May 1, 2021

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 1, 2020, situation: below standard.
Five years ago today: May 1, 2016, Deland, FL
Nine years ago today: May 1, 2012, 70 at $1 million each.
Random years ago today: May 1, 2001, my Caddie.

           Palatka. The few things to see are closed for COVID but they left the advertising up. Cancel everything planned, you know me I head straight for the local museum. No signs on the door, no nothing, just closed. Trent arrived in the morning, we tried the railroad museum the marine museum, and the historic house. No dice, so we went for brunch at the oldest diner in the state, Angel’s. It’s a converted railway dining car with one good-looking waitress. Lukwarm coffee, but reasonable prices. Great biscuits and gravy, no need to tell the Reb who rates such southern food as akin to shredded fence posts.

           I kid you not, every café of this mode has one waitress with a dynamite body and the rest of the staff know it. Alas, this one also had a wedding ring. There was a row of good old fashioned swivel stools at the counter, a feature of Americana they’d do well to bring back. It turns out other than an art museum (no thanks) there is nothing open in town. We drove over to the restored house near the river, but that was locked up as well.

           We had a lot of business to discuss, which co-mingles a lot with politics. I’m going to take his advice on the collision settlement, although for me it means a long-term loss and permanent pain. I cannot take a chance of losing a case at my stage in life. So we toured the mansion grounds and peeked in the windows. Nothing else to see but we drove around and looked at it anyway. Finally we found a riverside park with a torpedo on display. Soak in the view of this Mark XXI, since it represents the cultural end of this morning’s walking tour.

           Business ventures are never very far from the idle chatter, and the pressing need for something is becoming eminent with these drastic price increases. Today we paid $10 for a bowl of soup. My old philosophy of letting the computer do the work means again, a business model that works on very narrow profit margins. Very narrow indeed.
           And who do we know that embraces this “Internet” model? Why the model herself, the Reb. What, I never told you she was a model? You were supposed to guess that on your own, bright-eyes. You don’t let a shape like that go to waste. No conclusion was reached except to fund another start-up. There is no pretense at building a classic business, keep thy shop sort of thing. No, for me is has always been random speculation, seeking that business that is an instant success, then sell out. Other’s may define an on-going concern as a business, whereas I view that as “buying yourself a job”.

Picture of the day.
Melrose symphonic auditorium.
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           See this outboard motor? That’s through the window of the Marine Museum in Palatka. The museum that never opens and does not have the courtesy to put a sign to that effect in the window. Up yours, Marine Museum of Palatka. Back to this outboard. I actually rode in a canoe with one of these when I was three years old. I remember it well, we went across a choppy bay to a rocky island with no trees. I didn’t like it. The name Sea Horse “3” stayed with me. We peeked in the windows at several places, including the Amtrak station which is in restored condition and in full operation. Except no customers.

           The Reb called back to mention a new Florida law. I have not heard it, but it seems they may have thrown something in Biden’s face. A rule that says you cannot refuse business to somebody because they are not wearing a mask. I will look this up, because the law has little gravity if they can still taunt you or refuse service on some other excuse.

           Having seen the highlights of downtown, we drove out to the west end and found the library. Usually there is a display or section of local history. Not this time. So we plugged in everything to recharge and read through some books until closing time, 1PM. Taking a quick vote, we opted to head out to Melrose. It’s nothing town, but they do have a symphonic auditorium. Central Florida is full of lakes, so many that one town looks like another and it is easy to get lost relying on memory. We wound up on a series of gravel roads in his Kia. What a strange car, these new dashboards are more like an airplane cockpit. There was a massive softball tournament and by now we’re famished again.
           So we stopped at another place known for the cuisine, the Blue Water. Great seafood, but not the local catch. Quite the feast, I chose the table under the alligator skin wall hanging. I was prepared to stay another day, but we concluded we had seen either everything or enough. Parting ways, he headed for Jax and I took the scenic route back to Winter Haven, via sets of old motorcycle trails I remembered, well back from the freeways. I was home in three hours.

           With jet lag, as I call it. My forecast came true, that Nashville, having a more temperate climate, got me adapted and now I get my symptoms back home. This trip got me insomnia in spades, just as well because we have a new option in the works. To Trent and I all Internet business proposals, whether they are or not, come across as updated mail-order scams. Every one sounds like what we used to read in the back pages of comic books. “What if I told you how you could make up to $7,000 per week in the comfort of your own living room?”
           Exactly. What does “up to” mean and what about people who’s living room ain’t all that cozy? I’m leery of all ads that say the process was developed by a person with a dead end job or start saying such-and-such is a kazillion dollar a year business, get your share. I do not believe there are twenty millennials alive who could come up with something that great, and none of them started working a Amazon.

ADDENDUM
           How about cars that require software “upgrades”. We know how well that system works with Windows 10, as when Bluetooth knocks out your audio jack and how the upgrades are timed to never interfere with your PowerPoint presentations. And 20% of EV owners switch back to gas because of issues with charging, though I put forth the real reason is the millennials fucked up EVs just as badly as they did GPS, and it is more like 50%. But just like you meet millennials who love GPS, they don’t realize how processed they’ve become when they can’t find their way without it.
           An article in the South China Morning Post says WMDOLL, the sex toy maker, has put in enough A.I. so the product can answer basic sentences. The short-fat dolls go for $1,500, the tall-blondes ring in at $7,500 although they, ahem, come off the same production line. In another true-to-life parallel, this ability to say “I like you”, and “You’re fun” has caused a 30% drop in female dating club memberships throughout the Atlantic northeast.

           As for the quality of the conversations, half the end-users (pun intended) say the dolls are unusually polite, another 20% say they’ve noticed no difference, and the rest complain the women “talk too much”. The Huffington Post assures all woke liberal feminists there is no cause for alarm. We are told the dolls are to address a 30% surplus of single males in China’s next generation or two. The imbalance in America has more to do with weigh scales to the extent I foresee a surplus of American females if they don’t (pun intended) shape up. BWAAAAA.

Last Laugh