quotations for march

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. Henry David Thoreau

We will be know forever by the tracks we leave. Native American proverb

You lie.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. Gandhi

sites to visit

www.organic-center.org about genetically engineered crops and pesticides plus other info

www.mnn.com mother nature network -- lots of things to consider, info about issues in all states like the Asian carp issue in the great lakes area, top 10 environmental documentaries of 2009, environment, business, food safety, etc

aggravations of recent days

Friday Feb 26 = Haven't been to walgreen's since a greeting card incident but in a weak moment went. there is a sale section which sometimes has interesting even now and then useful things so i got a supplement marked 4$. when I was told that my 2 bags, mostly easter candy came to 66$ or so i said that can't be right. so, after the salesperson checked, why yes the 40$ she put on 2x, took off 1x, was still there. 36$ saved there and then. several times at walgreen's it wasn't until getting home that i discovered wrong prices (excuse--the manager doesn't usually ring things up so he might make mistakes), no dog food treats because the manager was ringing and he set the bag on the floor (great place for it--maybe a counter would be better), etc

Sat Feb 27 = joann's where 2 items in the sale/damaged area went through at regular prices even though the sale price was right below, right tight below, the regular price. when the total was 62$ for my 1 bag and i was supposed to hit correct or incorrect i said i don't think it's correct. so looking at the screen the salesperson says why yes the 40$ item is really 9.50; i asked about another item and why yes that was also done incorrectly. saved about 32$. bet the line behind me either was angry or careful for their turn

Also Sat when i got to dad's house that is for sale i noticed the breezeway door was open, one i always try to remember to push close when i leave and i knew i had closed it that am. inside, the door to the house AGAIN OPEN--the THIRD time a realtor has shown the home and left the door open so i can heat the basement, breezeway, and garage i guess. Also bedroom light left on and blinds opened to the north. Being a slow study as they say, this time i took pictures to post, called the realtor again and suggested i be notified when someone came. am i to feel blessed that the home is being shown? should be. am i to feel pissed that people are incompetent? you bet. final irony? the 2nd time the place was left open, mike came and posted a sign on the door that again was left open to please lock and close it. maybe the realtors can't read or were never taught to put things back the way they were found. lazy ahs as i say. photos to follow

Sun while trying to open a bottle of sangria the corkscrew broke off in the cork. so what to use--a knife worked slowly to dig out cork, bottle opener large and small size worked somewhat, but the curved meat pick thing that goes with old fashioned nut cracker sets would go in and dig out cork. moral always have back up corkscrew?

week's rages

michigan bill to make it mandatory for schools to outsource ALL custodians, cooks, and bus drivers. What are they thinking? way to save money or way to hurt any unionized groups? basically a way to decrease take home pay. someone needs to find out who is behind this. certainly NOT a way to increase jobs is it? just like cutting police and firemen in Flint. saves money does it? helps raise unemployment too. by the way can they collect unemployment? let's hope. LEAVE MICHIGAN NOW--Let the republicans and tea party members continue to destroy the state. and be sure everyone knows that if you CUT TAXES you must CUT SERVICES. live and learn.

good reason to get a carrying concealed permit if you want to stay around the area.


shopping at meijers: tried to buy fruit cocktail and ended up checking where the 3 brands were processed. Delmonte in CA--fruit not necessarily US. dole and meijer brand were thailand and the philippines. guess which i bought.

then to bread machine yeast: 2 brands on the shelf for 3 package type i usually get and jar types. none made in the US although Canada and Mexico are close i guess. bought none

John Wesley

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

Sprint

What can I say? at least 30 minutes to ask 3 questions on a connection that was static filled. maybe to a far and distant country? 3 different people in 3 departments. 2 questions were answered "Your next statement will reflect the discount and new contract price" but the on-line site does not as yet reflect that. holding my breath? nope, am a realist. this will need further investigation. and the fact that the wrong cell phone was pictured for 1 of our 3 phones with wrong data i assume since person 1 and 2 acted surprised and concerned. ignore the fact that 6 months ago all 3 phones were changed and all 3 were the same. undoubtedly a computer error.

Haiti

le probleme, c'est que les autorities ne sauront jamais que ces gens sont morts, car elles ne savent meme pas que vous etes vivants. (Dalusna, p. 7 France-Amerique 2-10)

utilities

can you figure out your bill? since i pay for an empty, unsold home that does have utilities on (if not then burton can come in and tag it i assume as uninhabitable and then all sorts of other problems exist--again government at its best and not "MY" government since i can pay taxes but a vote in burton? come on)

anyway for 31 days in a home kept at 50 degrees unless i'm there, water barely used nor toilet often flushed (well water, but since the county upped charges for sewers based on supposed water use the price went from about 60 to 90 dollars/quarter)

electric power supply charges = 23.31
power supply recovery = -.17
electric delivery = 2.50
system acces charge = 6.00
electric districution charge = 8.99
regulatory asset recovery = 1.48
energy optimization surcharge = .47
securitization charge = .44
securitization tax charge = .21
palisades plant sale credit 3 = -1.52
TOTAL = 41.71 for 328 KWH

