My Desultory Blog

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? 😊 

Category: Financial, Local, Politics, Shopping | No Comments »
Tags: coffee, costco, grocery, inflation, sale, starbucks, tariffs

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. 

Category: Acura, Automotive, Tesla | No Comments »
Tags: acura, buying, cars, model 3, rdx, reparing, selling, tesla

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.
   

Category: Acura, Automotive, BMW, Diesel, Honda, Video | No Comments »
Tags: BMW, diesel, fuelly, garage, honda, model 3, mp4, odyssey, Rav4, tesla, toyota, wyze, x5 35d

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).

Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, TBT | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, family, katelyn, Photos, TBT, waterfall

Posted By RichC on September 24, 2025

Hopefully you didn’t read yesterday’s stressful day of dealing with the ongoing “repairs” for our 2002 Honda Odyssey? I now know why some people prefer to take their used cars into the dealership and trade them away for a new car. BUT .. another few hundred dollars later and I think the tire/strut/alignment problems are solved … at least I’m crossing my fingers. 

Since the tires on the van were relatively new (at least in my eyes), I complained a little bit to the Firestone repair shop. They were polite and sympathetic, but that didn’t really get me anywhere — 10K on tires is still wear in their eyes. So much for 65K mileage warranties — they’re just numbers.

I ended up purchase two “more” tires for the front, took the good one off and have it mounted as a full size “perfectly good” spare tire, IF I should ever need it. The two tires for $200 that Firestone was suppose to have in their facility from yesterday’s request, didn’t arrive, but of course nobody knew that until they already had the car on the rack (and I was gone). My option was to wait another day or go with two “better” (cough, cough) tires and get it done today for $300. Of course with the new tires on they could easily talk me into an alignment after pointing out it was off by quite a bit, but who knows? So add another $115 to the charge after a 15% discount. Cha-ching. 

All in all, this is the price of driving and stretching out the life of an older car … even a low mileage Honda. 

Category: Automotive, Honda, Repairs | No Comments »
Tags: firestone, honda, odyssey, repairs, tires

Posted By RichC on September 23, 2025

Don’t get me wrong, I love having an older Honda Odyssey as our Florida car. We leave it outside in the condo parking lot most of the time and the hot sun, tree sap and “sitting” do take their toll on cars (photo below from a couple years ago). So last year we decided to drive it back (as I have done for years) so we could haul a few bigger items back with us (like remodeling projects) and I thought I would take care of some overlooked maintenance on it while it was home.

Fast forward: As the drive south creeps closer … and after I postponed the entire summer what I thought would be a simple couple of updates, it gets a little more complicated. I put off replacing the front struts and waited until time grew too short to do it myself, unlikea the rear a couple years ago. Instead, I took it to a local franchised repair shop that I’ve used for minor things before (first mistake: it was not either of my favorites, Mr. Godwrench or Academic Automotive). Anyway when removing the front suspension parts, they broke a part (to be fair, it was rusty) and that required additional replacement parts and a higher bill than initially expected. It was also time to rotate the tires (replaced in 2021), one which has a slow leak and has been bothering me … so I asked them to take a look at it while they rebalanced them. They did and didn’t find anything unusual … but did they really look? As is custom, they dinged my credit card with all the extras, shop towels, disposal fees, etc. Irritating, but nothing unusual. Still irritating.

I then drove the car EXPECTING the ride to have improved, but there was a terrible shake when I hit 65 mph. Something wasn’t right. I had to wait to call them back until Monday and they indicated that it was likely due to rubber bushing that were degraded in a couple of the suspension parts that they did not replace … and quoted an additional $700 on top of the struts which were $1200. Yes .. steam came out of my ears. I explained to them that something likely wasn’t right when they balanced the tire and rotated them to the front. A blank nothing on the phone. Obviously they are only in business to replace more parts. 

So instead of taking it back to them, I took things into my own hands. I noticed that the suspected wheel they moved to the front had been balance with an excessive number or wheel weights … as if perhaps a wheel … or more likely a tire was bad. Unfortunately there is no way for me to check this in my home garage. I decided to take the morning off and headed down to Pick and Pay Junkyard with my battery powered Impact wrench. After paying the $2 to roam through the three old Odysseys they had listed, only one had wheels left. I pick up the best of the matching aluminum wheels with a halfway decent tire.

I swapped it out for the suspected bad front tire and crossed my fingers just to see. In my option, it seemed like a logical move — and it was a much smoother ride. The older unmatched tire and wheel (photo left)  smoothed things out … although it is not perfect. 

I’m hesitant to replace the old unmatched tire with the one that might have a leak (even if it is newer), but also dislike making the drive to Florida with a worn tire from the junkyard? The decision now is: Do I buy one more new tire to mix with those that have 15,000 mile on them or buy TWO new tires and put them on the front? The later sounds like the best solution … but I’m still not happy about the repair shop that put on the new struts.

(more…)

Category: Automotive, Honda, Repairs | No Comments »
Tags: frustration, honda, junkyard, maintenance, odyssey, repairs, struts, tires

Posted By RichC on September 22, 2025

Even those who didn’t know Charlie Kirk, now know who he was and the impact he had particularly on young college age students through his Turning Point USA organization. As an outspoken Christian, he has inspired young people to challenge the secular direction of our society and his assassination illustrates how deep the political and moral divide is in our country and world (my commentary last week).

