• I'm not back yet.. was:

    From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Wed Oct 16 17:28:00 2019
    Subject: I'm not back yet.. was: I'm back!


    Hi Nancy!

    Continuing from the Pond, now 13 October, at about 8:15pm...

    So last Sunday evening; and Wednesday afternoon as I write this reply.


    And the subject is appropriate, for me this time... <G>
    Had to cancel and go back to find out what the subject was: I don't
    see that information in the Reply Mode.
    Once I'm in the editor to actually reply, I don't see it either, or
    any of the header info except what goes into the quote header...
    But I can see it before I start to reply... :)
    So same here; I tend not to pay attention to the subject headers when
    addressed to me: more than likely something I'm interested in,
    especially here.
    I try to at least notice as I'm setting up the reply.. especially
    to make sure I shouldn't be changing it in some way to bring it
    up to date... <G>
    That seems like a good idea! I might have to try it some time!!
    You might have noticed that I did change it this time... <G> Of
    course, by the time you get this, I will be back again, and will
    have uploaded the packet, but in the meantime, it's accurate... <G>

    LIS a little while ago (week or so) I tend not to pay attention to the
    subjects in personal correspondence though do in 'business'. Personal,
    being casual, can go in any directory while 'business' is pretty much restricted to one topic.


    My dot-com e-mail accounts -- that's different.
    Which reminds me: I haven't heard from Crown Prince Wazoo recently and
    I need the money as had an unexpected withdrawal.... <g>
    Hmmm... guess who took it, then... <G> Fortunately I've not had any
    of those.... I think my ISP must be filtering out all of that... :)
    I haven't seen any in ages, and yes, it appears the ISPs do a
    reasonably good job in filtering. Oddly the e-mail account I have via CenturyLink (telephone company) seems to get the least spam, then
    G-mail, then MSN, but also taking into consideration the amount and
    type of overall mail each account receives, so probably exposure of the address.
    Probably that does play into it, as does how well each monitors
    for spam... :)

    I have two gmail accounts: one is several years old. Created that one primarily because the MythTV posts site wouldn't accept my Q.COM address
    -- used to! Still get the mail to both accounts, just only send replies
    via the gmail one. Second gmail account was created about a year ago
    because a friend was having sporadic problems sending to my Q.com
    account. The original gmail account gets some spam, the latter I don't
    recall any.



    ...No idea if that double-lined address I have in my
    signature here makes any difference; seemed like a good idea: easy to understand by humans, not so easy by the bots.
    It probably does thwart the bot harvesters...

    Hmm, based on the gmail accounts I should create others for testing,
    putting my new address in various formats!


    And that might be the end of this year's travel, finally... ;)
    You definitely need a large calendar to keep track of your schedule!
    Actually my pocket calendar works out fine... what I refer to as
    my auxillary brain.... :)
    <chuckle> I had "spare brains" at the store: notebooks I created when
    I was in various positions to help keep track of information. A couple
    I had in the Store Office were still in use when I returned several
    years later!
    Another sort of auxillary brain... and obviously helpful to more
    than just you... :)

    <chuckle> I was pleasantly surprised!


    As for the pocket calendar I had one also. Now use the one in the
    cell phone as generally with me if I have to go some place. OTOH we
    still have the paper calendars: one at my computer desk and one hanging
    on the refrigerator. The paper version is still very useful!
    I've not transferred over to using the cell phone's calendar...
    for me it's easier to see the big picture and keep track of
    things with the pocket calendar... All the info is also on the
    paper calendar on the fridge, but the one at my computer isn't
    marked up, just for seeing what day something is... :)

    "All depends!" What process works for one person doesn't for another.


    Ah - somehow I had the idea he was working in England and this was
    vacation/holiday.
    No, he had been working in Turkey, and came back for a few months to
    take care of some of the loose ends he'd left last time (thought he'd
    be gone only a year or less, and it ended up being almost 4 years)
    and to earn some money that would have value elsewhere in the world
    (Turkish lira are only worth anything in Turkey)... Now he'll be
    flying back to Turkey for a couple of months and then off to South
    Africa for a certification course for his boating career....
    He's busy!
    Yup. And you thought I was busy.... <G>

    Must run in the family!


    And if a car isn't working right not a good idea to take it on a
    longer trip - mom knows that!
    Very much so... which is why she ended up renting a car for this
    last trip.... ;) My clutch is getting iffy, and I decided that
    putting 1300+ miles on it wouldn't be that good an idea... nor did
    I relish possibly being stranded 600 miles or so from home... ;)
    Nope: not a good way to spend time! At least if something happens
    close to home can call and get a ride. Plus can get home - at least
    not stuck watching a black and white TV in a dust-bunnied hotel room!
    I do try my best to avoid that sort of thing... ;)

    As I said, smart move! May have cost a bit extra, plus the rental money
    could have gone towards the transmission repair costs. Or could have
    gone towards that dust-bunnied hotel room!


    If Bluewave does anything like that, I've not known about it... as
    far as I've known, the .ptr file came from the door, and is just
    there in the packet....
    Hmm: now that you mention it you're probably right, at least on the
    QWK side of things. REP -- now not so sure.
    I've not known of any .ptr file (accessible to me) in a REP
    packet... something does keep track of things, but I don't know
    that it can be used except by the offline reader...

    Right: I just looked at one and a series of semi-meaningless numbers.
    As long as the computers are happy when needed. :)


    ...That was one good thing about the older/slower computers: could
    read the messages as they scrolled on the screen!
    I had trouble with that even back then... the offline reader has
    always been a lifesaver for me... :)

    I've generally learned writing a reply off-line is best for me, BBS and business forms. Have been timed-out, and/or found needed additional information while composing the reply, etc. Will copy and paste.


    If there are international flights direct into O'Hare or any other
    inland airport, there would need to be some sort of customs there...
    I suppose I could ask some of my friends/family that are Frequent
    Flyers... they'd probably know all about that sort of thing... :)
    They're probably know. Know Swiss (airline) flies to Chicago: my
    in-brain joke would be to tell my Mother I'll meet her at Zurich.
    (One flight is ORD-ZUR, a different flight is BOS-ZUR. (I did check: I just sort of assumed it was CHI-BOS-ZUR - nope!)
    A travel agent could probably figure out all sorts of
    combinations for you... ;)

    True. At this point not necessary as stay with my Mother for a week
    before we zoom off. Would be kind of funny if was the common plane
    flight: I go from Chicago to Boston and meet my Mother on the plane
    there!


    Back then, you only had to tell your citizenship, and things like
    how long had you been out of the country (or expect to be out,
    the other direction)...
    Right - I don't recall too much as nothing all that remarkable.
    Probably was told to let Dad do all the talking and just answer the
    guard's question without embellishment.
    Probably... I remember doing the crossings into Canada at Niagara
    Falls years ago, when one didn't have to show any ID, just look
    honest... ;)
    Those were the days! Now just about need official identification to
    walk down the street.
    Not quite that bad yet, but it's getting there...

    Seems to be. I haven't been involved in any instances of 'random need
    for identification' but rather find it probably better to carry ID as
    well as the various insurance cards should something happen. Talking
    more accident than identification.


    Would there be a website that one could access here from the States
    for the Swiss Travelers Information, maybe....?
    Oh probably. At this point no rush and my cousin had mentioned mobile
    phone (not 'cell' over there) purchase time cards process was going to
    change in October, so may affect pay phones also. Plus if I research
    later the information wil be fresher in my mind.
    Good point... ;) Just have to remember closer in that you DO want
    to research that... <G>
    There's a note. Now the big trick is to find the note in time!!
    Yup. <G>
    I think there's still a wood desk under here!
    Hmmmm.... might be... ;)

    I did find it!! Combination of got in the mood and put in the mood:
    credit union is have a shred event, so time to get rid of some old
    paperwork. Well, that wasn't on the desk but some stored in notebooks
    in the desk's cubbyholes and other on the bookshelf up here. Not all
    needs to be shredded: configuration for the old MythTV stuff was just put
    in the recycle bin.


    We have a guy at church that grows his beard every fall for the
    winter, and then shaves it off come late spring for the summer...
    Richard just keeps his year-round... :)
    The winter beard isn't that uncommon -- I don't know if it helps keep
    one warmer; probably some. OTOH where they ice up.....!
    Keeps it off your face, anyway.... :)

    Might make it hard to talk/drink/eat if the mouth is frozen shut!


    Things were pretty warm there for a while, all over... ;) Was in
    the 90s in North Carolina when I was there... the forecast had
    been to be in the high 80s... Now it's pretty chilly here....and
    up at the Pond where I head next...
    The highs have been in the low 60's the last week or so and pretty
    much continuing for the up-coming week. TV news forecast this morning indicated midweek in low 70's but ansiweather saying upper 60's.
    We'll see.
    And which was it...? As I was telling Daryl, it's mostly been
    rather cool here at the Pond... but I guess it's pretty much
    seasonal for here.... I an glad for heat in the camp and good
    blankets... :)

    As I recall was in the 70's; need the heat now as only 50ø!


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... What happens when fall in love w/ elevator operator? He lets you down.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Mon Oct 28 22:10:46 2019
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 16-Oct-2019 17:28 <=-

    Subject: I'm not back yet.. was: I'm back!

    And, of course, now I AM back... and likely to stay so for a while...
    but still working through the backlog caused by being gone so much... ;)

    Continuing from the Pond, now 13 October, at about 8:15pm...
    So last Sunday evening; and Wednesday afternoon as I write this reply.

    And now, somehow, already the 28th, Monday plus a week....

    I try to at least notice as I'm setting up the reply.. especially
    to make sure I shouldn't be changing it in some way to bring it
    up to date... <G>
    That seems like a good idea! I might have to try it some time!!
    You might have noticed that I did change it this time... <G> Of
    course, by the time you get this, I will be back again, and will
    have uploaded the packet, but in the meantime, it's accurate... <G>
    LIS a little while ago (week or so) I tend not to pay attention to the subjects in personal correspondence though do in 'business'.
    Personal, being casual, can go in any directory while 'business' is
    pretty much restricted to one topic.

    Business being more likely to stay relatively formal, after all... :)

    I haven't seen any in ages, and yes, it appears the ISPs do a
    reasonably good job in filtering. Oddly the e-mail account I have via
    CenturyLink (telephone company) seems to get the least spam, then
    G-mail, then MSN, but also taking into consideration the amount and
    type of overall mail each account receives, so probably exposure of the
    address.
    Probably that does play into it, as does how well each monitors for
    spam... :)
    I have two gmail accounts: one is several years old. Created that one primarily because the MythTV posts site wouldn't accept my Q.COM
    address -- used to! Still get the mail to both accounts, just only
    send replies via the gmail one. Second gmail account was created about
    a year ago because a friend was having sporadic problems sending to my Q.com account. The original gmail account gets some spam, the latter I don't recall any.

    That makes some sense, the first one would have had more exposure to
    spambots, I'd guess....

    ...No idea if that double-lined address I have in my signature here
    makes any difference; seemed like a good idea: easy to understand by
    humans, not so easy by the bots.
    It probably does thwart the bot harvesters...
    Hmm, based on the gmail accounts I should create others for testing, putting my new address in various formats!

    Could be interesting, I suppose... more effort than I'd likely do... but
    then I don't tend to put my address out all that visibly... :)

    As for the pocket calendar I had one also. Now use the one in the
    cell phone as generally with me if I have to go some place. OTOH we
    still have the paper calendars: one at my computer desk and one hanging
    on the refrigerator. The paper version is still very useful!
    I've not transferred over to using the cell phone's calendar... for me
    it's easier to see the big picture and keep track of things with the
    pocket calendar... All the info is also on the paper calendar on the
    fridge, but the one at my computer isn't marked up, just for seeing
    what day something is... :)
    "All depends!" What process works for one person doesn't for another.

    Yup... And one develops one's own ways of dealing... <G>

    Ah - somehow I had the idea he was working in England and this was
    vacation/holiday.
    No, he had been working in Turkey, and came back for a few months to
    take care of some of the loose ends he'd left last time (thought he'd
    be gone only a year or less, and it ended up being almost 4 years)
    and to earn some money that would have value elsewhere in the world
    (Turkish lira are only worth anything in Turkey)... Now he'll be
    flying back to Turkey for a couple of months and then off to South
    Africa for a certification course for his boating career....
    He's busy!
    Yup. And you thought I was busy.... <G>
    Must run in the family!

    He certainly contributed to my being busy this year....

    And if a car isn't working right not a good idea to take it on a
    longer trip - mom knows that!
    Very much so... which is why she ended up renting a car for this
    last trip.... ;) My clutch is getting iffy, and I decided that
    putting 1300+ miles on it wouldn't be that good an idea... nor did
    I relish possibly being stranded 600 miles or so from home... ;)
    Nope: not a good way to spend time! At least if something happens
    close to home can call and get a ride. Plus can get home - at least
    not stuck watching a black and white TV in a dust-bunnied hotel room!
    I do try my best to avoid that sort of thing... ;)
    As I said, smart move! May have cost a bit extra, plus the rental
    money could have gone towards the transmission repair costs. Or could have gone towards that dust-bunnied hotel room!

    I'd probably have looked for a nearby friend or family to crash with, if
    at all possible....the rental for about a week was under $200, so not exorbitant... and also paid for some peace of mind... :)

    ...That was one good thing about the older/slower computers: could
    read the messages as they scrolled on the screen!
    I had trouble with that even back then... the offline reader has
    always been a lifesaver for me... :)
    I've generally learned writing a reply off-line is best for me, BBS
    and business forms. Have been timed-out, and/or found needed
    additional information while composing the reply, etc. Will copy and paste.

    Same for me... even to the occasional copy and paste (although mine is
    more of a find and insert file)....

    Know Swiss (airline) flies to Chicago: my in-brain joke would be to
    tell my Mother I'll meet her at Zurich. (One flight is ORD-ZUR, a
    different flight is BOS-ZUR. (I did check: I just sort of assumed
    it was CHI-BOS-ZUR - nope!)
    A travel agent could probably figure out all sorts of combinations
    for you... ;)
    True. At this point not necessary as stay with my Mother for a week before we zoom off. Would be kind of funny if was the common plane flight: I go from Chicago to Boston and meet my Mother on the plane
    there!

    If you weren't planning on the stopover, that could be convenient... :)

    Those were the days! Now just about need official identification to
    walk down the street.
    Not quite that bad yet, but it's getting there...
    Seems to be. I haven't been involved in any instances of 'random need
    for identification' but rather find it probably better to carry ID as
    well as the various insurance cards should something happen. Talking
    more accident than identification.

    Yup, I've long made that a practice, to carry ID just in case....

    Things were pretty warm there for a while, all over... ;) Was in
    the 90s in North Carolina when I was there... the forecast had
    been to be in the high 80s... Now it's pretty chilly here....and
    up at the Pond where I head next...
    The highs have been in the low 60's the last week or so and pretty
    much continuing for the up-coming week. TV news forecast this morning
    indicated midweek in low 70's but ansiweather saying upper 60's.
    We'll see.
    And which was it...? As I was telling Daryl, it's mostly been rather
    cool here at the Pond... but I guess it's pretty much seasonal for
    here.... I am glad for heat in the camp and good blankets... :)
    As I recall was in the 70's; need the heat now as only 50ø!

    A quick decline into fall.... Today the high was into the 60s...
    tomorrow pretty close to 70 again... and then plummeting back to the
    50s, with that white stuff a possibility by the weekend....

    ... What happens when fall in love w/ elevator operator? He lets you
    down.

    He could also bring you up, though... ;)

    ttyl neb

    ... The Borg assimilated me & all I got was this stupid T-Shirt!

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Tue Oct 29 09:16:00 2019

    Hi Nancy!


    Subject: I'm not back yet.. was: I'm back!
    And, of course, now I AM back... and likely to stay so for a
    while... but still working through the backlog caused by being
    gone so much... ;)

    As long as you don't get to my comment in the previous message about it
    being the first snow of the year next Spring you'll be fine!


