Tech Friday: Wyze Cams satisfy my gadget addiction

Posted By on November 18, 2022

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My older Canary Cams are still working but will eventually be retired as lower priced and higher quality Wyze Cams and Wyze Cam3s have SolarWyzeCam_Oct2022become the “go to” products to fill my gadget WyzeCam3ProImageaddiction.

On Wednesday a male cardinal trigger one of my cams and it reminded me to check on my subscription, re-read the promotional email announcing the new Wyze Cam v3 Pro and to include Drew’s new Wyze Solar Panel powered outdoor Wyze Cam.

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Excellent Barron’s article on tax-lost harvesting strategies

Posted By on November 17, 2022

In Barron’s Magazine (11/10/2022), there was an excellent article by BarronsAdvisorLogoKaren Hube on “How to Use This Year’s Market Tumble to Reduce Your Tax Bill.” The read is helpful for those contemplating a way to use their losses to offset what they may have sold … or using the “market tumble” as a way to book losses this year that can be used going forward.

Personally, the article is just something I wanted to archive since it also mentioned the current difference in how crypto losses are handled vs regulated equities.

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This year’s market mayhem could shave your tax bill for years to come.

With just weeks to go, 2022 is poised for steep negative annual returns in both stocks and bonds, a correlated collapse that has occurred only twice since 1926—in 1931 and 1969. So far, stocks are down by 22% and bonds by 15%, and adding to this year’s drubbing is a more-than 50% decline in the values of major cryptocurrencies.

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Learning the phonetic alphabet at a young age

Posted By on November 16, 2022

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While talking with an aviation (and space) acquaintance on Twitter earlier this week, I mentioned that while playing “old-school” Battleship with my granddaughter, that whiskeyI was teaching her the phonetic alphabet (military, aviation, nautical, amateur radio, etc). Thankfully while playing the game, we only made it to “K” since the grid on the game only goes to “J” … and I started to get concerned if I really should be teaching a 5-1/2 year old about “W” … or what her teacher and parents might think! HA!

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Our family together for Dave Schneider’s Celebration of Life

Posted By on November 15, 2022

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Music Monday: “Make Your Own Kind of Music” – Cass Elliot

Posted By on November 14, 2022

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Archive: Promedica CEO Retirement and Succession Plan

Posted By on November 13, 2022

A little family hospital businessand related news to archive … as Randy Oostra (my daughter’s father-in-law) announced his retirement last month. It was something we knew was coming (mentioned to me in September), but was no doubt one of those decisions that a successful career driven person does not take lightly. I can only relate to making business and personal decisions based on when I sold the production side of my business in NE Ohio years ago … but as it sometimes is, the timing and business environment is right (for me it was the “ink on paper” business declining).

The retirement decision was probably right for Randy a few years ago, but then came COVID19. Hopefully the pandemic is now in the past … and considering Promedica has had a succession plan in place, the timing does seem right (PR release).

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• Arturo Polizzi appointed chief executive officer effective November 1, 2022

• Randy Oostra announces plan to retire after 25 years of service at ProMedica

TOLEDO, Ohio, October 28, 2022 – ProMedica today announced that its board of directors has unanimously confirmed that Arturo Polizzi will serve as ProMedica’s next chief executive officer, starting on November 1, 2022. Randy Oostra made the decision to retire after 25 years with the organization. Over the past six months, Mr. Oostra has worked closely with Mr. Polizzi to prepare him for the chief executive officer role and help ensure a smooth transition in leadership.

While Mr. Oostra had discussions about retirement and succession planning with the board prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, he chose to hold off when the unprecedented public health issue arose. Leading the organization through the uncertainty and challenges of the pandemic became his top priority.

With the pandemic more under control now, he is moving forward with his retirement plan. His last day at ProMedica will be October 31, 2022.

