1 January 2003 / Wednesday - I awoke from a snooze at the puter at 00:17 -- was going to open the bottle of Perrier-Jouet I have in the refrigerator since December 2001 and drink the entire thing, but I did not have any grapes, midnight had passed, and I just did not feel like getting sloshed! So, with any luck I may get to open the bottle at the end of this year?
What to do next? I loaded the DVD for Minority Report on the TiBook and watched it. Curiously, yesterday a friend and I were IMing (Instant Messaging) each other, and he did not seem too thrilled at the movie -- his only comment was that it was weird, and hey, this dude is young and very intelligent. WOW, was I surprised to see Max von Sydow again -- I first saw him in Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal and some of his other Swedish pics, as a student in Germany in the early 60's -- then in The Exorcist -- he just keeps reappearing again and again, sort of like a ghost from the past! Actually I thought this was a sequel to the Matrix, but it was not -- it had an entirely different futuristic scenario.
I found it thoroughly enjoyable, not particularly for its special effects, which have gotten rave reviews, but for the morality story I seemed to note in it. It was a classical tale of greed for political power -- coupled with the weakness of human nature even in excellent individuals, and the importance of being able to choose a course of action in life (as Marion seems to point out so well when I complain about things!), be it right or wrong. And, of course, the relativity of seemingly objective reality was very apparent! I shall not go into details and thus ruin your enjoyment of the flick, which I highly recommend. It does have some kewl computer-like apparatus in it, which are totally unlike anything we know today -- but, then again, what we have today is unlike the first computers of 20+ years ago! It is a very imaginative Spielberg pic, and I think his first try at a Hitchcock-like thriller. Yes, people are intrinsically good, and those who are bad usually get theirs in the end.
Then to bed, and I did not get up until around noon. My brother had invited me for dinner, but it was raining and the Festiva is not exactly working optimally for such a long drive. Marion IMed me from Florida and we had a very lengthy conversation about stuff, after which I attended to the eBay winners from this morning -- as a special treat, I gave them a surprise -- FREE shipping for having bid on New Years, and one of them was from France! It is my little way of saying THANK YOU for keeping food on the table for the cats and me throughout the year. I snoozed again.
I then booted to the partition I have on this hard drive and loaded the Pablo tablet software, and the Limited Edition Photoshop 5.0, an app which everybody raves about, although an old version. The tablet works kewl, and PhotoShop is absolutely unbelievable -- so many options and stuff -- I used the tablet and PS to make the background and header for this page in some quicky experiments. It has a high learning curve, and I do not usually have the spare time to leisurely check out all the options. It may grow on me as I experiment more with it -- an example is that color thingy in the header -- it started out as a thin strip of rainbow colors that I got elsewhere, and using a couple filters, morphed the simple strip into that honeycomb of colors and patterns! It is the kewlest of about 8 other different trials patterns.
10 January 2003 / Friday - The days have been varying between snow, cold, sun, above freezing, dreary and just plain miserable -- at random! I love it.
The past couple days have seen me with less eBay activity and more trying to get things done around the house. The peeps were over to give me an estimate on replacing the roof drain pipes across the street, but I still do not have the estimate!
Although it is a somewhat long story which may be told one
of these days, last year Bernar
gave me his old Jeep
Cherokee 
that I helped him buy in New York in 1994
-- he got a new one last year, more sporty, which I also went
with him to check out in Pennsylvania. Well, the old one has some
125k miles on it, but is in a lot better condition than the Festiva
(at least cosmetically), and I always loved to drive it. The gas
mileage is not as wonderful as with the Festiva. The Cherokee
has a slight glitch -- the horn does not work (which I discovered
when I tried to use the thing in heavy traffic a couple weeks
ago!), and the alarm system is weird. I did not want to use it
until I got those things fixed because an alarm is necessary to
keep it parked here at the apartment overnight. The battery went
dead, but when I recharged it, the alarm constantly went off and
there was no way to shut it off. So I left it in West Trenton.
I did get insurance on it last October -- $431.97/6 months. A couple days ago
Bernar got the recharged battery back in, and the alarm did not
keep blaring away, so I picked it up again to see what I could
do with it to get things working. 
Yesterday I was cleaning it inside and out and somehow the door closed -- the keys were inside. Since Bernar lost his second set of keys and alarm remote, my set was all there was! I had to call a place to come over to open it -- $40, and they arrived within 5 minutes! -- then I went to their key shop and had a pair of keys made for the Cherokee and another pair for the CLUB, that security device we always use on the steering wheel -- $9.54. I never worried about the Festiva because who the hell would want to steal that thing! I had several broken windows, busted hood and various and sundry dents and scratches, but there was never anything stolen out of it, probably because I never leave anything in the thing -- just local creeps getting their jollys.
