kengr

When you go to print bag tags, be sure to check the slot to see that there aren't any from the previous user sitting there.

I had that happen to me but caught it in time. Don't know if it was an accident or somebody being sneaky, but if I hadn't noticed, 2 of my bags would have been credited to someone else.

There are a number of majorly screwed up things that could be "fixed" by what amount to simple changes in accounting rules/practices.

First, deferred maintenance on anything should not by considered as a cost saving measure. Instead it should be treated like what it *is*, namely a liability. It should be carried on the books as a liability amounting to the *actual* cost of needed maintenance (ie not what they'd like to spend, but what *needs* to be spent) plus 10% or the actual st plus the actual cost of the extra maintenance that will be needed because of the postponement, whichever is *greater*.

This is to make it *painfully* clear that deferring maintenance is a really *bad* idea.

Second, pensions are to be "fully funded". That is to say, they get treated like you are setting up an annuity. So if the company goes bankrupt, the pensions will still get paid. Likewise,the company does *not* get to change the rules for existing employees without their permission. So suddenly rolling back pensions to save money.

Pensions should be treated like a contract. No unilateral changes. And no borrowing from the pension funds by the company (or government! I'm looking at you Congress)

Third, waste disposal costs not merely for manufacturing products, but for disposing of them after the wear out or are obsolete are to be born by the company, *not* the consumer.

This won't end "planned obsolesence" and the "new model every year" BS, but it'll at least reduce it. And help deal with disposing or the resulting "trash".

About 11 Fay texted me to let me know she was ready to head out for our monthly Winco run.

I met her a few minutes later and we walked over to Albertson's so she could get something to eat. Only it turned out that her food stamp account was empty. I bought the stuff for her and used my card just to see if *mine* was ok. It was.

So we went back to my apartment to sit in the air conditioning while she tried to straighten things out.

I had her check online first thing. Still zero balance. So I suggested that she call the aging and Disability office which are the folks that handle our food stamp certification.

They said they'd resubmit the info and to check again in an hour. So we watched an episode of Buffy, and one of Soap.

When she checked again the money was there.

Meanwhile, I'd been checking where we could buy the new Hop passes for the bus. Turned out that we can recharge them at the 7-11 on the corner. But to buy them we had to go elsewhere. Found a Safeway a few stops past the Winco.

So we just rode the bus past Winco and hit the Safeway. Took a few minutes to get the cards and put some money on them.

Turns out that it's $3 to buy the cards, and then a seperate operation to put the initial cash on them.

Still wasn't that bad. I fronted Fay the money for the card and an initial $10 on it.

What Fay and I had been doing was buying monthly passes ($28 because we qualify as disabled). We didn't always use $28 worth of rides, but iot was better than dealing with tickets.

The way the HOP card works is that you "tap" it on a terminal by the bus driver, and it validates your fare.

The first time you use it on a day, you get charged a regular fare (in our case an "Honored Citizen" fare). Next next time you get on a bus that day, the system check. If you are still within the 2.5 hours a regular fare is good for, it lets the driver know you are ok to board.

If you are past the expiration time of the first fare, it charges you again and upgrades you to a day pass. This saves you money if you take more than two trips that day.

It also keeps track of how much you've paid the current month. And once it hits the cost of a monthly pass, you ride for free for the rest of the month, just as if you'd bought a monthly pass.

For me, since I don't always ride the bus that much during a month, I can just put on enough for a monthly pass, and if I don't use that much, I'll still have the leftover and be able to just "top up" the card to the cost of a pass when my pension comes in at the end of the month.

This month, I'll top it up when my SS comes in in a few days.

You can also register the card online so that if it gets lost or stolen, you don't lose the money on it.

It says you can top it up online, but I haven't checked that out yet.

Our gardening last year was an utter failure, mainly because for various reasons we didn't really *do* much.

Didn't help that they didn't get the plots assigned until late May. Or that neither of us had much spare cash to buy plants with.

This year Fay and I had some miscommunication. I thought we weren't going to do it, she thought we were.

So I had to go and ask the (new) manager to add me to Fay's plot request.

We got the plot assignments Thursday and I got Fay's signature on the "we agree to the rules" form and turned it in Friday morning.

Saturday, we hit Portland Nursery. Apparently it's too early for tomatoes, but we got some tools (so we won't be borrowing from other folks in the apartments.

We also got some plant starts. I got this "Mesclune mix" which it a bunch of different salad greens. Also got a multicolored carrot assortment, just to try them out. If I like them, I'll get seed next year. Fay got some Swiss Chard, and some red lettuce ("Merlot")

I also got some seeds, scarlet globe radishes (I've had good luck with them in the past, but the seeds I had left were too old), and when Fay was pointing things out, there were these "ground cherries". They were interesting, but I passed them up. Put on a second pass thru that area I decided to grab them after taking a more careful look at the info on the packet.

We're going to go back again next month for other starts. And we both are likely to make another trip for other things this month. Fay needs a bigger pot for the spider plant she bought, and some potting soil. I'm thinking about getting stuff so I can start some seeds indoors and then just move them outside in the "plantable pots" (I forget what the real names is).

