About a year ago today, my business partner & friend told me I should look into day trading as a means of extra income. He invited me to a free introduction course that taught the attendants on how to do basic technical analysis using MACD, EMA and RSI indicators. Within minutes of understanding the basics, I fell in love with the whole idea of trading equities as a side “job”.

To further my knowledge on day trading, I took a one day course taught by a professional trader by the name of Charles Langford (who also happened to give the intro course before). He is quite possibly one of the most knowledgeable individuals when it comes to trading: Langford has written books, taught many courses and is a teacher at Université de Québec à Montréal, among other things. His course was sold out within days of being announced as seats were limited.

Before I dove into the world of trading, I practiced my technical analysis skills with a TD Active Trader account with fake money. Making plenty of mistakes, I got the hang of making a small amount of profit each trade by sticking to the rules and indicators I learned by attending the paid course.

The day came two weeks where I felt that I was ready to trade with real money. I had my line of credit increased last week so I can use it to purchase equities and leverage my trades. As a means to help me screen preferred stocks, I have subscribed to Langford’s “Langford Report” newsletter, where daily emails are sent out on various portfolios. Everyday, Langford mentions which stocks to buy, sell and stay according to his professional opinion. Looking back at his analysis records, following his portfolios would have netted you some serious cash.

The whole thing is exciting to me, yet I still feel a bit nervous. While the risks I am taking are very minimal, you can’t help but think that the chance of losing it all is still there… that is, if you invest in sketchy companies with no real products *cough* Nortel *cough*.

My rules for day trading are as follows:

• Trade Monday to Thursdays. Take Fridays off.
• Never follow the news, as it is irrelevant to trend following.
• Never get emotional with a stock.
• Don’t make your million dollar profit in one day.
• Don’t be greedy.

*gulp* here’s to the future.

Specifications of the Dell R610

• 2x Intel Xeon E5530 Quad Core 2.4 GHZ
• DDR3 24 GB at 1 GHZ
• 6x 146GB SAS 10K RPM in RAID 6. I chose redundancy over performance (RAID 10). With the PERC 6i controller, there is very little penalty in performance when it comes to RAID 6.
• Redundant power supplies; hot swappable drives

Initial Setup and Configuration of the Server

1. Enable Virtualization support in the R610 BIOS. By default, it is disabled, and must be enabled for ESXI 4.0 to function properly.
2. Install VMWare ESXI 4.0 onto the SD card. The SD card is quite reliable and is only needed to boot the ESXI kernel into memory.
3. Once installation is complete, go ahead and create your FreeBSD 7.2 virtual machine. I gave my server 16 GB of RAM, 4 cores and about 450 GB of hard drive space.

FreeBSD Installation

Installing FreeBSD 7.2 amd64 is easy. Here is what my mounts look like:

• / – 1024 MB
• SWAP – 4096 MB
• /var – 10 GB
• /tmp – 2GB
• /usr – the remainder, 432 GB here

FreeBSD Updating

Before we move on to installing open-vm-tools and DirectAdmin, I want to do some basic updates to the core system. I won’t be installing any of the web services (Exim, Apache, MySQL, etc.) because DirectAdmin takes care of all that for me.

• Update ports via CVSup. This will take a bit of time the first time you run it.
• freebsd-update fetch / install. This installs the latest security patches and keeps your FreeBSD installation up to date.
• Install wget: make install clean -C /usr/ports/ftp/wget/. I am installing this now because I don’t want DirectAdmin to install its own version.
• Add WITHOUT_X11=yes in /etc/rc.conf to prevent X11 stuff from installing. This is a server, not a desktop!

FreeBSD Configuration for VMWare ESXI 4.0

Install Open VM Tools:

# make install clean -C /usr/ports/emulators/open-vm-tools-nox11

An error message will appear when trying to install fusefs-kmod:

===> fusefs-kmod-0.3.9.p1.20080208_05 requires the userland sources to be installed. Set SRC_BASE if it is not in /usr/src. *** Error Code 1

The quick fix for this is as follows (source):

csup -g -L2 -h cvsup.freebsd.org /usr/share/examples/cvsup/stable-supfile

This will pull down all the userland sources and allow fusefs-kmod to compile correctly. Once the synchronization has been finished, you can go ahead and resume the installation of Open VM Tools (just type “make install clean” again).

