Can you believe that another urban nomad kind-of-a-day has come to pass? I can hardly believe it myself. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary transpired, so no details are necessary.
Well, the expenses for the month are building up. I had to pay for another six months of Geico® automobile insurance. I also added a token amount of minutes to my T-Mobile® "pay 'n go" account. So, that's $10 for another year of cell phone service. Mind you, I have not powered up the cheesy Nokia® cell phone in well over a year. And, I also have to renew my box rental at the Post Office. My expenses are bleeding me dry, my friends, but I have no other options.
I am not certain about the direction of the "blog" from this point forward. The "blog" is my conversation surrogate. In place of real conversations with people, I put my thoughts into words in the "blog." However, I am running out of material. I have debunked "bad religion." I have essentially thrown in the towel concerning current affairs because of powerlessness of my own self. I have removed myself from worldly entertainment and anything that may influence my thinking and behavior. What exactly is left to discuss?
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, November 09, 2009
Is That You, Godot?
Another visit to Hawai'i Kai found moms and I making the rounds at the usual places. Lunch was courtesy Zippy's. Later, moms served pumpkin pie and Foremost® vanilla ice cream for dessert. I kept moms company until 1:45pm. The rest of the day consisted of the usual urban nomad stuff.
For dinner, I decided against the usual fare at Taco Bell®. Instead, I purchased a box of Nabisco® Thin Crisps Triscuits Quattro Formaggio at Foodland in Koko Marina. One of my better (and seemingly healthy) light dinner ideas, I might add.
I neglected to mention that the petrol gauge in my Nissan® Frontier truck has been malfunctioning. Actually, it frequently gets stuck at the quarter-of-a-tank mark. For the past four years, I have only been filling the tank up to that point, so the float must be sticking due to sludge buildup. Thus, I put $22 of petrol in the tank. The float should be much higher now, and the petrol may be able to dissolve the sludge buildup. I will find out soon enough.
Last night, I downloaded and installed Bleachbit, another system cleaning utility for Linux. I already have another useful utility, Ubuntu Tweak, installed. Although every option in both utilities can be accomplished through the command line, the GUI alternative is much easier on the oversized cranium.
I also received e-mail from Mr. Ray. I haven't heard from him in a long time. He described an interesting anecdote concerning his almost-defunct netbook computer. He brought it back to life with xPUD. In any case, I was glad to hear from him.
Well, another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening awaits me. What kind of excitement am I looking forward to? Will I be anticipating an "epiphany"? Will Godot finally arrive? Can you say, "Same ol' shit"?
For dinner, I decided against the usual fare at Taco Bell®. Instead, I purchased a box of Nabisco® Thin Crisps Triscuits Quattro Formaggio at Foodland in Koko Marina. One of my better (and seemingly healthy) light dinner ideas, I might add.
I neglected to mention that the petrol gauge in my Nissan® Frontier truck has been malfunctioning. Actually, it frequently gets stuck at the quarter-of-a-tank mark. For the past four years, I have only been filling the tank up to that point, so the float must be sticking due to sludge buildup. Thus, I put $22 of petrol in the tank. The float should be much higher now, and the petrol may be able to dissolve the sludge buildup. I will find out soon enough.
Last night, I downloaded and installed Bleachbit, another system cleaning utility for Linux. I already have another useful utility, Ubuntu Tweak, installed. Although every option in both utilities can be accomplished through the command line, the GUI alternative is much easier on the oversized cranium.
I also received e-mail from Mr. Ray. I haven't heard from him in a long time. He described an interesting anecdote concerning his almost-defunct netbook computer. He brought it back to life with xPUD. In any case, I was glad to hear from him.
Well, another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening awaits me. What kind of excitement am I looking forward to? Will I be anticipating an "epiphany"? Will Godot finally arrive? Can you say, "Same ol' shit"?
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Still Waiting Endlessly for Godot
Another urban nomad kind-of-a-Sunday was only made palatable by a microsecond glimpse of the hottie gym trainer when I arrived at the gym this morning. Aside from that, the day was blasé.
