Crazy day today. I'm working on a lot of little things and watching the market.

• I'm working on a complete revamping of my business website. My business works mostly on referrals, so I haven't ever thought about this much, but I really should have one even if it's only a few simple pages. Building from a fairly nice template, but the content is what's getting me.

  I can come up with dozens of anecdotes and stories to tell about my work and what I bring to the table. But summing them up into a few simple pages is turning out to be more of a challenge than I expected. My focus has changed somewhat since I started and bringing that new context to the pages is forcing me to rethink what I'm actually selling. I got so frustrated with this yesterday that I decided to skip a networking meeting this morning so I could refine my pitch before I botch it in front of fifty people.

• I've been getting lots of postcards and letters from real estate agents in Miami. Actually,they're addressed to the former resident of this place, who pretty much dropped off the face of the earth when he left here. (Some suspect he went back to Europe. Others have suggested that he had "pharmaceutical" issues of some sort. Nobody knows.)

  In any case, from what I've been able to tell, he's been trying to sell his Miami condo. Unsuccessfully. Last year, the card were all from agents anxious for the listing. This year they're all from agents noting that his listing has expired from the Miami MLS, and offering their "specialty" services in disposing of properties that are not selling well. The latest one was from a vulture who is offering to trade the condo (presumably at a very low valuation) for income-producing commercial real estate (presumably at a high valuation). Why the title on this condo still lists my address is unknown.

  I suspect things in the hot markets have not gotten as bad as they will. I'm waiting for the foreclosure notice.

• Apparently Miami Beach is also having a problem with receding sand, and there is no easy solution in sight.
• Not much new to say about the markets. We'll know more about hedge fund redemptions tomorrow and it'll be interesting to see if the selling is taking place in advance of expected redemptions, or if the redemption requests will trigger more selling. In any case, virtually impossible to game it right now. I'm doing very little. Sold a bit of the silver position in my IRA because I'm increasingly concerned about deflation and a further wave of selling everything, and added a bit of Korea Fund (NYSE:KF), but it's a tiny position.
• I do not believe that the Fed is going to loosen unless things get a lot worse. The Fed quite clearly is intent on crushing speculation in all markets. Until or unless the political pressure gets big enough to demand otherwise, I think they'll stay in that mode. Ultimately the economy will benefit far more than they would from a more accomodative policy, but it could be a painful second half.
• Caution is still the only reasonable strategy.

-btc