Monthly Archive for June, 2011

Page 3 of 7

Fifty Cent Piece and Eisenhower Dollar Freak Best Buy Boy

Published on June 21, 2011 in Baby Boomer. 0 Comments Tags: , .


Remember the old joke Q. “what would you do if you found a 50 cent piece?” A. Run home and get fifty cents.

Apparently I never found a fifty cent piece because I had six of the coins in my stash. I also had four Eisenhower dollar coins.

I installed a Virtual Private Network on Nancy’s netbook for added security (and so we can pretend to be in U.S. for Overstock and Amazon buying.)  I needed to also install it on my laptop. In order to keep the security certificates (I love how that sounds – so geeky) in order I needed to use the same install program for both.

We have a brazilan thumb drives.

All packed.

I loaded up my pocket with my 50 cent pieces and Ike dollars and headed to Best Buy for a thumb drive.

I told the checkout boy he was gonna hate me as I handed him the coins.

He looked at them, and asked the manager cashier, “can we accept these?”

The cashier-manager gave him a look and said “since they are U.S. coins, yes – WE. HAVE. TO.”

I grinned and said “I told you you would hate me when it comes time to cash out..”

“I’ve never seen these coins before.”

He studied each one – front and back – asked me if they were all dollar coins.

I explained that the smaller coins were 50 cent pieces. I asked if he had heard of 50 cent. Of course he had…

I asked if he had ever seen the gold-colored dollar coins…

“Oh, yeah, the ones with the Indian lady…”

God love the youngsters. They can be so entertaining for us geezers.

 

 

Geeky Animated Gif Monday

Published on June 20, 2011 in Baby Boomer. 0 Comments

The Three Tier Tie Pyre Was A Bang Up Success

Published on June 18, 2011 in Baby Boomer. 7 Comments Tags: .

Necktie Pyre
Jeez I love fireworks! Now that they are legal in the city, don’t really need an excuse to shoot ‘em off. Ya pays ya money ya gets to blow things up.

But to have a real reason to explode things and set stuff on fire is just outstanding.

The Three Teir Tie Pyre was my celebration of NO MORE TIES. I am retired! What better way to celebrate than to torch some ties!

Enjoy! I sure did… and if you torch a tie or two, be sure to post in on the Burn All Ties Facebook Group.

UPDATE:

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Latvian, a Turk, a German, an Indian, several Americans (including a southerner, a New Englander, and a Californian, an Argentinean, a Dane, an Australian, a Slovakian, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Moroccan, a Frenchman, a New Zealander, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Guatemalan, a Colombian, a Pakistani, a Malaysian, a Croatian, a Uzbek, a Cypriot, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Chinese, a Sri Lankan, a Lebanese, a Cayman Islander, a Ugandan, a Vietnamese, a Korean, a Uruguayan, a Czech, an Icelander, a Mexican, a Finn, a Honduran, a Panamanian, an Andorran, an Israeli, a Venezuelan, a Fijian, a Peruvian, an Estonian, a Brazilian, a Portuguese, a Liechtensteiner, a Mongolian, a Hungarian, a Canadian, a Moldovan, a Haitian, a Norfolk Islander, a Macedonian, a Bolivian, a Cook Islander, a Tajikistani, a Samoan, an Armenian, a Aruban, an Albanian, a Greenlander, a Micronesian, a Virgin Islander, a Georgian, a Bahaman, a Belarusian, a Cuban, a Tongan, a Cambodian, a Qatari, an Azerbaijani, a Romanian, a Chilean, a Kyrgyzstani, a Jamaican, a Filipino, a Ukrainian, a Dutchman, a Taiwanese, an Ecuadorian, a Costa Rican, a Swede, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Belgian, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian and 47 Africans walk into a fine restaurant….

……. “I’m sorry,” said the maître d’, “you can’t come in here without a Thai.”

Close Mind vs Open Mind: Moving to Costa Rica

Published on June 18, 2011 in Baby Boomer. 16 Comments Tags: .

We’re finding there are two types of people that we are dealing with when it comes to our move to Costa Rica. Doesn’t seem to be any middle ground.

Maybe not so surprisingly they are fitting into two demographic groups:

  • the rich retired
  • the working

Guess which is more close minded? Yeah, hardly your Mensa challenge for the day, right? The more close minded are the rich retired. They have theirs and just can’t understand why we want ours.

