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With all of the headlines (and the reality) about inflation, predatory pricing and ever increasing costs of goods, I expected that retail shopping would be taking a significant hit. Personally, even with my limited amount of purchasing and general anti-consumerism tendencies, I cannot help but notice significant prices increases in the food and items I…

When Hurricane Helena hit North Carolina recently, several mountain towns near Asheville were devastated by floods and mudslides. Houses were flooded. Roads were washed away. Power, water, communications and basic services were nonexistent. People were stranded. If they were lucky, they had shelter and a few days supply of essentials. But with roads and bridges…

In 2001, my wife and I relocated from our hometown of Pittsburgh to South Florida to be closer to the kids (who lived with their father in Miami), to enjoy the weather, and to fulfill a lifelong dream of mine. I was thrilled and looked forward to all of the experiences and adventures I imagined…

After painting for 5 years, I had more than 250 paintings hung up in every free space of my home.  As a minimalist, eventually this became overwhelming. I would walk past my neighbors’ homes lit up at night I’d see a few carefully selected frame pieces of art on a wall and think, “That’s what…

While listening to a podcast that I subscribe to, I realized that I hadn’t enjoyed listening to it for quite some time. It occurred to me that I do not like the host. Even worse, I don’t respect him. The host was raised in an upper middle class family and lived a life of wealth…

Israel’s recent targeted attack that blew up the pagers and walkie talkies used by Hezbollah was all over the news last week. Reportedly more than 4000 were blown up over two days, injuring many people and killing some. This has been breathlessly reported by many in the media as a “James Bond type” sophisticated attack….

This past week, another mentally ill dude attempted to assassinate former president Trump. This is the 2nd attempt on Trump’s life in a few months. I wonder if it will make a difference as more politicians realize how vulnerable they are to lunatics with guns. Many years ago, I thought the Sandy Hook school shooting…

My research into getting estimates to replace my two sliding doors with French doors has grown into a full blown project that includes replacing a third slider with windows and replacing all of the windows in my entire house. Jeez. I wasn’t anticipating that. What happened was every time I met with another contractor, I…

On the GenX subreddit recently, there’s been a surge in posts titled “Me at 17” and “Me Today” (~ around age 55) that are accompanied with photos. The “Me at 17” photos all look familiar to me. They include high school senior photos, early military class photos, prom photos, partying photos and some photos with…

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on getting quotes for a major home renovation project that includes replacing 2 sliding glass doors with French “garden” doors, replacing a 3rd set of sliding doors with a set of windows and replacing 4 other windows. I’ve done a fair bit of internet research reading through…