    Continuing from the Pond, now 13 October, at about 8:15pm...
    So last Sunday evening; and Wednesday afternoon as I write this reply.
    And now, somehow, already the 28th, Monday plus a week....

    <evil typing> I saw a Robin this morning! </evil typing>



    I try to at least notice as I'm setting up the reply.. especially
    to make sure I shouldn't be changing it in some way to bring it
    up to date... <G>
    That seems like a good idea! I might have to try it some time!!
    You might have noticed that I did change it this time... <G> Of
    course, by the time you get this, I will be back again, and will
    have uploaded the packet, but in the meantime, it's accurate... <G>
    LIS a little while ago (week or so) I tend not to pay attention to the subjects in personal correspondence though do in 'business'.
    Personal, being casual, can go in any directory while 'business' is
    pretty much restricted to one topic.
    Business being more likely to stay relatively formal, after
    all... :)

    So not like:
    Dear Nancy:
    We are so sorry :( to lecha know ....

    Brief news-filler recently: Casual Fridays has expanded and sometimes
    take over the entire week. Beginning of the segment implied not a good
    idea to go too casual but then did the 'bigger picture' and in some
    businesses it doesn't matter, such as software development.



    I haven't seen any in ages, and yes, it appears the ISPs do a
    reasonably good job in filtering. Oddly the e-mail account I have via
    CenturyLink (telephone company) seems to get the least spam, then
    G-mail, then MSN, but also taking into consideration the amount and
    type of overall mail each account receives, so probably exposure of the
    address.
    Probably that does play into it, as does how well each monitors for
    spam... :)
    I have two gmail accounts: one is several years old. Created that one primarily because the MythTV posts site wouldn't accept my Q.COM
    address -- used to! Still get the mail to both accounts, just only
    send replies via the gmail one. Second gmail account was created about
    a year ago because a friend was having sporadic problems sending to my Q.com account. The original gmail account gets some spam, the latter I don't recall any.
    That makes some sense, the first one would have had more exposure
    to spambots, I'd guess....

    In my highly unscientific study that would be a probability. Would make
    sense as has the less exposure, just as the one I have the most spam is
    also the one with the most exposure. The two accounts are also the
    newest and oldest, respectively, so a huge variable right there.


    ...No idea if that double-lined address I have in my signature here
    makes any difference; seemed like a good idea: easy to understand by
    humans, not so easy by the bots.
    It probably does thwart the bot harvesters...
    Hmm, based on the gmail accounts I should create others for testing, putting my new address in various formats!
    Could be interesting, I suppose... more effort than I'd likely
    do... but then I don't tend to put my address out all that
    visibly... :)

    There have been a few times when having my e-mail here was useful. As a general rule I would say not. ...Another part of my brain is
    interrupting: would be interesting (yawn!) to see if those anti-spam
    formatted addresss like "barry10.<delete_the_10> at q dot com" do any
    good. Seems like it would be easy enough to programme effectively
    change the 'at' to '@' if sees a 'com'.


    As for the pocket calendar I had one also. Now use the one in the
    cell phone as generally with me if I have to go some place. OTOH we
    still have the paper calendars: one at my computer desk and one hanging
    on the refrigerator. The paper version is still very useful!
    I've not transferred over to using the cell phone's calendar... for me
    it's easier to see the big picture and keep track of things with the
    pocket calendar... All the info is also on the paper calendar on the
    fridge, but the one at my computer isn't marked up, just for seeing
    what day something is... :)
    "All depends!" What process works for one person doesn't for another.
    Yup... And one develops one's own ways of dealing... <G>

    Including calling back when one gets home and discovers got double-
    booked! ...I don't know if I could do without a paper calendar for
    reminders: use a month-at-a-glance here and to me handy to see a blob on
    a date to remind me of something in the future. ...Can do the same with
    the electronic calendar, would just have to get used to it.


    Ah - somehow I had the idea he was working in England and this was
    vacation/holiday.
    No, he had been working in Turkey, and came back for a few months to
    take care of some of the loose ends he'd left last time (thought he'd
    be gone only a year or less, and it ended up being almost 4 years)
    and to earn some money that would have value elsewhere in the world
    (Turkish lira are only worth anything in Turkey)... Now he'll be
    flying back to Turkey for a couple of months and then off to South
    Africa for a certification course for his boating career....
    He's busy!
    Yup. And you thought I was busy.... <G>
    Must run in the family!
    He certainly contributed to my being busy this year....

    But a fun busy!


    And if a car isn't working right not a good idea to take it on a
    longer trip - mom knows that!
    Very much so... which is why she ended up renting a car for this
    last trip.... ;) My clutch is getting iffy, and I decided that
    putting 1300+ miles on it wouldn't be that good an idea... nor did
    I relish possibly being stranded 600 miles or so from home... ;)
    Nope: not a good way to spend time! At least if something happens
    close to home can call and get a ride. Plus can get home - at least
    not stuck watching a black and white TV in a dust-bunnied hotel room!
    I do try my best to avoid that sort of thing... ;)
    As I said, smart move! May have cost a bit extra, plus the rental
    money could have gone towards the transmission repair costs. Or could have gone towards that dust-bunnied hotel room!
    I'd probably have looked for a nearby friend or family to crash
    with, if at all possible....the rental for about a week was under
    $200, so not exorbitant... and also paid for some peace of
    mind... :)

    Yes, if able to crash with someone would remove the hotel costs, even
    though probably compensated some with taking them out to eat and/or some groceries. And the $200 rental isn't bad; as you said, peace of mind,
    when you knew there was a problem.


    ...That was one good thing about the older/slower computers: could
    read the messages as they scrolled on the screen!
    I had trouble with that even back then... the offline reader has
    always been a lifesaver for me... :)
    I've generally learned writing a reply off-line is best for me, BBS
    and business forms. Have been timed-out, and/or found needed
    additional information while composing the reply, etc. Will copy and paste.
    Same for me... even to the occasional copy and paste (although
    mine is more of a find and insert file)....

    Find and insert is just a bigger copy and paste job! <g>


    Know Swiss (airline) flies to Chicago: my in-brain joke would be to
    tell my Mother I'll meet her at Zurich. (One flight is ORD-ZUR, a
    different flight is BOS-ZUR. (I did check: I just sort of assumed
    it was CHI-BOS-ZUR - nope!)
    A travel agent could probably figure out all sorts of combinations
    for you... ;)
    True. At this point not necessary as stay with my Mother for a week before we zoom off. Would be kind of funny if was the common plane flight: I go from Chicago to Boston and meet my Mother on the plane
    there!
    If you weren't planning on the stopover, that could be
    convenient... :)

    Yes! If had to go to Vienna due to an emergency would make sense to meet
    my Mother in Boston. Flight route doesn't make that work out so back to
    Moline to Detroit to Manchester to Boston to Zurich to Vienna. Could be
    done all in one day, though I think I'd definitely be sleep-deprived!


    Those were the days! Now just about need official identification to
    walk down the street.
    Not quite that bad yet, but it's getting there...
    Seems to be. I haven't been involved in any instances of 'random need
    for identification' but rather find it probably better to carry ID as
    well as the various insurance cards should something happen. Talking
    more accident than identification.
    Yup, I've long made that a practice, to carry ID just in case....

    To me also seems a good practice. Have seen a few too many accidents
    "for no reason". OK, so rarely on purpose, but I'm talking "perfect
    driving conditions" and something happens.


    Things were pretty warm there for a while, all over... ;) Was in
    the 90s in North Carolina when I was there... the forecast had
    been to be in the high 80s... Now it's pretty chilly here....and
    up at the Pond where I head next...
    The highs have been in the low 60's the last week or so and pretty
    much continuing for the up-coming week. TV news forecast this morning
    indicated midweek in low 70's but ansiweather saying upper 60's.
    We'll see.
    And which was it...? As I was telling Daryl, it's mostly been rather
    cool here at the Pond... but I guess it's pretty much seasonal for
    here.... I am glad for heat in the camp and good blankets... :)
    As I recall was in the 70's; need the heat now as only 50ø!
    A quick decline into fall.... Today the high was into the 60s...
    tomorrow pretty close to 70 again... and then plummeting back to
    the 50s, with that white stuff a possibility by the weekend....

    LIS at the top of my first message in this packet there's snow outside! Yesterday's temperature graph from the Norwegian service was essentially
    a flat line dropping off at the end: temperatures did stay in the low
    40's all day and then cooled into the 30'd at night.


    ... What happens when fall in love w/ elevator operator? He lets you
    down.
    He could also bring you up, though... ;)

    That was at the beginning of things.



    ... The Borg assimilated me & all I got was this stupid T-Shirt!

    It'll help keep you warm!



    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... October 30: anniversary of the radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds".
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  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Mon Nov 4 20:44:34 2019
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 29-Oct-2019 09:16 <=-

    Subject: I'm not back yet.. was: I'm back!
    And, of course, now I AM back... and likely to stay so for a while...
    but still working through the backlog caused by being gone so much...
    As long as you don't get to my comment in the previous message about
    it being the first snow of the year next Spring you'll be fine!

    I'm a little less than a week behind at the moment... ;) And we're
    possibly getting our first snow of the year later this week...

    Continuing from the Pond, now 13 October, at about 8:15pm...
    So last Sunday evening; and Wednesday afternoon as I write this reply.
    And now, somehow, already the 28th, Monday plus a week....
    <evil typing> I saw a Robin this morning! </evil typing>

    Poor, poor robin.... <G> Today's only the 4th of November... ok,
    another week later from my message above... but I'm making some
    progress... ;)

    LIS a little while ago (week or so) I tend not to pay attention to the
    subjects in personal correspondence though do in 'business'.
    Personal, being casual, can go in any directory while 'business' is
    pretty much restricted to one topic.
    Business being more likely to stay relatively formal, after all... :)
    So not like:
    Dear Nancy:
    We are so sorry :( to lecha know ....

    One would hope to not find that in business correspondance... :)

    Brief news-filler recently: Casual Fridays has expanded and sometimes
    take over the entire week. Beginning of the segment implied not a
    good idea to go too casual but then did the 'bigger picture' and in
    some businesses it doesn't matter, such as software development.

    Exactly.... it really mostly depends on the specific workplace... and
    how much exposure to (and expectations from) the public one would be
    dealing with.... :)

    I have two gmail accounts: one is several years old. Created that one
    primarily because the MythTV posts site wouldn't accept my Q.COM
    address -- used to! Still get the mail to both accounts, just only
    send replies via the gmail one. Second gmail account was created about
    a year ago because a friend was having sporadic problems sending to my
    Q.com account. The original gmail account gets some spam, the latter I
    don't recall any.
    That makes some sense, the first one would have had more exposure to
    spambots, I'd guess....
    In my highly unscientific study that would be a probability. Would
    make sense as has the less exposure, just as the one I have the most
    spam is also the one with the most exposure. The two accounts are also the newest and oldest, respectively, so a huge variable right there.

    True, the oldest would have given more time for being collected, so
    potentially also increased exposure...

    ...No idea if that double-lined address I have in my signature here
    makes any difference; seemed like a good idea: easy to understand by
    humans, not so easy by the bots.
    It probably does thwart the bot harvesters...
    Hmm, based on the gmail accounts I should create others for testing,
    putting my new address in various formats!
    Could be interesting, I suppose... more effort than I'd likely do...
    but then I don't tend to put my address out all that visibly... :)
    There have been a few times when having my e-mail here was useful. As
    a general rule I would say not.

    When I was posting in the now-defunct Genealogy echo in Fido, I
    regularly included my snail-mail address... one never knew what
    cousin(s) might be lurking.... occasionally, I did get a package out of
    the blue from someone that was reading but not replying in the echo... Generally now, I'll only put my email out when someone asks for it, and
    then generally in a somewhat disguised format....

    ...Another part of my brain is interrupting: would be interesting
    (yawn!) to see if those anti-spam formatted addresss like "barry10.<delete_the_10> at q dot com" do any good. Seems like it
    would be easy enough to programme effectively change the 'at' to
    '@' if sees a 'com'.

    One would also have to program in removing spaces, and changing dot to a period.... At the least, a lot of IF-THEN statements.... and certain assumptions would have to be made as well.... :)

    As for the pocket calendar I had one also. Now use the one in the
    cell phone as generally with me if I have to go some place. OTOH we
    still have the paper calendars: one at my computer desk and one hanging
    on the refrigerator. The paper version is still very useful!
    I've not transferred over to using the cell phone's calendar... for me
    it's easier to see the big picture and keep track of things with the
    pocket calendar... All the info is also on the paper calendar on the
    fridge, but the one at my computer isn't marked up, just for seeing
    what day something is... :)
    "All depends!" What process works for one person doesn't for another.
    Yup... And one develops one's own ways of dealing... <G>
    Including calling back when one gets home and discovers got double- booked! ...I don't know if I could do without a paper calendar for reminders: use a month-at-a-glance here and to me handy to see a blob
    on a date to remind me of something in the future. ...Can do the same with the electronic calendar, would just have to get used to it.

    And need to mnake sure everything gets entered into the electronic one,
    along with the paper ones.... ;) I still find it easier to have the
    pocket calendar with me when I'm out, along with the phone, and just use
    the former for entering in new appointments....

    As I said, smart move! May have cost a bit extra, plus the rental
    money could have gone towards the transmission repair costs. Or could
    have gone towards that dust-bunnied hotel room!
    I'd probably have looked for a nearby friend or family to crash with,
    if at all possible....the rental for about a week was under $200, so
    not exorbitant... and also paid for some peace of mind... :)
    Yes, if able to crash with someone would remove the hotel costs, even though probably compensated some with taking them out to eat and/or
    some groceries. And the $200 rental isn't bad; as you said, peace of mind, when you knew there was a problem.

    Along the lines of my mother-in-law getting me AAA coverage... for HER
    peace of mind... ;) I've continued that for myself now that she's
    gone....

    ...That was one good thing about the older/slower computers: could
    read the messages as they scrolled on the screen!
    I had trouble with that even back then... the offline reader has
    always been a lifesaver for me... :)
    I've generally learned writing a reply off-line is best for me, BBS
    and business forms. Have been timed-out, and/or found needed
    additional information while composing the reply, etc. Will copy and
    paste.
    Same for me... even to the occasional copy and paste (although mine
    is more of a find and insert file)....
    Find and insert is just a bigger copy and paste job! <g>

    True. :)

    True. At this point not necessary as stay with my Mother for a week
    before we zoom off. Would be kind of funny if was the common plane
    flight: I go from Chicago to Boston and meet my Mother on the plane
    there!
    If you weren't planning on the stopover, that could be convenient... :)
    Yes! If had to go to Vienna due to an emergency would make sense to
    meet my Mother in Boston. Flight route doesn't make that work out so
    back to Moline to Detroit to Manchester to Boston to Zurich to Vienna. Could be done all in one day, though I think I'd definitely be sleep-deprived!

    Unless you are one that can sleep on the plane.... ;)

    Seems to be. I haven't been involved in any instances of 'random need
    for identification' but rather find it probably better to carry ID as
    well as the various insurance cards should something happen. Talking
    more accident than identification.
    Yup, I've long made that a practice, to carry ID just in case....
    To me also seems a good practice. Have seen a few too many accidents
    "for no reason". OK, so rarely on purpose, but I'm talking "perfect driving conditions" and something happens.

    There are plenty of idiot drivers out there...

    A quick decline into fall.... Today the high was into the 60s...
    tomorrow pretty close to 70 again... and then plummeting back to
    the 50s, with that white stuff a possibility by the weekend....
    LIS at the top of my first message in this packet there's snow
    outside! Yesterday's temperature graph from the Norwegian service was essentially a flat line dropping off at the end: temperatures did stay
    in the low 40's all day and then cooled into the 30'd at night.

    We had one day recently where the low of the night before was actually a
    little higher than the high of the following day.... not quite sure how
    that worked.... ;0

    ... What happens when fall in love w/ elevator operator? He lets you
    down.
    He could also bring you up, though... ;)
    That was at the beginning of things.

