jack
The Legendary Troll Kingdom
I love doing that!
"You gonna get another job?"...
- Thread starter Volpone
- Start date
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
I am an UnAmerican Freak.
I hate debt financing and paying interest.
I've invested in stocks and mutual funds all my life and really accidentally got into real estate. Bought some things cheap, held them long enough and sold them for a nice profit. But prices started going crazy just before the 'Rona for what little inventory was out there so it took awhile to buy the last house I thought I needed. Up to this point money from stocks and real estate profits had bought all my properties but I had to partly finance the last one with a HELOC and I've had to make minimum interest-only payments (and even dip into it at tax time). I'm finally getting to where I've rebuilt my "rainy day" fund to where I can actually start paying down principal but it pains me to see how much interest I've shelled out while making no headway at retiring the debt. I just can't get my head around having a mortgage your entire life.
Back when I was in the Marines, you took out a loan to buy your uniforms and sundry--and another loan to replace my aging car that I left behind when I joined. I managed to pay those off about the time I got my first promotion and between the pay bump and not having loans to service, I'd go up to L.A. for a weekend and figure I'd have to tighten my belt the next month but there'd be more money in my account than I'd started the weekend with.
I hate debt financing and paying interest.
I've invested in stocks and mutual funds all my life and really accidentally got into real estate. Bought some things cheap, held them long enough and sold them for a nice profit. But prices started going crazy just before the 'Rona for what little inventory was out there so it took awhile to buy the last house I thought I needed. Up to this point money from stocks and real estate profits had bought all my properties but I had to partly finance the last one with a HELOC and I've had to make minimum interest-only payments (and even dip into it at tax time). I'm finally getting to where I've rebuilt my "rainy day" fund to where I can actually start paying down principal but it pains me to see how much interest I've shelled out while making no headway at retiring the debt. I just can't get my head around having a mortgage your entire life.
Back when I was in the Marines, you took out a loan to buy your uniforms and sundry--and another loan to replace my aging car that I left behind when I joined. I managed to pay those off about the time I got my first promotion and between the pay bump and not having loans to service, I'd go up to L.A. for a weekend and figure I'd have to tighten my belt the next month but there'd be more money in my account than I'd started the weekend with.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
You can't save everyone (and other hard truths).
Through sheer stubbornness, I finished the lawnmowing. Yesterday afternoon was drier than predicted so instead of watching "Dr. Who" after "Jeopardy!" I got some gasoline and mowed until dark. Ran out of gas just before dark and then managed to flood the carb when I refilled so I had to stop. Rained like a bastard overnight and supposed to rain again this afternoon, but the morning overcast burned off and it's sunny and beautiful (if a bit humid) right now. So when The Dog decided to cut the morning walk short and wanted to go In I decided to mow. It was wetter than I'd have liked and I had to go slower and burn more gas, but I got it done. And this is important because some of the grass I mowed Sunday is already getting long again, it's growing so fast.
Anyway, while I was mowing out back I noticed a dog in the corner of the neighbor's back lot. All these lots are big (mine's over an acre) and long but skinny and he's got a little woods/thicket at the back of his property. Behind us is an even bigger property--probably 4 or 5 acres. Hispanics and they've got a virtual zoo. Chickens, goats, sheep, horses, Guinea fowl, a couple peacocks--you name it. They've also got a couple dogs to help guard all the livestock and the sweeter, quieter one had apparently gotten loose and gotten over the fence and couldn't get back so she was sitting in the corner of of the 3 properties, as close to where she belonged as she could get. I yelled a few times to see if I could get anyone's attention, but no response. Thought about either going over the fence or jumping in the car and driving to their front gate, but that's even farther from their houses than my backyard. So for now she's content to curl up in the shade and do her best to guard her home until she can get back through the fence or someone can rescue her. I may try again after lunch.
I should also mention that this property is a little sketchy. When I say "chickens" there are a fair number or roosters. And Kentucky is apparently known in the cockfighting world. There's also about a half dozen campers parked on the property and God knows what else going on on the other side of the tall privacy fence (over by the chicken coop and goat shed there's a patch that doesn't have a privacy fence). But that's not my responsibility and I don't feel like I should interfere in anyone's life choices, culture, or efforts to survive, as long as they aren't hurting me. Would the dog be happier somewhere else? Maybe, I don't know. Her tail's always wagging when I see her and she seems determined to stay by her home right now so I'll try to get her home this afternoon. Sometimes it would be nice to care less about other's feelings and happiness.
That said, I like the idea of karma--being rewarded for being good and punished for being bad--and reincarnation. It pleases me to think that if you had a sad/short/shitty life this time around, you get another shot next time. Although as I was thinking about this I was thinking about all the groundhogs my dog has sent on to their next lives and I feel a little bad about my role in that, but I guess that's just life. Groundhogs dig holes and eat grass and try to live. Dogs try to kill groundhogs (and eat them if possible) and groundhogs have enough babies that the stupid and weak groundhogs can die without endangering the species. It's just life. Life can kind of suck but I guess that's where we get back to reincarnation and karma and such. I really need to study religion. I assume only humans can get karma because they're actually aware and able to act on free will. Maybe some apes and certain times when a dog does something heroic like saving a kid or something they should get a karma credit, but overall...meh. Should get going. Gotta eat. Gotta get stuff done. The metro council came up with new stupid annoying registration requirements for landlords and it turns out I have to comply with them by the end of the month (I was hoping us "grandfathered" people had another year--and that the new law would get thrown out by then) so I need to get on that. Being "retired" is more work than I'd hoped it would be.
Through sheer stubbornness, I finished the lawnmowing. Yesterday afternoon was drier than predicted so instead of watching "Dr. Who" after "Jeopardy!" I got some gasoline and mowed until dark. Ran out of gas just before dark and then managed to flood the carb when I refilled so I had to stop. Rained like a bastard overnight and supposed to rain again this afternoon, but the morning overcast burned off and it's sunny and beautiful (if a bit humid) right now. So when The Dog decided to cut the morning walk short and wanted to go In I decided to mow. It was wetter than I'd have liked and I had to go slower and burn more gas, but I got it done. And this is important because some of the grass I mowed Sunday is already getting long again, it's growing so fast.
Anyway, while I was mowing out back I noticed a dog in the corner of the neighbor's back lot. All these lots are big (mine's over an acre) and long but skinny and he's got a little woods/thicket at the back of his property. Behind us is an even bigger property--probably 4 or 5 acres. Hispanics and they've got a virtual zoo. Chickens, goats, sheep, horses, Guinea fowl, a couple peacocks--you name it. They've also got a couple dogs to help guard all the livestock and the sweeter, quieter one had apparently gotten loose and gotten over the fence and couldn't get back so she was sitting in the corner of of the 3 properties, as close to where she belonged as she could get. I yelled a few times to see if I could get anyone's attention, but no response. Thought about either going over the fence or jumping in the car and driving to their front gate, but that's even farther from their houses than my backyard. So for now she's content to curl up in the shade and do her best to guard her home until she can get back through the fence or someone can rescue her. I may try again after lunch.
I should also mention that this property is a little sketchy. When I say "chickens" there are a fair number or roosters. And Kentucky is apparently known in the cockfighting world. There's also about a half dozen campers parked on the property and God knows what else going on on the other side of the tall privacy fence (over by the chicken coop and goat shed there's a patch that doesn't have a privacy fence). But that's not my responsibility and I don't feel like I should interfere in anyone's life choices, culture, or efforts to survive, as long as they aren't hurting me. Would the dog be happier somewhere else? Maybe, I don't know. Her tail's always wagging when I see her and she seems determined to stay by her home right now so I'll try to get her home this afternoon. Sometimes it would be nice to care less about other's feelings and happiness.
That said, I like the idea of karma--being rewarded for being good and punished for being bad--and reincarnation. It pleases me to think that if you had a sad/short/shitty life this time around, you get another shot next time. Although as I was thinking about this I was thinking about all the groundhogs my dog has sent on to their next lives and I feel a little bad about my role in that, but I guess that's just life. Groundhogs dig holes and eat grass and try to live. Dogs try to kill groundhogs (and eat them if possible) and groundhogs have enough babies that the stupid and weak groundhogs can die without endangering the species. It's just life. Life can kind of suck but I guess that's where we get back to reincarnation and karma and such. I really need to study religion. I assume only humans can get karma because they're actually aware and able to act on free will. Maybe some apes and certain times when a dog does something heroic like saving a kid or something they should get a karma credit, but overall...meh. Should get going. Gotta eat. Gotta get stuff done. The metro council came up with new stupid annoying registration requirements for landlords and it turns out I have to comply with them by the end of the month (I was hoping us "grandfathered" people had another year--and that the new law would get thrown out by then) so I need to get on that. Being "retired" is more work than I'd hoped it would be.
It has been years but in the late 1980s to early 1990s there was a fad for that and I can remember loads of people doing it. From my mom and sister to friends and relatives. Even I would do it.
If you really hate lawn mowing that much why not hire a gardener? I have a gardener I pay $150 per month and he and his two adult sons come one hour per week to trim the hedges, mow the laws, fertilize what needs it, checks the sprinklers once per year or so, sets the drip irrigation system and positions the lines, etc... For a small additional charge ($40) they plant bulbs, spread seeds, and do all other needed yard work. I have hired them, at additional cost, to remove two palm trees for me (they had got so tall there was a danger they could fall and hit the roof plus the neighbor complained their roots were pushing out the retaining wall) so he removed each for $350 per very tall palm tree and even hauled off and disposed of the waste cleaning everything up nicely.
If doing it yourself is so terrible or inconvenient then hiring someone can indeed be quite affordable.
Hell on Xmas Eve in 2021-2022 one of the trucks of one of our Australian paper trees (the tree in question had two trunks as they resprout from the base; see coppicing) fell over in high winds and, fortunately, didn't hit the house or hot tub... I used my little electric trimmer and hand saw to trim off all the branches then negotiated with the gardener to use his chain saw to cut up and remove the entire for just $80. He liked it because he got extra cash then took the wood home to burn in his fireplace.
He brought his F-150 and all was done in around one hour. He has a couple acres outside of town and even wanted the smaller branches I had cut off to feed his wood chipper to make covering mulch as well as compost with the leaves and left over saw dust.
He brought his F-150 and all was done in around one hour. He has a couple acres outside of town and even wanted the smaller branches I had cut off to feed his wood chipper to make covering mulch as well as compost with the leaves and left over saw dust.
A lot of people forget that blue collar worker ways well. Take my gardener as an example: If he and his two sons each work 40 hours per week that is 120 hours per week. If they charge $150 per house per month and spend 4 hours per house per month that is $15,000 per month for 100 houses. For the basics, all the extra stuff costs extra, tree removal, planting flowers or bushes, removing stumps, etc...
It is very reasonable to assume they make $200,000 per year doing that even while working less than 40 hours per week each. Probably even more. That is easily more than $65,000 tax free per year each and probably more. For people working under the table as gardeners. I spoke with my long time gardener and he has over 100 clients, some are weekly, some are bi weekly, and the cost varies based upon the services rendered and there are always extras he is willing to do for a small additional charge. Even relatively low skill blue collar work can be fairly well paid.
It is very reasonable to assume they make $200,000 per year doing that even while working less than 40 hours per week each. Probably even more. That is easily more than $65,000 tax free per year each and probably more. For people working under the table as gardeners. I spoke with my long time gardener and he has over 100 clients, some are weekly, some are bi weekly, and the cost varies based upon the services rendered and there are always extras he is willing to do for a small additional charge. Even relatively low skill blue collar work can be fairly well paid.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
I'm far too cheap to pay someone $150 a month for something I can do. Yeah, I get that if I was doing something during that time that made me more than $150 a month then it would make sense to pay someone. I don't. I wouldn't pay someone $35 a month to mow my lawn because I'm healthy and able-bodied and this is my way of showing my thanks that I am. Anyway it helps keep me from getting fat.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Well fuck, I guess The Dog has decided I should stay awake all night tonight. It is 12:22am right now. I went to bed around 11:09. Felt a little bloated or otherwise out of sorts but managed to get past it and just as I'm starting to doze off...The Dog gets up and leaves the room. So now I'm awake again. And part of my brain is listening for The Dog but I try to relax and get back to sleep...and The Dog comes back into the room again and then leaves. Later she comes back and I resolve to just try to ignore her so I can get to sleep so she does a hint of a whine. So at that point I've got to get up to see what's going on. She wants to go Out. So now I'm stuck awake until she wants to come In. Laptop is shut down so I fuck off on my phone a bit and then go let her back in. She settles in at her spot near the back door and I get to work on going back to sleep. Now my guts are churning a little and I'm considering if I need to get up and try to take a dump but I decide to just sleep...when I hear her come into the adjacent bedroom.
I've started tracking my Rage Level when I'm out walking her, because dogs do annoying things like stop for 5 minutes to sniff poop. Or walk through a grassy spot where other dogs have pooped. And then back the other way. And then back again, leading you through the dogshit minefield over and over and over again. Or they decide they want to cross a busy street and have no concept of cars. I'm standing there with the leash going "LOOK AT THE FUCKING CARS! WE HAVE TO WAIT." Then we get the eventual break in traffic and she crosses just long enough to decide that, no, the other side was better.
Anyway, tonight is the first night she managed to peg the rage meter while I was laying in bed. Because I'm finally starting to unwind and she unleashes one single loud bark. And now I'm here, typing, because I'm tired, but I also need to get my annoyance out of my brain before it will let me go back to sleep at this point. And my plans for tomorrow are fucked because now I'm going to be tired in the morning.
I've started tracking my Rage Level when I'm out walking her, because dogs do annoying things like stop for 5 minutes to sniff poop. Or walk through a grassy spot where other dogs have pooped. And then back the other way. And then back again, leading you through the dogshit minefield over and over and over again. Or they decide they want to cross a busy street and have no concept of cars. I'm standing there with the leash going "LOOK AT THE FUCKING CARS! WE HAVE TO WAIT." Then we get the eventual break in traffic and she crosses just long enough to decide that, no, the other side was better.
Anyway, tonight is the first night she managed to peg the rage meter while I was laying in bed. Because I'm finally starting to unwind and she unleashes one single loud bark. And now I'm here, typing, because I'm tired, but I also need to get my annoyance out of my brain before it will let me go back to sleep at this point. And my plans for tomorrow are fucked because now I'm going to be tired in the morning.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
5:39am. I don't know what I did to invoke this karmic wrath, but when I got up at 5:09 for the now regular bathroom break, I smelled something funny and realized The Dog's uneasiness: diarrhea. Two nice pools on the rug and carpet in the back bedroom. Must've happened awhile back because the one I stepped in was cool. Managed to hop to the bathroom and clean runny dogshit off my foot (turns out it was lucky I hadn't put on flip-flops or I'd have tracked it all over without noticing--how's that for fun, being fortunate to have stepped in dogshit barefoot). Then I got a roll of paper towels and bottle of carpet cleaner and got going.
