My First Iron Condor Trade - Lessons Learned

3 December, 2019 | Options trading | 38 seen

This article has been in the blog's draft section for a couple of months and as it still bears some useful information I decided to publish as it is with little comments at the end.

On August 13, 2019 I made my first Iron Condor trade - I sold following IC SPY AUG 14'19 294 / 284 / 293 / 283.5 @ 0.51

This trade was with a 1 day to expiration (DTE), I collected 51 USD from this trade, and paid in fees 9.6 USD (Interactive Broker charges each direction, and Iron Condor consists from 4 legs - 2 puts and 2 calls)

Opening Iron Condor trade Interactive Brokers

Everything seemed good, except market quickly moved against me and SPY reached 293 just some 15 minutes after I entered this trade, and here I started to make mistakes - I decided to open one more Iron condor trade for August 16.

In parallel, my 13-month-old baby asked for attention, and I made a serious mistake - I entered second trade without double-checking the numbers, instead of opening second iron condor with 3 DTE - I closed some positions from the first one and at the end, I was left with something like two…

Nergiz Restaurant in Baku

28 November, 2019 | Restaurant reviews | 29 seen

Nergiz restaurant is located on Fountain Square in Baku, this places serves typical Azerbaijani cuisine and let me name it as of the best Baku restaurants. 

Discovered in early August, during my birthday trip to Baku. 

Just like another excellent Baku restaurant Dolma, Nergiz also is located in a basement. 

Dolma at Nergiz restaurant

If there is a reason to visit Azerbaijan, then it's because of Dolma. The best Dolma I've tried so far. And I love Dolma.

Kebab at restaurant Nergiz

Delicious. We spent here good time ordering traditional pilaf, dolma, sweets and homemade lemonades (compot)

Traditional Azerbaijani sweets

Orio al Serio (Bergamo) International Airport

23 November, 2019 | Airports | 14 seen

Orio al Serio International Airport (IATA: BGY, ICAO: LIME), officially also known as Il Caravaggio International Airport, is the third busiest international airport in Italy.

The airport is located in the municipal territory of Orio al Serio, 3.7 km (2.3 mi) southeast of Bergamo in Italy. The airport is 45 km (28 mi) north-east of Milan, where it operates alongside Malpensa Airport and Linate Airport, the city's other two primary airports.

In 2018, airport served almost 13 million passengers

The airport is a hub for the low-cost Ryanair Avio carrier, and that's how we got here actually -  I had a chance to travel to the Bergamo airport in November 2019 flying with Ryanair from Tbilisi (Georgia)

The airport is called Milan-Bergamo by several airlines and it is managed by SACBO, a company partially owned by SEA – Aeroporti di Milano, the operator of Linate and Malpensa airports. SEA, the company that runs the latter two airports, also holds a 31% stake in SACBO. It is named "Il Caravaggio…

Gino Paradise Water Park in Tbilisi

16 November, 2019 | Tourism objects | 93 seen

Gino Paradise is a multifunctional water park located in Tbilisi near Tbilisi sea. At the complex, there is located a grand aqua park and unique relaxation wellness center, fitness hall and catering objects.

Gino Paradise is one of the most recommended places to visit with kids.

Tbilisi for kids (17 Places to Visit)

First discovered already a couple of years ago, while cycling to Tbilisi sea, but visited for the first time at the end of September 2019 together with our little baby girl.

One time visit for adult cost GEL 40, and it includes pretty much great stuff, a multi-pass is also available.

Gino Paradise Water Park in Tbilisi

The best of all - Gino Paradise is four seasons resort! GINO Paradise is one of the large scaled water centers with many attractions in the Eastern Europe, and the only one in South Caucasus, 31 meters toboggan and closed and open pools GINO Paradise also includes Tbilisi Sea coastal zone and offers full comfort to the customers. Coastal zone is equipped with chaise longue, umbrellas, different attractions, dressing room and showers.

GINO Spa Center offers you relaxation, aroma and…

Weekend trip to Dedoplis Tskaro and nearby vicinity

9 November, 2019 | Travel guides | 14 seen

This is a round-up post from a very easy weekend trip to Dedoplis Tskaro and the nearby vicinity. We did this trip the end of June 2019, traveling by car.

It was actually Summer Solstice if other years we had a large fire and amazing sunset photography, or at least a grill on Tbilisi apartments balcony, then this year it was completely different.

