Happy Spring! It is a beautiful 70 degree day here in Maryland where our weather goes from below freezing to Summer heat in a matter of days.
Lots of stuff going on today.. the Senate Rules Committee is getting ready to do their thing about the Health Reform Bill.. the robins are pulling skinny worms out of the moist ground.. the Mt. Airy, Maryland, St James Church now has two of our old television sets and 15 old telephone sets for recycling.. I delivered a lot of my beer making material to my son-in-law John so that he can make more of that wonderful brew.. and here is/are a dozen of things to think about. (Those tricky collective nouns! English must be a very tough language for foreign speakers to learn.)
01. Japanese. Speaking of foreign languages, every day recently comments have been posted on some of my blog entries, and most of those are in Japanese. How did they know that I am right now trying to learn to read their language? (It is an amazing experiece just to find out the history of each ideogram.)
Since I can't read the language yet, I used Google translator on one comment. The result, unfortunately, was unintelligible. So, maybe I'm dealing with some nuts, or I just don't know how to interpret Google's translation. I'll try again later.
02. Irish stuff: A leprechaun museum has been opened in Dublin, or so I've heard. Last year, I submitted a picture I took at Ocean City, Maryland, of a double rainbow. When I saw the phenomenon, I immediately tried to find the end of each to see if it was true that there were pots of gold there, hidden by those spritely elves that the Irish know exist. No luck, so I took a picture instead. It was a pretty good picture and was published in Creative Expressions. (When I learn to post a picture to a blog, I will add it.)
Faith.. and can ye tell me what beautiful green-colored Country is the richest in the world?
Why of course, it's Ireland, whose capitol is always Dublin.
The first time I heard that, I laughed so hard I fell out of my high-chair and spilled my Irish oatmeal.
03. Facebook: The Italian police have just found and arrested Pasquale (a famous crook) by reading his Facebook entries and profile.
Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me says that there is a new Mafia social network site called Scarface Book.
04. Postal Delivery: I've been following the Postmaster General's recent testimony to the Senate on cost-cutting efforts. He wants to cut out mail delivery on Saturday. One of his reasons is because people don't really get much mail on that day anyway.. probably an average of only 3 pieces of mail. I just retrieved the mail from my mailbox, and it is Saturday.. there were 19 pieces of mail. I guess I am above-average. (Garrison has always said that I was.)
05. Announcements: Apparently, people in New York are complaining about emergency loudspeaker announcements being unintelligible. I would have thought that they knew that already.. haven't they ever tried to put in an order at a fast food drive in lane?
06. Q-Tips: Our Siamese cat, SuZee, has been provided with lots of catnip-filled cat toys. Does she play with them? No. Instead, she plays with Q-Tips. She wrestles with them, carries they around like they are prey, and vigorously seeks them out from wherever we hide them. We have given up.. she always finds them. Elaine thinks we should open a business selling them as cat toys. We could become rich maybe.. of course, we would have to pretty them us somewhat and make sure that the Q-Tip people did not sue us.
07. Fighting: This week I learned that there is a lady who teaches "Cane Fu" fighting. She teaches senior citizens how to defend themselves with their cane. She presented her program at a recent local Expo, but somehow, I missed it. I don't carry a cane anyway and I try to keep away from dangerous areas, as everyone should.
I did hear about a church somewhere near that sponsors violent fighting matches by their congregants so they can learn how to defend themselves in the real violent world. (I thought you were supposed to turn the other cheek.)
08. Government Work: Millie Parsons retired a while ago after serving 59 years with the FBI.. during that time, she never took one hour of sick leave. Somehow, she found time to become a champion ballroom dancer.
(I believe that Lil Steinhorn still holds the record for the longest work for the Government. She worked most of the time for the Social Security Administration in the Baltimore area. On the day she retired, she showed up at the Social Security Alumni Association office and volunteered for work. Lil passed away in 2009. She was over 90 years old.)
09. Texas Interview: Some folks have wondered what is in the latest schoolbooks in Texas.
Interviewer: "Hello, young man. May I ask you a question?"
Texas kid: "Yes, maam."
Int: "Who was Thomas Jefferson?"
Kid: "I don't know maam, was he in a TV show?"
Int: "Isn't he mentioned in your school history book?"
