One year ago today: May 25, 2016, the original “fishing shack” model.
Five years ago today: May 25, 2012, the original trip to Ybor City.
Nine years ago today: May 25, 2008, tree root ski jumps.
Random years ago today: May 25, 2007, up to 300 years.
Look what else we found. It’s an original bone-handled Swiss army knife. These were too big to carry in a pocket so they came with a leather belt pouch. But that had disintegrated and the various parts of this knife, except for the fork and spoon, were badly rusted. It’s been wired brushed and is right now soaking in oil. We are finding items 50 to 60 years old in the latest batch. Our guess is this was from an estate sale back then and nobody remembers what or where. We found part of a home-made wood lathe and what looks like a spice rack.
You see, these systems cost money and take tremendous support effort. My objection is not that they are doing it, but why they are doing it. Getting everybody on file is expensive and they are going to want a return on their investment. Well, not everybody is on file. There are a few select individuals who saw the writing on the wall and they still have a comfortable layer of accounts set up long before the identity kick came along. Set up everywhere from Venezuela to the Philippines, if you get my drift.
Aha, how many times I gotta tell people not to outguess the engineer. The first thing JZ did when we inspected this place was replace the three missing light bulbs in the chandelier. Now I know why they were gone. As long as the walls were dark, that’s the tarpaper, the light was fine. But walk in there after dark and click on the light now that the drywall is up, that’s a bit of a jolt. Out the bulbs come again and I’m aleady sorry I didn’t install sconces. Mind you, the wall facing the bathroom is not finished yet and that would be a great spot.
The old air conditioner now has no trouble keeping the room cool. I recall the best hotel room I ever had in the Philippines, in Kalibo. There was no A/C back then, but there were two large slow oscillating fans mounted high up on either side of the bed. Around two feet in diameter, they could turn slowly enough that it didn’t tousle the writing paper on your desk and were nearly silent. Being mechanical, they were slightly out of synch all the time, but it made the room unexpectedly comfortable in that climate. And that is not much different than right here in the middle of summer.
I looked up the area on-line, a luxury I didn’t have in 1984. There are several hotels and tourist hostels now operating in the area, which looks to still be the only airport serving Borocay Island. That’s the reason I was in Kalibo. That’s the same town where I captured the mayor’s pig and ate honey-fried bananas. But it is also the place where the rebels with the AK-47x hopped on the jeepney for a free ride. I noted that there were decent, as in nicely livable, hotels in the area for $7 per day. It’s nice to know in the after-Trump power vacuum that I would still know my way around town.
Caboose.
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You should see a nearby picture of my new MP3 player. Are you reading this before or after music practice? Depends on the weather. The rain stayed away and I had the batbike up in Auburndale. We seem to have gotten to ten songs that are semi-favorites. The real advances are in theory and application. Like so many guitarists, he’s long suspected there are relationships between the chords, but has never learned it. He’s got it sort of, but still struggles over things that should be second nature. So we spent most of today delving into why things work, and he was able to play several tunes on that basis alone.
Here’s my newest quote, ready for fame-hood. “Those who don’t learn from music are condemned to teach it.”
I’m going to have to invest in more musical gear, including a hard shell case for my Ibanez acoustic. The guy does his homework, but if I try to demonstrate anything using the bass, or his electric, he doesn’t follow along. So I’m stuck having to use another acoustic guitar or letting things take forever. And they still can’t manufacture a guitar case where the zipper isn’t the first thing to give out. So I’m kind of showing him what to do step by step. I’m happy with the progress, but what a shame in 2017 I can’t find a guitarist who knows this on his own. Once I gave him today’s theory, within a few minutes we were playing songs he’s never heard. Miranda Lambert and Phil Donahue. But what can I do? Even if he is slow, because he’s at least trying, he’s already far ahead of all the douche-bags who wasted my time.
