One year ago today: July 5, 2015, we learn about “auctions”.
Five years ago today: July 5, 2011, the AARP resume racket.
Nine years ago today: July 5, 2007, Seventy-five dollars, please.
Random years ago today: July 5, 2013, on Canadian law.
MORNING
Take a peek at this photo. Unless you want to hear about me packing boxes all morning, this is something novel. In 1990s, I canoed and walked past this mountain in Venezuela. This is the biggest mountain, locally known as tepui (say “teh-POO-ee”). This photo is from Wiki, and it is taken from miles inland. Trust me, that is one huge mountain, probably close to a mile above the terrain. There is a river that flows around the base, if you look you can just make out the tree line, otherwise this is a rain shadow.
The sides of the mountain tend to erode vertically due to iron in the rock. That’s also the reddish color seem everywhere, and the river water is almost blood red. This is the dry season, or you would see waterfalls over the top edges. If you look closely, some of the waterfalls come out of the sides. The talus slopes prevent these waterfalls from all being much higher than Niagara. There are hundreds of tepui in this scoured landscape, and some are banded colors which can reappear miles away, indicating all this was once the bottom of an ocean. In Africa.
Uninhabited and uncivilized, there was no electricity, motors, or roads when I visited. The nearest accommodation was an abandoned army camp in Canaima, a day’s boat ride downriver. I walked across a similar plain on my way to Angel Falls. Sadly, the government has since opened the mountain to concessions and you can take hang-gliders off the top. Angel Falls is another few hours by boat and I stood at the base of the falls in the roaring mist. What an adventure that was!
HMS Hood, a “before” picture.
NOON
I was wondering how to insulate my new bedroom floor, since the joists are open to the elements. I have the advantage of being able to stand on the ground while working on this project. But I didn’t know how to keep the insulation from falling over the years, not that I’ll be around to see that. By luck I saw this video, where the guy simply made a lattice of nylon (mold-proof) string. It seems like a lot of work. But it’s good to know somebody else solved the same problem. Um, wouldn’t bugs like to make nests in the insulation, or is it repellent in some way?
We now know a foreign check takes 21 days to clear. So if you are wise, you deposit it three weeks before you need it. Not done, you have to have it mailed two weeks before the deposit date, first class mail being what it is, takes a minimum of 11 working days to deliver the letter. Tack on the lead time for the same process to happen at the other end, and you have nearly a 13 week wait period. Hmmm, seems I’ve been through this before.
My point is the system is designed to give you the runaround. It is practically impossible to do business by the mails, as the tiniest delay will cause some kind of overdraft somewhere in the works. That’s because both ends of the chain will quickly conclude that by writing the checks in advance, you can overlap the dead periods. You don’t have to follow that, but it is plain the establishment wants to eliminate checks and watch us electronically.
The answer, of course, is to have a large float at your bank. Large enough to cover any possible bounced items. It isn’t an easy answer. You see, you have to total up the amount of business you conduct in 13 weeks and let that amount of money just sit there. Most people can’t last until next payday, much less a quarter of a year. Yet, that is how the rich do it. They have enough socked away they never care how slow the banks are. Experience shows I can get away with 6-1/2 weeks, but this is not for beginners.
Now I’ll tell you why this made the blog. It is because the new house is such an awesome startup expense that it has drained my reserves. I don’t have 6-1/2 weeks remaining; that is a pipe dream. This means things could go wrong and odds are they will. I have decided to take that chance.
Rebecca Waber: Medicine, 2008. Becky, who also writes financial articles for Newsweek, has figured out that expensive pills cure people better than cheap pills, including placebos. And you thought they taught that in medical school.
NIGHT
I made coffee and shepherd’s pie with ground pork. Then I watched documentaries on what’s happening in Africa. I’d love to be out somewhere, on stage showing off, and chasing some gorgeous babe. But, Broward lacks the babes. The classic line goes if you see a good-looking woman over 18 in these parts, it is either a hooker or a real estate agent. From the stage you can see the effect, where most men have enough to chase a woman, they don’t have the money to take her away from somebody else. I see it all the time.
Most of the videos concern how to raise a sagging floor rather than lower a buckled specimen. Lowering is the more difficult option. I learned a lot from these videos, ah the wonder of the Internet if you know how to use it properly. More specifically, what I learned is to use glue, as shown in the picture, and to use nails instead of screws. The plan is to prevent the floor from squeaking. I’m all for that. Got caught too many times as a teen.
Chill. I'm not talking to myself, I'm seeking expert advice.
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