My two cents for what they're worth

Lethargy

2007-09-27T14:52:00.000-05:00

I have been going through a period of what I can only describe as extended lethargy. You know the feeling - all you want to do is sit around and stare at the wall. Even the TV is uninteresting.

I am in what feels like project close-down mode. Putting things away, labeling files etc.

Last week was a lost week, literally, All week long it felt like this week, and this week it feels like next week right down to missing appointments, waking up and finding that the appointment I thought was today is actually next week, etc.

To make matters worse I have these flashes of conversations with other people, and snatches of images of others - talk about weird

security

2007-09-05T12:47:00.000-05:00

As I logged in to post this entry I saw the warning from Blogger about hackers who were posting to other peoples blogs. Which leads me to my own problem. I was doing some routine maintenance to the pages on my site. My site has a lot of material, over 120 pages worth. Mostly it is the text from my books, but there is also material on colorblindness, diabetes, and of course my family.

To keep track of everything, I have organized the pages by category and placed each category into a separate folder. So far so good. It also makes maintenance very easy. I also have two very complete HTML editors and I use one or the other according to my mood. Both do the job in roughly the same way. The thing about this way of organizing site is that if you name the root page of each folder index.html, people can reference that folder and bring up that root without having to cite a particular page name. It is a convenience for browsers and visitors.

As I was saying, I was doing some routine maintenance and when I pulled up the index page of one of the sub folders I noticed that there was a script in the header, a script that I did not put there. I immediately removed it, and checked all the other index pages in all the other sub folders, sure enough each one had that same script. None of the other pages seemed to have any uninvited guest code like that. I called my Hosting system and they assured me that their system was absolutely secure and the hacker must have come in through my system, and since I was the webmaster the problem was basically mine. Great!!! They suggested that I change the password on my system. Shit!!!

On a brighter note, it seems as if I will start to collect from my Unisys pension and my annuity plans starting December 1. That will provide a nice cushion until my Social Security kicks in.

catch up time

2007-08-31T09:52:00.000-05:00

Didj'a ever wonder:

Watching a show yesterday, which was rated as MA (yes on Cable, but not on one of the premiums) and it seemed as if the commercials were more risque than the show itself. The lingerie commercials with the models in the skimpiest of underwear and the camera focusing in on the girl's crotches (the girls helping along by doing splits and squats, etc) Who says sex doesn't sell?

At the local supermarket, watching the young moms with their offspring walking around in jeans and shorts cut so low and so skimpy and so tight that you could clearly see everything they owned.

Then there are the ones with the short tight skirts who are constantly pulling the waist up, and the hem down.

What fascinates me is that these girls are dressed in clothing that would make a street walker blush, and yet they seem to get get annoyed when people stare at them, or at least drool in their direction.

Go figure,

So yesterday I turned on my machine and - nothing! Could not connect to any site. So I called my ISP, they checked had me run some tests and said it wasn't them. They gave me the tech support numbers for Symantec (my firewall) and Microsoft (everything else). Worked on it all day, finally deinstalled the Norton Software, still nothing.

This morning I tried again, an everything is fine. Go fugure!

It turns out that my seven years at Unisys vested me in the pension plan, and as of 1/1/2008 I will start to collect a substantial monthly benefit. Nice.

Mid-September I have an appointment with Social Security to sign up for Medicare. Meanwhile the daily mail brings new offers from insurance companies to provide me with Medicare supplemental coverage. I need to learn more about the whole process before I make a committment.

Lazy Sunday

2007-08-19T11:36:00.000-05:00

Required weather comment: can you say magnificent - try humidity at 20% temperature at 78 degrees, and sunny almost cloudless skies with just a hint of a breeze. That was yesterday, it was so nice, Mother Nature decided to repeat it today, and maybe even tomorrow.

On Friday my niece Corrie and her husband Brian had their third boy, The young man's name will be Lucas Donovan Aljian. He will join his brothers Sebastian Conner and Oliver Duncan. I get the feeling that Corrie and Brian have a love of things English.

Last week My daughter Hillary's very good friend (maybe best friend) Felicia gave birth to a little girl who she named Brooklyn Emma Levy. Yesterday, following Jewish tradition they all went to the synagogue and during the Saturday morning service amidst other Bat Mitzvahs, and ceremonies, she was given her Hebrew name.

After the service everyone attacked the luncheon, bagels, cake, salads, drinks, etc. Then friends and family were invited to Felicia's home for more lunch, bagels, cakes, salads and drinks. By the time we got back to my daughter's house I was stuffed fuller than a Thanksgiving Turkey. Thankfully I got to go home, while Hillary and her family go to go to a reception for one of the little girls who was Bat Mitzvahed that morning.

This was the first time I had been to a synagogue for a service since my granddaughter Daria's baby naming - seven years ago.

My son, who has issues with calendars, etc. apparently though that my grandson Jake's birthday party was Labor Day weekend and agreed to have me pick him up in Manhattan and bring him back.

As it got closer, it turns out he finally check what I was telling him about my plans with his calendar. He called me, concerned that it would be very crowded in my car , what with me, he and Misun and Lindsey and Daria. I told him that I wouldn't be uncomfortable, and that generally it was a five passenger car that it seated five comfortably, and that it had plenty of luggage space.

Then he asked if I could pick him up (in Manhattan) some time after 4:30 on Friday, I had already told him there was no way I wanted to take the time to stop up for a visit to his new Condo. When I reconfirmed that I would pick him up at around noon, things started to unravel. Turns out that not only did he need to be picked up after 4:30, but he also needed to be back by 9:00 AM Monday because Misun had a doctor's appointment. No way I could do either.

Leaving mid-Manhattan at the height of rush hour to drive across Connecticut would get us to Jessie's close to midnight. No way. So Micah will try to make other plans. I told him my offer of a lift still stood if he could conform to my driving schedule, especially since I would have Lindsey and maybe Daria in the car.

On a lighter note: I am sure everyone has seen the GEICO commercials, there are two sets, the Gecko, which are extremely well done, and always fresh and amusing, and the newer Caveman series, which are equally well done. Interesting thing about these commercials is that the sponsor's name gets fixed in your mind. Some previous successful commercials from other advertiser were very memorable, but people had a tough time remembering the sponsor's name. Everyone knows the GEICE Gecko and the GEICO Caveman. Which brings me to the point of my story - yesterday I saw a TV ad for what looks to be a new series in the fall, about modern Cavemen to air on ABC, inspired by... the GEICO Commercial.

Also, check out the following:
http://www.cavemanscrib.com/

Hazy, hot and very, very humid

2007-08-15T10:50:00.000-05:00

Normally I would fill this space with some comments about my recent activities, but alas, I haven't had any recent activities. Isn't that a sad commentary in and of itself? I have been preparing for my drive to Connecticut next week for my grandson Jake's birthday party. I have had the present sitting on my table, all wrapped for quite some time. Thankfully my daughter, his mother, has been diligent in helping me with the latest things he is into. A few years ago it was truck, then Spiderman, and now transformers. Funny how his likes seem to track with the latest movies.

The weather outside has been brutal, at least for me. There are those who just live this weather so they can sit outside by the pool and bake, or toast themselves. Feels great I guess while you are doing it, but after my last trip to the dermatologist to have small skin cancers removed, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and that I would stay out of the sun, at least I would unless I was mostly clothed.

It will be nice to see Jessie and the kids again. It has been a while. However I have this feeling of dread arising from my previous experience with this weekend trip. 9/11, Katrina, and my home flood, all happened on this weekend What can happen this weekend.

On a lighter note I will have company for a good part of the trip, I will be picking up my son Micah and his wife Misun in Manhattan and taking them to the party, and then bringing them back on Monday. That should give all of us plenty of time to catch up and get re-acquainted

Studies

2007-08-08T15:04:00.000-05:00

On Monday, my brother Howard sent me a cartoon which I though was so cute I just had to post it - the source URL is http://irinasworld.com/Cartoon12.gif but I am including it here to save you the trouble. I guess you have to have been there to really appreciate the humor in it.

An observation: The media has been filled of late with stories about all of the young actors, actors and celebrities (just what that is I don't know) but they all seem hell-bent to either kill themselves or wind up in jail. Young women like Lindsey Lohan (an excellent actress by all accounts) who has too much money, too much libido and not enough supervision seems bend on self destruction, and seems to enjoy letting the Paparazzi photograph her lack of underwear - what a waste. Then there are the Paris Hilton types - who seem to relish the idea that their boyfriends (or one night stands) are publishing they sexcapades on the Internet. Maybe the public eats this stuff up because these people have more money than they know what to do with. and can spend money on things the rest of us can only dream of, and do things which would get any of the rest of us tossed in the slammer quicker than you can say - busted. Maybe we live vicariously through them.

I went for my third visit to the clinical study center and all looks good. They will give me a new supply of pills tomorrow but today they did another EKG and took lots of blood. Apparently the blood is shipped to the sponsor and that is how they know who is getting what dosage, if any, and what effect, if any, the medicine is having.

Something new, they hooked me up to a portable automatic blood pressure monitor that I have to wear for 24 hours. The cuff stays on my arm and the machine, about the size of a largish digital camera is in a little bag, which is on a strap that hangs from my neck sort of like a purse. I have to wear it even when I am sleeping and bring it back tomorrow morning when they download all the tests to a PC. The machine takes one BP reading every ten minutes. It is not uncomfortable, or heavy, but it does restrict the movement on my left arm.

Interesting, I was talking with the doctor running the study and he said that maybe when I am finished with this study he will enroll me in one of his Diabetes studies. Apparently I am a good test subject

Follow-up

2007-08-04T12:47:00.000-05:00

So last night I received a phone call from my primary's nurse. I told her about the hospital run-around and asked her to check wkth the doctor to see if this test was all that urgent, could I possibly postpone it until it was covered by Medicare.

, and the doctor said - sure, no problem, it can wait.

I have posted my resume on several job sites and have been getting a bit of response. It is hard for me since for the last seven or so years I haven't been doing much of anything in the field I am seeking to reenter - writing and proposal work.

Apparently however my age is outweighed by my experience - we shall see.

did'ja ever wonder?

2007-08-03T10:40:00.000-05:00

In the middle of July I had an echo cardiogram for the study I am participating in. Nothing special about it, just a bit messy. Earlier this week the study folks sent the results to my primary physician. Now the doctor conducting the study reviewed the results and wasn't concerned, but my primary, who loves tests, decided he wanted more information. So he asked that I take a Pulmonary Function test at the local hospital.

I called to make the appointment and they couldn't make it because they had no doctor's orders. So I asked them to call my doctor for the information they needed. So far - normal operating procedure.

They called and the idiot who answered at the doctors office said no such test was asked for by the doctor.

So I called the doctor's nurse and asked what gives. She was very apologetic and said there was a mix-up but she would call the hospital with the orders.

I waited a suitable length of time and called back for the appointment. No problem - they had the orders right there. Oh by the ways, says I, how much will the test cost. Here's where it gets interesting - the lady said she had costs on all the other procedures but not that one. But, she said, I should bring some method of payment plus a photo ID, etc.

About 6 PM that night I got a call from some one else at the hospital telling me that I needed to call their financial Counselor to talk about payment schedules and other financial stuff, but she couldn't tell me the price either. Now I was getting frustrated. It seemed like this test would cause me to take a second mortgage to pay it off. So this morning I called the financial counselor, she referred me to someone named Barbara, who referred me back to financial counseling. BTW she couldn't or wouldn't tell me the price either.

So I called scheduling and told them that until someone could tell me how much this would costs I wasn't going to take the test.

Now this is probably the standard run-around, but what is most interesting is that if I hadn't seen that 30 second spot on TV looking for study participants, I wouldn't have had the echo cardiogram, and my primary wouldn't have had the report to look at and would never have considered the test at the hospital, nor the echo itself. Can't be too important. I think I will wait until I am covered by Medicare (four months away) and then take the test.

Technology

2007-07-31T10:22:00.001-05:00

First - almost one year to the day after I sent in my reservation money for the cruise earlier this year, and almost six months from the date I cancelled that reservation, the travel agency finally sent me my refund. One year! Aside from the fact that they had my money and the interest on it for that long the sour taste they left in my mouth probably means that never again will I use, or recommend that anyone use CARLSON-WAGONLIT TRAVEL SERVICE or their other company ON THE GO TRAVEL SERVICES.

These folks are totally unresponsive to customer needs, especially mine. Now maybe it was the fact that I was asking for a refund, but still - this was no way to treat a customer. They sent the check via DHL and that took a week.

I went to the doctor yesterday. I have been going to this fellow for over ten years - ever since I moved to this area. He is very competent, well recommended, and highly thought of by other medical professionals in the area. Over the ten years my file (paper) has grown thicker and thicker, Yesterday as I I walked into the office I notice something new. The nurse was carrying a small laptop as well as the paper file. She started entering the vitals, etc. into the laptop not on paper. The laptop BTW had a touch screen. Neat.

Then the doctor walked in and he too had the same kind of laptop. He asked questions and was filling in information on the screen as well. He told me that are slowly converting. As each patient comes in they open the file, scan in all the old records (after which they are shredded) and that night he spends about twenty to thirty minutes updating the computer files for each patient seen. I guess technology had to happen to him as well. I wonder if that means he will have to raise his rates to pay for all the new hardware and software?

Immigration

2007-07-26T09:25:00.000-05:00

The subject of illegal immigrants is heating up all over the country. It is unclear to me just what has raised the heat recently, but certainly it has been simmering for a very long time.

When the housing boom raged here in Northern Virginia the builders all employed Hispanic labor for the landscaping, drywalling, painting, siding and roofing work, HVAC work, and just about anything else where a little skill was needed but the ability to speak English was not a prerequisite. These laborers came in droves and to their credit they worked long hours, seven days a week to build the homes. They even worked holidays. The work they did was acceptable, given that it was the builders that supplied the plans and the materials.

They kept their expenses low by living in dormitory style homes, several people to a room, and by carpooling in their trucks. As the years wore on, it was interesting to watch as the cars they drove became bigger and newer, and they started to buy their own homes. The local merchants advertised bilingually, and the media also started bilingual broadcasting. It even went so far as to cause local business to set up their phone menu systems to ask if you wanted to continue in English or Spanish. All was well until the housing bubble burst. The large number of workers was no longer needed and so many became unemployed, or under employed. But their car payments and their housing payments (bought with high interest, mortgages, and many with 100% financing and variable rate ARMs) became unsupportable. The banks and lenders started foreclosing and the foreclosure rates started to climb.

These workers were however mostly here without the aid of the legal documentation required of immigrants, but they still took advantage of the local services.

The economics made the local governments rethink their positions. Prince William County, and I believe Virginia as well, along with many other state and local governments have started to crack down on illegals.

