I don't want the Float Option in a RiFi

 So we are trying to refinance our house AGAIN (3rd time in 15 years) and since banks are not open we have to do all of this electronically!    OK - no worries we are going through "DocMagic" with signing papers and it's all smooth UNTIL we get to a page for interest rates and one tiny checked box says "Floating Option"  meaning our rates could go up OR down. 

WELL - at 2.16% are they really going to go down?   STOP THE PRESSES!  we ain't signing THAT! 

So I email saying I'm not signing this with the Float option.  I get an email back 

I will need you to sign these set of documents first  because one of the documents you sign states your intent to proceed with the loan.  At that point I can lock your rate.  Then you will get a second set that shows you are locked in.  

NO - I'm not signing anything with Float Option checked. Maybe I'm old school but signing this says I want the float option.  No - I don't.    

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NOT Supertramp

DJ and I watched a fantastic concert last night.  Supertramp Live in Paris 1979.  The Breakfast in America Tour.   She had never seen what they looked like and was blown away that they did not looked like the Thompson Twins or any of the European weirdo bands back in 79.  They looked like regular rockers.

WOW - besides their 12 hit songs the 2nd half was some fantastic jazz.   The biggest selling worldwide in 1979 was a group with 2 organists, a woodwind player bass, guitar and drums!!   

Not your regular band. 

IF you search on Youtube there is literally zero content of Supertramp from the 70s. So when I saw an entire concert  DVD remastered - I scooped it up and was amazed.  

I saw this tour when Supertramp (my CB radio handle back in the 70s was Supertramp) at the Capital Theatre in Madison.  I was one of the first 100 people to buy Crime of the Century at Lake Street Station and got all sorts of stuff (that disappeared through the ages  SAD) 

This is a seriously good concert with great audio and if you appreciate great music and love jazz - get this.   What blew me away is they are TIGHT in the age of analog.   Every sound they create on stage is real - no recordings of bells, tweets, whistles.  And they are exactly like the albums.  The are the epitome of a "tight" band.     

https://youtu.be/11afPoEkJL8

    

If you happen to pick this DVD up you will be amazed how many of their songs you recognize but did not know they were the musicians.  

Supertramp: Live in Paris     well worth $18ish 

*******************

Got vaccinated for Covid yesterday - wow - Comparing my last bunch of shots I have received.  On a scale of 1 to 10 

Flu shot 0.2
pneumonia 1.0
Shingle 6.0  MOTHER OF GOD that one hurt

Covid  LITERALLY  0.0  

Seriously - I thought she was tapping my arm and she said that was it.  I went home after 10 minutes and for the rest of the night kept looking to see where the shot was - did she fake it?   

10 hours later I felt it and it's just a tiny sore arm where the shot was.  No big deal at all.  I heard that it's an east shot as it's a very small amount of vaccine going in. 

***********************

Anybody foolish enough to own GameStop?  It's basically a legal pyramid scheme.  NOT ME!!  I never like to gamble on anything where I could LITERALLY lose an unlimited amount of money.  Seems stupid. 

I won't even get into this as it's been explained on TV why this is such a bad bad thing to play with.  Yea - 10% of people will make a lot of money.  90% will lose their shirts.

I fun gamble in Bitcoin which is up 27% since Jan 1 when I purchased and my CGC my pot stock what is up 113% in the last 3 months and 188% in the last 4 months and 106% in the last year and up 55% since I purchased it, and MG@E which is a huge money maker with dividends. 

When their prospectus literally states their #1 goal is to make money for their investors through higher rates (they don't say that last part) I'm IN!    

You get rich in the long run. Not by trading in and out of stocks hoping for quick money.   

OK - I need to deal with this rifi - gotta run  

Have a GREAT weekend - maybe 4 inches of snow in a long period storm  

**********************

OK - the Floating thing was weird but it's fine.  It's like it's floating for a couple hours until it's locked in (we were told we already locked in at 2.16 so . . . . . . .  it's all good).  

Our last lowest ever mortgage rate was 3.82 which we knew would never get lower.       

