May 23, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: May 23, 2023, just for a couple years.
Five years ago today: May 23, 2019, the upcoming years.
Nine years ago today: May 23, 2015, I made up those words.
Random years ago today: May 23, 2007, my first real solo.

           Good morning and we just uncovered another cache of tubes. It was under some electrical testing gear I don’t know how to operate. I’ll sell it all, I’ve got enough on my plate. Today is an anniversary for me. It marks 28 years since I had a job. Sure, I’m not a millionaire, but nor did I waste my life in a cubicle. I kind of knew if I made it by age 22, it would be luck, and I was young enough to think by good living and hard work that luck would favor me. It’s a good thing for the world I was not raised in a city where I could have learned the ropes a lot earlier. Yep, May 23, 1996 I had just enough to never hear an alarm clock again—unless I wanted to.

           It’s been about half that amount of time since I took up my current hobbies of electronics, and navigation, and boxes, and such. I finally drew by first navigation diagram, a 141 nautical mile bearing S48°W between two fictitious points in the Atlantic. Finally. But I’d studied the books so much it was a fairly easy task. I have not yet done a LOP (line of position). That’s the next step, we’ll got going on that very soon.

           Aha, so I was not the only one getting the runaround from eBay and PayPal. The problem appears to be PayPal accounts that have been dormant and you try to reactivate them. The scumbags at eBay, rather than just telling you this instead make it so you never meet all their criteria. It’s a nice day to sort tubes, so I’ll be in the shed if you need me. Blog randomizer says to mention food, so I had a great breakfast of a medley of rice, fist, tomato chunks, onion, and celery. There’s lots left if you’re hungry. I don’t predict this will be an exciting day.
           The pecking order in the back yard this morning is red cardinal, woodpecker, titmouses, and wrens. I think the mystery bird with the slight blue shoulder coloration may be a female titmouse. I wrote seven long e-mails this morning before noticing how late it was getting. Now let‘s go bet some work done.

Picture of the day.
Cog railway switch.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           It took all afternoon, but what great way to spend an otherwise empty Florida day. By that I mean there is nobody I’ve met in this area to chum around with. The ones who are retired appear to have no relatable hobbies or interests. If they sing or dance or build anything or study or play music, or even write letters or do crossword puzzles, I have never seen a shred of evidence of it. They do not appear to read, travel, or have any apparent interest in technology, science, the arts, or computers beyond gaming or e-mail. So far, in eight years, that’s 100% of them. They are also devoid of humor, have not even a layman’s knowledge of science, law, medicine, investing, or history, and still think 2005 has just a few years ago.

           Needing the break, I drove out to Bartow for a few. It’s a nothing weekday between paydays at the phosphor pits, so it was a quiet evening with the juke box and a few groups of middle-aged housewives who agreed on just everything. The place was Deadsville, giving me a chance to scribble out some plans. Yes, we have the money for a small trip soon. The pickle is deciding where to go. Tennessee is the obvious destination, so let’s examine alternate routes.
           Since we’ve been sorting tubes instead of gallivanting, we have the extra $300 to make this a first class trip, and still take the Reb to dinner all she wants. Work with me here. Here’s a picture of that bucket of tubes that most of us have kicking around, right? These are another cache of small General Electrics. The most common brands are this and RCA. Sorted and logged so far we have around 500 ready for sale. There are two or three more cartons of tubes that are not in boxes.
           News from the shop indicates continuing trouble with eBay, it’s the American corporate cancer. This isn’t England where you can open a shop and tend it for life. Here you must continue to grow and grow or wither. Success is no longer measured by profit, but by how much profit increases per year. And after reaching a certain size, they begin doing a SONY. Passing ever more cost to the customer while doing as little as possible.

           An e-mail from the guitar player, he made the trip okay with one breakdown. Like myself, he’s learned to accept these disruptions as a better alternative to paying outrageous price for a new vehicle. It was the alternator, which after a stuck thermostat, seems to still be the most common equipment failure ever since I was a kid. Seems they don’t want to build one that lasts. The Prez has family in Philadelphia and is now officially a grandfather. It’s been a time since I drove through Mississippi, although that’s about the only thing I find the place good for.
           I found a wide enough piece of lumber for the larger slingshot, so I went looking for my piece of surgical tubing. The mice, or maybe a rat ate it all. It was in a cardboard box, another argument for sturdy wooden boxes around here. I opened the like where I also stored other medical stuff, like my stethoscope. Instead, All that was left was the shiny pieces of hardware.

Last Laugh