and he mentioned that old saying, or combo of sayings for a mixed metaphor smorgasbord, “the early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.” They were discussing bitcoin and whether it was toast (I thought it was virtual currency) or not, and then it turned out it was either the early bird, or the first mouse, and only time will tell.
Indeed, as is often the case. Thank you pundits.
But what if the perspective is all wrong, and you are the second worm, or the first cheese? Being an early worm must be a bad plan. But is one a worm, a bird, a mouse or some nice tasty gruyere? Should we be sly like a fox, happy as a clam (how are we to know this is true? did they fill out a survey? love the cold water, don’t mind being boiled and eaten?), or busy as the proverbial bee?
Dickens rants in two separate novels about the inappropriateness of being compared to an insect that lives in a massive hive, with particularly good effect in Our Mutual Friend, in which the disillusioned Eugene, made into a lawyer by his autocratic father, can barely bring himself to move a limb so phoney and materialistic is the world into which he has been born. [Yes, in 1865 it was already thus, ed.] Indeed the novel begins in the home of the Veneerings, who turn out to be just that: veneer.
But running in horror away from the fact that our unbalanced economic edifice has been many centuries in the making, and drifting comfortably back into language, having attacked the metaphor and/or simile (as different as like and as, or as like as as and like) I must leap to its defence, as it would be impossible to convey abstract ideas without it.
Constantly stuffing our experience into a narrative, hoping it might all make sense, or at least be a good coherent humorous bedtime story, we are always expressing new things with the tools we used to express old things. A new word is meaningless without a definition made up of old ones. Thus we are always using apples to describe oranges, and metaphors to describe real stuff.
Doomed though we are then to speak around things and never about them quite, let me nonetheless use words to suggest that you have a whale of a day and I hope nothing looks like a dog’s breakfast except the dog’s breakfast, and that whatever happens is the cat’s meow!
And my choice. Did anyone here ever actually do the Twist? I did. Took a dance class about that time and the instructions were to “put one foot out as if you’re stepping on a bar of soap while pretending you’re drying your butt with a towel”.
I am more like Eric, and husband worse by far. We would have nothing new, and I mean by decades, if husband ran the shop. But drive cars until they die, absolutely. And blow the budget on good food and for me and the kids, the i-toys, etc., of life.
One more before I go. My best frugal story- I bought a new Dodge truck in 1979, a half ton, slant six, three on the tree. A real pooch. At the time it was thought Chrysler was a dead duck (pre Iaococca) and Joe Garagiola was giving the first ever rebates of $400. Subtract that from the $5600 list price, which had been slashed to $4188 and I got it for $3788. Ran good for a few years, then started to have issues. No problem, part of the crew I managed at the time were ace mechanics, fixed the boss’s truck for free.
Drove it 14 years ’til it sucked a valve. Then traded the front half to a guy for his labor to cut off the back half and put a hitch on it for a trailer. Still have it and use it 35 years later.
b cuz only one person, maybe two will understand that comment. i do that a lot. i figure that the heart felt laugh, or perhaps the chagrin of the intended recipient makes up for the bewilderment of all the others.
EO and Dude know about my frugal nature first hand. i bought a used Geo Metro hatchback at 32,000 miles for 4 grand cash in 2002. it finally died rather gloriously right before this winter – one of the control arms rusted through and collapsed. the last 4 or 5 repairs on it required JB weld, rubber tubing, salvaged wire, and even pepper (as in salt and pepper) to plug a tiny leak in the radiator. i kept the thing going an extra two years on 5 dollar repairs.
i eat well, drink even better – Pabst. i can cook you a hundred dollar steak, and charge you your company for it. btw – the corn beef brisket i made yesterday ROCKED! less than 10 dollars for a full course meal!
well, my cloths are a source of friction between me and my wife. she has resorted to disappearing my cloths – well except for my old blue jeans. i will retrieve those from the garbage if i have to.
the Beatles are always good. Stones too. i am amazed by the creativity of both bands. i liked all of the Beatles, and the Stones mostly until the mid 70’s the best.
that should just about get me up to date. everybody have a nice Saturday! 🙂
something decadent that EO just might like. i will make these this week. they are really easy. you can add bacon, kielbasa, chives, etc. to boost decadence.
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/brown-butter-seared-potato-cheese-pierogi-recipe-fw0314
and my Yooper buddy sent me this picture of a black grey squirrrel. he also has flying squirrels, but no pictures of those yet because they are nocturnal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_squirrel
The thermostat down to 60 would do me in. I notice almost as soon as it gets below 68, but our house has ancient if any insulation (actual horsehair and newspapers found in walls) and we are in no danger of suffocating from lack of fresh air entering the premises. I set it to go down, but it is almost always over-ridden.
As to cars, ’84 hippie van (with brake issue), ’98 toyota corolla bought from hubby’s parents, and 2003 pilot, because of hockey and cheerleading, cottages and camping.
But still using the back half as a trailer – now that is frugal, and very cool.
Is the black squirrel rare? I know some places don’t have them, but they are welcome to ours. We get red, grey and black. But not flying, at least I don’t think so. Lots of bats, but that is more mundane.
I had a car with a rust hole in the floorboard. I kept the elements out with a patch made of cardboard, duct tape, and old socks. On one the hatchback wouldn’t stay up anymore so I found a perfect 4 ft piece of driftwood as a prop that I just carried around in the back. Both of those might have been on the same car, come to think of it.
I did buy a brand new 1996 Subaru Impreza. In 2005 the 2nd gear on the manual trans died. The interior was already shot, so rather than fix it, I bought a different decent car and kept that Subaru as “the dog car”. All the hunting, dog running, fishing, etc is in that car. Other stuff too. I figured I’ll stop spending money on it and just run it until it dies, and spare the interior of the better car the dog damage. Nine years later I’ve only done oil changes, some exhaust, some tires, maybe a battery. It’s still going. I’ve been shifting from 1st to 3rd the whole time. I don’t even think about it anymore. Sometimes I shift that way in my other car out of habit. I can only put about 10 gallons of gas in at a time, otherwise it will leak out. The “check engine” light has been on for years. The other car still looks like new because no dog has ever been in it. That Subaru is a monster in snow though, like all Subarus. If I’m really being depended on to carry the mail, the dog car is the one.
EDIT: DP, I love pierogies man. Polish soul food. And don’t start with me about how “Pierogi” is already plural. I know, I know. Probably because nobody ever makes, serves, or eats just one.
I can do with the thermostat down pretty low, but the wife and daughter would mutiny.
I tell Becca I’m saving money, to buy my dumpling all the things she likes. She says “Buy me some heat, Papa!” as she shivers under a blanket.
Son John is more like me. Some genetic linkage to the Y chromosome perhaps.
I solved this problem by simply shutting down my twitter account. Cut to the endgame, Barry. It’s not the next-big-thing. It’s a soon-to-be, used-to-be thing.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/03/twitter-guidance/
The opposite of frugality- can’t find a source now, but remember reading some years ago that Larry Ellison (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Ellison) hired a spending/connisseuer- FUCK SPELLCHECK I did it right- coach to teach employees how to spend their bonuses so that they would still lust after more and continue to produce.
mangled the link. yikes! sorry guys. you can scratch the request delete Xty. thanks.
Link worked for me.
My b.i.l. has a 1970 Mach 1. Just looked it up- $27800- and he has a son who turned 16 in Jan. Haven’t talked to him lately……
Sorry Wilson
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EO, any tips on getting someone on the phone at Provident’s purchasing dept? I have been trying without success for 3 days, left messages and no reply yet. Sadly, I even have to part with the 1876 double eagle that I love dearly; you know the one.
I thought maybe my link to Ritholtz was mangled too, but I went back to his site and see that the entire post has been taken down. It’s Saturday night. Barry wouldn’t be the first guy to drunk blog and then regret it. It was pretty snarky against internet trolls. That’s why I liked it.
It was a laundry list about trolls and other assholes on your twitter feed. One was something like “If you are still in denial about anthropogenic climate change, that tells me all I need to know about you and I’ll have you blocked.” And another one was “The 2012 election is over. It’s time for you to get on with your life.”
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Did I ever tell you that I met B.B. King? 1987, Davenport, Ia- his bus driver/body guard Darnell Large brought his 1963 Detroit city bus ( fancy new touring bus on order) into my business for minors. We hit it off after I told him my favorite B.B. line was “Nobody loves me but my mother and she could be jivin’, too”, also his favorite.
Gave my associate mgr and I backstage passes to the concert. Really not as great as it sounds, all the speakers faced the other way so the sound was less than awesome. But watching that coked up sax player whip his head side to side- man I thought it was sure to fall off.
You should have seen the look on the faces of the board of the Mississippi Valley Blues Society as they stood in line at his backstage door, thinking they were first to see the great one, as Darnell whisked me and my assoc. mgr past them to get in first to see B.B. So there we were, me, John, and B.B., munching from his Red Lobster party plate and making small talk.
44, yes I know the one. You have to do what you have to do. Happily, you know where you can get another one someday if the means are there. That’s what my wife tells me about my silver dollars. They will always be out there and you can buy some back someday if you get the itch.
It can take a wait on hold for a while sometimes. Peak times seem like early mornings. Later in the day might be better. Next time I talk to Sheerah I’m going to try to get her direct extension.
Let’s hope they are not going the way of Tulving. Holy Crappers have you guys been reading about that? Just imagine having sent them some money and not getting your metal. Or sending metal and not getting your check. Or, worse yet, having gotten your metal or check, and fearing that a bankruptcy judge is going to come and take it back. Scheisse!
I’m not actually worried about Provident. Really unfair to even put Provident in the same breath as Tulving. Tulving had a history of fraud going back to the 80’s or 90’s, I forget which. Tulving was playing games with customer money, got behind, and then got caught on the wrong side of a leveraged trade in the April ’13 smash. Tried to get even and got busted instead. Things are on the upswing now, but it’s too late to save Tulving.
http://about.ag/tulving.htm
dang it. i missed a bunch of stuff here because i was making spring rolls, dipping sauce, and an apple pie! suck on that!
sorry to hear Pete. so many people are cashing out for a loss, while the world as we know it is still here and spinning. i still have a US $1, 2 1/2, 5, 10, and 20. they will be the last to go.
Trader Dan and now Barry eh? i think the financial blog space has finally had enough of the wing-nuts, political and corporate shills, and the conspiracy nutters… um, at least i think they are distinct groups. 🙂
The difference is, Tulving kept on taking buy and sell orders long after they knew they couldn’t deliver. If Provident is understaffed on answering the phone, that’s a different problem, but not the bankruptcy kind. I suspect there are a lot of people underwater on metal and waiting to sell on every rally. Their purchasing department is probably just swamped.
Excuse please, stuck for now
Here’s something to try 44. Next time hit the menu item for buying from them, and then when you get a human say “oops, I hit the wrong number. I want to sell to you.”
See whether they just help you out, or if they just put you back on hold. It’s worth a shot.
I’m feeling no pain right now myself. And in about an hour the sauna will be hot and I’ll go and sweat it all out.
EO, tried that friday and the guy said only the purchasing dept. could help, he did confirm that they are extremely busy and the Tulving situation has probably magnified it as well, Thank You.
Woodpecker, I understand your comment now (i think), you’re going to places that i’ve been to, and I say that with compassion “if i knew the way, i would take you there”
From my favorite B.B. line to my favorite M.J.H. line @2:50 1st vid, couldn’t unembed- “goddamn them sheep, goddamn them sheep”
if you understand it explain it to the others, but in your own words, because no one knows the truth except skilled liars. but that doesn’t mean you should ever stop trying to find your own truth. 🙂
i am sober in every way. that explains all the confusion. anyway, i don’t think i’ll be catching up to the blues travelers tonight. so i will proceed gratefully in the deadly direction…
perhaps I don’t understand and should have let it lay, but I’ll give it some thought.
I used to post this one as my parable about the perils of the gold miners, near the end of the old cycle. I’m sure nobody listened. Now perhaps at the start of a new go-round, I bet nobody listens again.
I’m on record here with my model giving a buy signal weeks ago at 1318. So far, so good. But if you take that and extend it to silver or miners or options or leverage of any kind I say good luck to you sir and let’s see where you are after a full turn of the wheel.
Sauna Time!
now i’m questioning my sobriety, and some other stuff too. but no more miners for me, ever. even in the best of times, they will kill you financially. just as a business plan, i can not think of a worse prospect!
i’m just talking out loud Pete. don’t over analyze anything.
see y’all tomorrow.
out of the purple sage and into the wide open prairie
me? over analyze? what does that mean? Love ya bro. I bid you goodnight. One for the fine lady.
I think we’ve overloaded this apparatus.
in the moment…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_IOP25oyTo
time used to stop…
oops, I did delete the comment – and I think irretrievably – sorry, the request showed up in my email and I didn’t see the rest.
Is there no where else to sell something? Confused about the need for it to be Provident.
And no, I hadn’t been following anything about Tulving, but just from reading by accident all the stuff on tfm r about phone calls, etc., the writing was on the wall. How people convinced themselves to deal with people so rude and unreliable, as though they were doing them a favour selling them metal, not it being the other way round, I cannot imagine. Although I think much of the talk of actual numbers on that site was nonsense. Dagney said she had 900,000 ounces of silver in the foothills of the Rockies. Like reverse mining, putting it all back in the ground. But surely fantasy, as well as stupidity.
But Pete are there no other ways to sell? eBay often commands a pretty high price for coins …
I tried to keep the Pilot interior socially acceptable, but it suddenly turned a corner after about 3 years. Probably when we got Mouse. But we did a lot of car camping and all those hockey bags and the dog and the type of husband, frankly, who does not care for aesthetics, only function. And when we were richer I would take the car to places to get it cleaned, and sand vacuumed out. I remember husband describing the sand as little tiny saws, cutting up the leather seats. And so it was to be.
I left out another of our old vehicles, a ’94 Range Rover that is sitting in the woods at my in-laws’ cottage, because it refuses to die and it is hard to part with and can still tow the sail boat around on it’s trailer, just enough. This picture is from 2002 – the beagle was not ours, but that is our dearly departed Wolf on the right, and yes that is the vanity plate he picked. A Range Rover … deranged … not that it would attract undue attention from the authorities or anything …
A double eagle can be sold at any corner coin shop or jewelry store. The reason I’ve been using Provident is that they are paying top dollar. Even after shipping and insurance (figure maybe $25 total to ship) I’m coming out materially ahead of going to my local coin guy. I think like 50-100 bucks ahead.
I used APMEX once, but now they’ve changed their policies. You only get the good prices if it’s over $10,000, otherwise you get screwed. I checked.
I just checked Goldmart. Seems like they might be pretty good. Buy prices are as good or better than Provident. I just don’t understand why so many things are listed as out of stock all the time at Goldmart. Something about them has always felt a little funny to me. But I could be wrong.
yes to both . I have been hoping to avoid the e-bay route, and some of that is laziness, we don’t have any decent coin shops around here. I can wait for a bit for a cosmic alignment. Thank You both, and good morning!
EO, i’ve heard of Goldmart, but haven’t tried them, I have noticed that Palin will buy from them but always seems to sell back to Provident…thanks for your help.