Modify rc.conf so it loads the Open-VM-Tools:

vmware_guest_vmmemctl_enable="YES"
vmware_guestd_enable="YES"

Install DirectAdmin

Installing DirectAdmin is easy, just follow their instructions. You’re done.

April: Las Vegas. I don’t know what it is about this place, but it attracts me like a magnet. This year, it’ll be for my brother’s 21st birthday. Of course, my buddies are joining in the fun too. I don’t plan on gambling much; I much rather check out some of the fine cuisine and go back to my favourite steak house, Les Artistes du Steak in the Paris hotel.

May: Japan. It’s been my lifelong dream to visit this country, and I think this year the time will be right. I’m actually flying for free, thanks to the Aeroplan I have been collecting for the past 2 years.

Soon: A few days in New York are also planned, but no dates specified. It’ll most likely be a road trip on a weekend, thinking of at least 3 nights minimum.

Summer: My friends and I are also planning to hit up Wildwood for some sun. We’re going to do a road trip and get into as much trouble as we can along the way.

Guys, before everyone dives into the Home Income kit free trial, you must understand what this product really does first. It may or may not be what you are looking for!

First of all, the Home Income kit (hereby referenced as  ”the kit”) is basically a set of tools that allow you to publish Adwords and Adsense links. Before we dive into what the kit does, I have to explain to you what the difference between Google Adwords and Google Adsense is.

Google Adsense allows publishers (website owners) to display advertising on their sites to generate and earn income. Almost anyone with an existing website can join. How much you make depends on the content of your site, your traffic, the number of clicks you receive on your ads and how much the advertiser on the other end is willing to [ay per click.

Google Adwords is a platform that allows advertisers (people with a product or service to sell) to bid for positions on ads displayed by Google Adsense. For example, as an advertiser, I will pay Google 1$ a click to show a specific ad of mine on their search engine rankings. I will bid for a specific keyword, e.g. “real estate”, so whenever someone searches for “real estate”, I will show up on the Search Engine Results Pages.

The kit shows you how to make websites optimized for Google Adsense. These are called MFA sites, or “Made For Adsense”. They are perfectly legal to make, and I will detail what exactly is happening with this setup.

First, you will find a niche marketing that you want to work with. It can be automotive insurance, real estate in Chicago, stereo equipment, mortgage loans, etc. You will then create a website that talks about this market. It can be a paragraph or two long, or several pages (depends how serious you are with this kit). Once the site is complete, you bid for specific keywords on Adwords (must do research into this area!). Once the traffic trickles in, and with some clever Adsense ads placements, you should be making quite a bit of money. The idea is you bid for a keyword for a bit less than the money you would be making with the Adsense ads. Let’s say “real estate” would bring in 1$ per click into your pocket if someone were to click on it. I would then bid for “real estate” at 50 cents and below. Understand? I spend 50 cents to make 1 dollar, and that would net in 50 cents in my pocket right away.

Now what if you create a couple dozen or hundreds of these types of websites? Do you see the bigger picture now? This is what the Home Income kit does for you: helps you setup sites like these.

The million dollar question: do you need to buy the kit to do all of the above?

Short answer: no, you don’t.

Long answer: it helps if you have the right tools and documentation to get this system up and running. The kit shows you the idea in motion, but in reality, it is offering you keyword lists, websites that help you with PPC tracking, keyword lookup tools, web scripts that help you out tremendously, website creators, very resourceful (and private) websites that teach you everything about affiliate marketing and real world examples of how the whole thing comes together.

In conclusion, you don’t need to purchase the Home Income Kit, but it will make your life easier by providing you the tools and resources you need to succeed online. If making money online is a dream of yours and you don’t know where to start, check out the kit and see how it works. Since there is a free trial going on right now, it’s the best time to try it out without spending a dime.

Basically, I will pay you 20$ CASH (or PayPal) per submission on reviews (and opinions) concerning bars, clubs, events, restaurants, sports, nightlife, the mayor, your local neighbourhood, poutine, Bill 101, your favourite shisha spot, the Canadiens, your favourite DJ, bartender, bouncer, promoters & teams, La Tour de l’Ile, the bums downtown, Hollywood, etc. There’s no set standard for these things, but your article must be coherent, properly formatted, typed in proper English, checked for grammar and actually be readable. I’m looking for 3-4 paragraphs of text, or 300-400 words per article. Your style can be laid-back, professional, satirical, cocky, rant-y or something else I can’t think of right now. You will receive full credit for the article (unless you oppose). Articles will be posted on Montrealing.com for everyone to see and read.