Sitting in the Makai Market and sipping coffee at Ala Moana Center in the morning is becoming a nauseating, albeit benign, activity at best. The sight of so many obese people stuffing their faces with crap food is becoming unbearable. I am beginning to realize that hotties like the hottie gym trainer are rare (especially hotties in her late-30s age group). Little wonder why they are so unattainable. The "hook up" game is nothing that I concern myself about anymore, so the point is moot. Most guys are also extremely dumpy. The size of the pot bellies that I have observed lately is truly sickening. I now see why people were always saying to me, "You're getting skinny." Yes, I have lost some weight, but the real truth is that everyone else is getting fatter.
I opted to purchase an early dinner (i.e., three bean burritos with green sauce, no red sauce) from Taco Bell® in Kahala Mall this afternoon. I sat outside on a concrete bench in the deserted office building complex adjacent to the mall. The wind was blowing the paper wrappers and the "Fire" hot sauce packets around. The experience was miserable. I chose to live a sub-standard (read: Third World) life-style to fit my mendicant ways. Sadly, there is no pleasure in such a life-style. The First World environment impinges as much discomfort as possible on the "have-nots." The losers are always punished for being losers.
I am even more nauseated by the fact that the ridiculous healthcare "reform" package has been passed. The lousy package was even supported by the AARP®. I am really regretting that I paid for a three-year membership with the organization. Once the "reform" is law, I will be one of the millions of losers who will be mandated to pay a high premium for health insurance (or face a steep fine). Frankly, I don't want to pay for healthcare insurance. I do not want to deal with the substandard healthcare practices that I have both seen and experienced. I would rather spend the money on preventative measures like my gym membership and better quality food. In the meantime, Obama has decided to send 34,000 more "cannon fodder" to Afghanistan. Where is the outrage? What happened to the single payer health plan? Where are the antiwar schmucks? The citizens of empire are apparently fat and sedated.
Well, I have been waiting for an "epiphany," but none has been forthcoming. I suppose that I will be waiting a long time, just like the Jews who are waiting for the New Jerusalem to descend from the "heavens" or the Christians who are waiting for the return of Jesus. Now that I think about it, we'll be waiting a long, long, long time.
Sitting in the Makai Market and sipping coffee at Ala Moana Center in the morning is becoming a nauseating, albeit benign, activity at best. The sight of so many obese people stuffing their faces with crap food is becoming unbearable. I am beginning to realize that hotties like the hottie gym trainer are rare (especially hotties in her late-30s age group). Little wonder why they are so unattainable. The "hook up" game is nothing that I concern myself about anymore, so the point is moot. Most guys are also extremely dumpy. The size of the pot bellies that I have observed lately is truly sickening. I now see why people were always saying to me, "You're getting skinny." Yes, I have lost some weight, but the real truth is that everyone else is getting fatter.
I opted to purchase an early dinner (i.e., three bean burritos with green sauce, no red sauce) from Taco Bell® in Kahala Mall this afternoon. I sat outside on a concrete bench in the deserted office building complex adjacent to the mall. The wind was blowing the paper wrappers and the "Fire" hot sauce packets around. The experience was miserable. I chose to live a sub-standard (read: Third World) life-style to fit my mendicant ways. Sadly, there is no pleasure in such a life-style. The First World environment impinges as much discomfort as possible on the "have-nots." The losers are always punished for being losers.
I am even more nauseated by the fact that the ridiculous healthcare "reform" package has been passed. The lousy package was even supported by the AARP®. I am really regretting that I paid for a three-year membership with the organization. Once the "reform" is law, I will be one of the millions of losers who will be mandated to pay a high premium for health insurance (or face a steep fine). Frankly, I don't want to pay for healthcare insurance. I do not want to deal with the substandard healthcare practices that I have both seen and experienced. I would rather spend the money on preventative measures like my gym membership and better quality food. In the meantime, Obama has decided to send 34,000 more "cannon fodder" to Afghanistan. Where is the outrage? What happened to the single payer health plan? Where are the antiwar schmucks? The citizens of empire are apparently fat and sedated.
Well, I have been waiting for an "epiphany," but none has been forthcoming. I suppose that I will be waiting a long time, just like the Jews who are waiting for the New Jerusalem to descend from the "heavens" or the Christians who are waiting for the return of Jesus. Now that I think about it, we'll be waiting a long, long, long time.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Rich Man, Poor Monk
Yes, another urban nomad kind-of-a-day has "flew the coop." Nothing out of the ordinary transpired, except that 2.5 hours of elapsed from the time I departed the gym to when I arrived back at Slob Manor (read: rental housing). Another nauseating bus ordeal? You bet! No details are necessary.
My time at Ala Moana Center, specifically the Makai Market, has called to my attention the hideous nature of the obesity monster, that is, the gluttonous aspect of eating as a recreation and sport. I have witnessed countless fat slobs stuffing high-caloric foods in vast quantities into their wide-open mouths and washing down the residue with super-sized soft drinks. It was a sight to behold, a spectacle of undue proportion. I was left both nauseated and bewildered.
At the library, I commenced reading Murat Kurnaz's book, "Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo." I am actually halfway though it now. In some respects, the account reminds me of the first half of Viktor Frankl's book, "Man's Search for Meaning" (one of my all-time favorites). I will warn any would-be readers that the book is not light-hearted reading. In fact, I came away quite bothered. Kurnaz's book is truly a testimonial to what is wrong with the empire and "American" society.
Incidentally, I should delineate a little about my disappointment with Linux. Frankly, I believe that Linux is a very good operating system. The reason that it seems to not be suitable as a true replacement for the commercial desktop is the ongoing problem of hardware compatibility and software drivers. Linux cannot be blamed for those problems, since the issue involves proprietary hardware and closed source drivers. Notebook computers are notorious for such problems because of the myriad hardware kludges inherent in their design. The fact that open source Linux achieves 90 percent or more functionality under those conditions is nothing short of miraculous.
My Palm® TX is now officially obsolete. It is no longer being produced and will not be replaced by another model. If I need to replace it in the future, my only option would be an Apple® iPod Touch. The trick, of course, is to tell myself that I don't need to replace an essentially useless gadget with another useless one. I need to nip rampant consumerism in the bud, so to speak. My Palm® TX is running fine and could last another three years or so. It is, however, ancient technology. Most people would be too embarrassed to be seen in public with something so crude. Even the poorest people riding the bus have iPods and so-called "smartphones." I have learned that "smartphones" run about $100 to $150 in service charges a month. Wow! Everyone is Big Money Grip except for the ol' lavahead.
My time at Ala Moana Center, specifically the Makai Market, has called to my attention the hideous nature of the obesity monster, that is, the gluttonous aspect of eating as a recreation and sport. I have witnessed countless fat slobs stuffing high-caloric foods in vast quantities into their wide-open mouths and washing down the residue with super-sized soft drinks. It was a sight to behold, a spectacle of undue proportion. I was left both nauseated and bewildered.
At the library, I commenced reading Murat Kurnaz's book, "Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo." I am actually halfway though it now. In some respects, the account reminds me of the first half of Viktor Frankl's book, "Man's Search for Meaning" (one of my all-time favorites). I will warn any would-be readers that the book is not light-hearted reading. In fact, I came away quite bothered. Kurnaz's book is truly a testimonial to what is wrong with the empire and "American" society.
Incidentally, I should delineate a little about my disappointment with Linux. Frankly, I believe that Linux is a very good operating system. The reason that it seems to not be suitable as a true replacement for the commercial desktop is the ongoing problem of hardware compatibility and software drivers. Linux cannot be blamed for those problems, since the issue involves proprietary hardware and closed source drivers. Notebook computers are notorious for such problems because of the myriad hardware kludges inherent in their design. The fact that open source Linux achieves 90 percent or more functionality under those conditions is nothing short of miraculous.
My Palm® TX is now officially obsolete. It is no longer being produced and will not be replaced by another model. If I need to replace it in the future, my only option would be an Apple® iPod Touch. The trick, of course, is to tell myself that I don't need to replace an essentially useless gadget with another useless one. I need to nip rampant consumerism in the bud, so to speak. My Palm® TX is running fine and could last another three years or so. It is, however, ancient technology. Most people would be too embarrassed to be seen in public with something so crude. Even the poorest people riding the bus have iPods and so-called "smartphones." I have learned that "smartphones" run about $100 to $150 in service charges a month. Wow! Everyone is Big Money Grip except for the ol' lavahead.
Friday, November 06, 2009
X Blues
Another visit to Hawai'i Kai eventually found moms and I meandering around Koko Marina. Lunch was courtesy Yummy's. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee ice cream for dessert. I kept moms company until 1:15pm. The rest of the day was standard urban nomad, to be followed by another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening.
The alleged "fix" for the freezing problem on Ubuntu was not workable. Selecting different video output options caused some functionality of the video players to be reduced, or completely incapacitated them. For example, I could no longer force a different aspect ratio on a video in play. I have finally confirmed that the symptoms of the freeze are typical of an X.org server crash. I can only assume that a manual upgrade of X.org to the latest version is the only solution. And, believe me, that's not an easy task.
The alleged "fix" for the freezing problem on Ubuntu was not workable. Selecting different video output options caused some functionality of the video players to be reduced, or completely incapacitated them. For example, I could no longer force a different aspect ratio on a video in play. I have finally confirmed that the symptoms of the freeze are typical of an X.org server crash. I can only assume that a manual upgrade of X.org to the latest version is the only solution. And, believe me, that's not an easy task.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Discomfort Zone Revisited
Another urban nomad kind-of-a-day ... what is there to write about? Absolutely nothing, my friends. Absolutely nothing. I spent most of the day in rumination, although the itinerary was the same ol' shit. No matter where I was, my mind was busy ruminating about anything. Yet, what is the outcome? Absolutely nothing, my friends. Absolutely nothing.
I've mentioned before that my social life is now non-existent. I rarely have conversations with anyone. Even casual small talk is rare. Most people would probably have gone insane by now. In the course of my day, I witness quite a few people who are talking to themselves or their imaginary friends. Loneliness, I believe, can really take a toll on the psyche. However, for some strange reason, I have developed an immunity. I don't miss socializing or conversing with people at all. When I try to imagine myself in a social context, I begin to feel extreme anxiety and the impulse to flee.
The old journal and the "blog" served as a surrogate conversation of sorts, although I am really not chatting with anyone in particular. Frankly, there are hints within the "blog" that I have grown weary of its conversation as well. Anyone reading the "blog" must be terribly bored because I am so disconnected from the "mainstream" life-style. Since I no longer do any "reality shopping," I have essentially lost all interest in the corrupt politics of the empire, the foolish religiosity of its people, and the institutions of various forms of enslavement. That leaves me with virtually nothing of interest remaining except, maybe, the modern techniques of nose hair removal.
I've mentioned before that my social life is now non-existent. I rarely have conversations with anyone. Even casual small talk is rare. Most people would probably have gone insane by now. In the course of my day, I witness quite a few people who are talking to themselves or their imaginary friends. Loneliness, I believe, can really take a toll on the psyche. However, for some strange reason, I have developed an immunity. I don't miss socializing or conversing with people at all. When I try to imagine myself in a social context, I begin to feel extreme anxiety and the impulse to flee.
The old journal and the "blog" served as a surrogate conversation of sorts, although I am really not chatting with anyone in particular. Frankly, there are hints within the "blog" that I have grown weary of its conversation as well. Anyone reading the "blog" must be terribly bored because I am so disconnected from the "mainstream" life-style. Since I no longer do any "reality shopping," I have essentially lost all interest in the corrupt politics of the empire, the foolish religiosity of its people, and the institutions of various forms of enslavement. That leaves me with virtually nothing of interest remaining except, maybe, the modern techniques of nose hair removal.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Tidbits & Ruminations
Another redundant urban nomad kind-of-a-day leaves me no choice but to discuss useless tidbits. I had plenty of time to ruminate about nothing while I sipped coffee in the Makai Market in Ala Moana Center this morning. For one thing, I noticed the sheer number of fat slobs running amuck in the mall. There are also a lot of senior citizens, most of them in some late stage of chronic debilitation (due to obesity).
