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The barbecue cookout the Uruguayans associated with the Rotary Club put on last night went well. From everything I've heard today, a good time was had by all. It was not so much different than the pig-pickings that happen around here on a fairly regular basis. They cooked ribs, sausages, a chicken or two, and the local Rotary Club members brought their favorite dishes to complement the meat. The main difference in the way they do it and the way we do it was that they use an open fire and our pig-pickings happen inside a closed vessel.
I was invited because the party was hosted by my brother and his wife who live next door, and while they're a little embarrassed by my seedy ways, the fire was less than a hundred yards from where I'm sitting right now. They probably knew I'd drift over there under some lame excuse anyway. I drank a bit too much wine, but managed not to make too big a fool of myself.
The worst thing I did was to accept a Uruguayan cigarette and smoke it. It was the first tobacco I have smoked in three years, and I paid dearly for my lapse of discipline. I woke up having atrocious, extremely scary nightmares. I'm not going to describe them because I want them to go away and never return. Jeez!
Last Thursday I got a letter from the VA Hospital reminding me I hadn't done the paperwork for their "means test". Once a year they require this done to determine what you have to pay to receive their services. I make so little money from Social Security I don't have to pay anything, but if I don't fill out the papers I have to pay full price, and that's too scary to think about.
I drove over to Fayetteville and got it done. I had to wait for an hour and a half because for some reason I didn't get the forms in the mail, and I was forced by circumstance to do a face-to-face interview to accomplish the good end. Once I got to it, however, it took less than five minutes to make it happen, and I was on my way back home jiggledejig.
As opposed to the last few weeks there has been right much e-mail traffic over the weekend. That was unusual all by itself. Lotta name-calling going on caused by sour grapes hanging just out of reach by a couple of people. It's all good. I'd like for it to be more challenging.
I have another week before my home phone and DSL account are cancelled at my request. The ISP clerk tried to say they could lower the price if I would just sign up for two more years, but I'm thinking about getting a smartphone and I don't want to deal with trying to get out of a contract or having them control my options.
The iPhone e-mail discussion group I subscribed to in order to get a feel for what problems I might face if and when I do that was really helpful as far as learning about the trials and tribulations associated with the telcos that work the smartphone mojo. The Android phones associated with Google seems to be successfully playing catchup with Apple, and it remains to be seen whether I get an iPhone or no.
If I downloaded a lotta music the iPhone might be the best deal, but I don't get into recorded music anymore, and paying the Apple tax to have iTunes available might not be worth it to me if I can get something that works as well and a bit cheaper. It's the GPS feature that interests me most. That and Google Maps. Google seems to be the "King of the Road" in that regard.
Traveling and finding local businesses when I'm out of town, and how to get to them would be a nice mobile feature. In any case, I might hang out for a couple of months without buying into any of it. This smartphone business is just getting cranked up good, and Apple may not offer the best deal in a very short amount of time.
My brother really likes his iPad, and seems to wanna influence me to get one instead of a smartphone. He has influenced me before. As far as technical gadgets are concerned he is very knowledgeable. I kinda think I might find a smartphone more practical when I'm outta the house.
The weather is good. It could get a little warmer during the day, but it's not unpleasant. The temperatures at night are great for sleeping under light to medium covers. Except for a slight headache from drinking too much wine last night I'm in good spirits.
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I do not attempt to tell the God's own truth here because I don't know what the truth is or hardly ever. I try to capture the drifting thoughts that randomly appear in my imagination for reasons I may not understand. I don't know if the content I capture with these words is true or false. The Comments settings are turned off to prevent me from having to defend what amounts to little more than fanciful, sometime crude speculation. Great moments in our lives never return.
