Ah, we all have the weekly task of doing the laundry, but of course that's not what I'm pondering today.


Around this fine city of Waltham, we have had a sudden surge of Brazilian barber shops opening up. It feels like almost every other storefront is a hair-cuttery of one kind or another in the downtown neighborhood.

One of my co-workers has jokingly suggested that these are all some kind of money-laundering scheme, perhaps tied to the drug trade.

But that's not what I'm thinking about today. We also have a couple of pop-up "Gold Shops" that have opened recently. I did a little research on them, and they're essentially pawn shops that specialize in buying jewelry. Legally, they have to hold pieces for 30 days, just in case it's stolen and the police come calling, but in general, once the time passes, that jewelry is melted down and the gold aggregated into one-ounce bars and sold at the prevailing rate.

How those stores actually make any money is a big mystery to me. Is the market for used gold really that big?? The new one that opened on upper Moody street is ostentatiously decorated; they've got big neon signs out front, and a lavish-looking interior. They've been open something on the order of six months or so. I am amused by their big sandwich board out front -

"Waltham's Trusted Gold Buyer!"

Yeah, you haven't been open for a year; I trust nothing. Their website is equally curious. They reference "years of industry experience", and the handful of reviews they cherry-picked are curiously presented in European date format. (DD/MM/YY)

In any case - I drive past their shop ten times a day at work, and in weeks and months of doing so, I have not seen a single person enter or exit the shop. Most days, they're open just a few hours around lunchtime, with a single person at the counter.

Moody Street where they are located is a very high-rent storefront; it does make me wonder how they are able to stay in business without some kind of mafia or cartel backing for nefarious purposes.

Anyway - that's what I'm pondering today.

Along with various painful and embarrassing maladies that could strike the President of the United States.