I counted 53 vehicles on the road to Miami today. Times are bad, the only people buying [real estate] in Sobe and the Gables are Canadians, who see these places as a relative bargain. But they are comparing prices to six years ago. This is the boat being raised out of the water at the old family house. I believe I mentioned the house and yard are still being maintained by the children, but that must be a frightening expense.
Plus, there is the issue of what to leave in the house and nobody is right or wrong. For example, should they take those planters in the pool patio, or leave them because it gives the right scenery to prospective buyers? One can’t say.I spent the morning at Quizno’s. The computer problem was one of those nasty incompatibilities about three layers deep, which is one layer more than 99% of people can think. For reasons unknown, IE8 was preventing the company spreadsheet from opening which turns out because that browser doesn’t like some versions of XP that only have SP2 (service pack 2). I had to revamp most of the software back to IE7 and reinstall Excel.
What was happening was because the original Excel link was lost, the spreadsheet was opening, but unless you know what to look for, it was opening with a browser. Or a browser development environment. And those can drive you wild if you don’t understand you aren’t really looking at the spreadsheet, just a web page of a spreadsheet. We got it going by 1:00 PM and headed over to the house for dinner. There is a new addition to the hacienda, a “purebred” Havanese doggie.
Now, folks, I know a poodle-Peke cross when I see one, and I know the characteristic odor of poodles. I said nothing, but here, you decide for yourself. If this is ain’t a poodle, I’ll stand on one leg. And you see that little pink harness? You won’t believe what it costs because “it has Velcro”. We took Snoopy for a walk and that’s another thing. There are smart dogs and there a non-so-smart dogs. Um, Snoopy makes up for it with enthusiasm. He chewed my sneaker.I found a quiet corner by the kitchen and took it easy. Corey’s newest hobby is a 300 gallon salt water aquarium, and it quickly got infected with ick. The pity is you can’t use strong enough chemicals to cure the fish because the coral is more similar to the ick protozoa and it dies, too. This necessitates catching the fish and quarantining them for ten weeks. I remained seated and continued taking it easy.
In exchange for some grilling lessons, I stayed in the back yard. I’ve cooked over an open campfire but it isn’t the same. Grills are the lazy man’s campfire. Alaine had this marinated Argentine beef in pieces around three feet long by four inches wide by a half inch thick. Never seen it and I was thinking this must be what it is like to cook a big flat snake. However, the results were excellent. And that accounts for the fact certain food tastes better when somebody else cooks it.
Much as I’d like to stick around and watch Sex and the City (what a gawdawful creation), I chose to drive the scooter home in the afternoon rain, stalling for a half hour at the CVS parking lot on Flagler and 17th to get soaked to the bone. Anything but Sarah Jessica Parker. The new dog has a better schnozz. Is that a wart on her chin? And don’t we all love listening to sleazes past their best before dates discussing their inabilities to get anywhere or marry a man who has? It’s such a wonderful plot that nobody ever thought it before.
And the Velcro harness. When I arrived it was quickly dubbed the “doggie bra”. Did you know that it takes 80 calories to undo a woman’s bra with your teeth? I never knew that until I read it, since I rarely date women with the big floppy ones. Nope, never been a boob man. And I’m quick to notice that boob men have a distinct set of characteristics themselves, one of which is a two-digit IQ. Hey, that’s my book-reading chair down in South Miami. I just sink into that chair and can’t be dislodged. Alaine gave me one of her favorite books I’ve never read. “Les Miserables”. It’s a classic and written in the flowery style of the times, which was clearly an era when your book had to include at least one convict.
When I got home, I sat down in the Florida room and spent an hour of deep concentration over that circuit I built on Friday. Why did such things confuse me for so long? I had bad teachers and there are lots of those in electronics, but that hardly explains the trouble I had with this. And, if all the rest gets worse, I may not have what I need to invent anything or even come up with anything original. But, nor would that stop me. I’m concluding there is a “feel” for electronics that once one gets there, it is not required to be a genius to innovate. It was a long hour.
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