Annalyn’s imagination and critter ‘picture week’ at our house
Posted By RichC on June 11, 2021
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We celebrated Taylor’s 32nd Birthday in Cincinnati for dinner
Posted By RichC on June 10, 2021
We had a great time celebrating Taylor’s 32nd birthday last night after work at Pepp and Dolores restaurant in Cincinnati thanks to Megan. Brenda and I enjoyed 
arriving a little early and sitting at the bar talking with the bartender while sipping some Italian wine. We ended up 
discussing menu since she wasn’t overly busy. The restaurant opened December 2020 just before COVID19 shut them down, so it was nice to see the restaurant thriving and the staff back now that they are fully open again. It was a surprise to us that this was Megan and Taylor’s third time there. It seems they really enjoy the appetizers and have a pretty good handle on the menu.
Who knows when we are closing in on a stock market top?
Posted By RichC on June 9, 2021
When it comes to investing, I’m primarily a “value investor” who relies on fundamentals, but as for “trading,” which I have tinkered with for 30 years now, I’m an advocate self imposed rules and focusing on channel trading. Of course there are zillions of gurus boasting how they have perfected buy and sell signals, I continue to remain skeptical that any “trading system” is foolproof.
In other words, who really knows when it is time to buy and time to sell … or what kind of outside event will trigger the next crisis … or bailout will degrade our dollars buying power? About all we can do is to gain an edge on things and looks at statistical odds and use a little common sense in determining that markets seem a bit out of whack. You would not be alone in wondering when the pendulum will swing in the other direction once government support and the Fed’s easy money policies disappear. Only a true MMT-er believes government can debt fund forever without consequence.
I saw this S&P 500 vs Morgan Stanley’s Market Timing Indicator interesting … and like every indicator these days, I get nervous about holding even dividend paying values stocks as we continue to see the indexes climb.
Weekend chores, a bonfire and iRobot pool cleaner fixes
Posted By RichC on June 8, 2021
It was a “work around the yard” weekend for me and besides power washing the patios on Saturday, I cut down honeysuckles in preparation for the new concrete driveway project later this summer (if it is still scheduled and affordable )?
Along with sawing trees and hauling limbs, I started the old dried out honeysuckle cuttings and fallen sticks piled up on the ever growing bonfire -it was getting way too large and out of control. Thankfully the wind was light and rain dampened things a bit … and to answer my daughters question, “Did you need to call the fire department?” Um .. NO… thankfully.
But … it was a busy and active weekend and as you can see from my Fitbit step counts for Saturday and Sunday … now to get into a more ambitious weekday schedule.
Another “fun” (sort of) project was to repair the aging iRobot Verro. I used some leftover airplane aluminum, rivets and plastic fencing as a replacement guard in order to keep the bag out of the impeller. It seems to work … BUT the drive belt fail just as I returned it to the water. Come on Amazon, get me those new belt quick (I can’t trust their Prime deliveries anymore).
And an updated photo of the growing robins nested on the back porch grapevine wreath preventing me from putting a fire in the outdoor fireplace. Hm … “come on, leave the nest!”
Music Monday: a commercial for Applebees, John Sebastian, Television themes songs and Welcome Back Kotter (1975-1979)
Posted By RichC on June 7, 2021
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Mexican lunches, salsa, discussions, reading and a good friend
Posted By RichC on June 6, 2021
For years now … no, it is now decades … my buddy Jeff and I have gone out for lunch ever other week and almost exclusively to a Mexican restaurant … primarily for the chips and salsa (and relaxed conversation). Before that, 
we lived in different cities (he in Florida and then Alabama … and me in Ohio), but we would still regularly connect by email or “pager text message” or before that, letters because long distance phone calls were too expensive. Yes … that is how you show your age.
The pandemic has slowed our lunches out a bit, but it is time to pick it up the bi-weekly pace again. This past week the topic of conversation was inflation and cycles of history. For my part, I’ve been focused on government money printing, stimulus dollars and rising prices. Jeff, on the other hand has been reading about historic cycles and generations from the book by the late William Strauss call “The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny.” One of the graphics he sent summarized the thesis of the book: Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times.
