Florida Tent Cities

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I keep reading about tent cities springing up in Florida. Some are popular and others have popularity that city officials weren't expecting. The GAINESVILLE SUN reported that Gainesville's popular tent city has become a nightmare for city officials when it ended up attracted ... guess what ... more homeless. At the same time, Orlando Sentinel ran an article about a tent city that had well-received popularity as it attracted money-welding NASCAR race fans. While a tent isn't an Orlando rental home, I understand that canvass residency in the Speedway can be very memorable -- especially if you like hitchhiking down to the Cracker Barrel. Not to say that the Gainesville attraction is any less memorable. But there is a difference between dining at Cracker Barrel and trying to live by a cracked barrel.

Looking for Branson

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You can find almost anything these days on the Internet. For example, type the word Branson into your favorite search engine and you end up with diverse results ranging from Branson, Missouri travel and shows information to companies such as Branson Ultrasonics and Branson Tractors to famous rich people like Sir Richard Branson. What you do with this information is entirely up to you, provided that you live somewhere on the globe that isn't censoring what you're searching for.

Freelancer's Toolset

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Since I became involved using my blogs to freelancing, I have added several tools to my computer make my job easier. Of course, the Internet is a vast resource to goodies of every kind. I know that there are applications out there that I don't even know about. A last week, I happened across this site which has 100 web apps for everything a freelancer could need. Very in depth even though the author mentions a calendar app which isn't supported any more and missed one that I've found to be extremely helpful (Airset.com). Still, I highly recommend that you visit this site.

XM radio refund

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If you've been reading my other blog, What's All This Then, you'll know about the interruption in service to XM radio listeners. Well, I've just learned that XM Radio subscribers can call 800.967.2346 and get two days worth of credit. If you have a single radio, that's not quite 90 cents. Still, it will give you the chance to let them know that installing buggy software updates is not good business practice.

My Million-dollar Idea

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Hello my Dear Reader! While I am glad that you are visiting here, did you know that I also have another blog on LiveJournal? In fact, I just left a post there about my slicker-than-snot idea to improve the makeup mirrors for women everywhere. I think that it has possibilities! So if you are a venture capitalist or sleep with one, please forward my contact information to them. The sooner I start making my millions, the better it will be for everyone. You can find my live journal post at:
http://sprezzaturaron.livejournal.com/178868.html

win a date with ... me?

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If I, as a 48 year old guy, were to date a woman 20 years younger than me, I would be called creepy. But if I win a date with someone like actress, Mirelly Taylor, (who has appeared on movies such as "Kiss Me Again" and "Serving Sara" and television shows including “Las Vegas”, “Punk’d”, and “Numb3rs”), I would be called one lucky son-of-a-biscuit-eater. Of course, the only way I could date Ms. Taylor is by winning GoFish's "Seduce a Celeb" contest. All I have to do is submit a few Free videos at GoFish.com that woo Ms. Taylor into picking me over all the other, shall we politely say, less-desirable men.


Can you imagine if I won? There I would be, walking down the street with Mirelly Taylor. People stopping to stare and ask, "Who is that walking with Ron?" Yeah, I know that's not quite how it will go. But inside my mind is a happy place, full of sunshine, fuzzy bunnies, lusty women and .... ummm, never mind.

How do these types of "win a date with famous celeb" fare anyway? Would Mirelly be shy and coy if I stared and drooled? Would she be honored at the end of the meal when I ask for her autograph on the meal check? (Hey, if she wants to pick up the tab, I'm not going to stop her. I'm secure in my manhood) Would she be impressed if I punched a paparazzi or two and then asked them for double prints? After all, I will need proof that we were out on a date (no matter how hard her publicist tries to deny it).

Sure, I'm no Brad Depp or Johnny Pitt or whatever the names of those fancy boys are. But after I watched some of submitted videos for this contest, I think I have a chance. I might not have charisma but I have my own teeth and my original hair. And I know what makes a woman happy --- shopping! So watch out, Ms. Taylor, I have a shot. Of course, you're in Hollywood so you'll probably prefer several shots, if not the whole bottle or two.

Yes sir, I believe the "Seduce a Celeb" contest is on to something big. Who knows you might see me in Hollywood ... maybe on the spin-off "Sued by a Celeb".

Crude Prices

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Ok, I give up. If crude oil prices have dropped, why hasn't the pump prices? Here are the facts as of today...

I'll post more if I can find anything that makes sense. Otherwise, we'll see what next month's prices will be. I'm predicting a little more than $3.00 ...

planning to survive

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Well, it is hurricane season and I'm not talking about the North Carolina hockey team. With this year's dire predictions, I find myself worrying about my emergency supplies: "What do I have?" (Not enough.) "What do I need?" (A hiding place far, far away.) Those repetitive thoughts then make me think about what I would might need after a disaster strikes. Did I pay that last insurance bill after I told the agent were to go? Where should I hide my valuable papers? How much bribe money will I need? From here, it's just a short jump to "what happens if I die?" "Is my will up to date?" "Would Bob's Crematorium and Grill be open for the funeral and the dinner afterwards?" These responsibilities of being an adult didn't seem to be that important a decade ago. ::: sigh ::: Maybe I'll just go down to Sam's Club, buy one of those large barrels of wine and preserve myself in that.

