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Hi folks...
"What were you doing in the markets during the past 36 hours?" you ask??
We've talked a few times lately about the need for backup plans and redundent
systems. I know at times some of us sound like fanatics, but you might find this
interesting:
Yesterday noon, [Wednesday], I was answering several emails while waiting for my
broker to call me back to check my morning trades. I had open positions in seven
unrelated markets and six were very nicely in the black. I was in the process of
paring back my grain positions before Friday morning's grain reports. After
finishing a lengthy email reply, just as I tried to send the email, I noticed my
internet connection had been disconnected. I redieled my internet provider, and
lo and behold, a pesky little box came say, 'There is no dial tone.' Now, every
once in a while, my non-server box does some dtrange things, so I simply
rebooted the box and tried it again. Again, no dial tone...
So I checked the connections on the phone cables--Yes, everything was ok. So i
switched phone lines[I have six incoming phone lines in my trading room, three
come from one trunk line and three come in on the other side of my property,
from a different trunk line]. Again, same problem. I began to feel a little
nervous. I picked up my phone and no dial tone there as well. Now I was
worrying. I left the trading room and tried one of the other phone lines in the
house--No dial tones. Apparently, something was really wrong with the phone
lines in the area.
No problem! I'll just grab my cellular phone and check with my broker about my
existing orders. I opened the cell phone, hit the power button and waited for
the green service light to go on...and waited, and waited and waited. I went
downstairs where my wife was relaxing and she asked what was wrong. I explained
I couldn't get a dial tone and then told her I couldn't get a clear cell for my
cellular phone either. She reminded me that the village we live in had agreed to
allow the cellular tower that services the area we live in to be replaced and so
the cell towers along the forest we live in were out of service through the
weekend. No cell phones and now no land lines either. Uh oh.
I took the cell phone and went down the road until I got near the expressway and
then opened my cell phone and it worked fine. I parked and called my broker and
got the details on my orders, then called the Ameritech phone repair people.
They told me a major phone cable near me had been cut and that I could be
without phone service until Friday. I was furious! Friday? Why couldn't they get
to it today? It was just 1 PM!
So...the moral to the story is: be prepared, and still expect that there will
problems that you haven't prepared for.
I hope all of you fared well in these volatile markets. I was able to watch but
unable to do much besides make sure the positions I had on were the ones I
wanted through the weekend. I know some of you are waiting for replies to emails
you sent me--I only have about 256 emails to read and try to catch up on. And of
course, now I do have one phone line [out of six] that's up and usable--Of
course, I have to use that for trading, getting faxes and collecting data.
Best,
Tim Morge
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