What is Cocooning? It’s what happens to people when they lose their jobs, can’t afford to go much of anywhere ‘big’ and living the large – the blingish thingish falls out of favor. Which – in case you were planning to install some fancy grillwork – has become decidedly uncool.
When cocooning sinks in, people start to pay attention to their homes – and apparently there are tons of people doing it, since we are presently finishing off the last unpresentable room in our every room gets fixed remodeling project and we can’t find anyone to install a bathroom floor for at least a week and a half. Normally, this would be a “Dammit…” and just schedule and run with it. But, since we have house guests landing on the 22nd, fourteen days from now would be the 27th and Elaine mutters something about needing a day or two to do ‘finishing touches’ before company arrives.
The ‘last room’ happens to be a bathroom and the repair is from a slow water leak under one of the two vanities in the room – and since the home was made with OSB (oriented strand board) flooring over the joists, yours truly got to experience the joys of ripping out a 4′ by 5′ section of floor and replacing it. In some houses, this would not be a terrible and grueling task, but in our house, it involved not only ripping out the floor, putting in runners and cross bracing (can’t have flooring meet in mid-air) and the normal stuff, but going down into the crawlspace under the house to pick up leftover chunks of OSB. This was followed by man-handling the 4X8 sheets of OSB that went in…had to use two sheets of OSB that were 7/16th’s since no one seems to have 7/8th’s OSB anymore…but I digress.
For taking glue off floor joists, can’t think of a better tool than my Rockwell Sonicrafter.
Darn fine tool for that kind of project. (Christmas is coming…)
Elaine had the good sense to go $hopping for flooring and lighting, so when she got back I was really ready for some humor – a hot shower and a cold beverage go only so far when you’ve been under a house and schlepping OSB…
“I heard the most amazing thing on the radio on the way home….there’s some serve advertising that there’s a site on the internet that will do break ups for you….”
“You mean like ‘sick of remodeling…you’re fired…kind of thing?”
“No…like tell a boyfriend or girlfriend you’re history….tell a spouse you’re getting a divorce from them…that kind of thing…”
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No, we still get along fine, but it got me to thinking about what shows through in people’s character when times get tough. In the consulting arena, I’m at the slow time of the year, so while working on a couple of projects, time’s also loose enough to be able to spend quality time with my Skil saw which despite all the complaining, I really enjoy. I’ve always found that when things slow in one area of life, there’s always lots to do in other areas.
But as a business model I wondered what it meant – if anything – when a society starts to farm out basics of getting along with other people…just struck us both as odd that there’s a business model for this type of misery. Maybe the internet really has gotten us to the point where everything can be monetized… If you’ve used such a service, let me know? Curious what the costs are and whether it’s a viable business. – Thanks.
Oh…and if you know a flooring installed in the Athens- Tyler – Palestine area that’s not booked out solid (and does first-rate work) send me an email.
BBQ Weekend
A couple of calendar items here….Yes! Tomorrow is the Elmwood Volunteer Fire Department’s fall BBQ. More on the department web site… I plan to skip breakfast tomorrow to be extra hungry for lunch. If you’re in Dallas or Houston – for that matter, anywhere within driving distance – ya’ll come on by…
Last Day Note
This is the last day you can sign up for EMWD web hosting and get the discount I mentioned earlier this week. Click here to check prices & sign up. Discount codes are:
B-DAY01 – to receive 40% off a new domain name
B-DAY02 – to receive 40% off any of our hosting packages except our mailman service.
Ghosts in Machines
Our inquiry into the source of the mystery code-like noises in Alabama continues. A fresh case to ponder this morning:
“Hi George,
In light of the comments on the ‘mystery code’ today in your most welcomed newsletter, I’d like to share another strange experience, via phones and TV….phone system supplied by AT&T, just a plain old landline, and TV by satellite, Direct TV.
The location is ******** out in the country, about ********, though I would appreciate your not publishing this location. Cell phone reception is awful, in fact can’t be used consistently even outside, unless one is about a mile down the road. This is so far out in the country that besides dial-up, only satellite Internet is available, kinda….