    

  

SIXTEEN SHOTS?

 Couple days ago I was watching Channel 3 in Madison and they started with a piece about the vaccine.  I was all OK but then I started counting how many times I saw a person get a shot - SIXTEEN TIMES in 7 minutes. 

LITERALLY I saw 16 people get a shot in 7 minutes!  OMG - it's like people have never seen another human get a shot? Was the producer of the piece into S&M?  Does he or she LIKE watching people get shots?  Does ANYBODY really enjoy seeing others get shots? 

I texted them and asked them why they were trying to make people turn away.   OH - I'm not afraid of getting a shot but I'm not really looking forward to it.  I don't really appreciate that feeling of a large needle entering my body ESPECIALLY after my last shingle shot that put me down.  That one hurt like a MOFO! 

Last night?  Only 3 people got a shot on camera. 

***************

Speaking of MOFOs - there is a show on Netflix about the history and origins of swear words.  The first 20 minute episode is about F*ck.   Fascinating !!   

Do you know who says F*ck the most in movies? Per minute of camera time?   think about it - the answer is at the end. 

https://youtu.be/XByiHpUvrj0

TURN SOUND DOWN IF AT WORK  

*****************

Finally got around to listening to the album version of Wish You Were Here.   I took it back to the store.   Of all the old albums I have purchased for $4 this $28 remastered album was the worst I have heard.  Complete trash with scratches!  

They are going to replace it whenever they can.  Seems the vinyl industry is really having a tough time at the moment.  Record (ha a pun) Christmas sales have really put them behind and the burning down of one of the two world wide vinyl (not the recorded record but actual vinyl substance) producers has put them behind the 8-ball in supplying new records.  

Remember those apple crates people used to store albums like 30 years ago?  I need to find some - cardboard boxes are so . . cardboardy. Plus Sofie loves them also (she looks a little defiant does she not?) 

*******************

OK - a friend turned us on to this Netflix show - he said watch 2 episodes before you make a decision - we watched the first and let it sink in and then DJ (who does not appreciate violence after 30 years in the Crime Victim unit) says "we need to watch the 2nd episode. 

We are hooked

https://youtu.be/OP_WC5oOCe8

The Flight Attendant 

*******************

want to be a BitCoin Miner? Do you know what one is?  

BitCoin is at $34,539 this morning - down about 18% which seems pretty normal for this ride.  

A Bitcoin miner is basically a paid auditor who verifies the legitimacy of Bitcoin transactions and are paid in Bitcoin.  it's not a hourly or salary paid job - it's more like a very boring game searching transactions by blocks looking for irregularities.  They look for transactions that used the same bitcoin more than once. 

"Let's say you had one legitimate $20 bill and one counterfeit of that same $20. If you were to try to spend both the real bill and the fake one, someone that took the trouble of looking at both of the bills' serial numbers would see that they were the same number, and thus one of them had to be false. What a Bitcoin miner does is analogous to that—they check transactions to make sure that users have not illegitimately tried to spend the same bitcoin twice." 

 basically!  

To show you how safe a Bitcoin is - one guy forgot his password to some "safe" and he has 10 chances to get the right password or it's locked forever.  He has tried 8 in the last few years. 

$220,000,000 worth of Bitcoin he cannot get at.   I go through Coinbase (IPO coming later this year). I think you can now buy Bitcoin through PayPal.  It's a risky ride for sure.  IT NEVER SLEEPS! like the stock market. 

*******************

Not going to get into politics.  We all see it  we all see it.  

*******************

OH - My sister in law - starting to get Fine Art America up to speed and she has a new website 

/https://stacey-melotte.pixels.com/

  

*****************************

Who says F*ck the most in all movies per minute?  Jonah Hill!   YUP  

Cheers 

  

  

MY FAULT

So so many beautiful photos of rim frost and hoar frost yet I could not find anything unique to take photos of that the entire world has not already done.    

So I took Gus for a walk with my camera and got a couple images  

and before you asl these are christmas ornaments 

and one more 

****************************

WELL - it's been an "interesting" few days of which I feel partly to blame.  

