Vaughan's Day July 16, 2009

Those of you who have worked their way through James Joyce's Ulysses (I know, I know, you only read Molly's soliloquy) are acquainted with Bloom's Day. Although Leopold Bloom was basically a boring nobody, his day was filled with all kinds of activity. So was it today for Joe Vaughan. If you are easily bored, you may want to skip this blog... but if you do, you will miss a great insight at the end.

Early this morning I prepared three sets of brownies that I had baked before bed last night. One set for my TRIAD meeting today, one set for my son, Chris, who had complained that I never make him any, and one set for the people who have just moved in next to us. (With my luck, they will be diabetics.)

I prepared for my TRIAD meeting by gathering together all of the scam information that I had clipped or composed during the month since the last meeting. The meeting went very well in spite of the fact that I was 10 minutes late... so, to compensate, we went 10 minutes over. Actually, at these meetings, nobody wants to leave when they are over, because there is so much scam material to cover.

Today, one of the members showed me an official letter she had received, along with an official looking water-marked check for $3,751.22. The letter told her that based on her standing in the community, she had been chosen to receive the check. To earn the check, she was told to investigate WalMart. To go to that store and write down what she saw in a report format.

She was told to mail her report to a certain address along with her answers to a few questions, such as: Name, Address, Age, SSN (Social Security Number), Bank, Banking Number....etc... you get the picture. They didn't even want any of the check back when she cashed it.. why would they.. the check will bounce, and the scammers will have enough information to clean out her bank account and sell her SSN. I told her to take the letter and check to the States Attorney's Office.

Prior to the TRIAD meeting, a new wheelchair was delivered for Elaine. She will probably not have to use it for very long, but the old one is falling apart. This one is the same make as the old one, but lots of upgrades have been made in five years. The main thing is that it is much sturdier.. (but a bit heavier.. good exercise for Elaine's arms and my hernia.) I tried to get the deliverer to accept back the old one.. nope. We get to keep it.

The TRIAD meeting is held at the Westminster (Maryland) Senior Activity Center.. and today they were having an exhibit of local artists' works. (I used to belong to the Artists' Guild that put on the exhibit. I need to get back to "art"! I was extremely well impressed by one artist's still-lifes.. Raymond Hartland is his name and I'll bet that he will be honored because his work is GOOD!

After TRIAD, I networked a bit and then went to the Westminster Library to check out their "playaway" collection. Playaway is "books on tape" but in a much smaller media.. the "tape" is mini and has a built-in rechargable battery. One plugs earphones into the little package and listens to a complete book read by a melifluous voiced reader. Today they only had fiction available. I will visit them online and order some non-fiction books from them. (Not many libraries have gotten into "playaway" yet. Carroll County's library is the most used library in Maryland because they try to keep ahead of the curve in technology and service. My son spent a lot of time working there and getting them plugged into the computer age.)

At one pm I went to a so-called "Ice Cream Social" in my village, where I submitted a story for the literary magazine. It was about a trip that my son and I took a few years ago. Last night I spent some time getting the story down to 400 words from about 900. I think that was good exercise for me. The title of the story is Wake Up Time... or another title could be: The Perfect Squelch. I like the story, of course, and will publish it also as a blog entry.

After turning in my story, I was presented with a very delicious ice cream sundae. That's all the payment that I need.

Now for the Insight part:

When I left the house this morning, I had a schedule book, newspaper clippings, brownies, a story to submit and some note paper.

When I returned home this afternoon, I had accumulated the following items:

A copy of the Carroll County Times.. one headline: Students stitch Underground Railroad Quilts.

A "Playaway" how-to guide.

Farm Notes newsletter from the Maryland Cooperative Extension.

A schedule of Maryland Agricultural Fairs and Shows for 2009 thru Spring 2010.

An ad for the Maryland Wine Festival to be held in September at the Carroll County Farm Museum. The poster shown on the ad is a direct "steal" from Alphonse Mucha posters.. the ones with the beautiful zapftig ladies. Very well done!

A brochure about library facilities entitled: Read.

An online reference guide to the library.

Tips on managing a library account.

A how-to brochure on how to use a personal library card.

A schedule of July programs by the Carroll County Bureau of Aging.

The Carroll County government newsletter. Headline: Waste Options Considered.

The Carroll County government newsletter: Headline: Planning.. on Pathways Draft.

Brochure: Fish for Dinner?

Food stamp information.

Brochure: Use Common Sense to Spot a Con.

Brochure: Safer Seniors

Brochure on AARP's Driver Safety Program. (I was an instructor in this program for 8 years.)

Booklet: Outsmarting Crime.

GSA Consumer Information Catalog.

Calendar showing when Maryland grown fruit and vegetables are available.

Newsletter for the Maryland Homeowners' Association, Inc.

Baltimore City Paper "Big Music Issue".. (I'm hoping they will have something within its 104 pages about Emily and Mat's Mobtown Studio.)

Plus Junk Mail and bills for Elaine and me.

INSIGHT! Most of the stuff that we want to import into our lives each day is not that important and should not even be picked up or looked at. (We waste hours of our life trying to read it all.. and then we must make decisions on what we read.)