Telemarketers... How to roast them in their own juices.... mmm, mmm.

For the past year, I average 1-4 calls a week from various telemarketers, with whom I've NEVER done any business with.

One of them continuously calls from the same number for a few weeks, then spoofs another phone number.

In the last 6 months, I try to answer all the calls.  Usually, they hang up on me, and once in a while, I've gotten berated for messing with their hoax calls.

This last week, I kept up my ruse, and found out that they wanted my credit card number, and expected me to just give it to them.

I asked why, and was told that they needed to check my "payment history"...

At that, I told the guy my grandson told me to be careful if someone calls and asks me for my credit card number.

The guy promptly hung up.

I figured next time, since I know how they target things, I would find a fake/test credit card number, to see how far I could keep going with these guys.

Now, one thing to understand is that I register a complaint with the Do Not Call registry. (https://www.donotcall.gov/)

This week, finally entered comments into the complaint form, that I would love to work with the government/do not call agency to track these guys down.

Going back to the fake/test credit card number, I found Android apps that will both generate and test the credit card number sequences.

I'm armed and ready to go now.

Suckers are going to get hell from me... again.

Last time, I used the name of "George Bailey"... They didn't ask me where I worked, or else I would probably have said "Bailey Building and Loan"...

It's a Wonder Life

This next time, and probably all future ones, I'm going to use the name of George Nelson... Probably use the Simpsons Address of 742 Evergreen terrace, Seattle, Washington... or something like that... I don't know...

If I gave them Juneau Alaska, they would know something was up.

"Watch out for that pesky squirrel...he'll take your nuts!"

This week has been a bit of a tough week concentrating on work.

Not a fully squirrel week, but very close to it.

I've had a rough time sleeping, between the summer heat, sinus & arthritis pain, and Ellie tossing and turning.

Last night I was at a friends' house until around 11:00 PM.  At first I was there helping her get things setup for scanning and upload her medical notes for work.

The first time I was helping her, we had things setup, and I thought they were going to be static.

It turns out that the scanner software has different settings for initiating the scans from the Software interface vs. the button on the scanner.

I reset the scanner button settings to dump the images to a single folder, without creating sub-folders with the current date.

Also setup Chrome to display the bookmark toolbar, so that she could easily get to the company's site for her data entry.

Next, I had her write down the steps for doing the entries.

Finally, I sat back while she kept going through the steps and getting the rest them done.

When we were done, I sat around chatting with George till around 11:00 PM.

Nothing too important, just general BS friends do.  Especially two people with the "gift of gab".

Ellie's home improvement projects this year are almost all done.  It's just a matter of putting everything back together... furniture, pictures, etc.

Our bathroom looks good and I feel better knowing that we managed to remodel it long before we ran into rot & leaks.

The bathroom is a purple, blue combination, the hallway is a dark tan and the front room is a bright, darkish blue.

It looks good and color differences between the rooms is neat to see, when you're in the front room and you look through the hallway to the bathroom.  Bright blue to the dark tan, to the purple.

Due to possible security concerns, I will not be posting pictures of what this looks like.

I really need to knuckle up/down and get coding for work. Things are starting to click together and I'm putting all the pieces together to accomplish what we need for our tool.

whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

The title of this entry comes from Matthew 5:39.

Over the past month, I have been simply giving in on arguments with Ellie... "do what you feel..." or "do what you want..."

I don't know if lying down on many arguments is really helpful to our family's financial situation.

This also applies to a broken tail light, because I was very SLOWLY backing out of my drive way, and tapped the wheel of a front loader that had been left in the middle of the street.  For whatever reason, the tail light assembly exploded.

If I had tapped the thing with my bumper or another car, I wouldn't have even left any marks or paint...

I left a message with the supervisor of the work crew, who met with me the other day... basically he said that it wasn't their fault.... Instead of arguing, I just gave in.

One thing that I haven't been giving in on recently, only because it's been part of our refrigerator warranty, is with Geek Squad over our ice maker repair.

Back in early July, we called to have the ice maker repaired.

One of their contracted repair guys stopped by the week after, looked at it and said that it needed to be replaced.