For Music Monday this week, I wanted to include something that highlighted the emotions most decent Americans should have when people are assassinated for openly debating and sharing their views — violence and killing those you disagree with is not the answer.

During yesterday’s Memorial Service in Arizona (pre-posting this so the link may be dated) which saw huge crowds filling State Farm Stadium and the love and admiration from people lining up early for this 31 year old husband and father was palpable. Fellow citizens gathered with President Trump, VP Vance and many of our nation’s leaders at the memorial service to remember Charlie’s impactful life, but also to celebrate the amazing Godly direction he gave to so many searching young Americans who instinctively know something is messed up in our country. As always, music played a powerful role in helping us process our grief and is a way to honor Charlie’s memory.
 

Brenda and I heard the song “Like Charlie,” written and sung by Sarah Beth Terry and it was full of emotion. As Christians it gives us hope, yet for his wife Erika and their two children, the sadness brought us to tears. We also watched Charlie’s last interview on Saturday evening and thought how chilling is was to hear him to reference and quote Romans 8:28.

“One of my favorite verses though is Romans 8:28… it says that God works all things for good for those who love him. It’s very freeing and liberating… because we believe that when things can be really bad, God is working it for His good, His perfect and pleasing will.”

“It’s very liberating that God is working all things towards an ultimate good… I don’t have to be in charge of everything. There is a God and I am not him and I surrender to his will.”

Grab a tissue, folks.

Category: Audio, Faith, Human Interest, Music, News, Video | No Comments »
Tags: charlie kirk, like charlie, memorial service, music monday, musicmonday, sarah beth terry, turning point usa

Posted By RichC on September 21, 2025

What do you call a dog that is part Labrador Retriever, part Collie and part Dalmatian? 

A Colaberation. 😊

(photo assistance by Grok)

Category: AI, Art, Humor | No Comments »
Tags: artificial intelligence, colaberation, dogs, grok, Humor, joke

Posted By RichC on September 20, 2025

I saw a story being passed around on social media and because I enjoy Mike Rowe’s story telling AND tear drop campers short post made me smile (I could build one on my trailer someday?). Besides, it is a way to add some Markdown text to my hugo.brenich.com practice website and a link Mike’s Pretty Good Campers. 😉

Last week in Baltimore, Uber charged me $85 for a trip that usually costs $20. I looked into the way their “surge pricing” model actually works, and didn’t like what I learned. So today, after checking out of my hotel in Oklahoma, I called Lyft instead and was picked up by a guy named Mike. He was driving a red F-150. It was clearly a work truck, full of tools and lumber. I sat up front.

“How far to the airport,” I asked.
“Fifteen minutes,” he said. “You in a hurry?”
“Not really,” I said. “Are you?”
“Never.”

As we merged onto the highway and settled into the slow lane, I asked Mike if he was a carpenter in real life.
“Among other things,” he said.
“Jack of all trades?”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” he said. Back in the seventies, I was a plumber’s helper. Then I worked for a spell in the heating and air condition game.”
“How was that?,” I asked.
“Hot and cold,” he said.

I honestly couldn’t tell if he was making a joke or not. His voice had a classic midwestern drawl, and there was no expression on his face as he stared out the windshield.

(more…)

Category: Blogs, Human Interest, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: lyft, mike rowe, story, teardrop camper, trailer, uber

Posted By RichC on September 19, 2025

Artificial intelligence with Grok, Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc has been a real help for rookie computer and server problem-solvers like me. It may be one of the best ways to learn if you’re not in a classroom, have an experienced teacher or coworkers handy?

Occasionally I run into questions in “how to best use” AI. Should we start a new question or continue with old threads? How much does AI remember from previous conversations? Or “in my case” can we pickup where we left of with Linux server fixes on a later session … often days or longer from a first attempt.  Believe it or not, Grok (in this case) has an answer for that too:

Continuing the Thread vs. Starting a New One

• Continuing on this thread is fine and recommended, as it keeps all the context (e.g., the dos-* files, Apache configuration, Fail2Ban setup, and logrotate) in one place. This makes it easier to reference the previous steps, logs, and configurations we’ve discussed.
• Starting a new thread is also an option if you prefer a clean slate, but it won’t affect my ability to assist. I have memory of our entire conversation, including the details of your server setup, the dos-34.174.174.182 files, the empty module files, and the Apache error. I won’t forget where we are, as I can recall all relevant details across sessions.

Memory and Continuity

• I’ll retain the context of this conversation, including the ls -al outputs, the mod_evasive issues, and the Fail2Ban configuration, so we can seamlessly continue tomorrow. If you start a new thread, just mention that you’re picking up on the mod_evasive and dos-* issue, and I’ll connect the dots.
• If you want to ensure specific details are forgotten (e.g., sensitive logs), you can manage memory via the interface by clicking the book icon beneath a message and selecting the chat to forget. However, there’s no need to do this unless you have privacy concerns, as I’ll only use relevant details to assist you.

Category: AI, Computer, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: chatgpt, claude.ai, gemini, grok, linux, programming, server, tech friday, techfriday, update