Daily Archives: February 12, 2018

Nomads Yes, Desperate

No . . .It just barely made it into the 40’s all day today. But hopefully it will warm up in the next few days so I can finally take the last window awning down and get it off to Sundowner Canvas.




Coming home from work I stopped off at the Victory Lakes’ Whataburger to pick up burgers and salads for supper tonight. Hmm, Hmm, Good.

Last September a book came out called Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First CenturyThe website MarketWatch.com recently had an article about it entitled, “Many older Americans are living a desperate, nomadic life. They live in RVs and drive from one low-wage job to another.”

The book “reveals the dark, depressing and sometimes physically painful life of a tribe of men and women in their 50s and 60s who are — as the subtitle says — “surviving America in the twenty-first century.” Not quite homeless, they are “houseless,” living in secondhand RVs, trailers and vans and driving from one location to another to pick up seasonal low-wage jobs, if they can get them, with little or no benefits.”

I guess Jan and I will admit to being Nomads, but I don’t remember being Desperate anytime recently, or anytime at all, for that matter. And we’re not ‘houseless’ either since we still own ours.

I certainly wouldn’t pay for this book, but I do have it reserved on OverDrive through the Harris County Public Library Kindle book program. Right now I’m #5 on 2 copies.




A blog reader and friend, Jan Mains, recently asked me about virtual credit card numbers. She had received some info from her bank about them and wanted a little more explanation.

Virtual credit card numbers are temporary, sometimes one-use, credit card numbers that you can get from your credit card company’s or bank’s website. For example, Chase Bank, my bank, makes them available to me.

Maybe you want a credit card to use online without leaving a trail, or worry about getting hacked. You get a virtual number from their website and then use it.

And it only works once ;and then goes away. If you, or anyone, tries to use it again, it won’t work.

If you think you might use it more than once, you can sometimes set a ‘valid until’ date for a week or month ahead. Of course you never have to use this if you don’t want to.

I’ve used one once to pay for something on eBay that I was afraid was a little sketchy since they didn’t take PayPal, but it worked out OK.

Not sure what’s on tap for tomorrow, but I’m sure it won’t be desperate.




Thought for the Day:
 

English is weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought though.

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