Kid: "No, maam.. and I just finished the whole book in class."
Int: "Do you know who wrote the 'Declaration of Independance?"
Kid: "Oh, yes, maam.. then you must mean Jefferson Davis, who was a hero at the Alamo and later tried bravely to get us independance from a tyrant."
Int: "Did you study about evolution in your classes?"
Kid: "You must mean revolution."
Int: "No, I mean the study of the origin and advancement of life."
Kid: "Oh yes, maam. We studied all about the Garden of Eden in our book."
10. Notch Babies: Well they're at it again. Brown government-looking envelopes are being mailed to senior citizens asking for donations so that they can lobby Congress for some money to make up for the reason they are "Notch Babies".
In a nutshell, years ago, Congress made a mistake in a Social Security benefit formula for a couple of months.. and some people have gotten a larger monthly benefit than people before or after them. If Congress voted to give money to those that came on Social Security right after the more-money persons.. they would have to then give money to all of the ones thereafter.. this would immediately bankrupt the US Government.. and Congress ain't goin' to do it! So.. save your own money and don't contribute to this scheme!
I brought this out as a SCAM to my fellow TRIAD members Thursday, and was informed, rightly, by one of the Police Officers in attendance, that this is not really a scam. It is just another way for unscrupulous people to say they are going to lobby for something that will not take place, while taking donations from lots of senior citizens who can't afford to donate.
My uncle Allen sent these folks lots of money. He passed away in 2009, as did many of the people who were affected by this. Apparently, there are still enough of these folks alive to make this a lucrative ploy.
But, because they will run out of "clients" in a few years, they are now recruiting other "notch babies". In fact, I got a letter this week, naming me as one who would be in the "notch" universe. Guess what? I do not get Social Security. And, I am also no where near old enough to be included in this universe.
I'll bet that these scumbags are now buying mailing lists of any and all senior citizens in an attempt to milk some more money out of the gullible.
11. Parachuting bears: Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me mentions that someone has come up with a great solution for finding Osama Ben Laden. Parachute bears down from planes over Afghanistan or Pakistan. Bears are known for being great trackers and would go into the caves and come up with their prey. One might ask how bears would like to be put into a parachute.. which would have to self-destruct on landing.. also, who would train the bears.. Russians are good at training bears, but they, like Alexander the Great and others since, no longer want to have anything to do with Afghanistan.
12. Lunch?: Can this be true? As a guy was sitting in his car, he felt the car shake violently. Upon investigation, he found a bulldog consuming one of his tires. After being unsuccessful in stopping the dog, he gave up and watched as the dog consumed another of his tires and also half of one bumper. Finally, I guess someone shot the dog. I'm not sure of this and I need to investigate.. it sounds fascinating. Was the car a formerly accelerating Toyota? A recalled Honda? Was this really a stunt dog for a movie filming? Was this a CIA training session for an Afghanistan military secret weapon, like the parachuting bear? Perhaps that is what happens when the bear lands on the ground, it seeks out Taliban or Al Quida vehicles and like the bulldog, tears them to bits. ???
..............................
Showing posts with label TRIAD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TRIAD. Show all posts
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Thursday, July 16, 2009
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.)
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.)
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Drugs
Yesterday was an interesting one for me. In the morning I traveled to Annapolis, Maryland for the quarterly TRIAD/SALT meeting. TRIAD is an organization consisting of three parts: Police Departments (Mainly Sheriff's Offices), AARP, and senior citizens doing things to ensure that our older citizens enjoy a scam-proof life. SALT stands for the "councils" under TRIAD (Seniors And Law-enforcement Together). I am the civilian coordinator for Carroll County TRIAD.
The main topic of this quarterly meeting was Elderly Abuse resulting from drug-related activity. We watched a film provided by the Office of the Vermont Attorney General. We saw surveillance footage of care-givers doing some unbelievable things.
For instance, a care-giver at a Hospice facility actually removed a pain patch from a dying patient, sucked on it to get a high, and then put it back on the patient.
A care-giver took pills from a bottle with drugs that were supposed to be given to a terminally ill person.
A nurse asked a patient if his pain was bearable... when he said "yes", she took the pills he was supposed to get.
