Gypsies, Lawyers, & Thieves

Like the rest of the world I am an Ebayster. I am also in the smaller minority who occasionally sells junk memorabilia to the unsuspecting. A couple years ago I sold a 1979 300 baud Hayes Modem. My first sell. Based on my amazement at finding someone who would actually buy this thing I proceeded to march onward with an early 80s 1200 baud Hayes modem, the trailer lighting harness for a '91 Ford Aerostar and miscellaneous other items that should have long been in the landfill.

Once or twice a year I get a notice in the mail that I am a member of some class action suit.  Although I usually glance at these, I generally don't pay much attention.  After all how excited can I get when I read that my cell phone company has settled for many millions of dollars and while the lawyers take is some number of millions, my take is a 25¢ earphone that broke the second time I used it.

I don't remember getting a notice that I was a member of an EBay class action suit.  But as these things take several millennia to resolve, it's also possible that the part of my brain that saw it has been soaking in formaldehyde for a couple years.  For example, awhile back I received some wadding in the mail from my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather's inclusion in a class action suit against a musket manufacturer for firing failures that occurred during the battle of Trenton.

In early December I received a check that was my portion of the settlement of a class action suit against EBay.  I didn't know what it was for so I searched for yingling vs ebay inc and found the class action site.  There I found a document addressing the lawyer's fees.  So if I understand this, the settlement was $30,000,000.00.  The lawyers get $7,500,000.00 plus expenses.

So what do I get?  Not a dime.  Not a nickel.  But yes dear reader, I get one 3 billionth of the settlement.  I received a check for 1¢.

So what am I to do with that?  A few days later I drove by the bank but didn't stop.  It has to cost more than a penny to drive in to the parking lot, park, restart my engine, and return back to the route I was traveling.  Worse; I was under a time constraint.  Look closely at that cheque (for 1¢ I really should use the more high-falutin across the pond speeling).  Or if you are an internet savvy user cleck on the picture to magically expand it.  I have to dispose of the cheque by 22-December or I stand to lose the entire amount.  I'm not sure what that will do to my retirement fund but it can't be good.

Finally I had an excuse to go to the bank.  I have been scanning documents such as birth certificates, the deed to the house, etc and returning them to the safe deposit box.  I had a bunch to go back to the bank.  Plus spousy wanted to visit the Staples next door to buy a new appointment calendar so I managed to get to the bank with one day to spare.

But I have a new strategy.  When I get notice of a class action suit, I will drop out of the class.  I'm hoping that will reduce the settlement just a little bit.  If lots of us do that, the settlement will be less.  Maybe instead of lawyers getting those millions, the company will have more money to spend on lower prices, better service, or something that I actually benefit from.  I'll consider staying in the class if I actually think the defendant company has engaged in truly egregious behavior but as long as the lawyers make millions and I get squat, there isn't much reason to stay in the class of suckers litigants.

Zucchinis and Margaritas

For those who don't follow the OWS New York, when that tyrant Bloomberg

took away their gasoline global warming generators citing some bogus safety hazard, the creative Zucchini Park inhabitants turned to bicycle generators to supply them with their creature comforts.

Well as you probably know, they got their global warming generators back (a little before they were kicked out of the park anyway). So what to do with all those bicycle generators?

Well, I found the perfect answer. Use them to make margaritas with the "Fender Blender Universale".

What could be better after a hard day of protesting than to lay back and enjoy a cool slushie "green" margarita. If you're not in to margaritas, I'm sure you could also make some yummy frozen peach or apricot daiquiris as well.

P.S.

I've been wondering for some time if Brookfield chairman of the board, John Zucchini regrets the honor that his board bestowed on him when they named the park after him.

Down Under & Outback for the Count

I've been to a local Outback quite a few times over the years. It's not that close so at best we'll hit it once or twice a year.

Generally I would say it's fair food for a fair price until this visit.

I call ahead to get on the waiting list like I've done in the past. When we got there, we are told (as is the call ahead group ahead of us) that the wait will be 20-25 minutes. OK. That's what call ahead is. No guarantees. But there aren't that many people waiting so it seems a little odd.

