Look at this mess on the kitchen table I’ve got to clean up before Wallace gets here. I just know he’ll want to eat his Wheaties there and you know me when it comes to organizing tools when I’m busy. See that computer? That is just there to take pictures off the camera, it gets set up elsewhere as soon as there’s time. To be fair, there is a green drop-sheet on the table to protect it. This is the six-place dining table left by the previous owner. Behind you see the patio doors.
What we need is a little cloud cover. It is too hot to do much bike riding, which in turn means I have less news to report here. A vicious circle, I tell you. So how about some minor trivia? Okay, I admit my meals at home tend to be what I can make most easily. It was always a mystery to me that I could never make a decent cheese sauce. When I worked for corporate America, Sundays meant going out for breakfast, usually eggs benedict. I just knew those restaurants were not using the real thing, but I could not find their source. Well, that discount bakery I mentioned last week has an aisle of restaurant supplies. Similar to GFS (Gordon’s Food Supply) except you don’t have to buy in bulk. They have mixes for most things in single serving pouches, allowing me to try each one. The cheese sauce is identical to the fanciest places. It is even simpler than kraft dinner because you need only add water. So that’s how they do it! One dollar makes nearly two cups of sauce. Ah, but is it food?Following homespun instructions from Jackie, the maintenance man at Jimbo’s, I began to add herbs to Pudding-Tat’s rations. For exactitude, these additives are dill weed, basil flakes and powdered garlic, just a pinch at a time. She took to it without notice and believe it or not, the flea scratching has pretty much ceased. She does not scratch in her sleep any more, however the effect wears off and she must eat the mixture every day. Amazing. You know, the air force has a heat-seeking missile and I have a heat-seeking cat.
In the bad TV department, does anyone besides me disgusted by that insurance commercial with that greasy-looking over-painted broad who shouts “We have a savings of $350”. Then she hands some equally stupid-looking customer a package saying that savings comes with bonus things like a phone number to call after an accident. The commercial not only sucks, it leaves you wondering exactly when the insurance company decided being able to contact them was an extra.
I’ve decided to no longer purchase the series of books called “Hacks” in various titles that promise “industrial strength tools & tips”. The series started off okay years ago but a complete review of what’s coming out now shows they have changed the format. Where there were once sincerely useful instructions, titles like “Excel Hacks” now focus on dumb tricks with very little usefulness. Instead of tackling some of Excel’s glaring shortcomings, like difficulty handling control break totals, they’ll go on about how to make colored pivot tables. (Pivot tables are a sure sign you are a complete computer zero.) Or, simple tasks that now require 50 - 70 lines of unnatural-reading Visual Basic code. By unnatural, try telling me where the error is in this line of actual code:
cbcCustomMenu.Controls.Add(Type:=msoControlButton)
[Author's note: the answer is the letter “s” in what looks like the word “Custom”. It should read “Cutom”. There are people out there who maintain this kind of crap represents an advanced computer language. They probably also like tofu.]
I broke a fan blade and proved that Krazy Glue is not strong enough for that simple repair. While doing my spreadsheets on the temperatures in the Florida room, I’ve discovered there is no readily available consumer device that keeps track of temperature. I would like something in the $20 range that I set on my table and it records the temperature every hour on the hour. Then I can connect it to my computer. I know sophisticated and expensive such devices exist, just nothing for home use. I’d even throw in a free set of carving knives with loose plastic handles.
I wonder how Dickens is doing up in the north? Now that things are changed, I’d gladly like to look after the shop a few days a week. I have not really been back there since meeting the new owner the once. In fact, there isn’t much reason to go up to that part of town any more except to see my doctor. That reminds me to make an appointment.
There is a strange gal up there, every time I go in, she mentions my record is “incomplete”. I tell her it is complete, because they have been issuing prescriptions to me for years. She says they don’t have things like my social security number and home address. I tell her the moment those things affect my health, she’ll have them, and if anyone else wants that information, they can ask me, not her.
Later, Alaine called from south Miami to check on me. I have not been over to visit JP for a month and they get worried. She wants to meet Wallace and see the new place. Heat or not, I went in and installed the soundproofing panels and new door. That door is a tight fit and the only thing I may have to fudge a little because again, the building is not square. But for a $70 door, I’m not knocking myself out. Doors are finishing and can always be reset., planed or shimmed. Only two new outlets are needed, and both are on easily drilled areas.
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