Waiting for the Personperson

The Sorting Hat, webcam, computer & monitor.

"The personperson" is the nonsexist way to say "mailman," as in "the personperson delivered the person to my personbox."

So I was expecting to get my remaining stuff from Amazon - the Harry Potter Sorting Hat, the liner for the shopping/laundry cart (the came yesterday via UPS) and Brian Froud's The Dark Crystal Creation Myths, Vol. 1.

I can see the personboxes, (OK, mailboxes) for the apartment complex from the window next to my computer, but only if I get up and look. Sometimes I get so involved in the computer that I forget to look, like yesterday when I never noticed the mailman's visit. So I decided to get a bit high-tech about it. In hooking things up, I probably expended more energy than just getting up and looking every so often, just in case you think I was being lazy.

I have one Windows machine, which I don't really turn on all that often. It had been sitting on top of the computer desk hutch opposite the Linux machine I use most often, and it was hooked into the same monitor. The Linux machine connects with DVI, the Windows machine connected with VGA, so all I had to do was push a button to on the monitor to switch that, but I also had to unplug the USB cables from one machine and plug them into another.

So I switched the Windows machine to the computer cart to my left and next to the window and put another Linux box up on the hutch. Whatever machine is on the cart has its own keyboard, mouse and monitor. I needed to have the Windows machine next to the, um, window because my Logitech 9000 webcam works on Windows but I never got geeky enough to make it work with Linux.

With the physical switches done, I fired up the Windows machine, downloaded the Logitech software, installed it and bingo, the webcam worked right off the bat. So I put it on the windowsill, propped up a bit, and pointed it toward the person, um, mailboxes and zoomed in. I tested it before dark last night, then fired it all up again this morning. I tried using a mirror so I wouldn't have to remember to turn my head, but that wasn't comfortable, so I just resolved to keep looking at the monitor off to my left.

Sure enough, before too long I spotted the mail truck next to the boxes. I got up to look and noticed the mailman and the on-site manager talking, then they began heading in what looked like my direction. They had to go around the other end of the building I'm in to the locked door. My view of the boxes is out a West-facing window while the locked door that gives access to four apartments is on the East side. I went downstairs and intercepted them at the door.

Rincewind by Paul Kidby.

The Sorting Hat is actually pretty neat. It looks a bit beat up, which is just what I wanted, except I'll need to change the color from brown to red. It also has some lighter brown "patches" that I may remove to apply instead to a pair of pants. It has wire in the brim so it can have an uneven, worn look.

My version of Rincewind may look more like Sir David Jason's portrayal in the movie The Colour of Magic than like Paul Kidby's illustration. The robe may look different also. The old grey one I have has faux fur trim. Since it isn't new, I won't mind making it look a bit worse for wear. I'll have to look around to see if I can find some appropriate appliques to put on it. But I think I may have a yellow butterfly to add to the hat.

One thing I noticed about the hat. It looks basically similar to the wizard hat I've been wearing for several years now. There's a good reason for it. They're both made by Elope. I ended up paying less for the new hat than the older one, plus the HP version just looks cooler in its natural state than the faerie-covered grey hat looked before I started adding stuff to it.

Getting Deliveries

With the idea firmly in mind that any charges put on a credit card must be paid in full before the due date, I ordered some things from Amazon, mostly related to Faerieworlds. I ordered Brian Froud's The Goblin Companion: A Field Guide to Goblins with Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. That arrived either last Saturday or this Monday (I might not have checked the mail on Saturday) from a third-party Amazon seller via snail mail - speedy snail!

I also ordered a red shopping/laundry cart which was shipped by UPS and was scheduled to arrive today.

And, since I am assembling a new wizard costume - Rincewind from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, I ordered a Harry Potter Sorting Hat, also from Amazon. That may arrive tomorrow via snail mail. The hat only comes in brown, and I want to use fabric spray paint to make it red. I will not mind if it looks a bit grungy since Rincewind was no fashion plate. Gotta get some glitter glue to write "WIZZARD" on it. Yep, that's right: two Zs. I have an older wizard robe I used the second and third years I went to Faerieworlds, so I'll want to make that red as well, and again, it's fine if it looks a bit worse for wear.