The back story is this. 

Ya'll know I'm a weather geek and I would have become a meteorologist except for that whole needing two bachelor degrees thing and knowing my study habits on things I don't want to study . . . I knew THAT would never happen.  

ANYWAY - back in 2005 Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on America and being out of harm's way I would it was exciting. The hurricane hit and the next day things had calmed down and I was a little disappointed.  Then the shit hit the fan and I sort of felt bad. 

Last Tuesday "we" won Georgia and there would be the contested voting on TV and I was writing my hands saying I could not wait for the shit show that would happen Wednesday . . . now I feel bad yet again.

I suppose it's not really my fault.

*************************

Remember all the way to last Monday when I mentioned Bitcoin and how it was now at 31,000 a share?  this morning its at $41,000.   Why didn't I be MORE.  I did notice last night there was profit taking and was going to buy a little more at $36,000. BUT NOOOO!! (you only buy parts of a share)

I read an article that said with Democrats in control they will provide more stimulus which in turn will bump inflation a little more and because of that  more large corporations are buying Bitcoin which seems to be taking the place of gold as the safest place to put money during inflationary times - Not a CLUE how that works. 

Right NOW Goldman Sachs puts the price mark of a bitcoin between $50,000 to $400,000.  Yea - we will get between 1 and 12 inches of snow.  

All I know is I suspect Bitcoin to take a large hit sooner or later AND recover. Who knows. I did not know you can buy Bitcoin through PayPal (I guess).  I go through Coinbase   

If you can not wrap your head around what a Bitcoin is - it's like PayPal but more secure.  You can buy things with it and sell things.  It's currency with nobody or actually EVERYONE in charge.  Unlike banks, no one is making money from you putting money into their bank. No salaries No decisions.  It's it's own thing and there are not many shares left (2 million). 

That is why large corporations are buying Bitcoin. They don't want to be left behind.  The reason I became interested was because of the lack of shares remaining. That was what got me interested. 

Since Monday I'm up 31%  LOL  OH - it's all fun and games as it rises.  I suspect a 25-40% sell off at some point this year. 

******************************      

NEW TV shows - DJ and I watched Mr. Mayor last night - HILARIOUS!  seriously - we love every character.  Holly Hunter is fantastic and from SNL Bobby Moynihan is a scream.  HIGHLY recommended.

https://youtu.be/14MGTr-Ti0c

        

 The other new show we appreciate is B Positive. 

******************

We are now finally watching the end of the Republican party as we know it.  It SOUNDs like it will be cut in two with the Trumpublicans and the Realpublicans canceling each other out.  

Ii case you are wondering - sportsbooks (who said there was a 69% chance for both blue senators winning) have Kamala as a favorite at +450 to win the next Presidential campaign, Biden is +600 and Donald Trump Jr +800 is the Trumpublican nominee 

Will Donald Trump Be Impeached Before The End Of His Term?   -190 

Will Donald Trump Complete His First Term As President?  -330

***************************

Trump auctioned off a 553,000 acres of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge but only 3 small companies bid none of them oil companies. 

**************

HEY - I have random thoughts on Twitter since I am banned from Facebook for a few more days - yea - I got into it with a Qanon trump lover.  I basically said in a politically correct way he would die along in jail.  

BANNED for 3 days!!  against the rules I guess.  ODDLY - My life has been much much calmer since I was banned!  LOL  No seriously. 

*********************

It's FOOTBALL WEEKEND!!  I have already warned DJ.  She is fine - loves football.  it's a comfort sport for background noise.   

*****************

   

What happens AFTER Dark Side of the Moon

This was written Wednesday morning and for some reason never got published 

I woke up this morning with dozens of these tiny hawks at my bird feeder - so weird! 

**********************

I was in SUNNY and warm Madison yesterday (remember sun?) visiting MadCity Music and came across a remastered Pink Floyd album I had never seen before . . WHAT?  