Should you own consumers stock? Think again. We bought $500 worth a few years ago and it's worth $363 now. Dividends go back to buy more. How smart we were to give them money. Stock has NEVER passed the $500. CORPORATIONS RULE! Good for them. I'm sure Consumers Energy is doing fine; are stockholders? What a scheme

OK now for the 10.6 MCF for the gas usage:

gas customer charge = 9.50
distribution charge = 22.07
PEM and OPEB surcharge = .76
gas interim rate increase = 4.52
energy optimization surcharge = 1.83
gas cost recovery charge = 77.62
TOTAL = 116.30 plus tax for all of 6.32

SO EMPTY HOME ONE MONTH COST FOR ELECTRIC AND GAS VERY MINIMAL USE = 164.33
ADD ABOUT 30/MONTH FOR SEWER AND WE HAVE CLOSE TO 200/MONTH A LOT FOR AN EMPTY NOT SELLING HOME.


I'm so happy to help consumers make money and happy to support my local corporation. How about you? Time to organize and let business know or time to continue to sit and let it happen to you and everyone else because you are powerless?

books

just finished another earlene fowler book, this one steps to the altar. good quotation p. 295 "quien todo lo quiere todo lo pierde" which probably applies often and in many circumstances.
fowler's series, with benni harper, is of course diversion reading but with historical facts used as background. little mystery, little romance, easy reading, but can lead you to investigate events and places.

Rant of the Week

So Michigan has been in economic distress for quite a while with tax cuts from the Engler administration in effect for 20 some years after he left office. The legislature seems inoperable; just saying NO to all proposals gets nowhere. And cutting has led to no matching funding for federal dollars. 2.1 billion in road $ probably will be lost because of that. Can we get federal $ without matching state money? Not likely. So don't complain about roads. Drive south where good roads are, maybe move south.

We want long prison terms for all the "bad people" and we supposedly want to cut prison spending. But when those who have served minimum terms are let "out on society", there are demands to send them back. Can't have it both ways.

We can cut benefits for state workers; why not across the board? Demand that ALL EMPLOYERS cut wages including their own? Neglect the fact that that in turn decreases money available to spend in the state. Cut health coverage--a recent proposal. Why not eliminate everyone's health coverage. Wonder who would need all the medical offices around the state? In fact, medical spending must bring in a lot if new offices like on Center Rd and Bristol are being put up. Why not use all the empty buildings already existing? Tax breaks?

In a belief that spending $ in state would help our state, I and many others have cut donations to out of state organizations and charities. When called, my first question is often "Will this money be staying in Mi or in Genesee County"? That is a primary concern. Since investments tanked, many are being more careful of spending. Great idea. Get rid of those credit card balances, save, spend wisely, etc.

So now i'm left with a dilemma. What more to cut? Since pensions but not benefits like health coverage are supposedly guaranteed (unless you are a corporation or the government--I see another rant coming) I'll need to cut more. So do I cut all donations? Food bank has been a priority with me but. . .Do I quit spending in state since "the state cuts my benefits"? If I could move to another state, my pension would follow, and the state would have even less $ here. Might serve them right. Or would they enact a law saying pensions will only be reserved for in state residents? Isn't that a great idea?

Quotations for February 2010

from the March Woman's Day magazine

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. (Beverly Sills)

The trouble with talking nicely is that, unfortunately, some people don't hear you until you scream. (Stephanie Powers)

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life. (Muhammad Ali)

A good home must be made, not bought. Joyce Maynard

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, and autumn a mosaic of them all. Stanley Horowitz

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. Edgar Degas

Delicious Autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. George Eliot

Painters are inspired by the distinctive subtropical glow in Naples, a sun-fueled fluorescent dawn that becomes lemony by midmorning and pearly in the afternoon. The sunsets? Pure purple. (?)

You will find poetry nowhere unless you bring it with you. Joseph Joubert

With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy. Lope de Vega

White is not a mere absence of color; it is a shining affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black. God paints in many colors; but He never paints so gorgeously as when He paints in white. Gilbert K. Chesterton

Burton City Hall

another visit to pay a sewer bill for a basically empty home ($30/month)and another chance to see public service. after paying a bill, an older lady asked if the window clerk knew about energy credits. answer "I don't know anything about that". wouldn't you assume the answer might have gone on with "but i'll see if....or "why don't you try the mayor's office". . .or "a rep from Senator Cherry is downstairs. he might help". i should have suggested something to the woman myself but that's hindsight. i did go to the rep and describe what i had seen and heard and he did have some possibilities. i recounted this tale at the city counsel meeting the same day, Feb 1, 2010. what a lost PR opportunity. figures.

