Matt's Positions as of September 2

The stock market is the definition of fair-weather friend. I looked to be ready to post a modest but reasonable gain for August, when suddenly a week's worth of weirdness took away some $4000 of my portfolio's value.

Anyway, here's the positions as of September 2.

AAPL:
Long 3 SEP08 145/150/185/190 Iron Condor
Short 3 SEP08 185/190 Vertical Call Spread
Short 5 OCT08 155/160 Vertical Put Spread
Long 2 JAN10 150 LEAP

AEMD:
Long 5000 shares

BIDU:
Short 1 SEP08 380/390 Vertical Call Spread

FSLR:
Short 1 SEP08 250/260 Vertical Put Spread

GME:
Short 2 SEP08 35/45 Vertical Put Spread

GOOG:
Long 1 SEP08 460/480/510/520 Iron Condor

RIG:
Short 1 SEP08 120/130 Vertical Put Spread
Short 4 SEP08 125/130 Vertical Put Spread
Short 5 OCT08 115/120 Vertical Put Spread
Long 2 NOV08 120 Calls

RIMM:
Long 2 OCT08 125/130 Strangle

SLV:
Long 400 shares

SPY:
Long 5 SEP08 123/124/131/132 Iron Condor
Short 3 SEP08 123/124 Vertical Put Spread
Short 2 OCT08 120/125 Vertical Put Spread

UA:
Short 2 SEP08 30/40 Vertical Call Spread

USO:
Short 2 SEP08 91/93 Vertical Put Spread

XLF:
Short 2 SEP08 22/24 Vertical Call Spread

This month profit (loss): (5.93%)
Year-to-date profit (loss): (5.85%)

This month's strategy:

1. Greater focus in fewer positions. I'm too spread out. I was trying some new things, but they backfired on me quite a bit.
2. Trade indicators on Rule #1 stocks. I need to construct positions that I can exit if the indicators turn to sell. This leads to:
3. Favor even-numbered positions, so I can close out half if I'm wondering if it is time to exit.
4. When buying options, always buy at least six months out. I'm getting beaten up on what would otherwise be potentially good strategies because I'm not paying attention to my time frames.
5. When there is nothing left to do, trade SPY. Don't try to force trades or enter into additional positions.