One year ago today: May 13, 2015, old-economy Steve.
Five years ago today: May 13, 2011, Burger King is okay.
Nine years ago today: May 13, 2007, SOTP and TRHU.
Random years ago today: May 13, 2009, alumina anemia.
MORNING
What’s with the Jeraldo picture? Pardon me? Okay, Geraldo, okay, I don’t watch TV. This guy. Ha, my news feed shows him now adopting an almost semi-Trump position. The line he’s feeding the media is that he always knew Trump would move toward the political center, and he supports the center. What a hypocrite, he was Trump’s worst enemy and was out to champion a crusade against him. Now that he realizes Trump is no joke, he’s suggesting Trump is finally coming around to his point of view, so he feels compelled to support him. Mr. Trump, fire this guy.
That’s correct—I don’t know who he is or what he represents except that it certainly is not the will of the people. I will always condemn those who try that chicanery, they are invariably the brainwashed lackeys of an existing order they want to preserve against popular change. Whoever Ryan is, he should pick up that he’s now an outcast and get the hell out of the way.
I did catch the clip about Ryan saying that he and Trump are “addressing the differences”, but that is tantamount to Ryan saying he has differences with what voters are screaming for by the tens of millions. People like Ryan are demonstrating the need for re-education camps long before FEMA sets them up.
What I heard was that Ryan would not “endorse” Trump because of the potential that Trump “might say something embarrassing”. Ryan, poor, poor little baby, go get stuffed! The country is going to the dogs and the biggest thing on your petty little mind is personal feelings, boo-hoo. As if being an insider chump isn’t already an embarrassment, you idiot. Oh, I forgot, lying doesn’t bother the establishment.
Mr. Trump, sidestep this joker and get on with it. And keep him and everyone pulling these lame tactics at this stage of the game on your firing list. What good are they when they go against the popular choices? A majority of voters should be enough “endorsement” for anybody—and the majority don’t like being called too dumb to make up their own minds.
There, I feel much better now. I don’t know the issues, but I know people, particularly the lying, self-centered ones.
The Journey, a painting.
NOON
Fun in the sun. The neighbor lady came over in desperation, the office cut off her water due to a leak under her unit. They did the same to me, but JZ and I fixed that pronto a few months ago. In this case, it was the drainpipe under her toilet. She’s up the creek on that, it’s a major repair. It’s one thing to cut off the water, quite another to do it at quitting time on a Friday. I rigged up a stopper inside the toilet tank and turned the water back on for the rest of the place, instructing her not to remove that wire until she fixes the drain.
Having said that, yes, the Jews hate the Cubans as much as the Cubans hate the Jews. Remember “Voyage Of The Damned”?
[Author’s note: In all fairness, the office usually doesn’t do anything drastic unless they’ve been repeatedly ignored. The leak I saw did not happen overnight. Still, you have to possess some pretty strange and anti-human principles to cut off the water on Friday night of an old lady living alone. And let me guess, the same outfit will cry defamation if she complains.]
Since I was out there in the heat anyway, I tackled the seat of the sidecar. The original was made of wood, only a Russian would make an outdoor chair out of untreated wood. However, by close inspection, I noticed the wood was, in fact, 1” dowel, the type used for robot chassis. Ha, and the metal frame made at the clubhouse is almost a custom fit for the old wooden frame.
Shown here is the metal frame, now triple coated with rust-proof green primer. The final product will be painted automotive black. You can see the panels custom fitted to the new frame, designed to support the cushions up and away from the dampness in the bucket floor, as shown in the lower frame. The wood will this time be treated and waterproofed to the best standards available for robotics, and I paint it on thick. You may notice the prototype armrest (unpainted) along the upper edge.
You cannot see it, but the bucket floor is now lined with indoor-outdoor in place of the rubber mat, which allowed rainwater to stand in the bucket until it evaporated. The new “rug” has two wicks to drain the water by gravity. And the carpet now extends into the front end to the full length of the passengers feet. Of course, the mats are removable for easy cleaning. I’ve decided also to make an actual light duty frame for the passenger compartment out of the thin plywood I initially planned to use only as a template. The sidecar gets a little further from original the longer I own it, but let the next guy restore it. I need what is practical.
Mercy, it was 108F in the shade of my back yard. The green slime tire repair worked on the red scooter but the sidecar is flat again. But if you think I’m working out there, you’re bonkers. I put melon slices in the freezer this morning and that’s what I’m living on. I bought some indoor-outdoor mats to line the sidecar bottom, that’s my project for the day. It’s been forever that I plan one project per day, though I may have more. The theory is simple, maybe it’s one per day, but at the end of the year, I’ve got 365 of ‘em.
That new neighbor of mine is a scrounge. He is constantly walking around, back and forth my front window several times per hour. But that’s okay, it increases the security immeasurably around here. He’s also got an electric scooter, what I call the “stealth” bike. He also works in his “yard” on the other side of the fence, which discourages anybody taking any shortcuts across the property. Good. I’ll now feel more secure on my trips. He’s really set up shop, so he’s here to stay. And he has not asked to borrow anything, so that’s another plus.
