and a group of people were playing football in another field, so I went to northend of the field where that family was in. To avoid kicking the ball over the low fences, I only practiced penalty kicks. A father and a son, I guess, came to join me 20 minutes later, I played keeper and they made the shots. My purpose was to work out, so didn't care if I could make the shots or not. After almost an hour, I was totally sweaty and left. That family had gone for quite a while and three people were playing baseball at the corner when I left. 

Having dinner, I could feel sour muscles on my legs, so decided to do nothing but rest on the bed in study room. I hadn't been able to get up until 4pm, then went back to my bedroom to keep sleeping. Though I could have left home as early as usual for a working day, I stayed in bed until 7:00am because I wanted to be more energetic on this Monday. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/21/2016

I had known that three soccer matches would be broadcast that I wouldn't want to miss on this Saturday, meanwhile, I hadn't gone to the gym to work out two-night-in-row, so got up at 7:00am and drove to Lynnwood High just across the street to practice soccer. Unfortunately, the gates to both fields were locked, I might be too early. Instead, I drove to the gym to work out a full routine for an hour and came back home to follow the entire FA Cup Final. By the way, many workout enthusiasts were in the gym this early morning. 

The opening ceremony of FA Cup was magnificent with the modern and traditional performances, of course, British National Anthem - God Save the Queen was sung by all the spectators. 

Implicitly, for a reason, one of the purposes for this final between Manchester United and Crystal Palace became the competition between two royal families, in addition to another one abolished thousands years ago. Since it was English carnival and Prince was seated at Wembley with a serious face all the time, Manchester United won the Cup in extra time. All the goals were made fantastically without doubt, though the first one by Crystal Palace was questionable if it was an offside. However, two controversial calls in the first half might deny two scoring opportunities already. Overall, it's a wonderful close of English soccer season. 

The following match at MLS had to be postponed to accommodate the extra time FA Cup Final had been brought into. It was so-called "MLS Rivalry Weekend" and NY Derby was held at Yankee Stadium. Weather New Yorkers desired to support Trump or US Soccer communities hated Manchester United to win FA Cup, which effectively had this match delayed, New York Red Bulls massrced New York City Club with 7 to 0. Yes, Their jerseys' color is red and Manchester United is their rival's owner. I can speculate this result being a manifesto or a revenge. 

Falling into sleep for two hours, I drove out to Safeway to refill all of my parents' medications. Buying five cans of soup for my lunch at work next week, I grabbed a grande latte and got into waiting room at pharmacy. The room was very quiet, neat and convenient as it had always been. 

Driving back to our neighborhood, I decided to practice soccer that I hadn't been able to do this morning. A family of four was playing there and I had seen them when I drove out of our neighborhood to Safeway one hour before. Since they were taking the southend post, I had to practice shooting at northend where the fences were too low to have ball blocked in the field. Two guys were throwing football at the other field, so I couldn't use that either. 

That family might already plan to leave because they probably had played for quite a long time or they saw me to come to practice, so decided to give the southside post away. While they were walking out, I took the southend post. In the following hour, I focused on training my left foot, which was weaker. When I got back into my van, I was completely sweaty.

The sky was very cloudy but the rains hadn't dropped, so I decided to take this opportunity to mow the lawn in front and back yards within 10 minutes. I hadn't done it for two weeks and the grasses had grown pretty long. After I finished, drizzles started floating in the air. Just like my neighbor next door Dennis praised that I was so fast and made it in time. 

I chatted with Dennis for another 10 minutes in the drizzles and we both walked back to our own houses to take rests after working hard outside. As we agreed at the end of the conversation, this was actually the best weather for us to work outside, it's cool. 

Eating leftover from the lunch and bean congee, I started watching Sounders taking Colorado. It's not a very pleasant day for Sounders' players after Klinsmann didn't select Brad Evans and Jordan Morrison into National Team for Copa Centennial. They lost to Western Conference Leader at the end. Just like former Sounder Rosales' performance in the last match, Burch played a very good match for Colorado as well. I just read a report on MLS Website through Twitter's link that Klinsmann explained why he picked Wondo over Morrison. Though it was a debate of seniority, I bet Klinsmann might think Morrison should go to a European topflight to be tested before becoming shining at home. I don't mind kids taking the life easy. By the same token, I wouldn't send my son to a brutal environment to swim with sharks only for a more human-recognized success. He might survive to become an elite but might be killed. Brek Shea was an example that he didn't make the first team at Stoke City and loses his position at National Team now. I don't know if he even sacrificed financially while he was at Stoke City. Yedlin survived because Sunderland stays in top flight, but you never know what made them stay. I could perceive New Castle giving up the hope in their critical match with Aston Villa. However, it's great for our home grown boy to play a starter at BPL next season, I will support his team through the year. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/20/2016

