One year ago today: April 20, 2015, . . . of which I knew nothing.
Five years ago today: April 20, 2011, Mars fingerprint.
Nine years ago today: April 20, 2007, Everglades excursion.
Random years ago today: April 20, 2012, mini book report.
MORNING
This is a stick, not just any stick. This one will cost you $12 at Guitar Center. And this is the budget model. It’s specially designed for hitting your cowbell. When using an old broken drumstick just doesn’t cut it anymore. It even says on the label, “Pro Cowbell Beater”, although it undoubtedly has other uses. Too bad this picture is so lousy. Come to think of it, have there been any bands tacky enough to actually use a cowbell since the 1970s? This, one supposes, allows the vocalist opportunity to express the full range of his instrumental abilities. Here’s good advice: don’t hit a cowbell on my stage and don’t ask the singer where he keeps it between shows.
Gee, there’s a lot of little old ladies in this town who have developed a sudden curiosity in sidecar motorcycles. I mean, since this never happens when I’m walking or riding a bicycle, what else could they possibly be interested in? Duh, yup-yup Roger wilco. Now let’s get down to business.
I’m canceling the weekend trip unless JZ wants to go chasing skirt. Prices are dropping across the board so the pressure is off until this trend at least slows down. Unless I somehow have chosen only the most volatile of housing for my sample pricing, there is something serious going on out there. Not in the area I want, but my database shows more than one location that has dropped from $31k to $10k and still not moving. Under such conditions, the best tactic is to wait and watch. I’ll stand by my rule that when the market is moving up or down, shop for a deal. When the market stands still, shop for a steal.
This is also the fourth anniversary of my five-year plan, give or take a few days. I’ve often said it takes five years to “get rich”, but you’ve probably ascertained there is more to it. Sure, and I’ll touch on some of those. That’s five years after you get out of debt and establish a steady income. This could be any income, ranging from a pension all the way to the least desirable form—a secure job. Between 2005 and 2011, I did not have such a luxury. It’s too bad for certain people that they judged me by that stretch.
Now, I won’t lay out a master plan, it’s too individualistic to get into specifics. But for instance, when I say establish a budget, it turns out most people have no clue. They put themselves on an allowance which lasts until the first rainy day. They also make the mistake of thinking if they stay home and under budget for a day, that means tomorrow they can go spend twice as much. This behavior never checks the bad habit of spending as a reward. No, no, not spending is the reward.
So as not to leave you without any guidelines, I’ll give you the rules for the first four years of the five, in broad terms. This is what you have to do to get ahead, how much you put into it determines if you get rich or not. Here is the outline:
Year 1: calculate
Year 2: consolidate
Year 3: accumulate
Year 4: speculate
You don’t get year five because it hasn’t happened yet and I’m not giving up the element of surprise. Don’t be memorizing the list, it is in shorthand. Each step requires a good 100 hours of deep, directed, educated thought. Like the term speculate. It does not apply to my silver holdings, but the way I’ve been putting in low-ball bids on properties that I know are likely to be turned down. It’s sheer speculation, but without a downside. When they say no, I still have my money.
Now your trivia. According to ID magazine, if you weighed the entire biomass of the earth (living things), 20% of it would be ants. The mystery is, how do they all know where I live?
Level crossing.
NOON
Have you ever used a radio frequency scanner? I’ve been around them, but never owned one. Until today, when I picked up this Realistic (Radio Shack) Pro-31. One great feature of this blog is the diversity of things I’ll try—and will warn people what not to try with always a good explanation. Well, don’t bother with this scanner. Hey, for ten bucks I figured I had to learn at least the basics. And that what this particular hand-held unit is. The basics.
That leaves weather radio the only continuously transmitting station I could find. 162.55 mHz, but at least I know the thing works. So, you’d figure, this thing is a scanner. Let me set it on scan and see what I chance upon. Wrong. This thing only scans ten of those 22,300 frequencies—and you have to know in advance which frequencies you want to “scan”.
You preset the radio by punching in up to ten frequencies using the keypad. When you hit scan, it checks only those ten, ignoring the other 21,290 implied by the advertising. I keyed in several popular frequencies (per the Internet) in the bands listed on the back panel and heard nothing. I included some amateur stations, whatever those are, the W1AW Morse code transmitter which comes on only in the afternoon.
I set the unit over by my NPR radio and set it to monitor. The unit does not include bands to receive AM or FM radio, and the television audio frequencies I think are now digital. Either way, it does not receive any of those stations. If you go on-line to find specific numbers to program in, you get a lot of ranges, which are not helpful unless you spend hours hoping to punch in a number where you actually hear anything. So at heart, it is just like a ten-push-button radio that doesn’t receive any good stations.
It’s been silent for hours now. I’ll probably find some better stations over time. Unless you know Morse, and that is limited to only short messages around 15 minutes maximum, I can’t justify owning a better unit. I’ll maybe find the FEMA frequency and see if there is anything on these survivalist bands.
Overall, this type of “scanner” is a disappointment. But not as much as if I’d paid full price for it. Don’t waste your money. There are lots of places that will replace the crystals to add other scales but I won’t even ask the price. I suppose I can now say yes, I’ve used a scanner. Who knows if it is any good, but expecting this thing to just scan and find active frequencies is a joke. It don’t work that way.
NIGHT
A slight cool spell had me working on the motorcycle, tending to small things I’ve been putting off. Like that foot peg rubber that got stolen, I did not know that is a custom order. So I replace the peg with an aluminum plate, which I will later cover with leather next time I pass the shoemaker. You I removed the old plexiglass fragments and measured out my replacement. Painted wood will be fine, it is thin enough to just bend into shape. I’m also going to tighten up the Vetter mounts for a good reason. The terrible state of Florida roads loosens the mounts.
You see, they didn’t make these fairings for the year of my Honda, so it is jerry-rigged from a 1980. (The term “jury-rigged” is wrong and doesn’t mean the same thing. It is one of those truth-by-consensus type phrases. If enough public school people say it wrong, it becomes their standard.) And after three hours failing to find that slow leak in the sidecar, I’m going to pour that green bicycle tire slime in it to see if that takes.
The new neighbor is here to stay. The one who took the spot that prevents me from parking in my own back yard. But he’s an okay dude so far, only borrows stuff he really needs. He’s the one who gave me the aluminum plate for the footrest since the other day I lent him the bicycle pump. Like myself, he’s got a big vehicle but has resorted to a scooter for chasing around town. His wife does all the yard work.
As for progress with the book, “Port Mortuary”, I’m a third of the way through. I was going to sit in the shade all afternoon but got interrupted so many times I got like, ten pages done. The plot is okay when she can stick to it. If she’d get off her horse about proving how sensitive her protagonist is, she could compress the book by a third. Then again, her obsession with showing us how liberated and in charge the lady is tells me a lot about her own insecurities, and that keeps me reading. It’s because I’ve met women like that.
They’re everywhere, you know, the liberated types that took assertiveness training. They form groups over all manner of causes, but scatter like chickens in the face of even the mildest adversity. It’s fun to watch and fun to read. This woman is constantly “caring about others”, but always in the light of how it affects her. The best instance is how she if affectionate toward her husband because she “lets him keep secrets”. Aw, isn’t that just the sweetest thing? Here, have a hanky.
Last Laugh
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