Originally it was planned to visit only lavender fields at Nukriani lavender, but then we extended this route to Dedoplis Tskaro, from here on we decided to find some local lake to take a swim while searching for one, the car malfunctioned and it was a question will we be able to get even back to Tbilisi this night. After having an unexpected stop at an interesting picnic area near the highway we booked a 5-star hotel and had a lovely morning swim there.

October 2019 Dividend Income Report - $201.36

6 November, 2019 | Investments | 20 seen

Welcome to the thirty (#30) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks and peer to peer lending in October 2019.

Wow, thirty income reports so far, that's a quite impressive track of the record, covering more than 2 years of dividend income.

Last October, just like September, we spent in Georgia, some relatives visited us and we made a nice day trip to the Kazbegi in Georgia at the start of October

Gergeti church in Georgia

The last October was quite OK in terms of passive income. At the end of the month, I have collected $201.36 from dividend stocks and Mintos peer to peer lending platform.  Compared to the previous October in 2018, that is a growth of 19.09% (+$32.09). The growth could be better, but as long as there is a growth on a yearly basis I will take it

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to mintos.com peer to peer lending and deribit.com options trading websites, by clicking on links on this page and by making investment mintos.com or derbit.…

Ambassadori Kachreti Golf Resort

2 November, 2019 | Hotel reviews | 12 seen

Located in Kachreti village, some 75 km from nations capital Tbilisi this 5-star hotel offers a tennis court and air-conditioned rooms with a flat-screen TV.

We booked a night here, returning from Dedoplis Tskaro at the end of June 2019. We paid just $80 for a night here, the fee included free pool visits, which was awesome and our baby girl enjoyed a lot.

Ambassadori Kachreti Golf Resort 

Guests of the hotel can relax beside the outdoor swimming pool, or work out in the fitness centre. Table tennis, billiards and a tennis court can also be found on site.

Hotel room

Each room at Hotel Ambasadori in Kachreti includes a classic-style interior and a minibar. Slippers are provided in the bathrooms.

Cottage houses at Ambassadori Kachreti Golf Resort

Not sure are they part of the hotel complex or are sold separately.

Free Wi-Fi and a private winery are featured at this hotel

The Ambasadori’s restaurant with exposed wooden beams and stone decorations serves Georgian cuisine. Local wines and international drinks are offered at the on-site bar. 

How To Count Duplicates in Google Spreadsheets (COUNTIF)

1 November, 2019 | Servers | 55 seen

I've been using Google Spreadsheets literally for everything that can be counted or measured (dividend income, stock trades, body weight and so on). 

And so did when I decided to build an option trading journal I built it using Google Spreadsheets.

Everything good here, except I decided to count how many trades there have been, how many are open, how many are closed, how many are winning, how many are losing and based on that make a simple calculation to figure out what is my winning rate

Here is the final result:

Win ratio calculation using Google Spreadsheets

COUNTIF is a relatively basic Google Sheets function that counts cells that include numbers or text based on a specified condition. The syntax is simple; you only need to provide a cell range and criterion for which cells to count. You can enter the COUNTIF function in the fx bar with the syntax: `=COUNTIF(range, criterion)`. Source: How To Count Duplicates in Google Sheets

Spreadsheet setup

• Column L - Trade status (open/closed)
• Column M - Winner / Loser

Now to make count…

Baku Old City

31 October, 2019 | Tourism objects | 37 seen

Old City or Inner City is the historic core of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

The Old City is the most ancient part of Baku, which is surrounded by walls which were easily defended. The Old City of Baku, including the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and Maiden Tower, became the first location in Azerbaijan to be classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

We visited Baku in early August 2019 to discover Baku Old city and many other goodies of Azerbaijan.

Maiden Tower in Baku

The Maiden Tower is a 12th-century monument in the Old City, Baku, Azerbaijan.

Along with the Shirvanshahs' Palace, dated to the 15th century, it forms a group of historic monuments listed in 2001 under the UNESCO World Heritage List of Historical Monuments as cultural property, Category III. It is one of Azerbaijan's most distinctive national emblems, and is thus featured on Azeri currency notes and official letterheads.

Baku Old town

In the background the famous Flame Towers of Baku. There is actually located…

Picnic Area - Vashlovani National Park 32 km

26 October, 2019 | Tourism objects | 10 seen

This picnic area is located on the crossroads before Chalaubani  - the Tsnori - Dedoplitskaro-Kvemi Kedi​ road.

We made here a stop after our car malfunctioned while offroad driving trying to reach Patara Tba near Dedoplis Tskaro and it happened so, that at this crossroad car just stopped - now we let it cool for a couple of hours and tried to enjoy our time here (wish we had some barbecue with us back then)

As we have been in constant searches for good picnic areas in Georgia, I'm listing it here

Picnic area near the road

The place is well maintained, benches, chairs and tables are available. 

Next time will take some charcoal, grill and of course meat to grill when heading this part of Georgia.

Maiden Tower in Baku

24 October, 2019 | Tourism objects | 19 seen

The Maiden Tower is a 12th-century monument in the Old City, Baku, Azerbaijan.

Along with the Shirvanshahs' Palace, dated to the 15th century, it forms a group of historic monuments listed in 2001 under the UNESCO World Heritage List of Historical Monuments as cultural property, Category III. It is one of Azerbaijan's most distinctive national emblems, and is thus featured on Azeri currency notes and official letterheads.

We visited Baku in early August 2019 to discover Maidan tower at the start of the Old Town near the Boulevard. 

Maidan tower in Baku

The Maiden Tower houses a museum, which presents the story of historic evolution of the Baku city. It also has a gift shop. The view from the roof takes in the alleys and minarets of the Old City, the Baku Boulevard, the De Gaulle house and a wide vista of the Baku Bay. In recent years, the brazier on the top has been lit during the nights of the Novruz festival.

Baku's Maiden Tower is a legendary place and world-famous landmark in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan. The Tower is…

Top 20 Gaming Laptops with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 8GB Graphics card

21 October, 2019 | Laptop Reviews | 122 seen

RTX 2070 graphics card is from the GeForce 20 series, a  family of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia.

Serving as the successor to the GeForce 10 series, the 20 series marked the introduction of Nvidia's Turing microarchitecture, and the first generation of RTX cards, the first in the industry to implement realtime hardware ray tracing in a consumer product. On July 2, 2019, the GeForce RTX Super line of cards was announced, which comprises higher-spec versions of the 2060, 2070 and 2080. In a departure from Nvidia's usual strategy, the 20 series doesn't have an entry level range, leaving it to the 16 series to cover this segment of the market. 

In today's article, I've listed the top 20 gaming laptops powered with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 8GB graphics card available on Amazon

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This article contains affiliate links to Amazon.com, by clicking on links on this page and by making a purchase on Amazon site, I will earn an affiliate…

Patara Tba near Dedoplis Tskaro

19 October, 2019 | Lakes | 27 seen

Patara Tba or Little lake is located near the town of Dedoplis Tskaro in the region on Kakheti, Georgia.

We tried to visit this lake at the end of June 2019 but as the road heading here turned into an offroad turned our car back - as a rule of thumb in Georgia - once you are of from the main highway - the road turns into offroad. 

Off road driving in Georgia

Patara Tba from distance

Yanar Dag / Burning Mountain in Azerbaijan

17 October, 2019 | Tourism objects | 32 seen

Yanar Dag literally meaning "burning mountain" is a natural gas fire which blazes continuously on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula on the Caspian Sea near Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

Flames could jet into the air 3 meters (9.8 ft) from a thin, porous sandstone layer.

I had a chance to visit Yanar Dag for the first in August 2019, during a weekend trip to Baku. To get here we ordered a taxi from Bolt and paid about AZN 20 for a roundtrip from our hotel room at Flame towers and back to the old town.

 Once on the site, I had to pay 9 AZN / ~ 5USD, but local can enjoy the entrance for just 2 AZN . ~ 1USD (VISA card is accepted here) to enter the territory. 

Yanar Dag in Azerbaijan

A good place to take a selfie, right? 

Unlike mud volcanoes, the Yanar Dag flame burns fairly steadily, as it involves a steady seep of gas from the subsurface. It is claimed that the Yanar Dag flame was only noted when accidentally lit by a shepherd in the 1950s. There is no seepage of mud or liquid, which distinguishes it from the nearby mud volcanoes of Lökbatan…

Monadire Dedoplis Tskaro Restaurant

12 October, 2019 | Restaurant reviews | 17 seen

Monadire is a small roadside restaurant located in the town of Dedoplis Tskaro, we made a stop here at the end of June during our explorations in the area.

The places look bit abandoned or not well maintained, but despite first looks - the place is quite good. They may not have all ingredients on-site, but they will figure it out to go to the nearby hop to buy missing ingredients.

As we learned-  Monadire means hunter. The places serve typical Georgian cuisine. 

Ostri and salads

Despite the overall feeling was that the place is bit abandoned and we were the only guests, the meal was good

Monadire restaurant in Dedoplis Tsaro