Getting up at 5:30 AM, I took shower and ate a piece of sweet bread, then turned laptop on. Watching CNBC through the application of Thinkorswim managed by Ameritrade, I expected markets' rally on this Friday because futures were all pointing higher. 

Because my son asked me to teach him trading during the summer break, I wanted to resume my trading to practice ahead. Staring at the price movement for Facebook for 15 minutes after the markets opened, I predicted it wouldn't drop under $117 per share, so bought a hundred shares at $117.27 per share. However, it didn't go higher enough to have me making profits, I left home at 7:45 AM. 

Dropping monthly due for my rental townhouse at property management office, I drove through I-5 South and switched onto I-90 East, finally got onto I-405 South. Traffic on Friday was pretty wide open on this section of the freeway and weather was partially sunny. Lake Washington on the right hand side was marvelous. 

Sliding my van into the parking lot, I noticed I had made 50 bucks on 100 shares of Facebook stocks. Should I sell it? Though it wasn't much gain, making sure the first trade after resuming trading to be a gain was essential psychologically. In addition, I didn't want to be bothered by it for the rest of the day, so I sold it at the price of $117.81. It would be proved a right action because its price would never exceed 118 and close at $117.35.  Hadn't I sold it, I would have incurred the loss because of the commissions and tiny interest charge on margins. 

Leaving the office at almost 5:30 PM, I hadn't encountered traffic jam before approaching kirkland. Getting out off I-405 North one exit south of my routine route, I drove back home through local drive and had done this everyday in the whole week. It was definitely a better choice. Again, the sky was kept partially sunny as it had been in the morning. 

My son actually called me earlier to mention that he completed the 3rd midterm of Biology and was very happy to wrap up this quarter in 20 days. He was ready to pursue his passion from next quarter. He mentioned that he would like to pursue English major in Creative Writing. I would check out on UW's website that the acceptance into that option was pretty competitive, so he would need to provide excellent writing samples with the applications. From his voice, I could tell his happiness and anticipations. Of course, he also mentioned trading stocks. 

After quick dinner, I went back to my bedroom to watch Don Lemon's show on CNN for the last half an hour. Three ladies were debating the situation of Democratic Presidential Nomination. Clinton most likely would be nominated but Sanders had kept challenging her. National polls have started showing Trump's leading position over Clinton in General Election, I don't see her having other options not to invite Sanders to be her running mate. If Sanders wants to be a Vice President, he must love Wall Street because it plays an irreplaceable role for the largest economy and Capitalism in the world. 

I just updated the table of my SeaPower Index, it bumped up a little bit from yesterday but still 1.8% lower than the base I set up on 5/16. I will closely watch Costco's movements before its earning release on 25th. By the way, I still stand correct on my projection of Alaska Air's potential. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/19/2016

The first night in this week I couldn't go to the gym because falling into deeply sleep after dinner until half an hour past midnight. I actually had fully slept for an hour before the dinner, which I even didn't hear my Dad shouting to me from downstairs, eventually he had to come up to my bedroom to wake me up. I must be very tired through the day.

I stayed in bed to hesitate if getting up or continuing sleeping for several hours. In my mind, I did lay out a full plan for Friday: Go to the gym to make up the loss last night at 5:00 AM; Make a fast trade to make 50 to 200 bucks from 6:30 to 7:00 AM; Taking shower and eating a sweet bread from 7:00 to 7:30 AM; Drop homeowner due of my rental townhouse that is actually due today at 7:45 AM; On road to the office through I-5 and arrive at the parking lot at 9:00 AM.

Glancing at CNBC and Bloomberg TV for 15 minutes, I decided to sleep again. As a result, I didn't go to the gym but took the shower and ate the sweet bread. Now, I am catching up my diary for yesterday while watching CNBC through the application of Thinkorswim. 

