Hi Everyone, The blog is about my adventures in the avatar world that surrounds us. Hopefully, there are take away for you in reading the blog. Enjoy! David Alan Bartholomew Phillip Hallsted
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Knock, Knock...Avatar Hold
Friday, May 30, 2025
2025 May - Dragon Diary
It is a diary of my daily experiences. If an event is important, it will have its own post...
Sunday, May 18, 2025
2025 May - 5% diary
It's a diary of my normal life, the 5%. Just posting my replies to the monthly newsletter questions between the family and cousins. Dragon comments are after, "In the record".
The NBA playoffs, who do you want to win? The Warriors…though they lost last night.
Money: Who among us pays with cash or do you card everything? I card it, but I sort wish it was like Japan where everyone pays with cash which stop companies like VISA from taking a cut of the money. When possible I pay with a debit card to help out the merchant.
What are your thoughts about the penny? Bye, bye Penny.
What about the nickel? Bye, bye nickel. In fact, get rid of the quarter and round to a dime. The coinage for the US should be a dime, half dollar, One dollar, two dollar, and five dollar coins. But this will never happen because VISA is in the middle and will continue to have a piece of the action.
What is the largest bill denomination that you have ever gotten? I recently sold some tools for $100 and got a $100 bill. You can stake Ben and put him in the grill if you want. When I told folks you could stake Ben no one believed me.Even if you are a card paying user, how much cash do you carry on you for emergencies? I now carry $140 on me. It use to be just two Andrews but Ben join the family.
Do you use any online payment systems? I used the online Chase bill payment. It was great. One stop bill payment where the banks sends a check to the company I owe. Then Postmaster DeJoy showed up and killed the US excellent 1st class mail delivery.
Two stories here. So I continue to use the Chase online bill paying when DeJoy becomes the Postmaster General. All of sudden I get hit with late fees for my monthly mortgage payments. This has never happened ever since I did online bill payment. I complain to the Snapfi mortgage company and they could care less. I come to the realization, that I now have to use each payment site that I owe money to now pay because of DeJoy. They are PHH, Honda, EBMUD, PG&E, DMV, AAA, AT&T…all of them. The only joy I have is that DeJoy resigned in March from being the Postmaster General. Even he knows that the Trump Administration 2.0 is toxic.
Here is the other story. I go into Chase to ask why the online bill payment system does not show the day the check is cashed. This is where everything in the bank gets weird. I end up talking to the new bank manager. He tells me that the bank cannot know when it is cashed because it is a bill payment. I tell him that it is a check. It even has a name signed on the check. He repeats to me that it is a bill payment. I tell him it look like a check I would write. The manager starts to get angry. The nearby tellers are afraid. I am like, “Whatever.” I tell them that I will not be using their online bill payment system because it is unreliable and leave. I don’t think any of the tellers like the new manager which I will admit is no longer there. Chase now states a range of date the check will be delivered, but that is all to late for me. Think about it. Banks are all about transactions of money flow and they don’t know when something is cashed. Really.
How is online banking working for you? Check deposit are most excellent. It work best with a dark background behind the check.
Spring is here, so what is your favorite flower? I will never grow tired of the Sour grass. As for gardens and trees, none here.
Also, the pit under the front deck is done. For more pics on the pit renovation go here.
Here is a short of the pit at the start.
Here is a short of the pit completion.
Just got this email about a coyote on the block.
Too many wild turkeys in the neighborhood.
What is new? Zone 0 is the fire hardening of your home and property to survive a local fire to a firestorm. So I emailed my local council member that I will be chronicling the journey of 912 Shattuck to a Zone 0 house. Below is the intro paragraph:
Zone 0: What the…?
I will be honest. I ignored all this stuff because I was busy being retired and doing home improvement projects. Then the LA fires happened. My immediate thought was that the Berkeley Hills was doomed. Then the news showed homes that survived the firestorm. I searched the internet and found more homes from other fires that survived their own firestorm because they were Zone 0 homes. Then it hit me, I live in a house with an outside exterior of stucco wall and cement boards. We are halfway there. But here is the thing, to be Zone 0, we will be faced with difficult decisions.
On the next page are two pics listing the things to do for Zone 0. I added two new intro categories: Home 0 and “The Day After”. What the fire department and the insurance do not tell you is that if your house is not ventless, you may survive the firestorm but the inside of your house is cover in toxic ash and smoke, thus Home 0. The Day After is your basic apocalyptic live after the storm.
Wish us luck on the journey. Be safe everyone.
Friday, May 2, 2025
2025 April - Dragon Diary
It is a diary of my daily experiences. If an event is important, it will have its own post...
2025 April - 5% diary
David--April Fool’s Day…did you ever do any tricks on that day, any age? Let's talk about April Fool life jokes. Since November 5th, that mad King has done April fools on our democracy. Everyday it is yet another bizarre proclamation from that wanna be autocrat. We still have 3.5 years to go with that crazed man. Another April fool's life joke is fire harden house changes. Climate change is making a change to the forest of the Berkeley hills. See picture from Marin Circle. That city is doing hardcore mandates on the people of the hill to harden 5' perimeter around the house. I know I am doing hardscape around the house but it is now 5'. And all those trees will have to go. Too bad.