As of today, the ice maker still hasn't been repaired.  Due to travel and a busy July & August, we never thought much that it hadn't repaired yet.

Well, the past week or so, we started calling them, only to have no one call us back.

On Monday, I called and someone said I'd get a call back within 24 hours.  I said if I didn't get a call back in 24 hours, that at hour 24.5 or 25, I was going to call them and raise some hell.

At hour 25 of this period, I did call them, and over the next 30-45 minutes, I finally got connected to their escalation manager.

He personally guaranteed to call and make sure things were moving.  After speaking to him for several minutes, I finally realized that he was going to do it.  He sounded like me, when I was lead escalation handler 5-6 years ago.

Many times I hated working on escalations, only because most of these customers, the problem was due to their hardware or environment.

When I was done with them, I had basically walked all over them, and they thanked me for it.

It wasn't that I purposefully walked on them, it's just that I was able to fully prove why the problem was theirs.

I taught this same type of method to the newbies.  This process is what I called "parallel" testing.  What it means is that you run parallel types of tests that simulate/do the same things our software did.

Like VSS backups.  If the software used VSS to backup various parts of Windows, you then used Windows tools/commands to also use VSS to do the same backup.  If the process also failed, then it was out of our hands.

Circling back to my original start of this post...

I don't know if it's good that I "lay down" or "give in" on so many things.  Part of it is that I'm tired of arguing with people about anything.

Perhaps, its that I feel my blood pressure rise and heart rate start to soar...

It's not "Mite" to meet you ... again ...

Well, my new miniature roses, two reds & a yellow got hit by spider mites again... so it's not really Mite to meet them again.

The reds are practically dead, but the yellow one, I got to it better, is surviving well.  In fact, it's blooming again, for the first time since I got it for valentine's day.

Very pretty blossoms.

One of the reds bloomed too, also with great blossoms...

However, when I pruned them both back due to the spider mites, neither of them have bounced back as good as they would've without the mites.

I think one of them is completely dead... the other one is still deciding if it's dead or not.

Meanwhile, I have orchids which are doing Wonderfully!  Especially since my office at home, is now downstairs!

I have several moth orchids (Phalaenopsis), of them actually.  One of them is one my wife bought me, which is amazing! It looks like it's been water colored. The other two, I bought at the newly opened Grocery Outlet.  It's been a while since I bought them, I don't remember what their blooms look like... I think one of them is yellow.

Ellie bought me another one, which is very unique is what's called a Pansy Orchid. (Miltoniopsis)

They are a bit finicky to get blooming, and all eventually will stop blooming after you buy them...  That's because they're really pushed to bloom so people will buy them.

I'm not an expert, and would have to read through the book(s) to refresh my knowledge.

I've been watching one of the Phalaenopsis, and it looks like I can take a cutting.  It looks I can plant the cutting part into another pot to get another one growing...

The plant is growing taller, and the roots are coming out from between the leaves further up the plant...

I need to do some research before I start cutting... :)

Damn bird!

My cockatiel, Phillip, is the tamest of the two birds that I own.

Yesterday, when I was feeding him millet to coax him out and onto my finger, decided that he needed to take off and fly out of the cage.

Well, the damn bird flew right into the hanging fly strip that I have in my office.  These fly strips were installed because the people in my house cannot ever seem to close the frickin' doors to keep the flying insects out of the house.

Since the little shithead bird flew into this fly strip, you can imagine that he got it plenty well stuck in his feathers.

To make matters a bit more complex, Mr. Rodriguez, the other bird, decided to fly out of the cage too.

Well, I picked up Mr. Rodriguez pretty easy and put him back.

Getting Phillip was the pain.

He was freaked out because he flew out and got caught in the fly strip.  He was scared and was biting like hell at anything that was trying to help get him free.

My fingers have some pretty nasty slashes in them prior to getting the fly strip completely free.

Thankfully, Ellie heard the commotion and was able to come in and help free Phillip.

I feel really sorry for the little turd, but I also resent him because my fingers still hurt really badly.

After all, it's his fault for flying out of the cage like that... but again, it's probably my fault for having caged birds.  If PETA folk are reading this, I'm sure I'm going to get hung up by the nuts for this happening, which was a total accident in the first place.

Well, I've got to get back to work today, and get back on top of things.

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream..... Only keep the friggin sand!

Last night, I slept really good for the first time in over a week.

My biggest problem last night at one point, was that my feet, toes and right knee really hurt before I rolled over at one point.

As of now, my leg/foot joints feel like their full of sand, which the damn Sandman can keep if he's going to give me Sand during the night.


With the fantasy introduce by Frank Baum, in the Wizard of Oz, I wish I could be the Tin Man.  At least that metallic bastard could loosing up his joints simply by using oil on them.

Unless I want to appear as a sad sort of body builder, I doubt rubbing my legs with oil is going to be worth anything at all.

I suppose that's enough complaining about the pain, as I'm really tired of doing it in the first place.

Since I hurt so badly most of the time, I'm sure everyone else around me is tired of it too.

Currently, I feel that I've become the pain instead of just being myself.

Wow! Their insurance Sucks!

I just got off the phone with my big sister. (I'm actually much taller, but thinking about her as older, I still call her big.)

She spoke with our mom recently and found out about how things were going to go on with Dad.

See, our Dad, on Monday, was in surgery for work on his tail bone.  Due to some really bad spurs & what not, he needed work on it, so that he could go back to sleeping and sitting down normally.

Well, a few days later, he had developed an infection from the surgery.  This caused him to spend several days in the hospital.

Prior to his release, they were going to send him to a nursing home for some temporary rehabilitation.

Turns out their insurance wasn't going to allow him to continue receiving his injects to prevent anemic problems.

What is happening now, is that he's being released home so the injections can continue and a nurse is going to come over on a regular basis.

I worry on multiple situations on this.

1. Their house isn't really clean, so what type of condition is this for someone dealing with healing and infection.
2. My brother & his family live there, and at one time child services were visiting the house EVERY week to check on them, because of the squalid conditions of the house.
3. Our younger sister and her husband spend 2-4 hours cleaning up the shared/guest/front bathroom!  This includes cleaning up splattered shit on the walls & what not.
4. Since a nurse is going to be there on a regular basis, she'll note what's happening there.  She is REQUIRED to report of any conditions, like I saw last time I was there.  Any concerns she has or feels is bad, she's going to report on, for both the children and my parents.

I don't feel bad if anyone reports on their conditions.  My brother and his wife need to step up and help keep things clean, instead of just doing laundry, helping with the cooking and kitchen.

Seriously, the last time I was there, I went to the basement to look for something I left there.  The basement smelled like a REALLY bad gas station bathroom.  Not to mention the general filth and junk/piles of things all over.

Upstairs, where my parents are at, is almost as bad with regards to piles of things all over.  Not what appears to be trash, but just like a hoarder's home.

It's a good thing that I don't live close by, because I'd probably go there and clean things up... much of which would go to the dump or Goodwill, etc.  Just to get rid of so much stuff that's unnecessary for two retired people need to have.  My mom's dementia is getting much worse. LOTS worse, and my dad's health has been up/down for the past 12 or so years.

If you get the idea, I'm not sure what's going to happen, but what's going to happen should be better in the long run, even if it means that there's a ton more stress for the family there.

Can he be on the rag?

At work last week and part of this week, we've been trying to "bust code", to get our project caught up.

Our project "lead", is under stress, which I understand.

Yet, he's been "snapping like a damn catfish" or more specifically like a gal having a really bad PMS time.

Friday, I was away from the conference room we've been using to help focus our efforts, we he started things.

When I returned and tried to catch up, he started snapping like I was personally attacking him.

I told him, that I understood the pressure he had going on, apologized for missing the beginning information, and still got snapped at a bit.

Finally I told him that I wasn't there at the beginning and wanted to get the info so that I could get up to speed and just start working.

In short, this whole experience has wasted more time than it has saved.

It's not the lead's fault.. at least not completely, as our boss didn't really try to get this organized and relied on the "lead".