    I suppose.... ;)

    ttyl neb

    ... Just when you think it's hopelessly broken, it works.

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Wed Nov 6 08:52:00 2019

    Hi Nancy!

    Subject: I'm not back yet.. was: I'm back!
    And, of course, now I AM back... and likely to stay so for a while...
    but still working through the backlog caused by being gone so much...
    As long as you don't get to my comment in the previous message about
    it being the first snow of the year next Spring you'll be fine!
    I'm a little less than a week behind at the moment... ;) And
    we're possibly getting our first snow of the year later this
    week...

    And if one is smart get the shovels, ice chipper and salt out. Might be
    a good idea to get the snow equipment for the car ready too. And last
    Sunday while it was warm checked the air pressure in the car tires and
    filled.


    Continuing from the Pond, now 13 October, at about 8:15pm...
    So last Sunday evening; and Wednesday afternoon as I write this reply.
    And now, somehow, already the 28th, Monday plus a week....
    <evil typing> I saw a Robin this morning! </evil typing>
    Poor, poor robin.... <G> Today's only the 4th of November... ok,
    another week later from my message above... but I'm making some progress... ;)

    I did see some small birds hopping around on the neighbour's roof the
    other day -- guess they were eating bugs and whatever fell off his tree.


    LIS a little while ago (week or so) I tend not to pay attention to the
    subjects in personal correspondence though do in 'business'.
    Personal, being casual, can go in any directory while 'business' is
    pretty much restricted to one topic.
    Business being more likely to stay relatively formal, after all... :)
    So not like:
    Dear Nancy:
    We are so sorry :( to lecha know ....
    One would hope to not find that in business correspondance... :)

    It would tend to send up a red flag. And the degree of formality
    depends on the source/reason. Thinking along the lines of a credit
    card offer would want to be relatively upbeat to give the impression
    they are the fun company to do business with. ...Then there could be
    the other end when the credited money is past due and things aren't so
    fun.


    Brief news-filler recently: Casual Fridays has expanded and sometimes
    take over the entire week. Beginning of the segment implied not a
    good idea to go too casual but then did the 'bigger picture' and in
    some businesses it doesn't matter, such as software development.
    Exactly.... it really mostly depends on the specific workplace...
    and how much exposure to (and expectations from) the public one
    would be dealing with.... :)

    The store where I worked originally did the Casual Friday as a reward:
    sales, customer reviews and other metrics all up and we'd get to wear
    jeans, etc. Went fine until some people took the casual too far: tee
    shirt vs. polo shirt for example.



    ...No idea if that double-lined address I have in my signature here
    makes any difference; seemed like a good idea: easy to understand by
    humans, not so easy by the bots.
    It probably does thwart the bot harvesters...
    Hmm, based on the gmail accounts I should create others for testing,
    putting my new address in various formats!
    Could be interesting, I suppose... more effort than I'd likely do...
    but then I don't tend to put my address out all that visibly... :)
    There have been a few times when having my e-mail here was useful. As
    a general rule I would say not.
    When I was posting in the now-defunct Genealogy echo in Fido, I
    regularly included my snail-mail address... one never knew what
    cousin(s) might be lurking.... occasionally, I did get a package
    out of the blue from someone that was reading but not replying in
    the echo... Generally now, I'll only put my email out when
    someone asks for it, and then generally in a somewhat disguised
    format....

    Yes, it would seem logical to have an address or some sort of additional
    method of contact in a Genealogy conference where one expects to share
    familiy information. I've stumbled on old information while Googling
    and wished there was a way to contact the person to possibly get an
    update, or in the instance of one I'm thinking of currently to give information.


    ...Another part of my brain is interrupting: would be interesting
    (yawn!) to see if those anti-spam formatted addresss like "barry10.<delete_the_10> at q dot com" do any good. Seems like it
    would be easy enough to programme effectively change the 'at' to
    '@' if sees a 'com'.
    One would also have to program in removing spaces, and changing
    dot to a period.... At the least, a lot of IF-THEN
    statements.... and certain assumptions would have to be made as
    well.... :)

    Yes; quite sure could be done, More or less one of those quirky little
    mental exercises I tend to do occasionally.


    As for the pocket calendar I had one also. Now use the one in the
    cell phone as generally with me if I have to go some place. OTOH we
    still have the paper calendars: one at my computer desk and one hanging
    on the refrigerator. The paper version is still very useful!
    I've not transferred over to using the cell phone's calendar... for me
    it's easier to see the big picture and keep track of things with the
    pocket calendar... All the info is also on the paper calendar on the
    fridge, but the one at my computer isn't marked up, just for seeing
    what day something is... :)
    "All depends!" What process works for one person doesn't for another.
    Yup... And one develops one's own ways of dealing... <G>
    Including calling back when one gets home and discovers got double- booked! ...I don't know if I could do without a paper calendar for reminders: use a month-at-a-glance here and to me handy to see a blob
    on a date to remind me of something in the future. ...Can do the same with the electronic calendar, would just have to get used to it.
    And need to mnake sure everything gets entered into the
    electronic one, along with the paper ones.... ;) I still find it
    easier to have the pocket calendar with me when I'm out, along
    with the phone, and just use the former for entering in new appointments....

    Yes; it seems the busier a person is the easier it is to have a paper calendar, though that seems to work only for one or two person
    operations. Start getting in to small businesses and the electronic
    calendar is more convenient as multiple people need access to the one schedule.


    As I said, smart move! May have cost a bit extra, plus the rental
    money could have gone towards the transmission repair costs. Or could
    have gone towards that dust-bunnied hotel room!
    I'd probably have looked for a nearby friend or family to crash with,
    if at all possible....the rental for about a week was under $200, so
    not exorbitant... and also paid for some peace of mind... :)
    Yes, if able to crash with someone would remove the hotel costs, even though probably compensated some with taking them out to eat and/or
    some groceries. And the $200 rental isn't bad; as you said, peace of mind, when you knew there was a problem.
    Along the lines of my mother-in-law getting me AAA coverage...
    for HER peace of mind... ;) I've continued that for myself now
    that she's gone....

    My Mother continued the AAA coverage Dad had; not used all that often
    but very handy when needed. I used to have coverage by AAA, also didn't
    use it all that often (which was another reason why I was annoyed with
    them during that period when I had a series of issues with my car at the
    time and they threatened to cancel). My current car insurance offers
    similar rescue coverage so cancelled the AAA as duplication.



    True. At this point not necessary as stay with my Mother for a week
    before we zoom off. Would be kind of funny if was the common plane
    flight: I go from Chicago to Boston and meet my Mother on the plane
    there!
    If you weren't planning on the stopover, that could be convenient... :)
    Yes! If had to go to Vienna due to an emergency would make sense to
    meet my Mother in Boston. Flight route doesn't make that work out so
    back to Moline to Detroit to Manchester to Boston to Zurich to Vienna. Could be done all in one day, though I think I'd definitely be sleep-deprived!
    Unless you are one that can sleep on the plane.... ;)

    I do doze off: multiple short naps. My Mother claims she doesn't sleep
    at all though I know she does.


    Seems to be. I haven't been involved in any instances of 'random need
    for identification' but rather find it probably better to carry ID as
    well as the various insurance cards should something happen. Talking
    more accident than identification.
    Yup, I've long made that a practice, to carry ID just in case....
    To me also seems a good practice. Have seen a few too many accidents
    "for no reason". OK, so rarely on purpose, but I'm talking "perfect driving conditions" and something happens.
    There are plenty of idiot drivers out there...

    That's true!


    A quick decline into fall.... Today the high was into the 60s...
    tomorrow pretty close to 70 again... and then plummeting back to
    the 50s, with that white stuff a possibility by the weekend....
    LIS at the top of my first message in this packet there's snow
    outside! Yesterday's temperature graph from the Norwegian service was essentially a flat line dropping off at the end: temperatures did stay
    in the low 40's all day and then cooled into the 30'd at night.
    We had one day recently where the low of the night before was
    actually a little higher than the high of the following day....
    not quite sure how that worked.... ;0

    We've also had "the high for today was at midnight": cold front comes
    through and the temperatures drop. Does seem odd. And earlier this
    week we had the day's high at 11 a.m.: cold front came through and
    didn't allow the temperature to continue to warm for the normal mid-
    afternoon high point. (And "cold front" may not be the correct term.)


    ... What happens when fall in love w/ elevator operator? He lets you
    down.
    He could also bring you up, though... ;)
    That was at the beginning of things.
    I suppose.... ;)

    And with along-term relationship multiple ups and downs?!


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... "I'm tired of working in a dynamite factory!" Tom exploded.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Mon Nov 11 02:06:38 2019
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 06-Nov-2019 08:52 <=-

    Subject: I'm not back yet.. was: I'm back!
    And, of course, now I AM back... and likely to stay so for a while...
    but still working through the backlog caused by being gone so much...
    As long as you don't get to my comment in the previous message about
    it being the first snow of the year next Spring you'll be fine!
    I'm a little less than a week behind at the moment... ;) And we're possibly getting our first snow of the year later this week...
    And if one is smart get the shovels, ice chipper and salt out. Might
    be a good idea to get the snow equipment for the car ready too. And
    last Sunday while it was warm checked the air pressure in the car tires and filled.

    That was wise... ;) Looks like we'll be getting some up and down
    weather for a while.... after the winter storm, things are supposed to
    warm up, so the snow probably won't stay.... we shall see.... the
    weather forecast keeps changing... :)

    And now, somehow, already the 28th, Monday plus a week....
    <evil typing> I saw a Robin this morning! </evil typing>
    Poor, poor robin.... <G> Today's only the 4th of November... ok,
    another week later from my message above... but I'm making some
    progress... ;)
    I did see some small birds hopping around on the neighbour's roof the other day -- guess they were eating bugs and whatever fell off his
    tree.

    Finding something, anyway... ;) There still are some birds around...
    some stay the winter anyway... not sure about the geese if they are in mid-migration, or come down from Canada to stay the winter here... ;)

    Business being more likely to stay relatively formal, after all... :)
    So not like:
    Dear Nancy:
    We are so sorry :( to lecha know ....
    One would hope to not find that in business correspondance... :)
    It would tend to send up a red flag. And the degree of formality
    depends on the source/reason. Thinking along the lines of a credit
    card offer would want to be relatively upbeat to give the impression
    they are the fun company to do business with. ...Then there could be
    the other end when the credited money is past due and things aren't so fun.

    Most credit card offers I've been sent have been quite formal, though friendly... Haven't had experience with the latter (and hope never to
    have to!).... :)

    Brief news-filler recently: Casual Fridays has expanded and sometimes
    take over the entire week. Beginning of the segment implied not a
    good idea to go too casual but then did the 'bigger picture' and in
    some businesses it doesn't matter, such as software development.
    Exactly.... it really mostly depends on the specific workplace...
    and how much exposure to (and expectations from) the public one
    would be dealing with.... :)
    The store where I worked originally did the Casual Friday as a reward: sales, customer reviews and other metrics all up and we'd get to wear jeans, etc. Went fine until some people took the casual too far: tee shirt vs. polo shirt for example.

    Of course, in some settings, even the tee shirt wouldn't be considered
    too casual... :)

    There have been a few times when having my e-mail here was useful. As
    a general rule I would say not.
    When I was posting in the now-defunct Genealogy echo in Fido, I
    regularly included my snail-mail address... one never knew what
    cousin(s) might be lurking.... occasionally, I did get a package out
    of the blue from someone that was reading but not replying in the
    echo... Generally now, I'll only put my email out when someone asks
    for it, and then generally in a somewhat disguised format....
    Yes, it would seem logical to have an address or some sort of
    additional method of contact in a Genealogy conference where one
    expects to share family information. I've stumbled on old information while Googling and wished there was a way to contact the person to possibly get an update, or in the instance of one I'm thinking of currently to give information.

    That would be a place where having had other contact info would have
    been helpful, too... Of course, even that might be outdated... :)
    Though, I've had the same email address for decades now, and have had
    the same snail address for over 40 years.... ;)

    ...Another part of my brain is interrupting: would be interesting
    (yawn!) to see if those anti-spam formatted addresss like
    "barry10.<delete_the_10> at q dot com" do any good. Seems like it
    would be easy enough to programme effectively change the 'at' to
    '@' if sees a 'com'.
    One would also have to program in removing spaces, and changing dot
    to a period.... At the least, a lot of IF-THEN statements.... and
    certain assumptions would have to be made as well.... :)
    Yes; quite sure could be done, More or less one of those quirky
    little mental exercises I tend to do occasionally.

    Could be done, but maybe not worth the effort to really do it... :)

    "All depends!" What process works for one person doesn't for another.
    Yup... And one develops one's own ways of dealing... <G>
    Including calling back when one gets home and discovers got double-
    booked! ...I don't know if I could do without a paper calendar for
    reminders: use a month-at-a-glance here and to me handy to see a blob
    on a date to remind me of something in the future. ...Can do the same
    with the electronic calendar, would just have to get used to it.
    And need to make sure everything gets entered into the electronic
    one, along with the paper ones.... ;) I still find it easier to have
    the pocket calendar with me when I'm out, along with the phone, and
    just use the former for entering in new appointments....
    Yes; it seems the busier a person is the easier it is to have a paper calendar, though that seems to work only for one or two person
    operations. Start getting in to small businesses and the electronic calendar is more convenient as multiple people need access to the one schedule.

    Which is somewhat a different situation than we've been discussing...
    Here, to keep things simpler, Richard's designated me the keeper of the schedules, so everything goes into my pocket calendar, and then onto the
    one on the fridge (by the downstairs phone extension).... And I'm the
    one to make sure that we don't have conflicts in schedulings... :)

    And the $200 rental isn't bad; as you said, peace of mind, when you
    knew there was a problem.
    Along the lines of my mother-in-law getting me AAA coverage... for
    HER peace of mind... ;) I've continued that for myself now that
    she's gone....
    My Mother continued the AAA coverage Dad had; not used all that often
    but very handy when needed. I used to have coverage by AAA, also
    didn't use it all that often (which was another reason why I was
    annoyed with them during that period when I had a series of issues with
    my car at the time and they threatened to cancel). My current car insurance offers similar rescue coverage so cancelled the AAA as duplication.

    I get most of my money back just from the maps and triptiks... and if
    we'd put the kid on the membership a little sooner, it would have saved
    LOTS of money when his Jeep went into the drink (drainage pond)... ;)
    Dunno how much rescue coverage I have with my car insurance, but they
    did pay for most of the rental when I had the car in the collision
    shop....

    True. At this point not necessary as stay with my Mother for a week
    before we zoom off. Would be kind of funny if was the common plane
    flight: I go from Chicago to Boston and meet my Mother on the plane
    there!
    If you weren't planning on the stopover, that could be convenient... :)
    Yes! If had to go to Vienna due to an emergency would make sense to
    meet my Mother in Boston. Flight route doesn't make that work out so
    back to Moline to Detroit to Manchester to Boston to Zurich to Vienna.
    Could be done all in one day, though I think I'd definitely be
    sleep-deprived!
    Unless you are one that can sleep on the plane.... ;)
    I do doze off: multiple short naps. My Mother claims she doesn't
    sleep at all though I know she does.

    Maybe she's just resting her eyes....? <G> Or is there snoring accompanying.... ;)

    A quick decline into fall.... Today the high was into the 60s...
    tomorrow pretty close to 70 again... and then plummeting back to
    the 50s, with that white stuff a possibility by the weekend....
    LIS at the top of my first message in this packet there's snow
    outside! Yesterday's temperature graph from the Norwegian service was
    essentially a flat line dropping off at the end: temperatures did stay
    in the low 40's all day and then cooled into the 30'd at night.
    We had one day recently where the low of the night before was actually
    a little higher than the high of the following day.... not quite sure
    how that worked.... ;0
    We've also had "the high for today was at midnight": cold front comes through and the temperatures drop. Does seem odd. And earlier this
    week we had the day's high at 11 a.m.: cold front came through and
    didn't allow the temperature to continue to warm for the normal mid- afternoon high point. (And "cold front" may not be the correct term.)

