Day 2969

We're upgrading to a fiber optic network. When the technician came out today, he convinced me that fiber was the way to go. It's three to four times faster than the copper connection I have now for the same price. I'm sure that AT&T will raise the price later, but they keep raising the price on my slower connection anyway. I never did find out why my WiFi has been crashing lately. The technician said I'm getting a good signal and the router seems OK. I suspect that I just have to many things hooked up to my WiFi network. The new fiber optic connection is supposed to fix all this. We'll see. Every time I've upgraded my network before, there have been a host of unforeseen problems. I guess four times the speed for the same price is worth the gamble. Don't be surprised if you hear me complaining later though. It's really hard to get a network running smoothly.

Breakfast was pleasant today. I discovered a restaurant where I could order a child size portion of anything on the menu. The smaller plate was just right and I left happy. I don't know why I never thought of this before. Restaurants almost always give me too much food and since I was trained to eat everything on my plate as a child, I inevitably eat too much. Child size meals are less expensive too. It's a win/win for me.

I was startled  when someone called out my name when I was parking my car at the grocery store this morning. It turned out to be an old friend and former co-worker I hadn't seen in a while. Since we are the same age, I was expecting tales of boredom and retirement. Nope. The guy was driving a brand new Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet and said he was busier than ever. WTF. I kept wondering what I've been doing wrong.

Hey, I'm happy my friend is doing well. Envy is one of the seven deadly sins anyway. Nevertheless, the encounter made me wonder. Why have I essentially given up on business while other people my age still seem to enjoy the challenge? I don't really have any answers. I've enjoyed quite a few years of success, but I know I'll never make a cold call again. I don't really want new business anymore. I just want to be left alone.

With this kind of attitude, I need a stable, non-volatile stock market. I definitely don't need the turmoil we've seen this week. Some people are blaming the crash on Trump and they may have a point. The theory is that Trump's continual bragging about how successful the market was caused more small retail investors to start buying stock. Since market tops are historically defined by a surge in retail buying, the computers that control all the high speed algorithmic trading interpreted the increased activity as a market top and started selling. Once things started to snowball, it was impossible to stop. If you know how algorithmic trading works, this theory seems entirely plausible. One can only guess what new kind of hell our robot overlords have planned for us next.

Much to my surprise, the roofers returned today. I haven't seen these guys for over three months, so I'd almost forgotten about them. I took them up on the roof and showed them what was happening. They acknowledged that the original product they applied never performed as expected and I used this opportunity to try to get the company to put on a whole new roof. As I explained, there is simply no way to permanently fix this roof a few feet at a time. The guys who came out today said they'd talk to the company owner and try to come back in the Spring when it was dry. Who knows how this will end, but I'm going to try to remain optimistic.

AT&T is supposed to install the fiber optic cable and router tomorrow. Home Depot is supposed to give me a President's Day price and a delivery date for a new refrigerator. Also, an arctic cold front is on the way and temperatures are supposed to drop by 40 degrees. It should be a busy day.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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