2016 Summer August 20 Saturday

2016 Summer August 20 Saturday (Happy Birthday Katherine!), I catch a t-shirt

71 degrees this morning, no walk (light rain, appeared to be heavier rain coming in)

Happy Birthday Greetings to Katherine, all of 14 years old today!

I can vaguely remember when I was 14 years old, it is certainly a time of discovery about life.

At the local AAA ball game last night, I actually “caught” a  t-shirt, probably as much a shock to me as to everyone else.

Between one inning in many games, they will “throw” or “shoot” (through an air gun) a few t-shirts into the crowd.  

Where we sit, we normally don’t even think about catching a t-shirt of a ball,  but last night somehow a t-shirt came over and I just reached up and grabbed it.  (and almost knocked Aliene over in the process).

It was even my size!  Probably the first and last time that happens!  Kind of a weird feeling to catch it.  Everyone is screaming for a t-shirt to be thrown or “shot” their way and it just kind of floated to me.  I was surprised I caught it and kept it and didn’t just bat it to someone else!

Looked like a heavy rain coming in last night, but like many storms, it went to the north and south (I’m not complaining!).

I wouldn't mind if it rained so I could shut off the sprinkler system for a while.  Someone told me that a weather forecaster mentioned that a recent rain (I don’t know how many inches) meant that you could shut off your sprinkler for two weeks!  

Considering the cost of water here, two weeks is worth a lot. 

Getting back to the “cost” or price of things, I mentioned about a watch that looks reasonably good and lasting for years that cost $12.

Meanwhile, if you buy a house expect to get gouged with a bunch of “fees” that don’t have any relationship to reality of actual cost, just whatever they can gouge our for once you get into the “system”. Somehow the “good faith estimate” isn’t much good faith when it increases almost 20%!

It is really strange, looking at refinancing, somehow a rate of 3.35% ended up being 3.889 percent  No thanks, I’m not even going to deal with someone like that.

I see a lot of antique dealers in my work.  I’m not in the market for antiques, but I think that what your are buying (if you are buying quality) will literally last generations, it isn’t that expensive as a factor on a yearly basis!  Of course, quality new furniture etc. is the same.

Actually cars are a lot better deal then they used to be, if I remember correctly.  It isn’t at all uncommon now for a car to last 100,000 or even 200,000 miles or more and it is a lot safer and has a lot more conveniences.  

If I remember correctly, cars used to last about 60,000 miles and 100,000 miles was unusual.  I expect if you looked at the price of a medium new car, it is cheaper now (as a percentage of salary) than it was years ago, and it is a lot better product and is cheaper to maintain etc.

I always think of a “walk rainout” as kind of a mix of thanks and regret.  I miss my walk, but I know it is good to take a break once in a while, so it does force me to take a break and I enjoy a break.  This morning it ended up not raining that much, but I don’t take a chance, especially with the iPhone with me!

Supposed to be a rainy weekend, we’ll see!  

That’s it for now, Saturday, August 20, 2016.