In no particular order here is an update on my life and things that I am doing.

Tigers lost to the Twins yesterday in a playoff for the playoffs.  Yes, we melted in the last month but come on isn’t having Brett Favre and going 4-0  good enough for one town?

The Macro Trader is going well.  We have increased traffic 6 fold from the June to September and are now being syndicated on SeekingAlpha and Newstex which distributes to Reuters, the Kindle, and several other outlets.  performance of the newsletter has been solid and while we are lagging the SP500 for 2009 we are killing it by over 30% still over the last two years. I spend 90%+ of my working hours, which are most of my hours, on this site and researching for the newsletter.  I love this business.

TagsKitchen.com my old cooking site will be back up this week and is going to be using Buddypress instead of regular WordPress.  This will enable us to build a cooking community and do a lot of other cool things.  Buddypress is basically a blogging Facebook/members site software.  You can blog, have a message board, allow members to have their own blogs, and a bunch of other stuff.  Most of the recipes that were on the old TagsKitchen will be on this one as well as tons of new stuff.  Not 100% sure how to best monetize it so initially we will have some Amazon and Google love. My sister Becca will be doing a lot on the site.

PersonalRefuge.com Another project that I am working on is that of a self sufficiency website.  Anyone that has known me for more than a week or so knows that I have always been interested in what will happen, or more accurately what does happen when society goes to crap.  New Orleans is a good and real example while Somalia is an extreme example.  There is a lot of information that can be useful if, more like when this happens.  Our main monetization of this site will be selling Mountain House Food Storage.   They make the best products and we are able to sell at the best prices.  Initially we will not be doing the typical shopping cart but instead will be doing over the phone and/or Skype assessments of what you need and what we offer.  We have a few standard packages but they are easily customized for each customer.  Over time we may branch out and sell other items as well but food storage will be our primary product.  And PersonalRefuge.com will also be on Buddypress which will allow us to have several different sections, a message board, and member blogs.

Dating life-Mostly non-existent…..Ok maybe totally non-existant but whatev.

BYU Football-We are 4-1 and the season is going fine.  Actually the season is going great but after the win against Oklahoma at the beginning of the season I think I set my expectations too high.  Because of this I feel a bit down on the whole thing even though we are ranked 18th.  Our next big test is TCU in a few weeks and if we can win that game I will be back on and will go to whatever bowl game we get.  If sports are this emotional for fans I can’t believe how they must be for the athletes.

Shooting-I have been so busy with work this summer that I have barely gone shooting at all.  This after 3+ years of 2 times a week.  I can still consistently do sub 1.5 second shots but on my current lack of a practice schedule I will never get to a sub 1 second shot.  Hopefully by spring time my schedule is a bit more open.

Weight/Fitness-I am a strong fat man.  Not like huge fat but still overweight.  At least I am strong right?  Well it is little consolation and this winter I will be dropping 30+.  I have a big frame and have decent height so I don’t look like a lardass but I am nowhere near where I would like to be hence the posting of my goal on a public website with my name on it. If you see me in a month ask me if I have lost weight and if I answer no then kick me in the face, I deserve it

Reading-I love books and love to read.  Lucky for me I love my work so 90% of my reading the past 10+ years have been related to investing, business, etc.  Right now I am re-reading Alchemy of Finance by George Soros. Politically homeboy is nuts but as a trader he is one of the best ever.  Two other books I am reading are Global Convertible Investing by Hart Woodson and Portable Alpha Theory and Practice by Sabrina Callan.  Convertible bonds have not been my strong point so I am building that up and with all the success that Bridgewater has had with portable alpha I figured I should do more research in the part of the alternative investment world.

Book Links
The Alchemy of Finance (Wiley Investment Classics)

Portable Alpha Theory and Practice: What Investors Really Need to Know (Wiley Finance)

Global Convertible Investing: The Gabelli Way

Thats it for now.

Happy Living,

Dave@DavidTaggart.com