Getting hacked, getting edema, Bills -Bonnies – Back River Road reporting
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
Both of those items in today’s title could be painful, and I have felt both recently. Actually, the Stubhub was potentially harmful as it would have to be paid through PayPal and I have been subjected to enough pain and mental anguish through that organization lately. PayPal, or its laxity, has hit me where it hurts most, that being in my hip pocket where my wallet resides.
Just a few short months ago I was hacked making “online” purchases through Amazon who uses PayPal as their primary payment vehicle. And, despite my age, I am still somewhat naïve, and being a slow learner on top of that, I’ve walked back into that trap again. Actually, it wasn’t all my fault as another family member uses that payment process as well. I have reached out to Community Bank NA (CBNA) at the Wellsville, NY branch. One very pleasant aspect through this entire weeks long process of straightening things out and trying to recoup my losses, I have had the good fortune and pleasure of having been assigned to Julie Roeske , one of their administrative echelons. Julie has been diligently working nearly non-stop ferreting out the expenditures that were made following this episode of identity theft, and where the bank can investigate the thefts, but more importantly to me the bank can cover a partial refund for me. During my conversations with Julie I discovered that I knew, or had known, many of her relatives, or friends, not only in Wellsville, but many as well from my hometown Nile, NY.
I don’t know exactly how these theft perpetrators accomplish their hacking as I have been very careful about any purchases made. If these “geniuses” have the ability to worm their way into peoples accounts and do this, they could probably be very successful in a legitimate business or enterprise. I guess “dirty work” is more productive than legitimate honest and/or useful work.
The Stubhub reference in the title above leads to a much more pleasant opportunity for me, and thousands of other St. Bonaventure University Bonnies fans as well, especially if they are nearly close to my age. In 1960 or thereabouts I happened to have a chance to witness a Bonnies game in person, most likely played at the old Olean Armory building located on South Barry Street in Olean. The Bonnies played at the Olean Armory from 1946 to 1966. They moved to the armory after outgrowing the Butler Gym and later moved to the Reilly Center in December 1966, which was built on campus. In 1961 Niagara University snapped the Bonnies’ 99-game home winning streak at the armory. The Bonnies played their final games at the Olean Armory before the new University (Reilly) Center opened on campus in December.
On November 15th at 4 PM, the Bonnies are going to host Youngstown State in a celebratory game honoring the Stith Brothers. Sam Stith and his younger brother Tom Stith not only led the Bonnies to National fame and recognition, but it also led me to be their admirers and to become a lifelong fan. The Bonnies play their games now in the Reilly Center and I usually manage to witness 2 or 3 games a year.
A trip to the Olean (or Allegany) Reilly Center and watching a Bonnies game in person is well worth the visit. The team, once called the “Brown Indians,” Now sport the Wolf image and are called the Bonnies exclusively.
Monday, I wasted a day visiting the Reilly Center in hopes of purchasing a ticket, or if affordable, a Flex-Pack group of 4 tickets.
The Ticket Office was not open, so I wandered around for a while watching some of the Swim Team (I presume) practicing in their pool. Eventually a couple of Bonnies staff workers appeared and I asked what was up with the ticket office closure. They pointed out that this day was the National Holiday celebrating Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and everyone had the holiday off. As a side note the holiday naming is but one more example of the Biden vs Trump feelings and declarations or agency creations.
I returned to the Reilly Center ticket office Tuesday and purchased tickets for 4 Flex Pack games, one of which will be versus Canisius. Canisius, Niagara and the Bonnies once made up what for years was known as “The Little Three.” A few years ago, the Buffalo University “Bulls” were added to the rivalry and so now 4 major Universities play upper level sports in this little corner of Upstate Southwestern New York.
As luck (sometimes good, sometimes bad) would have it for me I became aware of the Buffalo Bills football team at about the same time in the 60’s. I became, and remain, a Bills fan. I refuse to refer to the fans of the Bills as the Bills Mafia as I consider that second term to be derogatory in too many ways. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to be considered “mafia members” in the larger sense of the term.
In one of my Scio to Olean jaunts this past week my thoughts conjured up the difference between the phrases, both fairly common; “To the best of my knowledge” versus “To the best of my recollection.” Some similarities but often mistaken as to which would be more appropriate. To the best of my knowledge, the best of my recollection is very weak and not always correct nor useful.
