The Conservative Cave
The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: franksolich on October 17, 2008, 02:43:28 PM
-
I’m going to be away for a while, but whether for a couple of days or a couple of weeks, I have no idea; most likely something in between those two points.
I’m putting this in a public forum rather than the moderators’ forum, because I want primitives lurking from Skins’s island to see that, no, franksolich hasn’t evaporated, and so, no, the primitives can’t get away with their base natures and utter stupidities invisible to decent and civilized people.
There’s just w-a-a-a-a-y too much going on in real life, and so rather than dealing with them one at a time, in some order of priority, I’ve dropped down into my “let it happens as it happens†mode, and with that, accepting, adapting, and moving on.
In no particular order of importance, the telephone issue remains unresolved, and I this morning contacted the Nebraska Commission for the Deaf (only the second time in my life I’ve done that), detailing my experiences with high-pressure salesmen to try to sell me 2000% more of what I need, or am willing take.
This is an especially “hot†issue with me, not least because I don’t care for the idea, and of course nothing can be done over the telephone; it always involves an 80-mile round trip to deal with a human being in person. Gasoline, time, money, and hopes, no matter how much there is, evaporate pretty quickly.
As I wrote the Nebraska Commission for the Deaf, quoting, for example, “I know xxxx company offers what I want, at xx dollars for the equipment, and x dollars per minute, but I can’t get one of these guys to show it to me.
“Of course they’re hesitant about it—--perhaps somewhat that they have absolutely no idea what a deaf person can possibly do with a telephone, but more so because the requested service and equipment is starkly austere and barebones, no bells, whistles, toys, bright flashing lights, that there’s only a couple of bucks in it for them.
“Everybody’s got to make a living, and these guys of course live off of commissions they make for selling toys and gadgets and gizmos, all these ‘added on’ features.
“But, what happens is that when someone overreaches, trying to grab the biggest bucks possible, with me, he ends up with a handful of ashes, rather than a modest-sized check or cash.
“It’s okay to reach, and I can be persuaded to get a little more than what I really want or need, but if one overreaches, one gets nothing from me.â€
I offer the example of State Farm Insurance, which I certainly hope continues to flourish and thrive. It was a very long time ago that I went to State Farm with my automotive, medical, and life insurance needs.
Of course, the agent wished to sell me more than what I wanted or needed, but then when I interrupted, saying, “No, this is all I want and need, and all I’m willing to pay for,†he handed me the forms to sign, and that was that.
The result being that State Farm gained a customer who has poured thousands of dollars into their coffers, all incoming and no outgoing. I have been a low-maintenance, or more correctly, a no-maintenance, customer, no problems at all for them.
I’m sure State Farm would like to have more, but that is held in check by their understanding that I have what I need and can use, and need nothing else, and that to push me for more than a quart of milk a day, this cow will simply stop giving them milk at all, not even a drop.
Better a quart of free milk, than no milk at all—--and especially since that quart of milk flows freely to their bank account, costing them no effort, no troubles, no nuisances. Not even the medical insurance, while it’s come close, has ever caused a leakage in their revenues.
And there is--—obviously—--the matter of the computer.
Now, I got flak for this, but I remain convinced I was right in destroying the old computer when it was attacked by this particular virus. This was no ordinary virus. If one thinks of a computer virus as a sort of destructive little worm, this was a boa constrictor, crushing and consuming right before one’s eyes.
The other factors were that this computer had cost me $100 four years ago, four years during which time there were no problems, no problems at all. But all good things, like bad things, must come to an end, and at $25 a year, this had been an excellent computer---but perhaps near the end of its life anyway.
Also, because I do not “store†things on computers, I lost nothing of value, other than the avatar of my fellow alum Skins, but I’m sure that TxRadioGuy can find it for me, once I’m set up again.
And besides, myself not being a computer expert, something good can come out of destroying a computer. I am still no computer expert, but in the process of destroying that computer, I learned things about computers I had not heretofore known.
Some here might recall that about a year ago, because some rectal aperture driving a van with a “Kleeb in ‘06†bumper-sticker attached to its back (the aforementioned Kleeb being a failed Democrat candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives), was following me too closely at high speed, I had to run over the carcass of a very large and very dead deer in the middle of the highway, no chance to avoid it.
Such broke the axle and bent a tie-rod.
Well, it was time to get a new motor vehicle anyway; this one was only 8 years old, but had been roughly used by its previous owner. So while I looked around for a new vehicle---which took a couple of weeks---simply out of curiosity, I continued driving this vehicle (although of course cautiously), just to learn how one can maneuver and even use, a busted car.
I would NOT recommend that anybody else do this, especially if one lives in an area where there are more motor vehicles per mile of road, than miles of road per motor vehicle. But for me---who pays the lowest automotive insurance rates of anyone I know ($62 every six months)---it was okay, because obviously I do know something about driving, and there was no one else around to get hurt in case something happened.
Not to mention the weather cooperated those two weeks, leaving all the road surfaces dry; the night I picked up the new vehicle and dumped the broken one at the steel recycler, we got lots and lots of rain.
If something is pretty much used up or hopelessly broken, one can still learn things from it, clear up until one tosses it.
Sort of like an autopsy, I suppose.
The only unanticipated complication with the computer was that I had not anticipated there might not be a new used one available for sale; there had always been something around before, and so I quite reasonably assumed there would be this time, too.
