Cool to cold, clear, sunny.\u00a0 Yesterday was blue sky, sunny, and yet cool and windy.\u00a0 A great day to dry things out.\u00a0 I’m hoping for more of the same and that is what the national forecast calls for.\u00a0\u00a0 It’d be nice if they were right.<\/p>\n
Yesterday was another low achievement day.\u00a0 Household stuff.\u00a0\u00a0 Groceries.\u00a0\u00a0 Messing around in the office.\u00a0\u00a0 Kids were home and wife was at the office, so I was parent in charge.\u00a0 That means poking them to eat, dress, go outside, etc. instead of just playing Minecraft.\u00a0\u00a0 I thought about it today, and thought, if that’s really how they want to spend Spring Break, then let them enjoy the time.\u00a0 They have other days when they knock off a whole book, or spend several hours playing with toys in their rooms.<\/p>\n
Another reason for me to take it easy is I tweaked something in my knee.\u00a0 I felt it tear, and it hurts for certain motions.\u00a0 I’m going to be really careful for the next\u00a0 few days.\u00a0 I don’t think it was very bad, there isn’t any bruising or constant pain, but I know I did something.\u00a0\u00a0 This getting older is a b!tch.\u00a0 Although, truth be told, I’ve been tearing up my knees most of my life.\u00a0 This is\u00a0 nothing new.<\/p>\n
I didn’t buy any red meat or pork this grocery order.\u00a0\u00a0 The only thing reasonable was sirloin and I’m full up on that.\u00a0 When I’m ordering I have costco open in one tab, and HEB in another, and I compare between them.\u00a0\u00a0 Costco was REALLY cheaper on a bunch of items this week.\u00a0\u00a0 Kings Hawaiian rolls, english muffins, choice ribeye steaks, all almost 25% lower than HEB and HEB has the lowest prices of our major groceries.\u00a0 The bread was almost 40% lower at Costco.\u00a0 HEB was cheaper for chicken drums and thighs, but only by pennies and I like the Costco vac pack better than repacking it myself, so Costco won on chicken too.\u00a0 Prices on meat have been all over the place for the last year.\u00a0 I don’t know if that means anything other than supply issues, but it’s been difficult to budget.\u00a0 The freezers let me buy in bulk when it’s cheap and wait out the higher prices though, saving me money in the long run.<\/p>\n
I’ve got an electrician coming by this afternoon to look at hooking up the whole house gennie.\u00a0\u00a0 Turns out he’s a guy I know, one of the dads\u00a0 from the pool.\u00a0 I think of him as a solar power guy, so I didn’t even consider calling him about the gennie.\u00a0\u00a0 Good thing I’ve got a smart wife \ud83d\ude09\u00a0 I don’t know if he’ll be up for the job, he usually works for other companies, but he can answer some questions for me, and give me a better idea of the scope and cost involved.<\/p>\n
It would be great to get it installed and running.\u00a0 I have a feeling that if things proceed as they have in the past, we can expect services to degrade in quality.\u00a0 Water, electricity, trash collection, policing, and general public works like graffiti removal and debris pickup should all decline.\u00a0 I believe I’m already seeing more illegal dumping, more graffiti, and more roadside infrastructure damage than before.\u00a0 It’s taking longer to fix issues, and the fixes are often just to remove the broken stuff without replacing it.\u00a0 I’m seeing more vacant commercial and retail real estate too.<\/p>\n
Before I meet with the electrician,\u00a0 I’ve got errands to run and pickups to do.\u00a0\u00a0 At one auction I got a couple of nice high dollar items to resell, that should move quickly, the other was stuff for the house and eventual lake house.\u00a0\u00a0 I realized that I’m buying more and more of my total outlay in the secondary market.\u00a0 I’m not spending any significant money in stores or with the big online sellers (other than food and grocery store items.)\u00a0 We didn’t do any real back to school shopping either, nor have we done clothes shopping for the girls.\u00a0\u00a0 My wife isn’t buying clothes, haircuts, or shoes because she hasn’t been in to the office much.\u00a0 If even a fraction of other households are like ours, it doesn’t bode well for an economy built on consumer spending.<\/p>\n
That said, I’m still spending money.\u00a0 Just not as much as I might, and not in the places other people do.<\/p>\n
Consider what it might mean if other households are making the same changes you are making.\u00a0 We are rarely so smart, prescient, or unique as we think, others will be doing whatever we are doing.\u00a0\u00a0 If it becomes a trend, what will that affect in the bigger world?<\/p>\n
With that in mind, what do you need to be stacking?\u00a0 Get you some of that, and stack it high.<\/p>\n
nick<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cool to cold, clear, sunny.\u00a0 Yesterday was blue sky, sunny, and yet cool and windy.\u00a0 A great day to dry things out.\u00a0 I’m hoping for more of the same and that is what the national forecast calls for.\u00a0\u00a0 It’d be nice if they were right.<\/p>\n
Yesterday was another low achievement day.\u00a0 Household stuff.\u00a0\u00a0 Groceries.\u00a0\u00a0 Messing around in the office.\u00a0\u00a0 Kids were home and wife was at the office, so I was parent in charge.\u00a0<\/p>\n