    Probably close enough... and yes, that's happened here as well, a number
    of times....

    ... What happens when fall in love w/ elevator operator? He lets you
    down.
    He could also bring you up, though... ;)
    That was at the beginning of things.
    I suppose.... ;)
    And with a long-term relationship multiple ups and downs?!

    But of course... :)

    ttyl neb

    ... "At last I'm organized." he sighed and died

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Mon Nov 11 09:54:00 2019

    Hi Nancy!

    Subject: I'm not back yet.. was: I'm back!
    And, of course, now I AM back... and likely to stay so for a while...
    but still working through the backlog caused by being gone so much...
    As long as you don't get to my comment in the previous message about
    it being the first snow of the year next Spring you'll be fine!
    I'm a little less than a week behind at the moment... ;) And we're possibly getting our first snow of the year later this week...
    And if one is smart get the shovels, ice chipper and salt out. Might
    be a good idea to get the snow equipment for the car ready too. And
    last Sunday while it was warm checked the air pressure in the car tires and filled.
    That was wise... ;) Looks like we'll be getting some up and down
    weather for a while.... after the winter storm, things are
    supposed to warm up, so the snow probably won't stay.... we shall
    see.... the weather forecast keeps changing... :)

    LIS in the previous message, snowing currently, plus colder. Supposed
    to be another snow storm later this week. Will be using the snow stuff
    later this morning -- neither one of us has to go any place so will just
    wait until the snow has stopped before cleaning off the cars and
    shovelling.


    And now, somehow, already the 28th, Monday plus a week....
    <evil typing> I saw a Robin this morning! </evil typing>
    Poor, poor robin.... <G> Today's only the 4th of November... ok,
    another week later from my message above... but I'm making some
    progress... ;)
    I did see some small birds hopping around on the neighbour's roof the other day -- guess they were eating bugs and whatever fell off his
    tree.
    Finding something, anyway... ;) There still are some birds
    around... some stay the winter anyway... not sure about the geese
    if they are in mid-migration, or come down from Canada to stay
    the winter here... ;)

    The geese do stop in the area here. Remember seeing two or three on the
    roof; don't recall them on the ground. At the store for years had a
    next in the shrubs not too far from one of the entrances (!). A couple
    of years the next was a little too close ot the entrance so we blocked
    that side off ==> customers could stil get in and out on that side. The vestibule was sort of a flattended diamond with doors at 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock. We closed off the 7 o'clock portion.


    Business being more likely to stay relatively formal, after all... :)
    So not like:
    Dear Nancy:
    We are so sorry :( to lecha know ....
    One would hope to not find that in business correspondance... :)
    It would tend to send up a red flag. And the degree of formality
    depends on the source/reason. Thinking along the lines of a credit
    card offer would want to be relatively upbeat to give the impression
    they are the fun company to do business with. ...Then there could be
    the other end when the credited money is past due and things aren't so fun.
    Most credit card offers I've been sent have been quite formal,
    though friendly... Haven't had experience with the latter (and
    hope never to have to!).... :)

    I'll admit to not reading them: don't need another credit card -->
    shred. Free/low interest advances from the credit cards we already have
    get kept so if we need some money we can consider the offer.

    As for the pay-up-or-else, haven't had to deal with those either, and
    don't want to.


    Brief news-filler recently: Casual Fridays has expanded and sometimes
    take over the entire week. Beginning of the segment implied not a
    good idea to go too casual but then did the 'bigger picture' and in
    some businesses it doesn't matter, such as software development.
    Exactly.... it really mostly depends on the specific workplace...
    and how much exposure to (and expectations from) the public one
    would be dealing with.... :)
    The store where I worked originally did the Casual Friday as a reward: sales, customer reviews and other metrics all up and we'd get to wear jeans, etc. Went fine until some people took the casual too far: tee shirt vs. polo shirt for example.
    Of course, in some settings, even the tee shirt wouldn't be
    considered too casual... :)

    True. The 'Dock Dudes' at the store would be an example. They did have
    to wear something a hare dressier than a tee shirt, but nowhere near the
    dress code for the salesfloor. Mack when ties were mandatory for the
    men those could have been dangerous for the Dock Dudes!


    There have been a few times when having my e-mail here was useful. As
    a general rule I would say not.
    When I was posting in the now-defunct Genealogy echo in Fido, I
    regularly included my snail-mail address... one never knew what
    cousin(s) might be lurking.... occasionally, I did get a package out
    of the blue from someone that was reading but not replying in the
    echo... Generally now, I'll only put my email out when someone asks
    for it, and then generally in a somewhat disguised format....
    Yes, it would seem logical to have an address or some sort of
    additional method of contact in a Genealogy conference where one
    expects to share family information. I've stumbled on old information while Googling and wished there was a way to contact the person to possibly get an update, or in the instance of one I'm thinking of currently to give information.
    That would be a place where having had other contact info would
    have been helpful, too... Of course, even that might be
    outdated... :) Though, I've had the same email address for
    decades now, and have had the same snail address for over 40
    years.... ;)

    Yes, I don't move around much so my physical address is pretty much a constant. The Q.com address at the signature I've had for a long time.


    ...Another part of my brain is interrupting: would be interesting
    (yawn!) to see if those anti-spam formatted addresss like
    "barry10.<delete_the_10> at q dot com" do any good. Seems like it
    would be easy enough to programme effectively change the 'at' to
    '@' if sees a 'com'.
    One would also have to program in removing spaces, and changing dot
    to a period.... At the least, a lot of IF-THEN statements.... and
    certain assumptions would have to be made as well.... :)
    Yes; quite sure could be done, More or less one of those quirky
    little mental exercises I tend to do occasionally.
    Could be done, but maybe not worth the effort to really do it...
    :)

    I agree with the not worth the effort. Plus a lot of variables
    including the anti-spam options done by the ISPs.


    "All depends!" What process works for one person doesn't for another.
    Yup... And one develops one's own ways of dealing... <G>
    Including calling back when one gets home and discovers got double-
    booked! ...I don't know if I could do without a paper calendar for
    reminders: use a month-at-a-glance here and to me handy to see a blob
    on a date to remind me of something in the future. ...Can do the same
    with the electronic calendar, would just have to get used to it.
    And need to make sure everything gets entered into the electronic
    one, along with the paper ones.... ;) I still find it easier to have
    the pocket calendar with me when I'm out, along with the phone, and
    just use the former for entering in new appointments....
    Yes; it seems the busier a person is the easier it is to have a paper calendar, though that seems to work only for one or two person
    operations. Start getting in to small businesses and the electronic calendar is more convenient as multiple people need access to the one schedule.
    Which is somewhat a different situation than we've been
    discussing... Here, to keep things simpler, Richard's designated
    me the keeper of the schedules, so everything goes into my pocket calendar, and then onto the one on the fridge (by the downstairs
    phone extension).... And I'm the one to make sure that we don't
    have conflicts in schedulings... :)

    Right, nuances as to how the calendering is done. (Yes, I just made up
    a word!) Here we have a 'common calendar' on the refrigerator where we
    (both) post appointments, etc.


    And the $200 rental isn't bad; as you said, peace of mind, when you
    knew there was a problem.
    Along the lines of my mother-in-law getting me AAA coverage... for
    HER peace of mind... ;) I've continued that for myself now that
    she's gone....
    My Mother continued the AAA coverage Dad had; not used all that often
    but very handy when needed. I used to have coverage by AAA, also
    didn't use it all that often (which was another reason why I was
    annoyed with them during that period when I had a series of issues with
    my car at the time and they threatened to cancel). My current car insurance offers similar rescue coverage so cancelled the AAA as duplication.
    I get most of my money back just from the maps and triptiks...
    and if we'd put the kid on the membership a little sooner, it
    would have saved LOTS of money when his Jeep went into the drink
    (drainage pond)... ;) Dunno how much rescue coverage I have with
    my car insurance, but they did pay for most of the rental when I
    had the car in the collision shop....

    Yes, hindsight being 20/20. ...A friend called for his car to be towed
    from his house to the repair shop; found out he wasn't covered for
    towing but they could add that to his policy and if he waited a couple
    of days they could tow him for free. Work schedules were such this few
    day delay wasn't going to cause a problem so was done that way.
    Probably would not have been a good thing to leave your son's Jeep in
    the water that long!


    True. At this point not necessary as stay with my Mother for a week
    before we zoom off. Would be kind of funny if was the common plane
    flight: I go from Chicago to Boston and meet my Mother on the plane
    there!
    If you weren't planning on the stopover, that could be convenient... :)
    Yes! If had to go to Vienna due to an emergency would make sense to
    meet my Mother in Boston. Flight route doesn't make that work out so
    back to Moline to Detroit to Manchester to Boston to Zurich to Vienna.
    Could be done all in one day, though I think I'd definitely be
    sleep-deprived!
    Unless you are one that can sleep on the plane.... ;)
    I do doze off: multiple short naps. My Mother claims she doesn't
    sleep at all though I know she does.
    Maybe she's just resting her eyes....? <G> Or is there snoring accompanying.... ;)

    AFAICT she's sleeping and not just sitting with her eyes closed as she
    tends to fidget: blanket has a crease, straighten that out. ...That
    moved the strap on her purse, so fix that, ...Now something else
    doesn't look right.


    ... What happens when fall in love w/ elevator operator? He lets you
    down.
    He could also bring you up, though... ;)
    That was at the beginning of things.
    I suppose.... ;)
    And with a long-term relationship multiple ups and downs?!
    But of course... :)

    At least not all one-way like with an escalator operator.


    ... "At last I'm organized." he sighed and died

    I don't know why but that one's funny! Not ROTFL funny; more humourous
    funny.

    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Antarctica discovered Nov 18, 1820 by US Navy Captain Nathaniel Palmer.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
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  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Fri Nov 22 02:44:36 2019
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 11-Nov-2019 09:54 <=-

    I'm a little less than a week behind at the moment... ;) And we're
    possibly getting our first snow of the year later this week...
    And if one is smart get the shovels, ice chipper and salt out. Might
    be a good idea to get the snow equipment for the car ready too. And
    last Sunday while it was warm checked the air pressure in the car tires
    and filled.
    That was wise... ;) Looks like we'll be getting some up and down
    weather for a while.... after the winter storm, things are supposed
    to warm up, so the snow probably won't stay.... we shall see.... the
    weather forecast keeps changing... :)
    LIS in the previous message, snowing currently, plus colder. Supposed
    to be another snow storm later this week. Will be using the snow
    stuff later this morning -- neither one of us has to go any place so
    will just wait until the snow has stopped before cleaning off the cars
    and shovelling.

    As it turned out, with our snow, I didn't go anywhere on Tuesday...
    Richard got the driveway pretty much dug out,cleared off his car, and
    took off for what would have been his Monday errands... and we both went
    out in his car the next day (Wednesday)... Thursday, I had a lunch date,
    so he dug out my car that morning before he took off... No snow since,
    so the cars have stayed cleared off... But until the last couple days,
    it stayed pretty cold.... highs only in the 20s for most of last week...

    There still are some birds around... some stay the winter anyway...
    not sure about the geese if they are in mid-migration, or come down
    from Canada to stay the winter here... ;)
    The geese do stop in the area here. Remember seeing two or three on
    the roof; don't recall them on the ground. At the store for years had
    a nest in the shrubs not too far from one of the entrances (!). A
    couple of years the nest was a little too close ot the entrance so we blocked that side off ==> customers could still get in and out on that side. The vestibule was sort of a flattended diamond with doors at 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock. We closed off the 7 o'clock portion.

    That worked... We generally do have geese around the farms and shopping
    areas during the year.... and then in the fall, I think our usual geese
    fly south, and are replaced by ones from further north that think our
    latitude nice enough to stay.... In the fall, one can see large flocks
    of them in farmers' fields....

    And the degree of formality depends on the source/reason. Thinking
    along the lines of a credit card offer would want to be relatively
    upbeat to give the impression they are the fun company to do business
    with. ...Then there could be the other end when the credited money
    is past due and things aren't so fun.
    Most credit card offers I've been sent have been quite formal, though
    friendly... Haven't had experience with the latter (and hope never
    to have to!).... :)
    I'll admit to not reading them: don't need another credit card -->
    shred. Free/low interest advances from the credit cards we already
    have get kept so if we need some money we can consider the offer.

    I glance at them before relegating them to the shred pile... advances
    from the current ones likewise get relegated, a free interest rate
    balance transfer might be kept in case of need, but currently, with one
    of those already in effect, and no other cards carrying a balance,
    likely to send those to shredding as well... ;)

    As for the pay-up-or-else, haven't had to deal with those either, and don't want to.

    Nope... and one won't have to, so long as one keeps current with the payments.... :)

    Brief news-filler recently: Casual Fridays has expanded and sometimes
    take over the entire week. Beginning of the segment implied not a
    good idea to go too casual but then did the 'bigger picture' and in
    some businesses it doesn't matter, such as software development.
    Exactly.... it really mostly depends on the specific workplace...
    and how much exposure to (and expectations from) the public one
    would be dealing with.... :)
    The store where I worked originally did the Casual Friday as a reward:
    sales, customer reviews and other metrics all up and we'd get to wear
    jeans, etc. Went fine until some people took the casual too far: tee
    shirt vs. polo shirt for example.
    Of course, in some settings, even the tee shirt wouldn't be
    considered too casual... :)
    True. The 'Dock Dudes' at the store would be an example. They did
    have to wear something a hare dressier than a tee shirt, but nowhere
    near the dress code for the salesfloor. Back when ties were mandatory
    for the men those could have been dangerous for the Dock Dudes!

    Absolutely.... :) And a dress shirt would be ruined in no time flat, as well... :)

    Yes, it would seem logical to have an address or some sort of
    additional method of contact in a Genealogy conference where one
    expects to share family information. I've stumbled on old information
    while Googling and wished there was a way to contact the person to
    possibly get an update, or in the instance of one I'm thinking of
    currently to give information.
    That would be a place where having had other contact info would have
    been helpful, too... Of course, even that might be outdated... :)
    Though, I've had the same email address for decades now, and have
    had the same snail address for over 40 years.... ;)
    Yes, I don't move around much so my physical address is pretty much a constant. The Q.com address at the signature I've had for a long
    time.

    Not sure how typical we are or aren't, though... ;)

    Yup... And one develops one's own ways of dealing... <G>
    Including calling back when one gets home and discovers got double-
    booked! ...I don't know if I could do without a paper calendar for
    reminders: use a month-at-a-glance here and to me handy to see a blob
    on a date to remind me of something in the future. ...Can do the same
    with the electronic calendar, would just have to get used to it.
    And need to make sure everything gets entered into the electronic
    one, along with the paper ones.... ;) I still find it easier to have
    the pocket calendar with me when I'm out, along with the phone, and
    just use the former for entering in new appointments....
    Yes; it seems the busier a person is the easier it is to have a paper
    calendar, though that seems to work only for one or two person
    operations. Start getting in to small businesses and the electronic
    calendar is more convenient as multiple people need access to the one
    schedule.
    Which is somewhat a different situation than we've been> discussing...
    Here, to keep things simpler, Richard's designated me the keeper of
    the schedules, so everything goes into my pocket calendar, and then
    onto the one on the fridge (by the downstairs phone extension).. And
    I'm the one to make sure that we don't have scheduling conflicts... :)
    Right, nuances as to how the calendering is done. (Yes, I just made
    up a word!) Here we have a 'common calendar' on the refrigerator where
    we (both) post appointments, etc.

    (Yup, turned a noun into a verb) There's a small amount of Richard
    putting things onto the fridge calendar (like a church team meeting),
    but he also makes sure that I know about it, so that other things don't
    get scheduled on it... The master calendar is actually my pocket one...

