If I rebalance now:

Sally Beauty (Empower, $24k)

goal: stable value, a few % to not lose much to inflation

Nomura Diversified Income Instl
DPFFX
10-Year = 2.78%

PGIM Total Return Bond Z
PDBZX
10-Year = 2.88%

Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Adm
VBTLX
10-Year = 1.97%

Putnam Stable Value Fund: 15bps
10-Year = 2.72%

The three bond funds all suffered about -13.5% losses in 2022 (Covid) whereas Putnam never lost money. That also means it never made more than 4% returns on any year. But this is what I'm looking for.

Fidelity (Microsoft, $100k)

goal: stable value, a few % to not lose much to inflation

Stable Value Account - This fund started last October so no historical data. Account's manager is Invesco Advisors, Inc.

PIMCO Total Return Account
10-Year = 2.72%
Typical bond fund in that it lost a good amount in 2022.

Unfortunately no good choices. Perhaps in six years the Stable Value Account will have enough history.

Fidelity (Oracle, $2M)

For this I think a 40/30/20/10 split.

10% ($200k) on a stable fund.

Vanguard Institutional Total Bond Market Index Trust
9-Year (life of fund) - 1.82%

Broad Market Bond Portfolio
10-Year = 2.79%

Galliard Stable Value Fund
10-Year = 2.44%

Once again the two bond funds had losses in 2022. If I want super stable then Galliard is the way to go. With this, Sally and Microsoft stable funds that's $225k which is about a 3-year cushion if the market tanks for a few years.

20% on an international fund.

Dodge & Cox International Stock Fund Class X
DOXFX
10-Year = 8.27%
Expense Ratio (Gross) = 0.57%

Vanguard Institutional Total International Stock Market Index Trust
9-Year (life) = 6.84%
Expense Ration (Gross) = 0.0350%

Artisan International Separate Account
10-Year = 8.69%
Expense Ratio (Gross) = 0.65%

Emerging Markets Stock Portfolio
7-Year (life) = 5.58%
Expense Ratio (Gross) = 0.64%
(This one is a bit too limited scope.)

Fidelity® Worldwide Fund
FWWFX
10-Year = 13.02%
Expense Ratio (Gross) = 0.77%
(Disqualified because half of it is USA stocks)

I like index-type funds so even though it has a lower ROI I'd go with Vanguard Institutional Total International Stock Market Index Trust.

30% on USA small/mid-cap.

Vanguard Institutional Extended Market Index Trust
8-Year (life) = 10.11%
Expense Ratio (Gross) = 0.0150%

US Small-Mid Cap Value Stock Portfolio
10-Year = 10.23%
Expense Ratio (Gross) = 0.47%

William Blair SMID Cap Growth Strategy
10-Year = 10.44%
Expense Ratio (Gross) = 0.68%

Once again stick with an index-type fund and at least this one is competitive with the other two: Vanguard Institutional Extended Market Index Trust.

40% on USA large cap.

Dodge & Cox Stock Fund Class X
DOXGX
10-Year = 12.32%
Expense Ratio (Gross) = 0.46%

Vanguard Institutional 500 Index Trust
8-Year (life) = 14.69%
Expense Ratio (Gross) = 0.0060%

Fidelity Contrafund® Commingled Pool Class S
10-Year = 17.13%
Expense Ratio (Gross) = 0.3%

Fidelity Growth Company Commingled Pool Class S
10-Year = 21.33%
Expense Ratio (Gross) = 0.32%

I'll stick with Vanguard Institutional 500 Index Trust and be quite happy with that rate of return.


Taken together the Fidelity (Oracle) holdings would be 10.52% per year.

Sat Dec 20 2025

Sleep 0230 to 1030 (8 hours)

• MW5 (Christopher). Woo declined to play so we did a few 3 Mech scenarios where we each have a Heavy Mech (65 to 75 tons). Pretty fun. First couple as an Archer and first I do is go find a slope at the edge of the map where I can bring fire support. Later I had a Victor and it's actually a bit fun running up and firing the AC/20 (which is one projectile, unlike the Hunchback's AC/20 which is a stream of projectiles). Victor is 80 tons and has fairly good armor.
• DDO we did Epic Chains of Flame at R4. Woo had to leave half way through and didn't come back until after we finished. 17 PC deaths.

Sun Dec 21 2025

Sleep 0215 to 1030 (8-1/4 hours)

• A limitation of DriveThruRPG/DriveThruComics is that the same product sold by different publishers is a different item. I bought a Champions campaign book on DTComics and this supplement is co-produced by two companies. On DTRPG the other company sells it but since it's a different item it's not shown as owned by me. Not sure if this also happens if say a product moves publishers on DTRPG -- I suspect that would also be a new item.

Mon Dec 22 2025

Sleep 0215 to 1015 (8 hours)

• Mom had a Norco pill on Saturday and none Sunday and today which is good since it's an addictive drug. She hasn't taken Ibuprofen the last couple of days so I guess the pain is manageable for her.

Tue Dec 23 2025

Sleep 0215 to 1030 (8-1/4 hours)

• Mom had her orthopedic doctor appointment. Took off the bandages and knee looks like it's healing fine. Staples come out next week.

Wed Dec 24 2025

Sleep 0330 to 0930, 30m nap (6-1/2 hours)

• C3 and Steph spent the day with Corina's family and arrived here about 2000.

Thu Dec 25 2025

Sleep 0230 to 1100 (8-1/2 hours)

• CJr got a Switch 2 and an iPad for Christmas. Switch 2 has a nice 7.9" screen, a bit smaller than an iPad mini so I guess a mini would be a large enough screen to be useful.

Fri Dec 26 2025

Sleep 0330 to 1030, 30m nap (7-1/2 hours)

• Tonight we did one MW5 scenario and then one Gloomhaven scenario.

There are seven plans available. I want to keep using my current dentist, Kevin T Dowd. I checked and he is not in any of the networks so that immediately disqualifies these three HMO plans:

• DentaQuest Family Dental HMO
• Delta Dental Family Dental HMO
• Blue Shield Family Dental HMO

And leaves four plans:

• Humana Insurance Company Family Dental PPO ($56.99 per month)
• Anthem Blue Cross Family Dental PPO ($54.27 per month)
• Delta Dental Family Dental PPO ($50.45 per month)
• Blue Shield Family Dental PPO ($53.00 per month)

I guess because it's CoveredCA all the plans are standardized other than monthly premium. So for adults:

• Yearly Deductible: $50
• Yearly Benefit Limit: $1500
• In Network - Checkups: $0
• In Network - Fillings: 20% Coinsurance
• In Network - Root Canal: 50% Coinsurance
• Out of Network - Checkups: 10% Coinsurance
• Out of Network - Fillings: 30% Coinsurance
• Out of Network - Root Canal: 50% Coinsurance

Note that for root canals the co-insured person pays 50%

Checkups = Oral Exam, Bitewing X-ray, Cleaning
Root Canal = Extraction, Root Canal, Scaling, Ceramic Crown

A bit of guesswork but I think for me

Cleaning = $130 (3/year)
Exam with Bitewing X-Ray = $200 (once/year)
Crown = $1200 (wild guess)
Root Canal = $600 (wild guess)

If we just go with cleaning/x-rays it's $590 so $50+($59x3) = $227.00 out of pocket, $363 covered by insurance. That means ona low maintenance year I paid $600 insurance + $227 out of pocket = $827.

If I have a crown then it's $1427 me, $963 insurance so I save about $363.
If I have a root canal usually there's a crown afterwards so it's $1727 me, $1263 insurance so I save about $663.

I've had several root canals and crowns over the years but never more than one (root canal+crown or just crown) in a year.

I think overall I'll skip dental insurance especially since all the plans have a yearly benefit limit. If it's something big like I get in major accident and have major tooth work then it's $1500 insurance and the rest me.

I started with top sellers and kept scrolling looking for interesting with 50% or better discounts.

Detroit: Become Human ($4, 90% off) - mostly narrative game with choices, great graphics, good sci fi story.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection ($10, 75% off) - all the Halo games before it went MMO

Mass Effect Legendary Edition ($6, 90% off) - all three Mass Effect games plus DLCs

9 Kings ($10, 50% 0ff) - early access game. "fast-paced roguelike kingdom builder". Cute graphics.

Marvel's Midnight Suns Legendary Edition ($20, 80% off) - tactical card-based combat with Marvel characters.

Sat Dec 13 2025

Sleep 0215 to 0845 (6-1/2 hours)

• DDO - we did The Chamber of Raiyum (Epic) after a late start (2330). Luckily he was in the first tower so we killed him and finished in about 45m (almost got TPK'd once but Dave S's hireling got stuck and didn't come down to the fight that finished us off so he was able to summon it and raise me).

Sun Dec 14 2025

Sleep 0130 to 0830 (7 hours)

• Christopher arrived for the week.
• Dad made primer rib for an early dinner.
• Drove home.

Mon Dec 15 2025

Sleep 0045 to 0845 (8 hours)

• Met with AC Enterprises who will do our HOA dry rot work. They're using big ladders which explains why they're a lot cheaper -- the other two bidders were going to use scaffolding which is quite expensive. I suppose a painting job will require scaffolding but for dry rot patch work it's probably overkill (though maybe also safer than ladders).

Tue Dec 16 2025

Sleep 0200 to 1000 (8 hours)

• HOA holiday party. Espostos Catering. About 20 people attended so lots of extra food. I took a bit home. Also was contact next morning for catering to pick up their stuff.

Wed Dec 17 2025

Sleep 0115 to 0915 (8 hours)

• Dentist appointment at 1400 + x-rays. Took a couple of hours to get home. Next appointment on Monday -- it's been on Wednesday for years back when Nemo had Tue/Wed off but she's been on Mon/Tue off for a long time now.
• Steph drove to Elk Grove for mom's operation. They were at hospital at 1300. Surgery started about 1700 and took a couple of hours. They were able to take mom home that night.

Thu Dec 18 2025

Sleep 0200 to 0945 (7-3/4 hours)

• Drove to parents arrived about 1450. Late lunch (beef stew and rice). Won ton soup with noodles for dinner.
• I arrived a bit after Steph had left for home.
• Christopher left after dinner.
• I brought my 27" monitor and it's nice. Not really enough room to have a dual-monitor setup.

Fri Dec 19 2025

Sleep 0145 to 0515, 0545 to 1015 (8 hours)

• Wow Tiltify, you both require an email code and then an authenticator code? And I don't see a way to change my password. Their help says you can reset password in Personal section but I don't see that option. Oh well. Oh I get it, Tiltify now uses emailed codes to login. I hate this meme as it takes so much longer to login to a website.

Good Old Game Branded

Fallout ($5, 50% off) and Fallout 2 ($5, 50% off) - I have these on Epic Games but would prefer GOG version

North and South ($2.50, 50% off) - one of the few turn-based war games on GOG-B

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell ($5, 50% off) - the only Splinter Cell game on GOG

X-Com: UFO Defense ($1.50, 75% off) - classic turn-based tactical combat


Other Games

Pendragon ($4.25, 75% off) - turn-based Arthurian storytelling adventure game using the same engine as 80 Days.

Axis & Allies 1942 Online ($5, 75% off) - the table-top war game brought to the PC

Star Trek: Away Team ($7.50, 25% off) - turn-based tactical combat in the Star Trek universe

Annals of Rome ($2.50, 50% off) - a war game from 1986, talk about retro.

With my free month of Amazon Prime I'll watch these videos:

• Hotaru no Hikari: It's Only Little Light In My Life s1 (2007) and 2.1 to 2.6 (2010)
• Marry My Husband (2023)
• She and Her Perfect Husband (2022) 1.13 to 1.40 [Watched the first 12 on Viki]
• The Spies Who Loved Me (2022)
• True to Love (2023)

Sat Dec 06 2025

Sleep 0145 to 0845 (7 hours)

• Finished the first Symphony Lute (requires 500 points). Next one is 1250 points so maybe I'll finish before end of event on Feb 03.

Sun Dec 07 2025

Sleep 0100 to 0800 (7 hours)

• Setup my new iPad Air. Unfortunately it grabbed the iPad 5th Gen apps list and installed those apps so now I have to set up the apps manually.
• I was hoping Star Trek Fleet Command would play faster but sadly maybe too dependent on network communications. It still seems a bit slow.

Mon Dec 08 2025

Sleep 0030 to 0830, 30m nap (8-1/2 hours)

• Got a hair cut.
• Drove to mom and dad's.
• Mom will need surgery as a tendon detached (the one that raise her leg) then up to 3 months healing then another 9 months therapy.
• STFC does run a bit better on my iPad Air. I think it was slow because it was still downloading assets.
• Also Prime Video picture in picture works. PiP may have stopped working on my old iPad because of lack of RAM; though Apple TV app still did PiP fine.

Tue Dec 09 2025

Sleep 0230 to 1030.

• Since Advanced Premium Tax Credit is being reduced I'll change to Kaiser Bronze 60 HDHP HMO for 2026. It'll still be $40.66 per month with max out of pocket $7200. Covered CA has a link that goes to plan provider payment for first month payment. Was fairly easy.

Wed Dec 10 2025

Sleep 0215 to 1000 (7-3/4 hours)

• Annoying in PayPal that I have a home phone I want to delete but must add a new home phone, which has to be a valid number (it does some check). So now that I have a mobile and phone set I have to have two valid (and different) phone numbers set.
• Strange that Schwab offers to send me a text message code to my home phone when I don't have it listed in my contact info. I do have my mobile listed but it's a slight security risk if I can't delete the other phone number.

Thu Dec 11 2025

Sleep 0230 to 1000 (7-1/2 hours)

• So when I came back on Monday I set up mom's old 24" monitor. It is bigger than my MBP but I'm used to 27" resolution so even 24" feels a bit cramped (and really macOS icons and menus and such assume you have a big monitor).
• Unfortunately couldn't use my MBP as a second monitor because it doesn't quite match with the monitor so it either looks too small (which strains my eyes as I scan both monitors) or I have to use the magnified view and then the screen resolution is rather low.

Fri Dec 12 2025

Sleep 0000 to 0800 (8 hours)

• Gloomhaven - a rare loss. We were supposed to protect a golem but it went to the front line (in retrospect I could have forced it to move back) and we shielded and healed it but a sniper did 10 damage and killed it.

I'm only added high discount games.

Citizen Sleeper ($20 regular, $6 at 70% off on GOG) - Table-top RPG-inspired science fiction game.

Inkulinati ($25 regular, $7.50 at 50% off on GOG) - a side view line combat game (you place your forces on the left and they attack to the right) except graphics are inspired by medieval manuscripts.

Slay the Princess - The Pristine Cut ($18 regular, $9.90 at 45% off on Steam) - horror game where you talk to a princess whom you are supposed to kill.

The Wandering Village ($30 regular, $15 at 50% off on Steam) - village builder but the village is on a gigantic beast that travels through different biomes.

I went through my Wishlist (about 15 games) and trimmed it down to five on both Steam and GOG (I don't do Epic because it's my least favorite of the three stores).

The Caribbean Sail ($15 regular, $3.75 at 75% off) - Mostly 2-bit 1980's-looking game of pirate adventure. This is the only non-Mac game on my list.

World of Horror ($20 regular, $15 at 25% off on GOG) - 2-bit first person modern-RPG horror game. Both this and Caribbean Sail appeal to me because of the Mac Plus retro graphics.

ΔV: Rings of Saturn ($10 regular, $5.60 at 44% off on Steam) - top down solar system simulator with realistic physics where you run a mining ship.

Cave of Qud ($30 regular, $24 at 20% off on Steam) - science fantasy rogue-like with retro 1980's color-PC graphics.

Nox Archaist Game Bundle ($23, $2.30 at 90% off on GOG) - Retro Ultima 1-3 looking game. You can't Wishlist bundles on Steam -- you can on GOG because a bundle is a separate game entry.

So four retro-graphics games and one that's more modern but still simpler graphics.

Sat Nov 29 2025

Sleep 0300 to 0915 (6-1/4 hours)

• Incredibly last minute but I enrolled Kaiser Silver 87 HMO which my APTC covers completely. It is Pending and will only be for December. I think I have to also do an enrollment for 2026.

Sun Nov 30 2025

Sleep 0130 to 0845 (7-1/4 hours)

• Searched for "ipad m3 stand". Found this 9to5 Mac article on Best Accessories for Your New M3 iPad Air. Bought the KUXIU X33 Pro MAX(2025) iPad Magnetic Charging Stand for $73 (25% off Black Friday sale and with free shipping).
• Connected to my home network with OpenVPN. Then mounted my server and ran ChronoSync to update my web site.
• I guess one issue with my TP-Link router is that the OpenVPN module is just that a separate module so I can't see what clients are logged in via VPN.

Mon Dec 01 2025

Sleep 0145 to 1000 (8-1/4 hours)

• Frak. RealMac charged me for RapidWeaver subscription again.
• Nemo announced her new chess set. Meant to be $500 USD though since it's a UK company they set it to a round number in British Pounds and right now with exchange rate it's like $506 USD (free shipping).

Tue Dec 02 2025

Sleep 0130 to 1000 (8-1/2 hours)

• Bought Humble Bundle Last Call for Lankhmar bundle.

Wed Dec 03 2025

Sleep 0200 to 0900 (7 hours)

• Mom's theories can be weird sometimes. "Oracle has been doing big layoffs because everything is moving to AI." Oracle was doing layoffs before AI was a thing. It's the development of a good engineering base in India and China that means more expensive engineers in the USA can be laid off -- to a certain extent. AI has nothing to do with it.

Thu Dec 04 2025

Sleep 0130 to 0845 (7-1/4 hours)

• Got woken up early as we had to go to doctor again for mom. Several moving parts: MRI was scheduled for end of month because it was marked regular; doctor changed it to urgent but that moved her up to Dec 15. Moving to Dec 10 (earliest open date) is proving to be a problem. Meanwhile Orthopedics rejected referral -- apparently they don't think her injury applies to them.

Fri Dec 05 2025

Sleep 0130 to 0915 (7-3/4 hours)

• I'm getting the impression that Prime Video iPad app shows more ads than the Mac app.
• Came home for the weekend. After 9 days my monitor feels huge.

Two Traveller bundles: Explorations (from 2022) and Ancients (new).


Traveller Explorations ($30 variable)

• Traveller Core Rulebook Update 2022 (264 pages) [OWN]
• Behind the Claw (288 pages) [OWN]
• Sword Worlds (176 pages) [OWN]
• Aliens of Charted Space v1 (288? pages) [OWN]
• Aliens of Charted Space v2 (288? pages) [OWN]
• Skandersvik (104 pages) - Sword Worlds campaign ($30)
• Spinward Marches: The Bowman Arm (20-odd pages, $6 e-book)
• Spinward Marches: The Lunion Shield Worlds (20-odd pages. $6 e-book)
• Deneb Adventure 1: The Lost Duke (42 pages, $12)

About $37 of products I don't own (includes 30% sale price).


Traveller Ancients ($18 fixed)

• Mysteries of the Ancients (304 pages, $25)
• Secrets of the Ancients (256 pages, $21)
• Wrath of the Ancients (280 pages, $25)

Three campaign-length adventure books forming a pretty big campaign arc. These are all greatly expanded from previous editions (even Wrath which I think was a manuscript but not printed).

My Twitch recap. I'm surprised Dexbonus made it on the list since I rarely get to watch and I don't even follow so I get any notifications. But with PhotoChesss gone (though she recently came back to Twitch) and HashtagChess on hiatus again I didn't spend as much time on Twitch.

2022: 4.17k hours
2023: 3.75k hours
2024: 1.76k hours
2025: 1.40k hours