Piano recital day. First a little good news for me anyway. I was up past midnight and got that drum beat to “Memphis, Tennessee” programmed into the Alesis. It is finally beginning to make sense and the fact is I don’t recommend it for everyone. Earlier I played around with Presto, a video editing file, and was able to produce a five minute story with maybe 20% of the effort required by Pinnacle software. And Presto is some kind of OEM shareware or something.
Now realism be damned, because I have to admit against my will that the staged and posed shots are superior to shooting native, and in many cases vastly superior. The other day in Aventura I took a video of riding toward the camera, then away from the camera, a corny old technique. It wastes more footage but the result is such an improvement that I am now tempted to contrive a plot, like the Hollywood (CA) guys.
Hmm, that sparked some interest. For more clarity, what I mean [in the previous paragraph] is that of course I know professionally composed scenes are better, but I had no reason to suspect the same rule applied to my efforts, which are not designed to improve on reality for marketing purposes.
The G walked into the shop today and actually spent money, an unfair observation. Later we teamed up for a Scrabble game which he won by a bare margin of 12 points. Oh yes, he waxes me at that game. Yes, I have the larger vocabulary, but he has meticulously memorized most small words, most of which I’ve seen. Even losing two turns by challenging me, he recovered a 60 point deficit and passed me in the last round.
He picked up 37 points with “ex” and “xi”. Famous words in this game: “seiner”, “eft”, “quaker”, “spoor” and “gnome”. Er, why, yes, they were all my words. The point here is that you don’t win against the G just because you know more and better English. Here’s more fun with that picture frame, yes, that is the G. I finally picked up my Crate practice amp, actually, I had long since forgotten I left it over there until a few weeks ago.Before work I biked over to the Barn and read a book on Linux. It is a difficult system to understand. There were some babes around, probably why I go there instead of Borders, which is a mile closer. On the return I spotted a church rummage sale. Alas, it was a Jewish church and all 15 vendors jumped on me right away. “I see you are a photographer.” “I see you are a bike rider.” “I see you know about computers.” I was lucky to get out of there without showing my ID. That suits me, the prices were far too high anyway. Like this TV with component input jacks. They wanted $150, I would not give $20. Can’t use it. They did have an ice cream cooler.
Metro PCS. I had one hell of a time getting what I wanted, which was to have the robot quit calling me the week before my bill is due. Employee Arlahe #8979 was a total jerk, trying to tell me the calls were not originating from Metro PCS. That is correct. She told me that the calls were from somebody else. You get used to this kind of liar in Florida and develop techniques to work around them. For example, I told her I was not interested in who was placing the calls, because if they had my number, Metro PCS was responsible. She tried repeatedly putting me on hold, but I had allowed for the time. She tried repeatedly trying to change the focus of the conversation by apologizing, but each time she did I pointed out that this call was not about her. She said that I would have to go “in to the main store” yet would not tell me where this mysterious place was located. When I suggested that she could also go to this store, she hung up on me. Forgot I had her employee number, I’ll bet.The second employee, Angela #84466 got the full story and provided some useful information. Metro PCS cannot block calls, nor do they market a telephone that will block calls. The only thing they can do is activate call block which prevents blocked numbers (such as telemarketers) from calling you, but also prevents you from calling other numbers that have call block. Now I can’t call Marion. Sounds suspiciously like the kind of crackpot idea a phone company would come up with.
Want to get rich? Design a cell phone with the usual 300 memory slots. Allow me to push a single button that begins to fill up with numbers from people I don’t want the phone to ring on. I know they can do it, I do not know why they won’t.
Sad news for the recital. Alain called this afternoon and cancelled. She described the exact flu I caught on my birthday. Oh well, gave me time to do other chasing around. When I was in Home Depot, I saw a 12 can soda vending machine. That’s correct, a little cooler that sits on a desk or counter. You plug in a token or “a coin the same size as the token” and out rolls a soda. I did not buy it for a number of reasons.
• it was made of plastic
• the mechanism only accepted one coin (or token)
• if you opened the trapdoor too early, the can will roll out onto the floor
• chilling the drink takes eight hours
Still, mini-vending machines. Interesting concept. These ones sold for $39.95, but now I’ll be looking for some high quality units of the same size.
JZ and I talked for a while, he wants to mortgage his place so we can buy something to “fix up and sell”. Bad timing, old boy. (I talked him out of it.) Every third world national in the country has been doing that for the last six years and all the bargains are gone. However, the condo market is in serious trouble. They have harshly over-built, plus the cities have resorted to the sordid tactic of re-appraising the property at the sale price rather than the underlying value, and doing so after every flip. Thus you could wind up paying ten times more taxes than your neighbor who stayed put. Even if the condo market falls, rents are still high. Now renting a property is different but since there is an ever-diminishing prospect of capital gain, the price would have to be less than $40,000. Florida has not learned that in the long run, as taxes go up, the total you collect goes down.
There is also the condo fee enigma. Due to nepotistic practices, the totals for maintenance are unlikely to go down over vacancies and will thus have to be shared by fewer units. The deadly downward spiral. Instead, I talked him into a trip back around Lake Okeechobee next weekend. We’ll take another look at that trailer graveyard in Clewiston (I rent to illegals). A week is the outside window for planning ahead, we’ll take his truck and the bicycles. You see, the longer lead time you give me, the better the final product. But in Florida, that just gives them more time to screw up.
I’m not the least bit tired, so let me curl up with a book or two. The days will begin getting longer in just over another week, so I’ll enjoy the winter weather. I feel like reading some technical material. Where is that manual for my photocopier? For the record, more than a few people have informed me that they think a good idea is a school or seminar to teach older people how to use modern equipment. Like burning CDs or using MP3 players. Maybe how to install software or use a digital camera. Right now they do not have much choice. I’m thinking.
Later. Guess I was tired after all. That totally comfortable chair didn’t help as I fell asleep and did not wake up until after 9:00 the next morning. Even then, I staggered around like a drunk for the first hour trying to get my bearings. It was nearly what Eatmore used to call a “Dozy Day”, I could even have sworn I hear that OJ Simpson died in a car wreck. Two things I did not imagine is that my weight shot up six pounds over night or that I have mice in my kitchen cabinets. Both have happened before. The mice I can eradicate in one day.
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