Just like buying many pairs of boat shoes during my life, I’ve purchased and owned a number of sailing hats over the years too (and way to many caps to contemplate). In the early years I often cheapened out on both the boat shoes and the sailing hats by purchasing a discounted or knockoff brands. For the most part, they were all fine (and I still wear a knock-off branded Tilley around the pool – photo 2020).
In recent years (decades), I’ve opted for Sperry branded shoes (multiple posts) and migrated back and forth between the wider all-around brim sailor’s hat for the sun protection, but in recent years have been just wearing caps … except the comfortable ventilated wide-brim hat that I use when cleaning the pool. But for the most part it is a ball cap when working around the yard or walking … and depending on the weather, I’ll either wear the heavier caps or when it is really hot, a lightweight thin breathable cap (super cheap as I recall).
I replace it for a couple of reasons … primarily to test the lifetime warranty. The snaps were corroded. It has a couple holes and was “beyond floppy” but still comfortable. To test the lifetime warranty, I figure I’d go through the motions to see just how far gone a hat needed to be? First I sent them a photo and they came back, “no problem.” Put an X through the label and pick out the hat I wanted. They shipped me a new one for the cost of shipping … to which I added two 1776 American Flag premium caps for our country’s 250th celebration. 😊
I can remember the song “Nice to Be with You” written by the band’s Jim Gold (see Jim Gold & Gallery), but did not remember the soft rock band or anything else they performed?
Nevertheless, while hearing it on SiriusXM it triggered my including it for Music Monday.
Gallery “Nice to Be with You” | 1972
Band Members
Jim Gold (born January 12, 1947, Detroit, Michigan) – lead vocals, guitar
Brent Anderson – backing vocals, guitar
Bill Nova – backing vocals, percussion
Cal Freeman (born June 26, 1942 – died October 29, 2018) – guitar
Paul Franklin (born May 31, 1954, Detroit, Michigan) – steel guitar
Dennis Kovarik – bass
Danny Brucato – drums
Fred DiCenso (born January 23, 1950 – died 2021) – guitar
Here’s to remembering our 44th (ugh!) wedding anniversary. By the way, I remembered June 5th just fine, but I am posting on it a day after a pre-prepared Tech Friday post. 😉
I still find it difficult to believe that we have been married for that many years? As previous generations have said, the years go by so fast. It is so true!
Taylor and Megan are off on an Alaskan cruise and they have been very excited to go. Taylor sent a photo as they flew into Seattle … what a beautiful view of a 14,410 ft snowcapped Mt. Rainier. We are looking forward to hearing about it and seeing more photos.
As for us, we’re looking forward to our granddaughters dance recital and seeing the Oostras. We always have a good time with them … and wee might even check the progress on my brother Ron and Claire’s new house up on Lake Erie? I think summer is here.
As usual, there are a couple of odds and ends photos left in MyCubby 2026’s May folder that I need to either toss or stick in a filler blog post. So today I’ll add them here.
Last month I toiled … and I mean toiled overtime … with Brenda’s older Samsung Pro Chromebook while attempting to convert some perfectly good Intel m3 hardware to a Linux OS. I knew it would need to be a lighter build and so tossed around a few versions … finally deciding on Linux Mint. BUT … I’m getting ahead of myself.
After updating my MacBook Air M2 to the M5 in April in order to gain a bit more memory(too many tabs and spaces), I set up the M2 for Brenda … since her Chromebook is no longer getting updates from Google. That was too bad since she was very comfortable with the small touchscreen Chromebook (more on that in a minute). So that opened the door to play around with and “try” to get Linux on the Samsung Pro. Frankly I recall that same struggle when she moved from a smaller non-touchscreen Samsung Chromebook that she had prior to that.
