2013-12-27: This was late night at Buddy's Place, back when they had live bands.
Back to this morning, it was a perfect day. The bakery is closed Sundays now so I went to Dunkin Donuts again. To work the crossword and listen to the kids screaming and old men arguing. That’s the Dunkin over on Federal, I don’t know why I go there. It used to be a nice coffee shop before they renovated and drew in the working class, the misfits too noisy and oafish for Starbucks. Wallace loved that place.Certain days are actually more than perfect. That would include days with a nice wind from the northwest at exactly the same temperature as the air. You don’t get that much out on the wild prairies. I grabbed the eBike and went over to visit Fred. He’s got the workshop to die for. Everything from belt sanders to router tables. If he ever moves to Texas he’ll be friends with half the state.
He’s got some land in Arizona around two hours out of Denver. It has water but is otherwise undeveloped. Desert, really, cactus and all. On my way to Amarillo last summer I drove past the area in Texas where I was born. It is a dry, cheerless expanse of treeless plains for hundreds of miles. The only thing growing there now is tree farms. But you should see them. The windmills go on forever. Not by the hundreds, by the thousands. They truck the blades on special extra long flatbeds and it is unnerving to see one of these things the first time.
I’m afraid Arizona would remind me of Texas. Unless you buy the whole spread sooner or later you are going to have “neighbors”. Still, I looked at the Arizona land because it is impossible to how fortunes will change. But change they will as the post-war generation begins to realize they can kiss their butts good-bye. Living their entire working lives in a house they don’t really own, driving a car that belongs to the bank. Toodle-oo, you freaks of creative finance who thought you were smarter than the lenders.
2013-12-27: Fast forward to December, a head of lettuce is $4.00.
Electronics. The club now has a laser printer, a critical phase in making our own printed circuits. I got so many conflicting instructions, we have a shelf of chemicals that are incompatible. As usual, the instructions are never so clear as after you figured the damn thing out on your own. My impression is that the design of these circuits is the most difficult step. I’ve read approximately six books which lost me after a few opening chapters. It would not surprise me to learn this single step is a major college course, but right now it seems everybody can do it except me.
2013-12-27: Months later, this laser printer is sitting unused because we can't find adequate design software.
Real estate. Stagnant. That’s fine as I do not see the market bouncing back. The government is out of “spend and pretend” money and time is on my side. But not forever, I mean, I wouldn’t want to die right now while I’m living in a mobile home. That would look choice on my epitaph. Straight A student winds up in trailer. It isn’t even mobile, it sits on a concrete foundation and does not rock in the wind. On the other hand, this is my house, not the banks.
The scooter. I halted the repair to drive over and view things for myself. I insisted on the best parts available, which pushed the cost up another $155 dollars. It is a form of entertainment for mechanics who do business with me, they find it hard to believe. Everybody else wants the cheapest repair possible. This is how most of Florida operates so they are not used anyone going the distance. I ordered a titanium alloy camshaft and a highly-rated piston that accepts a 12% larger input valve. When I decided to go ahead with the repair, I want it done right.
2013-12-27: This piston never did work right or deliver the promised improvement.
How about silver? It is exhibiting signs of instability, but only fifty-cents either way. When it is swinging ten bucks a day, that will get my attention. For now, finances are fine, just like I promised my cheating, lying business partners they would be. No way will my doctor let me work, but there are no restrictions on business activity. You know, in some ways I prefer less pay and a job so somebody else has the headaches of ownership.
Don’t underestimate this factor. I rarely like to rise higher than third in command, and that is where you’ll find me over the years. We’ve been on that vein before, how I’d rather let the other guy be the lightning rod. I know where the real power lies. But a job has advantages that workers don’t often realize. When I had a job, I would go out every day after work. A movie, a beer, a club, a café, a date, a drive. One can afford such dribbling expenses because you know precisely when the eagle shits.
One thing I never did was drudge home after a workday, plunk in a chair and do the relax/six-pack thing. That is admitting defeat. I get this vision of an unshaven guy in a wife-beater trying to watch three baskeball games. Is there any sport more useless than basketball? (Curling.) When I worked, I made sure each day involved at least a stop at the library. Now, without a steady income, I’m more likely to go out once a week and really spend. It’s just that I miss the little bit all the time. Hmmm, maybe that’s why I’m single.
That reminds me. Jackie decides that all the women I date disappear. So I hear him out. He’s right. Over the years, eventually every women he sees me with moves along. He doesn’t see the move, so they “disappear”. What are people to think? Well, I don’t own a crematorium and my back yard is way too small. Actually, except for Theresa who was really nasty, I know where everyone is. Ha! She'll wind up in somebody's back yard.
But we all know about appearances. So I asked Jackie how many times he figured this out. Harumph, once. You see, it turns out in seven years, I am the only man in the damn place who ever got any dates. There you go.
2013-12-27: That is correct. In seven years, it is well know I am the only man in the place who has had a variety of lady friends.