These are the people who were self-employed and sold the business, paid off their credit cards and mortgage and are living where they choose: close to where they were raised. Their idea of a vacation home is to move to The Villages and live next to the same people they live next to now. Or… they retired with a big pension plan because their union negotiated it -  or they lived the corporate life and were banking the big bucks and are living in some gated community.

They just can’t understand why we would want to move to Costa Rica, land of eternal spring-time, low crime, low housing costs, mountains, rivers, oceans, affordable and good medical care, with a government that is stable, an economy that is strong and diversified, and live around people that are educated and actually like people from the United States.

Their comments are usually really ignorant and never said to our face… “they will be back in six months”… or …” do they know anything about where they are moving?”… or … “I sure hope they don’t believe everything they are told.” In other words, because they cannot fathom making such a life change, they close their minds to the possibility that will be plenty more people like us loving, but leaving, the United States.

Dopes.

The other group is the working-group (not to be confused with this breed of working group:

The people that are still working usually say something like: “well it’s not for me“… or… “we could never to it” … or… “I hope you are really happy” They acknowledge that even if what we are doing isn’t for them, they are open-minded enough to realize it may work for us.

This guy doesn’t offer a purely objective opinion, he is a real estate agent and tour guide… but that doesn’t mean he isn’t writing the truth.

The country enjoys a stellar international reputation. You never hear anything negative about it in the U.S. news. Costa Rica is also famous for having the longest enduring democracy in Latin America and for abolishing its army over 50 years ago. The country has other achievements like a literacy rate of 95% and universal medical care for its citizens and residents. The year-round spring-like weather in the Central Valley is a strong attraction. Low utility bills and domestic help are another plus. It really all comes down to lifestyle. It’s reflected in the national motto, pura vida, which means pure life or pure living. As an American friend of mine often says, “If you get hooked on the lifestyle here, you won’t ever want to return to the U.S. to live. Heck, they’d have to drag me back.”

Pura vida, if you are open-minded.

STFU if you fall into the other category.

 

 

Tired of Ties: I Make a Three Tier Tie Pyre

Published on June 17, 2011 in Baby Boomer. 4 Comments Tags: .

I have worn neckties for 35 years, (not including the years of my Sunday School suit.)

Only in the past few years have I not worn a tie every day to work. I am sick. sick. sick. of tying that piece of cloth around my neck because some stupid society rule says that a person in my position will not be taken seriously unless adorned in such a manner.

Therefore, as I am tired of ties, I have made a three tier tie pyre and will be burning and exploding my ties this weekend, weather permitting.

Join my Facebook Group – MEN ONLY

The kickoff tie burning will be at 7 pm in my backyard. You are welcome to attend. BYOTTB (Bring your own tie to burn.)

When I started on the street selling newspaper ads, suits were the norm. A salesperson dare not walk into a client without a suit and tie and neatly pressed shirt. Even while in the office, the expectations were that we kept our suit coats on at all times. There was a code.

The only respite from that abomination was another: the leisure suit. Those were the days… when wide labels and long hair were fashionable. But in a world that still admired a man in a suit, it was risky unless you were the right age.

I was. I could pull it off – and did. I had a fantastic selection of polyester leisure suits, and I loved ‘em. Luckily my boss was of the right age too, and he dressed in leisure suits too.

I think I impressed the hell out of him when I showed up in this get-up one day. Nancy made a vest and tie for me using material that had we had run through the printing press to capture a special edition front page of the newspaper.

Dress like the boss. Or in this case, dress better than the boss. Pretty good advice then, but hardly applicable now because the boss might be some punk ass kid or a woman.

One thing: why are neckties still around?

Burn All Ties!

Criminy. Neckties can be traced to 1600s. Five hundred friggin’ years.

After over-spending on ties for many years, Nancy found a new way to save us money. She found ties for $5 each or 5/$20 at the New Orleans French Market. Instead of paying $20 + for one stupid tie, I could now buy five stupid ties.

Of course, from time-to-time, she was required to make a “new-tie” run to New Orleans. The you-won’t-believe-how-much-I-saved-you kind of trips.

And those neckties will out in a blaze of glory during my Three Tier Tie Pyre.

Death to neckties.