April 1, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 1, 2023, the aroma of coffee.
Five years ago today: April 1, 2019, downtown Nashville.
Nine years ago today: April 1, 2015, sidecars are breezy.
Random years ago today: April 1, 1981, Tsawwassen.

           This morning I could not find my favorite old-guy shirt. The one where, if you have the slightest bit of grey, you wear it to get special treatment. You see, I want to go to that museum today, exercising every discount, ticket, and card that I can play. It’s a point of honor or something like that. If I have to pay taxes on things I invest in, then screw ‘em. If they wanna get greedy, then they can expect folks to look for loopholes. How can you tell I did the books at dawn today? If you ever wonder what rich people have to complain about, try investing. You worked hard for that money and even harder to have some left over to sock away—not one penny of it due to the tender mercies of people around you.

           Mind you, I recognize at least two forms of rich. One is the people who create jobs when they invest, or at least the net effect is they get ahead by “good things”. These people owe others nothing, read the last paragraph again. But the other kind of rich do, and what exactly is that kind? The moment they use their riches to prevent others from doing the same, then they owe. They are the ones who want $2,000 in licenses to start a hot dog cart. I understand rich is a comparative term, but that does not justify getting rich by impoverishing your neighbor. I know that’s how it works, I’m just saying I don’t like it.
           There is a third kind of rich. There’s the “Salvator Mundi”, the most expensive article ever auctioned. At $450 million, it is in Abu Dhabi in an building called the Louvre, another demo of how original the world is outside of Europe. Rumor is, it’s a fake, but so are desert tribesmen who spend free money trying to pretend they are art connoisuers. Why auctions today? I’m going through the process of setting up an eBay account and they won’t do it without a unique phone number. That should tell you how pervasive phone tracking has become.

           I had to access my commercial account, which is in the far northeast of Winter Haven. So what the heck, I drove the next 9 miles to Davenport without checking first. It’s not on the GPS, so for all I know, it was shuttered. I heard one of the former minor stockholders bought the place out. It’s miles out of town and I could not recall the route, so add another 9 miles and I went to that museum, also without checking. Closed Mondays. So this morning all I got done was putting 80 miles on the van.

           The bright side is I needed the break. My version of jet lag has all manner of symptoms, like shaky handwriting and forgetting numbers, which never used to happen when I was younger. I drove back through Haines City, stopping for a burrito. Nothing to see there, even the old hotel they were fixing up seems now to be a bible college. Just you watch, a year from now they will have an eight-foot fence all around the place. We only assume it is to keep the boys out.

           This arrives with news that Russia has begun the mass expulsion of Muslims. Various libtard factions are trying to ban the term DEI (diversity, equality, inclusion) as “racist”. GAB has cut it’s own throat by banning memes under the guise of saviing memory space. Biden is saying the taxpayer, not the shipping company, should replace the bridge. I say ship registry has been a farce for a hundred years and the ship owner’s should be painted on the bow.
Here’s this morning’s fuzzy picture of the peach tree, now two weeks overdue to show any buds. I think, knowing as little as I do about peaches. Today I’ll pick up some black oil sunflowers for the cardinals. I think I may have two families, and the single downey woodpecker shows up once in a while.

Picture of the day.
Eiffel tower secret apartment.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Hours later, I’m no closer to getting my eBay account operational. I may still be writing the chapter on prehavior, but I know a setup when I see one. What gets me is they already know who the bad guys are. I’m carefully wading through eBay’s nonsense to make sure they cannot go above and beyond what information they really need. What a chore, but we are getting there. I already had to use up one of my precious few remaining anonymous e-mail accounts, that one hurt. To make my day, there was an early power failure. When I returned to the account page, it would not accept re-entry, saying the phone number was already taken.

           I hacked it. We’re in. Will we sell something today? Blog says I must record such things, ever since the events of late 2023, I’ve had increasing trouble recognizing small objects “on end”. I can see them clearly but if I see them pointed toward me, I must stare to see. And these vacuum tubes are in long, narrow boxes with the label printed on the lid.

What a nice wooden box, I call this my 1HR model because that’s what it takes for cutting and joining, but not including any fasteners or glue or hardware. These quickly become holding trays for the tubes I am beginning to list on-line. Getting the stock for free is a neat way to undercut anyone on-line. I need the experience and I already know I’m doing something wrong. I’m oo slow and the system keeps logging me out and asking for new codes. But I’ll get it. Before choosing eBay, I looked over the offerings and every alternative had some kind of catch. What a work ethic, instead of trying to out-perform each other (the American say) they try to out-sneak each other.
           I’ve got an eBay list page open so I can post items. The expensive tubes go first while I have the patience. The strategy is to list them first while I’m slow at it and have to plod along. The small tubes are going to be a challenge unless I figure some better way to sell them in bulk.

           Caltier paid the going rate again, meaning it gets the lion’s share of the money this month. Here’s all the proof you need that once you have a program set up, investing gets easier. The payout this month was $126.04 which is rolled over. So that’s an amound I don’t have to peel off my paycheck (as it were). And we know statiistically, that is more money than most people ever manage to invest long-term. Put another way, if I do nothing the rest of my life, I should still get at least $126.04 every month. It’s too bad people like most parents never understand this.
           To be fair, it is a bit of a calculation, but the concept is easy. Each month you get interest and interest on the interest. If I have time, I’ll dig out my old spreadsheet to see what a monthly deposit of $126.40 would compound out to over 70 years, from say, your birth until age 70. So we’ll know how rich people stay so rich. It’s around three million dollars. Before taxes.

           Tell you what, have a ‘boo at this next box. It’s just the lid interior and I have not applie any stain. I’m checking out ways to make the insides a little fancier. This one uses a sheet of veneer, which is really plywood that separated in the rain. And some leftover trim. It’s too elaborate. It would be faster and cheaper to buy panel wood that is already nice on both sides. Hey, it is not like there is anybody around I can ask about these things.
           Mid-afternoon and eBah has shut down the account and removed all the listings. They say they don’t have enough information or that we owe them money. Neither is correct, but we shall go through the motions with.. They sure are tight-assed these days and it’s a pity we have 30 years of no-minds in the country who don’t know a set-up when they see it. Everything is completed to spec, so we’ll wait a day to see what gives. I know several people with unused eBay accounts but they are all the type of loser who suddenly need anything you find a use for.

Last Laugh