One year ago today: April 25, 2014, “That’s funny . . . “.
Five years ago today: April 25, 2010, cat picture!
Six years ago today: April 25, 2009, on anti-virus software.
MORNING
Three cups of coffee, that takes me back to my college days when it took that to get me awake in the morning. Learned to study alone in first year university because in a group, we all make the same mistakes and got similar marks. Anyone who had help at home, say a father in the business (like a docor or a lawyer) would walk away with the prize. This is also where I discovered that no matter how smart you are, chances are you cannot compete with those who have access to outside experience or resources.
I also tried private study with the women I met in continuing education classrooms, but as far as learning anything new, that didn’t work out either. The study part, I mean.
This is the club this morning, building a new panel for an air conditioner. I knew that sheet of wood that appeared last evening was a little too nice. It was marked with a series of drill holes and pilot holes to match an expensive A/C unit that the cover missing. This was the piece of paneling removed to install the unit.
Shown here is the matching up of cutouts for the filter and blower and control access panel. Proving once again that Agt. M can do precision work if prompted. Otherwise, it isn’t in his system. Just like playing guitar isn’t in mine. Shown here is drilling the corner pieces with a wood blade so that they are nicely rounded. The scroll saw paid for itself on this one project.
The band saw blades are going back for another weld. This time we’re taking time and doing the best job we can. The broken blades were examined in close detail. The breakage was the welding joint, not the blade itself. It is also clear that it is me breaking the blades, not some flaw in the saw or the way it is set up. But not to despair, the blades did not break immediately. I got close to 40 minutes cutting time out of each.
NOON
“Conscience: an inner voice that warns us that somebody is looking.” --H.L. Mencken
Awright awright, so I’m the only one that doesn’t like the new green day-glo paint. It reminds me of the warning labels on Venezuelan fungicide. It puzzles me that is a popular color. If you see a photo of the finished panel nearby, then that is the most work I intend to do the rest of the day long. I decided to not go watch it being installed, instead, I’m going to stay home and answer the phone, maybe finish some old projects.
I intend to spend all day indoors because it is 88° out there. That means mostly reading and research and feeding the birds. By mid-afternoon, I further tested the fancy paint “with colormax technology” and you can have it. It’s crappy. In fact, so crappy, it gets top story of this afternoon. It is runny and does not cover well unless two coats are slapped on. It is a tricky process to get the coat just thick enough before it runs. And any paint put on that thickness is bound to cover, so “colormax” my eye.
It is nearly impossible to accurately paint small objects, like gear teeth, without this watery paint getting where you don’t want it. And don’t try dipping the parts because this drippy paint will form a nodes and sag marks when hung to dry. I plain don’t like it, okay?
Then, there is this article in the Herald that the average daily hotel room in Miami is now up to $255.55. This, while occupancy rates are falling. We need an Uber hotel, but something that really works and brings these sky-high hotel rates down to where ordinary folk without credit cards can afford them. I still view hotels, taxis, and car rentals as totally corrupt and due for a major investigation.
And don’t hand us that nonsense about a home away from home. There is probably nobody who would not rent out a room in their house for $7,500 per month if the law was changed to make it safe and legal. But when the practice is restricted to hotels, you can bet the wrong people are closely and most intimately involved. I think modern hotel laws were designed with blackmail in mind. Very nice blackmail, mind you. Have you see the records they keep on their “guests”?
AFTERNOON
I’m invited to a wine and cheese party. There was only one ticket left, but it was 3,000 miles away. While not a fan of wine, I love cheese. I used to volunteer with a theater company just to get in free once a year—for the cheese. A lady friend emailed the invite an hour ago, but my Lear jet is in the shop getting the upholstery re-done. Did I ever tell you I knew a couple that faked wine and cheese parties?
And I do not Facebook. Neither do over 20% of adults with a computer. In my imitable fashion, I word it that I don’t like Facebook and I don’t like the people who like Facebook. But I say that about sports and such, in reality, it depends on the individual person. Still, you clubs who use only Facebook are cutting yourself off a big chunk of the potential market.
The show I saw y’day reminded me of that blind Indian guitar player Bill & I saw in Montana back in 1972. The one who played “Proud Mary” with three chords. That is why I’ll choose an entertainer over a musician every time. The guy had a following, they laughed at him. But they laughed at him every Friday and put money in his jar. The song list at the beach matched my old 1980s style, with “Come Monday” and “Dock of the Bay”, music I would have to be coaxed into playing any more.
I dug out the bass and played along. It’s been forty years since I noticed there are very few decent bass tabs out there. Most are wrong, they are written more like piano sheet music, which is expensive and doesn’t show the true bass notes. I learned the real deal and I suppose it is a pity I’ve forgotten most of it over the years. Since my early 30s, I’ve played bass with a flair for what I know the audience is expecting to hear—and what they are expecting to be left out. Like the saxophone part of “These Boots”.
EVENING
Okay, how do you fake a wine and cheese party? The oldest trick is pouring cheap but aerated wine into bottles with expensive labels and investing in a re-corking lever. But the neat part was the cheese. They called it “cheese base” and it came in two pound blocks like a pound of butter twice as long. They would cut the cheese into fours and mix each with a bottle of flavoring “from France”. Like the little bottles of booze sold on airplanes, but oily.
So, you ask, what has all this to do with Hot Pockets? Nothing, except to change food in the above way is not illegal. It is called “food reconditioning” and you most likely eat some of it every day. One of the worst is Hot Pockets. These items are manufactured from “faulty or expiring food items”, including products taken off grocery shelves when they become stale or mis-colored. Also, the labeling laws only require that the factory list the food or chemicals in a product.
They do not have to list non-food ingredients, so technically, yes, the hamburger could contain sawdust, kitty litter, and in the case of pork dumplings in China, cardboard soaked in flavored pork juice. Of course, they would never do such a thing here. Our food is FDA approved. Anybody caught screwing with the food has to take a solemn vow never to be caught again.
Last Laugh
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