    My Mother continued the AAA coverage Dad had; not used all that often
    but very handy when needed. I used to have coverage by AAA, also
    didn't use it all that often (which was another reason why I was
    annoyed with them during that period when I had a series of issues with
    my car at the time and they threatened to cancel). My current car
    insurance offers similar rescue coverage so cancelled the AAA as
    duplication.
    I get most of my money back just from the maps and triptiks... and
    if we'd put the kid on the membership a little sooner, it would have
    saved LOTS of money when his Jeep went into the drink (drainage
    pond)... ;) Dunno how much rescue coverage I have with my car
    insurance, but they did pay for most of the rental when I had my car
    in the collision shop....
    Yes, hindsight being 20/20. ...A friend called for his car to be
    towed from his house to the repair shop; found out he wasn't covered
    for towing but they could add that to his policy and if he waited a
    couple of days they could tow him for free. Work schedules were such
    this few day delay wasn't going to cause a problem so was done that
    way. Probably would not have been a good thing to leave your son's Jeep
    in the water that long!

    Nope... it was pulled out just in time to keep it from having had a lot
    more damage to things...

    Yes! If had to go to Vienna due to an emergency would make sense to
    meet my Mother in Boston. Flight route doesn't make that work out so
    back to Moline to Detroit to Manchester to Boston to Zurich to Vienna.
    Could be done all in one day, though I think I'd definitely be
    sleep-deprived!
    Unless you are one that can sleep on the plane.... ;)
    I do doze off: multiple short naps. My Mother claims she doesn't
    sleep at all though I know she does.
    Maybe she's just resting her eyes....? <G> Or is there snoring
    accompanying.... ;)
    AFAICT she's sleeping and not just sitting with her eyes closed as she tends to fidget: blanket has a crease, straighten that out. ...That
    moved the strap on her purse, so fix that, ...Now something else
    doesn't look right.

    But if asleep, that's not happening... :)

    ... What happens when fall in love w/ elevator operator? He lets you
    down.
    He could also bring you up, though... ;)
    That was at the beginning of things.
    I suppose.... ;)
    And with a long-term relationship multiple ups and downs?!
    But of course... :)
    At least not all one-way like with an escalator operator.

    There is that... :)

    ... "At last I'm organized." he sighed and died
    I don't know why but that one's funny! Not ROTFL funny; more
    humourous funny.

    Rings a bit close to the truth.... :)

    ttyl neb

    ... With friends like these, who needs a green inflatable hippopotamus?

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Fri Nov 22 08:15:00 2019

    Hi Nancy!

    LIS in the previous message, snowing currently, plus colder. Supposed
    to be another snow storm later this week. Will be using the snow
    stuff later this morning -- neither one of us has to go any place so
    will just wait until the snow has stopped before cleaning off the cars
    and shovelling.
    As it turned out, with our snow, I didn't go anywhere on
    Tuesday... Richard got the driveway pretty much dug out,cleared
    off his car, and took off for what would have been his Monday
    errands... and we both went out in his car the next day
    (Wednesday)... Thursday, I had a lunch date, so he dug out my car
    that morning before he took off... No snow since, so the cars
    have stayed cleared off... But until the last couple days, it
    stayed pretty cold.... highs only in the 20s for most of last
    week...

    We might be sending you a few days of warmth! LIS in the previous
    message, was a little over 50ø yesterday (but watch out for what
    follows!).


    There still are some birds around... some stay the winter anyway...
    not sure about the geese if they are in mid-migration, or come down
    from Canada to stay the winter here... ;)
    The geese do stop in the area here. Remember seeing two or three on
    the roof; don't recall them on the ground. At the store for years had
    a nest in the shrubs not too far from one of the entrances (!). A
    couple of years the nest was a little too close ot the entrance so we blocked that side off ==> customers could still get in and out on that side. The vestibule was sort of a flattended diamond with doors at 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock. We closed off the 7 o'clock portion.
    That worked... We generally do have geese around the farms and
    shopping areas during the year.... and then in the fall, I think
    our usual geese fly south, and are replaced by ones from further
    north that think our latitude nice enough to stay.... In the
    fall, one can see large flocks of them in farmers' fields....

    Where the Mall where I worked is was a golf course previously and before
    that a swampy area. Possibly some of the ducks nesting by the store had great-great-grandparents who had nested before the area was 'humanized'.
    Also had sea gulls flying over and walking around in the parking lot --
    follow the river traffic up the Mississippi, take a left 43 blocks -- "gran-daddy's notes said..." <g>



    And the degree of formality depends on the source/reason. Thinking
    along the lines of a credit card offer would want to be relatively
    upbeat to give the impression they are the fun company to do business
    with. ...Then there could be the other end when the credited money
    is past due and things aren't so fun.
    Most credit card offers I've been sent have been quite formal, though
    friendly... Haven't had experience with the latter (and hope never
    to have to!).... :)
    I'll admit to not reading them: don't need another credit card -->
    shred. Free/low interest advances from the credit cards we already
    have get kept so if we need some money we can consider the offer.
    I glance at them before relegating them to the shred pile...
    advances from the current ones likewise get relegated, a free
    interest rate balance transfer might be kept in case of need, but currently, with one of those already in effect, and no other
    cards carrying a balance, likely to send those to shredding as
    well... ;)

    Yes, everything gets glanced at before shredding. Right now just one
    credit card offer being held in-case; I expect a deluge mid-to-late
    January in time for those Christmas bills other people have.


    As for the pay-up-or-else, haven't had to deal with those either, and don't want to.
    Nope... and one won't have to, so long as one keeps current with
    the payments.... :)

    Right.


    Brief news-filler recently: Casual Fridays has expanded and sometimes
    take over the entire week. Beginning of the segment implied not a
    good idea to go too casual but then did the 'bigger picture' and in
    some businesses it doesn't matter, such as software development.
    Exactly.... it really mostly depends on the specific workplace...
    and how much exposure to (and expectations from) the public one
    would be dealing with.... :)
    The store where I worked originally did the Casual Friday as a reward:
    sales, customer reviews and other metrics all up and we'd get to wear
    jeans, etc. Went fine until some people took the casual too far: tee
    shirt vs. polo shirt for example.
    Of course, in some settings, even the tee shirt wouldn't be
    considered too casual... :)
    True. The 'Dock Dudes' at the store would be an example. They did
    have to wear something a hare dressier than a tee shirt, but nowhere
    near the dress code for the salesfloor. Back when ties were mandatory
    for the men those could have been dangerous for the Dock Dudes!
    Absolutely.... :) And a dress shirt would be ruined in no time
    flat, as well... :)

    Wasn't that the reason behind blue collars? White shirt had to be worn
    by workers but neck got sweat stains and the coloured collar hid
    somewhat.


    Yes, it would seem logical to have an address or some sort of
    additional method of contact in a Genealogy conference where one
    expects to share family information. I've stumbled on old information
    while Googling and wished there was a way to contact the person to
    possibly get an update, or in the instance of one I'm thinking of
    currently to give information.
    That would be a place where having had other contact info would have
    been helpful, too... Of course, even that might be outdated... :)
    Though, I've had the same email address for decades now, and have
    had the same snail address for over 40 years.... ;)
    Yes, I don't move around much so my physical address is pretty much a constant. The Q.com address at the signature I've had for a long
    time.
    Not sure how typical we are or aren't, though... ;)

    Depends on what aspect one is measuring!


    Yup... And one develops one's own ways of dealing... <G>
    Including calling back when one gets home and discovers got double-
    booked! ...I don't know if I could do without a paper calendar for
    reminders: use a month-at-a-glance here and to me handy to see a blob
    on a date to remind me of something in the future. ...Can do the same
    with the electronic calendar, would just have to get used to it.
    And need to make sure everything gets entered into the electronic
    one, along with the paper ones.... ;) I still find it easier to have
    the pocket calendar with me when I'm out, along with the phone, and
    just use the former for entering in new appointments....
    Yes; it seems the busier a person is the easier it is to have a paper
    calendar, though that seems to work only for one or two person
    operations. Start getting in to small businesses and the electronic
    calendar is more convenient as multiple people need access to the one
    schedule.
    Which is somewhat a different situation than we've been> discussing...
    Here, to keep things simpler, Richard's designated me the keeper of
    the schedules, so everything goes into my pocket calendar, and then
    onto the one on the fridge (by the downstairs phone extension).. And
    I'm the one to make sure that we don't have scheduling conflicts... :)
    Right, nuances as to how the calendering is done. (Yes, I just made
    up a word!) Here we have a 'common calendar' on the refrigerator where
    we (both) post appointments, etc.
    (Yup, turned a noun into a verb) There's a small amount of
    Richard putting things onto the fridge calendar (like a church
    team meeting), but he also makes sure that I know about it, so
    that other things don't get scheduled on it... The master
    calendar is actually my pocket one...

    Yes, the 'common calander' serves as a reminder plus communications in absenstia: I need to make an appointment, do you have anything going on
    I need to work around, but you're not available to ask so check the
    calendar. Each family/group works out their own methods.


    My Mother continued the AAA coverage Dad had; not used all that often
    but very handy when needed. I used to have coverage by AAA, also
    didn't use it all that often (which was another reason why I was
    annoyed with them during that period when I had a series of issues with
    my car at the time and they threatened to cancel). My current car
    insurance offers similar rescue coverage so cancelled the AAA as
    duplication.
    I get most of my money back just from the maps and triptiks... and
    if we'd put the kid on the membership a little sooner, it would have
    saved LOTS of money when his Jeep went into the drink (drainage
    pond)... ;) Dunno how much rescue coverage I have with my car
    insurance, but they did pay for most of the rental when I had my car
    in the collision shop....
    Yes, hindsight being 20/20. ...A friend called for his car to be
    towed from his house to the repair shop; found out he wasn't covered
    for towing but they could add that to his policy and if he waited a
    couple of days they could tow him for free. Work schedules were such
    this few day delay wasn't going to cause a problem so was done that
    way. Probably would not have been a good thing to leave your son's Jeep
    in the water that long!
    Nope... it was pulled out just in time to keep it from having had
    a lot more damage to things...

    Good! BTW, assume he had an uneventful flight.


    Yes! If had to go to Vienna due to an emergency would make sense to
    meet my Mother in Boston. Flight route doesn't make that work out so
    back to Moline to Detroit to Manchester to Boston to Zurich to Vienna.
    Could be done all in one day, though I think I'd definitely be
    sleep-deprived!
    Unless you are one that can sleep on the plane.... ;)
    I do doze off: multiple short naps. My Mother claims she doesn't
    sleep at all though I know she does.
    Maybe she's just resting her eyes....? <G> Or is there snoring
    accompanying.... ;)
    AFAICT she's sleeping and not just sitting with her eyes closed as she tends to fidget: blanket has a crease, straighten that out. ...That
    moved the strap on her purse, so fix that, ...Now something else
    doesn't look right.
    But if asleep, that's not happening... :)

    Well there's sleep walking and sleep eating; don't know if ther're sleep tidying! <g>



    ... With friends like these, who needs a green inflatable
    hippopotamus?

    Now you got me wondering if there will be one at the Festival of Trees'
    parade tomorrow -- have helium balloons (a la a mini Macy's).


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... January 1, 1890: Pasadena, CA, staged first Tournament of Roses Parade.
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  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Mon Dec 2 01:25:52 2019
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 22-Nov-2019 08:15 <=-

    that morning before he took off... No snow since, so the cars have
    stayed cleared off... But until the last couple days, it stayed
    pretty cold.... highs only in the 20s for most of last week...
    We might be sending you a few days of warmth! LIS in the previous message, was a little over 50ø yesterday (but watch out for what follows!).

    Yup, as I said in last message, we got them both.... I've been calling
    that short warm spell Indian late-Spring.... ;) Now it's back to winter again... ;)

    That worked... We generally do have geese around the farms and
    shopping areas during the year.... and then in the fall, I think
    our usual geese fly south, and are replaced by ones from further
    north that think our latitude nice enough to stay.... In the
    fall, one can see large flocks of them in farmers' fields....
    Where the Mall where I worked is was a golf course previously and
    before that a swampy area. Possibly some of the ducks nesting by the store had great-great-grandparents who had nested before the area was 'humanized'. Also had sea gulls flying over and walking around in the parking lot -- follow the river traffic up the Mississippi, take a left
    43 blocks -- "gran-daddy's notes said..." <g>

    Sea gulls do rather like human-generated garbage, though.... that would
    have been enough to attract them.... One of our malls also is built on
    what used to be swampy land... part of the reclamation included putting
    in a sizeable drainage pond which the water fowl think quite attractive.

    I'll admit to not reading them: don't need another credit card -->
    shred. Free/low interest advances from the credit cards we already
    have get kept so if we need some money we can consider the offer.
    I glance at them before relegating them to the shred pile...
    advances from the current ones likewise get relegated, a free
    interest rate balance transfer might be kept in case of need, but
    currently, with one of those already in effect, and no other cards
    carrying a balance, likely to send those to shredding as well... ;)
    Yes, everything gets glanced at before shredding. Right now just one credit card offer being held in-case; I expect a deluge mid-to-late January in time for those Christmas bills other people have.

    I seem to get at least one current card offer each month... and at the
    moment, truly don't have any need for any of them....

    As for the pay-up-or-else, haven't had to deal with those either, and
    don't want to.
    Nope... and one won't have to, so long as one keeps current with the
    payments.... :)
    Right.

    It's such a simple equation, it's a wonder anyone has trouble there. <G>
    Yes, I know, too many people haven't learned to live within their
    means... and that does get them in trouble eventually...

    The store where I worked originally did the Casual Friday as a reward:
    sales, customer reviews and other metrics all up and we'd get to wear
    jeans, etc. Went fine until some people took the casual too far: tee
    shirt vs. polo shirt for example.
    Of course, in some settings, even the tee shirt wouldn't be
    considered too casual... :)
    True. The 'Dock Dudes' at the store would be an example. They did
    have to wear something a hare dressier than a tee shirt, but nowhere
    near the dress code for the salesfloor. Back when ties were mandatory
    for the men those could have been dangerous for the Dock Dudes!
    Absolutely.... :) And a dress shirt would be ruined in no time flat,
    as well... :)
    Wasn't that the reason behind blue collars? White shirt had to be
    worn by workers but neck got sweat stains and the coloured collar hid somewhat.

    Not just the neck would be stained... and the shirt itself would show
    dirt too fast, so a blue shirt (with, of course, a blue collar) was much
    more practical....

    Not sure how typical we are or aren't, though... ;)
    Depends on what aspect one is measuring!

    There is that.... <G> (And yes, I snipped away the context... <G>)

    Yes; it seems the busier a person is the easier it is to have a paper
    calendar, though that seems to work only for one or two person
    operations. Start getting in to small businesses and the electronic
    calendar is more convenient as multiple people need access to the one
    schedule.
    Which is somewhat a different situation than we've been discussing...
    Here, to keep things simpler, Richard's designated me the keeper of
    the schedules, so everything goes into my pocket calendar, and then
    onto the one on the fridge (by the downstairs phone extension).. And
    I'm the one to make sure that we don't have scheduling conflicts... :)
    Right, nuances as to how the calendering is done. (Yes, I just made
    up a word!) Here we have a 'common calendar' on the refrigerator where
    we (both) post appointments, etc.
    (Yup, turned a noun into a verb) There's a small amount of Richard
    putting things onto the fridge calendar (like a church team meeting),
    but he also makes sure that I know about it, so that other things
    don't get scheduled on it... The master calendar is actually my pocket
    one...
    Yes, the 'common calander' serves as a reminder plus communications in absenstia: I need to make an appointment, do you have anything going
    on I need to work around, but you're not available to ask so check the calendar. Each family/group works out their own methods.