AFTERNOON
Take warning, USA, Mexico has said you’ll be sorry if you stop the $20 billion per year hemorrhage of dollars that represents that country’s largest source of foreign trade. The banks that make the transfers will lose money, which breaks our collective hearts. So what’s Mexico threatening? To cut off our supply of killers and rapists? They’ve stated they will shut down their highly effective program to stop laundering drug money.
Ha, highly effective in keeping it a secret since nobody I know ever heard of it. They make so much off illegal drugs don’t tell me the Federales aren’t in on it. There will be “repercussions” says Mexico, so just you watch out. They claim confiscating the payments will cause the illegals to “find other means” to ship their US dollars back to their drug bosses. Let’s watch how that plays out, but Mexico, if that’s the best you can do, the fiesta is over.
Personally, I think Mexico is so corrupt that the drug trade has become the basis of their economy. Once they pay for the wall, factories leave, and the laundering stops, the country will relapse to its true status as a 1912-style banana republic, a fourth-world shit-hole of constant revolution and strife. And it is entirely their own fault for perpetuating a society based on drug money and illegals ending home cash. Yep, serves them right.
Alan Kligerman: medicine, 1991. Al’s the inventor of the dietary supplement, “Beano”. Available as a strawberry flavored “meltaway”. It’s primary use by 2016 is by home brewers, who add it to reduce the malt flavor often found in do-it-yourself beer products. It works on beer and bellies by breaking complex sugars to simple sugars before they get to one’s large intestine.
NIGHT
After last evening, a real wake-up call, by the way, I’m tempted to bring back the drum box. Too many of the performers put on a half-baked show, which actually made me sound good. Yet I know my guitar playing sounded as “thin” as the rest. It is important to differentiate oneself from the rank and file, and I don’t just use the drum box, I actually “play” it.
Further, some of the weaker performers last evening got laughed at. For me, that would be nothing, because I’ve paid my dues, but others don’t seem to have developed a thick crust. That’s a pity, because they are already old people. Without bragging, I was the best up to the point I left, but I know I was outnumbered ten to one. The hire decision has to be influenced more by my show than it is, although I’m happy with my progress. My greatest strong point is ability to think ahead. And I better do something.
Toward that end, I found a handbag (photo above) that has the right dimensions (after a few strategic cuts) to fit the receiver, microphones, drum box, cables, and power supplies in one unit. It took no time to design a wooden frame that allows everything to be operated (except the drum machine) without taking anything out of the bag. I’ve got several other “failed” components around should they be required, though when I say failed that only means the original purposed didn’t fly. Most of what I buy has some sort of built-in compatibility to the rest of my gear.
As usual, this is not a commitment to use the drum box, but that I will take a close look at it on the basis that I know most people who don’t like them also don’t know how to use them. As long as it [something I can use on stage] cannot be copied easily, it is a contender. One thing I did was program the beats to be never less than four measures long. That prevents anybody from simply taking one out of the box and doing what I do. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, making drum phrases four and eight measures, then good. That’s the way I want it.
ADDENDUM
Except for my first trip into Florida, the furthest point north I’ve been on I-95 was the week in Savannah. There is limited scenery since that road is along the Atlantic Coastal plain. Hilly and winding roads are more fun by motorcycle, particularly at the slower speeds towing a camper. I did some atlas work and there is a much more scenic route across Georgia to Chattanooga, then up a valley to nearly parallel to the Smithsonian. It’s 765 miles to Chattanooga and then 598 mountain miles to DC. By easy motorcycle standards of 250 miles per day, that would be one hell of a great way to spend a summer week.
Wiki calls the valley a “trough”, a chain of lowlands that goes most of the way to Canada. In my vast collection of “what’s-here” I don’t have any maps of the area. I know I must have by now seen advertising or travel accounts of that area, but where? Most accounts say head into the valley at Knoxville and find your way north. But they don’t say which valley and which north. Maybe it is library time? The neat part of libraries around here is the map section is pristine and untouched.
The Appalachians. I recognize many of the place names. Shenandoah, Blue Ridge, lots of Civil War towns. The absence of good travel maps isn’t helped by GPS, which is great for getting around cities, but not for planning a great trip. Without good maps, I’ve resorted to printing out aerial photos from mapquest before, carefully cropping them into a route where all else failed. The maps show plenty of small towns. I suppose there is a lot to see in a valley 500 miles long. It is already May 2016 and I am looking for some epic journey. You are welcome to join me, dutch. And bring your own motorcycle.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ve always associated that area of the world with the first real conflicts between the Europeans and Indians. I see both sides, the Europeans considering the land undeveloped and inhabited by savages. And the Indians watching somebody come along and putting up a fence and saying they could not longer cross. Sure, there were conflicts earlier, but it was in these narrow valleys that the situation gave the Indians some serious pause to consider.
Last Laugh
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