Mar 182013
 

This lesson could be the penultimate Coot lesson.  It isn’t, but it could be.  Throughout all of these lessons so far we have been working to promote Cantankerosity.  If you have been following closely you have learned to say what you think and not dither.  You have learned to use sarcasm and the difference between being an angry old fart and a Cantankerous Old Coot.

If you have taken to heart and studied diligently then you are most definitely on you way to Cantankerousness Grasshopper.   This lesson is one way of gauging your final test of Cantankerosity.

Picture if you will the elderly gentleman in a rest home.  He is not wearing pants.  He is railing against Politicians (see this post, and this one).  He is yelling at nurses and doing his best to avoid the orderlies who are trying to cover him.  Does he care?  No!  He continues to run around and yell.

Now you may be saying this man is demented, sick in the head, a victim of Alzheimers disease.  I say No!  He is a Cantankerous Old Coot.  His Cantankerosity has been finely crafted and honed over the course of several years and now, he hides his devilish ways behind insane medical diagnosis’s.

This is our mission, to create a fine figure of Cantankerousness who is not afraid to do exactly what it is they want to.  Pants are optional.  A test of your cantankerous training will not be to parade around without pants (at least for now) but it will be to cultivate the attitude to be able to do so.

Get over your society imposed embarrassment and do something for yourself.  Say what you think.  Do what you think needs to be done.  Be yourself.  Pants are optional.

Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

Mar 072013
 
The Morgan silver dollar

Image via Wikipedia

I never thought I would see the day when there were places right here in these United States where they didn’t like cash.  Cash is no longer king, and sometimes the green is not good.

First some small history.  If you have read my blogs over this summer you will have some small inkling of the size of the pile of crap that has fallen on us.  Long story short, (side note at this thought, zemanta just brought up some pics to put on the page, I am hoping a manure pile is one of them) anyway, long story short, we have decided to nearly forego the banking industry and go back to a mostly cash system for our budget.

Seems like a good idea right?  Get the direct deposit, go withdraw it, be hyper accurate with records and it should work out fine.  Biggest problem, some places give you dirty looks when you pull out cash.  Some look on in puzzlement as former presidents look out from their assigned currencies.

Some say “Oh, we don’t get much cash.”  or some don’t even take it.  I tried to pay my rent with cash and they said no.  I had to go get a cashiers check or pay over the net with a credit card.  Hmmm.  Imagine that, here is perfectly good money, issued by the Government for the people by the people and protected under miles of codes and laws, and they don’t want it.  All they want is the numbers in the bank account.

It is not like I am paying in chickens or anything.  Back in my grandparents day, they had cash.  You got paid in cash or a check that you cashed at the bank.  You paid cash for groceries.  You paid cash for gas.  If you didn’t have cash, you didn’t buy that extra candy bar.  Debit cards are way too easy to use and they get you in trouble.

I could have called this article “Down with Debit Cards.”  We got nailed with the timing of debit cards to the tune of about $1400 in the past 6 months.  May not be catastrophic but that is rent and groceries for a month.  The issue is timing.  and the fact that the banks need to make up some revenue that they are not getting from loans and other government restrictions.

So I am working hard to keep my bank accounts at a minimum and use that debit card as little as possible.  I have had to plan on getting gas during the times when a person is actually in the place to take my cash.  I have had to really keep track because I know that when the cash is gone, there is no more.  It brings a whole new level of frugality that debit cards and easy credit have taken away.

Plus you can have fun with it.  I sold some fitness equipment earlier this week and took the check to the bank to cash.  They asked how I wanted it back and I told him a sack of dollar coins.  He looked nervous before I chuckled and told him what bills I wanted.  I would still like to have $1000 in dollar coins.  Walmart would have an apoplexy when we got groceries.

Anyway, have a great weekend, Remember Talk Like A pirate Day is on Monday, I hope you have all decorated and have been watching your pirate movies and singing your sea chanteys around the grog pot.  There will be a special edition of the podcast on Monday, the reason there was not one yesterday.   It is taking a lot to put together, but it should be entertaining.  I have had not interest in joining in on the podcast, so **like deleted to preserve family content**

I will be having some special guests that will remain unnamed until the naming during the podcast.  I would say you don’t want to miss it, but then again you might.  In that case I will email it to everyone who visits this site and  clog their servers and email systems so that I can take over.  Cyber hijacking.  Anyway, have a fun weekend.

ONE MORE THING!  Happy Birthday to Ralph earlier this week, he got older and probably more cantankerous.  Wish him a happy belated birthday.

Later – Justin

Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

Feb 152013
 
polling station

Image by secretlondon123 via Flickr

jhjhj

The Second Year of Cantankerosity

When Justin started this blog, it was a wild ride. Justin set it up and I pitched in to bail him out. We had plans for Coots to be a support site for coots or all ages who were developing their own cantankerous natures. The first idea was lessons that all coots need to know which naturally led to Cantankerous Old Coots University.

Our dream was to unleash a free wheeling approach to life which didn’t ask for permission and didn’t buy conventional wisdom. We thought that it would be easy to build a community around cantankerosity.

Well it’s worked. We grown a readership that amazes us. We have regular readers who check regularly. There is a market for straight talk about life. Still, after a year, it’s time to step back and ask some questions. We don’t want to rest on our laurels. We want to take Coots to a new high platitude of success (as I remember the original Mayor Daley say when I was in college).

So today, I’m putting the challenge to our readers. Tell us what you want.

