NYC Journal

In NC I really-really stood out as a skinny bitch. I can see how the oppressive weather made the population lazy and overweight.

Not many thin, skinny or fit people everywhere I looked. Even kids and young people had some girth.

“Maggie” wishes we lived a mile closer to the downtown, but since Peekskill is only 4 square miles would kinda place us around the center. I kinda like the distance from downtown which is on the northern edge of the city. I also like the solitude, privacy, and being right on the outskirts of the city.

Maggie also loves our privacy and our neighborhood otherwise, but I believe we live in the most desirable part of the city close to Blue Mountain Preserve. Know that Blue Mountain Preserve only partially borders the southern end of Peekskill and is about 1500 acres or almost the size of two Central Parks.

Then there is the additional 200 acres that is Depew Park that butts and adjoins Blue Mountain Preserve. Combined these two parks are actually bigger than Central Park.

The kids are looking at an apartment in Somers. They expect a clear-to-close letter perhaps later today.

Two out of Maggie’s three brothers that relocated to NC allegedly retired, but in fact the two are actually working. One brother needs something to do, and one brother is a bit lost if you know what I mean.

Pretty much I don’t really considered myself retired either, mainly because I’m not yet collecting all my entitlements, and secondarily I am not living on a fixed income yet.

Pretty much I was forced to start collecting my hospital pension when I turned 65, and I live on just that and my savings.

Got notice that actually my pension from the hospital might increase 5.37% due to a sharing of some funding rebalance that is seeking approval by the department of labor. This ends up being a sizable and notable increase in my case. Understand that the defined pension benefit was cancelled for new hires over a decade ago. An overfunding is being divided to pension recipients and the hospital.

I will do the wise thing and just bank this money, or add it to the slush fund for perhaps a summer home further north in the Hudson Valley, or for snow-birding. Maybe just save the money into a CD ladder. Surprise money if it happens. Lucky me…

I consider myself in a transitional period where I’m just phasing into retirement. Because I have probable longevity and will highly likely live past 100 I figure my actual living on fixed income will likely be at age 70 or 72. This depends on if I collect my Grumman pension at age 70 or age 72 where it becomes mandatory. Pretty much I don’t need the money and it will only get slush funded.

Cal
 
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I checked the surprise cantaloupe patch, and we have two melons that are now round and the size of softballs.

Seems like we have a new brood of baby rabbits. These rabbits kinda have an attitude of “What are you doing in my yard?” Pretty much they stand their ground.

I love having a boring life. The guitar known as “Worm” that is a “Snakehead” single pickup Tele with new strings really sings. Not sure if it is my playing or the guitar at this point.

I try to do something for the house every day, and yesterday I pulled Knotweed off the table and slope in the back-backyard. Pretty much immature plants that are severely weakened from previous weedings. At this point they are stragglers. Down closer to the marsh remains a 6-7 foot landing I call the shelf that is now thickly overgrown with native plants that choke out the now struggling Knotweed. Weeding this area will be an ugly and dirty job. The marsh also has begun to jump up onto the landing.

The weather has been a bit hot and steamy.

My blood pressure is doing well: no meds for this. I’m about halfway through a 90 day supply of prostrate shrinking meds to see if that is the reason why my PSA level hovers around the elevated threshold. Pretty much I want to soon be on no meds. Not bad for 66, and I am told remarkable for my age. Doctors tell me not having any underlying condition at my age is not so common.

I saw a headline article of how stress and anxiety can promote dementia and old-timer’s disease. The stress hormones are shown to be the blame. I am concerned because some people like “Maggie” seem to be stress addicts and have a propensity to have problems with anxiety. At the age of 32 I had to learn the skill of learning to relax.

At this point, Maggie needs to learn to really relax and not to be so driven. A lot of stress can be avoided and is self created. Also, at this point, stress and anxiety pretty much can be contained and controlled in our case. We no longer work, we have a comfortable income, we have a low level of debt that is easily managed, and we have a stable sustainable home.

Point is stress and anxiety is a matter of choice. Maggie is working on this.

Separately she has learned that being a writer is the lifestyle she wants to pursue, and meanwhile it seems my focus is to get accomplished as a guitar player. These are two life long pursuits that will involve growth, stimulation, and will keep us active and involved in the world.

I also am not assuming any identity as an artist because the artist’s eventual pursuit is to promote and sell work as an endeavor for profit and notoriety. I identify myself as a “creative” and to me this is more open where one is known for being clever and a good problem solver. It is just an organized way of thinking in a world of possibilities and chaos.

Maggie is a good writer, but in a way her creativity is not interdisciplinary as my thinking. My skills are more plastic and adaptable. I think Snarky Joe had it right when he told me, “Cal, a guy like you is capable to do anything they want to.”

That was a very flattering remark, and I feel Snarky Joe really knows and understands me.

