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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 1/30 - Wins

About a month ago I put in an order to sell my 100 shares of Facebook at $60. It cracked $59, then fell back to below $54 a few days ago. Fearful it was headed for a big slide, I considered cancelling the order and submitting a new one at $55. I'm glad I didn't. Its earnings exceeded expectations and the stock zoomed overnight, finishing above $60. I'm not sure the firm I'm using trades overnight, so I was certain the stock would open lower on profit taking and probably not reach my limit. I was ecstatic to find that it continued its rise. My shares were sold at $62, for a profit of just under two grand. Yay! Of course, given my mediocre investment results, the stock will now no doubt vault into the hundreds, and this nice win may turn into a big what might have been dumbbell what did you do loss. A broker using my trading history as a yardstick would be giving a strong buy recommendation right now, but remember -- stocks can and do lose money, as the disclaimers always state. And bet with your head, not over it.

It was probably crazy to set up shop today, since it was 20 degrees when I left the house at eleven, but there wasn't much wind and the sun was unblocked, and I was getting stir crazy spending so much time at home. I figured I'd be able to stand the cold until one. Only my toes froze. I sold only one book, but because I made the effort to be out there, I was rewarded in another way. Abdul the Friendly Porter asked if I wanted to take a look through two shopping carts full of books he had in the basement of the building he works. I took half of them with me, rolling one of the carts to my car, where I piled them onto my back seat and into whatever space was left in the trunk. If I were more ambitious, I would've taken 95% of them. There were only a few unmarketable ones in the bunch. There were a lot of intriguing science titles. Of those, I took only the authors I recognized: Stephen Hawking and Neil DeGrasse. There were a lot of books on Egyptian art. As luck would have it, Ol' Smokey showed up as I was filling the car. He wanted the books on art and I wouldn't refuse him, as he has made a lot of donations to the floating book shop. I was happy to hear that he is not being evicted from his apartment, and that his disability payments and meds are to be restored. He's been yelling uncontrollably lately. One day I heard him screaming from the bus stop on the other side of Avenue Z, about 75 yards away from where I usually set up. Hopefully, the drugs will cure that. Anyway, among this huge batch were a number of popular novels, classics, and modern award winners. There were also two pictorials on Coney Island, which I'm sure will sell quickly. The forecast for the next few days is favorable for outdoor business. It's not Charlie Sheen winning, but it's nice to be on the plus side again.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx

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