One year ago today: July 23, 2022, water tank coincidence.
Five years ago today: July 23, 2018, vanilla ice cream.
Nine years ago today: July 23, 2014, scrubbed.
Random years ago today: July 23, 2017, yes, my back still hurts.
I stayed up late to examine this outdated gadget. It’s a remote off-on switch that was taken off the market because people were plugging it in behind curtains and other flammables. I used to think these were complicated, but everything including the chip is off the shelf. For me this is a curious undertaking since most of my life I’ve been surrounded by things that other people have already taken apart, that’s a joke, Ken. Radio links like this have always mystified me, but if I met someone who could show me, I’d learn it in minutes.
That song has become unique in my playing, It moves very fast on the bass, never staying more than one phrase in a given key. So one time I messed up by hitting the wrong string, got angry at myself, and pounded on the other strings. It sounded fantastic, but has to be done right. It is now part of the way I play that song, making it very obvious to the crowd it is part of the show. The trick is to keep two of the strings an octave apart, one of those discoveries you make after enough years at it.
Here’s the side of the lean-to, coming along. Every so often I pick up a 12-foot plank from the cull cart, you can see two of them here, the third plank is a 2x3”. They are the correct length for the lean-to and make pretty cheap siding, alas finding the planks is random so this could take years. I could carry on but I know better, so it’s siesta time and you should do the same.
Typical Guatemala City sinkhole.
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Four hours, a lot of it gluing planks together, dodging rain squalls, and realizing there are issues with my table saw. If it’s what I think, I got taken, though I know how to fix it. I mixed a batch of coffee grounds, sandy dirt, and potting soil as a base for some of the asparagus, to see how it fares. This photo is not the mix, it is pure coffee grounds. I know nothing of this plant, and now that I’d like to learn, neither does anybody else. I swear, either I live in a unique bubble or somehow consistently find myself only amidst droves of people my own age who don’t seem to know anything, don’t give a shit about learning anything, and wander around in a daze hoping the next thing doesn’t go wrong in their lives.
Another afternoon soaking, I continued biscuit joining, no project in mind and the pieces always come in handy. Let’s peek at the news. The Oppenheimer movie is criticized for having no black actors, just sex and violence, but saying it’s because they won’t ever have a black portray one of “them”. Rumors of Ukrainians fed up with Zelenski surrendering by the platoon. Democrat states are threatening to sue “election deniers” who seek hand-counting of ballots. Biden’s campaign motto of “Let’s Finish the Job” has become a stock insult to the wild claims he has made. Kamela is in on it, falsely claiming the border problem is solved and implying she has been there.
ADDENDUM
Events led to discussion of the old American/Canadian fallacy that there is nothing stopping you from getting ahead. The reality is that there is a vast and ancient array of factors preventing your advancement (now this is important) unless you give them their cut. Let’s wade into it. Yes, I did say you could get into Caltier for $500. The discussion tonight was the reality, that it cost me $1.677 to make that investment. And, most of that is a continuing, on-going cost. That’s why I figured you might find this interesting. Follow along here as I advise the hillbilly what is involved. To invest in Caltier, you need $500 minimum. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, but unless it is a bank account, the system will punish you with either time or effort.
Remember that, time or effort, as you will see this repeatedly. Got that? Okay, we need a bank account and on average, the minimum to open one is $500. Is that the end of it? No, the bastards never make it clear there is a balance needed to avoid bank fees. Is that important? Definitely—and they make sure the cheapest way to find out is not the bank rulebook, which takes hours to read, but by opening the account an suffering the fees until you get it.
In this case, opened the account for $500 but the minimum balance was $1,000 to avoid the $11 per month “maintenance feel”. Because I was not personally there to monitor, it was some five months before I stepped in. That means a $55 loss, I’m going to let you total this up. Upon arrival, I saw the average bank fee was not $11, but $28.59. The bank had policies like deducting your withdrawals (like writing checks) before recording your deposits is a major pitfall. It was further noticed the bank loved to double up these fees, catching you twice if you weren’t watching. To counteract this hornswoggle, I decided to buffer it with $200 extra on deposit. That means $1,200 minimum balance must be sustained. At this point, I okayed a $500 transfer to Caltier—but unaware if this transfer incurred other fees. Time and effort, remember? For it, I won’t split the fees and costs and barriers down further, except to report to you that the true figure of what was required to invest $500 in this instance was the said $1,677. Phooey on anyone who tells you this was easy. I could have repaired my ailing kitchen floor for half what this Caltier buy-in cost me. The genuine investment path is minefield.
The most common question asked of me is whether there exists any place one can invest their money and just sit back. The answer is no. The moment you invest, you are required by the system to telegraph that you are capable of operating at a surplus. That makes you the natural first target of the most clever, cunning, and insidious group in world history—and don’t make the mistake of thinking your tiny nest-egg is too small for them to bother with.
