Dan on June 26th, 2006
I spent some time this weekend getting my summer PHP project started. As mentioned earlier, it will be an investment tracking WordPress plugin. I’ve made a list of features that I want to include as follows:
Will Be Included
- Track multiple investment portfolios.
- Track using total value or a share based system (similar to a mutual fund), allowing total balance to be hidden.
- WP subpage with full graphing and statistical analysis.
- Sidebar tracking with quotes showing daily changes (similar style to Yahoo Finance).
- Plugin controls fully integrate into WP admin menus with easy to use interface.
Will Probably Be Included
- Track indices, stocks, and options on your website using data pulled from Yahoo Finance.
- Portfolio breakdown to different accounts, allowing one portfolio to include tracking of sub accounts such as multiple brokerages, CDs, bank accounts, etc. Automatically calculates total portofolio value based on sub accounts.
- Automatic updating using API interfaces with brokerages, banks, egold, etc (where available).
Would Like To Include At Some Point
- Central website allowing all blogs running the plugin to track portfolios against other investors.
- Track virtual portfolios consisting of stocks and options. Automatic updating via Yahoo Finance.
I have already decided on a name for this project. However, I am going to register the domain first before releasing the plugin’s name. I think I’ve come up with a decent name that has a .com still available so I don’t want to take a chance and lose it.
The script will be released under GPL meaning it will be free for all to use. This will be my first major public release so here’s hoping it all goes well 
Dan on June 24th, 2006
I spent Monday and Tuesday at Watkins Glen International participating in a PCA driving school. For those who have never heard of such an event, a track driving school put you and your car on a real race track with an instructor. You learn better car control, smoothness, and confidence in yourself and car. There are also classroom sessions to teach strategy and theory. These events are open to anyone with a car that will pass tech.
I believe that these driving schools should be a part of getting your license. By learning you and your car’s limits and improving your skills you improve your everyday driving ability. I know my ability has improved significantly since I participated in my first driving school in 2004. Every single day I see people who make basic driving mistakes that put themselves and others at risk because they just don’t know better. A track driving school teaches a foundation of good driving, along with being an absolute BLAST.
We also got to see the new Porsche 997 Turbo. There were 8 or so of them there for a private media event.
Pictures can be found in the gallery here.
Dan on June 15th, 2006
I haven’t discussed polyphasic sleep for quite some time as I stopped it back in February. Since then I’ve followed a few different sleep patterns. While I was in school I followed a split 6 hour pattern, sleeping from 11PM to 2AM and then 3AM to 6AM. That worked fairly well but I frequently found myself quite tired if class was boring.
After school got out I returned to monophasic sleep. I don’t know if it’s because of my experimentation with polyphasic sleep, changes in my diet, or the exercise routine but now I sleep 6-7 hours a night. Before I tried polyphasic sleep I was out for 8 hours a night. If I wanted I could probably sleep that long again, but I’ve found that I function well on 6-7 hours.
I may try polyphasic yet again. One thing that I disliked about it is that it interfears with social gatherings that last more than 3 hours. I either have to leave or I have to find a place to take a nap. Now that it’s nice out that isn’t as much of a problem, but it still causes problems with my social life. When doing the 4 hour, 20 min pattern I also eat at the beginning of each eating phase. That means I have to make or buy food right after waking up.
With it being so nice out I have a lot of ways I can spend the extra time outside biking, exploring, hiking, etc. Plus the gym I joined is open 24 hours during the week which would allow me to workout there at night. I could do a split routine with lifting during one time period and cardio 12 hours later. It’s something I’m strongly considering. It would also help get me back into the groove of sticking strictly to my eating plan as I’ve been straying a bit recently.
I’m interested in hearing how other former or current polyphasic sleepers have delt with the social issues. Did you just nap at your friends (as I have)? Did you get your friends to do polyphasic sleep as well?
Dan on June 13th, 2006
Friday resulted in my first investment loss with options. One leg of my condor went against me on a news announcement with almost no chance of recovery. I ended up losing a bit more than my gains from last month.
The important thing about losses is to learn from them. The lesson here is to make sure you know the whole story about a stock before investing. I was unaware of the pending news release. Had I known about the situation I wouldn’t have opened the condor. In the future I will be more careful before opening a position.
On another note I have added some more photos to the gallery. I still have more to add but it’s a start.
Dan on June 7th, 2006
Looks like I posted too soon. I ended up having time to get the gallery integrated! Now you’ll see the link in the tabs above and the random image on the sidebar. It was quite simple. I just had to add the correct gallery theme and add a few lines of code to the header and sidebar.
