My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on January 9, 2020

It’s fun to remember all the cool looking Volkswagen conversion back in my youth. I loved the dune buggies and sports car models (that looked fast, but were VW Bug slow). Here’s one that I never saw in person, but back in the 1970s … when “vans were cool” … this would have been great. I still like it today!

Back in the 1970s, converting Volkswagen bugs into other things was a pretty popular pastime. I suppose it was the relative simplicity of their chassis design, and easily removable bodies that made them easy targets. One of the most amazing VW bug conversions I’ve ever seen has got to be the Brubaker Box.

Curtis Brubaker would convert VW Beetles into a sort of a low minivan. Like a Bug, it’s still got a rear-mounted engine, and all of the mechanicals are basically the same, though they raised the pedals, and moved the dash controls and radio over to left side of the driver. Of course, that was only feasible because the only way in or out of the Brubaker Box was the sliding door on the passenger side. In addition to the two seats up front, the Brubaker Box featured a sort of section lounge area in the back, much like larger vans of the era.

(more…)

Category: Automotive, TBT, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: 95octaine.com, beetle, brubaker box, conversion, volkswagen, volkswagen bug, vw, youtube

Posted By RichC on January 8, 2020

Just when you have the perfect wireless plan (and pricing structure) figured out … someone throws a wrench (spanner) in the works. Thanks Richard Branson. #sarcasm

Our Virgin Mobile iPhones (we have iPhone7s and iPhone7plus) … are being transferred to Boost Mobile. Ugh, that doesn’t sound promising?

Category: Business, Cellphone, Idioms, Productivity, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: boost, boostmobile, Cellphone, idiom, idioms, sarcasm, virgin, virginmobile, wireless, wrench

Posted By RichC on January 7, 2020

Category: Automotive, Humor, Video | No Comments »
Tags: accident, crash, Humor, jumping, kia, mp4, run away, SUV

Posted By RichC on January 6, 2020

This content is restricted.

Category: Human Interest, Music | No Comments »
Tags: excitable boy, mp3, Music, music monday, musicmonday, opinion, optimism, peggy noonan, song, warren zevon, werewolves, wsj

Posted By RichC on January 5, 2020

An interesting take on “inflation” and how different generations perceive the possibility of it accelerating in the next decade or so … and perhaps the effect it can or will have on our lives. For example, in the graph below, pick your birth year and note the color bars to determine how many years of 0 to 6% inflation per year. Interesting.

For millennials in Generation “Z” and “X,” hardly remembers inflation or is concerned just how painful high inflation can be. They can’t relate to double-digit home loans or borrowing for cars at credit card rates. The boomers often recall the pain and difficulty in planning one year to another with inflation running nearly 10% each year in the 1970s and 80s.

Some of use who grew up with this as a “normal concern,” anxiously look at the economy through the skewed lenses of inflation … even when there hasn’t been any for years (or very much). Instead of watching the Federal Reserve flit back and forth with rates in the very low digits as it has for a couple decades, the late Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker jacked rates up to nearly 20% and kept them high for a long period of time in order to stop inflation. I remember thinking, “Hm, if I could save enough to buy a few 30 year Treasuries yielding 10%, I could live off that interest.”

But it did not continue and as a result we now have a generation that has never truly felt the impact of inflation. As a Washington Post article commented last month, Volcker “not only broke inflation’s back but seemed to cripple it forever.”

Today’s workforce barely remembers Volcker’s titanic showdown with rising prices. Fewer than a quarter of today’s working-age Americans were over age 18 at the time — and they’re all baby boomers.

“There’s a generation of both people and economic analysts who never experienced the monster that Volcker slayed,” said Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities who served as chief economist to Vice President Joe Biden.

Overall, 6 in 10 working-age Americans haven’t even seen inflation above 4 percent. A quarter of them haven’t even seen a sustained stretch above 3 percent.

(more…)

Category: Business, Financial, History, News | No Comments »
Tags: economy, gen x, gen z, generation, inflation, interest rates, washington post

Posted By RichC on January 4, 2020

This content is restricted.

Category: Archive, Holiday, Personal, Photos, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: 2019, annalyn, brenda, christmas, crib, drew, family, gift, Holiday, katelyn, megan, new year, project, richc, taylor, woodworking

Posted By RichC on January 3, 2020

As far as one of my biggest investing mistakes goes — buying General Electric ($GE) “after their initial collapse in 2017” – I am hoping this next year “might” be a year of true recovery (pre-posting over lunch on Thursday January 2, 2020)?

Of course that is yet to be, but 2019 was at least promising since the stock may have at least found a bottom. The culture has supposedly changed and management under CEO Larry Culp has made progress on controlling cost and shedding poorly performing units. Debt is still a problem and their once great GE aircraft engine segment is likely feeling the pinch from Boeing’s ($BA) 737 MAX problems.

All in all, the analysts who initially calculated the value of GE’s pieces at $9-$11 per share seem to have been correct (at least until the next recession hits – yikes!). As someone who started to pick up shares under $17 and buying the final few shares at $9.25 … I’m happy 2020is  finally seeing shares trading over $11.50.