Well we are going on 40 minutes when my daughter walks up to the greeter to see how far away from the top of the list our name is. Hmmm. Our name is already crossed off. They think we have been seated. Odd given that they use those wireless gizmos that buzz, vibrate, flash like alien space craft, and otherwise carry on.

But at least we are finally sitting at a table. It takes awhile for the waiter to come. He takes our drink orders and disappears. My daughter urges us to order everything at once to move things along (she worked here years ago). Finally the drinks come. Well most come. Mine looks suspiciously like water. Not the iced tea I had ordered.

It takes another five minutes or so before my drink arrives. But I'm told it has been freshly brewed. Perhaps. But usually you can feel a warm glass with the tea still being cooled by a lot of ice. Not this one. Perhaps they have mastered that cold brewing process like Coors(?) uses for their beer.

At my daughter's urging we order a group appetizer and our entrees at the same time. I'd say it took longer than it should have, but not horribly long for the appetizer to come. We all dig in to this finger food but alas we have no napkins so soon there are forty greasy fingers waving in the air.

Did I mention no napkins? What usually comes with the napkins? Yes. The flatware. Nope. None of that either. Some time after the appetizer came out the waiter is tackled and we beg for napkins and the flatware.

At some point the salads arrive and lacking utensils we stare at our salads for awhile longer. Eventually the flatware shows up and everyone digs in. The salads are quickly polished off and once again we are forced to either talk to each other or; the more interesting; listen to the table to my right complain about their lack of a meal. My daughter claims that although they were already here when we sat down, those dopes didn't order their main meal when they ordered their appetizers.

Another 20 to 25 minutes have gone by and no entrees have shown up. I've gotten tired of listening to the next table. The last thing I remember is something about how 3 of their 4 kids have had birthdays since they sat down.

At some point I glance back over to the next table and it looks like they are getting up to leave. The waitress is there saying something. Everyone sits down again so I conclude that they have just gotten up to stretch so as to avoid the Deep Vein Thrombosis that you have probably read about in left wing scare articles about long airline flights.

At some point our waiter breezes by and is heard to say "I haven't forgotten about you". I reply with "so your neglect is on purpose". That generated a chuckle at our table but I don't think the waiter actually heard me. 

In the meantime the food has actually come to our neighbor's table. They are happily chowing down. To pass the time I now start quizzing my daughter as to merits of her order everything at once advice.

But all at once, wonder of wonders, our food arrives. Well most of it at least. They made the wrong thing for the birthday boy. Although the rest of us beg him to accept what was brought, he is adamant. So his meal goes back. At some point I start my stopwatch and we sit another 20 minutes before his meal arrives again. Fortunately it is the correct meal this time. But I blame birthday boy for this one. If he had ordered a raw steak rather than a medium steak I'm sure we could have had the redo finished in 19 minutes.

I usually eat fish, but for this occasion I had also ordered a steak. Now I like mine rare. Steak tartar is just fine by me. I like sushi too. Never sent a steak back because it wasn't done enough. My daughter starts to snicker when she sees the barely pink inside of my steak. A steak more well done than birthday boy's medium steak. That is she snickers until she thinks maybe I will send mine back as I've done many times in the past.

Given the time we have been sitting, I assure her that I've been taking my meds and no way no how am I sending the thing back. I'd more likely just not eat it and go home to eat the left over spaghetti from the fridge or perhaps begin gnawing on my forearm before I would send this steak back.

Around the time we finish our meal, the waiter brings over the manager. This must a shift or floor manager as I have had plenty of time this evening to fire up my droid and look this location up in the browser. The location manager is a male and I am talking to a female.

The manager is very apologetic.  She doesn't even trot out one of the usual excuses for poor service such as the entire kitchen staff being taken hostage this evening by Al Qaeda. Or the kitchen staff having to work all day cooking for OWS in Zuccotti Park.  The good news is that she strikes two of our meals from the bill so we leave quite a bit older and wiser and with a few more USA fun tickets* in our pockets.

