online banking

I wrote about online banking last July. Having just paid some more bills and needing a topic, it is back to more appreciation for the miracle of online banking.

Like most people back in the time prior to online banking, I would pay my bills once a month. It worked well for the most part. There were problems with a stack of bills making messy desk, prematurely discarded bills leading to missed deadlines, lost payment envelopes and a constant need for stamps in ever-changing rates.

Got a letter from Medicare that needed a mailed response yesterday. It was memory blast from the past to have to dig up a stamp and a return address sticky. It was a reminder of how much more I like the online process over snail mail.

I am grateful for the internet, the WWW and online banking. They make my life fantastically better through the miracle of shopping at Amazon Prime.

PS: Went to Fry's in Renton last week. Fry's giant computer parts store along some other devices such as TVs , washers and refrigerators. They had a 100+ different PC cases. None of them were truly directed towards being a sound-dampened silent PC case. Amazon had a dozen models to chose from. Plus, the Amazon prices were about 10% better on the cases that allowed for direct comparison. Online shopping is also good! B&M stores do offer instant gratification.

repeat delete on a solved problem

repeat delete

a solved problem

Had a problem with my dashlights and taillights last night. Took it to my mechanic this afternoon. A little over two hours later, it was a solved problem. The light switch had failed taking the wiring harness plug with it in a minor meltdown.

I am grateful that my car is on the road again with all lights working as they should.

a good mechanic

My 1993 Cougar digital radio dial/clock has worked intermittently for a couple of years. Now it seems to be working steadily. Unfortunately, my dash lights started working intermittently a couple of weeks ago. That was not such a big deal. Turns out the taillights are also not working when the dash lights fail. At least that was the my conclusion from the correlation of the two phenomenon occurring simultaneously tonight.

Intermittent auto electric problems can be difficult to diagnose correctly. I hope it is simply a loose fuse. I will take it to my mechanic tomorrow. If they can't fix the problem in an hour or two, I will take it to an electrical specialist.

My car has had an electric gremlin for the last 15 months. The source of the problem was not obvious when my mechanic looked at it back then. The original problem was my battery would go dead if the car sat for a couple of days. Then it was the LED radio dial. Now it is a problem that truly needs to be fixed so I am not driving around without working taillights on my car at night.

I am grateful to have a good mechanic that I trust to be good to my car and my wallet conveniently located a short drive across town.

almost my birthday -or- spring is in the air

My birthday is March 5th. I love having my birthday in early March. By late February, the first signs of spring are in the air. Yesterday, I saw some pussy willow buds on a tree. The growth rate for grass goes from nonexistent to starting to look alive. The days are back up to 11 hours of daylight and getting longer by 3.3 minutes per day.

While not a big believer in astrology, I am an archetypal Pisces. I see two sides to every issue. There have been times when I wished I had more dogmatic or absolutist beliefs about issues. The closest I come to being dogmatic in my views is being in favor of more science/math/economics education for everyone. Even then I can't just be in favor of more education. I have my concerns about the creationists teaching evolution.

I am grateful for the return of the sun. It is a wonderful birthday gift.

phone calls from friends

Spent a quiet day at home today. Was a bit frustrated by my inability to turn computer components into a working computer. Several friends called during the day to chat. That greatly helped put my problems in their true perspective. I am doing the PC building as a sort of hobby-quest. There are supposed to be challenges. They were having serious problems with addiction, using, jobs and relationships.

I am grateful for the enhanced compassion and empathy that are direct result of my writing these gratitude posts. I am a much better friend and much less easily frustrated by life.

Daniel's for dinner -or- good friends and good food

Last Xmas, Carol gave me a gift certificate for Daniel's Broiler. Daniel's is on the 21st floor of the Hyatt in Bellevue. It is a great steak & seafood restaurant with the best view in Bellevue. Sunset is the best time to go. We got there at 9 PM. The lights of greater Seattle twinkled brightly on a clear night.

I had a veal rib steak and Angela had a sort of King salmon teriyaki. They were delicious. We had a nice time and were definitely too full for dessert.

I am grateful for good friends and good food to share with them.

quasi guardianship at last

My sister and I were trying to get a court-appointed for the last 8 months. The process was deemed completed this morning when a durable power of attorney was filed with the county Family Law court. Not exactly what we seeking, but better than nothing.

I am grateful mother has an attorney acting as guardian for her legal affairs.

cookie night social

A member of our homegroup suggested we have a cookie night social. Another member works every other Sunday. We got snowed out on our first try, conflicted with the Superbowl in a fortnight and finally had our cookie social last night. It went well with a dozen people showing up somewhere between as much as an hour and 20 minutes before minutes before the meeting started. It went well for a meeting of 20ish people.

The strange part of that was I became the de facto organizer. That was rare experience. I am a great idea guy and do projects on my own. Rarely do I organize events involving more than one other person. Granted bring cookies and show-up early is not the most complex organizational project every completed. Nonetheless I distinctly felt a mild strange sensation of recognizing that I had organized a party as I was on my way out the door.

I have rented a hall for Gratitude Dinner for the last 11 years whilst meticulously avoiding any sort of organization project for the dinner such as setup, buffet table restocking, etc. Weird.

I am grateful that our cookie night social was a pleasant success.

grateful for progress today

Making progress on a settlement for our mother having a guardian. It won't be what my sister and I were trying to achieve in having a cost-effective professional guard our mother's health and wealth, but it will be overseen by a spendy downtown attorney. The attorney fees will likely chew up mom's estate, but at least she won't have it stolen from her outright.

It did not go as promised by our attorney, but at least we have some positive results.

I am grateful for progress today.

Without work all life goes rotten

Was going to skip a gratitude post for tonight. This emailed thought for the day was worthy of being posted. Kevin

--

Without work all life goes rotten. Albert Camus

Most would not think of work as a prize. That is often due to the concept we have of work.

Work can be that of an artist, the work of creation. Such work is not the response to a whistle or the boring activity that follows a punched time card. Creative work is the fullest human expression of being alive. It comes from the inside out and has no boss other than an inner demand to create a thing of beauty that previously did not exist.

The primary task of human beings is to creatively work at making our lives a remarkable thing of beauty. Whether we be butcher, baker, or candlestick maker there is always the opportunity to make a truly creative effort of a life's work by pounding out our dents and polishing that which is already beautiful. When we understand that life is the medium and we are the canvas, our efforts to improve become an exciting challenge rather than a boring task.

I am grateful to have the opportunity and the strength to work. I will not resent my job.

From the book: Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty

my mother needs a guardian

deleted for now.

letting go of my defects of character

I chaired a 6th Step meeting last night on being entirely ready to let go of current defects of character. It was an interesting discussion/meeting. Pulled an article on the 6th Step from the October 1987 official journal archives for a short reading to get us started.

There was an implicit assumption made in the discussion in that none of us are perfect and we all have defects of character that we currently need to let go of. Since nobody had a halo at the meeting, that deemed a valid assumption.

From How it Works "No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection."

It is foreign territory for me to identify a major defect in relatively quick time and make the decision to change my behavior as a way of letting go of said defect. In this instance there was a bit of the ubiquitous desire to balk. My ever improving contact with my higher power empowered me with courage and faith to do the next indicated thing of moving on.

I am grateful for the improved rate and skills for letting go of my defects of character and for my increasing spirituality.

hearing my higher powers message for me

Issues of money, property and prestige are always present. Last week, they culminated at the local 12-step business meeting that I have actively participated in for the last eleven years. For months, we have argued about spending money to carry the message—which is our primary purpose.

I favor in no uncertain terms using the resources we have buy literature and advertising. Others don't want to spend the money in our community. Every year, we have unspent money that we pass 'upline' to the Area and National entities expecting them to somehow fly back to Bellevue to do our work for us. To date, that has not worked. Insanity is repeating the same behavior expecting different results.

I love doing service work at the local level. The monthly meeting is a five minute drive from my home. There are plenty of alcoholics in my community needing to hear the message. The work of carrying the message will never be done in my lifetime.

Group-think like this would frustrate me greatly in the past giving me a reason (excuse) to use. This week I meditated on the issue and concluded that it is time for me to move on. I can't spend my time arguing over issues of money, property and prestige—that is our 6th Tradition.

The chairperson of the local business group responded today to my email from a few days ago discussing my thoughts and concerns. He suggested applying for an open board position working with our official journal, a monthly magazine with a print subscription of 220,000, an online edition, and a searchable online archive with every article ever printed since the magazine started 68 years ago. It was flattering that he suggested that position to me, but there is no way I am going to try to be that guy in a wheelchair trying to catch a taxi in New York City. (NYC taxis are infamous for who they don't stop for/pickup.)

Now I will work at a county level instead of a community level. It is the same work, with more driving and traffic. I will meet new people and learn more. It is time to expand my horizons. I will try to carry the message at a county level. Already got a new project today. The group agreed to make 21st century business cards with a QR code on them. I am on it.

This service work is very important to me. I live a small quiet life in my apartment with my 2 cats and 20-year old car. Chronic pain keeps me out of my wheelchair much of the day. Doing service work adds structure, values and a sense of accomplishment to my life. Most importantly, it helps keep me sober.

I am grateful for the rewards of doing service work with others and for whatever ability I have to hear my higher power's messages for me.

dining with Sandy

For the last 5 years, Sandy and I have gone out for a meal nearly every Friday. It started with several years of dinners, followed by a long year of mostly lunches and now we are back to dinners. Dining times are mostly a function of where her job is. When she worked in Bellevue, we did lunch. Otherwise it has been dinners.

Today we went to dinner in Kirkland at Lucia's in Park Place. It is a nice restaurant that is right in the middle of the curve between Italian pasta and American comfort food. Tonight I had Chicken stuffed with prosciutto with a side of mashed potatoes. It was delicious.

Lately we have been going to less expensive places. Sandy has gone vegetarian almost a year ago. Turns out there isn't that much you can do for upscale vegetables as a main course! There are no vegetable cost equivalents for filet mignon or lobster… That doesn't matter much to either of us. The point of going out to eat is for the conversation and the company.