BTW because I have a simple uncomplicated life, I’m able to embrace the single mindedness required to be goal oriented and do ambitious great things. Pretty much all about focus.

How many people do you know that are goal oriented? A lot of people just talk, but I call talking about work “virtual work.” I like tangable progress instead of just talk.

Cal
 
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Devil Dan,

There is a lot going on here. I love it.

A nice composition, with a wonderful exposure, full of detail.

That D-23 works wonderfully, and it seems like you have everything dialed in.

Might I flatter you by saying this is a great-great example of Fine Art Printing.

This is crazy-good. Great work.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
I saw a headline article of how stress and anxiety can promote dementia and old-timer’s disease. The stress hormones are shown to be the blame. I am concerned because some people like “Maggie” seem to be stress addicts and have a propensity to have problems with anxiety. At the age of 32 I had to learn the skill of learning to relax.

At this point, Maggie needs to learn to really relax and not to be so driven. A lot of stress can be avoided and is self created. Also, at this point, stress and anxiety pretty much can be contained and controlled in our case. We no longer work, we have a comfortable income, we have a low level of debt that is easily managed, and we have a stable sustainable home.

Point is stress and anxiety is a matter of choice. Maggie is working on this.


Cal
Click to expand...

A friend of mine labeled me as the "Most chill guy on town" and I somehow steered my career into what was for a while called productivity; an interesection of IT and business. I still have engineer admiration because they are the ones fixing and doing stuff but it is funny that many are just socially incompetent, and that is my niche to have career and make money.
Applied for a pass to a tech conference done back in town with a presentation about this topic, still have to hear back. Hey, why did I do it? Because I can get a free entrance and an excuse for a trip back to BCN. Crossing my fingers.
Being lazy is what brought us advancements anyways. I am also of the generation that has seen work is not all; given it is reasonable to assume work is a large source of stresses anyways. I tend to say moderation is key in everything.

Wonderful shot with the Makiflex. I have so long stayed off LF, I do like the agility of medium format.
 
Jorde,

Seems like you have a “clever” plan. There certainly is more to life than work, and I find it sad when one’s being and individuality is just a career.

Then there is the trap of money and material possessions that seems exaggerated in the U.S. Devil Christian taught me about a more European centering of perspective that highlights “quality of life.”

Simple things like good food, an interesting book, or some little detail that makes life rich.

Here in the U.S. things get exaggerated by class and status. To me a waste of time and not really living.

Cal
 
I am reminded by Jorde’s post that I am a lazy slacker, and perhaps a clever lazy-slacker.

My job at a major hospital was only 37.5 hours a week. Add in holidays and a month’s vacation a year, pretty much it was like a part-time job, or it could be configured that way.

One rule was that only a limit of 195 hours could be saved in your “Vacation Bank.” It was pretty easy to max out your vacation bank, and the hospital policy was use it or loose it.

Then add on top of that that at work I was not really busy or working. There were days I had nothing to do but surf the Internet, do research, day-trade, or post on RFF.

Meanwhile I lived in NYC, eventually in Madhattan, saved about 30% of my salary, bought luxury goods like Leica’s, and enjoyed some luxury even though my income was not really high at all. Remember that NYC is one of the most expensive places to live…

Pretty much I valued time over money, and to compound this I never wasted money. I bought things that offered durability, longevity, and over the long-term had enduring value. An example of this is my Leica Monochrom which I was an early adopter that cost $8K. This was more expensive than my SL or SL2, I still own this camera, and it still is a great camera.

Data suggests that only about a third of Americans can afford to retire. This to me suggests that 2/3rds of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck or worse are living beyond their means. Living beyond your means is not clever…

Perhaps I’m a bit critical, but a lot of things going on in the world don’t make any sense to me. Too many governments and too many households are living on debt, and that is really mortgaging the future. I see the big payback will eventually happen and it will be mucho ugly.

Joseph Kennedy, moved his family to Florida to live below his means to ride out the Great Depression. I’m already doing that in anticipation of the future to come.

Cal
 
Wow, what can you do when you see dysfunction all around you whether it is governments, friends, or family?

Anyways, in my case it is just take care of myself and mind my own business, because that is really all I can do.

I realize there are many things happening that are beyond my control, and I have to accept things as they are. It saddens me though, and still leaves an impact because I am human and have perhaps more than my share of compassion.

All I can say is “Oh-well…” I see the mess that lays ahead, even though I’m an optimist.

Not only is the world insane and crazy, but this extends to family and friends…

I try to say “Crazy is good,” but in this case it really isn’t. That is the world we live in…

Cal
 
In today’s episode of this over 100 year old house I applied a second coat of gel stain onto the remaining moldings and glued a base molding that my carpenter split apart.

It hit 90 and the humidity was high. Lots of sweating without exerting myself.

