Category Archives: Just Life

Distinguished Names in InDesign Documents

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I decided to create a character style in InDesign for formatting what I call a Distinguished Name. (A DN)

Whats a DN? It is a tuple consitsing of <First name> <GID> [<Middle Name] [Surname]

Example: David 32.1 Girlington

That means I am a 32nd generation Girlington and the first one in the index.

You can call me 32.1 for short

The above number, BTW, is not accurate. I am just too lazy to look up the actual number.

Or in my patrilineal line I am just 8.1 with no letter prefix. My oldest (American born) ancestor (1.1) with my patrilineal surame was 8 generations ago.

So, every place a DN appears it will have a special style applied to make it stand out in the text. Having defined the style in one place, if I redesign the style it automatically changes every DN in the entire document.

Simpler Covered Calls For A Recession

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CATEGORY: Investing

Yesterday I sold 700 shares of STOR which yields about 5% and has been lingering in my portfolio due to it’s recently having been acquired. Pondering where to put this cash as we stare into a possible recession in 2023 I have been thinking about JEPI which could be a limited risk way to earn more than 5%. JEPI yields about 11% and pays monthly. So today, Jan 5, 2022, I added some JEPI.

JEPI holds about 100 stocks and sells covered calls on them in order to derive income. How well do they perform in a recession compared to any other investment? Very good question. We shall see how that works out. But my view is in order to be diversified I need a variety of strategies that counter balance each other. If we get a 20% to 30% market drop it will be time to rotate to SPY. The alternative is to hold cash. At 10% inflation cash loses because of 100% guarantee of loss ( equals 100% risk factor) and JEPI wins.

Of course I could overweight on energy or tobacco or beer or BDC’s (business development companies) – but that would not represent diversification. And that too increases risk

Investing 2023 and Workforce Shortage

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Category: Investing

There is a shortage of workers. Minnesota, for example, has lost 95000 workers and that is projected to increase in 2023. But consumer demand is increasing. For example, baby boomers are demanding more services as they age.

This will cause wages to rise. That will cause companies to pass on the cost in the form of price increases. This adds to inflation. Inflation will continue and increase. The fed will respond with higher interest rates to hold down inflation.

There is likely to be a recession, and banks are now predicting recession.

The stock market will sag into lower stock prices.

As a dividend growth style investor I will be looking to add stocks as the prices sag. The dividends will have a higher rate. So I am looking for stocks that have a pattern of dividend growth over time and under all market conditions, with a view on dividend safety. I like to see a seekingalpha.com dividend safety rating of B or higher but a return that beats inflation. I also like to see a high quant rating and a buy or strong buy recommendation. And I am striving to stay diversified.

Over the New Year as the market has been sagging I have been nibbling. In a day of all red I start looking for buying opportunities because everything is on sale.

As a recently retired person I have a fixed income stream of “retired income” made up of the usual (use your imagination) which I shall call I1. My goal on my investment portfolio, which is 100% tax deferred, is to have my annual dividends I2 be greater than I1.

I2 > I1.

This ignores ROI or “return on investment” because that depends on stock prices which of course fluctuate up and down with the market.

My available money M each year is M = I1+I2 without selling any of my portfolio. That is the basic idea of having a portfolio. That has been my goal all alone. To replace my income from my working years.

There are a lot of other factors in motion, but workforce oversupply is gone and so is cheap labor. These are not transients – they are structural problems. I think everyone saw this coming but everyone has been intoxicated by media nonsense rather than analysis.

Keep calm and keep thinking.




Honey, you are such a Peach.

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“The difference between you and a pear is you think you are important and the pear does not.”

— Dennis Prager.



He gets this from current events about a movement of people wanting to bequeath their bodies to nourish the earth.

Dennis says, (paraphrasing):

If humans are not made in the image of God then they are no different than fruit. They are just compost.
It comes down to whether you are merely physical. If humans are merely physical then they can be compost. They are compost. Any difference is just imaginary.

I would add this is the philosophy of atheism. Dennis calls it the nihilism of the secular western world. What I would call the secular western fundamentalist religion. It really is the logical conclusion of reductionism.

To the atheist your real meaning, in any ultimate sense, is you will become fertilizer and will help plants grow. Anything you do before that is … well, you are just having a nice fantasy.