Sandy is a great friend to me and I am very grateful to have her in my life. She is a beautiful woman on the inside and on the outside.

it's not me

Today I had lunch and a meeting with a friend I have known for 10+ years. Lunch was at a "taco trailer" parked outside of the Starbucks HQ in South Seattle. Had a chorizo chicken cheese sandwich that was delicious with an exquisite hot smoky red salsa. Went to a 40-minute meeting in the Starbucks building.

It was an amazing office building setup in what had formerly been occupied by Sears Roebuck going back to the 1930s. They had a wonderful collection of pictures of Seattle going back 100 years on the wall outside the upscale cafeteria. There was childcare for child at least as young as 18 months. The toddlers were walked around on a rope with a sort of elastic handcuff on their left hand. They were very cute walking around outside all bundled up for a damp day in Seattle.

My friend has been going to 12-step meetings for 15 years and now has 5 days of sobriety. I rarely see people in such intense emotional pain. Bought him lunch, took him to a meeting, bought him a pack of cigarettes and then gave him a ride home to his parents house. Thanks to the miracle of my recovery, I was able to be there for him as a good friend and also not have to adopt his pain as if it were mine.

Went to prison tonight. Mark had 33 years today. He is an extremely admirable man with a well-balanced happy life with the wife, kids, small construction business, catholic church and recovery. He was the first of seven siblings to get sober.

I am grateful for the time in sobriety that I do have, the friends that I have made along the way and that it is not me that had another relapse.

a short list

Went to see my doctor yesterday. She is a great doctor, a nice lady and I like her a lot. She has been writing a short gratitude list on an irregular basis. Some say research suggests writing a short list is better.

Today I am grateful for:

My doctor

My sobriety

A strong 12-step program in my community

A stable life

Being able to help my friends instead of being the person in need

a list of good things

Haven't been in the mood to write the longer gratitude posts lately. I am sure that will change in time. When I thought about what I had to be grateful for today, it was a number of things that are not directly related. A recent article on gratitude writing talked of making a list. That seems like a good idea for today.

___Relationships and things I am grateful for:

• My friends, a few close ones, some good ones and many others
• My cats: Bug and Jenny
• My king size bed
• My apartment
• Sunny days
• My 53rd birthday is less than a month away
• A steady income
• Online banking
• Good credit
• My GP — Dr Lucy Hwang
• Backup computers
• Amazon Prime with free shipping & returns
• My sobriety
• My 12-step program
• The ability to be of service and help others
• The WWW
• Fast DSL
• Tech toys: I now have a 1 Gb home network (well at least a switch and two 1 Gb NICs)
• The US economy is growing new jobs
• Spring is on the way

I have a lot to be grateful for. Reading my list gives me a sense of serenity that feels good.

watching the Giants-Patriots SuperBowl 46

Watched the big game today. It was a close game. The Giants won 21-17 scoring a last-minute touchdown to pull out the victory. The commercials were happy/funny commercials that were not too snarky as they have been in some years. Clint Eastwood narrated a commercial for made in Detroit "halftime in America" talking about how Detroit car manufacturing was making a comeback. It was a very positive commercial and my favorite.

I am grateful for an entertaining SuperBowl 46 (XLVI) with pleasant positive commercials.

old technology

I got a new PC last fall that is wicked fast. There was a bug in the motherboard setup the precluded its waking up from Windows sleep mode. I R&R'd the mobo several times in an effort to first find a jumper switch that might fix the problem and then the Serial Number so I could return the motherboard. Today's removal of the mobo to find the S/N finally killed it altogether. Motherboards are not designed for lots of in-and-out handling.

I did finally find the S/N. It was well-hidden and hard to read. It was definitely not in a customer support friendly location. The RMA process has been started and I should have a replacement mobo within the next week. I will miss my best PC ever while it is not working.

I use that PC as a home theater PC (HTPC). I tried using an LG Blue Ray player that I had used in the same role for a year. I stop using the LG two years ago when I got a laptop. It lasted for an afternoon before I got busy swapping another PC in to replace it. After wrestling with some audio driver issues, the temporary system is working.

Now I have my third and oldest computer running at my PC desk for typing, checking email and writing this blog post. It works fine, but the fan is a bit noisy. It will be okay to use for a week. I might replace the fan.

The title of this post "old technology" is a tongue-in-cheek reference to what constitutes old in the PC world. My old car is 18 years old. My oldest PC is 4 years old.

I am grateful to have the tech toys to be able to swap in a backup when things are not working as I would have them be. It is also good to have product warrenties that will cover damaged electronics.

warm-ish winter days

The last two days have been full of sunshine and warmer than 50 F. That is as good as it gets for early February in the Puget Sound area.

I am grateful for relatively warm weather and sunny days.

todays drama is a tiny computer problem

Spent some time today fussing with my PC. Fixed a few things, but did not get sleep mode to wake as it should. Working with Asus to RMA a new motherboard. It is minor problem even in my life, much less the grand scheme of things.

One friend caused an accident yesterday. Another is homeless and using in Texas. As my friend Alice would often state "I have a classier set of problems today".

I am grateful for my little problems today. That is much easier and better than the bigger many others have to deal with today.