Yesterday, when I came out of Walmart, there were two ladies peering at Rocinante, which now has a Paraguay license plate on it, given to me by my brother. They were getting into an ancient, beat-up Jeep Cherokee parked right next to me. When I got to the Jeep, they asked where Paraguay was. After I described where it is, one of the ladies said, “Can you drive there from here?” Initially, I assumed that she was asking if I had driven from there, and that was why I had the license plate. However, after I told her that you can, indeed, drive there from here, a funny thing happened. The other lady started trying to talk her out of it, as though this was the sort of thing that had happened before. There’s got to be a fascinating story in there somewhere, and I wish I had had more time to stay and chat.

Another short story inspired by a tow truck that my parents recently rode in when their car broke down in the middle of nowhere.

11.5 hour work day just ending, and almost nothing to show for it. Went to $customer office to set up printers. Discovered that they had purchased a print server device that was incompatible with the printers that they had purchased, even though both units were from a certain unnamed large printer manufacturer located in LEXington Kentucky. Felt like a complete incompetent by the end of it all. I’m not sure I care for being sent on these fool’s erands for which I am completely unprepared. It’s embarassing, depressing, and expensive. However, I did hit a geocache on the way home, so the day wasn’t a complete loss.

Now that I finally have a functioning scanner, I’m putting it to good use. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for years.

When we got home after the pool yesterday, there was a police officer’s business card on the door with a message written on it – I think I have something that belongs to you. Although I had already cancelled my credit cards, and have not received my new ones, getting my wallet back was such a burden off of my mind that I’ve had a really good weekend. I suppose it’s silly that such a tiny thing made me miserable for two days, but it really did have some rather important – and hard to replace – stuff in it.

Thanks, mr policeman! (Sarah made him a thankyou card!)

The excitement of today is that I have misplaced my wallet. And to make it more exciting, I have no idea when this may have happened, as I have not had a use for it since Tuesday evening. Or perhaps even Monday evening. So, while I assume I had it since then, I have no clear memory of seeing it since then. So I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time looking for it again and again in the same places, and wondering where it could have gone. Needless to say, today had been less than productive. I don’t think that it was stolen, as it was in a bag with other items of much greater value (my GPSr and my PalmOS device, my checkbook, my paycheck, and various other things) which were not taken. I expect it fell out of the Jeep while I had the roof off.

So, I’ve just cancelled my credit cards, which, if I’m lucky, will ensure that I find it in the next 10 minutes.

The wallet itself was purchased in Paraguay, and is thus very hard to replace, as the chances of me going to Paraguay again in the next 5 years or so seems very slim. 🙁 And it contained some wonderful pictures of Sarah which I don’t think I’ll be able to replace. All in all, I’m very very bummed about this.

So, all day, I have been very gloomy and grumpy.

—

Note: This was SIX YEARS ago, and I have long since found the wallet. I think I’ve gone through two wallets since then. I’m going to close comments on this post now. Thanks for the encouraging sentiments.

There Is No Cat – Adventures in The Trademark Zone

I received a note from the clue-by-four folks also, asking that I refrain from using the term on my domain BoxOfClue.com which is a joke, in case anybody missed it.

At first, I was inclined to just quietly comply, but, fortunately, the page above was mentioned to me.

For those of you who missed the story, the basic idea is that somebody trademarked the phrase “clue-by-four”, and wants to stop everyone else from using that phrase.

I first heard the term used when I was in grad school, which was in the 1992-1994 time period. While I’m not anxious to get sued about it, I’m not about to stop using a phrase that has been in common usage for a least 10 years, just because somebody says that they own the phrase.

And, if you wonder why I’m not referring to them by name … well, I seem to have deleted the email message. I can’t find it anywhere. So, if you’re reading this, mr clue-by-four, you might want to send it again, so that I can respond and say no.

I’m sorry that the trademark office was negligent enough to take your money and think that you can trademark a phrase in common usage. That was wrong of them, and you should request a refund. While you’re at it, you might also want to trademark the phrase “get a clue” and “without a clue” and “utterly clueless”, just in case.

I’m not trying to be disrespectful or unkind, but you can’t dictate the way I use the english language by sending threatening email. If you want to send it registered mail, you have my address. However, I can’t imagine I’ll take that any more seriously.

Scars of pleasure
Scars of pain
Atmospheric changes
Make me sensitive again

(Rush, “Scars”, Presto, 1989)

Today was an important day. Fortunately, nobody saw fit to commemorate it. Certain times of year, and the associated “atmospheric changes” tend to make the old war wounds tingle.

And, please, if you didn’t get it, don’t ask.

CompUSA has a “open box” return policy. If you open the box, then you can return it for cost – 15%. Or you can return it for a gift card for the full amount. So, in the process of returning my scanner (yes, I’ve completely given up on scanners for the moment) I discovered the way around this.

Step one. Purchase item
Step two. Return opened item and get gift card.
Step three. Purchase another item of similar cost.
Step four. Return this item unopened for cash value.

Don’t tell them I told you.

Rocinante is in for a little unscheduled maintenance (Something about a cataclysmic conversion. I dunno.) and I am driving a Chevy Impala. Given that the last Chevy Impala I drove was roughly the size and shape of the USS Eisenhower, this car has been quite a surprise.

First of all, it doesn’t feel like it is moving. I’m sure that car types have fancy terms for this, but at 80, it feels like my Jeep at about 45, and at 45, it feels like it’s going about 10. (That’s mph, for you metric folks. I think you’re supposed to double it and add 30, or something.) Now, I presume that folks that like this sort of thing say that that’s a desired feature, but when I’m cruising along at 45, and suddenly realize that, in fact, I’m going 80, that’s a bit alarming. I like to know I’m moving.

Secondly, I was very impressed with the Jeep dealer service place. They looked up my VIN, and knew that I was under warranty. That, combined with the amazing ability to diagnose the problem by listening to it, and I left there knowing that I would not have to pay anything for the service.

Next, they called Enterprise car rental, and when I got there, I discovered that the dealership was paying for my rental, too, which I had not realized at all. However, I had to pay tax. So I’ll end up paying $1.85 to get my cats converted, which seems like a pretty good bargain to me.

Oh, yeah, the stereo. It turns the volume up the faster you go. Which is strange, since the ambient noise level does not increase much. And, considering that loud music makes me drive faster anyway, this is a feedback cycle that is moderately dangerous if you’re not aware that it is happening. But, fortunately, nobody died.