Frankly, I'm quite amused

It’s funny how I went from one entry a month to my third in under a week. However, I’ve got something else Where’s George-related to put in. I went to Panera Bread today for lunch. (For those that have never been there, they sell mostly bread, sandwiches, and other things like that. You can check out the menu on their web site.)

There was one guy at the register who I’ve seen there before. When I paid with my marked bills, he seemed happy to see them. I have no idea if he knows about the site or if he was just a happy sort of guy. Either way, when I left to wait for my food, I realized two things. First, I was supposed to get a buzzer similar to the ones that many restaurants hand out while you’re waiting for a table. The second was that he hadn’t taken my name, which they put into the register so that the people serving up the food have something to call out if the customer isn’t there.

When I looked down, I noticed that he had put “WHERE GEORGE” as my name. The buzzer thing wasn’t a big deal, since the food was there by the time I got to the other counter. For some reason, though, the guy that handed me my food apologized. I don’t know if it was because I didn’t have a buzzer or because of the name. Personally, I thought the whole name thing was funny.

Panera is a bit unusual. The first few times I went, they spelled my name Bryan instead of Brian. (Brian is how I spell my name.) That, I don’t mind so much since it’s not really appearing on an official document. What I find odd is that they always give me these Krunchers potato chips. I know they have Lays and they never really ask for my preference. I could ask them, but it’s not really worth the effort. It’s not a particularly big deal.

It Ain't Easy Being Green

It’s not easy being a Georger. I know I just posted on this, but something happened to me today that I just had to comment on. I went to the dollar store today and bought several items. The bill came to $5.30, which was paid with six singles. I can’t be sure, but I think the cashier put the bills underneath her cash tray. I may be paranoid here, but this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. (My mother said that she may have wanted to save them to enter when she gets home. Since the store closes at nine, we’ll find out soon enough.)


I’m including a picture of how I stamp in this post, just to show you how I do it. The idea of stamping in the margins is simple. First off, it gets noticed. (Think about how you count bills.) Secondly, it doesn’t interfere with the design of the bill. This is useful not only in a legal sense, but also in terms of putting the bills in machines.


On at least three occasions, I’ve seen cashiers use the counterfeit detection pen to see if my singles were real or fake. I can sort of understand this. It catches people off guard. I’ve even had two people ask me if this was a new feature that the government was introducing. I said that it wasn’t. I have to wonder why someone would set aside the bills like that. As I said, maybe I’m just imagining things.


I think that some of the most frustrating instances are when my bills get set aside for routine things. Yesterday, I went to McDonalds. I paid using eight singles only to have the cash trays switched out before the next customer paid. I’d imagine that the singles eventually ended up in a new tray. It’s rare that a business will deposit a lot of singles since they’re so often needed for change. However, I don’t like the idea of my bills sitting around in a bank.


Anyway, I’m done ranting.

Glow-in-the-dark Jelly Bean

I did something interesting here. I turned my optical mouse upside down and put a jelly bean on it. It started glowing red. I thought it looked interesting, so here it is. I have to wonder what it is that makes it glow like that. I mean, I know there's some sort of red lazer or something coming out of it, but why does the whole thing look red?


Here's a closer look. Look at how red that thing is. Is the optical mouse really that powerful that it can generate something that strong? I'm sure I'll get a comment or two about how the mouse works. (I'm probably more likely to get a post telling me to get a life, though.)





This is what the jelly bean looks like without the mouse's influence. I was considering it for my mutant jelly bean project, considering that it is of below-average size, but I almost threw it out. I've been looking for beans that look interesting on their own, but this doesn't really do much without another jelly bean to compare it to.


I actually got six hits on Where's George today, but they were all local. The best that I got was a direct hit at a McDonald's where I spent the bill. I think I may have even seen the guy checking out the bill. Come to think of it, he may have gotten two or three.

Two people today got the bills, saw the "track this bill" stamp I use, and thought it was a new feature on the bills. I have to wonder if people know that there's a new series coming out or if it's just people asking a random question. The marks are too haphazard to be a feature on the bill.

Oh, well. I'm off to spend more bills and find more jelly beans...

The trouble with money...

I’m approaching the $10,000 mark on WheresGeorge.com. I’ve entered 2,820 bills worth a total of $9,665. I have hits in Florida, Arizona, Texas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico and California.