I'm looking at it and it's Wish You Were Here   Well . I've seen Wish You Were Here and that is not the cover.  Is this a boot leg? What's up??   

THIS is the cover of Wish You Were Here. 

  WELL - I was mistaken.  

I purchased the album and the outside is black plastic covering the album cover.  Highly controversial  for Columbia Records (cuts into profits) which is fitting as the album is about how record companies screw artists!   

The two people on the cover were stuntmen.  The dude on fire is wearing protective stuff . . . .  HOWEVER - The first photo attempt was actually reversed as the dude on fire did not account for wind and the flames burned off his moustache.   

This is the first album AFTER Dark side and the entire problem with creating this album, which was the band favorite album, was that it was . . . . .  the first album after Dark Side.  

The drummer Nick Mason was going through divorce, they had no real ideas and here they were, 4 guys with the largest selling album in the world,  now rich beyond their wildest dreams and more woman than you can count.   It was what Olympic gold medalists go through.  They have achieved their lifelong dream . . . now what. 

After a few weeks in the studio of drinking, smoking and playing word games things started to coalesce and out popped their second #1 album and the largest pre-sales of a record in history. It was the #1 album for 20 weeks.   

So large was the demand that retailers were told they would only get 50% of their orders. 

The entire album was written by Roger Waters (we still have tickets for a Roger Waters concert next August hopefully) and the band said it was torture creating this amazing work of art.

Pink Floyd went from being a band that had 4 albums that were in the 60sh range in sales to 8 albums being #3 at worst and four  #1. 

+++++   

Speaking of albums  

HEY -  you know what is hard to find?  Peter Gabriel albums!  We watched a concert a few nights ago and I had forgotten how awesome his music is. 

A little ditty from the band 

https://youtu.be/evN6DIGPIJM

Nuff said

*********************

So - there was some sort of voting last night and the result was never really in question. I had my 2 calculators out and was crunching numbers watching TV (Like I did when I was 6 . . I still do it it seems) and while the talking heads could not say anything you can really tell the story behind the stories by body language.

You know that during commercial breaks the heads are asking real questions and getting answers they can't tell you yet.  Every person was sitting up straight and cheery but not saying anything. 

Meanwhile my calculator is telling me that here are 200,000 votes and 80% of those are blue votes which means 160,000 blue and 40,000 red . . . . add those to the totals and . . . blue wins.   

I went to bed about 11:30 and "we" were behind but I knew with 99% positivity that I would wake up and "we" would be at least 5000 to 7000 ahead. 

++++++

remember what Lindsey Graham tweeted in 2016

"If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed . . . . . and we will deserve it."  

Yup - when Trump entered office Republicans owned the House, Senate AND White House - now they don't own a thing.  I said Trump would be the death of the "Republican" Party.  Took a little longer than I expected but . . . .   

So we saw what happened but I did not think about my cannabis stocks which are up 12-17% today. And of course my newest toy, Bitcoin, is still climbing.  I'm waiting for my Bitcoin debit card ( a real thing with 4% back on all purchases).  

JPMorgan said "long-term"  a Bitcoin could be in the 146,000 range.  LONG TERM!!  meaning more than a year!  Bitcoin is taking the place of gold it seems as the sure thing . . . I have no clue how THAT works.   

**********************

and yes - I am attempting fanduel golf!  In case you were going to ask!      
***************

SAGBRAW is coming to Columbus -a really fun bike adventure where hundreds of REALLY hungry riders eat an entire town. 

• Wed. Aug. 11th - Green Lake to Columbus
• Thu. Aug. 12th - Layover day in Columbus
  • This day's ride features an optional tour of the Trek bicycle factory in Waterloo!
• Fri. Aug. 13th - Columbus to Wisconsin Dells

 I've been on this ride a few times - probably staying at Fireman's Park. Will they be allowed to shower at the High School?  

SAGBRAW
The Spectacular Annual Great Bike Ride Around Wisconsin

*************************

Turntables / Bitcoins / a new artist in the family

 In no particular order. 

