My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on December 23, 2014

A local convenient store today in Liberty Township, Ohio … December 23, 2014.

As a Volkswagen TDI and Mercedes diesel car guy … there is something wrong when the spread between regular unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel is this much – over $1.50 difference! Ugh … back to driving the Honda Pilot, at least for the winter. Still, I never thought I would see gasoline selling below $2.00/gallon again … but I’m not complaining.

The low gasoline prices are substantially lower price for fuel (ridiculously cheap) is  due to weak demand overseas (recessions and slow economies) and an increased supply primarily from the relatively new fracking technology in the U.S. This combination should make for a “happier” Christmas here in North America. More money in the average Jane and Joe’s pocket and cheaper trips “over the river and through the woods” will definitely be appreciated by the masses. How long will it stays down … ??? …. who knows?

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Energy, Local | No Comments »
Tags: diesel, fuel, gasoline, prices

Posted By RichC on December 22, 2014

This past weekend was a very special one for my niece Jacquelyn as she married Benjamin Wickerham in beautiful wedding ceremony in Jamestown, NY. Besides the wedding with many personal touches and a 1920-40’s themed reception in an old train station, we were able to be with our family. Her father Mark would have loved it.

Jackie and Ben’s first dance (above) and the guys decorating the car

Wedding ceremony – Justin and Aaron singing and family/friends lifting Jackie and Ben and singing to them at the reception – click for larger (video clip below)

Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: ben wickerham, family, jackie, jamestown, new york, wedding

Posted By RichC on December 20, 2014

Merry Christmas to those who continue to check the blog for whatever desultory thoughts I try to type daily in my computer, iPad … or occasionally my smartphone each day. It has been an enjoyable year online for me and my addiction. Although social networks have made posting text, photos, audio and video easier, I’m glad to at least have some control over the content.

It has been a week of more personal posts, so I might as well close it out with a Christmas greeting (mail last week). As has been a habit since starting this years ago as myarchive.us, I’ll add another yearly family update to the archive of yearly Corbett Christmas Letters.

May you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Corbett Christmas Letter 2014 PDF

Category: Archive, Holiday, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: archive, brenda, Corbett Christmas Letter, drew, family, katelyn, pdf, rich, taylor, tootsie

Posted By RichC on December 19, 2014

Most media saturated consumers are frustrated using the various apps from big-name news sources for scanning, skimming and reading 100s of news articles each day. Some individual apps are pretty good, others are a real pain … particularly the newer “in your face – ad heavy” versions. The gripes are that each app is different and most tend to be sluggish and filled with self-launching video and pop-advertising.

Enter the old-school RSS reader, something I used regularly 7 years ago on the notebook computer and looking for something similar on the iPad (I do miss the browser add-on Sage sidebar reader). Newspaper and magazine reading is now pretty much all digital and scanning individual sites not realistic … so a good RSS reader is important in order to quickly sift through content.

Early RSS apps for iOS and my iPad were never able to satisfy completely … although they excited me with their cool page flipping interfaces (Flipboard, Newsify, etc). I would jump between one of these snazzy apps and the browser, or jump to source specific apps – WSJ, CNN, FoxNews, USAToday, etc. Very few were quick and easy and news reading became cumbersome particularly as the popularity of Twitter to announces stories grew. It was easier to follow the up-to-the-minute headlines from story creators or socially connected “watchers” and then click the links (and it still is). 

BUT I think there is still a need for something that scans headlines from a variety of RSS feeds and pops up a preview or the entire article/post/content. Australian app maker SavySoda.com has a reader called News or Newsrific (they are very similar) which I’m using (each for a different set of feeds). They are not perfect, but collect feeds from many of the sources that I use to look at individually and then displays most articles on the same page … free is ok too. One on the hidden benefits is that I can gain back some storage space on my iPad … who really needs all those bloated brand media apps?

Category: News, Productivity, Social Media, Software, Tablet, Technology | 1 Comment »
Tags: ios, ipad, News, reader, RSS, savysoda, techfriday

Posted By RichC on December 18, 2014

I’m late to the Throwback Thursday social networking trend, but a “just arrived” photo of Brenda and her brother Mark before his passing is good excuse to start – they look too young for this to be 1991? (thanks for the photo Chris)

Besides the smiling sister and brother photo (he was a dentist), our niece Jackie, (Mark’s youngest) will be getting married this month. She has scheduled the wedding so her fiancé Ben will be on leave (Army) and I know she is excited both for the wedding and to see him. The ceremony and reception is a also a good time for the extended family to get together around Christmas. For us, that means both Taylor and Katelyn will be home (not sure about Drew’s schedule yet). With five different work schedules and long distances from Ohio, it makes it all the more challenging to be together around the holidays. Who knows, Taylor “may” have some work related news to share with us too???

Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, TBT | 3 Comments »
Tags: brenda, family, howard, jackie, mark, TBT, wedding

Posted By RichC on December 17, 2014

Sitting in my mom’s room two years ago is as clear to me as if it were yesterday (or last year). I’m thankful to have had those moments alone with her as well as all the years growing up in a good home. I was part of a generation who mom was able to greet kids at the door when they cam home from school as well as enjoyed caring for her three boys (I’m including my dad since he of of a generation who “needed” cared for … no offense dad). It is no wonder that years later I enjoyed the TV series Wonder Years … it was my childhood life.

This is not to say past or more recent generations are lessor for the times in which they grew up; I’d venture to say that my kids probably look at their upbringing as idyllic too (photo of Taylor with mom, his grandma in 2009). Different times require different parenting … one is not necessarily better than the other.

