It’s been raining a lot. For Southern California standards, that is. It began at sunrise on Friday, hasn’t stopped since then, and it’s forecasted to continue until this Friday.

Immediately one of the first things I see in the office is people wanting to “stay safe and work from home”. Always the same folks want to “be safe” while others, the reckless, simply show up to work. It’s amusing and irritating.

expeditions postponed to next weekend

No hiking for us this weekend due to the rain, and no indoor expeditions because my wife and I had an opportunity we could not pass on: her parents were visiting and willing to babysit. So we let them do that both Saturday and Sunday.

5-year wedding anniversary

It was our 5-year wedding anniversary on Sunday. Our celebration was low key and enjoyable. We had dinner in a yacht at Marina Del Rey on Saturday night. We arrived early and walked around some shops, found a Warby Parker where my wife bought her n-th pair of sunglasses. She doesn’t collect them. She buys them, misplaces them, and then buys another pair. I treated myself to a new pair of reading glasses. Bold, black, with a hint of the artsy in them.

On Sunday, we went to a shopping area (Topanga Village), found a restaurant and ordered drinks at the bar.

These are activities that are bland and normal for most people, but felt different and refreshing for us. Particularly the ability to walk without being on edge ready to chase one or both our kids.

fito paez performed in L.A. and I did not see him

Fito performed on Saturday, but I was at Marina Del Rey. I could have bought almost first row tickets for $400, which is a bargain when considering the stature of the artist.

I regret my decision to skip the concert and I can only hope that he decides to visit Los Angeles again. He is 62 years old, so we’ll see.

money ramblings

It’s well understood that timing the market is a fool’s errand. It is also understood that we are all fools.

From the perspective of fragility, I see how most investors are sitting on a barrel of dynamite. Almost 50% of the market value of the S&P 500 is concentrated in 10 companies. Those 10 companies are in the same industry. The average investor, retail or institutional, may think he is well diversified until he looks under the hood.

To make things more explosive, the entire systems is overlevered. I don’t need to look any further than the following: crypto markets and equity markets move in lockstep. Everything is connected through leverage, margin, etc.

I have made changes to my asset allocation, but even then we are long the equity market with high exposures to company stock (I cannot sell) and the S&P 500 (through my wife’s retirement and investment accounts).

In any case, these are problems that a younger me would not have called problems.

the honest repairman

Someone at work recommended a repairman for pretty much anything that needs to be fixed or upgraded at the house. We made an appointment and he came by one afternoon.

I showed him around. All the things that are in need of repair. Shutters, blinds, sliding doors, walls, etc., etc. He listened, observed, and took notes.

Then he looked at my kids, one 4 and the other almost 3 years old. He paused for a moment, and said:

My advice is to not fix anything for another year or so. Let the kids grow a little.

Honest repairman.