December 14, 2022

Yesteryear
One year ago today: December 14, 2021, yard stuff.
Five years ago today: December 14, 2017, yup-yup.
Nine years ago today: December 14, 2013, remember Billie-Bill?
Random years ago today: December 14, 2011, there's always the jargon.

           Siberian weather or not, we got the Civic into the shop for a list of minor items, a reminder that it was repaired from a rear-end collision. For instance, the trunk leaks. Not one to miss an opportunity, we stopped for brunch at the Sunflower ($37 + tip) and got some major banking done. Normally the paperwork is my end but the nature of Plan 84, the Caltier Fund, means she has to do it my way. This involves a change of routine, which I may mention later. I have the okay to talk about the Caltier fund, as long as you remember the numbers from our side are approximate. But if I say Caltier paid 7.2%, that is exact to many decimal points.

           Speaking of decimal points, some of the Xmas presents have begun to arrive, so get the real reports. Here is my morning cup of coffee. It takes the Keurig-style coffeemaker exactly 2 minutes 1 second and another 46/100ths of a second to brew a cup. I had to take a chance that it had no iron components to throw off a compass and I got luck. This is the same German-manufactured clock show last day. It is now set to Greenwich Mean Time. I'll give it a workdown when I get back to the tropics.

           Some sharp-eyed reader will ask if that is my favorite coffee cup. Yes, and the next question will be how come it has no handle? Well, Pilgrim, all's I can tell you is if you want to date the kind of women I do, it is best not to notice little things like that. She puts Carnation in my hot cocoa and at my age, you'd best know when you've got it good. Besides, it's not like all coffee mugs need a handle.Pretend it is a hand-warmer or go get some crazy glue. You know what I'm talkin' about. The watch has several functions of marginal use such as metronome and pace(?). The only one I want is the one that freezes the display but keeps on counting.
           And cool it has been. Trent write from J-ville say it is cold there also. He is above the Florida frost line, while I am kind of right on it. We get a few cold spells, but nothing like up near the Georgia border. Myself, I'm sad to report that my old back and shoulder injuries are now decidedly affected by any cold weather and the discomfort takes hours to fade. Give me Florida.

Picture of the day.
Southernmost tip of India.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Another present that arrived is the pick punch. That's for me. Now me and my big mouth mentioned this was my Xmas present so next thing I know it gets gift-wrapped and plunked on my work table. That's my Reb, and consider the alternatives. I've never met another like her. She wants to donate her expired ID cards. Shown here, the punch is surprisingly heavy dute (so is the price tag at $25) and I practiced a few materials such as the cardboard in this photo. The punch also weighs a lot and is very well-made. Should you punch plastic that has slight sharp edges, there is even a pad of sandpaper on the base of the punch to smooth those off.

           The product comes with some trivia, such as how it was invented in 2005. The other frippery is why the Reb wants the ID cards to become bass picks. You see, if you turn the punch upside down, you can align the pick so it is right on her ID picture. Then, she says, I'm allowed to tell the world that I punched her head. Don't think this is all one way, the nonsense around here keeps you on your toes. Anything is better than routine, and I've said that how many times?

           I took the evening off again and went for a few brews. As it stands, it takes a week for the Caltier site to confirm your money is invested. It is acknowledged the first day but it will take me a while to overlook that Enron-like waiting period. Two items to be aware of. First is that the web site allows you to have only one pending contribution at a time. The icon is greyed-out, I don't know if this is on purpose. So plan ahead. The other is that there seems to be no provision to print out an activity log. The display only shows the number of contributions and the grand total. During the process of transfering the funds, you get hit with a series of KYC (Know Your Customer) nonsense pages.
                      Additionally, there is a page that asks you to confirm that your annual income is ten times the amount you are sending. The web page is professionally done, so there must be a reason for this extra step. My objection is probably unusual from their perspective. It's that I have $5,000 allocated if they keep up the good work. If I send that, I will have to declare my income is $50,000 and I will not do that. Let somebody else be the stupid sucker. (This morning it was posted that people who are not vaxxed are bad drivers, so their insurance is going up.) I'm not telling anyone my income, much less a stranger on-line. We'll see whose right about this in the long run.

           Why the extra night at the pub. Well, because that's where I traditionally plan such things. There are a number of factors that have to be juggled. This includes that the band where we make the fund deposits has a limit of 25 bills per deposit at the ATM. Another is the inane way Amscot has a $500 limit on money orders. And the maximum that can be withdrawn from my trust. Each of these is a different amount that has to be trimmed to a routine that optimizes the process before I can expect anyone to cover for me over time.
           Add to that I will not use Quickbooks nor most accounting software.

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