Ready yourself for a bad review. I also picked up an Erector/Meccano set from Radio Shack. It was not really anything of the kind, but I had to know. These are Lego-style kits that can’t be used for much other than building the models shown on the box. I’ll give it a mini-review here but you can always search ePinions for the long version. It’s a piece of junk, really, bleeding off the old Meccano reputation.My dad-burned arm, now that it is healing, the pain changes location and these days I can’t turn things. Oh-ho, I hear that’s no big deal. Okay, you tune my bass, set my radio volume, put the wire tie back on my bread, set my old microwave for hot cocoa, and while there’s time, get the cover off the scooter hub so I can replace those brake pads. It is not a strength issue, it is the biting pain when I try to use the rotator muscles. The scooter goes in the shop, I can’t wait more.
Folks who haven’t seen me in a while say I’m looking chipper, as in healthy. Thanks to the bakery, I do eat well at least once a day. Don’t be jealous, it is a breakfast I might otherwise skip. Today I got a free loaf of whole wheat because sometimes their slicer mangles up a loaf. I don’t care if my bottom crust is crooked. The talk is Estelle, who has not contacted any of us in over a week. That is unusual.
The fake beggar guy made the news again. He fakes being in a wheelchair, speaks like he’s handicapped, and claims to make $60,000 per year. In reality, he is from Texas and has a degree in speech pathology. Is he an excellent con man or a middling actor? Either way, the local guitar players better hope he doesn’t show up and start faking the blues on the Boulevard. He’d wipe them off the map.
So I get home and realize the pork roast I bought was too big for the pan. Dig out the old slow cooker and accidentally forget about it. It simmered in the pot over last night, but what an aroma to wake up to. Ah, pork sandwiches with mustard and the meat thicker than the bread. I can’t wait until I get a place with a full kitchen.
Next, I read all available material on Kim Dotcom, the German guy in New Zealand that was arrested over MegaUpload. He plans to come bouncing back with a new service which I will subscribe to if it operates as planned. You see, the reason I don’t encrypt my email right now is that the authorities automatically flag anyone who does that for “special attention”. The rules will change when everything is encrypted. My email is pretty innocuous, but I would still join on principle. To see who complains.
Real estate, we like the topic, hate the prices. Here is a place I rejected, but let’s go over the considerations. The asking price is $49,000 in West Palm Beach—and includes the land. Hell yes, I’d pay fifty G’s to live in West Palm. The lot is a full quarter acre. By now you’ve spotted that huge Florida room is hurricane-proof concrete block.So why didn’t I leap on this? First, it is first. Every spring the prices drop and this is the first offer, which I am inherently disinclined to take. The owner wants cash, so the price is still too steep for me. The primary thumbs-down is one bathroom. It would be on the “trailer” side and I know more than I need about three bedrooms or more sharing one bath. All three bedrooms are on the mobile home side; the entire Florida room is made up into a huge living room. Let’s keep an eye on this one.
Again, I have only two words for people who advertise a mobile home for sale without stating the monthly lot rental. I want the land, so I won’t pay rent, but one cannot help notice the sheer number of scummy ads. I wonder if there is a web site that specifies the lot rents in the vicinity? Nope. I got a mini-callout to a real estate office to reinstall a browser. They report only nine sales this year, all to foreigners. When I asked which ones, the lady just shook her head and said, “Those damn Canadians are the worst.”
What she means is complicated but based on some real cultural differences between Canada and the USA. Canadians, once an idea is lodged in their brains, will not listen to fact nor reason. If you present a convincing position, they will reword what you said and try to put a negative twist on it. Plus, as a culture, they don’t have the same view toward honoring promises, tending to only do so when they personally find it convenient, as in “I can’t pay you back this week because I’m broke myself.”
Up yours Jean-Pierre, you’re broke because you’ve been drinking Labatt’s all week long. Lend a Canadian some money and he thinks he got you, he’ll make you grovel to get it back. The real estate lady reports a firm commitment to purchase property means nothing to those people. I will agree that Canadians can be exasperating when forced to keep their word, and that is usually the only way they’ll keep it.
Myself, I’m also watching out for a steal on a house, but I’m not obsessed with home ownership. Not now that I’ve discovered the freedom of owning a mobile. It would not bat my eyelash to walk away from this place. Meanwhile it is comfortable even if the air conditioners need replacing. I don’t envy anyone with a big house to upkeep and protect. On the other hand, I know a dozen men who covet the quiet easy life I’ve got for two day’s pay each month. If I could find a good rent to own, I’d start packing this week. And it isn’t even March yet.
