While gleaning old files, and shredding in front of the TV, I ran across this letter, attached to a policy that has been cashed in…….thought you would enjoy a little of the ‘old days’ of explanation.
I AM YOUR POLICY
You and I have purpose in this world, which,when broken down, are quite similar. It is YOUR job to provide food, clothing, shelter, schooling, medicine and sundry other things for your loved ones; you do this while I lie in your strong box.
I must have faith and trust in YOU, Mr. Policyholder, for out of your earnings will come the cost of MY upkeep. At times I may appear to be somewhat worthless to you–, but someday (and who knows when) you and I will change places.
When you are laid to rest, I will come alive and do YOUR job. I will provide the food, clothing, shelter, schooling, medicine and other things your family will continue to need — just as you are now doing. When YOUR work and toil is done, MINE will begin, through ME, your hands will carry on.
Whenever you feel the price you are paying for my upkeep is burdensome, remember, that I WILL DO MORE FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY THAN YOU CAN EVER DO FOR ME.
Mr. Policyholder, if you do your part, I will do mine.
Sometimes the light bulb comes on a little slow for me…and even then it is slightly dim for a while. I try to stay up on general day-to-day living. I read the newspaper, scan the ads, and read about what’s new. In those question and answer series, I’m NOT the one, however, who has to have the newest gadgets or drive the latest gas saving creation from the auto giants. I mean, if they have to ask me for a loan to design and make a vehicle that doesn’t go as far as my electric lawnmower, then I really can’t count on their expertise or reasoning.
So some way this leads me to the items I’m familiar with…like an iron, a desk calculator, a toaster, and of course, my computer. Other than using electricity, these items may not seem to have a lot in common. They can’t be interchanged, however they are very useful. I can clean the iron when the deposits get bad..at least for a while. I can get new tape for the calculator until it bites the dust, and the toaster will work until it decides not to. For the most part they are pretty easy to replace…..and it doesn’t cost me a paycheck.
But then there is there computer….ah yes, it runs, most of the time. I would junk my car if it ran…most of the time. I would pitch the stove top and oven if it ran, most of the time. I would ditch the lawnmower if it ran…most of the time, and I would dump the TVs if they ran…..most of the time. But what about the computer….no dumping here, no trash can here. NO! This baby is here to stay, for at least a few years.
And so I amble along thru my web page and emails. I sigh when the download takes 2 Adel songs to finish. I glare at the screen when ,the famous words “not responding'” flashes before my bloodshot eyes. But when the ‘freeze’ takes over, I am not nice to be around.
The “PREFETCH” and the “%temp%” are run and the trash can is emptied, but no one inside this tower of doom cares. The cookies are eaten and the other “sh…. I don’t know anything about is discarded…and still nothing but the freeze.
Well, let me tell you, this isn’t my first computer….I can call for help. Menus and discussions later, in the darkened gloom of my monitor, I cry ‘uncle’ and begin the search for online 24 hour repair.
Dang if I don’t find one….and they seem to even have a little pity on me. I like Simone…she’s from Miami, and she does her best to dry my tears and promise me things will be better….IF I buy the ‘we’ll fix it 24/7 package”. I hesitate at the cost, she reminds me of the corrupt SOB who has come to live in my house, we discuss using it on two computers, and the decision is made. If she can fix my computer and make it almost as good as it was when I bought it…..she and I will be dear friends. (Now I’m no dummy, cause this baby is a whole 5 years old….and I realize in computer land, this guy is about to be cremated) but I say yes.
And lo……it happens. A mystery person takes over the doomsday machine and 3 hours later, I am sitting in front of a nice mannerly machine that will actually do what I ask it to do….corrupt files gone, virus gone, stupid hidden files, gone, and especially stuff I don’t know about….GONE. I am a happy girl. For one year they promise to give up their first-born, if they can’t keep my computer running and me happy….and, when I move to the other computer, I can move the service there.
For 3 days now all was well……and lo again…….. I had to call. A virus visited me in the middle of the night and froze me up again….plus messed up my games. Now mess with the web page, but don’t mess with Scrabble Blaster, if you know what I mean.
I called, they fixed, end of story. The afternoon sunshine glistens in my star-crossed eyes as I use my old, no ancient computer to write this saga. Ain’t life grand!
