Staging the Next Stage We are blessed with several friends who seem to enjoy being of service to Kim, and by extension, to me. They like helping her pack, unpack, organize stuff, sort out her clothes and other stuff. For two weeks we had Oswaldo here and that was a pleasure. Every time I turned around he would be doing this or that quite tirelessly and with no complaints. I actually think he likes staying…
Battery Math Today I went to a battery fair here in Escondido. I was invited by Baker Electric, the premier electricians here in Southern California, who installed my solar system last year. They were joined in this extravaganza, replete with free donuts and mimosas and great swag (umbrellas, string backpacks and notebooks with pens) by the strong and mighty Tesla, the dominant maker of home batteries. Naturally, I had to drive to the fair in…
The Kids Are All Right There is a movie by that name starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. It’s about a same-sex couple (Bening and Moore) who have two children who were the product of each of them plus a common sperm donor (Ruffalo). It’s a fairly contrived story that might possibly exist in a few real life situations, but is unlikely to represent the issues faced by a broad swath of…
A Dangerous TV Table How easy should you make your life? I am never quite sure how I feel about that issue. There is a fine theoretical argument that says that struggle is the grit that makes for a better life. But then that’s all very theoretical. Who would make their life harder when they can make it easier? Not very many people I know. And how exactly does one discount that future “better” state…
Beaten by the Market I am spending more and more time these days working as an expert witness in investment management cases. One thing keeps coming up over and over again and that is the value or lack thereof of active management versus passive management. In simplistic terms, for readers who are not financially-focused people, the simple issue is whether people can consistently beat the market or whether the market will always dominate and make…
The Art of Doing Father/son scenes always mean a lot to me. It may be because I had so few, if any, with my father, or it may because I try to do so many with my sons. Obviously the two are connected, but I still find they drill deep with me. Baseball seems to be a common landscape for these interactions given its prominence as an aging, but still inter-generational common ground. The first…
California Dreaming My readers are probably tired about hearing me prattle on about the joys of the Golden State, but please indulge me this last time to wallow in the earthly pleasures I find myself amidst out here in San Diego. I am still adjusting to waking up in this paradise and pinching myself that this is what I get to wake up to every morning form here on in. This morning I had a…
Sweeping the Garage I have used the analogy of sweeping the garage for many years. It is my way of saying that every life needs to include some trivial tasks, not because they cannot always be avoided, but because doing basic tasks is good for the soul. This is somewhat about reminding ourselves that being of service and not vending every aspect of our lives, even when we have the means to do so, is…
Chillaxing We have now officially moved out of our apartment and into the next door Hampton Inn. It’s funny, sometime after the financial crash of 2008, I imagine some aggressive developer who owned this building on Water Street stroked his chin about what to do with this underperforming B-class office building. Downtown office space was not in very high demand (except with HMO’s for some reason) as most of the action had moved well off…
Going Slow Today I turn sixty-six years old. According to the Social Security Administration, I am now eligible for full retirement. I’m waiting until March to start my monthly check for the silly reason that the monthly amount will then click over the maximum amount for someone my age of $3,011. If I waited until age seventy to claim (four years from now), I could claim $3,790 per month. That means I am choosing…