September 8, 2017

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 8, 2016, there’s my maple flavoring!
Five years ago today: September 8, 2012, on to Pike’s Peak.
Nine years ago today: September 8, 2008, computer talk.
Random years ago today: September 8, 2015, Katy Hopkins.

           Here we are, Friday morning and you may be reading this a long way into the future. You see, the library was closed for the hurricane. And it may not open until late next week. The beautiful Gateway laptop went up in smoke, so I have no way of filing my claim or posting unless I go over to Wal*Mart and buy a sucky Win 10 computer that I don’t want. The cheapest are still around $300-$400. This, folks, is why I am against tort law reform. The bastard that hit me should not get away with just paying for my property. Examples, where am I going to get another brand new Gateway XP? I had to drive all the way to Clearwater to get that one. And this blog is very sensitive to missed posts. If I don’t post at least every few days, my readership drops below 2,000 per month. How do you put a value on that?

           I will try, mind you. I am not going to let go on this one. To restore me back to my original situation, which is the duty of insurance, somebody has to pay for all those trips to the shop in Hollywood. What about the countless hours of skilled on-line searching, and how many parts I found that were the last of their kind. I have a figure in mind. Now to find myself a top-notch personal injury lawyer. There is no acceptable apology for negligence and that goof hit me while I was standing still in broad daylight. I got it figured out. He was trying to outrun that stream of traffic coming off the just-lowered drawbridge.

           Lots of people saw him pull into the right-hand lane. That lane is for turning right, not to race around the people turning left. Yes, we saw him in that lane, but we must have all been thinking no way he would try something that stupid. He did. It’s only right he should pay. I personally think he should have been arrested for attempted manslaughter or something. What a complete, utter goof. This was no temporary lapse of judgment. It takes years to get that careless and irresponsible.
           Same goes for laptop computers. Top of the line, they should cost around $100 these days. What I really need to do is get on-line. But they have screwed that up so badly that nobody will dare let you borrow their computer these days. The computer should work with the Internet by creating a small file that segregates that operation. It should self-copy and compare itself each little while and turn the screen red when anything tries to install itself. Millennials who say it can’t be done, talk to the hand.

           Above is the first picture of my beginning prep for the hurricane. Everything of value is moved close to the side of the house. The only valuable thing left in the yard is the batbike and by tomorrow it will be under every tarp I can round up. Odd that only Howard and I are doing any real prep, the rest of the neighbors are doing nothing. We’ve had so may false alarms maybe they are chancing it. Or could be that everybody else in the street are renters. The storm is further west than anticipated already, but that has duped Tampa before. The reports from Miami seem to say the winds were less than 50 mph. I think I’ll wait for the official report on that one.

Picture of the day.
Russian sunflowers.
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           A day later, I’m still declining painkillers and I feel the effects. But so I’m not moaning in your ear, I’ll tell you about Lee County Hospital. I already told you they keep it freezing inside. And how they don’t let you wait for your ride in the lobby, even when they know the ride is coming from over a hundred miles away. Well, they have this social worker on duty who I informed I had no transportation. She said they could pick up the tab for a taxi that whole distance. Sounds great until you find out I don’t qualify because the end destination is not an address that belongs to me. So it is some kind of welfare, not really any Good Samaritanism on the part of the hospital.
           When I tried to mention I was a tenant at Agt. R’s place, they said I would have to provide documentation that I had a lease. Knowing, you can suppose, that very few people carry such papers on them. So the ride home cost me $130. And the guy drove 54 mph both ways, so I waited until past midnight for him to get there. Then the long drive back, arriving here past 2:00 in the morning. And I felt every pothole on that Florida highway. He’s a nice guy for helping me out. For $130.

