December 25, 2006

           Taking the day off is fun. I piled on the bicycle and drove 40 kilometers, whatever that is in miles once I figure out how to reset the clock after changing the batteries. It was a photo ride, I took almost 300 photos of everything from my bicycle dashboard to gas prices to abandoned airplanes. I got kicked out of a Winn/Dixie (refusing to check my handbag because they refused to be responsible for making me check it), found my way half-way over to Brian’s house and finally got video proof that (as I suspected), Miami traffic does bunch up on the freeways.
           The large white circular object beside my knee is a cup of coffee. To heck with that water-bottle stereotype bit, I like what I like. I think I’ll have a rare afternoon nap, well, rare since I quit working forty hours a week. In case you are wondering, yes, 300 photos is a lot even by my standards and it completely overtaxes the system I have to present them. I’m swapping out two 160 GB hard drives later this week to try to get things sorted out a whole lot better. (This merely increases my capacity, the problem is logging and categorizing, for any dummy can take pictures.)

           That occupied most of the day, but I can fill you in on the extras. One is that the bicycle experiment failed in terms of losing weight. I was dropping steadily on the same diet until I began biking, my weight has not changed much since. Marti’s prediction that I would drop rapidly after a few weeks did not happen, I dropped twenty-four pounds just dieting, then only two pounds doing both the diet and exercise in the next four months.

           Then I re-wrote the Schwinn speedometer manual (for myself, so I can set it by button-presses alone when I need a function). See that little red speedometer on my handlebars? That is one sophisticated device, but they made it hard to use. Some times the left button is the menu with the right the settings, other times the other way around. This was to wrap up the year, which is more logical to do now instead of month end when I may not have time. I’ve biked 1,168 miles, averaging 13.592 miles per day that I ride (not every day), averaging 9.169 miles per hour for 88.506 minutes, burning up an extra 290 calories on those days. Thus, I am not slacking off by any means, but rather, the regimen is really not working for me. Other than diet and exercise, there is nothing I can do (barring surgery and starvation).

           I finally got into that park on Pembroke while the security was off for the day. The intention was to get some photos of those tiny boxes they call retirement estates. These are the prefab units I first saw near Everglades City in 2001, and again last year when JP and I stopped by one Sunday. They are sold at huge prices, something like $80,000 each. To those who saw my original article, it would not be bad if these things were situated on an acre each, but they are crammed right together. Still, if they are being bought by retirees, there may be a ton of them on the market within a few years. They look well-constructed but the bottom line is my trailer is bigger and better.

           My gas leaks when the tank is turned on. This means that Jose was tinkering with it the other day when I was not home. The main valve was turned off, and he suggested I had forgotten I turned it off. Nope, so he was the one. It smells inside the house, so I turn it off. Fortunately all the joints are exposed so it is a matter of buying some Teflon tape and finding the right wrench.
           Later, I called Alain to get the updates. She assures me I was missed and everyone asked for me, which is flattering but also very believable, I take the pictures. JZ was sick (but he was there and this does not explain why he didn't call, dude). The rule is that I have to establish contact the same day before meeting him anywhere except at his condo. His dad was feeling chipper, at ninety, every day is a good day. It would have been an enjoyable visit, but it did not work out this year.
           My bike trip took me all the way out to University Drive on Pembroke, then south to Ives Diary. Nearly three hours of travel time in less than four hours. I bought cherries from Chile, thank goodness they were on sale with my card or they would have been $7 a package. No warning sticker on the rack, I found that [price] out in the checkout. They weren’t that good, as well.

           This picture is just a colorful roll of plastic pipe. Rumor has it I include such pictures just because they are colorful. I confirm that, since I started the rumor. Such photos are always fun on craigslist, where I often post oddball takeoffs on ordinary situations. How about the colors being a boon to “us Florida plummers”, along the lines that it stops me from mixing up “drinking water and toilet water” as much as “the good old days in Pompano Beach”. I could submit it to Cahoots.

           Last, I ended the day playing bass lines to the newly programmed Alesis. Son of a gun, that is sounding okay. The biggest sound difference is that I figured out how to layer the quantization, a significant feature hardly mentioned in the manual. Maybe people who’ve done it before already know it, but it seems none of them were around to help me. You remove the quantization in layers to make the later drums parts sound a little more offbeat, like a real drummer.
           Anyway, there is no doubt this is marketable material as it already exists. I have 25 tunes ready except for rehearsal, and Brian is trained on all the basics and most of the intermediates. By now he knows that playing in my groups is a whole different ball game, that there is a tradeoff not present with the G, the only other musician he’s worked with. The trade is that you have to play it the same way as the other guy, but unlike memorizing how the G plays, it is a music system that pays you back. Where you are not sure, just follow the rules and hop back in.
           When working properly, the [rest of the] band will carry on, no individual instrument can stop the song, so there is no big fear of mistakes. Also, every instrument should be able to carry the tune by itself, and it does. This is not normally associated with bass playing but it definitely works when I’m at it. The bass is an instrument in its own right, not an adjunct to the guitar. I’ll have to invite you to a gig to believe it, but you should be able to guess every song I’m playing after the first measure. It works, and it works very well.

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