Preparing For The End Game -- Part 1 -- November 27, 2024

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I'm in the process of "cleaning house," one last time. Seriously.

Getting rid of everything we will never need, and stuff that the extended family will never use, need or want.

But it's incredibly difficult to get rid of stuff.

I was trying to figure out why that was true. Why it's so difficult to get rid of stuff that no one in the extended family will ever use.

I now have a process. If we're not going to ever use it again, and our two daughters and their children will never use it, it's time to throw it out.

Easier said than done. Why is that?

Because when you throw out something, anything, you are throwing out memories, and for those who wear nostalgia on their sleeves, like me, it's almost impossible to throw anything out.

But I've found a 75% solution. It works 75% of the time but there are still some things I cannot toss.

For 25% of the stuff I can't throw out, I store it in the Bat Cave. It not used for a year while stored in the Bat Cave it goes in to the garage. If not used after it's been in the garage for a year, it can be tossed. 

And there's still one more trick. To be discussed later.

As a aside: taking this to the extreme. I cannot get rid of perfectly good cars no matter how old they are, as long as they are in perfect running condition. We have a 2005 Chrysler minivan with about 110,000 miles in perfect condition; a 2007 Chrysler minivan with about 140,000 miles, also in perfect condition; and, finally a 2012 ( bought in 2011) Honda Civic with about 140,000 miles, also in perfect condition. And I can't get rid of them. I assume I will drive about 5,000 miles total this year, spread across those three cars. When we take long weekend trips or cross-country trips we rent from Enterprise. 

Next summer, one last cross-country trip and we'll buy a new car by then, specifically for that trip. The trip will last several weeks and an Enterprise rental would not be worth it. I'm planning to be gone several weeks, maybe two months, and then having my wife and Sophia fly into various airports to meet me for a few days during that long cross-country trip. Neither can handle a month-long cross country trip but flying into an airport every so often and touring the local area before returning home. Sounds exciting. 

We probably won't do that, but I'm planning all the same. 

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Alfred Hitchcock

Tonight I was in the mood for a bit of Hitchcock.

I went to Amazon Prime and clicked on "my stuff," and then clicked on North By Northwest.

I have about a dozen movies in "my stuff" that I've "bought" (not rented) from Amazon Prime. They range in price from $4.99 to $14.99 or thereabouts. 

One of the best things I ever did.

The only movie I really, really, really want that I haven't bought yet: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Just a matter of time. 

Yes, I have Citizen Kane. 

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Southwest Airlines

Link here.

I've never understood the "fascination" with LUV.

The price for a flight to Portland, OR, on LUV (Southwest Airlines) is not all that different than the price I would pay for an American Airlines flight.

LUV has not direct flights to PDX. At best, one layover. The shortest duration for the entire tip from DFW to PDX is something less than a full nine hours.

AA has several non-stop flights everyday from DFW to PDX. Less than four hours.

And, as noted, the difference in price between the AA flight and the LUV flight is not all that great. 

I can leave DFW at around 8:00 a.m. and be in Portland before 11:00 a.m., local time.

But on SWA (LUV), it's a nine-hour flight, with at least one layover.