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PessOptimist's Account Talk
- Thread starter PessOptimist
- Start date
PessOptimist
Well-known member
Forgot. Investment stuff. My actual account is about C8% G 92% due to payroll allocations. So I am up and down just like C fund. Some days I gain a little, some I lose a little. Got to make a decision about what to do this last year.
PO
PO
PessOptimist
Well-known member
Ask the kids or the zoo keepers? I need to know the answer to this riddle so Grampa can continue to be wise. The oldest two already know that is BS but they play the game.
PO
PessOptimist
Well-known member
Nowhere near as exciting as being down under but a trip report about what I did on my vacation.
Road trip to Carlsbad CA long but uneventful. You can pack more in a Focus than it appears. We switched around passengers between the two cars and no one bought my statement that they had to hold their breath while we were below sea level on I-8.
When we arrived at the Homewood Suites in Carlsbad CA we found that the ADA compliant room “close to the reception desk” had been given away to some CA org for alternately abled people. When explaining that the room we got, supposedly ADA compliant, did not have a walk-in shower (the step-in height was about 28 inches which is a challenge for most older people), the staff was unsympathetic and said they had nothing available. They were totally unresponsive and when we reminded them the reservation was made six months ago they replied, “other people need walk in showers too”. This situation was not resolved so we made do. The shower head hose was also mounted so high I at 5’11” had to stretch to detach it. The response was to install a clamp on bench which made keeping the shower curtain inside the tub impossible. The room was also as far away from the reception/meal area as possible. Other than that, it is a great place to stay. Kid friendly and two meals a day.
We will take the issue up with Hilton but I doubt they will offer anything substantial.
Legoland was not crowded at all. When we pulled in to the parking lot I felt Like Clark Griswold might have felt pulling in to Wally World. Acres of empty parking lot. It was great and the electric wheel chair thing went off as planned. So did getting on rides with a party of eight. No I did not feel at all embarrassed or elitist getting that priority. Gave an old lady who can’t walk so well anymore a chance to have a good time. I did spend a lot of the day standing at the exit with the scooter, walker and a stroller.
The zoo. About an hour to get there as I-5 is stop and go around Encinitas. That electric scooter worked out well. A lot of up and down hills in Balboa Park. Staff very accommodating, we left scooter, walker and a stroller at the tram entrance and found all waiting at the exit when we got back. Very tiring day.
Next day South Carlsbad Beach. Made arrangements to get the “beach wheelchair” that was available. When we got to the locker, it was open and the wheelchair absent. Reported it to the Ranger. My son and I got the old lady down to the beach with her four wheel walker with some coaxing and encouragement. While watching kids/grandkids play in the surf a pod of porpoises came to play. OK, they could have been dolphins but very magical. Jumping and surfing very close to shore.
Trip back yesterday. Passing through Yuma on the way to CA, someone mentioned “3:10 to Yuma” and wanting to see Yuma AZ. So we stopped on the way back and took a few photos with a steam locomotive that was not in the movie and at the old territorial prison which was also not in the movie. Great touristy stuff nonetheless.
Today had a family portrait taken and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Did laundry and the kids pooled it for a while. Now they are back at their motel and I hope packed up and asleep. 0305 shuttle to the airport tomorrow and a long flight to NH. I hope they all feel great Monday at work/school.
Great weather and a great trip in spite of the setbacks.
PO
Road trip to Carlsbad CA long but uneventful. You can pack more in a Focus than it appears. We switched around passengers between the two cars and no one bought my statement that they had to hold their breath while we were below sea level on I-8.