Because of the price drops of Expedia, Alaska and Paccar, my SeaPower Index dropped by 2.4% against the base. Since Walmart performed very well, I guess Costco's earnings may be fine as well. I am seeing its price to go back up 150 level next week.

Yesterday, when I mentioned the stocks helping my IRA account balance bumping up 40 times since 1998, I forgot to refer to Akamai's name. I remember I bought Redhat first and it brought me unrealized gain 3000 bucks but I didn't take. I sold it at loss and bought Akamai at 1.50 or so, then it brought me more than 10 times profits. 

Clinton blamed Trump's recent comments actually helping terrorists and she was vague on if Sanders may become her running mate. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/18/2016

I arrived at the gym 5 minutes earlier than yesterday and saved a couple of minutes over the course of workout, so was able to finish the daily routine and left it for home 8 minutes before it would close. When I got off my van to walk to the gym, I felt pretty chilly because I only wore shorts and the temperatures had been relatively low recently, but when I walked out of the gym toward my van, I was soaked with sweats. It's partially cloudy but we could see the sunshine from time to time today. However, the meteorologist predicted the rains to fall down tomorrow through the weekend. Believe or not, I prefer this cool weather. Whenever I am exposed to sunny sky for several days, I start missing clouds even rains. This isn't because I started living in Seattle almost 20 years ago but my preference since childhood. I recall I loved lying on bed to read an interesting novel through a rainy weekend when I was a teen. When I played soccer, I didn't mind doing it in the rains either. Of course, no one likes constant cloudy skies, neither do I. 

My SeaPower Index recovered a little bit at the close today. Since Costco is going to report earnings on 25th, I will closely monitor it. In my trading account, I don't have much cash left but am thinking to use margin to make several fast trades as soon as the markets open to make hundreds bucks before the end of May. I have a plan to drive my son to watch a Shakespeare play in Ashland, OR in late June. This isn't because he is going to purse a English major and will take two courses of Shakespeare plays to satisfy the graduation requirements but I have planned for many years. By the way, the % change refers to the change to the base on 5/16/2016 rather than daily change.

Today is the 4th anniversary of Facebook IPO, I hadn't realized it until watching CNBC this morning before driving out for work. Mark Zuckerberg actually ran the opening bell at NYSE to celebrate. At its debut, I bought almost 700 shares at the price of $41 and am still holding it in my IRA account. As I shared, I plan to start to cash it out at the age of 59 1/2 in January, 2026. Till then, my IRA account may grow into a size of half a million at least. This is why I mentioned that total return from this account over the lifetime could be 250 times because I opened this IRA account with one of the online brokers in 1998 and the annual contribution was limited to 2,000 bucks then, I have never added more money into that account. I also have another IRA account with another broker in which I hold only 17 shares Facebook stocks I bought at 70 bucks. Whenever I bragged my smart investment on social media, they sent me a statement to remind me. They didn't know my majority of holdings is in another IRA account with another broker. I learned this long term strategy from a book titled "Eight Steps to Seven Figures" in which an investor bought 200 shares of Dell stocks at the price of 4 bucks in 80s if I recall correctly, By late 90s, it had grown more than a hundred times. I gave that book to a friend as a recommendation of investment, so can't pull it out from my bookshelf to verify. If Facebook can grow 100 times in 15 years since its IPO, I will have almost 3M only on this investment. Long term investments can be very well rewarded but investors won't be able to consume until they cash out many years later. In addition, before I could invest into Facebook stocks with a relatively significant size, I had grown my account from 2,000 bucks to more than 20,000 bucks by trading a series of other growing stocks including Redhat, VMW, Groupon, Zillow, Yelp. Were I still holding the stocks of Groupon, I probably would lose all the gains in that account. So, I can't guarantee to hold Facebook for 10 more years. So far, it has been proved an absolute winner. 

Yesterday, Clinton won Kentucky only by half a percentage point but Sanders beat her by 10% in Oregon. It sounded violence incurred during his campaign. I hope his socialism to be kept democratically. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/17/2016

I didn't complete the whole daily routine at the gym with 30 more weightliftings left because I didn't want to walk out at the last minute. Falling into sleep deeply after dinner, I arrived at the gym at almost 10 PM. It's too late and I will go half an hour earlier tomorrow night. I went to the gym to work out five times and practiced soccer at Lynnwood High School for an hour on Sunday morning last week and plan to do the same this week. At least, I have done two-night-in-row. Muscles on left leg was still a little bit sour when I was on treadmill and pain on left knee was only slightly uncomfortable when I was on the bike. Again, it's a great night. 

