Been meaning to mention this to the Religion Marketing Dept. It’s time to remarket and change up a bit on Good Friday. You see every Friday is good. So how about we change this name of this one to Great Friday?
Of course, Palm Sunday might be due for an overhaul, too. Not a lot of Palms north of the Mason-Dixon, so perhaps something more inclusive. Bay Laurel Sunday which I think would grow everywhere…..
Back to point: Since tomorrow is a semi-Holiday, we will make an effort to be cogent and to the point his morning (for a change).
First up, I got the kick of email yesterday that makes all our hard work on the Peoplenomics side of the house totally worthwhile:
George
I am up 26.96% this year, thanks to Mr. George Ure. THANK YOU George, I am humbled by your superior knowledge !!
Curtis B
That makes me feel totally pleased. Making money around here is a group effort and the more brains we can harness to pull in the same direction, the better.
Yes, occasionally, we will screw up, but our Big Picture view of investing seems to be working fairly well. Not only for us, but others, as well.
The (ongoing) Adventures of G II
My son (the one who is getting married, though we don’t know when precisely) continues to make a name for himself in something than the AIDS/HIV research he’s doing up at the University of Washington.
He’s an article which describes on of his recent skydiving activities which marries two hobbies together: skydiving and electronics. “Extreme range-testing goTenna, a half-mile off the ground.”
I’ve been coaching him to look for other airborne “product testing” ideas.
Elaine came up with a good one: Remember the old TV ad where there was a suitcase thrown in a cage with a gorilla, which then beats the hell of things?
“Why not have him drop something from, oh, 1,000 feet up, or so?”
Fine idea. Or, something like the airborne electric shaver…”a close shave at any altitude…” Oh, the mind reels.
ANOTHER Marriage Looms
Congratulations are in order for my brother-in-law Panama Bates. He and the future Mrs. Bates (Donella) will be tying the knot a week from today up in Dallas.
This is turning into quite the spring for marriage announcements around us. Something in the water?
The lucky couple has been house-shopping lately, but honestly, there isn’t much in the way of “real-deal” homes in this part of East Texas.
On the other hand, we are thinking more and more about Killeen, Texas. You can get 50% MORE home for the same price down there. And since Bates is a retired SF lifer, he would have access to the BX and such which would keep the cost of living down.
But they’re having fun shopping, but I know what I would do.
Bates, meantime, has agreed to return for paid house-sitting gigs. We never leave this joint unattended. Just a personal security bug on our part. I think paranoia meds might help.
The Economy Ahead
Speaking of major life changes, we have put our old Beechcrate up for sale on Trade-A-Plane. You can see the online ad here.
Don’t get me wrong: Secretly, I hope is doesn’t sell for a while – we’d like to do our July Seattle trip in the plane. But driving works, if it comes to that.
Flying is not particularly difficult to learn (otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it) and we have enjoyed what are now three or four transcons not to mention umpteen closer runs that we don’t even keep track of. Like up to Branson, MO and so forth.
I’ve priced the plane realistically: It’s not a sleek go-fast plane, but if you don’t mind the ground going by at about 130-135 miles an hour it’s a great way to travel. Lyft and Uber have mostly eliminated the car problems.
Might be worth thinking about if you have a younger family since the outlook for airline pilots is pretty good. As you can read about over here, the first year after getting your commercial and ATP rating (and instrument, of course) can be lean: $25,000 to $50,000 – the latter if you are willing to consider moving and hook up with a regional carrier. On the other hand, 10-years in the left seat of a big jet will be close to the $300,000 per year mark.
One of the real pluses of flying? Most all the pilots and wives you meet are not dumb. You can’t be dumb and fly
No, you don’t need to be Superman, but something of a head for numbers will help. So will good eyesight and getting into the game young.
If you’re a serious potential buyer, Elaine and I will fly the plane anywhere in the country for gas money (9-gallons an hour) and let you give it the once-over. Y9u mechanic, too. The only squawk at the moment is the cabin air off is sticky but Jeremy the mechanic will fix that here in the next week, or so.
