See the flowers. See the trees. See the new wheelbarrow full of trimmings, and I don’t mean the Xmas kind. I kind of like to think of this as “Wallace’s wheelbarrow”. You can’t begin to see how hot it was out there today. The local inhabitants euphemistically call it “The Garden” because they don’t have to look after it. I cut it back to around the three foot level you can just see here. Any more requires a small chain saw. Too bad I had to massacre a whole array of purple flowers. The powerfully sweet aroma from those pink flowers smells precisely like little old lady perfume.
The first official day in the new digs, and the first time the media (NPR) used the word “recession” to factually describe things. (Economics is weird and encourages tendencies to rely on indicators.) Did you know in Hong Kong they don’t even let the government measure the GNP? The message to America is not even in code. Instead of manipulating the indicators, you are going to have to go back to work at $8 per hour because that is all you were ever worth. It is circular logic, like the real economy. I can pay all my bills because I don’t incur any bills I can’t pay. In layman’s terms, it means there are things I go without, like cable TV. Meanwhile, hey, Wallace, I don’t see any recession. Why, do you see any recession?More measuring and planning. The third bedroom will be a challenge, indeed. It is clear the previous people gave up because it was a challenge. Otherwise, this place is showing all the hallmarks of being build by Latinos. Nothing serious wrong, but for instance, all the light switches, outlets, and door locks are upside down. People, up is “on”, the key cylinder twists away from the frame to withdraw the bolt and the third prong goes down or to the left. What is so difficult about that? (There are valid reasons for these standards but I’ll let you look them up.)
I put in a full day on the new place, generally sprucing up the corners and restoring a slight order. For example, for some reason the bathrooms in Florida are usually not air conditioned. Imagine yourself in a tiny room with the sun beating down, and now imagine that room made of aluminum. I installed a huge but temporary fan. Another obstacle is the things that have been Mickey Moused over the years. Let me give any beginners some sound advice: Although there are reasons for the different designs, early in life choose one type of screw and screwdriver and stick with it for life (unless you have a damn good reason otherwise). Furthermore, make that screw a Phillips bit, the mid-size one. Slot screws were useless since day one since they strip too easily, and throw anything Robertson as far and deep as you can. When you buy any hardware, check to see that it has a Phillips screws or buy something else. You’ll live happier.
I told you how I would watch for behavioral modifications in myself, now that I get an “allowance”. Man, when you have an assured income, it becomes truly hard not to think like a prick when dealing with the less fortunate. I mean, it’s not my fault I had the education to get a good paying job. I mean, it’s not my fault I made enough money to retire early. I mean, it’s not my fault I had the leisure time to learn music. “If all those other people out there really, really, really wanted those things, all they got to do is get off their asses and work hard like I did.” Ha, ha, ha.
Yep, total prick-think, and it starts the instant you get any free money. If you can resist it, you really are Mother Teresa. You become disassociated with the causes of want. You think, it is hardly my fault that pretty girls who like to traipse around wearing flimsy towels come to my door looking for a place to live. Dr. Minty now makes sense to me. He had to learn to get by on what he had, all 4,200 square feet of it. Nothing is his personal fault, he never personally made anyone drop out of school and go drive a taxi. In fact, he would have advised them not to (from a safe distance of course). Why should he consume any of his resources to give others a break? Don’t they have family? Don’t they have friends? Are there no poor houses?
So you won’t think I lazed around, I also did a three hour printer install this morning. To pay the rent. This install was complicated, and it also involved testing of the contemporary “MagicJack” system. This is the $20 per year long distance plug for your broadband Internet connection. It appears to work equally well with a fax machine, so get ready for another round of junk faxes. I hung the first insulating curtain in the Florida room. This is the experiment to see if heavy drapes work well as insulation. So I have a riddle for you. What do computer printers and curtain rods have in common? Easy. They could have standardized on something heavy duty that worked long ago, but they never did and they never will. To view a review on MagicJack, see Epinion.com.
Later. The curtains made an instant difference in the Florida room, lowering the temperature by around 7 degrees. I’ll need a drop of another 8 degrees to stay in there during the summer, a difficulty I expect to overcome. The next step is to insulate the ceiling, which right now consists of a sheet of metal in the sun. I have the insulation, what I don’t have is anyone to help me. Maybe I’ll ask Mila. It is in her interest to see that room set up if she would like to stay here after Wallace arrives.
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