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I found a replica Total SA oil truck for the collection, which I am planning on keeping in my home study for the new, personal energy portfolio I’ve setup for my family over the next 25+ years. It’s on its way from Germany. It is a 1:43 model, not the usual 1:64 model that is more popular in the United States, but that’s just a cultural difference.
One of the tricks I use to think of the stocks I hold as real businesses, just like the operating companies we own, is to get a physical representation of the firm, putting it in an investment cabinet. Now that I am building a 25-year energy portfolio as a personal side project for my household, I already have replica die cast oil tankers on their way from retailers and eBay. I’m having a hard time finding a comparable quality Total SA tanker, if they are even manufactured.
I finally have it – Scrooge McDuck’s Evening Adventure is mine! After more than 9 years of waiting, searching, and trying to find it, again, it is mine!
After the Guerlain fragrance purchases earlier, I ended up buying several new bottles of Acqua di Parma, including the Colonia, Colonia Intensa, and Blu Mediterraneo Bergamotto di Calabria in the Italy Pavilion of Epcot at Walt Disney World. Again, I realized that most of the people who were in the store with me probably didn’t know the story of the high-end brand, or the business behind it that provides a great example of how a left-for-dead business can be revitalized to become relevant, fresh, and lucrative.
If Creed is the king of French perfume houses, Geurlain is the Queen. It is one of the oldest perfume companies in the world, and for 166 years between 1828 and 1994, the business was in the hands of the Guerlain family. In Walt Disney World’s Epcot French pavilion, I visited the Guerlain store, which…
Last week, I needed to pick up a service ticket item from the Apple store, so I walked over a few blocks to stop by Hall’s at the Country Club Plaza during the wait. They were having a men’s clothing liquidation sale to get rid of the old merchandise and bring in the new season.…
My family and I stopped by the Neiman Marcus flagship store in downtown Dallas for several hours this afternoon between business commitments to look at tableware, crystal, and fragrances. The store is wonderful. I won’t get into the housewares I found (my favorite being a pewter accented serving pitcher adorned with sculpted fruits for when…
We are finally in Dallas. As far as cities go, I love Dallas. I’m thrilled with Dallas. It, like me, is fiscally conservative and socially liberal. There is plenty of high-end shopping. There are world-class restaurants. Several major airports are within driving distance. Unlike my former home in the New York metro area, I can still…
Normally, I am a 4-to-5 star hotel guy but in smaller cities, those options don’t exist so I default to a handful of well-known brands, such as Hilton. I can say definitively that the Hilton Hotel in Waco, Texas, is a perfect example of how a single great employee or two can make a business stand out to…
In some ways, I am my father’s son. In other ways, I take after my mother. When it comes to travel and an affinity for technology gadgets, I definitely take after mom. In fact, in these two areas, my dad and my personalities are so far apart, it is almost comical. It rarely comes up now that I’m an adult with my own family, but occasionally, we are involved in a joint project of sorts that requires us both to be in a city. This happens to be the case this morning and booking the trip was like Iran and Israel trying to agree over peace terms, only a lot friendlier.
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