I hadn't followed the markets on daily basis since the summer in 2007. As I shared, my son actually asked me to train him to trade stocks, I started following it again. However, I only can do it before going to work for 10 to 15 minutes and may be able to spend half an hour close to midnight before going to sleep. Major indexes tumbled today because of the fear of interest rates' hikes again if I glanced the news correctly. SeaPower Index containing Top 10 companies' stocks headquartered in Washington State I just created last night dropped by 2.1% from base of 100 to 97.91. 

COST: Price dropped by 1.5%. No significant news on it. Next earning report will be on May 25th. Discounted Wholesalers like it should perform very well in this moderate economy. Target Price is 168, so I predict it to approach 155 within a week.

MSFT: Price dropped by 2.5%. Its cloud business is being urged to be enhanced by investors. I just noticed its P/E being 38, which is relatively high for a company in between growth and value. It must bring some breakthroughs to push the price significantly higher. Anyway, nothing can take away people's love of OFFICE. 

AMZN: Price dropped by 2.2% due to macro condition of markets today in addition to concerns of valuation. Its strategy is apparently to becoming dominant retail monopoly both virtually and physically eventually. It has been in the business and keeping growing for 20+ years, It's price still have room to drop 5% but should be back to 750 level in later July.

PCAR: Price dropped by 1.1%. BofA Merill Lynch upgraded it to "buy". Price is at the midpoint of 52 Weeks Low & High. THere may not be much movement until next earning release. P/E at 31 is a little bit high. I interviewed for an accountant position with them back in 1999 and was impressed by their super professional environment at Corporate Headquarter. Generally, you don't expect it at a truck manufacturer. 

SBUX: Price dropped by 1.2%. Company issued 500M bond to fund future projects. It might try to take the advantage of low interest rate before it would be raised. However, interest expenses will hit the earnings and long term liability will impact several financial ratios. Target price is 65. Given its growth, upside is weighted more than downside approaching the next earning release.

JWN: Price dropped by 2.3% after deep drop from last week after earning release. It is at 52 week Low now. The situation couldn't be worse. 2nd half of the year should be a recovery period. 

WY: Price only dropped by 0.9%. The businesses must be pretty stable, so must stock price. I am a little big concerned about its price close to 52 week high and P/E at 37. 

EXPD: The only one in this index bumped up by 0.5%. International shipping should be fine. It's a valuable stock to having investor earning income. 

ALK: Price dropped by 1.3%. The competition with Delta may actually be a win-win deal. If the acquisition of Virgin America can go through smoothly after DOJ's hearing, its price has a lot of room of going up given its close to 52 week low, PE under 10, Target at 88, Dividend Yield being average. I almost want to say "no-brainer". 

EXPE: Price dropped only by 0.3%. I have been its member since early 2000 and satisfied with its services. It is at midpoint of 52 week low and high, so technically could go up and down 50-50. However, it seems poised to take the market leadership. With its reasonable PE, I project it to go up by 10% at least up to next earning release. 

Let me share this band's song to close the early morning on Wednesday. You can see these guys on my Twitter's page and hopefully I can sing a song with them next time when I go to Sweden, ideally on a Saturday summer night at Kungstadgarden.

Patrick's Diary - 5/16/2016

My son called me around 6:00 AM to tell that he selected the courses for Autumn Quarter. As we planned yesterday, he will take ENGL 202, ENGL 297. which will ensure him to declare major in English. These courses require a lot of readings and writings, it won't be easy if he wants to get good grades. In addition, he selected PHIL 120 - Introduction to Logic, which qualifies almost all academic categories - I&S/NW/QSR. He seemed not able to forget quantitative subject. I can tell he is still trying. He called me again at noon to tell me that he talked to the advisor at Department of English and got very warm feedback. In his words, he almost dropped the tears. His roommate is a freshman and selected the same English courses as my son did. As my son told me before that kid wanted to go to law school eventually. As I shared, there will be many opportunities for these kids if they carefully and seriously design their futures from now. If my son is fully passionate, he can pursue a PhD in English as he proposes as one of the options, then becomes a professor. Though he may not make much money, he will be happy in his whole life. As a professor in English, he definitely will become an author, which may have him making decent money eventually. Passion is the most important factor for anyone's success, more critically, happiness. 

As I tweeted this morning, I would follow up some stocks to ensure my son to make money in his first trade during the summer break. He told me when he studied Calculus, it didn't bring him immediate benefit, he wasn't motivated to study hard on it. I don't think anyone can be great in the difficult courses like Calculus if she or he doesn't make extraordinary efforts. My son also said to me that he believed trading stocks would be different because it could bring in money right away. I actually agree with him because I had the similar experience when I was young. I just did a little bit research online and planned to focus on Top 10 Stocks headquartered in Seattle Metropolitan area. I actually built a SeaPower Index to use today's closing market value as the base, so it is 100 on 5/16/2016. My son will finish his Spring Quarter on June 10th. I will give him a week to fully rest, then another week to learn the basic knowledge about the stock markets, such as fostering a habit of watching CNBC in general while doing research on these 10 stocks specifically. I may have him start trading these stocks on June 27th. It won't be very difficult to make 2.5% on AMZN, SBUX, EXPE, even MSFT on daily basis. I won't let him trade options at the beginning but he can short sell, which I generally don't do. When he makes money and cashes out to spend, he will touch the real life. 

I did go to gym to work out an hour tonight. Because I practiced soccer yesterday, muscles on my legs were pretty sour. Due to the injuries at my young ages, I could feel the slight pains on my knees. However, I feel so spiritual. 

Patrick's Diary - 5/15/2016

It's EPL Season Finale today. Ten matches were scheduled to be broadcast on different NBC owned channels across the board. However, the match at Old Trafford was postponed due to bombing threats. 

However, the postponed match between Manchester United and Bournemouth may not be very relevant because Manchester City made a draw with Swansea this morning, which forced Manchester United to have to score more than 18 goals in that postponed match to squeeze into top 4 to qualify UEFA Championship League, which is impossible unless Bournemouth players don't defend at all. 

After watching Manchester City tying Swansea, I went back to bed to sleep for an hour, then got up to drive to Lynnwood High School to practice soccer. It was drizzling a little bit and I was the only one in the fields. I didn't wrap my Gopro around my head, so didn't film the clips today. As a routine, I made several rounds of penalty kicks and free kicks by right and left foot; dashed through the entire field back and forth. After an hour, I had been totally soaked with sweat and by rain drops. Right before I left the field, a family came to practice in the other field. A lot of cars came and went through the school, if I recall correctly, a Sunday service is being held at the high school regularly. 

My parents made Chinese pizza and bean congee for lunch. I ate a plenty of them, then went back to my bedroom to watch MLS Soccer Sunday Sporting Kansas City hosting Orlando City. SKC had missed many opportunities until Orlando scored first. Eventually SKC won the match they deserved. 

There was an hour and a half break before the next MLS match to kick off, so I decided to go to Safeway to pick up a medication I wasn't able to get it refilled last week. Picking it up, I also grabbed a tube of hair gel, a bag of bread and five cans of soup for my lunch at work. Because I had practiced soccer in the morning, I might not need to go to gym today. However, before watching the time on my cell phone, I bet if it was before 3:30 PM, I would go to gym to do weightlifting; If it already passed, I would drive home directly. It was 3:29 PM. Getting into the gym, I did 250 times weightlifting. Before getting on my way home, I could tell the drizzle still falling down. 

Getting back on my bed, I turned TV onto Fox Sports I and found out the match to be switched to Fox Sports II, which wasn't included in my package. I didn't care that much about the two teams in the match but just wanted to watch more soccer. Switching to movie channels, I noticed What happened in Vegas I had never watched entirely, so decided to do it today.

Twitter had become my primary news source. A tweet reminded me to switch to FS1 again because the match was being televised on it. Timbers' home field advantage was obvious given their fans' enthusiasm but David Villa scored for NYC first by taking an advantage of handball block in midfield. Timbers caught up in second half but NYC player scored an incredible curl into left upper corner where was impossible for the keeper to save. 

My son mentioned yesterday that he would like to learn how to cook during the summer break, which triggered me to pull a book about recipes off the bookshelf. I will read it through and buy the materials at various supermarkets.

The recipes in this book are for the dishes served at dozens popular restaurants. If we can follow it, we may enjoy the delicious meals as if sitting at these franchises: