Too bad my camera wiped itself out. I had some pictures of perfection today but now it is gone. I spent the morning in the shop cleaning up the mess left by Pinnacle’s Dazzle Platinum. I had to reinstall Windows because of the damage. That also means I have to go back tomorrow to network the printers, reinstall the drivers and all the anti-virus and application software. What a crock of you-know that software was, and a waste of time which also lost me a good customer. Up yours, Pinnacle.I run a very small support group for people who have been sued under special circumstances. That has become a thorn, as this retired lawyer found out about it. No matter how many times I tell him it is not a class action or even a site for advice, he cannot grasp what that means. If it is not a group to hire a lawyer, what good is it? Today was a classic example of what I mean. He walks in the shop and asks if anything has happened knowing that it has – because all the people named on the current law suit have either lost in court or lost by default.
So I mentioned I had sent out an email for everyone to report back in with news of what they have experienced. To the lawyer, this was a waste of time, because he said it is simple, the judge in each case filled out some kind of court order and that was that. What other “news” there could be? Ahem.
For openers, try just these – how much was the judgment, were all 23 judgments the same or different and by how much, what was it based on, how much time do you have to pay, did you get your books back, were you served by mail or did they surround your house with a SWAT team? Did you have to pay costs, if so how much, when, to whom, did you get anywhere by negotiating, did they even negotiate, was there any difference between what they wanted and what they got.
What do you think about that? I think all of these details are very important, but then, I’ve never been to law school and never learned that coming in second in court battle made everything else about the loser too insignificant to bother with. Incidentally, this is the same lawyer to told me a few days ago that newspaper reporters “had their e-mail address” under their columns. Why, did you miss that, too? The implication was that I should write a letter. Is that another law school thing, that other people write letters for you? At your mere suggestion?
By noon I was at the doggie place. Things are a madhouse as everybody except me is flying to New York tomorrow. Five days of peace and quiet, sort of. There are the unresolved issues of that web page and the seemingly un-resolvable issue that none of it was under my jurisdiction. Here’s the analogy. Just because you find out I know that going to the moon requires a rocket, that does not mean I’ll build you one. Particularly after I’ve told you more that once that I won’t.
A hint came up to today that if the product flies, there is opportunity for the whole project to be moved to a new office. If, it was said, I could take on “just a little more responsibility” it could pay well. Hah, I thought. I flatly rejected the offer, on the basis that I am already drastically underpaid for the responsibility I already handle. More is out of the question at any rate of pay they can conceive of.
Besides, there is no such thing as “just a little more”. Getting anything done around there is like pulling teeth. You have to suggest the opposite, let it be shot down and hope they come up with what you wanted to do in the first place. This becomes routine, then they don’t understand how you keep getting it exactly backward every time. Sound familiar?
I’ve failed to convey correctly that my job is to show them how to do things for themselves. It is simply not true that those who can’t do teach because I do it all myself. The new “computer literate” kid did not know how to create a word processed template. Ruth still thinks if I take the accounting computer to the shop, she can’t get her email and that people can’t see her web page. Some may say this is not uncommon, but it is very uncommon once you’ve been around me for an entire year.
For a break, I went outside at 10:00 p.m. and trimmed the branches off the palm tree. The green fronds are thirty feet up there now. It will be sad to leave my first palm tree behind for the bulldozer. My plan was only partly successful since it was still over 100 degrees out there in the dark and took an ounce of sweat per minute to work the handsaw.
Here’s the trivia. The most powerful era for the aristocracy in England was the late 1500’s. Prior to that, there were only three classes, the rulers, the ruled and the church. It is no wonder that towns sprang up, they represented at least the chance to become part of a new fourth class, a merchant. Until that time, the scene was dominated by all those Dukes, Barons, Earls, Viscounts and Counts. They all belonged to families so today’s trivia answers the question, “How many families.”
All those nobles belonged to just seventy-five families.
Here’s something else I didn’t know. In England, the title passed on only to the eldest son. If there was no eldest son, the castle and land reverted to the Crown. Thus, the number of nobles was held fairly constant and the King eventually controlled a significant chunk of the real estate. Not so in France, where the title passed on to all the sons. Since there was not enough land to support all them Frenchies, they had to become politicians, army officers and such. Which explains a lot of other things. Like the Guillotine, Charles De Gaulle, and Dien Bien Phu.
