Homeless - 22

Good Saturday morning to you,

Life always seems a bit better after waking up and stretching out to remove some of the kinks, a shampoo and tooth brushing, s stint in the hot tub and a few laps in the pool practicing the ol' Tarzan stroke, then a clean pair of shorts and tank top, some moisturizing - all before the sun comes up to bombard the surface of the planet with that irritating UVA and UVB solar radiation. However, it is sprinkling now, kind of a heavy sprinkling but with blue sky showing in the west. And with a cup of coffee, a couple of bites of fried bacon chunks (both courtesy of a local store) and some raisins in me, I'm ready to see what challenges the universe has in store for me today.

I mentioned that I wasn't a coffee drinker until 2-3 weeks ago. At this point I can understand the appeal. I also understand why some people at the office drank it during the course of a entire work day AND why their hands trembled in the afternoon. One branch of the library that I visit offers coffee for a slight donation and during the course of a few hours and 2-3 cups, my hands tremble. It also seems to suppress my appetite as well as my ability to type at my usual level of expertise. And while we're on the subject of caffeine - on my walk to the library, I passed a large 4-WD truck in the parking lot with a logo on it that I didn't recognize. It looked decent and I complimented the guy who was in the bed of the truck on its' appearance. He acknowledged and reached into the large 'cooler section' of the bed and pulled out what I thought was a large can of beer. I declined, saying I wasn't much for a beer buzz in the morning these days. As it turned out, it was a energy drink called Monster - vitamins and minerals enhanced with caffeine augmentation according to the listed ingredients. It also mentioned not to consume 3 of these cans during the course of one day and not for consumption by children. It tasted good, like orange juice, and the effect was similar to that turbo coffee that Starbucks pushs...ehhh...promotes. I was at an high idle for a bit. It kind of reminded me of the disco days when I was experimenting with some Peruvian marching powder.

Late yesterday evening, I was doing some crosswords when a cab driver approached on foot from his vehicle several meters away. By the way, I get the crosswords from papers at the library that are at least a couple of days old. I noticed that cab driver over the past couple of weeks in a couple of camping spots of mine. He had an accent (Nigerian? wasn't Texan...) and he told me things haven't been going well for him. He has been trying to get into college but on every attempt, the effort fell thru. He had been in the USA for almost a year and had been driving a cab for the past several weeks. To summarize: driving a cab sucks. You have to pay the cab company $580 a week for the vehicle plus you are responsible for the fuel. In addition, the company gets an increased percentage of your earnings when make over a certain amount. Jeezzz...and I thought being an IT contractor was bad. Anyway, I advised him to talk to the financial aid office of the college he wanted to attend and maybe they could provide some options that he hasn't tried yet or thought about.

I didn't mind talking with him and I learned about a scam...eh...industry that I want no part of but he kept touching Black Thunder's driver's side rear view mirror! AUUGGHHHH!!!

I had an opportunity to test an assumption (fear) that I wrote about some time back, that of my lack of trust in the integrity of canned goods that had been subjected to the heat of a Texas summer while in a locked vehicle for more than a few days. Well, it seems I was wrong about that, too. I had a can of chicken (with breast meat!) since about the middle of May sitting in my truck and I decided to test my assumption last Wednesday. I couldn't bring myself to discard it considering how things are. The following elements entered into my calculations: sanitation facilities, plenty of drinkable water and paper products less than 20 meters away and a hospital less that 5 kilometers north. So I prepared the recipe (see previous post) and consumed - no ill effects to this day. My faith in the integrity of canned goods technology has gone up a couple of notches despite what's in the news. Makes me think that a product like Spam would certainly last longer...say, until the heat death of the universe. After all, nobody really knows what is in that product...or haven't investigated but I haven't heard anything in the news about Spam related deaths or their cans blowing up.

On a final note, I'd written about an additional functionality concerning the blending of hot tub usage and laundry. At this time, I wish to supplement the following suggestion to that practice: rinse off the clothing in regular tap water after the hot tub cycle but before allowing to dry on the pool chair in the back of your vehicle! It is my theory that the heavy chlorinated water weakens the structural integrity of the threads of cloth over time, causing it to tear unexpectedly when donning said item...as I discovered earlier this week while putting on a white tank top. Yessss, I know what you're thinking - with all the walking and working out that I've been doing, it had to be my sheer, barely restrained elemental physicality unconsciously exerting itself on the very fabric of the space/time of the universe with devastating consequences.

I do not suffer from that particular delusion - others, yes, but not that one.

Have a nice weekend,
David