When all was said and done, it took us 3 1/2 hours + travel time to celebrate birthday boy's 30th birthday. My daughter did claim her husband was going to accuse her of staying out on purpose to stick him with the kids all night. I told her not to worry. The youngest was already in bed and the oldest would be there soon.

And so would I.



* credit to NY Bike Snob

Labor Day or Union Day?

Dateline - WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) —

Organizers of the Labor Day parade in Wausau say Republican lawmakers aren’t welcome in this year’s event.

The Marathon County Central Labor Council sponsors the Sept. 5 parade. The council includes about 30 local unions from the Marathon County area.
The Wausau Daily Herald

Since then, the mayor has requested that the organizers back off or reimburse the town for expenses. 

In an interview with the press, he was even more blunt. "This is not a political rally, it's a parade, for God's sake," Tipple told Reuters. Pointing out that tax money normally pays for the event, the Mayor said excluding Republicans "flies in the face of public policy."
New American

So what is Labor Day?  Is it a big union day?  Or is it a celebration of the American worker?  According to Wikipedia it is a federal holiday that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.  But Wikipedia also states the Labor Day was first observed by labor unions.

I agree with mayor wholeheartedly.   If Labor Day celebrates all workers from the janitor to the CEO, then fine with the town kicking some bucks in. 

I don't want my tax dollars to go to union parties.  What are unions today other than sanctioned political monopolies?  Big unions aren't working me.  As near as I can tell they aren't even working for their members.  Let's celebrate Labor Day all together.  Let divisive unions take their party somewhere else.

One Knee Later

One knee year later. Last May I had a knee operation.  Originally I went for that option because I had done a short ride in May and could barely walk afterwards.  Thinking I was going to take a bike trip in mid-August, I rushed the decision. 

Turns out my estimate of the time for recovery was way off.  I do sort of think the doctor was not as helpful in this area as he could have been.  Although I did get on my bike after a month, I had to start with 5 mile rides and I only felt I could do a couple a week. 

So the end result was I cut down on my bicycling for most of the summer.  I barely managed to eke out a 1,000 miles for the year. 

So it is now a little over a year since the operation.  Where do I stand? 

A lot better.  For the longest time I wondered whether I should have gone for therapy and worked on this on my own. 

Well I'll never know the answer to the above, but things are looking up.  I still get a stiff leg if I stand for more than an hour or so but the riding seems OK. 

I have done a couple 20s and one 50 miler so far without any problems.  I've now ridden 18 out of the last 20 days.  No great mileage.  They have ranged from a low of 8 miles to a high of 17 miles.  Sometimes I can feel some stiffness, but for the most part, I get off the bike in great shape.

Bottom line?  I guess I went the right way after all.

Should PBS be defunded?

I enjoyed the American Masters on WHYY this afternoon.  It was essentially a biography on Jeff Bridges.

Just happened to leave the TV on afterward.  At 5PM a program named Smart Talk came on.  As most other programs for the last week, it dealt with the Tucson shooting and political debate etc.

It's not even half over as I write this and they have talked on and on about hate filled speech.  And while they have prefaced it by saying something like "there is no known direct connection..." they have shown the Palin graphic twice now.  Given that Palin was a private citizen when she put hers up, I am appalled that they haven't shown at least once the DLC graphic which preceded Palin's and is virtually identical (other than it targets Republican districts rather than Democrat districts).  Also haven't heard anyone say something like "hold on a minute.  That guy was stalking Gabby before anyone even knew who Sarah Palin was".

Yes, time for PBS to stand on its own.  My tax dollars should go to reducing debt.  Not for subsidizing PBS partisan political agendas.  If there was a time when PBS was needed as an alternate voice, the internet and other outlets that allow an infinite amount of views have long ago obviated the need for this station.

In case you have missed it, the Palin graphic:

The Democratic graphic you probably have not seen if you are a PBS or MSNBC viewer.  I found it in a December 2004 entry at the Democratic Leadership Council website.

 

I notice that it is the Democratic version which uses terms such as Behind Enemy Lines and Targeting Strategy and ripe targets.