iBrianEarley {dot} com
Reviews of Movies, Games, Books, and Things I Enjoy

I didn’t have much success at either investing money or putting some away this month. There were two birthdays in September that raised my credit card bill a bit higher than normal, I renewed my subscription to Xbox Live, and I bought Halo 3: ODST.

I might be buying an LCD TV soon, because the power button on our old school TV in the living room, was pushed in and no longer functions. We’ve been leaving it on so we don’t have to struggle with turning it on and off. No, we don’t have a remote for it. It’s a perfect excuse for me to finally get an HDTV. I definitely won’t be saving up much in the next month or so.

The holiday season is going to be more of the same with little to be saved, and much to be spent. I’m looking forward to the holidays, but my pocketbook isn’t.

$1,876.88 Total Income

$1,800.00 Monthly Pay Checks
$1.58 Checking Account Interest
$0.01 Savings Account Interest
$17.80 Dividends ($53.40 / qtr.)
$57.69 Prosper Loans

$1,224.97 Total Expenses

$188.00 School Loans
$192.00 Car Payment
$450.00 Food & Utilities
$100.00 Gas
$82.00 Cell Phone
$50.00 Entertainment
$130.00 Insurance
$32.97 Personal Loan

$652.25 Net Monthly Cash Flow
$77.08 Passive Income
6.29% Passive Income % of Expenses

$5,521.45 Total Assets

$473.86 Checking Account
$7.61Savings
$108.96 Scottrade Account
$24.20 Prosper Account
$14.80 ChaCha Account
$9.05 Paypal Account
$46.62 OneSeason Account
$3,285.93 in Stock
$1,119.76 Loans on Prosper

$22,166.90 Total Liabilities

$12940.91 School Loans
$7871.05 Car Loan
$779.77Credit Card
$575.17 Prosper Loan

-$16,645.45 Net Worth

Important Info: Fantasy Portfolio traded on Wall Street Survivor using principles learned from Jim Cramer’s Action Alert Plus.

S&P 500 at Year Start- $903.25
S&P 500 at End of Week – $1,036.18
S&P 500 Point Gain – +$132.93
S&P 500 Percent Gain – +14.72%

Portfolio at Year Start – $104,435.54
Portfolio at Week End – $128,129.09
Portfolio Total Gain – +$23,693.55
Portfolio Percent Gain – +22.69%

Transactions

None

Dividends Paid

10/28 $105.00 from 100 Shares of KMP at $1.05 per Share

Important Info: Fantasy Portfolio traded on Wall Street Survivor using principles learned from Jim Cramer’s Action Alert Plus.

S&P 500 at Year Start- $903.25
S&P 500 at End of Week – $1,079.60
S&P 500 Point Gain – +$176.35
S&P 500 Percent Gain – +19.52%

Portfolio at Year Start – $104,435.54
Portfolio at Week End – $134,203.01
Portfolio Total Gain – +$29,767.47
Portfolio Percent Gain – +28.50%

Transactions

10/20 Buy 50 Shares of AAPL at $199.61
10/22 Buy 100 Shares of CAT at $57.32
10/22 Buy 100 Shares of HD at $26.28

Dividends Paid

10/22 $105.00 from 250 Shares of CAT at $0.42 per Share

This week, I took on another sports game I have not played in some years. I believe it could be in contention for game of the year, if only my pick for game of the year. The game: NHL 10. This game looks beautiful and the new gameplay features keep you engaged and make you feel like you are actually part of a real hockey game.

When you put the disc in for the first time, you get to create a player card that shows your stats as a user and rates you based on those stats. I found that interesting, kind of like the old EA Sports games where you had a career total for your user. You can also take a picture later on in the middle of a game and use that for your player card instead.

After you create your card, you learn how to play the game from the basics of shooting to playing defense. At times, I found it difficult to keep myself from accidentally shooting the puck while I was trying to deke, because they are both controlled by the same stick. You definitely need to have good coordination to play this game.

Two new features to the NHL games are the board plays and first person fighting. The board plays make this game a whole lot more fun for me, because you finally get to shove somebody into the boards and pin them there while you try poking the puck away. This was a feature that was a long time coming, and slows the gameplay down a little bit so you aren’t constantly passing for a one-timer or just taking the puck coast to coast for a wrap-around goal or something similar.

Then, there are the first person fights. This was also a little difficult for me to figure out, but it is of course a hockey fight and you are tangled up pretty good trying to get off your punches. Another great addition though.

This is definitely one of my favorite games of the year so far. I only rented it for a couple of days, but I am probably going to buy it in the next day or two when I can play it more on the weekend.