Today’s photo of a typical Florida artificial bay shows my Jazz camera is pretty useless for panorama shots, too. The scenery does show the nice warm water and palm trees, not bad for a January bike ride along the shore. And the bike has passed the 5,300 mile mark, for anyone still keeping track.
Business has shown an upturn since the library started closing three days a week. The point is the budget cuts mean they don’t open on Fridays and Saturdays. They have around sixteen computers in a side room. The computers are free but they have restricted access and a one hour time limit. I had six times as much income today as normal for a Friday. Their bad luck is already my good luck. It never was that great a library anyway.Nobody start dancing, though, because only my share of the income went up. Everybody else is in the hole. The security camera guys never came back. Their gear is still mounted on the wall minus the computers and monitors to make the thing work. Nor do they appear to have done any advertising or we’d have customers.
Cowboy Mike called about a web site, this time he’s making customer tobacco pipes. During my morning research, I located Site Builder, (something like that) as a clear winner in the canned web page business. The clear loser is Intuit, who have lately been doing a lot of TV spots. It seems they are tarnishing their reputation by the way they are trying to nickel and dime customers with what amounts to a shoddy product.
However, Site Builders is a rare bird, an Internet company with a good reputation. Their pages and videos are still full of intimidating lingo. It is difficult to find out how much of the process is really theirs, something you have to know these days. For example, is it them or you that own any domains you set up on their host? There’s that lingo again. I’ll attempt to dontbugme them on Monday since they won’t let me past the trial versions of anything on their site. For example, they make it super easy to set up a pretty web page, but I can’t view the meta-info or get a list of working success stories to check out for myself.
[Author’s note: dontbugme is a web service that allows you to log on to sites that demand demographic or personal information before usage. Worst offender is reputedly The New York Times. My beef with such sites is not the info they demand, since most people fake it to the point the information is useless. What I don’t like is how such sites claim they are free. It is blatant false advertising, nothing marginal about the practice at all.]
Theresa is settled in, but skittish. Everything is getting put away and the kitchen is full of extra gear. We have more progress on the flyer, including our first customer, a locksmith up near Hallandale. The HP printer should be here before end of the month, making the photocopier the last remaining hurdle. And it is a toughie. Photocopiers are not cheap to operate. Read on.
The copier will be the weak link in the business cycle. It has to be near commercial quality and not jam on flimsy stock. I’ve located many sales offices, but no service. We will need the service contract. And I’m insisting on the right to use their demo copiers if ours is down for more than a day. They stare at you, and get that blank Florida gaze when you point out they are the ones saying their copiers work fine. Saying it is one thing, I want a guarantee I'll have service. You would not believe how hard it is to find anyone to meet that requirement. In fact, this is Florida, so most of them never heard of such a thing.
Finally. That’s about it. I believe I’ve found a place exactly like this one just a mile further away on the good side of Federal. It is newer, with a beautiful yard and all new appliances. Huge bedrooms, and it is $2,800 cheaper. Of course, I will honor my promise to buy back from Wallace at his cost, but if he hesitates, I’m buying on my own. I predict he will lose this property through mismanagement within three months when I'm not here, maximum. If the Panera is full of winners, how come they don't have their own places? Or am I not supposed to ask such questions?
He vastly overestimates his ability to meet and find good tenants in Florida. It does not matter that is more Florida's fault than his. Nobody is going to move in with an old man who drinks, smokes and tells the same stories all year long. Everybody who has visited has complimented how wonderful the place now looks.
The rumor is this court has been sold so it is wishful thinking that he’ll find another buyer, or if he does, he will still lose most of his money. What a pity he makes it so hard to live in paradise, he should be jumping for joy on his new hip that the rent is now secure when he is gone. (It was unknown at time of writing that the city disapproved the development of condos on this site. It is slated for prime commercial development.)
Return Home
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