In your day dreams is there any state or city that you would like to move to and what makes that place a fond wish for you? I rather like the climate of Northern California's Bay Area. Not moving anytime soon.
What made you smile today or this week or month? Climate change! Give me a minute to explain. You see, I like projects and fire hardening the house is a bunch of house projects. Projects like replacing wood railings with metal. Covering the cedar soffit and fascia with cement Hardie boards. Rerouting the fiber optic cable inside the house wall because we need to reduce the vent grids to 1/8" square mesh. Replace the roof with a metal one so we can mount the solar panels on the metal roof ridges. Replacing the redwood fence with something nonburnable? Yeah for projects!
Is there an age you reached or looking forward to that made you think differently about that point? You know, I sort of mindlessly meander through life doing the next thing without much thought. I went to UC Santa Cruz because? I dropped out and went back home to help us move up North? I went and stayed with my AZ relative to do what? I later came back to Walnut Creek to go to a junior college to get a Machinist/Welder certification, and stayed to get my pre-engineering classes? I went to UC Davis and got my Mechanical/ Material Science degree, but decided to dumpster dive and train for triathlons. Then Rick offered me a job out of the blue and I took it. I got married and raised kids, got divorced and I now live in the basement of my previous wife Susan. But now I have reached where I want to be. I am a high level clairvoyant who can see 100% of our universe. See link for the 100%, https://home.web.cern.ch/science/physics/dark-matter. But in a world of 5 percenters, it gets you nothing, though It still makes me happy knowing how everything works.
Any special plans for Easter? Going to Mom's to cook a green bean-onion with bacon. Here is a funny story regarding my side dish of stir fried green beans, onion, with bacon, GOB. We are all sitting at the Xmas dinner table and Meera asked me to pass her the GOB side dish. I looked at her holding the dish and said, "What is the password?" She stared at me wondering what my silly Uncle was up to now. Then I stated, "Bacon!". We both cracked up laughing. But the bacon makes the dish.
Sunday, March 30, 2025
2025 January - Dragon Diary
It is a diary of my daily experiences. If an event is important, it will have its own post...
2024 December - Dragon Diary
It is a diary of my daily experiences. If an event is important, it will have its own post...
"The tinnitus crystals are to clear the area of less desirable DEM creation where you live." Crystal Brigade.
2024 September - Dragon Diary
It is a diary of my daily experiences. If an event is important, it will have its own post...
Sunday, March 23, 2025
2025 March - 5% diary
· March Madness? I have never watched the college games. I suppose if there are highlights I would watch them. If I had to pick a team it would be Gonzaga! What a great sounding name. So I had to look it up and " In 1887 when Father Joseph Cataldo, an Italian born Jesuit, founded Gonzaga College in Spokane, Washington, it seemed fitting to name the new school after his fellow Jesuit and fellow Italian, St. Aloysius Gonzaga. Aloysius is the Latin form of Gonzaga's given name, Luigi." LOL Aloysius is latin for Luigi. You know if the saint had kept his Italian name there could have been a gaming community in the Catholic church. Mario!
· Major League Baseball is testing robot umpires. Yes! Let the technology come in. The other sports are doing it. It's baseball's turn.
Spring arrives on March 20. Happy spring!
· Spring Plans: You see I retired early. And the Prez is screwing with the economy. I did cash out a life policy which should be enough money for a year which I am hoping will be the end of the Prez's love of tariffs. And stay dry. See rain vid: sudden downpour
· Favorite Spring Activities: Smoking meat, though it is now a year round activity.
· Gardening Tips: Let nature do its thing. See pic of the backyard of the millet and sour grass.
· Local Events: Future protest of the current regime.
· Environmental Awareness: Continue to feed the songbirds and make sure I wash my hands off after touching any of the bird baths or feeders.
And lastly, what have you been up to lately?
The deck underlayment process: Remove gravel. Add Perkgrout between the existing 2x8 and patio metal barrier. Dry. Remove 2x8 with a sawzall and metal cutter. Pressure wash the concrete. See pressure wash deck concrete. Drill and bolt the 2x4 to concrete. Add metal to the top of the old wall for the concrete. Pour concrete between grout and 2x4 and vibrate. Dry. Fill bolt holes. Rubberize butyl tape to the top of 2x4 and concrete. Screw deck angles to the 2x4. Done.
The issue I came across were:
- The end deck board was wedged in place by the garden wall. Had to cut a relief in the wall to get the last board out.
- Cleaned the deck boards on the truck tailgate on the street to not kill any dymondia between the flagstones.
- Had to wire brush scrub every side of the deck board to get the old wax off, which is why the board turned a dark color.
- The old butyl tape had lost its adhesive but the liquid rubber substituted for a new adhesive.
- The two small wood blocks in front of the red deck post (see pic) were screwed to the deck boards around the post. It took forever to finally cut everything free without damage.
- We did not wedge the board in prior to screwing and had to redo the first two boards. Also you need to install the screws by the house which will clinch up the board against the patio metal.
Otherwise it all came out fine.
After standing over the pit for a couple of weeks, it is now time to do the pit. See video. pit under front door deck
Happy Spring Everyone!