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The inability to effectively communicate simply doesn't work when you are trying to practice law. I was soon forced to close my law practice and lost virtually everything I had, including my marriage.

At that point I was depressed, lost and had no idea what I was going to do with my life. Luckily, I had a small disability insurance policy through the state bar association so I could pay my rent and buy food. But things looked pretty darn bleak.

Because I felt so isolated and had plenty of free time, the just-emerging world of the Internet caught my attention. I signed up for some of the early services such as Prodigy and Compuserve and began exploring what they had to offer. One day, I stumbled across the stock market discussion boards on Prodigy and my life began to change.

What I found particularly interesting were the emotions and psychology involved as people discussed ways to make money in the market. This wasn't about analyzing financial statements and studying financials, like I was taught in business school.

It was about understanding the feelings and emotions that drove investors to sell and buy various stocks. I found the whole thing fascinating, and here were hundreds of people to help provide some clues as to the emotions surrounding various stocks.