Arrival of Books from Amazon!

Sorry for MIA for this whole month. After F1, life just seems fallen back to a series of boring, lifeless and routine schedule. Everyday just waiting for things to happen.. Weekend is my most active period for the week. Juggling between long run in the morning and evening work till mid night, was so exhausting. Sunday had become more like a recovery day for me (provided no schedule for work)

When life gets so meaningless, i began obsess with Facebook-ing and online shopping. Went on a shopping spree in Amazon on a few business books to add onto my shelves. Was disappointed that not all are hard cover.

This should be my sequence of reading:

Living Rich By Spending Smart (Paper Back): Gregory Karp
How You Can Profit From Credit Card (Paper Back): Curtis E. Arnold
Discover Your Inner Economist: Paper (Paper Back): Tyler Cowen
The Economic Naturist: Robert H Frank
- Common Sense Principles For Troubled Times
- Why Economic Explains Almost Everything
- In Search Of Explanation For Everyday Enigmas

About to the finish the Living Rich By Spending Smart. Damn why no such writer/ column in our local Newspaper?! Ok.. i know of the Investment Column which is available on Sunday Times. So much tips and ideas on how to spend less (*note: it is not save more, they are the different meanings). After I'm finish with this book, i will definitely write something on it.

I'm still considering whether to start of with "How you can profit with your credit card". Although it is quite a practical book similar to Living Rich by Spending Smart". However, on my current state of not having any credit card ( i have 1 debit card), its not useful to read it now. Maybe by the time i finish all the Econs book, by then i should be doing job searching. Getting a credit card and learning how to 'use' it will be more relevant.

Discover your inner economist by Tyler Cowen. Was attracted to its title at first. Noticed its writer seems familiar, somewhere i heard/seen before (don't misunderstood for some classic pick up line used on ladies). Google and wiki for his name, noticed that he has some link with Tim Harford the author for "Undercover Economist"

Lastly, The Economic Naturist. Seen his book in major bookstores. Turned out that this writer already had a few book published. So might as well just ordered all his series. Was disappointed that the book, "Why Economic Explains Almost Everything" is PAPERBACK whereas all his others are Hardcover. Cant seem to find it online.

Recently had a chat with my junior in Secondary School whom read business books also. Exchanged a few titles but not really keen in borrowing to read. Find that its quite an achievement to see my collection of books increasing by the months. Same for him. haha!


Start Reading again
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Dear Mr Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1269 Miles from Wall Street

Book author is Janet Tavakoli.

I cant really give a book review for this book, as i don't know how to start penning my thoughts..

A total of 14 chapters with first 2 chapters more on introduction and some background information and last chapter for conclusion.

Issues she touches on, are the contributing factors to the more recent sub prime crisis (2008). Housing bubble in U.S, Bad Mortgage Loan, Securitize Bonds with Inaccurate Ratings, Acts of Major Financial Institute. More insights which gave me more understanding to the Sub Prime Crisis. More names and financial institutes mentioned of their greedy acts and ignoring of her warning.

Somehow find that this book turned out to be her ranting spot (on those who didn't heed her advices) and prising (3 leg in hokkien) for Mr Buffett. Thou i don't know their relationship in the financial circle. I find that the amount of time & effort, she use to praise Buffett is making me uncomfortable.

As mention in previous post that i find that the content is out of my reach. However, as i moved on, i find that her logical and clear of explaining, makes the reading more interesting. Although there are many big names mention, but i didn't bother to wiki on them.

So whats next? Finished all the books on hand. Now waiting for the arrival of the 6 books which i ordered from Amazon. So excited!! hoho! A sneak preview of what i got, 4 economic related books and 2 on how to spend money and how to use credit card.


1 year worth of books to read
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Oakley Portfolio | eBay Bidding System

Had 'dumped' in quite a large sum of money into buying Oakley from eBay

Here are the list of item bought:

18 Aug: Oakley Radar Path Black
18 Aug: Oakley Radar Path Black (fake)
29 Aug: Oakley Radar Path Black (fake)
05 Sep: Oakley Jawbone LiveStrong
15 Sep: Oakley Zero Cobalt Blue (cracked)
03 Oct: Oakley Jawbone Matt Black
03 Oct: Oakley Jawbone Atomic Orange
04 Oct: Oakley Zero Cobalt Blue
06 Oct: Oakley Radar Path White, Asian Fit
*Range from cheapest 70+USD - 150+USD

Feeling rather bold recently as received much of my pay from F1 and 3 weeks worth of back pay from Capalla. Hence more willing to take up much risk in purchasing these items online. I would say the largest and most frequent purchases made with eBay.

Left: Bidding List, Right: Won List

Felt abit 'wealthy' and fingers abit itchy. I went to bid on every Jawbone i saw. Placing my desired maximum bid and left all of them untouched till end of auction (left picture) and results i had is on the right picture.

Based on my projection. I should still be able to make more than 10% profit after including the losses i made from the 2 fake radars and cracked zero. Really a petty and regretted getting one of the Oakley Radar, as refunding is impossible. While I had recovered the funds for one of them, now settling a new type of conflict i facing in eBay, Defect Goods. Will talk about more in my future post on eBay Buyers' Protection Scheme, which i think is really helpful to buyers like me!

***** eBay Bidding System*****

Moving on to my next topic in this post, eBay Bidding System. This is to answer to few of my friends frustration over losing the item due to few cents/dollars and the need for frequent monitoring. Both questions can be answered with the same answer, Automatic Bidding.

e.g. Oakley Sunglass. Starting Price at $1. Increment of $1
Buyer 1: Placed a max bid of $100. Price of Sunglass is now at $1
*Why? Buyer 1 is currently highest bidder for the sunglass at $1
Buyer 2: Placed max bid of $50. Price of Sunglass is now at $51
*Why? Buyer 1 had outbid Buyer 2 by $1 (thanks to auto bidding, $50+$1)
Buyer 2: Increased his max bid to $100. Price of Sunglass is now at $100, Buyer 1 is still highest bidder.
*Why? Priority will be given to first bidder who made the highest bid of that amount.
**Note: Noticed that when placed at $50, the highest bid is $51. But placed at $100, highest bid is $100. This tells the Buyer 2 that he had reached the same bidding price at Buyer 1. Open Secret

So now you know why you are always outbid just by a dollar or even a cent! And with the help of Auto Bidder, all you need is place you maximum bid. Hence reducing the need to keep monitoring as once outbid, they will send you an email.


Eye of Oakleys
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