The debate in Congress still hasn't produced a viable solution, so the state and locals have decided to do it themselves. Virginia and PWC passed laws empowering police to request citizenship documentation from people stopped "with probable cause." Those lacking such documentation will be delivered to INS for deportation. The same laws also enabled county service providers to also check for documentation, denying services to illegals and also calling INS.

Apparently the idea of a March on Washington demanding that illegals be given rights didn't sit to well with the local citizenry.

Personally I think it is ludicrous to see someone who is obviously breaking the law by entering the country illegally complaining that he is being denied his rights. Almost like the felon who tripped and broke his leg while breaking into a house suing the owner for damages. But there is hope. The TV this morning stated that in almost every state it is legal for a homeowner to use deadly force on someone who has broken into his home.

The TV

2007-07-25T16:17:00.000-05:00

Some observations - it appears as if TV has come a very long way in the past few years. Used to be all shows were G or PG and there was no nudity, no swearing, no blasphemy, no interracial romance, etc. Now I am not a prude by any stretch of the imagination and my reading and surfing probably hit as many porn sites and any red blooded male, but I have to say TV today does surprise me sometimes. Not in a shocking, just surprising.

Summer fare used to be the home to reruns, failed pilots, and specials of all sorts. Now with the cable channels all competing for ratings they have pulled out what appears to be all the stops.

Case in point - last night on FX Glenn Close starred in a new series called Damages - Excellent, she is really really good in that role.

Monday night on TNT, Kyra Sedgwick in the Closer - back for a second season and well worth the watch.

Monday night on TNT following The Closer a new series starring Holly Hunter called Saving Grace - again an excellent show

USA network has a summer series called Burn Notice (I think the actor is Tate Donovan) - again an excellent show

These are over and above the ongoing and outstanding established series such as Monk, the Law and Order family of shows, House, Bones, the CSI family of shows, NCIS, etc.

Makes me wonder if anything on HBO, Showtime and STARZ that is any better to watch

Family and pseudo-family

2007-07-20T10:46:00.000-05:00

My ex had a large extended family. Both of my in-laws belonged to cousins clubs which held frequent get togethers. But that's where it became strange. It seemed that there was a lot of match making going on, and as a result my ex-father-in-law's cousin met and married my ex-mother-in-law's youngest brother creating an aunt-uncle-cousin link which meant that they would show up at most of the family gatherings and functions. Of course the confusing part was that they weren't at all of the gatherings and functions, only some, and of course because there were so many cousins on both sides I never knew when to expect to see them and when not. To this day although no one in my ex's family talks to me, Phil and Gloria are still friendly and warm to me. It says a lot about their maturity and even more about my ex and her parent's and brother's lack of same.

All of which leads me to my daughter's friend Felicia. I was introduced to Felicia several years ago. Felicia was, and is, the leader of my granddaughter Lindsey's scout troop. Felicia also became one of my daughter's best friends. Because of this, Felicia always seemed to be invited to my daughter's family and social functions - barbecues, birthdays, Seders, Hanukkah gatherings, etc. It seemed like Felicia was almost like one of the family, and it was strange when there was a function and she wasn't there.

Well, Felicia had a baby girl on Monday and mother and daughter are doing well. The baby's name is Brooklyn Emma Levy, which is different, but not strange or unusual as some of they names parents seem to burden their kids with these days.

So congratulations to Felicia and her daughter - Brooklyn Emma Levy

Heat and humidity

2007-07-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

Virginia, especially Northern Virginia is a lovely place to live, and 10 or so months out of the year it is quite comfortable here, even winters are mostly mild. But during July and August it gets really hot and really humid, and unbearable for some of us.

For the folks who frequent the various community pools of course love this weather. The sit out and bake in the sun, basting themselves like turkeys.

I hate the heat and humidity - never liked it, don't like the beach, don't like sitting around pools, nothing.

In 1996 my mother invited me to live with her in Florida. Her rationale was that we both lived alone and that if something happened to either of us there was no one around to help. It sounded good, but my suspicion was that she was really lonely and wanted company. So I went down there. What a mistake - the weather in North Miami Beach was, and always is hot and humid, really hot and humid, and for me very uncomfortable so I moved back to Virginia as soon as was feasible, and haven't looked back since

From the past - crime and punishment

2007-07-17T14:36:00.000-05:00

Anyway, so I was checking through my files and I came across the CD with the Bayside High School directory that my brother sent me a while back. So I started browsing.

Looked up old girl friends, no luck. They I looked up my old friend Mark
V. He was my best buddy in High school. Used to come over the house every Saturday morning on his way to Shul to pick me up. After High School I sort of lost track of him, but we kept in touch. His father used to play cards with my Dad so when Mark got married they invited us. My ex didn't like him, and I wasn't really thrilled with his wife A. so we drifted apart. Mark married the daughter of a "Nuveau Riche" manufacturer with expensive tastes if the wedding was any indication

In any case I had heard that Mark went into business with his brother Allan. Allen went to Law school after he graduated college and started his practice after he graduated. Mark became a teacher (to avoid the draft) after college and after his eligibility passed he also went to law school. When he graduated he went to work for his brother. His brother was doing really well as a retainer attorney for some Hispanic organization, being paid in cash and raking it in hand over fist. Allen's father told my Dad that Allen used to come over for Friday night dinner and start to empty his pockets of cash.

Apparently, Allen kept that for himself and Mark was left to make a living doing real estate closings.

I was curious as to what he was doing these days, so I googled him. Apparently my friend and his brother got into a bit of trouble. I won't post everything I found but the following should give you a taste:

Two Lawyers Charged With Mail Fraud
By Mark Hamblett
New York Law Journal

Two brothers who are lawyers at a small personal injury firm in Manhattan have been charged with defrauding clients by switching retainer agreements on them after cases were resolved.

Mark V., 58, stole $350,000 from 24 different clients and misappropriated money deposited in escrow, according to a criminal information charging him with 24 counts of mail fraud filed by the Southern District U.S. Attorney's office Wednesday. His brother, Allen V., 56, is charged with a single count of mail fraud involving the taking of more than $16,000 from an estate.

The two men handled personal injury claims in federal and state court from the offices of their two-partner firm V. & V. at 225 Broadway. They waived indictment on the charges before U.S. District Judge Denise Cote Wednesday morning.

A defendant's decision to waive indictment and agree to be prosecuted by information, as opposed to being charged in a criminal complaint, traditionally means defense lawyers have reached at least a preliminary agreement on a plea deal with prosecutors.

Defense attorney Joel Cohen of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, who represents Mark V., declined comment on a possible plea deal. Benjamin Brafman of Brafman Ross, who represents Allen V., said his client will plead guilty in the case before Cote on Oct. 3.

"Allen V. is a wonderful, very decent individual who is also a very caring attorney," Brafman said. "For this to happen to him is a real tragedy."
According to the information, there were two types of retainer agreements that were switched by the lawyers beginning in 1998 through early 2001.
The first kind of agreement set attorneys fees at one-third of the money actually recovered by verdict or settlement. Under the second type of agreement, the lawyers would be paid on a sliding scale, receiving 50 percent of the first $1,000 recovered, 40 percent of the next $2,000, 35 percent on the next $22,000, and 25 percent on any amount recovered over $25,000. \

But the size of the recovery rendered either one of the two retainer agreements more profitable than the other, the information charges. In several instances, after the size of the recovery was calculated, Mark V. would switch the agreement to ensure a larger fee for the firm.

The information also states that the law firm would collect the proceeds from personal injury settlements or verdicts and deposit the money in escrow, where, on several occasions Mark V. allegedly misappropriated some of those funds for his own use and never paid the clients the money they were due.

The amounts of money that clients lost on the 24 cases listed in the information ranges from a low of $1,009 to as much as $79,968.
The brothers, who are residents of North Woodmere, N.Y., could be sentenced to as much as 5 years in prison for each count in the information, but in all likelihood, they will be sentenced to far less time than the maximum, with Mark V. likely to receive a stiffer sentence. Both men are also eligible to be ordered to pay as much as $250,000 in fines for each count.

"When injured persons have to take their cases to court, they need to know they can trust their lawyers and not be victimized again," U.S. Attorney James B. Comey said in a prepared statement. "We will seek out and punish attorneys who cheat their clients."

Date Received: September 25, 2002

Both brothers were sentenced to jail, fined, forced to pay full restitution to all clients and both were disbarred

On record keeping

2007-07-12T08:52:00.000-05:00

By nature and by training I am a compulsive record keeper, and a very organized one at that. I keep records on, and of everything. I keep receipts, bills, statements, etc. Most are for tax purposes and are kept for four years, some are kept forever, like copies of the actual tax returns.

For many years I was a management consultant and would travel around the country to work at my clients sites. Since the assignments were usually six months to a year in length I carried almost everything I needed with me. I also made up a medical history, every illness, surgery, condition, etc., the date diagnosed, and where, and how treated. I also maintained a list of all my medications, strength, prescription quantity, and schedule for taking them. It made it easy that way so that when I ha to go to a new doctor or clinic in a new city I just gave them the printed sheets and that had everything they needed. It also had the additional benefit that by writing it all down, I didn't forget and of the things.

So, yesterday when I went to the Clinical Research Center for the initial interview I brought the printed material with me. The interviewer was impressed. He said he had coordinated over 100 trials and never had anyone bring in medical records as organized as mine. - wow.

The after he read them, he said, well everything I need is here, but when were you born - that was not on the printout. It wasn't there because I didn't think that I would ever forget that date.

Then I got to see the doctor who was conducting the trial and who was to give me the first physical. He looked at the material and asked some questions, like when did this happen or that happen, they he asked me how old I was, again no birth date. I told him, and he seemed pretty surprised - he said he would have guess I was only about fifty years old, not almost 65. ow that made me feel really good. It is one thing to look older than you actually are, and quite another to look younger.

I remember when I was living in Florida that everything was oriented around senior citizens, 65 and older, and I was doing everything I could to look older than I was, but I am not doing anything these days to look younger.

I just received an email from my son telling me that my daughter-in-law's grandmother passed away and that they are flying to Korea for the funeral. My condolences to Misun and her family

Serendipity

2007-07-11T21:34:00.000-05:00

So.. I was watching some show or other on TV the night before last and there was a brief ad - a call for people to participate in a clinical study - the only qualification was that you have to use either Glucophage or Metform (the generic form of Glucophage) both of which are medications for diabetes control.

The phone number was local so I assumed that the research center was local as well. Yesterday morning I called and made an appointment for this morning. Turns out this center runs multiple studies for pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment companies, etc.

After my initial interview they decided that while I was a candidate for the diabetes study, they really wanted me for their high blood pressure study.

Eighteen weeks, weekly visits, check-ups and physicals, plus full blood tests, EKGs and echo cardiograms, etc.

I get a new blood pressure monitor, and the test meds, plus $40.00 per visit as a stipend. Not bad.

Today was the initial physical, and the initial EKG. Monday is the initial echo cardiogram. That's all I know for now

And the list goes on...

2007-07-09T12:31:00.000-05:00

We all have one - The List. You know the kind, it has all the things you plan to do, but haven't gotten around to - yet. For whatever reason things seem to get added to the list faster than they get taken off. Maybe there is a level of comfort in knowing that The List exists. Maybe it means that as long as there is something on The List you will be needed, or something like that. Mostly however the items on the list are accompanied by reasons (no never written down,) why they are still on The List

So my list (or at least part of it), in no particular order:

Paint the trim on my townhouse - this is not a big job, there isn't that much trim - reasons not done - too hot, too cold, too dry, too humid, too cold. Yes I have the paint, and yes I have the brushes, and yes I have the caulking and other preparation materials, but for some reason, no paint as yet been applied

Get rid of the weeds on my patio. A few years ago I planted some flowers in two black plastic planters, you know the kind rectangular, about 6 inches high, maybe 8 inches wide and maybe 18 to 24 inches long. The flowers did fairly well, but the morning glories, or at least I think they were morning glories did the best. At the end of the season I got rid of the remains of the flowers and the next year I didn't plant anything new, but back came the morning glories with a passion. Not having to contend with other plants, they grew to outstanding height and curled around everything, the fence, the gas and electric meters, the drain pipes - everything. At the end of the year I tore them out, cleaned out any remaining roots in the flower boxes and thought I was finally rid of them. This year they were back - in full strength. So I have a bottle of Roundup - touted as the ultimate weed killer, and for that matter any green thing. It is sitting in my garage waiting to be used. No good reason why.

I bought a recliner rocker which is a nice unit, but a touch to small for me, and a touch to delicate. When I sit and relax I have several times popped the some of the backrest supports from their place. You know what I mean, the back is a frame with rods extending from holes in the seat to holes in the top rail. Fairly tightly set, but if you push back hard enough they bend and pop out. Easy enough to fix, a little glue and all better. Did that, but a few months later they popped out again. This time I decided to use my hot glue gun. So there I am, squatting on the floor trying to maneuver the rods into place (as I said, a tight fit), concentrating more on the rods than anything else I reached down and picked up the glue gun, which was still plugged in and therefore on, and it dripped some very, very hot glue on my hand, which caused me jump, and some more very, very hot glue dripped on my leg, causing more yelping and jumping and finally a large dab fell on my index finger and raised a very large blister. I finally unplugged the gun, and tried to wipe the glue off, somewhat successfully, But my hand was now useless (fortunately my left hand). So I trotted out some bandaging materials and wrapped my hand in gauze and surgical tape, but I still have to finish that chair repair project (after my hand heals.)

I bought a replacement garage door opener remote - universal. Package says it will work with my opener. I got it home and determine that it is not set by dip switches, but rather you "learns" when you press and aim it, sort of like a TV universal remote. But you have to set the brand mode (dip switches) which in turn depends on whether the LED on the old remote was yellow or green. My favorite colors - for little old color blind me. So I now have to rely on trial and error - changing switch settings and pressing buttons until I hit on the correct combination - why is nothing easy?

Finally, well at least for this post, I seem to have been invaded by ants, little, very little, almost invisible ants. I have sprayed but they seem to come back. There are not a lot of them, but every once in a while I find a few crawling across the counter top or or on the table, or on the floor, in the dish washer, or even in the sink. Can't figure out where they are coming from, but they don't seem to want to go away.

saving money

2007-07-06T21:16:00.000-05:00

Comcast cable has been bombarding the channels with advertisements for their VOIP phone service. Now I mostly use my cell phone, or at least I used to before I turned in my license and the home phone mostly sits idle. Well almost idle. Almost all incoming calls are from either my kids, or from people soliciting donations for the local police. Actually its not the police or fire departments that are actually doing the soliciting, it is the "friends of the fire department orphans" the "police chiefs/sergeants widows and orphans fund" etc. You get the picture. They are the folks who collect money and they get $.90 of ever dollar, and you get a sticker for your car, and a card telling you that this is not an IRS recognized Charity.

