This is the neighbors getting ready for the big trip back to the land of the ice and snow. They have learned to be quite self-reliant as far as mechanical repairs and these guys are replacing brake shoes. Although the state law says they have to do such things as get local tags and licenses after 30 days, a complete blind eye is turned on the French Canadiens. They are integral to the economy here, or at least that is the local conception. Brake shops may disagree.
Today’s fare is less than interesting for most, but planning into the future brings the past into very sharp focus. Very sharp. While everyone makes mistakes, the facts are clear that every major problem I’ve ever had in this life was caused by somebody else. Unlike those who author their own bad times, I seem to operate best when surrounded by a close group of independent operators who maintain a professional distance. And rarely ask for anything, certainly never helping themselves to my property.Of course, I spent the day going over future plans in quite some detail. I was finally able to get a series of answers from reluctant departments. That is all done. In the process I talked with a lawyer who found it remarkable that I had done the groundwork. He said most people get themselves into a jam and call him to “sharpshoot”. We clicked instantly when he quoted a case from 25 years ago and was stunned to discover I knew exactly what he was talking about. Hey, it was a famous case.
Wait, he said, “Let me go into the conference room because I’m going to help you for free.” Great. He mapped out the entire process for me, the most important aspect of which is the schedule of how long things will take at each stage. There are five stages. Plus pointers on what to do and not do during that time. With this person, I cannot fail the factual side of my argument. But there will be an argument, so I’ll eventually need a lawyer.
An offshoot of that conversation was the lawyer’s further shock at how little had been done to further my education when I was young. (Sad but true, my parents did not contribute even twenty dollars to help me out, and in fact maliciously held me back. My older sister got the equivalent of an advanced medical degree for nothing. This was strange because if it was true that family ties were stronger back then, how come I never met 14 of my mother’s 17 brothers and sisters?)
New music. Look at this tune, “Too Many Dirty Dishes” about a guy who comes home from work and finds leftover caviar and steak when he is sure all he had for breakfast was cereal. Obviously a blues tune. So the next time my crowd wants slow, they’ll get slow. My first set is normally the most laid back. I have not decided yet about “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”. Love the tune but it does drag on.
The French lady who comes in and messes up my computers brought me a slice of home-made chocolate cake today. Explaining she knows she isn’t a slice herself and admitting that she bothers me by constantly asking questions that other people pay me to answer. It was great cake, but I’d rather have the twenty bucks.
Last, a call from the dog wig place. It was back to the same old theme, wanting me to tell them all the information I would if I had been an employee. They say that they cannot declare their taxes or calculate the total of what they paid me without knowing my “contractor’s number”. This is nonsense, of course, but for some reason it has to be explained to each person that arrives over there. No, I am not giving you my social security number unless you agree to state that I was your employee for six quarter-years. These people are weird, often calling and asking for the amount on, say, check 1214. I go through my entire records and there is no such check over here.
Trivia for the day. One Thomas Jefferson Jackson See, a captain and U.S. Navy astronomer declared in 1923 that “the fundamental postulates of Einstein are crazy vagaries, disgraceful in a scientific age and repudiated by reputable French and German scholars.” With a name like that, what did you expect? Humility? Sounds like he better start baking a chocolate cake. With peanuts.
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