Take today off. I am. Nothing in this post is original. If you don’t need to work today, stay home with family. Wrap yourself in a warm blanket and watch a sappy movie. Make a fire (but only if you have a fireplace). Leave the stress behind. Look around you. If someone in your family…
Yesterday, I told the story of how LeafFilter failed to show up for three appointments — and never called me — when scheduled to perform service at my house in Maine. I described the events from November 1 to December 9, when I’d finally had it with the company and was prepared to tell the…
Sometimes a company doesn’t live up to what it has promised you. That can make you angry. What should you do about it? This post is about what happened when a company called LeafFilter disappointed me, and what I did about it. My father’s mirror I want to start by talking about my father. The…
I’m in a dispute with my accountant. We both feel wronged. And it’s all because of the way they treated free advice. My accountant is part of a mid-sized local accounting firm. He prepares my taxes, which are complex, and also advises me on tax strategy. With a few exceptions, I’ve found the tax prep…
The state lines in the US might as well be national borders if you’re trying to change your health insurance. I recently moved from Massachusetts to Maine, a total distance of 100 miles. I am self-employed and was paying the usual insane amount for my own health insurance in Massachusetts, including coverage for my spouse…
Sometimes losing everything is an opportunity. Forty years ago, in late December, I broke up with my wife. After years of unhappiness, it had become clear that the we didn’t belong together. She requested that I leave the apartment the next morning. I had a small suitcase full of clothes and nothing else. I called…
Yesterday my wife and I bought a house in Portland, Maine. We’ll be moving there soon. I thought you might be interested in how we chose Portland, after 40 years of living near Boston. Why New England? I moved to New England — Cambridge, Massachusetts — in 1979 at age 20 and I’ve been here…
My wife and I are preparing the house we’re selling for buyers and an open house in a month or so. We fell in love with the house almost immediately. It’s on a beautiful piece of ground in a nice part of our town. It’s big but 100 years old, with personality. It has four…
Every once in a while I begin to wonder if I am crazy. Why bother blogging here every week day? Since this blog began in March of 2015, I have posted on it every weekday. In six-plus years, that has added up to 1,700 posts and 1.5 million total words. These posts have seen 3.5…