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Thursday, January 11, 2018

Rising from the ashes


We have a local author, David Giffels, who has published several national books, and remains local. We all know him, at least by sight. He teaches at Akron U and has one less degree than I have. I wouldn’t want his job, though we seem to have the same hard scrabble attitude. He scrounged all over Akron’s rust belt as his childhood activity, absorbing it and thinking about what it could be.

I’ve published pictures of BF Goodrich, transformed into important offices and medical suites, but with an atrium to the roof cut through the massive concrete floors, the halls featuring the massive concrete supports. We succeeded in remaking this town because we succeeded, the hard way, on purpose. Not me; I just moved back. Giffels has an attitude about that, though not bad. We’re acceptable.

Giffels has out a new book, Furnishing Eternity. I re-bought his old book (I gave my massive book collection to the local library two years ago), The Hard Way on Purpose, to put it back in my head. Perhaps I relate to Giffels because I’m doing much of my recovery work both the hard way, and on purpose. I can be really snotty with doctors and lawyers and adjusters when I tell them I cannot live long enough to re-learn what I lost, let along regain full use of a leg, an arm, a hand. “Think about that, you self-righteous SOB, and give me a righteous answer.”


This post is only about stuff. I’m up to Thursday on my calendar. It’s only eleven in the morning. Lynn and I were going to breakfast, but her cat is sick and she’s particular and the cat has a vet appointment. We go to Michael’s in the valley. Its owner is my age, single and looking for a datable person.

I don’t know why this is such an issue for me, except that Les died, and if I wanted to continue to share lunch and world views with someone who also put air in my car tires, I’d have to look around, or get lucky. I’ve not done the former because the latter just continues to appear. I’d have to call the average fifty percent. An overqualified former Goodyear engineer and I won’t describe the zero who fleshed out the percentage.

Giffels nailed it: “…they think we’re average. And we are…as average as a watershed. Some of us have more and some of us have less; some of us think this way, and some of us think that. If you add it all up and divide by two, you get something in the middle.”

Laura seems to read the blog on the way home from school. She knew about Roku’s when she came in the door last night. The Secret life of Grandma continues to blow away. Breakfast cancelled, I spent the morning on the phone with Spectrum, my ISP. Bored. So are those people in cubicles, solving problems. Often I get a knowledgeable young woman, always a pleasure. This morning I had Bob, from North Carolina. We pinged and tested and concluded the problem is Blogger; Spectrum is not dancing to non net neutrality—yet.

I switched to a person who could cancel my TV service.”You can save a lot of money over cable,” according to Miss Tenth Grader. I could save six dollars a month. The cable goes down, the internet goes up. Of course it does.

Last night I contemplated my empty day and decided I will finish the last half of the last sleeve I abandoned last year. Before I could never watch HGTV again. But now I can. Or maybe I’ll finish Seedtime on the Cumberland. I did quit the library book club; they’ll never read what I read. I still have HGTV. I do have to get up to the mail box and get that Roku. Now, that’s something to do.

23 comments:

  1. Someone who can put air in your tires is a useful thing...I've been married for 43 years and still don't have someone who can put air in my tires. But, at least I don't have to date him lol.

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  2. Dear Joanna, the more postings of yours that I read, the more my admiration for you grows. You stay active in so many ways, but the paths of your mind intrigue me. To explore questions and to be curious about answers is a fine and wonderful thing. Peace.

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    1. I call myself the person who has to know everything. I can't help it. It's best when I get it right. :-) Peace.

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  3. Dear Joanne. We have blogged for a long time now and I feel I know you quite well. One thing I know for sure is that you will continue to expand your mind and to fight your disabilities forced on you by ill health. Inspirational is the word that springs to mind.

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  4. Hari OM
    sounds like the day has been getting filled, one way or another. Today I have been noticing a lag when making comments direct into Blogger pages (such as this one); it isn't happening with 'pop out' comments boxes. It will right itself. Eventually. YAM xx

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    1. Yes; the pop up's are OK; the directs are not. But, that's all I know. Limitations are so limiting.

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    2. Noticing the same problem at my end.

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    3. Here too and worried at first that it might be a fault in my computer.

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  5. Your turns of phrase are quite striking. " An overqualified former Goodyear engineer and I won’t describe the zero who fleshed out the percentage."

    :D

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    1. He was OK, but he never quit talking about his seven patents.

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  6. I enjoy your eclectic posts, Joanne. Always some nuggets of wisdom and news.

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  7. Sigh on the comment front.
    And hooray for another delightful post from you. I will not learn all I want/need to know - but intend to die trying.

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  8. Everybody else seems to understand what you write. Sometimes I struggle. But I like you. lol

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  9. Not bad for an empty day.

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  10. "someone who also put air in my car tires" - always good to have a practical fall back position.

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  11. You make me chuckle with your descriptions and way with words. It is good to have someone else to share the work load with concerning certain things but it is also nice to be self sufficient if possible. I'm glad you've got the Roku stick. I just wish I could get my internet upgraded soon and follow in your footsteps though as you've found out there isn't a whole lot of savings between the different services. The savings might buy a nice dinner out once or twice a year for you. I guess that isn't anything to sneeze at.

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  12. I also spent Thursday doing not much of anything. Today of course was a whole different story.
    It's good to see you reading again and such interesting books. Well they look interesting from here.
    And I'm glad you get snotty with doctors who tell you what you don't want to hear. They need to learn that not everybody fits the mould just because they've had the same injury.

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  13. My kids have Roku but I am not exactly sure what it is. I figure that it gives you more channels and then one can opt out of these channels on Cable. I am not sure I want to relearn everything at this point, however, with the cost of watching TV escalating, I, like you, need to find alternatives.

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  14. re blogger commenting...here too. long delay before it posts and sometimes I have to just click somewhere on the page before it will upload. weird. you may not live long enough to relearn everything you lost but you will continue to learn new stuff until the end. boredom is not something I generally encounter, always so much to do. when I don't feel like doing any of it, I be lazy and unproductive. it's called a rest day for me.

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  15. Very slow me has just discovered you. We have Netflix but rarely use it. Mea Culpa.

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