General Electric (ticker: GE) isn’t in the Dow Jones Industrial Average any longer. It was removed in 2018. Walgreens (WBA) was given its place. Still, given the year that GE had, Barron’s thinks the iconic American manufacturer deserves its own review. It was a good year for GE shareholders. But to keep it going in 2020, CEO Larry Culp must continue to make progress on costs and culture.

GE shares started off the year at $7.57, down more than 80% from all-time highs. In August, forensic accountant Harry Markopolos — the man credited with uncovering the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme — said the company was willfully cooking its long-term-care insurance accounting books. GE denied the allegations and the stock recovered all losses in about a month.

(more…)

Category: Financial | No Comments »
Tags: finance, ge, general electric, investing, markets, planning, retirement, stock, trading

Posted By RichC on January 2, 2020

Every once in a while, a story about cars and history (my memories) catches eyeballs. One such story in Hemmings Motor News last year did that for me in part because my dad had a 1972 Ford Pinto and because the Mt. St. Helens eruption in May of 1980 was a big deal news story. Both were captured and captivating in this photo taken by Dick Lasher.

A towering plume of ash rises in the distance of the photo, swirling with menace and threat, lightning arcing within it. As if to accent the peril, the canyon of trees that frame the gray clouds themselves have gone dark toward their tops, occluded by unseen looming clouds of ash. One shaft of morning light still reaches the lower branches of the trees, splashing over a cut of greenery and the least probable thing in the photo: a red Ford Pinto with a blue dirt bike hitched to its bumper, angled across a forest road.

Even if you haven’t been up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory near Mt. St. Helens, where one of the most puzzling photos of the volcano’s May 1980 eruption is prominently displayed, you’ve no doubt seen the photo circulating on the Internet, stripped of all context save for the date and location. You’ve also no doubt wondered who took the photo, what were they doing up there in the first place, and whether they made it out alive. We did too, so we set out to dig for what answers we could. Some came easy; others not so much.

(more…)

Category: Automotive, History, Memories, Photography, Photos, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: automotive, eruption, ford, hemmings, History, Memory, mt st helens, pinto, story, volcano

Posted By RichC on January 1, 2020

We’re not getting any younger … and in my case, I’m a bit more conscious of age creeping into my decision-making process. Things I did years ago like heavy lifting, working under a car then jumping up and back down after retrieving a required tool … or even the enjoyable laying down on the floor to play with my granddaughter like I did with Katelyn and Taylor in my 30’s … it is not nearly as easy or as automatic as it once was. Thankfully, I’m still in good shape (for 60 years young), but I definitely notice that it is not as easy as a decade ago.

On a positive note, I felt better in 2019 than in 2018, thanks in part to a focus on eating a little bit healthier and “trying” to to be a bit more active. The gift of a Fitbit this summer helped too, since it reminds me just enough (not annoyingly) to be more active. I may not always hit the magic 10,000 steps (see below break), but it helps having a target and goal. Since starting with the Fitbit in July, my weight is down and I physically notice the difference in my energy level and how I feel. I’m sure having a positive outlook and being a little more active helps, but suspect being a little more focused on eating healthier makes a difference too.

So with that, I’m making it my New Year’s Resolution to continue to focus on being active and hitting the 10,000 steps per day target … but will add a semi-healthy eating plan in 2020 to move closer to a Mostly Plant-Based (MPB) diet in following the advice of Dr. Michael Greger – info found in his two books: How Not to Die and How Not to Diet.

Obviously the “semi” means that I’m still planning to eat meat and some of the “not so good for me” foods (sugars, processed and fast foods), but I will make a concerted effort to add more from the whole food and mostly plant-based list. I’ve already asked Brenda to include a few more fruits, some new fruits and vegetables and some legumes that are currently non-existent in most meals.

(more…)

Category: Advice, Food, Holiday, Medical, Misc, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: eating, exercise, fitbit, goals, healthy, how not to die, how not to diet, michael greger, new year, plan, plant-based, reflection, resolution

Posted By RichC on December 31, 2019

While getting the Christmas decorations for Evergreen Farm Estates down from the poolhouse-garage loft earlier this month (Brenda and neighbor Pam have always decorated our neighborhood) …  I spotted the yard game of Jarts. (you probably need to be a baby boomer to remember them?)

What were they thinking???

Just as with the “design of the ironing board” invention (see Brian Regan comedy reenactment ), this is one of those games that has to make you wonder … were the inventors really just concerned with “overpopulation?”

I can still remember tossing them up in the air as high as we could, then running like crazy to get out of the way. It’s a wonder  we made it to adulthood?

Below the break is a repost of a 2008 video from the early days of YouTube – oh, and Happy New Year’s eve and good bye to another decade.

(more…)

Category: Human Interest, Humor, Memories, Recreation, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: brian regan, christmas, decorations, Humor, inventions, jarts, mp4, video, youtube