First Week In July

The week is ending on a financial high note for me.

First, copies of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan made it to G-FEST XVII and are selling. See report. I had to FedEx them to Chicago as Kevin Ratliff of Monsterland Toys had to depart for Chicago before the original shipment arrived at his home in Kentucky.

Secondly, I've new claim assignments in my adjuster job that were assigned to me yesterday. Those will keep me happily busy.

Those, plus my "parachute" job of patrolling "the wilds of Malibu" are keeping me afloat. (Malibu had a spectacular sunset last evening, too bad I didn't have my camera with me.)

My daughter Amber's car (she calls "Sergio") sprung a cooling system leak that cost $500 to repair. She and I split the cost, but I had to dip into the funds I was holding for Nebraska property taxes that are due in September. Drat!

So far, the summer has been relatively mild temperature-wise. I have to put on a jacket in Malibu about an hour or two after the sun sets and the San Fernando Valley has also seen milder-than-usual (for summer) temperatures. I haven't had the need to turn on the air conditioner, which saves me money on the electric bill.

Finally, you may be wondering who the lady in the autographed photo is. She's Fay McKenzie, who starred in westerns during the 1940s, many with Gene Autry. She also appeared as the upset movie producer's wife in the Peter Sellers classic comedy, The Party (1968). Her son Tom is one of my co-workers out in Malibu and he arranged to have his mom send me an autographed photo. The end of my shift in Malibu is very enjoyable as Tom comes on duty at 11:00 PM and we talk about Hollywood before I head for home. He's got hundreds of stories to tell, most of which are hilarious.

I told Tom that he must be adopted as his mom was so pretty in her starlet years. He got a good laugh out that one. She's now in her 90s, but is doing very well. Tom says she's in better shape than he is, and he's pushing 60. He's also an actor, but has to work security to make ends meet. Acting jobs are hard to come by due to the economy and the studios have cut back.

One of our co-workers looked at the picture and asked, "Which one's your mom?" Yes, I work with a bunch of comedians.

That's it for the week. I should have more weeks like this.