Florida has the most hits, mostly because that’s where I live. Arizona is next because I went to visit my brother there and had a chance to spend a lot of bills there. Most of the rest of the states have only one hit. (Texas has three, two of which are in the same county. Go figure.)

Today, I spent my first marked $2 bill at the grocery store. I’m curious to see how long it takes to get a hit. I have to figure that $2 bills are enough of a curiosity that someone will notice the markings. The markings might even motivate them spend it rather than add it to a collection. We’ll see what happens.

I was reading Time while I was out in Arizona; they had a story that there’s pending legislation that would do away with the penny. This has been a proposition several times already because pennies are considered a nuisance. This is the first time it has been taken seriously because of the rising cost of metal.

Not many people realize that it costs money to physically produce money. Paper money is cheap in relation to the face value. However, it doesn’t take much to make a penny not worth the penny being created. (I think it costs somewhere around two cents to make the one-cent piece.)

Personally, I happen to like the penny. I like the exactness with which I can pay my bill. In fact, I’d like to see the half-cent coin brought back. (Don’t worry; I’m not holding my breath.) To be forced to round to the nearest nickel just wouldn’t cut it for me. I want my penny and I want to be able to pay with one.

Yes, I know what a hassle it can be. I work in retail. I usually count those pennies in the morning when I open the store and at night when I close the store. The difference is that I don’t usually carry that many on me. When I get them, I’m quick to spend them.

I don’t stockpile them like most people, and that’s where most people run into trouble. Most people end up with hundreds of them in their cars and at home in jars. It’s money. I say spend it.

Construction and WG

We finally got our washer and dryer back a few days ago. We’ve had to use the coin laundry for so long that it doesn’t seem real. From what I’m told, the construction is almost done. I think a lot of it is the details, like pouring cement and putting in some of the fixtures.

I finally broke down and got myself a stamp for Where’s George. Normally, I write the site by hand on all of my bills. Recently, I’ve been getting fifty singles at a time, and I usually write the URL four times on each bill. That means that I have to write the URL 200 times. It’s a lot easier to have a stamp.

I’m going to be visiting my brother in Arizona in just under three weeks. I’ve wanted to do this for a while. I’ve just recently gotten around to being able to make the arrangements.

I don’t have much else to post right now. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to post more often.

Maybe once a year is more accurate

I need to get back into this. I was trying to write more often, but I’ve been writing less often. I’ve been busy with work, but not that busy. I have been writing, but when I do write, it’s usually for Epinions.

I’ve been entering a lot of bills on Where’s George. I’ve entered almost 1500 bills since February, totaling $5,843. I actually broke down and decided to get fifty singles. Entering them into the system wasn’t so bad. The hard part was marking them all. Imagine trying to write a URL 50 times in a really confined space. My handwriting isn’t that good to start with. (The backs aren’t so bad because there’s at least a wider margin.)

I’ve had only 22 hits, which means that 22 people have found and entered the bills since I entered them. (I’ve entered four other bills that others have entered.) Most of the hits have been in Florida, but I’ve had one each in Texas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. I’m hoping to get at least one from each state, known as a fifty-state bingo.

I think this would be a good class project. I’m not exactly sure how it would work, but imagine looking up each city as the bills were entered. The only real problem is that hits tend to be few and far between. Fewer than two percent of my bills have hits, and I’ve been doing this for several months. Between twenty or thirty people, that could amount to a lot over a year, but there’s no promise of anyone getting anything.

Anyway, I’m thinking of posting some pictures of deformed jellybeans. I have to take some pictures and see how they come out. If any come out decent, I’ll, post them,

Math

I think I may have a new direction for this blog and I have Where’s George to thank for it. I was thinking about how the currency circulates and the exact nature of getting change. For those that don’t know, Where’s George is a Web site where people enter dollar bills that they get. The idea is to hope that someone else gets the same bill and enters it into the site, thus allowing both users to see where the bill has been and how far it has traveled.

I began thinking about how I have so many bills and how easy it really is to accumulate bills. Take, for instance, a $20 bill. If I enter that on the site, I have $20 listed. Now, take that twenty and use it to buy a lottery ticket for $1. That gives me $19 in change. Most likely, I’ll get a $10 bill, a $5 bill and four $1 bills. If I add those to the original $20, I get $39. The cumulative dollar value of what I have entered has almost doubled.