When we arrived at the Homewood Suites in Carlsbad CA we found that the ADA compliant room “close to the reception desk” had been given away to some CA org for alternately abled people. When explaining that the room we got, supposedly ADA compliant, did not have a walk-in shower (the step-in height was about 28 inches which is a challenge for most older people), the staff was unsympathetic and said they had nothing available. They were totally unresponsive and when we reminded them the reservation was made six months ago they replied, “other people need walk in showers too”. This situation was not resolved so we made do. The shower head hose was also mounted so high I at 5’11” had to stretch to detach it. The response was to install a clamp on bench which made keeping the shower curtain inside the tub impossible. The room was also as far away from the reception/meal area as possible. Other than that, it is a great place to stay. Kid friendly and two meals a day.
We will take the issue up with Hilton but I doubt they will offer anything substantial.
Legoland was not crowded at all. When we pulled in to the parking lot I felt Like Clark Griswold might have felt pulling in to Wally World. Acres of empty parking lot. It was great and the electric wheel chair thing went off as planned. So did getting on rides with a party of eight. No I did not feel at all embarrassed or elitist getting that priority. Gave an old lady who can’t walk so well anymore a chance to have a good time. I did spend a lot of the day standing at the exit with the scooter, walker and a stroller.
The zoo. About an hour to get there as I-5 is stop and go around Encinitas. That electric scooter worked out well. A lot of up and down hills in Balboa Park. Staff very accommodating, we left scooter, walker and a stroller at the tram entrance and found all waiting at the exit when we got back. Very tiring day.
Next day South Carlsbad Beach. Made arrangements to get the “beach wheelchair” that was available. When we got to the locker, it was open and the wheelchair absent. Reported it to the Ranger. My son and I got the old lady down to the beach with her four wheel walker with some coaxing and encouragement. While watching kids/grandkids play in the surf a pod of porpoises came to play. OK, they could have been dolphins but very magical. Jumping and surfing very close to shore.
Trip back yesterday. Passing through Yuma on the way to CA, someone mentioned “3:10 to Yuma” and wanting to see Yuma AZ. So we stopped on the way back and took a few photos with a steam locomotive that was not in the movie and at the old territorial prison which was also not in the movie. Great touristy stuff nonetheless.
Today had a family portrait taken and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Did laundry and the kids pooled it for a while. Now they are back at their motel and I hope packed up and asleep. 0305 shuttle to the airport tomorrow and a long flight to NH. I hope they all feel great Monday at work/school.
Great weather and a great trip in spite of the setbacks.
PO
Tsunami
Well-known member
3:10 to Yuma was filmed in New Mexico. One of the scenes was at the Gilman Tunnels, so your post reminded me I need to take a drive up there one more time before I retire and move away in a couple years. The tunnels are a short side-trip along one of my favorite day-trip drives from Albuquerque, which takes you through Santa Fe, Los Alamos, the amazing Valles Caldera, waterfalls, hot springs, then you drop down into a beautiful red-rock canyon...Jemez Springs is a perfect place for lunch...here's a video of the drive to the tunnels...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA_yv4XCEbU
And here's the view from where he parked at the end of that video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBen6khnO3c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA_yv4XCEbU
And here's the view from where he parked at the end of that video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBen6khnO3c
PessOptimist
Well-known member
Thanks Tsunami for the video.
Kids/grandkids got home with all luggage about 6PM their time. Flight was late getting in to Charlotte due to weather so they got from gates B9 to C14 with all their stuff in 10 minutes. I can't imagine but I am old. I wonder how they all felt at work/school today.
I went back to work to find they had replaced my desktop with a Win 8 machine while I was gone. I had many apps to set up. Thank you IT. Fortunately I still have my lap top so I was able to take care of the many crises while Win 8 discovered what I can no longer do. They did however install most of the non standard apps and copy the documents folder so I can find most everything. A lot of firewall rules need to be changed since this is a new machine and not recognized by said rules. I bet rules concerning to old machine remain in place forever. IT has many divisions and they never speak to each other. Much like most of our organizations I believe.
PO
Kids/grandkids got home with all luggage about 6PM their time. Flight was late getting in to Charlotte due to weather so they got from gates B9 to C14 with all their stuff in 10 minutes. I can't imagine but I am old. I wonder how they all felt at work/school today.
