Wednesday, April 28, 2010

My Posting Mojo

I need to get back my posting mojo. Since I moved last week, on Friday, my life has been upside down. Consequently I haven't been posting my blogs like I was when everything was stable.

But I'm getting more stable and back to my normal abnormal state, so I might be back to stay. I'm still a little flustered about the new responsibilities I have in my new job and the long hours, but I'm adapting.

Whenever I hit a point of no return, I know I have to adapt. It's evolve or die, you might say.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

I've Been Awake Since 3 Something

It's been another one of those days, as the pressures and joys of moving are coming together.

Everything built to its highest crescendo today, as it was the day to move the final things (except for the really final things, like the mattress we're sleeping on tonight in an otherwise empty house) into the truck. It all went along as it needed to, with some hired help who did a tremendous job.

I woke up in the middle of the night. This has happened a time or two lately. And I couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up a little after 4, then did some things, then got to work with the moving stuff. So now that it's almost 12 hours later, I'm getting sleepy.

One of these days, very soon, I'll have things back to normal.

There's some joys to it as well, as I said. One is seeing everything come together as it needs to.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

An Expandable Gravesite

I went by a graveyard today that is my least favorite kind of graveyard, the kind where the stones are lying on the ground, flat. I like the stand-up ones better, so you can see them from the road.

I would much rather have a stand-up one than a flat one, even those the flat ones are handier for the guy who mows the yard, so whom I would say, "What do we care what you want? You want a job, you'll mow around the stand-up ones!"

I was thinking of the kind that would be cool, an expandable tombstone. You buy maybe 40 plots. Then you put your tombstone right in the middle. It's about the normal height, but has some wires and rebar sitting out the top, left there for future expansion.

You put some money in an account, then trust your relatives to spend the interest on the expansion efforts. They build up, out, across, down, so your tombstone looks like a big piece of modern art by the time they're done, if they ever get done.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Gesturing About Aquariums

When gesturing, I believe it's best to keep things in some kind of proportion.

So when you're indicating a 10-gallon aquarium, your hands are out to about here. Then if you refer to a 20-gallon one, your hands need to go out farther. If you keep them where they were, that's still a 10-gallon tank, I'm sorry.

If it's a 50-gallon one, you can still manage it, probably, unless you're John McCain, but obviously it's a stretch. Work at it. If you're talking about a 50-gallon aquarium and you're only gesturing a 38-gallon one, that's no good. Because I don't think they come in 38-gallon models.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Advancing Along...

My move is making progress. I didn't do much with it today, but tomorrow I'll be back into it in earnest.

I will be moving this week somewhere else. So there!

It might affect my blogging schedule, as it already has.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Looking At President Obama's Tax Forms

Today is Tax Day. I got mine mailed yesterday. There weren't any big surprises. I did OK with it. It helps to have a simple estate, a dog house and two blankets. And my dog's always hogging them.

I was just looking at President Obama's tax forms online. His definitely look complicated enough that I would want a professional to help me with them. And I see he had a tax company do them. If my income, like his, ever goes over $5 million, I'll be sure to get someone.

Just looking at them, they seem fairly simple and straightforward, except for all the additional forms they had to fill out. The first pages and the SE schedule look about like mine have looked in recent years, just bigger numbers. I see one of his expenses was only $12, so I can relate to that.

A lot of the president's high income was from book sales. Memo to self: Write bestselling book this year.

The other thing that struck me about the president's tax forms was that everything was typed. That really makes them look good.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Larry King Files For 8th Divorce

Larry King has filed for divorce, which will be his 8th! I'd say eight is enough! What kind of moron would it take to want to be married to that old crumb? Especially with his crappy track record.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

9:00 Should Be The Cut Off Time For Calls

I've had some things advertised in the paper, furniture, as I prepare for my move.

Last night I'd had a busy day and was tired, so I went to bed about 9:30. Then after 10 someone called me and woke me up, asking about the furniture. That's no good. I talked to her for a few minutes and then had trouble falling back to sleep. So I lay there until after 11, still not to sleep.

9:00 should be the cut off time for calls. I thought we had a kind of societal agreement about that.

I used to work at a place where we had to call a lot of people. We weren't selling anything. But 9:00 was thought of as the latest we would call someone. Since we were calling sometimes in different zones, it was sometimes overlooked that it would be 10:00 for some already. We got some complaints about it.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Tax Day Is Coming

I worked through the last details of my tax forms and they're ready to go. I need to wait for my checking account transfer to be registered at the bank.

Then off it all goes! To the man! I don't mind the man a bit. He's just there (Uncle Sam, let's call him) to see to it that we don't suffer deficit spending at the highest echelons.

I actually filled in the numbers and most of the forms a week and a half or so ago. I just saved the last little bits, like signing them and doing all the other things of getting them prepared. Making sure the money was there, etc.

Anyway, it's coming, so you better get ready, or you'll have to spend the year in prison.

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Jamaica Inn

I watched the Alfred Hitchcock film "Jamaica Inn." I see it gets mostly poor reviews all around.

I didn't think it was so terrible. I had a hard time understanding the dialogue much of the time, with the heavier accent, especially with Charles Laughton's character. But that's about it.

I couldn't figure out why Maureen O'Hara's character went back to Jamaica Inn when she had escaped with the guy she saved. That didn't make sense to me.

It started off very exciting, with the ship being tossed in the sea, then the cutthroats doing their thing on the survivors. That's why they call them cutthroats.

As for Charles Laughton, his character was fairly disgusting. Plus I don't think I've ever seen anyone whose eyebrows were so far up his head, except Cap'n Crunch comes to mind. That was very distracting.

It was good to finally see all the soldiers clean up the mess and get it straightened out.

It was anticlimactic when Pengallon jumped off the top of the boat. Who really cared at that point? I would've shot him through the head and spared him the trouble. Why they didn't just shoot him, I don't know.

Among the outlaws, I liked Harry the best, in a scruffy top hat, looking great in his filthy suit. He reminded me of Adam Lambert, a very attractive guy.

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

I'm Starting To Prefer Downloads

I've always been one who wanted the physical thing, the book, the record, the CD.

But I've had so many and they become such a chore to move and keep track of. So I've been slow about coming to prefer downloads of things instead. But I think I'm starting to like them better.

If you have your hard drive, you can store one or 20,000 equally easily, no more lifting with 20,000 than with one. It's just a matter of keeping a back up, in my opinion.

I'm not buying anything right now, thanks to me getting ready to move. I might need all the cash I have. And I'll get back into it, probably, when I start getting more money and security.

Friday, April 02, 2010

28 After 7

Looking at the clock, I saw it was 28 after 7. Which is about what the clock would look like if the screw in the middle came loose and the hands drooped over time.

I've had a few clocks, including one just yesterday, show a weird time, like the battery was only hitting on every other heartbeat. I have two identical watches and they both funked out, slowed to a crawl, then stopped. I know they're right at least once a day. I don't know about the other time because that's when I'm sleeping.

I see the time on the clock and it's a picture book. Like 10 after 8 or 10 till 8, it's a boy scout doing semaphore signals. Or you could have the same times I must mentioned, along with 10 after 4 and 10 till 4, and we'd have Jack LaLanne doing jumping jacks. But anytime Jack jumps those are jumping jacks.

The kids these days with digital clocks are really missing out. Except they have the joy of looking at 11:11, which gives you that ascendant feeling.