There were other equally gross situations. These people were caught because a family member questioned why pain was not being relieved for their loved one. There must be other situations that have never been caught.
This film should be given wide distribution. Toni Katz of the Maryland Attorney General's Office is showing the film to Ombudsmen in all of the 27 Maryland Counties and I will be asking her to bring the film to the TRIAD Conference that Carroll County will be hosting in October 2009.
When Elaine had her first knee operation, she had to be in the hospital for a number of days, so her usual prescription pills had to be given to her by a nurse. On the first day, the nurse handed her all of her daily pills and told her that she had to take them all at the same time. This would have been very bad for Elaine because certain pills have to be given once in the morning and once in the evening. To take them at the same time could be extremely dangerous.
Elaine refused to take them at the same time and had to almost physically fight with the nurse to get her to give in and separate the pill taking time. The nurse was not happy about this.
About 8 years ago, a family friend went into the hospital for observation concerning a rather minor physical complaint. She, like Elaine, had to have several prescription drugs. As she lay there in bed, a so-called social worker came to see her and said that she had looked at the list of pills that our friend took and called her a "drug-addict" and said that she had to report her to the police. Our friend, who was not that ill, dropped dead the next day.
Ms Katz gave us a lot of information about the drug scene. She reminded us that we should not leave drugs around the house, in full view. Senior Citizens are probably all guilty of that. However, we should realize that visitors (and even Grandchildren) could possibly have a drug or money problem. An unguarded bottle of oxycontin might be an overwhelming temptation.
Also... what should one do with pills that are no longer needed? Ms Katz says: Don't flush! Crush! and mix them with kitty litter if you have it. Cover it and put it into the garbage can for pickup. (If people flush pills, we could end up with a Bay filled with "high" fish.)
While we are on the subject of drugs, remember that cattle ingest lots of drugs.. to make them grow bigger.. to make them mature earlier.. and when we eat the big hamburger, could we also be ingesting the drugs that they ingested.. just a little while later? Why do we have such big fat kids these days? Medical records indicate that some young teen-agers already have clogged arteries.
Are other meats any better?
I hope I haven't depressed you too much today.
The main topic of this quarterly meeting was Elderly Abuse resulting from drug-related activity. We watched a film provided by the Office of the Vermont Attorney General. We saw surveillance footage of care-givers doing some unbelievable things.
For instance, a care-giver at a Hospice facility actually removed a pain patch from a dying patient, sucked on it to get a high, and then put it back on the patient.
A care-giver took pills from a bottle with drugs that were supposed to be given to a terminally ill person.
A nurse asked a patient if his pain was bearable... when he said "yes", she took the pills he was supposed to get.
There were other equally gross situations. These people were caught because a family member questioned why pain was not being relieved for their loved one. There must be other situations that have never been caught.
This film should be given wide distribution. Toni Katz of the Maryland Attorney General's Office is showing the film to Ombudsmen in all of the 27 Maryland Counties and I will be asking her to bring the film to the TRIAD Conference that Carroll County will be hosting in October 2009.
When Elaine had her first knee operation, she had to be in the hospital for a number of days, so her usual prescription pills had to be given to her by a nurse. On the first day, the nurse handed her all of her daily pills and told her that she had to take them all at the same time. This would have been very bad for Elaine because certain pills have to be given once in the morning and once in the evening. To take them at the same time could be extremely dangerous.
Elaine refused to take them at the same time and had to almost physically fight with the nurse to get her to give in and separate the pill taking time. The nurse was not happy about this.
About 8 years ago, a family friend went into the hospital for observation concerning a rather minor physical complaint. She, like Elaine, had to have several prescription drugs. As she lay there in bed, a so-called social worker came to see her and said that she had looked at the list of pills that our friend took and called her a "drug-addict" and said that she had to report her to the police. Our friend, who was not that ill, dropped dead the next day.
Ms Katz gave us a lot of information about the drug scene. She reminded us that we should not leave drugs around the house, in full view. Senior Citizens are probably all guilty of that. However, we should realize that visitors (and even Grandchildren) could possibly have a drug or money problem. An unguarded bottle of oxycontin might be an overwhelming temptation.