I went back to work to find they had replaced my desktop with a Win 8 machine while I was gone. I had many apps to set up. Thank you IT. Fortunately I still have my lap top so I was able to take care of the many crises while Win 8 discovered what I can no longer do. They did however install most of the non standard apps and copy the documents folder so I can find most everything. A lot of firewall rules need to be changed since this is a new machine and not recognized by said rules. I bet rules concerning to old machine remain in place forever. IT has many divisions and they never speak to each other. Much like most of our organizations I believe.
PO
PessOptimist
Well-known member
Thank you. I suppose mulch is better than manure. The things we do for grandkids.
PO
PO
PessOptimist
Well-known member
In years past I have posted about Memorial Day. Lately I have spent it quietly contemplating those that gave their lives in defense of our country.
Usually we like to glorify those who went above and beyond in combat situations. In the last few years I have been contemplating those who were killed in non combat incidents during what is referred to as the “cold war”
People got crushed loading trucks. People got blown up or burned to death during exercises. (REFORGER and TEAM SPIRIT come to mind) Some even got axed with an axe.
My focus this year, instead of watching the usual war films on TV was on AC&W sites and mostly the unsung comm people who supported them. All that RADAR data ain’t no good if HQ types can’t see it.
There was a lot of money spent on this type of system and a lot of people required to operate them. We were referred to as REMFs and in the rear with the gear but we were not in the rear. We were at the tip of the spear. Perhaps not primary targets but somewhere inside a Warsaw Pact country was a missile that had each of my several sites name on it. Our OPS order in case of escalation was to continue operations as long as practicable. We just went about our daily business and didn’t think about it much.
Many theories were put in to practice during this period. Some succeeded, some failed. This year I focus on this one: Hey, why don’t we put an AC&W site on a steel island in the Atlantic? So they did. They were called “Texas Towers”. There were three of them. Two through four. Not sure where or why one never got built. This all happened from 1955-1963 and has nothing to do with my service other than it is part of the legacy of my old AF specialty, 304X0.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XUXkOgIHnY gives you a short.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kARvMKPg_PM gives you more.
The tower was set up just like the land based places I was at 10 years later. Except it was harder to get mail and supplies and you couldn’t get permission to go to town. I mean just like, it was not a vessel with watertight compartments, just your everyday AC&W site built on a platform. I cannot imagine what they must have felt after hours of instability when suddenly barracks, power plant, maintenance areas, ops areas, rec areas, chow hall and everything suddenly collapsed 60 feet in to the sea and sunk.
At 1928 on Jan 15[SUP]th[/SUP],1961 Texas Tower Four disappeared from the radar of ships in the vicinity. Others lost their lives at the other towers over the years.
A day late but while you are glorifying those who lost their lives in past wars and current conflicts, reflect on all those serving who lost their lives.
PO
Usually we like to glorify those who went above and beyond in combat situations. In the last few years I have been contemplating those who were killed in non combat incidents during what is referred to as the “cold war”
People got crushed loading trucks. People got blown up or burned to death during exercises. (REFORGER and TEAM SPIRIT come to mind) Some even got axed with an axe.
My focus this year, instead of watching the usual war films on TV was on AC&W sites and mostly the unsung comm people who supported them. All that RADAR data ain’t no good if HQ types can’t see it.
There was a lot of money spent on this type of system and a lot of people required to operate them. We were referred to as REMFs and in the rear with the gear but we were not in the rear. We were at the tip of the spear. Perhaps not primary targets but somewhere inside a Warsaw Pact country was a missile that had each of my several sites name on it. Our OPS order in case of escalation was to continue operations as long as practicable. We just went about our daily business and didn’t think about it much.
