My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on July 6, 2018

It is never fun playing plan games with wireless carriers, especially if you have been 100% satisfied with everything "as is." After switching to VirginMobileUSA last year due to a SUPER promotion, I could not be happier with Virgin’s special price and service … but all good things seem to come to an end.

This month the 8 cents per month promo ends and the full priced InnerCircle plan of $60 for my phone (with 10GB mobile hotspot) and $50 for Brenda’s phone kicks in … and so the shopping began. We could probably switch back to Ting, which was just fine, but required us to monitor our use or end up paying for the next tier service (although we always had a fair bill and would highly recommend them for light users of data, etc).

Option 2 was to take advantage of the 55+ AAA promotion with Sprint; two line (BYOD) and unlimited service with a year of Classic AAA paid by Sprint. Nice! BUT … after several phone calls and a trip to the Sprint Store I remembered why I hated dealing with Sprint. The absolute worse customer service and stupidity. Their first answer was that you can’t switch to the Sprint plan because your phones are on Sprint — Virgin uses Sprint towers. Their second answer was that I could buy a new device and get a new number – nope, dumb idea. Third, switch to a non-Sprint carrier then switch the phones back again and "port" my number back to Sprint. Huh?  Fourth was "maybe" they could "migrate" our numbers rather than "port" them, but the three different reps were unsure it would work and didn’t know who could confirm I would not lose our phone numbers. Brilliant … #sarcasm! 

Thankfully another phone call to retrieve my unpublished account number from Virgin in order to switch to Ting gave us ONE more option. Virgin must be losing enough customers that they offered a better plan with have as much "hot spot data" – 5GB vs 10GB; I can live with it. To make the plan even sweeter, if I auto-pay with a credit card, they will discount each line another $5 per month … bringing our TWO lines of unlimited talk/text/data wireless service with hotspot to $60 plus taxes (that’s fair). After the waste of time both in the Sprint store and on the phone I was thrilled to not have to change carriers and save money and feel the effort was worth it. Thank you VirginMobileUSA … I’m happy to stay with you.

Category: Advice, Cellphone, Productivity, Tablet, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: aaa, carrier, Cellphone, data, hotspot, plans, smartphone, sprint, tech friday, techfriday, ting, virgin mobile, wireless

Posted By RichC on July 5, 2018

Although Mt Wilber in Glacier National Park is beautiful (photo left, what a trip!), there is also something to be said for another beautiful thing … the signs behind President Trump at his Great Falls, Montana rally.

Like the POTUS or hate him, he seems to be the rare politician working diligently to fulfill many of the promises that he made to the American people when he was running for office. As the banners stated in Thursday night’s rally:

Promises Made, Promises Kept

Refreshing … even if you are not a fan of the heated rhetoric, boastful claims, juvenile name-calling or just disagree with his politics and the direction he is taking the country.

Category: News, Photos, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: campaign, montana, mount, potus, president, promises, rally, slogan, trump, wiber

Posted By RichC on July 5, 2018

Well finishing the kitchen upgrade at the condo was my goal, but since Brenda was with me, more than the condo kitchen was worked on! The guest bathroom’s minor vanity update grew into a MUCH larger project. One thing lead to another and before I knew it, my wife had me doing more tile than the kitchen backsplash (what I had planned!)

So now, the kitchen is finished (almost) but the bathroom a mess of ungrouted tile, missing vanity and toilet and a debate over a shower door that nearly lead to one of us walking out! She wants a very expensive heavy roller door requiring a Hulk to lift, special order and extra support since the heavy glass "hangs" from a rod. I would have preferred spending fewer dollars and installing a medium weight/thickness door that was instock at a Home Depot or Lowes. I’m still not sure I "alone" can install such a heavy door? Suffice to say, we stopped talking about it and I at least did the support so "if we go that way" it can be installed — maybe by an installer???

Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Video | No Comments »
Tags: bathroom, brenda, condo1718, delray beach, florida, improvements, kitchen, remodel, richc, tile, update, upgrade

Posted By RichC on July 4, 2018

This content is restricted.

Category: Archive, Friends, Holiday, Personal, Photography, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, creative, family, independence day, oshkosh, photo, photography, pool, star, taylor, usa

Posted By RichC on July 3, 2018

While working with my "travel tool bag" today, I pick up a open end wrench with SHAW on the handle. It brought back memories of my Grandpa Bluhm and where he once worked back in the 1950s or 60s. I sent a photo to my cousin Diane, but because it was a tool, don’t really know if she remember the company. It is amazing how an object can bring back such fond memories … I really wish I would have had more than 10 years of life with someone I admired as much as Dick Bluhm.

(more…)

Category: History, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: antique, bluhm, diane, family, grandfather, joseph, popular science, shaw, tools

Posted By RichC on July 2, 2018

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Category: Faith, Human Interest, Movies, Music, Video | No Comments »
Tags: bible, i can only imagine, john 3:16, mercyme, movie, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, redbox

Posted By RichC on June 29, 2018

I can’t help myself … but when your daughter is the one the news goes to for summer heat and kids advice … a dad is super proud.

Category: News, Personal, Video-TV | No Comments »
Tags: doctor, family, interview, katelyn, News, ohio, oostra, pediatrician, toledo, video

Posted By RichC on June 28, 2018

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

The SR-71 was designed for flight at over Mach 3 with a flight crew of two in tandem cockpits, with the pilot in the forward cockpit and the reconnaissance systems officer operating the surveillance systems and equipment from the rear cockpit, and directing navigation on the mission flight path. The SR-71 was designed to minimize its radar cross-section, an early attempt at stealth design. Finished aircraft were painted a dark blue, almost black, to increase the emission of internal heat and to act as camouflage against the night sky. The dark color led to the aircraft’s nickname “Blackbird”.

Category: Aviation, Millitary, Photos | No Comments »
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Posted By RichC on June 27, 2018

Colgate is my usual go-to toothpaste, although generally prefer the old fashion white and am partial to baking soda … but I’m off topic. My gripe is that their recent packaging (at least so I’ve noticed) is terribly misleading. After opening the normal large sized toothpaste box, I noticed it was WAY larger than the very small 4.0 oz tube. Likely if I would have read 4 ounces, I would have probably put it back … but I was in a hurry and, marketing being what it is, the box size really mislead me. Disappointing.

Will it be enough for me to switch brands or just pay more attention? (probably should be buying Crest a Proctor and Gamble brand since it is Cincinnati based and because we own $PG stock anyway)

Category: Advice, Business, Marketing, Shopping | No Comments »
Tags: $PG, colgate, crest, Marketing, misleading, offensive, packaging, toothpaste

Posted By RichC on June 26, 2018

How does on plan for the flattening yield curve – or even inversion (spread between 10-yr and 2-yr Treasury Bonds)?

Barron’s – June 2018:

“Inversion has an amazing record of forecasting recession…but stocks have typically continued to rise (sometimes sharply) after the inversion with a median gain of 13.1%.…Bottom line: the flattening yield curve is not a reason to flee stocks.”
— Bill Stone, Chief investment officer, Stone Investment Partners

“Although many fear [financials] may underperform…the history of the past two cycles suggests otherwise. We would add to our overweight sectors of financials, info tech and industrials with an intermediate-term time horizon.”
— Tony Dwyer, Analyst, Canaccord Genuity

“Contrarian investors should take a look at interest-rate sensitive defensive sectors like utilities, stables and real-estate investment trusts, which may gain their footing as growth momentum peaks.…”
— Michael Darda, Chief economist & market strategist, MKM Partners

“We still think it is too early to go full-on defensive, but it probably is not too early to start shifting out of some of the extreme cyclicals and picking up a few more defensively oriented names.”
— Michael J. Wilson, Equity Strategist, Morgan Stanley

Category: Financial | No Comments »
Tags: advice, barrons, inversion, investing, planning, porfolio, recession, retirement