    Indeed... :)

    I get most of my money back just from the maps and triptiks... and
    if we'd put the kid on the membership a little sooner, it would have
    saved LOTS of money when his Jeep went into the drink (drainage
    pond)... ;) Dunno how much rescue coverage I have with my car
    insurance, but they did pay for most of the rental when I had my car
    in the collision shop....
    Yes, hindsight being 20/20. ...A friend called for his car to be
    towed from his house to the repair shop; found out he wasn't covered
    for towing but they could add that to his policy and if he waited a
    couple of days they could tow him for free. Work schedules were such
    this few day delay wasn't going to cause a problem so was done that
    way. Probably would not have been a good thing to leave your son's Jeep
    in the water that long!
    Nope... it was pulled out just in time to keep it from having had
    a lot more damage to things...
    Good! BTW, assume he had an uneventful flight.

    As far as I know, he did... I probably would have heard, had there been anything exciting... <G> And have "talked" in email a couple of times
    since... :)

    AFAICT she's sleeping and not just sitting with her eyes closed as she
    tends to fidget: blanket has a crease, straighten that out. ...That
    moved the strap on her purse, so fix that, ...Now something else
    doesn't look right.
    But if asleep, that's not happening... :)
    Well there's sleep walking and sleep eating; don't know if there's
    sleep tidying! <g>

    I'd guess that would be unlikely.... never know though what one might be dreaming about, and affecting the body.... <G>

    ... With friends like these, who needs a green inflatable
    hippopotamus?
    Now you got me wondering if there will be one at the Festival of
    Trees' parade tomorrow -- have helium balloons (a la a mini Macy's).

    Was there one...? We had high winds in NYS at Thanksgiving time, so
    heard there was a chance that Macy's might have to ground their
    balloons....

    ttyl neb

    ... Seek True Wisdom: read the taglines.

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Mon Dec 2 10:14:00 2019

    Hi Nancy!

    that morning before he took off... No snow since, so the cars have
    stayed cleared off... But until the last couple days, it stayed
    pretty cold.... highs only in the 20s for most of last week...
    We might be sending you a few days of warmth! LIS in the previous message, was a little over 50ø yesterday (but watch out for what follows!).
    Yup, as I said in last message, we got them both.... I've been
    calling that short warm spell Indian late-Spring.... ;) Now it's
    back to winter again... ;)

    Yup! Had a light dusting of snow overnight. LIS it was 30ø a little
    while ago and probably hasn't changed as the Sun isn't up yet - almost!
    Snow will evaporate, maybe a few small puddles. No snow forecast until
    maybe Wednesday, minimal accumulation.


    That worked... We generally do have geese around the farms and
    shopping areas during the year.... and then in the fall, I think
    our usual geese fly south, and are replaced by ones from further
    north that think our latitude nice enough to stay.... In the
    fall, one can see large flocks of them in farmers' fields....
    Where the Mall where I worked is was a golf course previously and
    before that a swampy area. Possibly some of the ducks nesting by the store had great-great-grandparents who had nested before the area was 'humanized'. Also had sea gulls flying over and walking around in the parking lot -- follow the river traffic up the Mississippi, take a left
    43 blocks -- "gran-daddy's notes said..." <g>
    Sea gulls do rather like human-generated garbage, though.... that
    would have been enough to attract them.... One of our malls also
    is built on what used to be swampy land... part of the
    reclamation included putting in a sizeable drainage pond which
    the water fowl think quite attractive.

    They'd like that! No visible drainage seen at the Mall where I used to
    work; thinking they have some sort of below ground removal system as the
    Mall property has a definite slope: walk from one end to the other and
    one goes down several sets of short steps/ramps. There was also a
    hollow section under the floor in Juniors Department, apparently where a
    sump pump was though never heard it. There was also a set of cicuit
    breakers marked 'Sump Pump' so assuming the location.



    I'll admit to not reading them: don't need another credit card -->
    shred. Free/low interest advances from the credit cards we already
    have get kept so if we need some money we can consider the offer.
    I glance at them before relegating them to the shred pile...
    advances from the current ones likewise get relegated, a free
    interest rate balance transfer might be kept in case of need, but
    currently, with one of those already in effect, and no other cards
    carrying a balance, likely to send those to shredding as well... ;)
    Yes, everything gets glanced at before shredding. Right now just one credit card offer being held in-case; I expect a deluge mid-to-late January in time for those Christmas bills other people have.
    I seem to get at least one current card offer each month... and
    at the moment, truly don't have any need for any of them....

    But it's Christmas!! Your supposed to spend beyond your means!!


    As for the pay-up-or-else, haven't had to deal with those either, and
    don't want to.
    Nope... and one won't have to, so long as one keeps current with the
    payments.... :)
    Right.
    It's such a simple equation, it's a wonder anyone has trouble
    there. <G> Yes, I know, too many people haven't learned to live
    within their means... and that does get them in trouble
    eventually...

    Right. I'm not sure if the Student Loan Debt thing has an anesthetic
    effect: "I'm in debt for $40,000 for school, what's another $400 for a
    big TV?"



    The store where I worked originally did the Casual Friday as a reward:
    sales, customer reviews and other metrics all up and we'd get to wear
    jeans, etc. Went fine until some people took the casual too far: tee
    shirt vs. polo shirt for example.
    Of course, in some settings, even the tee shirt wouldn't be
    considered too casual... :)
    True. The 'Dock Dudes' at the store would be an example. They did
    have to wear something a hare dressier than a tee shirt, but nowhere
    near the dress code for the salesfloor. Back when ties were mandatory
    for the men those could have been dangerous for the Dock Dudes!
    Absolutely.... :) And a dress shirt would be ruined in no time flat,
    as well... :)
    Wasn't that the reason behind blue collars? White shirt had to be
    worn by workers but neck got sweat stains and the coloured collar hid somewhat.
    Not just the neck would be stained... and the shirt itself would
    show dirt too fast, so a blue shirt (with, of course, a blue
    collar) was much more practical....

    Yup: know that one from first-hand experience! Dress code at towards
    end was a white shirt or a black shirt, both of which showed dirt
    readily. Usually wore a shirt twice before putting it in the hamper as
    my job wasn't dirty. ...Same for the coloured shirts, just twice, but
    they didn't seem to show dirt as much.


    Not sure how typical we are or aren't, though... ;)
    Depends on what aspect one is measuring!
    There is that.... <G> (And yes, I snipped away the context... <G>)

    I thought something was missing!!


    <snip> (I can too! <g>)
    Yes, the 'common calander' serves as a reminder plus communications in absenstia: I need to make an appointment, do you have anything going
    on I need to work around, but you're not available to ask so check the calendar. Each family/group works out their own methods.
    Indeed... :)

    I'm still trying to work out a practical way to display/store those
    reminder cards: appointment cards -- do write to the calendar but the
    card will a phone number, etc., on it. Also my notes to renew my
    Drivers License a few years from now - right now that gets paperclipped
    to the Decemeber 2020 page of next year's calendar.


    I get most of my money back just from the maps and triptiks... and
    if we'd put the kid on the membership a little sooner, it would have
    saved LOTS of money when his Jeep went into the drink (drainage
    pond)... ;) Dunno how much rescue coverage I have with my car
    insurance, but they did pay for most of the rental when I had my car
    in the collision shop....
    Yes, hindsight being 20/20. ...A friend called for his car to be
    towed from his house to the repair shop; found out he wasn't covered
    for towing but they could add that to his policy and if he waited a
    couple of days they could tow him for free. Work schedules were such
    this few day delay wasn't going to cause a problem so was done that
    way. Probably would not have been a good thing to leave your son's Jeep
    in the water that long!
    Nope... it was pulled out just in time to keep it from having had
    a lot more damage to things...
    Good! BTW, assume he had an uneventful flight.
    As far as I know, he did... I probably would have heard, had
    there been anything exciting... <G> And have "talked" in email a
    couple of times since... :)

    Good for no 24-hour delays like my Mother and I had; my Aunt thought it
    odd we didn't call her when she thought we got to New Hampshire.



    AFAICT she's sleeping and not just sitting with her eyes closed as she
    tends to fidget: blanket has a crease, straighten that out. ...That
    moved the strap on her purse, so fix that, ...Now something else
    doesn't look right.
    But if asleep, that's not happening... :)
    Well there's sleep walking and sleep eating; don't know if there's
    sleep tidying! <g>
    I'd guess that would be unlikely.... never know though what one
    might be dreaming about, and affecting the body.... <G>

    To me it would seem probable if one can walk and raid the refrigerator
    while sleeping it would be possible to clean or rearrange items, though
    never heard of it.


    ... With friends like these, who needs a green inflatable
    hippopotamus?
    Now you got me wondering if there will be one at the Festival of
    Trees' parade tomorrow -- have helium balloons (a la a mini Macy's).
    Was there one...? We had high winds in NYS at Thanksgiving time,
    so heard there was a chance that Macy's might have to ground
    their balloons....

    Yes, they kept the balloons closer to the ground where protected from
    wind gusts by the buildings. Not sure if part of Festival of Trees or a different event around the same time but a ~10' sphere balloon -- just
    round with a logo on it -- escaped. Depending on a variety of factors
    like upper lever winds, air temperature and the strength of the balloon material it could land anywhere between Illinois and New England/New
    York. So if you happen to see a big white balloon with red lettering on it......


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ...
    The website you seek
    Cannot be located, but
    Countless more exist.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
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  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Thu Dec 5 22:56:42 2019
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 02-Dec-2019 10:14 <=-

    We might be sending you a few days of warmth! LIS in the previous
    message, was a little over 50ø yesterday (but watch out for what
    follows!).
    Yup, as I said in last message, we got them both.... I've been
    calling that short warm spell Indian late-Spring.... ;) Now it's
    back to winter again... ;)
    Yup! Had a light dusting of snow overnight. LIS it was 30ø a little while ago and probably hasn't changed as the Sun isn't up yet -
    almost! Snow will evaporate, maybe a few small puddles. No snow
    forecast until maybe Wednesday, minimal accumulation.

    The storm we got on Sunday into Monday left us snow that we still have everywhere... Richard got his car out, but my car still has snow on the windshield and rear window... the side windows are clear, at least on
    the side I can see from inside... ;) Not a lot of snow, but didn't warm
    enough to melt it all off....

    Where the Mall where I worked is was a golf course previously and
    before that a swampy area. Possibly some of the ducks nesting by the
    store had great-great-grandparents who had nested before the area was
    'humanized'. Also had sea gulls flying over and walking around in the
    parking lot -- follow the river traffic up the Mississippi, take a left
    43 blocks -- "gran-daddy's notes said..." <g>
    Sea gulls do rather like human-generated garbage, though.... that
    would have been enough to attract them.... One of our malls also is
    built on what used to be swampy land... part of the reclamation
    included putting in a sizeable drainage pond which the water fowl
    think quite attractive.
    They'd like that! No visible drainage seen at the Mall where I used
    to work; thinking they have some sort of below ground removal system as the Mall property has a definite slope: walk from one end to the other
    and one goes down several sets of short steps/ramps. There was also a hollow section under the floor in Juniors Department, apparently where
    a sump pump was though never heard it. There was also a set of circuit breakers marked 'Sump Pump' so assuming the location.

    Sounds likely then.... and with the slope, drainage might have been more through the ground, as well... maybe ending up somewhere off the
    property entirely.... :)

    I'll admit to not reading them: don't need another credit card -->
    shred. Free/low interest advances from the credit cards we already
    have get kept so if we need some money we can consider the offer.
    I glance at them before relegating them to the shred pile...
    advances from the current ones likewise get relegated, a free
    interest rate balance transfer might be kept in case of need, but
    currently, with one of those already in effect, and no other cards
    carrying a balance, likely to send those to shredding as well... ;)
    Yes, everything gets glanced at before shredding. Right now just one
    credit card offer being held in-case; I expect a deluge mid-to-late
    January in time for those Christmas bills other people have.
    I seem to get at least one current card offer each month... and
    at the moment, truly don't have any need for any of them....
    But it's Christmas!! Your supposed to spend beyond your means!!

    Yeah, right.... not me.... <G>

    As for the pay-up-or-else, haven't had to deal with those either, and
    don't want to.
    Nope... and one won't have to, so long as one keeps current with the
    payments.... :)
    Right.
    It's such a simple equation, it's a wonder anyone has trouble there.
    Yes, I know, too many people haven't learned to live within their
    means... and that does get them in trouble eventually...
    Right. I'm not sure if the Student Loan Debt thing has an anesthetic effect: "I'm in debt for $40,000 for school, what's another $400 for a
    big TV?"

    I suppose it might.... also there's the "but I'm entitled" syndrome...
    others can get those things so I should be able to have whatever I think
    I want....

    Wasn't that the reason behind blue collars? White shirt had to be
    worn by workers but neck got sweat stains and the coloured collar hid
    somewhat.
    Not just the neck would be stained... and the shirt itself would
    show dirt too fast, so a blue shirt (with, of course, a blue collar)
    was much more practical....
    Yup: know that one from first-hand experience! Dress code at towards
    end was a white shirt or a black shirt, both of which showed dirt
    readily. Usually wore a shirt twice before putting it in the hamper
    as my job wasn't dirty. ...Same for the coloured shirts, just twice,
    but they didn't seem to show dirt as much.

    Yup.

    Yes, the 'common calendar' serves as a reminder plus communications in
    absenstia: I need to make an appointment, do you have anything going
    on I need to work around, but you're not available to ask so check the
    calendar. Each family/group works out their own methods.
    Indeed... :)
    I'm still trying to work out a practical way to display/store those reminder cards: appointment cards -- do write to the calendar but the
    card will a phone number, etc., on it.

    I tend to just keep an up to date version of each in the pocket of my
    pocket calendar...

    Also my notes to renew my
    Drivers License a few years from now - right now that gets
    paperclipped to the Decemeber 2020 page of next year's calendar.

    I figure that DMV will send me the renewal in plenty of time, like they
    always do... :)

    Good! BTW, assume he had an uneventful flight.
    As far as I know, he did... I probably would have heard, had
    there been anything exciting... <G> And have "talked" in email a
    couple of times since... :)
    Good for no 24-hour delays like my Mother and I had; my Aunt thought
    it odd we didn't call her when she thought we got to New Hampshire.

    If he did have any delays, he didnt mention them to me....

    AFAICT she's sleeping and not just sitting with her eyes closed as she
    tends to fidget: blanket has a crease, straighten that out. ...That
    moved the strap on her purse, so fix that, ...Now something else
    doesn't look right.
    But if asleep, that's not happening... :)
    Well there's sleep walking and sleep eating; don't know if there's
    sleep tidying! <g>
    I'd guess that would be unlikely.... never know though what one
    might be dreaming about, and affecting the body.... <G>
    To me it would seem probable if one can walk and raid the refrigerator while sleeping it would be possible to clean or rearrange items,
    though never heard of it.

    Kinda what I was thinking.... but again, not so common.... :)

    ... With friends like these, who needs a green inflatable
    hippopotamus?
    Now you got me wondering if there will be one at the Festival of
    Trees' parade tomorrow -- have helium balloons (a la a mini Macy's).
    Was there one...? We had high winds in NYS at Thanksgiving time,
    so heard there was a chance that Macy's might have to ground their
    balloons....
    Yes, they kept the balloons closer to the ground where protected from
    wind gusts by the buildings. Not sure if part of Festival of Trees or
    a different event around the same time but a ~10' sphere balloon --
    just round with a logo on it -- escaped. Depending on a variety of factors like upper lever winds, air temperature and the strength of the balloon material it could land anywhere between Illinois and New England/New York. So if you happen to see a big white balloon with red lettering on it......

    I'll keep my eye out for it... ;) Not that I expect it would fly this
    way... more likely to skip us and land in NE... :)

    ttyl neb

    ... It pays to be obvious especially if you have a reputation for subtlety

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Fri Dec 6 09:45:00 2019

    Hi Nancy!

    The storm we got on Sunday into Monday left us snow that we still
    have everywhere... Richard got his car out, but my car still has
    snow on the windshield and rear window... the side windows are
    clear, at least on the side I can see from inside... ;) Not a
    lot of snow, but didn't warm enough to melt it all off....