At the library, I completed the reading of Taibbi's book, "The Great Derangement." My conclusion? Taibbi is peddling his own version of reality. Since I am no longer "reality shopping," I just could not buy into his program. The book was a good diversion, but I will leave it at that.
I am not certain, but I think that my days at the library are numbered. What really is there for me to read anymore? What else do I need to learn? I am certainly not at the pinnacle of knowledge, mind you, but I do not know why I would need to further expand such knowledge. Could it be that I know enough to survive the remainder of my days?
With so little time left, I must set my priorities. The keywords here are "reality" and "relevance." I no longer have the luxury to dabble in fantasy and irrelevance (which pretty much make up the bulk of the outside world). As I have previously stated, I no longer engage in "reality shopping." The truth, for me, is only what is within reach. Anything else is far too obtuse for my puny mind to comprehend.
Incidentally, I checked to see how many "condotel" units at the Aloha Surf were up for sale (or "short sale" if in foreclosure) on the HiCentral site. To my surprise, there were only two units that I would classify as desperation sales. One owner was selling a unit for 35 percent below the original purchase price. In effect, that amounted to a $64,000 loss. I am not willing to assume such a loss. So, I will hang on while my meager savings are routed.
Last night, I set up my "personal cloud" on the Ubuntu One site. A "personal cloud" is just a new buzzword referring to on-line storage. I got 2 Gbytes of space for free for my files. Wheee!
At the library, I completed the reading of Taibbi's book, "The Great Derangement." My conclusion? Taibbi is peddling his own version of reality. Since I am no longer "reality shopping," I just could not buy into his program. The book was a good diversion, but I will leave it at that.
I am not certain, but I think that my days at the library are numbered. What really is there for me to read anymore? What else do I need to learn? I am certainly not at the pinnacle of knowledge, mind you, but I do not know why I would need to further expand such knowledge. Could it be that I know enough to survive the remainder of my days?
With so little time left, I must set my priorities. The keywords here are "reality" and "relevance." I no longer have the luxury to dabble in fantasy and irrelevance (which pretty much make up the bulk of the outside world). As I have previously stated, I no longer engage in "reality shopping." The truth, for me, is only what is within reach. Anything else is far too obtuse for my puny mind to comprehend.
Incidentally, I checked to see how many "condotel" units at the Aloha Surf were up for sale (or "short sale" if in foreclosure) on the HiCentral site. To my surprise, there were only two units that I would classify as desperation sales. One owner was selling a unit for 35 percent below the original purchase price. In effect, that amounted to a $64,000 loss. I am not willing to assume such a loss. So, I will hang on while my meager savings are routed.
Last night, I set up my "personal cloud" on the Ubuntu One site. A "personal cloud" is just a new buzzword referring to on-line storage. I got 2 Gbytes of space for free for my files. Wheee!
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Rain & Tidbits
I was caught in a heavy downpour while waiting at the bus stop this morning. To make matters worse, the Route 1L bus did not arrive on time. I'm not sure if it arrived at all. So, I ended up on the Route 23 bus. There's nothing like being sopping wet and sitting in an overly air-conditioned bus. At least the decision to engage in coffee time at the Makai Market in Ala Moana Center was made for me.
The rest of the day was classic urban nomad. No detail are necessary. Soon enough, I found myself back at Slob Manor (read: rental housing) to await an urban nomad kind-of-an-evening. Say it ain't so!
The freezing problem in Ubuntu Linux may finally be solved. The guy who posted the original thread in the Ubuntu Forums seems to have discovered another thread that provided the solution. The problem is allegedly the xV option for video output preferences. The fix is to change the option to X11 (X.org) or OpenGL. I have chosen to use the X11 option in the first trial for both Mplayer and Gstreamer. Let's see what happens next.
