Cord Cutting: Verizon - Tegna Spat

This past December 31st, sometime in the late afternoon the CBS signal carried by Verizon FIOS replaced the CBS feed with a looping "commercial" giving Verizon's side of a corporate dispute between themselves and Tegna a corporation that owns at least three stations:

• WUSA (9), the CBS station in Washington DC,
• WVEC (13), the ABC station in Norfolk, and
• WGRZ (2), the NBC station in Buffalo.

Access fees appear to have been at the heart of the conflict.  Tegna wanted more money from Verizon to allow the carrier to distribute their signal to Verizon customers than Verizon was willing to pay. 

The result of this corporate battle is the blocking of the network feed that carries popular shows such as the Big Bang Theory, NCIS and NFL Football just as playoff season began.

Investing in Mutual Funds: 101

A friend recently asked me my thoughts on mutual fund investing, seeking advice on how to build a portfolio.  Rather than just give him some notes, I choose to right a post so that anyone can see my approach.  It's certainly not perfect.  I strive for simple and easy to manage.  I do not chase the latest fad.  I talk only about mutual funds, the same thing can be accomplished with ETF's purchased through a broker, direct mutual funds save a middle man, they are easier, if you don't have a broker.  

Happy Birthday, Littlest One!

Birthday cards have sure changed.  When I was growing up, my parents would give me a card, without failure, every year on my birthday.  I rarely really wanted a hallmark card, they all said the same thing, a good message, but the same.  A few of them survived my youth to make it into a keepsake box that I will always treasure, mostly because my mom and sometimes my dad picked them out signed them and gave them to me. Today, cards are becoming a thing of the past, often replaced with a quick post on Facebook or other even more passing wish.

My Mother

I started this piece very shortly after Mom passed away.  It was hard too write and even harder to revisit to actually finish it up.  I can't say I have reread the whole piece, but I think it's ok, and I want to share it with some people who have been important to me and my mother.  I have also posted a brief slide show, which you are welcome to view on BarrettPhoto.us.  Following is what I wrote late last year...

Barbara Ann Barrett — Born April 13, 1933, quietly passed away in her sleep from cancer on August 19, 2016, at about 7:05am.  That is how I began her obituary posted on Adams-Green website. Quietly passed away in her sleep sounds like an euphemism, a wishful memory of what might have been, but in my mother’s case, it is remarkably accurate, though brief description of the event. I want to expand on that, provide a few more details from my memory for my memory, so that I can clearly, accurately, recall the related events that preceded it.

Mom’s battle with rectal cancer began in the fall of 2013 at the same time I had a life threatening health crisis. My intrepid wife had us both in the hospital, different hospitals, shuttling between to oversee our care.  Mom’s doctors, unsurprisingly suggested a witches brew of chemo, radiology and surgical treatments, steps that might stop the disease but with a high cost in side effects and life altering changes.