The Empty Cabinets of my Mind

A Used Watch

Once long ago, when I was addicted to having a watch on my wrist,  I forgot to put mine on and headed out on a vacation.  My first stop was the beach at Carmel and even as I was lamenting about the fact that I was wristwatchless, guess what swept up on the shore right in front of me?  It wasn't a Rolex, but it was a very nice watch.  It was waterproof and running perfect time.  I wore it for the rest of that trip and for quite a few years thereafter.   Sometimes things like that happen.  If I ever lose something special, I hope that it falls into the hands of someone just like me.

The last thing I lost was my cell phone.  How embarrassing!  I replaced it with a much nicer one and was ever so glad to have lost it in the long run, but it was rather irresponsible.  Sometimes phones have personal stuff on them that could fall into the wrong hands.  This one didn't, and anyway it turned up  about three months later.   I had put it inside an eyeglass case in my suitcase.  Now I am wondering where those eyeglasses went.

Got Time on Your Hands?

I don't!  When I started carrying a PDA I stopped wearing a watch, and now that I'm carrying a smart phone, I stopped carrying a PDA. 

www.bestoftime.com

Best of Time sells new and "pre-owned" Rolex watches at substantial discounts.  If I were going to buy a Rolex watch, I'd definitely want a substantial discount.   I admire companies that go around the manufacturer's price controls, and offering second-hand items sounds like a great way to do that.  But a pre-owned Rolex?  I'd have to think about that one.

Ok, I thought a while and decided why not?  Besides, they come with a three year warranty and the company gives you seven days after you receive your watch to take it to a jeweler of your choice and have it authenticated.  I guess if the watch was giving off bad "vibes" from an evil original owner, that would happen within seven day's time as well.  The more I think about it, the better I like the idea of a used watch.  But if you disagree, no problem, they sell new ones too.

More Cool Stuff from the Neighbors

We are sorry to see a good neighbor move away, but when they have a moving out sale, that is a good way to pick some some inexpensive household items.  Here is one I got hold of yesterday:

  The size is approximately 30" high and 30" wide and as it was a bit heavy for me to lift into the back of our van, another neighbor graciously offered to wheel it home three blocks for me on the casters. 

Hooked on Baby Zukes

My neighbor Ruby really started something when she generously shared her locally grown veggies with me the other day.  I expected to like the yellow summer squash best, but the slender green zucchinis were beyond awesome.  They would have been delicious cooked any old way, but with no more seasoning than a bit of butter and fresh ground black pepper, the NuWave countertop oven nuked them to absolute perfection.  Now I want more! 

The 99¢ Only store is spoiling me too, with huge bunches of the teeniest baby asparagus stalks I've ever seen at such an affordable price.  I am smelling them cooking now!  Dinner will include Barilla Plus Rotini.  If I'm cooking something else in the Farberware Multicooker, I nuke pasta in there too.  They say not to do it, but I've never had a problem.  One less pot to wash.  I use the pressure cooking mode for beans too.  Times have changed.

In case anyone wonders how I got that "¢" typed in above, it is code "0162" but it has to be done on the keypad by holding the ALT key down, keying in 0162 and then releasing the ALT.  It doesn't work with the numbers above the qwerty. 

Here is a wonderful resource for alternate characters in Windows:

ALT CHARS 

Fun and Games

I openly admit to enjoying online games. My usual stress busters are WorldWinner and King, but I am always on the lookout for new games. When I first loaded a new billiards site at http://www.8c1.net into Firefox, I couldn't quite get the hang of how to handle the cue, but when I tried IE instead, these multiplayer games,8c1.net.http://www.8c1.net worked fine.

Right away I noticed that the game accommodates klutzes by matching a cue-challenged player with a compassionately dumb computer.  Thank you!  It is nice when the computer sometimes lets you win.  So far this one always let me win, but practice games with the computer do not count, of course. 

Using IE, the game loaded fast and I started sinking those balls right into the sockets.  Wheee!  My computerized opponent graciously sunk a few more for me.  It is unlikely that a live player will ever do that. 

Http://www.8c1.net is a multi-national multi-player site with forums and chat.  It is simple to navigate with clean graphics and if you don't care to meet strangers, you can hang out your own friends in your own room.    There were quite a few people over there playing already even though it is a new site.  Its fun and its free.

Oh, oh!  They have snookers, too.  Now I'm done for...

Where Did the Bubbles Go?

When I first starting blogging, there was a whole brouhaha about disclosure and whether or not accepting payment for blogging was an "in" thing to do or not.  In this economy I think that snobbishness has died down a bit.  In my opinion, the whole fuss was kind of silly anyway.  Those who had wanted more and didn't want any competition and those who didn't wanted something.  I just wanted to learn how the whole thing worked.  PayPerPost, which has been good to me, and which I consider a great way to monetize a blog (and this, by the way, is NOT a paid post), used to give us little disclosure bubbles to put at the end of every post, unless the advertiser specified that they did not want disclosure in the paid post.  I've only seen that happen once, by the way. 

I don't take a paid post opportunity unless I think it is interesting and on the up and up.   One of my favorites was Arizona Game and Fish.  They honored this blog by allowing me to help them spread the word about boating safety by promoting their cute little video on the topic Don't Swim with the Fish a while back.  I did about 5 ads for them; 4 were unpaid.  People remembering not to drink when they drive is important to me whether they are in boats or on the highways.

