Today begins my new diet, which completely forbids turkey, pork, and packaged cereals. After my first day, I’m so hungry I cannot sleep. But before any miracles can occur, I’ve already hit a snag. My insurance won’t cover one of the drugs (a statin) required for the program, and it is priced way out of my league. You’ll hear more of this diet, since it is a major change of lifestyle. But only if I get some help buying that prescription.
The good news is the clinic is right near Harbor Freight (great little tool company). I motion that every woman who wants to get married should be required to spend a half day in the aisles of Harbor Freight. If she still wants a husband after that, maybe she’s serious. Myself, I can’t get out of there spending less than $25. I got the neatest drill bit set and a free pocket knife.The blowtorch problem I was having was solved with this $9 gizmo. The flame pinpoint can be adjusted to 2,000F, seen here so I can now pull a used capacitor in three seconds flat. Phooey on these US companies like Bernzomatic who make a model that won’t even stay lit. This Chinese model, serial number 3531411303, works for half an hour on one refill. Kills ants, too. Piff, and they are gone.
While out in the western flats, I gave a young man a ride in the sidecar. He was stranded at a no-bus intersection after dropping off his car for repairs. Since I know this scenario well, I gave him a lift out to Palm Ave. My good deed for the day. However, I’m being forced to tell my former clients that good deeds are limited to zero as far as callouts. That is correct. I am retired and I still get calls from the shop customers. Guys, it was work that did me in at such a tender and early age. I’ll take a look on the condition you don’t ever call me ever again. Sorry, but I value my remaining days far more than anyone could pay me.
After mulling over the truck situation [in S. Miami], I ventured to look at some hotel rates. If the truck works, we travel. Trying to get a straight answer from a hotel is not my favorite activity. I attempted to get a price and was quoted 19 different prices for a “room with two twin beds”. I mean, stop to think about the logic involved here. Who would rent a room with two king or queen sized beds? Maybe a pair of extremely fat quiet-snoring privacy-shunning couples who prefer to sleep in semi-public situations? Somebody inform them being in Drew Carey’s audience is cheaper.
I check the usuals (Agoda, Booking, BookIt, Expedia, Tingle, Orbitz, Trip Advisor and Travelocity). All guaranty the lowest price which is impossible. After a bit, I spotted the scam. They avoid any standard terminology that could be used to directly compare prices. As soon as you want two beds, one hotel’s room becomes another hotel’s suite, others call it a double room, yet another says the second bed makes the room a deluxe. Don’t laugh. The price spread was between $238 and $655. In the hotel industry, there is no such thing as truth.
Trivia. I’ll tell you who will make billions overnight. The guy who invents stem cells that regrow hair. First time I heard this name for a tattoo on a woman: tramp stamp. Cute term. For those buccaneers of the alternative economy. I watched “Left Behind”, a movie about those not taken in biblical end times. Clever, but iffy, particularly the grade B acting. I was more intrigued by reading the fact that of all the fossilized human remains ever found, none are neonate.
Late last evening I stayed up thinking over the ROM kit. The challenge now is to make it into parts that could reasonably be reassembled by a grade ten level student. My intention was always that an adult be present. Solder, you know. But I’ll do any cutting needed. As I refine the concept, I’m using less store-bought parts. This sends the price into the stratosphere.
I watched a bio-type movie, “The Buddy Holly Story”. I’d hit the floor laughing if I didn’t know the unwashed masses actually believe it ever happened that way. Corny isn’t a strong enough term for the way these success stories get repackaged. It’s a good thing these twenty-somethings were so mature and responsible by the standards of the day because it seems to have kept them out of all kinds of trouble. Yet, there is enough fact throughout to portray how different the world was back then.
The ticket to stardom was the proverbial “record deal” in, what was it, 1955? Luckily for script writers, the era also spawned a ready-made bad guy, the record producer of checkered suit who, despite constantly seeking it out, hated the kind of music everybody else loved. The entire plot is a string of clichés, with Buddy continually making the right decisions with seconds to spare. To this day, I still meet guitar players who think history will repeat itself if they keep playing the same thing forever.
Holly is billed as the single greatest influence on early rock and roll. I’m more impressed by how he wrote, played, and managed his music in the face of the monolithic studios. I’ve heard his greater hits, but it would be a serious stretch of the imagination to say that he had any effect on how I play. We had more in common as band leaders, I think.
The mystery tool. It is a mango-picker. Myself, I would not eat a mango, a sticky fruit that ripens unevenly and is never consistently sweet. But JP loves to raid the neighborhood for eight a day. He picks only the choicest which he can spot twenty feet in the air. Shown here is mango trees along the public right of way on 72nd Street. He knows all the best spots by now.The trick is to rake the mango into the basket. If it falls to the ground, it splits the skin and JP will not touch it. He can get three at a time, I won’t even try for one. As shown here, the pole is only extended around 2/3 of the potential height. For the same effort and better taste, I’ll take a Georgia peach any day.
Have you ever seen a Florida sausage tree? Stick around until I find where I stored them and I’ll post a photo in a day or two. It looks like sausages hanging on the ends of a vine each. The pods are inedible. JZ supposes the Natives have found a use for them. Maybe damming up the creek? Canoe ballast? Poisoning alligators?