Lesson learned here…….Irons and TVs come and go, but my computer damn well stick around for a while. Although I am skating on thin ice here….cause I have come to the conclusion that compouters…….no computers are made to be like my iron or toaster…I repeat MADE to be like my iron and toaster. There are many ways to fix the problems, but we end-users are not allowed to know them. The menus to keep us satisfied are tightly held secrets, known only to the people I pay $180 a year to.
I read two papers this AM with 3 cups of coffee…..let me say it again, I READ TWO NEWSPAPERS this morning with 3 cups of coffee. My kids tell me I’m really ‘out of mainline journalism’…..I’m in ‘mail-line journalism…and that is further out. I’m sad if it is the truth….that the days of newspapers are fading. Yes, the word ‘sad’ is appropriate.
The better part of my 68 years I’ve shared with a newspaper…..When I was learning to read….the newspaper was always in my home. Mother and Dad read, and then I read. Sure, at the age of 10 I wasn’t all that interested in the front page, but there were always the ‘funnies’. Kind of like learning to iron…..first you start with the hankies and then you move onward to more difficult pieces of clothing. That’s how the newspaper and I made friends.
Then, in high school, sometimes things in my small brain began to gel….I would read something in the paper and low and behold…we’d talk about it in government or history. Dang!
And now, after all these years, I’m more of an avid reader than ever. I learn every day…whether it is a joke, a piece of history, a sale, a divorce, a birth, a death, and on and on. LIFE is the newspaper and the newspaper is life. It tells me the weather, the high school basketball scores, the time of the July 4th parade, the mass at church, the sale at the local dress shop, the fishing report for the local lake, and the local police beat…often and thank goodness, more humorous than scary.
I would be foolish to say the Internet has not proved to be another great spot for the news….I know we can hear it all on local TV stations as well as CNN and FOX, but that’s not the news I long for….We all live in little areas..they may be inside large cities or on farms, distant from neighbors, however, we all desire to be close to one another….The local newspaper, whether it is weekly, bi weekly, in the morning or in the evening, binds our hearts, our lives, our dreams, and it extends the hand of friendship to all.
When traveling thru Tennessee, I read about the lives of folks in Nashville, Knoxville, and all the little towns in between. I look at their housing, their taxes, as well as their squabbles with local, county and state government. It truly does my heart good to see that we are pretty much the same, regardless of our proximity to one another. Soccer might be hot in So. California, but football is the game in Louisiana. High school football barely makes it in some western states, however, in Indiana, and the Ohio Valley, the homes are empty on Fri. night cause they are at the game. In the assisted care facilities…..everyone is in their room…..not cause they feel bad….but in season….it is basketball and football that keeps the lights on late into the night.
And last but not least…I love the ads…Where am I going to find so easily…..the for rent and for sale section, the used car section, the misc. for sale section, the legal announcement section, the inside ads for carpet, granite, hot dogs. 2 for 1, picking fresh blueberries, and the editorial section, including all the letters to the editor. So much entertainment, so much knowledge, so much life…..and all available in the paper.
So go ahead, read the Internet, learn that Tiger won his 74th, that the Supreme Court did or did not make the right decision, and the high in Las Vegas will be 104…..but for me, I’ll use it as backup only…..cause it is the paper…..I truly love.
Friends….they come in all sizes, shapes, colors, and years. I find in my case, most of my friends, didn’t start out day 1 being, what I call, a ‘friend’. I knew them in grade school. Their desk was beside mine. It didn’t matter if they were male or female. Either we clicked in second grade, or we didn’t. Maybe we shared recess and that was all…..never knowing anything else about each other. It wasn’t really important, was it? Maybe we played musical instruments together in the band….remember those ‘flute’ things we all started on…..before choosing the ‘instrument of choice’. Maybe we walked to school together and then went our separate ways to different classes. I remember how we would meet “at the corner’ and share our lives, as we knew them, til we got to school. Yes, we did walk to school, a mile one way, and we came home for lunch too. How wonderful it was, and still is, to grow up in a small town.
My grade school friends have become my life long friends……there were birthday parties, slumber parties, and chili suppers, and basketball games. We marched together in the band on the coldest of football Fridays, and sweat up a storm in the July 4th Parade.
In our neighborhood we had all ages of friends….some were 5 years younger and some were 5 years older. We all had come to the neighborhood at the same time when the little National Homes were being built in the early 50’s. Everyone had younger brothers and sisters, who were definitely in the way, so we girls had our private times sitting on the curb under the street light, taking walks around the block, sitting under the maple trees catching lightning bugs, and laying on a blanket underneath the stars before the dew fell.
From late spring til late fall we played ‘kick the can’ until our parents called us in…..or in my case, rang the bell. My mother had a school bell and we all knew that when the bell rang, that ment ‘come home and come home now!’ I think if someone would ring a school bell now, at age 68, I would suddenly become 12 again.
Later on the friendships seemed to solidify, and we all felt comfortable venturing outside our town to Girl Scout Camp for 2 weeks and then to church camp for a week where we met ‘boys’. I don’t know who was the most scared. Oh, thank goodness for friends.
As I continued on this journey, thru school, and jobs, and marriage, and kids, and divorce, etc, etc…..there are many acquaintances who have come and gone. The neighborhood I grew up in, transformed to the first apartment, and then house I shared with 4 other girls. My marriage brought me to a new town with our first home, and, as if in some large orderly plan, a friendly street, where my children would come to repeat the process. And so it goes.
My Christmas card list is full of friends. Even today there are those I meet who may become part of this precious list. As I address each card, thoughts of how we came to share our lives, some by mere coincidence, come to mind. Our babies are long gone, our work in the Jaycees, long forgotten, our church suppers and Sunday school teaching, turned over to the young adults, but our friendship, our memories, our defeats, and our successes, remain as bright and clear as if it were yesterday.
Friends…….I am so blessed they came to enrich my life….
WSJ is the ‘local paper’ for world business. Its inside scoop opens up eyes and investigations to business world-wide. It offers up, however, some strange pieces of information in the Legal Notices section…..and if one begins to read this section, just once in a while, it becomes a riveting piece of news, not just a notice.
It begins by saying “The US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) Washington,D.C gives notice that the following properties were seized for various federal forfeiture violations, which are mentioned below.
It goes on, saying “You may contest the seizure in US District Court by filing a claim of ownership, no later than 30 days after the date of the final publication of the notice of seizure, etc. etc……
The notice further states explanations of the items discussed, such as CSA = The Controlled Substances Act, Title 21 U.S.C, Section 881 or MLC = Money Laundering Control Act of 1986, Title 18, U.S.C. Section 981(a)(1)(A), and so on. These definitions alone are alarming, however , the listings by state are beyond words, when it comes to us the ” nice guys”.
Examples are not exact….numbers are mixed up and cases are changed around, however, it is the content that brings me to today’s writing.
And so it goes…..
Texas…..$46,770 currency, CSA, 7-27-11 John Doe, 1129 smith st. along with$23,000 currency, CSA and a 2007 Chev Tahoe
Washington….$56,596, CSA 7/20/11 found in the following locations, kitchen cabinet next to narcotics, office closet on floor inside a shoe, computer bag in office closet, left pants pocket of……
Florida……$38,254 SUA 9-1-11 Sarasota, Miscellaneous silver and gold bars belonging to…… including 2 US Academy 100 oz silver bars, … and …..; 2 US Ohio Precious Metals 100 oz silver bars, US Engelhard 100 oz silver bar, no……1 oz vienna philharmonic silver, 150 euros, , etc, etc.
Illinois……CSA 12 gauge shotgun, s/n……
South Carolina…..$144,861 SUA 7/19/11
Oregon……jewelry seized from……square wheat 10 kt white gold neck chain with a diamond and 10 kt white gold cross pendant, mens stainless steel Rolex Date Just watch………and so on and so on
I didn’t list all the money, cars, bank accounts, jewelry,and guns discussed today…….These samples came from a full page……in VERY VERY SMALL PRINT I might add, and should be a wake-up notice to each and every reader.
Maybe it is time to read the Legal Notices again……in the WSJ. Maybe it is time we thank the FBI, the DEA, ICE, Border Patrol, and Coast Guard as they keep watch 24/7 over our neighborhoods, communities, & states;our land, and its borders. Maybe it’s time we see that these men and women have the equipment,the money, and the backing to do their job, instead of having their hands tied by politicians who can’t find their way out of a paper bag unless a TV reporter is around.
Thank you ladies and gentlemen for watching over me and mine. I salute you and yours and thank you for your dedication. later
seriouslyscorpio 