Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Yet another get rich quick scheme bites the dust.

Well, my hopes of making a lot of money by buying gold jewelery on EBay was shot down, today. It turned out that none of the stuff I sent in that was labeled as 14 and 10 karat gold was real. I was only paid for a ring that I pretty much knew was gold. I ended up paying 15% to get it sold.
I still am waiting for a bunch of old watches  in which I hope I can find a gold band. I paid $100 for a bunch of 110 old watches. If one of them has a gold band or case I'll make out.
Of course, I'm being arrogant. I'm thinking that the seller on EBay is so stupid that they are letting valuable things go for little or nothing. I'm just being crazy again and thinking that I can out-smart the other guy. I always lose on these things. It's my delusions of grandeur again. I have to face the fact that I will always be poor and there is nothing I can do about it. I always lose money trying to make one or other get-rich schemes working.
I suppose that going out to California to pan gold is another soon-to-fail scheme. Most likely the gold that was to be found on the Klamath River was found there before the start of the 20th Century. They were taking gold out of there in the 1850's. It's probably all gone by now.
I decided not to go this Fall unless I get the accounting job. I'll go out next Spring if I don't get the job. I should know about the job by the end of the week.
The motor home is still in the shop. I asked the mechanic if he had done anything to it, last Saturday. He said that he hadn't had the time to get to it. At least it drives fairly well. I should be able to get it to California. I just don't know if anything like the furnace works. The last I heard, nothing worked.
On a different topic, the Ebola outbreak is getting worse, apparently. The number of cases is now around 1200.  They are shutting down air travel between some countries. It's starting to make the main stream media.
I don't know what I'll do if the pandemic spreads to here. I've got a bug out vehicle but where do you go for an epidemic? Maybe I'll just move to LaCrosse and start hanging out at the Christian Science reading room. That's probably as good a plan as any.
I was just now talking to Jim and Sherry about the Ebola epidemic. I told them that they should consider getting a trailer and getting their land at Harper's Ferry ready for bugging out. They could get electricity hooked up there and be ready for living there. Maybe I could bug out there. It would be as isolated as I could get. It's out in the country about 1/2 mile from any neighbors. I'll have to talk with them about bugging out there.
Later

Friday, July 25, 2014

Slow Day at the Peace Center

It's a slow day at the Peace and Justice Center. I'm waiting to hear from someone at Sumac about why the printer doesn't work with Sumac's software. Everything else works.
Everybody is at the fundraising taco sales at the Methodist Church. I'm just watching the phone and waiting for people to come by.
My RV is running pretty well. I'll be able to go out to California if I get the job at the gold prospecting place. I'm waiting to hear about all of the electrical stuff in the living section of it. There is a short in the 12 volt line so nothing is working, now. It's at a repair shop at the top of the hill, by the airport. Decorah is in a bowl that was caused by an asteroid strike millions of years ago, so in any direction out of Decorah you go up a hill.
I sent some gold off to a refiner, yesterday. It looks like I'll get a lot for it but I don't know how much is real and how much is just plated. I'll know next week. I have a good notion to leave it in gold since I don't trust the currency, that much. If they insist on paying me I'll have a lot more money to go to California with.
I'm watching the Ebola outbreak in the news. The mainstream media isn't making much of it, yet. I found an article that described how nations in the area of it are responding. It looks like they are taking it very seriously. I hope that they can stop it before it gets here but I doubt that they will be able to. It looks like the speed of it spreading is slowing down. It could be that sick people are hiding and not reporting it. That is something that seems to be happening in West Africa. There were reports of hotels that are normally full now being down to 1/3 capacity; so the panic may be starting. I expect the panic to take down the world's economy if it's as bad as I think it may be. We'll know in a few months.
It appears that the U.S.A. is determined to get into a war with Russia. They are accusing the Russians of shelling the Ukrainian forces from Russia. It looks to me like they will do anything to stop someone from using a different currency than the dollar to buy oil.
The news about the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner looks like a "false flag" event to me. That means that someone does something and blames someone else so they can go to war or something. The U.S. is big on that.
On that note, I'll sign off.
Later

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Welcome to my Readers from Moldova

