The Cult of the Cash and Carry

I havent even moved in a week, and already im getting junk mail.

I dont miss this.

Last night i went to the local Safeway supermarket. No, I didnt spend a lot of money - ive become way more of a skintflint these past hard years.

But I bought crap i normally wouldnt. I dont miss this.

The junkmail included a pitch from the cable company for high speed internet and a lotta cable channels.

More bills.

I need a phone.

More bills.

A car.

More bills, more bills, more bills.

I read somewhere recently that americans, on average pay 21 bills monthly to several entities.

eeh.

Ive had NO bills these past few years.

No, i dont pay electricity or water, so Im fortunate there.

I dont want to evaporate any gains by getting services I dont need, no matter how cheaply i can get them.

Its a tricky balance, determining between want and need.

I dont need bills.

I like the cash and carry system.


Or the "No cash, and carry system".
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McClint: gonna scoot and find dinner. later
JPennant: aight pa
McClint signed off at 2:29:56 PM.
McClint signed on at 3:10:54 PM.
JPennant: that was quick. taco bell?
JPennant: mmm, full on the value menu
McClint: actually yes
JPennant: heheh
McClint: #3 3 taco supremes
JPennant: mmmmmmmmmmmmmm
JPennant: :-)
JPennant: havent had taco bell in a long while
McClint: make a run for the border
JPennant: nah, cost money
JPennant: writing something about that right nowe
JPennant: about spending more than i have to
JPennant: or rather, want to.
McClint: i know what ya mean
-------

Pursuant to that, im scanning the 'free stuff' section of craigslist.

on my shopping list

- microwave
- rice cooker
- compact puter desk
- small table
- toaster/toaster oven

Dont wanna spend any, or failing that, as little as possible for them.

Ive actually seen a lot of them pass by, but ive declined to follow up and play the Great Chase for two reasons.

A lot of the stuff is gone by the time I check it out. Usually within minutes. And i dont have a car to transport the big stuff.

And i dont know anyone in this city with a car, oddly enough.

But, i'll keep lookin.


-----------

Risa had taken off for work, and I was alone at the Mission Creek cafe on valencia...

Just doin a little research, a little chatting, and a lotta people watching...

JPennant: whoa. the guy who ran for mayor just sat down in front of me at the coffee shop
McClint: did he lose?
JPennant: close race to mayor newsom
JPennant: both are young too
JPennant: dude is a SF city supervisor tho. He's a Big Deal.
McClint: is he surfing for porn?
JPennant: his girlfriend is young, thin and pretty
JPennant: eh, he's just deep in thought lookin out the window
JPennant: funny how you know people just by pictures
McClint: "he looks shorter in person"
JPennant: and you know them when they sit in front of you
JPennant: older
JPennant: more grey hair
McClint: are you feeling a bit star-struck now?
JPennant: cant help staring at the guy :-)
McClint: hahaah
JPennant: i live in a cool neighborhood, man

JPennant: yar
McClint: hehe
McClint: kegerator
JPennant: hee
JPennant: hokay. seen it all now
McClint: ?
JPennant: butch chica.
JPennant: with a trim and full goatee.
McClint: pre-op tranny maybe
JPennant: no
JPennant: a woman
McClint: post op tranny taking hormones?
JPennant: no
McClint: an XXY chromosomer?
JPennant: this isnt a man trying to be a woman
JPennant: ive seen women with hair on their chin
JPennant: but never as full and thick as that one
JPennant: but it was trimmed nicely tho
JPennant: bout an inch long
McClint: a woman trying to be a man maybe
JPennant: no, just butch
McClint: haha
JPennant: well, yeah, mannish clothes
JPennant: but a woman
JPennant: full figured
JPennant: no moustache
JPennant: no sideburns
JPennant: clean
JPennant: but with a full thick goatee on the chin
McClint: movie makeup?
JPennant: i thought so at first, but no
McClint: actually i'd side with super butch lez taking hormones for that effect
JPennant: I think she encouraged it to grow
JPennant: well, if you shave, your facial hair grows more and thicker and coarser
JPennant: i see a lot of women here that are that hirsute
JPennant: but this is the first ive seen that made it grow like that
McClint: hehe

JPennant: well, i think ive had a good day at the coffee shop :-)
McClint: you've seen good lesbians and scary lesbians
JPennant: and the almost mayor
McClint: yeah that about covers it

Pre-emptive barking

Dori recently moved to Portland, Oregon from Brooklyn.

