Family Skiing News - US Olympic Trials

Mrs. BlueCollar's nephew Shane Cordeau of Ketchum, Idaho, is a member of the US Ski Team (freestyle moguls) and skied last Thursday at Steamboat for a spot on the US Olympic team. Unfortunately, he didn't get the last slot for the trip to Vancouver but he skied well and needless to say, we are proud of him! Shane is only 23 years old and if he can stay healthy, has a bright future ahead. We had a chance to see his run on NBC sports on Saturday and the color commentator singled him out as the "dark horse" to win, though it did not come to pass. Speaking with his parents on Christmas day, Mrs. Bluecollar learned that he had broken his pole(s) sometime prior to his run and had been given replacements that were the wrong size. At his level of competition, this slight deviation made a world of difference and affected his performance. He is now focusing his training on World Cup and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Shane is the son of Mrs. BlueCollar's older brother, former 4-time world champion mogul skier Joey Cordeau and outstanding competitive mogul skier Barb Cordeau. Shane's older sister Christine Cordeau is one of the finest all-around mogul skiers in the country. They are truly the "First Family" of United States competitive skiing. Check out the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbG2YU4NoY4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBFiw3qneiw&feature=related

See his intense crash at the US Nationals 2009:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm4mkuld8Sc&feature=related

And finally:

December 16th

I had a chance to get back into the markets to papertrade for an hour or so this morning. I have a lot of dayjob to do here though so I'm closing it down at 12:30pm. A large volume of day job projects have landed on me and the next two weeks are fully booked including the week-ends. So, there is not a great likelihood that i will do much in the markets until after the new year has arrived. I'll try to sneak in if I'm here between appointments but much of my work starting on Friday will take me away for full days... then, of course, there's the Christmas and New Years Day holidays.

Add to that the construction project we are doing over our garage! I've budgeted 6 months to complete it and it will likely take the full amount as I will be doing a large chunk of the work myself, with the exception of the plumbing, insulation, and drywall. So, running a business, home construction, then the regular home duties and an occasional night out will fill my months ahead. The big picture is that once we can get the apartment finished and establish a tenant, it may offer a bit of financial freedom to allow me to pursue my dream of training to be a full-time trader. The final piece of the plan will be to sell my business. My goal is to sell by end of 2010. Not just to pursue trading. I am weary of it after nineteen and a half years and need a different path. I do hope that the path is trading for a living, just as I note in the header to my blog. I'm certainly proceeding with that goal in mind.

Friday December 11th

Didn't get to post last night because of day-job requirements. In fact, I just finished some Saturday day-job stuff and am putting up my one paper-trade from yesterday; a trade I took while I was here between work appointments. I only had about twenty minutes to look in on the markets and this trade was pushing the time envelope so I covered it even. Too bad, the chart shows my instincts were correct and it would have been a winner had I been able to stick around the office a few more minutes. No worries... it's just one more in a long line of practice trades which will eventually lead to my goal.