MORNING
A picture of money? And not that much money, either. This isn’t what you think, it is actually a practical condition for a lot of entertainers. The money in the tip jar can get damp or soggy from the bar tables. In a semi-tropical climate like Florida, you get a lot of condensation on the outside of glass bottles. So this is money being dried out. Careful, I did not say it was tip money, or my money, so don’t overthink the situation.
They were larger, but also more aggressive and they turned into cannibals. So the lab flushed the eggs down the toilet. I found out what one of the more memorable aspects of my bingo show used to be. The older crowd was often hard of hearing so I often had to repeat “sixty” and “sixteen”, for example. I developed a habit of stressing the “teen” syllable, as in “six-TEEEEEEeeeeeeeeen”.
Now, imagine this, all my life I’ve been able to hold my breath two-and-a-half times as long as average. This comes in handy singing some songs and I won’t say how long I can hold that bingo sound. But it is way longer than most people would think possible. Try it yourself for just 30 seconds, because that is nothing for me. And I heard a new term: “Walmartization”. It means both the way Walmart does business and the effect this has on the surrounding communities.
Cancel rehearsal, Trent is in Texas, and I have to tear down the PA system. It’s been there [at the club] for six or seven years now and I don’t have room for it. If Trent gets back early enough, the gear gets a ride in a fancy hybrid SUV. And I’m failing my own welding course. The rule book did not say a major safety step was to always have a second person present. Unless it is Agt. M, who wants to watch me weld? And even then, you have to give him something to do as he cannot sit still any better than me without a good book.
NOON
Today’s ass-clown award goes to Adobe Flash Player. We all know they constantly issue updates because they are planting spyware on your computer. That’s fine, but if you click on the “install later” option, it now disables your existing version. There is no such thing as ethics in the programming trade.
My theory is based on the curved horizon seen as a straight line by most people. I figured out at the age of eight it is not a straight line because it appears to be the same distance away no matter which direction you look. But it also appears to be a consistent height off the ground. Are we agreed on that? We look "down" at the ground and "up" to the sky. I choose to investigate if I perceive to see the horizon at a fixed height of eye. I do not know if this is so nor am I aware of the results of any study of this topic.
To help out here, imagine you are helping me by holding up a surveyor’s pole. If that pole was a known distance from my eye, say 30 feet chosen arbitrarily because that's the longest tape measure I've got. If the two points, my eye and the pole were on a flat surface, the horizon should appear a fixed height up the pole. So when I wave like crazy, you mark that spot with this Jiffy. The flat seashore is the logical spot to test this theory. The plan is to mark the pole and then test it on some reasonably flat pieces of land, to compare the this observation to known results.
If anyone has not noticed by now, my fascination is with the theory and calculations end of navigation. I own four expensive books on the discipline which I’ve read an average of twelve times each, but not yet invested a penny to take the sextant to the beach and practice the real deal. The propensity for detailed “inside” work was what made the circuits I worked on at the phone company some of the best they had ever seen. Let the pole jockeys risk like and limb in the bush at twenty below.
Some of the worst workers I had ever seen were jock monkeys who would rather be outside forced into the office for a year. Forced? Yes, that was the company policy on the ones who got their driver’s license suspended. These days they fire them, but this was 1985.
NIGHT
I’ve got my PA head and expensive cables back here. As before, this means I have some serious home theater if I want. The speakers are still up at the club. Trent is back from Texas and volunteered to help but I insist to first check if somebody from the club will help on that one. It’s one quick trip and the landlord over there has allowed the place a week to clear out the premises.
No pictures yet, but it is weird to see a familiar old place being gutted. The coolers are gone, so you can see the original color of the linoleum floor. That fold-up chair I thought somebody lifted years ago was found when they moved the dart machines. Good, because I find sitting down radically improves my guitar strumming. When I think about it, I’ve been the entertainer there since 2007, so that’s long than I’ve lived in any one place since I’ve been in Florida.
And although it is speculation at this point, another round of planning is underway to commercialize the cPod design. A thorough search of the Internet shows there are only two or three serious contenders for a towed motorcycle camper. This is an inherently dangerous activity, so my design would be for a three-wheeler only. What’s available are small cargo wagons and the sleepers are half the size of my camper. My unit was always big enough to sleep very comfortably, the other units don’t let you curl up or roll over. Plus none of them address the problem of poor motorcycle electrical design.
My unit is not a pop-up tent camper. Those are not comfortable and the best one-person setup designs take close to ten minutes to set up, well in excess of the claims. And that is in calm weather. Nor are these secure unless you pay for a camping spot, the very antithesis of boondocking. My unit is ready in thirty seconds, has rigid walls, good insulating properties, and far more secure. Also, a small white noise generator works surprisingly well inside my design.
It is also difficult to tell from the outside that my design is a camper or if it is occupied. The prices of these tow-behind tents, even the used units, is measured in the thousands of dollars, where mine is in the hundreds. It doesn’t make sense to spend $4,000 - $5,000 on something that gets used twice a year. The closest prototype to what I have is the Idaho Bedroll, I don't dare ask the price.
If you watch this video closely, you will see that when unzipped, there is a canvas wall and no apparent overhead cover. Some say there is a rain fly or tarp--NOT good enough. Beware the videos that show any campers in perfect weather and in unrealistic settings. Like the guy kicking back beside the lake. No such thing left in America for free.
I see the builder of the Idaho Bedroll had to address many of the same challenges I did, which is why I’m surprised he opted for a curved canopy. That only cuts down your interior space for the same footprint. Also, he seems focused on gadgetry, like the stove and TV, while I want to know what it is like to sleep in the thing and how it keeps out the bugs, both insect and human. Was it ever road-tested? Latest word on this camper is he gave up and sold the concept to CozyCruiser in 2012 and nothing has been heard of it since.
Compare to the 8,088 mile trip on my rig a year ago.
Today’s Togla Treat
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