July 15, 2013

           To the profound amusement of Jimbos daytime clientele, I went in today and soaked my balls. Now this next part is a unique experience, which I always appreciate. So pay attention. Jackie found a plastic pail and some dish liquid, and in went the bingo balls. Clearly these had to be later removed and individually dried. Spotting this, by the time I got the paper towels and racks ready, the staff and patrons at the bar had brought out the bingo cards and set up for an impromptu game. That is, knowing I had to draw the balls out of the pail one by one, they got me to call the numbers. Never ones to miss an opportunity, that crowd.

           Some good news in a bit, but first the red scooter report. We can’t fix that muffler. It is unknown how the previous mechanic did it, since the same part is missing. We even fashioned a special aluminum gasket but that failed. Miguel says it wasn’t fixed, but can’t understand that I know it wasn’t fixed but it still worked for two months. That’s two “buts” in one sentence, both of them valid. How in tarnation did Mario get it to work? Because that is what I want to do until the money situation improves in a month or two. If you think that is tricky to follow, you should have seen me trying to explain it to Miguel.
           How, he wants to know, do I know it worked? Simple, if it can be heard from more than a few feet away, I would have gotten a note on my door from the home owner’s association. It was so dead quiet that I used to have to rev it at stop lights to hear if it was running. I know it was broken and is broken now, but I also know it worked fine since May.

           Here is the mysticious map written in Creole that somebody donated years ago to Jimbos. Nobody knew what it was until today, a passerby saw the batbike and walked in to ask about it. He looks at the wall and says without hesitation it is a map of New Orleans. Once that was pointed out, all the landmarks made sense. Regretfully a close examination shows that it is not, as first appears, hand-drawn. It is very handsomely framed.
           (The person who walked in mentioned above had seen the bike on-line in the Colorado "Towers" video.) The batbike is always a charmer. It doesn’t look bad at all without the windscreen. In actuality, I drive it almost exclusively with the tonneau cover in place due to rainy weather and the way that bucket collects water much faster than it will dry out. I note again there is no place, except the very inconvenient trunk and even more inconvenient saddlebags, to carry anything on that motorcycle without it getting wet.
           What have I been saying for years? That my extra weight is not due to either over-eating or drinking or lack of exercise. Guess what my latest round of tests shows? You bet, and for today’s good news, there is something that can be done about it. While there are never any guarantees, there is a program (rather expensive) that controls this condition and I signed up for it in a moment. Since there is likely chance of weight loss, of course, I’ll keep you posted. Few things would make me happier
           The treatment is about restoring a more natural balance to my system, which is producing triglycerides out of whack. There is a certain genetic propensity toward this over-production and I’ve got it. Turns out all who have it will gain this same weight if they live long enough. In other words, my long-standing feelings that it was weight gain that triggered my initial heart attack may be pure coincidence. And for the record, these same tests show that while my condition has been stable for years now, there has been no improvement either. I’ve got my mother’s bad heart.
           What are these tests? A whole battery, I believe is the correct term. They include these live sonic tests where I can watch my heart beating in a virtual three dimensional monitor, even the individual electrical discharges which show in bright green. The tests are physical, nuclear, acoustic, electrical, and right down to the good old huff and puff treadmill. I’ve been able to hack the full mile for years now (compared to less than 30 seconds in the early years) (It turns out within two years, I can repeat this every time).

           Which brought about a celebration, during which I purchased the trailer-wagon depicted y’day. It is light enough that I carried it unassembled in my door in two boxes. The purchase wound up into a half-day of filing documents and all manner of registrations and general bureaucratic nonsense. Something to do with a possible recall of the tires. I don’t see what my DOB has to do with bad tires. I don’t see why they need my signature and height. Something is ridiculous about that whole process. This place is getting to be as bad as Canada in some ways. You cannot fool me when it comes to database design and the information being collected by this one definitely is intended for a wider purpose.
           Last, I keep reading ever more about how blogs are a dying media in these days of texting and general phone messaging. That’s like saying books will become obsolete due to tweets. It won’t happen. I think it more likely that the number of blogs is declining for no other reason that 99% of the authors who write them have nothing to say and no talent to say it with. Millions jumped on the bandwagon, but very few have what it takes to sustain audience interest. One of the first things I look at when investigating a new blog is the frequency of publication. If I see fewer posts as time goes by, that sends me the message the writer isn’t serious. On the other hand, this blog has never missed a day since going on-line in August of 2006. (There are previous entries, but they are redacted material.)

ADDENDUM
           Rabbit TV. They don’t make the grade. The device is an aggregator, a link to other sites that contain what you are looking for. The first annoyance is that chatty broad that comes on as soon as you open their home page. Lady, just shut up, your voice is really displeasing. But the real problem is that if you have a PC, you cannot set your default browser to Opera. I don’t use Firefox, so that essentially leaves a choice between IE and Chrome.
           In this day and age I cannot believe anyone would advise using a product by MicroSoft or Google. Don’t they know those companies have reputations? Then again, it amazes me that anyone would use any browser except Opera. Since they (the Rabbit offerings) are links, a certain percentage of them will work, but for general usage, Rabbit TV is unacceptable on the browser count alone.

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