August 2011
It's a late Friday night, the first weekend in August 2011, and what is going through my mind tonight is probably going to be on everybody's mind for the next few years - the U.S. just received a downgrade in their credit rating - the first ever - a historical event - and that is going to wreak havoc all over our financial system, and the world in general. The stock market has crumpled severely in the past couple of weeks, and the smell of it all is starting to get to people. And we haven't even started the body count. As you may all know, I have no political agenda - I have no care about such things - but any bystander can see our present political system sucks pretty hard, and the depth of greed and carelessness and corruption are sending this train right off the tracks. Just discussing the salaries and benefits of politicians is enough to give me hives. You know all those nice things we do here, and all those nice things we build, and all those wonderful things we expect in the Land Of Plenty? Well, anybody can appear prosperous on borrowed money, right? I think everybody is finally catching on to the fact that we don't have it together. We've set the stage for any number of creditors to come in and say, "Hey, thanks for building such a sweet country, and all that cool stuff. We'll take it now." To paraphrase Dave Ramsey this week, and put things in a Darren-Stone-perspective: Let's assume I make a $40,000/year salary. (I am the United States in this scenario) Now, suppose I tell you I spend $53,000/year. Yeah, I know. But get this - I already have $230,000 in credit card debt. So to "fix things," I have proposed spending cuts to reduce my spending down to $51,000/year. Panicking yet? Our country has over-borrowed, and spent it foolishly. I don't just blame politicians, I blame a fat, lazy citizenship as well. I blame unions and I blame the ridiculous entitlement mentality of Welfare and General Assistance recipients. You people didn't want to work, but you wanted support. I'm an idiot, and I can tell you the obvious outcome of that too-generalized plan. And anybody reading this knows what I'm talking about. You just can't support everyone. For many many years, participants of assistance programs have lived easier than me and eaten better than me. And their families are growing with lots of new babies which then entitles them to even more assistance. And that's as far as I dare take this rant. The 401k and stocks are taking a beating. There may be a delay in my escape. But man, if I can just make it through the next couple years and the sale of the house...and get myself out of the work-debt cycle...geesh. Living in a truck and having a few secluded parcels of land is going to make me look like a freakin' genius. Not to be a panic-monger, but it wouldn't take much to disable the economy we live in right now and send us into another full-scale Depression. All I'm saying is I might already be a step ahead if it all went down right now. * * * Sorted my way through a few more boxes and tubs this weekend. There was "Trash," there was some "Sell," a little "Give Away," and very little "Keep." In fact, the only "Keep" might have been assorted screws and washers and stuff. I have accepted the fact that I can't make time to do a few necessary exterior improvements on the house, and hired a guy to do some sanding and repair to the porch. That's one fairly big pre-sale house project I'd like to get off my plate. It's going to run $1,100 for the whole thing and get the work done in the next couple of weeks. My only other major exterior concerns are the metal roof above the porch (replace or simply paint?), the painting of the South and West sides of the house and barn (scheduled in my mind for Summer 2012), and the question of re-graveling the driveway. But the large farmer's porch is one of this house's features - a deal-maker - and I am prepping for the deal. And call me crazy, but while I sit here and watch the stock market tank this Monday morning following the U.S. debt debacle - as everyone knew it would - I find myself not concerned about my losses, but rather, which stocks do I need to buy on sale! Again, I'm only holding a very small non-401k portfolio of about $5,000, so it's not like I'm Mr. Wall Street. * * * So, I went with another $200 of Dow Chemical, and another $300 of Coca-Cola. A couple days later I initiated a first-time $300 purchase of Lockheed-Martin. If nobody else has money in the future, I'm betting the defense contractors will. And Disney, if you want to grasp how split-brained my thinking is. $300 initial purchase towards Walt's empire and cryogenically frozen head. All these companies are holding their own in this mess, and I may not get a better price. And if I can rathole a few bucks away in the name of legalized gambling - the stock market - than maybe I'll feel like I'm quenching a bit of a thirst for recklessness without actually throwing my money away. My stock picks aren't wild hairs, you know. These companies should be around awhile. I'll let you know the outcome in ten years. * * * It's mid-August, and I am surprisingly content. August is typically the month I hate most of all. It's always too hot for me - even in Maine - and I am worthless. I can't wait to live my Augusts at 9,000 feet in Colorado. This year in Maine, however, we've been seeing regular rains and most days under 81. This makes for a happy hippie. I've been puttering around on some of the lesser, finer points of truck living, and am just about ready to bring in a few large items for a major space shift - the bass cabinet and three conga drums. I've been positioning these in my head for some time now, so I guess it's time to see what really works. As far as single non-foldable items go, these are the biggest pieces. The congas have their original cardboard boxes, so hooray for that. Everytime I take a photo of the interior it looks like a terrible mess, and I change my mind about posting it here. Maybe I think one day it will be suitable to others' opinions, but I doubt it. I'm a scatterbrained bi-polar nutjob who is never going to live in a clutter-free world. And this will never have the simple interior of Aunt Grace's motorhome. It's my clubhouse. So deal. An uptick in sales has shown a good round of DVDs on Ebay. Nothing much really happening on craigslist, except for a $110 set of Time-Life books I stupidly bought a few years ago and told myself I had to complete. The funny story is, the guy Googled "Time-Life Mysteries Of The Unknown Portland" and got directed to my ad. He contacted me, we set a price, and he soon figured out he was in Portland, Oregon and I was not. But he wanted the deal, paid for the shipping, and off they went. I've also managed to unload an old child's school desk, a bag of eight brass locks, another air purifier, and my pole saw. Along with the cool weather, I am finding more peace dealing with Jose and his daily string of absurd lies. I do not keep people like that around me, but frankly, I'm getting about $25/day to keep my caustic mouth shut and to let him feel like he is "working" me. It's a hard thing for me to do - shut up, and let somebody lie to me, day after day. And witness and tolerate his whoredogging ways. But it is a temporary challenge, and I am meeting it head-on by turning about-face. And then letting it go. And thank you for the money, you dumb lying whore of a jackass. "To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it." - Confucius * * * I think I have a humdinger of an idea for my mattress on the floor. It involves building a fold-up platform to go over it. Platform swings up against the wall when I am sleeping, comes down during the day - like a sawed-off picnic table. I've slept on this notion all weekend, and yes, this may be one of my best ideas since abandoning the bunkbeds. I have turned the mattress sideways in the truck and it just fits. Perfect. But now instead of working with lifting the thing up for my day-to-day existence, I will leave it in place and simply fold a board down off the wall. Add little feet to the board and I've reclaimed my floor space. Sorta the opposite of a Murphy bed. Instead of flipping the bed up into the wall, I'm bringing the floor down over the bed. Pictures shortly. Hamster cage sold, folding soccer-mom chairs sold, cheap center island with stools sold. And here is a shot facing the back door and the upper storage shelf. In looking for some kind of inexpensive netting to keep items up while bouncing down the road, I came across the $2 net laundry bags at Walmart. For this first incarnation, they are stapled underneath and attach to the roof elastics with safety pins, making for easy access. I will soon replace that with eyebolts in the ceiling and carabiners as a quick-release for the netting. That should be all it takes on either side of the shelves (same setup in the front overhead); just some light netting to keep items from falling to their death.  * * * I took the truck for a spin around the block this weekend to see what was bouncing and where. I have been starting it regularly, but I just haven't been driving it. I keep thinking about doing some 3-day wandering to another town - the allure of overnighting in a strange place cannot be denied - but frankly, I don't want to bump the insurance back on again. I have my coverage through Progressive, and they allow me to dial down the coverage since it's just parked in the driveway. Then when I want to take it somewhere, I can put the collision back on, etc. But there's no reason to spend money right now just to "practice" being remote. Heck, if I want to be remote, I can just take the truck up the road a mile a spend the day in the school parking lot. Point is, I need to remember to drive the truck around the block at least once a week - keep things lubed, keep the seals moist, and all that other grease-monkey speak. Anyway, everything seems to be secured pretty well, and I can continue the direction I'm going. I'm beginning to see how this truck is really going to fill up, but that's the nature of my existence. I play instruments, and even though I am paring down to the minimum, they still take space, and the amplification takes space. Most of the sub-floor storage is still unused right now, as I'm focusing on the above-ground allocation of space to the larger items. Still to come are a few more basses, the old DX7 synth, the cello, and the electric drums - but after that, it's all small stuff - sax, trumpet, violin, clothing, camera junk and day-to-day riff-raff. I found a nice 7-foot steel wire rack on sale - sort of a laundry sorting rack - and I have assembled that over the driver-side wheel well. (the bass cabinet and rack gear sits above the opposite wheel well) The wheels have been removed, and it is quite sturdy without a lot of added weight.  I have rods and rails and such already waiting for clothing, but this is a nice setup that fits perfectly from floor to ceiling on the wheel well. (where, of course, there is no sub-floor storage) The bags will be used for cat food, cleaning supplies, cedar shavings (my pioneer toilet), and such. A nice buy for $38. I hope to have more than two hideous longsleeve green shirts on my rack. * * * My Zero is $259,706.18. My Dream Sale Price for all my possessions is $298,704.50. September 2011 Laying Low. Layoffs Loom! |