He now admits he has never really played in a country band. That surprises me since my ad specifies country, but that is a minor lie compared to the others. This guy never played any country. Ha, and I figured he was just that lousy. Nope, I’m essentially spoon-feeding him the material, but any band is better than no band. He played that unsuitable mid-fifties to mid-sixties material, including Buddy Holly. But at least he didn’t argue the point when I demonstrated why that kind of music is not compatible with what we do. The gulf between rock and country was somewhat greater back in the day.
As for weather, it was perfect for motorcycling. I had the batbike out for a sprint, to music practice. I took along the Fishman and both guitars. This band is going to sound bad to start. The new guy also lacks experience at “meshing” the sound as he still has challenges staying on beat and remembering the chords. But I can work with an amateur sound the same as any other sound, so things forge ahead as long as he keeps doing the work. He seems happy with the progress. And since a band always makes money when I’m in charge, you can look forward to that as well.
"The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this."
--Spencer Silver inventor of 3M "Post-It" Notepads
He’s got a small amp that he sings though. Oh, and if I neglected to say, his singing is remarkably good. What it lacks in dynamics is compensated by how he stays exactly on key, like the way most people sing “Happy Birthday”. But now we know why he hasn’t been giving me his song list. He lied about playing country music, simple as that. If I can’t find my Behringer, I’ll buy another mixer. Since this band will make money if we continue, I’ll loosen the purse strings a little. But at my age, I should not be having to shell out even more cash for my music.
That brings up the topic of expenses. I’ve got it pretty good now that the efficiencies of moving to the countryside are beginning to tell. There are fewer extraordinary expenses and even those tend to be hundreds of dollars less living in the city. Running all three motorcycles is averaging out to $56 per month in gas, less than the $66 for just the scooter back in Broward. And distances here are greater, meaning the savings has a lot to do with not having to continually make wasted trips. Those are a fact of life in Miami-Dade.
Yes, they are setting on old pieces of corrugated roofing material. I knew I’d find a use for that stuff. I’ll soon test an array of these aluminum tubes to see if they will draw less warm air out of the shed interior. If I can’t find any way to join aluminum, I will resort to tin cans, which are easy to solder. The test with the paint passes and next sunny day I’ll get the old oven thermometer out at have some exact readings for you. That will be your blog science for this week.
Any other remarkable budget items? Let me take a look for you. Nope, everything is what it should be. My coffee budget is mainly a dollar a day at the library. I still spend $46 average per month in cafes, usually chatting up women or working the crossword, that is, it would be very rare to see me in a café unless I was doing one of these two things. Café is a generic term (because it fits well in spreadsheet title columns) since it could mean Dunkin or BK. Hey, I like the spicy chicken sandwich and would probably like it even more if it was real chicken. And my entertainment budget remains consistent at around $18 every third day. The movie theaters are too far away, so I have an entertainment budget surplus. More than enough to by a sluice box if I feel like it.
And who remembers the term mitnicking? That's when somebody pretends to be anonymous but published enough on the Internet that people know who he is. It's always a he.
ADDENDUM
Okay, who has been following the news story about the Chinese round-up of American spies? The angle of the liberal press is a joke, and one of the worst hotbeds of this activity is right over here in Tampa. Their newspaper says the arrests have “deprecated” America’s intelligence gathering capabilities. Isn’t that something? The attitude that US spying is a given, and them foreigners ain’t cooperating. Those backward places should show a little more respect for our birthright.
I mean, don’t they watch TV over there? Then they’d know that the US government is the nicest in the world and the proof is how willing American citizens themselves are to entrust DC and the credit bureaus with even their most intimate secrets and medical charts. Even our banks have privacy policies. If you can’t trust the formerly richest nation in the world with diplomatic pouches, who can you trust? Yet to hear them talk, you’d think the main purpose of our embassies and consulates is a pre-retirement home for CIA operatives.
When, in fact, the main purpose of American overseas embassies isn’t spying at all, it’s . . ., it’s . . ., um . . ., helping, . . . trade, maybe? That’s it, making really important trade deals. Why, even our President has remarked on the job they are doing with that. Them foreigners need to be taught a lesson. Don’t be surprised if one day they wake up and find the Seventh Fleet off their coast. It’s the liberal American way.
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