Today I went to the local Chrysler-Jeep dealer to see if I could get a replacement remote for the alarm system and the horn replaced -- a single remote would have cost about $135 -- but they discovered that the remote that came with the Jeep from the Manhattan dealership was NOT made by Jeep! Slight glitch. Their replacement would not work on the old alarm system, but I could make an appointment for next month for them to replace the entire system -- hell NO! They suggested that I check out a nearby van and SUV detailing place which may have that type of remote.
OK, I went a couple blocks to the other place -- they tried what they had but said it could not reprogram the installed system -- I would need a new one -- estimate $250 -- and they do not do horns. Last resort -- I called a place in Morrisville, across the bridge in Pennsylvania, and they said to come on over and they would see what they can do. They tried to reprogram it with what they had, but the diagnosis was that it is a second market system, not made by Jeep, and that is not manufactured any more! Not a big surprise. So I had to get things moving -- way too many weeks/months had already passed since the Jeep thing first started (I told you it was a long story!), and they could do the job of replacing the system with a Viper, which is more sensitive than what was installed -- $150 -- plus a new Hella electronic horn of some sort -- $99 (not including labor and tax) -- and they could do it first thing Tuesday morning, 21 January. It would take a couple hours, but someone could take me home and pick me up again, which was a plus! So I may take the Jeep back to West Trenton until the 21st, so it does not disappear here on the street in the meantime -- meaning I would pick up the Festiva that is now sitting there. Bernar leaves on the 13th for Hawaii -- AGAIN! What a life style some people seem to have!
I still have not transferred the title/registration for the Jeep, nor gotten new plates for it -- I may get handicapped plates to replace that ratty plastic handicapped placard I got that is held together by scotch tape after soooooo many years of use and moving it from one vehicle to another. Once the Jeep has the horn and everything working, then I can take it to get inspected. I shall have to give it a fill up of gas to try to figure out what kind of mileage the thing gets.
I just updated the 2002 Christmas page and the Grinch list.
15 January 2003 / Wednesday - Bernar left on Monday for another vacation in Hawaii, so I have to look after his cat, AttaTurk, who is fat as a horse!
What did I do yesterday on my birthday? Washed clothes and
was generally lazy! I did get three birthday cards in the mail,
one from my brother and the others from Marion in Florida, my favorite Hallmark
store, and Pam in
Illinois -- as well as several cyber greetings, from Care2.com (an environmental
web site), Eloise
in Alaska, Esther
from Philadelphia, Joy (bringing new meaning to a love for
art and Monet!), Cyndi
in Texas, Nancy
in Massachusetts, and Sherry in Florida -- and a few emails
wishing me the best. Thanks, everybody for your kind thoughts
and remembrance. [sniff] I also got
a surprise package from Marion 
-- a box of really juicy Honeybell
oranges right from the orchards in Florida!
I also got one of my Christmas cards returned from Uncle Steve in Florida -- stamped VACANT, probably meaning his apartment! I then emailed Ted, who keeps track of family genealogy stuff, and he said he thinks Steve died a year or two ago -- the one I sent him last year was not returned, so I assume he was still there in 2001, and he did send me one in 2000. Curiously, there was another postal service label on the envelope -- RETURN TO SENDER / NO FORWARD ORDER ON FILE / UNABLE TO FORWARD -- OK, so if he died and a relative left his new forwarding address, would they have forwarded it to heaven? Now that is a service that would be worth the 37 cents!
23 January 2003 / Thursday - Bernar called me, which is very rare, to say he returned from Hawaii, was it yesterday? He did not really say more than than that. Now maybe I can get back the Kodak DC3400 I let him use over 10 months ago -- and curiously, he never used it for anything except for this trip! When I went to West Trenton to do some wash and take care of his cat, at least the floating heater I plugged in the main large pond was working and it was partially ice free at the far end -- and I did not see any dead fish floating at the top as has occurred every year since I moved from there.
I have been freezing my cojones off here lately -- extremely cold -- but then again, it is winter. Tonight we are supposed to get wind chill temperatures of -15 degrees F, not that I really care. The cats have been weird since all this cold started -- they just clump together in the boxes near the radiator in the kitchen (which is always at least 5-6 degrees colder than the thermostat!). I usually have the thermostat set at 66 during the day, but have been raising it to 68 and 69 simply because it never seems to get even close to 66 anywhere except at the freeking thermostat! It drops to 61 after midnight, but since I am usually up and doing things after 24 h, I usually raise it to 69 again. We are supposed to get more snow this week -- we have had a few snow storms thus far, but not really a lot of snow -- it usually stays on the ground for a couple days. -- I still have ice from the last storm.
