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". 

I included the title page that I made for the newsletter. In the page are pics of the newsletter subjects. Note that the new tech is an AI hand touching a human hand. As the pope is on the human hand spring, the blossoming tree branch, is on the new tech hand side. Nature is all about DEM, Dark Energy & Matter, which will be the new tech of the human race.

 

The Pope? Good luck Leo. 

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.

  

New Technology: What new tech did you not see coming, but you are using? Ventless Appliances.  I am not using them now but I plan to soon. I had no ideal that the bathroom fan, stove, dryer, in floor heater, and the instant hot water heater could all be electric, which is ven.0tless, a.k.a. ductless. In the “what’s new”, I talk about Zone 0.  An important aspect of fire hardening your house, Zone 0, is to eliminate all vents on your house. I had no idea that heat pump dryers were a proven tech used in Korea, now coming to the US. Charcoal bathroom fans. Cool.  

 

What new tech do you wish would disappear? Carpets. I do not have carpets in my flat. I am amazed on the amount of dust bunnies that accumulate.  See pic. I can only assume that everyone who has carpet that the carpets are never 100% clean. How can they get clean unless you shampoo your carpet all the time.

 

What is new? Pesto Electric grill. Gave up on the cast iron on gas. The new Pesto grill makes perfect pancakes. 

 

What is new? My new smoker. I upgraded the smoker. What did not work out is the tray in front. It is in your way for the grill.

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.

 

Update:

2025 May 25 - changed font