All Entries

We've all been hearing a lot about how much energy and space AI data centers suck up, and their subsequent environmental impact, but I must say I've had some fascinating, informative and enormously helpful late night conversations with my bud, AI.
As a result, I've significantly modified my workout routine at the gym, eliminating some not-as-helpful exercises, adding new ones and fine-tuning others with a specific health goal in mind that I won't get into here. Now this is a subject...
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I took last week off from work and made a little bit of progress on my decluttering, but there's much more to go.  I'm hoping to do some on weekends over the next month and may hire professional help during July to increase my progress.  But that depends partly on other expenses.  I had an unexpected car repair bill of nearly $1,400 this past week, and I still have another $1,100 of repairs (rear differential bushings) that are required before my car can pass its...
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As I blogged earlier, someone had tampered with my front door.  To recap, while it is extremely unlikely, I guess it's not impossible for me to forget about my deadbolt.  However, the fact that my lock opening had been taped over is most definitely not from me!  Also, it doesn't help that my house have been burglarized once in the past.  As someone who has been threatened to be killed multiple times before, and is generally hypervigilant to begin with, I can...
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So, after researching via Consumer Reports and looking at the various options, I settled on a Frigidaire induction stove and a Whirlpool bottom freezer-style refrigerator. I also chose to go with a family-owned appliance place in nearby city given my frustrations with Home Depot and that front door project they did for me last year. My town's Facebook group gave this place high marks so decided to give them a try.
My current fridge is 20 years old (!) and the stove is even older...it's...
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I took this picture of St Peter's Basilica from the roof of Castel Sant'Angelo.
Here is a miniture of the castle Picture of the outside of the Colosseum.
 
This is a picture of where the animal lived below the arena floor. I was on the built out arena floor.This is the fontana delle Naiadi.  Very famous photo and busy traffic circleWe had an early morning tour at 7 am the spanish steps were empty.
 
 
Only
Trevi fountain same thing super early...
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...at least that's what FICO says. My score is 851, just 50 points away from being perfect.
At Whole Foods this morning, I again encountered someone staffing the self-checkout who didn't know how to deduce the tare weight of the nice cotton mesh bags I have been using for my produce (instead of those plastic throwaway ones at the stores). So I waited in line at the one regular checkout line open, and the polite gal there initially seemed to be saying that yes, she was deducting...
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White Cloud Poppy
I just got my annual 401K statement.  While I could easily calculate my balance down to the penny, I recall going with a more conservative estimate for my 12/31 numbers.  I was short by $6,000.  (Oops, didn't mean to be quite that conservative). So I adjusted my sidebar today.
I surpassed my first six figures on 12/31/24.  2025 contributions were $6,400.  Employer matched $5,000.  Market gains were $18,000.  It's crazy to...
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I can't believe I forgot to add this to my previous post, but just recently, David Attenborough celebrated his 100 birthday!  Cheers to his lifetime contribution towards learning and conservation!  Here's a quick link, though you can easily search videos about him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o-9h_hGpn8
Apparently, he's still keeping active and making nature documentaries.  In particular, I am currently watching this one called "Life that Glows":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqZDHb_eQlY
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It doesn't look like anything of extreme value, but I know it makes me smile. It's one of the few things that I own that belonged to my maternal grandmother.

