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The Problem of Closed Systems
From the Poop Deck:
Food: This week as I write this report, I am cooking. Elaine & her brother are off shopping, although certaintly not for today. I've been working on one of my fine spaghettis with a few pounds of stew meat, some hamburger, and oddly, Hunt's sausage flavored spaghetti sauce, which when mixed 50-50 with their traditional flavor sauce and a few cans of mushrooms gives a very flavorful, but not overpowering, combination that I find quite good. Shelter: We still haven't heard anything around the apartment management job here in San Diego that was supposed to take place on the first of February, but by the look of things that's on hold for another week or so. Meantime, the boat has a permanent home. The folks at the marina were kind enough to give us a permanent slip. While it takes some of the edge off of moving ashore, it also let's us pick for a number of options on the horizon. Transportation: The Porsche, which if you recall from last week, was spitting Prestone from a blown hose, came back fromn Dieter's better than ever. Not only does the corrected hose problem (and it turned out there were two problems, a kink and a blown hose) but the clutch master cylinder and slave were bleeding DOT 4 brake fluid, and because they run off the same reservoir as the brakes, I was prepared for brake problems. Nope. Just a $578 bill for this trip. Communications: We are still trying to find a cheap high bandwidth wireless service. Still nothing less than $250 a month or so on the Horizon. Energy: We drove over to El Centro in the Imperial Valley yesterday, just for fun, sport, and amusement. I didn't know most of the rich famrland there was below sea level (!). What I did notice was gas wasn't cheap and I found myself wondering how that land would ever produce anything without oil to make fertilizer and run pumps. Environment: Weather here is starting into the rainy season, and friends and kids in Seattle report 6-8" of snow. Tough, huh? Meantime, I almost put on a jacket this morning to go for my walk. It was 55. Finance: Thanks to a high withholding rate during the year, looks like we will get $7-8K back from the state and the feds this year. Not bad, but I would just as soon have a job again.
I did have a great job interview in L.A. this week, and if I get it, I will sell the boat and start looking for land in somewhere worth retiring to. The job has a great base, high potential, a fine bonus plan and is part of an IPO in 2-3 years. Downside: Gotta wonder if the whole financial system will hold together that long - and that is a major concern. I might take the job, keep the boat, and keep it in the "hot ready" mode and buy gold and be super prepared for anything. If you haven't had the time to read the personal planning guide, that's one of the tough kinds of decisions you need to make in life: do I play for maximum potential gain, or minimal potential loss? It's a simple thing to state, and very hard to decide on in a real-life situation with real money on the table and so forth.
If the new system the thnk tank has been working on is correct, Monday and/or Tuesday should be barn burner rallies. We'll see...huh?