Another day another case of the doldrums.  We are really in a low volume malaise here as the Dow gained just 2 points.  The advance/declines were negative.  Not even a decent retail sales report could get things going today.  So this is the trading environment that we are faced with.  It could continue for the rest of August.  As I have said before, the sidelines are not a bad place to be for now.  Volatility tried to spike today but it wasn't much.  3 days left in the August option cycle.  GE was off a touch and the volume was light.  Nothing new to report here.  Gold fell again, down another $10 on the futures.  The US dollar was up just a tad.  The XAU fell a point.  ABX, GG and NEM all had fractional losses on light volume.  I still like the way the gold shares have held up here despite the recent sell-off in gold.  That should be bullish going forward.  Mentally I'm doing OK.  No need to force the issue here with regards to trading.  There aren't that many players out there.  Sometimes it is better to simply remain patient.  I believe that we are in one of those times now.  However the work still needs to be done on a daily basis and I will continue doing that of course.  The trading should get back to normal after Labor Day.