+ When the phone rings, if the TV is on, for a very brief time, the name of who is calling appears on the TV screen on the lower right side. The caller can be either on a landline or on a cell…..same thing happens. I was stunned the first time I saw this….is this normal?
This one is too easy! Get the manual out for the DTV receiver and see if you have it plugged into a phone line. Bet me that as part of the “call home feature” to bill you for all those PPV movies, the sat. receiver has caller ID outputted to whatever is on-screen at the time.
Your cell phone service is presently set to ‘dual ring’ I expect, so you can pick it up free on the landline if you’re home …er…watching TV…
The number of emails on topic this week gets me to wondering if there’s a niche for this kind of service on the internet…you know – pay $5 to ask the home electronics guru a question. Just thinking out loud. Say, your TV doesn’t break up much, does it? (Just kidding…)
Cookie Crunching
Maxa Cookie Manager – MCM has now deleted 53,513 cookies from my computer – and of these 1,439 were in the web bug category. Typical comments:
“Recommendation of George Ure on UrbanSurvival.com. It is unobtrusive, cleans as promised, and integrated with my Kaspersky anti-ware program without a hitch. Very pleased.
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“I love the control that comes with managing web based cookies so easily and conveniently. I think you have a great product, and will consider other products available from your company. Your customer support is awesome, and that speaks well of your company also. “
Test drive it free by downloading it. To upgrade to full functionality will be $35 bucks. Is your privacy worth it? Latest factory version here:
Attn: Mac Drivers: MCM does support the Safari Browser, but that does not mean it is compatible with Mac OS. Maxa-Tools only support the Windows world….so far. Given Jens and the other engineers time…
Looking Ahead
I decided that Saturday Morning’s report – when I do them – will be posted for Peoplenomics.com subscribers only.
Peoplenomics on Sunday is “Woo-Woo as a Business Model”.
Drop by Monday – next week we get PPI, CPI and EIEIO…
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Send your comments to george@ure.net
The UrbanSurvival Mall:
Peoplenomics This Week
The Single Person’s Marketing Plan
Common economic wisdom is that a home is the most important investment most folks make, but I respectfully disagree. I’d suggest it’s the partner you choose to put in the home that is really the biggest investment you make in Life since you can lose money faster than any market in history through the mechanism of divorce. Half to 65% net worth – or more- can disappear in an instant. And you thought stocks in the ‘pink sheets’ were risky? See this divorce rate chart. A number of subscribers who are single have asked for advice, so I thought it might be useful to apply some basic marketing principles to finding a significant other. This may seem a little irreverent here – and to be sure the line between sociopath and social butterfly is a thin one – but it won’t be the first time one of these in-depth reports has stepped over a line or two. Such is the danger of inquiry.
More For Subscribers Subscription Information
“Live on $10,000″ A Year
With another round of layoffs due to start later this month…a round which will start to axe many of the middle managers who have managed to avoid the HR grenades…might I suggest a preemptive tactical move? Voluntarily dropping your lifestyle back a bit, since we’re all being marched down that road by either circumstances or some out-of-control-PTB types who write checks to Washington lobby and to anti-reformers in California! A good starting point, at least if you’ve still got $10-bucks is my e-book “How to Live on #10,000 a Year…or less!”
It’s an automatic download. It’s written in an information dense style: The whole thing runs about 65 pages, but it gives you a vision of how to not only live on the cheap, but also how to migrate up the economic foodchain if you have a little hustle left… Click here for the index and details.
MyGroPonics
My commodity broker JB Slear and I have written a simple book to get you started on high density hydroponics. It’s an example of how someone with a little creativity, access to a few ‘dollar stores’ and willing to try out some new farming techniques can grow an amazing amount of produce sin a very small space – like even an apartment balcony (if it gets some sunlight). Sound interesting? It’s just $10 bucks here…
Pass It On
The business model of this website is base Simply click here and send a link to this site to everyone on your distro list…Nothing more dangerous than sharp, clear-thinking upstarts who ask a lot of questions, eh? Unless you believe WTC-7 fell over on its own, of course….
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Last week’s report is here. For back issues of this site, click here. (Goes back to 1997!)