June 26, 2010

           The toothpicks are back home, so to speak. This is the last picture of them as displayed for the previous five years at the shop. They are stored in the Taurus, which now cannot be used for anything else. Of course, all my buddies that were going to help me move never showed up, so the move took all day. Be prepared for a gap in postings here while I calculate what can be done about Internet access. That’s correct, I have no Internet at home. Never needed it much.
           The display cases and contents are beginning to deteriorate. They were never built to last and now it shows. You know, they were never built to fall apart in six years either. There was a time when I could move the components myself, as the heaviest parts are around 130 pounds. The total weight is in the 600 pound range, most of it the plexiglass.
           Tonight was a hugely successful bingo, and encouragingly, people are beginning to compliment the show itself. We had some quadruple winners, that is people that won four games. The room is the right size for that to happen. Moneywise but wasn’t great, but that was expected with rent just around the corner. I made enough to go visit Pete the Rock tomorrow--but he seems to have quit the Panera. Too many people onto his wild stories?

           I had time to do some Internet research earlier in the day and I have found several instances of direct quotations from here. That’s okay, it is permitted, but I wish people would mention the source. Yeah, myself and a billion other authors and not that I've myself been meticulous about that. FireHow has passed the 3 month deadline and proven itself to be unproductive. I reached 90% of my target and decided to put it all on ice for a while. I earned $7.51. Hardly a career move considering the posts required 12.5 hours to complete (including research time).

           Lance was in with another business proposal. There is a government grant for outfits that recycle. The building bricks from old tires certainly qualify. My role is initially to comprehend the mass of paperwork. I’ll take a look. I’ve heard of lesser ideas getting $50,000 kick starts. These are the patio bricks once featured here. They are a tough extruded material that looks like brick, but is more comfortable to walk on. And guaranteed to last 20 years.
           I’ve been bugging him for six months to get some samples. The product is practical and useful. Yet there has been no progress for years. The bricks still have to be laboriously hand-fitted like the regular item, which in turn needs a prepared gravel bed. They also weigh in about the same, which rules out much chance of me doing the work.
           After bingo, I stopped in to Buddy’s Place to see Laura’s Karaoke show. She wasn’t in, but the owner was. I sang two show-stoppers, my signature “Spiders & Snakes” and “These Boots”. There is no doubt I can sing certain songs now, and it is far more fun than I would have imagined. For me, this is a discovery too late in life to capitalize on it. There is potential, I think, in the degree to which I can play complicated bass lines and sing at the same time. It is rare to do both, and a riot to watch guitar players even try. (For clarity, that means watching a guitar player try to play bass and sing at the same time. Anybody can play guitar and sing.)
           Last, I was reading about armaments and was surprised to discover the Uzi was designed back in 1951. For some reason, I’d placed it in the late 1960’s. It’s passed the; test of time, not many (relatively) complicated weapons have a 50 year life-span these days. I also talked to JZ for a half hour to see it we can’t plan some kind of trip to the keys in September once it cools down.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++