But Comcast phone service had one main advantage, it was twenty or so dollars cheaper than Verizon. So I called and ordered the service. That's when the fun started. Now when I ordered the service I asked whether it would adversely affect my 911 service or my monitored security system (which uses the phone lines), No and No. I also asked how they hook it up, and the answer was that they would swap out my Internet Modem (also Comcast) and put in a new one (at no extra charge) that would handle both phone and Internet service. I also asked what the charge would be. Well I was paying $139 per month for Internet and HD cable service including the DVR player. This new service would add $25 more per month bringing me up to about $165

So they installed the service and lo and behold I now had two, count them two modems, but I was assured that I would only be paying for one.

Now I have a phone my my computer and a fax machine by the wall, and one phone each on the second and third floors. The one by my computer worked great, nice and clear. They left the box and that was it. Then I noticed that my security system had a trouble light, seems the phone connection was dead. So I called Comcast again and back they came, only to discover that the phone by my computer was direct wired to the phone box, but not to any of the other phones. (the signal from the modem goes into a phone jack and propagates to all the other lines.) So he had to check all the systems and make sure all the phones had a signal/dial tone.

Then I opened the box they left expecting to find an instruction book. No such luck. I also received a flyer in the mail telling me about their special preferred plus triple play package for $129/month.

So I called and innocently asked what package I had and why I wasn't offered the triple play package. Well apparently I qualified for it, but the original person just forgot to complete the entries. I also asked about the two modems,

The third tech came today and hooked the phone service and the Internet service to one modem and took away the other one. He also made sure that my triple play package was set up. I mentioned that the flyer said it included HBO, STARZ and Showtime and he said yes it does

So for $129 per month I now have Phone service, Internet service, HD cable service, a DVR and HBO, STARZ and Showtime. All it took on my part was a little persistence

Update

2007-07-03T14:12:00.000-05:00

It is the day before the Fourth of July and the weather is absolutely glorious, dry, sunny, and the temp is hovering around the 80 degree mark. The windows are all open and the place is airing out from a long winter of hibernation.

It is official, my Real Estate license is inactive, I have turned in my lock box keep, and sold my lock boxes. I stopped by the Weichert office yesterday to turn over the lock boxes to the agent that purchased them, and visit with the folks there,

So... what is the difference between what I am doing now and being an agent?

as an agent my cell phone went off on a regular basis - mostly with voice mail announcements from the office, now it sits silent for hours on end. +

as an agent I would get daily email messages from Big Jim Weichert trumpeting how great the market is and how we can all expect huge transactions in the immediate future - I still get those, but not as frequently -

I no longer have to spend lots and lots of money to maintain the pretense that I was actively pursuing real estate business. +

as an agent I used to sit in the office on the phone waiting for a customer to call, now I don't +

the biggest difference however is that as an agent there was a hope, maybe a prayer, that I would earn some money (those unhatched chickens) to justify all the money I spent on supplies, memberships, etc. now with that out of the way it feels as if a load had been lifted. +

finally, even though there was no money coming in, no prospects, no customers, etc., and even though the market was in the crapper, homes weren't selling, and everyone was offering huge bonuses along with pleas to please bring your customers to buy the homes we have to sell, even after all that it was sort of like gambling, you weren't winning, in fact you were losing, but there was always the thought that somewhere somehow you would win one and recoup some of your sunk costs. That hasn't changed much

The big step

2007-06-25T13:05:00.000-05:00

Well, this is the time for new beginnings - my daughter Hillary started her new job today, going back to the work she loved which is legal research. She is now working for a law firm specializing in Intellectual Property cases, one of my daughter's favorites.

My daughter Jessica was just promoted at the place she works. She is now a career advisor in a group home near where she lives in Connecticut. So far she seems to love it. She has worked there between overseas assignments for several years.

I took the big step and turned in my Real Estate license last week. I have spent the better part of the past three days taking inventory of the supplies I accumulated going through a sort of triage. One pile is stuff I will keep for future use (large), one pile is stuff that is getting trashed (even larger), and one pile is stuff that I will try to sell (small).

It is really amazing how much stuff I have accumulated in just four short years. Lots of printer materials, most of it was personalized for my Real Estate business so it wasn't easily reusable and thus got trashed. This morning I took out four very heavy plastic trash bags of stuff. I also trashed several dozen personalized directional signs.

This last I considered trying to sell, but at last decided to trash since whoever bought them would have to cover over the personalization (my name and phone number) which might not make it worth while. Fortunately the garbage men take everything.

The nice folks from Comcast installed my cable phone service last week, and the quality of the sound on my phone doesn't seem to have changed much. In as much as I only use one phone regularly I didn't check any further. Saturday morning I accidently set off the alarm. As a habit I turn on the alarm when I go to sleep, and turn it off from the pad in my bedroom just before I come down stairs. Well that morning I forgot, and when I went to open the sliding glass doors in the living room, the alarm went off. Nice to know it works. I entered the code and didn't think anything more of it, except that I got annoyed that Brinks did not call to ask if there was any problem, Then the key pad started to beep and the red trouble light started to blink. I checked the manual and it said, sysem needs service. OK, I picked up the phone in the kitchen and tried to dial. Nothing, tried again, still nothing. After trying several other phones I realized that I had no service on any of the phones in the house other than the one in my office.

It seems that the installer forgot to ask me some questions and thus set it up incompletely. Long story short,they will be back tomorrow to do it over.

rumor mill

2007-06-05T08:55:00.000-05:00

The more things change, the more they remain the same, but on the other hand the only thing constant in in life is change. Take your pick!

The Real Estate Market has gone to hell in a hand basket. Listing agents are spending a fortune market their seller's homes and holding open houses with no takers.

People wonder where all the home buyers are, that is easy, almost all of them are waiting to sell their current homes before they can look for a new one. In this market they just can't afford to carry two mortgages. First time home buyers are having a rough time in a money tight market.

As I have written previously, mush as my company may trumpet stronger sales, the wave of agents interviewing at other brokers looking for a better deal, or looking for jobs that will bring in some income to pay the rent, has reached tsunami proportions. Rumor has it that my broker, is not out ill, but has in fact quit. She has been at it for decades and I guess she had enough. Company pressure to produce sales, cut budgets and recruit new agents must have been intense.

As the keeper of the phone list I haven't seen a new entry for quite some time. I have seen several agent removal requests

I congratulate my oldest daughter on her new job (not yet started) and wish her the best of luck. Coincidentally my youngest daughter has also started a new job and I wish her the very best of luck as well

After four years of being a Real Estate agent, I have come to the realization that I am not a sales person. I don't have the temprament for it, so I will continue until I find something els to do. My initial thoughts are that I will look for work (probably part-time, hopefully from home) as a writer or editor. Lots of places with jobs being posted so we shall see. First up, create a resume.

Memories

2007-05-31T13:24:00.000-05:00

When my parents were alive, more specifically my father, he was an inveterate picture taker. Problem was once taken the pictures went into albums unlabeled, and unorganized.

When my mother passed away, several years after my father and I was tasked with closing won her condo, I found more than a half dozen photo albums, some of them dating back to before my mom and dad got married. There are pictures from when they were dating, when my dad was in the war, my mom's high school and college pictures, pictures of my grand parents when they were young. Lots and lots of pictures.

The albums went to my brother who volunteered to scan them into his computer and put them on a CD for each of us. He did a very creditable job. Afterwards he distributed the albums, or at least some of the albums to each of us. He kept those that couldn't be divided up.

When I got married I also took lots of pictures, which also got stuffed into albums in the same way my father did, somewhat disorganized and unlabeled.
When my ex and I got divorced one of the things I demanded was the right to copy all the albums. When I got them I scanned some and some never quite made it back into the albums that my ex wanted back.

So... now I had almost a dozen albums, some from my cameras, some from my parents camera, some from my kids cameras. Big three-inch, three ring binders full of pictures, plus wedding albums, and misc. loose pictures. Last weekend I put all the albums in a box and gave it to my kids to divide up.
I didn't know about my parents pictures until they had passed away and it was too late to ask who was in the pictures. Most I recognized, some I did not

The problem was I never opened then albums, and with the advent of digital cameras, CDs, computers, and flickr, physical pictures seem to have become obsolete. But they still represent a bit of family history, which I felt now belongs to my kids and grand kids. Maybe they will enjoy them more than I did

Tuesday after Monday

2007-05-30T10:15:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know, Tuesday always follows Monday, but in this case Monday was a holiday, so while this is Tuesday on the calendar, for most of us it feels like Monday - the first day back at work.

My son Micah and his wife Misun, and my daughter Jessie and my grand children Jake and Samantha were all here for the weekend visiting and celebrating. Micah and Jessie and my grand daughter Daria all has birthday at the beginning of the month and it was decided that since they had the holiday weekend, the birthday would be celebrated a bit late, but together.

We spent time at my daughter Hillary's community pool where I attempted to take some pictures. As you can see my children were

not cooperating, so I tried again

and again

But alas, no luck. Getting my grand kids to stand still for a picture is like herding cats, not practical. So I will have to wait for the results from the other picture takes (Hillary, Jessie and Misun) for good pictures

Procrastination

2007-05-23T13:41:00.000-05:00

The art of putting off until tomorrow what you should have done yesterday.

I have to say that I have mastered this art. I have more projects on the to-do list, and each of them has a long list of reasons why they have never been started. None of them are particularly hard tasks, but the lethargy has a tendency to build, and accumulate, Chalk it up to a lack of enthusiasm, or spring fever, or more likely just plain laziness. Personally I like laziness.

Last August I signed up for a cruise - a repositioning cruise aboard the Norwegian Jewel. They were moving the ship from its route in the Caribbean to its new home in the Mediterranean. Since they actually have to move the boat (ship?), they take passengers on this extended cruise to help defray the cost but at a reduced fare since it is a one way trip. the passengers fly home from Athens at extra cost. By cousins and brother went on this one but I begged off due to my flood. Problem was and is, I still didn't get my refunded reservation fee.

Yesterday I called to ask what happened. Well the original reason was that the card number the had had expired (and I guess no one thought to ask for a new number, after all it was a refund.) So I sent the new number and still no refund. So while on the phone yesterday I looked up my charge records from last year and lo and behold, I hadn't charged it to a credit card, I had my bank send them a check. So now I can look for a refund check. I wonder how long that will take.

My daughter Jessie and my grandson Jake and granddaughter Sam will be here on Saturday and my son Micah and his wife Misun will be here late Friday evening. Should be a fun weekend, with a group birthday party (Micah, Jessie and Daria)

TGIF

2007-05-18T13:01:00.000-05:00

It's Friday and its raining, and they are predicting rain for the weekend, so what else is now. It is getting harder and harder for the office to find people to man the phones. The budget has been slashed so much that they can only afford a morning receptionist one Mon-Fri. She stays until 1:00 PM and then goes home. The rest of the time the desk is covered by agents. But if an agent can't make his or her shift, or for what every reason, doesn't want to go in that day they either have to find a replacement, or they close the switchboard.

I get a lot of calls to fill in, but sometimes like today, two agents couldn't make it so coverage for two consecutive shifts was needed. I agreed to take the first one, but said no to the second one. I guess either someone will cover, or the office will close early.

There has been a lot of company trumpeting about how good the market has been BUT...

1) they apparently have cut the budget for the personal marketing managers (these are the folks who make up the brochures, etc. for newer agents)

2) they have cut the receptionist budget

3) they have cut the advertising subsidy to agents

4) they have increased all the fees for agent services

5) office income is way down

6) agents are leaving to take full-time positions to pay their bills. - we now have half the number of agents in this office we had a year and a half ago

7) A year and a half ago, the office took over most of the third floor and turned it into office space for the gents (some got single offices, some shared a group office and some got a cubicle in the bull pen) word has it that the manager is now trying to unload that space.

And the beat goes on.

Friday

2007-05-11T14:57:00.000-05:00

It's Friday and I have survived another week. It has been busy, but as of yet I cannot say whether it has been profitable. I tried to call by daughter Jessie on her birthday but she was out to dinner with her family. I tried to call my grand daughter Daria for her birthday (same day) but she was out to dinner with her family as well. Not one to give up, I called Jessie the next day and spoke to her, have yet to reach Daria.

I did manage to cal my son Micah for his birthday on Thursday. He was in San Francisco for a convention and apparently enjoying his birthday.
Last month I purchased a new blood pressure tester. It was expensive, and had lots of features, but from day one it gave me nothing but problems. The low battery indicator was constantly blinking even though I changed the batteries several times, the reading was constantly giving me errors, so I finally took it back. I bought a new one, different brand, simpler, fewer features, and so far it works just fine.

I received a call this morning from one of my fellow agents, could I cover for her this afternoon. Since it is cooler in the office than in my house I don't mind going in. I won't turn the AC on until we have two weeks of warm days in a row, so far we have only had a few days in a row. Monday it was in the high seventies, Tuesday the heat went on - go figure.

Cash flow

2007-05-09T15:45:00.000-05:00

Today was my day for small chores - bank deposits, picking up some stationary supplies, and checking on my rental listing. The renter's application was accepted with flying colors, so everyone is happy, and I get my commission.

I am on the desk again today, and as I was sitting here a fellow walked in looking for a rental. Actually he asked for a list of rentals in the Nokesville/Bristow area. I cut him a list and he looked at several and liked what he saw. He asked if I could help him with them. At first I said no, but in a moment of weakness I agreed, especially since it was around the corner from where I live.

About twenty minutes later he called back and said he and his wife found one they liked, and could I show it to them. Since it is on the way home I said sure why not. Who knows maybe I have some more unhatched chickens to count.

Lots of the agents are suffering from a severe shortage of cash. Their cash inflow has all but dried up, but their cash outflow has either not changed, or has increased. Many of them have reluctantly decided to look for full-time jobs to support their families. Fortunately I don't have that same problem. Inflow/outflow yes, but there is only me to support, and so far I have my nose well above water. If I am lucky I can stay that way.

One of the ladies from the building came in to drop something off. She is a very heavy smoker, and for a half hour after she left I could still smell the smoke. It made me stop and think.

When I was young, from my early teens on till I turned fifty-ish I was a smoker. My ex didn't say anything about it until after we were married then she got on my case. But smoking, like any other addiction is tough to give up, especially in those early years when it was socially acceptable, and "cool". By the time it became un-cool I was totally addicted. There was always the idea that I could stop whenever I wanted to. The problem was that my friends all smoked and when when I was with them I couldn't resist smoking to be sociable.

Of course when you are the smoker you never really know what it smells like to non-smokers, how really, really bad it smells.. There is the conceit that a breathe mint will take away the odor. What you don't realize is that the smoke clings to everything, clothing, skin, hair, lungs, and everything you touch as well.

As a non-smoker I realize how the smoke odor pervades everything. I wonder now how even I put up with the smell.

Monday, Monday!!!

