Posted By RichC on January 1, 2023
I would like to wish everyone visiting MyDesultoryBlog.com a Happy and Healthy New Year … and after seeing this “black ice” social media shared video from last months deadly winter storm … safe traveling in 2023. Whew … very frightening.
Posted By RichC on December 31, 2022
If you were filling your tank, paying to keep the lights on or buying groceries (or shopping for nearly everything) … 2022 has been a struggle. If you were saving for college or retirement, it was also very painful. Will 2023 be a continuation or a painful recession … or is there a chance inflation retreats and the stock market recovers?
With prices rising at the fastest pace in 40 years, the Federal Reserve and other central banks aggressively tightened monetary policy. The result was a painful series of interest-rate hikes that hammered stock valuations and raised fears of recession. That, in turn, fueled a selloff that claimed the technology sector darlings of the past decade as its greatest casualty.
The Dow has fallen less than 9% this year, protected by resilient value stocks in the index. But the S&P 500 has shed nearly 20% and the Nasdaq is down 33%. All three indexes fell into a bear market, although the Dow finished the year in bull territory.
It was the worst year for the stock market since 2008, with volatility to match: The S&P 500 saw 46 daily moves of 2% or more in either direction, the most since the 2008-09 financial crisis.
Full story on Barronsonline
Posted By RichC on December 30, 2022
Prior to 2022, I managed phone numbers and contacts on my iPhone poorly – perhaps “the wrong way.” Every year I created a new A/SPAM list of callers 
and emailers and self-managed these lists. Of course this didn’t stop callers or text messages from new unknown phone numbers. So I tried a couple of different blocking apps for the iPhone with questionable results. Eventually I did settle on using Truecaller … BUT it wasn’t and isn’t foolproof … nor did it really do the job all that well … especially when it came to managing all those new and old messages.
This past year I finally discovered a simpler and better way to manage as well as clean my contacts and pile of texts that were unwanted and part of the SPAM test message 
problem … and you might want to make it part of your 2023 New Year’s resolution? Thankfully it is pretty simple and included in the iPhone’s Message app settings – yet it isn’t often known by Apple iOS users.
Posted By RichC on December 29, 2022
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Posted By RichC on December 28, 2022
Here’s a tool tip that isn’t widely known:
If you need a little more screwdriver leverage … or your hands are slippery … check to see if a hex socket or wrench will fit on the handle of your screwdriver to give you a little additional torque (a 1” socket works for my standard Craftsman screwdriver). Just be sure you have enough down-pressure on the screwdrivers as with all the addition torque it is 
easy to strip out the fastener heads … be they straight blade or Philips heads.
In the past, I often would use an adjustable wrench to hold the straight blade (photo left) in order to bust loose a stubborn fastener, but I have also bent the tip of a screwdriver with all the additional torque. Also, in a pinch, you can use a set of channel lock pliers on the shaft or handles (use care) … but they can easily damage the plastic of your better tools … so beware when using any kind of plyers.
Posted By RichC on December 27, 2022
How many of us who have been trading stocks and investing for decades have ignored the wise advice about buying a stock as it drops? Chart watchers, and maybe investors who have favorite companies, often listen to the conflicting thought from brokers, financial advisors and TV talking heads. We ignore the lessons from our past and choose instead to follow favored corporate management or entrepreneurs and make the mistake of “trying to catch a falling knife” … or buying a stock as it drops.
Unfortunately I did the same last week, even knowing that year end tax loss selling was probably going to make things worse and ignoring the sage. I instead opted to use my Twitter $TWTR profit from Elon Musk’s crazy social media company buy and reinvested it in another Elon Musk company: Tesla $TSLA. Ugh, now I’m paying for not heeding the “falling knife” advice.
Will I now have to wait for Apple or Google to want a “real” car company?
Posted By RichC on December 26, 2022
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Posted By RichC on December 24, 2022
Jane Wells has been a reporter for CNBC (“Janie” as the late Mark Haines called her) that I’ve followed for years while watching business news channels (or should I have said, “is a ‘has-been’ reporter?” – hopefully a little humor that she would appreciate!). Anyway, I always smiled when watching her “quirky” stories 
and reporting … and even her brief Seinfeld TV sitcom appearance (Jane still mentions residual checks!)
This past year I’ve exchanged with her a bit more on Twitter (profile photo to right – do see what I mean, “quirky”), read her personal blog and now substack blog … and enjoyed some of her family life stories (hubinator, grandson, etc) … as well as her “Camino de Santiago” trek.
In 2020, during the COVID19 lockdown, she decided to work on another project that ended up … well, “quirky” …
I’ll insert below to define what I mean by the term since I’ve mentioned it three times above and don’t want the description to be taken derogatorily:
QUIRKY: “unusual in an attractive and interesting way.”
Back to the 2020 project …
Jane Wells decided that it would be fun to “retell the greatest story ever told” … The Christmas Story … “as if modern media and social media existed 2,000 years ago” (see “If Twitter Existed in 6AD"). So in 2020 with her kids 
encouragement, she started a Kickstarter campaign to hire actors and produced Top Story Tonight Podcasts to tell the story and since this is a Christmas Eve post, the two-part podcast will share them”
Be sure to check out the extras as worth listening to as well. Personally I’m planning to listen to the Easter series (trailer) next year as we celebrate our risen Lord – yes, I’m late to the game for these enjoyable podcasts.
Merry Christmas to all who are reading MyDesultoryBlog on Christmas Eve.
Posted By RichC on December 23, 2022
Brenda has struggled most of the year to find a replacement Oriental or Persian Rug for our Great Room after retiring our original rug to my office. 
In November, Katelyn connected her with “Donald,” the decorator she is using to help with their homebuilding, and after several Facetime calls finally decided on a VERY large and relatively muted rug. After a long drive down from Toledo in order to be here for our family Christmas, Donald and “his muscle” (as he called him) rolled out the new smelly pad (fresh rubber material?) and new rug. After some furniture tweaking and pondering, the result made Brenda very happy.
As the old adage goes, “Happy Wife, Happy Life” or if that is somewhat chauvinistic (?), how about the more contemporary, “Happy Spouse, Happy House?”