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A crazy week post midterm election and for the stock market

Posted By on November 12, 2022

Well … the hopeful political “red wave” did not happen (at least from a conservative perspective). If we are to be generous, it could be viewed as a “small ripple” … but the results of the election as of this post are not fully counted even yet. Does that seem odd in our evolved and digitally advanced world? votecountingI think something is seriously wrong in a few of our states when it comes to their election laws … considering much larger states can count ballots by the end of election day?

Nevertheless, the Republicans did gain House seats and seemed to hold their ground in the Senate, at least until Georgia’s runoff election … since neither Raphael Warnock (D) or Herschel Walker (R) were able to garner the majority vote. From my perspective, I can only hope Georgians come to their senses and elect a Republican will help stop President Biden and his administration’s hard push to the political left. They have every intention to grow government in both size and power. The have more progressive policies that we’ve ever seen and are outright hostile toward those who voice their objection to this leftist push. If two years of higher and higher inflation, more spending, increased crime and a less secure border … and WORLD … isn’t enough to convince Americans we are a on the wrong track … I’m increasingly pessimistic for our nation’s future.

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Election news aside, Thursday’s CPI numbers (graph above) seemed to indicate that inflation is no longer going up. Instead of an over 8% inflation number, it was “only” 7.7% (cough, cough).  This is good news for investors who are hoping that the Federal Reserve “might” slow down the pace of their aggressive interest rate hikes. When lenders are asking more than 7% on home loans, higher interest car loans for autos make them too expensive to buy and middle-class workers find credit cards borrowing and rates so high that they can’t pay them off. Borrowers are balking when it comes to borrowing to buy both big and small ticket items (including groceries and gasoline — of course this is the Fed’s plan to cool the economy). Hopefully the powers that be at the helm, can balance this “too hot but not too cool” economy and prevent a deep recession?

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Back to investors … on Thursday they liked the lower inflation number. Some have been waiting for a bottom in the stock market since it has sold off significantly this year … and don’t even get me started on crypto and those woes. Anyway the market rose on Thursday, sputtered a bit on Friday (expected after a strong day) and if all the stars have aligned, it is possible that at least we in the U.S. have found a bottom. Who really knows if we’ll stay here or if money will make it’s way back into stocks and the economy can find some solid ground?

Remembering Lt. Frederick Howard on this Veterans Day

Posted By on November 11, 2022

Although there are many who serve or served our country we can think about on this Veterans Day, I’ve opted to reflect on my late father-in-law, Frederick Howard, who navigated B-26 bombers over Europe in World War II. He was definitely part of the “Greatest Generation” and volunteered immediately when he came of age and answered our nation’s calling.

He join the U.S. Army Air Corp (becoming the U.S. Air Force in 1947) and was trained as a navigator. He was part of the 397th Bombardment Group and initially stationed in the UK flying 56 missions and seeing the war to the end. He shared a few memorable stories, but chose to reflect often on the questionable flights (getting lost, etc) at the war’s end. A tweet highlighting WWII B-26 pilot Jack Collier triggered my thinking and having to double check the B26/A26 (they are different) specs.

So today, I’m honoring him and the “Bridge Busters” he served with on the twin-engined B-26 Martin Marauders. I’ll attach a photo with a Martin B-26 description from Wikipedia.
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Progress on Katelyn and Drew’s house and 1995 #TBT

Posted By on November 10, 2022

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OostraSubflooring221102In keeping with the desultory and archiving nature of MyDesultoryBlog, here are a couple construction progress photo of Katelyn and Drew’s new house in NW Ohio. One with the first floor “sticks” going up and the other just the subflooring. Katelyn also sent me a walk-thru video from their property (narrated by my oldest granddaughter) that was reminiscent of our home building back in 1995 in Cincinnati (photos below).

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Nice night in SW Ohio, but not in South Florida

Posted By on November 9, 2022

It was a clear, still night to take a walk around the neighborhood, but not so much on the east coast of Florida. I can’t help but pay attention to the wind, rain and surge associated with Hurricane Nicole as it comes ashore tonight. Tomorrow will tell the tale.

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog