Breaking traditions

But the other thing about traditions is that they are destined to be broken eventually. And so it was that we decided to own our fish failure and blunder our way into the new year, fates be as they may. And wouldn’t we know it that fate took barely two days to strike.

It was Tuesday afternoon on the 2nd, the first day when the world shakes off its holiday hangover and gets back to the business of work, school and real life, that Ben decided to drive out to the malls at Slatten Ranch after work. Things were going well until he reached the intersection of Empire Avenue and Laurel Road as the light was going from green to yellow. Not wanting to stop short and risk the driver behind him possibly rear-ending him, he proceeded through the intersection like so many of us would. 

Suddenly an SUV that had been stopped on the cross street turned right in front of him, coming across two lanes of traffic into Ben’s lane. He tried to swerve toward the median but couldn’t react in time, and the two vehicles crunched together, Ben’s right front fender hooking the SUV in its left rear quarter panel.

We were at home, eating our lunch and watching TV, when Ben called us from the side of the road in a panic. He and the other driver had already talked and she was trying to convince him to pay her $2,000 rather than have to deal with insurance companies. Whoa, hang on there. We were in our car and on the way to the scene of the collision within minutes.

* * * * *

T 

HE FIRST THING you never do in an accident is admit fault, even if you might be to blame. Ben was so flustered that we weren’t sure what had happened, but fortunately the damage appeared mild to both cars and no one was physically injured. The other driver was a woman with her young daughter who had recently moved to the Bay Area from New Jersey, and after Ben had smartly rejected her suggestion that he pay her, she tried to call the police to have them come write an accident report and they essentially blew it off, saying it was too minor to bother with and both drivers were on their own.

That was the point when Ben had called us, freaked out that he might be arrested. Having never been in an accident before, he didn’t know what to expect. Roni assured him that nothing of the sort would happen and that the best thing would be to call his insurance company and start the claim process. It turned out that both of them have AAA, so we waited in the rain near the damaged car while she and Ben took turns on her cell phone talking to an agent.

Ben’s 2001 Toyota Corolla is a tough little car and has had its share of minor bumps and bruises in its 23 years, but this was by far the worst it has endured. The crash shattered the parking light and pushed in the front right fender and wheel well, separating the front bumper and pushing the wheel out of alignment. It looked like the SUV, being a larger vehicle, had driven up over the top of his right tire. In comparison, her car suffered very little damage — a small dent and some scraped paint. Enough to cost $2,000 at the body shop? In this day and age, sadly, probably so. But if her damage could pencil out to two grand, what would that mean for Ben’s repairs?

They finished up on the phone with the claims department and the woman praised us for raising such a good young man willing to do the right thing. Which of course we did, but the implication was that many in the same situation wouldn’t have — stopped after the accident, that is, or worse become confrontational. You hate to go there, but too many horrible road rage incidents have started as minor fender benders, so we were grateful that she had been cooperative as well, and by the time everyone got back in their cars it was like we were all best friends.

Still, that left the question of what had actually happened, and now Ben was calm enough to describe the chain of events. He took notes on this so that he would be prepared when he made the call to AAA the next day to file his own claim: He had been on the inside lane traveling at 45 mph, the light was yellow when he entered the intersection, and he should have had enough time to get through it. She started her right hand turn on a red light and said she didn’t see Ben coming; that was because she clearly did not look again to see if the coast was clear, or else she would not have crossed two lanes of traffic into his lane. But was she at fault?

* * * * *

T

HE CAR WAS still driveable, although with obvious handling issues. While Ben could still get to and from work, he could hear the wheel rubbing on turns and had to tape the front blinker in place so that it wouldn’t fall out of its socket. The turn signal no longer worked. Glenn took off the front wheel in hope of knocking out the part that was rubbing, but after seeing nothing obvious or easily fixable, patched it back together and advised Ben to avoid freeways for the time being.

Ben filed his claim the day after the collision and then we played the waiting game. A couple of days later he received a phone call from the claims adjuster: the other driver was at fault and his repairs would be covered! This was good news not just from a financial standpoint, but also because it boosted Ben’s confidence in his driving ability, which had taken a hit along with his car. He still doesn’t like to drive far because he worries about unfamiliarity with the roads, but this had happened in his own town, on a road he drives often.

Now he had to find a collision repair shop, so after looking for recommendations from coworkers he settled on Geno’s Auto Body in Brentwood. He and Glenn drove there together on Jan. 22 to meet with an estimator, and we left the car in their hands with dozens of other wrecked vehicles on the lot. The estimator, Anna, said they’d try to do an alignment first while ordering the other parts that would be needed. 

While she tried to sound positive that the repairs wouldn’t exceed the value of the car due to its age, we remained skeptical. Since the pandemic and the rising price for used vehicles, Ben’s repairs might come in just below the point at which the insurance company would total the car and cut him a check. Ben might not be too unhappy about that, he said, as he has wanted a new car for some time now. But still, shelling out $20,000 or repairing for about a tenth of that is quite a consideration. We crossed our fingers that things would work out for the best.

Well, the initial alignment attempt didn’t work, so the repair shop had to go to the next step and tear down the car to check for other damage. The good news is that Ben received an email with the cost breakdown and it looked like they’d be able to do everything for $2,600. That is, the insurance company would pay for that amount, most of which went to cover the labor.

Meanwhile, Ben relied on the generosity of family and coworkers to get back and forth to work and made some cursory checks of the used car websites while waiting to get his car repaired. Roni, who is an early riser but not as early as Ben, volunteered to drive him to work for a few days while he was without his car, and she quickly tired of the routine of waking up at 5:30 in the morning to play chauffeur.

Fortunately Geno’s got right to the repairs and was able to turn the job around in exactly one week. Ben picked up his car on the afternoon of the 29th and it is now back in our driveway with a few shiny new parts that haven’t looked that good since the day it came home from the dealership in December 2000. It might not be the new car Ben really wants, but at least this has bought him some time to shop around without the pressure to make a quick decision.

* * * * *

W

HILE BEN'S CAR might have created the most drama this month, so far it has been an interesting start to the new year.

We spent New Year’s Eve with Glenn’s family in Hayward to make up for missing Christmas while Sean and Chi were out of the country on their honeymoon. The gathering was held at Jenny and Tom’s place, marking the first time we have been there for one of their New Year’s Eve parties.

Because it was our first get together following Christmas, things started with a gift exchange that wound up going much longer than anyone had anticipated — roughly three hours! We all sat in the family room and took turns opening gifts according to age, starting with the youngest person (Allen) and working up to the oldest (Norm). 

We were nearly finished with the marathon unwrapping session when the arrival of guests from Tom’s work interrupted things long enough for folks to take a break, grab some snacks, and for us to move some of the accumulated gifts out to the car parked across the street from the house. We’d arrived with a trunkload of presents to distribute and would leave with an equally large load. 

This being New Year’s Eve and a rainy night to boot, we left around 8 p.m. in hopes of avoiding crazy drivers on the freeways. As it was, we saw no fewer than six traffic-related incidents during our drive home, including a car stranded halfway in the slow lane on I-880 that forced us to wait behind it for a few hair-raising moments as traffic flew by and prevented us from safely merging.

Next up came SacAnime, the semiannual gathering of anime, comic book and superhero worshipers at the downtown convention center in Sacramento. Ben had been looking forward to the show for weeks and originally had hoped to spend the night there with friends, but those plans never materialized and then came the car mishap, so ultimately it fell to us to get him there on Saturday the 6th so he could enjoy a few hours checking out the displays and the speaker panels.

Meanwhile, we killed time by going out for breakfast at the famous Tower Cafe not far from Land Park before heading back toward the downtown riverfront to check out the Crocker Art Museum.

* * * * *

T

HERE AREN'T TOO many major attractions in Sacramento that we haven’t visited in the 35 years we’ve lived on the Delta, but the Crocker had always been on our bucket list. Even on a rainy Saturday it was still a hive of activity, perhaps exactly because it was a good spot to get out of the weather. Tickets usually run $15 for adults, but we were pleasantly surprised to discover that Bank of America cardholders get in for free, and it just so happened that we had our BofA Mastercards with us.

Not that the museum wouldn’t have been worth the visit even if we had paid full fare. It is a huge three stories of artworks and artifacts covering everything from African tribal sculptures to classic European paintings to early California memorabilia. There were exhibits of modern art, an Asian art collection, and even a special exhibit on artificial intelligence titled “AI Am I?” that runs through the end of April.

Unlike our previous museum experience when we visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and were greeted by throngs of tourists 10-deep that prevented all but a cursory glance at the featured attractions, the Crocker offered plenty of opportunity to get up close with the artworks and appreciate the artists and the stories behind their creations. The AI exhibit especially benefited from this, as the whole experience was meant to be interactive, with places where visitors were invited to create their own works that were displayed on video monitors.

One of our favorite exhibits was a software-controlled plotting machine that relies on generative AI programming to create random poster-sized works of art. The museum staff themselves have no idea what it will create next, and the only interaction they have is when the machine pauses in between colors to request a new pen. Cyan, magenta, yellow and black — the CMYK process colors — are scribbled out one color at a time for several hours each, meaning that a single drawing can take upwards of six hours to complete. Some of the finished prints were displayed on a wall near the exhibit, while others were available for purchase online.

The collection of African art is especially impressive, with many of the pieces donated to the museum from private collectors and dating to the 19th century and earlier. Some of the pieces are of modern origin and celebrate themes of Black and tribal cultures. Whether or not you are into African art, it is hard not to be in awe of the detail, materials and skill exhibited in many of the earlier pieces.

We managed to see most of the museum in the two hours we allotted for ourselves until the time on our parking meter expired, but one could easily spend four hours or longer if desired. There were plenty of places to sit and linger, which was good especially for Roni because her foot was bothering her that day and she needed to rest periodically. We wrapped up our visit by checking out the museum store before heading back out into the rain to go collect Ben. All in all, it was a fun day for all of us.

* * * * *

I

T'S BEEN AN eventful month for Glenn’s brother Sean and his new wife, Chi. On Jan. 14 they announced that she is pregnant with their first child, which has got everyone looking ahead to September-October when we will welcome him or her into the family fold.

As if that weren’t excitement enough for the father-to-be, his San Francisco 49ers have advanced to their eighth Super Bowl after a couple of challenging playoff wins over the Green Bay Packers on the 20th and then a huge come-from-behind victory this past Sunday over the Detroit Lions after trailing at one stage by 17 points.

The Niners will get their second crack at the Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch of the 2020 Super Bowl that was won by the Chiefs. The rest of the world may be swooning over Taylor Swift and her beau, KC tight end Travis Kelce, but we’ll be rooting for the home red and gold on Feb. 11.

* * * * *

Y

OU CAN CHALK up Vroom as another casualty in our portfolio of failed investments. The online car seller announced Jan. 22 that it was immediately shutting down its operations, crashing the stock price in the process. We sold out of all 600 of our shares, recouping about $174 of our original $1,116 stake.

As painful as that was, it was not the worst investing disaster to befall us this month. On Jan. 16, a federal judge ruled against the planned takeover of Spirit Airlines by JetBlue, effectively ending what had been a nearly 17-month effort by the airlines to merge despite an antitrust challenge from the Federal Trade Commission.

As part of its takeover bid, JetBlue had offered to buy Spirit for around $30 a share, paying a 0.10 monthly “ticking fee” to Spirit shareholders for each month that the deal wasn’t consummated. Over the past year we had acquired 500 shares of Spirit (SAVE) at an average cost of $15.47, all in anticipation of a large payday once the merger went through. Alas, the court decision immediately cut the stock price in half, and rather than wait around for a possible appeal or some other development, we sold out our entire position the following day for $6.12 per share. Factoring in money made from option premiums and dividends along the way, it was around a $4,000 loss.

At times such as these it is important not to dwell on what you’ve lost, but rather on what you managed to keep. In the case of the Spirit debacle, we took most of the proceeds from the stock sale and purchased 100 shares of Pfizer (PFE) to add to our dividend portfolio in Glenn’s IRA. Pfizer, famous as one of the pharmaceutical companies that brought COVID vaccines to the masses during the pandemic, has seen its fortunes dwindle in the past year over market fears that there is no big product in the pipeline to make up for its declining vaccine revenue. Listening to Warren Buffett’s mantra of being greedy when others are fearful, we decided to start a position in Pfizer on Jan. 9 when the stock was trading at 29.50. Our Jan. 17 buy at 28.20 brought us to 200 shares ahead of the company’s earnings call, which since Monday has dropped the price to below $27. As long as our 5.8 percent dividend stays strong, so will we.

Dividends truly are the focus these days for most investors as we look to stay ahead of inflation. Despite some crushing losses that we took in 2022 and 2023 in our taxable portfolio, it appears that the worst may finally be behind us. And while there is no sugarcoating the missteps that have left that account down by nearly $95,000 to date, our retirement accounts are once again charting all-time highs, thanks to some strong core performers like Iron Mountain, Home Depot and IBM, as well as recent additions such as Google, Amazon and Nvidia. 

We aren’t quite to our retirement goal, but we are very close and our idle conversations about how and when have become less hypothetical than they once were. Roni turns 62 in a couple of months, which as scary as that is to say also means she will be eligible for Social Security, and there are legitimate reasons for her to consider taking it early. We have never considered ourselves to be wealthy or even financially independent, but that’s the funny thing about starting your investment journey as early as possible and saving as much as you can along the way — one day you wake up and realize the hard work and sacrifice really does make a difference, and things that once seemed impossible to achieve are suddenly within reach.

* * * * *

A

ND ON THAT hopeful note, we circle back to something we mentioned near the beginning of this month’s newsletter: that traditions are destined to be broken eventually. That goes for this one, too.

We started The Gehlke Gazette in October 1998 as a vehicle to keep our friends and family updated on our activities and to track the growth of our son Ben. For the past 25 years we have posted these newsletters every month without fail, sometimes cutting it close to the end of the final day, but never missing a beat. That includes times when we’ve been traveling across the country or beyond its borders, swept up in work or festivals or home improvement projects, or recuperating from surgeries or diseases in hospital rooms.

Along the way we’ve shared with you stories about our gardening exploits, the Great Gopher Fence, railfan excursions, Pokémon games and SacAnime conventions, organizing the Oakley Almond Festival, annual visits to the Pear Fair, investing adventures and disasters, as well as countless birthdays, holidays, weddings, obituaries, anniversaries and all the other things that make life a rich and curious adventure.

Writing this newsletter each month has been a labor of love, most of the time, but it is a labor nonetheless, and recently it is a task that has overwhelmed us. You would think it would get easier as we grow older and find more free time on our hands with Ben now grown to adulthood and as we ease back from full-time work schedules. But free time is a myth, as is boundless energy, and the reality is that we’re slowing down whether we choose to accept it or not.

And so it is after deep reflection and with a tear in our eye that we are letting you know this will be the last regular monthly newsletter. Perhaps not the last one ever, as there will still be things we want to share and this has been a good forum for doing so. But it’s a new era in our lives — one that brings with it a need for change, and that means parting with old and familiar ways.

 So for now this is goodbye if not farewell. We’ll call it a semi-retirement, maybe. Until next we meet, be well and bless you all.

Glenn, Roni and Ben