The presence of the scooter, robotics, guitar and a good cookbook means there never really is such a thing as a nothing day around here. One can always list the events as you’ll see. By sunup, I was underneath the scooter replacing the tail/brake light with a heavy duty (read $5.00) American model. While down in the dirt, I examined the wiring assembly to see about connecting some side safety lights. I don’t like having to depend on a single rear bulb after dark.
The robotics club makes this easy. Two red lights in parallel. Troubleshooting electrical used to be a chore, but now it falls into place. The speedometer backlight has never worked right and still doesn’t after I replaced that, too. The dial itself never lights up. You can see it at night, but it should be much brighter. That’s a project for this week. The scooter has just passed the 5,000 mile mark (shown here as 4,999.0). A third of its projected lifespan in nine months. And the good weather has only begun. Plainly, I must begin to plan the replacement.Last afternoon, the new guy next door had his guitar out. Like most, he can play around 8 – 10 tunes like snake-lees, but other than that small set he can’t really chord or play full songs. This, of course, lends oomph to my contention that the “follow me” crowd of guitarists are a bunch of azz-hats. They can only follow each other because they’ve had the same indoctrination. Give them something that requires talent and they are the ones who need it spelled out.
Still, he plays well, and French or not, he knows the English choruses to any song I’d place as earlier than 1965. I don’t include many from that era other than the enduring classics. “Oh Lonesome Me”, fr’instance. But next he surprised me by knowing a lot of the contemporary artists whose material I am working on. Isn’t it strange how even a guitarist who never played Rock or Blues still suffers from guitar-think. He obsesses over the names of artists, but can’t play their tunes. He memorizes their ages and what label they record under, but is like-duh over the music part. Only in guitar la-la land!
Thanks to bingo, we are stocked up with everything needed through the end of March, 2012, so watch for another scooter trip or something. JP, my cohort and sidekick, can’t get out of town. This is too bad, we had the old “let me introduce you to my buddy” routine down fairly pat. That’s right. Women who don’t like to be approached directly will rarely object to meeting someone through an open channel. Strange, but true.
Guess who is reporting record enrollments? Florida motorcycle schools, particularly among seniors. Expect to hear some gruesome statistics before long. Hey, if they can’t drive safely inside an armored cage, imagine the carnage when they start driving scooters. I say this because they are not taking the course because they want to become better drivers, but because they are too broke to upkeep a car.
I’ve always stated, do not operate a motorcycle unless you are already beyond an expert on the road. (I’ve never been in an accident that was my fault (although I’ve been hit three times) or been issued a moving vehicle infraction, not even a speeding ticket. When I say expert, I mean expert.) On the other hand, I have $30,000 in unpaid parking tickets. I quickly discovered the city I worked in had no means to collect out of jurisdiction, so the last ten years at the phone company, I never paid a thing. And, I got away with it because, exactly like everyone else smart enough to read the rule book, I never broke any law. What? Well, those not smart enough to read should pay up, if you follow my logic.
What’s a fun day without learning some robotics? I discovered that not all transistors are alike, even when bearing the same model number. Go for the expensive ones, it is a matter of cents per unit, and what a difference. One almost sure sign to look for is the lead wires. They should be rectangular and crimped to fit standard .010” substrate without any bending. As a bonus, you learn how to look for quality when examining such items as peripheral cards. My source of these superior transistors? Why Hacktronics , of course. The club is getting ready, in about ten days, to place our largest order yet.
I was out for Sunday coffee, a routine that has finally found its way back into my lifestyle. Those morning breaks were how I kept my sanity through all those years in the corporate workplace. Interestingly, a lady and her career counselor were in the next booth (yes, on Sunday) as I plied the crossword. The lady had apparently taken a number of beginner’s level computer courses before realizing that alone doesn’t get you a job.
True to form, the counselor didn’t have a clue beyond suggesting more courses. What the lady wanted was someone to, how did she word it, someone to sit down with her and show her how to do the operations needed to become productive in the workplace. I had to smile. I had an awful lot to say about this back in the 80’s when bragging parents brought the term “whiz kid” into the office.
I agree, to the masses, a programmer and a klutz at a keyboard look alike. If one doesn’t recognize what intelligence looks like in the first place, a computer makes things worse. Like that stupid Patsie sending me all her e-mails as well as her entire contact list back in 2008. She was dumb enough to think they were not gossips as bad as herself. Speaking of stupid, the “For Rent” sign is still in the window of the old place. But one stupid old lady at a time, here.
The part that stayed with me was the “someone to sit down”. Gee, what have we here? This sounds familiar, how none of that school stuff was going to do them any good in the real world? They get right pissed when you try to show them, and you know why? Because they are on to you. Their teachers tried to shove that crap down their throats thirty years ago and now you’re trying the same damn thing all over again. And that’s not what they asked you for.
Heaven’s no, they want you to show them the swindle, the shortcut, the hoax you use to fool people into thinking you are smart. They know nobody got smart without trickery. That’s why when I have to learn something new, I love to ask who is going to come along and take me by the hand and say, “There, there, I’ll walk you through this.”
Nope, instead I bitch and moan about the lack of books on the subject. But that’s a total different state of affairs and you know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout. So there.
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