There have been days that I feel like I woke up in an alternate universe!

Agreed. Never understood the appeal.

Ditto!

Yes, I believe they call themselves the Kanemits.............

Back in the days without caller ID, when I answered any call that came in, I started telling the solicitors that I would consider a donation, IF they sent me an annual report. I don't think that any of them ever did.

I've also found that a good website to investigate charities and how them spend their money is charitynavigator.org

I've been using the paid CCleaner for a few years, but lately have started to question how good it really is. For instance, in older versions when I ran the "clean" option, I would be notified that it had found maybe a hundred or so "trackers". Lately, it tells me that it found five or six thousand! So, this number would be based on whatever use my PC gets in one day, since I always run the cleaner and shut down at the end of the day.

Also, the latest version always tells me that it has found several programs that need to be updated. However, when I okay this action, a progress bar pops up, but never seems to make any progress. Last night, this part of the utility ran for more than fifteen minutes and updated nothing.

I'm not going to renew my subscription when it comes due next month. Subscription fatigue played into this decision.

43 years as of last January. Those years passed scarily fast!

No, we're not. The food was pricey, too. Adding $1.00 for a glass of water?? At this point, not going back is also a matter of principle. I posted a comment about this on Google Reviews as well.

[quote=jerryc41]Actually, inflation is rather low.

The current U.S. inflation rate is 3.4% for the 12-month period leading up to December 2023. The rate of inflation was up 0.3% in December from the previous month, according to the latest release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

[i]Inflation closed out 2022 with a 6.5% annual reading, as measured by the consumer price index, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. It was in line with economists’ expectations.[/]

I think a lot of the price increases, especially at restaurants, are the result of the bandwagon effect. "If the place down the road is charging $20 for a meal, why should we charge $15?"[/quote]

Totally agree! I think this practice has spilled over to just about all businesses whether they need the increases or not.

My wife and I recently had breakfast at a local restaurant that has started charging $1.00 for a glass of water.

Mark,

No, I actually did intend to reply to you. I almost always follow all of your posted links and end up saving them to my Spotify playlist! I could certainly have provided that clarification.

Bill

Mark, just a note to thank you for posting YouTube links to such fabulous music. You and I must have at least somewhat similar taste - especially with Jazz.

Yes! I stumbled on his videos about a year and a half ago, but stopped following him after watching just a few. Your post was a great reminder to continue watching them - perhaps with a new, better perspective. Thank you!