Now I Know

Many years back I went through a phase where I would send in for "free" items offered in weird ads.  One of them was this print, which at some later point was stuck upside down over the screen of the giant console TV that I use to support my eclectic media center.  (One time when the cable guy came for a repair job he looked at it and said that everything looked great, ha.)

Now that I've been to Yosemite I realize that this is supposed to represent a real place.  Maybe.  Also, the fact that my Bad Camera attempted to replicate it was a neat coincidence.

I still think that I prefer it this way, though:

Wups Is Everywhere

Even at the top of Vernal Falls in Yosemite.  More ironic, this is where squirrels will steal from your pack if you're not watching.

Shoe Tree

Camera Battle - Yosemite

Choose wisely.

Suddenly Stuff

Oh, universe, you so funny!

After a long time of nothing on the job front and feeling my share of lows I decided that an escape offered by a friend was indeed the way to go and so I mentally made the mark and it was done.

Then the calls came.  One was for an interview, another straight up wanted me to report immediately for duty, and still another emerged from an up until now quiet corner of cyberspace to give me some hope, tempered by the knowledge that I had hobbled myself.

I have no doubts that my decision is the right one. The universe and I simply love our games.

When the supervolcano swallows me up I'll call it a hat trick.

Justice

     Though it is not what I would have preferred, I have little say in the matter, so that when the time came for me to participate there was nothing to do but fret and face it.

     You see, long ago there was a rage in the populace that rose and burst like a bubble and swept away any compassion left in the system and replaced it with the iron revenge that is the current way, all who were guilty must be punished.  Since it was still carried out by humans who are ever fallible, mistakes were made and in the hard code of the law the system itself then became guilty for the innocents that were tossed to the gnashing maw of justice.  There were many times that the punishments came to juries, judges, attorneys and even witnesses for their part in the committing of such crimes.

     This was why I feared and yet thought it just in its brutal way, since for me the loss of an innocent was indeed a great crime.  If it must be thus, if we were to trust this thing to do what was right it was necessary for it to go all the way.  It did not help much when the summons came and I took my place among the others squirming on the jury.

     But we were quickly relieved when we found that the case seemed so open and shut, that the witnesses had no doubt about the identity of the defendant as the one who had committed such horrible acts.  Though there was still an initial hesitation on deliberation we all felt clean in our verdict that sent the monster to his death and I was able to live a life of relative moral certainty.

     Then, after years had passed, the black letter arrived saying that those witnesses who had been so sure were wrong.  This was the universe showing me that in my heart there was truth and that I had been foolish to deny it.

Wups In Time

Hard To Believe

I certainly didn't believe it when I bought it but here it is, a copy that is still sealed and never been played.  I had to go online to verify that they even used shrinkwrap back then but it seems that they did.

I've nearly completed my collection of Roger's vinyl now, though there is supposedly one later album out there that I consider possibly some type of legend or mirage.  I never went for this one because I thought it was a compilation.  Only when I had dug out my phonograph recently and saw another album with this one listed on the back did I see that I was wrong.

This thing cost me four bucks with another four for shipping.  I find that amazing.

Camera Battles

But is it Art?

So About That Identity Theft

I decided that I should follow up to see if they had nailed the perp and if there was any chance of me finding out where they got my info, perhaps walking into a jail cell while the officers turned their backs as I pummeled the poor shmo until they TOLD ME THE TRUTH!  After trying to get through for a couple of days, running down a different phone number given to me each time, I finally got the assumed scoop:  it seems that someone erred, gave the wrong SSN (mine), bought a fridge, and then paid for it a few days later.  They might have told the clerk that it was not their name on the receipt and were told that it would all get ironed out later, for the clerk was too busy imagining the tasty commission that was coming their way from the sale to bother with the details.

So there you go, it's that easy to get a credit card and immediately charge for something and walk away.  If it had not included a delivery and this person was actually a crook it would apparently have been the perfect crime.  There is no repercussion to the sales clerk for allowing this to get by them, no reason to crack down on this type of thing.  Just another day at Sears.

So I clamped a padlock on my credit, filed an affidavit, and talked to the local cops per my instructions all for naught.

I guess I'll just take of my Sherlock Holmes cap and call this case.......closed.