It was a chilly night under three blankets and the cold still leaked around the corners. I have all the hurricane gear, but you don’t use anything like that in a room where people are sleeping. Time, I think, to get myself a medium duty sleeping bag, though I’ve never really liked those things.I ran the kerosene lamps for an hour until Estelle came over and she wanted to walk around the casino. That would be the fifth time I’ve been there in five years. We walked in the chill, another one of those romantical things women write in their ads but never really do. On the way over, I joked with her making a bet I’d give her one dollar for every person we saw that was smiling.
We entered through the “slot room”, the banks of no-arm bandits that play that diarrhea music. Have you guessed I’m not into gambling or people who gamble, but it was worth a look-see. The place was packed, particularly this room full of poker players. They sure don’t look like the ones on TV. Amazing how people find that entertaining. I stopped for a soda, although we saw ads for coffee and danish, we could not find the place that sold them.
Next, we sat for a while in this room where people were watching videos of races. After that, out on the deck area where some guys were walking the greyhounds. There were thousands of chairs but only a dozen people came out to watch the one race. I believe that is the first time I’ve seen it for real. The rabbit won. And I still have all my cash, since Estelle could not find one person in the who building who was smiling.
Earlier in the day was a bit of fun, since breakfast was on bingo. But I’m dieting on cold medicine or what they call flu medicine. What’s the difference? Well, when you make a cold remedy that has the annoying side effect of making the patient drowsy, you repackage it as a sleep aid.
What’s this? Taylor Swift has been accused of “chasing boys”, which she vehemently denies. She’s pulling in $50,000,000 per year, so she doesn’t need to chase anyone, guys. Your adolescent fantasies are worthless. One strong point I will grant the spoiled little brat is that she doesn’t hesitate to dump the posers, and she’s certainly gone through a few of them. Being a millionaire, she’s discovering, doesn’t shield one from the twits of the world. Tell you what, if she calls, I’ll be nice and take her to the bakery for coffee.
The cold snap kept me indoors which also means I got lots done. I’ll even be nice and spare you the most of it. I biked over to K-Mart for my cheap plastic shower curtain and Chinese socks. I just increased the trade deficit by $19.54. Or about a tenth as much as each iPad that’s sold. Did I see anything blog-worthy at the mall? Yes and no. Sticking with the yes items, I was stunned by the soaring prices of American goods. It also heralds a return of credit spending, since even a small shopping trip for, say power tools, would mean carrying more cash money than safe [to do so] in this town.
This allowed me time to do a lot of comparison shopping for mobile homes, centering again on Boca Raton. The approaching end of season is dropping prices and there are increasing numbers of three and four bedroom places I’d consider now if I didn’t feel another round of price drops is in the making. The low-life real estate agents are getting outright slimy about concealing hidden fees. I doubt any would read my complaint about this, as this blog requires brains and logic to enjoy, but in case any got here by accident you should know this: Good buyers do not respond to ads that don’t list the monthly fees.
Of course, I’m looking for a place with the land, although I don’t mind minor home owner’s fees if they mow my lawn. They could raise those fees, but I just would not pay them. Let them take it off the eventual sale price, like I’m going to care if I’m still alive in 2034. What I have not done yet is walk around the places that sell including the land. I will before buying, since I have no intention of giving anyone a fair deal. On-line searches are time-consuming as specifying land in the purchase does not block all the liars, so you have to sift through tons of bogus listings.
Why not buy a place and rent the pad? That’s what I did here, thinking Wallace and I would own two real houses by now. I’m over-staying here going on the third year now, and in total I’ve seen my lot rent go from $360 to $485, which is affordable, but is clearly getting out of hand. At least when you buy, there is a point in the future the payments come to an end.
In Boca Raton, I’ve done some comparison shopping on pad rentals. I’ve seen them as high as $800 per month. And the pictures [of those properties] show no better planning or amenities than places with half that rate. The problem is the same as when I first arrived in Florida, that is, the difference between renting and buying is about $100 per month, so renting makes no sense. I’ve since come to learn that most people who rent do so for two reasons. They don’t have what it takes to muster a down payment, and their credit ratings are so low nobody will give them a mortgage. Other reasons exist, but those are the big ones.
