Okay, this is my first recap of my stock picks from February 12, 2007. If you did read that post, here it is.

Stock Picks for February 12th

Basically, I am trying a strategy I learned at a seminar put on by StockScores. Tyler Bollhorn was the speaker and it was a very interesting look at technical analysis. I wrote another article on this strategy called StockScores and Analyzing Stock Picks. The basics are certain statistics being in the recommended zones and a good chart pattern. I wanted to prove this strategy for myself and try paper trading.

Recap of My Picks

If I sold everything from the 12th today I would have had an actual return of -2.6%. Read on to see why.

All my picks met the criteria of a StockScores Sentiment score of at least 60 and a Signal score of at least 80. These are two numbers calculated and provided free of charge by StockScores Analytics using there "secret" formula.

The first was THR on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). I said the stock looked like it was trending up. I purchased it at 11 cents and had a stop loss if it went below 9 cents.

Since Then: Last traded at 10 cents. It has gone as low as 9.5 cents but has not crossed the stop loss threshold. I would still be holding on to it and today it had a 72/69 Signal/Sentiment. It looks like it is ready to make a move in one direction in the near future.

Action: I'm going to hold onto it and we'll look at it again in the next review.

T.THR

Next up is HNT.UN on the TSX. It had recently broke through some resistance and things looked positive. I purchased at $2.74 and my stop loss was $2.40.

Since Then: It did get up to $2.80, but has gone back down to the $2.70 I purchased it at. The Signal/Sentiment is 63/67. It looks like it has leveled off for a bit after its burst through resistance.

Action: I will definitely hold this for a bit longer to see what happens.

T.HNT.UN

Now for RBO.UN. This trades on the TSX as well. It had broken through resistance on lots of volume just like a good stock is supposed to, so I had a buy at $9.35 and a stop loss at $9.00.

Since Then: It went a little bit higher after I purchased, but has slowly gone down since. Closed today at $9.10. Only 10 cents until my stop loss. The Signal/Sentiment has gone to 64/70 as well.

Action: Same as the rest so far. Hold on.

T.RBO.UN

Last is EMC on the TSX. It broke through resistance on a ton of volume on the 12th. I had a buy at $11.38 and the stop loss was $10.50.

Since Then: This has been the most interesting stock since then. It cleared $14 shortly after. It has dropped recently and is down to $13.05 as of today. This is still pretty good though (14.6% before commissions). However, what will happen next?

Action: Hmmm, this is a tough one. Can get out with money and feel like a real winner, right? Exit strategy was not taught by Tyler in the seminar. Signal/Sentiment is still 79/76, which is pretty respectable. I would be tempted to hang on, but it has dropped off pretty good of late. I am going to hold though. I think it has more room to grow.

T.EMC

Overall

Here are my overall numbers. We will assume I put $2,000 into each stock and paid $30 on commission when I bought and would pay the same if I sold. If I exited all my positions from the 12th today. Here are the numbers.

Stock	Purchased	Sold	Change	Profit After Commission
T.THR	$0.11	$0.10	-9.1%	-$241.82
T.HNT.UN	$2.74	$2.70	-1.5%	-$89.20
T.RBO.UN	$9.35	$9.10	-2.7%	-$113.48
T.EMC	$11.38	$13.05	14.7%	$233.50
Total			1.5%	-$210.99

Okay, before you scream out load. How is it possible I have negative profit but positive percentage change? Overall, my one gainer outweighed the three losers, but my commissions would eat into all those gains. With the puny little $2000 I am putting into these stocks, the commission eats up 3% of my initial purchase price. I calculate this by taking my stock costs (4 x $2,000 into each stock = $8,000) plus the commissions (4 x $60 = $240) for a total investment cost of $8,240 and dividing into it my gains/losses which are -$210.00. So my actual return is -2.6%

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My wife and I have booked our 2007 summer. We just finalized the detaisl yesterday. Very exciting.

We are doing the Russia and Beyond Basic Tour with Intrepid Travel and then 6 days in China at the end on our own. It is the trans-siberian tour that goes from Moscow, across Russia, through Mongolia, and finished in Beijing, China.

The tour includes your transportation, accomodation, tour guide, and that is it. It is more geared for the backpacker types. No activities are included. They have all the optional ones you can add for a price or you can just do you own thing in the time you have in each location. Activity prices range from $3 up to $30 US so it is quite resonable really.

We are looking for recommendations in China for 6 days while we are there as well. Keep in mind we will start in Beijing and need to end up back in Beijing. My initial plan is to se the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'ian, go to Nanjing, then Shanghai, and back to Beijing. We might cut out Nanjing if time is a problem. Overnight trains will be the mode of transportation, but we might pick up a flight from Beijing to Xi'an if we are short on time.

We fly from Calgary (YYC) to London (GTW), London (GTW) to Amsterdam (AMS), Amsterdam (AMS) to Moscow (SVO), and on the way home we fly fom Beijing (PEK) to Vancouver (YVR).

We were impressed with the ticket prices. We managed to keep it under $1700 a person. The trick was booking each flight seperately on Expedia and Travelocity. If you just punch in the beginning and end the prices were coming out at $5000 and up. It is also the same if you do the multi-location feature of their site. This is because they get you all on one ticket (associated airlines). This is helpful if you have problems, but we just pick longer layovers in each stop to make sure we have time to catch our next flight.

The tour itself was $2225, but we had a 5% discount so that knocked over a hundred off for us. There is also a $200 US local payment upon arrival and they recommmend $300 US for food.

All in all, we are expecing maximum $6,000 per person for the trip after we pay for everything and buy our souvenirs.

I will keep you up to date and post every single cost we have. It is really helpful to know what things cost when trying to do things yourself. I will be using and updating my Checklist for Traveling - The Ultimate guide.

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This is part of my recap series for stocks I selected based on the StockScores strategy. If you didn't read the original article, here it is.

Stock Picks for February 16th

I wrote another article on this strategy called StockScores and Analyzing Stock Picks. The basics are certain statistics being in the recommended zones and a good chart pattern. I wanted to prove this strategy for myself and try paper trading.

Recap of My Picks

If I sold everything from the 16th today I would have had an actual return of -14.6%. The markets have been brutal so read on to see why.

All my picks met the criteria of a StockScores Sentiment score of at least 60 and a Signal score of at least 80. These are two numbers calculated and provided free of charge by StockScores Analytics using there "secret" formula.

The first was ETG on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). It broke resistance. Bought at $2.03 and put in a stop loss at $1.75.

Since Then: Last traded at $1.60. Nothing but down.

Action: I would have sold at $1.75 and taken a loss on the position.

Where Did I Go Wrong? There was resistance in November at a little over $2.00. This could have limited the gains. I think the biggest problem with this stock in the short term was a small upside in comparison to the downside.

T.ETG

Next up is TTH on the TSX. It had recently broke through some resistance and had dropped. I thought it was a good opportunity to buy a correcting stock and then ride it farther up. Buy at $2.20 and stop at $2.00.

Since Then: It did go up to $2.30, but has since dropped to $1.88.

Action: It was sold. Another loss.

T.TTH

Now for PTM. This trades on the TSX as well. It was classic. Broke out on high volume. Buy at $2.98 and stop loss at $2.55.

Since Then: Big drop shortly after my buy, but not too my stop loss. It is down to $2.58 right now.

Action: Hold on, but keep a watchful eye.

T.PTM

Last is CPX on the TSX. Broke resistance on volume. Buy at $6.83 and sell at $6.00.

Since Then: It has slowly dropped since it's big spike. Trading today at $6.14.

Action: Hold on, hold on, hold on.

T.CPX

Overall

Here are my overall numbers. We will assume I put $2,000 into each stock and paid $30 on commission when I bought and would pay the same if I sold. If I exited all my positions from the 12th today. Here are the numbers.

Stock	Purchased	Sold	Change	Profit After Commission
T.ETG	$2.03	$1.75	-13.8%	-$335.86
T.TTH	$2.20	$2.00	-9.1%	-$241.82
T.PTM	$2.98	$2.58	-13.4%	-$328.46
T.CPX	$6.83	$6.14	-10.1%	-$292.05
Total			-11.6%	-$1168.19

What a brutal set of picks. For your information though, the market has been dismal the last couple days. There has been turmoil overseas and the DOW had its biggest one day drop since 911 five years. When I factor in my commissions I would suffer a loss of -14.6%. Also, I would have only held on to 2 of the stocks, so I would have the leftover money from the sales to enter into new positions in the future.

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Finding cheap flights when traveling is always an adventure. I have found a couple techniques work well for me. I recently booked tickets from Calgary to Moscow and I will show you the comparison of prices using the techniques there.

I personally use Expedia, Travelocity, EasyJet (Europe), the individual airlines' websites, and travel agents when trying to find the cheapest arrangements.

Local Tour Agents

I usually get together a rough itinerary for a travel agent and then email a number of the tour shops around my city. They should get back to you with quotes. If they don't, they don't want your business.