I harvested two green squashes from the garden.

“Maggie” is kinda burnt out and exhausted from the load of family stress.

I took a shot of the athletic director of Peekskill schools for the Peekskill Herald. The backdrop was Torpy Field where the New York Jets trained before winning the Super Bowl with Joe Namouth.

Like I said, “I have a boring life.”

Cal
 
Joe,

Likely so. Lately though I am understanding less and less, and I think this is because I live in a retirement “bubble” of sorts.

My life certainly has changed, and also I have a lot more time to wander and wonder about things. I frame everything differently than say 3-4 years ago.

Also know that I seem to have created a sustainable safe place.

Certainly becoming a homeowner is a revolution to me. The rents near Peekskill are crazy. I am learning this because the kids are looking at apartments after their house gets sold. Rents are rude…

I am also learning about the crushing debt loads people are living with. Living on debt is now part of our culture.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Jorde,

Seems like you have a “clever” plan. There certainly is more to life than work, and I find it sad when one’s being and individuality is just a career.

Then there is the trap of money and material possessions that seems exaggerated in the U.S. Devil Christian taught me about a more European centering of perspective that highlights “quality of life.”

Simple things like good food, an interesting book, or some little detail that makes life rich.

Here in the U.S. things get exaggerated by class and status. To me a waste of time and not really living.

Cal
Click to expand...
Calzone said:
I am reminded by Jorde’s post that I am a lazy slacker, and perhaps a clever lazy-slacker.


Cal
Click to expand...
It has been good to get interesting experiences (a layoff) to just see things differently. Mine happened quite comically as I came back from a vacation and poof, all that fine work done before will be archived and just deleted. About Debt, my first career years were with bankstering but as a kid growing up in the great recession I really got a sense of wariness about debt and having some financial safety net.

About the clever lazy-slacker, reminds me also of my dad who worked as a site supervisor but on his last work years he could slack and even do some side gigs.
Got a bit of a reprimaind from my boss, because of low throughput in summer; well basically I moved my holidays to winter and am working during summer. The thing is that the country just goes quiet and on vacation the whole month.
Met that very same friend yesterday that I quoted prevously, he said "You are smart because you have basically vacation despite working". That's July in Scandinavia, but no worries, I expect next week to be busy again.

Europe is also heterogeneous, boss (Polish) asked me "can you explain me this vacation thing that your country is having?" "I see Scandinavians and Spaniards enjoy life overall, just do it slightly differently".

One does have to find such bubble whichever whatever system it is; And it's not really comparable. I do see Cal that your employment was quite European like concerning the vacation time.
There is however much entretainment about the dumbing down of attention economy, even reputed media writes dumb articles comparing living in both... US and EU commenters usually clash about the social welfare system and PTO time. Anyways, it's a well deserved retirement!

Politics et al are nowadays a mess and I agree one should just construct that sustainable safe place.
 
I knew poverty, austerity, and was laid off twice at the end of the Cold War.

For a period of my life I was a workaholic. Work was a way to stay overly busy and was a coping mechanism to deal with anxiety. In my case anxiety was life threatening, I had to learn to relax because my body could not take the frenetic level of living I was doing. At one point I was mistakenly diagnosed as manic depressive.

Somehow I got swept into history capturing and capitalizing on a record low interest rates on student loans (2.125%) and a 30 year mortgage well below 3%. I also bought my Rollex, Panerai, and two Cartiers for “Maggie” using zero APR offers that included no fees. These were all one time historical events that likely will not ever happen again.

All of this was “free money.” Then there were all these zero APR offers to encourage consumption where I loaded up the truck with things that had enduring value and durability to have a long future. It is kinda crazy to own three Santa Cruz guitars and all the vintage amps I acquired at bargain prices. I also knew too and realized this was to increase consumption.

Remember during the Credit Crisis I was sitting on mucho cash when everybody else seemed to be selling their heirlooms and treasures for “no-money.” I had proceeds from day trading oil and energy stocks.

Now a new culture of living on debt is happening, not only here in the U.S, but around the world. If you understand or studied econonomic history, basically a “race to the bottom” has begun where countries are devaluing their currencies to devalue their debt loads.

What I’m saying is inflation is actually needed to keep economies functional, until they are not.

Of course I managed debt well, and continued to save. Savings allowed me to retire early and also is a bridge that enables me to advance the amounts of my future entitlements to age 70 and in the case of my Grumman pension even 72. At that age, 70 or 72 my income will be finally fixed, and there will be a surplus every year that would compare to maxing out a 401K and possibly also an IRA the rest of my life.

At age 69 1/2 my student loan at 2.125% interest will be paid off and the only debt will be our mortgage well below 3% interest.

At this point we can plan on perhaps a summer home and doing money management as a part time gig. The Audi has 47K miles on it and is still a fresh car. Now it seems unlikely that we will be doing frequent trips down to North Carolina. This car could easily be around a decade from now at our rate of use. It is a 2015 that I bought with 16K miles on it 3 1/2 years ago.

Right now I’m living on austerity and depleting savings. Tax wise it makes sense to spend the money now because my future income will be rather high. Also with inflation my purchasing power is not being eroded as bad as in the future. I have a bet that while inflation has moderated, it still will remain elevated for a very long period of time.

I actually think the FED is actually somewhat engineering a mild inflationary environment. Remember that inflation eases debt loads and the U.S. also has a record level of debt. Pretty much our government runs on debt.

Realize that the rest of the world is doing the same thing: living on debt; which is really like mortgaging the future. The money has to come from somewhere, and eventually this money has to be paid back.

I would even say that the housing shortage here in the U.S. could last 15-20 years. The amount of underbuilding since 2007-2008 quantifies this estimate of mine if you believe in “regression-to-the-mean.”

I will also say, “Pay To Stay” effectively has seriously changed the housing market, where record low interest rates and Re-Fi’s have locked in many home owners to where it effectively takes many homes off the market exacerbating the housing shortage.

Also inflation within the costs of labor and building materials is happening because Pay-To-Stay escalates remodeling and home additions to keep those low interest rate mortgages. I predict that for some the inflation will add up and hit a tipping point where some households will get priced out of remodeling or adding home additions.

The purchase on my custom Santa Cruze is a good example of what I’m predicting will happen in the housing market. Pretty much the increases in materials and labor in just one year priced me out. I expect this will happen eventually in the housing market.

BTW it is not cheap restoring or fixing up an old house. Sure there are homes being made turn-key that are flippers, but I suspect that even those flippers would want to be upgraded. Home Cheapo Reno’s are just that. I know because that is what we bought.

Cal
 
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On one hand the housing market seems to have reached a top. Mortgage applications are down and prices are softening.

On the other hand interest rates have dampened home price inflation and I see a softening in asking prices.

The jobs report suggests that the economy is slowing, and the inversion curve, a recession indicator, is pointing to a 70% chance of a recession.

Hmmm…

The kids have serious student loan debt for master degrees that are required that were contingencies of employment. The idea for them is to reduce their debt load and start anew.

They have high salaries. I was surprised how high, but they also don’t know how to live below their means, or even how to economize. In my book they waste money, buy cheap goods, and are big consumers that fully support a disposable economy.

Changing jobs is fraught for the father because he has tenure. He has some negativity and social awkwardness that he exposes at his job.

The pay in lower Westchester is higher than upper Westchester, so economically changing to less challenging jobs would set a lower income moving forward. Not so sure the kids could make the adjustment, especially since they have not lived through austerity or even below their means.

Selling the house could work, but unless there is a serious adjustment in lifestyle, selling the house that was Re-Fi’ed at a low interest rate likely is a mistake.

“Don’t ask: don’t tell,” is my policy. These are adult children, so I just mind my own business.

Oh-well…

A good example of how stress and anxiety is self-created. Bad thing is that the anxious parents have a serious bad effect on the children.

Cal
 
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I've been trying to ride more lately, with this free time between jobs. I've also been doing some work on various bikes, especially during the heatwaves.
Here's an album of photos of my R.O. Harrison. R.O. Harrison
This is a circa 1952 frame, constructed of double-butted Reynolds 531 tubing, built for Madison track/path racing. The fork and seatstay bridge are both drilled for optional brakes but as this frame is constructed with track fork ends, not horizontal dropouts, it is purpose built as a fixed gear or single-speed racing bike. Currently it has a Selle Turbo saddle installed on a Campagnolo Nuovo Record seatpost, though that is technically period correct. I'm waiting for a Reynolds straight post to surreptitiously appear, on which I'll mount my old Brooks B17.
In the album, you'll see a couple photos of a rear track hub with red anodized flanges. I have a donor front hub pair, one of which will see the flanges removed from a corroded shell, anodized matching red, then mounted on a shell with excellent chrome. These red flanged hubs will be laced to a set of Mavic MA2 rims, which are the closest modern, safe rims I could find to match the original Constrictor rims, which are all but unavailable, as well as being close to 70 years old. In classic British bike style, this will be laced 3 cross front, 4 cross rear. Front wheel will be 32 spokes, rear will be 40.

Phil
 
Thinking of MFM again because I’m doing up a batch of sausage and peppers.

I now cook the opinions and peppers separately, and I think a key element is my patient slow cooking. The purple onions get caramelized and they also go through a process of reduction as they get sweeter.

I also like a bit of crispness to the peppers as a texture.

When combined there is a lot of texture and depth.

This is a big batch, enough for 6 people. Know that I cut the peppers and onions thin.

The sausages I will cook on the grill. EZ-PZ…

Cal
 
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