When is a shortcut not a shortcut? This morning Wallace and I went over to get supplies on Pembroke. On the return, we got caught in one of those Florida right turn only lanes that send you to nowhere. The city hires a special squad of mentally deficient ethnics to keep that department in traditional form. But not until after they have hired an Englishman with twelve toes to apologize for all. (The telecommunications industry taught me that Scotch-Protestants are exceptional at the logic of “since we we didn’t do it on purpose, it is not our fault”.) (Don’t I mean, “Scot” instead of “Scotch”? Nope.)Cowboy Mike was in today to get some copies of the music for his festival this weekend. Despite my warnings not to leave these things until the last moment. It turns out the copies won’t play in the CD in his truck. We’ll sort it out, but the deadline is this weekend and his fellow musician needs a copy to learn by then. I’ll make the five extra copies here so as to be ready for any complaints. I say that the copyright protection built into MS “Media Player” is at fault in the end.
Later. That was a wise move, the CDs would not play, an annoyance that sometimes accompanies the use of the NTI burning software. Instead, I’ll make the proper copies using Nero. Please note I do not know if it is a software problem or the fact that I am far more familiar with using Nero.
In unrelated news, I found out that in the USA you only need 34 “points” of work credit to get disability. That means somebody who has earned as little as $35,700 in their life could qualify for permanent income from the government. This must be an incredibly tempting offer for someone with limited job options, particularly when working hard for a living is no longer a guaranty of much. It is impossible to find out in advance the monthly disability payment because it depends on so many factors, but I have heard of people getting as much as $1,400.
Back home I tried to get some work done in the music room, now renamed “the study”. The summer heat drove me back within minutes. There is far less to worry about with hurricanes than the heat, if you are not used to it. Work is confined to the air conditioned areas of the house, so I worked on some small computer parts and a laptop. Wallace walked in a skunked me royally in a crib game. I kept getting hands of four and six points to his twenty. How long have I played crib? Let me commence to ciphering. Ok, I played a couple of years in my early teens when, on the farm, there was just nothing else to do. Then nothing until I’ve played roughly 35 games when Wallace was in town. I probably mentioned it, but I did get a 29 hand (the maximum) when I was 15 or so.
It was wishful thinking that the school board guy wanted me to teach music for their continuing education program. The current rumor is that they want me to volunteer for something, which I’m not adverse to, but that is the kind of thing that “really depends”. I left a message and I’ll get back to you on that one.
Here’s my gripe today. You know those commercials on television that do go on about how after February 2009, that “old TV in your basement” can still work if you write to the government for a converter. Well isn’t that just fine! An expensive government program for TVs that aren’t worth the effort to trash them. Damn it you stupid people, if you want to live in the Stone Ages, at least pay for it yourselves. You give old people a bad name.
