Grammar groaning galore!! Amish buggies and Paypal woes
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
It is no secret that grammar is one of my favorite parts of our inherited or adopted language. I can amuse myself for hours, or at least the full length of time used, or taken, to drive to Olean and back. Not that long ago when a grammar grin or groan came into my head I would pull my small note pad from its resting place above my trucks sun visor and write (carefully) whilst I drove. Not smart and not even “practicing what I preach” about paying attention to your driving. Most recently I have started pulling to the side of the road before getting my notebook unleashed and jotting in my Wrambling notes.
Often heard, very likely the most frequent “apologetic comment” to excuse one’s prior educational history or grammar shortcomings come up regarding writing or speaking, lacking English skills. Grammar is the most frequently named of what was lost somehow in the early schooling days.
Why do I start this Wrambling with this statement? Because the better part of this week’s writing will in one way or another reflect on that topic. As I typically do, I kept adding thoughts for this week’s writings in a small Wramblings “topics notebook,” separate from my “over the road notes” notebook. I’m not really distracted driving although I admit my mind sometimes wanders.
My first grammar topic wove its way into my consciousness while thinking of a particular word, “stool.” I was reminding myself to take my sitting stool to Grace United Church choir and Praise rehearsal that night as I have been having “feet and leg swelling problems.” I thought I might need to sit a while during practice. As I recalled that word, I thought about the second meaning of the same word, same spelling, same pronunciation but a completely non-related, different meaning. I don’t think I need to explain the second meaning or the use of that word. Adding just a bit of “mind puzzling humor,” albeit it somewhat crassly, to use the stool you sit on it. You only have to add one letter to the functional use of the object to describe or name the second function. To save on using the “quote” marks for every word to be featured that follows, I will just use bold print to call attention to the word.
Go vs Go is one variation of the first word mentioned in the preceding paragraph. Most of these are self-explanatory so I won’t bother you by defining something that is obvious. Others include Play vs Play, Place vs Place, Glasses vs Glasses, Pen vs Pen, Wonder vs Wonder, Yarn vs Yarn, Still vs Still. And a few others that may also come into your mind. No cheating…Spelling and pronunciation have to be identical.
Leaving the grammar topic, at least for the moment, I’m going to mention the “good news-bad news’ aspect of the TV coverage of my favorite teams, from my point of view. My history of both the St. Bonaventure Bonnies, and the Buffalo Bills goes back to the same 1960’s year when I became a fan of both. TV Watching or viewing of the Bonnies interlaced with an occasional “in person” game isn’t regular.” TV coverage of the Bonnies isn’t always available. The Bills games, every one of them, are accessible from a TV standpoint. Unfortunately, at least for me, the recent success and favorability of the Bills make them a “Prime Time” TV viewing pleasure. Unfortunately, their scheduling isn’t as fixed as it is for the Bonnies.
I WAS happy and satisfied with the Bills game every Sunday at 1 PM. Then the Monday Night game came into play. The Bills exposure to that was minimal if even existent. But, as their success and favorability grew and they became a more demanded game, nearly any day or night of the week became a potential programming slot for the Bills. The next Bills game will not be broadcast until Monday night at 7:15. Not only is it difficult to patiently await the game time, it makes for another nighttime viewing. At least it’s not an 8:20 start which makes for a late-night finish.
Here’s a husband to husband “idea share” that I’ll bet many would endorse. Every bathroom in the house should have doors that swing in or out so access is just as easy either way, especially if you have an accumulation of tools resting on the sink. Likely more importantly, the lights should have an “auto-off” feature so that they will turn off automagically when you leave the facility and forget to turn the light(s) off. Maybe I’m the only guilty party but I doubt it.
I recently read of a new program in development at the Olean General-Bradford Regional Medical Center. Its focus will be on “chronic back pain relief surgery.” I, and I’ll bet many others, plan to keep a close eye on its hoped-for development. With my rampant severe spinal stenosis which also seems to spread into my lower back, heretofore pretty much inoperable, it would be a blessing. At nearly 80 years of age you would think I would just give up and deal with the pain with OTC medications. Old age is old age, and I guess those of us blessed to be facing this aging should be satisfied as it is. I had a medical meeting with Dr. Steven Collins yesterday and upon his greeting I told him I had “good news and bad news.” As he asked what the bad news is, I replied that; “The bad news is that I’m getting older.” He then asked what the good news was: I replied that “The good news is that I am getting older and older.” He chuckled saying something along the lines that I had a good point. I need to live long enough to collect both my mothers and my Social Security.
And now your local traffic report. More than a few driving/traffic occurrences bother me. It would destroy my life If I were to injure or even cause the death of a fellow road use person. I feel very strongly that Amish buggies should be required to have rear lighted taillights. Maybe they are so required, but most that I see don’t have the light. That “caution placard”, even if reflective, on the back of their buggy is not very much, if any, warning when you come up from behind on a road such as the Short Tract Road where many of them reside.
People, Amish or otherwise walking down the road or street wearing dark clothing and/or jackets are not always visible, especially if your lights are dimmed and thus pointing downward. The Wellsville area seems to have a high volume of pedestrian traffic at night these days. Many of them also are walking in the streets darkly clad. The good news would seem to be that at least they are walking on the proper side of the road or street. But, that is even more dangerous with dark clothing on and not walking on the shoulder of the road or sidewalk if one present. That ties into another “people person” activity I have witnessed in Wellsville. There seems to be an increased number of homeless or vagrant people in Wellsville. They are easily spotted carrying an overflowing backpack and/or bedroll. If you pass through the town of Wellsville, day or night, a few times within a fairly short period of time you can see the same people walking the opposite direction shuffling aimlessly along.
They, as well as the lamp post leaners, are obviously without any place to go or stay during their waking hours. It seems to be tolerated more and more and perhaps that is why there is “more and more.”
At this point last night I took a break from my writing to collect my thoughts and to strategize the next segment. This was written at 11:26 PM Thursday night, well past Owner Andrew Harris’s normal publishing hours. Despite having retired for the night my mind wouldn’t go to sleep. Why? Because I recalled events from earlier in the week which have now become the topic for the rest of this Wrambling. If you’ve read even just a few of my articles you may have noticed the picture adorning said writings displaying my IM.Wiser license plate. Shortly after acquiring the vanity plate, I went through a State Police checkpoint. Two troopers were standing beside my barely opened truck window and one exclaimed to the other “I’ll bet he isn’t.” Despite my name, my age hasn’t made me any Wiser, and in some ways, or regarding some activities I am somewhat naïve.
Earlier this week I received a message from PayPal that there were not enough funds in the banking account that funds for such purposes. Upon checking I noticed some unusual funds transfers and the list of transactions was very long. Somone had somehow managed to get not only my bank account information but also enough personal information to masquerade as me. I immediately contacted The Community Bank asking them to freeze the account and later having provided them with all of the information I was able to glean from a background check on the theft source there were two companies/business enterprises that were passing themselves off as me. I was able to obtain the name and email address of one of the hackers. The hacking was traced as far back as May of this year. There were only two expenditures exceeding $10 but lots that added up. Most were in the 7- and 8- dollar range but they happened often.
Don Peterson, a former Air Preheater work colleague used to call me “Not-so” as in “Not so Wise(r).” He was prescient in his wisdom. He was, by-the-way, the most intelligent person I ever worked with or knew. He used to get into trouble with our college professors as he didn’t always use the formulas that they gave us but, in fact, he had solved the problems in his own way, using his own formulas. His method was often more straight forward than the book formulas. He was borderline genius. May you RIP “Donald Oscar.” I guess he saw right through me and hit the nail on the head with his nick-name for me.
Here is where the “not-so” comes into play. For several years now I have not balanced the check book or accounts strategizing that the bank would let me know when I was out of money. I do, however at least on a monthly basis check my funds account balances through the on-line banking process. If one account was low, I would do a transfer. The main depository is a savings account, the information for which isn’t shared anywhere. That is where my Social Security payments are sent. This is the main feeder to two checking accounts, one of which is used for daily expenses, which is the one that got hacked, and the other is a special household funds account for the larger household-based expenditures like taxes etc.
The bank is now investigating the fraudulent use of my banking identity and will refund me to a certain extent.
I told them I thought it strange that they didn’t have some kind of automatic “trapping” mechanism that would pick up on a very large string of expenses paid to two “business accounts” taking money from my account. “Not So” wiser is now at least a “Little Mo” wiser.
7:00 AM edit after already having sent Owner/Editor an earlier (4 AM Version).
As of 4 AM when I finished my Wrambling I retired for the night. As of 6:30 AM today (Friday) the players at the Scio Back River Road Gravel Depository thought I deserved the “Beep, Beep, Beeping” morning greeting.
I feel like the cartoon Road Runner has come to life in my front yard.
If you have any comments, questions, concerns (or suggestions) please feel free to email me at IM.Wiserdad@gmail.com. Many thanks to the two ladies that reached out to me this past week.