It's absolutely miserable work. Especially at 5 in the morning when you were hoping not to wake up too much so you can get back to sleep right away. I'd considered just chucking the carpet section. For some insane reason, The Dog also "digs" in a couple spots in that room so I'd laid remnants on the actual carpet so she could destroy them. But then I'd have to find a new way to deal with her "digging." Actually modern carpet is pretty amazing. It cleaned up in a snap, compared to the low pile cotton rug the other accident was on.
Anyway, as the poop cleanup is moving to the home stretch something makes me notice The Cat's litterbox. Years ago I built a mud room storage bench. I got a cat while I was working on it, so instead of completely finishing it, I put a curtain across the front so I could put a litterbox inside it. It's fairly cool. Well tonight--for whatever reason--The Cat picked as a good night to almost pee in it. So now I'm also cleaning up a pool of cat piss (the litterbox is on laminate floor). And as I'm thinking things couldn't possibly get worse, I realize The Cat has also pissed on the curtain. And of course I realized this by touching the wet curtain.
So. A half hour, a roll of paper towels, some pet stain carpet shampoo, Lysol and the last of my Febreeze and my house is very nearly in the state it was when I went to bed.
I have absolutely no idea what The Dog got into that gave her diarrhea.
It's absolutely miserable work. Especially at 5 in the morning when you were hoping not to wake up too much so you can get back to sleep right away. I'd considered just chucking the carpet section. For some insane reason, The Dog also "digs" in a couple spots in that room so I'd laid remnants on the actual carpet so she could destroy them. But then I'd have to find a new way to deal with her "digging." Actually modern carpet is pretty amazing. It cleaned up in a snap, compared to the low pile cotton rug the other accident was on.
Anyway, as the poop cleanup is moving to the home stretch something makes me notice The Cat's litterbox. Years ago I built a mud room storage bench. I got a cat while I was working on it, so instead of completely finishing it, I put a curtain across the front so I could put a litterbox inside it. It's fairly cool. Well tonight--for whatever reason--The Cat picked as a good night to almost pee in it. So now I'm also cleaning up a pool of cat piss (the litterbox is on laminate floor). And as I'm thinking things couldn't possibly get worse, I realize The Cat has also pissed on the curtain. And of course I realized this by touching the wet curtain.
So. A half hour, a roll of paper towels, some pet stain carpet shampoo, Lysol and the last of my Febreeze and my house is very nearly in the state it was when I went to bed.
I have absolutely no idea what The Dog got into that gave her diarrhea.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
After working nights (even part time a couple days a week), it's been a long slog back to waking up at a reasonable hour, but I've been consistently getting up before 8:30. Until today, when I slept until 10. No more accidents. Did have to revisit my cleanup work in better light, Dog is still pooping liquid, but she was able to hold it 3 hours or so (I had to get up at 7:14 to let her out). Never a dull moment.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
It's interesting, when you realize the world has fundamentally changed during your lifetime and now you're like "In my day, we used to hang an onion from our belt..."
In conversation, I happened to mention needing to reread "Ender's Game" about now and I wound up explaining it was required reading for all new Marine officers, so even Christian bookstores in Northern Virginia would stock it because they knew every 2 months about 250 people would be going out to buy it. I wound up finding my copy when I was up in DC to see a movie.
And now I'm realizing how odd this story must sound to anyone under around 20: "You see, back at the turn of the century, we didn't have Amazon. If you wanted a book you had to go to a bookstore that had it in stock." Bonus story: "Back when Amazon first started, all they sold was books. And they didn't have any trucks so they mailed them to you."
In conversation, I happened to mention needing to reread "Ender's Game" about now and I wound up explaining it was required reading for all new Marine officers, so even Christian bookstores in Northern Virginia would stock it because they knew every 2 months about 250 people would be going out to buy it. I wound up finding my copy when I was up in DC to see a movie.
And now I'm realizing how odd this story must sound to anyone under around 20: "You see, back at the turn of the century, we didn't have Amazon. If you wanted a book you had to go to a bookstore that had it in stock." Bonus story: "Back when Amazon first started, all they sold was books. And they didn't have any trucks so they mailed them to you."
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Today went totally not according to plan. When I retired, I made a list of projects I never had time for and I've been working on them--things like burning the huge brush pile behind the carriage house, repairing the TARDIS, and fixing up the tin shed--but I had to interject some tedious deskwork items. AT&T jacked up their internet rate 3 times in a year so I need a new ISP, and a raft of business things--looking at moving to a new insurer, renewing my UPS Store address, & filing my annual LLC report with the Secretary of State. Oh, and taking the animals to the vet for their annual checkup and meeting with a retirement planner to make sure I've got my ducks in a row.
Some of this has been brought on because our beloved Metro Council has imposed new requirements on landlords. Back around 2017 they created a "Rental Registry." If you were going to rent out a house or apartment, you needed to file a bunch of data with the county. Well last year they decided you needed to refile every year, pay a fee, and agree to let the county randomly inspect your properties. So I'm having my "Who is John Galt?" moment and wondering if I've got enough yet that I can just sell the rentals off and retire (I probably don't).
