One year ago today: December 27, 2018, too much Duff.
Five years ago today: December 27, 2014, @ di-dah-dah-di-dah-dit.
Nine years ago today: December 27, 2010, perfectly circular thinking.
Random years ago today: December 27, 2011, early Adobe warning.
That was JZ on the phone. The family was asking about me, this is only the second Xmas I’ve missed in nearly twenty years. He’s got three new neices and all the kids that remember me are now in their late teens. Today, I got back into the rat race. I’ll tell you about that, in case anyone out there thinks America is a smooth and streamlined country, totally computerized, Wrong, if anything computers have turned America into a stumbling zombie. Most things actually take longer than back in the day. Here’s my experience today. Oh, and I made chicken soup. From scratch. Get it? Scratch. Never mind.
There is a HP printer upstairs, but my experience with those is that you plug it in and hope it works. If not, it can be a grueling five hour chore. I took a chance and set things up. Everything works right up to the print queue. Then it just sits there and after bit says Error 1. Other things will print. So I try to network to the printer, but that needs a security key, which most people who use it do it once and never remember it. So that’s out. I copied the original document to my flash drive and drove all the way up to the UPS store.
Problem this is the document version that contains the error, but I got the guy to make the single change and print a good copy. But never get anything notarized at UPS because they’ll snag you for biometrics. Other places look at your ID, confirm it’s you, and notarize. UPS writes down all the info, name, address, etc. In a log book, then wants your thumbprint. Feck you, UPS. I went on-line, I mean there are thousands of notaries everywhere.
But the Internet screws that up, too. Try it. Instead of lists of notaries, you get sponsored sites up the ying-yang. Mobile notaries for $25 that come to your site, no thanks. Or Angie’s List, which demands a membership fee. Or the ones with a robot answering service that want you to set up an appointment. And you have to love the outfits that want your e-mail and they’ll contact you back. People in America are so complacent it stinks. I saw the UPS logbook and there were pages and pages of thumbprints. I’m stupid, but I ain’t THAT stupid.
I’ll find somebody, but as I said, computers have made life worse at street level. Along with the Internet, it brought on an entire generation of “new” businesses that were run at their own convenience, not the customers. There are people alive today who think that’s normal, but it is the destruction of the American Way. It is not progress, it is dragging the country down to the level of the rest of the planet. True, the American way was inefficient by many a standard—but it worked,. It was unique, and it used to set the pace.
My personal opinion is that this country has let corporations get so powerful they no longer have to act in the best interests of the customers. And nothing will unseat them easily. And another thing. I saw where the UPS guy set that book full of finger prints and anybody could easily steal it any time they want.
The Red Caboose Motel.
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I finally got a place over near the local Walgreen’s, but he can’t do it until 8:00PM tonight. He doesn’t do biometrics, but I might just show up to find he scans your ID or such. Actually, if I’d not bothered with that HP printer, and the Internet, I could have caught him before he left for Antioch. He’s one of those mobile places. To make things happier, the space bar on my BlueTooth keyboard quit working. It’s an Ankar, which are difficult to replace without a credit card. I picked up a big and bulky 101 over at Wal*mart, where I always shop when I want cheap plastic junk.
Later, failing to find another notary, I returned to the guy mentioned earlier, and by 8:20PM, had the document ready. In the process, I met quite the sharp individual, whom I’ll call Monty. We talked about the hoops other notaries tried to put me through, which led to a conversation about the wrong turns being taken by the American system. Once again, I find a person who confirms that there are thousands, if not millions of people who suspect something is wrong, but have no rallying point to oppose it. The politicians don’t help. So many people who are against what is happening at the social level think they are alone and feel compelled to go with the flow.
My studies of history show all that is needed is a leader who gives them a voice and a direction. My position is that most people don’t like having to continually show ID and sign papers and prove who they are and hand over their date of birth always to strangers who record it for later use People feel they are a minority and if they speak up, they are just becoming difficult, as if they are not keeping up with the times. I’m not a natural leader, so all I can do is assure them they are not alone.
ADDENDUM
We continued on over a variety of topics, mostly centered on how we have become a surveillance society. I think Monty was somewhat surprised to find someone of my generation who is fully aware of the negative changes and excessive control being imposed by the bureaucrats--and how they are doing it yet meeting no resistance. We talked a half-hour and he was aware things were wrong, but that so many others who think the same don’t know how to prove it or confront it. I’ll say it again, all that is lacking is a personality who lets people who don’t like things to know they are not just being cranky about it. People who know the system really is broken and is not going to fix itself.
The Red Caboose Motel is $1,000 per night. One more thing. The space bar on my BlueTooth keyboard decided to quit, so that meant a second trip up to Lebanon Pike for a replacement. I stopped at the Starbucks on Andrew Jackson, but after waiting an eternity for service, I just sat down and used the WiFi, then I left. The cashier, you see, was busy making a coffee milkshake or something. There is just something wrong with that business model.
