[Author's note 2016-03-17: this entry is a classic example of early blog style, when there was no information available on standards or best practices. Note the flowing detail of information, typical of the somewhat different format of my typing over my writing. By chance, this is the day I first met Ruth, the wigmaker, who needed $25 per hour help but a job that paid only $8 per hour.
The picture of the chapel at the Palace of Versailles was added ten years later to give this page some color.]
My security computer has a bad secondary IDE plug. This took all morning to discover because I had to do it by trial and error. Catchy, that one, I even suspected I had a bad batch of cables at one point. It is when you plug in a slave to the primary that the problem appears, not when the primary has a single device, in this case, the boot drive. There, is that enough tech talk?
Is it me, or does everyone agree that, if one has a sex change operation, it is only polite to move to another town? NPR says no, but I say another town. On the other side of the country. According to NPR, you should be able to do anything you please, and then stand there calling others "intolerant". There was a radio talk show (also NPR) about men who got totally embarrassed by picking up what turns out to be somebody they played football against in high school. Yes, I know that most guys are plain stupid to think they suddenly find a babe that has the hots for them, but the point is this kind of surprise is not welcome. Especially in a smaller town.
Another thing, you know that sweet little old lady across from the laundry? Yeah, well, she has taken a shine to me and I don’t know how to tell her to stay away. People might think we are together. I know it is mostly psychological, but I don’t have room for anything that even remotely diminishes my chances or perceived chances with a younger, prettier woman. That is that. I’m certain most people can relate to my viewpoint and some may even agree with it. If not, we know what you look like, ha!
Enough, I went to ChipTech, then back to the shop with $400 worth of gear. Fred must have got a big order. Then I had to do a service call so I did not get Limewire working and did not get any new tunes to learn. You might find the details entertaining. Regina’s Wigs. She is a “seventh generation wigmaker” and does all the stars. That includes the Beatles when they played Miami, her favorite was John Lennon. So I finally met somebody who knew my childhood hero. The address was in Bal Harbor, I had little trouble finding it. I took a picture of some dummies along her west wall.
Regina is over 80 and stressed. She fired her last helper only to discover the computer was mucked up. Fred rebuilt it. Regina was on Letterman last week and was expecting zillions of emails. There were 17. I explained to her that the emails were not on her computer. Oh, here is an odd thing. When I first went in, I simply sat the computer on her desk and plugged in wires. Out of the blue, she asked me what my IQ was. She said that she had a sixth sense about such things and that I was “incredibly intelligent”. Well, anyone can make a mistake.
As the work progressed, and she was certain the thing would never work again, it was obvious she was really worried about the computer. It does her payroll, and she had no basic knowledge of how it worked. Nothing, not even backups. I’d be worried, too. I systematically went through it and explained what was going on. I’ve told you before, many seniors in Florida are not used to getting straight answers. Well, Regina was not gonna let me go. I was lucky to get out by 6:30 PM.
I had to crack her AOL screen name and password, she’d long since forgotten. Next, it was lucky she still had the driver disk for her printer, and I got that going. Then I checked her email, all the time keeping her informed of what I was doing. Once a teacher, you know what they say. When she found out I knew how to do all the items she was looking for (mind you, in an $8 per hour helper), she latched right on to me. For example, I had to tell her what questions to ask the applicants, “Can you work a word processor?”
I going to have to charge more for these service calls. Like I said, she kept me there for hours, having discovered I was a wellspring of information on how to set computers into their place. Did I just say wellspring? Anyway, you should see the walls of her shop. She does makeup for all the big stars, you can see the picture of her doing Bob Hope. That is her with the beehive hairdo, planting this squarely in the early 60s. She did tip me $25, but it is not enough to make me consider doing it again. Actually, we’ll see because it is quiet and I need the money.
Still, I did not get home until after dark. I curled up with a book on networking. It had a much better plot than "Elizabeth, in case that is what you are thinking. I did take the bike out for 5 miles around the race track parking lot, so as to avoid the streets. This gave me thinking time (always a dangerous thing) and I concluded that I may as well set up an ad hoc network in my own place. Do not forget I am just learning this material myself and was unsure of the dangers. I’m satisfied now that I have no neighbors who could get into the system and certain that it can be safely encrypted in any case.
I did hear the funniest new thing in five years today. The cancer guy was in, we found out his name. Steve. Anyway, he was selling toys and hats today, which I cannot use. Fred looked at the hats and said, “I’ll take two. One to shit in and another to cover it up.” I fell down laughing, he could not understand, meaning it must be a trite expression. Maybe, but I’ve never heard it and in my mind it immediately connected with dozens of other useful applications. Florida government documents come to mind, I’ll take two.
Today may not have been my most inspired writing, but until I see what others recorded, I have nothing to judge it by. The G has left me a copy of some of his original material. On cassette tape, no less. I’m wondering if I can use it for backing tracks. Hey, it’s not like he needs it, know what I mean? There is one tune, “What Does Love Cost In This Town” that I think has potential.
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