    If no reason to go out sometimes just let Mother Nature remove the snow
    she put on the car! I did have to scrape the frost off my windshields yesterday before my errands -- if I had been able to wait a half-hour or
    so would have melted.


    Where the Mall where I worked is was a golf course previously and
    before that a swampy area. Possibly some of the ducks nesting by the
    store had great-great-grandparents who had nested before the area was
    'humanized'. Also had sea gulls flying over and walking around in the
    parking lot -- follow the river traffic up the Mississippi, take a left
    43 blocks -- "gran-daddy's notes said..." <g>
    Sea gulls do rather like human-generated garbage, though.... that
    would have been enough to attract them.... One of our malls also is
    built on what used to be swampy land... part of the reclamation
    included putting in a sizeable drainage pond which the water fowl
    think quite attractive.
    They'd like that! No visible drainage seen at the Mall where I used
    to work; thinking they have some sort of below ground removal system as the Mall property has a definite slope: walk from one end to the other
    and one goes down several sets of short steps/ramps. There was also a hollow section under the floor in Juniors Department, apparently where
    a sump pump was though never heard it. There was also a set of circuit breakers marked 'Sump Pump' so assuming the location.
    Sounds likely then.... and with the slope, drainage might have
    been more through the ground, as well... maybe ending up
    somewhere off the property entirely.... :)

    Possibly, though seems like the west parking lot off of the store was
    the low point - there were some drain grids in it. Possibly the far
    side drained into or had a usually dry creek - no reason to drive to
    that side of the parking lot, and from the street side hard to see.


    carrying a balance, likely to send those to shredding as well... ;)
    Yes, everything gets glanced at before shredding. Right now just one
    credit card offer being held in-case; I expect a deluge mid-to-late
    January in time for those Christmas bills other people have.
    I seem to get at least one current card offer each month... and
    at the moment, truly don't have any need for any of them....
    But it's Christmas!! Your supposed to spend beyond your means!!
    Yeah, right.... not me.... <G>

    Smart move!



    As for the pay-up-or-else, haven't had to deal with those either, and
    don't want to.
    Nope... and one won't have to, so long as one keeps current with the
    payments.... :)
    Right.
    It's such a simple equation, it's a wonder anyone has trouble there.
    Yes, I know, too many people haven't learned to live within their
    means... and that does get them in trouble eventually...
    Right. I'm not sure if the Student Loan Debt thing has an anesthetic effect: "I'm in debt for $40,000 for school, what's another $400 for a
    big TV?"
    I suppose it might.... also there's the "but I'm entitled"
    syndrome... others can get those things so I should be able to
    have whatever I think I want....

    A little 'entitlement' on rare occasion is OK but only as a treat and
    keep it small. (So not really blatent entitlement.) I brown-bagged
    lunch, mostly because I didn't want to eat a full meal, partially because
    I didn't want to waste part of my lunch break in line for a meal, and
    yes, some because it cost too much. Once in a while would splurge and
    buy lunch as a treat to myself; more a spur of the moment thing.

    As far as entitlement-I-want-because-they-have, I don't think I've had
    that, or if it crept in I was able to boot it out. I don't want a huge
    screen TV, I don't want a 1-billion watt sound system. I'll admit to
    wanting and getting higher-level computer systems, but because I want
    faster, not because someone else has. (And then I stick them in plain
    black cases!)



    Yes, the 'common calendar' serves as a reminder plus communications in
    absenstia: I need to make an appointment, do you have anything going
    on I need to work around, but you're not available to ask so check the
    calendar. Each family/group works out their own methods.
    Indeed... :)
    I'm still trying to work out a practical way to display/store those reminder cards: appointment cards -- do write to the calendar but the
    card will a phone number, etc., on it.
    I tend to just keep an up to date version of each in the pocket
    of my pocket calendar...

    Works out just as well.


    Also my notes to renew my
    Drivers License a few years from now - right now that gets
    paperclipped to the Decemeber 2020 page of next year's calendar.
    I figure that DMV will send me the renewal in plenty of time,
    like they always do... :)

    <thinking> Hmm, guess they do! I don't know if the government sents
    out renewals for passports. IMO double-reminders are better than none!


    Good! BTW, assume he had an uneventful flight.
    As far as I know, he did... I probably would have heard, had
    there been anything exciting... <G> And have "talked" in email a
    couple of times since... :)
    Good for no 24-hour delays like my Mother and I had; my Aunt thought
    it odd we didn't call her when she thought we got to New Hampshire.
    If he did have any delays, he didnt mention them to me....

    Probably didn't; not all that common. Not unusual, but still rare.


    ... With friends like these, who needs a green inflatable
    hippopotamus?
    Now you got me wondering if there will be one at the Festival of
    Trees' parade tomorrow -- have helium balloons (a la a mini Macy's).
    Was there one...? We had high winds in NYS at Thanksgiving time,
    so heard there was a chance that Macy's might have to ground their
    balloons....
    Yes, they kept the balloons closer to the ground where protected from
    wind gusts by the buildings. Not sure if part of Festival of Trees or
    a different event around the same time but a ~10' sphere balloon --
    just round with a logo on it -- escaped. Depending on a variety of factors like upper lever winds, air temperature and the strength of the balloon material it could land anywhere between Illinois and New England/New York. So if you happen to see a big white balloon with red lettering on it......
    I'll keep my eye out for it... ;) Not that I expect it would fly
    this way... more likely to skip us and land in NE... :)

    OK, thanks! Haven't heard if their balloon has been found yet -- might
    be partway to England!


    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Care to join the Peter Pan club? Never. Never.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Wed Dec 18 01:23:50 2019
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 06-Dec-2019 09:45 <=-

    The storm we got on Sunday into Monday left us snow that we still
    have everywhere... Richard got his car out, but my car still has
    snow on the windshield and rear window... the side windows are
    clear, at least on the side I can see from inside... ;) Not a
    lot of snow, but didn't warm enough to melt it all off....
    If no reason to go out sometimes just let Mother Nature remove the
    snow she put on the car! I did have to scrape the frost off my windshields yesterday before my errands -- if I had been able to wait a half-hour or so would have melted.

    Yeah... it's always nice when one has the luxury of waiting for the
    snow/frost to take care of itself... ;)

    They'd like that! No visible drainage seen at the Mall where I used
    to work; thinking they have some sort of below ground removal system as
    the Mall property has a definite slope: walk from one end to the other
    and one goes down several sets of short steps/ramps. There was also a
    hollow section under the floor in Juniors Department, apparently where
    a sump pump was though never heard it. There was also a set of circuit
    breakers marked 'Sump Pump' so assuming the location.
    Sounds likely then.... and with the slope, drainage might have been
    more through the ground, as well... maybe ending up somewhere off the
    property entirely.... :)
    Possibly, though seems like the west parking lot off of the store was
    the low point - there were some drain grids in it. Possibly the far
    side drained into or had a usually dry creek - no reason to drive to
    that side of the parking lot, and from the street side hard to see.

    So something you didn't see much... or much of... :) With drain grids,
    sounds like there was some underground drain of some sort....

    I seem to get at least one current card offer each month... and
    at the moment, truly don't have any need for any of them....
    But it's Christmas!! Your supposed to spend beyond your means!!
    Yeah, right.... not me.... <G>
    Smart move!

    I thought so... ;)

    Right. I'm not sure if the Student Loan Debt thing has an anesthetic
    effect: "I'm in debt for $40,000 for school, what's another $400 for a
    big TV?"
    I suppose it might.... also there's the "but I'm entitled" syndrome...
    others can get those things so I should be able to have whatever I
    think I want....
    A little 'entitlement' on rare occasion is OK but only as a treat and
    keep it small. (So not really blatent entitlement.) I brown-bagged lunch, mostly because I didn't want to eat a full meal, partially
    because I didn't want to waste part of my lunch break in line for a
    meal, and yes, some because it cost too much. Once in a while would splurge and buy lunch as a treat to myself; more a spur of the moment thing.

    Not really what I was referring to, either... the occasional splurge as
    part of an overall pattern of sound financial practice isn't the "I'm
    entitled" syndrome... :)

    As far as entitlement-I-want-because-they-have, I don't think I've had that, or if it crept in I was able to boot it out. I don't want a
    huge screen TV, I don't want a 1-billion watt sound system. I'll admit
    to wanting and getting higher-level computer systems, but because I
    want faster, not because someone else has. (And then I stick them in plain black cases!)

    And that is maybe a little closer, but not really what I was talking
    about either... your purchases are still well within your budget, and
    your general wants are well within your means... :)

    I was thinking more of those of very modest means, possibly even
    struggling to make ends meet because of limited income, that think that
    they still deserve to this that or the other thing, even though they
    clearly don't have the money for it... saving to get it is probably out
    of the question, since by the time the couple of pennies (probably
    literally) they can squeeze out of the money at hand grew to be closer
    to enough to pay for such, the item would be hopelessly outdated, and no
    longer of interest..... for them, the credit card is a very enticing
    trap.... "But I DESERVE it... why can't I get what everyone else has..."

    From our discussions, I'd say that neither you nor I are exactly rich,
    by most standards anyway... but we do have more leeway in allocating
    funds beyond the bare necessities, and we do tend to be more balanced in
    making financial decisions whether on a small scale or on a large scale,
    and a willingness to postpone gratification where wiser... ;)

    Also my notes to renew my
    Drivers License a few years from now - right now that gets
    paperclipped to the Decemeber 2020 page of next year's calendar.
    I figure that DMV will send me the renewal in plenty of time, like
    they always do... :)
    <thinking> Hmm, guess they do! I don't know if the government sents
    out renewals for passports. IMO double-reminders are better than
    none!

    From my experience, no they don't send reminders... you are on your own
    for that renewal... which is why I'll need to reapply at this point... ;)

    Yes, they kept the balloons closer to the ground where protected from
    wind gusts by the buildings. Not sure if part of Festival of Trees or
    a different event around the same time but a ~10' sphere balloon --
    just round with a logo on it -- escaped. Depending on a variety of
    factors like upper lever winds, air temperature and the strength of the
    balloon material it could land anywhere between Illinois and New
    England/New York. So if you happen to see a big white balloon with red
    lettering on it......
    I'll keep my eye out for it... ;) Not that I expect it would fly
    this way... more likely to skip us and land in NE... :)
    OK, thanks! Haven't heard if their balloon has been found yet --
    might be partway to England!

    Could be.... or went too high and deflated over the ocean....

    ttyl neb

    ... A back up in time, may save murder or crime.

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Wed Dec 18 08:11:00 2019

    Hi Nancy!

    On this morning's news the chances for a white Christmas went down to
    2%; was 5% yesterday.


    The storm we got on Sunday into Monday left us snow that we still
    have everywhere... Richard got his car out, but my car still has
    snow on the windshield and rear window... the side windows are
    clear, at least on the side I can see from inside... ;) Not a
    lot of snow, but didn't warm enough to melt it all off....
    If no reason to go out sometimes just let Mother Nature remove the
    snow she put on the car! I did have to scrape the frost off my windshields yesterday before my errands -- if I had been able to wait a half-hour or so would have melted.
    Yeah... it's always nice when one has the luxury of waiting for
    the snow/frost to take care of itself... ;)

    I've had it where the dew/moisture on the windshield, apply the wipers
    and it turns to frost and stays frozen, so still have to scrape.


    They'd like that! No visible drainage seen at the Mall where I used
    to work; thinking they have some sort of below ground removal system as
    the Mall property has a definite slope: walk from one end to the other
    and one goes down several sets of short steps/ramps. There was also a
    hollow section under the floor in Juniors Department, apparently where
    a sump pump was though never heard it. There was also a set of circuit
    breakers marked 'Sump Pump' so assuming the location.
    Sounds likely then.... and with the slope, drainage might have been
    more through the ground, as well... maybe ending up somewhere off the
    property entirely.... :)
    Possibly, though seems like the west parking lot off of the store was
    the low point - there were some drain grids in it. Possibly the far
    side drained into or had a usually dry creek - no reason to drive to
    that side of the parking lot, and from the street side hard to see.
    So something you didn't see much... or much of... :) With drain
    grids, sounds like there was some underground drain of some
    sort....

    That would be my guess also, and possibly what the store's sump pump
    drained in to. Don't recall seeing a pump building for the parking lot drainage system (assuming there was one), but could have been integrated
    in the Mall itself: lots of places could 'hide' a pump room.

    Sort of speaking of Malls, the sister Mall on the Illinois side was
    closed all day Monday due to a fire. Occurred early mid-morning in one
    of the little shop-stores. AFAICT not mich fire damage, just a lot of
    smoke. Went on-line to check and no details.



    Right. I'm not sure if the Student Loan Debt thing has an anesthetic
    effect: "I'm in debt for $40,000 for school, what's another $400 for a
    big TV?"
    I suppose it might.... also there's the "but I'm entitled" syndrome...
    others can get those things so I should be able to have whatever I
    think I want....
    A little 'entitlement' on rare occasion is OK but only as a treat and
    keep it small. (So not really blatent entitlement.) I brown-bagged lunch, mostly because I didn't want to eat a full meal, partially
    because I didn't want to waste part of my lunch break in line for a
    meal, and yes, some because it cost too much. Once in a while would splurge and buy lunch as a treat to myself; more a spur of the moment thing.
    Not really what I was referring to, either... the occasional
    splurge as part of an overall pattern of sound financial practice
    isn't the "I'm entitled" syndrome... :)

    True; must have been hungry and that was only example I could think of.
    The "I'm entitled" thing is more buy a huge-screen TV to show off (to oneself). Probably better is the 'rolling house sized' brand new SUV
    when a one- or two year old car would work just as well if not better.
    (And again all depends: maybe a SUV is better for one's situation.)


    As far as entitlement-I-want-because-they-have, I don't think I've had that, or if it crept in I was able to boot it out. I don't want a
    huge screen TV, I don't want a 1-billion watt sound system. I'll admit
    to wanting and getting higher-level computer systems, but because I
    want faster, not because someone else has. (And then I stick them in plain black cases!)
    And that is maybe a little closer, but not really what I was
    talking about either... your purchases are still well within your
    budget, and your general wants are well within your means... :)

    <chuckle> I think we're (or at least me) are stuck giving 'too small'
    answers because the over-the-top ones don't come to mind.


    I was thinking more of those of very modest means, possibly even struggling to make ends meet because of limited income, that
    think that they still deserve to this that or the other thing,
    even though they clearly don't have the money for it... saving to
    get it is probably out of the question, since by the time the
    couple of pennies (probably literally) they can squeeze out of
    the money at hand grew to be closer to enough to pay for such,
    the item would be hopelessly outdated, and no longer of
    interest..... for them, the credit card is a very enticing
    trap.... "But I DESERVE it... why can't I get what everyone else
    has..."

    That's probably a much better way to give an example than to try to give
    an actual example.


    From our discussions, I'd say that neither you nor I are exactly
    rich, by most standards anyway... but we do have more leeway in
    allocating funds beyond the bare necessities, and we do tend to
    be more balanced in making financial decisions whether on a small
    scale or on a large scale, and a willingness to postpone
    gratification where wiser... ;)

    Bingo! Not exactly rich, nor poor. I want/need something I can buy it,
    but there had better be a reason for it, then I'll spend time looking
    for the best or close-to-the-best deal: time is money! If it appears
    $22.99 (and free shipping!) is the best price I'm not going to spend
    time looking for a $22.95 deal. (See? My real life examples are even
    chump change! <g>)



    Also my notes to renew my
    Drivers License a few years from now - right now that gets
    paperclipped to the Decemeber 2020 page of next year's calendar.
    I figure that DMV will send me the renewal in plenty of time, like
    they always do... :)
    <thinking> Hmm, guess they do! I don't know if the government sents
    out renewals for passports. IMO double-reminders are better than
    none!
    From my experience, no they don't send reminders... you are on
    your own for that renewal... which is why I'll need to reapply at
    this point... ;)

    OK - I was pretty sure the state sent out driver's license reminders but
    not sure about the federal reminder for passports. BTW, you'll probably
    need a visa to accompany the passport -- seems like that was starting
    in 2021. Two separate items; AFAIK don't need a visa until making the
    trip; get the passport ahead of time.


