Monthly Archives: January 2018

I have to talk to a TIAA financial consultant and you can do it weekdays in the evening, and on Saturday. I changed back to the aggressive formula, after years (at their urging) on the “moderately aggressive” formula. I would have spent my entire life on the very aggressive formula if they had not always told me it was unwise.

I always said I would not retire until I was 80 and it would be wisest not to, but given what I am seeing my father go through at 93 I am wondering whether I might think about 75 — although I’ve got an 80 year old colleague who is fine.

I don’t get social security and I am afraid of running out of money in my nineties. Should I set up an annuity? I will soon have about $1M in all. But I have debts as well, and that with no pension or much real estate equity is not a lot of money if you expect a long old age, as I do.

I don’t think I live in the right place to be old. That would be the reason to retire sooner; if I am to move, I must do it when I am still young enough to create current connections and networks in the place.

I used to believe I would inherit more than I will. I thought I would buy an apartment in a place that was better to be old in, or any age in, and visit it when classes weren’t in. So I would live in two places and transition easily when I was truly old and really did retire. I don’t think I will be able to do this.

What will you do — especially if you only live where you live because you work there, and if it is not where you want to be old?

Axé.

I want to make this. And I need to buy farm eggs this weekend.

Axé.

Here is more for my article on the language of neoliberalism: for sports teams, one no longer says fans but “fan base.” The marketing department has taken over, and the “fan base” isn’t the fans but the media- and marketing catchment area.

Axé.

The only clothes I want are a raincoat with a hood, and waterproof boots from Blondo. I want to buy them in person.

Things I need involve the optician, and I have vision insurance now. I have to save for the arborist, the dentist and work on my roof.

I intend to buy the right lamp and finally the right height desk; I really need a home office setup.

I would like to tile the floor in the sunroom. There are many other improvements I would like to make to the house, but I think the floor should come first because I know who I want to do it.

Axé.

“I think you should sell that [your] house and get out of that town.”

“You cannot know when you will have to leave your [tenured] job. You may not get to be the one who chooses that.”

“You cannot know that you will live to be old. Even if all the members of your family you resemble live to be old, you should not think you need to plan for it, because you could be hit by a bus.”

“If you are considering the possibility of assisted suicide or Dutch-style euthanasia when you are really old, you had better think twice: you are better off standing in front of a bus or shooting yourself.”

This is all so negative, and so patronizing.

Axé.

Networkmanager should do the job for you if you have the right module for your wireless adapter configured in your kernel. Way better than it was in the old days. Look at dmesg to see if the module came up correctly when it booted.

Here is mon problème: I’ve been lazy learning all these Linux things, so each operation is a chore it should not be. Perhaps this is what I will do, though, patiently, later tonight.

Better ask for help from the experts on your distro, I use an arcane one, so beyond that I’m not much use.

The experts don’t know — or at least not the people who speak in the fora. It is semi daunting and I keep hoping the next version will solve it, but generally the next version makes it worse. It’s the one bad thing about Linux, I’ve never had a Linux machine that could really handle wireless. The issue is that configuration in the kernel, yes!

Then the key is to find the missing module, get the kernel sources, set the necessary flags in .config, compile and install, and point your boot loader at the new kernel. It’s more effort than mowing the lawn, but less than a properly done 10-page undergraduate term paper. Most distros have instructions for this process, and tools to ease the pain. Valium is also good.

Axé.