First, it wasn’t easy. There is a Write-Protect screw buried under the backside of the “copper” heatsink that is only accessible by removing the entire board and unscrewing all the screws holding down the heatsink. After that little metal screen washer and screw was removed, I added a little electrical tape just to be safe. Buttoned everything back up, installed the MrChromebox boot loader and then flashed a USB (actually microSD card) with Linux and rebooted the Samsung Pro. What a mess trying to get everything working … and a big problem with the Intel WiFi .. something has limited the range???
Recently I’ve been working on Brenda’s Samsung Pro notebook computer and hoping Linux can bring it back to life … since Google is no longer supporting older Chromebooks – more on that tomorrow. For now, it is fun to look at the old gear … and smile. 😊
After years now of using the oversized multitouch trackpad on Apple MacBook Air notebook computers, seeing my old Apple PowerBook Duo’s miniature pad makes me chuckle (see PowerBook Duo). There was a day when I thought the MacBook’s trackpad was way too big, but now looking at the Duo has me thinking the MacBook’s are just about right and the old laptops were way too small.
Wednesday morning rolled around and when glancing at MDB, it occurred to me that I forgot to add a daily “desultory” post last night. Truth be told, I was tinkering with scripting, automating some computer archiving and a new Red Sweater app called FastScripts … which I tried once before, but never got around to efficiently using.
For now, here’s one of the cute baby rabbits that I almost ran over with the mower. Whew!
Most investors these days are likely following the herd and enjoying strong returns in their portfolios — much of it due to the weaker dollar vs asset classes in my opinion. That said, it is hard not to be smiling when the market hits new market highs.
BUT … history has taught us (or at least me) that the party doesn’t go on forever and that the more rapid and “exuberant” the rallies, the more rapid and severe the decline “could” be. Jonathan Hoenig of The Capitalist Pig shared some comments on Fox Business about the CAPE Ratio and an article with me on X.com, hinting at a statistic that does give pause to the wondering just how long the promise of AI productivity gains will continue?
Synopsis Stock Market CAPE Ratio hits 40, a rare level last seen before the 1929 crash and the 1999 dot-com bubble burst, raising fresh Wall Street valuation fears. The S&P 500 is trading at extreme overvaluation levels, driven by strong but expensive tech-led gains. Investors are watching stock market crash signals, rising interest rates, and weak sentiment closely. Historical CAPE ratio data suggests lower future returns when valuations stretch this far. Analysts warn that high stock market CAPE ratio conditions often lead to sharp corrections if earnings fail to keep pace with prices.
It would be challenging to have come of age in the 1970s and not have enjoyed the music of Fleetwood Mac. As evidenced by several of my Music Monday posts mentioning their music or bands who build their careers around playing their music.
Another “at the time in 2020” young talented musician did the same. A young woman from North Carolina, Lanie Gardner, “got her start” as they say by utilizing social media(TikTok, YouTube, etc) eventually receiving millions of views. A few years ago in 2021, she posted this about the sudden fame.
We have learned (from our own and our parents experiences) to wait about 6 months before paying “our part” after insurance claims are settled so we know exactly how much out of pocket to either pay or dispute. For Brenda’s 2023 very successful hip replacement surgery(“Praise the Lord” as MomH would say), we did exactly that … knowing that it takes a while for all billing to work its way through the system. Eventually Brenda made the call and negotiated “our” finally out-of-pocket payment (still significant) and washed our hands of the shockingly high over charges. Well at least we thought it was behind us.
In 2025 she started to get recurring calls from the hospital’s collection people and forcefully tells them this was fully paid. They “claimed” that some additional bills came in after our payment and that we still owed another $3500. Eventually Brenda butted heads with these collection annoyances and received only letters. Fast forward to the spring of 2026 (likely while we were in Florida) – an lawfirm took over the collections and filed with the local courts. So … we were now either going to be faced with going to court (and those costs) … or be done with it by settling with the law firm and have the case dismissed.
the boat shoes and the sailing hats by purchasing a discounted or knockoff brands. For the most part, they were all fine (and I still wear a knock-off branded Tilley around the pool – photo 2020).
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