    Yes, they kept the balloons closer to the ground where protected from
    wind gusts by the buildings. Not sure if part of Festival of Trees or
    a different event around the same time but a ~10' sphere balloon --
    just round with a logo on it -- escaped. Depending on a variety of
    factors like upper lever winds, air temperature and the strength of the
    balloon material it could land anywhere between Illinois and New
    England/New York. So if you happen to see a big white balloon with red
    lettering on it......
    I'll keep my eye out for it... ;) Not that I expect it would fly
    this way... more likely to skip us and land in NE... :)
    OK, thanks! Haven't heard if their balloon has been found yet --
    might be partway to England!
    Could be.... or went too high and deflated over the ocean....

    Awwww. ;(

    ¯ ®
    ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ®
    ¯ @Q.COM ®
    ¯ ®


    ... Forget smile buttons: give people the real thing.
    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47
    þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA

    --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462
    * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1)
  • From Nancy Backus@454:1/452 to Barry Martin on Wed Dec 25 23:49:12 2019
    Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 18-Dec-2019 08:11 <=-

    On this morning's news the chances for a white Christmas went down to
    2%; was 5% yesterday.

    And you probably ended up like us, with a green Christmas... except for
    the leftover piles here and there.... ;)

    If no reason to go out sometimes just let Mother Nature remove the
    snow she put on the car! I did have to scrape the frost off my
    windshields yesterday before my errands -- if I had been able to wait a
    half-hour or so would have melted.
    Yeah... it's always nice when one has the luxury of waiting for the
    snow/frost to take care of itself... ;)
    I've had it where the dew/moisture on the windshield, apply the wipers
    and it turns to frost and stays frozen, so still have to scrape.

    If one has time in that situation, the windshield defrost might melt the
    frost, at least eventually...

    Possibly, though seems like the west parking lot off of the store was
    the low point - there were some drain grids in it. Possibly the far
    side drained into or had a usually dry creek - no reason to drive to
    that side of the parking lot, and from the street side hard to see.
    So something you didn't see much... or much of... :) With drain
    grids, sounds like there was some underground drain of some sort....
    That would be my guess also, and possibly what the store's sump pump drained in to. Don't recall seeing a pump building for the parking
    lot drainage system (assuming there was one), but could have been integrated in the Mall itself: lots of places could 'hide' a pump room.

    True.

    Sort of speaking of Malls, the sister Mall on the Illinois side was
    closed all day Monday due to a fire. Occurred early mid-morning in
    one of the little shop-stores. AFAICT not much fire damage, just a lot
    of smoke. Went on-line to check and no details.

    So apparently easily taken care of, then...

    Once in a while would splurge and buy lunch as a treat to myself;
    more a spur of the moment thing.
    Not really what I was referring to, either... the occasional splurge
    as part of an overall pattern of sound financial practice isn't the
    "I'm entitled" syndrome... :)
    True; must have been hungry and that was only example I could think
    of. The "I'm entitled" thing is more buy a huge-screen TV to show off
    (to oneself). Probably better is the 'rolling house sized' brand new
    SUV when a one- or two year old car would work just as well if not
    better. (And again all depends: maybe a SUV is better for one's situation.)

    I think I'd refer to that sort of thing more as conspicuous
    consumption... the always wanting bigger and more expensive whether or
    not it is needed...

    As far as entitlement-I-want-because-they-have, I don't think I've had
    that, or if it crept in I was able to boot it out. I don't want a
    huge screen TV, I don't want a 1-billion watt sound system. I'll admit
    to wanting and getting higher-level computer systems, but because I
    want faster, not because someone else has. (And then I stick them in
    plain black cases!)
    And that is maybe a little closer, but not really what I was talking
    about either... your purchases are still well within your budget, and
    your general wants are well within your means... :)
    <chuckle> I think we're (or at least me) are stuck giving 'too small' answers because the over-the-top ones don't come to mind.

    I'm thinking that you are stuck more because the concept of being
    entitled to more than you could possibly afford doesn't apply in your
    case.... You can afford generally just about anything that you'd tend to
    want to get, and things beyond that tend to seem ridiculously over the
    top, so wouldn't be even considered past a fleeting thought.... If I
    were trying to come up with examples from my own life, I likewise would
    be having difficulties.... :)

    I was thinking more of those of very modest means, possibly even
    struggling to make ends meet because of limited income, that think
    that they still deserve to have this that or the other thing, even
    though they clearly don't have the money for it... saving to get it
    is probably out of the question, since by the time the couple of
    pennies (probably literally) they can squeeze out of the money at
    hand grew to be closer to enough to pay for such, the item would be
    hopelessly outdated, and no longer of interest..... for them, the
    credit card is a very enticing trap.... "But I DESERVE it... why
    can't I get what everyone else has..."
    That's probably a much better way to give an example than to try to
    give an actual example.

    I could probably come up with specific instances that I've seen in
    people I've worked with, but the more general description is probably
    more understandable to someone in our circumstances....

    From our discussions, I'd say that neither you nor I are exactly
    rich, by most standards anyway... but we do have more leeway in
    allocating funds beyond the bare necessities, and we do tend to be
    more balanced in making financial decisions whether on a small scale
    or on a large scale, and a willingness to postpone gratification
    where wiser... ;)
    Bingo! Not exactly rich, nor poor. I want/need something I can buy
    it, but there had better be a reason for it, then I'll spend time
    looking for the best or close-to-the-best deal: time is money! If it appears $22.99 (and free shipping!) is the best price I'm not going to spend time looking for a $22.95 deal. (See? My real life examples are even chump change! <g>)

    But it does underscore my point... being not rich, but also not poor,
    we've developed good habits of being reasonably frugal... using our
    resources wisely... But, when poor, there tends to be a different sort
    of mindset... a feeling of "I should be able to get it, even if I can't
    afford it, it just isn't fair otherwise"... which is what I've been
    calling the entitlement syndrome.... If I hadn't come up across it in
    various situations with various people in straitened situations, I'd
    likely not have noticed it quite so clearly....

    I figure that DMV will send me the renewal in plenty of time, like
    they always do... :)
    <thinking> Hmm, guess they do! I don't know if the government sents
    out renewals for passports. IMO double-reminders are better than
    none!
    From my experience, no they don't send reminders... you are on your
    own for that renewal... which is why I'll need to reapply at this
    point... ;)
    OK - I was pretty sure the state sent out driver's license reminders
    but not sure about the federal reminder for passports. BTW, you'll probably need a visa to accompany the passport -- seems like that was starting in 2021. Two separate items; AFAIK don't need a visa until making the trip; get the passport ahead of time.

    Yeah, I heard something about that... That's actually been in effect for
    many decades, at least for some countries... What's changing, I guess,
    is that more countries are going to require visas along with the
    passport...

    Yes, they kept the balloons closer to the ground where protected from
    wind gusts by the buildings. Not sure if part of Festival of Trees or
    a different event around the same time but a ~10' sphere balloon --
    just round with a logo on it -- escaped. Depending on a variety of
    factors like upper lever winds, air temperature and the strength of the
    balloon material it could land anywhere between Illinois and New
    England/New York. So if you happen to see a big white balloon with red
    lettering on it......
    I'll keep my eye out for it... ;) Not that I expect it would fly
    this way... more likely to skip us and land in NE... :)
    OK, thanks! Haven't heard if their balloon has been found yet --
    might be partway to England!
    Could be.... or went too high and deflated over the ocean....
    Awwww. ;(

    Probably you'll just never hear anything about it, but if you do, tell
    us... ;)

    ttyl neb

    ... To err is human. To blame it on someone else is even more human.

    --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452)
  • From Barry Martin@454:1/1 to Nancy Backus on Thu Dec 26 08:58:00 2019

    Hi Nancy!

    On this morning's news the chances for a white Christmas went down to
    2%; was 5% yesterday.
    And you probably ended up like us, with a green Christmas...
    except for the leftover piles here and there.... ;)

    And not that many piles except at the business sites. Yesteday's
    (Christmas Day's) official high was 62ø!! Average is 32ø; and from
    glancing through the on-line charts to get this looks like the previous
    high was 59ø -- and record low was -18ø.


    If no reason to go out sometimes just let Mother Nature remove the
    snow she put on the car! I did have to scrape the frost off my
    windshields yesterday before my errands -- if I had been able to wait a
    half-hour or so would have melted.
    Yeah... it's always nice when one has the luxury of waiting for the
    snow/frost to take care of itself... ;)
    I've had it where the dew/moisture on the windshield, apply the wipers
    and it turns to frost and stays frozen, so still have to scrape.
    If one has time in that situation, the windshield defrost might
    melt the frost, at least eventually...

    Generally I don't have time to sit and wait at that point so get out to
    scrape but do have the defogger on and set to high. There have been
    other times when the ice layer is too thin or too thick for the scaper
    and I do wait until the defogger has melted the attaching layer.



    Sort of speaking of Malls, the sister Mall on the Illinois side was
    closed all day Monday due to a fire. Occurred early mid-morning in
    one of the little shop-stores. AFAICT not much fire damage, just a lot
    of smoke. Went on-line to check and no details.
    So apparently easily taken care of, then...

    Yes, apparently the initial problem was smoke inside the mall but why
    the fire deparment didn't allow or the Mall decided to stay closed all
    day I don't know.


    Once in a while would splurge and buy lunch as a treat to myself;
    more a spur of the moment thing.
    Not really what I was referring to, either... the occasional splurge
    as part of an overall pattern of sound financial practice isn't the
    "I'm entitled" syndrome... :)
    True; must have been hungry and that was only example I could think
    of. The "I'm entitled" thing is more buy a huge-screen TV to show off
    (to oneself). Probably better is the 'rolling house sized' brand new
    SUV when a one- or two year old car would work just as well if not
    better. (And again all depends: maybe a SUV is better for one's situation.)
    I think I'd refer to that sort of thing more as conspicuous
    consumption... the always wanting bigger and more expensive
    whether or not it is needed...

    Yes, I'd agree. :) My thinking on entitlement might be tempered by acceptance: "OK, so you have eight billion dollars and want to buy a
    yacht. You can afford it and not make sacrifices elsewhere. Can I come someday? I'll bring some snacks!"


    As far as entitlement-I-want-because-they-have, I don't think I've had
    that, or if it crept in I was able to boot it out. I don't want a
    huge screen TV, I don't want a 1-billion watt sound system. I'll admit
    to wanting and getting higher-level computer systems, but because I
    want faster, not because someone else has. (And then I stick them in
    plain black cases!)
    And that is maybe a little closer, but not really what I was talking
    about either... your purchases are still well within your budget, and
    your general wants are well within your means... :)
    <chuckle> I think we're (or at least me) are stuck giving 'too small' answers because the over-the-top ones don't come to mind.
    I'm thinking that you are stuck more because the concept of being
    entitled to more than you could possibly afford doesn't apply in
    your case.... You can afford generally just about anything that
    you'd tend to want to get, and things beyond that tend to seem ridiculously over the top, so wouldn't be even considered past a
    fleeting thought.... If I were trying to come up with examples
    from my own life, I likewise would be having difficulties.... :)

    That's probably it. I/we just naturally live within our means, have a
    fun little splurge every so often but even that is reigned in. LIS in
    the yacht example a little earlier, the friend has money and wants a
    yacht. And I probably wouldn't be friends if the other person was doing
    the "I'm entitled" thing because conflicts with my attitudes.


    I was thinking more of those of very modest means, possibly even
    struggling to make ends meet because of limited income, that think
    that they still deserve to have this that or the other thing, even
    though they clearly don't have the money for it... saving to get it
    is probably out of the question, since by the time the couple of
    pennies (probably literally) they can squeeze out of the money at
    hand grew to be closer to enough to pay for such, the item would be
    hopelessly outdated, and no longer of interest..... for them, the
    credit card is a very enticing trap.... "But I DESERVE it... why
    can't I get what everyone else has..."
    That's probably a much better way to give an example than to try to
    give an actual example.
    I could probably come up with specific instances that I've seen
    in people I've worked with, but the more general description is
    probably more understandable to someone in our circumstances....

    Probably so: trying to 'self-analyze' it appears I probably would not
    get into the understanding the situation because it's just not me. And
    can excuse (up to a point) those of the Lifestyles of the Rich and
    Famous group because that's the way things are. (OK, some do some
    stupid things and should know better, $1 or $1,000,000,000.)


    From our discussions, I'd say that neither you nor I are exactly
    rich, by most standards anyway... but we do have more leeway in
    allocating funds beyond the bare necessities, and we do tend to be
    more balanced in making financial decisions whether on a small scale
    or on a large scale, and a willingness to postpone gratification
    where wiser... ;)
    Bingo! Not exactly rich, nor poor. I want/need something I can buy
    it, but there had better be a reason for it, then I'll spend time
    looking for the best or close-to-the-best deal: time is money! If it appears $22.99 (and free shipping!) is the best price I'm not going to spend time looking for a $22.95 deal. (See? My real life examples are even chump change! <g>)
    But it does underscore my point... being not rich, but also not
    poor, we've developed good habits of being reasonably frugal...
    using our resources wisely... But, when poor, there tends to be
    a different sort of mindset... a feeling of "I should be able to
    get it, even if I can't afford it, it just isn't fair
    otherwise"... which is what I've been calling the entitlement
    syndrome.... If I hadn't come up across it in various situations
    with various people in straitened situations, I'd likely not have
    noticed it quite so clearly....

    Quite probably, and maybe I haven't been in the situation. Right now
    I'm thinking back to my college days and we'd sometimes do study groups
    at our homes. I lived in a decent apartment, two others live in
    trailers (now 'mobile homes').... One guy was reluctant to have us over because he lived in a semi-rundown apartment building because he didn't
    have much money. Essentially he 'broke down' when I said "we're friends
    with you, not the apartment".


    I figure that DMV will send me the renewal in plenty of time, like
    they always do... :)
    <thinking> Hmm, guess they do! I don't know if the government sents
    out renewals for passports. IMO double-reminders are better than
    none!
    From my experience, no they don't send reminders... you are on your
    own for that renewal... which is why I'll need to reapply at this
    point... ;)
    OK - I was pretty sure the state sent out driver's license reminders
    but not sure about the federal reminder for passports. BTW, you'll probably need a visa to accompany the passport -- seems like that was starting in 2021. Two separate items; AFAIK don't need a visa until making the trip; get the passport ahead of time.
    Yeah, I heard something about that... That's actually been in
    effect for many decades, at least for some countries... What's
    changing, I guess, is that more countries are going to require
    visas along with the passport...

    Right: off-hand don't know which countries but they have required a visa
    for decades. (And hence the joke 'but what about my MasterCard?'.) Not
    sure why the EU (European Union) will require visas, though I'd guess
    may have something to do with immigrants from the Mediterranean area.


    Yes, they kept the balloons closer to the ground where protected from
    wind gusts by the buildings. Not sure if part of Festival of Trees or
    a different event around the same time but a ~10' sphere balloon --
    just round with a logo on it -- escaped. Depending on a variety of
    factors like upper lever winds, air temperature and the strength of the
    balloon material it could land anywhere between Illinois and New
    England/New York. So if you happen to see a big white balloon with red
    lettering on it......
    I'll keep my eye out for it... ;) Not that I expect it would fly
    this way... more likely to skip us and land in NE... :)
    OK, thanks! Haven't heard if their balloon has been found yet --
    might be partway to England!
    Could be.... or went too high and deflated over the ocean....
    Awwww. ;(
    Probably you'll just never hear anything about it, but if you do,
    tell us... ;)

    I'll probably end up like the news reports: vague comment to follow-up
    and that's the end. I think I saw a replacement balloon at the
    rebroadcast of the (local) Festival of Trees parade.


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