Also... what should one do with pills that are no longer needed? Ms Katz says: Don't flush! Crush! and mix them with kitty litter if you have it. Cover it and put it into the garbage can for pickup. (If people flush pills, we could end up with a Bay filled with "high" fish.)
While we are on the subject of drugs, remember that cattle ingest lots of drugs.. to make them grow bigger.. to make them mature earlier.. and when we eat the big hamburger, could we also be ingesting the drugs that they ingested.. just a little while later? Why do we have such big fat kids these days? Medical records indicate that some young teen-agers already have clogged arteries.
Are other meats any better?
I hope I haven't depressed you too much today.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Mail Call for Joe
This is an exercise to find out if I can talk intelligibly about the most trivial things.
I will talk about my mail today. It came at 1 pm and consisted of:
A letter from an Insurance Company offering me a fantastic mortgage rate.. "because you are a good customer." Well, I dropped that Insurance Company over a month ago when I got a better automobile insurance offer somewhere else. In fact, I found that they had been overcharging me for years. I guess the word hasn't gotten throughout the company that I no longer am a customer of theirs. ACTION: throw into paper recycling.
A notice from my secondary health insurance payer letting me know that the hospital where I recently had a procedure submitted a duplicate bill for reimbursement. This resubmission occurs a lot because billers get antsy when the insurance companies don't pay quickly and resubmit just in case. ACTION: File with Joe's medical insurance info for 2009.
A very large bill from the provider of my cable TV and Internet access. A lot of money each month, but I don't know what I would do without 250 channels of HD TV and instant Internet access. ACTION: Pay the damn bill.
A postcard from some guy in Manchester, Maryland who hasn't got the word that I sold my last house in September 2008. He wants to buy the house "as is" for cash. Too late guy. ACTION: File with other material to be discussed at the June TRIAD meeting, where we talk about possible scams.
A statement from the bank where I keep my checking account showing that money out actually was slightly less than money in during April. Maybe things are changing in the economy. ACTION: Log in and balance to my checkbook. (Included is a "Debit Travel Rewards Catalog".. except that I don't do debit transactions.. that's a way to go broke.)
A publication from the Arthritis Foundation suggesting that I contribute to a Charitable Gift Annuity and "get income for life." They suggest a $10,000 donation, which at my age will earn 6.3% interest. My calculation is that I would receive about $600 per year ($50 per month) .. and if I live for ten more years, I would have received about $6000.. ($4000 less than invested).. a CD at only 4% for the same period would also have received about $6,000 in interest... but.. I would still be able to cash in and get my $10,000 back. Charitable Gift Annuities do not seem like good sense to me. ACTION: Put into paper recycling.
A sneaky offer from a former bank of mine. They offer to send you a free Credit Report upon receipt of a form that binds you to Identity Theft Protection at $13 per month payments. What they don't mention is that everyone is entitled to a free Credit Report each year by law. Also, some of the protection that they offer is automatic with credit card usage. ACTION: Put into the TRIAD file to be discussed at the June meeting of police and senior citizens.
The latest issue of Integra, The Journal of Intertel, the 1% High IQ club. Contents include an article about psychic senses in daily life and how that relates to Rhine Research Center studies. Another article cites quotes from Mark Twain's book: Innocence Abroad.. and compares them to the current situation in the world.
There also is a rather depressing story (I think its fiction) about an ordinary human being confronting the problems involved in being such an ordinary human being. (Intertel members probably are not "ordinary" human beings.. at least they are classified as having Ultra-Genius IQ's)
The rest of the journal is taken up mainly with original poems from members. ACTION: Read the rest of the journal when time permits.
An invitation to two Police/Senior Citizen meetings. One is a quarterly TRIAD meeting held in the State Capitol. Last quarter, I mixed up the date for the meeting and got there a day early.. but I wasn't the only dummy.. another fat old guy was there at the same time as me.
At these quarterly meetings, we sing the TRIAD song... an unashamed mess-up of Yankee Doodle Dandy. Most of us just silently move our mouths while a few people "sing" at the top of their lungs. But the rest of the time, we talk about new scams affecting our senior citizens and how to become protected from them.
The other invitation is for a Crime Prevention Seminar where we will discuss the danger of gangs and the prevention of financial exploitation of seniors. I think this is a duplicate of a seminar I went to last month. This was where I got so depressed over the discussion on gangs.
