Sunday, 15 June 2014
Much to say here, but first, I wish to send a shout out to all of the Dad's out there, and to their kids, enjoy your time dad while it lasts, as when he is gone (like mine is, 2 years now) spend thetime, you will both appreciate it.
And as another aside, I was stopped on the road while on my way from Southgate to the Get-Go station in Bedford, by a very nice young lady in a little Cadillac.
She said she wanted to wish me a happy Father's Day, and i thanked her, while advising that I am not a daddy.
She then said that I must be a Vet, ad I acknowledged that. She Identified herself as a former Army Nurse, and then asked when I last ate.
Am I that obvious? My last meal was Wednesday night when one of the girl's at Get-Go gave me a coupon for a free 3 1/2" sub sandwich.
Rhonda, as she said her name was, is working at the VA now, and I shared that I did much work at both Cleveland VA Campuses. We chatted about Veteran's Affairs and the needs of the vets after returning home, and discussed Christian Principles, and what it means to be a warrior.
She then gave me a $20 bill and asked me to get some food and take care of myself...
Well, I am. I am at the Get-Go, and I just had some chicken. I am felling good, both physically and emotionally, because I was struggling to walk over here tonight. I didn't actually pray, I just wondered in my mind how God would help in my current trials.
Well, as usual, he shows Himself in the work of others!
Thank you, Rhonda, and thank you dear Lord. I pray that I am able to do as much for others in the time to come!
And now for today's rant:
Er, rather, Saturday's Rant about the PO Box Adventure!
I left the Get-Go Saturday morning to walk the 1.7 mi (go ahead, ask me how I know precise distances in the area... ) to the Southeast Branch of the Cleveland Cuyahoga Public Library, to print out my reservation for the PO Box at the Bedford Branch of the Post Office.
Well, I had to dig deep, and find my Library Card, which thankfully was still valid (I have Cards for other area libraries that aren't part of the CCPL System, too), logged on to terminal #7 with my flash drive.
I called up the .pdf file from the USPS that I completed on Friday after much frustration and 8 attempts to make a Visa Gift Card work, and pressed print.
Nothing happened.
I checked the document, checked the print status, and it showed the.pdf in the queue. I waited aonther few minutes, then got up to check the printer. It was not printing. It showed 6 documents waiting, but was not printing. Another patron on the same bank of computers, fetched one of the staffers from the desk, and she fussed for ten minutes, shutting it of and on, and finally went to call tech support.
Meanwhile, the other gentleman and I noted that the printer was flashing a jam warning, and were able to retrieve a stuck piece of paper from the feed, hoping that would solve it.
No dice.
The lady staffer returned with written instructions from IT, and another staffer. They fussed for another 30 minutes, unable to get the printer to release my document. It managed to print several others in the queue, but not my USPS .pdf.
Another call to IT, prompted the question, did I try to print a .pdf document!
Well yes! The techie explained that the unit has difficulty interpreting .pdf files, and sometimes jams up on them.
Well, seems to me that .pdf's are pretty common documents online and using word processing software, so why would a commercial HP unit have issues with them?
Well after 45 minutes, and announcing to all of the PC users that the printer was down for the count, and no more printing was possible, the original staffer asked if she could print the file for m,e on the staff printer.
I said, yes, and gave her the flash drive and followed her to her desk.
She printed both pages back to back for me, and gave me 2 copies so that i had a spare if needed.
Well, after the debacle trying to complete the document online Friday, and the time spent trying to print it out Saturday, I opted to leave immediately for the post office at 1030, even though it was open until 1400 on Saturdays.
Good thing I did, as they were understaffed and very busy Saturday!
I waited in line for ten minutes, before being informed by the clerk that the printed reservation was incomplete. She showed e what needed to be finished, and sent me to the mailing desk to complete it. I stood in line yet again, only to have her say that she was not familiar with the PO Box leasing procedure, and would I kindly wait for her supervisor to return from lunch in 20 minutes!
By now it was 1130, and she went to find the supervisor. She was gone another 15 minutes while a second clerk started helping customers at another window.
Finally, she came back out, and said she would try to process the reservation for me.
But, she informed me that the online reservation system was not compatible with the Branch Software, and she could not process it as a 44146 zip, Bedford, as I had reserved online.
She said that even though this was the Bedford Branch, 44146, their branch computer only issued 44137, Maple Heights, PO Boxes!
I said I preferred the 44146, but she said that she would have to cancel the reservation, credit the Visa card, and reprocess the request for a Bedford address, and charge me again!
I acquiesced and let her process it as a Maple Heights PO Box.
So, after finally getting that completed by 1230, I tried the 3 keys for the box, returned one to the clerk, and headed back to the Library where I left my duffel bag and laptop.
I tried to relax with a magazine (June's copy of "Popular Science"), but couldn't concentrate on it. Only 2 articles were interesting, and they were only a couple of column inches each! I remember devouring both "Popular Science" and "Mechanics Illustrated" as a kid, when my Dad would buy me copies of them at the drugstore on his tobacco runs.
He as a kid used to build his model airplanes from plans in "Mechanics Illustrated", and though a member of the "Junior Aviator's Club", eschewed the model airplane magazines of the day, like "Model Airplane News" and others. He said that the 10 cents that the "mechanics Illustrated" cost back in the 1930's, covered more projects than the airplane specific hobby magazines!
Well, I nodded off about 1300, and awoke at 1330, and decided to fire up the laptop. I cued up an episode of the first season of "Mission Impossible", and promptly fell asleep again, waking up 4 episodes later when one of the staffers informed me that the library was closing.
It was 1730, and I packed up and headed out. There was a chill in the air, but it was a very pleasant night.
As there was no weekend festival scheduled downtown (Historic Bedford Downtown that is), I headed for the historic Wheeling And Lake Erie RR Station on Bedford Commons, and sat at the new epoxy coated park bench there to soak up a beautiful night! (So much changes your outlook and priorities when you can not only take the time to stop and smell the roses, but have no need to rush anywhere, and you can actually watch them grow, the bees service them, and the wind manipulate them!)
About 1830, a large tour bus (Limo) pulled up in front of the station on the gravel access where track #2 used to be, and discharged a wedding party!
Pictures at the Bedford Gazebo on the Commons. And a most beautiful night for it!
All of the girls were in ugly pink (more reddish pink, I think) chiffon dresses that of course made the bride appear even more beautiful in her white gown, and the men of the party all in matching grey tuxes.
They spent a good 1.5 hours posing everyone before they started to lose the light (the photographer brought his own lights for key and fill). They boarded the large bus and departed around 2015, headed off to the reception and much alcohol and dancing! Hopefully the send off of another happy couple who will remain devoted and faithful to one another for life.
As the sun set, I went to the post office on Willis, behind the RR Station, and checked my PO Box. I didn't expect anything, just wanted to insure my 24 hour access to the PO Box Lobby. No problem. Doors were unlocked, and all was well.
I walked up Broadway and sat at the dress shop bench, where I watched the evening dance class in the extension portion of what used to be Cyber Pete's Computer Cafe and Emporium, anold favorite haunt of mine which now houses the Broadway Cyclery.
They worked up a sweat doing a modern dance routine on front of the mirror, that seemed more like a martial arts drill with punches and kicks, then a choreographed dance!
The air was cooling, and I decided that a walk was in order. I planted my laptop case and duffel on a secluded bench I could monitor easily from the street, near the Sikh Temple, which is always busy in the evenings (it is located ion Tarbell, just off Broadway, and is the old Bedford Masonic Temple.
I had my sweatshirt on, and strolled up and down Broadway a dozen times or so, relishing not carrying the 50+# of personal items I have with me at all times. I find that I can walk easily and for 20-30 minutes at a time when unencumbered. I still need to rest often, and pamper my legs which are still swelling and hurt from the dry skin condition from the meds that keep my legs and arms peeling.
I passed several of the Bedford PD vehicles, and most of the officers know me from the Get-Go, and wave when they pass. They had a busy night, as I saw them repeatedly traveling fast with lights that night.
I tried to get situated by the park bench at the Veteran's memorial, but the chill started to get excessive, and even with my Gore-Tex jacket zipped up all the way, I was still shivering. The overnight temp in Cleveland, away from the lake, dropped to 53, and I could not get comfy, at all.
The #76 bus stopped running at 2200, and my only option for warmth at 0300, was to walk the almost 2 miles to the Southgate Transportation Center.
So I bundled up, put on my gloves and slipped both bags over my shoulders, and hoofed it up Broadway to where Center Road ends, and went directly to the STC, stopping only at the picnic bench at the former Kaiser Permanente facility on Rockside to rest and redistribute my heavy load.
Five minutes I collapsed on a bench in the 24 hour bus station. Usually by 0230, when the last #41 leaves for the night, the 5 interior benches surrounding the walls begin to fill with others who seek a place to sleep out of the weather. Saturday night (actually Sunday morning) was no exception. By 0400 all of the benches were full, each with a person stretched out and quietly snoring.
The first bus out in the AM is around 0545, so the facility is usually quiet overnight. Unable to sleep horizontally with out support for my head and neck (thanks to a 1985 motorcycle accident that broke my neck and back), i sat upright, with my back against the tile wall. Very uncomfortable, but by wearing my Stetson low over my eyes, I can block out the very bright fluorescent lighting, and nap in brief snatches.
Even after the buses started up again, and a maintenance person swept and mopped, there were 6 or 7 individuals besides myself sleeping there. In 4 months (as of next week) of homelessness, I have only seen RTA Police at the facility, 3x. And only once did they roust the "vagrants" that were in the waiting area.
I usually avoid this place unless i am catching the bus, or it is cold or raining, and I am not at the Get-Go
Sadly, there is a whole subculture that are denizens of these places, that i am sure include all of the other TCs, and rapid stations.
These are young men mostly, from the 'hood, who hang out and smoke marijuana in paper wrapped Blunt cigars from which they remove the regular tobacco (and usually leave it in a pile under the waiting benches), they also drink beer in large cans, eat takeout, and play rap music on their phones at a very loud volume (all prohibited activities at the stop and onboard the buses and rapids), while trying to impress the ladies with their exploits. (They all seem to be wannabee gangstas who have to travel by bus, because of a bad rap driving or whatever excuse they give the ladies as to why they aren't out cruising in their Jags, Mercedes, and Lexuses!)
If I had a dollar for every time one of these youngsters bragged on how he would bust a cap on someone who gave him a hard time, I wouldn't need to apply for my SS benefits!
The load of BS that they brag on is so out there, that I am amazed that anyone believes them at all! Though I am sure they believe their own rhetoric.
And the language! The NAACP and the Dems have been trying ti get the "N" word removed from the English Language, but that and the "F" word are the 2 most common words used in their vocabularies!
And in parlance, means a good thing. ("You are my Niggah!" Which apparently translates loosely as "My Good Friend")
And this is not limited to the young bucks! Females use it often as well, as do many older folks who seem to be part of this circuit! And even the little ones, kids that haven't even reached puberty, use the words and cuss in abundance in the profane poetry of the inner city vernacular.
I shall never get used to this. And in between bragging on their sexual and violent exploits, the young men also praise the current Administration, and curse anyone who doesn't support their man, Obama!
I am good, I usually keep my mouth shut, and avoid saying anything when they misquote facts or brag on something that Obama didn't do, so I have stayed out of trouble.
And why, oh why do they have to walk about with their pants drooping around their thighs, and their underwear fully exposed? And it isn't just the black males! The middle class suburban white kids who listen to rap and think they are Gangsta, aslo do it. As do some females!
Very, very strange! When I worked LAw Enforcement in the early 1990's, I saw the fad of the "Saggies' and light up tennis shoes as very temporary, but a boon to LE, as it was easier to catch perps who had to try and run while holding up their pants with one or both hands! And the LED shoes made finding them at night just too easy!
But why, why, after 20 years do they still walk around displaying their butts in their underwear for the general populace to view?
End of rant. I am going to get a Taco Salad, and continue with season 1 of "Mission Impossible".
Goodnight all.