At this point, the $1 bills are useless in terms of my demonstration. The $10 and $5 bills, however, will get me another $5 bill and eight more $1 bills. (The ten is broken into a five and four ones and the five is simply broken into four ones.) That’s another $13. Added to the running total, that’s $52. After spending the remaining five on another lottery ticket, I get another $4, bringing me up to $56 off of the original twenty. Assuming I withdraw only twenties, my potential is almost three times whatever I withdraw.

This got me thinking. What if I were to do some sort of math-related blog? I suppose I could think up some strange mathematical curiosity to work out or something. It’s better than just sitting around waiting for something to happen. Comments? Suggestions?

Another post

I know that I said that I was going to post something by my birthday, but I’m lazy. Besides, I’ve been busy writing for a contest on Epinions. I’m working hard to get to 2,000, which is a long way off considering that I’ve written only 18 reviews this calendar year and that I hit 1,000 reviews on December 11th of last year. (I now have 1,022 reviews.)


The construction is still going on. There are few major problems aside from still not having a working clothes washer. One is that the phone seems to go out every so often. This has to do with the fact that the wire going out has fallen down. We can get it back after messing with it a little, but it’s still an inconvenience. I guess it could have been worse. At first, I was expecting it to be hell with all of the noise and dust. I’ve been out of the house during most of the construction and the dust has been contained to the kitchen, leaving a small area to be cleaned up.


I’m posting two pictures of the construction. One is from the inside showing a window looking out of what will become my room. The other is on the outside looking at that same window. The windows were put in a few days ago. However, as you can see from the interior shot, a lot still has to be done. I knew that it was going to take a long time, but I had no idea that it was going to take this long.

Part of it is that we’re still ordering stuff, like locks, and we’re waiting on things, like tiles and stuff. There are also a lot of schedules to coordinate and many changes to the plans have to be reflected on the permits. I’m eager for it to be over just so I can get back to a normal routine.

Speaking of a normal routine, I’m still getting over a reformat that I did to my computer several months ago. I jut got around to putting GTA 2 back on my computer. I had lost the saved game I had, which means that I’ll have to beat the first level over again. I’ll probably do a lot of side missions and stuff just to get to the $1,000,000 necessary to get to the second area.

I’ve been looking for some other games to buy. I don’t really need anything fancy. I just want something to pass the time. Some of the games that I’ve found are too much for my computer. Others don’t look that involved. I may end up buying one just to get a review out of it. Worst-case scenario, I could bring it in to EB Games or something.

I suppose that’s all for now. I really will try to keep up.

Where's George?

Valentine’s Day can be a tough day if you have to spend it alone. It’s not that I haven’t tried to date or anything. It’s just that it’s hard to meet someone. Most of my life is spent either at work or at home. When I do go out, it’s not usually doing things that are geared towards meeting people. I don’t like bars or clubs and I don’t know anyone that’s willing to set me up with someone.

Dating sites are a joke. You have to admit that any site that charges by the month and has a 3-month deal is a bit pessimistic. If I’m going to pay money for a matchmaking service, I want some measure of success within a few weeks. At the very least, I should see some responses, even if they’re negative, within a few days. I shouldn’t have to send several messages and not get so much as a quick “no”.

Is there something that I’m missing? Advice seems to be contradictory. Some people have told me that you have to relax and let it happen while others say that I have to get out there and be aggressive. Which is it? I don’t see how I can do both.

I’ve got my birthday coming up in one week. I’m turning 30 and I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I don’t see why people make such a big fuss about the milestone birthdays. I could see if it was 100 or something, but it’s only 30. Get over it.

In more exciting news, I found a site called Where’s George, located at http://www.wheresgeorge.com. The George is as in George Washington, a reference to the fact that the site is used to track money. There’s nothing technical about it. There are no GPS locators or anything. It operates on a catch-and-release system.

You enter the serial number off of the bill and hope that someone has entered it before. If so, you get to see the bill’s history as told by those few who have encountered the bill prior to you. If you’re the first to enter the bill into the site, you get to originate said history. The next chance you get, you spend as many bills as you see fit.

Once a bill gets multiple hits, you get to see how far and how fast the bill is traveling. So far, I’ve hit two bills that were already in the system. Both have been from the Miami area. I’m the first entry for all of the other bills that I’ve entered. I’ve sent many of them back into circulation, but I’ve only been doing this for a few days, so nothing yet.

I’d really like to make a habit of writing here. Posting once a month doesn’t really count. I’m going to set a goal of writing another entry by my birthday. Maybe I’ll have a hit on Where’s George by then.

Driving Force

I have to make a resolution to post here at least once a week. (At the very least, twice a month.) Things have been pretty boring. Most of my time is taken up with work, which leaves me with little time to do anything else. The big problem that I have is that I don’t drive.

It’s not that I hate taking the bus. It’s that having a car would be so much easier. Not having a car limits what I can do and where I can go. I would not be able to go south of the Miami downtown area and get back before the buses stopped running. I also can’t make any physically big purchases since I have to bring them back with me. The nearest bus stop is a quarter of a mile away, which means that I’d have to drag or carry something a quarter of a mile.

It’s also difficult being a pedestrian. The greater Miami area isn’t really a region that’s set up for pedestrians. You don’t really feel compelled to leave your car behind if you have one. When I go down to Dadeland Mall, I have to walk a good distance from the Metrorail station to the mall and there aren’t a lot of sidewalks. It’s not a lot of fun to walk through a parking lot that isn’t pedestrian friendly.

At the intersection by where I work, one of the buttons that you press for the crosswalk is broken. I’ve already reported it, but it’s not like anyone respects a pedestrian’s right of way anyway. Whenever I cross with the light, several drivers try to make a turn, even though they’re supposed to yield to me. I’ve even gotten dirty looks from drivers.

I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all been pedestrians at some point. What is it about being a driver that causes us to lose perspective? I think that part of it is that being a driver in Miami causes people to think little of others. Miami arguably has some of the worst drivers and some of the worst driving conditions in the country. If I recall, Broward County (the county to the north of us) has the most dangerous intersection in the nation.

We also have a pathetic transit system. Miami-Dade County has a rail system that’s just one line. Granted, the county is working on several other lines, but those aren’t due to open for a while. Even then, I’m not sure that anything will come of the proposed line near my house. In order for me to use rail, it has to be accessible.

The same could be said of the buses. There’s one line that runs within a mile of my house. That’s fine if I want to go south. If I want to go north, I either have to transfer (which costs an additional 50¢) or walk a mile to the next-nearest line. The cost of the transfer is on top of a $1.50 fare. I don’t feel like paying $4 round trip if I can avoid it and get some exercise at the same time.

I find it hard to believe that the fare was raised last year after the county voted for a half-cent sales tax to support mass transit. I’ve actually started using the bus less, preferring to do stuff closer to my house if I can. That’s three dollars to go to the library to get a book and another three dollars to return it, assuming that I don’t use a transfer. It would actually be about as expensive for me to go to the dollar store and buy six books. (I’d actually be better off because I could keep the books.)

What am I going to do? I’m going to have to buy a car and start driving. First, I have to get my license.

More stuff

It’s funny how a few days turn into a few weeks. The local election came and went and I’m at least happy with the candidates that won, even though only two that I voted for got in. I’m lucky that I had Tuesday off. Had I been working a full day that day, I would have had to wake up earlier to go in and vote.

I finally passed a thousand postings on Epinions. It took me several days to get over myself. I don’t get anything special out of it, but it is a strange feeling to have reviewed so many items. I still have a few reviews to rewrite. I hate having so many movie reviews to rewrite. A lot of the movies that I watched weren’t really worth rewatching. I got lucky with a few. With one, I got to watch it while I was waiting during jury duty. I didn’t get to watch the whole thing straight through, but I saw enough that I was able to piece together the major details.

I recently got into sudoku. Most of the ones I’ve done were easy. I’ve been trying to find more difficult ones. I like doing them online because they’re much neater. The two that I’ve done in the Miami Herald were messy because I kept having to erase stuff. That’s why I don’t like doing the crossword puzzles. (Well, that and the fact that I don’t know two thirds of the answers.)

The construction is going well. It’s not so bad not having the washer. We still have the dryer, which is nice. I’m not sure how much longer it will take, but I think I’ll be able to survive it. The most difficult part is not having the garage. There are things that I would consider putting out there had it not been for the fact that I can’t.

That’s all for now. Maybe by the next time I post something, I’ll have some sort of closing line or something.

Fewer books

I’m happy to say that I got rid of most of my books. I actually found a place in Miami Beach that was willing to pay me $81 for almost three hundred books. If you look at the picture in the previous post, I still have those two long cases. I also have two of the cardboard boxes, but they were willing to take a lot of old textbooks that I couldn’t get rid of. I have mostly paperbacks left, which I may or may not sell on eBay. If I can’t get rid of them, I may call back after the New Year to see if he’s going to take any more.

I actually bought three new pairs of shirts and three pairs of pants for work. This gives me enough that I should be able to last at least a week between washes. The washer and drier will be disconnected tomorrow, so we’re going through as much laundry as we can tonight. It’s getting to the point where I’m washing work clothes about as quickly as I use them. I’m hoping that they won’t be out of commission that long. However, it will now be a little easier to survive.

My brother comes back into town next week, which I’m looking forward to. I’d say that this means that I’ll be writing less, but I’m already writing about once a month. It might actually mean that I’ll be writing more since I may have more to write about.

Had it not been for work, I would have passed 1,000 postings on Epinions by now. As it stands, I’m three shy of the milestone. I could probably get two more out tonight and maybe get some sort editorial in commemorating a thousand. So far as I know, very few people on Epinions have made it this far, mostly because there’s so little money to be made in it.

In any event, that’s all I have for now. I’ll probably be posting in a few days because we have a local election tomorrow. Yes, I know. It would have been the perfect subject for a blog. Insofar as elections go, there really wasn’t that much to cover.

Turning Point

I guess this is one of those situations where I should have written more often, but I’m not really that far behind. I’d like to start by saying that I’m no longer selling on Half.com. They’ve made two recent decisions that lead me to believe that eBay doesn’t care about Half.com users.

The first is the removal of the preorder function. Preordering allows Half.com users to set a price at which they want the site to automatically order an item. When this happens and I list that hypothetical item, I see that someone is willing to pay a certain amount. If I think that this is a reasonable offer, I can accept. If not, I can list the item at a higher price.

The second (which really annoys me) is the removal of order confirmation. It used to be that when I got an order, I was able to confirm it. Now, it’s automatically assumed to be confirmed. I would have to refund the money if I can’t find the book.

So far as I know, the first issue is still in place. They may have changed the second back to the way it was, but I’m still quitting Half.com for good. It seems that since the eBay acquisition, they just don’t care any more.



We had a yard sale this weekend, but I didn’t sell that much. I didn’t even make $6. What I’m going to do is try to call some used bookstores either tomorrow or Tuesday. Hopefully, at least one will take cash. If not, I may have to list the books on eBay to get rid of them. If that’s what it comes to, I’ll have to sell them in lots to keep the listing fees down. As you can see from the picture I’m posting, I have a lot.

The main reason we had the garage sale was to clear out the garage. We’re going to do some construction on it and put in a bedroom. I’m not really sure about the exact plans. My parents have changed their minds about it several times.

The main thing that worries me about the construction is that we’ll be without the washer and drier, meaning that I’ll only be able to do my laundry occasionally. As it was, I could wash work clothes as needed. I’m going to buy extra clothes soon, possibly in the next week. This way, I could go a week or two without having to do laundry.

I’m sure I’ll survive. I suppose that in the grand scheme of things, it could be a lot worse.

Post-hurricane post

As I predicted, my post here was limited during the hurricane. I got poser back relatively quickly, but Internet access took a while to get back. I didn’t get to watch many of my programs for the two weeks following Wilma because we didn’t get the local NBC affiliate. It left me to watch a lot of movies on DVD.

My Internet access is still somewhat patchy. It seems to work until I need to go online. When I have to look at something, I can stay on for a few minutes or so. It seems to be more stable now, but I’m still writing this in Word.

The Aventura branch of the Miami-Dade County library system was closed indefinitely due to hurricane damages. I’m going to have to check to see what happened with the books I had on hold. I may have to put them on hold for the downtown library.

In other news, I set up a shop on CafePress.com, located at http://www.cafepress.com/b_and_p. Mostly, it’s just stuff with the “Bark and Pee” photo from before. I also set up custom postage using an image that I normally use for profiles. I really can’t see anyone buying that. Even I have to admit that it’s overpriced. I’ll see if anyone buys it. If I can’t sell any in the next month or two, I’ll probably take it off.