She's still adjusting:

run half a block to catch the bus going home. get on, take a seat a little too close to a man with coke-bottle glasses, a lot of john kerry buttons and a long beard, who will very shortly start talking to you. he will tell you all about how his 'days of acid are over, man, that stuff made me schitzo'.

change buses, sit down and pull out book. watch trashy teenage girl get on the bus after you. put out new york-style 'don't sit here' vibes to no avail. attempt to ignore the fact that in a few minutes, trashy teenage girl will be the second person within an hour to tell you about her stay in a mental hospital.

check.

Heheh. Sounds familiar.

Dori is a cute, petite person tho. People come to her.

Im a big surly guy. I'm not always so accomodating.

Sometimes, I hurt their feelings.

"Hey man, wanna sell your FastPass?"
"Back offa me."
*pause*
"I was just asking a question, man."

"You got a quarter, big man?"
"No."
"Just askin for a qua.."
"Why are we having this conversation?"
"Didnt mean to bother you man."

I think Ive mellowed a lot out here, im not always like that anymore. I just have to remember that the hammer isnt always necessary.

But a pre-emptive growl saves a lotta wear and tear, I gotta tell ya.
---------
Heh, it just might be a family thing.

JPennant: hey lil bruddah
JPennant: whappen
JPennant: wha a gwan?
lilbro: nuttin me deh yah
JPennant: irie, good fi hear
lilbro: yeh yeh

lilbro: i got 3 moving violations today
JPennant: daydreaming?
JPennant: oh, yeah - you live in jersey
JPennant: they need revenue
lilbro: nope, was comin from long island dis morning, and i was in gridlock traffic. cop was behind me, and a car in front stopped suddenly. so i moved into the lane to my right, cop said i moved wit out signalling, even though we was going 2 feet every 10 minutes
lilbro: den he pulls me ova and starts yellin at me like i'm his kid who took the truck out on a joy ride
lilbro: so i yelled back
JPennant: yelling?
JPennant: hooo
lilbro: hence 3 tickets
JPennant: ouch
JPennant: yeah, a cop friend of mine did that to somebody one time
JPennant: he was just gonna give a warning for holding their kid in their lap, but then they started giving him a hard time.
JPennant: he walked around the car, and wrote a single ticket for everything. from no sealtbelts to dirt on the license plate.
JPennant: think 10 tickets in all
lilbro: lmao
lilbro: dirt on license plate!!
lilbro: \shit son
lilbro: dats funny
JPennant: yup, "obscured plate"
JPennant: here's a trick a friend of mine taught me
lilbro: well i realized that it coulda been worse
JPennant: call them "officer"
JPennant: as in "yes officer"
JPennant: "no officer"
JPennant: no guarantee
JPennant: but it worked for my friend
JPennant: he was driving my car
JPennant: he blew through a speed trap at about 95 in a 25 zone
JPennant: I thought Id be driving the car home
lilbro: u told me dat 1
lilbro: i did all that
JPennant: you yelled at him :-)
lilbro: cop was pissed when he rolled up on me
JPennant: ah
lilbro: just mad bout nuttin, told me the plates didnt belong to my truck
lilbro: told me it belonged to an oldsmobile
lilbro: and said he was gonna tow me
JPennant: the connecticut plates?
lilbro: nah changed it 2 delaware
JPennant: the insurance that cheap there?
lilbro: yup
JPennant: so.. is it in fact registered to a GM product, instead of a ford?
JPennant: you can tell me, we family :-)
lilbro: nah it was legal, he jus aint know how to punch in the plate
lilbro: there is a "pc" in front of the numbers, he was jus punchin in numbers
lilbro: wanted to tell him suck my dick while he was checkin my plate but i digressed
JPennant: heeheehee
JPennant: "suck my big black dick, officer"?
lilbro: yup
JPennant: ive heard that works too
lilbro: runnin out luv yah
JPennant: luv ya too
JPennant: be good :-)
JPennant: be nice to your local law enforcement :-)
lilbro: u 2 man. u 2
JPennant: we got cop genes, thas why we like donuts so much
lilbro: .true
JPennant: heeheehee
lilbro: latah
JPennant: latah pa

Lilbro signed off at 4:37:53 PM.

Heat Wave!

Today's horroscope sez:

You will get what you deserve today - no more and no less. If you have worked hard and taken your chances, you will gain in ways that delight you.

If you have stayed within your comfort zone and not made much of an effort, your self-satisfaction will be its own reward.

Ultimately, life is always fair - that's why people get so annoyed with it.

Ach, aint THAT the truth.

I feel as if I worked hard and made gains, but now Im concerned Im slacking and not grabbing opportunities.

As the horrorscope continues:

Don't sit back and let the changes that are now taking place pass you by. You have the drive and the ambition to make things happen. Unfortunately, you can also be a bit timid, and if you let that hold you back today, you will regret it for a long time to come. Believe in yourself and follow your star.

Sure, the lack o' cash is having to make me wait, but surely there are other things i could be doing in the meantime.

Augh.

Otherwise, things arent half bad. :)

-----

Current Conditions for San Francisco, CA

Partly Cloudy
91°F

Humidity: 25%
Visibility: 10.0 miles

San Francisco's indian summer is here (all 3 days of it). Its in the 90's and even hotter in the Mission.

This being the Mission, it's a few degrees warmer than the official SF temp.

Kewl wit me.

I felt sluggish this morn, but I didnt succumb to the temptation to grab some caffiene to compensate (for my body would paayyy fer that).

Dunno if its the heat. Shit, Ive lived in Florida, and the heat there didnt have me wanna just lay back.

Well, maybe it did, I just dont remember :)

The skies to the north and west are smoggily hazy and brown, because of the wildfires springing up in the North Bay, about 20 miles north of here.

Its not so bad tho, although some kids in the Sunset District almost burned San Francisco down playing with matches. Well, actually - it was a lighter and they were burning paper, that caused a big grass fire that had smoke covering the entire city for much of the day yesterday.
They put the little juveniles into the pokey, charged with arson.

Eh. I like heat. Over cold.

Ah, Im gonna go enjoy these days.

Good times, man.

Think I'll go get myself some Mango Tea.

The Nooks and Crannies of San Francisco

Once youve been in frisco (yeah, I said frisco, what of it?) for awhile, you'll notice that the place is a closely packed den of warrens and alleyways.

Its sorta like an alternative city.

Unlike most other cities, with the possible exception of London, all the alleys are named, and treated like regular throughways.

One guy told me the other day that he goes into the alleys to "do his thing" .. ie: blaze up his medical marijuana. Allows him to escape "prying eyes".

Yeah, its a whole 'nother world.

I found this out at 2:00 am when some alley denizens started caterwauling, screaming and hollering like it was a party.

Under my window.

Crackheads.

(Sidebar: a pet peeve of mine is hearing folk in a degrading manner use the term 'crackhead' to mean a drug-addicted black person. Oy.)

So, these were crackheads of different races and cultures.

Going off the hook under my window.

I couldnt sleep, as the alleyway, surrounded by tall building, acted like an echo-chamber, amplifying every scream an hollar.

I'd been warned about it, and told to call the sF police non-emergency number.

Gurgh. Im not one to call the cops because people are being a nuisance. Just dont like doin' it.

Somebody else did it for me last night, but it soon may have to be my turn if this keeps up.

----------
Talking to mars just now..

JPennant: hey, hows my favorite Leo feelin?
mars: yuuuuuuuuckie
JPennant: aw
JPennant: same thing again?
mars: worse
mars: last time it was only a digestive thing. now its a whole body experience
mars: ugh
JPennant: whoa.
mars: so how have you been?
JPennant: pretty good, things are flowing
mars: that's good to hear
JPennant: moved into my place, unpacking
mars: yay!

JPennant: so now, im in the mission district :-D
JPennant: the art, funky part
mars: nice
JPennant: youd've liked living here, if you'd found a place in Frisco
JPennant: lotta students here too
mars: really?
JPennant: oh my god, yes
JPennant: but they fall under the hipper students than most I saw at berkeley. They dont have that 'coed' look.
mars: hahaha
JPennant: lotta tattoos, wet seal clothing (psuedo thriftstore)
mars: they are probably the students at the art school
JPennant: they go all over
JPennant: a lot of students are doing the waitressing, barrista deal.
JPennant: you'd like it I think
JPennant: although sometimes theyre trying to be TOO hip.

