An inquisitive old fart with a camera
Products, services, marketing, names
It has been 2-1/2 year since the trash containers appeared. And less than two years since the one on our corner was burned to the ground (for the first time).
The spray paint on this one has mostly disappeared, showing the UV protection it offered the otherwise now-faded plastic.
I don’t know if this resulted from rough handling or solar ultraviolet. Probably a combo. It’s not the only one, by a long shot.
You might recall that the answer to “What do you get when you tell the leñero (firewood seller) that you don’t want pieces longer than 40 cm?” was “an excuse to buy a chainsaw.” This does not suggest that I went chainsaw shopping. However, seeing a small gas-powered chainsaw for sale at Géant for USD 119 — and with a one-year guarantee* — and having exactly USD 120 in my wallet … well, seemed that fate she was a-speakin’ to me. Starts right up, cuts well, even came with a replacement chain.
* typical no-name Chinese power tools typically sell here with a two-month guarantee.
August 10: Day of the Child in Uruguay. Which means? More dinosaurs.
I’ll save for another time why I happened to be at a modern art auction at Castells in Montevideo last night.
The auctioneer appears on the right, elevated. At the left, auction house employees bid on behalf of clients on the phone. The guy in front of the painting is doing the same by mobile phone. The waiter approaching the women has a tray with champagne, whiskey, water (sin o con gas), and fizzy brown high-fructose-corn-syrup water.
The pieces sold from USD 1,200 to over USD 30,000 while we were watching.
To be fair, he doesn’t cut it himself (that’s not him in the link above; last time I saw Dardo he was driving a taxi). And he charges me 20-25% less than the going rate: UYP 3,000 (USD 130+) per metric ton. Yes, per ton — I’ve discussed this before.
I just took readings of the stuff I got today: of maybe fifteen samples, most in the high teens-20%, one at 30%, and two at 11-12%.
Alas, there is no more curupay.
Can you spot what’s wrong in the following?
I need to get some documents to Mexico. Sent Priority, they can be there in two days for $54.38. Or by paying only 25% more for “Economy,” I can ensure they won’t be there for a full week.
Nothing unusual about a package with “Air Mail” in French and English. Unless it’s mailed by someone who lives in Germany ….
I helped one of my son’s friends build a bookshelf unit over the weekend. At the end, he had a piece of thin plywood for the back, that proved a little tricky to cut on the table saw. No problem, I said, I’ll use the circular saw.
Except it proved to be suddenly dead.
Well, I said, I can cut it with the blade on the angle grinder. But even with a very light load, it bogged, then started smoking. So the hell with tricky. We managed to cut it on the table saw, and finished the project.
Yesterday I dismantled the circular saw and tested the switch, then remembered that when I bought it from a German guy several years ago he had given me something else, replacement brushes for the motor. After a bit of searching, I came up with one, and dismantled the saw further. Voilà! Relatively painless to replace the brush, reassemble the saw, and it’s back in action!
Not so the angle grinder (amoladora). It addition to being more challenging to dismantle, in the end I couldn’t get to the switch, which I suspect partially melted.
It is the only thing I’ve bought here for which I cannot find a receipt, but I’m pretty sure it’s been over a year, if it even had a guarantee that long (the cheap Chinese power tools come with a two-month guarantee: inspires confidence!).
So, this becomes another addition to the next Montevideo trip: find their service center and see if it can be repaired. It may not be worth it, but anything with electronics, a motor, or an engine costs 60-100% more here than up north.
I note that the Playstation 4 has landed in Uruguay. Yes, only 850 US dollars! My son was able to buy two last December in the States. He sold the second to a friend here, and got almost all his money back for both (he gave his friend a deal).
The PS3 and Kinect are correspondingly cheaper as well, of course.
The last day has passed. I won’t be going to Brazil to watch Uruguay play England in the 2014 World Cup. I was just so sure I was going to win this Tienda Inglesa giveaway. NOT!
Oh boy, you’re thinking, he’s really lost it now.
I know: shoes with Velcro are not exciting. But in Uruguay, cheap shoes that fit me are exciting. And most of what’s available is size 45 or less. These are 48. And they fit. And they cost under USD 30.
The ones I wanted they had, surprisingly, in 46, 47, and 49, but no 48. They called another store a few blocks away (I thought I’d been in every one in Pando already), and told me someone would bring a pair in size 48. Which they did, though the only similarity to the others was the color.
I have a special disdain for Velcro shoes, our nemesis in our early days of doing school author presentations. Well, not the shoes in fact, but the combination of the shoes and the kindergarteners in the front row who couldn’t stop sticking them and loudly unsticking them. I sometimes felt like screaming at them, WHY DON’T YOU BRATS LEARN TO GODDAM TIE SHOES? But I didn’t.
My neighbor Manuel told me that going to Pando used to be the butt of jokes in Montevideo, since it was popular for its whiskerías (whorehouses) and hourly motels. It’s significant for us because they deliver for free (the stores, not the whores): Montevideo is farther, and through the toll booth.
While in Pando, I found a 20-tube solar water heater with a 3-year guarantee for USD 675. So maybe one day soon I’ll actually get to do a hot baking-soda-magnesium-oil soak in our expensive bathtub.
My excitement today in Uruguay: cheap Velcro shoes. No, really.