Baby It's Cold Outside ... At Least in Wisconsin

Sitting out here in the Lanai. I have a load of laundry going in the washer. Mundane chores still have to be done. (Cat) Abby is to my left. It's sunny and 82 degrees, while in Madison where most of my "peeps" are, it's 4 degrees ... a 78 degree temperature difference. Been a bad week for you all with a big snow dump, and then bitter cold. My sympathies. With last two mild winters, and mild temps into December this year, it's easy to forgot how booger-freezingly cold it can get up there. Well, the wheel of fortune finally came up bankrupt, and you're in the deep freeze. What do we have for them, Vanna? Slippery roads and sidewalks, cars that won't start, freezing pipes, and enforced idleness. Well, hope you can make the best of it. Break out the books, the board games, and the hot cocoa. (Niece) Kris and (Nephew) Jim, all kidding/ribbing aside I really hope can make a break for it, that they can clear a runway for you, and you can get down here for your cruise.


Recapping the past week ...

Friday Dec. 9

Had breakfast at "Crave" back in the "old" neighborhood because I was hungry for a monster breakfast. This is a great place for that, but I will say quite expensive. A tummy filling Western omelet, potatoes, and one large pancake (I brought my own pure maple syrup), and coffee. Cost $21 with tip, which would have bought me four breakfasts at McD's, but sometimes you gotta have a breakfast made with love, and whoever said that love was free was sorely mistaken. Next to Fleamasters to pick up a watch repair and recycle "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson, back to Chris the Book Guy for future credit on another book. "Walk" was a good read, about Bryson walking the Appalachian Trail, but it wasn't his best work. For one, he only walked 800 of the 2,100 or so miles that make up the trial from Georgia to Maine. (Though to be honest, I don't think I could even do the 800 mile partial walk.)

The guys who run the watch-repair booth at Fleamasters still didn't have my watch ready after more than a week. Very frustrating to me, because this is a minor 5-minute repair, one that I have performed literally hundreds of times in my 30 years of collecting and dealing in watches. But lately, I have developed hand tremors, and I didn't trust myself with this $1,000 watch, especially since it is a consignment and not my own. So I reclaimed the watch and took it to Prestige Time on McGregor instead. Ben Daidone, the proprieter, re-installed the second hand in less than 5 minutes. Ben is somewhat of a flake, and I don't like taking repairs to him where I have to stand and listen to his rants. But he is good at what he does, when he focuses, and I do use him from time to time. Just in small doses.

For dinner, I had previously bought (on Wednesday) a pound of stone crab claws at "Skip One Seafood" on Hwy. 41. I knew Dawn wasn't interested in that, so I went to Fresh Market, an upscale market and deli in the Bell Tower Shopping Mall. and got her some cheese Manicotti and a couple of meatballs from their deli counter. Everything was delicious. I had shelled the claws before dinner to save Dawn the annoying pounding and the flying of shell fragments at the dinner table. So what I had before me was a luscious pile of de-shelled crabmeat, drizzled with melted butter and a squirt of fresh lemon. Served with potato salad, cole slaw, and baked beans to which I had added nice big pieces of maple-brown sugar bacon. Delicious. Dawn said the Manicotti and meatballs were excellent also.

Saturday Dec. 10

Watch and clock collectors meeting today at the Myerlee Golf Course clubhouse. I wasn't expecting much to happen because most of the members are clock collectors and are pushing 100 years old. But I traded a watch with a fellow collector named Duane Dodson with whom I've done some previous trading. Also bought a fairly rare Elgin World War I trench watch from a fellow for $150, and he took two watches in partial trade, so my net cash outlay was closer to $100. I have a nicer case for this watch back at the apartment in Janesville, and once I make the switch, I figure the watch will worth close to $1,000. Not a bad day's work. This guy who traded with me was something else. He came into the meeting room huffing and puffing, carrying a 20-pound display case for his watches. They guy was easily 100 pounds overweight, and had big nasty looking purple blotches on both legs, telltale marks of diabetes/poor circulation. After he set down his watch case, he went outside to the Tiki bar, and came back holding two 20-ounce Bloody Mary's in styrofoam cups. I gotta have a certain respect for a guy who, against all conventional and well meaning advice and warning from friends, family, and doctors, says "screw it" and lives life in his own terms.  For however short a time that might be, it doesn't matter. Quality, not quantity.

I also met a fellow there who is retiring from the clock repair biz and disposing of his holdings, which includes some wristwatches and parts. So I will visit him in Cape Coral on Monday. So all in all, this was a very good meeting for me compared to how visits to this watch chapter usually go where I come away with nothing.

Sunday Dec. 11

Made a nice breakfast (eggs, potatoes, meat) for Dawn and I, and then we watched CBS Sunday morning, as is tradition with us. I think Jane Pauley is doing a fine job, having to fill some big shoes left behind by Charles Osgood. I read somewhere on google news that the show draws 6.5 million viewers and is the number one magazine news show on television. Then to Planet Fitness for a workout. Next we went to the Walmart Supermarket for our  weekly (or thereabouts) big grocery run, and we spent $89. For dinner, I made a meatloaf with baked potato, and carrot coins.

Monday Dec. 12

Made an appointment for scheduled maintenance on the Prius for Friday. Time for an oil change. I've put 51,000 miles on the car since buying it July of 2014. Like the Pruis before it, it's been a great car. Not particularly good in the "fun to drive" department, but she's got it in spades in the economical and reliable departments. In the afternoon, went to Cape Coral to see the guy with the watch parts. Fewer things give me such joy as digging through boxes of dirty dusty watches and parts in search of treasure. You never know what you'll find. I came away with a gallon Ziploc bag of (mostly) parts and partials, but also a few lo- to mid-grade complete watches as well. Paid $200 for the lot, and should be able to make that back plus $200. For dinner, buttermilk pancakes and bacon, for the old "breakfast for dinner" trick, which some people consider anarchy, but I like to do this once in a while.

Tuesday Dec. 13

Today, I called customer service at T-Mobile to try and find out why our bill was nearly $200, which was $70 over the amount estimated by our saleswoman when I signed up to be with (sister) Dawn on her "plan." The CSR told me that we changed plans in the middle of a billing cycle, so we were charged for a half month, plus the next month ahead because we're always paying for the month ahead. I thought this was bullcrap because we've only had the plan for a month (signed up Nov. 9), not a month and a half. But I didn't have it in me to argue with the lady, and she said the next bill would be $136, which assuaged my anger sufficiently to just "let it go." Does anyone else think that the mobile phone companies make their bills unnecessarily confusing and always -- always -- to their favor? Unless you work at NASA, I challenge anyone out there to spend a half hour with their mobile phone bill and understand exactly what the hell they are paying for. I guess if you're going to avail yourself of most any modern convenience such as cable to satellite TV, or Internet, or mobile, you must will willing to bend over and grab your ankles from time to time.

That is, unless you are on a no-contract flat rate service (as was I) such as Boost or Walmart's "Straight Talk" plan, etc.  The tradeoff then is that you have cell coverage about half the time. And when you DO have service, voice quality is akin to two soup cans and a string! Believe me, I know from whereof I speak, having struggled with a "Yank" phone (my nickname for Boost) for a couple of years, and finally throwing in the towel when I couldn't make or receive calls in LaCrosse, WI, a city of 51,000 population.

So I'll take T-Mobile and endure the occasional anal probe.

Wednesday Dec. 14

I rode my bike over to the Farmers' Market at Lakes Park. They hauled away some poor woman in an ambulance who dropped from a heart attack. I think it was the lady who runs the Cajun kitchen food stand. I do know it was a heart attack because some other woman was running up and down the aisle yelling if there was anyone who knew CPR. It cast a bit of a pall over the event for for a few minutes, but after the ambulance left it was back to business as usual. But for me, two reminders in week of our fragile mortality. This poor woman woke up today, went to work, and thought it would just be another day. And, boom, next thing she's in an ambulance. Live each day like it's your last, folks.

Thursday Dec. 15

Went to Planet Fitness today for a much-needed workout. Lunch at a new (for me) Asian place called China Wok at a strip mall by a Publix supermarket. Every Publix has one of these, and there's usually a dry cleaners, a tax place, some kind of restaurant, etc. The China Wok has gotten good reviews on Yelp for cheap, good food, so I wanted to give it a try. They have 26 lunch specials for $5.99 each, and this includes rice and a can of soda or ice tea. Now when you figure most places charge you $2 (or more) for a soft drink, this is a pretty darned good deal. I had the General Tso's Chicken, which is about as Chinese as Kentucky Fried Chicken, but it was nevertheless tasty, and there was plenty of it. China Wok makes my list of the best cheap eats in Fort Myers.

That's all for now.

Bruce