It's been a pretty hectic last few weeks. The wife and I gave birth (well, she did) to a healthy 8lb 7oz baby girl on Friday the 3rd. We've been adjusting at home and taking it easy, and it's been amazing.

My son is also with us for the summer. He was staying with relatives for a few days while we were in the hospital, but now he's with us and has been a really big help and a great big brother.

Suffice it to say, most acitivities have been placed on the back-burner. I did complete nearly all of the slides for the second part of Happy Fun-Time Time before the baby, and just finalized the rest yesterday, so it's simply a matter of recording (easier said than done in this crazy house) and getting it on the schedule. Parts 3 and 4 should flow shortly thereafter.

I also wanted to pause and shamelessly plug that I'm still coaching!!! I haven't figured out payment yet, but I don't see why PayPal wouldn't work. In order to be competitive with the other coaches out there, my rate is now $150/hour, and I can provide a plethora of references if you need. A lot of my former students are out there succesfully coaching as well mainly because the way I teach gives you the ability to answer your own poker questions. PM me here or on 2+2 (MasterLJ) and we can get something going.

Trading has been going pretty well, I've been making some great strides over the last few months but hit a wall shortly before the chaos of a new baby. I feel as if I'm stagnating some. Today I traded for the first time in several weeks and was able to put up 4 winners for 12 ticks in less than an hour. There were some more ticks to be had, and one of the four trades was "meh", mostly because I could have waited for a better way to enter, but the idea ended up being correct. For those still interested in anything YTC, check out my last blog post, and remember to check out his blog. I can't tell you how useful it is to see how another successful traders trades.

The future is sort of a question mark for me and the family. I think it's about time to blow the dust off the ole resume and look for some programming jobs. That said, I'm pretty much taking the Summer off anyway and wanted to work on some interesting programming projects to hone my skills. It does suck to give up on the dream of self-employment, but I think it's going to take me a while before trading really starts to click. One of the most gutting experiences of the whole Black Friday fiasco was that the wife and I had 2 offers in on houses and were super excited. We both don't really care for the apartment we live in now, and always knew it was just temporary. So that said, it's time to swallow a bit of pride and get out there and do what's best for the family. I don't think sitting here burning through savings is going to do us any good at all.

Best of luck at the tables, waters, or charts!