I spotted another new Brian Froud book, The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths, Vol. 1 and added that. It should arrive tomorrow also along with the sorting hat and a shopping/laundry cart liner. I thought I'd missed seeing that book over the years, but it was just published last December and the volumes to follow (two, I think) haven't been published yet.

UPS did deliver the cart today. Usually I've seen UPS show up in the early afternoon, but today it was just after 5 before I got it. Now, there are a lot of days that I don't go out at all, and who knows, today might've been one of them. But because I was expecting a delivery, I didn't go out and felt kind of stuck. Tomorrow I'll have to wait again, but the mail usually comes earlier - around noon to 1, I think. I was watching for the mail truck, but I must've missed it because I did have something in the box today.

I want to assemble the cart either tonight or early tomorrow because I have mountains of laundry to do. If I do laundry, I'll have to use the dryers because it's supposed to rain tomorrow (Thursday). Naturally, today was one of the driest and sunniest days we've had in at least a week. Murphy, my guardian idiot, has been keeping an eye on me lately.

The battery-operated little lights I got for the wizard (one z) hat with all the faeries should work out nicely, along with the sets for my black wizard robe. I might even get more lights for the grey wizard robe, which has a hood, I got to replace the older one. I just noticed the butterflies on the hat really took a beating during the New York/New Jersey trip last November. Guess I'll need some new ones. That seems to happen each year. Maybe I'll have fewer butterflies because of the lights. One of the faerie figurines suffered damage on the trip and I got it repaired today. I may give it a couple of glitter-glue armbands to cover the breaks.

Also I checked out my multicolored plugin lights which I'll be taking along to decorate the tent. Since I'll be tenting behind the Three Moons Emporium booth where I'll be assisting (possibly also selling a few steampunk tophats with clocks and maybe little lights), electricity will be available.

Banks - Bleargh!

Having gotten the credit cards taken care of, I've been able to do something I've wanted to do for quite some time - get my account out of Chase. After a short time with Wells Fargo following my move to Oregon in 2000, I switched my checking to Washington Mutual, which had branches all over and in more convenient locations. That was fine until a few years ago when Chase used some of the money it got from the government because it was "too big to fail" to buy up WaMu.

That wasn't something I liked, not only because Chase used bailout money to buy up another bank, but also because it put my checking account in the same bank as my Amazon-linked credit card. I've always felt that was a bad idea.

So just before the Memorial Day weekend, I opened an account with a credit union that has a branch right near a MAX stop about the same distance in the other direction from the nearest Chase branch. I was able to do it online, transferring money from Chase, mostly to checking and a little to savings (I heard today that it's the savings account that makes one a member of the credit union). Simple enough, and I even went to the credit union in person to get my debit card.

Of course, Chase took the money out of my account within a very short time on Friday - or at least they made it unavailable to me. But they didn't transfer the money out until last Wednesday, the 30th, five days (but only three business days) after I'd done the transaction. Also, it didn't show up in my online activity page until Thursday.

On Thursday I decided to deposit a check I'd gotten. I took it to the credit union and was asked if I wanted to put $5 in savings. Turned out the money from Chase wasn't in my account. I was surprised since it was an electronic transfer and I thought it would have been in the account since Tuesday, two days before I took in the check.

So I kept looking at my account online and the money from Chase simply wasn't showing up. On Monday I called the credit union and they did some looking. I even went in so I wouldn't have to use up TracFone minutes. The woman I spoke to did some research and what she came up with was they needed the routing number that Chase had used to send the money.

Today I went into Chase. I'd been up in the middle of the night and had checked my balance in the credit union, which still wasn't reflecting the money from Chase. A very nice woman who also spoke Russian started researching. She discovered the money had been sent to a bank in California, but that wasn't a mistake. The California bank is a clearinghouse. She really did a lot of research, calling various places including the California bank. Eventually she asked if I'd checked my credit union account today. Well, I had during the wee hours, but not before I'd gone to Chase.

So she turned her computer screen toward me and moved the keyboard so I could log in to the credit union. I was asked a security question since I wasn't using my own computer. As soon as I saw my balances, I realized finally, easily six business days after my online transaction, the money was in the account.

So if you think online transactions are quicker, consider this: Each bank, Chase and First National in California, held my money for three business days before I had use of it again. Why? Well, in banking, there's something called "the float." It consists of money that's not available to the person initiating the transaction or the person receiving the money - both being me in this case. While that money is unavailable to people like you and me, it exists and banks use this float money, which even in small banks can be a sizeable amount, to make money through short-term loans.

Back in the '70s I worked at a bank in Worcester, MA. One of my jobs each day was to figure out if the bank had more than enough money to satisfy the minimum amount they have to hold in reserve or less. If more, I would compute how much more, get it approved by the comptroller whom I reported to, and sell the extra money to the government by calling other banks that could receive the money on behalf of Uncle Sam. Or if the bank didn't have enough, I'd make calls to those banks to buy money to meet the reserve. At that time, nearly 40 years ago, interest rates were in the double digits, so the bank could make or spend thousands of dollars a day. It all came down to the figures computed by one low-paid clerk and approved by the comptroller and it probably took me an hour or so. That's one of the things banks can do with the money that's not mine any more but not yet yours.

So if you're expecting money to move from your account to some other account (yours or someone else's) really quickly because you did it online, think again.

After I visited Chase, I went home, then looked up a Chase branch near the credit union. I went to the Chase outdoor ATM about a mile away from the credit union, took out as much as I could in one transaction in cash, then deposited it with the credit union, where it was reflected in my balance online when I got home.

It's not all I did on that trip. I also checked out a few stores in the area and got a few sets of battery-operated light strings for my wizard robe and wizard hat. I ended up doing a lot of walking. I need to get in shape for all the roaming around I'll be doing at Faerieworlds.

Visiting National Parks & Monuments

Now that I don't have a car to drive any more, the only way I can get to places like Mount St. Helens is to either rent a car or go with someone who drives. A Senior Pass will admit me and three adults to Mount St. Helens, for instance. Without a pass, it's $8 per person to visit Johnston Ridge Observatory, the best place to view the mountain, the crater and the damage done back in 1980.

So if anyone wants to visit Mt. St. Helens and save some money, contact me. Facebook might be the best way to get in touch, especially if you already know my name there - Rick Wales. I haven't been since the 30th anniversary back in May 2010. I live near a MAX stop on the East side, so I could hop on to meet someone at a convenient point.

I know a fair amount about the mountain, having been interested in it even before I moved to the Portland area in 2000. I visited almost annually, sometimes several times a year, at both Johnston Ridge and Windy Ridge. Those two locations aren't all that far apart if you're a crow, but humans have to drive for several hours to get from one site to the other. Active hikers could probably cover the distance overland in the time it would take to drive.

Here's my Squidoo lens about Mount St. Helens. It features many of the sites to stop off along the way either going to or coming back from Johnston Ridge. Going straight from my place to Johnston Ridge is about 100 miles and two hours driving time.

The Mount St. Helens Institute contacted me in late 2010 about one of the photos on the Squidoo lens. They asked if they could use it for a sign that's located across the plaza from the Johnston Ridge Observatory. I checked around in my photos and came up with a better one, shown here. Since I didn't get up there last year, I haven't seen it on the sign yet.

Longer trips that are doable in a day are to Mount Rainier, where there's a $15 per car entrance fee that would be waived using my Senior Pass, or Crater Lake, where there's a $10 per car fee.

Forbear Obnubilation

Thanks to Dick Ford selecting an obscure word from the Oxford English Dictionary for Punday on Facebook, I decided to create a new Zazzle T-shirt.

It's sort of a variant on "Eschew Obfuscation" with both essentially meaning "Keep it simple" or "Never use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice."

It wasn't hard to create. I searched for an appropriate image that's in the public domain. It's a portrait of Matthew Arnold, a Victoria-era British poet and social critic.

Simple, right? Yeah, except for one thing: It seems the older I get, the more prone I am to making typos. You can probably see this coming.

First I spelled it "omnibulation." When I realized that, I had to delete the item from my Zazzle store and create it with the correct spelling. Then, even though the spelling was right on the shirt (or so I thought), I misspelled it in the product title, so the URL had it wrong, even after I corrected the product title. So I created it for the third time, making sure ALL the spelling was correct.

Except it wasn't.

Hours later I discovered I still got it wrong, so I've had to do it over for a fourth time. This is getting ridiculous. At least Dick Ford spelled it right in his Punday post, so I copied and pasted "OBNUBILATE" from his post and changed the final "e" to "ion." I have no idea why this word has posed such problems for me. I think what's happening is that for so many years I typed quite accurately - I spent 18 years doing typesetting and pagination - and could cope with obscure spellings and such. I'll just have to proofread everything far more thoroughly especially if I'm expecting to sell stuff with words on it.

After all that, I realized the URL for this post still had the incorrect spelling, so I had to copy the picture and text, delete the post, then post it again. Will this never end?

Moby Is No Longer Broke

I've been putting off posting for a bit because some big changes were in the works.

First off, thanks to folks who helped me out a few weeks ago. I was able to keep current on bills as a result, so it was greatly appreciated.

I had talked to a credit counselor late last month, but the option of using the service, while it would've gotten me out of debt quicker than trying to just do it on my own, had the drawback of requiring a first payment I didn't have money to make and the monthly payments would only have been a bit lower than what I'd been paying. I'd been worried for some time about keeping payments current on the individual cards and this would have meant continued worry through the end of 2016.

So I bit the bullet and called my sister. She and I have joint ownership in the house my parents bought in 1952. (They died in '93 and '95.) It wasn't an easy call to make. She's much better at looking after her money than I've ever been at looking after mine (I seem to have the habit of waving bye-bye as it flies away). But I had to admit things were bleak.

We discussed a few options and she wanted to talk to her financial advisor. The upshot was we agreed that I would trade a fair chunk of my ownership in the house for getting the credit cards paid off. Between the 18th and the 22nd, the payments went through.

So, even though I didn't need to go through the credit counselor (one of several recommended by my bank) it did get me off the dime and working toward the solution. As for reduced ownership in the house, I'm definitely OK with it. Perhaps one of the reasons I got in this fix in the first place was that my sister had talked about selling the house, but that's a hard thing to do, even if the economy hadn't been trashed by the banksters.

Needless to say I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my sister! Fortunately, it's a debt that doesn't require big payments of cash each month. This was a one-time thing, but that's all it had to be. Also, she let me know that if I ever had to give up living here in the Pacific Northwest, I'm always welcome back at the place that still is home. If only it didn't come with New England winters! But, better to put up with them than live under a bridge or in some hidden place in the bush in a tent, as I've seen people doing in the Greater Portland area.

I worked out what I really need to cover expenses once the debt was cleared up, typed it up, printed it out and also shared it with my sister. Living cheaply, as I've gotten used to recently, I've got enough to get by even without a job. With a job, I'd be even better off, but jobs aren't easy to come by when you're 66.

I'll be able to get to Faerieworlds, what with saving money by assisting some vendors (camping for $40 instead of the current $115 rate which goes up pretty soon). If needed, I can rent a car to haul myself and my stuff to the site.

Faerieworlds Tent & Sleeping Arrangement

Last year before Faerieworlds I got a 10x12 tent for just under $80 at Sears. I don't need so much floor space for just myself, but what I was after was an affordable tent with enough room to stand up in. The Coleman Oasis 6-person tent fills that bill. The "6-person" part is, as always with tents, optimistic. There wouldn't be very much space for anything else after six narrow air mattresses and/or sleeping bags were arranged in it. It would have to be a very close group of six to hack a night in that tent. Three people, four in a pinch, maybe.

