Only two hermits remain. The ninth hermit has been joined by a tenth. They live on a small ranch in Central Texas with The Dogs of Hermits’ Rest. He does not hang out in bars anywhere near as much as when he was trying to be Li Po.
Other than family and music and song writing, his interests include writing. He has authored many technical tomes, several short stories, and a novel. He does have a day job or two, and he re-publishes some of his writings for those here.
This picture captures my mood for much of the day.
This week was even busier than last week. There has been no shortage of things to keep me busy at work. The hard part has been convincing people that what I do takes time. PowerPoint presentations don’t become web pages instantaneously, as if by magic. Especially when they are made in an application that is like PowerPoint but doesn’t like being on the web.
But at least I like the people, and they seem to like me.
The big problem this week came when my check didn’t show up today. The guy handing them out didn’t have a clue, and admin didn’t get back from lunch when he thought she should. But when she did, she dove right in and started working dilligently to solve the problem. She kept at it until she found out it had been mailed because I’m on a new project code that nobody recognized as belonging to the Fruit Company. I owe her a box of thank you chocolates. I’ll get them as soon as I can get my check in the bank on Monday.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live where you could see sites like this?Photo by: Suna
I’ve been looking into ways to continue to make a little money once my current contract with ALE ends. With the economy going south, I have been a little worried about the availability of other contracts. So, I’ve been doing some research.
The first thing I am reminded of—I actually learned this lesson a long time ago—is that the only people who make money from the advice found in entrepreneurial magazines and conferences are the publishers and speakers. I am amazed at the number of ads claiming that you can make ludicrous sums a week by doing nothing and without knowing anything. I am reminded of a Far Side cartoon where a shady character is offering a book for sale to a 40W bulb—the title Double Your IQ in Two Weeks Or No Money Back.
In the day, my parents made a bit of money fixing up and selling old houses. I have the skills for this endeavor, and I know what to look for. The mistake I’ve made in the past was trying to live in the house and do the updates on a shoestring after work. That approach is a recipe for stress and failure. Over the past few evenings, I started doing research on houses that I could afford to look at with this purpose.
Today, Suna and I made the trek through the Hill Country to look at three of the most likely prospects. One was unfindable (the GPS kept trying to route us through closed gates), we decided not to bother with the second, and the third was in a neighborhood that was way too scary. So I have determined that I can’t afford to approach this investment the way I wanted—a very disappointing result. I will just have to be patient and keep looking for an opportunity.
The best part of the day—other than spending time with Suna—was the getting out of the city. We saw some amazing sites, including the wader pictured here. The birds were worth the cost of gasoline.
