Tame Shopping Spree

Norelco® 7100

The first warm evening in several weeks allowed for an outing, not to the International Marketplace, but to Ala Moana Center instead. The purpose of the trek was to procure a new Norelco® 7100 electric shaver (made in Netherlands) at Target® for about $75 (on sale plus an additional 5% birthday discount). However, there’s no telling when the old Norelco® shaver will be officially deprecated.

On a related note, any electric shaver purchase should be considered disposable. There is a high probability that replacement blades will not be available anywhere when needed. Thus, the least expensive device should always be purchased. In this case, a moderately expensive unit was procured because it may last longer than the owner.

Mainstays® Mattress Topper

On Monday, a Mainstays® foam mattress topper was purchased at Walmart® in town prior to returning to the “old folks home” in Waikiki. The least expensive product was procured for $15 because it was the easiest one to transport on the bus in addition to the gym bag.

The original plan was to replace the existing Intex® airbed with a more luxurious model. However, the disposition of the old airbed was the main problem. If it is donated to charity, it would most likely be discarded for sanitary reasons. That would be a total waste. Thus, the mattress topper will be used to add comfort to the existing airbed.

There are really is nothing left to procure. New sheets and a new bath towel come to mind, but neither are a priority. So, the brief shopping spree has come to an end. The financial impact was truly minimal.

On a side note, the iOS 16.2 update was downloaded and installed on the iPhone 14 Pro. The new security features (end-to-end iCloud encryption) has restored some faith in Apple®. The fear of advertisements in the Weather “app” via the embedded news feed widget was abated when reports indicated that, if the News “app” is “deleted,” the widget is disabled. The new Freeform “app” looks interesting, although there are no plans to deploy or “delete” it.

Postscript: The central bank of empire raised the short-term interest rate by only 50 basis points, which means it is beginning to taper in preparation to pivot to ZIRP. As stated in Notes, inflation was never the issue. The only method to stop inflation, that is, asset price inflation, is to aggressively raise interest rates and cause the stock market to make a correction to its true valuation.