My grandmother died when I was a teenager. My mother had saved many of her kitchen items so I would have them when I moved out on my own. One of the things is this simple roasting pan. It's not valuable or super expensive and one can get a similar one now days. But it means something to me because it...
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Okay i'll write tomorrow and post photos of the trip.  But for now a quick update.  Got the reimbursement from the insurance company.  They are dealing with the other two cars that were damaged.  We found a car over the weekend.  It was a Nissan Leaf 2019 SL with cameras and sensors.  Asking price was $10500.  Out the door it was $13500 with taxes and fees.  We bought it on tuesday after seeing it saturday and testing driving a chevy...
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Uh I don't want to make it sound like all I ever talk about are guns... even though I do handle them nearly every day, but I promise I have a quick point to make here.  Similar to what could have been any endeavor for anyone else in life, this has been a decades-long journey of discovery and learning for me.  And now, as of last night, I believe that journey has officially come to an end.  It's just a strange, bittersweet feeling, when you've spent 30+ years of your...
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I don't know why, but I can actually post photos again. I tried over and over for the past year and it would give me an error message, but yay! Pictured above are the radishes and onions I picked Saturday. It's nice to have fresh veggies to enjoy with our meals.
DH has been using his laser and he made an ornament for a granddaughter for her graduation this weekend. He loves making stuff like this and although he's had some trial and error, he's learning a lot.

Last week we...
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I paid off the car loan today, about 1.3 years after purchase, to minimize accrued interest but at the same time spread out payments for cash flow purposes instead of paying in full with $ from withdrawn accounts. With that behind me, I should see a big difference in onhand cash month to month.
The only problem is I've misplaced my checkbook and can't find it anywhere. The last time I used it was to write out a check to myself ("Cash") the day before I left for my Vermont trip....
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So finally got irs letter in and it doesnt give us any information except this is your amounts and this is our amounts but not how they figured it out so I am assuming it the social security even though we used their sheet...but whos knows so frustrating like if we made a mistake show us so we dont do the same for next year...
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The days seem to fly by. DH had a birthday this week and we splurged. We went to a restaurant since it was Prime Rib Night. He enjoyed it. I baked him a chocolate cake and also baked cakes for strawberry shortcake so we have having a treat, one one night, one the next. I bought him a small drone. It's not the best, but he will enjoy playing with it. His son is police officer and I guess the city police force is looking into drones to be able to dispatch to different scenes. He...
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Debts
Mortgage -$105,975.02 (-$512.82)Land Loan -$0 (-$3,266.94)Car Loan -$3,731.80 ($0)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$54,560 (+$347)401K +$110,497 (+$3,297)Emergency Fund +$13,042 (-$10,995)Animal Fund +$3,122 (+$16)HSA +$2,325 (+$72)
Overall: -$7,215.04 (This is for March-April)
A weird couple of months. Our "good" car broke again and had to be towed to the shop. At this point, we were about $4k into repairs. Luckily, this time the fix was the same problem and covered by the warranty....
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This isn't finance-related, but maybe you guys might find it interesting nonetheless.
I was out today, roughly between 1200 to 1500 (3pm), and when I got back, I noticed that my front door's deadbolt was unlocked.  It's highly unusual because I basically never forget to lock the front door.  Upon inspection, I also saw this black tape obstructing the front door's latch hole.

While it is theoretically possible that I could have forgotten to lock the deadbolt, I 100%...
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I'm happy to report I had a really fun trip to southern Vermont recently. I took rural back roads headed first to Bennington to check out the exhibit by the equestrian artist father of a good friend of mine, someone I dated many years ago.

When I got there, the door was open but all the lights were off. I called out "Hello?" several times but no one answered. I really needed to use the restroom so I wandered around in the dark looking for it. After that, I just decided to wander...
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Happy May!  I'm hoping we get a nice stretch of spring-like weather where it is warm but not hot.  We've had a smattering of warm days, even a couple of hot ones in April where it hit 90, but the past couple of weeks, it's still been highs in the 50s and 60s for the most part.
Tax season of course is over, but working in financial planning as I do, my work calendar gets busier during tax season but is governed more by the schedules of the two advisors that I do the planning...
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As some of you may know, my son was let go from Amazon (he was a manager, not a driver). He has a family to support, and he is having trouble finding new employment, even though he is making a huge effort. The situation is getting scary.
Now, to back up a little, my ex gave me $6000 a couple of years ago to help me purchase a used car. I promised to pay him back; he kept saying no need, and honestly, our divorce, which was his idea, cost me way more than $6000. So I kept saving...
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