Bob G

Comments:

• My greatest concern is that one of the candidates will win.

  Post: Stay Informed by Marjorie Kondrack

  Link to comment from October 2, 2024

• Car Guy here. All my life I've driven nothing but semi-high performance 2-door sport coupes with manual transmissions and, yes, the last two have been BMWs. All my wife wants is a three-row SUV (currently Toyota) large and safe enough for most of the grandchildren to fit in. We do get a few snows in the winter, so 4-wheel drive as an occasionally-used necessity. For her, safety is my top priority as she is, by far, my most valuable asset. For me, it's all about the experience (non-car guys wouldn't understand). I take care of them, do some of the routine maintenance, and am disappointed when they don't last at least 15 years or longer. Works for us!

  Post: Conflicting and Confusing Economic Indicators

  Link to comment from September 27, 2024

• Babylon Bee Headline: "Mom Drops Kids At Daycare To Work Second Job To Pay For Daycare." Hold your fire, it's a joke.

  Post: How did it all work for us? Why not now?

  Link to comment from September 26, 2024

• This is how failing Spanish 1 in high school was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me. Obviously, I wasn't much of a student at that time, but by repeating Spanish 1, I was put in the class one year behind me. First day of class in walks this beautiful high school cheerleader who I'd never seen before. While I'm trying to figure how to find out her name, the teacher walks in and says, "OK, the first thing we're going to do is go around the class and introduce ourselves." I'm thinking, this is my lucky day! However, when it got to her, I couldn't understand what she said - bummer. That didn't deter me, so I asked around, got her name, and found the courage to ask her out. That was over 60 years ago and 56 wedding anniversaries, 4 sons, and 8 grandchildren later. Life is good.

  Post: Friday the 13th, the Luckiest Day of My Life by Andrew Forsythe

  Link to comment from September 15, 2024

• I prefer to be a little more upbeat on this depressing topic - "Time Won't Let Me" by The Outsiders.

  Post: The Dance of Time by Ken Cutler

  Link to comment from September 3, 2024

• Long time reader, occasional commenter. My life parallels polamalu2009's and Dick's almost exactly, but I'm only:) 79. I'm thankful to have been born between first and second base rather than in the batter's box. My Mom and Dad were married for over 70 years before their deaths and money was never an issue. I'm still happily married for 56 years to my high school sweetheart; helped her raise four successful sons, all apparently happily married, and have given us 8 beautiful (of course) grandchildren. Times were a little tight for us putting all four sons through college (32 semesters of tuition!), but we did it with minimal borrowing which barely impacted our lifestyle. Fortunately my wife is even more careful with money than I am. We diligently saved and invested since our early 20's. Still spending most of my free time in various volunteer efforts. Now a retired pharmacist and likely to pass on significant money to our four sons and their families. Miss much? I guess, but look at what I didn't miss.

  Post: Did we do this all wrong?

  Link to comment from August 28, 2024

• "Know it all" car guy here. In my, and other more qualified opinions, synthetic oil is well worth the small difference in price for fuel efficiency and longer engine life. According to an AAA study synthetic oil is 47% better. As always, "your results may vary". The most important thing is to change your oil at least as often as the car manufacturer recommends. Generally, synthetic oil can be changed half as often as regular oil, thus resulting in actual savings. I believe I am correct that the majority (not all) of new cars now require synthetic oil. Use of regular oil when synthetic is required will likely result in voiding the engine warranty. At 79, I still most always change my own oil (I have a walk-down oil pit in my garage.) so I only have to worry about the retail cost differences, which are slight. At Walmart right now, 5 qts of synthetic oil cost +/- $26 and regular oil +/- $20. However, most will not change their own oil and price shopping becomes more difficult when labor is factored in.

  Post: Good Enough for Me

  Link to comment from August 8, 2024

• At 79, I've been through a few of these. Black Monday, scared me as a 42 year old, but fortunately I was too paralyzed to act. The .com bubble burst, then the Global Financail Crisis hit when I was about to retire. By the time Covid hit, I was determined to BUY rather than sit on my hands. Got in a little too early, but still close to the bottom. No one knows what's next, but so far riding it out has worked for me.

  Post: Staying the Course by Jonathan Clements

  Link to comment from August 6, 2024

• Got cleverly tricked into listening to the #1 MLM scheme more than once in this order. You're the best salesman I've ever seen! I was in my twenties and agreed. Cost me at least an hour before I asked, "Who's selling all the products?" Invite to dinner. How nice, until the large flip sheets came out. Admire the way you work! Flattered. As a retired Pharmacist, it was easy for folks to watch me work (and of course I thought I was good:). So when "offered" a job making "much more than you make now", I bit. The next day he showed up when I got off and we sat down in our back room with his large notebook full of pictures and charts. (No pyramids, just circles). Second page in, I realized I'd been had. He wouldn't leave until I threatened him with trespassing.

  Post: A Target On My Back by Ken Cutler

  Link to comment from July 31, 2024

• I've been called and picked three times, but haven't served once because of unusual coincidences: First case was a well-publicized home burglary murder case decades back when the police were less careful about sharing their evidence with the press. After months of reading about it, I had come to the conclusion that the suspect was guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt. I was selected for the jury and the first question the Judge asked was, "Have any of you read about this in the newspaper?" I timidly raised my hand only to realize mine was the only hand up! Just couldn't believe I was the only one who had read about it, but I was dismissed. (Yes, he was convicted.) Second one was a child molestation case involving a stepfather. I was sitting on the jury when the first witness was a woman I knew fairly well. I quickly realized she was the child's mother and again timidly raised my hand. After explaining that to the Judge, I was dismissed. (Can't remember the final result of the trial.) Third one involved a suit against a pharmacy and a pharmacist who was accused by the child's mother of providing excessive A.D.D. drugs to her minor son. During the opening statements, I heard it was against the company I worked for and a fellow pharmacist I knew well. You know the drill by now, I timidly raised my hand and was dismissed. (Both were found not at fault.)

  Post: Duty Calls

  Link to comment from July 4, 2024