One year ago today: April 4, 2024, it’s bogus.
Five years ago today: April 4, 2020, the prospective annoyance.
Nine years ago today: April 4, 2016, storing the non-existent.
Random years ago today: April 4, 2009, leaving Wilmington.
Nothing like a successful audition to set the week right. However, no dancing yet. There are a ton of logistics that have to happen first. Roberto is a combat vet who mentioned tunes I’ve heard. It’s the same familiar rule—you sing ‘em, I’ll play ‘em, but watch out when I get to play bass only, ha-ha. On the way home, I stopped at the Venezuelan market, wow, was I famished and as luck was with me, the lady who makes the perfect café con leche was just getting off duty. I needed that coffee, let me tell you she took one look as I hobbled in the door and put the water on. It was an active day so I got home tired. No work on the floor or trailer.
That’s bloggable because it was unusual. You know those old crown bottlecaps? Not the thinner twist-off. There’s the odd one lies under the flooring and this one got trampled thin. That way it can fit past those kidney bean shaped holes in your kitchen drain. I have a double sink so there is a t-junction with a baffle. And that is just big enough to let that bottle cap jam in there. So for the second time this week I had the nasty chore of draining the sinks and clearing the drains. Funny that I get biomass and others to no, and I see the next batch is already starting.
I’ve also had time to review the audition. If he can do the homework, it is a definite go. What’s this, Russell Brand has been accused of rape? I didn’t even know he was running for office. It’s a BBC report, so let’s see how far back into his past they had to go to find their accuser. A policewoman named Jarwal confirms these are “non-recent events”, ah, here we go. Back to 1999, then ahead to 2005. I always find it funny when women accuse a man of rape who is better-looking than they are. Now, it is partially his own fault for becoming rich and famous.
Unable to get underway, I read some of the anti-Trump commentary on JimmyRuska, the amalgamater I user because they are often ahead of the MSM for breaking stories. Canada announces the formation of a trading bloc because the USA “no longer wants to lead”. Knowint inflation is a delayed effect, Kamala Harris recorded a bunch of “Trump causes inflation” videos a year ago. Leftist are making wild predictions in both directions so they can make claims if the tariffs change a single thing. The $2,300 price tag on the latest Apple iPhone is already Trump’s fault. It seems some people want to insist measles is not an ordinary childhood disease.
How about the “tools” supposedly invented by sub-Saharan tribes? Large seams of chert have been unearthed that have naturally cleaved into the sharp cutting edges that archeologists have loved to call human technology. Oops. For years, weather science has relied on satellites, stations, and super computers to predict the weather. It now appears A.I. can do it on a desktop almost instantly. So there.
Ancient Ur royal board game.
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Ha, have you seem what the end of the Green money-laundering has done to used car prices? Suddenly I’m glad I own two. Nothing out there less than $10,000 with less than 100k miles. The Hyundai is at 154k, but I bought it for $3600. The KIA is 178K, but also for about the same price. The KIA is in particularly good shape, which made it easier to put the $4000 transmission in, bringing the price to still less than anything comparable. However, that being said, based on used prices at the time I bought it, this van has cost me around $7,200 which is the going rate and the price the lot first quoted me.
As shown, the battery is installed and I connected up the compressor to blast away8 months of leaves and dust. I started the engine and let it run ten minutes. The broken parts of the old transmission can be heard rattling and clanging. It’s still a smooth-running unit. I’m looking forward to it if only because it is a better work van. The Prez called to say he’s not planning on leaving for a few more weeks, so I have some leeway to fix some sides on the wagon. It is small, just four feet on a side. Anything longer than that has to be moved standing upright—and yes, I have lost my tie-down straps. They were last used in Miami in 2016.
Some signal got crossed y’day and in spite of a text message and voicemail. The Prez went out to the Rec Center at 5:30PM, by which time we were long gone. Sorry about the waste of time, and since my phone was on the charger, even if he’d called to confirm, I would have missed it. We’ve slated a practice for Sunday. I may take the wagon for a test run. His kids up in Pennsylvania seem overjoyed that he’s moving there. But I still think the first really cold blizzard will have him wishing he’d stayed. When I hit just the edge of that blizzard last time in Colorado, I found the cold downright painful.
I’ve also got the cables measured for the new kitchen outlets, and I find yet another wiring quirk, two runs connected to the same breaker. To meet code, there should be a single wire at the breaker box, and two runs branching out from a junction box. I would give a lot to just shut everything down for the rest of the day and drink coffee, if that is not asking too much. No such luck, I had to get out the tools to scrape the trailer, there are signs of surface rust to be attended and it is termite season so no working after dark with a light on.
How goes the audiobook. Boring. So far it is not a saga of people who worked their way out, but a chronicle of the on-going bad mistakes made by the poor who do know better. So far we know a lot about the family history of our protagonist’s ancestors. The old came to America for a better life and didn’t find one, but at least they found hope. The rest you know, they try to save up $50 but have to keep raiding the piggy bank for emergencies. Alas, I have not put in any time on my book on how to defeat that enemy. You must learn to protect your investments and rule number one is to keep them a secret.
ADDENDUM
Trump has suspended the “di minimus” rule, a 1930 provision that exempted good valued less than $800 from import duties, a.k.a. tariffs. I was late looking at this because I confused it with a different rule of the same name. That’s the tax law that says you can lend family members up to $10,000 and the interest earned is not taxable under certain conditions. One is that the loan cannot be used to generate income. Another loophole giveaway to the rich.
Which led me to a recent article on Patsy Cline, the country singer famous for breaking the rules that kept women in the music trade. True, she was born into poverty, and I fully recognize that most rags to riches stories are based on the fallacy that poor kids with ambition can work their way out of the “misery belt”. I prefer a more balanced appraisal of her success. By the time she was a teen, the Federal government had poured untold millions of dollars into the poor white areas, including her town of Winchester, Virginia.
But let’s be fair. She was singing on the radio at age 15 and inking record contracts just 6 years later. To me that spells a big more luck and a bit less talent, the opposite of what they would have you believe. I, too, was in a band at 15 and can state that all the talent in the world could not make up for the fact there were no radio stations or talent agents within 1500 miles, or any way to get there. And there were proportionately far more barriers. Sigh, in music the prizes are awarded by who crosses the finish line, not by the distance run.