For some unknown reason I'm getting a lot of readers from Moldova. I had to Google it. That could be bad because the United States always gets into wars with countries that I have to look up. You are close to the Ukraine so I hope there is no spillover from there.
Maybe people, there, are moving into motor homes like me. The economy is so bad, here, that a lot of people are moving into something that they can live in on the street. And it's not about to get any better.
Talking about the motor home, I had a lot of bad news, today. I'll have to replace the furnace, water heater and refrigerator. That will set me back by several hundred dollars. I'm wondering if a plumber could fix these things. I'll find out Monday. I'll call a plumber who I know works on mobile homes and see if he can repair my motor home. If I'm lucky, he'll fix up everything.
Maybe we can get a discussion going. I'm leaning towards believing that the United States was behind the airliner getting shot down in the Ukraine. It reminds me of the way the 9/11 thing was staged to invade a country for oil. I still don't know how they justified invading Iraq but they did. Now it looks to me like the U.S.A wants to invade Russia so they staged a "false flag" event. After a few days, the mainstream media will be calling for war with Russia. I don't see any reason that Russia or the Russian separatists would want to bring the world down on themselves by shooting down an airliner. It looks like something the war-mongers in the United States would do. That's my opinion. Feel free to leave comments. I haven't gotten any for a few years.
Later

My RV is ready to go.

I heard from Kelly at the "Camp Site" RV dealer, today. My motor home is ready to go.
Apparently somebody miswired the batteries to the living area. The positive terminal was grounded. I wired it up the way that looked right ( red to positive and black to negative). Someone had wires switched before I got it. I don't know how it ran at all. I hope it didn't hurt the batteries.
The New 49ers sent me an application for the job they have open. I just need to fill it out and get going. Of course, I don't have any experience as an accountant. That is a problem. If they don't hire me for that job maybe I can get the night watchman job. That would provide me with a place to park and live in my motor home for free.
I talked with Gary about taking me to Cresco to pick up the motor home. He was busy, next week. Then Dan came by and he said that he would ride his bicycle to Cresco and pick it up Tuesday. Dan is a bicycle fanatic and Tuesday is his day off from work. That will work for me. I need to buy him dinner sometime.
I'm still wondering if the shocks need to be replaced and if the brakes need work. Dan can probably tell me both things.
I think I'll be out of here in a couple of months. I only hope that I get the job in Happy Camp. That would be the icing on the cake.
I need to see if I can sell some of my gold jewelry to a refinery that I found advertising in a treasure hunting magazine. I've gotten over an ounce that Mark the jeweler thinks might be real gold. That could help finance the trip but I'm not sure about selling gold since that's what this trip is all about anyway. I want to accumulate gold for the financial collapse. So why would I sell any? If it turns out to be actual gold maybe I should try to get some more from EBay. I may have really hit the jackpot with a $32 investment, last week.
When I get out to California, I'll just get a device to melt gold and I'll smelt it myself. That way I won't have to rely on refiners. I'll just stack gold in a safe deposit box, or safe.
Well, it's Saturday morning and I think I'll run over to Cresco and see the motor home even if I can't drive it away.
Later.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Waiting to hear from Montine

I sent my resume to the "New 49ers" club in Happy Camp, Ca. Montine is the office manager, there. They have a position open for an accountant.
I don't have much experience with Excel but I can learn. That's where I want to pan for gold so this could work out great for me.
I'm on pins and needles waiting to hear from them. I guess that I'll call tomorrow.
I could also go to some training for the peer support at the behavioral health place, here. I think I'll forget about it although if I get a job with them it might pay more than the minimum wage that I'm now getting. Of course, that would mean delaying my trip to California. I don't think that makes any sense.
That reminds me, my efforts to get gold on EBay is apparently paying off. I bought a batch of gold trinkets, last week. I showed them to Mark the jeweler and he thinks that several of them might actually be gold. I didn't know that 10 and 14 karat gold can tarnish. The guy who sold them to me thought that they were plated when some of them might be real. If they turn our to be real I turned $32 into 2 or 3 hundred dollars. I need some good news.
The motor home is still at the shop in Cresco, IA. I need to call them tomorrow and see how they are doing. I almost bought a refrigerator for it last night. Somebody outbid me at the last second. He got it for $153. New, they sell for $500.
 I need a three way one for the RV. That means that they run on AC, DC and propane. I'll need all three capabilities. If I'm living in town I'll need AC. If I'm on the road I'll need DC. If I'm out in the woods I'll need propane. So I'll need all three to keep my bases covered.
Bitcoin and gold were fairly stable today. I guess that not much happened. I'll check all of the silver and gold bug websites to see if anything happened. I think the decline of the dollars is continuing at a slow pace.
That reminds me, the Ebola outbreak is continuing. It slowed down in Guinea but picked up in Sierra Leone. It's right on track to take down the human race. Some of my liberal friends think that that is a good thing. They might get their wish.
Oh well.
Later

Thursday, July 10, 2014

I got the Motor Home to the Dealer's Today

I got the motor home (which I now call "The Beast" ) to the dealer in Cresco for servicing. It needs a refrigerator and a vent over the bathroom. There are some other things it needs; but I'm making great progress on getting it ready for the move.
I looked at my old list of things to repair on it and I've already gotten most of it done.
I'll have to guess-imate the gas levels since the tanks are buried under a couple of metal boxes. I guess I'll just try to keep them full. I will have to get locking gas caps. Kids are always stealing gas around here.
I need to contact freight haulers and see if I can have the motor home hauled to California. This morning it started bouncing after going over a rough patch of road. It's hard to keep in my lane. I'm glad that it wasn't windy. If I have to drive it out to California I'll only drive it when there is no wind. I might have to wait several days for the wind to die down. Maybe I'll drive it mostly at night. It would be worth $1500 for me to pay someone to truck it out there. The train people said that it was too small to take by train. Maybe I can find some trucker who needs something for a return trip to help pay for  his gas.
The Ebola epidemic is proceeding. I'm having a hard time getting news about it. The newest news I found was a week old. Maybe the news networks feel that since it is now only in Western Africa that it doesn't count as real news. Maybe it just isn't as out of control as what I've heard. I feel that something which could kill off 50 to 90% of the world's population deserves to be talked about. Maybe the mainstream press is being silenced to prevent panic. I would like to hear more about it.
Gold went up and the stock market went down, today. I guess it had something to do with news out of Portugal. I haven't read anything about it yet; but does it really surprise anyone that bad news can come out of Portugal? I feel that gold has put in a bottom and now is the time to buy it. Maybe it would be even better to pan for it.
I'm wavering on whether I should go to California right away or leave next Spring. I did an analysis of my debts to assets. I'm about $6,000 in debt right now. Sometimes I feel that I should head out and find enough gold to justify leaving. At other times I feel that I should stay where I'm at and get ahead financially before leaving. In the Wintertime, I could put aside about $1,200/month in savings. I have a tendency to buy gold and silver with that money. I'll have to quit that.
At other times (especially after watching Glendon Cammeron on YouTube) I feel that I should drop everything and pursue my dream of panning for gold on the Klamath River.
Right now I feel that I should stay put and set aside money for the move. A worsening of the Ebola outbreak or a collapse of the currency might force me to make my move earlier. Only time will tell.
Later

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Not much to Talk about Tonight

Not much is happening here, today.
I had the most boring day at work, nothing got fixed on my motor home, I didn't buy any silver or gold, Bitcoins went down but not by much.
The stock market sold off over 110 points. It might be the beginning of the bubble bursting. If it goes down hard tomorrow maybe it is the start of the depressionary phase that will precede the inflationary phase. We'll see.
The talking heads on CNBC were talking about a bubble bursting; so even mainstream media is looking at that possibility. I only hope that things hold together long enough for me to get to California.
Talking about going to California; I got the batteries installed in the motor home over the weekend. I just used JB Weld to hold down the battery in the engine compartment. The other two are held down better.
When I tried the lights and stuff in the living compartment, nothing worked. I probably have a blown fuse or a switch that's turned off somewhere. Hopefully, the mechanic at the RV dealer's can fix it.
I'm just waiting for the pipe to the fuel tank to be replaced. It also needs a window fixed and the step to the living compartment to be welded. I'll have to find someone to give me a ride back from Cresco where the RV dealer is. That's about 30 miles from here and I don't want to walk back. Maybe I could load the bicycle on the motor home and ride back. It's mostly downhill. I could do that on a weekend. It would take me half a day.
Dan is doing the things that pertain to the mechanical aspect of the motor home. Things like replacing the refrigerator and the vents are going to be done in Cresco.
The mainstream media isn't talking about the Ebola outbreak. I think they are trying to keep us in the dark. If we knew the truth, panic would break out and the world's economy (which is already fragile) would collapse. I expect that to happen in about 6 months anyway. I hope I'm wrong because I would be in a better position to make my move in a few more months. Of course, life never gives you the chance to do things in a more rational manner. It looks like I'll have to get my act together and get the heck out of here, soon. I want to be far away from all of these liberals when the shit hits the fan.
Later