My final piece of mail came from the Comptroller of Maryland. It was a check.. I hit the lottery! For 4 whole dollars! ($4) I'm rich! ACTION: Deposit it.
Don't I get great mail? Elaine got a bunch of mail too, but that is her business not mine.
I will talk about my mail today. It came at 1 pm and consisted of:
A letter from an Insurance Company offering me a fantastic mortgage rate.. "because you are a good customer." Well, I dropped that Insurance Company over a month ago when I got a better automobile insurance offer somewhere else. In fact, I found that they had been overcharging me for years. I guess the word hasn't gotten throughout the company that I no longer am a customer of theirs. ACTION: throw into paper recycling.
A notice from my secondary health insurance payer letting me know that the hospital where I recently had a procedure submitted a duplicate bill for reimbursement. This resubmission occurs a lot because billers get antsy when the insurance companies don't pay quickly and resubmit just in case. ACTION: File with Joe's medical insurance info for 2009.
A very large bill from the provider of my cable TV and Internet access. A lot of money each month, but I don't know what I would do without 250 channels of HD TV and instant Internet access. ACTION: Pay the damn bill.
A postcard from some guy in Manchester, Maryland who hasn't got the word that I sold my last house in September 2008. He wants to buy the house "as is" for cash. Too late guy. ACTION: File with other material to be discussed at the June TRIAD meeting, where we talk about possible scams.
A statement from the bank where I keep my checking account showing that money out actually was slightly less than money in during April. Maybe things are changing in the economy. ACTION: Log in and balance to my checkbook. (Included is a "Debit Travel Rewards Catalog".. except that I don't do debit transactions.. that's a way to go broke.)
A publication from the Arthritis Foundation suggesting that I contribute to a Charitable Gift Annuity and "get income for life." They suggest a $10,000 donation, which at my age will earn 6.3% interest. My calculation is that I would receive about $600 per year ($50 per month) .. and if I live for ten more years, I would have received about $6000.. ($4000 less than invested).. a CD at only 4% for the same period would also have received about $6,000 in interest... but.. I would still be able to cash in and get my $10,000 back. Charitable Gift Annuities do not seem like good sense to me. ACTION: Put into paper recycling.
A sneaky offer from a former bank of mine. They offer to send you a free Credit Report upon receipt of a form that binds you to Identity Theft Protection at $13 per month payments. What they don't mention is that everyone is entitled to a free Credit Report each year by law. Also, some of the protection that they offer is automatic with credit card usage. ACTION: Put into the TRIAD file to be discussed at the June meeting of police and senior citizens.
The latest issue of Integra, The Journal of Intertel, the 1% High IQ club. Contents include an article about psychic senses in daily life and how that relates to Rhine Research Center studies. Another article cites quotes from Mark Twain's book: Innocence Abroad.. and compares them to the current situation in the world.
There also is a rather depressing story (I think its fiction) about an ordinary human being confronting the problems involved in being such an ordinary human being. (Intertel members probably are not "ordinary" human beings.. at least they are classified as having Ultra-Genius IQ's)
The rest of the journal is taken up mainly with original poems from members. ACTION: Read the rest of the journal when time permits.
An invitation to two Police/Senior Citizen meetings. One is a quarterly TRIAD meeting held in the State Capitol. Last quarter, I mixed up the date for the meeting and got there a day early.. but I wasn't the only dummy.. another fat old guy was there at the same time as me.
At these quarterly meetings, we sing the TRIAD song... an unashamed mess-up of Yankee Doodle Dandy. Most of us just silently move our mouths while a few people "sing" at the top of their lungs. But the rest of the time, we talk about new scams affecting our senior citizens and how to become protected from them.
The other invitation is for a Crime Prevention Seminar where we will discuss the danger of gangs and the prevention of financial exploitation of seniors. I think this is a duplicate of a seminar I went to last month. This was where I got so depressed over the discussion on gangs.
My final piece of mail came from the Comptroller of Maryland. It was a check.. I hit the lottery! For 4 whole dollars! ($4) I'm rich! ACTION: Deposit it.
Don't I get great mail? Elaine got a bunch of mail too, but that is her business not mine.
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