If you get extra commentary today, there’s a reason. The old boy network was in full operational mode. Fred getting my recovered data onto an IDE disk and I fixed his hijacked Google. Hardware & software, an unbeatable team. From 10:00 to 2:00, we estimate if we had done this work for others, it was about a thousand dollar’s worth. We each had projects or computers that, if we had gone through the regular repair process, we’d have lost money on the deal. Instead, I have my revamped XP computer formatting the hard disk in the back room, ready to stay in business for another ten years. Unless MicroSoft decides to put a decent system on the market, but that hasn’t happened yet.
Shown here is the familiar process of installing XP, careful to uncheck the bad things, like Outlook Express. That’s me, shirtless on the top panel, showing my extra poundage and wearing a dust mask. I was drilling. What? Yes, I was also wearing a hard hat, safety glasses, and gloves. Who in their right mind would operate a drill without those?
You may shortly notice the improvement in appearances here and there in the blog (I cannot see the blog right how as these posts are edited and then moved in bulk to that destination). But soon, I’ll see the blog across the room, because the reason things get prettier is I am progressively bringing all my perfectly good old software back into operation as the XP resurrection continues. It should take about a week.
The bad news? The accounting is done on that XP unit. And I spent some hours today getting the transactions entered for the period since December 28 when the system crashed. That took me over the calendar year end and 2013 was not that great. My worse month ever since late 2010 was April 2013. That was not my lowest income month, which was November 2013, explained away because I was on the road 22 of those days. I expect more discouraging facts to emerge when I close the year. Despite rising prices, my income has dropped almost 10%. Am I worried? No, it dropped because I no longer have to risk my health working under the table. Soon it will be a full ten years that I’ve practiced for my retirement and I’d say I’m ready for it. Would you say?
But logic says if they were selling that fast, Home Depot would never run out. What I need to build is switched outlets. A regular two-plug receptacle with a switch. No, the single plug models with the built-in switch are both expensive and useless for my purposes. There are lots of two-gang boxes out there, but they are weird shapes with nail brackets, flanges, and other crap I don’t need. There is a weird square ring called and “extension” that I will try to see if it can be fit over these two boxes and the cover plate may fit on that. For all I know, that is what it is made for.
So how is my search for a club working out. Zilch so far. The colleges have a few academic based meet-ups, but restricted to staff and students. Admittedly, I’m more interested in science than culture. Let’s see what we got. Gulfstream Baptist? Autism Society? It says here the Charlie Daniel’s Band is playing in Weston on March 1, but no contact or pricing information. Typical. League of Women Voters, that sounds like oodles of fun. Nothing yet that I'd like to join up for fun.
JZ was on the blower, we are meeting up to go chase wome…. , er, I mean to go to the Gables Art Show again next Monday. As usual, we plan to meet up at 7:00, he’ll arrive at 9:00, and we’ll finally get underway at 11:00. I know the sequence so I’ll show up at 10:30, at Quizno’s. We can park there and get into the show free via his brother’s condo. That’s right, enter the parking lot with JZ’s pass key, then walk out the front door directly into the show. Is this cheating? Depends. Would we go to that boring art show if we had to pay admission? Probably not.
ADDENDUM
I’m glad I found the chapter on inflammation in JZ’s medical text. I am about to remove all corn and corn products from my diet. And that includes my staple of grits. What I found was overwhelming evidence on the dangers of GMO, genetically modified organisms. Like most, until I looked at some facts, I guess I thought that science was tinkering on the edge of the food chain, akin to cross-breeding for pest resistant strains, that type of thing. Wrong, there have been organized violent attacks on scientists who spoke out.
I started my research alphabetically with Aspartame. It is itself a genetically modified product that dissolves into the bloodstream and becomes undetectable by standard laboratory testing. Saccharine, by contrast, is not absorbed but still isn’t right for you. At this point, I found it difficult to get facts as it was hard to tell scientific evidence from health-food hype. What I did find is there are nine genetically modified foods. Only nine? Yes, but they are found in hundreds of other products. Here is what to avoid:
Soy
Corn
Cottonseed
Canola
Sugar beets (not cane sugar)
(The other four, papaya, zucchini, squash, and alfalfa (animal food) are not part of my diet.)
My conclusion is to begin reading labels more closely and avoiding outright those products on the warning list. My resolution to use coupons this year was a flop. Too many instances where the coupon wasn’t really a coupon. And no, a guy like me is not signing up on a database just to get a two-for-one box of crackers. You don’t tell the world you have a stockpile of food. I’ll purchase anonymously, remember, you don’t need food for six months. You just need enough to get by the first 30-40 days. If the food supply doesn’t recover after that, you are a goner anyway.
Beef, corn, tuna, eggs. America, the once great, I’ve had to remove your most popular foods from my table because of what you’ve done to them. Here is what I’m talking about. I pulled these products from my cupboard, look what I found. I thought it was cornbread stuffing and hot cocoa. I thought this was food, but now I don’t just read the label, I recognize the warning signs. Outside of a few spices, there are no natural food ingredients in this package.
Even the bread crumbs are “enriched”. And what is corn syrup doing in turkey dressing? I see the oils, soybean and cottonseed, are injected with pressurized hydrogen. The corn and soy protiens are hydrolyzed, defined as “to decompose by reacting with water” (I don’t want to know.) And autolyzed means “self-digested”. Modified corn starch may not mean genetically modified, rather processed so it will blend more smoothly.
My, that’s a relief.
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