Oh, Man!

• 13 Dollar Sunday
• I Want My Studio Back

I have found a 16 gigabyte usb flash drive for $3.99 on the Wal-Mart website, and have ordered one, using the "store pickup" option. I suppose that, as soon as they e-mail me that it is ready to be picked up, I can cycle over there.

Then I can get right to downloading the latest and fanciest Linux 17.10 and hopefully be done with all this nonsense with the computer.

It would be nice to have my recording studio back.

Last night, I didn't get to the Lilly Pad until about 11:15 PM.
There was a guy holding a sign, sitting about 15 feet from where I play.
He is kind of a small guy, maybe 110 pounds and I have seen him in various spots along Bourbon Street.

"I just need 2 more dollars, and then..."

He didn't finish the sentence. He subsequently turned out to be a nice guy, once I talked to him a bit, a very "mellow" one who didn't seem to want to make any waves, that I think he hesitated after thinking: "Maybe I shouldn't be telling him that I intend to stay until I make another 2 dollars; but rather, asking him if he doesn't mind if I do so."

I told him that his sitting there wasn't going to affect me negatively; my goal was to try to sound good enough to make someone throw me a tip despite anyone sitting where he was. Sitting on the stoop which is an invitation for people to sit and listen, was a different story.

Within a few minutes, Lilly arrived, with her daughters.

She came over to me and, putting her face within inches of mine told me that she was having a dispute with her neighbor over a wall which they had knocked down, and that she had Youtube evidence to bolster her argument in a court of law, and that I shouldn't let on to those people who are in the house over my left shoulder as I play, that I am friendly with her, the lady in the house over my right shoulder as I play, lest they try to attack her through me, by disallowing her "little friend" to busk there.

The said that we must go for coffee and walk along the river walk once again, something we haven't done since last summer.

I kissed her on the cheek and she went towards her gate. I turned to see the guy with the sign in full retreat, having decided not to stay until he made another 2 dollars, after all.
The politics of the 900 block of Bourbon Street, New Orleans...

I went on to make 13 dollars, with a couple 5 dollar bills from the two major groups of people who stopped for a while comprising most of it.

The Linux Book

There was a book in the Goodwill store yesterday. It was a big and heavy hardcover copy of the Linux Certification Exam Preparation Guide (or something like that).

The only reason I hadn't gotten it for one dollar was because of its weight -I had a couple more stops before getting home- and due to the fact that I was pretty sure that it would still be there the next day.

Anyone who was interested in a book on preparing for the Linux Certification Exam, as it was administered 15 years ago when the book came out (and it was kind of water damaged) would be a rare bird. If they were studying for the test they wouldn't use a 15 year old book.

The book only has value to someone like myself who sees the knowledge in a 15 year old Linux book as being like an iceberg that is only missing its tip.

The tip of the iceberg would be what the current Linux test would be concentrated on, the stuff that has come along in the past 5 years, or so, would be the cutting edge kind of stuff that's in heavy use in today's world. So, I didn't expect anyone to buy the book.

Then, as I was looking at thumb drives and especially at ones that were preloaded with a Linux system and installer, I happened to see the very same book listed at $34.99.

That was for the current one, but I couldn't help think that the one in the Goodwill had been scooped up by one of those smart-phone shoppers, who troll the shelves of books (sold for one dollar hard cover, 50 cents paperback) scanning the bar codes and throwing the things in their cart if their value exceeds a certain amount, as per some findTheValueofAnyBook dot com site.

If you were to try to think of the "driest" subject on earth, the Linux Certification book comes close, right behind a 10 pound copy of The Statutes of Louisiana or something. One of those smart-phone dudes got it...I'm 99% sure. The irony of the water damage to that dry, technical material amused me.

Before I could become angry over that, I realized that there is plenty of other Linux stuff that I could study before I come across another copy so that, at such a point that I do, I will understand it more and enter it at a deeper level, no problem there.

Then, my potential for anger shifted into elation as a light bulb went on in my head, and I realized that I could do the same thing -get a smart phone, find whatever application they are using, and then be at the Goodwill bright and early on a Monday morning to scoop up one dollar books then list them on E-bay at something closer to half of their ....are you ready for the corniest phrase ever written on this blog?...at closer to half of their book value. (groan)

Then I could become more like Alex in California, fishing shipping materials out of dumpsters and then mailing books off at a 500% markup; syncing my Paypal account to my American Express green card. $.$,$,$....

And, when the shipping charge is, say, $5.99 through E-bay, what happens when it only costs a couple bucks to send, such as would be the case with the 3 ounce flash drive I ordered; does the seller pocket that, too? $,$,$,...?

I had gotten a similar idea about 15 years ago when I was in Jacksonville, Florida and there was a neighborhood Big-Lots store. I thought about going through that store, photographing items, and then trying to sell them for more online. To people who don't have a neighborhood Big Lots...

I think that shipping costs would be the fly in the ointment.

Like many other things, if I were to put the same amount of time and effort into my artistic pursuits, I would be better off.

I guess I'll check my e-mail to see if the flash drive has "come in" at Wal-Mart.
I checked; it hasn't. One of their employees would have to get off their butt and find the item and move it to the pickup area; this may take a while.