Well, I was wrong, but excrescence happens sometimes.
The matter’s being worked on, but I’m not God, and can’t say when it’s going to happen.
I imagine I should feel squeamish about this (but I don’t); I have always preferred used things to new things, other than of course underwear. I’m not sure why this is; it’s probably from something traumatic that occurred in early childhood, long gone from the memory.
In the closet of course hang four three-pieced pin-striped suits, purchased brand-new (and even worn on occasion) from top-of-the-line men’s clothiers in both New York City and Philadelphia, custom-made even.
But on the other hand, never in my entire adult life have I ever purchased a pair of brand-new shoes. And franksolich is the one who wanders the Sandhills of Nebraska decked with a sun-helmet from the late 1950s, once (allegedly) worn by Lord Baring, one of the last governor-generals of British East Africa, even though there is a brand new one that fits him better, on a shelf in a closet here.
Thus shoes, thus computers; there’s always been this notion that the person who had such a thing before me, the person who had bought it brand-new, had ironed out any kinks in it, and so one can proceed through life confident and carefree.
And among other things in real life, since about mid-August, two weeks before the cat Floyd mysteriously began withering away, I started sensing, intuitively or instinctively, that the body was starting to slip, to give a little ground, in this now-12-year battle against the sun and what it does.
Heretofore, while not gaining any ground, I had not lost any, either; I was just stubbornly holding steady, no improvement, no unimprovement.
And then suddenly this sense of slippage.
Which was later diagnosed, although it is nothing near hopeless; just a great deal of inner personal frustration and resentment that one can only either just hold his ground, or lose it a little bit at a time, rather than improving.
I am sure that treatment is not aggressive enough, and seeing as I have only myself to worry about, and am willing to take risks, I am consternated that the dermatologists involved, all of them excellent top-notch medical personnel, veto, or least seem hesitant about, my own suggestions.
If x works at stabilizing, or ameliorating, or even slightly improving a situation, it seems to me that 10x or 20x or 40x---something near, but not quite, lethal---would permanently terminate this thing that is trying to terminate me.
I can take pain---I don’t like it, but if it permanently solves a problem, well, Hell. And unlike many people in the same condition, I remain undebilitated, a vigorously strong constitution and I hope, a Great Fortitude.
I suspect this is why I took the withering away and death of the cat Floyd so hard; if only I had been more aggressive in his veterinary treatment, he might have survived to flourish and prosper; if only I hadn’t been so chickenshit timid about applying his medicine and food.
I dunno.
There’s a whole lot else going on in real life, but anyway, after the meeting with the guys at my internet service provider, encounters with three computer salesmen and two cellular telephone salesmen, yesterday (Thursday), on my drive back here, I thought to myself, “Okay, there it is, there’s all the issues---but rather than prioritizing them and dealing with them one at a time, just let things fall in place as they will, as they wish.â€
-
Frank, you are scaring the crap out of me. Skin cancer? Get that stuff taken care of.
Best thoughts, and thinking the good fight for you.
Please, please keep us informed.
-
Frank, I was only kidding with you about the destruction of your old computer. I've been into electronics since I was six years old (I'm 50 now) and have an affinity of repairing said items. Worst case, I could always use the parts on other derelict computers.
Come back when you can. You have to take care of yourself first.
-
Frank, I was only kidding with you about the destruction of your old computer. I've been into electronics since I was six years old (I'm 50 now) and have an affinity of repairing said items. Worst case, I could always use the parts on other derelict computers.
Come back when you can. You have to take care of yourself first.
I knew you were kidding, sir.
But after, right in front of my eyes, watching this boa constrictor crush and consume, I felt the "need" to destroy it.
I do at the moment have that Windows 98 30 (or so) gigabyte tower with hard drive, and the guys at the internet service provider insist it's clean and all that. Yell at me some time next week (not right now), about where I can ship it.
-
Frank, you are scaring the crap out of me. Skin cancer? Get that stuff taken care of.
Best thoughts, and thinking the good fight for you.
Please, please keep us informed.
Don't get too concerned.
I've been dealing with it since 1996, just right after I got back from the socialist paradises of the workers and peasants. For a while there--say, 2002-2006--it looked as if it was going away, but alas it stuck around.
I imagine I'll be dealing with it until the end of my life (no joke intended).
It's one of those "personal issues" that's not always on the front burner of the stove, but it's always on the stove somewhere.
You know, when I was young and observant, I made a resolution to do all within my powers to avoid attracting the diseases of affluence and the soft easy life that killed family members way too early. I succeeded.....but it never struck me that I would be dealing with something else.
Such is life, random and out of our control. The only "control" one has, really, over his own life is his reaction, his response, to things.
-
Sounds like what my father is dealing with, a few laser treatments, and check back later. He spent far too much time worring about getting a tan in his younger days, unlike me.
Pulling for ya bud. :II:
-
Prayers for you, Frank. Don't be too long!
-
Do what ya gotta do. Franksolich comes first in Franksolich's world. We'll still be here (at least most of us will, anyway) when you get back.
-
Frank take care of yourself and come back when you can.
Know that we are missing your presence here.
Prayers and many <<<<hugs>>>> sent to you.
-
Frank take care of yourself. You will be greatly missed in your absence.