One year ago today: August 31, 2016, oops, sorry, they said . . .
Five years ago today: August 31, 2012, my 2nd most popular post.
Nine years ago today: August 31, 2008, remember the “Obama-tweets:?
Random years ago today: August 31, 2014, how to steal a shipwreck.
This is top material. Take a look at this from the “why didn’t I think of that” department. My guess is the idea never occurred to me since I would never do the real thing. The more-for-me cookie cutter. The end of August and this was the shortest day. Seems I slept for 18 hours, arising late in the afternoon. That’s not my manner either, but being able to do it any time you please, that is real retirement.
Blog rules says nothing exciting had to happen today, I only have to say what was most exciting by comparison. But if you are in thrill-seeker mode, this might be your opportunity to reach for a back issue of Reader’s Digest. I further inspected for damage under the house and I may be able to replace the wooden parts myself. And I promise to read up on that cast iron pipe which I’ve not heard anything good about.
And you were right about the crap going down in Houston. In some neighborhoods over 100% of homeowners have already filed for government assistance and the contracting industry wants to bulldoze tens of thousands of houses. We get it, guys. I heard the amount of unpaid mortgages on those houses staggers the imagination. But what the hell, Houston, it’s party time! Let the games begin. They can track you down 23 years later over an unpaid speeding ticket, but they can’t catch a single illegal immigrant who files a fraudulent insurance claim. Hoo-rah!
I’m 2/3 done with Wallace’s book, “The Seventh Secret” and I’m now recommending don’t read it because it is a waste of time. The book is no longer a mystery of whether Hitler died, but of what that means to the Jews who’ve invested so much demonizing him. It seems to me those millions of hours and dollars could have been better invested in trying to find a single document signed by Hitler that backs up what they say. The open-minded reader here should be aware that such a document would be the find of the century in some circles, but it has never happened. There is no actual proof that, except for communists, that Hitler ever hated anybody.
It’s like the claim that Germany was out to conquer the world. Complete nonsense, in fact it is almost a complete distortion of the truth, completely conjured up by the western newspapers. I might be an idea for you to look up who the first “world power” to declare war on Germany was. In 1933, that’s your hint.
Our hero, Rex or Rob, I dunno, some 1980 name, finally scores with the arheologist’s daughter. It only took the slowpoke 108 pages, but everybody knows that elegant people fall in love much more differently than us ordinary folk. He finds her “slippery passage” and moves into her hotel room at the Ritz. I know what you’re thinking, but hey, cut the guy some slack. This was 1985. They required at least 72 hours of pretending to ignore each other because they had to fall in love first. Gag me with a spoon.
Beachy Head.
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A dull day around here doesn’t imply a slow day. I got under that floor and took stock of what is happening with the plumbing. The big picture says to get everything level first, then tackle the matters, like electric and water, that depend on things being level. Obvious as that seems to you, well, you know better than to start any contests. I took the evening off and drove all the way into Bartow for a few beers. This was so spontaneous that I arrived without my pencil and scribbler. Relax, it took the bar less than minutes to locate me a piece of paper to write on.
Here is the corroded pipe that was nourishing the termites. Can you spot the error? It is the drain pipe of the bathroom sink. I watched it for five minutes while taking photos and notes, and I wonder why it continues to drip when there is no water running. I see the bathroom sink trap was also a rush job. I’ve mapped out a way, if it is acceptable, to run a single drain down the middle of the floor to service the whole room
I stopped to see Agt. R about this, he’s got some experience with the time the city said everybody had to go on their system. He’s worked with cast iron before and says it is not that difficult. But then, neither is anything you don’t do yourself. Take another look at that pipe. That is probably as bad as it gets. The drip is just to the lower left of my thumb, if you look closely, you can see the actual crack in the pipe. Until further notice, it is PVC time.
My concern was the order in which things had to happen. That bathroom has to wait because it is between two floors that need leveling first. Actually, my immediate concern is none of those. It’s my electricity bill. This is the first month that I left the A/C on continually, the living room floor has been open to the weather for many days, and when I was not feeling well, I, uh, accidentally left the hot water tap running while I slept.
In cheerier news, the state of North Carolina has now made birth control available to girls “as young as 13” without prescription or parental consent. That’s progressive thinking, as long as you consider 90 years too late to be progressive. I don’t apologize to anybody who wears blinders to teen sex, particularly parents, so I congratulate North Carolina. Let me tell you something about keeping birth control a secret. Even during the sexual revolution (ha-ha), it was still guarded information.
I’m not unmindful that I had correctly interpreted the vague facts available to me back then out of encyclopedias. You might say, based on what flimsy information was available, I guessed right. I was shocked later when the proper information became available. You know, I was in some cases, within a few hours each month of being forced to marry Susan Graham, Alvina Boser, or Debbie Bradley. A fate worse than alimony.
“Two years from now, spam will be solved.”
~ Bill Gates, 2004.
Have you seen this memory chip? That’s the latest SanDisk and it is yours for around $250. This has my attention for a number of reasons, the top one being this is the brand I use almost exclusively. SanDisk is not an old company, they’ve only been around maybe 15 years. I’ve watched as their capacity grew from 512Mb, when I bought my first unit. Come to think of it, I still have that one. It, too, was frightfully expensive when new. The chip shown is 400Gb, more than the average person could conceivably need for life. My guess is it will largely be used for digital movies. Nearly twenty will fit into this chip.
If I had to pamper my cameras, you would not see anything like the variety of photos that are regular fare in this blog. Most are spontaneous because I carry the camera on a lanyard around my neck. Nor will you be seeing many of my movies on the big screen. Normally, I detuned them to less than the 10 Mb that used to be the cap on my e-mail. I think it has moved up to 25Mb, I’ll check on that. Normally, I delete the production files as well because my most familiar software, Movie Maker, is too damned finicky.
I admit, I’ve never read the directions. With MicroSoft products, this is rarely a bad thing. Their manuals are not written to be comprehended by ordinary humans. If my e-mail will handle bigger files, that’s at least one change I’ll make. But I will hand you one warning. If they keep making these tiny chips, record amounts of data will be lost. In the laundry.
I was correct about the timing of the repairs, everything has to be done in strict order. This occupied my evening and a major task lies ahead. The living room floor has to be fixed before the bathroom is considered. I will have to run in completely new flooring joists entirely across that area before touching the pipes. Fortunately, you may recall I did not nail down the subfloor on the back bedroom wall just in case something like this happened. Experience, folks. I’m not attaching anything permanent on the floors of this building until I am satisfied they are level.
I have all the proper equipment, including that 30-Ton jack, but can I find the incentive? Remind me to stock up on incentive next time I’m in Hollywood. After all, they aren’t using it. While at the bar, I was invited to join in at a jam session tomorrow. Maybe I’ll do just that. I haven’t played guitar in a week.
Last Laugh
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