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Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Notes From All Over -- The Dwight Yoakam Edition -- November 25, 2020

Wow, I'm in a great mood. I have the entire day free. Free. 

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. 

Investing: I'm  not a market timer, and 90% of my investments are managed by "professionals." I am only directly involved with about 10% of my investments. I would have done much better in (my financial) life had 100% of my investments been managed by "professionals" but it would have been nowhere as much fun and I certainly would not have known as much about the market, the economy, the world in general. 

Be that as it may, it was wonderful to see the market pull back a bit today, giving me an opportunity to begin a new position in a blue chip company that pays a nice dividend that I held years ago but also sold years ago. Yesterday, at the "all-time high" I sold shares in some company that no longer "thrilled" me -- I don't know if I made money or lost money -- I don't care -- it was a win-win either way, but it was time to move on. I often park money in an equity just to park money somewhere, with no plans to hold it there long. If it does great, wonderful. If not, the government shares in the loss -- and believe me, with this market, we all need some losses to offset our gains -- LOL. What a great country.

On social media, someone wrote that he/she was a buy-and-buy-and-buy investor. None of that buy-and-hold-and-sell-and-buy type of investor. He/she noted that he/she had lost (significantly) on many investments and should have sold but those losses were more than made up by holdings that he/she called "10-baggers." One more or may not agree, but I know where he/she is coming from: I've rued the day often over some of the companies I had in my portfolio and then sold. I could have retired many times over had I held forever.

But, break-break-break, I'm breaking my own rule -- in investing, it's never a good idea of looking back and thinking "what-could-have-been." I'm not saying that one shouldn't look back on one's experiences and try to learn from them, but one should not obsess over what-might-have-been.

Best Buy a best buy? From Yahoo!Finance:

Best Buy is the latest big name retailer (following fellow Minnesota-based retailer Target last week) to blow it out of the water for the third quarter as consumers have come to view it as an essential retailer during the pandemic. 
It has also helped that Best Buy has adapted to its new environment. 
Best Buy shares oddly fell slightly in pre-market trading on Tuesday despite third quarter same-store sales surging 23%. 
Non-GAAP operating margins rose 190 basis points from a year ago to 6.1%. 
Best Buy saw huge same-store sales gains in the U.S. pandemic-related categories: computing and mobile phones (up 47%); consumer electronics (up 29%); appliances (up 14%). 
For Best Buy, the quarterly gains reflect its pivot to new consumer behaviors during the coronavirus pandemic. The company has moved to bring packages out to customers’ cars and also expanded its same-day delivery services. Most of the company’s stores reopened during the quarter after being closed earlier in the year for foot traffic because of the pandemic. [I can guarantee you that bringing packages out to customers' cars had little to do with this. LOL.]
Here is how Best Buy performed versus Wall Street’s third quarter estimates.

  • Net Sales: $11.85 billion versus $10.98 billion 
  • Same-Store Sales: Up 23% versus 13.8% increase 
  • Diluted EPS: $2.06 versus $1.72

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Footprints

My carbon footprint is smaller than the size of one of John Kerry's walk-in closets, and I would rather spend time with Sophia than with Greta. 


Can you image a 12-hour flight (and back) just to spend a day with Greta for the photo op. No thanks.

Twelve cars. Wow. I wonder how many of them are EVs. And six houses? Wow. 

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Kelly the Krab Out

From The [Sioux Falls SD] Argus Leader: Kelby Krabbenhoft out after nearly a quarter century of leadership at Sanford Health. Data points:

  • Kelby was honest and correct; some folks can't handle the truth;
  • there was talk of Kelby the Krab being ousted back in 2018; so there's history here;
  • banker and pedophile in the same sentence but you have to read to the end of the very, very long linked article
  • Kelby the Krab lived and breathed medicine; no physician but began life as a scrub tech
  • new CEO: a lawyer -- he will know how to run things
  • Sanford Health to merge with Utah-based Intermountain Health
  • unknown to Sioux Falls folks who supported the merger: new HQ will be in ... UTAH! LOL. How did Sioux Falls let this happen?

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YouTube Play Lists

Incredible.

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Sorry You Asked

Sorry You Asked, Dwight Yoakam
 
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Blue Eyes Cryin' In The Rain

Harry Dean Stanton

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