mars: so you like the mission district better than berkeley?
JPennant: nah, its just different
mars: yeah...it is different
JPennant: although im starting to prefer the city over berkeley
JPennant: its a CITY
JPennant: lotta people, things going on
JPennant: amenities at almost every corner
JPennant: good public transportation
JPennant: yeah, I definitely like this
mars: that's one thingi miss
JPennant: but it is way more laid back than NY
mars: the public transportation
JPennant: oh yeah, why?
mars: the transportation here sucks!
JPennant: but you drive, right?
mars: the bus system is pretty good, but it jsut takes forever to get places
JPennant: heh, sounds like Jacksonville

mars: i really dislike cold
JPennant: im kinda getting used to the SF cold now
JPennant: Im realizing that it might be chilly, but it rarely gets really cold, as in below freezing
JPennant: then again
JPennant: the mission district is always warmer than the rest of the city ;-)
JPennant: another reason I like it
mars: aiyah...sf is always cold
mars: not just chilly
JPennant: yup

mars: ok...i should go grade more papers now
JPennant: aright, Mrs O
JPennant: get some rest too
mars: take care of your self...
mars: ttyl...

Back to the good ol' days as it looks like the browser wars have started again.

All of a sudden, Hotmail wont work with Firefox, giving a spurious error message about the browser not accepting cookies.

I wasted my time checking my settings and doing research until it dawned on me.. ahhh, microsoft. Of course.

Soon, like the good ol' days.. Firefox will become amazingly unstable and crash more often than US Airways.

Of course, *wink*, it could all be a *quotey fingers* 'misunderstanding' .. *wink*.. and the developers never read the specifications, as Microsoft claimed to be the case back in July 95, when TCP/IP access suddenly stopped working for non-microsoft applications with the release of the golden master of win95 (until the justice department started making threatening noises and the problem was 'fixed'), or when IE3 was released and Nutscrape suddenly started crashing more than usual...

Good to know some things never change.

Droptop Days

Yesterday was simply awesome.

Convertibles were *made* just for california days like these.

So clear and bright and cool that i was envying the convertible owners (particularly the ones driving the old BMW 325i's) crawling up the hills to enjoy the 360 degree views of the Bay.

Me? I was riding the bus. :P

The bus driver on the #53 described the day perfectly.

A droptop day.

And so is today.

The mission district of SF is set in a natural valley between the hills, which screens out much of the pacific chill while soaking up the sun, which makes the area several degrees warmer than the rest of The City.

Today is such a day.

Yep, a week or two more and the San Francisco summer will be over.

im enjoying it while it lasts.

The rains will soon be here.
-------
Not to jinx it, but things have been .. flowing well recently.

Really well.

So much so. Im trying to force myself from feeling complacent.

Or being overly impatient.

Or as part of today's horrorscope put it:

.. when you have a sense of purpose and place, everything around you seems to shift. Suddenly, so-called coincidences take on new meaning and good things flow toward you. Life feels effortless. Knowing your place starts with owning your uniqueness and using your talents as only you can.

Yeah.

Good times. Gotta keep it flowing.
----
Been sorting through my bookmarks recently, as Ive been integrating links from other folk's bookmarks.

Ive had that bookmark file since about 95, and its grown organically since then.

McClint: WOW
JPennant: heh
McClint: this is your old list of bookmarks?
JPennant: from 95
McClint: daaaamn
JPennant: its grown organically since then
JPennant: its the file Im working on now
McClint: hmmm the stuff from me isn't terribly old
JPennant: look in the 'mac' section
McClint: oh ok scrolling
McClint: and scrolling
McClint: and scrolling
JPennant: hee
McClint: ho damn! Shreve Systems, Resexcellence... yeah this is old
JPennant: yup
McClint: i'm surprised some of these links still work
McClint: some of these were back when i was at vistakon
JPennant: yup
McClint: there are a couple bookmark "unifiers" for mac but i just never DLd any of them
McClint: so you only have to keep 1 central repository of bookmarks that apply to ALL your web browsers
JPennant: im lazy
JPennant: a simple html file works for me
McClint: hehe
JPennant: some of the links might be dead, but theyre a reminder of what i used to do and where
McClint: yeah
JPennant: I wanna clean this up and upload a finished copy to my servers
McClint: that will take 2 lifetimes
JPennant: hehe

Yep. It brings back memories.