I had to cut the beach scene and replace it with a picture of a mansion. All bad guys live in a mansion before they are caught. Why would anyone living in a mansion be dumb enough to get caught? Why ask such silly questions?Today was my first brush at repairing laptops. For every similarity, there are a dozen differences. I may look closer at laptops as a necessity to learn. I was working on Arnel’s laptop. It was a good day to be indoors. In the most unusual pattern, it was cold in Florida. It was just 60 degrees (F) this morning, a situation Wallace calls “Global Freezing”. I have never personally seen it get so cold this time of year.
Good, for this gives me time to do inventory or rather a simple analysis of situations which otherwise might not merit mention. Top of the list is definitely the change of diet since Wallace arrived. The reason could not be more clear—we buy and cook things that otherwise we wouldn’t. That 18-pound turkey comes to mind yet it is lots of things besides that. For example, thanks to Wallace, I have finally mastered pancakes. I never could do it right, discouraging what I needed: more practice. Pancakes have gone from twice a year to twice a week. That doesn’t count related dishes such as French toast and grilled cheese sandwiches, now our house specialty. But not for long. Diet becomes critical soon after all this.
More subtle was the change of tastes. We have now become accustomed to meals with zero salt added, which is a major advance. I attribute this to buying less pre-made foods. Plus, buying in bigger quantity means choosing better cuts which don’t require seasoning. The good news is this change of diet was not planned. Last week we tasted stew made from a base and both found it far too salty. Overall, our diet is probably as good as it gets without making special arrangements.
Today’s trivia. This is from 1958. Remember the hippy peace symbol? The circle with the pie slices that was rumoured to be the footprint of a dove? It became the symbol of everything from free love to anti-war movements. It turns out to be semaphore, the method of signalling with flags. The signaller’s arms move in a circle and the symbol is a combination of the letters “N” and “D”. Short for “nuclear disarmament”. Another youthful ideal down the tubes. And they probably shot the dove, too.Just when you’ve seen it all department. I did a callout to an address after helping place a new phone order (which itself takes over an hour). It was an office reconnect but I did wonder why the address appeared twice on-line. They were identical addresses, so I chose one after the customer told me it was a house. When I got there, no telephone RJ-11s [telephone jacks]. Looked everywhere, behind the stove and piano. Odd, a fifty year old house with no service. Finally I looked behind the fridge and found a door. For clarity, the door was not behind the back of the stove, but where you could not see it directly because the fridge was in the way. The stealth door.
Where does this go? To another house behind this one. Could not see that from the road. It is a duplex front to back instead of side to side. Another house where the back yard should be. There you go. You see a lot in this business. They order the phone, but not the Internet service. That's where I make my money.
During my advertising tour, I dropped in to Kinko’s to play customer. They have dropped their price to $12 per hour, but they have only a single computer. That means I am the only Internet access place near downtown with multiple computers except Megabyte. I may now put an ad in the local paper. Several customers have told me they don’t patronize Megabyte for the same reason I don’t. It seems whenever you go there, a sign says back in 30 minutes. Nice for the customer on a coffee break, what?
