Saturday, January 2, 2010

The Weekend Trader - Ten Million Steps

The following is a excerpt from Jeff Rennicke's review of the book, Ten Million Steps, as written in 2001:

On New Year's Day 1998, M.J. Eberhart began a ten-month, northward odyssey that would take the 60-year old retired doctor along the length of a continent and deep into his own soul. The story is a roller coaster of geography, a whiplash of emotions. In other words, it is a true account of a real hike along the Florida Trail, up the Appalachian Trail, and finally along the International Appalachian Trail into Quebec.

Some hiking books play up the good days and gloss over the bad. Not this one. It's all here: the sore legs, the rain, the doubts, the sunshine, the friendship of other hikers bearning trail names like Skookum, Yettle, and Old Goat. We witness Eberhart's pain and joy, as well as his physical and spiritual transformation in a collection of journal entries that feel so fresh it seems like we're peeking over Eberhart's shoulder as he scribbles away.

-- Jeff Rennicke

And so twelve years to the day after the beginning of M.J.'s journey, I find myself packing up camp and restarting my own trading journey ... a journey that after great reflection I've decided will also consist of -- you guessed it -- a total of ten million steps. Ten million reflecting my main trading account's target account balance, or roughly four times an amount that I've set aside for this journey.

In some ways, this journey will be different from recent travels -- such as the 2008 race documented in these pages that spilled into 2009 -- in that there will be no published timetable for completion, aside from an internal one which I've chosen for now to keep private. Suffice it to say that I consider it to be aggressive, yet it spans multiple years which will keep me busy for "a while".

For this time, I expect there will be a combination of sprints, marathons, and periods of rest to briefly enjoy life's passing scenery (yes, my wife does want that trip to the Greek Isles for our 25th anniversary this fall) or to help others find their way. There will also undoubtedly be storms and sludges of mud which will slow and set the journey back at times.

Yet as was the case during my previous travels, this journey will be serious and aggressive in its own way. For I've decided I need to keep moving forward and pursue even greater heights of this industry, or in the words of Andy Dufresne, get busy living instead of getting busy dying:



And so it's time for me to plan a much longer journey, while adjusting my sights and moving the decimal point to the right.

And when all is said and done, I would hope that if Mr. Rennicke ever came across the last 18 months of blog entries, as well as any of the still-unwritten future text, his review would go something like:

Some trading blogs play up the good days and gloss over the bad. Not this one. It's all here: the sore legs, the rain, the doubts, the sunshine, the friendship of other traders bearing trail names like Ziad, Danny, Kevin, and O.T. We witness Miller's pain and joy, as well as his physical and spiritual transformation in a collection of journal entries that feel so fresh it seems like we're peeking over Miller's shoulder as he scribbles away.

God-willing, I'll make it to my destination while continuing to share portions of the experience along the way in the hope that it inspires others.

It's time to lace up life again.

It's time to head toward Zihuatanejo.