31 October 2022……happy Halloween

All right, Brazil has a new president. That’s fine. I don’t live there and I don’t intent to. 

My wife thinks the new Brazilian President is great. I’m not so sure. The value of the money became worth less to the point Brazilian money is almost worthless. Here in the US we are currently having our own stupid inflation. 

So I made a bet with her. 

Right now on google, R$1 (brasilian real) is equal to $0.19 US. R$5.17 equals US$1. 

So, this is the bet. If in four years, the length of the Brazilian presidency, or if something causes his Term to be shorter, we will compare the price of the Real, brasilian money, to the dollar. 

If US$1 equals R$5.17 or more she pays me R$ 1000 (brasilian money). If US$1equals less than R$5.17, I pay her US$1000 ( American money). 

I think I’ve got history on my side. When I was in Brazil 30 years ago, 1 Brazilian Real was about the same price as 1 US dollar. The past few years it has been in flux. US$1 Between R$3.75 to R$5. 

She thinks she is right just because the money in Brazil had more buying power for a time. 

Ultimately, the purpose of government is to distract from the use of real power. 

Tudo bem, o Brasil tem um novo presidente.  Isso é bom.  Não moro lá e nem pretendo.

 Minha esposa acha o novo presidente brasileiro ótimo.  Eu não tenho tanta certeza.  O valor do dinheiro passou a valer menos a ponto do dinheiro brasileiro quase não vale nada.  Aqui nos EUA estamos tendo nossa própria inflação estúpida.

 Então eu fiz uma aposta com minha esposa.

 Agora no google, R$ 1 (real brasileiro) é igual a $ 0,19 US.  R$ 5,17 equivale a US$ 1.

 Então, essa é a aposta.

 Se daqui a quatro anos, a duração da presidência brasileira, ou se algo fizer com que seu mandato seja menor, vamos comparar o preço do real com o dólar.

 Se US$ 1 equivale a R$ 5,17 ou mais, ela me paga R$ 1000 (dinheiro brasileiro).  Se US$ 1 for menor que R$ 5,17, eu pago a ela US$ 1.000 (dinheiro americano).

 Acho que tenho a história do meu lado.  Quando eu estava no Brasil há 30 anos, 1 real brasileiro era quase o mesmo preço de 1 dólar americano.  Nos últimos anos tem estado em fluxo.  US$1 Entre R$3,75 a R$5.

 Ela acha que está certa só porque o dinheiro no Brasil teve mais poder aquisitivo por um tempo.

Em última análise, o propósito do governo é desviar a atenção do uso do poder real.

19 October 2022…..down my rabbit hole a back out.

I have been down a rabbit hole of sorts recently. 

I have been fascinated with watches. All sorts. 

Swatch

Timex 

Casio

Sieko

Rolex

there are hundreds of watch brands. 

Now days Swiss watches are given the gold star as the best. But before world war 2 the US was best. Then the war caused companies to start making everything for the war effort, and watches became secondary. The Swiss kept making watches, and after the war were pretty good and by good I mean amazing. 

Then a few decades later quartz watches almost killed the entire mechanical watch industry. So slowly, mechanical watches evolved into a luxury. A marvel of art and craft and engineering. 

So here we are at the present. I have a much more accurate clock on my phone than any watch. Still I find myself wanting a watch. 

So maybe I need to make a watch. I discovered you can buy watch making kits. I don’t have the physical ability to build a watch. Plus the kit is $250 more or less. 

Buying a watch is anything from $10 to $500,000+. But at many instances you get what you pay for. 

Then I was watching a guy talking about watches on YouTube. One of his points that really jumped out at me, 

“Nobody cares about your watch.”

This statement made me wake up to the reality of the situation. If I want a watch, nobody cares if it is $60, $600, 6000, or $60,000. It’s just a watch. Maybe 1% of the population uses one. 

I was talking with my son, and he said, “I have a clock on my phone, most people do.” 

I really needed these little wake up calls. 

I still think there are lots of very fun watches out there, but for the time being I can handle buying a watch at Walmart, or Target, or some other brand that costs less than $100. 

I will save my pennies and maybe someday I will justify buying myself or my wife a watch that costs a lot more. But I want to get used to having money to throw around like bullshit and help the flowers grow. 

Now to a much more serious topic for a few moments. My mom is getting older. I already know I can’t do much. But I can ask for your prayers for her and for me and my siblings as we navigate things with her, we need all the wisdom we can get. All I can say is my mom has been selfless to her children until things are not the easiest for her. We need wisdom, my siblings and I and mom.

I hate putting this out there for the whole world to know, more than anything we need faith and wisdom. So all I ask is for your prayers. 

12 October 2022…..wow.

I went to the botanical gardens the other day. Very fun in some ways.  I guess it’s a good time of year for roses to bloom here. 

I am frustrated because my chili peppers are not growing nearly as well as as the ones at the botanical gardens. Granted, because I live in an apartment I have to grow in pots and that might not be something that helps. But I am somewhat frustrated I have worked for months on trying to get my chilis to produce. The plants flower, then they don’t produce fruit. Very frustrating. I don’t grow plants just to grow plants. I would like to have them produce fruit. Last year my chili provided lots of pod. This year nothing seems to want to do anything. It’s good temperature for a while then it gets to hot or to cold. 

I might be limited to the chili peppers I have already grow. In some ways that makes me sad, and somewhat depends. But then I can focus my time on other things.

 My wife can’t eat chili peppers anyway. She has to be careful about things that she can and cannot eat. The biggest frustration, we live In Texas. It is nearly impossible to find food that doesn’t use some kind of chili peppers. Years ago my brother came to visit. He got the chic-fil-a hot and spicy sandwich. He commented that it was more spicy than was sold in Wisconsin. So, I guess things are naturally spicier here. Our lives are somewhat complicated. 

A really weird thing I discovered yesterday. Walmart sells Rolexes. Yeah I think that was crazy to. In the drop down menu in gives to options, and in the brands listed there is Rolex. So, on the app, you can buy a 20,000 dollar watch and you could buy pizza rolls if you have enough money. If you don’t believe me go to the app or the site and see for yourself.