Last Commented Business Blogs (303)

I stopped to see a client and measure for some vanity cabinets today. It worked out good because I was on the way to Miami. My agenda was a planned visit to the Asian market. But first, a small detour... I pulled up in front of my old house.
Changes made by the new owner were immediately noticeable from the street.
This was perfect timing as the neighbor was planning to go out. He greeted me at his front gate and asked about the change of vehicles. The new owner also came out as her roommate was doing some landscaping. Many of the trees and shrubs were trimmed back and new ones were planted.

Discussion of the drowning of my old car and my new car changed as the owner invited us to see what transformation happened in the last 3 months. I immediately noticed the kitchen wall opened and all new cabinets, countertops and appliances were installed. Ceramic tile, central air, all new bathroom tile and fixtures, lots of new electrical upgrades, down lights everywhere. The window air conditioner units were gone and some windows were closed up on the Westerly exposure where the sun beats down on that side of the house.
She's got friends in the business and much of the work was at wholesale price, I'd estimate there were upgrades over $30,000 and they have much more to go. Impact windows and relocating the laundry are next on the list.

I was totally impressed no only with the amount of work done but with the design. Cutting the kitchen wall (to the living room) and creating a peninsula with sit-down turned 3 areas (kitchen, dining, living) into one functioning multi-purpose area!

Bravo.

One reason for the visit was to be sure she's not trashing any important (looking) mail that didn't get forwarded to my new address. Agreed she will pass to the neighbor and he will text me.

True story. My brother went to the bank to speak to a financial advisor about his investments there.
He was told much of the staff works from home now, if he needed arrange an office visit, he would have to make an appointment. "Good" he said and asked who he should talk to in order to make the appointment. The response was, the person who schedules appointments also works from home and only visits the office on appointment.

So... his comeback to that was "Are you telling me I need to make an appointment with the person who makes appointments?"

He's thinking about changing banks now.

Once the jewel of the Middle East, as a state only a century old, and has known the high life, along with low wars. Seems like the real problem is the evolution toward a total lack of accountability, on the part of corrupt Pols, the rapacious banks, and the people themselves. All blame each other, and when that no longer brings modest results, they seem resentful that the IMF and other loan brokers, no longer have open wallets for them. As was the usual modus operendi there for generations. Money down rat holes gets gobbled up by the most adept rodents.
Depositors can't get their dollars back from banks, hospitals (almost all private) are closing---complaining there are no more subsidies from Beirut. Imagine that? Currency devalued some 70%, with fewer paid in "fresh money", ie, foreign cash. Few jobs left at all. Infrastructure failing, or just no longer extant.
The second hand clothing/possessions markets thrive, where mid fashion was formerly the mode. Soup kitchens are packed, as are food banks, but supplies are low. And emigration, especially among youth, and the better heeled, is way up. Government officials have mostly given up, in a funk all, except when protecting their ill gained loot. Even the black markets have quit. Long forgotten friends/kin are being hit up for help of any sort. Food, rent, medicines.
We rightly think of Dark African States as being in this shape, but the blight has moved to Little Libon. Power and refuge had been available and shared among the three main religions, but after the last war, suspicions remain high.
Regional neighbors have meddled or tried to intervene, depending on perspective, and as with government officials, all have given up.
Can anyone say it's THE prototype of a failed state?

Interesting twist to the Gold Digger title of women who are in relationships for as much as they can get.
I scanned a Twitter profile and the woman said: "Be a goal digger. Earn your success."

From 1975 to 1982, I was working for one of the largest cabinet manufacturers in South Florida. The factory would turn out more than 350 cabinets per day. The most popular door style was flat with a plastic laminate face with a material referred to as Formica.

Similar to the way people call tissues Kleenex, Formica is the name brand of plastic laminated products

While this may not be 100% accurate, I've always heard the history of the name came from Micarta, one of the first companies to manufacture melamine resin laminates that had several layers of impregnated brown papers with the top layer being a decorative paper. The process involved heat and pressure and to created sheets of material that could be glued to boards to create countertops and cabinet doors.

During the war, Micarta switched to making products for the military that included helmets. Instead of fabricating flat sheets, the process involved fitting strips of the resin papers into curved molds that were shaped for the helmets.
After the war they went back into the manufacture of laminated sheets using the name Formica that comes from 'formerly Micarta'. Good story... yeah?

There were several housing corporations in Florida that built condominiums. Business was booming and often we had contracts to provide cabinets for hundreds of units. I recall many years of this type of work.

Recently, I received a sales lead to one of the condo communities with a name I recognized. The owner had some water damage and wanted to replace the cabinets. The condo was built in 1980 and I'm certain I was working for the original manufacturer of that kitchen. It had mica doors and a decorative scoring they had popularized. We made zillions of these doors.

The guy buying the kitchen is in his 80's and not the original purchaser of the unit, but he enjoyed my story about his 40th anniversary kitchen!


Thanks for reading my blog!

Continuation of [ their ] bull- Chain....
14.. covert contracts / control Top
X I I I....Friday the 13th / atomic Rooster
12.....50 words for snow / Bush
11...under the pressure / war on drugs
X...... isolation /. Alter bridge.
9...this might ] H U R T / 9 inch nails
8. A T E.( Airborne Toxic Event..../ Sum Time
................... round midnight...
7...reality / lost frequencies.
6..blue lines... / massive attack.
V....work from home / 5th Harmony
4....Four horsemen / Metallica.
3....here to stay / new Order
2....you better think Twice / Poco
1.. Tribulations / L C D. Soundsystem
O..zero / imagine dragons...
..... The my$tery of Iniquity......
Z...zero dark thirty / Aesop rock
...y......blue lines../ MASSIVE ATTACK
X...the Airborne Toxic Event / sum time round midnight.....

Let's face it, the cost of living is all but prohibitive in our big cities. yet young people flock to these places, to work toward a career, for networking, to explore the chances for romance, and so on. A major expense is space for work and home life. We see these young folks, and ever those in advanced age, living in roommate situations, or at home, if parents are so situated. And there are the homeless.
Lock downs of various sorts have many people working at home, a trend which had already begun over the past decades. There are many spinoffs in terms of real estate that may result from these changes. The costs for renting expensive office space are already dropping. And conversions from workspace, to living space, are already on the increase. Supply and demand rules of economics may benefit many, who could use it most, unlike the owners/corporations, who will lose, but such is business..
While some, especially families and some elderly, may opt for suburbia, where home purchase is still possible for many, for the above reasons, this option is less ideal for younger people.
So one door closes, and others open---perhaps literally. Even the disaster that was democrat ruled Detroit, is returning to a non automobile manufacturing renaissance. Abandoned homes were going for pennies on the dollar. And buyers of diverse backgrounds move in to renovate, and to become homeowners for the first time.
Sure, the important productivity and innovation Jones of the face-to-face may suffer, but ways will be found to substitute, and even to restore the same.
Sometimes brutal illnesses, and Capitalism, can provide hope.

There's a rule for salesmen to avoid discussions of politics (and religion) when making a sale so I do my best to follow those guidelines. If possible before our first meeting, I'll research my clients so I know their background. Many have internet history about career, education and political orientation. Some have relocated from the North or want to discuss reasons why they are in Florida. I don't inquire things like that and it's something they would have to mention.

A few years ago, I hit the Facebook page of a prospective client that creeped me out!
She and her husband were active in the Tea Party movement and posted some cosplay images with weapons torturing someone with a rubber mask of the (then) current president.

I took the meeting information, made concept drawings and budget prices. All of this was submitted to the general contractor who connected me with his client.
The job was extensive on his part as he had to add a second floor that required structural changes, so I knew my part of the project was financially small.
After a few weeks of no response, I called the contractor who said they got a lower bid from another company. Phew!

Tag.) Unfolding [ their ] block chain...
One gold note at a Time....
.....heathens / 21 pilots
The Timing../ jets ...Overhead....
..singing in the wreckage / blk box recorder.
..... Standby...
Gold / interference
...stay gold / 1st aid kit.
Honey / goldsboro.......) gold finger / bassey
I R E / Adekunle gold
Gold Digger / West f. Foxx
G O L D . Mine / take 6....} rev. 3:18...4:4.
... synthesis.} after the gold Rush / young
A R ] .money in the grave / drake
F U L L. COMMUNISM / downtown boys.
....eYe will repeat all calls from posts more distant from the guardhouse than my own..- no.4 ..usmc
F...Final separation / bulldozer
E....dirt./ alice in chains.
D...they threw us all in a trench & stuck a monument on Top./ L I A R S.
...eYe will quit my post only when properly relieved..-5.

Online, surgical masks in quantity are around $0.75 each. A local vendor has packs of 4 at $12.50 and I doubt they will sell many at those prices. They are cashing in on corona... or at least attempting?
A friend told me Walgreens now has stock and selling a box of 20 masks for $12.
That's the right price.