WOULDN'T ONE OF YOUR FIRST PLACES TO ASK FOR HELP MAYBE BE AT YOUR CITY HALL? NO HELP AT BURTON.



here's my experience from 2008 Burton City Hall -- 4-16-08 -- which i did present at a city council meeting


The saga begins with an overdue sewer bill for my deceased dad’s house, received 4-15-08. Post marked April 10 to a --- Rd address, forwarded to the correct address April 13. If the overdue bill of $53.79 was not paid by May 15, a lien would be placed on the residence. No bill came to the --- Rd address and none to my address. (In January I had mail forwarded to me through the post office and on January 19 had written a letter to Burton requesting an address change for --- Rd mail to go to me.) I called that day and right away was not impressed with the phone menu once I got to press for sewer department. 1 for billing 2 for service. Since I didn’t hear #1 I waited assuming it would be repeated. No, just “good-by” so I had to dial in again and start over. Indeed the bill was 59.17 since a 10% overdue charge was also due, and it was suggested that probably the mail was at fault.

I stopped by the post office on April 16 to ascertain that the mail was being forwarded since I knew Burton would be blaming the mail. There I talked to the desk person and another who took a note. No supervisor was working that day. Note that the lien threat letter had been sent to the --- Rd address and correctly forwarded by the post office. The city had not used the January 19 information, although the clerk at the bill paying area checked her computer and said the computer listed the forwarding address.

At the office, I visited the Assessor’s Office to verify 2 things, 1 being the correct address.

On to the receptionist who I asked about mail and who received it first and asked if information was shared among offices. Her answer was that it probably went to the
payment area.

At the payment center, I asked about the missing bill and if the billing address was correct. A computer check supposedly verified that but the overdue had NOT been sent to the correct address. I asked if the house were torn down, would I still have to pay sewer and was told no as long as I showed demolition documentation. “All bills are the responsibility of the estate” whether or not a bill was received. I asked about where to find the ordinances or policies that specified a lien on property for a dead man for a bill due in February. I was told the clerk’s department was the place to be. The bill was paid at 9:54am to cashier 004.

At the clerk’s, I went through the above and asked about the phone set up. They were not sure who set up the user unfriendly system and suggested I visit the mayor’s office. They did try to find the ordinance and came up with what appeared to be correct and made a copy. Very nicely done, very politely done. I was asked if I talked to a supervisor in the sewer/bill area which I had not so that became another stop later.

In the mayor’s office when asked if I could be helped, I stated I had a question – the phone – and a problem – the overdue/lien letter. The person there, female, perhaps the one who goes with the executive assistant card I picked up from the front left counter, was far from friendly or helpful. The phone was not her problem -- probably the sewer department knew -- and my concerns about the sewer department, the overdue/you’re going to have a lien on your property question was answered with a tirade I could scarcely keep up with, but I tried to write it down as fast as it was said. I got half or less but these are direct quotations:

“I don’t know about anything. I’m not in that department. I was not trained in that department”

. . . . I wish this outburst had been recorded. It was explained to me that we, whoever we is, gave leeway once to late bills since times are bad but not again. And as I left, she held her hands up like a balance and said that of all the people coming in to complain that they never got a bill, about half were telling the truth; half were not. Time for my exit.

Back at the bill paying area, I asked for a supervisor from a different clerk. Down to the left I spoke with someone who was busy working and really didn’t want to be bothered. She asked if the billing address was correct. I said the clerk had checked it and I guess it was. She couldn’t look since she had no computer there. About mail not getting to me: She often gets the wrong mail at her address and. . . . . I guess that meant too bad if it was delivered incorrectly. I asked her about the regulations for liens and was sent back to the clerk’s office. (“They have it over there”.) Back there, where there was another search and after one employee made a trip down to find out the ordnance #, I got a copy of ordinance 54. The phone issue? She didn’t know who set up phones. I could try the receptionist. Each of the 3 people there could not hold eye contact nor had any facial animation. Perhaps that is a supposed to be a positive interaction tactic.

Back to the receptionist and she said the IT person sets up the phones and she gave me a name.

Back to Clerk where the correct ordinance was found.

In summary:
1. City hall personnel should be helpful.
2. The phone message needs fixing.
3. The first overdue notice on any bill should be POLITE.
4. Perhaps if a surveillance system isn’t present, get one to see and
hear what’s going on.
5. Someone needs to do employee/client civility training in the bill
paying area and the mayor’s office.
6. If I still lived in Burton, I would be ashamed of the behavior of people in several of these offices.
7. I did not believe the penalty fee would be waived when I started
this circus, but the phone issue I thought needed to be addressed.
I now know what PR the city hall promotes.
8. The city is a business and one of its primary mandates should be to
serve “customers” politely.
9. The clerk’s department did express regrets for the death of the owner,

farm bureau groceries contest

almost always a good idea to try a site to see if it is good before passing it on. today's site to give up on is www.farmersfeedus.org/mi which has a contest with groceries giveaway. looks like you can fill in info, try to read the words for the verification needed, the site tries to connect, tries. . . . .nice idea. supposedly the $5,000 in groceries contest is still open a few weeks according to the Farm Bureau but undoubtedly it's me and my computer.