Zenfish'n

Greetings of the Season one and all. Here's wishing you and yours all the best and may good fortune smile upon y'all. While I may be more of a secularist, I do see the need of stopping and enjoy the company of one's friends and family. It is a time to enjoy what we have all worked so hard to accomplish. It has been this way all through our history. The basic need to connect and reflect upon what is truly important in our lives is an inherent act, that makes us all a little more relaxed. The wife and I have had a very quiet Christmas this year. Our thoughts are with our friends and family and we wish circumstances would have allowed us to share this season with them.



Now I'm used to dealing with snow... Seattlites have no concept. Which when you consider how many of them like to ski is pretty strange. I don't know how may inches we have received over the last week... but, I would guess at no more than a foot. At least in the Downtown area. In fact, The rain has washed most of the snow and ice away. Even when it was cold enough to be snow covered. the city has no idea of how snow removal should be conducted. To be fair, the city only has 28 plows. They use dump trucks that have a low containment area. To be honest, if they used pick ups it would be more efficient. They use sand instead of salt. I really don't mind that, its much easier on the vehicles. The problem is sand really doesn't melt ice.




Snow brings Seattle to a halt. The hills and the ice prevent traffic. People have resorted to skis and snowshoes to get around. Its been a snow week. For the most part there have been some things open downtown. The pre Christmas rush was hurt by these storms. The sales over the next week will have drastic cuts. Usually even that, doesn't bring customers in after Christmas. This year, people just might snap up bargains on the necessities, but I think the extras might seem some real deep cuts come January.


That being said... the people are insane. Be it pedestrian or driver, they don't think that it takes longer for a vehicle to stop on snow and ice. You'd think with them slipping and sliding as they jaywalk in front of traffic that it would enter that little used brain of theirs..."Oh its slippery.... that 2000 pound car headed right for me might have trouble stopping." The drivers are just as bad. You have two types. Snow what snow...I need to do fifty mph in this 35 mph zone because I have a all wheel drive and the laws of physics don't apply to me. Or... you have the people trying to drive slower than the car can idle. Its interesting when these two meet. I don't know maybe its just a pet peeve.





Work has been interesting. A field mouse had found its way into our building and has had my boss in a tizzy. I had suggested our Operations Director brought it in as a Christmas decoration, that didn't seem to calm her. Neither did my suggestion of covering all the files that needed to be shred with peanut butter and Cheez Whiz to develop an energy efficient paper shredder. I never saw the mouse, it was caught and taken outside. Which means it will likely find its way back into the building. Maybe we should have bring your cat to work day.

Well that's it for now, we'll see you in the New Year.

Wow! Has it really been since May since I've posted. Damn video games! It has been an eventful summer. My niece and Nephew both got married. We even managed to make it to my niece's and new nephew in law's wedding. ( Yes the names have been changed to protect the ...innoc...well let's just say their privacy.) ... We have busied ourselves with work and the normal day to day. For some reason it consumes a lot of time. A rash of dentists, ophthalmologists and GP's seem to have taken our free time and turned it into a way to make our bank account disappear. I tell you ... why any one is against a state run medical program is beyond me... and obviously beyond their tiny little pea sized brain. I mean what you think you might save in taxes is going to some HMO,PPO or other insurance corporation instead. In light of what has happened with AIG today... it seems like our tax dollars will eventually go to prop them up anyway. Thank you Mr.Bush. Thank you twelve years of a Republican congress hell bent on lining their own freakin' pockets.

Politics are in the air. I still don't understand why McCain is so close to Obama in the polls. It boggles the mind. McCain is telling lie after lie and people are falling for it. When will people learn that the Conservatives in any country are not looking out for the voting public's interests. The only difference between the Conservative politicians and the organized crime syndicates is the syndicates have more of a conscience. I guess the only difference between a pit bull and a hockey Mom is that a pit bull doesn't lie. Do not be fooled. Both the US and Canada have elections coming. Unless you are extremely wealthy, there is no logical reason for you to vote Republican/Conservative. Taxes, think again, the reason taxes have to raised after Conservatives/Republicans have been in power is that so much money is borrowed and spent during their term, that the only way to pay off their expenditures is to raise taxes.
Republicans and Conservatives run the countries like this; We will run this credit card up to the limit, then we will open another credit, not to pay it off, but to spend more.After about ten credit limits have been breached, they'll open one to pay down a little of the debt.Borrowing money to pay off a debt is to the wisest of fiscal policies. Do not vote Conservative/Republican. If you feel the need to vote this way...give yourself a slap. Vote Green/ Vote Libertarian, they have much better economic plans. Vote NDP/Democrat, they will at least try to lighten the load. Vote anything but Conservative/Republican.



Okay...enough of the lecture. Our baseball team went one and seven. Not bad for the first year. It was fun and that was the goal... maybe a little exercise for this tired old body... but mainly for fun. I don't no when I forgot how to run, but it is evident that this has happened over the last few years. Maybe its the eighty pounds I've gained since the last time I even tried to run. Likely... still it was good to spend a Sunday afternoon in the sun. Work itself is going well. A little dull, but well.










The building across the street is still incomplete. It wil be two years in December, I think. I cannot believe it is taking this long. The Wamu building on the other side, went up in half the time. Its bigger, not by much, but by a little bit. Granted there are not as many residences, but you'd think the builder would have the incentive to wrap things up and get paid. I hope they are just being thorough.

All in all a fine summer. We got to travel a bit, play a little ball, BBQ a bit and generally relax.