It worked out pretty well, but I wasn't crazy about getting up once or twice at night to pull on clothes and footwear to make my way across wet grass to the porta-potties. I'd thought that was the end of camping for me. But this year's finances are still tight, and I'm able to get a $40 vendor camping pass, plus the weather should be much drier at the end of July instead of in mid-June. So, I'm camping again, getting more use out of a tent that's only been pitched once and slept in four nights.

There was a problem last year I didn't fully consider. I have a nice twin-size air mattress, also Coleman, that's 38 inches wide. I also have a cot I bought way beck in the '80s or perhaps early '90s. But the cot is only 25 inches wide. So I decided I'd use the two together and just keep to one side. That side was with the cot near the back of the tent and the overhanging air mattress part also near the back so I could get up off the cot and be near where the headroom was.

There was one problem with that. I think it was the second night when I turned and rolled too far toward the back of the tent. Suddenly I was on the floor of the tent between the back wall, in my sleeping bag, with the mattress on its side and the cot on its side. Now what? Would I have to call out to get help?

No, after a minute or so I realized I could get the bag unzipped because the zipper was on the up side of the bag. Once I did that, I was able to sit up, reach over the mattress to the cot and move it over enough, then move the mattress, scramble out of the small space and get things rearranged.

Did I feel stupid? Yes, but fortunately nobody else saw what happened.

This year, I looked into wider cots, but they're a bit pricey. Then I had an idea. I opened up the cot and measured the distance between the floor and the top of the cot. I have one plastic milk crate I'd bought years ago. I measured that while it was on its longer side. Top to bottom was very close to the same distance from floor to top of the cot.

Next stop, the Internet and a search engine. I typed in "plastic milk crate" and began comparing them while also trying to find measurements. Eventually I found Target sells them. They're made by Sterilite in Townsend, MA (I once dated a woman who worked in the office there) and best of all, they were only $3.99. I would need five.

So I hopped on the MAX to head for the nearest Target. I haven't driven since December, so I didn't know in the meantime that Target had closed. I walked a few blocks from the MAX, then into the shopping area past Safeway and a few stores before I realized the Target was no longer open I couldn't really see it because of the angle from which I approached it. Not recalling there's another one not all that far away, I just did some shopping a couple of more stops down the line and came home. The next day I headed for the now-nearest Target which, I'd found, was the only one in the area stocking the crates.

Today I decided to put things to the test. I inflated the mattress, set up the cot in the living room, and got the crates. They're now serving as T-shirt storage, but for once a year they'll do duty as mattress support.

I got everything together and it's working just fine. The crates are a bit higher than the canvas of the cot, but not by too much. One refinement I made was to put a blanket under the mattress to prevent it from making squeaking noises whenever I move. I may even leave things set up and sleep in the living room tonight.


Could I have gotten a wider cot? Probably, but the crates cost only $19.99 and I can use them year-round. A cot that's wide enough runs around $75.

One more refinement I'm thinking of is extra support in the three middle crates which will bear most of my weight. Just so happens that not long after moving from Massachusetts, I got interested in playing a didgeridoo. A friend from Australia actually hauled one that had belonged to her late husband to St. Louis where we met at a Callahan's Saloon (a Delphi Forum) Gathering in 2000. I'd read it was easy to make a didge out of PVC pipe and beeswax for the mouthpiece, so I got a length of it from Home Depot. Not wanting a 10-foot didge, I cut off four feet and used that.  The other six feet of pipe have stood in a closet ever since. The supports need to be exactly one foot long. So I'll cut up the pipe and use two pieces for the middle three crates. I'll use duct tape to keep them in place, then after Faerieworlds I'll just take out the supports until next year.

If I'm gonna camp, I don't have to completely rough it. The cot is really necessary because at my age I have found it much harder to get up off the floor or ground than I used to be able to do ten years ago. With the cot and a tent I can stand in, things are far easier to deal with for probably 1/6 the cost of a motel for four nights. I'll just have to deal with the porta-potties instead of a flush toilet right near a bed. I'll live.