Deadline "renewing" my permission to do what I want with my property is end of the month so I was going to bang that out, along with a few other things. But I ran out of a few items I'm going to need before the weekend so I was going to pop by and get them while banging out a few of the items on the list (renewing mailbox, talking to an insurance person) but because I didn't sleep well last night because of the sick dog, I am way behind today and now it's time to make dinner. Tomorrow is the vet, Thursday is retirement planner. Oh, crap. I've also got to convert my 401K over to my IRA this month. Bleah.
Some of this has been brought on because our beloved Metro Council has imposed new requirements on landlords. Back around 2017 they created a "Rental Registry." If you were going to rent out a house or apartment, you needed to file a bunch of data with the county. Well last year they decided you needed to refile every year, pay a fee, and agree to let the county randomly inspect your properties. So I'm having my "Who is John Galt?" moment and wondering if I've got enough yet that I can just sell the rentals off and retire (I probably don't).
Deadline "renewing" my permission to do what I want with my property is end of the month so I was going to bang that out, along with a few other things. But I ran out of a few items I'm going to need before the weekend so I was going to pop by and get them while banging out a few of the items on the list (renewing mailbox, talking to an insurance person) but because I didn't sleep well last night because of the sick dog, I am way behind today and now it's time to make dinner. Tomorrow is the vet, Thursday is retirement planner. Oh, crap. I've also got to convert my 401K over to my IRA this month. Bleah.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Y'know, Facebook may be a spam-infested failure at its advertised purpose--staying up to date on what my friends are up to--but I will say it is also a buggy bandwidth hog.
On an unrelated note New Cat is a shorthair so no more puked up hairballs, but he still sheds like a bastard when sitting on my lap to be petted. And neither coffee nor computers are improved by cat hair. So I'm doing my best to pile it on my (physical) inbox as I pet him and of course his tail threatens to return it to the atmosphere, where it will land on everything.
[EDIT: OH, the related point I forgot to make: Maybe it's the sunspot activity, but TMobile is slightly less expensive than AT&T fiber--and significantly slower at random times. ]
On an unrelated note New Cat is a shorthair so no more puked up hairballs, but he still sheds like a bastard when sitting on my lap to be petted. And neither coffee nor computers are improved by cat hair. So I'm doing my best to pile it on my (physical) inbox as I pet him and of course his tail threatens to return it to the atmosphere, where it will land on everything.
[EDIT: OH, the related point I forgot to make: Maybe it's the sunspot activity, but TMobile is slightly less expensive than AT&T fiber--and significantly slower at random times. ]
Last edited:
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
One of my insane OCD projects is nearing completion. This is slightly problematic because there are other, higher priorities this week, but the satisfaction of completing that's been out there for years is hard to ignore.
I've got a long tin shed. 2 double garage doors and 1 single. Pretty much deep enough for anything that will fit under a 7' garage door (probably not a hearse but that's another story). Got the roof 99% watertight. Floors are gravel with rubber mats over them. This is better than concrete because it is at the bottom of a low ridge and if the floor was concrete I'd need a drain that runs across the entire frontage to prevent flooding. As it is, the water runs under the mats and out the back. Cleaned all the walls. About half the exposed wood framing inside has been painted with linseed oil. This helps protect the wood and also reduce leaks (IMO). Floors have been just about mopped to the point that the mop water isn't black anymore. There's an interesting color variation from aging of the rubber, assorted stains and paint projects that give it a kind of marble effect. I'm planning to wax them with Mop & Glo to bring out the depth and color. Probably need to go through and scrub the walls again at this point. There used to be a stovepipe out the back wall. The last house I bought had a wood burning stove in its garage so I grabbed that and stuck it in the corner. Hang up some signs and my old surfboard, etc, and it should look pretty cool inside. Since it has a southern facing and is tied to my house wiring, I'm tempted to stick solar panels on top, but that's another project for another time.
I've got a long tin shed. 2 double garage doors and 1 single. Pretty much deep enough for anything that will fit under a 7' garage door (probably not a hearse but that's another story). Got the roof 99% watertight. Floors are gravel with rubber mats over them. This is better than concrete because it is at the bottom of a low ridge and if the floor was concrete I'd need a drain that runs across the entire frontage to prevent flooding. As it is, the water runs under the mats and out the back. Cleaned all the walls. About half the exposed wood framing inside has been painted with linseed oil. This helps protect the wood and also reduce leaks (IMO). Floors have been just about mopped to the point that the mop water isn't black anymore. There's an interesting color variation from aging of the rubber, assorted stains and paint projects that give it a kind of marble effect. I'm planning to wax them with Mop & Glo to bring out the depth and color. Probably need to go through and scrub the walls again at this point. There used to be a stovepipe out the back wall. The last house I bought had a wood burning stove in its garage so I grabbed that and stuck it in the corner. Hang up some signs and my old surfboard, etc, and it should look pretty cool inside. Since it has a southern facing and is tied to my house wiring, I'm tempted to stick solar panels on top, but that's another project for another time.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
This and that. Mundane venting.
