January 1, 2023

Yesteryear
One year ago today: January 1, 2021, how I slice it.
Five years ago today: January 1, 2017, it is permissible.
Nine years ago today: January 1, 2014, BMI are shysters.
Random years ago today: January 1, 1977, then I split for Seattle.

           Fried spuds with onions and celery, smothered in pepper gravy. This is the start of my true and official retirement, take it easy, slow down, spend some money era. Let’s see how far I get. The radio stations are an early signal things have changed. All the good stations have gone off the air or get clobbered by Spanish stations as of some time this morning. I’m having a second coffee and listening to what there is, mostly a new narrative that “we” have beat the COVID by banding together under Democrat leadership, who have performed miracles considering the horror-stories they inherited from the “twice-impeached, discredited election denier” named Trump. And his use of the word “disgraced” must have really stung them, it’s become their favorite.

           Time to take time, that’s my theme. Here’s one for you, I have videos of me doing my Karaoke theme song, the one nobody expects. “Tequila.” This goes back before 2014, but has never been posted. Therefore I cannot show you the exact copy of my moves that has become known as the Trump Dance. But there it is, who knows one day? The change in speed over here brings up an odd budget category, called the “Do Nothing Fund”, established for days of that nature. Well, it inherits $70 per month. What can you do with seventy bucks at my age? Go-kart rentals and log splitting are out, though I am going to buy myself one of those shape-shifting screw drivers. They’re about $100 so that takes care of January.
           I also want one of those balls you throw and it comes back, for the doggies, the latest drone which takes fantastic photos, and a pair of those glasses they now say you can focus with a dial. You may recall I only wear glasses when driving, as closeups they all give me a mild headache. This product is novel enough I must try it. And this picture? It’s one of the top products of 2022. Recognize the idea? Yes, it’s the Cool_Pad we’ve been using on this blog for so many yeaers already that we are on our third generation devices. One day, the world will catch up with this blog.

           That was the Reb, the big doggie isn’t well. That critter has definite habituals so it is easy to detect the slightest thing wrong. Shivering is the sign of an upset tummy, but these pets have little possibility of eating anything not on a prescribed diet. They eat better than you or I. It’s still early, lets take a preliminary look at the books for 2022, check for surprises. Always check extraordinary expenses first. Hmmm, the usual, between $4 and $5,000. This includes the tree trim ($471), the new table saw ($347), and surprise vet bills ($984). Anything else? Groceries were $900 more, but that would now include doggie food at times. Entertainment remained the same at $320 per month. The worst month for money but best for fun was May, 2022. That was in Tennessee where things went an astonishing $2,204 over budget.
           Best month was July, where between working mostly around the yard and extra gig money, we were only $71 over despite extras like bird food and chain saw repairs. You’ve noticed gig income is rarely reported, but it can really take the pressure off. You never make money at music, but as you now know, it let’s you lose money at a slower pace. Today, I find my Almanac, the last good copy they printed. Not for accuracy, but for practice, they are always good for that. Later, the doggie has stabilized, so we’ll see if he improves overnight. I say he must have found something he should not have eaten. He does have the run of the back yard.
           Somehow working up the energy, I got out there in the yard and did some raking. Once started, I puttered until dark. That why you get this excellent picture of the work shoes I repaired. Or is the correct verb “cobbled”. I cobbled these shoes, or did I just cobble the heels? It’s a mystery for the ages because I was also checking other things and can’t pursue it. And now I want to go out for a beer but it isn’t late enough.

Picture of the day.
Balconies in Barcelona.
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           A new (to me) term is gaining traction, the “invisible addiction”. Heard it? It is the credit card mentality repackaged from way back. This is also known as robbing Peter to pay Paul. The problem has finally become rampant enough to get its own definition. According to the emerging articles, the pundits are just now beginning to notice the false fronts put up by the latest generations. Quite honestly, nothing has changed but the toys. These people sport designer sneakers, iPhones, and drink $8 coffee while barely maintaining their minimum credit payments. Sure, this has always been a factor, but now it becomes majority behavior.

           Here are the new [lock miter] bits with the correct shank size of 1/4”. The one that would match most of my work to date is the green unit in the center. I threw it on the small router without doing any of the fancy setup. To check the technology and it seems to work pretty nice. Even badly cut joints like what I managed first pass seem to grab well and they do lock together. A little mileage on this and we may have something. It would incentivize me to finally buy a decent router table.

           Somebody has designed a smart pet ball. It is programmable and can play fetch when you are away. It will roll itself out of corners and generally, a pretty good idea. I sent a note for the Reb to buy one. Apparently cats may also take after it. I automatically like the concept, as the ball must use a microcontroller and sensors that I’ve toyed with. These inventions were a long time coming but I figured that would be the case when I got my first Arduino some ten years ago.

           Ah, it’s later and time for that brew. I’ve decided rather than chase around for a current Nautical Almanac, I’ll stick with my old copy, one of the last years they mass-printed them. If you’ve notice how many times that sort of thing happens to me, yeah, it’s another mystery. The new guitar player has been back in touch. He does his homework, which is reflected by him asking the correct questions. There must be a compatibility in our song lists, if it is more than a dozen tunes, we will have a massive head start. Locally I mean. Most of the bands I auditioned flopped soon after new material had to be learned to flesh out a gig.
           I walked out to the shed and got these wood pieces special for you. Even without precise cuts, the principle is well-demonstrated here. They fit with a definite “lock” and don’t wiggle in any dimension. Hours later, unable to drop off, I drove over to Bartow which has the best “Sunday bar” (Kooter’s) for last call. It’s a holdover law from back when America was full of decent people. This is the joint I’m keeping an eye on next to the [locally] big sub-division. Around 20 of the 91 houses are built, but no signs of occupancy yet.
           The posters say there will be live entertainment on the 14th. It also says there will be live painting. Sounds to me like one of those chintzy “art” shows where, in the long run, only the studio makes any money at it. I may attend, after all, this is my home turf. If the arts are held in a pub on a Saturday night, then suddenly I’m a patron.
           And did you get a load of that report from Amazon when they tried to use their new A.I. application to hire new employees. It would only hire educated white men. They had to turn it off. BWAAAAA-ha-ha-ha-ha. (Later, I was told not to laugh because Amazon thought unplugging their computer actually solved the problem.)

ADDENDUM
           There’s a note to myself to back up all my 3.5” floppies. I still have boxes of those, you know I’m hesitant to change memory types without huge positive reinforcement, and for word processing, floppies ruled around here for decades. The cause of duplication is projected shelf life. The danger is all the records will now be in one place, subject to loss or damage. I will need 18 hours to make all these copies. What’s there after all this time is anybody’s guess. Originally there was no other filing system than a label stuck on the floppy jacket.
           The Webb scope posse is insisting the new objects at the edge of the universe are too large. I say here is my long-awaited challenge to red-shift. I don’t have the advanced math to justify my suspicion, but I do have the common sense. Historically, this is where inquiry begins—with somebody knowing what’s going on isn’t quite on the money. Let somebody else crunch the numbers. I say that if you go back far enough, there is an inconsistency with the red-shift. The current theory says it has always been the same. Impossible, I say, that something out there in the unknown is causing both the shift to be wrong and the expanding universe model just inaccurate enough to require an Einsteinian revision of what has become the new classical physics.
           I was unaware it was sulfites in wine that cause hangovers. I’ve avoided wine since I was a kid (yes, I know how make the good stuff) over this. Now, there is a product that removes the sulfites. I doubt I’ll develop a taste for wine after more than half a century.

Last Laugh