Music Monday: Linda Ronstadt and “It’s So Easy” – live recording
Posted By RichC on October 6, 2025
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October’s harvest moon will light up the sky
Posted By RichC on October 5, 2025
The first super full moon of the year is coming soon, and will be a special one for those living in the Northern Hemisphere ‒ it will also be what is known as a “harvest moon.”
This visual spectacular will appear low on the horizon, making it ideal for taking pictures or just enjoying a brilliant fall evening sky, weather permitting, of course.According to Space.com, the Moon will reach full phase on Oct. 7 at 11:48 p.m. ET (8:48 p.m. PT) when it reaches the point in the sky opposite from the sun (180 degrees).
There will be three consecutive supermoons over the coming months:
- The Harvest supermoon on Oct. 7
- The Beaver supermoon on Nov. 5
- The Cold Supermoon on Dec. 4
Book: 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin is on my library hold even before being released
Posted By RichC on October 2, 2025
Likely, Andrew Ross Sorkin’s new book, “1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How it Shattered a Nation,” is not on my “must buy list,” but the Bloomberg pre-release review below (see archive.ph) has it sounding relevant and interesting. So like my buddy Jeff, I’ve put it on my library hold list and plan to discuss it over lunch, dinner or sitting on the back porch (a favorite thing to do).
What Andrew Ross Sorkin’s ‘1929’ Tells Us About Today’s Stock Market
Gary Sernovitz | 9/19/2025
There are two ways to read Andrew Ross Sorkin’s 1929, a new book on the stock market crash of that year. You can pop the popcorn and watch rich men twisting in the lies they tell themselves and others. Or you can read 1929 to match the stories Wall Street told itself then to those of today, a perversely fun project that Sorkin subtly leaves us to complete for ourselves. Both approaches are worthwhile. Neither will task your brain.
That’s because Sorkin, one of America’s highest-profile financial journalists — with twin seats at CNBC and the New York Times — does not seek to explain why the stock market fever rose and broke. It was FOMO plus debt. It’s almost always FOMO plus debt. Nor does he offer a counternarrative about how the mania could have been avoided. (“No matter how many warnings are issued or how many laws are written,” he writes, “people will find new ways to believe that the good times can last forever.”) He isn’t trying to explain the Great Depression, or whether the crash caused it.
Filler: Wrinkles, Grey Hair and Scars
Posted By RichC on October 1, 2025
Archiving a couple leftover September 2025 family photos
Posted By RichC on September 30, 2025
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Music Monday: Todd Rundgren and “Can We Still Be Friends”
Posted By RichC on September 29, 2025
Here’s a song from The Bridge on SiriusXM that I held onto from this summer; I was trying to decide if I really liked it or not and so decided to save it for a slow Music Monday (that would be today). 😉
That said, I do remember listening to Todd Rundgren from the late 1970s (college dorm life) and the song “Can We Still Be Friends” but it was not in my album or cassette tape collection. I didn’t even know his history with the rock band Nazz in the late 1960s or the band Utopia in the 1970s, but it doesn’t surprise me.
While looking for a live performance I ran across this one on YouTube with Daryl Hall. It is interesting to see what musicians do late in their careers.
Inflation is stubborn and most grocery prices are still too high
Posted By RichC on September 28, 2025
Even though I follow the business news closer than most, it is tough to predict exactly why prices continue to put financial stress on most families. Brenda and I are likely 
not going to starve, but our grocery bill is now higher then when we had more mouths to feed.
I’ve bellyached about inflation since prices shot up during the Biden administration and watched as their irresponsible government policies pitched every American family’s budget. Now that supposedly fiscally responsible Republicans are running things from Washington DC it is better, right? Hm … don’t answer that.
The big government and debt spending continues no matter who is in charge since nobody wants to cut back or even try to balance the budget; you would think it would be easy to at least go back to pre-Covid budgets and spending levels … which were still way out of wack in my opinion. This all leads me to worry about something other than the Fed’s money printing and weakening the value of the U.S. dollar further: Tariffs.
Personally I’m not a big fan of the Trump tariffs, but I do understand just how our trading partners have manipulated markets and taken advantage of the U.S. consumers for years. Instead of fairly trading with us they’ve restricted products for one reason of the other, added taxes and tariffs and protected their own workers (not in every case … but in way too many). This has lead to job losses and a hollowing out of the middle class in America over the years and we no long manufacture ask we once did. Instead have become increasingly reliant on foreign trade for essentials (noticed during Covid). How do we correct this besides renegotiating trade deals and using tools like tariffs? I don’t know, but the Trump administration has decided to use the tools that they have. In this case tariffs.
Brenda has noticing prices in the grocery store, especially on items we import to the United States. Nearly everything is higher and hasn’t really come down much, if any. A perfect example has been that of Coffee prices. Shockingly small bag of premium coffee we used to buy has gotten smaller, while the price has gone higher. The other day at Costco, Brenda found a bigger bag of premium Starbucks coffee on sale for a much, much lower than the Dunkin’ Donuts brand that we’ve been buying for years. So she bought a bag for me to try and it’s very good — even it if is from Starbucks. So she bought SIX more. Overkill? 😊
The week, or should I say month, for “dealing” with cars
Posted By RichC on September 27, 2025
Besides the frustration over getting our aging 2002 Honda Odyssey ready for a trip to Atlanta … and then hopefully to Florida … we’ve been moving forward on 
the selling of the 2010 Acura RDX and eventually taking possession of a 2019 Tesla Model 3.
What makes the Acura exchange nearly perfect is that the young 16 year old high school boy who will be driving the RDX is very excited (what young person wouldn’t). We were happy to see the family understand the few potential repairs ahead … and understanding that planning for a set of new tires before the snow flies would be wise (they are still good, but not perfect for a new driver in snow). The dad is a GE engineer and fully aware of all these things and clearly knows it will make for a great first car.
Onward and upward for us. We are looking forward with jitters over learning to manage a battery powered car. It’s a brave new world for us, but it sure is nice to know the owner (Drew) and how the Model 3 was cared for and charged … and who to ask “when” we have questions.
My 2010 BMW X5 35d is still a great looking and driving SUV
Posted By RichC on September 26, 2025
We’ve been talking about new cars or NEW USED cars lately while Brenda’s 2010 Acura RDX sat with a FOR SALE sign out by the rear fence. It was a great car for her and she loved the sporty performance and smaller size (like her RAV4). Currently she is driving the 2010 BMW X5 35d and she noticed that the miles were quite a bit higher on the X5 than her Acura — then the service light popped on while she was driving to an appointment – brakes again. I told her, don’t worry … even though I was a little irritated since I was dealing with the Honda Odyssey repairs.
In the meantime, Drew and I are working out the paperwork with Keysavvy on the used EV tax credit — thanks Drew for encouraging me to bring your 2019 Tesla Model 3 into our garage … for a little bit longer than a weekend!
Still, I love our BMW X5 and still can’t help admiring watching Brenda drive it down our driveway. I’m usually the one driving it, I don’t get to see it motoring along and it is still a satisfying older vehicle and ranks up there as one of my all time favorites.
Just a leftover photo from Katelyn to her Mom #TBT
Posted By RichC on September 25, 2025
The year escapes me at the moment … although with a little searching on the blog I found it: October 2008 at Letchworth State Park, NY.
This photo has been in my miscellaneous folder since August and while clearing it out wanted to archive a photo that made me smile for a ThrowBack Thursday #TBT. This photo was sent to Brenda on her birthday by Katelyn this year and it brings back great memories with her parents (click here are a few more photos).
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.