The rest of the day was classic urban nomad. No detail are necessary. Soon enough, I found myself back at Slob Manor (read: rental housing) to await an urban nomad kind-of-an-evening. Say it ain't so!
The freezing problem in Ubuntu Linux may finally be solved. The guy who posted the original thread in the Ubuntu Forums seems to have discovered another thread that provided the solution. The problem is allegedly the xV option for video output preferences. The fix is to change the option to X11 (X.org) or OpenGL. I have chosen to use the X11 option in the first trial for both Mplayer and Gstreamer. Let's see what happens next.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Clown Cleats
Yet another Monday jaunt to Hawai'i Kai found moms and I making the usual rounds in the area with lunch courtesy Panda Express®. The highlight of the day was when I discovered that there was hot water at the gym. I was able to enjoy an undeserved hot shower. Then, I ate dinner (i.e., one bean burrito with green sauce, no red sauce) at Taco Bell®.
The heatwave finally ended with the return of the trade winds. In addition, there have been light showers all day long. Thus, Slob Manor (read: rental housing) was not like a blast furnace when I finally returned to the dump late in the afternoon. As for the evening, can you say, "Another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening"? Sheesh!
Well, I finally replicated the blue screen freeze on Ubuntu while using the command line. I have run both mplayer (non-GUI) and gmplayer (GUI) commands in the terminal with logging enabled. As you may recall, I am specifically using Mplayer because it has the capability to write a log file. I compared the two relevant log files, one when Mplayer played the test video and one when Mplayer and the desktop froze. There was no difference in the initialization process. Subsequently, Mplayer commenced playing the video. In the case of the freeze, Mplayer simply stops playing after a couple of frames. Obviously, Mplayer is not the culprit. However, there's no indication of what is causing X.org to cease functioning. I need to recover the Xsession-errors log right after the crash. Since no archive is kept, I would have to restart the computer and boot using the "Live CD." Since the operating system is only using RAM, the Xsession-errors file should be intact.
Last week, moms had given me more religious literature to read from her church. Since the completion of my religious research, I have only perused such literature haphazardly. I may read an article or two, but only if I find the subject matter interesting. However, the rest of the content makes no sense to me. As I said before, one read of the Good Book pretty much discredits it. I am not even certain if moms has read the Good Book from cover to cover. Why else would moms be so dedicated to erroneous beliefs? The members of her church rely more on the ancillary publications rather than the source itself, just like most other dogmatic and cult groups.
I also believe that moms' longevity is directly tied to the belief that Armageddon is coming soon, a prediction shared by many sects of Christianity and Paulinity. I have a feeling that moms is determined to live through Armageddon. The sad part is that Armageddon is not coming ... well, not in the sense of Revelation and other apocalyptic texts from the Intertestamental Period. All in all, moms and millions of people have made ridiculous sacrifices to serve the church. And, for what?
Incidentally, I perused an interesting book by Dan Barker titled, "Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists." The title says it all. I'll be quite honest that I am intrigued by people who were once very immersed in faith-based religion, then later opted-out.
The heatwave finally ended with the return of the trade winds. In addition, there have been light showers all day long. Thus, Slob Manor (read: rental housing) was not like a blast furnace when I finally returned to the dump late in the afternoon. As for the evening, can you say, "Another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening"? Sheesh!
Well, I finally replicated the blue screen freeze on Ubuntu while using the command line. I have run both mplayer (non-GUI) and gmplayer (GUI) commands in the terminal with logging enabled. As you may recall, I am specifically using Mplayer because it has the capability to write a log file. I compared the two relevant log files, one when Mplayer played the test video and one when Mplayer and the desktop froze. There was no difference in the initialization process. Subsequently, Mplayer commenced playing the video. In the case of the freeze, Mplayer simply stops playing after a couple of frames. Obviously, Mplayer is not the culprit. However, there's no indication of what is causing X.org to cease functioning. I need to recover the Xsession-errors log right after the crash. Since no archive is kept, I would have to restart the computer and boot using the "Live CD." Since the operating system is only using RAM, the Xsession-errors file should be intact.
Last week, moms had given me more religious literature to read from her church. Since the completion of my religious research, I have only perused such literature haphazardly. I may read an article or two, but only if I find the subject matter interesting. However, the rest of the content makes no sense to me. As I said before, one read of the Good Book pretty much discredits it. I am not even certain if moms has read the Good Book from cover to cover. Why else would moms be so dedicated to erroneous beliefs? The members of her church rely more on the ancillary publications rather than the source itself, just like most other dogmatic and cult groups.
I also believe that moms' longevity is directly tied to the belief that Armageddon is coming soon, a prediction shared by many sects of Christianity and Paulinity. I have a feeling that moms is determined to live through Armageddon. The sad part is that Armageddon is not coming ... well, not in the sense of Revelation and other apocalyptic texts from the Intertestamental Period. All in all, moms and millions of people have made ridiculous sacrifices to serve the church. And, for what?
Incidentally, I perused an interesting book by Dan Barker titled, "Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists." The title says it all. I'll be quite honest that I am intrigued by people who were once very immersed in faith-based religion, then later opted-out.
With that said, I should briefly mention that I am enjoying Matt Taibbi's book, "The Great Derangement." I was quite intrigued by his infiltration of John Hagee's Cornerstone Church, a Christian Zionist and dispensationalist organization. Taibbi's indoctrination at the three-day camp retreat was hilarious. In introducing himself to the group, he depicted an abusive childhood at the hands of an alcoholic circus clown father who often punished him with his oversized shoes (i.e., Bozo cleats). Baha! Ha! Ha! Haaa!
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Disappearing Dinero (Reprise)
Another urban nomad kind-of-a-Sunday ... a clone of last Sunday. Can you even believe it? Once again, the hottie gym trainer, a Lexi Stone look-alike, was working with a gym member for over 30 minutes in close proximity to the ol' lavahead. Baby was looking mighty fine, by the way.
The "condotel" unit was over $600 short of breaking even last month. That means I paid over 50 percent of the mortgage from my savings. The situation has now reached critical mass, just as I predicted. From the figures, Aqua management is charging room rates that are lower than that of a sleazy motel. I am estimating the figure at $44 per night. I am certain that the plan is to distribute the pain amongst all of the owners. The high occupancy floors such as the one my unit is on is now subsidizing the lower occupancy floors. Isn't that great?
I have got to revamp my finances, but I do not know what to do. My IRA bond fund of $29,000 earned $78 in dividends last month. The rest of my liquid assets earned less than that (see Financial Report below). There's something terribly wrong in the empire. My guess is that short-term interest rates will never go above zero percent for at least five years. The Fed is printing up money like there's no tomorrow. However, there is no shortage of buyers for the empire's debt instruments. Recession, unemployment ... nothing matters because the empire's consumers still spend more money on useless junk than their global counterparts. The whole world is waiting for the empire's consumer spending spree to take off again.
The "condotel" unit was over $600 short of breaking even last month. That means I paid over 50 percent of the mortgage from my savings. The situation has now reached critical mass, just as I predicted. From the figures, Aqua management is charging room rates that are lower than that of a sleazy motel. I am estimating the figure at $44 per night. I am certain that the plan is to distribute the pain amongst all of the owners. The high occupancy floors such as the one my unit is on is now subsidizing the lower occupancy floors. Isn't that great?
I have got to revamp my finances, but I do not know what to do. My IRA bond fund of $29,000 earned $78 in dividends last month. The rest of my liquid assets earned less than that (see Financial Report below). There's something terribly wrong in the empire. My guess is that short-term interest rates will never go above zero percent for at least five years. The Fed is printing up money like there's no tomorrow. However, there is no shortage of buyers for the empire's debt instruments. Recession, unemployment ... nothing matters because the empire's consumers still spend more money on useless junk than their global counterparts. The whole world is waiting for the empire's consumer spending spree to take off again.
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