It was kind of a day off, by which I mean I made myself difficult to get ahold of. That worked out, that Sabrina lady finally came into the office today, and brought her supervisor with her. Um, he was wearing a Bluetooth. This is precisely the reason I like to spend plenty of time in the shop – so I don’t miss deals. Over there, it is only a matter of time until something comes up. Everything else reminds me of work.
First, however, take a look at this picture from up the block. Here’s on guy who really gets into the Xmas light thing. I don’t have a camera that will do these night shots but trust me, this is one impressive display. My guess is around 1,800 lights, for those of you who know why I am awfully good at guessing numbers. Let me tell you about the comedy around here this morning. Okay, there is a mouse I can’t catch. Nobody in Florida sells the Hav-a-harts, so I had to set a trap. Problem, those new “Victor” traps made in China are an exception to the quality standards. They injure but don’t whack the mouse. This one was a big healthy male and he got away, stunned and dazed with a bloody nose. I heard him and as I went to finish the job, he ran behind the stove.
So I moved the stove out and instantly smelled gas. Yep, I pinched the line. So I ran outside and shut the cock. I ran back inside, and the mouse got away. That’s all the slapstick for now. I decided to go into the shop and reinstall all my operating systems. That was also a little routine. The only copy around the shop has two files that won’t load and eleven sets of spyware installed by your friends at MS. However, I’ve eliminated the hard drives as a source of the slow logons.
It was while this was running that Sabrina came in. I did most of the talking, but it seems they can scarcely believe their good fortune. I am exactly what they need, although they know the price is steep. If I get a government position, I need to make so much that I get back all the taxes I ever paid. With interest. I quoted them $80 per hour for classes with a maximum of 8 students, but that is because I know they’ll want 10. They said the magic words, “government funding”. I’m in if they want because you know how I hate to spend money on advertising. The money will come from a variety of sources “government, private and [something else I already forget].
Then, in walks Rod Stewart. Just kidding, but not as much as I could be kidding. Go to www.hotrodlive.com and take a look. It is a Rod Stewart impersonator band, although the guy points out he does not impersonate, he just happens to look and sound like him. Could have fooled me, but then I’m no Rod Stewart fan. Suddenly I am working on it. They need a bass player on weekends, the rest of the week they do a duo act. He’s got a sense of humor, “No, I didn’t get plastic surgery. If I did, I’d look like Fabio, not Rod Stewart!”
I downloaded a ton of material and I’ll fire up the boilers tonight. In case I get that call, I’d like to be able to carry off the gig without practice. He is so Rod Stewart, he even does the covers in the same key. Some guys have all the luck (later, I’m informed some people don’t get that last joke. Too bad.).
This won’t mean a thing to most of you, but due to events in late 2003, I keep a close tab on my diet. Put it this way, the doctor that described cholesterol to me when I was 25 used hand puppets. Anyway, I take huge note of any variations and today, I got hit with famine, big time. This just does not happen to me. That is why I’m about to head over to the corner grocery and get some chocolate for the first time in what, six months? I’m listening to Rod MP3s on the CD player and eating M&Ms. Did he really do all that junk? I though Bonny somebody did “It’s a Heartache”. Now I’m eating caramels. Tyler. Bonny Tyler. These are fake caramels, not Kraft.
Before you go, I’d like you to take a look at this picture. I have never seen a town so bad as Hollywood/Hallandale Beach for this kind of thick-headed stupidity. See how the sidewalk comes to an abrupt end in the middle of the block? The area around here is full of these. We are not talking new areas, but long established neighborhoods where they just quit the sidewalk for no apparent reason. The rest of the way is dirt footpaths in front of somebody’s house.The relevance is that today I emailed Mr. Hansen with Cahoots, the quarterly paper, a series of photos from my new collection. I have several themes along these lines for most of the towns around here and I’m wishing he’ll pick up on it and decide to publish an on-going string of these. I may have said, but I have enough tucked away for all of 2007 already. My motive is that I want to get something published other than database manuals. Furthermore, I want it in my own name this time, or at least a name of my choosing. I’m also very curious what “a share of the advertising revenue” works out to, because it seems to be such a big secret around here.
Unfortunately, I did not recognize the potential of these dead-ended sidewalks, so I didn’t photograph them all and I don’t quite recall where I saw them. Maybe I’ll get my bike and a good map. At my average of 13.5 miles per day, it won’t take long to cover this entire county.
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