Let’s talk money, he says, basking in the warm glow of the 13th most successful bingo yet. Not really money talk, but a theory I’ve been kicking around. You know how the authorities say people should keep three months income in reserve? That is ridiculous, considering that irresponsible people will always spend to the limit. Thus, that cash would be gobbled up paying pre-existing bills instead of as emergency funds.
At the other extreme, there are those who live within their means. (Do you know of anyone like that?) What happens is the strange effect whereby, once things are properly tended, it creates a decreased need for cash. That’s my theory, but I don’t know what to call it. Imagine everything was paid for, including funeral plans, hobbies, vehicles, retirement, travel fund, you name it. The need for cash diminishes. Why keep any more than a couple hundred bucks on hand? If anything goes wrong, you can always cancel the funeral.
Seven bicycles disappeared last night in the subdivision over toward Dixie. The security cameras recorded them all, but by the time the police rounded up the perps, the bicycles were long gone. Mine has two locks, is under two lights and a security camera, so I’m okay, but still, today I get another krypton lock to slow them down.
An early morning practice pays off, as I said it would if I ever found a guitarist who would listen to what I say without arguing. The new guy did. Simple as that, by our third session, we’ve played 13 tunes. That’s right, we can now play songs without learning them. Just follow the bass and we can cover a new tune in minutes, not hours. I was right—100% right and now I’ve met a guitarist willing to try.
He is still inexperienced with keeping the beat, often called getting lost in the groove. I donated a pair of drumsticks so assist him in memorizing the beat that he is to duplicate in each instance. By paying attention to subtle variations, I’ve arranged most tunes to create the impression that more than three instruments are playing. That, peeps, is the competitive advantage I’ve been seeking for years as we take dead aim against the glut of solo guitarists in this town.
I examined, built, and closely studied several capacitor-resistor circuits over the previous few days. I’m not too pleased with the textbooks I’ve read because each of them leaves out very important details and stuff you simply have to know. Like the LED fading off while the capacitor is still 70% charged up. And how the capacitor must be separately grounded. No, you pack of bozo authors, it is not enough to include a diagram. This kind of detail has to be pointed out and described. Fortunately, I documented everything.
Talk about your perfect winter day. I stayed home by choice except for an afternoon coffee and the Sunday crossword. It was Burger King, the last place in town with a restaurant atmosphere. I don’t bother going to other places except the bookstore. I don’t know what it is, but every other coffee place in this town does something wrong. Dunkin’ Donuts is okay, but no place to lock your bicycle. Panera can have five minute lineups as their cashiers have to toast bagels. The rest, including Denny’s, don’t serve coffee right any more.
What’s not right about serving coffee? Plenty. Try making me wait to be shown to the counter. Then plop a food menu without being asked and disappear for five minutes. Don’t ask what the customer wants, ask if you can take his “food” order with your pad in hand. If he only has coffee, bring the refill around when you feel like it and make yourself scarce otherwise. Ask every five minutes if he’s ready to order his food now, even if you interrupt him from reading a book. Generally, be a total asshole about serving coffee. You know who you are.
And I don’t care for that AARP commercial about life insurance, the one that says you only have to answer a few questions. Try it. Those few questions are not about your health, they are the information needed to snoop into every area of your life and day of your past. It goes far beyond what is needed to issue a policy. Something over there stinks.
Last, you can often tell the quality of a publication by the products in its advertising. For instance, Lexus and De Beers don’t flog anything in the National Enquirer. Because I look for electronic components, my web pages are flanked by ads for student loans to return to school. What exactly is it they are assuming?
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