We went up Tuesday morning – Elaine has been eyeing the controls. But it was bumpy which wi9ll sometimes happen and it’s like boating: You introduce things to people when conditions are ideal, never less.
At some point, it will be in the public interest to stop flying anyway…75, or so, seems right. But we’re in this window in coming months where the economy should hang together well and it just seems like we should be eyeing new adventures.
Elaine has been looking at new homes – something in a city where there are leash laws, close to shopping, on one level, and so on. If or when that happens, the funds from the airplane would buy a nice sports car for us…
We’ve done land, sea, and air now…so whatever the next adventure is, we’re looking for it. You can never have too many adventures in life. 67 isn’t old, any more than 35 is.
New Toys
With company coming to the ranch in about 10 days, I have invested in (look surprised) another power tool.
This one in a Black & Decker LCS1020 20V Max Lithium Ion Chainsaw, 10-Inch.
OK, why?
Well, in East Texas, real land moguls do something called “limbing up” their property. This means stripping low hanging branches off trees so that you can actually see through the property. (It may have something to do with deer season, too.)
But to lug a chainsaw all over the property is a pain and the battery powered tools are about half weight of ICE (internal combustion engine) units.
Main reason for Black and Decker? They have about everything for the yard. And since we have a trimmer, hedge cutter, and such, by staying “in the brand” we are able to add batteries from other tools for big jobs.
That picture? Mr. Ure’s charging station in the shop for the Makita power tools and for the B&D outdoor tools. Yes I can mix 2-cycle, but not unless a BIG tree is involved.
I wrote the book on lazy.
Oh…sorry. Efficiency!
Short column tomorrow with no market open on Good Friday, so if you don’t check in tomorrow Happy Easter and many happy returns.
Radical Change ALERT
I will be doing a major change to the look and feel of the UrbanSurvival site this weekend. It will probably look different – and I hope a lot less “busy.” So if things seem vastly different next week, it is because they probably will be…
Palm Sunday: I say keep the name. I have no idea what Protestants do, but we have actual Palms as part of the service, which are handed out to parishioners. Oddly this year, it seems we are saving money: we are each given a single layer of palm leaf, instead of the 3-ply version. What I mean, it’s like being given a leaflet instead of a whole leaf.
Website: Hopefully the content will be the same. I know the first half is business-related, (which I skim) and the other half is interesting.
Roberta; Same thing in our location N.E.Pa. ( if you tell me lake silkworth ) I may just get the vapors …….
I am hoping you find a good home for seven-niner-one-two lima – she will be a good airplane for someone – wish I was still flying but I crunched those cost per miles numbers years ago and figured out I couldn’t fly enough to make it come out. Now I have the same problem with my auto’s.
Lots of marriages and babies among my daughter’s friends these days. She’s 34 and got married last October. Just another Boomlet trend or are more young people feeling optimistic? Or is this a carpe diem phenomenon?
Yep spring has sprung a big wedding leak desire,my youngest daughter is 26 and has just paid off her house and now announced instead of Sept for wedding bells it will be in may , I say good luck and wish them all a bright future that take that commitment this spring —- seems like the perfect stock to invest in wedding related stocks are going up0
Speaking of springs ,they want to marry on a bridge that crosses spring water stream , great idea
I am screaming prenup ,prenup
I watched George’s goTenna video and it’s impressive. I do have a question for you though. How do you think the goTenna for two people compares with some FRS walkie Talkies? I already have those. If I’m in the woods with two walie talkies and two cell phones or two cell phones and two goTenna, is there any difference? Thanks and good luck with your plane. I know you’ll miss it, but you can make decisions, unlike a lot of people.
George,
How about a motorhome? I’m not talking about the glamorous behemoths that cost the arm and leg. How about a 4WD MH that can go where no one has gone before? Check out Earthroamers or Tigers. Yeah, I’m a Silver Tiger Rider so I am partial to the vehicles.
Amazing! Good luck with all the weddings! My dear daughter will be having one this summer(the first for my offspring). It should be spectacular!
If I can ever find an appropriate bride, I’d be happy to have one for myself too.
I trust the airmobile will find a good home. I’d want her myself, though I have DA to consider here, and there’s just no time for random fun anymore, especially with recurrent qualification requirements. Perhaps in the future….
Regarding chainsaws, I’ve always been partial to the plug-in models, but there’s a limit to the reach of a cord. Fussing for an hour to start a chainsaw for a 15 minute job never made sense. I’ll be interested to hear about the longevity and utility of the battery powered unit.
Why not have Panama and his intended build a house some where on your property and have help close by? Also I hear a lot of complaints about the physical work,it is usually better to hire help or readjust your priorities than to leave a well thought out home.It is often this hard work that will give you a better quality of life in the years to come.
yes, my 33 year old son is also getting married this year- just wanted to let the world know !
Roberta; Same thing in our location N.E.Pa. ( if you tell me lake silkworth ) I may just get the vapors …….
All the Best to George II. What a good son! I know you are so proud of him. I enjoy reading about his exploits. I have a good son about his age as well. I think putting a good man on the Earth is one of the best things one can accomplish in life, no matter how much money you make.
Combining two interests, flying and electronics, I just realized you have been flying a Negative 12-volt regulator! (LM7912) :-)
It just takes a few years for Americans (or anyone) to adjust to a new (lower) standard of living, then the optimism takes over and the wedding bells ring. Once one gives up the idea of Soverignity and prosperity (middle class life), the USA is not such a bad place to live.
Good idea to not leave the homestead unattended. Since you have been so generous in sharing your thoughts/skills/talents/tools/toys/plans with us on the ether it would be most likely that about 1/3 to 1/2 the world population knows that there are some pretty good pickins at Ure place.
Got my neighbor Stevie (imagine Jethro Clampett and the Incrdible Hulk) to watch over El Rancho de Chaos and Mom when I am slaving away at the office.
Note on “efficiency”- Give a lazy man a hard job and he will find an easy way to do it. Aint always safe tho.
just a thought on moving away from your survival home: we have spent years and many dollars setting up our rural acreage as a “destination” for our adult children when things hit the Fan,,as they surely will. Why would you move to Suburbia now? (And Killeen is very close to Austin which has a big bullseye on it !?) and is also the site of FORT HOOD.We have built a very nice home in addition to our main house (4bedrooms, 4 baths)to house our extebded family whenbthe time comes .What if you built another larger home on your acreage abd used the mobile as guest housing? and Panama could build his own home there as,well. Our kids know when to get out of the big city and head to our place. They have back road routes planned. We have water wells, a lake, huge garden, a 30’x60′ greenhouse, and solar power. I,would re-think movng to the possible mass hysteria areas(neighborhoods!)…you have a great survival setvup in place..just expand a little to accommodate your family…
g,
I have a complete set of B&D 18 volt tools and recently
found that harbor freight 18v batteries are identical for 15 bucks, as opposed to 35+, the catch is you’ll need to change the connector with one from the B&D dead battery pack. you can look it up on u tube.
d
With the markets closed you will have time to work on you gravity/magnet project. Check out the magnets in this video. The interesting stuff starts at about 5.5 min.
http://digg.com/video/smarter-every-day-magnets
Regarding Palm Sunday: I read somewhere that in Russia the locals (presumably using what they have available — rather like the people in Jerusalem did) call it “Willow Sunday”.
Ecuador Expat,”…Once one gives up the idea of Soverignity and prosperity (middle class life), the USA is not such a bad place to live.”
This is a good comment. I understand why people leave the US but if TSHF there’s lots of good places in the US to hold up. Plenty of cheap places to live and with solar coming down in price and satellite internet you can still have plenty of electronic entertainment. Everywhere is not Detroit. If TSHF and you’re in another country surrounded by people not of your race it could be hazardous to your health.
Too bad the airplane is a goner – the 2 comments over here look like the start of a rabbit trail of using plasma on your wings to bump up the performance. http://www.metafilter.com/158161/This-Week-In-UFOs#6459666