There's no reason why this couldn't have been organized by several of us without such a heavy work load.

Honestly, they have a BIG problem being efficient and getting things done in an organized method.

Today, I sent the boss the feedback about things, and he said he wished things had gone better, and knew the "lead" was snapping and over stressed.

I again, offered that I could help plan things out, delegate and overall help prevent problems like we've had this week.

After this experience... I suppose I'll have to wait and see what's going to happen...

I'm worried about my job... again.

Many times in the past, I've worried about keeping my employment... especially with a large corporation.

This year, they're forcing those who do not work directly with customers to take the full labor day week off, just to cut down on the financial obligation/sheet.

What does that mean?

It means that those with a large amount of Paid Time Off (PTO), will have to lose some of that.  It is sick and vacation days.  These are obviously very valuable for each person in different ways.  For me, these are for medical reasons. (Gout, sleep, bipolar, arthritis, kidney stones, etc.)  Others in the organization love their time off, and occasionally will build it up and take several weeks of vacation at a time.

Again, what does this mean?

PTO belongs to the employee, and when that person quits or is let go, that PTO gets cashed out to them.  So if I had 200 hours of PTO built up, making $50/hour, that's worth $10,000 before taxes.

So, why are you worried about your job?

I'm worried, as the forcing of a LARGE part of a company to burn up this type of $ seems like a good way to setup for a large layoff.  With the over all PTO buckets being burned up, the financial obligation by the corporation is LOWER than if they are full.

What else points to possible layoffs?

 Well, the bean counters announced that this was to lower the financial obligation and balances... for profit's sake, and that some (one/person/idiot/collective morons) made some BIG mistakes for purchasing things, etc. etc.

I'm not really at the bottom of things, which is where the least amount of impact happens, but I'm also not at the top of things.  Where I'm also at is a worry place.  I'm a software developer, and once an idea of conceived by one of us, it's a matter then of passing it onto someone who can also write code, but get paid less for it. (i.e. outsourcing/moving offshore the work)

I do work with a team in India, and have since 2009.  Personally, I don't mind working with the people from India.  For the most part, they are very honest and hard working.  In many ways, MUCH more so than my fellow Americans.  Many of my fellow countrymen have gotten into the entitlement mindset. ("Where's my disability check, that I didn't work for?")

Is that it for today's rant?

Yes, that's pretty much it.

Gout sucks, and life did too... Maybe I'm on the upswing... again.

I know that I'm not really over the gout... The feet & heels still hurt, but it seems more bearable, although, perhaps it more from the fact that I'm accepting it instead of fighting.

Personally, I still want to fight things, and always will be a fighter...

Maybe I'm still in a manic state where euphoria often exists, and things seem rosy and happy?

After all I am bipolar, and over the last weekend, I was in a manic state.  I've also noticed that I don't mind spending more money and my inhibitions for doing or stopping some things is much lower.

One of the inhibitions that I really don't want them to be lower, is my sexual desires & what not... Not stopping things with Ellie, but letting go around others or having a harder time not staring/wanting to do inappropriate things. (Not illegal, but inappropriate for a traditionally married person.)

Yesterday was a fun day, and I enjoyed myself.  Our Indian counter parts from the Pune Office are onsite with us here in the U.S.  Some of these guys are pretty dang funny, and interacting with other developers on our project is really insightful.  Many of our ideas overlap, while others bring very new & fresh perspectives.

About 1/4 of us come from various aspects of technical support from our company.  I come from consumer databases, AntiVirus/Computer security, and backup technologies.  Another one is also from the AntiVirus/Security real, but more specialized in the mail security systems, while we have another from the Network Security / Firewalls, etc.

Those of us from Technical Support, are all self taught.  We enjoy the aspect of being able to make a computer/electronic device do what we want it to and what it is capable of.  It's like that with my HAM radio & other gear.

The rest of the team, including those from India, are developers, and typically trained or carrier developers.

Speaking on HAM radio, I am a licensed amateur with a General Class license and eventually I'll upgrade to my Extra Class license.

Since I value my anonymity online, I will NEVER post my CallSign!

With a HAM callsign, you can lookup their fullname, address, etc, all through the FCC & ARRL websites.

It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood?

I've been fighting with the gout a lot recently.. in fact this time last week, I was in REALLY bad pain.

Over the weekend, especially Saturday, I started into a manic state.  I installed the sink cabinet, installed the new sink hardware, and the counter top.

If that wasn't good enough, I sat through a movie with Big Miss, and afterwords, I thought I was going to go to sleep... but I got up and kept going... Cut and installed the trim boards... Then got up, grabbed the paint can and painted the cut ends of the boards and nail heads that were put in... Next, I installed the brass floor strip that separates the linoleum from the hardwood floor... Then I put in the drawers of the sink cabinet, moved the dresser we're using for towels in.

My manic states usually only last for several days, but even today, I still feel a bit ramped up.

Now, I would've kept going, but I finally decided to watch Young Guns II and fell asleep through parts of it, and after turning it off, I passed out and fell to sleep.

Sunday was similar, as I was going through the house picking things up, doing laundry, etc.

One major sad thing about Saturday, was that my old/ancient cat, who was 15+ years old, died. He stopped eating about a week earlier, didn't really drink anything, and started using various rugs as his cat box.

The last straw was when I found him one morning with all of his paws wet with urine.  At that point, I knew it was time, and finally had him put down.

This old boy was a good friend and will be missed very much.

I suppose Google must be working again...

I'm not really trying to bog down Google here, but I saw that I had traffic on the blog here.

If someone or so found this, and find it entertaining or helpful, add a post, and if you'd like more perhaps, I'll republish all of my entries, which I started over a year ago.

Last year sometime, this blog went completely underground, and thus I lost all readership.

Having readership was never my goal, since this was being written for my sake, instead of for the sake of anyone else.

Although, if it wasn't for others creating VLogs on YouTube, I wouldn't have figured out I was bipolar.

If it wasn't for those individuals sharing their life, my life would probably be in the crapper still.

Well, that's all I'm going to write about for now... (My dang finger nails are so long I'm having a hard time typing right now.)

I am a man of constant sorrow!!!

I don't really understand why God has decided that I need to be a man of constant sorrow or perhaps a man of constant pain.

A month or so ago, I was able to wear my shoes again after the original bout of gout & what not.

Now, again, I'm FUBAR!

My feet have been sore and painful for weeks, but bearable.

Now, the fucking gout/swelling at the back of the heel is back again.

Again, I'm at the same dilemma, where the Fuck to go for remedy!

I saw my GP and he gave me some prednisone, and some more Colcrys.

The rest of Monday was painful, but not too damn bad.. I think.

Tuesday morning, the fucker woke me up again, around 3:00 AM.

I took my regular meds. the prednisone, and Colcrys.

Pain started to subside.  Yet, it was there through out the morning.

In the afternoon, I was able to take my regular pain meds, and the Colcrys.  My pain pills haven't been enough to control the pain and it seems that the Colcrys has been working really well.

I tested it by taking it hours before my afternoon dose of pain meds.  Then again that night, hours before my regular pain pills.

The pain subsided, not all the way, but bearable.

Last night, I slept pretty well, and didn't really wake up due to pain.

When I woke up, "Shark Tooth" Bruce was there, sleeping at my feet and I bumped the little fucker's head with my heel, and woke myself up the rest of the way.

The last couple of hours, I was trying to sit up and work, but the pain couldn't be controlled that sitting at my desk.  So now, I'm sitting up in the recliner, typing this and hoping I can get back to work.

I'm really tired of pills and this fucking pain.

I agree with a guy at church, that I seem to have been born to sustain pain.  I bore the kidney stone pain, now this fucking gout pain, and of course the sinus & migraine pains.

As I first started, I have become a man of constant sorrow, and it really fucking hurts.

My bipolar is under control, and I'm not really able to feel depressed about this current situation, but I really hate it though.

I sent a number of messages to my new GP and haven't heard back yet.  I wonder if I should just schedule an appointment with him, just to get better response from him.

I honestly don't know what to do.

It just fucking hurts.