Picking Stocks

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You can take action and learn from your mistakes. But this tends to be an expensive and timely method. Or you can learn from those who have figured out the best way to do what you want to do. As I'm getting more into the financial world of the stock market, my goal is to have the best performing stocks in my portfolio. Yet, left to my own selections, I've had better success picking my nose than I have had with picking stocks. So I'm looking into what others are doing. There are a lot of recommendations out there! So to find out who knows what, I've found Tradermatch.com which gives Traders Ratings on its members. This site has very helpful and insightful as I watch the stock picks of various members against the actual performance of those stocks. Tradermatch makes good use of Yahoo! Finance too. I was able to search on a stock that interested me and get its "Intraday Chart" directly in the site. All-in-all, I think I have found a very useful (and soon-to-be profitable) site for my finances.

This post is sponsored by Tradermatch.com

my job has me wondering

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Some people complain that women are difficult to understand. Obviously they haven't spent the last couple years trying to divine the thought processes of my company's owners and upper management. They are supposed to be men of business. Yet you wouldn't know it from their actions of these past few months.

Lately there is something magical about the term "two years." All their business decisions are based on whether or not something to pay for itself in the next two years. Today we had a major discussion about upgrading the computers on the production floor. Most of them are still running on MS-DOS. (For those of you too young to remember DOS, there was a time when you didn't have pretty pictures to click on your computer screen. You actually had to type commands, most of which resembled ancient Druid prayers. And a lot of times you found yourself praying that they would work.) So it's kind of encouraging that upper management finally realize the need to upgrade the production methods into the 21st century. It is discouraging that we spent over an hour needlessly discussing whether they want to connect the computers using network cables or through wireless means. They finally came to the conclusion that they will only act if one of those methods can pay for itself in two years or less. How they plan to separate the cost of the network connection from all the other hardware and software upgrade costs is beyond me at this moment.

There are more asinine details to this and other goings on at work. But those are for another post.

Survivor Sailing

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Here is a tempting offer from my former boss: sail with him on his new bigger boat as he goes out on the North Carolina coast for beer and fishing. Granted, it won't be as fancy as a one of those Crewed Yacht Charters. And this offer is coming from a man who has managed to electrocute himself on his previous boat ... twice. While this adventure could be a step above playing Russian roulette, drinking free beer while watching someone make a complete fool of himself is tempting. Actually, now that I think about it, Russian roulette may be the safer course of action...

The Tide verse The Wave

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Before the lemming-like crowd movement known as the "Wave", there was the "Tide". At least it was in my high school. Those in the front row would explosively jump up and throw their hands in the air. The row behind them would do the same while the first row would regain their sensibility to sit back down. This continued with each row until the very back seats got to show that they too would jump off of a bridge if their best friends did so.

Because the cheerleaders would initiate this during our high school pep rallies, it was known as a "Pep Tide". Unfortunately, this explanation of a peptides did not help me pass my biology exam. All I remember is that amino acids come together to form peptides and proteins. Then, as now, I failed because I didn't know the distinction between peptides and proteins. But here we are 30 years later. I've just read that scientist themselves don't have a clear distinction between the two. Today I learned that there now is a "movement" in the scientific community to define a peptide as "an amino acid molecule without secondary structure; on gaining defined structure, it is a protein." Great! Just wonderful! I guess it's a bit too late to pass the exam now!

Pigeon Forge

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Do you see that laughing woman in the center of this picture, the one in the white shirt? This is a picture of my mom in our first and last family reunion in July 2000. For years, we had all been talking about doing a reunion. And then my brother-in-law managed to get a hold of one of those excellent Pigeon Forge vacation rentals. Very scenic, very peaceful, and an incredible amount of fun.

Unbeknownst to all of us at this time was the fact that my mother had leukemia. Shortly after this happy time, the only thing that we had left of her were our memories and these pictures.

I'm glad that we had that time in the magical mountains of Pigeon Forge, creating laughter, enjoying each others' company and sharing our lives as only a loving family can do. But as I look back, I wish I could have done and said more.

Spring Cleaning

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Yesterday was the day! I finally had some time to do a little housecleaning that was a few years overdue. I hauled out several items to the street: concrete weights that had split their plastic covering, papason chair frame with broken supports, a futon frame with cracked cross beams, 3 dead computers, a heater that worked great only in the summer, and a malfunctioning dvd player (though perfect for not playing really bad movies). The electronics gear I had been planning to repair for a few years. But I barely have time to maintain my blogs, so who am I trying to fool. So out to the side of the street they went for the trash day.

A few hours later, I happened to look out on to my pile of discarded memories. Almost everything disappeared! It happened so quickly that city employees could not have been involved. While I don't live on a main thorough fare, there must be people who circle like vultures just waiting to descend on the carcasses of other peoples' junk ... which is a good thing. In fact, this was even better than having a yard sale. I didn't have to get a permit, didn't have to maintain a constant vigilance for potential customers, didn't have to have lots of coins ready for the big spenders, didn't have to haggle about any prices. Within a few short hours, my trash had been picked clean, save the carcass of the boxes and exercise weights (I guess these people have their standards). I could understand it if I had put quality teak outdoor furniture out for the trash. But no! It was junk! But I'm not complaining. If someone found treasure in my want-nots, then it's less material for the land fill. Everybody wins!

I'm Winning

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Several events in my life are finally coming together. Yet, instead of feeling like it was due to my hard effort, it feels more like luck that is bringing things into fruition. That might explain why I felt tempted earlier to try for a set of Jimmy Buffett tickets that were being offered on the radio. I keep hearing about how fantastic his concerts are! Maybe I should try for something easier ... like lottery tickets.

Anyway, maybe things are finally going my way. It would be great to be on the winning end for a change..

Don Imus Doesn't Know Squat

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Here in the South, THIS is a nappy headed hoe: