Be it ever so humble

I loaded a picture of my home and van today. It's pretty humble.
I spent most of the morning getting Windows and Ubuntu to work on my good desktop computer. I need Windows because my camera won't work with Ubuntu. I got them to work but I don't have much room for music. Ubuntu didn't carve out enough hard drive space. I'll probably have to erase some music to get the pictures to work. Maybe I should just start over again and reload Windows and then Ubuntu.
I'm at Bookends and Alice is having trouble getting Adobe Acrobat to work. Her Windows 2000 doesn't have the Service Packs and I couldn't get them. I don't think her machine will ever work with Adobe. I would like to load Linux and go from there. It has a problem with the sound card and Linux.
We checked the cost of adding Windows XP and it would cost close to $100. If I can't get her machine to work with Linux, we may be stuck with XP. I'm sure that it would fix her problems. I'm going to get the new Thinkpad 390 to work with Linux then I'll trade her for her old machine and then I'll try to get Linux to work on it.
The Dow is down again but not as bad as yesterday. I think it's a buying opportunity. Apparently Obama decided against giving the car parts manufacturers any money. That's bad for Delphi, but I'm going to hang in with the bonds.

Talked with Jim this morning

I met with Jim this morning. We settled the Mid-East problem and health care. That's what old men do. All kidding aside, we spent about 1 hour talking while I bid on more Delphi bonds. I ended up buying another 13 bonds at $10 each. If you are a bond trader I spent $1 each but when you multiply it by 10 you get what I actually paid. That probably only makes sense to a bond trader. I now have 38 Delphi bonds and 16 GM bonds. If they come out of bankruptcy I could make as much as $54,000. It could happen, but my luck doesn't seem to work that well. I think I'm drawn to investments that have a high potential rate of return. Unfortunately, they tend to not work out. Only time will tell.
I got the Thinkpad 390 today. The battery worked better than I thought it would. I'm letting it charge at home and I think it will take a full charge. I had to buy more memory for it. I'm getting 2 128 meg sticks. I'll probably load Ubuntu. It has Windows 98 and its working so I may leave it. I'll have to find a wifi card for it. Maybe I can get Alice's old card. The big question is: Will it work with the sound card. If I get the wifi card to work with Windows that may be good enough for Dave.
I made an appointment with the dentist for next Tuesday. It'll probably cost $150 but we'll see.

2 numbers were right

I picked 2 right numbers for the lottery. It still didn't win anything but I'm getting closer. I'll keep trying. I have to get into the zone.
I'm at Java Johns and I have to say that their quiche is quite good. I'm waiting for other people to finish the newspaper so I won't have to spend a couple of dollars and buy one.
I chipped a tooth yesterday. I was eating some garlic bread at the co-op and I noticed that my tooth felt strange. Later examination revealed that some of the tooth broke off. I'll have to get a dental visit arranged tomorrow.
Teeth don't seem to be covered by Medicare and they are such an expense.
Not much happening here. I'll take a few more pictures and maybe mow the lawn today.

Lottery picks

Here are my next picks for the lottery: 16,17,41,55,56. The powerball number is 11. Again I disavow these numbers. I'm trying to dowse the lottery but I've had bad results so far. I'm beginning to think that dowsing is just another form of delusion. But I'll keep trying.
I didn't get the second computer last night. Someone came in at the last minute and outbid me. It didn't have an ac adapter or a hard drive so I didn't want to bid too much on it. It was a make and model that I like so maybe I should have gone higher.
I put up a picture of the back door at Bookends and Beans. It's my favorite coffee shop/ bookstore. The front might be more scenic but everyone comes in and out the back door.
Not much is happening in Decorah, today. I blew off working at the Habitat for Humanity site. I got up late and I'm just too lazy, anyway.
Later

Enron crisis

I've been running around, trying to find out what happened to my Enron puts back in 2001. I received a letter from a lawyer in California informing me that I was owed nothing in the Enron settlement. After calling him, he convinced me that I should talk with my broker. He found the receipts of both the sales and purchases of the puts in question. It looks like I sold them at a profit back in 2001. I just didn't have the receipts before. I guess I need to keep better records, but I rely on my brokers to do that for me. I have no trouble with Etrade. It's just the local broker who misplaces things.
I bought a computer on Ebay this morning. It's going to set me back $35 so its not too bad. I can sell it to Dave as he is looking for one.
I'm bidding on another that will come due in about 1 hour. It's a little nicer but it doesn't have a hard drive or ac adapter.
The Moo Mobile was across the street. It's a promotion for the dairy industry. They give away milk shakes. There was a line of people down the block but it was worth it.
I saw Lula at the co-op. We're meeting again next Thursday at Bookends and Beans.
I sold my Clear Channel bond this morning, and bought 15 more Delphi bonds. If Delphi comes out of bankruptcy I'll clean up.

Lost the lottery again

My new pendulum was no better than the old ones. I was only close on one number. Maybe I have to go through the numbers 10 times and then select the numbers that aren't picked by the pendulum as my lottery picks.
I still want to sell my Clear Channel bond but its marked as unrouted. Apparently it has something to do with my turning down an offer a couple of days ago. As long as it keeps going up I'm not worried.
I bid on a couple of laptops on Ebay. The shipping will cost more than the laptops if I get them. I'll be tempted to run them on the memory card that I got last night. 4 gig. only cost $15. I could run a laptop without a hard drive. I'll have to pick up AC adapters however.
I uploaded a picture of the trail near the fish hatchery, that I call "Summer Snow". The white stuff by the trail isn't snow. It's seeds from the cottonwood trees. That white, fluffy stuff is all over town, but it was really thick on the trail.
I have to remember to go to the WRAP meeting today. It's a support group for the mentally ill.
It stands for Wellness, Recovery, Action, Plan. I promised Dave that I would show up then I forgot for at least 2 weeks. They meet on Thursdays.
Later.

New lottery picks

Here are the lottery picks using the new pendulum:1,21,30,38,43, powerball 24. The new pendulum acted differently than the old pendulums. It seemed to give me clearer indications for a yes answer. I wouldn't bet the farm, however.
I went to Luther College this morning to pay my annual fee for their community pass to their gym. It has a nice indoor walking track. They also have an indoor swimming pool that I can use. I'm just too lazy to actually use that stuff. I would also have to be there at the hours that its open to the community. That usually means getting up early, around 6 or 7. I also added minutes to my Tracphone. It didn't take, so I'll have to go back to Radio Shack.
I uploaded another picture of the Upper Iowa River, taken during my trek last week.
I'm still trying to sell my Clear Channel bond. I get an indication that it is "unrouted". I don't know what that means and I don't have enough minutes on my phone to call Etrade. I'll probably do that at Java Johns after I get my time accredited to the phone.
That's it for now. On to Radio Shack.