Thursday Tidbits

Posted on February 18, 2021 under Thursday Tidbits with 2 comments

Any porch in a storm. (Thanks, ER)

 

“And now, the end is here,

And so I face the final curtain,

My friend I’ll make it clear,

I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain.”

My Way. Frank Sinatra

I’ll state my case, of which I’m uncertain.

Those of you who know me well know that I am a pretty determined individual. I’m task oriented and when called to so something, I try to do it well and on time. There’s another word for determined and that would be stubborn. I’m sure it has something to do with that not so rare mix of Irish and Scottish found in many small communities in Nova Scotia. We don’t like to cry “uncle”. Crying uncle is akin to raising the white flag, surrendering to your opponent.

For months and months, I had a running battle with Bell trying to get my billing sorted out. This was finally resolved so no more “Bell bashing”. My newest mortal enemy is the internet and it has brought me to the brink. Last year, we had decent internet. I couldn’t stream Netflix or Crave but in the grand scheme of things, that’s not a deal breaker. At the beginning of this school year, the internet had slowed down considerably in my apartment, but I had the school as a fallback position. It’s only 30 seconds from my front door so making my way there in the evenings and weekends wasn’t a big deal. Up until three weeks ago, I could even do Zoom calls which was really wonderful at Christmas because I couldn’t go home because of Covid.

For reasons yet to be determined, the school’s internet has ceased to function. For the first few days it was mildly inconvenient but now it has become a pretty big issue. Teachers use the internet for teaching purposes. It’s almost indispensable. When you can’t order groceries or pay bills online, things get dicey.

Which segues nicely into my Week45 posts. I have been posting twice a week for almost ten years. Ho hum. You have said this several times before, Len.  What. Are you looking for a medal or a gold star?

No.

I’m getting to the point where I might have to take a brief hiatus from sharing my pearls of wisdom with you. Yes, there is the odd time that coming up with some fresh material is a challenge, but this is not why I might have to hit the pause button. Posting the stories has become a giant pain in the arse. I don’t mind at all getting up at 6:00 a.m. so that my story lands on your breakfast table in a timely fashion but lately the contortions I’ve had to go through to post a story is bordering on the ridiculous. It took several hours the other day just to upload the story and picture on my website. This usually takes all of 5 minutes. When it came to posting, I tried at home and at the school with no luck. I went to my neighbors house and stood on their porch at 6:15 a.m.to use their internet. It was -25. Luckily, I was able to get the story posted but this has become a burden.

They are working to fix the problem with the internet at school but so far, no luck. If I miss a few posts, I want you to know that I haven’t capitulated.

If I come back to the north for another year, I will definitely be having a serious chat with Elon Musk about his much anticipated SpaceX Starlink Internet service. Do you think Elon could arrange to have a Wheel Pizza delivered?

I have a new name and expanded job description. Meet Captain Burgundy.

The school has a few trucks which staff are welcome to use for things like groceries, getting parcels at the post office or going to the airport to get grocery boxes from cargo planes. Sounds pretty straight forward, right? Wrong. I thought the problems in the Middle East were complex until I discovered that keeping track of the trucks, the keys and the extension cords was more challenging than dealing with a group of recalcitrant teenagers. I agreed to take responsibility for the burgundy truck, or just “the Burgundy” as it is affectionately known. It will be parked near my apartment and anyone wishing to use it must communicate with the group of teachers who use it routinely. So far things are going well. Once I’ve solved the Middle East conundrum and the trucks, I will use my energies to tackle global warming.

By the way, I’ve had a few spells of “woe is me” throughout the pandemic. It doesn’t take me long to slap myself silly when I consider that my problems are so minor as to be laughable. Whenever I get like this, I think of one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met. Please take a few moments to read this post from four years ago about Pat Evans, an amazing woman who became a quadriplegic when she was hit by a moose on her way to school. Here is her story. https://www.week45.com/positively-pat/

Accentuate the positive.

Be kind.

Display gratitude.

Have a great weekend.

P.S. I’m a thoroughly modern(a) man having received my first vaccine shot yesterday.