The Dow gained 54 points today on good volume. Advance/declines were positive but not by much. The OEX puts I bought yesterday got stopped out for a loss of 45%. It's not as bad as it sounds since there wasn't a lot of money involved. I would love to be short here if there was some time left but the options only have a day to go. The inflation data was benign. Gold was down a couple of bucks today but the XAU got slammed. Down over 5 points. It moved in sympathy with oil which lost over 2 bucks. Interesting. I am keeping an eye on the gold shares here. I will be getting long gold when it sells off here. I'll be going out to January or perhaps even February. The NEM calls that I wanted got crushed. Sometimes the sidelines are the place to be. There really wasn't a good signal there. The key here will be when everybody else doesn't want it, buy it. Mentally I'm not feeling so down after the loss in the OEX. It was small and I am executing the proper tactics that I have implemented after the huge loss in September. I have been able to stick to the rules and that is a positive. I'm a bit tired from having to get up early but that's part of the process. It is really now time to come up with some strategies for December and beyond. The holiday week will be slow so I guess it's time to relax for a while.