Elections are coming up in Biscayne Park. The election is scheduled for December 6, but there was talk of postponing it due to the hurricane. I don’t think anything came of that. I won’t be working that election for two reasons. First, I never worked in my home precinct. Second, even if they called, I don’t think I’d want to. My current work schedule would theoretically permit it, but I still probably wouldn’t want to. I don’t need the money that much.

Hurricane Wilma

I’ve been awaiting the arrival of Wilma. We’re at the point now that we’re not going to worry about a category-two storm, even if it kicks up to a category two. We’ll survive. Basically, what it comes down to is how much we’ll have to clean up tomorrow.

What really gets me is the news coverage. For the past day or two, it’s been the same information over and over again. The same areas have been told to evacuate. We’re still going to be hit either tonight or Monday morning. It’s probably going to be a category- two storm. The local channels are using interviews as filler. There are the officials repeating the basic information and the residents saying that they’ll either get out of Dodge or rough it out.

This leaves me to watch The West Wing, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Crossing Jordan over the local NBC affiliate’s web site. My parents are actually watching a DVD. At I have an option. I hate it when the networks just preempt shows with no regard for what the people actually want to watch.

How much coverage can one person take? I think there should be a law limiting hurricane coverage to 12 minutes per hour. Let the stations use their commercial breaks if they think that the coverage is so important.

The irony is that I’m tempted to give updates about how the hurricane has affected me, but I’m inclined to not do so. Not only do I not want to encourage anyone, but also my power will probably be out.

It’s just as well. I’m trying to think of other things to write about.

The dating game

How does a guy get a date?

That’s one of those things that have always confused me. I know it happens because people go one to get married and at least some of those marriages have to have come from a first date. I was thinking about all of those dating and matchmaking sites and how I have yet to find one that works.

I haven’t tried many, but I find that sites tend not to do too much for me. The problem is that with the pay sites, the free version stinks. What usually happens is that I find a site, try the free version for a while and usually get a few promising leads. However, the free versions don’t make it easy to correspond with that many people at once, so I sign up. Once I’ve paid good money, what few conversations I’m having dry up. I go an entire month without really meeting anyone.

The big problem is actually getting started. Few people want to bother with someone who has a free account because they’re likely to be someone using a free account to get you to go to a pay site. (Even paid accounts might do this.) This is another motivating reason to pay. However, once paid, I still might not get a response.

I don’t know why that is. Probably it’s because I’m competing with hundreds of other guys doing the same thing and it’s very easy for us to come across as losers that try to hard. How do I try without making it look like I’m actually trying? If I make the first move, it could appear aggressive. However, if I wait, I run the risk of paying $20 for a month of nothing.

Dating is a lot like gambling. Everyone has a system and they all seem to be just a little off. I have yet to find a magic word or phrase that will get me a response. Right now, I’d be happy for that. I just want a chance, or at least the possibility of thinking I have a chance, at maybe meeting someone.

The question is, if I ever met a woman, would I know what to do with myself?

search engines and portals

I honestly didn’t expect to get many visitors here, but I signed up with one of those site-tracking services anyway. I wanted to see who was visiting and where the visitors were coming from. As I would have expected, quite a number of people are in the South Florida area. A good 70% of the visitors are in the same time zone as me. I do make mention of local landmarks. Someone even did a search for Barry University.

That actually got me thinking. Most of the hits seem to come from my profile page on Epinions, but I do get a few from portals and search engines. Since I’m using the basic (free) site tracker, I can’t see hits by search terms, but I can get an idea from the referring URLs.

Someone, apparently from Texas, did a search for Wolf Camera. Ok. That’s understandable. Someone in Ontario did a search for “check from Epinions” and came up with this blog. A hit is a hit, but I have to wonder what that person was looking for.

The most common search term seems to be Miami. I don’t know what they expect to find here. Then again, that’s the problem with search engines. You enter a word or a name and you get anything. The thing is that I don’t even live in Miami proper. I actually live in Biscayne Park, which is just a little north of Miami. (I’m only about a mile away from Barry University and about two or three miles from the local Johnson and Wales campus.)

Either way, it’s gratifying that people find their way here, however it is that you got here. If you came by search engine, though, I’d appreciate a comment about how close a match this blog was to what you were looking for.

Yes, I'm still alive

It occurred to me that I haven’t written anything since getting the job. Everything’s been going well. In fact, I’ve been bumped up to full time. This has left me with little time to write. I think I wrote about ten reviews on Epinions for August.

