He was stocky and in incredible shape, I thought, for 60 years old. It was when he mentioned things like “going back to school when I was 72” that I had to wonder. Turns out he is ¼ Apache, ¼ Choctaw and ½ Irish. He owns the fitness studio next door. He told me how he started his first center in a warehouse along a drainage canal and called it “Waterfront”. He definitely is a weight lifter.The vintage section is a definite money-maker for the shop, although I have no idea what the numbers are. One item can sell for more than the bric-a-brac all day long. The event of the day was when a city inspector walked in carrying the street sign. I found out later I was not supposed to put them there, but you know. I talked with the guy for a half-hour and brought up the problem with the sidewalk café’s [blocking pedestrian traffice].
He officially could not say anything but apparently there is a $3 million settlement for exactly what I had predicted – some lady had to step out into the vehicle path to get around some tables. The circumstances were not identical, but close enough to make the point. I gather it may have been Aventura Mall, but don’t quote me on that.
Around quitting time I get this craving for apricot jam. This began a two hour quest until I finally landed a jar at the El Presidente. Get this, it is made in Argentina from Canadian fruit and distributed by a Mexican importer to a Cuban supermarket in the USA. Furthermore, it is fresh stock and excellent quality, and it sold for $1.19. It just seems to me I had a lot to say about this happening twenty years ago when I was the only person around who agreed with free trade. (At that time, “benefits” were costing employers 28% more than the employees wages, and only a fool thought that would go on forever. A unionized fool.)
I tore apart Dickens’ computer again and cannot find any problem I upgrated the RAM and installed a newer hard drive and something is still sluggish. I wonder if the motherboard is gone. Also, one of his regular customers was attacked by armed thugs on the way home last week. She is just turned 60 and she and her husband were jumped on Old Griffin road while driving home. I have the complete details, but you’ll have to come back tomorrow. You see, the package arrived from Florida Memorial and I have to choose my credit courses now, while I’m only just a little late.
Trivia for today. Who remembers “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”? I found out today that the movie grossed $15 million after costing just $250,000 to produce. Damn good money even now. Anyway, today’s factoid is that the movie was not based on a western at all, but a Japanese samurai story called “Yojimbo”. That probably explains all the dead bodies lying around. In case you are wondering, that was 1967 and Clint Eastwood had not come along yet (he was in the second spaghetti western called “A Man With No Name”).
