THERE'S A FORCE OUT THERE...

...that knows when you've got extra money...

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It's happened again. Five Hundred Bucks gone just like that. I'd been living in a fairly austere manner over the last couple of months, saving up to try and get my taxes paid. I'd like to get 'em paid in one shot, but that's not possible this time around, so I'm paying my taxes in stages. I didn't even have to take out a bank loan this time around. How about that, I Now Have Money! Except I don't. A couple of weeks ago, all of a sudden I had No Hot Water. When I left the 'hot' water on, it would warm up to, maybe 60 degrees. Lately it doesn't even do that. And, at the risk of providing too much information, sponge-baths in Winter aren't a really big turn-on. Everything that's said about cold showers is true, by the way. BRRRRRRRRR!

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So, I need to get a new Hot Water Heater. It's on its way and most likely will be installed by this time tomorrow. There. Problem solved. Done with it. But I really did need that money for other stuff. It seems that if I have extra money, I'm always having to spend it on something I didn't plan on happening. Such as busted pipes. Or car windows that won't roll up. Or a TV fizzes out all of a sudden. Every time I have disposable cash, it gets disposed of paying for things I wasn't planning on. There is a force out there that watches over my Monetary Life and capriciously Makes Things Happen that I Need To Pay For. Such as, dropping this laptop computer, and now it doesn't receive Wireless Internet. So I had plans to take it in and get it fixed. But, NO!!! I''ve got to spend it on a HOT WATER HEATER instead! (that's my really bad Steve Martin imitation there).

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PICTURE BREAK #1: In the photo at left, you see a little tugboat doing double-duty, chaperoning the two barges that are being towed behind it. After it moved further seaward, I noticed something thru my binoculars on the horizon, and about half an hour later, the big aquamarine tanker I'd been spying on prepares to cross the bar into the bay.

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Switching subjects here, I was thinking that I haven't regularly watched prime-time programs on the major networks for over Ten Years now. This is the way I become familiar with programs such as NYPD Blue (it had been on the air for three years before I saw an episode) or "Criminal Minds" which I started watching on Cable; I guess it ran on CBS (or maybe it's still running) for several years before I became aware of it, and by now, I've seen so many cable-TV reruns of CSI: MIAMI that I'm almost sick of the show. And I LIKE that show. I've seen so many reruns of all those shows that I can see 5 seconds of a show and tell you what it's about. One night, I meant to watch channel 55, but accidentally hit 44, which is the USA Network, and, ha! More police dramas such as "Special Victims Unit" and "NCIS" which features Mark Harmon as a hard-core slavedriver who slaps his employees on the back of their heads if they don't perform well enough. So, at least it'll be a while before I begin seeing the same episodes over and over again. And then, I'll have to find another channel.

PICTURE BREAK #2: In the photo at left, it's near 5pm and the sun is beginning to think about shutting down for the night. At right, another sunset a bit closer to nightfall. The colors are great, aren't they? Every sunset has a different personality.

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So there ya go, some vital (or not) information and some pictures to serve as eye candy. Just when you get tired of reading my ramblings, there's fotos for ya to gawk at. Yep, that's my blog: Bunches of boring stuff alleviated by pointless photos. Enjoy!