Whatever happened to customer service? This year, it seems, that companies want to test how angry they can make me. Perhaps, they are in need of finally crafted emails of complaint to train their struggling employees. I don't know, I find it bizarre.

My last post explained the difficulty with Lowe's. This was not an isolated incident. The seeds of my problem with Bank Of America ... ( I use another word beginning with A in substitution for America)... started two Septembers ago. They charged me a late fee even though they had my check in their processing center. Their policy is to discard the envelope with the posted date on it. I of course, disputed it, after having a go round with "customer service expert"... (They stick to their script and won't let you speak.)... I fired off a letter saying how poor the Customer Service is.My plan was to keep the account open with a zero balance until I had recovered my expenses. A good plan if you haven't forgotten any rolling annual subscriptions on the card. September last, I received the letter stating my card had expired phone this number to renew. I never phoned the number. Good riddance to ineptitude. Come January, I receive a bill. My AAA membership had been charged to the card in December. I of course, immediately phone, asking ...How can the authorize payment to someone ...when I had not renewed my card. I started to get the double speak and immediately asked for a higher up. Who would not let me speak..this of course does nothing but anger the customer even more. I ended up canceling the card..and speaking out. wherever possible, against the practices of this greedy,corrupt corporation. ( bring on your lawyers...I can prove every word.) Think twice before dealing with the Bank Of America.

Although my wife does not like being mentioned in this forum, she has consented to allowing me this chance to explain some problems we have experiencing. My wife is in a wheelchair, and has some exceptional challenges. This problem had its roots in 07 and has caused an excessive amount of writing. ( I'd like to use it as an excuse for not writing on here more, but I think that a certain amount of laziness and distractions...video games... are the cause.) It started with a problem she is having with her chair "bucking". It will jerk to the left because the right motor is bagged. We had this problem before they came out and fixed it right at home. I'll come back to this problem.

One of my wife's needs is a raised toilet seat. About the same time as the chair began to cause severe problems...She fell and damaged her toilet seat, making it dangerous to use. We ordered another one from Care Medical. It took a while...with the need for a prescription the doctor and Medicare need to wrangle out who pays for it. ( We do) In November, We began receiving notices ( with bold type 3/4" high placed diagonally across the letter saying, "This Is Not A Bill" I received four such statements, all with these words emblazoned across the paper. The last with a letter saying this is what we owe...but nothing other than this other piece of paper clearly stating that this is not a bill. I have to enter here, it is not uncommon for the doctor to persist in emphasizing to Medicare, that this is needed. This process can sometimes take as long as a year.

Last Friday my wife comes on and wakes me up with the words " They're going to repossess my toilet seat."

Having just woken up and being a little groggy, I of course assumed I was still in the land of extremely absurd dreams. I replied " What?"

" Some guy name Bill...is coming to repossess my toilet seat at noon. " she said, with a tiny sense of panic in her voice. Then she added..." This must be the Bill they never sent."
( One of her better puns)

So here I am, laying into the poor receptionist, over the absurdity of using intimidation in repoing a toilet seat and their inane practice of sending us bills that state they aren't bills. I was very tempted to write in the memo line of the check...This Is Not A Check. I however weighed out the legal options and thought they might actually come to get her toilet seat the next week. Never underestimate the human mind for its ability to do absolutely caving to the stupidest possible action. (I also toyed with the idea of phoning the local television stations and having them video the repossession of the toilet seat.) Truth really is stranger than fiction.

This of course lead me in to the seven months we have been waiting for a motor for her wheelchair. They claim that they tried to come on the third of January and my Wife told them not to. In actuality, what she told them was that because of her limitations she could not let the wheelchair go into the shop. It had to be fixed here. As it has been in the past. So they of course claim that it wasn't doing it anymore, and my wife said they weren't needed. Tomorrow they are supposed to come to assess a problem that has already been established. You'd think that would be it. We now have an entirely new company to cause trouble here.

Teleblend... in their wisdom decided to stop accepting a certain credit card. They didn't tell anyone this... they just let the accounts default. They have not reactivated the phone even though we have switched to a card they accept. The process begins again.

Our phone still isn't connected and we have a company that can't fathom, that when you write "this is not a bill" on a bill...that they might have trouble getting paid... A company that seems to think it is wise to repossess toilet seats... A company that will be unable to get a hold of us to confirm what time they are showing up at. I have a feeling we are going to be writing all day tomorrow.

Happy New Year Everybody ! Me and the Mrs, hope everyone has a great year.We had our usual quiet Christmas. Thanks to everyone for their gifts. We got a bread maker, so we've been loafing around... I mean experimenting. Did I really write that.

My new years res. is to play around with the photos more.




Most of these are new. I have been playing with a Neg and slide scanner. So there are a couple of older pics. Some I haven't really played with a lot, but liked. Its a learning curve. I'm starting to piece things together.

Work is going well. We went bowling for our Christmas party. The good news is I didn't hurt anybody. I did learn why I don't bowl. Oddly enough the more I drank the better I got. ) this was reflected by the score...it wasn't just in my head. ) All and all it was fun. The week off for Christmas was greatly needed. We're back to the grind and I will be extremely busy for the next couple of months. Job Security.

Unfortunately, the new building going up blocked our view of the New Year's fireworks. Dharma prevailed and there was a glitch.The countdown fireworks went out...but they stalled and it took ten minutes for them to fix the problem. Oh well, there is always the Fourth.

Well, I'm off to play somemore...
and remember:troll: