Good news for New Orleans turned out to be bad news for energy stocks – at least the ones I had virtual positions on. I had been looking for a signal that my options would start going up, but after today it became obvious it was time to dump them.

Ah well, such is learning. I just hope people with real money in the game read it better than I did.

On the positive side, GOOG went up a little today which could still save my DEC 520 Call. Or at least not make it so bad. I'm trying out their new Chrome browser and I'm liking it – but I would like it even more if RoboForm worked with it. I have hundreds of username and password combinations to keep track of and RoboForm saves me from the bookkeeping of all that.

So other than getting out of energy, what else is on deck?

Speaking of DECK, I tried to get in on a virtual option position overnight, but set my price too low. DECK opened this morning above yesterday's close and kept going up, so my order didn't trigger. There could still be room to get the 120 call, but I'm still thinking on that one.

MEE is an energy company in the coal sector. The whole sector has been going down for a couple of months now, and this particular stock looks like it just bounced off the top end of a downward trend. Worth a look for a $55 put.

Another put position I'm looking at is with TRA. They make nitrogen products and the fertilizer sector has been heading down. TRA just gapped a drop to $46.96 so I think I'll buy a virtual put on this at $45 as it looks like support may be just below that.

It's getting late as I write this – there are more to go through on my watch list, but my eyes are starting to cross.

On To Politics and Family

If you follow politics at all, you will no doubt have heard that the Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin has been picked to be John McCain's running mate. There's been quite a lot of emphasis on her family life and accomplishments as woman with a young family – 5 kids, the youngest is a Down's syndrome baby just a few months old.

It's great that she has accomplished as much as she has, but part of what bugs me about the coverage is that she is made out to be an über woman who has done it all by herself.

I would be very surprised if that were the case.

If she is an active working professional taking on entrenched Alaskan politics then must have significant help on the home front. And I would venture to say that much of that help comes from her husband.

But do we hear about that?

Nope – and I see it as yet another case of the dad's role in taking care of kids and the household being minimized. Ladies, if you want more time and support to follow professional lives, then give some credit to the husbands and fathers who are taking on their own non-traditional roles and fighting a set of stereotypes and prejudices that have yet to show up on the mass media radar.