Music Monday: Sailing by Christopher Cross for obvious reasons
Posted By RichC on February 26, 2018
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Try the “Revenue Management” tip when frequent flying
Posted By RichC on February 25, 2018
For frequent long distance flyers, give this airline reservation travel tip a try …
We have never bought an upper-class seat; if ever we’ve flown anywhere up front, we’ve used miles to upgrade from economy. If you want to do that, call reservations and drop the name “revenue management.” The reason is that revenue management’s job is to make sure a flight is profitable, so they’re the ones telling [reservation agents] what they can say; they’re like Flying Club’s boss. Not everyone knows that this department exists, and by mentioning it you reveal yourself as someone who knows how things work and understands how seats are released. Say to the agent: ‘Have revenue management released any first-class seats for miles upgrades yet?’ When they say no, ask them to check or just be put through to revenue management so you can ask when they will release some, as well as how many seats are left. Politely respond like this: ‘You have 20 seats unsold? Why aren’t you releasing them?’ Often by the end of the conversation they say, ‘OK, we’ll release one for you,’ or they might tell you to call back tomorrow. Doing that, we’ve had a pretty much 100 percent success rate.
Disappointed in the thin Totallee cover for my iPhone 7 plus
Posted By RichC on February 24, 2018
I probably spoke too soon in praise of the Totallee super thin and lightweight case or more appropriately "cover" for my iPhone 7plus last year. Last week. While out of town traveling the thin skin just "slid" off the plastic case. It was as if the bonding method they used to attach the skin to the case was completely missing… there wasn’t any residue or glue type to be seen. I contacted @TotalleeCase by Twitter DM and they politely assured me that hello@totalleecase.com would be able to assist.
NOPE.
Unfortunately since the company replaced my first cover soon after I receive my initial preordered cover, their policy is to only warranty one replacement. It was frustrating since this case carries a small premium price (although is only$20) and in my judgment is a manufacturing flaw. I suspect that others are having an issue since the skin "fell" off and they have been replacing many other covers with similar issues?
Oh well, live and learn. I will not be recommending Totallee as a 
company. I instead will try a self repair by scuffing up the plastic and use a fitted block to help clamp with some clear @GorillaGlue!
A book on Value Investing and the #TwitterLockout
Posted By RichC on February 23, 2018
New "old" reading this week as I picked up "The Little Book of Value Investing" by Christopher H. Browne. The information is something I should know more thoroughly than I do and the reading is relatively easy as value investing is a
time tested concept proven over the years by investor gurus like Benjamin Graham and David Dodd who were professors at Columbia Business School – dates back to the 1930s. The concept evolved in the 1970s with their disciples such as Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. According to what I’ve read, the author of this book ran Graham’s favorite brokerage firm, Tweedy, Browne Co. It will be a quick read.
In other news, the #TwitterLockout wacked away at about 100 or so Twitter followers initially, many have appear after the outrage since the accounts were not bots. As of today, I’m only down 22 followers. Whew (not that I really care)!
The flight of MH17 – National Geographic #video
Posted By RichC on February 22, 2018
Previously I’ve detailed a bit about the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and some of what I have learned … here is a National Geographic channel video that summarizes what we know in 44 minutes.
The pressure of saying the right thing or old person #advice
Posted By RichC on February 21, 2018
There are a few things in life that can really make someone feel good … one of them is in receiving a respectful complement. Really it started as a question, but a younger father of teenagers asked me how Brenda and 
I "balanced our lives" when our kids were growing up. I’m not sure if that "balance" was the word, but I knew he was struggling with relationships, work, responsibility, etc. He mentioned that he and his wife have been struggling to agree on a lot of issues lately and the dealing with rebellious (normal) teens has pushed emotions to the brink. I’m sad for them as it sounds as if family counseling may be in their future.
Life is indeed complicated as we are all pulled in many directions. We all have to compromise and usually that means more "giving" than we may want as each pull stretches the amount of time, energy and number of dollars. As I thought about the "how we handled it" answer, I realized just how fortunate I was to be part of a team.
Young couples may go into a relationship with the best of intentions, but selfishness and idealism can easily take over as the years go by and life gets more complicated. So the easy answer to my younger friend was that he and his wife needed to focus on working as a team and come up with a few common goals – be it time devoted to parenting, balancing household finances and the amount of time they have for each other verses their own personal activities and friends.
For Brenda and I, there have been a lot of zigs and zags … mostly unanticipated or planned for. From the simplest things like who controls the TV remote, to the much bigger things like career decisions and finances. 
Being a team player means that the best decision isn’t always going to go your way. It is my opinion that in the best marriages, the "teamwork" part goes unsaid, but is the priority. Each partner recognizes when it is his or her turn to give a little more – although that is probably overly optimistic (we can all work on it!)
In the less than perfect marriage moments, commitment to the end goal needs to rule the day. We can only control our side of the behavior and often need to be the "over-giver" and appreciate it when and if our partner does the same. In my friends situation (I’m only seeing his side at the moment), it seemed to me as if both were frustrated and sacrificing their individual freedom … as their teenagers needs and wants demand more and more of their time and money. I shared with him that both Brenda and I decided to put our kids lives ahead of our own and shelve our own aspirations during those years . Our kids recognized it and especially now realized our effort was to give them so they would have the security of caring parents and the educational opportunity for a good start at being adults; it will hopefully be something they will emulate as parents? Often times its the small things that are noticed, like mom and dad giving up a night out or not buying something new so that the kids can have something better; in other words, they often silently noticed the sacrifice and "giving" gesture. Who knows, this may make for a more successful relationship when they are parents?
To be truthful, Brenda and I really never went without, but we both always did our best to make sure our kids never felt like we placed our wants and desires above what was best for them. I doubt my sharing solved his frustration, but "if" at least he recognizes a few areas where his focus has been on self and not on his wife and children … maybe there is a place to start (hopefully his wife and children will respond in kind).
We all have room for improvement and can usually find places we can give a little more or do without. I hope whatever I said was helpful as he is definitely at a stressful and demanding phase of life.
Not much interest in watching the 2018 Winter Olympics?
Posted By RichC on February 20, 2018
We really haven’t paid much attention to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, but we did watch a bit of the figure skating the other night (amazing quads) and do enjoy some of the great photos showing up online.
Check out this one of Akwasi Frimpong’s Skeleton Debut!
Toasty warm afternoon in Cincinnati for February
Posted By RichC on February 20, 2018
Remind me what season we are in again? Winter in #Cincinnati right? pic.twitter.com/Q0cbVpvLhD
A mellow Music Monday: Some David Gates and a marina sunrise
Posted By RichC on February 19, 2018
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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.