2007-05-07T15:48:00.000-05:00

Usually Monday is a day not to be looked forward to, coming so soon after the weekend, but sometimes Mondays bring good things.

Today's mail brought the final part of my insurance reimbursement, not a whole lot of money, but it is something, and it clears a task on my to do list.

Yesterday while I was on the desk, the other agent mentioned that she had called in for availability on my rental listing and she was told that it had an application registered. Now this is good news because it means I get a commission on it, but I hadn't been told about it, and I didn't know whether it had been one of the many people who I had shown the place to, or clients of the two agents who showed the place.

Turns out it was someone I took there, which means I get both sides of the transaction. We are not talking about large numbers here but every little bit counts. Nice!

This morninng I got a lead from the Weichert online system. The fellow wants to see a house near here, a bank owned property (post foreclosure). Maybe he will buy it and I can make some more money - how is that for counting unhatched chickens?

It is one thing to count unhatched chickens, it is quite another to count unlaid eggs. Ah well! we shall see.

May day

2007-05-06T14:41:00.000-05:00

It is hard to believe that it is already May, and 1/3 of the year is already behind us. By now my brother and cousins should be visiting somewhere in Italy, either Rome or Naples, a trip I was going to go on but decided against.

My daughter Hillary should be up to her ears in fiber this weekend, because if memory serves me correctly this is the weekend for the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, Something she has been looking forward to for a very long time, actually since the festival last year. Her knitting tournament is down to the final four and the pattern for this round is a very complicated two color intricate design. Should keep the contestants busy for a while.

Every once in a while I get ambitious and take on a project. Like most people, well, maybe only like some people, I keep very meticulous records. I keep everything, tax returns, credit card receipts, bills, statements, etc. Why, you might ask, because you never know when you might need something, like a tax audit. Tax returns, and the supporting records of course, get saved for four years, and the return itself gets saved forever.

But then there is other stuff. Records of other activities that no longer matter, such as tax returns for my company which was dissolved some four years ago, or the records for the first incorporation which is now ten years old. So I started going through the boxes of records, I had garbage bags on one side and the shredder on the other. Things with my name or signature got shredded, the rest got round-filed. I must have filled up eight to ten garbage bags full of stuff, and emptied the shredded bucket five or six times.

Now the easy thing would have been to dump it all, enmasse, but mixed in with all that paper are records that are still needed; home improvement bills, bills for appliances that I still use, etc. So I had to go through everything before disposing of it. That made a short job, very much longer.

Fortunately tomorrow is trash collect day. So everything is out by the curb, the original bags tightly sealed in big heavy plastic barrel sized trash bags, tied very tightly so nothing will blow away (I hope!)

April's end

2007-04-30T08:49:00.000-05:00

Here it is the last day of April 2007, and the year 2007 is one third over. Imagine that! It's not like it has been super busy, but the days seem to slide by faster and faster.

My daily ritual is becoming more and more set. Wake up, wash up (yeah I know, don't say anything), trot downstairs, test my blood (higher than it should be,) test my blood pressure (also higher than it should be.)

A small glass of orange juice helps me take my pills, diabetes (1), high blood pressure(3), high cholesterol(2), Multivitamin (1), and a couple to keep my electrolytes in balance (2). And finally to round out the ritual, put the drops in my eyes for my Glaucoma.

For the rest of the day I walk around feeling like a rattle with all those pills bouncing around in me.

Pills down it is time for breakfast, 2 eggs, two pieces of multi grain toast with some margarine, coffee with skim milk.

Then it is down to my office to read my email from the night before, then check to see if my son has posted anything on his blog (no, not in a very long time) and then check my daughter Hillary's blogs. She usually posts something new every day and it is always worth reading. Actually she has two blogs, one is her normal blog Knitting4Shirley and the second is for the tournament she and her friend Felicia are running, something they call Sockmadness after the NCAA March Madness. Both are very entertaining.

After that it is whatever Real Estate work I have to catch up on, which is very little, so I spend the remainder of the day, puttering around the house, doing chores and watching TV

Boring, I guess, but that is my routine.

So when my son called last evening and asked what's new, I had very little to tell him. I am sure that there was much more new in his life than in mine, he being newly married, a new home owner, and having what seems to be a very challenging job. But does he write about any of that - not a word.

Another week

2007-04-27T22:06:00.000-05:00

All things being equal, which of course we all know never happens, this has been one of those weeks. I can't say it hasn't been interesting, but I can say it has been remarkably unproductive.

The week started off looking like we had just stepped into summer, bright skies, very warm temperatures, and birds singing.. Then yesterday it turned nasty again and it is damp, windy, rainy, and definitely uncomfortable.

This isn't unusual, but it looked so much like spring turning into summer that I put away all my winter clothing. Now I have to go find some it again. Bah, Humbug!!

Yesterday we had a class at the Weichert office. We have them periodically my broker is big on education. The topic yesterday was net sheets. A net sheet is a form where we list/calculate all the fees and charges that a buyer or a seller can expect to have to pay.

For the seller it includes all the mortgage, lien and tax payoffs, and for the buyer it includes the mortgage, points, prorated taxes, fees, etc.

Normally this is a set of straightforward calculations and addition. The kicker this time was the added wrinkle that the seller was four payments in arrears on the mortgage, We of course had to calculate the payoff balance with the added late fees, for both the first and second mortgages, It was surprisingly difficult to calculate compound penalties, Lots of variables in interpreting when and how to apply the penalties.

Somehow we (the twenty agents that were taking the class), all seemed to come up with similar results, note I didn't say the same results,, just similar Fortunately we weren't being graded on our results, just our technique.

Spring has sprung

2007-04-22T13:44:00.000-05:00

Today is Sunday and the weather is glorious. Warm, sun shining brightly, just a light breeze, and the trees just beginning to bloom. Outside my window are several trees with large pink flowers. The aroma is like perfume.

Today s the day that my brother and cousins and I were supposed to leave for our repositioning cruise from Miami to Athens. I wish those who went a wonderful trip, and requested that they take lots of picture.

My daughter Jessica is coming down for a two or three day visit at the end of May. As it turns out my son and his wife Misun (picture) are coming down as well. I don't know what the sleeping arrangements are going to be, but I have a spare room, and my daughter Hillary has a spare basement. Between us we can all the expected guests. This will be the first time in years that all three families will be together with me. They get together regularly but since most of the occasions are for events for my ex-wife's family I am never invited. The kids also get together in pairs for vacations but again not with me.

My daughter Hillary's knitting tournament is down to the final eight contestants and all involved seem to be having a great time.

Pound puppies

2007-04-12T19:20:00.000-05:00

One of my neighbors was out on his lawn - the postage stamp size plat of grass in from of his home playing with what looked like a pound puppy. It seemed sort of strange since he is in his mid-twenties. Then I looked closer and it moved. Turns out he acquired a basset hound puppy. The thing is the same size shape and coloring as a pound puppy. It is really cute.

For some reason I have been on a cleaning binge. I don't do it very often, but with only me living here and mostly hardwood floors there isn't much dust or dirt. I did go through my drawers and threw out a bunch of stuff. I am sure you know what I am talking about. When you buy something that needs assembly it usually comes with a small packet of spare parts, extra screws, bolts, dowels, etc. Most times that stuff isn't needed, but then again maybe something will come up so away it goes in "the" drawer. That's the one with packets of screws, dowels, small tubes of glue, extra this and spare that.

Well yesterday was cleaning day and all that stuff, well most of that stuff got trashed. That makes room for new stuff.

A month ago I (belatedly) sent in a request for reimbursement for some 2006 medical bills. My "policy" allows for reimbursement for thee doctors visits, two tests and on flu shot. They don't pay much, but still something is better than nothing. I guess the forms I sent in weren't clear enough so they paid part of the claim and asked for further documentation for the rest. I called my doctor and they were nice enough to send me a copy of my payment history for last year, which I submitted to the insurance company. Hopefully that will be enough.

One of the last remnants of business from my flood claims was a request for reimbursement for repair work done by Brinks Security. They actually made two visits, one right after the flood to check everything out and repair all the broken wires in the walls (before the Sheetrock went back up). They sent me a bill for that visit. Then after the repairs were completed they had to come back to repair a sensor that was busted by either the rockers or the painters, or whoever. In any case the security company will only come out when the homeowner calls, not the restoration company, and thus they billed me. The restoration company knew of the work and allowed for it in their schedule, but since they didn't know the price they left it at zero. So far so good.

When I finally submitted the bill it had to go to the adjuster, then to the insurance company, then to the property management company, and finally to me. Ever play the game telephone? you guessed it. Request for reimbursement and supporting information got horribly garbled along the way.

Recently I received a check for the first Brinks service call, but not the second. After much ranting and raving on my part, it turns out that it was my explanation that caused the problem... sort of. The second part of the claim was due to work done by the repair people, thus the insurance company determined that they should pay the second part of the bill. So now I wait for a check from the restoration company. Any bets as to how long I will have to wait?

Lethargy

2007-04-05T15:53:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I am just full of energy and get up and go, other times my get up and go seems to have gotten up and gone. Lately the gotten up and gone seems to be dominant.

It is Passover, which means very little, since I ceased to be observant many years ago. However my children observe, and since my oldest daughter lives near by she usually invites me to her Seder to serve in the Grandpa role - that of narrator/leader. The usual instructions apply, keep it short and time it to finish when the food is ready to be served.

This year, as in previous years I was also invited to the Seder hosted by her friends who live nearby. The reason for the invitation was so that I could meet Gerry's mother who was currently unattached. They had been trying to get us together for years, almost as long as I have been living in Northern Virginia.

This year I decided that in the interest of curtailing future invitations I would accept. This is sort of like the office voice mail system. Whenever they leav a message, or a voice mail, the system rings all of the cell phones in the notification list. Each agent is required to have one number that can be called. Problem is that if you don't pick up, listen to and reply to or delete the message, they keep ringing back until you do. So the best strategy is to answer it when it rings.

In any case, the friends home is close to my daughters and when we arrived they were already set up for the Seder. Her mother was in the basement getting ready. When she came upstairs I took one look and regretted having agreed to come. She reminded me of a younger version of my ex, combined with various features of my sister, neither of whom reside on my favorite people list. Suffice to say there was no animated conversation between us, although we did converse with everyone else. On the plus side, the Seder was mercifully short, the food was good, and I got to leave early. On the down side they have two small, loud, twin girls under two and an older girl the same age as my granddaughter Daria. I am still partially deaf

My glider rocker chair arrived on Tuesday and I spent Wednesday morning putting it together. It wasn't difficult, and there weren't a lot of pieces, but the six nuts and bolts that were needed to attach the back and arm rests were in the most awkward spots making tightening them very difficult and when I got my fingers caught in the mechanism, very painful. Then there was the problem of snapping the arm rest covers, and the chair back and seat to the frame. Again very awkward. But now that it is all done it is very comfortable.

My grand kids came to day. My daughter and son in law have been taking days off to stay with them, (Passover and (spring break) but today was one of those days when both of them needed to put an appearance in at work, so I was volunteered to baby sit. My son-in-law drove them to Manassas where I picked them up. The kids came back to my house for the day. The oldest, Lindsey immediately camped in my new chair and Daria the youngest took up residence on the glider/rocker ottoman.

They were well-behaved and I have no really large complaints, well maybe one. They brought food with them, a good idea since there is very little in my home for small growing children with picky eating habits. Their mother provided plastic containers , with among other things, coffee cake and brownies.

They ate most of the food, but my granddaughter Daria reminds me in a way of that Peanuts character Pig Pen, who seems to have a perpetual cloud of dust around him. Well in this case I can tell were Daria was because there are trail of cake and brownie crumbs where she walked, and on, and under, the chair she sat in. She also managed to spill a bag of mini M&Ms on the floor. These were really small, about an 1/8 of an inch wide, and I am sure they are all over the floor and under the furniture

Completed Work in Progress

2007-03-31T14:00:00.000-05:00

Projects, sometimes called work in progress, seem to accumulate like dust bunnies under the furniture. They are always around and you never seem to get rid of them all.

This week I managed to eliminate some of them from my list, and move a few more that were at the bottom toward the top.

I finally completed my taxes, and my audit. Both were mailed weeks ago, but yesterday the IRS finally cashed my check - that puts finis to that chapter. This years tax return didn't carry any tax payment with it.

Every two years my Real Estate License comes up for renewal. Before I can renew I have to complete 16 credits of Continuing Education. The CE topics include eight mandatory credits for Fair Housing, Legal updates, agency law, contracts and Ethics. Some of the topics are two credits some only one.

I took them online this time around and took the exam today - scored 93 out of 100. Passing is 76. Safe for another two years.

Yesterday and the day before it was absolutely spring-like outside, so I took the opportunity to rake up around the plant beds out back, and take down the wires that the dish people strung all over the back wall. They were extremely lazy and managed to drill holes in my walls from the outside rather have to snake the wires through the walls. The dish service has been gone for months but the wires remained, at least until this past week. Now they are gone as well. The only thing that remains is the dish itself. They put it up on the roof, and barring a storm, it will probably stay there. No way I am climbing up on any ladder to take it down.

I am still waiting for my new chair to arrive. Ordered it on line - their estimated delivery day is somewhere between 3/30/2007 and 4/3/2007. Nice range. Naturally, as soon as I leave the house for anything they are sure to stop by to deliver it. We shall see.

Doctors

2007-03-27T09:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went to my doctor for a regular check-up. Nothing special (other than a chronic stiff neck) was bothering me, but as usual he complained about my weight. OK so I could stand to lose 70-odd pounds, but I have become very attached to those pounds an it is hard to let them go.

Over the course of seven or eight years I have been seeing him he has recommended nutritionists, Glycemic index diets, fasting diets, etc. Lately he recommended stomach stapling and/or banding. My reaction to both of those was a strong recoil/aversion. Aside from the feeling that taking that route was an admission that I couldn't lose the weight on my own, there was another deeper thing which I couldn't put my finger on at the time. Later that day I remembered what it was. When I was still a teenager my father who lived under great stress as a salesman, developed ulcers, and then one day he had to be taken from the showroom by ambulance because he had developed bleeding ulcers. I guess that is what I subconsciously recalled.

So having nixed surgery he then recommended a new medication Byette(?) which is an injectible that reduced blood sugar and helps weight loss. On the down side it is expensive. So he gave me a prescription and I went to the pharmacy for them to price it and the needles.

Heart attack time!!! Between the two they would cost as much, each month, as the three-month cost for all the other medications I am taking combined. No way I can afford that much extra cost, and have to give myself daily injections, in the stomach, as well

Watching TV

2007-03-22T09:29:00.000-05:00

Working from my home as I do, and living alone as I do, the TV is my only company. Most hours of the day one 0r the other of the three TVs in my home (kitchen, living room, and den) are on. There are a small number of network shows that I watch regularly such as Grey's Anatomy, CSI, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Bones. Then there are non-network shows which I also watch regularly, such as How it's made and Deadly Catch on Discovery, any food network shows, and more recently various shows on the Hallmark channel - old standbys such as Matlock and Murder She Wrote, and new ones such as the Jane Doe series with Lea Thompson and the Mystery Woman series with Kellie Martin.

These last two show irregularly but they are very good. I guess I am a sucker for mystery shows. These last two rely on problem solving ability not violence, which makes it more fun as it allows the viewer to try to guess the bad guy before the character on the how.

Of course some of the most entertaining stuff on TV is not the broadcast shows, but the ads. Specifically the GEICO ads. Most companies are lucky to hit on one good ad sequence, or jingle, or something to make their ads memorable. GEICO has two! The first being the Gecko, that almost human animated lizard that seems to appear in a very large number of their ads, and the new series the Cavemen (Its so easy a caveman can do it) There seem to be an endless supply of different versions of each of these so you never really get tired of them, and they are so well constructed that you always know it is GEICO that is running the ad, as opposed to some other ad series where you remember the ad but not who the sponsor is. Case in point, there is a hand cream, or body lotion that features a field of hands chanting something like "tuckatin, Tuckatin" sounds very soothing but for the life of me I can't remember the sponsor. And finally there is an ad which talks about banks and governments trying to liquidate foreclosed homes and now is the time to snap up these bargains - so far so good, nothing strange about that. But the ad continues that "if your name begins with the letters A-N you can call today, all others (O-Z) may call tomorrow." Problem is that these ads run every day. I guess the O-Z people will never get to call.

As I mentioned I have taken to watching the show "How it's made" on one sequence the showed how they make glider rockers. It looked so comfortable that I think I am going to buy one for my living room TV chair.

BTW did I mention that most of the shows I seem to like are produced in Canada - strange!!!

equality

2007-03-20T10:07:00.000-05:00

The adage starts: "all things being equal", but fails to add "but they never are." In the past several year I have gone to several dentists, all of whom have started out wanting to take lots of x-rays and so scaling and planing, both of which are expensive procedures. Problem is I have always gone in with the same complaint - nagging pain in my lower left jaw. But they say that tooth has had a root canal done and there is nothing there that should hurt.

As of now it is growing progressively more painful, but finding a dentist who will tell me what is wrong, and who will fix it seems to be very difficult. I have to make an appointment with my regular doctor and I will ask him what he suggests.

My taxes were completed and mailed - owing nothing. But when I mail the audit report with the large check they are demanding I fully expect that the nice folks from VA will want some more as well.

My rental listing has become very interesting. So far six people have asked for applications. I can only rent the home once, but maybe I can rent something else to the others. I normally don't do rentals, for lots of reasons, but these folks are coming to me as potential clients and almost all of them are from out of town

Friday I have a listing appointment. The owner bought the place in January of 2006 and has been trying to sell it ever since. He has had it listed three different times with two separate agents, with no luck. The home has dropped in price almost $90,000 below what he paid for it. Should be interesting to talk to him. I suspect he is desperate, but the question is how low will he go?

changes

2007-03-15T08:14:00.000-05:00

It is mid-march and we have had weather in the lost thirties and mid seventies, all in the same two week period. Yesterday it was mid seventies, tonight they are predicting snow - go figure.

Monday I went back to the IRS because I thought I had caught them in a few mistakes (yes in their favor). So I took my box of records back and we chatted. As I said to them, all I wanted to do was understand how they arrived at their decisions. A word of advice - don't do what I did.

They started asking more questions about my home office (why was I claiming one, and my car - how could I document not only the total milage but the business portion of it as well. Suffice to say they could pull out five inches of tax code to support their side and I had nothing but my tax records to support mine.

In the end their report stood, they didn't disallow anything more than they originally did,, or anything less, and I had vented my anger and frustration.

I took a rental listing (for want of anything better to do, and I think it is already rented, and I may have found a rental for a second person who called in on it. Rentals don't pay much, but when they fall into your lap it is hard to turn them away. Normally I will take rental listings but not renters. For some reason renters are very picky, very needy, and very poor. A lousy combination. Most don't have cars and need to be chauffered around.

I finally started my taxes for 2006. Because of the flood in my house I didn't earn much, and have lots of expenses, so overall the tax returns should be fairly straight forward.

My daughter Hillary has become a rabid knitter, and jumped into the world of rabid knitters with both feet (mainly knitting socks). Last year she participated in several contests where knitters competed against one another to see who could knit the fastest. My daughter got an idea to run her own contest in the form of a March Madness style tournament. That started last week after months of preparation. With six or seven rounds of compatition, it probably has several months to run.

By all evidence everyone who is participating is having a ball, but at this point I suspect that my daughter my be regretting having started this. It is a LOT of work on her part. Her friend Felicia is her partner in this and I am sure both of the are feeling somewhat frazzled by now. I wish the both the best of luck

The shoe drops, and drops, and drops

2007-03-08T18:45:00.000-05:00

They say things always happen in threes. For me, the threes just keep coming.

First there was the house flood, then a minor fender bender during our first snow, then an IRS audit,

The IRS audits resulted in them assessing a ton of back taxes, well not exactly a ton, but a few thousand dollars which I can ill afford.

Then it turns out the the insurance company sent me a check which was supposed to be countersigned and sent to one of the vendors handling my damaged goods. Well the check arrived with no instructions and only my name on it so I deposited it. Now they tell me I have to send the money to the vendor - I knew it was to good to last.

For some reason I am growing somewhat anxious. The reason for my anxiety is my approaching 65th Birthday. I have been approaching it for almost fifteen years, ever since I turned fifty and became an official senior citizen. Once you reach that milestone you become too old for some things and too young for others. The designation senior citizen varies from place to place and store to store, so that in one it is 50, in another it is 55, in others its 60 and still others its 65.

The designation carries with it discounts and privileges so normally it is something to be desired. Of course if you happen to look like you are ten to fifteen years younger than you actually are (don't ask why, even my doctor thinks I am still in my early fifties) then you have to remind people of your age.

With sixty five comes medicare, and pension payments, and lots more benefits, which are good.

It "snowed" yesterday. When I woke up this morning it was almost all gone and it was in the low forties. Ah, the changeable weather.

Spring has sprung,
the grass has riz...

I wonder where the birdies is?

Remember to change the clocks this weekend

Ramblings

2007-03-04T14:46:00.000-05:00

Today is Sunday and I am again sitting at the office desk, waiting, somewhat in vain for the phone to ring. Not that that is all bad. I have two three hour shifts back to back, one of my own and one filling in for another agent. This is after a three hour shift on Friday and another one on Saturday. Saturday wasn't all bad, I got a walk in, a very nice couple who are looking to buy a home (first time buyers) they when I got home I had email messages from two old clients both of whom are looking for properties to buy. This could go very nicely (said he, gleefully counting unhatched chickens.)

Yesterday's mail also brought the audit report form the IRS - talk about fast. In a nutshell they disallowed a bunch of stuff and I wind up owing them an additional $2700 +/-. On the positive side most of it was due to my own carelessness so complaints must be directed to the face in the mirror and they will let me pay it off in 27 equal monthly installments. By the time the last payment is mailed it will be coming from my social security payments

On Saturday I was on with another agent, a very nice, and seemingly successful lady, She was on the phone trying to explain to the client why the builder was asking for an additional $500 in earnest money. Seems that when they signed the contract it contained a clause allowing the builder to ask for the additional $$$, but the builder verbally told them "don't worry we almost never ask for it." Yeah, Right!! If it's in the contract and they signed the contract they don't have a leg to stand on, verbal statements notwithstanding.

The first of the two shifts today is just ending and I have sent out a bunch of email listings to my clients, I have read the reading matter I brought.

Next item of business is to work on the course for my CE credits. I am missing 8 required credits which have to be earned before my license expires at the end of April. Not a problem, but what is lacking is enthusiasm. It is dull boring stuff, (legal updates, technology updates fair housing, etc.) but there is nothing to do but slog through it - all 60 pages of the course text.

Survival

2007-03-03T09:56:00.000-05:00

Well I survived my audit, although I don't think I came a way unscathed. My luck was holding and the examining agent that took my case happened to be a Real Estate Agent, who was continually comparing my expenses with her own.

Her first barrage was aimed at why I was spending more money that I was making. I showed her my depleted IRA and savings accounts, and the proceeds from the refinance of my home. That put that to rest.

The second barrage was aimed at my medical expenses. She asked how old I was and seemed surprised at the answer. Then she asked about my ailments (HBP, Diabetes, high Cholesterol, Glaucoma, etc.) That put to rest the numerous doctor visits and the high drug costs.

Pictures of my home office and the utility bills put the business use of home office to rest.

All this took time, because she was looking at things by category and all my records consist of bank and credit card statements. All my bills are paid electronically through the bank, or by direct debit from the credit card companies. No checks. When she wanted to see a particular transaction record (i.e. the check to the doctor for a specific visit) I had to look thorough the bank statements and credit card statements until I found the entry.

In one sense she got the very distinct understanding that I had records of everything, but not the way she wanted them. Sorry but that is the way it was.

In the end the only thing she found was that apparently I had deducted certain items twice, due to sloppy entry into TurboTax on my part. She disallowed them, and I couldn't really argue.

I will get her report later next week. I will probably owe something, but not much because I didn't make much.

I went to COSTCO for a few items on my way home from the office - I went in for eggs, English muffins and one or two other small items. I wound up spending close to $100. Actually I got off cheap. The people on line behind me had two of those hand trucks loaded with food, small appliances, TVs, etc. God only knows how much they spent.

Issues

2007-02-28T10:46:00.000-05:00

We all have issues with something, some are important, some are trivial. Most are hard to explain to someone else, but there are some which we all seem to share, and which we all seem to react to in the same way.

I speak of course about issues with authority. It starts when we are very young and our parents, guardians, sitters, etc, called is on the carpet, so to speak, for something we may or may not have done, or for seemingly no reason at all.

As we enter school, our issues with authority arise, in part,with our teachers and school administrators. After school the issues transfer to our managers, supervisors, bosses, etc.

We react the same when they call us with "that voice" to come to the kitchen, principal/dean's office, bosses office. The "voice" is almost always, stern, somewhat formal, somewhat menacing. Regardless of what we have been doing, or how, the summons brings butterflies to the stomach, a knot in the neck, a lump in the throat, and unbelievable tension until we find out the reason for the summons, or the result of the conversation. When they ask us to close the door, it is almost always bad, and it can cause instant ulcers.

Well my butterflies, etc. have been working overtime because the ultimate authority figure, the IRS has called me for a meeting - tomorrow to discuss my 2004 and 2005 tax returns.

I have probably talked about this before, and while I am not really worried about the audit, I can't rid myself of the tension, butterflies, and general high level apprehension.

I will make it through tomorrow, probably unscathed, that is if I make it to tomorrow

bullets and snow balls

2007-02-25T11:29:00.000-05:00

This weekend again, the weather folk predicted dire stuff. Rain, snow, sleet, ice, etc. Well we dodged the ice bullet and instead got pelted by snow balls, lots and lots of snow has fallen already and in fact as I write this, it is still falling.

Yesterday I went to the Home Depot for an ice chipper (yeah, I did listen to, and believe the weather folks). I was greeted by a sign on the front door, "we have no snow shovels and no ice melt chemicals." Not to be deterred, and since I already had a snow shovel and two bags of ice melt, I asked one of the sales folk if they had any ice chippers. He took me to the tool section (garden variety) and while there were no ice chippers there, there was an edger, It has the same shape head as a chipper but instead of having a long wooden handle, it had a shorter metal shaft with a 'T' shaped handle on it. All in all, ideal for --- chipping ice --- Chippers aren't made for pusing, they are made for banging down on th ice in the hopes of shattering it. The heavier the tool, the more likely it is to --- chip ice.

As I look out my window I see my neighbors valiantly shoveling snow off their cars, or some even shoveling their driveways. It is a losing battle, since it is still coming down fast and furious. All in all a great day to be inside where it is warm, watching a good movie on the TV.

The Prestige

2007-02-22T22:17:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while you run into a movie that you just have to pass on to others - the Prestige is one of those films. It has been advertised heavily on the TV and usually, when that happens the movie is a bomb and they are just trying to create word of mouth.

Th film just came out on DVD and as usual Netflix had it immediately.

The film stars Michael Caine, Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johannson and Piper Parebo.

The film is about two illusionists who are constantly trying to one-up each other and steal the others illusions. It is a bit disjointed in that it switches back and forth between time frames a bit, but it is so well done and the acting is just superb, that it far out shines the odd down bits. This should be a must see on any one's list.

Speaking of TV two items struck me recently. There were several advertisements recently for a detective show on LMN (Lifetime Movie Network) called Inspector Mom starring Danica McKeller. But they were not talking about a TV show, they were pushing something called a webisode on Inspectormom.tv which I gather is webcast twice a week. The show on TV seems to be broadcast only irregularly.

The other items is a technical one. I have an HDTV plasma in the living room and a small 13 inch tube type (really old tube type) in the kitchen. Sometimes when am cooking something that takes a while I will turn on the TV in the living room and watch there and only return to the kitchen to stir, or turn, or some such. I noticed that when I am watching the same show on both TV one on an HD channel (ABCHD) and one on the non-HD or regular channel (ABC) there is a delay, maybe a second or two but noticeable when you are watching the same show on both sets. Very interesting - I wonder why that happens?

Time sense

2007-02-21T15:09:00.000-05:00

Some days everything seems normal and other days everything seems to have gone to hell in a hand basket.

My son and daughter-in-law's anniversary is the 27th of this month, and my daughter-in-law's Birthday is? Well technically since she was born on the 29th her birthday is several years off, but in reality she will celebrate on the 28th. So... looking at my calendar I fired off birthday and anniversary gifts to them late Monday night so the gifts would get there on time.

I am also scheduled for a federal tax audit on the first of March, so I was distracted by that as well, rushing to get all my records together for that as well.

So here I am finally getting to sleep, withing all the records in a box and the gifts on their way, and as I was listening to the radio the announcer was talking about some even happening "tomorrow, February 20th." That woke me up fast.

Somewhere along the line my mental calendar cursor slipped a week. All that rushing around for naught

Now you ask, how could I have missed all the date references in the news and in the numerous TV ads? But with my mind focused on the audit I guess I missed it all.

Now I have a week to relax before the audit, and my son's gifts are already there.

On a lighter note, and warmer note, three days ago it was below freezing and we seemed headed to a new ice age. Today it is fifty degrees and all that ice that I couldn't chip through to save my life is melting faster and faster

warm spell

2007-02-19T15:31:00.000-05:00

I guess the cold weather couldn't last forever. Saturday it was 16 degrees, yesterday it warmed up to 28 and today it was a balmy 35 degrees - almost tropical. Of course the ice mound at the end of my driveway is still there, but hey you can't have everything.

Maybe I will venture out tomorrow

Tomorrow is my Son Mica and Daughter-in-law Misun's first anniversary. Being one to plan ahead I tried to send a gift certificate to them. Naturally it wouldn't go through, no explanation, no way to ask questions, just a terse message saying can't do that now, try again later. Modern technology - ain't it wonderful.

The world is getting a bit bigger and smaller at the same time, the business world that is, entertainment section. Seems that Cingular, which gobbled up AT&T a year or so ago has started calling themselves the new AT&T. No explanation, just new advertising. I wonder if that is a ploy to get former AT&T customers back?

I saw on the news this morning that XM radio and Sirius radio are merging putting Howard Stern and Oprah Winfrey under the same corporate umbrella. Talk about strange bedfellows. My daughter Hillary and her husband Bruce have one or the other of those services - I wonder how it will affect them?

Sunshine

2007-02-16T14:26:00.000-05:00

Normally when the sun is shining brightly it is warm outside. Today the air is crisp and clear, the sky is blue, and the sun is shining brightly, and it is 16 degrees outside, yes sixteen degrees. And that is the high so far. I finally finished shoveling my driveway. Well shoveling is not really the proper terminology.

Actually I spent three hours yesterday and another three today chopping through the six inch layer of ice on my driveway, and lifting the blocks of ice up and tossing them on the sides of the drive.

It takes a lot of effort to chop through, fortunately when you succeed you have these big chunks which make removing it easier, just bend down, grab it and throw it.

Of course there is an eight inch pile of ice at the foot of my driveway where the curb is, that is too thick to tackle. I dumped a half a bag of Calcium Chloride on it and will hope for the best. Between the sun and rising temps (into the high 20's and low 30's) maybe it will melt, as it is it is so hard that I can hopefully drive over it with little problem.

The mailman is complaining like hell. Seems the snowplow did the side of the street away from where the mailboxes are and left a 5-6 foot swath of ice in front of the boxes. That is where he has to pull up to to put the mail in the boxes. It is either that or he parks in the street and walks over the ice to the boxes, either way he is pissed.

Apparently the anonymous post I ranted about was placed by my youngest daughter Jessica. I just assumed that since my ex posted to my oldest daughter Hillary's Blog as anonymous that she did so to mine as well. My daughter corrected me and I apologized to her by phone, but just in case, Mea Culpa, Jessie. I am sorry I ranted at you, it really was aimed at what I though was your mother.

Happy St. Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T15:59:00.000-05:00

For those of you out there who are still deeply and romantically in love, for I wish you luck and success. To all the card shops, Jewelry stores and candy and pastry makers out there I hope you did well.

Those who are working on finding deep romantic love they tell me eHarmony.com works pretty well, as does AdultFriendFinders.com. Then of course there are Churches, community centers, and the local bars, taverns, pubs, and other singles hangouts.

Whatever floats your boat, as the saying goes.

The weather people, for the first time in a long time were right!! Late last night and into this morning a combination of rain, sleet, snow, and hail, fell. There is a blanket of white stuff in my driveway that nothing seems to want to break through. It is hard as a rock. I spread de-icing salt all over it and so far nothing much has happened.

My home is situated on the street in such a way that doesn't allow much sun on the front part of the house, and thus on the driveway. My house and my immediate neighbors are always the last to have snow piles on the lawns.

This stuff is heavy, and hard. I weigh over 240 pounds (yeah I know, "weigh" too much) and I could walk on top of the white stuff without breaking through the crust. I tried shoveling with my regular snow shovel, and couldn't break through. I even tried a square-nosed garden spade and even that wouldn't break the ice layers

A young man (it could have also been a young woman) asked if he/she could shovel my driveway for $5. I told him/her thank you, but no thank you. I didn't want him/her to get hurt trying to lift all that very heavy stuff, even though $5 was a very reasonable price.

The office was closed yesterday, and today, and probably tomorrow. They are not predicting any more precipitation, but they are predicting extreme cold which means everything already down will freeze solid. Fortunately all our utility lines are buried so we have no problems in that area.

I don't invite comments on this BLOG but anyone is welcome to submitted them. I received one a few days ago from "anonymous" Anyone who is too ashamed or embarrassed to attach their name to a comment doesn't deserve to be published or even acknowledged other than to say next time sign it with your name.

Cabin Fever

2007-02-13T14:56:00.000-05:00

Starting on Sunday, the weather people started to predict dire things for our weather future. - early this morning (4 AM or so) it started to materialize. First there was a light dusting of snow, which stopped before it could lay down much in the way of white stuff. Then it started with the off and on ran/sleet/Ice combination which makes commuting a bear and even staying at home no picnic. Granted it is warmer indoors than it is out doors, but it is damp outside, an that dampness seeps inside and regardless how high the thermostat setting is set, it still feels uncomfortable.

It was real tough to get out of bed this morning. I was all toasty warm and snug, but I somehow just couldn't justify staying under the covers with the daylight streaming through the window. I have to say however that today's technology makes keeping warm easier than ever. I have a set of flannel sheets and pillowcases on the bed. Over that there are two very light-weight microfiber blankets which are really good at keeping me warm (holding in the heat)

The only problem with them is that I am used to sleeping with something heavier on me, like a down comforter, and these are way lighter. I assume I will get used to their light weight over time.

With my new HDTV service I find so many more stations to watch that I cut down my Netflix subscription from three at a time to one at a time. If things keep up they way they have, I may eliminate it all together. It was great while I had it, but as the saying goes, things change. If they change again I can always resubscribe

Memories

2007-02-12T11:16:00.000-05:00

I may have written about this before but then again maybe not - as I get older memory tends to dim, at least some of them do.

One of the strongest memories I have is that of my very good friend Dave. Dave and I met when we were both freshmen in the same college. He and I struck it off and with three other young men we formed a clique of sorts. Four of us were from the New York area and one was from Western Massachusetts. Of the five of us, three were like-minded to a striking degree. We liked many of the same things. As our time in school progressed our attention to classes diminished somewhat, hell, quite a lot.

I began as a math major, Dave started as a Poli.Sci. major, Dirk was a pre-med. My days as a math major ended quickly when I found that freshman calculus and I did not get along at all. Looking around for something to major in I took several different courses, but one of them, a beginning Poli.Sci. course taught by a very dynamic, almost evangelistic instructor hooked me on Poli.Sci.

In any case the five of us would spend more time at the movies than in classes. In the early 60's the theaters along 42nd street between 5th and 8th avenues were all running third showings of b-movies, the action adventures that show up today on channels like TNT and TBS, and sometimes SciFi. Our last year in college we must have watched every movie available.

After we graduated Dirk went to medical school in Belgium (he is now a respected psychiatrist,) Dave went to Albany law and I went to St. Johns Law for want of anything better to do.

Dave graduated and eventually took over his father's practice after he (the father) was elected/appointed to a judgeship.

Dave and I got together regularly after college, and remained best friends. He was best man at my wedding. After the WWON (wicked witch of the north) and I split Dave remained my friend until he passed away at a very early age (he was in his middle 40's). We used to meet for lunch in mid-town once a month for long lunches. I remember our time together very fondly. He was someone I could talk to very easily. I asked him to handle my divorce but that wasn't his area of expertise but he was was able to recommend an excellent attorney.

My ex had served me with papers accusing me of all sorts of things but I am pretty sure wanted the divorce because she had someone on the side, I am just not sure if it was a man or a woman.

I commuted from Smithtown, LI to NYC every day, leaving at 5:45 AM and usually not returning until 7:30 PM. That left her lots of time for fooling around. She certainly wasn't interested in having relations with me, not that she was much good at it, but something was usually better than nothing. Most of the time however, it was nothing. Sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally.

It has been almost 20 years since Dave passed away and I still remember him fondly, any memories I have of my ex bring a bitter taste to my mouth and a churning in my stomach. Even today, after ten years I get nauseated when we meet at family events. My kids have been pretty good, they rarely invited both of us at the same time, unless, it is something that can't be avoided, like a birthday

good news, bad news

2007-02-11T12:50:00.000-05:00

I have rambled in past posts about the now, direct route between my house and my office. I clocked it, it is ten minutes and just under 6 miles, a far cry from the twenty-forty-five minutes and twenty miles it used to take.

This is good news - it makes it that much easier and faster to get to the office. The bad news is that it makes it that much easier and faster for me to get to the office. My manager knows this and so when people don't show up for their desk shift, who does she call - me! Why? because she knows I can get there in a very short time, problems is, she is giving me less and less time to get there, now it is down to twenty minutes. Of course if I was dressed and waiting that wouldn't be a problem, but usually I wander around my home in an old beat up pair of pants and a tee shirt, and sometimes no pants. Try explaining that as a source of delay.

I spoke to my younger brother this week - he is younger than I by about 6 years. He has decided to retire. Now that makes me feel old, very old.

sitting on the sidelines throwing rotten eggs

2007-02-08T16:30:00.000-05:00

For eight years I sat as president of my Condo, and performed all sorts of task in the most conscientious manner I could. I took my job seriously and did my best to look out for the homeowners in my Condo. Last November I resigned and let a new President take over.

This was a very difficult thing to do. Sort of like a manager handing over the reins to a new manager, but more like a parent letting a child go and make its own decisions, or worse watch your child as it rears its own children. It is not easy to do. Matter of fact it is downright difficult. There are times when you want to grab them as say something like "what the hell do you think you're doing, that is not the way to do it, this is" or something like that. But you bite your tongue and hold back, because a) they are adults, and b) it is their child they are raising.

But being a former President of a condo is somewhat different as well. I am still a homeowner, with the same rights and privileges as before, and the board may not like what I have to say but they have to listen. Why, because I can be very loud and abrasive when I get upset.

My ex, the Wicked Witch of the North, did have some things she used to do or say that I did listen to, not many but some. One of them was a version of the old saw that the squeaky wheel gets the oil, or in my case if you want someones attention, wait until you have a large audience and then in the loudest voice you can muster make sure that they, and everyone else knows why you are upset, and what you want them to do.

This doesn't have to be verbal, it can be my email, or even on a website.

The current object of my diatribes are the Boards of both the community and my condo, and the property manager that serves both of them. My complaints have been loud and expressed in a very public forum, where it seems other like minded homeowners are expressing similar objections. It does work

When I moved from Florida to VA I used Beekins Movers, but somewhere along the line between the time they picked up my stuff in Florida and the time they were supposed to drop it off in VA the builder ran into a delay and the mover had to hold on to the stuff. OK, they were very nice, but when it came time to bring my stuff and actually move me in, they were looking for an additional $1500, for storage, unpacking , repacking and delivery. When I asked they said well the original contract ended when they dropped it off at the storage warehouse. And, they wouldn't deliver until I paid, in advance, by check.

I was furious but I paid, because otherwise they wouldn't deliver. I called everyone in the Beekins company and the local storage company. They were adamant - they were within their rights.

The wheel squeaked loudly, I created a series of web pages title I was robbed by Beekins, even used a version of their logo. I published the text of each of their letters and emails, and the names, addresses and phone numbers of each of their corporate officers, and each person I spoke to.

A month later I received a phone call, from the President of Beekins asking what it would take to get the pages off my site. I said I wanted my money back, he asked if there was any way we could compromise. We did, settling on the cost of a few hours of time for three men unloading, loading and unloading my stuff.

I took the site down after I cashed their check. Ah the power of words, and some public embarrassment

Appearances can be deceiving

2007-02-01T10:10:00.000-05:00

When I had my "minor" accident last weekend, it looks as if all they needed to do was straighten and repaint, or repair and repaint the hood and that would be it. I would probably be paying all the cost from my deductible. Oh little did I know that was not to be.

They called yesterday to tell me that the car would probably be ready next Monday, not today - Thursday - as we originally discussed. OK so why is that? Well I was right about the hood, but that was before they opened up the front. Seems that there is a cover over the radiator, which was cracked, some damage to the bumper, the license plate holder was cracked, and so on, and so on, and oh yes, all the little stickers on the underside of the hood, and on all the pieces that needed to be replaced, all had to be replaced - cost for stickers approx $50 - Go figure.

Total estimate, approx $1000, less my deductible of $250, plus whatever GEICO has to pay for the rental car for a week. So much for a "minor" accident.

Yesterday the repairman from Comcast came to fix my service. Seems that when the last fellow was here to install the two new outlets he saw there were already four connected outlets, so he just unhooked one!!! Unfortunately two of the ones they left connected were from the dish I no longer have.

Now I have everything connected properly, and just in time for the big game on Sunday.

When my daughter volunteered me to edit her friend Felicia's Doctoral Thesis. This is something I do for my daughter all the time - no not doctoral theses but articles and the occasional resume or letter.

I didn't think about it, until all 109 pages landed in my inbox. Felecia was pretty good about spelling and grammar, but very weak in providing citations, and making unattributed/unsupported statements. I have completed my review of the first 55 pages so far and hopefully when she gets it all back it will help her toward the next step.

Decorating

2007-01-27T16:49:00.000-05:00

When you move into an old home that was completely rebuilt, the temptation at first is to put everything back the way it was before the disaster. But along the way, and in the course of the rebuilding process certain decisions are made which affect the decorating choices.

The old house started out with the TV on one wall (shorter one) and the couch on the opposite and longer one. Then I succumbed to the lure of a dish system, and that necessitated moving the TV to the opposite wall to be nearer to the only telephone outlet in the living room.

After a few months of dish, I realized it was not a great decision after all and gave it up, but kept the layout the same - the TV and the cabinets it sat on were just too heave and bulky to move. But then the flood came, and now I have a new, and much lighter TV, sitting on a new and much lighter TV stand, and aside from the power cord and the cable outlets there is no reason why I can't move the TV back to where it was originally.

So that is my task for tomorrow, and maybe next week. I also want to rearrange the various electronic boxes (VCR, tuner, CD player, DVD player and Cable DVR/tuner) into a more functional arrangement. I may also eliminate the VCR because --- I no longer own any VHS tapes, nor do I see myself buying or renting any in the foreseeable future.

I wish I could eliminate one or more of the remotes but that doesn't seem to be in the cards. It is almost easier to eliminate one of the boxes.

I am slowly getting used to the DVR, which is sort of like a TiVo. Unlike some who record shows and store them forever, I just record shows when two I want to watch conflict with each other. Well, it is 5:30 on Saturday night and I have a few more minutes left on this shift before I can head on home. Then again I have another shift tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM so it might just be easier to sleep here (yeah, right!!!)