Perhaps there is a lesson in this reminiscing for young families today: it’s a mother and father’s attention to “being parents” that make for a happy, appreciative and well balance child years later … NOT the generation in which they are born.

Category: Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: children, memories, momc, parents, taylor

Posted By RichC on December 16, 2014

When my wife sets her mind to something, she goes “full in.” I’m so glad she is not a gambler.

It started as a simple project; she wanted an antique frame. So began the process of shopping estate sales, and bidding on online auction sites like our local EBTH and eBay. Eventually the looking turned to buying, then the driving to pick them up and shipping (ugh!) … oh and check out the packaging job on the one below!

Anyway by the time she had found the perfect frame she ended up also buying a new art piece and a bunch of extra antique frames. Some of them need work, but then too much work might deter from them being antique? What to do, what to do?

My thought is to “resell” them, but then Brenda may have other ideas. Before long we (and our kids!) will run out of wall space. So much for eventually moving on to a sailboat.

Category: Art, Personal, Photos, Shopping | No Comments »
Tags: auction, brenda, ebay, ebth, frames, sales, shopping artwork

Posted By RichC on December 15, 2014

Wow! … I’ve watched oil continuing to dip lower on Monday afternoon (WTI $55.40/barrel) and this rapid drop in recent weeks has “for some reason” caused equities to sell off. Normally one would see lower oil prices as a good thing for the stock market since it makes goods and products less expensive and gives everyone a few more dollars in their pockets. The slide in the stock market hard to figure IF we are to believe it is tied to oil.

The only conclusion I can make is that oil priced in the mid-50s indicates weak worldwide demand and therefore slower economic growth. On the other hand, if you can pick the bottom for oil ($40ish per barrel?) … there’s a lot of money to be made in the future.

Category: Energy, Financial | 1 Comment »
Tags: crude, oil, petroleum, stock market

Posted By RichC on December 15, 2014

Before we complain about today’s airline comfort, look at what Airbus might be considering. Yikes!

Expedia posted a lighthearted polling of what annoys airline passengers which got me thinking about what I notice and where I may offend. I already do my best to be overly attentive to most of these annoyances, but probably would rank “The Aromatic Passenger” as #1 followed by the “Back Seat Grabber” as my #2 complaint … but like most passengers, have never made an issue about them, besides a glance in their direction (thinking about the back of the seat grabbing).

The full list of the most annoying flier types went as follows:

1. Rear Seat Kicker (cited by 67% of study respondents)
2. Inattentive Parents (64%)
3. The Aromatic Passenger (56%)
4. The Audio Insensitive (talking or music; 51%)
5. The Boozer (50%)
6. Chatty Cathy (43%)
7. Carry-On Baggage Offenders (39%)
8. The Armrest Hog (38%)
9. Seat-Back Guy (the seat recliner) (37%)
10. The Queue Jumper (rushes to deplane) (35%)
11. Overhead Bin Inconsiderate (stows bag in first available spot, rather than nearest to his/her seat; 32%)
12. Pungent Foodies (32%)
13. Back Seat Grabber (31%)
14. Playboy (reads or watches adult content; 30%)
15. The Amorous (inappropriate affection levels; 29%)
16. Mad Bladder (window seat passenger who makes repeat bathroom visits; 28%)
17. Undresser (removes shoes, socks or more; 26%)
18. The Seat Switcher (13%)

And how do fliers react when they encounter etiquette-busting seatmates?

When asked how they would react if a fellow passenger misbehaved on a flight, 48% of those queried said they would remain quiet and attempt to ignore the violation. However, nearly a quarter—22%—said they’d confront a misbehaving passenger directly.

Beyond that, 12% said they’d record the incident using a mobile phone or a camera and 6% said they’d then try to shame the offending passenger on social media

As for the seat-kickees, 44% of the survey respondents said they’d address a parent if their child was kicking their seat.

Overall, however, fliers appeared to take an optimistic tone regarding their fellow passengers. The survey found 78% agreed with the statement that “for the most part, fellow passengers are considerate of other passengers.”

Category: Aviation, Humor, Poll, Travel | 1 Comment »
Tags: airlines, flying, Travel

Posted By RichC on December 14, 2014

A discussion between the host and guest on CNBC this week concluded that instead of saving college students money on their student loans that the government was using the repayments in other areas amounting to BILLIONS of dollars – ie. $19 billion for deficit reduction and Obamacare! 

It seems the take-over by the Federal Direct Loan Program, in lieu of of evil capitalist at profit centered banks, now has students paying higher rates than necessary instead of preventing deeper debt. It shouldn’t surprise me knowing how our federal government works when it comes to getting their hands on big chunks of money, but what did surprise me was where repayment dollars were slated to go. I must have missed this back in 2009-2010 when the Democrats controlled congress and made this change?

When the health-care law was passed in 2010, Democrats slipped in massive changes to student-loan programs, essentially cutting banks out of the business. In the official score of the health-care bill by the Congressional Budget Office, ending federal guarantees for federal loans and replacing them with direct loans made by the Education Department would yield $58 billion between 2010 and 2019.

All federal money is fungible, but with such a large pot of money suddenly (theoretically) available, Congress wanted to spend it on other things. Here’s the breakdown of where the money went:

$36 billion on increases in Pell college grants for low-income students.

$10.3 billion for deficit reduction.

$8.7 billion to support the health care law.

$3 billion for historically black colleges and minority-serving institutions.

Washington Post fact check blog from 2010

Category: Education, Financial, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: cnbc, college, congress, Education, federal, government, loans, obamacare, student