           Clocking over ten years since my last tetanus shot, I should tell you I get all the side effects from those things. That “might feel a tightness” isn’t for me, I get a numb left side. I can’t even practice music. Wait, there’s more. It spread across my upper shoulders to the right side. Now I can’t raise my arms at all past medium high. If I want my French toast tomorrow, I’ll have to stand on a bucket. I have to be back in Miami next week, immediately after the hurricane. It takes read strength to ride the batbike in an urban setting. Right now, thanks to preventative medicine; I could not drive my best machine. I could not even squeeze the clutch cable. I tried. No dice.

Quote of the Day:
“Sure I’ve seen people like you,
but I had to pay admission.”
Anon.
           This also stalls my renovations. My people in Miami wanted me to hang around for a week, but I made this trip back partly so as not to waste the time slated for the new floor in the living room. Again, this is why I believe in tort law. Somebody should have to pay me 100% not just for the floor, but the broken plans, the delay, the wasted time, the trip, and every last penny of the damage they inflicted. Some may hate that system but they are not good people. They are the ones who would demand the right to stand back and spend all day telling you why your are wrong. The ones who want reform because they fear suffering their own consequences. Why, nobody should be accountable for their actions. That’s what taxpayers and governments are for. And objections are unpatriotic.

           Before I forget, here’s another reminder that Florida is very much an arrest-the-victim state. When the police questioned me in the hospital, one of the things they did was ask a series of what you might call sympathetic questions, and carefully sliding in there twice asking if I was wearing a helmet. To the unsuspecting, this would come across as a routine question, but make no mistake about it, this was a setup. They were trying to trick me into confessing to a crime. And I’ll tell you how.

           Here was a situation where the other guy was totally in the wrong and he admitted it several times in front of witnesses. So there was no reason to pursue anything on my part as contributory. Unless someone wanted to be a prick about it. Under Florida law, if you are over 21 and NOT wearing a helmet, you are required to carry $10,000 in personal liability insurance. This law is very rarely enforced. But here was a situation where despite the fact I was blameless for being in that situation, they still tried to trick me into saying I was not wearing a helmet. They were not the least bit interested in if I was, only if I was not. If I had not been wearing, I could have been hit with a completely separate and expensive fine and a case made that I was careless. Was that their intent? Well, sunshine, they did ask twice. There was no call for them to pursue that avenue but they did.
           That’s real nice, Florida Highway Patrol. Trying to trick an unsuspecting accident victim while he’s lying on a hospital gurney. It should be shouted from the highest mountain, the police are not your friends. They have the reputation they deserve. For all the good they do, just you remember what they tried to pull here. They questioned me, by the way, without telling me my rights. You can ask yourself why they did that. Don’t worry, everything I said was strongly in my favor, but don’t you ever forget everything can be twisted.

           One more thing while we are here. I did not see who dunnit, but you might want to consider motive in light of the above. Somebody went through my pants pockets while I was wearing a hospital gown. How do I know? Easy, there are not that many robot types out there who know to keep batteries in separate pockets to prevent shorting. I had two nine volt batteries in separate pockets and when I got dressed later, they were both in one pocket. It’s probably nothing, but if, in fact, it is nothing, that’s still the odd coincidence of the day.

ADDENDUM
           Much as my disposition says I’m totally slow to recognize other people’s memory lapses (meaning I find such claims suspicious). Cancel that for the explosion. But understand, I mean only an explosion and most people who have lapses did not go through that. Are we okay so far? Alright. Flashes of the time between the flash and finding myself over by that fence are coming back to me. But in a way I can’t be sure it’s real memory. This is the kind of thing Hollywood movies make good on. I was very alert, after all, I put out my own pants on fire.
           I felt pushed back more than thrown back. Pardon how I am reluctant to rely memory in such situations. They don’t explain how my shoes disappeared or how my back got scraped. I don’t even remember hearing anything. It’s now been 24 hours. No painkillers at all, since I feel Mother Nature needs to let me know what not to touch or bend. I’m just barely ambulatory. Worst news is the probably cracked rib.



Last Laugh
(DIY window tint.)