Also gotta talk to one of the other folks who gardens here and ask if he's going to make a run to pick up compost for folks. If so, I want to buy in so we don't have to try hauling bags of it on the bus. :-)

In other news, the 1/2 mile(?) walk to the nursery, and the quarter mile walk from it (we walk downhill from the 71 to get there, but walk over to the 20 when we leave and transfer to the 71 a few blocks later) showed that I was more out of shape than I thought. Gonna have to try walking around the block (it's a *big* block) to start.

Also gotta get a bike working. I need to check with Social Security about the overpayment (they switched me over from SSI to SS retirement benefits and managed to pay me *both* this month). If they'll let me pay it back by withholding 10% of my benefits for the next few months, I may have enough to replace the Electra Townie now instead of months from now.

If not, I'll get the one I got given working (needs a seat, and a tuneup).

Either way, I need a lock, lights, GPS mount and panniers. At least on the new benefits I have a couple hundred more a month than I did with SSI. Also, no more of the "can't have more than $2000 in resources" bit.

Finally got the official letter about my SSI. I should be getting my first payment the first. And the backdated lump sum, some time after that.

So the computers will get fixed/replaced. And I can afford small amounts of goodies every month.

Dunno if this will let me get the "honored citizen" card from TriMet or not. I know SSDI will, but I'm not sure about SSI. I'll at least try. An HC bus pass I can afford now, but I wouldn't be able to affotrd an all-zone regfular pass, and a 2-zone would have the problem that it'd be useless fotr half the trips I'd want to make.

ETA: took another look at the letter and it *does* say "... you meet all the rules to be eligible for SSI based on being disabled."

So I'm very hopeful about qualifying for the cheap bus pass.

On the off chance folks might be interested, I've put a bunch of gaming stuff I dug out of storage up on eBay. The *newest* is 20 years old. Some of it goes back to the mid 70s.

http://shop.ebay.com/kengrx/m.html

ETA: another 25 or so items (mostly Car Wars, and Metagaming Microgames) is going up in a couple of hours.

Trying to raise money to avoid losing my storage locker (which contains the stuff I've been selling to pay bills)

Got a bunch of books that Powell's didn't want (mostly due to already having copies, though a few are condition issues)

I'll take any reasonable offer, you pay shipping (and the cost of the box).

I'll be updating the list, so here's a link:

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AUqRCXRp8n1JZGhrbjM5N2pfMGR0NmdzOWZt&hl=en

As some of you know, in the early 90s, I got into a real mess with the tax people. One side effect was winding up with a bad "report" from my bank to whatever reporting agency banks use. Which meant that I couldn't get a bank account anywhere until it expired from that system (which takes 7 years).

I'd gotten a savings account by opening a joint account with a friend I trusted.

Since I had to sell a bunch of real estate I inherited last year, my taxes this year are a bit on the large side (as in more than I ever *made* in previous years). And due to needing info I hadn't realized I'd need, my accountant (who I know from the local munch :-) is filing for an extension.

So I needed to send money to the IRS and the Oregon state tax people. This was going to be a pain. But it occurred to me that it might have been long enough that the report had aged off the reporting system.

So I dropped by the bank and wound up sitting across from a guy. Pleaser note that I was wearing a baseball cap, a parrothead t-shirt, and jeans.

Me: I'd like to open a checking account.
Him: ok, I need to see two pieces of ID.
Me: I've got a savings account here..
I hand across my driver's license and the ATM card for the savings account

He checks some stuff on the computer.

Him: Ok, you need to open it with at least $50.
Me: I'll be moving $22,000 from my savings account.

He boggled nicely. But he recovered *very* quickly. It was *so* nice seeing someone from a bank trying not to be flustered for once. :-)

The tax checks are in the mail, and I'll be getting the printed checks and a debit card in a week or two.

One odd thing is that *after* we were done with everything, I had to fight a *severe* case of the shakes. Not sure why.

1. Call ISP about getting DSL
2. Call cable company to see about getting cable reconnected
3. Get video upgrade info for Lin & Kermit
4. Pay Light bill (do Wed on way to meet Lin)
5. Go thru recertification for apartment (Tues)
6. Get CD drive info for Sam
7. Get CD- burner info for Kermit
8. Get case, motherboard & cpu info for Jeff
9. Figure out what cable extenders I need for main systems.
10. Buy cable extenders.
11. Buy more T-shirts with pockets.
12. Buy some tops that go with my skirts.
13.. Check out panties and swimsuits.
14. Buy Y membership.
15. Make followup appointment with doctor.
16. Make sure 5th diabetes class is scheduled for 8/13 and if so, let Lin know
17. Try to find where the config worksheet for the new Netware server got to so I can find the admin password.
18. try to figure out password for the NW 5 server
19. Try to to get more of the old binaries decoded.
20. Try to get more of the decoded binaries sorted thru.
21. Try to get more of the fonts checked out.
22. Find accountant and see what sort of mess real estate sales will make of taxes.
23. visit storage locker and get more of the junk computers stripped.
24. Process excess computer parts.
25. Get help finding bugs with the OS/2 setup.
26. Get more shoes
27. Start looking for van again.
28. Find and try to install evaluation copy of tape backup software.

Life is weird.

I need money, so I'm trying to sell some property. So I get a call today and find out that I can probably sell it for *much* more than I'd thought. And at the same time, that it *might* cost more than I've got just to keep ownership due to sewers going in.

Somebody up there must think this is funny..