Even though most of my posts are recreational and/or public service, I do pay a little for my blogging platform and tools and see nothing wrong with getting something back.  So somewhere on here there is a site-wide disclosure notice.  

By the way, the word brouhaha is French, dating back to the 19th century, but some dictionaries footnote that derivation as "imitative" and I rather wondered what it was imitative of.  Turns out some diabolical characters in drama used to mispronounce a popular phrase then quoted from the Book of Psalms, much like the apparently related Italian word barruccaba so that is one possible explanation.  Yes, it is meant to have a slightly derogatory connotation. 

Land Rich and Cash Poor

Real Property Management

I don't pretend to or even aspire to be rich, but from the moment I escaped the womb, my mantra must have been "Land, Gimme Land."  In fact, I think Cole Porter's Don't Fence Me In must have been playing in the background when I popped out.  So while some people were saving their pennies for trips to Europe, nice clothes, or fancy cars, I was putting them aside for a deposit on some real property.

So now I am faced with having to find somebody to help me manage one or more properties which are in locations that are currently hard for me to get to. 

A company from Ft. Thomas, Kentucky caught my eye because they are realistic enough about today's economy to advocate the use of Lease/Purchase arrangements.  I have long considered Lease/Purchase to be the best situation for both sellers and buyers, yet many people, even real estate agents seem to be unaware that such an option even exists.  

They have a nice write-up on the advantanges of Lease/Purchase here:

More from Real Property Management

This company, which belongs to the National Association of Residential Property Managers, is full-service, whether you have just one house to rent or a hundred units.  They have been featured in the Bizjournal in Ohio and received a "Franchise of the Year Honorable Mention" award and recently signed an exclusive agreement with Freddie Mac. 

Sadly, although they manage over 20,000 units nationwide, what they don't have is any offices in my area.  Maybe you will be luckier.

Millenicom

I've been traveling so much, and so spontaneously, lately that I finally had to break down and get a wireless service that we could take with us.   After a lot of research, mostly reading comments by truckers in the forums they use to fill each other in, I concluded that Millencom was the best one to try.  Although it didn't work at all in Kingman, Arizona, most of the places we've hit throughout California have good coverage.

I like the little white USB "dongle" thingee which blinks blue when the signal is there, but has sort of a rainbow color that flashes when the signal is really really good.  It is fast down here in the Inland Empire. 

I bought the thingee because the whole trip about having to return it intact if discontinuing the service was too scary.  It cost half as much to buy as to lose.  I lose things.  Then when I find them later, which is inevitable, it is too late.  Like my 2nd to last TracFone, for instance.  You all know I use a Helio (now Virgin) Ocean Smart Phone for just about everything, but they say in their ad not to call it a phone, and although the signal and voice quality are really good, in truth, for yacking on the phone, I'd rather have my sleek little Motorola flip phone in my pocket than the beloved but clunky Ocean.  It feels more like a phone.  It doesn't take as good pictures, but my camera of choice is still the Canon Powershot Digital Elph.  So I lost the TracFone and bought a replacement and then came down here and guess what?  No signal. 

I Love Hot Weather

Arizona relocation services

OK, I really do, but it is not so good for hubby. So we migrate. Arizona for Christmas and New Years and on through the damp of February and the winds of March. Then we go back to California. Our favorite Arizona community is directly across the Colorado River from Laughlin, Nevada, a resort town that used to have all you can eat Sirloin Steak full buffets for $1.95 at dinnertime.

When we used to visit there for just a few days, we frequented those buffets, but when we got our own place and started staying several months at a time, it is amazing how we started staying on the Arizona side of the river and eating at home.

When you live in the Laughlin area, it is important to take insulated coolers in the car when going grocery shopping, because this area has the hottest recorded temperatures of the whole United States. Don't stand next to your car bare legged when the motor is running, either, because the AC exhaust coming out from under your car will scorch your legs. Take water everywhere (I freeze mine overnight and then drink it as it thaws down) and wear thick soled shoes in order not to get leather feet. Not all of Arizona is that hot, of course, but that is the drill where we like to hang out.

This area used to be affordable, but since it has been "discovered" now the homes are getting fancier, the prices are going up on everything, and it is not the same as it used to be. Hey, if I wanted to live in a luxury home, I would have moved to Scottsdale!

If you are interested in moving to Scottsdale, by the way, with the economy as it is, this is a good time to look at repo properties. BTW, the yellow tab at the lower left lets you search the MLS:    Foreclosures

Tap, Tap, Tap...

This morning there was a little tap, tap, tap on my front door, and when I went to see who was there, a new neighbor handed me a bag of farm fresh locally grown veggies.  Wow!  Tender young summer squash, zucchinis, and a couple of sumptuous tomatoes.  I love this neighborhood.  It has to have the nicest people in the world. 

Yesterday I found a dollar store and snagged the perfect colander (pictured above), as I am a total vegaphreak and knew I'd be shopping for fresh produce soon.  Ah, but it was like that saying "When the student is ready the teacher will appear"--only my version is "When the colander is ready, the produce will appear."  That was probably a sign that it is time to set up my first Southern California AeroGarden!