One year ago today: April 6, 2022, score a carpet!
Five years ago today: April 6, 2018, saved by my camper.
Nine years ago today: April 6, 2014, when pop-ups ruled.
Random years ago today: April 6, 2009, looking at mailboxes.
I’m still in Polk, my whole circadian rhythm thrown off kilter. It is shocking to discover how much faith and trust some people have in the banking system. It’s as if they actually think it is still the cute little corner bank they knew back in the 90s that has now set up a few computer links for the customer’s convenience and it’s only right they use them. No inkling whatsoever that the banks are now a world-wide network that waited a thousand years for a porthole like this. Recharging your phone with a USB cable at the library is as low-quartile as it gets.
Today’s addendum gives you a trailer court original, the slideshow of the papaya. This unit was removed to check why it has not ripened in a year. The Saga of the Papaya, it is just starting to ripen. The orange part is sweet, but overall the fruit is green. That’s where this picture comes in. You can see the next crop starting to grow up near the leaves. This tree has plenty of sunlight, yet exhibits the tall spindly growth of a jungle plant toward a canopy that does not exist here.
The morning was wasted chasing after bank accounts. My accounts are fine and it is now a situation where there is nothing I can say to e other people that won’t come across as I-told-you-so. JZ was on the phone by noon, wondering where I’m at. We were supposed to go chase women at the Titanic. I gave him the tale from the trailer court but he is already aware of what happens to people who keep too much money in one place and then write the account number on the washroom walls. Admit it, those are lovely papayas.
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NASA has released a video on the dronecopter, saying it broke previous records for height and speed. No word on if it discovered anything. All this so soon after this blog asked what was going on. The anniversary of the flight isn’t until Saturday, when I plan to be out of town. One thing NASA could do to improve their image is hire professionals to narrate their blurbs. It’s too obvious they quit hiring people with American last names twenty years ago.
Rotating detonation is in the news again, this time for powering airliners that hit Mach 9. That means flying anywhere on Earth in one hour, then spending four hours getting through the airports. My question from the 1980s remains, who is so important they need to fly places so fast? Certainly not anybody I’ve ever seen or heard of. What’s the use of being five times as fast as the competition? Just getting there first is adequate most of the time.
Ethiopian train station.
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Have you seen the videos of the Artemis crew being interviewed? It’s mix between the totally articulate and educated White guy and the other three rattling off prepared scripts and talking points. When I hear political correctness instead of technical knowledge I fear they will not be on Mars in my expected time. The rise of the welfare state was inversely proportional to the fall of real space exploration. Paying single mothers to change diapers instead of sending out best on journeys of discovery.
Earlier, I’d talked with JZ about this lumber, he says it is like a shed roof. The sheets don’t have to be exact caliber, just reasonably close. Just make sure to run the strips of equal size lengthwise and the shingling will smooth the rest. Good, then I’ll have enough lumber without buying anything to finish the least used part of the building. My searching question is if this will solve the problem of all the leaves? The existing cover ends at where the wall meets the eaves. For some reason, leaves get blown inside to cover the entire deck. This is why you sometimes need a lumber consultant.
This picture shows the oldest tree trunk I own. It is what’s left from the sixty-foot tree I had to cut down right after I moved here. I got a bargain by okaying the guy with the truck leaving this nine-foot piece at the lowest his bucket would reach. As you see, over the years it has accumulated wood storage, vines, and an unused birdhouse made from a clay pot. It will be cut down soon, which is how it ties in with today. If JZ had been here years ago, it would be gone. This summer makes five years since he’s seen this place. We know he won’t drive it, but everybody knows the train stations are practically door-to-door.
Of course, we talked about women. He will never say, but his scoring average is always better when I show up. He’s still out of focus that Tennessee has changed things here in Florida. The guest room he knows about, but it is now piled this high with books, rolled up carpets, and fifteen boxes of stuff. The whole cabin has been on hold since November 2017, the faucets in the bathroom have not worked in months and the shower stall panels are still warped from leveling the floor. Most everything works so things are comfortable, but what about the money part?
JZ has never lived long-term with a woman. While I don’t advertise, I’ve done it four times, though never with a girlfriend proper. You are aware of the Miami ones (Jaimie & Theresa) but there were others. While these were not shack-ups, the process of living with women has some subtle rules. I know he doesn’t know quite simply because he never complains about specific items that remorselessly become part of the deal.
Here’s some words to refine a few concepts, but guys, I’m not the one to ask advice. Most men I know are either shacked up or they are not. Take a deep breath, this is a long sentence: the rest, like JZ, who are perpetually looking, will gain little from me because I can meet all the women I want, and if I ever found a place with a selection of great ones, the last thing I’d do is tell the competition. Like I’d share Taylor’s phone number with anyone. If I had it, I mean.
First, let’s pace through the loop. Another breath. JZ says there are no good women, I say there are by bringing them to the table, he says if they are so good why don’t I pick one, I say because none so far have been my type, he says after 20 years that’s impossible, I say not true, I just have not met any with the right spark. You can imagine the umpteen hours we’ve had this conversation because it is intertwined with money. He has zero experience at some aspects of seeing a woman and underestimates the cost while being fully aware things can get expensive in a hurry.
The Reb is not a money person and she has a good idea of costs. JZ watches every dollar and somehow does not factor the balance that must be achieved to date a wonderful gal. I don’t need spend anything for the Reb & I to have great times, it is her that puts the brakes on where we go and how much I’ll spend and I like that unspoken arrangement. It’s called a two-way street. The bottom line here is I spend around ten times as much as JZ dating, which he will never understand because to the outside world, the Reb & I have an established relationship. Off all people, JZ should know I’m opposite that way, I won’t spend most anything on a woman until after we become at least some sort of pair. Most men including JZ think that is backwards and to them I say, show me your results before we talk.
ADDENDUM
Last evening, something went wrong with one of my accounts. I had to call in and it was like pulling teeth. The person on the other end, who is normally reliable and skilled was messing everything up. I found the reason. She no longer has a computer and was trying to deal with these complicated transactions using a smart phone. It required just over 1-1/2 hours to transfer $500 from savings to checking. If I had known she was not using a computer, I would have done the transfer manually. Some people have no natural suspicion of strangers, and this particular individual should know better.
Later, I discovered the problem. Bank exchange rates. If you take say $10,000 in some other currency and exchange it at a bank for US dollars, then immediately change it back to the original currency, you will find you have $500 less money. Banks manipulate their rates to do this. When she withdrew her original money, the bank dipped into the joint account for the extra $500 and had she been using a computer, she would have caught that. With a smart phone, you can’t put up or view the effects of a transaction before you do it. Talk about blind faith.
It’s a symptom of the times. I’m appalled by how many people still trust the system and the banks. They still believe in their childhood fantasy that banks are a safe place to deposit your money. You warn them that’s all changed, the banks are now a globalized network owned by a religious faction that have been waiting a thousand years for an opportunity to steal everything. And you know, it is an open question if anything will be learned from all this.