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Wall Street Rant

I've been meaning to rant about how I've been taken advantage of by Wall Street for some time, now.
First I want to acknowledge that I am speaking from self-pity and blaming others for my problems. That's human.
Shortly before I would lose money on Wall Street I always read a book about investing. Generally they would say that the ruling class was about to pull away from the masses. Now was always the time to invest because the train was pulling out and if you didn't jump on board right away you would always be poor and not in control of your destiny.
Usually I would win for about 1 month. When I figured out how much I would make by the end of a year it was in increments of hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions.
After the first month I started losing. I would not only lose what I had gained but whatever I had saved or borrowed to start investing in the first place.
It's too depressing to add up what I've lost but it included my inheritance, back-pay from Social Security Disability and several thousand dollars that I borrowed.
I think my schizophrenia is a big part of the problem. One of my delusions is that I made billions during the 1987 stock market crash. I had delusions that I invested millions from a credit card (betting against the market) and turned it into billions. A few months later the federal government took it away. These things always turn into thin air and nothing comes of it. That is the nature of schizophrenia. It turns out that my most hopeful thoughts are delusions of grandeur. I also have delusions involving Sports Illustrated models. Oh well.
Part of the problem is that I'm drawn to leverage. That means (in the financial world) using small amounts of money to control larger amounts. I started as a commodities trader. With commodities ( at that time) $2,000 would control a commodity worth $40,000. This is wonderful when you are winning but it sucks when the underlying commodity goes in the wrong direction. I would also use options which is similar. Even when I bought stocks I was generally on margin. That means for every $1 I put up the brokerage would put up $2 more.
It was always just a matter of time before I would lose my shirt; and I always did.
Now I'm down to betting on precious metals and Bitcoins. I'm not using leverage and things are going fairly well.
I still want to get out to California before the financial collapse. I feel that I only have a few months. Maybe I'm repeating my old (fear basesd) thinking.
I feel that I'll be able to live practically for free and if I find some gold that is just icing ont the cake.
Today I'm putting batteries into the motor home. I've got the wrong battery in the engine compartment. The posts are too close to the hood. I have to put mounting brackets into the battery compartment for the other two batteries. Once I get that done I'll take it to Wal-Mart and install a couple of marine batteries, there. I think that will happen yet today maybe Saturday. We'll see.
That's all I've got today.
Later

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Decision Time

I feel that it is time for me to decide to get off my butt and go to California, now.
Lately, I've been thinking about going next Spring. I'll have more money; especially after making money shoveling snow. The trouble is that the long awaited currency collapse will be that much closer.
My current thinking is that the world wide currency collapse will be brought on by the Ebola outbreak. As it spreads out from Africa the world's economy will collapse because people will withdraw and not spend money. Everyone will be hiding in their homes. I feel that the lack of consumer spending will wreck the economy. It will probably happen within the next 6 months.
I'm watching the outbreak very closely. It may not spread as much in the Western world but it will get here. People will panic and the only thing that really will prevent it's spread is isolation. Of course, people will say that they are being discriminated against so that may not happen. Those factors increased the spread of AIDS. It will happen again only with more disastrous results.
If I were to get off my butt and sell some etchings and silver I would be able to get out to California and be panning gold in a month or so. It's time to quit straddling the fence. It's important to get out of here.
Even if the epidemic isn't as bad as I think it will be, it will probably trash the economy. Even if it doesn't, I'll still be living quite cheaply and will be finding gold.
On the topic of jumping into my motor home and leaving; I drove the motor home to Waukon, last Sunday. It still drives badly. The new tires helped some but the wind blows it all over the road. People tell me that all motor homes are like that.
I need a few things for it:

  1. Repair the sensors for the gas tanks. The meter shows empty all the time.
  2. Fix the rear tank so I can get fuel into it. The intake hose leaks.
  3. Replace the refrigerator.
  4. Install batteries for the living space.
  5. Install something to hook up the solar panel
  6. Check the brakes. It takes a lot to stop it.
  7.  Replace the vent over the bathroom.
I could skip some things. Like fixing the fuel gauges; if I simply refuel regularly I could do without them. The refigerator could wait. I could simply use an ice box or use canned food. I could put in a battery, myself. Nick just told me a simple way to install the batteries that I could do myself. I think I'll do it this weekend.
That leaves getting the fuel tanks and brakes fixed. I'll have to get after Dan to do those, quickly.
I need to get moving.
Later