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Is everyone ok out there?

It's not a surprise to anyone that California has swung from being under a severe drought to having a series of massive rain-making storm systems hit the coast in rapid succession. Having lived in Livermore for over 25 years, I  know the soil there is unable to handle a daily rainfall total in excess of 0.5 inches. Any more results in run-off, local flooding, erosion ( recall the year Stanley Blvd had to be moved 10+ feet after part of the road collapsed into the adjoining lake ). The local storm drain system tends to overload easily too - so streets can flood. So I have had more than a smidge of concern for any friends still living in California. Messages, e-mails, and phone calls were sent to make sure everyone is ok.  I have been re-assured by friends that while the weather is making life rough they are ok. All but one individual, who has failed to respond to any of my messages. He normally was remarkably easy to reach by any method, making the silence even more worrisome. ...
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Changes to Investment Fund Rules Worrisome.

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Some time back I received a newsletter from the University of California Retirement System ( UCRS ). The lead article proudly proclaimed that UCRS had completed divestiture of all fossil-fuel stocks. What? They walked away from the likes of Exxon, Gulf, and Mobile? Halliburton and Schlumberger? Those are some serious heavy-hitters in the stock market and generally excellent income providers. I was not pleased by UCRS playing social justice warrior with my retirement funds, especially without my getting the slightest say in that decision. I did post my concerns on the "LLNL - The True Story" blog and ran up against a number of posters that attacked my questioning the wisdom of the fund managers. One post suggested ( without humor markers ) that I should lose all UCRS benefits until I conform to the "California mindset". Still, the question remains of how UCRS plans to replace the loss of revenue caused by divestiture - their role is supposed to be making money for r...
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What are your hobbies? Have they changed post-retirement??

 I have a number of interests that could be seen as hobbies by others. Benchrest rifle shooting, programming ( for fun ),  analytical chemistry, and electronics. For me - the last two have risen in status from "dreaming about" to actually starting to assemble the item for a working lab. For my semi-micro analytical lab that has meant locating and acquiring some glassware I'll need - beakers, graduated cylinders, etc. Pricing other items like material for a bench, scales, heating mantle, centrifuge, etc. And of course pricing chemicals. One challenge is the discovery that many vendors will not ship concentrated acids ( e.g. 38N sulphuric acid ) to home addresses anymore. Time to get crafty locating alternate suppliers of high quality materials. :-) Electronics - have a number of breadboards, chips, discrete components, a plc board, my trusty Simpson DMM, as well as a lot of patch wires. I can power my simple projects off battery or USB. Long-term I should get a digital osc...
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Anonymous postings - yea/nea

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The question has been raised about support for anonymous posting of blog articles. New threads created by me lack a by-line, though comments do mention my name. I recall there are some controls buried somewhere in the Google toolkit for the blogger software, it's not the easiest piece of kit to configure. That given, I did not enable anonymous support in the initial configuration on purpose. In my personal experience, anonymous is all to often used as a place to hide behind while acting badly. People abused anonymity by posting articles full of hate toward individuals or groups. Basic respect for others went out the window, resulting in some of the most uncivil language. Anonymous support had been enabled at the "other blog" ostentatiously in order to allow for people to report abuse at work without fear of reprisal. There has not been any kind of report like that in a very long time.  I would prefer my blog to be more a family atmosphere. If a situation arose where anony...
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Retirement locations - best and worst.

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Everyone has their own criteria for best and worst locations to spend their retirement years. What were your reasons and the best/worst places according to those criteria? 
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Where do Livermore gun owners go to play these days?

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Being one of those "deplorables" that stuck to their religion and guns, I enjoy making holes in paper, better know as benchrest shooting. Back in the days working at LLNL I would  on the weekends  take an occasional jaunt with one of my friends over to the Livermore Rod and Gun Club. Lugging my high-end .22 bolt-action rifle; a tacklebox for my tools, targets, vernier sight, ammo, as well as a few other miscellaneous items; and my rifle rest to one of my favorite tables there for an afternoon of measuring wind in hopes of making tiny groups of holes. Over the years Livermore Rod and Gun evolved from a fairly basic target range to one with shaded compartmented stations that offered lit targets during night-time. Castro Valley was the nearest alternative, but that has closed down. Is Livermore Rod and Gun still operating?
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Retirement and inflation.

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A jump in fuel prices, followed by almost everything else, is not welcome by those living on fixed incomes.  advisorperspectives.com How are you doing these days? Did economics effect your choices in the recent election?
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