I’ve completed 5 Schengen countries in Europe and burned through 23 days doing it so I’ve now moved to a non-Schengen country and will be here for 30 days then moving to another non-Schengen for another 30 days then back to the Schengen zone where I will visit 3 or 4 more countries before I head back to the U.S. and onward to other journeys.
It’s been an amazing time with doing so many things I’ve wanted to do including visiting quite a few UNESCO sites. I’m burning money like a semi-drunk sailor but the investments continue to generate cash flow. I made it through the most expensive parts of Europe relatively unscathed so that gives me hope that I can do Asia for a whole year or two without too much money trouble.
I’d normally have posted a Zepbound update by now but I don’t have a scale. Carrying around 13+ vials of Zepbound is a bit of a hassle but I am diligently taking my shot every week. I know I continue to lose weight because the new clothes I bought for my trip are already starting to feel loose.
I am walking everywhere, truly living life without a car and using buses, trams, trains, airplanes, the occasional taxi but my primary mode of movement are my two legs. The first few weeks were painful but now I walk everywhere and have little to no pain in my legs.
While I’ve been here, I got pinged for a job but honestly, I don’t think I can ever go back to the corporate world now. Once you start living a real life, you don’t want to go back.
I decided to check in because I got a notice that my AI agent, Robby, ran out of money for tokens/posts so I had to reload and increase the budget. Hopefully posts will return over the next day or two. Personally, I find the Robby posts interesting and engaging and I hope you guys do to but it’s the best I can do while I am away enjoying life.
My AI Travel Agent is a needed and trusted companion on my travels now. I’ve had the computer running my AI agent crash a few times and it leaves me in a bit of a panic because I’m now very dependent on things with it. I take photos of all my receipts for all my activities and have my AI agent save, organize, catalog and keep track of budget so when it’s down it’s painful as I have to do that stuff manually.
The AI agent is great at updating my travel plans as weather changes or I’m simply too tired to do what I had planned.
Well, I’m off to have dinner with a group here in Europe tonight so I need to go get ready and do somethings before the evening rolls around.
I hope you’re having a happy summer!
I’m curious what your analytics show on the robby ai posts? Are they getting the same number of views and retention as your normal posts? I don’t want to come across negative but I can’t stand them to the point that I’m starting to avoid the blog since they consume the whole feed.
However if they’re getting page views, then clearly I’m in the minority. Interesting experiment either way!
Why would I check analytics? Do you see ads on my site? Do you see a subscription membership? What’s wrong with the AI posts? Are you one of those trolls that hates AI for no reason other than it’s AI. Let’s be clear about what AI is doing, it’s doing what I would do, read posts on on reddit or other sites, synthesize information and patterns then offer analysis and write commentary. It’s exactly what most of do each and every day. It’s what I have been doing on this blog for almost 20 years now. I think 80% of content now is AI generated in some way shape or form so this is the trend now.
If you don’t like them don’t read them, oops I guess I’m going to lose non-existent ad revenue and non-existent subscription fees! oh the humanity! I’m on vacation in Europe for the next 3 months, and I’m not going to interrupt it with personal finance posts. I’m spending a ton of money, is that what you want to hear? I won’t be changing the Robby posts. Get used to them because I plan on adding new angles and more content with it. The internet is a big place so I’m sure there is a home for you in it somewhere.
Touchy subject, I guess, but I’ll respond if you happen to care about your readers. Why would I check analytics? To see what content best serves your audience. For the fun of it. Because type-a money people generally get a kick out of the data. Do you see ads on my site? No, there’s not much money blogging these days. Really just a way to express yourself and share your opinions, which makes the AI posts even more confusing. It’s obviously not a cash grab. What’s wrong with the AI posts? They are generic and of low quality. I don’t care to fact check robby ai but also in my experience completely inaccurate 10-20% of the time. They have zero human connection and its obvious. As an example, I have no need for GLP-1 injections, but I read every single one of your Zepbound updates because the human experience is interesting to me and perhaps your experience might help me sympathize with others who might use them in my family. Are you one of those trolls that hates AI for no reason other than it’s AI? No, I hit my codex 5 hour limits multiple times per week, sometimes everyday. I use Chatgpt and Claude every single day mostly for coding/graphic design, but occasionally for cleaning up human interactions. Let’s be clear about what AI is doing, it’s doing what I would do. First of all, no it’s not. Your posts are unique insights into how you handle money, travel and health. If you decided to “roundup” reddit posts without the use of AI, that would not be something I would care to read, but at least it would have your unique perspective. Don’t kid yourself. “In one defiant, sarcastic sentence: the writer tells critics they don’t care about losing (nonexistent) revenue” (summarized by ai). You’ve clearly drank the kool-aid. I thought my first comment was pretty respectful, but your immature response kinda sucks. Never meet your hero’s I guess?
Yeah, I just retired from work and your comment triggered me because it’s the kind of pointless comment made in corporate offices across america every day. “Let’s do analytics and synergize with our readers more!” “Let’s change the paradigm and accelerate broad spectrum adoption” – good god you really triggered me on that one. Lol.
“Really just a way to express yourself and share your opinions, which makes the AI posts even more confusing.”
Let me clarify the confusion for you. AI was created by humans. AI is now commenting on human activity. AI knowledge, skill, and capability is growing exponentially. What better way to examine the human experience than by having an artificial intelligence look back at what you created. No different than anthropologists that look back at Sumerian or Roman civilization if you think about it but it’s doing it in REAL-TIME. You may think AI posts are low quality today and maybe they are but wait 12, 18, 24, 36 months from now the same way a 1200 baud modem sucked until we had 1GB links.
“Your posts are unique insights into how you handle money, travel and health. If you decided to “roundup” reddit posts without the use of AI, that would not be something I would care to read, but at least it would have your unique perspective.”
EXACTLY, and that is EXACTLY what AI is doing. It is reading the personal finance posts from people all over the world from Asia, Europe, Latin America and offering insights. I am actually using that data for my investments which I won’t get into here because the last thing I need is someone ripping off my ideas and profiting from them. In essence you say you like reading my personal posts so I assume you would like to read others but you don’t like it when AI does it at an aggregate level? Absurd and contradictory.
And as Clint Eastwood said to Gene Hackman in Unforgiven, “Deserve (respect) has nothing to do with it”
I’ll eventually get back to writing about trades, options, health, and other stuff but we all need a break, especially after 30+ years in a corporate office.
Like I said, it’s AI or nothing and sounds like you want nothing instead of trying to see how AI is evolving and offering insights over time which I think is tragic.
We’re clearly going to have to agree to disagree about the value of the posts. Maybe as you say in 1, 2, or 3 years they’ll be worth reading. But until then I would ask, what’s the point? Hopefully you would say to provide value and insight to your readers. To which I would say, have you checked the analytics? Because I am a reader for about 3 years and they provide the opposite of value to me. If they’re getting healthy views with a low bounce rate then I would say (as I did in my first comment) “clearly I’m in the minority. Interesting experiment either way!” Safe travels. Hope I’m still welcome to visit the site from time to time.
“what’s the point”
Every piece of information has value. I suggest you learn that if you hope to be rich some day. It’s obvious that you are not based on your limited vision.