Winging It, or The One-Man Buffet

[Mike has journeyed back to our 'other' house, to gather up the last of our stuff, load up the trailerable sailboat, and arrange for renters. Following is a monologue he had via computer while dining on Chinese take-out on Day 5.]

OK, Wings Chinese won out. Then upon arriving back home, discovered the only white wine we have is .... CHAMPAGNE (and lots of it). So having a personal Chinese meal with personal bottle of champagne. dammit, I'm GONNA sleep tonite.

Pork fried rice. Another neighbor dropped by while walking her dogs, to inquire if "the house would be Open tomorrow." I told her we'd taken it off the market, but she recanted this whole tale of how she almost bought it when "a single lady" had it for sale about 12 years ago, but then her boyfriend moved in and screwed it all up... So I sheepishly raised my hand, and we had a good laugh. She said she bought a place over on Torino instead.

As they were leaving, Bill and Katrina said "maybe we'll connect over the weekend and go out for dinner - we know what it's like to be left behind." (thinking you were here, but went ahead before I did). That was nice. I probably wouldn't, but who knows. He wears a tattoo of the Army Rangers (like Green Berets, only Army vs Special Forces). Said he was Enlisted for about 5 years, got out and got a bachelors on the GI Bill, then decided he didn't like civilians all that much (woulda been about 1963 - wonder why?) and went back in as an officer. I didn't tell him I turned down an appointment to Annapolis.... he'd have thought I was one of those Hippies or something.

Beef with Broccoli. I think this'll work out well - they're waiting for the same thing we are, the market turning around, to sell his place in Flagstaff, then will have plenty of cash to live wherever they want to. I quizzed Ann S this evening, she thinks it could turn around by a year from now. If enough people say that, it will. Generally, action by the Fed takes about 6 months to permeate the markets.

While Bill was still here, Larry popped in to look at the staghorn, so I introduced them. That was fortuitous. I told Larry he had a Harley-Davidson, Larry said "well, a Motorcycle is SUPPOSED to live here, isn't it?" So I guess it'll be OK as long as there aren't major Poker Runs and Oktoberfest meets.

Fooled with the Van window a little, it's apparently not an electrical problem - I was hoping it was just a blown fuse. However, the seal at the top has had the window leak/drip right down onto the switches, so maybe when I take the door panel off I can fix the door handle AND the window. If I can just get it up, I can prop a board under it or something. It's really gonna suck to have to drive it home with the window open, I'll need a jacket and earplugs.

Sauteed mixed vegetables. Sitting on the stepstool, but I guess it has to go out before BFI comes. Then there really WILL be no where to sit in the house except on a floor. Weirder things have happened, I guess.

The closets are all empty, the bathrooms just have chachka's in them (shells, soaps, kleenex boxes), the laundry stuff is packed. There's a MESS of wire hangers. I'm close enough I could pack the house out in about an hour, I think, except for the garage. That's a statistical nightmare: I have to have enough room in the van for the plants AND everything else, but until I get the plants in there I won't know how much is left for everything else, so won't know how much to take to storage before I put the plants in.

Sweet & Sour Pork. I couldn't get the garbage out of the garage rafters (except the stuff I took to storage), so when we come down to clean the place for selling it in a year (or two, or three, ... the longer we hold it the more it appreciates and the better our eventual retirement is gonna be) we'll have to call for another BFI "Spring Clean" pickup and pull it down then. With all the shingles and garbage up there, it's gonna make a real mess. I got trashed by falling junk just pulling down 4 pieces of wood (the "upper" rails to the waterbed frame).

Pork fried rice again: Ann said you and she had been "chatting very slowly" - a few lines then answer the phone, etc. Do I recall she got a Mac too? If so, are you using iChat?

Apple charges too much for their stuff - that's the old IBM model "we make it, you want it, you have to pay for it because you can't get it anywhere else". With PC's, EVERYBODY makes them - you can even assemble them yourself from parts - so there's no "monopoly influence" any one player can leverage. That's what I see the "Cloud" doing. Some ding-dong a long time ago said "The Network IS the Computer" (talking about the WWW then), and it's taking this long to realize it. That's what The Cloud is about. The computer is irrelevant, it could be in the dash of your car, it's the services it can bring you by being hooked to the Cloud that matter. Even "Tron" and The Terminator movies saw that coming a long time ago - although they turned it dark.

Incidentally, there's a video out there somewhere called "Pirates of Silicon Valley". We should have that - it was like a PBS special once about how Atari, Microsoft, and Apple got started.

Stuffed. Why do you suppose they always give you regular steamed rice if you order Pork Fried Rice as an entree? Nobody can eat THAT much rice without dying.

Oh crap. That much introspection and still a half-bottle to go? Oh well. You can't put the cork back in champagne!

Fortune Cookie. "Happiness can be achieved by using your patience." What the hell does that mean? Who writes this stuff, anyway? SpinMasters from the Democratic party? How to say what's most probable anyway and make it sound like prognostication.

Larry and I had a conversation about Unions today. I generally excuse myself from those because I realize I'm so far off the charts, but he's belonged to "Right to Work" organizations for a long time, so that was permission enough. He made one real good point: the anti-union activists missed the window when they had a Republican senate and White House - they could have gone for the jugular and got away with it. But no,... now we'll keep going up against Hillary and Teddie and cronies.

Be home soon, with boat.

P.S. Second Fortune Cookie (because I didn't believe the first one): "A trip by air is in your future." What a crock. Whatever happened to "you will meet a tall handsome stranger" - at least that had an aire of mystery for you ladies - or "remember your lady tomorrow when it's Valentine's day" - helpful to say the least.

P.P.S. The background music was "Unchained Melody" at Wings tonite while I was in there.