Go Online

Next it is time for online research. This is where I almost always find the cheapest filghts. Go to one of the sites I listed above or another one you have heard of.

Type in Your Start and End Destination

This is the worst thing you can do, but it is the easiest and will show you the worst price you are looking at. For Calgary (YYC) to Moscow (SVO) on July 10 2007, the cheapest quote on Expedia was $1,837. It was for Air Canada and Aeroflot-Russian Airlines.

Why is this so expensive? Expedia is going to book you all on one ticket. I'm not certain, but I think this can only be done through associated airlines. There are a couple positives to this.

1. If there are cancellations or other problems, they will make sure you get to your end point regardless. They airline you are on and the airline you will be connecting on will know your flight status and can sometimes even make arrangements for you before you land.
2. You do not have to pick up your checked luggage and re-check it in.

If you even want a bigger scare, do a round trip or multiple destination trip with your "going there flight" and your "coming home flight". My wife and I were going Calgary, Canada to Moscow, Russia and then Beijing, China to Calgary, Calgary. The tickets are over $3,200 now and were over $5,000 when we first looked a month ago.

Note: I am showing one way trips because of the nature of my trip. Try round trips on the online sites if that suits your needs. Then try each way of your round trip separately. Why? If there is more than 8 hours between your stopover or you will already be retrieving your checked luggage, there is no advantage to being on the same ticket. So booking a return ticket with the same company makes absolutely no sense unless it is cheaper. Find the cheapest round trip and then find the cheapest one way in each direction.

Break up the Flights Using Connection Cities

There are a million possibilities here, but you can start guessing based on your own knowledge of geography or by the stopovers you see in the previous list of "more expensive" flights.

Pick cities to go to that are large and will have large airports with a lot of flights to choose from. I usually look at London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Houston, Toronto, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Seoul, Tokyo, and Copenhagen (just for my Russia trip).

You will not have your flights on the same ticket so keep that in mind. This means you must retrieve your checked luggage and re-check it in. They will not compensate you for your missed connector necessarily (they will on flights all on the same ticket). I like to have at least 3 hours between international flights if possible.

I already did this for myself so I'm going to use the cheapest flights I found. I typed in Calgary (YYC) to London (LGW). I found a flight leaving the evening of July 10th, 2007 for $588 including taxes with Air Transat. It arrives the next morning and there is a flight 3 hours later going from London (LGW) to Amsterdam (AMS) with EasyJet for $59 including all taxes and fees. You arrive at 3:20PM, see a bit of Amsterdam, and stay the night in a hotel. The next day there is a flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Moscow (SVO) for $259 including taxes.

Result: Now it takes me longer and I have to stay in Amsterdam for a night. They total cost is $906 all taxes included. This is half the price of our original quote with Expedia. You are taking an extra day, but saving over $900 per person. I think that is worth the hassle really.

Go Back to the Travel Agents

No doubt, the travel agent will have quoted higher than this. Go back to them with your number and get their opinion. They might think the stopover is to short or something else. They should match it and try to get it all on the same ticket for you. If they can't, no biggie, just try and get them to match. Then you will have a travel agency that can help you if have any more problems.

A good one to try in Canada is Flight Centre. These guys will price match and then give a $10 discount per person for you. For a family of 4 that will give you $40 back on your trip to use for something else. Another one I have used it Travel Cuts

Conclusion

There is an order to which I have found the cheapest flights. I will list them from the most expensive to cheapest. I'm using my recent flight purchase example. I needed to fly from Calgary to Moscow and from Beijing to Vancouver.

1. Book a complete round trip online using only you starting and end destinations. This would be a round trip or using the multi-destination feature. i.e. Multi-destination flight of Calgary to Moscow and then Beijing to Vancouver. Both flights on the same ticket.
2. Book each part of the one-way online using just the start and end destinations. i.e. One ticket with Calgary to Moscow. One ticket from Beijing to Vancouver. This is the most expensive of the "no hassles" option. There is no reason for me to have both sections of my flights on the same ticket because they are almost a month apart and I will be retrieving my checked luggage.
3. Book through a travel agent. They will be doing number 2 on their own, but have better resources to look.
4. Book individual one ways flights on seperate tickets through connection cities to your final destination. i.e. Ticket from Calgary to London, ticket from Londong to Amsterdam, ticket from Amsterdam to Moscow, ticket from Beijing to Vancouver.

There are lot of other possibilities out there. If you know of other good techniques and good websites, post a comment and I will give you a link back.