BITCOIN - I " invested" a little into BitCoin after learning what it was and the theory behind it.  What I learned there were only 2 million bitcoins left and how many large companies are buying them up with VISA, Square, PayPal all purchasing $50+ million in Bitcoin and how a couple of NFL players demanded they be paid in Bitcoin AND how Bitcoin is actually a small part of a larger technological breakthrough called BlockChain  . . . . . .

Blockchain is most simply defined as a decentralized, distributed ledger technology that records the provenance** of a digital asset. 

**the place of origin or earliest known history of something  

So I purchased a part of a BitCoin.  It's about 18 times more volatile then the stock market so it's a ride for sure.  yes - and yes - there is a very limited amount of Bitcoins to be had.  Only 22 million actually and no way to create more. there is no guiding force behind Bitcoin. No one is in charge.   

The first purchase using a bitcoin was March 10th 2010.  $25 pizza from a Papa Johns.  It cost 10,000 BitCoins. A Bit coin was 0.0025 cents.   That pizza today would cost about $136 million as the current price is $32,000.  

Remember I had to cash out $400 from a sports book using Bitcoin? at that time a Bitcoin was worth  $17,000.  If I would have left that $400 in it would be $752 now.  So I put that $400 back in with a little extra at $28,000 last Thursday.  It's dropped to $31,000 today.  

OK - that is my week of obsessing over BitCoin.  

**********************

OH - we purchased Curiosity Stream. What an amazing group of documentaries.  GEEK GEEK - there is one I watched about the secret life of algorithms (how Google works).  Another one about the history of dogs from the very beginning and how humans could not thrive without dogs and vice versa.  

For instance - the first wolf/dogs protected "cavemen" from bears and how dogs allowed humans to do other things besides protecting fields from other animals.  It's really a symbiotic relationship. 

and of course the one about BlockChain.  

***********************

VOTE FOR Mary Arnold for Mayor.  I am 100% behind her campaign. 

***********************

A year ago today I would be home with a massive amount of pain pills in me with a brand new knee.  BUT after deciding to get another opinion here in Columbus I was told to wait.  

Now I have absolutely zero pain and RIGHT NOW I feel I could walk 9 holes of golf  although I might change my mind after 4 holes.   

I'm also down to less then 1 mg of prednisone and by the end of the month ZERO.  PMR seems to have gone away.  

***********************

scary or delicious - your call 

We watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen.  The comfort Mexican food episode.  After watching  how they made Ground Beef and Cheese Enchiladas from scratch OMG - I had to try it.

Only Woodmans had dried ancho chillies and chipotle chillies in adobo juice.  It was a bunch of work making the sauce with blending the chillies and so forth and DJ and I were both . . . . excited? to try it.  

WOW - it was OUTSTANDING.  It was the first time I had tried an America's Test kitchen recipe and they nailed it. 

************************

Got a turntable for Christmas along with a remastered Dark Side of the Moon.  WOW - sounds amazing - truly.

So I went to Mad City Music and got a few older albums. One was Chicago !!   One thing I forgot about albums.  There is only 15-20 minutes per side  LOL  YEA - try laying down to listen to music only to have to get up 15 minutes later   

One thing I have learned in a few week.  yes - NEW albums sound awesome.  MUCH better than digital - but albums that are 50 years old just don't have the fidelity as they do now  WHO KNEW!!   LOL    I need to find a Peter Gabriel album - watched a concert news years eve.   

Here is the difference - digital music is great for multi tasking but when you put on an album you actually listen to it - not just hear it.   People just don't SIT and listen to music anymore. They hear it but don't listen. 

***********************

The BIGGEST news is that my sister in law, Stacey Melotte,  at the start of quarenteeningfor  Covid decided to take up art.  We saw her first creations and they were . . .  fine . . . nothing more.  But that was 7 months ago. 

Now.  acrylic art 

    

   and then the water colors 

..

  And so so much artwork - she is like Steven King of Art. hundreds - literally -  So my job is to get her work "out there".  

  More on this when I get a website and other things coordinated.

OK - enough for today