The office is still dazed by the death of the company owner last week. This was a tragedy in every sense, and even at my most cynical, I believe every word of those who speak of Tom Daniel as their friend, not their boss. I’m not sure of how I feel, this is the only time I’ve ever worked anywhere that the boss was such a person, but I am definitely outraged by the unfairness in the world. [Author’s note – in a tragic accident, the extremely popular owner of the company I worked at died on November 11, 2003.]In keeping with my policy to recover some “lost ground” after each birthday, I’m taking a relook at simple radios. I’ve taken them apart, but the pieces were too weird to prompt my understanding. Older, working radio sets are something I trust, and I remember the time Graham Smith and I were playing cards [as teenagers we played a lot of Cribbage, where I had one 29 hand and several 28s]. There were no good radio stations where we lived and we would try to pick up music at night. By coincidence in the winter [when reception was better], every station we tuned, about 17 stations, was playing the same song. Sky Pilot, by Steppenwolf.
The Broward County Fair administration are not the brightest crowd. I guess almost every fair will now be graded against the Del Mar County Fair a few months ago. A fantastic if hurried drive from Miami to San Diego, where I made more in three weeks than all the bands I’ve played in, tax returns I’ve done or dance lessons I’ve taught [in Florida]. I donated $2,000 to scholarship. All that stopped me from doing the same here was the deadbeats of Florida. They can only answer questions with questions, for they fancy themselves so clever. Now, some kid goes without college money [because I donated it in California instead of Florida].
(This is a referral to a unique display the author created during 2002. In response to a bet that no business could be started with less than $100,000 the author and a friend counted and built a display of 1,000,000 toothpicks. It was meant to be a draw for some other type of business but worked well when fairgoers considered it a bargain to see for just $1.00 admission. The bet was also for $1, plus supreme ownership of the business assets. Therefore the friend, Frank Bytheway, is no longer in the picture. Once, the author explained he knew he would win because ‘nobody in the state of Florida, not even Bill Gates if he lived here, would wait a year and a half before making their first dollar. That requires patience’.)
[Author’s note – the odd wording is meant to convey that I won the bet that a business could be started without a huge investment, as long as one didn’t try to make a killing at it immediately. Hence, it took 18 months to show a profit on the toothpicks, but it still happened. The following paragraph refers to when I tried to contact the Maimi-Dade Fair to set up the same exhibit. In California we were invited guests, here I could not get them to even consider the exhibit unless we paid them a $3,500 deposit, or at least I think that is what they meant.]
The [Miami-Date] Fair honcho has not even bothered to answer my e-mail, except to ask inane questions like, “if you told me what you want, I may be able to help you”. The Fair starts this weekend. I’ve explained to her the generous sharing system we have, that we could not hope to compete with the carny crowd, but that everyone’s interest would be served by a display such as ours. You watch, she is not going to make a decision. [In the end she stalled and put everything off until too late.]
