In Washington...

... license plates are referred to as "tabs." I'm used to "tags." Also, four-wheeled vehicles are often referred to as "rigs." Where I'm from, a rig is a tractor/trailer, or "semi." The only time I recall hearing "rig" applied to a car was in an episode of The Sopranos.

First scooter ride since November, 2014. Need to get title to my people back east!

Cauliflower ear.

Tenant next door loaned me his Vega DOT:

Also hell on my huge ears.  :)
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Life Is Good!

... and getting better, I think. Looks like my echocardiogram yesterday was uneventful.

* Bed: Queen-sized mattress and box spring, two thick blankies and a comforter and flannel sheets! Even seeing one's breath in the morning inside in July doesn't necessitate all of that, but I do "sleep hot." The comforter is more than adequate at this time.

* Food: I get $194.00/mo. That's adequate, and better than a single old man might get in most other states. But you can't buy toilet paper, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, laundry supplies and laundry-doin' or even showers (yes Virginia, there are coin-op showers, here!) with SNAP benefits. So it doesn't cover everything.

* CPAP: Well, actually an APAP, which is an auto-adjusting PAP. It works great!  And records all kinds of data about my sleepin', so... excellent!

* Power: Now provided by marine deep-cycle battery, which has to be transported to "the grid" for recharging every other day. A solar charging setup should cost ~$200, and negate the need to move the fragile battery around. On a scooter.

* Scooter: Getting close to having it up and running. Need a new helmet.

* Toiletries: I have an application to receive $194 cash per month to cover all non-food items (hopefully this can cover fuel for the scooter, as well). I mentioned showers... ideally, I'd be able to shower every day, yay!  But that's not likely, soon. Three a week, then?  That's a trip into Mos Eisley, 12km away!

* Fuel: Gasoline for the car/scooter. I'm hoping LIHEAP will cover me for a rick or two of wood to burn in the cabin this winter.

* Begging: I'm going to beg Georgia residents to sit back and not read this, as they've been awfully generous in the past! In time, all of this will sort itself out, whether through Social Security benefits or freelance tech help to the locals, I am sure.
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Random Stuff

Dropcam kept an eye on Wanda, overnight. It cost $10, but if she got nabbed, I'd have video of it, at least. It may turn out to have a use after kittehs, after all. Or maybe Stranger will perform.

I bet you missed this in Captain America: Winter Soldier, near the end. "And I shall lay down my vengeance upon thee..."
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Yazoo, Too

Many photos, much fun.

Yours, Hoppily, and Sara, Ross' ladyfriend. Ross and the boys were off twisting each others' Italian nuts.

Fine folx, and spent hop vines.

These folks are awesome. They gave us two kegs of beer last year for Blue vs. Grey II.

Yessir. Nossir, I wasn't. Yessir, I was.  :)

Fuck, I'm in Vermont.

Nope. Nashville, baby!

Spent vines.

Van on tap!

 

Linus and J.P.

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Yahoo for Yazoo out the Wazoo!

Fill in the captions.

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#8

Ready to lift, next month. ST pays most of this, btw.

Wanda sports the logo, 'cause of the giveaways.
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Day/Dusk

Curly stayed close by, unsupervised... for the most part. He got under the house.

The spice must... go, in cheap plastic trays from Dollar Tree!

Who would ride one of those?

I would!  I would!

"Does it say 'dead beer storage' outside my house, Jules?  Does  it?  Just tell me!"

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Weekend Recap, Succinct w/Lessons Learned

Wink is deceptively simple... for morons, apparently. If I hadn't seen this screen 100 times since Friday evening, I wouldn't have had to viciously cockpunch that old man for innocuously uttering "uh-oh" in my presence, today.  ;)

Eighth and Roast's hipster/quasi-vegan (not) biscuits are small, pricy and delicious.

Landlady felt guilty, gave me this.  :)

There are good people doing good works in Nashville. Click to, well, you know. h/t Ed.

Honda kicks major ass, forever and always, ramen.

Mormons can  be people, despite the majority who present as advanced androids with can opener personalities.

Awww, KITTEH!

