Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- November 29, 2019

Top retail picks for holiday season: Target, Five Below, and TJX Maxx parent -- Barron's. The analyst considers all three discounters. I'm not so sure about Target. Yes, compared to Best Buy and Tiffany, Target is a discounter, but I've always looked at Target as a "full-price discounter." LOL.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

Apple AirPods Pro: without question, one of the best tech products ever to hit the market. Bar none. Stories everywhere. Here's two:

• Apple AirPods will be the star of Black Friday, analyst says -- Barron's. 
• Airpods Pro demand is so strong that Apple is reportedly doubling production -- MacRumors.

Reviews; generally speaking, Apple products get "bad / snarky" reviews on social media. For the AirPods Pro I'm not seeing many negative articles. Some folks are surprised people are willing to spend $249 for ear buds. I think these folks are unaware how much money is "really out there."

Pork: swine flu taking huge toll on China demand.

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The Soccer Page

Olivia is now out in Los Angeles for a second soccer tournament this Thanksgiving week.

She just completed a four-day natioanl tournament in Miami, FL, her team finishing first in their division. This was the first half of this national tournament. The second half, another four-day tournament will be held in Las Vegas in March, 2020. In this tournament, she is a "guest player" playing on a girls team her own age. Finishing first in their division, the team will get a great seed going into the second half.

Last night she arrived in Los Angeles about midnight to join her regular team for a three-day national tournament. On this team she is playing "up." She is one year younger than the rest of her team.

Olivia and her mother spent Thanksgiving day in Louisville, KY, with the rest of the family and their other grandparents. So, it was DFW to Miami, to Louisville, to Los Angeles, returning to DFW Sunday night. And yes, she does have "frequent flyer" miles. LOL.

I will probably have to buy some carbon offsets to pay for all the CO2 emissions. Or maybe just plant a real Christmas tree this year.