1. Do you want more Coot’s Lessons?

2. Would you like audios for those lessons?

3. Do you enjoy the themed topics where all three of us address a topic?

4. Do you want to know more about Justin’s kettlebell music?

5. Do you prefer philosophical posts or anecdotal posts?

6. Do you love a good rant?

7. Would you like an interview of Bob, of Justin, or even me?

 

They say that too many choices makes it impossible to make decisions so I’ve probably overdone it here but I just can’t control myself. I’m going to give you one question to answer today. Just pick your favorite from the above statements. Tell us which one you would like to see more of. Or just check none of the above. Be aware, however, if you select ‘none of the above’ that you have to leave your request in a comment. There is no free lunch around here, you know.

Your suggestions for Coots Year Two

  • More Rants (50%, 1 Votes)
  • Interviews (50%, 1 Votes)
  • More Coots Lessons (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Audios for Coots Lessons (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Themed Topics (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Kettlebell Music (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Philosophy over life experience (0%, 0 Votes)
  • None of the above (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 2

Loading ... Loading ...

 

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

Dec 262012
 

The word is pain!

A Buenos Aires Taxi

It didn’t take this Coot long to find something he doesn’t like about Buenos Aires. You know how it goes. You discover something great that make life better and lightens your day. But then you find that it has a flaw- and not just a minor flaw that you can excuse and joke about but a major one that you notice every time you use it and causes you to look and feel foolish as well as experiencing pain. You use the damned thing because you need it but you go through hell every time.

The thing that continues to bug me here in Buenos Aires even though our trip would be much less enjoyable if they didn’t exist is the taxi’s. I hate to complain because there is so much positive about the cabs. To begin with, they are everywhere and easy to hail when you need one. Where ever we go. At whatever time we are out we can find a taxi. Not only that, they are inexpensive. They aren’t as cheap as the Subte (subway) but you don’t have to stand while you ride and they are much cooler. Pounding the pavement following my photographer wife can be grueling and when you can’t face riding the Subte, the taxi’s are a quick way home.

The taxi’s are wonderful. With many fine features, they do make getting around sprawling Buenos Aires manageable but those feature come at a cost. I really do appreciate the Buenos Aires taxi’s but each time I use one I pay dearly. It is agony to get in and out of one. Maybe it’s no problem for your average Portano. It is a big problem for a tall, old Coot with some pain in the knee joints. Getting in and out of the darn things is painful and time consuming because the back doors are built for midgets with tiny feet.

Just a bit of background on the Buenos Aires taxi’s. They are all black and yellow with the same paint job even though there are multiple taxi companies. They are all four door vehicles but can be any make. We have seen Chevy’s, VW’s, Peugeot’s, Citroen’s, and other I can’t identify. They are all uncomfortably small with doors that don’t leave room for my big feet or room to get my knees out of the way. If you are tall it is a problem to get in and out but if you have any joint pain, it is torture.

Over time I have developed better techniques but they aren’t pretty. Sometimes I can lie back and swivel my feet in the air to get them out of the door. Other times it is a long shuffle while I manually maneuver my feet through the tiny space provided. It isn’t fun or graceful and it is never painless. I have no idea whether the Argentine government specifies the size of the doors. What I do know is that whatever the make of the taxi, the doors are the same inadequate size. There is no reason to discriminate when you are looking for a taxi because whichever one one pick will be uncomfortably small. I do know that if I found one with a bigger door, the driver would get all my business.

 

 

 

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

Flying South

 Posted by at 04:55  Coot Travel
Dec 032012
 

Hola Coots!

The pressure is mounting.  It is only two days until my wife and I leave rainy Sacramento for sunny and warm Buenos Aires.  We’ve never been to Argentina and we’ve never taken a trip longer than two weeks so there is plenty of room for anxiety.  This trip we want to take only what we need after over packing last time.  The alternative might just be under packing.  What is the right amount of clothing?  I don’t know.  I’ll probably get it wrong this time too.  The one nice thing is that summer in Argentina means no need to take a heavy coat.

Then there is the electronics.  Modern travel  requires a computer, my wife’s iPad, telephones, cameras and all the connections, power supplies and batteries to keep them operating.  We did pretty well last trip where the only thing forgotten was a charger for a camera.  It wasn’t a serious problem.  Camera chargers are found everywhere tourists flock.  This afternoon we will set out all the equipment for packing.  The only loose end this time is our cellphones.  For the last trip we rented them.  This time we intend to use our regular cell phones and buy local prepaid sim cards.  This is more adventurous and will tax our limited Spanish but it is cheaper and provides us with local Argentine telephone numbers.  The downside is that it can’t be done until we get to Argentina and apparently there is a 24 hour delay after buying the card before you get your number.

We anticipate that there will be some problems as we settle into Buenos Aires for a month but we are making the entrance as simple as possible.  For about the same price as a taxi from the airport, you can arrange for a driver.  So when we make it out of customs at the airport there will be someone standing with a sign that has my name on it.  He will lead us to our transportation which will drive us to meet the apartment agent who will settle us into our home for the next month.  After a long flight, who needs a hassle?

Once we have our home base, it will be time to check out the neighborhood, buy some provisions and those sim cards and try our Spanish (or as they say in Argentina- our Castillano).  I can’t promise regular posting during this trip but the plan is to show some pictures once a week with observations about interesting and quirky things I discover.  Stay tuned.

 

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook