One year ago today: August 12, 2016, not a good day.
Five years ago today: August 12, 2012, welcome to Demopolis.
Nine years ago today: August 12, 2008, Wallace by the levee.
Random years ago today: August 12, 2004, on the price of an Apple.
As the living room drags along, it creates a want for good news, any good news. So how about I just grind some up for you? Hey, at least I’m not like Huffington Post who does it to you every issue. I finally have enough stats on the back room insulation to make some confident observations. JZ, head’s up. It has been nearly three weeks of sweltering weather. The basis of comparison is one heavy duty A/C in the uninsulated front room against the cheapest Wal*Mart unit in the 68% insulated back room. That’s 220V vs 110V.
Here (picture) is the maximum setting needed for the small A/C unit. As depicted, the dial is set at less than four out of ten, and the fan speed is on low. I also run a small oscillating table fan in the far corner of the room. You quickly learn in Florida that convection alone doesn’t cool the room evenly. The fan uses only 1/7th of the electricity of the A/C and there are times at night the room got chilly enough that I’ve had to get up to turn off the fan and lower the A/C dial to below three.
Compare this with the living room or JZ’s condo. The living room unit has to be cranked up to turbo whenever the outside temp gets above 90°F, which is most of the summer. Even with 20” box fans operating, the only comfortably cool spot is directly in front of the blower. The walls remain warm to the touch and throw radiant heat when you stand near. In JZ’s condo, the air conditioner is a huge contraption with a radiator on the roof of the building. It works, but the cost is enough to make him as cranky as the fan that takes up a space as big as his closet.
The dollars? Well, I can’t state exactly, since I pay all my utilities as one single bill, including water and garbage. So I only know the difference and so far it seems to be around sixty cents per day. Of course, I could cut that in half by the expedient of turning off the A/C when I’m not around, but then I would be living small. When JZ gets home, he has to race for the thermostat and wait five minutes for the room to get cool enough to inhabit. If he goes out six times a day, he repeats this ritual six times a day. So I opt not to quibble over the extra pennies. When I come home the back room is invitingly climatized. And I didn’t run any A/C for most of last winter, so again, this is the worst cost for the hottest part of the year.
If all goes right, I should be ready to partially insulate the front room within the next week. I’ve decided to insulate as much of it as I can before proceeding with the floor work. I mean, it gets really warm in there, even though I have the room divided in half by a dust curtain. The records show that it was five years ago to this week in 2012 that I crossed the Texas-Colorado border north of Amarillo by sidecar. And I would do it again at the drop of, of, well, pretty much anything. Remember this classic photo? I had the old electric bicycle under that tarp. What an adventure that was. I was still recovering and that break did me wonders. You can use the yesteryear links above to follow that unique journey. In the end, the trip cost $6,000.
Steppes.
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Remember how I found Deland? An overnighter trip by Amtrak. They are still doing the assigned seating thing but I’m considering another such jaunt. The rules are simple, but first a day trip. There are two northbound and two southbound trains daily. The trip is determined by the maximum distance to be traveled northbound to a town, any town, where the gap between the two trains is around an hour and a half. Then go there for a cup of coffee and come back. Adventure for $40. That’s how I found Winter Haven.
The batbike was the vehicle of choice, as I also picked up a saw and palm sander for ten bucks more. The toughest part was heading out there along the old route. The batbike, let me just say unless you’ve been bitten by the motorcycle bug and have a sidecar, you cannot imagine the temptation to open the feeds and just keep going. No map, no GPS, no route, no schedule. The batbike has no overdrive so it can be a bit sluggish at the high end. But at low speeds with an experienced driver, it is an astounding sight to see it hit 45 mph in a few seconds. After that, it tapers quickly.
And below 30 mph, it rivals the Rebel. I’ve always felt the Rebel was not that zippy for a 450, but my people assure me it the motor is in top condition. Maybe it is perception. The Rebel seems like a light machine, but it is mid-sized. And the batbike is built like a boxcar, but in reality, the empty sidecar makes little real difference. I rarely accelerate even as much as half throttle so it is no big deal when the machines don’t win many races. When I do sprint, the performance is remarkable, each in their own way.
“Who put that damn needle
in the haystack anyway?”
~ Lester Goslar
Here’s a progress photo. Remember the tree I had cut down at the 12 foot level last year? Instead of taking it down to an unsightly stump, I left it high enough for a house sign. Alas, the wood is too soft to carve, but this is how the vines are taking over. I sort of like that effect, plus a lot of birds and little lizards have taken up residence. For now, it stays.
I’m no longer a guitar solo virgin. I was up at the Bar and played a 1-1/4 hour set, and it would have been longer except the Karaoke showed up and wanted to start early. Nonetheless, for the first time, I played and sang in front of a new crowd and pulled it off reasonably well. Chances are I’m more attentive to the vibes of the room than usual, something a few more guitar player could strive to. For all I’ve done on stage, this solo was a first and let me tell you, talk about déjà vu. I strongly recall my first time on stage, my first time with a bass, my first time with drums. I went through all that again even after decades of experience.
Yes, I had butterflies and made mistakes. I flubbed up the chords several times. I lost the lyrics I thought I knew. I galloped a few tunes. But, I got through it and got me some applause. And I learned plenty about my guitar stage presentation. Some of the best songs I do are no suitable, so unlike some guitar players I know, I have to dump them. Anything with low vocals is getting shifted up. I need a far better microphone system. No more using other people’s PA equipment and I’ll be needing several hundred hours stage time. Once again, I’ve got two months to get five years experience.
And, I’ll be needing a backup of most of my peripherals. I forgot my capo and could not do some of my best material. I made just too many mistakes for my liking. My own cables and cords got tangled around. I should play sitting down until I get a better handle on this thing. Over all, I’m happy with the set and I’m certainly no worse than others I’ve seen. No doubt there will be more on this. The room, like most in this area on a Saturday, was mostly empty. My total take was zero dollars. But that’s happened and never stopped me before.
On the way home, I stopped at the old club and ran into this gal who was instantly good company but not my type. It was nothing really, she just hit an empty seat next to me and knew the server. We got to joking about hotwiring a Lexus and joyriding to Tallahassee, but decided that city wasn’t worth taking the bus to. She was interesting but just not in the league of what I’m looking for, sorry. At least she wasn’t one of those airheads who can’t deal with any kind of man except one who is constantly hitting on her. Mind you, I did get a hint of that, but basically I picked up and left early. Before anybody could get the wrong idea. But I warn you, my timing on these kind of things is horrid.
ADDENDUM
Do you use an adblocker? I do. You may soon be committing a crime under the DMCA, the Digital Millennial Copyright Act. Originally intended to protect authors and composers from digital piracy, no significant part of its usage has filtered through to the creators of anything. Instead, the provisions of the law have been used almost entirely by law firms representing the copyright owners, big studios, and in some cases, the law firms themselves.
These adblockers are mainly created and maintained by small private volunteer groups and they have become the target of the next move to shove advertising up your ying-yang. The move is afoot to have ad blocking declared illegal. The perverse logic is that the advertising is part of the copyrighted content and that obligates the viewer to also look at the ads. Don’t quote me on this, I just caught wind of it. But a mighty stench it is. Remember the crowd that went after video recorders that automatically edited out the commercials? Same concept, new lawyers.
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