I’m an admitted collectiholic, but there is no 12 step program for one such as me. It may be from having depression era parents who were savers and never threw anything out that had a hint of future usefulness. It is a philosophy that suits me, and spills over into everything I do.
If I have two of something, it begins to look like a collection and I end up with 15 t-pots, or 5,000 magazines. (You think I’m kidding.)
The problem comes when you run out of room. I have a wall of shelves in by office. Every picture album, every vacation scrapbook, albums of the features I had published, souvenirs, nick-knacks. Then over the albums, I place wall hangings because there is no room left on the walls to hang anything. I have 15 pieces, paintings and artifacts of some type hanging on the wall of my office.

No matter how narrow a wall might be, it has something on it, like these beaded rings from my trip to Africa.

If there is a wall, it is filled from floor to ceiling. And, I love and enjoy my treasures. And for many years, with growing children, I resorted to easier to store items made of paper. Just yesterday, while assembling  several different stamp collections to go to the thrift store, I found  notes that made me laugh:
HANZOFF!  Or I’ll sic my dirty P.E. clothes on you-they walk under their own power.

and:  Mary kenny hitted me   sally and kris wont play with me.
Silly stuff.

And, I’ve kept my mother’s name collection. She would sit with her cup of coffee in the morning and read the paper. Her rule was to only collect names of people whose last name was an adjective, verb or noun. Like Earl Silver, Rita House, Cathleen Clinker, Susanne Doubled. It had to be spelled correctly.  Then she expanded it to humorous name juxtapositions like: Mrs. Rum divorced her husband and assumed her maiden name, of Selma Sober. Warren Nipple married Carla Breast. Jean Sucker married Roscoe Candybar.  Dr. Michael Fox is an animal psychologist. I put it out for the thrift store, but took it back. Who would want something like that? She has a couple thousand names in her book. I finally decided nobody would want it and I loved her beautiful writing and took it back. See?  Downsizing is tough for some of us.

My entire brick wall has pictures of birds on it.

My son, Doug, built me five floor to ceiling cases to hold my magazine collection. I had to take a pick-up load of magazines to the dump. I’ve had guests who remove and examine every magazine.

I have plenty offers of help. People who say, I’ll help you. If you haven’t used it in a year, its time to get rid of it. OMIGOD. I shudder and quake at the thought. But, I know it is freeing and that my kids have warned me, “we are just gonna toss this stuff.”

It is painful and conversely freeing to get rid of  “stuff”. Jim estimates 5 years. I’m hoping for two.
It is something I have to do and can enjoy my stuff one last time before it gets tossed

HANGING ON THE PHONE FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.

 I recently complained about Belkin’s horrible customer service. A rep read my blog and called to tell me they were refunding me post-haste and investigating the people who put me through that alienating experience.

 

 Hanging on the phone for minutes or hours is an affliction of our modern commerce that bugs me. It makes me think twice before I buy anything on-line. But, all of us can make changes and I had read this before, but I forgot it. So, I’m reminding you and myself again,  that we have a law that can help us fight back against this kind of abuse.

I got this note from a friend of mine who lives in Virginia:  “A gas company recently moved their call center back to Phoenix from India last year after numerous customer complaints.  What a difference now when you call them…and it created 300 jobs.  I know this works because they were so bad that when India answered I wouldn’t even deal with them.  I’d simply ask to be transferred to a supervisor in the U.S. and they would comply.

  

Now that I know it is the LAW – I will do it for sure

 Any time you call an 800 number (for a credit card, banking, Verizon, health and other insurance, computer help desk, etc) and you find that you’re talking to a foreign customer service
representative (perhaps in India , Philippines , etc), please consider doing the following:

 After you connect and you realize that the customer
service representative is not from the USA (you can always ask if you are not sure about the accent), please, very politely (this is not about trashing other cultures) say, “I’d like to speak to a customer service representative in the United States of America ..”The rep might suggest talking to his/her manager, but, again, politely say, “Thank you, but I’d like to speak to a customer service representative in the USA.

 YOU WILL BE IMMEDIATELY CONNECTED TO A REP IN THE USA .
That’s the rule and the LAW.

 It takes less than one minute to have your call re-directed to the USA. Tonight when I got redirected to a USA rep, I asked again to make sure – and yes, she was from Fort Lauderdale .

Imagine what would happen if every US citizen insisted on talking to only US phone reps from this day on.

 Imagine how that would ultimately impact the number of
US jobs that would need to be created ASAP.

 If I tell 10 people to consider this and you tell 10
people to consider doing this – see what I mean…it becomes an exercise in viral marketing 101.

 Remember

The goal here is to restore jobs back here at home –
not to be abrupt or rude to a foreign phone rep.

You may even get correct answers, good advice, and solutions to your problem – in real English.”

Thank you Guerry for reminding me of a law that makes sense for America. In fact my daughter, after the economy took a tumble, got a job for a brief time in a call center. The rules were draconian, you had to stand all day rather than sit because your presentation is better when standing. Within 3 months, I think it was, the call center was transferred to the Philippines. She, and the other employees were out of work. She found a better job, but it took three moves to get to something tolerable. The way people are treated, on the job without unions, is nearly as bad as the “Snake Pit” of the 1920’s meat-packing industry and the horror of the garment industry in New York City after modest reforms.

DON'T YOU LOVE A TRAIN?

High speed rail for California would be such a boon to us. It would improve our lives, the economy and eliminate the concentration of smog from automobiles that fouls the air and pushes global warming. What we used to call Smell A could once again be L. A.

I loved taking Amtrak in Stockton to visit my daughter in Southern California. I could read, play cards, have lunch walk, look at the scenery. It is such a pleasant way to travel. Unfortunately, Kristanne doesn’t live in SoCal anymore.

It puzzles me why we have an out of date rail system while other countries with just a fraction of our resources, like Turkey, Poland and Morocco have modern, comfortable rail systems. Switzerland, Japan, France, Germany, and UK have fantastic, high speed state of the art bullet trains and commuter rail systems that get people where they need to go with little hassle.

A majority of working Americans are daily stuck in traffic, feeling road rage and yearning for a better way to get to work.

Our whole economy depends on infrastructure. Yet, we can’t get High Speed Rail moving. HSR is electric and we don’t have the hassle of getting to the airport, going through the rigamarole of inspection; waiting in lines and using transportation that gobbles up polluting jet fuel. The jobs it would create right here at home makes me want to fire congress for not getting behind HSR.

And, of course, that is where the problem lies. They either have oil money in their pockets or concrete for brains. I’m remembering back to the 1930’s when Shell Oil bought the public transportation network in Los Angeles and ripped up the tracks and burned street cars.  It wasn’t only Shell, but the combined power of Standard Oil, Firestone Tires, Mack Trucks and General Motors who were in on the deal.
Likewise, in the 1990’s corporate profiteers mounted a fight to undermine the high speed potential for Amtrak. Guess who funded that? KOCH Brothers Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation and Reason Foundation, that spread the analyses that Amtrak is a pokey slow little train system of little use. They bought politicians  with fabricated studies that have systematically starved Amtrak and any progress to HSR.  Most Amtrak trains have to shuffle along at 48 miles per hour, instead of 150 miles per hour.  THANK YOU CONGRESS.

Of course, naysayers point to Amtrak crashes. Guess what?  All modern rail systems have PTC ,  positive train control systems. But congress imposed some budgetary and ideological restrictions on Amtrak’s ability to implement PTC.  The people who die in crashes have congress to blame.

For more information on HSR to the following links:
http://www.ushsr.com
http://www.narprail.org

GOOD NEWS ABOUT SCOTCH BROOM.

On June 7th of this year,  I blogged about the beautiful but invasive plant, Scotch Broom. Impossible to eradicate because the seeds can live 100 years. It has taken over the state of Washington and interferes with native plants. I copped a picture from a local newspaper:

It isn't a good enough picture to recognize the plant along the roadside, but even so, be aware that in our convoluted laws, we can't get a ban on selling this plant until it is proven a nuisance. By then, of course, it is too late. I put out a petition in June, hoping to get a change in that law and a congresswoman from Oregon responded saying she had a bill going through the state legislature to change that type of backward process in Oregon.

Now, the good news is, in nearby El Dorado County, a mite was discovered that attacks the scotch broom and could keep it in check. While good news, it hasn't happened yet, but remember, don't buy and don't plant scotch broom. Find a pretty yellow flowering plant that looks just as good. And, when you are in a nursery, remind your favorite nursery owner, if he'll voluntarily chose not to sell it and advertise the negatives of scotch broom and recommend a better plant.
Today, I hope to pick the last of my apples and clean up underneath them. It was a real treat to have a heavy rain and not have to carry bath water out to my plants.

I hope the people in the burn area have seen some good come from this rain, though I know some feared it would  cause mud slides and erosion. A big mess no one needs after this horrible fire.
Even so, let us not pretend we can or should control the weather. Every time man interferes with the natural order of things, we wind up with disasters. Well, maybe not every time.  Enough said.

A WHOLE LOT OF HUGGIN' GOIN' ON.

Daughter-in-law Laurie, greeting guests coming to my 75th birthday party. At some point, I think maybe birthdays should be forgotten, but 75 is a milestone of sorts.
My son Ken meets and greets our  old friends and relatives.
And then for awhile there was a whole lot of huggin' goin' on..

.
.
The littlest cousin and the biggest cousin.
.
.
Since this was an Oktoberfest birthday combo, Laurie got me into a hat.We all adore Abbie and especially like to try on her hair. She let me borrow it for a few seconds so I could feel young again.

The wine flowed-
A taste of what's to come, passed around. Yum.
Ninety year old Bill Foster told everyone that he asked the man upstairs to take a couple strokes off his golf game, but he misunderstood and gave him a stroke instead. A lesson in never losing your sense of humor. His wife June is 88 but looks 65.

My favorite and long time quilting buddy, Kendra.
I think brother Stew is trying to convince brother Mason to grow a mustache.
Long time friend, Paul Moller from Calaveras Community TV.
Jim borrowed Abbie's hair for a mustache-
-but, then she put him through all of the props.

Anthony,Norma & Abbie. Abbie is an organizer like her mom who took all the pictures of my party.

Then they put me on the hot seat. I said no gifts.

Mostly jokes, lovely cards and fun.

Tom and Eleanor. All too soon it was time to call it a day. And, the end of a year.

For more photos, click the link:

2015-10-17-BdayPrty

A good time was had by all!

ANGER IS UNHEALTHY.

I like the Quaker Oats company, I like the purity of rolled oats, the texture and health benefits. I did some grocery shopping yesterday and stopped into my favorite dollar store where they often have items I regularly use that cost $3 for $1.
I picked up the item above. I'd left my glasses in the car and decided to get to the check out stand and bolt to the car for my glasses so I could read the ingredients. I normally don't buy anything that has more than 3 or 4 ingredients because I don't like eating chemicals.
Distractedly talking to the clerk, I bought it without going for my glasses. When I got home, I read the label. This product has 74 ingredients.
It has sugar, honey, caramel, invert sugar, corn syrup, sweetened dried pieces of cranberries, elderberry juice concentrate and each item like brown rice crisps, whole grain brown rice, malted barley flour, all heavily processed,  on and on, each subset of ingredients has sugar over and over again. So, 74 ingredients actually repeats sugar over and over again. Thankfully, the box does not state the product is healthy or good for you. The saturated fat alone is enough to turn me off. I didn't follow my own rule of reading the label before I buy, so this $1 piece of crap goes directly into the garbage can where it belongs.
But, that isn't what made me angry. I'm angered by the poor customer service I received while trying to return two Linksystem Routers.  I ordered one and received two.  I know this happens to everyone once in awhile and Jim and I always agreed that some blunders and shoddy service do not merit a rant, but  sometimes, it reaches the boiling point in frustration.
I needed the router in Oregon. I ordered from Linksystems, by phone, which is a Canadian firm (Linksystems-Panasonic.) Instead of being shipped to Oregon, two identical boxes were waiting for me when I returned to California. By then, I had decided to go with a jet pack of some type and forget the router.
When I check my credit card, over the phone, they didn't have a purchase from Linksystems. We eventually figure out it came from BELKIN. It seems BELKIN purchased the company in Canada and mistakenly shipped me, and charged me for two of the same product.
I spoke with the first customer service rep, Willy, who explained he would send me a prepaid label to return them since they were unopened. Of course, it didn't arrive. Then came Rachel, Rod, Morgan and Mike.  The supervisor of these incompetents, would not talk to me. Five different phone calls, a conservative estimate, at  three hours waiting on-line, and yesterday, I finally got one label to return two boxes.
I took the boxes to UPS  where I got someone who isn't afraid to make a decision. He just taped the boxes together and sent them with the one label.  I was very angry and decided I lose if I allow myself to get so angry and frustrated.
So make my loss your win and don't do business with BELKIN. I will never do business with that company and don't buy their stock either. You'll lose money.

Jim also corrected my blog from yesterday. It hasn't been over a year since we've seen each other. I guess it just seemed that way.

ON THE ROAD TO GLENCOE.

Note: Before I continue my pictorial journey through the fire zone with Jan,  Jim arrived yesterday at my house. We hadn't seen each other in over a year.   As Jan and I headed for Glencoe,  work crews were clearing dead trees too close to the road.
And, then the irony of the sign, proving defensible space really works. I guess we all know that.
We stopped at this completely burned house close to the side of the road.
The house is rubble and there stands a green tree in contrast to the heat that must have been generated by this burn. Mind boggling.
It was upsetting. It reminded me so much of what we kids faced when our school bus driver let us off at the burned remains of our house in Michigan in the spring of 1948. We didn't know if our parents and younger brothers were alive or dead.
The vineyard survived and I wondered if this was my friend Malvini's place? I haven't driven this road in several five years. Almost every house on the side of the road to Glencoe, was obliterated.
This family is living out of their pick-up surrounded by the depressing rubble of their once beautiful home.
How do you move on when all your neighbors are in the same bad way; still in shock, struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss of everything they built, that sheltered them and provided everyday comforts of life?
At the top of the ridge, I peered down the canyon at the devastation.  Places where every tree is missing, the ground bared.
Then, you come across a place where half an oak is burned, the other half green. The top and bottom of a pine is burned but the middle is green.

As we neared town, bright splotches of green began to show

The town expressed their gratitude.
At my son's place, I climbed the fence and walked the hill. He ran out of money when the economy collapsed and was unable to complete his house. The workshop was intact, but a neighbor stopped me and told me he had been burglarized along with his closest neighbor on the same driveway.  He is meeting with his insurance rep today.
As we left Glencoe, the tree crews were still hard at work in a steeper part of the canyon.

2015-10-14-A day of Diversion

To view all the pictures I too of the fire, click on the link above.

FAMILIES FACING DESPERATION.

Neighbor, Jan Stewart and I agreed to volunteer for the Butte Fire Recovery once a week. The traffic was light and we stopped and took pictures on the way to the recovery center in Mountain Ranch. You can click to enlarge this picture. It shows how unpredictable fires can be. The firefighters were able to save the house, but the entire front fencing is burned and the rise to the right of the house has a burned out camper on it. The white car, obviously recently parked there.


What do you do?  Where do you go?


Sometimes it defies reason. Some trees stand while another is a hot spot on the same hillside.


Greeting us at the  recovery center was a sign and empty space.


Just two weeks ago this is what the center looked like. I was so busy, I couldn't take the time for more than one picture.
We spoke to volunteers at the center and they told us to go to Senders Market and post what we had to donate.


On huge boards, one entitled tell us what you need?

Heartbreaking to read on the far right: Looking for Mom with autistic brother. And the simple word WORK.


You can feel the desperation, Need a Job, hard worker, Lost Jobs, living in red Ford P/U. A visual reminder that businesses burned and can no longer employ people. The toll is over 3000 people have lost their homes, over 570 families. Some are so remote they are just being contacted. This is rough, hilly country.


Bulletin two asks what you have? Jan and I listed what we had to give and then began to return home still in our work clothes. We took more pictures.

.


In San Andreas, State Farm set up a settlement wagon for people needing to get their insurance claims in. No one there knew where we could volunteer in town, though we heard they had a need.


We stopped and talked to a Sheriff's Deputy in his car. He knew nothing. Since we had time on our side we drove to Mokelumne Hill. The town, we knew, had been saved. But the butte overlooking the town showed how close it was.
From there we decided to drive to Glencoe where my son has a place. He knew he hadn't burned out. I know so many people out this way and no way to know if they are in trouble. The newspapers don't want to publish too much information for fear of looters, in part.  But, more tomorrow.