Oh, yes, and they installed the new car alarm and horn on the Jeep Cherokee two days ago, and they seem to work well -- I got 3 remotes for the alarm (two came with the package, and $45 for the third) and gave one to Bernar, since he always had the Festiva and van keys in case he ever needs to use them for something. Today I got the bill for the next six-month car insurance for the 3 vehicles -- $1,345.60! Holy shit, I shall never get enough together for the back house taxes for two properties I owe! Now I have to get the Jeep title transferred to my name, new handicapped plates and the car inspected. The Festiva is sitting next to the van in West Trenton. The Jeep rides extremely quietly, and is very responsive, powerful and kewl. I filled it up with gas today (it was not empty yet -- 14.3 gallons for $20 -- YES, Horacio, it costs a lot less here than in Spain, and still the idiots complain about it!), so I can see how many miles it gets on a fill-up. I am doing the same thing with the Festiva, just to compare them. I may check on how much it costs to send the Jeep to Tenerife, so I have a car there at the house -- if you recall, I spent a couple hundred buckies last time I was in the Canaries on a car rental and did not use it very much -- what a waste! I have no idea what it might cost to have it shipped there -- and whether I can load it with stuff for my place there. If any of my loyal readers has any experience with this sort of thing, please contact me at the link, below. Oh, yes #2, I sent Manolo, the vecino who keeps track of my place there (if you read that story from my recent trip, you know who I am talking about) $1,100 in Euros for all the bills he had paid over the last 3 or 4 years while I was not there. So at least in Spain I am more or less caught up on payments for things -- so far!
14 February 2003 / Friday - 
- Valentine's Day - SMOOCHES TO EVERYBODY!
Brrrrrrr -- has it ever been cold these last few weeks! Snow once or twice every week, below freezing temperatures many days and most nights -- interestingly enough I love the cold, and can even go outside without a jacket and not feel all that frozen, at least during the day. The last snow is still on the ground and they are saying we shall get more this weekend. If this keeps up, maybe we can think of a white Easter and make snow rabbits instead of snowmen!
Some peeps have asked how and what I eat -- a valid question, of course. Since I only have to make for me and the cats, I usually go somewhat heavy on the rice and pasta, with whatever I can find thrown in for a gourmet delight. Luckily Bernar still saves his leftovers in the fridge in West Trenton for me, and on my infrequent visits to see Beantuska, my female Sphynx that is keeping his male company, and to do my wash, I get whetever I find in the plastic containers and they make for at least two days, added to the rice and/or pasta. Lately I have been also adding some of the grits mix that George sent me, to whatever I prepare, and it adds a slightly different something as well as consistency, sort of like adding flour to gravy.
On the 7th I had one of my really old vintage stainless
steel pots heating up water on the stove, came into my study to
do something on the puter, as usual, forgetting about the pot
-- so when it dawned on me that it was still cooking on high,
I went back in to find the clad bottom of the pot had warped off
from the heat! The entire thinnish real bottom was glowing red
-- a total loss. Unfortunately I was soooooo distrought that it
did not occur to me to take a pic of the thing, but here is a
smaller pot from the same set that I must have gotten when Evelio
was alive, to show how the clad bottom looks -- 
-- that slightly raised section is the clad part,
and that simply peeled off from the excess heat -- never again
will I ever get this kind of cacharro! The destroyed pot was the
usual one I work with, so it was a major problem until I went
to Sam's Club, checked all the pot sets they had and decided on
the lower-priced 13-piece T-FAL set -- 
-- I really liked the all-stainless set with the rivited handles
and all, but it was about 3x more expensive, and I could not justify
paying that much simply because I did not have it to spend! I
was soooooo thrilled with my new toys -- when I came home I washed
them out and started dinner in the new glass-lidded, enamelled,
T-FAL coated interior largest thingy. Curiously I think this is
the same French brand (made in China -- most everything is these
days!) that I bought in Tenerife about 5 years ago.
OK, so I threw in 2 cups of basmati rice, a quantity of that fish-based imitation crab meat, a can of black pinto beans, a can of diced tomatoes and green peppers, chopped garlic, and a couple spices -- when it was done, I added a jar of sphagetti sauce and cooked a short while longer. This was at about 21h of the 9th.
The finished meal looked like this -- 
-- and up close you can see the ingredientes --
-- I thought the cats
would love the stuff, partly because it had tomato sauce and fish
in it, but I did not remember that they will not go near anything
with the can of diced tomatoes and peppers! Great! I had it all
to myself -- for 3 days! And, since I am usually working all night
long, I even had it 2 mornings for breakfast.
I must have been really feeling peppy/hungry because since I did not have any bread in the house for a couple days, there was a garlic-herb bread mix in the closet, sitting there at least 4 years already -- I checked and found my bread pans -- and there was one beer left, so I used it to make the bread -- it was really yummy -- and the cats even nibbled on it! Once again I have been without bread for 2 days, and have been doing popcorn in the microwave from my old stash that I saved for when my brother and his gang comes over -- but since they have not visited in 3 years, I thought I may as well eat the stuff -- matter of act, writing about food, I am, as Evelio used to say, getting the hungries -- so I shall stop here and make some popcorn -- hang in there.......
HOLY SHIT ! So when I opened the popcorn I signed onto AOL just for a break, and the first email was from my niece, who has maybe emailed me once in three years -- In a message dated 14/02/2003 09:09:28, xxx writes: My dad (your brother) went to the Emergency Room on Wednesday 2/12/03 because of chest pains. He was admitted to Shore Memorial and is being transferred to University of Pennsylvania Presbyterian Hospital this morning for a cardiac catheter procedure.
The cardiologist said that he had a recent heart attack and that there is damage to his heart. The cardiac catheter is to see what kind and how much damage there is.
15 February 2003 / Saturday - I called my niece this morning and she gave me the room number of where my brother is -- called info and got connected -- he was his cantankerous old self -- apparently his wife stayed over night -- those hospital beds can get a little cramped when one has overnight company, but one sort of gets used to it! At least I did years ago after my accident! GAWD, was that fun! He said they did the balloon thing, and some wire mesh and all in some artery around the heart. He will apparently be there a couple days for followup after the surgery and all. He does not smoke or drink, had a fabulous cholesterol level until a couple years ago, but somehow seems to have gotten his arteries clogged or whatever, and if past observations still hold, has an active under-the-sheets life.
I guess I should get a checkup again -- it has been some 5 years since my last one, and my cholesterol level was below average at the time. I eat what I want to and like, and never worry about what they say is best for one. I do have wine with what can be called my main meal, take an aspirin almost every day (which they say is good for the heart), plus 3-4 vitamin supplements when I remember to in the morning -- and usually always have bananas and kiwis to munch on -- just finished the case of Florida oranges that Marion sent me [see above]. His blood pressure is high, and I always tell him he should slow down and stop always worrying/complaining about shit. My BP was always sort of below average, and I even got myself an electronic blood pressure/pulse thingy and made some data sheets for recording the readings -- but, as with soooooo many things, I always seem to forget it is there and have not taken a reading in months -- since 10 July, to be precise, when it was 147/88, pulse 61!
So keep my brother in your prayers, please -- he is a year younger than I am. Incidently, he jogged my memory a tad when he mentioned that we were dragged by my parents to a local country auction in Rio Grande, southern New Jersey, when we were kids -- I know it is not in my memoirs, and I very vaguely recall something about these auctions -- he remarked that it was in a smallish house, and the auction room was always cloudy with cigarette smoke, which he seemed to blame for his heart problem! Instead of trying to find blame for things in others and/or things, one might start looking at how they themselves contribute to whatever. Anyway, now I have to try to remember these auctions, which he says we went to on a weekly basis when we were at the house at the shore. I know I have always loved auctions, but at this point would have to try to dredge up things in my gray cells from almost 50 years ago, without any kind of hard-copy documentation to guide me. I do have a chapter of Remembrances of Skies Part dedicated to auctions, but have not started it yet.
It snowed a little again this morning and it seems as if we may get more tonight and tomorrow. At 6h this morning I put my boots on and went down the street to Godfather Donald's store to get some coffee -- and he gave me a bag of 6 bagels, 2 cereals, 6 different cookies and 6 bananas for free, with the 2 coffees and 3 donuts I bought for $2 -- I already ate 3 bananas and 3 bagels for breakfast, plus the coffee, naturally! He had not seen me in weeks, and lovingly said he thought I was dead! hmmmmmm -- I am always just sort of happy that I wake up from one of my frequent computer snoozes!
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16 February 2003Bernie was basically a loner, just like I am -- and
maybe he, as in my case, might have liked some lovable companion
in his abode to share experiences and life with. He always watched
me as I made photocopies near his home, slowly slithered through
his large ceramic dish of water, and basked in the Sun streaming
in -- Bernie loved the warmth of the base of the halogen
lamp on my desktop -- This morning I found him croaked, and thought he just might be faking it -- he was not -- Bernie was stone cold dead! Although the winter has been a lot colder than the last two, I do not think it was the temperature that did him in -- and I did not see any obvious anomalies anywhere on his limp body to indicate he injured himself, which would have been extremely difficult anyway. So I was finally able to do two things I had wanted to do for a long while -- see how long Bernie is and weigh him. Actually, he was somewhat longer than I thought he might be. I have not told Hillary that her neighbor of the same adoption date is no longer with us -- as if she would care -- all she has been doing for months is spinning webs all over the bottom of her aquarium, and I sort of think it is to catch the crickets easier. I shall really miss you, Bernie, you lovable, easy to get along with, friendly and non-complaining or judgmental snake in the grass! -- one of the only other life forms that shared the room I spend most of the waking and snoozing-at-the-computer hours of my days in. [sniff] You can find the earlier chapter about Bernie's life at the following L I N K. |
17 February 2003 / Monday - Today is President's Day, a holiday -- did somebody mention SNOW?
25 February 2003 / Tuesday - Yesterday Bernar stopped over for a very rare visit -- of course it was to ask for something he needs -- I showed him where the drain pipe from the roof at the place across the street had fallen down due to ice build up -- he said he would come over when the weather is warmer to help me fix it (I will not hold my breath!). We discovered that, not only is the roof leaking but a pipe burst in the basement due to the frigid temperatures and it is flooded -- at least 6" of icy cold water that I had to wade through to shut off the main valve! I could not see where or what is broken because it is in the back of the cellar and the light was not working. I called Joe, the plumber, but no answer yet -- he may be in Florida where he has a place. I really do not need all this shit always happening! I just finished paying 2 months back utilities and do not have a cent to spare for repairs! It is supposed to snow again later this week, and the temps will once again drop way below freezing. What I now need is for some of the radiators to completely freeze up and crack and the entire house to get fuckin flooded!
8 March 2003 / Saturday - It snowed a couple more times -- very cold nights -- loaded a page about my Mystery Kitten -- updated most of my Cattery pages, redid and added pics to my cat family pic album page -- added info about the question whether a Sphynx cat is hypo-alergenic simply because it has no hair -- updated my Kardas Award page, and still have to make the Award format for 2003 -- am now sitting at the puter with a winter jacket on, and always wear a knit cap inside! Noone has offered condolences about the death of my beloved Bernie, suggesting that nobody ever reads this freekin news page.
I have been thinking of putting a PayPal donation banner on my sites to help pay for the associated expenses, programming time, food money for me and the kittys and all, but decided that I still want to avoid theoretically paid advertising on any of my sites and remain independent -- but I have been adding my eBay seller links on a few pages thinking that some friend might find something they cannot live without in my listings of treasures and maybe bid on something -- that way it is not like begging for charity! Oh, well, hope springs eternal!
In a couple days we are supposed to get more snow -- maybe I should just move to Canada and have loads of it on the ground for months at a time -- hey, I might even get to see a moose of two? Moosies are way kewl!
Marion, my friend from Florida is on her way to Greece for ten days, accompanying her daughter's university class -- I hope she does not have a problem coming back -- in theory, the students will be updating the trip news on the school web site, so we can follow what they are doing half a world away -- I hope they have more luck that I had when I was in Paris and the Canaries last year!
I sort of wish Shrub (my pet name for that idiot in the White House!) would be headed to Baghdad, like a cowboy leading his herds -- but I guess he knows he is just a tad out of shape for such a mission -- and I just know that Colon will not be leading his Light Brigade either! But, hey, it is almost sort of erotic to have the top three dudes in D.C. named Bush (coño), Dick (polla) and Colon (± culo)! They seem to fit sooooooo well together -- give it to them, Dick!
Still no plumber or roofer came over! So much for hired help these days! If you cannot do it yourself, which would probably be better done anyway, then just forget about it. When I had money they put a rubber roof on, which was very expensive because I always wanted the best, as usual -- and it leaks! When I had money they painted the outside for me -- and it is flaking off! I let Bernar live here at the apartment free because he said he would paint the inside for me -- and every room has the paint actually just falling off the ceilings! One of the aluminum storm windows fell out of a third story window, and a section of drain pipe fell off the roof! Absolutely nobody takes pride in their work/responsibilities anymore -- not even those getting sound insulation in their night club in Rhode Island -- or working with the space shuttle program! Always excuses for a really shitty job! NO, I have not become more complacent simply because I do not write lengthy articles about these things as I used to not that long ago -- I am just trying to survive in this really stupid society, and it is a full time really low paying job!
13 March 2003 / Thursday - Well, it only took me since 1997 to finally get it this big -- and I never had to click on any of those annoying frequent spam emails to increase the size of my ...........
My sincerest thanks and congratulations to Bill, a somewhat-recent eBay member and winner of one of my treasures was the lucky ducky, and he is getting 100 Cat Dollars to spend on bids for any of my eBay goodies until the end of June 2003! I am really purrrrrrrrrrrrring with delight right now! Would anyone care to join me in a Champaign toast?
Hey, about eBay feedback ratings -- when do you think they will become a deciding factor in the Presidential elections? It can't be any worse than the criteria they use now.
22 March 2003 / Saturday - I have been doing some WWW surfing after all this Iraq stuff started getting hot, and discovered some of what they call Blogs = personal WebLogs, which are becoming more numerous on the Internet, with a few Blog providers being a source for many of them -- you can do a SEARCH to find the providers, if you might be interested in starting your own. They have been popular for a few years already -- last year I accidently found a couple of older ones having to do with skateboarding, music, school-related and other topics of interest to the blogger. They are usually brief, sometimes daily notes sort of similar to my YES, but usually hosted by some Blog provider -- which may be easier and cheaper than having one's own domain for personal news and stuff -- most have pics and links to web sites the blogger considers important to him/her.
Here are a couple which I find well done -- you can locate loads of others linked to these, if you have the interest. I shall not give notes or comments on any of them -- that you can see right on the blog site -- you may find them as fascinatingly interesting and informative as did I -- they all give a personal perspective on current world events, as well as many other subjects.
I really do not want to present my own ideas about the Iraq-related events at this point for various reasons -- it is probable that I may find the time to include a new page dedicated to this topic, but at the present moment I am too involved in some glitches in my usual precarious money situation to have the time and energy to devote to the Iraq thing -- once again I got a letter from the city saying my home will be auctioned off if I cannot caugh up the back due quarterly city taxes! It comes to over 4k, and I am really going batty trying to see how I can come up with soooooo much moola on short notice! My eBay sales will not help much because they just about cover my other monthly bills and food -- and eBay has not been all that active lately, and now even less with the war going on -- feel free to bid on something to help me out -- every little bit helps -- the link is below.
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Yakshini, my youngest Siamese cat had four more kittens on 17 March -- the father, once again, is Kamiel, the Sphynx -- I did not foresee or plan on this happening, but there they are -- I shall get a pic online when they are a couple days older. Two look black and two are sort of like TigerGirl.
Horacio, in
Tenerife, finally received the package of plant bulbs I sent him
Global Priority
about two months ago! That is another new page I have to get together
-- about our wonderful Postal
Service! He sent me a pic of Inma,
his wife, and himself sitting in the centuries-old trunk of an
algarrobo tree
-- 
-- = vetch, carob bean,
locust bean, according to my Spanish/English
dictionary.
Incidently, I just reduced the font size to the next one smaller to reduce the file size of this page -- it should load faster as I continue adding stuff, and the actual size of the text depends on how the reader set the PREFERENCES in their web browser. If anyone has real problems reading it, kindly contact me at the handy link below. The old file before I added todays stuff was over 61Kb -- right now, including the new additions, it is down to 59Kb -- I learned this little trick on eBay -- they have a limit to the Kb size of the item decription and personal web page, and some of mine were way over the limit, so I reduced the font size and got everything online!
26 March 2003 / Wednesday - I just found an interesting link for Iraq War news -- the GRU translation of Russian military analysis of the situation -- I did not see anything about their sales of UN banned military supplies to Iraq though! I added my main link list in a handy-dandy table below.
13 April 2003 / Saturday - Not a lot of news, other than the war in Irock. They still do not get things correct the first time, and it is getting sort of ridiculous already -- even some of my war links, above, especially the blogs, are more informative than the major news providers! Since the war was depressing me, somehow it occurred to me that nobody has thus far thought about the kids over there -- they are the ones who suffer the most in wars (and even not in wars!), so I got the bright idea to start a project to collect toys for them, to be sent somehow to Iraq after things calm down a bit. After I got the 2 web pages done, I sent a link to a well-known webmaster of a Beanie web site to see what they thought of it -- they liked it, or so they said, and made a one line announcement of it on their site asking for information on how to actually do it -- that was on 26 March, and they still have not figured anything out yet, so I put the following banner on my four web sites and Sherry in Florida did too. Curiously enough I have only had four emails asking for more info, which in itself is not really unexpected because the search engines have not yet picked up the new pages, and, other than a link at the footer of my emails, there is no other way to get the news out about it -- I am beginning to wonder if anybody really cares? Apparently, there is some kind of a restriction about what can be sent to Iraq -- a United Nations thing, as I discovered -- yeah, the UN is always so useful -- it appears to be more of a social gathering place for lobbyists than something that should be taken more seriously!
I promised myself that I would stop listening to the war news on the radio and checking it a couple times a day online -- but.....
Cold days alternating with sunny ones -- cold nights alternating with colder nights -- the cats are NOT very happy about it, and my feet are always cold -- it snowed again. I must have used up two boxes of Kleenex since the last post. NO estimate on the ice and water damage to the property across the street yet, and how long has it been already?
eBay is slowing down -- I sold the first thing in a very long time from one of my web sites, a single book -- my first sale in about two years from any of my web pages!
22 April 2003 / Tuesday - Easter came and went like any other day -- I did not go to either my brother's place, or Thom's, in Philadelphia, for the traditional feast.
I started putting a few items on eBay Spain -- as an experiment -- it works exactly the same, BUT it is a new site, so there are a lot fewer categories and one has to be creative when they list something -- not a single Beanie, and what they collect is somewhat different from in the USA -- PLUS, it is a hellofva lot cheaper to list for 10 days with gallery -- something like 16 cents, compared with 65 cents here! If somebody in Singapore does an international search for some key words, they will get a listing of those items in all of eBay -- the unknown in the equation is how many people use the advanced search. I always do. The bids are in Euros, but on each item description page it is given in Euros and the dollar equivalent -- the Euro is more or less similar in value to the dollar at this time. We shall see how it works -- even if I might sell less, it costs a LOT less to list something, so I lose less.
Today I finally paid the back taxes on the two properties I have here -- a grand total of $4,226.42!! This was for 3 quarters, since 2002. Now I have nothing in the bank, and ebay is not exactly providing enough for the normal monthly bills, but it does help. I sold the first book from my web site, which was a surprise! I have a lot of work to do to organize the web sites, but that will have to wait until I have the time.
The cats are OK -- last night I thoroughly cleaned the kitchen, where the Sphynx live. A better job than before. I just wish they would have a kitten or two. I keep them there to be separate from Yakshini, the female Siamese, because they do not always get along. Yakshini had four kittens, and they are thriving in my bedroom -- I have to take pics of the kittys one of these days and put them on my cat pages -- Tiger Girl is really one purring fluffy ball of fuzz. The last time I went to West Trenton to do wash and see if Bernar saved me any leftovers to munch on, my large carp was still happily swimming in the pond -- the filter is not on yet and the water is totally dark, naturally. Some of the Koi in the bottom pond, where I did not put a heater, died due to the heavy ice cover for many weeks -- others survived somehow.
I may have to get the long ladder out and repair the downspouts and leaks in the roof myself -- which means I will probably kill myself! The jeep works fine thus far, and it is a nice sensation driving the thing -- I always felt sort of exposed in the Festiva, meaning, in an accident I would be mincemeat -- the Jeep is more like a tank, but a refined one -- it gives a sense of being safe while doing 75 mph on a major highway.
The war is theoretically over, but now they think they can install something democratic in that area? Dream on! They have been fighting amonsgt tribes and clans for hundreds of years, have those fanatical clerics wanting more power, and we saw how educated and proper they were with pillaging even the national museum and hospitals! Yeah, now in three months they are going to completely forget the old ways -- I think not!
9 May 2003 / Friday - Not a lot of news lately -- I have been posting a lot on the Spanish eBay boards, and made a page in Spanish, which Roser helped me with to get the Spanish right, on some guides to making a better and more inviting item description -- only the first part thus far, but I hope to make a couple others when I have a free moment. Some military dude said he would be able to handle the PeaceBear shipments to Iraq, so those two pages have been updated.
The weather has been getting more spring like, but unfortunately I rarely even go out to enjoy it! This last week has been sot of mild, but with a lot of clouds and rain.
Fabiola surprised me with a single Sphynx kitten a couple days ago -- I did not really notice that she was pregnant, but with only one kitty, it is not the easiest thing! I shall get a pic online when I get around to taking one. I brought Fabiola into my study so she could have some quality time with her baby, without Kamiel and Quichi bothering her -- she will return with them when babykins is a couple weeks old and able to put up with all the action.
I have basically stopped eating all the pasta and rice that had been my staple for years -- I did seem to lose a couple pounds in the last two weeks. My sleep pattern is still weird, and lately I have been snoozing at the puter a lot, and even trying to sleep in bed with Yakshini's four kittens jumping all over the place, like from after sunrise until about noon. I cut down on my coffee a lot, switching to plain water.
Apple Computer began a new online music download service, and it is the talk of the town! I shall have to update my MP3 page to include the new faster and more compressed formats, but I also have some other things that are more pressing. Actually I have to update a lot on AppleBytes.info, but my first priority is to find the money to survive on, thus all my usual eBay activity -- actually, selling from the ebaySpain site is a lot cheaper than using the ebayUSA site -- about 16 cents compared to 65 cents -- even if the things do not sell, I lose 4x less in listing fees! Things are listed in EUROS ¤, the value of which seems to be steadily increasing relative to the dollar! If it keeps its upward trend in the long term, the world financial markets could possibly shift to a EURO paradigm to replace that of the USD$ as the major trading currency -- actually, I would welcome the move! After the so-called Iraq War, which was not really a war because Congress never declared it as such, many of the past world relationships/partnerships have to be more meaningfully reorganized. I will be great news for many months into the future -- and always slanted, according to which source we have in front of us! Things have always been that way -- politics is politics -- usually simply a big money game!
I just looked at the size of this page -- 80K -- so I may have to begin page 2 for this year in order to keep load time at a reasonable pace.
21 May 2003 / Wednesday - I am going to subtitle this one -- The Pearls of Pauline!
OK, on my last AT+T telephone bill, which happens to be my long distance carrier (simply because I never checked into better options) -- I use Verizon as my local phone company in NJ (for the same reason, I just never check to see what else is available) --
well, on my last bill I noticed over 100 clams of long distance charges to a number that is LOCAL, not long distance!! I know it is local because I am in Trenton and it is a Ewing number, having previously called Verizon months ago to verify that it is local, since it is one of my AOL numbers --
so I called AT+T, was told that any problems with long distance have to be handled by my local carrier -- so I call Verizon and was bounced back and forth between four different gals, finally getting one, Ms. Short, who said YES, it is a local #, but I have to call AT+T -- holy ship! What a freekin run around!
So, in my infinite wisdom I asked her if she could connect me, and the gal was soooooo helpful that she did a 3-way thingy -- after a wait, some other gal, Pauline, from AT+T got on the line --
both customer service peeps yapped a brief time, then the Verizon one left and I was stuck with Pauline -- her voice was a tad off in her English, so, as inquisitive as I always tend to be, I asked her where is she located --
"I can't give out that information, Sir!"
"You gotta be kidding?"
OK, now my inquisitive side is REALLY piqued! She babbles on about they have to check, they will send me a letter within 5 days, blah, blah -- and a new idea occurred to me --
"Pauline, if I ask you a short question can you answer just YES or NO?"
"YES."
"Are you located in India?" -- "YES!!"
I chuckle and say I suspected it -- adding that I like Indian art and always wanted to visit her country, but with always getting screwed up bills for so many things, I can never find the moola to do the stuff I might like to do -- she chuckled!
So she finally gave me a reference # which ended in 521, so I assume that they get a lot of this kind of call, I guess.
The reason why I am commenting on this is because MANY businesses in the USA find that they can get this kind of work done CHEAPER by outsourcing it, usually to a low-wage foreign country, usually somewhere in Asia -- a lot of medical and insurance companies do this also --
which brings me to a monster question -- just how positively efficient is this kind of outsourcing? When it comes to medical records, and IF your life depended on it, would this kind of glitch occur?
Although I pointedly asked Pauline WHY this could have happened, I got NO reply. Cost cutting and sending MORE jobs out of the country may be cheaper for the US companies, but then why are the savings not passed on to the paying consumer? They just want MORE profits at the expense of really shoddy file managment, that is why!
So check your AT+T phone bills for questionable billing -- hopefully you will NOT have been overcharged a ton of money for some really stupid REALLY LONG DISTANCE outsourced so-called customer service! IT IS REALLY SAD! People can not find jobs here, because they constantly are switched to foreign countries -- not only in services but also in manufacturing, which means that US furniture companies, among MANY others, are laying off and fewer jobs are available right here in the good ol' greedy USA! OK, so at least we still have Americans flipping burgers at McD's -- at least MOST of the time -- I would not be surprised if some of these jobs are held by illegal aliens -- MANY others are!!
OK, so while I am kvetching, here is another one -- the gas company always sends me these annoying letters saying, basically, I am NOT using as much gas as they think I should and they want to check the meters to see if they are functioning -- not a problem -- I DO NOT use one of the gar heaters in the basement here because it is for the first floor shop that is never open and I just use the shop level basically for storage -- so a really nasty woman comes over, checks the meters and says they are off count and they will have to change the meters -- might I add that they have overcharged me twice in the past to the tune of over $800 each time, then gave me credit for the overcharge, BUT -- they should NOT be overcharging in the first place! I have a lot of other bills that that money could have been used to pay! So she sets up an appointment to have them change the meters.
First time, nobody rings the bell, as requested -- but hang in there, it happens another TWO TIMES! How difficult is it to ring the only doorbell on the entire property? Then I call them and scream that they are a bunch of idiots, and would they please make a note to ring the bell -- I can NOT just be sitting here all day, again, waiting for them to show up, and they would not give me a time frame for the visit!
Yesterday I looked in the shop door and found the following note from them posted
on the door -- 
-- they
were here but did not find anybody! NO
SHIT SHERLOCK! -- please look at the LARGE message I have had posted for over two
years right below their shittin note! I had to put it there because
the dumbass postal workers leave
packages on the step (I
hope to devote an entire web page just to the really shitty postal
service!, when I gather all the old pic files together),
right on a high traffic street where anybody
can grab them! It specifically states that any calls or
deliveries be made to the side door and TO RING THE GOD DAMN BELL! I am sooooo sick
and tired of all this crap, and it only gets worse as time progresses!
We do not need so much and expensive Homeland
Security bullshit -- we need protection from the brainless morons
that work for US companies theoretically serving
the neighborhood!
Hey, and I still do not have an estimate for the work on the rain drains across the street!
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