I wonder whether my Internet connection will be working when I get home. It was out when I left and had been out all morning. I think I burnt it out. Last week in a moment of weakness I was fiddling around with my system and managed to build a mail loop into my system. That is one account forwarding to another, and the second one forwarding to itself. By the time I figured out what had happened I had exceeded my mail storage allotment. Thankfully the ISP/web hosting company has lots of storage and is very generous so they increased my space until I had it fixed. But when I finally started to receive mail again, I had 2163 messages in the cue (18.9 MB worth) It took a half hour for it to download and funnel through the spam and junk mail filters. End result, three messages finally got through, and all three were for the new Oprah diet. Talk about junk mail and spam clogging the system. It seems that once someone comes up with a new sure fire way to get rich quick, or lose weight fast, or increase your sexual potency, they farm them out to thousands of folks who spam the world with it, so each one is the identical message but it has a different sender.

Modern ingenuity.

Snow Day

2007-01-22T13:29:00.000-05:00

The weather people have been telling us about the heavy snow falls in other parts of the country (I am in Northern Virginia) and about the ice storms, lack of power etc. Depending on where live you learn to live with the snow and life goes on, albeit a bit more slowly, and a bit colder, or you succumb to the snow and collapse under its weight (well maybe figuratively not literally).

Here we are not used to snow, and when the occasional storm hits everything shuts down, schools, offices, roads, etc. Most of the local suburban roads are the responsibility of the local community association, and so the plowing and sanding is somewhat erratic. It is a bonanza for anyone with a pickup truck, or SUV, or other such vehicle that can have a snow plow attached to the front end. Those folks are out there at the first flake fall catching them almost before they land.

But the main roads are state and county responsibility and they are not as quick to respond. I was at the office yesterday and the morning news had predicted that there would be snow, but later in the afternoon. My desk duty shift ended at noon, and I stopped at the local big box store (OK so I stopped at Costco to also sample the freebies at the kiosks set up at the ends of the aisles) for a few breakfast groceries - eggs and OJ.

In any case it took all of twenty minutes and I was back on the road for what is now a ten minute trip from the office to my home. By that time the roads had become more than a little dusted with snow, and the cars rolling over that fallen stuff caused it to compact and thus form ice. Driving was not fun. Because of the snow, traffic was moving at the posted limit which was about 35 MPH. No one was speeding. All the cars, the big SUVs , the minivans included, were moving very cautiously, not changing lanes and keeping a respectable distance between themselves and the car in front.

All was going well, and I was congratulating myself on having survived the first snow fall. As I pulled into the turn lane at the intersection between the road I was on and the road that would take me the last mile or so home I had to slow down and stop because there was a red light. So, already going slowly, I innocently put my foot on the brakes and nothing happened. Oh, the brakes held alright, but car was on a sheet of ice and just kept sliding forward. I could see it going to happen but could do nothing to stop it, there was only about two car lengths between us, and not enough time to react, or even think of what to do. Do like bumper cars, my car rolled into the back of the SUV in front of me, and that car reacted by sliding forward itself.

There was no damage to the car I hit, and only minimal damage to my car but it would have been better if it didn't happen at all. I have an appointment with the GEICO adjuster next week to see what it will take to get the damage fixed. It isn't restricting the car's ability to run, and it isn't terribly unsightly, just annoying

Emotions

2007-01-19T14:49:00.000-05:00

When something disastrous happens, or we are assaulted, or deeply wounded the first emotion that hits is shock, then anger and frustration, and a deep sense of personal violation. When my home was destroyed by water last summer, I was somewhat calm, maybe too calm, very analytical, and trying very hard to be objective, in what was a very subjective situation.

As time wore on and the repairs were made step by agonizingly slow step I thought I was beginning t feel better, trying to put it all behind me. In the past week or so I have come to see that the shock, anger, frustration and sense of personal violation is still there, just below the surface boiling and churning like a volcano waiting erupt onto someone, or something.

When I went for my meeting with Margaret my office manager she pointed out that I was probably still in shock, and probably needed some quiet time by myself to collect my wits and get over the shock. Until she said that I hadn't really realized that I actually was in shock - trying hard not to remember what happened, and trying equally hard to overcome it. I am pretty sure I haven't done that yet. I think staying with my daughter and her family helped me from snapping, but the tension was, and is, still there.

Last night at my first Board meeting as a non-Board member, and as a past President, I was going to comment on what I believed was an ill-conceived policy they were holding a hearing on. I had done my research, and had all my notes, and had all the points I wanted to make written down, and we discussed them, actually I made my points and they listened as if waiting for me to finish before they went on with what they were going to do anyway. The look of condescension was unmistakable.

At some point I let loose, pointing out, on a very loud voice, that they had lost complete sight of their task. Their job wasn't to determine who was going to pay the deductible, nor to fix blame. Their job was to supervise and manage the restoration of the owners home in a timely manner, and push the claim through the insurance process as quickly as possible. Once that was underway then they could discuss who owes the deductible, but that discussion shouldn't and couldn't hold up the restoration process. They seemed stunned by that revelation. You mean we are responsible for supervising and managing that process. We don't know anything about it, nor does the property manager. Well we will just hire someone to do that and charge the unit owner. Wrong!!!

That is covered in the by-laws - it is a Board and property manager responsibility, not a homeowner one.

I left at that point, having vented some of my anger, but there is lots more under the surface. I wonder when it will come out again. I wonder whether I need or want to find one of those Anger Management classes.

So now belatedly I realize that, yes, I am still in shock, still angry, still frustrated, and still feel personally violated, but I think that realization is the first step in starting to deal with it.

Deductibles

2007-01-18T11:04:00.000-05:00

Living in a condo is like living in in a commune, except sometimes it is not. In most condos the association owns the buildings and the unit owners own the interiors from face wall to face wall. In other words from the paint in.

The condos have a master policy which covers the structure and the condos also take care of exterior maintenance. In our condo for some reason, the owners own the buildings just as if the owned a non-condo townhouse but we still have a master policy.

Under most circumstances the Master Policy would take the place of the normal homeowner policy an cover any damage to the structure. Ours it appears does not. As a matter of fact I am doing some research to figure out just what it does cover.

Tonight is the first regular Board meeting that will attend as a homeowner and not as either a Board member or as its President. Should be interesting - the topic - insurance deductibles, and who should pay them.

Service or the lack thereof

2007-01-15T15:09:00.000-05:00

It is strange. There are some things that are so common that we hardly notice them until they are not there. Take the phone for instance, not the actual instrument but the service itself.

I had a morning appointment today and as I was driving there I noticed that almost every other car was being driven by someone with a cell phone in their ear. You can almost tell one of those from a distance, the car drives slower than the rest of the traffic, usually on the slow lane which is understandable because most folks can't walk and chew gum at the same time, much less drive and carry on a cell phone conversation, but they try, yes, they do try.

Since I didn't need my Realtor's lock-box access key I left it home., plugged into its cradle. The key has an internal code which expires each night and must be updated. The cradle is connected to the phone line, and sometime during the night, the cradle dials the update center and updates the key. If the key has been updated it carries the message "updated for mm-dd-yy". If it hasn't been updated it bears the message "Expired, please update," When I returned I happened to notice that the key bore the message "Error code 06." Not having a clue as to what that meant I just assumed that there was a problem with the cradle and the phone jack it was attached to.

So I unplugged the cradle, the power supply and the phone line, and plugged it into another outlet. When I came back an hour later (it only take 10 minutes to update under normal circumstances) I decided that maybe something got wet as a result of my flood, so I took the key down to my office to call the support site. Imagine my surprise to pick up the phone and hear... nothing, no dial tone, just silence. So I tried a different phone, still nothing. I have four phones in my home (exclusive of the cell) and none worked. The good news was that my key wasn't necessarily broke, the bad news was my phone service was non-existant.

So I called the phone company. By the time I worked my way through their menu system the agent's first question after I told her I had no service or dial tine, was are you calling from that phone now. No stupid, I am using a cell phone, I just told there is no service on the regular phone.

They are coming tomorrow to fix the problem. Good thing I didn't need the phone between now and then

Neighbors

2007-01-14T15:27:00.000-05:00

I have lived in my home for over 8 years and barely know most of my neighbors. There are various reasons for this, one being they are mostly commuters traveling back and forth between here and their jobs in Tysons Corner, Arlington, Alexandria or DC. The second being the fast rate of turnover. You see people move in, and before you can get to know them, they have moved on again.

But there are a few neighbors who I have gotten to know. One is a drug rehab treatment center employee, another is an internal auditor for the IRS.

Several are police officers in either Prince William County or neighboring Fairfax. One however is very interesting. I don't see him much because he travels most of the time. I don't know what his exact title or function is or who exactly he works for but he is a technical supervisor for a broadcasting company. He has the unenviable job of supervising the technical aspects of such evens as the NIT, the NCAA, the Superbowl, the world series, the Masters, etc. He also does political conventions. I saw him the other day as he was packing up his pickup to head out for yet another assignment, actually two assignments, the first being the inauguration of the Governor of Pennsylvania and the second being the Superbowl.

I asked him if he was in the broadcast credits and he acknowledged that he was. I asked him if I would see him on screen, he said yes, ground level on the fifty-yard line, but he didn't say which side of the field.

He has a very tough life, and being the inconsiderate fellow he is, he didn't even offer to take me along with him. Ah well, I will have to find some way to ingratiate myself with him, so that maybe next time he will extend an offer. Yeah, Right!!!

You get what you pay for

2007-01-12T16:23:00.000-05:00

Today I received the check from the company that was supposed to verify that my scanner was in working order (it wasn't, and they had to reimburse me themselves)

I also received a deposit from Paypal. I am still waiting for the money from Amazon. This, in and of itself is probably not newsworthy, or even mildly interesting to anyone by myself, if it wasn't for one fact.

I spent some time creating the text for and taking pictures of the three remaining items I would like to sell. Two of these little goodies didn't sell on eBay, possibly because the price was too high. But I torn between trying eBay again, trying Amazon, or trying Craig's list.

For those who don't know about it, Craig's list is free listing site for things and for jobs (they actually charge a small fee for job listings). It is set up by state, so you can sell to your immediate area, but really can't sell nationwide. They do have an international sales are but I haven't checked that out yet.

The last time I used Craig's list I was listing a house for sale, and a couple of rental listings. The properties didn't sell, but then again the listings were free.

This is the first time I was attempting to sell a thing. When I signed on, what struck me almost immediately was the big bold warning from the site master, warning that there are large numbers of scammers out there and sellers should only consummate sales face-to-face. Do not, under any circumstances, give out bank account numbers or Paypay information, or anything similar. Also be very wary of bank checks, postal money orders, Western Union checks, etc. as there are a lot of counterfeiters out there as well

Apparently there are lots of very creative thieves out there. It made me realize how good both Amazon and eBay are. They charge for their services, but you can rely on them to guarantee monies they collect.

Much as I would like to use Craig's list the idea of meeting face to face with a buyer doesn't turn me on.

Talk about fast action

2007-01-09T21:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I took a load of boxes and packages from my week-long eBay sale to the Post office for shipment.

When I first moved here, the Bristow post office was down the road and just across the railroad tracks in a small, I mean teeny, tiny, small building that was probably a single car garage in another incarnation. It was little more than a single room with a small entry foyer for the counter. I guess when the built it that was all they needed. The Post Mistress told me that it was the smallest post office in Northern Virginia, and the next-to-the-smallest in Virginia. It was kind of cute in a way, it it was almost fun going there. BTW the carrier folks sorted the mail in an annex down the road, where they had more room.

Then they started building in this area and they needed a bigger building so the PO bought a piece of land (naturally it was further from my home than the old building) and built a new larger facility. That was bout five years ago. Well, over the years, the local population has just kept on growing, and they had to add more and more carriers. At the end of 2006 they ran out of space again and moved the carriers (and the mail sorting facility) to a new, and even larger annex in nearby Gainesville, which is about six miles from me, in the opposite direction from the Bristow facility.

All this is by way of lead in to my trip to the PO yesterday. I got there about 9:15 and the parking lot, which was usually packed with customer and carrier cars and delivery trucks, was empty. My first thought was maybe it was a holiday I forgot about. But no, the PO was open with just the counter personnel there and a few stray customers, and of course now me, my car and my pile of packages.

Last week, I purchased two bookcases for my living room, to give me some place to put my speakers (bookshelf speakers need a bookcase, right?). They were supposed to be delivered yesterday, but unlike most deliveries, that was all I knew, sometime yesterday probably between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM. I was able to get out to the post office and back by 9:00 so I was pretty sure I didn't miss the delivery (because last time they called me before they came)

So I waited, and waited, but no delivery. Finally at 4:45 PM I called to find out was was happening. They said they would look into it and get back to me. The delivery truck rolled up to my door at 6:45 PM, and the staore called back at 8:00 PM to ask if the delivery had been made.

This morning I was back shipping off more packages. When I got home I continued yesterday's project which was to compose text for a couple of listings on Craig's list. As I was working on the listing for the Rosetta Stone software, I decided to check with Amazon to see what they were listing their copies for. Obviously they had no such restrictions on listing this kind of product because they had several for sale, new and used.

Amazon is price for this kind of thing, their sales commission is way higher than eBay's, I mean way, way, higher. But I figured why not give them a shot. They allow you to list for 8 days, and you don't pay if you don't sell. So I listed my copy with a rather high price (compared to what the other used versions sold for).

Three hours later I received an email from Amazon that the package had sold and payment had been credited to my account. Wow!!! Talk about fast service.

eBay for fun and profit

2007-01-08T16:54:00.000-05:00

My project for last weekend was to list a whole bunch of stuff that I no longer need or want around, or for that matter have room to store. As is usual with stuff sold on eBay, it was too good to throw out and not good enough, or useful enough to keep.

I listed seventeen items, ranging from a used cell phone, to some used Spanish language tapes, etc. Aside from two items, a set of painted plates and a leather day planner binder, it all sold. I didn't include the Rosetta Stone Spanish language system, which was pulled by eBay.

All in all I sold a lot of stuff, and made some $$$ in the process.

Yesterday and today were spent packaging stuff up for shipment and transporting to the local Post office. Four items went in priority mail flat rate boxes, three went by first class mail, and three went by media mail.

I still have two more packaged ready to mail, and two others waiting payment. Two items were bought by the same person, so that is why it doesn't add to fifteen.

I still have four items (including the Rosetta Stone software) to sell on Craig's list - that is free and you can basically keep it there until it sells.

HDTV

2007-01-06T10:27:00.000-05:00

The nice folks from Best Buy (actually Magnolia their installation division) came and spent some three hours setting up my new TV, and hooking up the DVD player, the a tuner, VCR (yes I still have a VCR and even use it sometimes), the CD player and the new speakers.

They tested everything and it all works fine.

I now have a small pile of remotes, some have overlapping functions, some have unique functions, some control multiple devices and some control only one device. It is confusing for now.

One thing that bothers me. The wall where I have my chair, now and later as well, has no direct lighting, and that makes it very difficult for me to see the legend on the buttons. It is almost as if I have to use braille to find the right one. It looks as if I will have to buy a lamp for that area.

