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B*llsh*t In The Extreme



Not exactly sure why I selected the above title. It really has nothing to do with the image of TR. I just feel I have not met my required quota of cuss words yet for today.

So, how have I ben? What have I been up to? Well let's see:

1. Truthfully, not a whole helluva lot. However, "not a whole helluva lot" was something that ended up being very good for me:

2. I did travel to another nearby state during the past weekend and enjoyed some very nice family time.

3. I also was able to eat an enormous amount of authentic Eastern Indian food both on Friday and on Saturday. The food was incredible and soothing.

4. My family and I went swimming in the hotel pool at which I was staying as well. As it is still well below freezing and deeply snow covered where I live, just seeing a lack of snow in this new place helped my mood a lot.... but swimming really improved my mindset.

5. Back at home on Sunday evening, I indulged in a huge bowl of ice cream featuring two different flavors I found in the freezer.... chocolate, and New York Cheesecake.

6. Also on Sunday evening, I ate at least a two gallon container of popped popcorn. It was wonderful, but actually by the time I went to bed Sunday night I had a bit of stomach ache.

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I have been (oddly perhaps) thinking a great deal about Theodore Roosevelt the last several days. I received for Christmas a new biography about TR, and am planning to start it in the next few days. In my opinion, he has been indisputably the best damn President we have ever had in the United States of America. Although not a scientist, he behaved in a manner that was quite methodical and scientific. He was an excellent politician, an excellent explorer, and in general seemed to be a man who lived life with gusto and energy..... all traits I greatly admire and wish in myself.

* * * * *

I still have to (grudgingly I admit) give up an evening of my free time at home (hopefully soon) so I can fix the damn computer modem issues that befell me so long ago. I have all the b*llsh*t I need to accomplish the task, but I am just not yet willing to futz around with all the nonsense trial-and-error garbage these sorts of endeavors typically entail. To be frank (no... Eugene... or maybe Ralph... wait.... you can't make me go any "furter" with that joke), the part I dread and do not want to do is to have to use the idiotic customer service phone lines to have them troubleshoot why my computer system does not work with the general instructions they will provide. I seriously doubt more than one or two people across the PLANET ever have the general instructions on internet issues work right without phone assistance. And this leads me to my greatest aggravation about the whole mess... and the true, primary reason why I have avoided the b*llsh*t for so long:

I absolutely cannot bear to speak to the customer help people of any company anymore... most everyone ships their phone work out to some third world country overseas... and while very often the people on the phone can be very helpful... it is the QUALITY of the damnable INTERNET based INTERNATIONAL phone connection that drives me ever nearer to insanity. Most of the folks are wearing headsets so they can assist you, but that doesn't help a helluva lot, for I usually cannot hear them very well, and they cannot hear me very well. So, usually within the first 10 minutes of calling, I end up literally SHOUTING into the phone to be heard.... and the physical act of shouting actually physiologically CAN MAKE ME GET ANGRY. So, even if I don't want to, almost inevitably I get awfully damn uptight at these folks on the phone, which then makes me more upset (at myself), and I just spiral into a whirlwind of utter frustration. Usually, I end up having several pipes during these phone conversations to attempt to calm me, to no avail. Maybe what I need to do is have a few slugs of whiskey before and during? Hell, I don't know. Even the prospect of being slightly inebriated does not make the phone task more palatable.

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Well, there you have it. The above are my free-flow of ideas I can spare to shed today.

PipeTobacco