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archives
[ * 27 March to 30 May 2005 * }
[ * February to 25 March 2005 * ]
[ * January 2005 * ]
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* J U N E *
11 June 2005 / Saturday -- I have been out of the loop lately,
once again. On 1
June I got a very rare telephone call from Bernar to help
him dismantle an old heavy dentist chair that was in the garages
in West Trenton since the place was bought -- it was added to
the dumpster, as was a lot of rotten tree trunks and other junk
stashed behind the garages there -- now that part of the property
looks a lot less cluttered than it did before -- 
-- as you can probably see, the
dumpster is just about overflowing with stuff -- 
-- there are still sections of
old wrought iron fencing and some other things, some of which
I may take to the flea market some Sunday when I feel up to it
-- 
-- I have
not been there to sell in over 2 years already, and it would be
nice to at least return once or twice to try to get rid of some
treasures. -- it was almost lunch time, so Bernar sent me out
to get 2 hoagies, which I had not eaten in many months; I also
got French onion soup to go with it, another thing that I had
not savoured in quite a few years -- he was kind enough to pay
for it all -- 
-- when
I returned home I started to update my old Tenerife trip files
to put them on this server, but have not yet finished the monster
logistical task yet.
One thing that I found interesting with the things Bernar was disposing of -- over the years he changed the oil in his car/s many times, and always left the old oil in plastic containers and buckets in the garage -- now he wants to dispose of it, and these days one has t take it to a recycle center -- he called several in the immediate area and they said they could not handle it for whatever reason, which I think is strange as hell -- only one place said yes, they will take it, but only if he pays for the service! So he had to go all the way to Burlington, south of Trenton, just to get rid of some old motor oil. Around my way the peeps just dump it down the sewer drain on the corner, which is not exactly kosher, but they do get rid of it!
On 2 June the accountant who does my federal and state income taxes said the forms were ready for me to sign -- slightly later than normal, but at least that is over with -- NO refund this year, and I had to pay something because they do not deduct enough from my freekin monthly pension checks to cover income tax liability. I finally got rid of two more credit cards -- two less bills to pay every month. On 4 June, I got another call from Bernar saying that someone will come over to measure rugs for the upstairs, and could I be there to let them in -- OK, not a major problem, because I could do some wash while I waited for them, and maybe even watch some TV, both of which I did, with BeanTuska always right beside me -- I have to think of making some accommodation for her at the apartment, because she is very lonely there.
When I got home I continued scanning a batch of old books to
put on eBay,
and now that Yahoo
Auctions is amazingly free of commissions and listing
fees, I began gathering things that did not sell on eBay to list
on Yahoo -- I also put files of duplicate stuff in my YardSaleNet folder
to list there, which is also free. The nice thing about Yahoo
is that you can opt to have the item/s automatically relisted
once or twice if they do not sell, which saves a little work --
hey, I now have a big positive feedback rating of 3 on Yahoo, and about twice as many great
feedback entries on YardSaleNet, even though they do not add increments
to a high rating of 5
-- one has to start somewhere! While scanning stuff I remembered
that Kyra,
the gal at the post office, gave me a photo of her son, Donte, way back
in late February , and
I said I would put it in this news section-- he had just graduated
from Marine training school in Virginia -- 
-- since then he has been moved
to various US locations, then over to Japan,
Germany, Korea,
back home for brief visits, and now she tells me that he will
be sent to Iraq within
a week or so! Where ever they decide to send him again, I hope
that he returns safely, and the sooner the better.
On 8 June I went to the Home Depot to look for a bathroom wall light fixture to replace the really old one that never worked right -- I found a nice looking two tube fluorescent one having solid oak finials, and installed it the following day -- the thing was soooooo bright that I removed the upper tube, and it is fine. It has been hot and muggy here lately, so when the temperature in my study climbed to 87 degrees, I thought it was time to get the old air conditioner off the floor and back in the study window -- it still does not go below 78, though, which is sort of OK, I guess.
The most geeky news this pasr week was the decision of Apple Computer to switch from IBM chips to those made by Intel -- here is a sampling of the links discussing various aspects of the change and its potential ramifications --
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Me / Apple Users Say -- Me / It Makes Sense Now -- Peter / Pigs Fly Over Cupertino -- Dallas / Apple Risks It -- SteveG / Mac Post Mortem -- Steve / Developers Try It -- Me / Change May Be Confusing -- Me / Talking About It -- Me / The Apple Evangelists -- Me / IBM Plays Catch Up -- Me / Will It Harm Linux? -- Me / OK With Coders -- Me / Balmer Says -- Me / AMD Ships Dual Core --Me / Faster / Cheaper? -- Me / A Columnist on Apple -- Me / Intel Quad Core -- Me / Geeks Speak Out -- Me / Apple on Intel -- Me / Intel on Dothan -- Me / Hannibal on the Transition -- Me / Linux Desktop Affected? -- Me / Tom Talks about It -- Me / Going For Broke -- Me / Dvorak on Change -- Me / Caught in the Middle -- Jagc / The Switcher Ad -- Me / The Osborne Effect -- Me / Squidly on Switch -- Sand / Stealth Marketing -- |
23 June 2005 / Thursday --
Petrus De Schaepmeester
23 June 1930 - 9 June 2005
Bernar's Father died in Belgium on 9 June -- I just found out about it when I called him at work, which I dislike doing. I called to ask him if he wanted to go with me to an IBM sponsored premiere showing of War of The Worlds in New York on Wednesday, 29 June -- I signed up for their open source Linux project, and won the two tickets -- he said he could not go with me because he will be working, as usual
he mentioned that he was very surprised that his brother, Marc, who he spoke to on the phone some 4 years ago, died over two years ago and nobody bothered to mention it to him -- his Dad was in good health, and apparently died of something similar to a heart attack, which was totally unexpected -- Bernar is now the last of that direct family line, with only two uncles remaining. Although they delayed the funeral some days to enable him to return for the burial, unfortunately, he was unable to make the trip. I was very surprised and saddened by the news, and offered him my most heartfelt condolences -- R I P
* J U L Y *
1 July 2005 / Friday -- so what have I been doing lately? I started making index / main pages for some of my domain names which are available for sale, and updated other main page blurbs that I did in 2003 or 2004, mostly in the book and jewelry categories (about 50 in total) -- I still have a shitload to do, both in updating older formats and putting up a page instead of having the domain link back to my available domains page. Several are listed in my auction pages.
I also discovered that Yahoo auctions has a Canadian web site, separate from the American one [link below], so I put a bunch of goodies on the Canadian site -- most of the opening bids are in $US, with a couple teasers in $Can, which is less in our dollars, for the Canadian bidders just to get them to, perhaps, check the stuff out. If I would calculate what eBay would have cost me just to list the same 100+ items for ten days and with a gallery photo, which I have on both Yahoo web sites, it would have cost me a fortune just to list them as a regular auction, whether they sold or not -- on Yahoo it is totally free of listing fees and commissions, if anything sells -- and on Yahoo, I can have the items automatically RElisted five times if they do not sell, a kewl option which eBay does not offer, and a real time saver -- lest we forget the duplicate mirror items that I have listed on YardSaleNet.net, in which I also put links to my auctions on eBay and Yahoo, as well as my own web sites -- those free ads are priceless! Hey, and I recently sold 2 thingys on YardSaleNet, and at prices higher than the openers on the online auction venues. It may be a lot of work doing basically the same thing on four web sites, but with the templates I already have saved for each and every item since about 1998, all that must be done is change some format details for each of the web sites, which takes FAR LESS time than doing an entirely new format and item description. What I do now is first list stuff on eBay, which seems to have the most users, and if it does not sell, I then list the goodies on Yahoo and YardSaleNet, checking back every couple days to see how things are going. When and if Yahoo starts a Spanish or European auction site, I am thinking to do the same thing there.
Today I went to West Trenton to do some wash and to refill
my plastic liter containers with that super water -- since BeanTuska had no
food, I brought her back home to be with some of her old pals
and the newer kittys, whether she remembers them or not -- if
you recall, she was my first Sphynx cat -- 
-- Bernie had her because he wanted
some company -- but now that he has visions of selling that place
in the near future, he has no use for pets because they are too
much work, and can prevent him from doing things such as traveling,
which he enjoys -- unfortunately, I cannot take any extended trips
for this same reason. Thus far Tuska,
as I call her, has been getting along well with the other four
Sphynx I have in the kitchen, with relatively minor hissing incidents,
which are normal. At least now she is not totally alone for days
at a time, has a ready supply of food, and can sit on my shoulder
if she wants to, when I am in the kitchen -- she remembers that
practice of drinking from my water filter on the countertop, which
she used to do when she lived with me -- most of my cats do that.
Now the family is complete after several years! Kamiel is still not all that well,
but is sort of as active as ever -- if only his stomach / shit
problems would go away, he would gain some weight and at least
look like less of a bag of bones, it which would make me happier.
I could not find anyone to go with me to that premiere of War of the Worlds in New York, so basically using that as an excuse, I did not go, unfortunately -- I should find fewer excuses not to do things I really want to, but that is an entirely different subject! I am way too busy trying to make ends meet / paying bills with the meager online auction sales, than attending to other personally more satisfying or interesting things, but it does keep me active, and does help pay the freekin bills! Maybe I should not complain after all?
The major 4th of July extended holiday is fast approaching -- most peeps will have their outdoor cookouts, while I shall probably be working on new auction items and / or updating web pages -- different keystrokes for different folks, as they say. Maybe, one of these daze, things will change for me and I shall not have to be soooooo dependent on these adjunct things -- at least I hope so. I wish my American readers the very best of the holiday, and enjoy it for me too!
I pulled out many day lilies that had been growing wild in my small patio here -- they will be replaced with some of my old stock prickly pear cactus and my Mom's olde tyme smallish purple Iris that are in West Trenton (the same ones I have in Tenerife), before that property is sold -- still more day lilies must be removed, and hopefully I should start the long delayed repairs on the garages and the patio itself -- I am playing it by ear here, waiting for a day that is not steaming hot and himid or raining, which has been usual these last weeks.
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SteveH / Money Manager Performance [pdf] -- Stkp / Fabless Chip Companies -- Ron / Apple's Gamble -- SteveG / a Switcher's Tale -- Sand / Intel Mac -- Me / The Queen at Ascot -- Me / To Orgasm, or Not To Orgasm? -- Me / Apple Star Trek Project -- Me / Todd on Podcasting -- Me / AMD Sues Intel -- Me / Chinese Chip Making -- Me / Faberge Eggs -- Me / A Parsi Boy -- Me / Art as Investment -- Me / Jack Kirby Died : Invented the Integrated Circuit -- |
4 July 2005 / Monday -- the 4th of July - National Holiday
Here are three kewl link all by itself, just for this holiday, in the order received -- Esther, from Philadelphia -- Happy 4th -- TedB, from Virginia -- Happy 4th #2 -- Meg -- Happy 4th #3 --
Now for some catty news -- my cats have had a small push
Garfield toy
to play with for over a year already -- when I go into the kitchen,
I may find it anywhere -- after many months, they separated the
head from its body, and curiously, I frequently find both parts
near the stainless steel food or water dishes -- 
-- can it be that they think it
might be a real cat or other living thing, and that it also needs
food and drink, so they help it by moving it near the nourishment?
What do babies think of their toy animals and / or dolls? Are
they real, somehow? Will young children who often smash toys grow
up to be cruel, violent individuals?
In this recent shot of Kappora
and Zews, on
my bed, you may notice that the female, on the left, is hormongous
-- 
-- really
fat and seemingly pregnant -- I can only hope that she is not
as stupid as one of my other females was when she had her kittens
in the litter box, or the other that did not seem to be able to
figure out how to nurse the kittens.
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Me / Quantum Computers -- Me / About Some Older Computers -- Me / Switching to a Mac -- Me / Winer on Apple's RSS -- Ron / Against Cell Technology -- Ron / iPod Kitty -- Sherry / The Perfect Partner -- Sherry / Charades -- Sherry / Carbohydrates and Cats -- Sherry / Canned Cat Food Contents -- Me / Dry Cat Food Contents -- Sherry / Homemade Pet Foods -- Sherry / Cat Nutrition -- Gregg / High Tech Air Bags for Males -- |
11 July 2005 / Monday
-- I made simple main pages for a few more domain names, and changed
about a dozen to update them, adding my Yahoo auction links --
put some more domains on Yahoo,
both sites, and eBay,
something I did not do for many moons. I made a special short
Podcast for
my auctions, since I am a tad olde
fashioned and think that online sales are way too impersonal
-- 
-- I attempt to make a personal connection with my potential bidders,
stressing the importance of clicking that BID
button instead of just that dumbass WATCH
button, which is more convoluted, and, of course, many miss the
end of the auction, then email
me that they could not bid for various reasons, but still have
an interest in buying it. Naturally, I suggest that they can still
get it, but at a higher price
than my opening bid -- many do accept my offer, and lucky for
me, eBay does
not get any commission on the sale! t was only my second podcast,
and unfortunately, I neglected to remember the sound of the air conditioner and air purifier
in the study, which makes my voice message somewhat less crisp
and clean -- next time I hope to remember that obvious detail
and shut them off while recording -- I used the GarageBand app that comes with every
Mac to make
the voice track, as I did in my first experimental trial of a
few months ago.. The short musical tracks were also done within a couple minutes using the
same app, but if I devote a little more time to it, I could get
something a lot more interesting. As experiment
#2 it turned out OK, I guess. I wonder if it will increase
bids / sales? Incidentally, I do not really sound as I think
I should sound -- maybe I was a little tired? It is only a little over 2 minutes long, so
it should not distract from placing a bid. Even on a dial up modem,
it loads quite rapidly -- anything longer would
defeat the purpose, which is to sell something.
Tuska
is enjoying her former residence and my company again -- when
I allow her into my study, she is always as smoochy
as ever -- 
-- something
she missed at Bernar's because he was rarely home -- she is not
quite sure that she likes a couple of the other Sphynx
in the kitchen, but thus far, things are going well. I clipped
the claws of Zews
and Kappora
for about the 4th time since they arrived from Moscow -- they
just basically sit on my lap and allow me to do it, but I have
never had any
luck with clipping the claws of any of my other cats. That turtle
dove seems to have had at least one chick, which has already flown
the nest.
It is now 05h -- I already have a new batch of goodies ready for eBay later today, so I guess it is time for me to crawl into bed. Although I do have more Kewl Links, I shall save them for the next time.
Oh, yes, that London terrorist attack was not a complete surprise -- they are even more prepared for such things (due to their decades of IRA bombings, etc.) than we are here in the USA, and yet it was able to happen -- it is possible here too, despite all the millions in $$tax dollars$$ being dedicated to HomeyLandia INsecurity! How much of that money is going to companies connected to politicians / political parties? Which politicians? Democrats or Republicans? Huh....huh..........
16 July 2005 / Saturday -- After I sent a link to my first AuctionCast to some friends to get their opinion, one of the replies said that it was a great idea, but that my laugh sounded like Dracula, and the God Bless was misplaced -- I actually agreed with him and redid the thing based on the same script, my voice does sound somewhat more lively (actually the mp3 file is about 30 seconds shorter than the first one), the laugh is less sinister, and as Bush always does it, I put the God Bless at the end -- I also added an echo effect to the last brief guitar segment.
We have not had rain for quite a while, and it has been hot and muggy. I got some of my Prickly Pear cacti from West Trenton, and actually worked a little on the small garden in my patio here -- also took some Iris, a small patch of fern, and two smallish Holly trees that Bernar pulled out -- planted one in my garden patch, and the other across the street on the side of Irwins, so I can see something green when I look out my windows -- I sorta doubt that either will grow and prosper because there was little root on them when I found them. I got four Metasequoia seedlings last year on eBay and planted them here -- three are already over a metre tall, but the fourth was scraggly, so I took that to West Trenton where there is more sun, which they like -- also planted a row of Day Lilies in back the garages there in an empty spot -- I dug them out of my garden, where they had overgrown everything.
Over a week ago one of the neighbors put up a new wooden
fence in back of their place -- I do not know who -- since they
always just dump things where they find an empty place, preferably on somebody else's property,
the fence parts suddenly appeared on the side of Irwins,
right where I have to see the shit every time I look out my windows
-- 
-- they are pigs! It was done in the
early morning hours -- too bad I did not see who did it, or I
would have called the cops -- notice the black thing to the right
of the fence -- that is the base of a
basketball setup -- 
-- that tall weed and poison ivy
I sprayed with weed killer and it is already turning brown --
to the far right is the small Holly
tree I planted. Some other helpful
neighbor cleaned out all the trash, empty beer and soda
bottles, and other crap from that section of the street, filling
up five large plastic bags of refuse! I have not seen the owner
for many weeks, but I assume that he is enjoying the summer in
southern New Jersey and may eventually remember that he still
has this place to look after until he sells it.
For those very few of you who may have read my weird fly report while I had it here on 4 July before removing it, it is still online but NOT linked anywhere until I do some further research -- if you are observant enough to see how I name my files, you just might find it by trial and error -- good luck!
26 July 2005 / Tuesday
-- I took my two really old 6000
BTU Carrier air conditioners from West Trenton and tried
to give them away because they were too heavy for me to drag upstairs
to use here -- the thrift shop told me that they do not take them
because of the freon,
which is not very friendly to the planets ozone layer -- I asked a couple neighbors
if they could use them, they said yes -- I told them I would give
it to them for a case of beer each -- they did not get back to
me, so I lugged them on a cart from the Honda after dark to the
steps across the street at Irwins
and left them there -- within an hour they disappeared! The one
I use in my study is the same Carrier
model, which, at the time, were VERY
expensive -- it never got the room below about 83 degrees, which was better than
something in the 90s during the hot summer months -- I recently
saw Bernar and
told him I took my old monsters -- he gave me one he bought a
couple years ago that he does not need, it even has a remote and
is a General Electric
8000 BTU model -- it is somewhat lighter than the old ones,
but it was still a problem getting it up to the apartment -- then
came the task of getting the old one from the window in a VERY cramped space behind my desk
where I have art works and other things stashed -- this is the
Carrier once I got it out of
the window and to the floor immediately below -- notice that there
is not an inch to space on the floor -- 
-- I then had to maneuver the GE in a narrow space between a bookshelf
and table on which rests the photocopier, while the hot air rushed
in for a couple hours from outside, raising the room temperature
to 97 degrees
-- I did it in stages, resting between each small move -- here
you can see the somewhat smaller GE
in the window, with the old Carrier
on the floor below it -- 
-- then it took me at least an hour to get the old one up off
the floor and into the middle room, where it still rests on a
milk crate for easier handling when I have to finally get rid
of it. It took a few hours, but the temperature in my study went
down to 77 degrees,
which is the coolest it ever has been during the heat of the summer
in this, my main work room!
On another visit to West Trenton, I saw a previously unknown car in the driveway and suspished that it was the realtor finalizing the details on the sale with Bernar -- I was right, and the guy happened to be the old mailman in that area for over 20 years who retired and now is a real estate agent, doing quite well, because he really knows the area, the properties and the owners. The next day I found a folder containing a few dozen of the usual spec sheet, listing the property at $383,000, which is more than three times what we bought it for some 14 years ago -- unfortunately I am no longer the co-owner, as you already know -- I would have asked more for the place, which is very unique, in one of the last upscale and almost rural parts of this dumbass capital city, and is one of only two properties which can legally rent the upstairs as an apartment in that entire high class residential area.
I watched a DVD, which I rarely do although I have many still in original shrink wrap sitting here -- CONSTANTINE, staring Keanu Reeves -- quite an interesting, imaginative and action packed story (almost a horror or sci-fi flick) of the fight between absolute evil and those adepts with interesting religious backgrounds who attempt to keep the dark forces under control. I actually believe that such evil, demons and things DO EXIST on this earthly plane, not just as abstract concepts but as real forces that surround us every day. It was curious to see water as a channeling medium, which may be found in most religions and occult references -- it is something I was always fascinated by. It also mentions the legendary Spear of Destiny, also known as the Spear of Longinus, an artifact which greatly fascinated Adolf Hitler, a prime example of evil encarnate, who confiscated it during his reign of terror. They say the day it was not in his possession, he died in that infamous bunker in Berlin. As an aside, this movie is also a wonderful anti-smoking commercial!
Chris, my brother's wife, gave me a vintage Olympus typewriter (made in Germany, of course) some time ago -- I tried to get it working correctly, but could not after spending several hours working on it, so I took it to Morrisville, across the river in Pennsyalania to get repaired -- after a week they called and said it was ready -- I still have to pick it up.
I added a few photos of those flies -- 
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Sherry / Adult Dog Store -- Sherry / Best Friends -- Me / Truman's HIdden Agenda? -- Me / Victrolica's Blog -- Me / Skype & Epyx -- Me / TV Dinners -- Sherry / Testing For Coke -- Me / QUIZ: How Tech Saavy Are You? -- Me / A New iPod Audio Mixer -- Ron / Benefits of Green Tea -- Me / A Really Old Phallus -- Bill / Dark Chocolate and Health -- |
30 July 2005 / Saturday -- I took Fabiola to the vets to let him look at the growth on her chin -- we have to make an appointment for her when I think she may not be pregnant, but how the hell do I know? I am scheduled to see him about the fly photos next Monday at 07h -- he did give me some medicine vials to put any additional flies into.
The big news is that Kaporra
had three beautiful kittens just before noon on Thursday, 28 July 2005 -- after being
up for at least 24 hours, I crawled into bed that morning at about
09h, and woke
up when I noted some unusual movement on my arm, where she had
just produced kitten #2 -- although half asleep, I did manage
to stay awake another few hours making sure that Zews, the father, would not bother
them (he kept jumping into the box with her and I did not want
to take any chances with the first litter in over a year), then
I moved her and her babies into my study so she has some privacy,
at least until their eyes open and are a liitle larger -- I dozed
off in my desk chair for another 4-5 hours -- she still seems
overly fat, which is sort of unusual; I expected at least 4-5
kittys because she was sooooo globular -- 
-- without really noticing what
I picked out of the bin containing my cat box cloths, when I changed
the white towel she had the kittens on (right beside my pillow),
I selected an old jungle pillow case with a couple tigers on it!
They appear to be finding nipples easy enough, and feeding well
-- two have prominent dark markings, and one seems to have almost
a light checkerboard pattern -- 
-- they are apparently as totally hairless as their parents, but
I have not yet attempted to figure out if they are male or female
-- just from their relative size, I would think there may be 2
males and one female, or visa versa.
Oh, yes, last night I put three items on eBay, after over a week of inactivity.
| -- Me / Ogg Vorbis Audio -- Me
/ Cell Phones Damage the Eye -- Me / Cell Phones & the Eye -- Me / Nose Pickers -- Sherry
/ MS Word for Blondes
-- Sherry /
Igloo Contractors --
Gregg / Microsoft
vs. Apple -- Sherry
/ Best Friends 2 -- |
* A U G U S T *
1 August 2005 / Monday
-- 
21 August 2005 / Sunday -- first to the cats -- Kappora had a fourth kitten 2 days after her first batch of three -- it was much larger than the others and was stillborn -- this happened only once before, some years ago, with the old Sphynx I have, never with a Siamese. The other kittys did not seem to find a nipple to feed on, and on 2 August two of the remaining three died despite my efforts to bottle feed them for a couple days. The single male kitten appears to be OK at this point, is still in the cardboard box visited by his mommy and sometimes Zews, his daddy -- when I get close and talk to him, he already knows the sound of my voice, and I let him walk around on the bed a couple times to give him some exercise.
On 6 August they held the usual Puerto
Rican parade, which passes in front of my place -- this
time I did not bother going out, partly because I was still asleep
when most of it was going on -- I did see the end of it, and the
next day noticed that some dumbass stuck 6 four inch stickers
on my front windows announcing that Paula
Sollami-Covello -- 
-- is running for Mercer county clerk. Curiously, these stickers
were NOT seen
on the windows of the place next door, on Irwin's or the Hispanic grocery store
across the street! I was pissed and called the cops to report
vandalism. After he said he would write up a report, he also mentioned
that he did not see what could be done about it -- I told him
that the idiot woman could come over and scrape the freekin things
from my windows, plain and simple (I shall have to scrape the
things off one of these days -- like I do not have enough other
more important things to do! I also directed his attention to
the missing drainpipe on the neighbor's rental place -- 
-- that allows the rain water to
destroy the wood beneath the aluminum art
deco plates on the left side of one of my large front windows,
one of which fell off already! He said they cannot do anything
about that either -- what can this freekin city do? Apparently,
spend tax dollars like water -- 
-- installing some kind of special mats nominally for non-slip
handicapped access on the small section of sidewalk they installed
many months ago -- the gawd damn things cannot be more than two
x four feet in size with rows of round protrusions -- when I saw
the guys doing the work, I asked what they were and how much they
cost -- a measly $3,200
for 10 of them, meaning that piece of shit in front of
my place cost $320! I have NEVER
seen any form of handicapped thing anywhere in this neighborhood,
other than cars, which have their own handicapped parking space,
as I do, and they do not use the sidewalks, naturally! The only
ones I see with bicycles are a couple drug dealers and some johns
keeping tabs on their putas,
(Ignaz is one
of the usuals) and they prefer jumping the curb to show how macho
they are -- oh, yes, and the ragged looking shopping cart ladies
who float around on the night trash is put out, to rummage through
the bags, throwing stuff all over the place. On recycle day, at least the males with
shopping carts looking for aluminum cans are neat about it.
Bernar
is off again for almost two weeks to California -- he told me
he was leaving a few hours before his departure, asking me to
go to West Trenton to feed the fish in the ponds, which I have
done for years already. I also washed several loads of clothes,
and took three five-shelf shelves to begin organizing the Augean stables which
are the three garages I have adjacent to the apartment -- 
-- this
is the middle section BEFORE
I started -- stuff piled right up to the door, with just enough
space on the right to basically squeeze through to get inside,
rubbing against a ladder as I walk. I will need that space to
park either the van or car once he sells the place in West Trenton,
so I left the Honda there and took the van to use with this chore.
The shelves helped to stash things that may still be useful for
eBay or whatever
-- I did have a lot to simply trash, and luckily a neighbor down
the street disappeared and the owner trashed everything still
in the apartment including a sofa, arm chairs, bags of clothes,
kitchen stuff, wooden chairs and soooo much that it took two house
fronts of curb to put the crapola, so I added my trash to that
mess! I also separated tons of stuff to take to the Salvation Army charity shop -- I
already took four van fulls and a Honda full of goodies, things
sitting in the West Trenton garages, and in these garages for
over 10 years, most of which I got at the local country auction
for selling at the flea market when I did that every Sunday (I
stopped some three+ years ago) -- monster plastic bags filled
with teddy bears,
dolls and other toys, complete stereo setups, a printer and other
electronics, loads of collectible plates, ceramics, metal ware,
several bags of clothes, and even Victorian
marble topped tables and other vintage furniture -- and
a like new Schwinn
racing bike I used about three times that was stashed in
West Trenton (that I got when Evelio was still alive -- I do plan on
keeping my Mongoose
mountain bike, though, in case I feel the urge for some exercise),
PLUS another
similar Schwinn that the next door neighbor had in the trash recently
and discarded simply because the back tire was flat!! It would
be way too much trouble to sell that stuff online, pack and ship,
so why bother, and there is no space in what was the shop to store
it there. This is what the same section of garage looked like
after six days
of sweating my cojones off in the heat and humidity -- 
-- and you can now even see some
of the stuff on the shelves way in the back -- most of the things
seen piled two feet in front of the inside of the door was in
my last van load to the non-profit place, for which I get a receipt
for tax purposes (for way more than I could have sold any of the
goodies to the cheapass eBay
bidders! -- then, just as God
is alleged to have done, I
rested on the seventh day! I still need another shelf and
probably two to three more days of work to finally get to see
the back of the center section of the garages, plus install one
or two fluorescent lamps I also got in West Trenton. Then comes
the outside repairs and painting, which I hope to do before the
really chilly weather and snow arrives (I have been saying the
exact same thing for at least five years already!).
Then, lastly, I guess I should mention my Canon PC770 photocopier which I have
used since about 2000, when I got it at Sam's Club -- over the last year
something does not work right and I have to feed the paper in
the right manual feeding tray, sheet by sheet, which takes a lot
of time when I have to do 50 copies of something -- 
-- it sits in front of the middle
window in my study, on top of an old maple desk I refinished the
top of at least 15 years ago but never got around to the rest
of it -- it is where I weigh the books and things in grams using
an Ohaus triple beam
lab balance, wrap my eBay
stuff in newspaper, and cut bubble wrap for delicate things --
everything handy and easy to get to, with a nominal minimum space
to work. I had been checking at Sam's for a newer model, but all
they seem to have are really modern ones that function as copiers
/ fax / printers / answering machines, which I do not want (does
anyone make simple, easy to use things any more?) -- when I finally
picked up the typewriter on 4 August, I noticed a box with a newer
Canon PC920
photocopier in it, which uses the same cartridge this old one
does -- Sam's still sells the cartridge, and I saw many listed
on eBay -- I
asked the guy how much it was, about $320,
which seemed sort of OK, I guess, but I did not get it at that
time. Then I checked on eBay
and found an even newer model, the Canon
PC940, c. 2002, using the same toner cartridge, and one
seller had it for $198,
plus $30 shipping from Ohio -- now that looked really great,
so I got the thing -- 
-- it arrived on 18
August and sat in the walkway for a day, until I removed
the old one -- 
-- it is
about the same size and weight as the last one, and comes with
a three year warranty, which is kewl. Why did I choose that seller
and not one of the several others who had the same model for about
the same price? His feedback was higher, he had fewer negatives
in the last 6 months, his shipping cost was stated and was lower,
and he answered a couple questions I emailed him about in less
than 10 hours, and seemed friendly and helpful.
Then I got the bright idea to include the old model in the
stuff I was donating to the Salvation Army thrift shop, with a
note on it that it works very well if the paper is manually fed
-- I valued it at $230, so I virtually got the new one for free!
Hopefully it lasts me for another three to four years, IF I survive that long. Hey, a couple
days ago I was not sure I was alive or croaked! Down in the back
of the shop I have a previous Canon
PC 6RE (c. 1998) and wanted to donate that to the thrift
shop -- it even has all the instructions and all, and worked well
for a couple years before I replaced it with the PC440 -- it is
in a somewhat cluttered area that I have to clear out to, hopefully,
put in a washing machine once Bernie sells the West Trenton place
-- the water connections are already there. It was in the early
morning hours and I was slightly tired -- it weighs somewhat more
than the others do, and as I carefully picked it up and started
walking with it, I lost my balance, the photocopier fell and so
did I, almost crushing my head when a large heavy wooden pedestal
in front of me fell over! -- 
-- I landed on my side, bruised both legs and my right arm, with
blood dripping out and the whole thing -- I lay there stunned
for a few seconds, somehow managed to get up, hardly able to walk,
dragged myself upstairs and immediately went to bed -- had my
fall been worse, nobody would probably have found me for a week
or more -- almost scary thoughts, but then again, one must depart eventually, theoretically
to that legendary place, with or without waiting virgins, as specified
in the opiate soaked leaves of some so-called religious text according
to one's fundamental belief system (or lack thereof). That was
about a week ago, and the bruises are still there -- my left foot
swelled up like a balloon, and still does slightly. Incidentally,
that back room has a kitchen sink that I cleaned up quite nicely
(under the window and to the left of the door to the small patio),
and on the right, behind that 33 drawer cabinet is hiding the
washing machine water lines, which I shall have to use when I
have enough moola for a washer -- I doubt I need a drier because
I can always find a place somewhere in the basement to hang the
clothes, maybe.
Bernar called me late last night from Las Vegas -- he wants me to unlock the padlock on the garages because someone wants to see the inside at about 18h today -- not a major problem since I wanted to go to feed the fish anyway; I just returned from there. He gets back to Trenton tomorrow afternoon.
Gawd, I did not even include any kewl links yet, and I have a whole bunch in the folder -- I shall save some of them for the next update! I already split the kewl links page in two to make for faster loading, so you will note that change if and when you visit it/them.
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SteveG / Intel Mobile CPU Roadmap -- Chuck / Apple: The Power to Crush -- TedV / Penguin Toss [interactive] -- Sherry / We Didn't Start the Fire -- Ron / The iBook Scuffle -- Me / Intel's Next Generation Chips -- Me / The Bible on the iPod -- Me / A Civil War Fisk Coffin -- Me / Inside a CPU Plant -- |
if the Chamberlain Batman watercolors were taken off the above linked web site,
here are two of them #1 xxx / #2 xxx
what I think is slightly strange is that I found the story on a UK web site, and NOTHING doing a search on Giggle
Is our news homogenized, pasteurized and approved by the FDA?
23 August 2005 / Tuesday
-- after a couple more days of working on the inside of the garages,
I can now move around much easier and can actually see the back
end -- 
-- taking
another load of goodies to the thrift shop yesterday, plus the
bin full and two large boxes of trash that went out a few minutes
ago also helped -- some of the stuff in the front left will be
in the next batch for the Salvation
Army., including that super kewl LP record player that
you inert the record in vertically from the top, and it plays
both sides! There are several boxes in the rear left for the thrift
shop too. This is a view looking right from the inside -- 
-- incidently,
I asked the lady at the charity donation place if my stuff sells
-- she said that just about everything I brought in the last time
was sold already! Here is a view looking left -- 
-- I have a marble top for that
cast iron Singer sewing
machine base -- it would match a similar one I still have
in West Trenton with a monster heavy TV sitting on it.
Some of my online friends have asked about the Victorian
pie tables I have -- 
-- this one is kewl --now I will now take a shot of the one in
the kitchen -- hang in there -- 
-- the cats sit in that wooden wine box on the table to sun themselves,
and there are other hiding / resting places for them nearby. I
think there are another two vintage pie tables in the shop, under boxes
and stuff -- all stripped and refinished by me many years ago
when I did furnature restoration quite frequently -- how I found
the time for it while teaching I shall never understand!
Anyway, I feel great that the work is progressing quite nicely, and maybe before the end of the week I can see if the van fits inside -- then I will have to get an alarm put in it, as I did with the Honda.
25 August 2005 / Thursday
-- just a brief note to see how my uncluttering is coming along
-- 
-- this
is the bunch of stuff that I took to the Salvation Army this early afternoon,
after getting the van from West Trenton -- add to that the full
sized Victorian
cast iron bed and two boxes that were in the van -- now that left
part of the garage entrance is clear to the back, where I still
have some things on a pallet (to keep them off the floor) in front
of some of my small parts, nail, and
other repair / restoration / electrical stuff in the handy
storage cabinets -- 
-- to the right are some cases of Postal
Service mailing boxes and other shipping supplies -- a
lot of Evelio's
original larger plaster models are way in the back on shelves,
above everything else -- the stuff on the pallet is not in the
way if I put the car in there, I hope, but they will have to eventually
be moved elsewhere -- this is the nice lady at the back receiving
entrance of the thrift shop who gives me the donation sheets,
let me call her Hazel
-- 
-- I forgot
to take a pic of the front of the place. Tonight the trash goes
out, and Saturday the recyclables,
which will get rid of this pile of junk -- 
-- the
three things in the center and another yellow bin on the right.
Behind them to the right are not that many boxes and other things
that have to be relocated -- then I can try to get the van in
(a 1994 Dodge Ram,
one of only two vehicles I ever bought new) -- I already measured
the width of the van, and apparently it will fit with some inches
to spare on both sides, I hope. It had, up until now, always been
parked in the rear of Bernar's
place in West Trenton. I used it basically to the flea market
and when I went to the nearby country auction and New York to
get tons of treasures --it only has
some 12.5k miles on it!
27 August 2005 / Saturday -- I know that my readers have been unable to sleep at night due to anxiety attacks wondering how my prediction that I would have all the treasures I had piled in the center part of the garage out by the end of this week -- they were probably taking online bets to see if I could do it or not (I think the odds were something like 40:1 against my being able to do it) --
well, this is the latest -- after the recyclables went out on the curb in front of the place this morning (and, as usual, they have NOT collected mine, although everybody else's was! So I called the cretins, as I have to do every two weeks when somehow they overlook my stuff) --
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BEFORE 1 August 2005 just barely able to move around inside, things piled as high as 6+ feet to the entrance door -- although I amazingly knew where everything was, it still was not the easiest to get to it |
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AFTER 27 August 2005 neat and tidy, everything readily accessible when needed, much less chance to break a leg |
-- IT IS CLEAR!! So my heartfelt congratulations to those who wagered that I would be able get all that crapola out -- spend your winnings wisely!
OK, so the only thing left in the back of the space is a
pallet with some things stashed on it, most of which has another
destination -- I foresaw that it is possible that even the pallet
will have to be taken out if I want the van to fit in there, which
was my next step -- so I very
slowly maneuvered the van through the door, with perhaps
a tight 4-5 inches
on either side to spare (with the side rear-view mirrors against
the side of the van), and somehow got it in as far in as I could
(a lubricant might have helped, though!) -- the problem was, then,
to get out of the driver's side, which was impossible because
there is a shelf there -- not a major logistic task, I just left
via the van backdoors -- 
-- as you can perhaps see, about seven inches of van extends beyond
the garage door -- now, perhaps tomorrow, I have to get that stuff
off the pallet -- the pallet itself can go to the basement --
I am not really sure that I want to put the van in there at this
point -- it is way too much trouble -- if I miscalculate an inch
or two while driving it in, I would have unnecessary problems
-- if I park the Honda
in there, I would NOT have to
remove anything else and would have more than enough room to get
out of the car, once it is in there -- but then I would have to
get the van alarmed, which I wanted to do anyway.
29 August 2005 / Monday
-- yesterday I went to West Trenton to get the Honda, do some
wash and load some things in the van to bring here eventually
-- was delighted to find two cases each of two different wines
that Bernar
left for me -- 
-- what
one calls a magnum,
on the left, 1.5 litre
bottles of a 2002 vintage Barbella Valpolicella
(dry red wine), from Quinzano, Italy -- the one on the right is
the normal .75 litre
bottle (which usually last me two dinners) of a French 2000
vintage, Chateau D'Orsan Côtes du Rhône (red Rhone
wine), which I tried last night and it is good-- I did not have
a drop of wine left in the place for about a week already, which,
for me, is extremely
rare.
There was not much food left, either, so today I decided to go to Sam's Club in Cinnaminson, New Jersey, south of Trenton to get food for me and the kittys -- the gas gauge was showing empty so I stopped to fill up -- this time it was at $2.51/9 a gallon -- most other places I passed along the way had it at $2.55/9 and up to $2.61/9 -- then, when I got to Sam's I glanced on a gas station across the road and they had it for $2.45/9 -- and guess what? It was for Sam's Club members! I never looked at it before because it is not actually located at the wholesale warehouse -- oh, well, live and learn! My last fill up was on 21 July, when gas cost $2.27/9 a gallon, but hey, it is still a LOT cheaper than in Europe where they sell it by the liter (somewhat more than a quart) -- I just did a Giggle search and found that the cost of petrol in mid July in the cheapest country, Greece, was 0.90 Euros / litre -- at about the same time, several Euro countries were charging over 5 Euros / gallon (at this moment, that is equal to $6.16) --
on the BBC
web site (which is one of my favorites for news every day) I found
some interesting graphs -- why is European petrol so expensive?
It is due to the high taxes on the product -- 
-- which varies by country -- 
-- so what do they
use these taxes for? Road repair and maintenance? -- 
-- Maybe using public transportation
would be cheaper than driving? -- 
-- interesting info there!
When I got home and finally lugged all the goodies up to
the apartment, I gave the Sphynx in my bedroom a can of the stuff
I just bought -- surprise
-- the male kitten was walking around and ran right up to the
plate and started munching away -- 
-- he is soooooo cute and seems to be doing well, thus far --
he has nice markings, too -- if he were a female I would probably
keep the baby -- he
will be five weeks old on 1 September, ready to adopt at
the end of September, I guess.
My next update may be on a new page -- this one is much longer than usual, that is why I have not added many kewl links this month.
God Bless !
Questions
and comments may be emailed to the author of the above YES at 
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The Year End Summary Archives
[ * 27 March to 30 May 2005 * ]
[ * February to 25 March 2005 * ]
[ * January 2005 * ]
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