Atheists will tell us they have moral codes and build moral societies. They have been saying that for years. What they cannot tell us is WHY. Who could possibly even care about the moral code of a pear? Or fof fertilizer? It is not logical. Not even rational. But they insist the theist’s interest in the transcendental is irrational. Surely they base this on a metaphysical assumption. They will tell you that the flaw in theism is that it is based on metaphysical assumptions. But will deny their own world view is based on a metaphysical assumption.

One atheist recently called me a nutcase for even asking the question. Instead of answering the question they just name-call. One can only assume that is because they cannot give reasons. Their philosophy is vacuous. If they could give reasons then everyone could consider the reasons.

Meanwhile, everywhere one encounters such people they scream that theists are believing in imaginary things. And they truly believe that too!

I think the atheist needs to explain why he is meta-physics free. Otherwise, why is he believable?




Neurodiversity. Brains that think differently.

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Interesting article.

Some people, says Winter, only tend to do what they’re interested in – “what lights up our brains” – which causes them to de-prioritise other urgent tasks.

“ADHD traits can be really badly misinterpreted,” says Shelford. “If I struggle with timeliness, you’re going to think I don’t care about my job. If I forget something, you might just conclude I’m dumb.” 


I am a neurodivergent person. I have INTP and HSP characteristics. When writing code I often write code for a solid 4 hours without looking up or even getting a drink. That’s called “concentrating” or “thinking” and what I cannot stand is an “agile” office environment where I am interrupted every 5 minutes. It takes 20 minutes for a brain to start “concentrating”. In today’s corporate offices they won’t let you do that. They think you need to “interact” to be productive, not “think.” So most employers actually paid me $$$ to not give them my brain power.

I cannot tolerate dances, loud music, parties, or crowds. After 15 minutes my brain just switches off. And I am bored and disconnected and lonely in a crowd. It is very disturbing.

This is a standard HSP characteristic.

Can God Redeem Soldiers?

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I wrote this on a facebook thread to an ex-army person. They were discussing the subject of cussing.
To me that goes under the doctrine of experiential sanctification.



“I once had a manager who had been in command of, now that I think of it, it was anti-aircraft batteries (was originally thinking field artillery). He was deployed in Kosovo. One day his colonel called him in and said “I am field promoting you 2nd Lt, what school do you want to go to?” Instead of telling the colonel “I actually work for a living so i cannot be an officer”, he actually said “Armor.” So, he became a tank commander. I learned a lot about armored vehicles from him. As a captain he was running a tank platoon with 4 M1 Abrams and some strykers and support vehicles. After that he became a software manager and hired me to develop the human interface for an embedded controller for chemical processing used in hospitals and in industrial washing machines. He was one of only two people field promoted to officer since 1970. What’s weird was my very next project actually was on armor. I designed the crew station instrumentation for the ground combat vehicle.

Anyway, I just discovered my best friend retired as a Lt Col, and was a battalion commander, but the last six years has been … a pastor! So, it just goes to show the army does not always totally ruin a person, in spite of rumors to the contrary. Chuck Swindoll told me he had once been a colonel. Gasp!”

Goodness and a Good Life.

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About this wisdom and good deeds thing spoke of in the bible. Having proper boundaries is a good thing. Not having them, and letting others violate your boundaries in order to “just get along” actually harms them. You need to be able to speak the truth and tell others when they violate your boundaries. And when they are being inappropriate. Otherwise you are not promoting goodness, you are promoting confusion and dysfunction.


Shame driven families are families where boundaries are not allowed, and truth is not allowed, and secrets are kept and shame is brushed under the rug. This isn’t a good life, rather it is a miserable life that leads to despair.

From the book of James in the Bible.

Two Kinds of Wisdom

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

Kitchen Fun.

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A new toy. (the stainless steel rack).

My wife isn’t convinced, but she is tolerating me because it is Christmas season.

I do not like placing a pan in the sink because bacteria coat the bottom of the pan. These then spread all over the counter top and stove surfaces. The rack is much cleaner.

And it solves the mess with filling my french press as well.

The coffee cleanup is a breeze. The spillage goes into the sink so wipe down is very easy.

I have a burr grinder and french press like on Air Force One. If its good enough for the president its good enough for me.
The Mr Coffee Burr grinder failed so it was replaced with this fabulous Cuisinart.

PhD Microbiologist is a theist.

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McGrath wrote the book for those who want more than the classical arguments about the existence of God. Atheists pretend that there are no folks with advanced degrees in science who are theists. The debate is not over knowledge or science. it is over belief. What is believable. A lot of scientists think theism is more believable than atheism. Calling them names or saying they are irrational isn’t a proof the the scientists who are theists are incorrect.