The cell didn’t ring all morning, so I got caught up on the yardwork. I also spent some time modifying the musical equipment cart. Hang on, I think I’ve got some photos of that. Yes, as you see, it is a full-size transportation system that requires lots of hardware and tools to slap together. It was a temperate fall day so I was working in the front. This means all the neighbors got to stop by and give me advice on doing something none of them have ever seen before.
Getting ahead, I was, until 1:00 PM sharp, when the doggie wig place called for help. There was a slight heated conversation as I explained that dial up tech service is not something I offer. The plan was to finish puttering and sit around shelling peanuts and reading. Instead, I headed over and got some fairly good ground covered, including placing a preliminary order for display samples. Guess what? I phoned up a place in Florida and got a straight answer!That is correct. No runaround, no robot, no recording for quality purposes. No call back, no customer service, no update your file. The Far East Trading Company, you’ll have to look the number up, but thanks to them, I have some new information. When you order something from overseas, it is shipped here by a “Freight Forwarder”. I suppose that term makes sense to people in the business. The best news is that shipping a twenty-foot container from there to here costs $3,000. When you share one, your cost is a function of both the size and weight of your portion.
This also means the web pages I searched that had price grids were, as I thought, outrageously priced and looking to scam the unsuspecting. They wanted something like $900 for a fifty-four cubic foot cardboard box they put in a container and which nearly doubled the out of pocket costs of what we wanted to import.
What’s more, this gives us something to compare to the alternatives. Tomorrow I’ll call Fedex or DHL (are these freight forwarders?) and get a price schedule. Let’s have a show of hands if they will be as helpful as Far East. If you need stuff, phone them, they have an office in Hong Kong with a gal that does nothing but find things for you. Like mannequins and batteries.
I was late for practice. It took an hour to get out of Bal Harbour. The police here do not seriously enforce that law that you cannot block an intersection after the light turns red. They are always too busy arresting hookers and prostitutes and streetwalkers. I did not arrive until past 8:00 PM. Brian, though somewhat enthused, did not show any signs of having practiced anything since last week. I finally heard [him play] “Crazy Heart” and yes, I supposed I have heard it around somewheres, the old “Oh yeah, that song” reaction. It is symbolic of the split chord country music he already plays.
It was a short but effective session. He is already spotting the non-musical nuances to the chosen set lists. That’s good, because most of them are too slight to describe; maybe its something you have or you don’t. We touched on four songs, the one mentioned already plus Memphis, Things We Said and Countin’ Flowers. He is still over-chording but the improvement since last time is acceptable, if gradual.
We have a yahoo move in up the street, around a half-block from here on the north side. Everybody seems to fight with him, I have not met or seen the guy. There are a tiny fraction of exceptions but most people who get out of the army are zeros, some just adjust to it better than other. By the sounds, this one is a troublemaker. Odd that although that corner is part of this same complex, it seems to attract a lower element.
Take a look at this dog. Now, is that not one of the ugliest muzzles you’ve seen in your life? The significance is that I got Ruth laughing on that one. I casually mentioned that this was one animal that the wig improved “a thousand percent”. The marketing agency needed a portfolio to begin championing the cause, and this had me scanning and organizing folders when I ran across this mug. Yow, that almost hurts the eyes. I swear this dog reminds me of somebody that I mercifully forgot by name. Anyway, once I started scanning, I just knew everybody was going to ask for that [particular] dog.So, here it is. I named the file “Honeybunch”, because a dog that ugly needs all the help it can get. I suggest this animal was the inspiration for that old insult, “If my dog was as ugly as you, I’d shave his ass and train him to walk around backwards.”
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