Went to talk to a retirement advisor. They basically said I pretty much had everything on track and there wasn't much they could do for me at this point. But the principal had a nice '67 Mustang GT350--and all the original paperwork on it so we talked cars a bit too. Bridge back across the river was closed so I had to drive around to find the alternate non-toll route. Oh, morning Dog walk went quickly, so I made it to the insurance person I needed to talk to before my appointment. Turned out they couldn't do me a better deal that I had lined up (or any deal at all) so that was quick and easy. Then there was a Little Caesar's across from the financial planner so I scarfed down a Hot n Nasty in the car before the meeting.
Got home. Had my after-lunch nap. Took The Dog for the afternoon patrol. She bagged a pretty big tough groundhog early in the walk so during the extra allotted walk time, while she laid in the yard next to her trophy, I decided to wax the garage floor. Yeah. No. You ever clean a gun? You know how you're supposed to keep running patches until they come out clean and it seems like they never do? That's what cleaning a rubber garage floor that's been there God knows how long and never been cleaned is like. You think it's ready so you go over it with a bucket of water to get it ready for wax and the water is almost black by the time you're done. So I guess it needs more cleaning.
Had some time so I started on the other desk chores I've been avoiding. My hated ISP jacked up their rates 3 times in the past year so I switched to my cell carrier. Need to log onto them to get all my billing set up right but apparently their online account access is down so instead I called to cancel my old provider. They of course offered to upgrade my plan while knocking $10 off my monthly bill if I'd stay and I told them it was too late and I'd already switched, so they said they'd give me $100 if I stayed and cancelled the new plan and I told them no. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Raise your rates too much and you lose a customer that isn't particularly loyal anyway--I just hated my ISP less than I hated the other alternative at the time I got it (the cable company).
Well, that's about it. I'd better check on my dog and then move on to the REALLY fun stuff--my business tasks.
Went to talk to a retirement advisor. They basically said I pretty much had everything on track and there wasn't much they could do for me at this point. But the principal had a nice '67 Mustang GT350--and all the original paperwork on it so we talked cars a bit too. Bridge back across the river was closed so I had to drive around to find the alternate non-toll route. Oh, morning Dog walk went quickly, so I made it to the insurance person I needed to talk to before my appointment. Turned out they couldn't do me a better deal that I had lined up (or any deal at all) so that was quick and easy. Then there was a Little Caesar's across from the financial planner so I scarfed down a Hot n Nasty in the car before the meeting.
Got home. Had my after-lunch nap. Took The Dog for the afternoon patrol. She bagged a pretty big tough groundhog early in the walk so during the extra allotted walk time, while she laid in the yard next to her trophy, I decided to wax the garage floor. Yeah. No. You ever clean a gun? You know how you're supposed to keep running patches until they come out clean and it seems like they never do? That's what cleaning a rubber garage floor that's been there God knows how long and never been cleaned is like. You think it's ready so you go over it with a bucket of water to get it ready for wax and the water is almost black by the time you're done. So I guess it needs more cleaning.
Had some time so I started on the other desk chores I've been avoiding. My hated ISP jacked up their rates 3 times in the past year so I switched to my cell carrier. Need to log onto them to get all my billing set up right but apparently their online account access is down so instead I called to cancel my old provider. They of course offered to upgrade my plan while knocking $10 off my monthly bill if I'd stay and I told them it was too late and I'd already switched, so they said they'd give me $100 if I stayed and cancelled the new plan and I told them no. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Raise your rates too much and you lose a customer that isn't particularly loyal anyway--I just hated my ISP less than I hated the other alternative at the time I got it (the cable company).
Well, that's about it. I'd better check on my dog and then move on to the REALLY fun stuff--my business tasks.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Bleah. When I have a frozen pizza I give 1 slice to The Dog so I don't eat the whole thing and get fat. I had an entire Hot & Nasty for lunch today, so now it's dinner time and the only thing I have is frozen pizza so I may just nuke a TV dinner since I'm still full from lunch.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
OK. Going to take a moment for Marketing 101. I finished up my education just before Universities started prioritizing woke DEI ESG ideology over actually teaching practical curriculum. I got my undergrad back when the purpose of higher education was to teach you how to think, learn, and reason.
I just dropped my ISP. Shit, there's so many rabbit holes I could go down on this. AT&T. Now the original AT&T went bankrupt decades ago by blowing a lot of money without any clear strategy. They bought into broadband. Then sold it off for pennies on the dollar. Then they bought into Voice Over IP...and realized having broadband service would be really useful if you're offering VOIP. That's just one example. Their last few years they did that constantly: spend a bunch to buy into a market, decide they didn't like that market and sell out for pennies on the dollar and move to another market--only to realize they needed the thing they just sold in order to make the new venture work. Just completely inept. So the thing that mystifies me is, when someone buys failing AT&T, they rebrand as AT&T. Cingular Wireless did it. So did whoever owns the brand now. Brand names can lose value. Just because AT&T was a monolith in the early 20th century doesn't mean it has any kind of reputation today.
