Whoa, I’m getting broke and I want to travel. That would have been the normal circumstance when I worked at the phone place. I had to travel, just to convince myself the whole world was not like the people I worked with. It turns out they were a lot alike, but the world was big enough that occasionally you would meet somebody really nice. It was a crazy time, I could travel up to five times a year, overseas. During it all, I was constantly $3,000 to $3,500 racked up on my credit card. Yes, back then I had one of those evil things. In my defense, I state that you could not rent cars or make airline reservations without a credit card, and the temptation often won out for other consumer things. It was fly now, pay later, and I was still paying by late 2001, when I destroyed the card. on one happy day.
I really like this scanner. Forget that it cuts down on the paperwork, I like it for it cuts down on the paper, period. It’s my own fault for not getting one sooner, but I did try. The rest of today went fast so here are the details in order. Scottrade has to be one of the best brokerage firms I’ve ever had. The check I called about y’day afternoon in New York arrived here at 1:00 PM today. Over to the bank, I saw this guy blocked into his parking spot by a black lady who pulled up and stopped right behind his truck as he went to leave. She was on her cell phone and would not move her car.
[Author’s note 2022: despite all the mean-mouthing I do of credit cards, this was usually the only form of safe and available cash overseas by 2005. Other forms of eMoney were by no means universal or standard. I usually left with an empty card, but came back with the debt. But I would not trade those travel days for nothing. Without them, I’d be as dumb as the next bastard about what’s really going on out there.]
[Author’s note 2025: today's pics include a scan (my earliest form of "digital photography" showing the original map of Cuidad Bolivar, in Venezuela. That's where my taxi company was located. It is the downtown area along the riverfront in the map I mailed to their museum curator twenty years later. I have no idea how that map survived the ten times I've moved since I got to Miami. This day's post is very typical of how I dealt with a bad sort of day.]
The man was threatening to ram her, he plainly had somewhere important to be. All the black lady would do is give him that monkey talk from behind her car window. I could see the situation about to turn ugly, so I said to the man that since it was a black lady, she could do anything she wanted. Not because she was right and he was wrong, but because she was a black lady. I waited to see what happened. She sat there in her car blocking him in.
What she did to that man made me think of a frog turd. That is correct. And this is a picture of a frog turd. A lot of people do not realize that frogs have to take a dump. Next time I see one, I’ll try for a picture. When I first saw Florida bullfrog turds, I thought they were from a small dog. Except, they are half the size of the frog and break open into a zillion flies. I think the frog, which eats flies, often swallows a pregnant female and does not digest the eggs. No, I am not going to lean close to see if they are baby flies any more than I would lean close and ask that black lady to move her car before the man shoots her.
I made some gas money today. A lady named Orlinsky from Ft. Lauderdale called for some computer setup. Really, I know I have found a market niche, but I admit I don’t know how to cash in on it. Some other man came and set up her computer and left without showing her how to use it. That, friends, is exactly the type of nonsense I watch for. It was easy money. Get the AOL screen customized to what she wants (she gave her sons stock in Berkshire Hathaway and likes to follow the price) and likes to follow the news. Her email account was screwed up so I straightened that out. She’d had a computer before and I assured her she only needed some practice time to use this new one.
The tech had also wiped out all her favorite games, which I set back up for her. My opinion, make no mistake about it, is that this senior had be handled roughly by some punk geek. He did not take the time to explain the changes made. Anyway, I think the word got out on this episode. As I went to leave, the lady at the front desk said she heard enough about me already that she was thinking of getting a computer just to have me teach.
To show you, another lady who worked there walked up while we were talking. I was writing out a card, since I had given away my last one to Orlinsky. In a gruff voice, the new lady said they already had a man who helped out with the computers. It was a definite ‘get lost’ tone of voice, so I did. I know, that was wrong. As a gentleman, I should have given her some sage advice, instead, I only thought it. Okay, what were my thoughts?
I should have taken her behind the door and stated, “Lady, there are two things you should consider before you talk the way you just did. One, if the man who helped out was doing a good job, chances are your tennants would not be paying me to drive all the way out to Lauderhill. Two, when you open your fat, ugly mouth, it draws instant attention to the fact that the rest of you is also fat and ugly. You should thank me for teaching you a lesson you’ve failed to learn on your own.”
Coming back I stopped at the Goodwill on Oakland Park. They have revamped it. Gone is the huge bargain bin section I used to love. They are converting all floorspace to used clothing. There are some small shelves of dishes and kitchen things. The old radios, kids toys, luggage and bric-a-brac said good-bye. More 1990s market grads behind it, I’ll bet. That generation are bastards, because they don’t allow that some things exist just because people like them. If that crowd had gotten their way in my generation, Memphis would not have been. You see, Sears kept the pet department at a loss because it brought people into the store. I took those market classes and they told us to watch for departments that lost money, but left out whether there was overall synergy. All the dumbfecks in the class never even wondered about that. Now the whole store makes less money because it is no longer fun to go there.
Then, with a half tank of gas (Orlinsky tipped me $5), I went to Archives. The Friday meeting group was there, which I’d forgotten. They seem to be some kind of focus group. What? Oh, focus groups are people who swear by focus groups, which they would, wouldn’t they? Much like I swear by young pretty women. I thought it was a literary group all these months until I heard them speak tonight. They take turns revealing what shallow and colorless lives they lead. Since they take the central area you can’t ignore them when you are at the book racks.
