October 7, 2024
Good morning! It was 34 degrees (F) in our yard early last Friday morning, which according to the old math was still two degrees above freezing. Explain then, please, why my car had a thick coating of ice on its roof and on all of the glass? And, speaking of which, it’s October 7th and we still haven’t had a killing frost. As the growing season gets longer and longer here at this latitude, it seems like the plants nevertheless get tired… and they slow down or stop, notwithstanding the temperature. Kinda like knowing it’s time for bed, with or without a clock. Although, the lilacs are blooming.
- The latest edition of The Smithsonian magazine is among the better of all time.
- Sit and savor it in the sunshine: Monet, Oaxaca, Jim Crow, Indian Tigers, MacArthur, Election Fraud… and, like they say, more…
- In the market for a new car?
- Plan to pay, on average, about $735 per month, compared with about $600 per month just three years ago.
- That’s nearly 3x my first mortgage.
- Begs the question: Who? How? Where? Why? What?
- It was time for an oil change and so I found myself hiking the Hyundai sales lot last week to kill time, room for about 250 cars (I counted).
- Every single slot was filled with a vehicle, most of them different versions of Hyundais; I didn’t realize there were so many models.
- (It would appear the shortage of cars is at least temporarily over.)
- I had not priced new cars in years, not even casually.
- My brain had to activate its reset button as my go-to default price shifted from a $25,000 assumption to $50,000 and more.
- Once again begs the question: Who? How? Where? When? Why?
- Every single slot was filled with a vehicle, most of them different versions of Hyundais; I didn’t realize there were so many models.
- It’s all the rage: looking to move to Europe?
- London is the most expensive, Palermo the least — among a few cities listed. (Savills)
- You can purchase a one bedroom apartment (flat) for less than $100,000 in Palermo, $245,000 in Rome, and about $650,000 in London.
- You could probably extrapolate the rental rates, but you can do that on your own without my help.
- Wondering about Paris? A little less than London, but not much.
- Did they cancel Fat Bear Week? I never got the final word.
- Speaking of London and its fog (hint: It was always coal smoke! — with a shout-out to Jacob), The United Kingdom reportedly is now relying zero percent on coal.
- Great Britain promised in 2015 to end its reliance on coal by 2025 — and it has kept its promise a few months ahead of schedule. (Carbon Brief, 2024)
- In the United States, dependence upon coal was 56% in 1985 and now reportedly is at 16%. (Global Energy Monitor, 2024)
- Here locally we’ve been watching the transformational shut-down of a massive coal-fueled power plant as a giant solar energy farm takes its place.
- Why chase after new customers or clients if you’re not doing an A+ job with your current ones?
- “Customer retention is as important as acquiring new ones.” (Credit Murray)
- The reason retention is not talked about (as much) is because it’s not as easy to do, it’s a long-term game.
- Retention is starting to matter more because it matters more.
- The smart ones are saying, “We need to find a way to convert more of our existing customers (clients) into long-term relationships.”
- Can you imagine?! Thirty inches of rain in a short period of time.
- When you were young did you have one or more of those pink or yellow wooden yardsticks laying around the house, gifted to you from the local hardware store?
- It no doubt doubled as a sword at some point.
- Did you drill a small hole in one end so it could be hung in the closet or by the door?
- I’m feeling a poem coming on.