Nonetheless, that's who I went with for Internet when I moved to Kentucky. Only because at the time the only other option was Spectrum Cable and I hate cable companies even more than I hate AT&T. That said, for years they provided adequate service. Then they bumped up the rate. Oh well. Such is life. Then they bumped it up again. 6 months later they bumped it up again and they recently announced they'd be bumping it up yet again. Yes, I get it, inflation is a thing. But today broadband Internet is basically a commodity. And cable is struggling. So Spectrum will significantly undercut what AT&T was charging even a year ago to try to win customers. There's also new competitors now. 5G makes wireless home Internet viable again (my first broadband was WiMax and I had no complaints with it but the company (I forget the name) went under). Even nostalgia kick Earthlink is back in the ISP business. So even if your costs have gone up, you cannot afford to raise your prices if your customers only use you because you suck slightly less than your competitors. Because eventually you make it worth the cost to switch--even if there isn't a significant savings, just because you've angered your customer.
So what happened is, they figured they could soak me for yet another $5-10 (I forget how much) on top of the past increases and I'd just go along with it. When I didn't, they freaked. And rightly so. Because instead of getting another $5 a month from an existing customer, they're losing 13x that every month because they've permanently lost a customer. And there's really nothing they can do to win me back. They can maybe get me back with discounted rates, but then they just wind up losing money (assuming they needed the rates they were charging to make their model work) and will lose me again the second they try to raise rates.
On a related note, I recently changed insurance providers. The company I'd had for literally almost a quarter century had taken a big dive in quality in recent years. The thing about insurance is, you don't realize this until you try to file a claim. I had 2 small claims within a week of each other and the headache and frustration of trying to get them resolved caused me to drop my provider. Even making that happen was a huge headache. But eventually I got it done. But here's the funny thing: These days my e-mailbox is full of service offers from my old insurer. Banking. Insurance. Investing. You name it. But it's just automated garbage. Except for the letters I get about updates to my credit card that I cancelled almost a year ago. I mean, those are probably automated too, but they're actually about a product I used to have. Which brings me to my point: It's a lot easier to keep a customer by keeping them happy than to get back a customer you've lost. I'd even say it's almost impossible to regain a customer--especially one you had for 23 years and managed to lose. And spam offers only make things worse. "Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?" If you really want to win back a long time customer you've managed to alienate, you've got to have an actual person get in touch with them. Someone that has some actual authority. And you've got to understand how you lost your long-time customer. Then you've got to acknowledge this, apologize for losing their trust, and clearly and convincingly explain what you're doing to fix things. And if you *can't* fix the problems that lost you this customer, you might as well just cut your losses and leave them alone, because otherwise you're only alienating him further.
Now I'm going to change the topic a bit and talk about Disney and Bud Light. Again, they've fumbled simple, basic, freshman level marketing principles. If you have a dominant, mainstream brand, you don't want to move it into a tiny niche market. You certainly don't want to alienate your existing customer base in an effort to court a statistically insignificant market. We'll do Bud Light first, because that's the simplest. What do you think of when you think Bud Light? To me it is basically aging bros. Spuds MacKenzie, I love you man, Real Men of Genius. Jokey, fun time, huntin' and fishin' tailgate party blue collar guys. Who do you NOT think of when you think Bud Light? Transgender "influencers." First off, just how big a market is transgender influencers? How many of them are out there? And of that market, how many of them are big drinkers of shitty light beer? How much of it do they drink? So hooray, you just won the transgender attention whores who drink shitty light beer market. At the cost of the older blue collar guys who like sports and hanging out market. Well done. Top-notch planning.
Shit, I've wasted too much time on this. And don't have time to really dig into Disney. But long story short, they have, over decades, established a reputation of reliable quality family friendly entertainment. They've added to their brand in a strategic manner, filling in niches where they weren't competitive with subsidiaries (Miramax was an early example). ABC was the last big TV network I trusted because I know Disney's mission is (was) to appeal to families and the broad demographic. The only reason I gave the "Star Wars" sequels a chance is because Disney was doing them and Disney knows how to handle entertainment and franchises. But then they decided to go woke. They got Star Wars and Marvel because they knew Disney is best known for its Princesses and wanted content that was older and male. Then they decided to make all the Star Wars and Marvel characters female and/or people of color. Iron Man is now a black lesbian zoomer. Well done. You've figured out a way to flush literally hundreds of millions of dollars down the toilet with each new release, Disney.
Basic marketing is, when you're entering a market dominated by big established competitors, you find a little niche that isn't attractive to get into the market and expand out into larger markets as you get established and build positive cash flow. Budweiser and Disney flipped that on its head and threw away a dominant market position to chase after crumbs--all while alienating their existing base. And I'm astonished that companies this big can repeatedly make such a basic fundamental mistake.
I just dropped my ISP. Shit, there's so many rabbit holes I could go down on this. AT&T. Now the original AT&T went bankrupt decades ago by blowing a lot of money without any clear strategy. They bought into broadband. Then sold it off for pennies on the dollar. Then they bought into Voice Over IP...and realized having broadband service would be really useful if you're offering VOIP. That's just one example. Their last few years they did that constantly: spend a bunch to buy into a market, decide they didn't like that market and sell out for pennies on the dollar and move to another market--only to realize they needed the thing they just sold in order to make the new venture work. Just completely inept. So the thing that mystifies me is, when someone buys failing AT&T, they rebrand as AT&T. Cingular Wireless did it. So did whoever owns the brand now. Brand names can lose value. Just because AT&T was a monolith in the early 20th century doesn't mean it has any kind of reputation today.
Nonetheless, that's who I went with for Internet when I moved to Kentucky. Only because at the time the only other option was Spectrum Cable and I hate cable companies even more than I hate AT&T. That said, for years they provided adequate service. Then they bumped up the rate. Oh well. Such is life. Then they bumped it up again. 6 months later they bumped it up again and they recently announced they'd be bumping it up yet again. Yes, I get it, inflation is a thing. But today broadband Internet is basically a commodity. And cable is struggling. So Spectrum will significantly undercut what AT&T was charging even a year ago to try to win customers. There's also new competitors now. 5G makes wireless home Internet viable again (my first broadband was WiMax and I had no complaints with it but the company (I forget the name) went under). Even nostalgia kick Earthlink is back in the ISP business. So even if your costs have gone up, you cannot afford to raise your prices if your customers only use you because you suck slightly less than your competitors. Because eventually you make it worth the cost to switch--even if there isn't a significant savings, just because you've angered your customer.
So what happened is, they figured they could soak me for yet another $5-10 (I forget how much) on top of the past increases and I'd just go along with it. When I didn't, they freaked. And rightly so. Because instead of getting another $5 a month from an existing customer, they're losing 13x that every month because they've permanently lost a customer. And there's really nothing they can do to win me back. They can maybe get me back with discounted rates, but then they just wind up losing money (assuming they needed the rates they were charging to make their model work) and will lose me again the second they try to raise rates.
On a related note, I recently changed insurance providers. The company I'd had for literally almost a quarter century had taken a big dive in quality in recent years. The thing about insurance is, you don't realize this until you try to file a claim. I had 2 small claims within a week of each other and the headache and frustration of trying to get them resolved caused me to drop my provider. Even making that happen was a huge headache. But eventually I got it done. But here's the funny thing: These days my e-mailbox is full of service offers from my old insurer. Banking. Insurance. Investing. You name it. But it's just automated garbage. Except for the letters I get about updates to my credit card that I cancelled almost a year ago. I mean, those are probably automated too, but they're actually about a product I used to have. Which brings me to my point: It's a lot easier to keep a customer by keeping them happy than to get back a customer you've lost. I'd even say it's almost impossible to regain a customer--especially one you had for 23 years and managed to lose. And spam offers only make things worse. "Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?" If you really want to win back a long time customer you've managed to alienate, you've got to have an actual person get in touch with them. Someone that has some actual authority. And you've got to understand how you lost your long-time customer. Then you've got to acknowledge this, apologize for losing their trust, and clearly and convincingly explain what you're doing to fix things. And if you *can't* fix the problems that lost you this customer, you might as well just cut your losses and leave them alone, because otherwise you're only alienating him further.
Now I'm going to change the topic a bit and talk about Disney and Bud Light. Again, they've fumbled simple, basic, freshman level marketing principles. If you have a dominant, mainstream brand, you don't want to move it into a tiny niche market. You certainly don't want to alienate your existing customer base in an effort to court a statistically insignificant market. We'll do Bud Light first, because that's the simplest. What do you think of when you think Bud Light? To me it is basically aging bros. Spuds MacKenzie, I love you man, Real Men of Genius. Jokey, fun time, huntin' and fishin' tailgate party blue collar guys. Who do you NOT think of when you think Bud Light? Transgender "influencers." First off, just how big a market is transgender influencers? How many of them are out there? And of that market, how many of them are big drinkers of shitty light beer? How much of it do they drink? So hooray, you just won the transgender attention whores who drink shitty light beer market. At the cost of the older blue collar guys who like sports and hanging out market. Well done. Top-notch planning.
Shit, I've wasted too much time on this. And don't have time to really dig into Disney. But long story short, they have, over decades, established a reputation of reliable quality family friendly entertainment. They've added to their brand in a strategic manner, filling in niches where they weren't competitive with subsidiaries (Miramax was an early example). ABC was the last big TV network I trusted because I know Disney's mission is (was) to appeal to families and the broad demographic. The only reason I gave the "Star Wars" sequels a chance is because Disney was doing them and Disney knows how to handle entertainment and franchises. But then they decided to go woke. They got Star Wars and Marvel because they knew Disney is best known for its Princesses and wanted content that was older and male. Then they decided to make all the Star Wars and Marvel characters female and/or people of color. Iron Man is now a black lesbian zoomer. Well done. You've figured out a way to flush literally hundreds of millions of dollars down the toilet with each new release, Disney.
Basic marketing is, when you're entering a market dominated by big established competitors, you find a little niche that isn't attractive to get into the market and expand out into larger markets as you get established and build positive cash flow. Budweiser and Disney flipped that on its head and threw away a dominant market position to chase after crumbs--all while alienating their existing base. And I'm astonished that companies this big can repeatedly make such a basic fundamental mistake.