Recently I have developed “edema” in my lower legs and feet. This is a condition where the body retains fluid but does not properly circulate it through the vessels in the legs, thus causing swelling. It also makes the lower legs and ankles pretty ugly looking. “Compression Stockings” were prescribed and despite finding it very difficult to find them (as prescribed) in Wellsville, and Olean I did, finally, after some trial and error manage to get the ones needed. There are a number of variables that must be considered in selecting the right ones. Fitting to size 13 feet and already swollen calves and ankles was somewhat of a challenge. To be considered is/are; Foot Length, Overall Length bottom of foot to bend in knee, Compression Pressure (Light, Low Medium, High Medium, High) Based on treating different levels of venous issues and swelling, from mild discomfort to more severe medical conditions. Other considerations are; choosing between beige or black color, and choosing open toe or closed toe. I initially started with open at the toe end (obviously no choice at the calf end 😉), and due to discomfort trying to decide where the opening starts relative to toes in or out where to have them terminate. I chose black and changed to a closed toe, like a normal sock, which turned out to be most comfortable.
By getting a “script” from the doctor I was hopeful that insurance would cover the cost. As it turns out Medicare will not pay for stockings needed for just “simple edema.” But, they will cover the cost of stockings for a more advanced medical leg affliction named “lymphedema.”
I won’t bore you with the difference, but if you’re curious I will loan you my relationship with Google. Speaking of which, I am giving Google a workout today as I check or double check meanings of words, or comment options available etc.
I guess the disrupted sleeping patterns of my last three or four days are catching up with me. I must be boring myself as I keep nodding off, even as I type. My apologies if you find “squewy” word combinations or looooooooooooooooooong strings of letters. A couple of nights ago my mind woke me up after only a couple of hours of sleep, so I got up for a while, then returned to bed with a sleeping medicine Trazodone. Yesterday I woke up at 4:30 AM, couldn’t get back to sleep, so stayed up for the rest of the day. Despite my normal bedtime last night I woke again at 5 AM this morning. Believe it or not, I began my Wrambling.
More Grammar wordplay leads to my wondering about: If Interior means inside a dwelling, does Outerior mean outside a building? I was going to use the word Anterior as my opposite, but Mrs. Google argued that Anterior meant “Anatomy as in nearer the front, especially situated in the front of the body or nearer to the head.” An example would be: “the veins anterior to the heart.”
Another set would be: infuriating vs interferiorating. I guess Interfering would be the cause of the latter.
I feel like we got gypped out of our colorful fall leaves this year no thanks to our warm dry summer. I thoroughly enjoyed the long stretches of long warm but not overly hot days with a minimum of rain. I guess the lack of rain hurt some farm operations but my lawn didn’t burn and “brown down” nearly as badly as it has in the past. Perhaps that was because; Even though we had stretches of “warm” weather I do not recall any in the 90’s nor the 100’s. There might have been a 90 degree day here and there, but I don’t recall when. One disappointment was not being able to take advantage of the weather and get more golfing in. My physical ailments interfered somewhat and that is all a product of age. I recall making a comment a week or so ago but don’t recall if I used it in a Wrambling. But, the bad news that “I’m getting old” is being offset by the good news that “I am getting older.”
More “good news vs bad news.” The large dump trucks from the county hauled away the last of the large left over large sized gravel pile from the Allegany County Gravel Storage Lot, directly across The Back River Road from our dwelling and adjacent to County Rte. 31. When I called the county “people in charge,” I was told that they will be resuming the work that requires such a pile in a year or two.
My suggestion to them is to use a similar storage area on Cty. Rte. 31 where it intersects with County Rte. 31A. Why? Because the one across from me is in the middle of an assemblage of occupied dwellings and the dumping area on top of East Hill at the Cty. Rte. 31A Intersection is in the middle of nowhere with a complete absence of occupied dwellings within proximity.
Once again, this past week, I received feedback all of which was very welcome, heart warming, and humbling. One additional “new friend” was added through a reach-out. Most of those who have reached out to me are now in continual contact either via texting or Facebook messaging. Thank you all💕, and I invite any others who may have a care, concern, comment or constructive suggestion to again reach out and make contact. YOU, make it all worthwhile to me.
I can be reached via Facebook Messaging or by email at im.wiserdad@gmail.com.
