An Open Letter To Readers -- Not Ready For Prime Time -- Not About The Bakken -- November 4, 2023

Locator: 45932ARCH.

Not ready for prime time. 

Wow, I'm in a great mood; a great day for traveling.

These five-day quick trips are the cat's meow. So, far in the past month or so:

• a five-day trip (by car) from Dallas, TX, to Philadelphia, and back with stops at Gettysburg and Shiloh and as many Buc-ee's as we could fit in; then, 
• a four-day car-trip from Dallas, TX, to Chattanooga / Nashville, TN, for a couple of events; and,
• now this past week, five days in Portland, OR, to see the grandsons.

There is something good to say about each trip. The Portland trip seems to be the most relaxing, the most comfortable. The trip took me back to the days when I traveled everywhere by public and commercial transportation.

I did not look forward to my trip to Portland: it was by air and I hate to travel by air. Although, I'm always pleasantly surprised how nice the experience really is if one takes advantage of what it has to offer.

I return to DFW today and am now at PDX, at a McDonald's where I had a full breakfast for $3.98 vs about $9.00 for something much smaller -- and a much, much longer line -- at Starbucks.

Two F-15's just landed and have just taxied past McDonald's. Great memories. The F-15 was my primary a/c in the USAF, all of those F-15 days in Europe. My F-111 days were in England. 

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Portland

Portland remains as wonderful as ever. It's great for one-week visitors but it would be too expensive and weather too inclement for me to live here permanently. I do too much walking and biking. And swimming.

I assume the homeless situation is as bad as ever but I did not notice it. I stay with the grandsons out in east Portland, on the edge of Gresham. I did not get down to Powell Book Store this trip. Insert sad face here. Halloween with the grandsons is now an annual event. Weather was perfect.

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MAX

Times;

• depart, 9:07:  122nd Avenue NE
• transfer, 9:20: 99th Avenue NE / transit center

• transfer, 9:25: 99th Avenue NE / transit center
• arrive, 9:35: airport.

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American Airlines

Non-stop, DFW to PXD and back. In off-season and the flight to PXD was a full plane which surprised me. Fare about $400 round trip with no baggage and no preferred seating. I've noticed, over the years, passengers in the seats in the back of the plane arrive about the same time as passengers in first class. Albert Einstein might have something to say about that.

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Addictions

They say some folks are addicted to porn, others addicted to alcohol, and still others too gambling. I assume there are folks addicted to all three. I wouldn’t know. My addictions: blogging and investing. Hobbies: biking and reading.

Other quasi-addictions / obsessions: Lego, Apple (not as an investment, but as a company). 

Others: Duolingo (1,138-day streak). Spanish.

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Reading

I have a blog devoted to "literature." Our daughter will home-school the grandsons until at least high school. She is always looking for educational resources. She was particularly happy with my blog on the evolution of story-telling.

As usual, I read several books at a time, but I always have a "go-to" book at any time. Currently my "go-to" book is a 1000-page softcover, A History of the Jews in America. My takeaway from this book, 104 pages into the story: if every culture had the work ethic of the Ashkenazi Jew the world would be a different place. 

Reading the book melds three of my favorite activities: reading, reminiscing, and traveling.

I am simply amazed at all the locations that pop up in the book that relate to me in a very, very meaningful way. Two examples:

• Gettysburg; and,
• Filene's. LOL.

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Investing

Let's see. Much, much more to write but I have to head to my gate. I will post two screenshots, both comparing share prices of Southern Copper (SCCO) and Berkshire. The first is a one-yer look-back; the second is a five-year look-back.

Note that SCCO pays around 5% and always has (?) whereas BRK pays no dividend.

For five years, the average price of SCCO, I suppose, has run about $60 per share; 5% x an original $10,000 investment would have paid about $2,500 over those five or six years. I don't know. Needs to be fact-checked.

And, of course, all those dividends, about $2,500 would have been re-invested in the market.

Now, the graphs:

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Dividends