Many theories were put in to practice during this period. Some succeeded, some failed. This year I focus on this one: Hey, why don’t we put an AC&W site on a steel island in the Atlantic? So they did. They were called “Texas Towers”. There were three of them. Two through four. Not sure where or why one never got built. This all happened from 1955-1963 and has nothing to do with my service other than it is part of the legacy of my old AF specialty, 304X0.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XUXkOgIHnY gives you a short.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kARvMKPg_PM gives you more.
The tower was set up just like the land based places I was at 10 years later. Except it was harder to get mail and supplies and you couldn’t get permission to go to town. I mean just like, it was not a vessel with watertight compartments, just your everyday AC&W site built on a platform. I cannot imagine what they must have felt after hours of instability when suddenly barracks, power plant, maintenance areas, ops areas, rec areas, chow hall and everything suddenly collapsed 60 feet in to the sea and sunk.
At 1928 on Jan 15[SUP]th[/SUP],1961 Texas Tower Four disappeared from the radar of ships in the vicinity. Others lost their lives at the other towers over the years.
A day late but while you are glorifying those who lost their lives in past wars and current conflicts, reflect on all those serving who lost their lives.
PO
PessOptimist
Well-known member
Kar crazy’s reply started me thinking about past projects I worked on with friends. Never had any money for my own car project.yes it is add on a/c , vintage air , goes under dash and cleans up motor bay , it is a 350 SMALL BLOCK 30 OVER WITH A 400 SMALL BLOCK CRANK , WITH ROLLER ROCKERS , YOU NEED TALL VALVE COVERS , THIS IS WHY IT LOOKS SO MUCH BIGGER, I HAVE ALOT OF PEOPLE SAY THATS TOO BIG TO BE A SMALL BLOCK I JUST GRIN
Lots of things but I will restrict myself to Chevrolet.
Back in the day, junkyard 283s and manual 3 speeds were plentiful. Pedal setup for getting rid of the powerglide also easy to find. Find a floor shifter (Hurst synchro-lock?) and you were all set. If the 283 block was pretty perfect you could bore .30 over and get yourself a 287 which everyone would brag was a 301. I can’t remember specifics. If there was no money for a Muncie M-20 or 21 or Borg-Warner T-10 the junkyard 3 speed was your go to. Better than a Powerglide. Maybe.
I recall a perfectly good 62 Impala convertible with a 283 power glide being frankensteined to a 348 4bbl 3 speed. Never ran as fast as the original 283 and always overheated. 283 never overheated and no idea where that 348 came from. We just experimented. Probably needed a bigger radiator.
Fortunately, marriage and my local draft board took me to different goals. I had bought what was advertised as a 425HP 427 and a Muncie 4 speed. Gonna build me a hot rod. The 427 had cast iron heads and hydraulic lifters. Also a seized wrist pin. The Muncie was probably a M-20. I sold them at a loss to get on with my new life.
Since then I have only done what was necessary to keep the junk I owned road worthy and later minor repairs like brake jobs. Now I am at the point where I just want whatever I own to run. That means taking a new car to the dealer and arguing about warrantee repairs.
Thank you kar crazy for taking me down memory lane.
PO
kar_crazy
Active member
I would love to have that 427 or a 427 small block you can buy now days , if you have $$ , I am trying to build these for my girls , so a budget 383 , around 3500.oo is more in my range , I have always liked the glides , I have one in 67 street car , one in my 68 I race and a turbo 350 in the 69 I am building not , I would like to get a tremic 5 speed , out of my price range , so I stick with the auto'sjust a hobbie I cant stop , well not till my granddaughter gets her one built , I hope
Valkyrie
Well-known member
PessOptimist
Well-known member
Valkerie, I never answered though I see it was humor. FWIW the "hot rod" was going to be an auction C-10 short bed with a 12 bolt 4:11 rear end. Probably ill advised based on later life circumstances. Also based on no chassis upgrades planned. Drum brakes, no turning ability and no traction. No traction thought based on the fact you could burn the right rear off any 6 banger pickup at will then.
PO
PO
PessOptimist
Well-known member
Happy New year everyone.
I finally got around to updating my autotracker percentages which have been wrong through 2017 and most of 2016. Not that I made any IFTs, just payroll allocation.
I moved to 100% G back on Christmas Eve in 2015. Fortunately, I never changed my payroll allocation from 100% C so have been accumulating some of that. My actual earnings for 2017 were 4.1%.
PO
I finally got around to updating my autotracker percentages which have been wrong through 2017 and most of 2016. Not that I made any IFTs, just payroll allocation.
I moved to 100% G back on Christmas Eve in 2015. Fortunately, I never changed my payroll allocation from 100% C so have been accumulating some of that. My actual earnings for 2017 were 4.1%.
PO
PessOptimist
Well-known member
Happy New Year everybody. Saw nnuut’s post from last night, posted about the time I went to bed. Boy am I getting old! Plus have a cold and SO has bronchitis. I figure the new year was coming with or without my participation.
I did acknowledge it in a couple of ways. Today I am cooking black eye peas and ham. Yesterday I updated TSP spread sheets and got 2018 versions ready.
I use three spread sheets.
One I created myself and is a monthly graph going back to day one of my TSP. It took a lot of manual entry when I created it 10 years ago and required access to all my statements from day 1. It is kind of cool to look at the ups and downs over the years.
The second one I downloaded from TSPTalk about the same time titled TSP spread sheet. I don’t remember who created it but one year it was not available so I have been updating it since with mixed results as to my attention to detail.
The third one was created by Scout333 named Scouts_Spreadsheet-20XX. I did not find a 2018 version so created one. Scout333, if you would like a copy PM me.
If anyone would like a copy of the first two spread sheets mentioned, PM me and I will send a sanitized version. I don’t want anyone to know how far away I am from being a TSP millionaire after 20 years. I will let Scout333 decide about distributing the one Scout owns.
I have never had any luck attaching anything to a PM in this forum so it will probably involve exchanging emails.
Thanks everyone for allowing me to be a member of the TSPTalk family
PO
I did acknowledge it in a couple of ways. Today I am cooking black eye peas and ham. Yesterday I updated TSP spread sheets and got 2018 versions ready.
I use three spread sheets.
One I created myself and is a monthly graph going back to day one of my TSP. It took a lot of manual entry when I created it 10 years ago and required access to all my statements from day 1. It is kind of cool to look at the ups and downs over the years.
The second one I downloaded from TSPTalk about the same time titled TSP spread sheet. I don’t remember who created it but one year it was not available so I have been updating it since with mixed results as to my attention to detail.
The third one was created by Scout333 named Scouts_Spreadsheet-20XX. I did not find a 2018 version so created one. Scout333, if you would like a copy PM me.
If anyone would like a copy of the first two spread sheets mentioned, PM me and I will send a sanitized version. I don’t want anyone to know how far away I am from being a TSP millionaire after 20 years. I will let Scout333 decide about distributing the one Scout owns.
I have never had any luck attaching anything to a PM in this forum so it will probably involve exchanging emails.
Thanks everyone for allowing me to be a member of the TSPTalk family
PO
PessOptimist
Well-known member
Update
There are so many ways to state gains and losses. I will use on paper cash. If anyone tries to figure out my TSP balance, so be it. No where near a million. Over 10,000. YTD my balance has increased by $15,362. Total payroll allocation has been $10,744.56. My contribution has been $8487. All payroll allocation in to C fund. C fund so far has increased $10,886.55. C fund gain $149.99. Why am I still looking up at the C fund on the autotracker? Haven’t updated the percentages lately. Actually at COB 4/27/18 13% C and 87% G.
Close to retirement as I am, I am thinking I should put it all in G, as I never make time to watch it or move anything. Something ≈ 2% would be better than now.
There are so many ways to state gains and losses.
PO
There are so many ways to state gains and losses. I will use on paper cash. If anyone tries to figure out my TSP balance, so be it. No where near a million. Over 10,000. YTD my balance has increased by $15,362. Total payroll allocation has been $10,744.56. My contribution has been $8487. All payroll allocation in to C fund. C fund so far has increased $10,886.55. C fund gain $149.99. Why am I still looking up at the C fund on the autotracker? Haven’t updated the percentages lately. Actually at COB 4/27/18 13% C and 87% G.
Close to retirement as I am, I am thinking I should put it all in G, as I never make time to watch it or move anything. Something ≈ 2% would be better than now.
There are so many ways to state gains and losses.
PO
PessOptimist
Well-known member
I saw a couple of comments this week about lack of participation around here so here I am in my account talk. Oh…I just looked at one of the posts and it says “great” posts, so never mind. I will post anyway.
One of the answers to that comment sums it up for me,
Hi, my name is PessOptimist and I never use my IFTs.
Group: Hi Pessoptimist.
In December of 2015 life seemed overwhelming due to family issues. On top of that my boss announced he was leaving and coworkers convinced me to apply for the job based on a pact that all would apply. I got the job. I may be victim of a conspiracy. The last thing I needed was more work responsibility heaped on the renewed responsibility of caring for an alternately abled person. I moved my entire TSP balance to G fund. I don’t need to watch it too much there. I was planning on retiring in June 2017 so it seemed a prudent move. I never got around to changing my payroll allocation from 100% C so I did keep buying C fund “shares” as they are called. I kept kicking my retirement date forward as things settled down. I also left that payroll allocation as it was so now have about 14% in the C fund. I did miss out on a lot of potential gains in 2016 and 2017. I WILL retire at the end of the year so that justifies my modest investment in my mind. WTH, I did earn 2.75% last year, 1.75 in 2017 and 1.96 in 2016. This is according to the autotracker. That’s better than most money market or CD accounts.
Group leader: Pessoptimist you are obviously trying to reconcile your aberrant actions and it is also obvious to all of us you can never change your behavior. We unanimously invite you to leave and never return to our meetings. Don’t let the door hit you in the butt on your way out.
That pretty much sums up my investment strategy in the last few years. If someone can give me a compelling reason to move more funds in to stocks or bonds, please do.
Enjoy your Memorial day long weekend and please remember what it is all about.
PO
One of the answers to that comment sums it up for me,
Maybe there is a support group for those of us like that.
Hi, my name is PessOptimist and I never use my IFTs.
Group: Hi Pessoptimist.
In December of 2015 life seemed overwhelming due to family issues. On top of that my boss announced he was leaving and coworkers convinced me to apply for the job based on a pact that all would apply. I got the job. I may be victim of a conspiracy. The last thing I needed was more work responsibility heaped on the renewed responsibility of caring for an alternately abled person. I moved my entire TSP balance to G fund. I don’t need to watch it too much there. I was planning on retiring in June 2017 so it seemed a prudent move. I never got around to changing my payroll allocation from 100% C so I did keep buying C fund “shares” as they are called. I kept kicking my retirement date forward as things settled down. I also left that payroll allocation as it was so now have about 14% in the C fund. I did miss out on a lot of potential gains in 2016 and 2017. I WILL retire at the end of the year so that justifies my modest investment in my mind. WTH, I did earn 2.75% last year, 1.75 in 2017 and 1.96 in 2016. This is according to the autotracker. That’s better than most money market or CD accounts.
Group leader: Pessoptimist you are obviously trying to reconcile your aberrant actions and it is also obvious to all of us you can never change your behavior. We unanimously invite you to leave and never return to our meetings. Don’t let the door hit you in the butt on your way out.
That pretty much sums up my investment strategy in the last few years. If someone can give me a compelling reason to move more funds in to stocks or bonds, please do.
Enjoy your Memorial day long weekend and please remember what it is all about.
PO
