lost briefcase

My car still has some bugs to be worked out. One of them is that the door locks are sticky. Curiously, when you lock the trunk all the doors lock, and visa-versa. I went to unlock the trunk yesterday, but the lock was jammed. I set down my briefcase behind the trunk. I then went to the passenger door, but it was jammed too. Finally I was getting mad and went to the driver's door. I had to fiddle a bit, but it opened. I got in and drove off. It was not until half an hour later that I looked for my briefcase. I looked everywhere, and it was lost. Oh yeah, I had left it in the road in front of my house. I was about ten minutes away, but went straight there. It was gone. I had some important stuff in there, a camera, my car registration, and just lots of personal stuff. I kicked myself silly, but there was not much I could do. The next day, as I was waxing my car for the 4th time this week. Once it is a few more months old it will never see wax again. I also swept out the back seat, and fallen on the floor, where I could not see it from the window, there was my brief case. I guess I had put it in the car after all. I love when problems solve themselves. I thought I had looked there.

no, not again

One out of three people in the world is crazy, so if you know 2 people who are normal that means that you are the one. For at least the past 30 years every roommate I have had has been pretty nuts. I have been trying to decide if I gravitate to that type of person, or if they are the only ones who will have me. Once again this month I have picked a roommate who likes to talk to themselves, is always preaching sermons about Jesus and Satin, and has mood swings that practically knocked me over.  To review, I moved in with a girlfriend 2 years ago, and after only three weeks living together we decided separate rooms would be much better, and it degenerated from there. This time we were starting in separate rooms and my only fear was that she would attack me in my sleep. If it wasn't for crisis junkies I doubt I would have many friends at all. Anyway, we had a little talk and bottom line we decided not to be roommates.

 

With some regret and some relief we decided to go our separate about 2 weeks before the move. I will still get the same apartment and am searching for another roommate. I have to think I dodged a bullet because as we got better acquainted it looked like this would have not turned out well anyway. I still have a great apartment and am now looking for another roommate so if you know anybody looking for a place in Sacramento, send them my way.

sue and ben

I am pretty sure that if Sue Nammy married Ben Gazzzy we would have a lot less trouble this year. Besides, Sue Nammy Gazzzy has a nice ring to it.

 

America's Most Wanted said, "Be sure to call us if you know anything at all." Man, I bet they got a lot of calls.

 

You have to wonder why Kay Daffy is only a Colonel if he is really the leader of a military dictatorship? Shouldn't he have a higher rank, like 20-star general or something?

 

The California governor today declared the draught officially over. Precipitation this year has been 165% of normal and the river is higher than ever. Much of the Sierra mountains have 25 feet of snow. This will be a good year to sail at Folsom Lake until September at least.

i will not plan ahead, i will not plan ahead, i will not plan ahead

I am not sure that I like people who plan ahead. Sometimes I wish I would do that but people who do bother me. Helen and Tony are all packed up for the big move. The big move does not happen for 7 weeks, but already everything except the toilet paper has been packed. All the kitchen appliances, plates, pans, most towels. The house looks bare. My room looks the same as it always does. I don't plan to pack until the day of the move, which after all, I still don't even know. I think I handle adversity pretty well. It comes from watching my mother on days that were "hectic".

momma always said there'd be days like these

Mom would always say a day was "hectic" when there was so much going on or things would keep going wrong. It wasn't so much that it was a bad day, it was just that God was giving a bit more than seemed to be easy to handle. We don't learn so much from good days, when everything is going right, as we do from bad days, when everything seems to be going wrong. 

things i might do

I might go to the refrigerator to get a snack, but I have eaten myself out of house and home. I have refrained from grocery shopping the past week or two, figuring I will have less to move if I eat all the food in the house. Now I am hungry and there is nothing here to eat. I tried fixing the computer, but it is really broke this time. I might call a friend and whine their ear off, like they do with me, but I like to keep my problems to myself. Besides, there is nothing they could do for me anyway. I might be getting upset, but I remind myself I wasn't going to do that anymore. Whose bright idea was that?

land line telephones

Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they've always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes 

television

Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they're playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it. It's time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix. 

the things that you own

Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in "the cloud." Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services." That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.

decision time

I am in the middle of this now but I think it is decision time, I want to make the best decision. The guy, Brian who has the 4-year old, seems a high risk to be roommates with. I wish him the best, and want to help him, but I can't really do much to help him. He will starve if he pays me half the rent, and I am not doing him any favor helping him starve. I went to meet Earnest and some of his candidates today. He introduced me to 3. 2 were rather high risk also, but one guy, Nabil (an Arabic name, he is from Yemen) is a 29-year old, married, newly out of recovery house, 2 months sober, intelligent, and seems friendly and stable. It is with sadness for Brian, but best planning for me that I think I will tell Brian NO and Nabil OK. His wife lives with his family in Stockton where he is from, and won't be living with him. She would visit however; they are happily married, just not together now. I will have to apply again, but even if we don't get accepted, I know a few other places where we should be. I have really botched this selection procedure, but if it ends well, that will be good.

don't spoil the dream yet

It's not that I never had a son, I just never had a son that I ever got to see. So when a guy I met with a 4 -year-old son told me he needed a place to live, I told him about my situation needing a roommate. Well, the rest is simple. He and his son may move in with me. I get half the rent paid so I can afford to live in my dream pad. He gets a good deal, a safe place, and a full time babysitter when needed. I get a child to help raise. Maybe I am dreaming, but don't spoil the dream yet. It could fall apart next week, but for the moment it looks like a decent turn of events. If I give you the impression of being a nice guy, I am only claiming that I want to be.

plenty of upside

During the Gold Rush, Sacramento was the last stop on countless prospectors’ road to riches. Then, as now, however, not all who ventured into Sac City got what they came for. The housing market in California’s capital peaked in September 2005 at $252.78 per square-foot. But by the end of 2010, the price has sunk to a $110.76 – a 56.2% price drop. Still, for prospective buyers with cash on hand, there’s still plenty of upside. We’d wager that savvy investors during the Rush made more money in pickaxe sales than gold mining.

what can $2 buy, johnny?

A babysitter asked six-year-old Johnny, who watched a lot of TV asks "Johnny, if you found a couple of dollars and had to spend them, what would you buy?" "A box of Tampax," he replied without hesitation. "Tampax?" said the babysitter. "What would you do with that?" "Well," said Johnny, "I do not know exactly, but it's sure worth two dollars. With Tampax, it says on TV, you can go swimming, go horseback riding, and also go skating, any time you want to."

it might happen

Let's see, if Japan were just to sort of accidentally blow up from nuclear meltdowns that would be awful. On the other hand, Toyota and Honda would be out of business naturally and Ford and GM would therefore certainly make a big come-back. Detroit would once again be the industrial leader of the planet. All over the world American cars would once again be the big thing. I sure hope Japan solves the nuclear radiation problem (or do I?).

sum(ing) letters

AT&T has recently bought T-Mobile which will effectively make them the largest cell phone company in the world. Along with this change they will be changing their name to either AT,T&T, or T,T,T&A

gay ted communmities

I have a little apprehension about moving to my new apartment complex, but only because I think it is a little too high security. You see, this is one of those "GAY TED COMMUNITIES". Not that I have any problem with homosexuals, or people named Ted, but I just think there are too many security guards in the world and that is what is making everybody so paranoid. The supply of oil is exactly the same or even higher than it was a year ago, but the perception that it might change is what is causing the price to sky rocket. Everything from trick or treat candy to Boy Scout leaders are now a matter of suspicion. People should just forget about problems that don't exist and stop worrying about issues that are only in their heads.

a scoop

I wish I was making this up, but I'm not. In London now you can get Ice Cream made from human breast milk. Supposedly people who are lactate intolerant have no problem digesting it. Digesting it is one thing, but paying for it is another. I guess it sells for about $22 a scoop.

movin' on up to the northside

Just today I put down a deposit on my new apartment, which is a 2 bedroom, in a very nice, charming neighborhood. It is a neat complex with tennis, basketball, and volleyball courts, plus pools, hot tubs, and an exercise room open 24-hours a day. I am pretty pleased. After looking at 9 or 10 similar places, this took the prize hands down. I might have looked for a few more weeks, but I am on a bit of a schedule, because I have to be out of where I am by the end of April. By putting a deposit down today, I assured myself of a downstairs unit that is available on April 7th. They allow dogs, and I am closer to town, but still in a suburban style setting that is in Greenhaven, one of the nicer neighborhoods in Sacramento. Once again, bad news (moving) turns into good news (better, cheaper place), and somehow through no fault of my own, I end up landing on my feet as always.

farewell for a few days

A day or two after I wrote the story about looking for a place to live, I got a call saying that I had been approved and could move in Friday. I went and rounded up about 3 guys to help me move. They all said they would. Then I went to U HAUL where it appears I can rent the big truck for the same price as the smaller ones. I reserved the big one, and now I figure I can do it all in one load. My new place is about ten miles from where I am now. It is on the north side of Sacramento as opposed to the south side. This is good for me, because my church, my friends, and many of the places I like to go are on the north side, and I am much more familiar with the north side anyway. I have a great place. It is big, new, and has all the amenities.

As you can imagine, I am very relieved to know where I will be living this week. My stress level went back to normal, or maybe even better than normal. Not that I ever know what the future will hold, but it at least comforting to have some idea.

On another subject, my computer is still acting funny. The thing caught a virus. It will be a few days before you hear from me again. I am taking it to my Elk Grove computer guy, and won't pick it up again until after I move.

the hard luck ballad of bobby, lucy and lucy's now locked up owner

A few weeks ago, Bobby, my new little dog, got in a fight with Lucy, a great big pit bull. I had Bobby tied up to a bike rack outside a meeting I go to, and Lucy was tied to the same bike rack. They seemed to be getting along fine, but after a while, Bobby was trying to get it on with Lucy, even though he is fixed. Lucy took offense to this sexual assault, and attacked Bobby. I had to break them up. Apparently Bobby wasn't expecting any rough sex. He was covered in blood and wanting to avoid any more violence, he went whimpering back to the car. Lucy's owner felt terrible, but I assured him that it was a good lesson for Bobby.

This morning, I am watching the news, and who do I see? There is Lucy's owner in an orange jail jump suit. Apparently last night he had gotten drunk and gotten in a fight with Lucy. Lucy bit him across the chin, so being drunk he wanted to retaliate. He grabbed a hammer, and tried to hit Lucy with it. Accidentally he ended up hitting his best friend in the face. Pit Bulls are usually nice, but can be overly aggressive. Lucy's owner wants to find him a new home because it looks like he will be in jail for awhile.

summer of love years (decades) later: not-dead-yet-elvis?