One year ago today: August 27, 2015, the famous $800 drywall screw.
Five years ago today: August 27, 2011, . . . his failing reserves.
Nine years ago today: August 27, 2007, the mysterious Datran.
Random years ago today: August 27, 2012, on Moore’s Law (computer chips).
MORNING
Love that full stove, eggs, toast, coffee, hash browns. A little 6:30 AM gospel radio, but the news was horrible. Nuns stabbed, big fire in Russia, and somebody’s mother shot in Chicago. Folks, if you got money, don’t leave your mother in Chicago. This place is and feels 200 miles away from what they’ve let south Florida become. We unloaded the vehicle and drove around until we found a mound of dirt that made it easy to roll the scooter out. These two dudes driving past gave us a hand. Small town neighborliness.
Here’s a great shot of the scooter in my parking spot at the library. JZ went exploring in the van, though that isn’t the greatest treat because the power steering doesn’t work right. It appears to be a loose hose, or a fitting. Topping off the reservoir is a hassle, so we just drive around with half-power, sometimes less. You get used to it fast as the repair is not happening until he drives it back to Miami.
I finished the unloading and piled everything in the shed. Can’t have the place looking like a yard sale. The city finally dropped off a garbage bin and recycle box. They got ansty because one of my garbage bags last week had both house trash and yard clippings. Hey, nobody told me that was against the rules. What the hell, in a month, I’ll be just another old-timer around here. Just you watch how quickly I’ll assimilate. Never forget, however, how little in point of fact, I have in common with so many people who never totally left the farm. The truth is, I can no longer totally return.
Paris.
NOON
Here’s chicken dinner, with corn, carrots, and mashed sweet potatoes. Whoever called them sweet potatoes had too little or too much imagination, either way, the guy was not normal. But one thing my old business partner’s mother taught me was that enough butter and salt can make any vegetable taste fine. Wasn’t that a long time ago. Zero work got done today but I did show JZ how I was going to use the laser level to create a smart stick.
That’s the joint where the dart teams play across the path from the main entrance. So wait or duck. We didn’t stop, but took a tour of the north end of the city. Not bad, and it is larger than the downtown would suggest. If the van had worked right, we might have driven to Zephyrhills just to see what’s there. Instead we opted for coffee at the local Wendy’s.
In a few months, I’ll know all these side roads. Back home, I rigged up a temporary shelf in the kitchen. I’m already out of cupboard space, so I opted for a siesta. I read myself to sleep most nights and for some reason, I began reviewing my Qbasic programs from a couple of years back. They run badly on newer computer equipment.
The afternoon rain shower cooled things down, that’s a treat. In Miami, it just makes the air even muggier than she was. When I think of it, this late afternoon rain was a feature of Miami years ago when I lived there, but not so much any more. I’m not buying this global warming as man-made yet, but you bet I noticed the difference. Maybe we’ll get some pictures for anyone who thinks I’m kidding. Talk about solidly built, while you can hear if it rains at night, in the daytime you cannot hear the rain out there. Now I really want that porch.
The mailman confirms the building has been empty for six years. Also, the termite tent, which a few people questioned, was a brilliant move. The progressive renovations prove that the problem was caught well in time. It put a complete stop to that type of deterioration and made the uneven floor the remaining big bother. I shouldn’t say that, the floor was and continues to be a great experience.
AFTERNOON
I have a few comments about the state of the Internet. My opinion is the growth phase is over and the remaining places that don’t have access are so remote that they’ve got more pressing concerns. In the end, the big leaps have been made, and also the big fortunes. Most “new” businesses are, like cell-phone plans, just reshuffling the deck. The world can only accommodate so many low-cost airline fares and the bulk of businesses found the Internet to be just another expensive advertising mode, and one that appealed to a very shallow crowd at that. How many sites do you find selling encyclopedias?
My further opinion is that, business-wise, the Internet is falling inward on itself. The fast-buck artists, the scam sites, the confidence tricksters, all outpace and outnumber the legitmate startups. While I’d personally like to see curbs on certain practices, as usual in America, nothing will happen “until enough rich kids start dying”. I grabbed the Tampa newspaper and I see it is another pro-establishment Libtard rag. Some politico on about how the military should not purchase arms from companies that sell assault weapons to the public and judges should be watched for how evenly they sentence on racial grounds.
Strange that it takes an election year for these issues to be raised. The gun idea is overdue and I long ago said that judges should be held to task, not just on racial issues, but across the board on how they sentence everybody. Any man who has gone up against a female judge in divorce court is likely to agree on that count. It has long turned American justice into a farce when a court case can turn, not on the facts, but rather on how the accuses dresses or who puts on the better show of remorse. You can see countless incidences of how a carefully prepared case is ruined in an instant because the judge is having a bad day. Should not be allowed.
NIGHT
We ran over to the mart for liquids. You cannot run short in this climate especially since most everyone has the habit of getting up at 3:00AM and hitting the fridge. I shelled out for a gallon of premium orange juice, which JZ thinks is overkill. I’m here to stay so one plan is to bolt some shelves into that kitchen since there is no room for storage. I build models all the time and this kitchen calls for it. Y’know, for a construction type, JZ can sometimes really lack the imagination part. But all that’s fine, most of this work can and will be done by myself alone.
I’ve convinced JZ to hold on to the van. Put a few bucks into it and keep it until it craters. The latest on his stolen truck is that it was snagged by a ring of ex-cops who know the system. Hey, I’m the first one to recognize that stealing a vehicle is only one part of the organization these guys have in place. One police detective told JZ that he should understand nobody is going to be looking for his truck. The Miami police are too busy with their celebutard busts.
City people staying here go through the same acclimatization process as I did in June. The quiet is overwhelming and now the soundproofing adds to that dimension. While everybody will adjust to the place if they live here long enough, the overall impression is that of healthy country living. Everybody would like to move to a place like this, but they had best check what’s happened to prices in the past two months.
On this afternoon’s drive-around, JZ and I compared what I got to my original plans. Conclusion: while I was lucky to get this place, there was very little left to luck in the overall matter. Retired or not, there were no real holidays or trips, no big adventures or purchases, and since mid-2014, a lot computer time just finding places worth looking at. Yes, it gets discouraging to look at sometimes 20 places in a row and spotting the unspoken reason the current owner is dumping the place. Most common grounds was the government-enforced blackout on faithful portrayal of the type of neighborhood.
On the other hand, I got “ninety percent” of what I set out for. This part of the city is over 20,000 population, I’m set well away from any messy parts of town, and everything is within biking distance. I didn’t get my movie theater. But I got a bigger place than expected. The floor space is somewhat more than twice as large as the luxury condo JZ has in snapper creek. I’ve got six parking spaces, take that Broward. And you don’t have to lock your car up here, although I would not always put that one to the test.
Last Laugh
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