Of course his topic was far more intriguing and as usual, I purposely challenged the premise – always the antagonist (I’m not sure why … but it probably has to do with learning from debating?) Anyway, I now find myself intrigued enough to want to read the book. A great conversation … as always … thanks Jeff.
For my part, I talked about signs of inflation and where I thought it might be heading. I understand the Fed’s “transitory” comment and agree the spike in prices we see at the moment has to do with the economy trying to open back up. On the other hand, I’m concerned that the money printing and policies coming from Washington DC are catalysts for longer term inflation … especially if starting wages rise and taxes on corporations make it through Congress (high taxed businesses either move elsewhere or will merely be past down to consumers in higher prices, or both). Oh … and how does this newfangled cybercurrency factor into this discussion?
Inflation may occur when there is too much money in the system, which leads to an escalation in the price of goods.
Also …
Many different factors contribute to rising prices. When the overall demand for goods build, supply prices will rise. Increases in the cost of production—due to everything from growth in the cost labor to rises in the cost of raw commodities.
Of course what we really want to know is how to prevent hyperinflation and “How to Profit From Inflation.”
Celebrating wedding anniversary number 39 without fanfare
Posted By RichC on June 5, 2021
Brenda and I are still a year away from a milestone wedding anniversary, but we aren’t taking our 39th for granted – Happy Anniversary Brenda!
This past year has been challenging … but an improving year on all counts. Everyone has been dealing with the COVID19 pandemic, but thankfully for us, we are coming out of it vaccinated and stronger than the previous year.
Brenda has been dealing with osteoporosis related health issues and is at least now functioning without the back pain from compression fractures in her spine. We still suspect that there might have been some missed damage from falling off a ladder in 2015, but a DEXA scan also points to osteoporosis which has likely contributed to additional spinal fractures (MRI scan below).
Tech Friday: Pondering the new Mac Mini vs iMac setup again
Posted By RichC on June 4, 2021
The Joanna Sterns review in the WSJ about the new Apple iMac highlighted a few plus and minus points last month … and started me thinking about a desktop computer replacement. It is difficult to imagine spending $2000 again to replace my aging late 2012 iMac 27” model, especially since I run a dual monitor (plus Parallels Windows 10 Virtual set-up) on a second matching Apple monitor, but eventually I will be tempted.
Having had an Mac Mini back in the 2000s until the iMac … after Apple’s switch to Intel chips … I liked the small size and less heat (coming from G4 and G3 Macs) and being able to replace individual components. So a new smaller M1 or eventual M2 Apple Mini would not be something that I would quickly discount when it is time to upgrade.
The Mac mini was among the first Macs to get the M1 processor, so it makes sense that the 2021 model would be the first to get the follow-up. Prosser reports that the new chip will be an “X” variant of the M1, which “will greatly outpace the performance and capabilities of the current M1 chips,” according to a report by Mark Gurman in Bloomberg.
Specifically, the new chip may feature “eight high-performance cores and two energy-efficient cores for a total of 10.” The current M1 chip in the Mac mini features four high-performance cores and four energy-efficient cores. With such power, this new machine will likely replace the 3.0GHz 6-core 8th-generation Intel Core i5 model.
The Mac mini’s GPU is almost certain to be integrated into the system on a chip, but it will reportedly be much more powerful than the current Mac mini’s 8-core GPU. Gurman reports that the new chip will come “in either 16 or 32 graphics core variations.”
Jimmy Buffett in Delray Beach & automotive pandemic insanity
Posted By RichC on June 3, 2021
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Prepping for summer and admiring a porch view from a friend
Posted By RichC on June 2, 2021
Although I’ve enjoyed summertime on the beach ever since I was a little boy (we live on a beach), there is something relaxing about seeing the photo above that a friend sent me from his families 
rented beach house in North Carolina … it look very relaxing. The older I get, the more I enjoy the carefree “in the shade” porch or palm tree view of the ocean verses sitting under the sun in sticky sun lotion or covered with a hat and sun shirt.
But … the view walking through the path in the dunes at Delray Beach (it has been a month already) was … and is … hard to beat (video below is a segment from October 2019).
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.