I didn’t sell any books for a month, which left me with no direct deposit for one full bank cycle, and was thus charged $5. Banks seem to be after money, but this is nothing new. Banks are businesses and are thus after money. They’re not doing this out of a sense of altruism.

The thing that gets me is the fee for bouncing checks. If I write a bad check, I’d expect to get hit up with a fee. That’s fair, as I have a responsibility to keep track of my own money. However, I don’t think I should be charged for someone else’s bad check. I have a right to expect that person to write a depositable check.

It’s left me in a position where I won’t take personal checks for my eBay auctions. I’ll take PayPal and credit cards (through PayPal) and put up with PayPal’s fees rather than risk a $29 fee. If anyone can explain why banks charge that much for something that’s not my fault, please leave a comment.

In other news, I just got back from my brother’s wedding. It’s hard to believe that he’s married. I served as best man, which wasn’t that hard. People make a big deal about giving speeches. It really isn’t. The hard part was actually writing it.

Getting back to jobs, though, I don’t think that the mystery shopping will work out. I always get the jobs a day or two in advance, and they’re always hard to do. Since I don’t drive, I’m limited to the locations that I can take.

Miami Beach and South Miami are both difficult, especially if it’s on a day that I work. Many of the good locations get taken quickly, which is to be expected. Also, some have a long list of requirements. Movie theaters, for instance, require that I arrive a certain amount of time prior to the start of the movie, that I make a purchase from the concession stand, that I visit the restroom…

I did finally get another check from Epinions, although it was for only $10 and change. I wish I could get a little more money for my writing. I have a ton of things to write from my trip to California for my brother’s wedding. Unfortunately, I don’t get paid much for travel stuff.

I’ll leave you with a picture that I took in California. It’s actually a doctored picture, but people seem to take it for real. The story that I give is that California is giving more space to dogs.

At last!

Well, I got the job at Wolf. The hard part now is finding the documentation that I need to hand in to complete the application process. This happens every time. I put it someplace that I can’t possibly lose it and I then promptly lose it. I know it’s around here somewhere. It looks like I’ll have the same schedule as my brother, which is good.

The downside is that I’ll have to find something else to write about. It looks like a lot of employers don’t take kindly to having their stores or offices written about, so I don’t really want to put in a lot of detail. I like the people there and everything, but I really don’t want to take any chances, especially this early on.

The next big obstacle for me is going to be getting a car. I’ll probably be putting away a lot of money until I can afford something. I don’t really want to get something for the sake of getting something, but I do want something that I don’t have to worry about. Thus, I’ll probably be getting something used.

A hybrid doesn’t make sense for me right now, but that would be nice. In terms of cost, it wouldn’t work out because of the fact that whatever I save in gas will probably be eaten up by the cost of the car.

I don’t want to stay on for too long because I have to look for that documentation. I can look for it tomorrow. However, if I don’t find it, I’m going to have to have it replaced.

More stuff and stuff

I had to reformat my computer last night. It wasn’t fun. I still can’t figure out exactly what happened. It might have been a virus or it might have been something I installed. Either way, reformatting was something I should have done a while ago. There were so many programs that I had installed and never used that it was probably just easier this way.

The thing that I hate about reformatting is that I can never get the computer back exactly the way it was. When I received the computer from Dell, they had customized the settings. I have no idea how to get things back that way.

The one thing I miss sorely (and this was something from a previous computer) was the ability to view individual files in the recycle bin whenever I deleted an entire folder. With my current computer, the recycle bin displays a deleted folder as the folder. With the previous one, reformatting caused it to alternate between this and displaying the individual files within the folder in the recycle bin. I have no idea why I like the other way better, but I do.

I may be able to get a job at Wolf Camera. I applied there yesterday and there seems to be a good chance that I’ll get hired. I have to call back, though, because I’m supposed to go in for an interview on Monday and that happens to be the Fourth of July. I want to make sure that they’re open.

I’m still expecting a check from something I did a while ago. It was for a National Geographic program. I was supposed to watch two DVDs and take a survey both before and after. The check is for $160, which is why I’m so impatient. By my estimate, it should have arrived already. If it doesn’t arrive soon, I’ll have to contact someone.

That’s all for now. With any luck, I’ll be posting a lot on Epinions soon.