Rambling On A Saturday Night -- March 4, 2023

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.

All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them. 

Again, all my posts are done quickly. There will be typographical and content errors in all my posts. If any of my posts are important to you, go to the source.

Wow, wow, wow, I'm in a great mood. 

I don't know where to start.

The stock market Friday certainly has something to do with it. 

The weather here in north Texas ... ditto.

All the building -- commercial and residential real estate ... ditto ... one comment --- 

I'm used to seeing "big houses" and "McMansion" here in Texas but there's something new in the immediate area -- I'm seeing "McMansions on steroids" on double lots being built -- I mean, I have seen some huge McMansions in southern California, Hollywood Hills (Los Angeles), in my lifetime, but I'm just not used to seeing these huge houses in this area .... it almost makes me think a lot of those California folks moving to Texas are building "California-style McMansions" here. Remember, the "$1.5 to $2.0 million" one would pay for a McMansion in southern California will get you the same house here in north Texas for  $600,000 to $800,000, depending on location, much of it having to do with school district, and perhaps proximity to DFW. 

I don't know. But the houses being built now in this area are nothing I've seen before.

Teslas: by the way, more and more Teslas are being seen in our area. I don't see any new charging stations.

Television. TCM: I'm watching "Some Like It Hot" for the third time today. 

I don't watch it from start to finish, I watch it in bits and pieces due to all the driving I do for Sophia and other family errands. But this time, something different -- I'm listening to "The Mamas and The Papas" in the background on YouTube, and watching Marilyn Monroe with the sound off. Wow, there are some "shots" of Marilyn Monroe you don't "see" unless the sound is off and you are only paying attention to the video. The video is obviously "PG" but it doesn't take much imagination to see the "R." No complaints here.

Baking: I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies this evening. They taste perfect; they are really, really, really good but they don't look as nice as usual. I thought it was "old" baking soda, but I went to this site for trouble-shooting. The problem, without question: too much flour, and not by much, probably a tablespoon too much. It was not the baking soda at all.

Someone wrote this. I wonder if it's true? Baking SODA doesn't go bad (expiration dates aren't regulated so often they are less meaningful than we'd like). Baking POWDER does. Baking soda is just calcium carbonate. It should be fine as long as it was baking soda you needed.

Investing:

• always fully invested in equities
• no bonds
• park money in T; T used as checking account
• I do not time the market; regardless of the market:
• buy: second and fourth week of each month (this is a change, was first and third week)

Investing: "new money" allotment --

• "40-30-20-5-5":
• 40%: big cap value; dividend paying; BRK-like;
• 30: beat down tech, copper;
• 20: oil; second tier;
• 5: healthcare
• 5: Daimler Truck

Investing:

• on the blog I follow a lot of sectors, but that doesn't mean I invest in them;
• I won't invest in anything "that keeps me up at night [worrying]"
  
• example: I won't touch streaming -- DIS, for example -- but very, very interesting to follow
• example: I won't touch third tier (or worse) oil; majors and second tier independents only; I stay away from pure-play Bakken plays; one exception, small position in CHRD;
• example: airlines; never;
• example: refiners -- never, until recently; refining is looking very, very interesting
• example: utilities -- no more; I have what I have and won't add any more
• example: pipelines, ditto; no more; I have what I have and won't add any more
  
• good, bad, indifferent: tech -- semiconductors -- building significant positions;

Investing: the importance of reading, surfing, studying, link here:

Investing, bonds, link here:

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Miscellaneous

The blog:

• residing rent-free in the minds of many: Trump, and Covid-19
• Covid: I still follow Covid-19 very closely: the science, the disease, the virus;
• politics: I care not a bit;
• I give the US government an A+ with regard to their handling of the pandemic; I grade on the curve
• China's handling of the pandemic: at best a D; probably an F.
• among the states: California, B; Florida, A-; Texas, A.
  
• Trump:
• the GOP better sort this out sooner than later;
• the DEMs have a way of bringing more folks inside their tent
• the GOP seems to have too many tents, if that makes sense
• we have the Trump tent, the Florida tent, the Texas tent, the Midwest “fly-over” tent, the southern California tent.
• in national elections, a big tent is needed, not a lot of little tents

Music. The first song in the trilogy --- "Dedicated To The One I Love" hits me pretty hard tonight. 

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Family

Sports: granddaughter Olivia -- soccer -- huge weekend --

• high school soccer: her team won 4 - 1 Friday night;
• club soccer -- FC Dallas soccer: won both games today, and today, in the second game which they won, 3 - 0, Olivia scored two of the three goals.

Her cousin, Caleb, 17, in Williston, ND -- set a new WHS 100-yard backstroke record (swimming, of course).

Her cousin, same age as Sophia, 8, Gemma in Williston, ND -- "Dancer of the Year" -- local competition.

Her other cousin, Kaitlyn, 16, also in Williston, ND -- competing in global CrossFit competition; North Dakota venue is being held in Bismarck; perhaps other cities, I don't know.