Awww, HOPPY BEER!  I want the 12pk/2-flight "Deconstructed" set... brewmaster preparatory classes!

Steve is a fellow Smyrnan, rides a kickass Vespa 300ie Super and knows some awesome backroads in Roofie County. Also?  Hell of a Nice Guy, and newish friend. Here's our ride today, map junkies!

Steve and I are considering a counter-club alternative to Nashville's The Snakes SC. That would be the Volunteer Scooter Cooter Collective of Middle Tennessee. Must be age 40 or over to enter. And if your main ride is Chinese, under 100cc or pink and/or flowery, you must have a visible tattoo.  ;) Face/neck, preferably.

GoodYear is spying on me. I knew I shouldn't have started with the Michelins and the Wink mesh net.
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Weekend With Wanda

Ed hits a couple of wormholes during his cruise down his street, yesterday.

Much more at the Wandablog.
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Another Day In Blogville

Wanda needs a wash. Supposed to rain most of the weekend.

SNPA in cans!  Sallyh had never seen 'em. I figure they may only be available in the Outer Realms.

Bluetooth speaker hand grenade. G-POP?  Sounds pretty fly. Rechargeable battery, too!

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Photos From A Tuesday

Starting with cats! Curly grooms L.E.

That's a Nashville Vapor billboard!

Preznit... turkee...

Quittin' time, according to Cracked Nexus!  No Miller until Friday, though.

Wanda crosses the 20kMile mark, tonight.

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Bad Jeffraham's Discretion

This is how I get away with the after-work beer, in public.
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Third Time's A Charm?

 I tried twice to post this via e-mail from my phone this afternoon.

Soprano insisted that I test-ride it. I filled out the forms and got the key, put on the tennis-ball yellow Fulmer modular helmet I had brought, and it took no more than 20 yards -- I knew this was the smart bike purchase. The sheer smoothness  of the throttle, the absolute lack of ugly vibration, the completely ergonomic effortlessness of the entire package... yes. This needed to go home with me.

And thanks to Soprano, it did. Holy crap, what a scooter. It's perfect. Absolutely perfect.
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Bernie Madoff I Ain't

I have a bit of a dilemma.

As many of you know, it took me a long time to find this awesome job that I started in March, 2012. Now, because of the crushing boot of the state, I find myself without a vehicle. Fortunately, I've had use of a borrowed spare car for the last month, but that can't realistically continue much longer.

With the attendant horrible credit score and no money saved up, one option would be to buy a car at a  buy-here-bend-over-here lot, paying too much for the car, paying way too much interest, and then having to carry insurance that I can't possibly afford on said car. Then of course there's the fuel economy issue, where I would be paying at least double to fuel a car every week compared to what I've spent on Bad Penny's gas (a beater car that gets 35MPG is probably hoping for quite a lot).

So, I would like to propose to my readers this: An investment fund that will yield 15% compounded interest annually which will finance a new Honda PCX scooter. The 2013 PCX150 that Sloan's has in stock can be had for just under $4200, gets over 100MPG, and it's a Honda -- the most reliable machines on the planet. Sloan's also has a 2011 (new, in-crate) PCX125, like the one pictured above, that they are willing to deal on, but I couldn't lock down a price over the phone on it, this morning but $3923 doesn't sound like that great a deal.

If, say, the PCX150 were $4200, and "shares" were made available to you, my friends @ $100 each, each share would pay out $152.09 in August, 2015. I know it's a high-risk proposition, but I would rather pay my friends this money than some sleazy car lot, and I think 15% is a fair return (and less than I would be paying the sleazy car lot for a questionable, overpriced beater of a car).

Anyway, I'm not sure how to get the ball rolling on this, or if enough people would even entertain the idea... I have relied on your kindness far too much over the years. That's why I would definitely only want to do this as a loan/investment deal, if there's enough faith left in me out there to make this happen, that is.

I would welcome all ideas, concerns, criticisms and commentary in the comments, here, if you would be so kind. Thanks.

UPDATE:  I think the Italian guy likes it, and I am 10x sexier than that motherfucker.

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