March 21, 2009

           Look at the rain. The only time we get it this bad other than hurricanes is near the equinoxes. Flooding is commonplace because nary person in the department that builds roads has the brains to measure watercourses before they pave. In this case, the water is approximately six inches deep so I could not ride my bike through it. There is no shame attached to this brand of workmanship in Florida.
           I have no car since it floods around here as well and I need dry weather to affect the repair. In the shop, I looked into a variety of directions with new business. There are pawn shops advertising for used cellulars and people are scrounging for them. Obviously there is money in it. So I did a search on how to reprogram and resell used phones. As expected, there is not a single mention of it on the Internet, but thousands of offers to do it for me. Strange indeed how some people find out about these things where a dedicated two-hour search fails. I ask again, where is the street level school that allows all these dummies to learn such trades? Until a few years back, I thought tinkering with cell phones was illegal.
           It wasn’t all work today. Assuming I will get a few extra bucks together, I looked closely at the return fare from Wilmington and shaved about 30%. I can always go there and right back since I don’t mind the Greyhound. If I stopped in Savannah for two days, most of the trip would be in daylight, as departure is always mid-morning. The fare is down around $120; I may even consider more than a bare-bones motel. Downtown Savannah “the first planned city in America” seems to be dominated by hotels in the historic district. Advertised prices seem sitting duck low but I’ll check that out before long.
           By low prices, I mean hotels with good ratings stating $49.50 double occupancy on the ad. Remember how that Kentucky Microtel chiseled me in 1999. The definition of double occupancy also varies from state to state. There is some kind of art festival in Savannah for the next three weeks. I am tempted to take along my 21-speed. The bus line wants $10 extra. That is nothing compared to a single cab ride.
           The rain found me in the library hoping it would abate. It didn’t, so before I cranked home in the puddles, I read four hours of whatever. Ah, you want the trivia. Okay, the “Man from U.N.C.L.E”? “United Nations Committee for Law Enforcement.” Their opponent was THRUSH. What does THRUSH stand for? (For some reason it has no punctuation.) It is “Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity”. This has since been shortened to “Homeland Security”.
           I also found out that diamonds will burn. Heat them to around 1500 F. and they turn into graphite. According to one Barbara Berliner, “a blowtorch will do the trick.” Must have been one hell of a divorce, there, Barb. I also read a chronology of the early 80’s to be reminded that is the year that the prime rate hit a record 21.5% and the average car sold for about $7,400. I wonder, what would a car loan of that amount cost over three years? I’ll assume prime plus 6.5%, or 28% APR. Total value of this deal, $10,586.38. It would be cruel to make a joke about how many Florida guitarists it would take to figure that out, so I won’t say anything.
           Since I was in the travel section, I read some of those 24/7 books. They are a series of photo stories where you could order custom book covers with any picture you want. They suggest your family Christmas pictures. (Why, so nobody will read it?) Like National Geographic, they manage time and again to publish 200 page books without even one picture of a young, sexy female. I read editions for Sweden and Argentina and saw nothing but babies and grandmothers. What are women so afraid of?
           Last, I viewed a video on a device that saves electrical power legally. It was the theory that intrigued me. Electric power only averages 115 Volts, it is actually full of spikes. Although your appliances cannot use these spikes, they are registered by your electric meter. The invention removes said spikes. The demo was remarkable, making me wonder how much better it would work in Florida, with one of the worst electric companies in existence. However, the seller carefully and pointedly never states (in the video or webpage) if the device hooked to your electric meter or whether you would need one for each appliance. Unsaid these days means covered up, and at $149 each, it is uneconomical to buy them by the crate. See www.plugandsave.com.