One guy, why is it always some thinking-impaired dropout, said he was fasting. Then, he adds only during the day. To diet, or something religious? No, he lets slip, nothing so noble. He wanted to know, for the first time in his life, what it was like to go without something. His monotone went on to say he now identifies more with the homeless who fall asleep inside Borders. Part of his job is to kick them out. There are some value judgments going on there, because I’ve nodded off myself in Borders on a comfortable afternoon, and the staff has never even woken me up. Then again, it may depend on whether the book in your lap is quantum physics or new age astrology for I can’t think of much other difference.
I’m searching for a book on placing database on the internet. It seems this is not that popular a subject. One book gave some examples without saying how it was done, so that was useless. Find me a book that tells how to publish a database online. I know it involves a form to submit the search but I need to know the code that translates the query, does the actual search, retrieves the results and sends them back in a readable form. Still with me? The reason I ask is that this is not a standard search like people do with Google or Yahoo. A database is a highly structured method of organizing information. Thus, far better set of search criteria can be designed and I intend to be the one to do it.
For now, I use Access because it has the twin virtues of being on every computer using Windows and it is free. I take that back, I saw Windows XP in Best Buy with a price tag of $299. Outrageous for a obsolete package that will become outdated and unsupported within the next ten months. It is free once you have Windows, I don’t think you can even buy it as a standalone anymore. I can tell you that Microsoft has done a piss poor job of selling it either way, so it is best they bundle it with MS Office. It is common to find people with no idea what Access is for. It is almost as common to find people who think they know Access because they have used it for years.
From personal experience, I’ve seen that many times. Even Don, who says he has ‘programmed’ Access for years, was stunned to see my junction tables last Wednesday. Even when handed a printout of the primary keys, he needed explaining of the process – and Don has studied both normalization and relational integrity. This makes me conclude that Access can be used without even incorporating the two strongest features. Does this mean my little tables are so advanced they have nothing to contribute to the average user?
The Win 2000 computer from ABC is on my table. It has been modified for network use and I’m having trouble even looking at some of the partitions. Win XP insists on installing as a dual boot system where I don’t even want Win 2000. I have no manuals, no copy and no use for a product so indifferent to the home user. I think I will stay up late and do a clean XP on it. The CPU is twice as fast as the Aptiva at ABC. If I can get in there tomorrow, I’d like to set up a private PC in one corner to share Thom’s DSL. He’s nice about it, but I have to get in his way to download drivers. This could also be my incentive to finally learn how to password and protect a networked computer. Certainly don’t want any of the locals using it when I’m not there. I don’t have any time to think it through right now, but it makes sense to me that a set cables strung together will work fine provided any one of them is a crossover.
Right now, I have a chocolate craving so I’m walking over to CVS. Then, because I love surprise corroborative evidence, I’m going to spur of the moment scan the covers of every book in my apartment. I just now thought of that and it will be a good test against anyone who might suggest I’ve inflated the number of books I read. They might still say I’ve never read them, but it would be pretty impossible to think I could now go back and erase any mention of them, especially on the backup copies that are 3,000 miles away from here.
This is neat, because I have more, not less time to do these things. It is like the payoff I planned thirty years ago but getting here 10 years early. Everything is new to me in the realm of TV programming. When I was in Best Buy earlier I saw couples wondering amid home entertainment, wasted on hope that a big screen might make the same old movies more interesting. Thank god I left the easy things until later. Like marriage. They say the best matches are made by men who waited “too long”. That was Mencken, who I quoted today, a coincidence. He said once that if women were as good at getting a man as they were at conniving, a bachelor over 25 would be so rare the locals would pay admission to see him. I should not say that, because I did not read his book, rather a book by a lady who agrees with him. I can’t remember her name, but she said she would rather be a blonde than any manner of brunette, because she could have any man she wanted without a “frontal assault” (whatever that means) of the kind brunettes must resort to. Perceptive lady. The only thing this country needs is enough tall, good-looking, slim, blue-eyed blondes to go around.
Last, I called Mike about the results of the web page study, it will cost him another $84.30 to get underway. The places that want to sell you metatags, the things that work to bring your web page to the top ten of every search are some kind of con artists. While I don’t doubt they can enhance things, the prices are out of line for those who can’t and won’t guarantee anything. They call their trade “Search Engine Optimization”. I think I’ll wait to see what happens before even considering such advertising methods. My prediction that Mike would want more web pages was fine, and it was satisfying to point out that the expansion capability I had already built in.
Years later Gilbert was in a dentists office going through an old stack of magazines. Sure enough, this may be the only remaining map of the city before they renamed the waterfront area from Alameda to Paseo Orinoco. Since this map was published, a few things have changed. Perro Seco (Dry Dog) and Mango Asado have gone to seed and are high crime. The big blank area in the middle has been taken over by the federal government and turned into a botanical garden, the largest in S. America. Problem, they made an artificial lake and the caimans (alligators) moved right in. Can’t shortcut across there at night, although I know where the path is. The upper left hand corner of the park is where all the off duty taxi drivers hang out. Up is north on the map, and the area east of the park is one of only two hills in the city. There, don’t say I never show you anything original. Yep, that is the real Orinoco River along the top of the map. Been there many times.
Parting thought from the mood I’m in today – at least my library is large enough to make it a worthwhile evening project. Around 100 books scanned so far. Here is a sample. The scanner is a Lexmark X75, which gets three bad marks already.
• the driver installs 233 programs on your computer • the scanner moves the same speed no matter what the resolution • deep colors, not necessarily just dark colors, come out hard to read