This new service has lots of options, some of which I suspect are for a trial period only, such as HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ and CINEMAX on demand services. It would be great if they weren't but I have to wait until Monday to find out. - They are closed on the weekends.

I purchased a pair of book cases yesterday - they sort of match the TV stand, Black metal with glass shelves. They will be delivered on Monday.

I think I will be getting another similar unit for holding all the remotes. Right now they sit on the couch next to me, but... the couch is going out with the salvager on Tuesday, so I need something to hold the remotes, other than my lap.

Last night I finally hooked up my Birthday gift from my daughter Jessie and her family. She
got me one of those motorized massaging pads for my chair. It has upper and lower back massaging motors and a pair of massaging motors for the thighs - it is also heated. Talk about relaxing -NICE!!!!

It is Saturday morning and I have the first shift on the phones at the office. Not that the phones have been busy, but someone has to answer them, and we have no weekend receptionist, so the agents take turns - they call it opportunity time. That is, you get all the business that walks, in or calls in during your shift. Normally I would bring in the crossword puzzle from the Sunday Post (usually delivered on Saturday morning) but for some strange reason, this week they omitted the magazine sections (which has the puzzle.) Now I have to find something else to occupy my time.

Today and tomorrow the auctions on the items I have listed on eBay end. So far 9 of fifteen items have bids, and three more may sell as well - the easy part is packing it all up for shipment

One step more

2007-01-04T10:46:00.000-05:00

They are coming to install my new HDTV today. I can't wait. In preparation I put up the art work which finally came back on Tuesday. When I got it all back, I had to decide where to put it. The first time up it went up around furniture and other things. Now the walls are bare, and they will probably stay that way. I expect to keep the place much more spartan than before. No reason other than that it is more comfortable that way.

My items on eBay are doing well. Five have bids which means they are sold, several other have watchers. My auctions end tomorrow so hopefully I will have some packing and shipping to do.

One, the biggest one was removed by eBay. I had listed a package called Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Levels 1 & 2. This was an expensive package, costing me over $380.00 new. I bought it, but could never quite get into it so I decided to sell it.

I asked $250 as a starting price and had ten people watching it. Then apparently the folks who produce the package saw it and complained to eBay and they (eBay) took it down and notified the watchers that it was being removed. Not nice. I have sold tons of used software on eBay, and never had any problems. This is the first time an item has been removed for "intellectual property infringement."

I am having second thoughts about taking that cruise this spring. For those who don't know about it, my cousins are going on a 15-day "repositioning" cruise on the Norwegian Cruise Lines Jewel. It is a free style cruise that leaves from Miami, crosses the Atlantic, lands in Portugal (1-day) goes on to Rome and Naples (one day each), the cruises to Crete (one day there) and then on to the final port of call Athens. They then fly us home (I assume to Miami)

I had planned to go along with them, even put down a deposit, but with the flood and all, I really don't have my heart in it. More and more I think I am going to cancel. Besides I will be going alone, and they haven't found anyone to share my cabin, and its cost so I would have to pay for a double cabin as well. It seemed like a great idea back last summer when they proposed it but now as we get closer it has lost most of its appeal.

I don't gamble, I don't drink, I will be alone (yes, my cousins and brother will be there but that is not the same thing) and for the most part it will be non-stop eating, which is something I definitely don't need.

Happy New Year 2007

2007-01-01T11:06:00.000-05:00

Let me be the first(?) to wish everyone reading this a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. For those of you who stayed up late last night to usher in the New Year, for those who actually went out to New Year's Eve parties, and to those hardy souls who braved the elements, crowds and noise to stand with the multitudes in Times Square, NY or other similar mass gathering, my condolences.

Me, I watched the very meager offerings on TV until I got so sleepy I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, so I went to sleep. I am pretty sure I didn't miss much. As far as the body is concerned one night is pretty much the same as another, and when it gets to be bed time, it doesn't make any difference what day it is.

Between Saturday and yesterday I listed some 16 items on eBay. Half of them have multiple watchers and one has a bid. Nice - it is a fun project, will get rid of some stuff I no longer need or use, and maybe make some $$$ in the process.

Today is football day, and a day to watch all sorts of TV show marathons in case you don't like football. I will probably do a little of both.

This week should be interesting. My daughter Hillary and her husband have a very early morning appointment on Wednesday, in Baltimore, so Grandpa gets to sleep over Tuesday night so he can get the kids t school Wednesday morning.

Thursday they will be coming to install my new TV - it would have been nice to have it this past weekend, but then again I probably wouldn't have had the enthusiasm to list the stuff on eBay.

I didn't accomplish much in terms of polishing the Brass bed, but that was not because it was difficult work, but because I made a mistake many years ago which is coming back to haunt me today.

When I lived in Miami, the salt air and dampness did a job on the brass, causing it to tarnish much faster than normal. I spent time polishing the bed and it looked almost new when I was finished. Of course I wondered what I could do to keep it looking that way, and after asking friends, relatives, and at various stores I was told that the best way to keep it shiny was to spray it with a lacquer-like preservative, which I did.

Over time, unfortunately, the coating wears off in places and the brass begins to tarnish again. Unfortunately, the tarnish also creeps under the parts still covered by the spray and over time it gets really bad. Now trying to get the coating off to polish it again, is proving very difficult. The bed is made from brass pipes with ball-like ends used to join one pipe to another. These are very difficult to polish especially where the balls meet the pipes. I will get it done, but just not as quickly as I first thought

Technology is a wonderful thing

2006-12-30T19:08:00.000-05:00

As I watch TV these days, it is getting harder and harder to distinguish the commercials from the TV shows, specially the sci-fi shows.

One of the wireless providers has a new goodie called the EnV. It is part camera, part phone, and part handheld PC. The unit is about the size of an eyeglass case. It sounds like it can do everything but eat. This thing looks like it could rival the Star Trek Tricorder. The cell phones really do rival those comm badges the actors wore, but they just don't have the same range

Then there are the robotics manufacturers, the Roomba (a device that vacuums rooms, a Scoomba(?) a device that mops floors, and a an older model which mows the lawn. Now they are working on one that will wash dishes, dust and wash windows. Shades of Isaac Asimov!

So who is going to be the first to ask me who Isaac Asimov is and what does he have to do with Robots?

Three weeks ago I ordered three different kinds of shipping boxes from eBay (they're free). Shipping time 5-7 days. They arrived today.

Meanwhile I already went to the post office and picked up a selection of boxes from them (also free). I now have a very large selection of shipping boxes, all flat rate service. I suppose eventually I will use them, or give them to Hillary or Jessie for their eBay sales activities.

Today I spent some time listing stuff on eBay. Hopefully I will be finished by tomorrow. Then I will get to finishing polishing my Brass bed.

Fifteen years ago or more, when I lived in southern Virginia, near Hampton Roads, I saw an ad for this company in VA Beach that made Brass beds. The could make any design you wanted, or you could buy one of their pre-built models. I opted for a plain design. It is made of brass tubing that sheaths a cast iron core. The cross pieces for the slats are also cast iron. The thing looks very light, but it weighs a ton, well, probably closer to 500 pounds. Once in place it is impossible to move unless you disassemble it.

Being brass it also tarnishes. I cleaned it once about seven years ago, and tried to coat it with a tarnish preventive coating. That didn't work and it slowly turned black again. I bought many different tarnish removal concoctions, but all seemed to work about the same and their effectiveness seems to depend on how much elbow grease I added to the mixture.

I hit upon a solution which makes tarnish removal almost easy, certainly easier that before. Rather than using rags with the liquids, I used a piece of very fine steel wool. This stuff is not hard enough, or coarse enough to damage the brass, but when it has the cleaning liquid on it the tarnish comes off unbelievably fast and easy. All I need is a rag to wipe away the excess cleaning solution and tarnish residue. Neat, No mess, No fuss, No bother.

Happiness is...

2006-12-29T20:22:00.000-05:00

Is what I am not sure, but the ubiquitous "they" assure me that "it is" Personally I think that happiness is being satisfied with what you have. I look around me, on this the last working day of the year 2006 and I am content, not wealthy, not particularly healthy but content.

My children are pursuing their own lives, with their own families, they don't want to come live with me, so life is good.

I was married for either 21 or 29 years depending on whether you count to the day the ex and I separated or the day we actually got divorced. Either way I have lived alone now for almost twenty years, ever since I moved out.

In that time I have lived in Waltham, MA, Yorktown, VA, Alexandria, VA, Tysons Corner, VA, Huntsville, AL, Chicago, IL, Grand Rapids, MI, Little Rock, AR, Baltimore, MD, Miami Beach, FL, and now Bristow, VA.

Most of the time, I lived in hotels. I almost never became friendly with my neighbors. Most time I never even met them. During that time, I worked for a large number of companies, and yet with all the people I met and worked with, I barely remember any of them, and have kept in touch with none of them. In fact I barely remember any of the people I worked with over the course of my working life (some 45 years).

I have lived at my present location for ten years, and and I know about fifteen people by name, and recognize the faces of maybe twenty more. I am not sure what that says about me other than I have a poor memory for names and faces.

Now that I live in Bristow and have put down roots of a sort I realize that some people, myself included, were never meant to live with other people. People like myself hate to share their toys and love to do what they want, when they want. We are loners, not hermits, but loners.

My home is Spartan, my diet is what some would call monotonous, and I am happy. I watch people around me acquire things, and I remember when I did the same thing. I have lost most of that acquisitiveness, and frankly don't miss it.

All of which means that I think that, other than for food, I have finished my shopping for a while.

And the beat goes on!!!

2006-12-28T13:24:00.000-05:00

When last we checked in I had just finished purchasing my new HDTV, or so I thought. One of the last things they told me was that in order to get the HD service I needed a new box from Comcast. Now fortunately Comcast in it's infinite corporate wisdom gives these things away, sort of like Gillette giving away the fancy blade holders. They make money selling blades. Well Comcast makes money selling the HD service so the more of these boxes they give away the more money they make.

Was that the end of it, not by a long shot. Seems there are two different HD boxes, and which one you choose depends on how the TV is installed (not quite true but close) One box/service is about $12.00 a month, and the other is about $20, including the service. The $20 dollar variety is actually a DVR box (much like TiVO), and comes with a larger selection of channels, even on basic service. For reasons that escape me the other one doesn't. It gives you HD service for those shows that broadcast in HD, but no additional channels.

Oh, and did I forget to tell you that to hook the DVR up to the TV, a distance of three or four feet normally, you need to purchase an HDMI cable. Now that little sucker is almost $100, and that is the low end of the scale.

The folks at Best Buy hook everything up for free, and Comcast gives me the box, so my only real outlat is for the HDMI cable, HD TV, Stand, and speakers.

So now my purchase cost me an additional $100 for the cable, plus about $25.00/month (with taxes, etc) for the service over and above the $100 I was already paying. Ah well, what can you do, if you want to play, you have to pay, and pay, and pay, and pay...

Splurging on a new TV and a security check

2006-12-26T15:24:00.000-05:00

After weeks and months of agonizing research and deliberation, and just as much time trying to evaluate all the options available to me, I finally bit the bullet and went out and bought a new TV

I selected, a Samsung, 42 inch Plasma HDTV, a set of Bose speakers, and a Black wood and glass TV stand. It is hard to make decisions between one and another of the TVs, but looking at LCD and Plasma side by side, and then looking at 37 inch side by side with a 42 inch helped finalize my decision.

They will deliver all the stuff next Thursday and set it all up (connect the wires). Actually the set up was an additional $400, but they reduced the price of the TV by the same amount so delivery and set up was essentially free.

I can't wait to see it all in action.

I also purchased a valance for the window in my bedroom, not so much for looks but in the morning the sun shines over the roof of the building right behind me, right into my eyes, and I hate waking up that early.

I called my eye doctor because I lost the appointment card and it turns out my appointment is actually this Thursday, so I won't have to reschedule.

When I got home, and as I was reading the mail I got a phone call from some young lady identifying herself as being with Discover Card. Seems they were checking because there was some unusual activity on my card, a purchase at the post office, a purchase at Bed Bath and Beyond (neither one very unusual for me) and n almost $2400 charge at Best Buy (which is very unusual)

It was nice to know that they watch things that carefully and were able to call to verify the charge within two hours of my making the purchase - gives me a warm feeling inside.

One step forward

2006-12-25T19:03:00.000-05:00

I had two chores for this weekend, clean the house and list stuff on eBay.

The first I am thankful to say is done, or at least as well as it is going to get done for now.

The second, well that is another story. I have a pile of stuff to try to sell. Some of it will, some of it won't, but I will try to sell it all.

One item wasn't on my list, but is now. I had a set of six hand painted, limited edition, decorative plates. Each is painted with a wild life scene, ducks, bear, dear, pheasant, etc. I offered them to my daughter Jessie, but she doesn't want them, so they get added to the eBay pile.

Tomorrow I will definitely get to it, if I don't find something else to do. I know I have to go out on some errands, but I will hopefully find time to eBay as well. I have a very long list of errands so I expect that the eBaying will be very short.

By now my daughter Hillary and her family will be in Florida, where her in-laws will spend the next week thoroughly spoiling my granddaughters while Hillary and Bruce relax in Key West. I hope the all have fun.

Decisions, decisions

2006-12-24T10:11:00.000-05:00

I have reviewed all the materials, read all the reviews, listened to all my friends and relatives and finally decided that I know enough to buy a new large screen TV, all by myself.

If any of you have been TV shopping you have an idea what it entails these days. As previously related there are just so many variables, price, size, type, features, service, reliability, etc. Sometimes it is just a matter of closing one's eyes and diving in, feet first. Of course this doesn't mean I know what I am gong to actually but, but it does mean that I will go out next week, after Christmas, armed with my Consumer Reports article and actually but a TV.

Today is cleaning day. I have made up my mind, I am tired of stepping over the vacuum, and the other cleaning tools. Today is the day I actually do it. The reconstruction folks sent a cleaning crew, but they really only moved the dirt and dust around, didn't do a thorough cleaning. That is my job today, at least vacuuming and wiping down the hardwood floors.

Tomorrow, Christmas day is the day I take pictures of the stuff I am going to eBay and actually post the stuff.

These are my plans. I will let you know how reality matches up with the plans tomorrow night

Technology

2006-12-22T15:47:00.000-05:00

I am not sure what happened but it appears that the host for this blog changed from one version to another, and possibly in the process lost everything before today. Not sure but the system is sure acting strangely.

I had planned on a quiet weekend, doing not much of anything, but I was called at 11:00 AM today by an agent asking me to cover her 12:00 to 3:00PM shift. Since I am only ten minutes away I said sure, especially since I had to run to the bank and return some stuff, both near the office.

Before I left the house another agent called and asked if I could cover her 9:00 to 12:00 shift tomorrow morning. With nothing better planned, and with the prospect of continuing to clean the house facing me, desk duty seemed preferable