If you manage to submit an article every week, I will pay you more per article. We would like to hire consistent writers/journalists for the website. Montrealing.com is considered to be an alternative news and media outlet for the public. If you like going out, trying out new places and enjoy Montreal city, then this job is for you.

Please note that upon payment, your article will become the property of Montrealing.com.

Do you want to see examples? Check out this Upstairs review or one of Time Supperclub.

There is, of course, a directory of clubs, lounges, bars and restaurants… but it doesn’t stop there. At Montrealing, you’ll be able to find a list of famous Montrealers, talk show and radio hosts, bartenders, bouncers, local DJs and news about local University and CEGEP teams. Oh yes, you’ll find plenty of editorials on the Habs too. For the tourists, there’s a compiled list of landmarks, hot spots and other fun facts about Montreal.

For anyone that’s curious, the dramatic song/track that plays in the background while the character picks up the “Computer Brain Interface” device is called “Monsters Are Such Interesting People” by Michael Giacchino from the Lost television show soundtrack. It really adds some awesome suspense to the film.

Here’s the video in all its glory. High Definition also available here.

Here’s what you have to do to get it working. Please note that this is for people who have a data plan (e.g. 500 MB, 1 GB, 6 GB, etc.) and not the Vision/on-device WAP browsing plans. For those types of connections, you will have to substitute the APNs for something else.

Step 1: Create the Rogers Internet connection

1. Go to Start -> Settings
2. Connections tab
3. Click on Connections
4. Click “Add a new modem connection” under My ISP (or whatever you have it named)
5. Enter the following settings:
   • Name: Rogers Internet
   • Modem type: Cellular Line (GPRS, 3G)
   • Access point name: internet.com
   • Username: wapuser1
   • Password: wap
   • Leave Domain empty, and don’t touch anything in Advanced. Just click Finish.
6. Press the Ok button and save your settings. You’re done for this section.

Step 2: Switch over to PAP Authentication

Rogers does not work with CHAP authentication, so let’s go ahead and switch over to PAP.

1. Go to Start -> Settings
2. Connections tab
3. Click on Advanced Network
4. First tab, simply choose “Enable HSDPA only”
5. In GPRS tab, select “PAP authentication”
6. In SMS Service tab, select “GSM only”

Step 3: Remove the hidden proxy

Download and run this file on your Fuze. This will now disable and remove the hidden proxy that comes shipped with the HTC Fuze. Opera at this point will not work as far as I have tested, but Internet Explorer and everything else will work just fine, including weather updates on the TouchFLO 3D interface. The fix for Opera is below, keep reading!

Step 4: Soft reset the device

Reset the device by turning it on and off.

Step 5: Enable Data Connections

1. Go To Start -> Settings
2. Connections tab
3. Click on Comm Manager
4. Scroll all the way at the bottom and click on Data Connection to turn it on.
5. Click Exit.

Step 6: Test with Internet Explorer

Launch Internet Explorer and test your connection. It should work at this point if I haven’t forgotten to mention anything. Try going to Google or any other fast loading site, and try doing a search just to be safe that you’re not loading the pages through cache.

Step 7: Remove and reinstall Opera 9.5 (stock)

Basically, the version that comes with the HTC Fuze contains the proxy settings hard-coded into it. Even though you disable the proxy in IE, it still remains in Opera. The only fix I know for this without modifying registry or configurations files is to remove Opera through Add/Remove programs and reinstall it from the official Opera Mobile website. After doing this step, you’re ready to surf the web on your Fuze. Enjoy!

Taken starts off slow, but that’s the beauty of it as we must first introduce the characters and give a bit of background to the hero of the story. Bryan Mills (the father) is an ex-CIA agent who was divorced due to his job (lack of time spent with family I guess). His hot daughter Kim now lives with Bryan’s ex-wife, Lenore (who’s also hot) and the new husband, Stuart, who’s apparently loaded judging from the house and the horse he buys for Kim’s birthday. Seriously, who buys a horse as a birthday present? That is definitely something a wealthy person would do. Regardless, Bryan only cares for his daughter and wants to make up for the lost time he didn’t spend with her while overseas working.

To make some extra cash on the side, Bryan partakes in a small job of safeguarding a famous singer with his buddies from the CIA. We get a small glimpse of Bryan laying down the law on an assailant with a knife. Now we know that he’s not an old goof-ball but rather an ass-kicking machine that can use his hands and get dirty. While I’m not sure what the attacker wanted to do in the first place, it seems that he should have brought a gun instead of a butter-knife.

In the background is Bryan and the hot singer he's taking to safety. In the foreground is the guy who's ass is about to get handed to him.

Fast forward a bit, it seems that Kim and her best friend Amanda want to go to Europe to follow U2 around like a bunch of groupies. I would have much rather preferred they followed Pantera around instead, but I then realized that they don’t play anymore and that the drummer was shot a few years ago, which totally sucks. Anyway, the two hot chicks get captured by an Albanian criminal organization who drug girls into prostitution & slaves and then sell them off around the globe to various wealthy clients. So far, we’ve got a nice list of ingredients to make this movie worthwhile: ex-CIA father, hot daughter, hand-to-hand combat, city of Paris, knives, Liam Neeson, Albanian human traffickers, Audi automobiles, kidnapping, drugs, prostitutes and vengeance. Also, this hot Swiss chick makes an appearance.

Switzerland has the best girls and cheese.

Throughout the course of the movie, Bryan manages to track down the criminals clue by clue, since he’s a former CIA agent after all. He’s got all the tools and skills necessary to accomplish such a feat. This movie reinforces the fact that you should never fuck with government agents. God forbid you accidentally rear-end their car, forget to water their plants while they’re on vacation or you don’t have their favourite breakfast cereal in stock at your grocery store they shop at: these agents will use whatever they can to find you, and they will kill you.

Liam Neeson delivers justice with Charley horses.

Taken does not disappoint when it comes to action: Liam Neeson does a terrific job portraying a paranoid father and an ass-kicking expert who manages to take down groups of terrorists down in a single sitting. Every step he takes results in the death of a mobster. Slowly, he creeps into the whole organization’s efforts to traffic humans worldwide by visiting every base they have and taking them down several bullets at a time. The body-count of this movie must total over fifty if I’m not mistaken. While it’s not a lot (compared to Commando, for example) every shot he takes and necks he breaks quenches the thirst of violence a viewer may have. The way Neeson works is smart, as in he takes cover when appropriate and does not just fire random shots into the air.

Bryan having some coffee with the Albanians before he busts some colons.

The sound effects in this movie are well done. Every shot fired, grunt and scream is well placed and executed to add onto the already gritty feeling of the movie. One scene has Bryan taking out an entire base of Albanians, and the shots fired are pleasant to the ear; they had this loud thud noise that had an amazing impact. The music was also pretty good, with the last scene of the movie having a nice fast-paced electronic beat to get the blood going.

Each time a shot is fired, someone definitely dies at the mercy of Bryan.

Every action movie out there has to have a memorable moment for the viewer to walk away remembering. This results in the viewer then re-watching the movie at a future point or buying the DVD when it comes out because of a certain scene that stuck in their head. For example, a popular action movie is Rambo 2, and the one scene that stands out is when Stallone takes out the entire army base through covert means (the waterfall camouflage comes to mind for me). Taken has several of these scenes which are all memorable, and in my opinion an action movie should be this way: memorable scenes one right after the other to please the senses non-stop. The worst action movies are the ones where a hero must chase the enemy through a series of mazes in the dark, in hopes of catching him in time before he’s gone forever. This movie does away with all that crap and puts Neeson into the hot seat of a Formula 1 vehicle, with the car’s bumper replaced with knives & weapons and the accelerator glued to the floor.

Bryan and nails. You will not forget this scene.

There’s only a select few movies of this caliber out there in the world, and sad to say, I can count them on one hand right now: Transporter, Dawn of the Dead, The Bourne Identity and District B13 are on the same level of quality and action. If I’m not mistaken, all of these movies except Dawn of the Dead are made by European directors and companies, and are all based in European cities. It’s time for Hollywood to stop making their shitty action movies and learn from the pros for once. Taken is a prime example that an action movie can have several scenes (car chases, gun fights, martial arts, boats, explosions, social engineering, hostage rescuing, torture, etc.) stitched together in a logical flow that add value to the overall feel of the film. I predict the movie to be a great hit when it comes out next week. Go see it!