July 22, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: July 22, 2024, “MicroSoft Drift”.
Five years ago today: July 22, 2020, this boy can wire.
Nine years ago today: July 22, 2016, telephone booth coincidence.
Random years ago today: July 22, 2009, other than vandalism.

           Bartow Boxworks. I picked the name out of the air, and it seems folks like it. Experience counts and we learned the laser print is in real time. You cannot set it to printing and go work on the next logo. Will I need two computers to work this machine? I stopped at the Treasure Barn for disappointing news. No sales. She also won’t need 16 boxes in storage, so I’ll go get those later today. There are no gold mines left in America. I mailed to letters to Canada and decided against a movie downtown, since without the Reb, it’s just a movie. Instead, I watched silver inch toward $40 per ounce. It’s a 13-year high. Please go for $60.

           This is my Tennessee chop saw, the one that can make bevel cuts, or at least I thought so. I cleared space in the scooter shed to set this up and found this feature may be broken. I’ve not used it before now so that might explain why I got it so cheap. However, I only need this saw for one purpose. It has no brand name but looks and feels like a Craftsman. If so, I can “break” it again to the correct angle I need.

           Later, I talked to the Treasure Barn lady. I’m pulling my boxes except for three or four she can display. The building is in trouble is my guess. No customers. Yet there are new buildings going up all over town, including major gas station on the west highway which may really hurt the virtual monopoly of the Circle K on Main Street.

           I’ve already gathered the lady is a single mother and that’ means she’ll need every cent. My boxes take up space, so I’ll get them out of her way. She is willing to work with me to find something that moves and she is industrious enough to keep on even if the Treasure Barn folds. I have two ideas. One, something small that can be turned out and something larger that is plain more expensive. I’ll start with the small idea, see if I can use the laser cutter, since a stroll around the building shows nobody else has anything of this nature.

           A stop at Wal*Mart had me glance down their box aisle. The entire product line is some sort of Asian light wood, similar to balsa. But balsa has become expensive. Here’s a crate stapled together with a price tag of $11. These are flimsy contraptions, more of a decoration. It does not make sense people would pay so much. But in the XYZ marketplace, it is entirely possible my product does not have adequate stupid-appeal.
           Driving to the bank this morning made me realize the Best Buy in Lakeland is not the quickest to get to. It is twelve miles, but can only be reached via 98 or through downtown. I also got suspicious when the Best Buy store in Kissimme shows up as “Geek Squad”. My compromise is on Thursday, I have an appointment in the south end. But it’s a disgrace how Florida is a toss-up whether 33 miles down the freeway is a faster trip than 12 miles through town.

Picture of the day.
Georgia phone museum.
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           My first therapy session was today, more of an evaluation. I moved around most of y’day without any impediments and this morning got underway without any real exertion, that is, my pain level was zero. At therapy they ran be a series of questions and exercises that made me realize something—that I must not be anywhere near as bad as the average person they see in my age category. I completed the moves without a hitch and answered a no to every pain question. I’ve had no aches, zero. Cross those fingers, because according to Finegrity, I have between 50% and 60% chance of living to be 85.

           This is important, so let me record it. They put me on a table and ran through a series of movements, hold each position for fifteen seconds. How strange, no pain at all but the sensation was that every muscle was being tested. The outcome was revelation of muscles I had learned to avoid now being awakened. They confirm that is where we start in a few days for a planned six weeks.
           Within three hours of these stretching movements, I felt a definite return of motion and core strength. I had to pick up some groceries and walked the chore, including the parking lot, without a hint of hurt. If this stays, then folks, this is the day I’ve been waiting for. Energy is a wonderful thing later in life, instead of a siesta, I finished writing this letter to Marion. (This, guys, is why so many women talk to me instead of you, ha-ha.)

           It is Festus Tuesday and again no Festus. Instead we watched “Winchester ‘73”. It’s the tale of a rifle that gets stolen and survives shootouts, robberies, theft, and even Indian attacks to find its way home. Realistic Indian scenes but that doesn’t mean they were smart. There is mention of the theory Custer lost because the Indians knew he had single shot rifles. Maybe. In another good sign, I returned to the shed after the movie to do more work. Light work, as in accessing what I have to make small cheap objects, inspired by the BeardedViking dotcom dude.
           You can help. It must (at least initially) use existing inventory and tools. We have a bucket of small lumber strips, some nice 1x4” left, and the technology for three different cuts. Straight, 45 degrees, and a bevel. Don’t forget we also have some decoration tools, ranging from the torch to stains and now a laser etcher. I wonder if there is an etcher than can project your image onto the substrate without burning. The Wainlux has a handy feature that outlines the space.
           I can already state the laser cutter is impressive—except for the documentation. I’ve already downloaded and looked at the other file formats. Um, they are as whacked out as you’d expect from our “greatest”, but just dumb-down and you’ll get it. Even the cheap Wainlux is quite precise and I can foresee a more powerful unit in the future.

ADDENDUM

           The WPM last evening was a discussion of strategy, since neither Wilford and I are getting rich around here. This is his fancy camera rig, with the new fluid something or other, the gimbal that smoothes out panning shots. Once long ago I looked at photography as a sideline. The idea was shelved when I saw the competition and costs of even hobbyist level involvement.
           I looked at the Da Vinci video editor, finding it not to be much of an improvement over 30 years ago. Wilford works mostly with stills and a ton of software that can post-edit the images. Nothing so far with the sample box he’s got. You know, speaking of editors, most of you probably have never used a hexeditor, although they might be called something else now. It’s a device that lets you read and change the hex representation of your files. Ah, here’s one with a free trial, UltraEdit. I used to use one that let you sample, but it’s gone. Anyway, if you think you are sitting pretty, take a peek at the hex files on any page with a “secure password” box.

Last Laugh