Year end

Time to close out 2013 and one of the most appropriate ways to do it is w/via of the biggest memes of the year, here's the Harlem Shake open outcry style:



I don't know who put the vid together but thought it was pretty funny.  The footage was a mix from the movie Floored, some stock footage and also from the PBS movie Open Outcry which, kinda ironically, filmed me learning handsignals in 1999 (I'm on the far left). 

The typical way trading floors closed out the year was tossing up as much paper as they could on the final bell and someone recently uploaded the last 22 minutes of the close from December 31, 1999 in the CBOT bond room.  Was interesting to see how that day was celebrated as I left the prior day to crowd into Times Square to ring in Y2K and wasn't on the floor. 



In the new year I'm planning a couple additional roll outs for the website, in particular a book notes page, but nothing will happen too fast as my primary side project is dropping a new engine into my 79 VW bus.  

Launch

photo credit wikipedia

It's finally time to light this candle, blow the pyrotechnic fasteners and hope that this launch is more Saturn V than Vanguard TV3....the book is finally ready for purchase. 

Rather than wait for everything to be perfect, I wanted to put out the link to the distributor's cart where it can be ordered for $30 plus $4 standard shipping in the US.  Currently we aren't distributing outside the US but we hope to get that worked out later and if you really, really need a copy and live outside the US then email me (tradingpithistory 'at' gmail.com) and I'll see what I can do. 

The printer, iocolor, is also serving as the exclusive distributor so the book can only be purchased here:  iocolor bookstore order link

Also, I should note that the distributor should've already received the books and hopefully today is the day it happens.  No idea why it's taken this long to go from the dock to the facility but it's outta my control.  If you do choose to order the book and have any comments on the ordering process, etc... let me know because iocolor is trying to make the process smoother.

Again, for those who like to read books electronically or live too far away to get a print book, there is an Apple iOS ebook which can be bought in the iTunes store and read on the iBooks app for $8.99:  Apple iTunes order link

We're in the process of doing some website housekeeping as well and hope to do various improvements as it's been years since I've bothered to touchup the main site.  I'm also excited to have recently seen someone else create another trading pit historical project which is a couple weeks from launch but can't share details on it yet.