My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on November 13, 2022

A little family hospital business … and 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).

• 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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Category: Archive, Business, Friends, News, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: drew, family, katelyn, press release, promedica, randy oostra, retirement

Posted By RichC 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? I 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.

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?

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?

Category: Financial, News, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: charts, cpi, dow jones, election, georgia, inflation, investing, red wave, stock market, voting, walker, warnock

Posted By RichC 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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Category: Aviation, Holiday, Memories, Millitary, Personal, Photos, Social Media | No Comments »
Tags: air force, fred howard, greatest generation, jack collier, twitter, us air corp, veterans day, ww2, wwii

Posted By RichC on November 10, 2022

In 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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Category: Archive, Memories, Personal, Photos, TBT | No Comments »
Tags: 1995, 2022, building, cincinnati, construction, desultory, homebuilding, houses, ohio, whitehouse

Posted By RichC 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.

Category: Personal, Photography, Photos, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: florida, hurricane, moon, nicole, ohio

Posted By RichC on November 9, 2022

Skywatching and politics have little in common, unless one is stretching for a to put the two together in a morning after a November midterm election blog post.

In the early Tuesday morning  hours, before the election polls opened, the Blood “Red” Moon was being photographed and viewed by skywatchers — often referred to at the Beaver Moon (photo from 11/8/2022). The semi-expected “shellacking” by most of us who have been disappointed with President Biden and Democrats these past two years, did not happen. From the President’s failed (and still failing) foreign policy to zero border enforcement, from the Democrat’s soft on crime to anti fossil fuel directives and trillions of dollars of wasteful government spending,  to the misguided prediction of inflation being transitory coming out of an extended pandemic shutdown and the continued cheerleading for more Federal Reserve easy money policies … it gave us a weak economy and runaway inflation.  The Federal Reserve Chair’s goal of a “soft landing” looks unlikely as historically, inflation is tamped down by only by a recession or two (fun, fun, fun). So much for monetary policy from the Fed and the big-spenders in Washington DC working together. Yet with the poor leadership and outcome mentioned above, voters in A LOT states still elected and re-elected Democrats to represent them. It all leave me wondering how bad things will need to get before people rethink their political choices?

Control of the U.S. House and Senate was still up in the air Wednesday morning, as states across the country tallied votes in neck-and-neck midterm election races.

A set of close contests will determine whether Democrats keep their slim majorities in the House and Senate, or if Republicans will seize control of one or both chambers of the legislature.

As of 8:30AM on 11/9/2022

BUT negativity on my part aside … a new day is upon us as Republicans did gain seats in the House and elected conservative leadership in my home state of Ohio and clearly in our vacation state of Florida. The deeply divided Congress (reflective of our country) should give political types something to bicker about for the next couple of years. About the only real solution that fiscally responsible leadership in the House can  withhold money and stop the excessive spending which exacerbates inflation and the pain felt by everyone. Americans are sure to remain divided, until they realize who they elect fuels the economic pain (and speaking of ‘divide’ – hang on, it will get bumpy).

For now, all we citizens can do is to be responsible and live within our “dwindling” means … something Washington DC is not really very good at doing.

EDIT: 11/09/2022 at noon – We still don’t know enough …

Category: News, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: astronomy, beaver moon, blood moon, democrat, divided, elections, federal reserve, government, Politics, red wave, republican

Posted By RichC on November 8, 2022

The hurricane tracking cone is a little squirrelly, but SubTropical Storm Nicole does look at if it will hit the Bahamas as a hurricane and likely from our recent experience of enjoying the “WARM” water on South Florida’s Atlantic beaches (a couple of photos below the break from earlier this month).

As of Tuesday afternoon 11/8, it does look as if Nicole will be packing hurricane force winds when making a Florida landfall. Stay tuned (oh … and be sure to vote today!)
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Category: Personal, Photos, Travel, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: bahamas, delray beach, florida, hurricane, nicole, tropical storm

Posted By RichC on November 7, 2022

If there is one thing palpable in America, it is that Americans are worried about their country and our future. Ever since the COVID19 pandemic began and particularly since President Biden took office in 2020 … hard working, freedom-loving citizens in our country have watched their liberty and prosperity eroded. There is both concern and unrest in our nation … let’s do something about it.

Hopefully, tomorrow we will see a “red wave” of voters go to the polls and change the direction our country seems to be headed. I’ll acknowledge that just picking the “R” candidate doesn’t guarantee that we’ll halt the “big government knows best” march we’ve been on, but at least it will be a start. If there is one thing most U.S. citizens still have in common be they Democrat, Independent or Republican, it is that they appreciate personal freedom.

There was a time that being a political “liberal” meant protecting people from an overbearing government (today’s progressive liberals – Democrats – have lost their way). The primary philosophy of liberalism was to “enhance the freedom of the individual” and it was central to the political doctrine (see John Locke – 1632-1704). Unfortunately over the centuries, we’ve allowed governments to grow so large and excused their bloat, deeming it necessary in order “to protect individuals from being harmed by others.” Now government itself poses a threat to liberty, not to mention the bureaucrats in office desiring to maintain and enhance their power and authority over the masses.

As you go to the polls on Tuesday November 8, 2022, ponder which political party, issues and candidates enhance individual freedom and will protect those values as they manage the affairs of your community, city, state and country. There’s nothing wrong with “right-sizing” government and restricting just how heavy handed bureaucrats are when it come to authoritarian control over citizens.

Category: History, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: america, election, freedom, government, john locke, liberalism, liberty, Politics, voting

Posted By RichC on November 7, 2022

This content is restricted.

Category: Idioms, Music | No Comments »
Tags: album, best of, dan seals, idiom, idioms, john coley, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, youtube

Posted By RichC on November 6, 2022

Although I have yet to open the individual components … the L-O-N-G awaited MagFast “premium charging” kit has finally arrived.

The new magnetically connected kit is not yet fully complete as there are still a couple components that will be shipped later. This will probably be the last pre-purchased product I purchase after losing my deposit on the Elio and waiting an eternity for Magfast with delays from product development to Covid shutdowns, Chinese manufacturing and shipping problems. Still, with the positive experience from the ThingCharger (below left).
 

WyzeCam3 image making Brenda shuffle her car around my yardwork equipment 

While typing Saturday night for Sunday mornings post, I sit uncomfortably sore from working in the yard on SIX trailer loads of leaves (on top of the three that I hauled in October). The power was out for a while from what I assumed was from the wind (it was a nice windy day) , but since I was working outside, it didn’t really matter, although Brenda headed out to go shopping. Tonight I am looking forward to gaining an extra hour of sleep (clocks fall back) after watching World Series game 6 in my office (TV below). Currently there is no score with the Astros leading the Phillies 3 games to 2 in the series.

Although I’m pulling for Houston, I really don’t have a dog in the fight – but since a Philadelphia team won in 1929 and 1930 (the Athletics … it did welcome in the first Black Monday and the Great Depression). 

Then in my era, the Phillies won in 1980 (Iran hostage crisis and the energy crisis with double-digit inflation – scary familiar!) and then finally Katelyn and Taylor’s lifetime, during the Phillies Golden era, they won the World Series in 2008 (I’ll credit them with the Great Recession – HA!)

So just call me superstitious for cheering on the Houston Astros to win the World Series again!

EDIT 11/6/2022:
ASTROS WIN 2022 WORLD SERIES, SOLIDIFYING THEIR STATUS AS A DYNASTY

Category: Gadget, History, Personal, Photos, Shopping, Sports, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: astros, athletics, houston, leaves, magfast, philadelphia, phillies, power out, raking, superstition, thingcharger, wyzecam3, yardwork