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I just learned something new the other day. FlightCentre, a chain of travel shops in Canada, has a "Price Beat" promotion that is on all the time.

Basically, they guarantee to get all the flights you have found for a trip and match the price and then discount $10 per person for the booking.

My wife and I had found the cheapest prices we could get by looking on Travelocity, Expedia, and EasyJet. We were just about to book, but then remembered we would be charged $15 per flight if we wanted to be mailed a paper ticket. I called FlightCentre thinking they would at least match and we could get the paper ticket then, but they said they would match and give me back $10.

What a sweet deal. Now they were not able to get all the tickets as paper tickets, so I'll have to get away with the e-ticket online, but it still translates into around $40/person savings when there are a couple flights involved.

I was impressed that they would match the online shops as well. I just found the tickets I wanted and printed them off. When I walked in and handed them to an agent they just started working away. They called me an hour later and said I could come in and fill out the paperwork.

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I read about PayU2Blog on Dosh Dosh. It is basically a site that pays you $5 per link assignment they give you. A link assignment being to write a related article about an advertiser they have brought in and put one link to the advertiser's site.

It seems like a bit too much work, but I'm going to try it out for a bit. Encourages me to be a bit more creative when I write and try some things outside my comfort range.

The cool thing about it, is that is has helped me to a bit of research into products and get more of an awareness as to what is out there. My first assignment had me looking at diet supplements, paternity tests, bunk beds, HDMI cables, and vacation homes in Orlando. I do have an opinion and interest in a lot of things, so it has been interesting the first while.

A good point about the PayU2Blog guys is that they pay you every 2 weeks via Paypal. There is no threshold to pass. If you earn $5 then you will get paid $5. I will definitely keep you up to date on my progress and how they work.

If you have an tips or warnings, please leave a comment.

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Travel insurance is a must when you are leaving the country. A lot of countries require you have it to get in and so do a lot of tour companies. Plus it is just plain smart.

There are a number of different coverages you will need and sometimes your current plan will already provide it, but nonetheless, you need to look into it before you leave.

Personally, one of the cheapest and effective I have found is Travel Cuts. Originally a student travel service, they do provide coverage and services to anyone now. For my age bracket (25 to 34), I can get full coverage for a month overseas for $89. This is a lot cheaper than the other providers I have found.

Repatriation Insurance

Repatriation means returning to your country. If something bad happens and you need to be flown home due to injury or other circumstances, that is what this money is for. Most countries require it now if you are going there. So do a lot of tour operators.

Baggage

Exactly what it means. You lose you baggage and need to replace it when you get home or buy items on your trip that are necessary. If you are planning on checking luggage at all, you should get this.

Medical

Medical costs can be huge if you are in an accident, get sick, or suffer an injury from your own devices. You will want medical coverage with a decent limit (at least a million?) and a toll free number you can access from anywhere in the world.

Cancellation

This is coverage for cancelling your trip. Before you leave and during your trip. You can guage this amount by how much the non-refundable part of your trip is costing (flights, tours, and other deposits or services yet to be rendered).

Conclusion

Check over all these areas and make sure you are covered appropriately. If you know of good providers that are cheaper than Travel Cuts, let me know.

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A big question whenever you travel is, "Do I need a visa for the country?". This is ultimately answered by your own research, because it depends on your citizenship, the reason for your entry to the country, how many times you will exit and enter the country, and the length of your stay.

I am going to say what I have done for my trips. I am a Canadian and my reason for travel is always tourism. Th rules could have changed, but at least it gives you a heads up. Almost every country you can get your visa before you leave for your trip, but it takes time and money. It does let you know for sure that you will be okay when you go (unless it's Africa, but I'll talk about that below).

Please note, this is from my experience only. Contact the country's embassy for exact instructions.

My Passport Visa Experiences

Country	Year	Description
Cambodia	2004	I did need a visa, but I purchased mine when crossing the border from Thailand to Cambodia at a town called Poi Pet. It cost me $20US cash. I believe it was good for either 14 days or a month
China	2007	China requires Canadians to have visas. It was just over $50 and I could do it at the consulate in Calgary, where I live. It was processed within a couple of days.
Cuba	2005	Didn't need a visa. They don't even stamp your passport, because they want to encourage Americans to come without having the proof in their passport. You passport does need to be valid until at least one month after your planned departure date.
Ecuador	2005	Didn't need a visa, but I did need my yellow fever card when I went. It might have been for the Canadian government to let me back in, I'm not sure.
Egypt	2008	I picked up my visa at the airport in Cairo for a small amount of money. You have to buy it from one of the currency exchanges before you go through immigration.
Holland	2007	This is part of the European Union. No travel visa necessary for Canadians.
Jordan	2008	We took a hydrofoil from Nuweba, Egypt to Aqaba, Jordan and they issued us our visas for free on the boat while we boated across.
Kenya	2006	Need a visa and I bought it when I crossed into the country.
Malawi	2006	Visa is needed and you can get it at the border. However, they will hassle certain nationalities depending on the day and make it really inconvenient. When we went through it was the Polish, Swiss, and Austrians. The tour guide bribed them to let us even into the country and then we had to go sit in the capital for a whole day trying to get them a visa. Apparently the trip before us they picked on the Canadians.Note: We had people on our tour that had already purchased their visa before they left on their trip (Austrians) and they still wouldn't honour the visa. The government is corrupt so be prepared for anything.
Mongolia	2007	I required a visa which cost me over $80. It was processed rather quickly at the embassy in Ottawa, Canada.
Peru	2005	Didn't need a visa. Same yellow fever card was needed though.
Russia	2007	This is one of the more annoying ones. You have to have a letter of invitation to the country. This can be obtained by paying for one, booking at a hotel, or booking a tour. Once you have this, you can apply and I believe the fee was around $70. When you are there, if you stay in a city for more than 3 days you are supposed to register with the local police (tourist police I guess). This wasn't the case for me, so I'm not certain. It is also a good idea to keep your train stubs and photocopies of documents to present to tourist police if you are stopped. You are not required to hand over your originals, so don't. They can try to extort money from you.
South Korea	2004	I was only there for a short time, but didn't need a visa.
Syria	2008	I was told that this is one of the more annoying places to get a visa so I pre-purchased mine in Canada from the embassy for around $80. It was processed in around a week and a half at the embassy in Ottawa, which was nice.
Tanzania	2006	Need a visa and I bought it when I crossed into the country
Thailand	2004	Visa is free and you can get it at the airport if you going to be there less than 30 days. I was in the region for 2 months and wanted multiple entry so I went and paid around $40 to get my visa before I left. There is a Thai embassy in Calgary, where I live. When we were there, however, people would just leave the country for a week and come constantly to renew their free 30 day visa. Next time, I would just fly over and get one in the airport.
Turkey	2008	I crossed by land from Syria into Turkey and it cost me $70 or $80 (I can't remember). It was a bit of confusion at the border, but the taxi driver taking us across helped us get everything figured out. That was the standard rate for all the Canadians we were with. It was cheaper for the Americans.
United States	multiple years	No visa needed for Canadian citizens if you are traveling. You used to be able to drive across the border without a passport, but I believe that has changed. Best just to get one regardless, you need it for flights anyways.
Vietnam	2004	I was worried about this one the most. In Bangkok, I went to the Vietnamese embassy and got my visa for around $50US. You have to specify the days too and it is only good for a month. Anyhow, when I was in Phnom Penh, you could get them easily there from tour shops for less than what I paid. I don't know how easy it would be in Laos or what would happen if you just showed up at the border.
Zambia	2006	Visa is needed, but you can get it when you arrive in the airport. I was booked with a tour company so they waived the fee.

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I don't know if you have heard of FaceBook. It is a pretty cool online community. I was invited to join by a friend. I signed up and created my own account.

You can add a picture of yourself, maintain a photo album, writes notes, write on "your wall", and a variety of other information.

The coolest feature is that you can join "communities" and "groups" in FaceBook. These communities can be anything from common interest groups, your high school grad class, the town you were born in or are living in, and on and on and on. Whatever you can think of.

You can see other people in these groups and then add them as your friend. As your friends list grows, you might meet or find other people that will become your friend. You can view their information, photos, and writings on their wall. You can even add their activities to your own home page. When you log in, you can see interesting information that has changed about them right away and go view it.

I found a couple of friends I had not spoke to in years when I signed up. Definitely check it up. You can sign up here.

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John Chow is at it again. He has teamed up with 1234Pens.com to give away a Nintendo Wii. They will enter you in a contest if you will link to John with the keywords root of all evil, the original blog post on Chow's site about this contest, and link to 1234pens.com with the keywords promotional pens.

I don't know what he is trying to do, but if ends up at the top of Google for the "root of all evil" I will laugh. I can understand the other guys wanting to get some links for their business.

Well, all the power to Chow. He always has something interesting going on. Hope I can elevate my blog to a tenth of his level someday.

Update - 2007-03-17: Chow's site shows up number 4 for the Google search root of all evil.

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