Povey Prattle

The recent compromising of shoppers' credit cards  at our Target stores has led to my greater awareness of American laziness and ineptitude in the matter of credit/debit card fraud. I have learned that American businesses and banks still rely on the old fashioned magnetic strip on credit and debit cards.  This makes them very vulnerable to fraud. The rest of the world   (see Forbes Magazine quote and chart below) has long since moved to the more secure "Chip and Pin", or EMV technology. In fact, some American travelers are discovering that their credit cards will be rejected for point of sale transactions (gas, hotel, travel, retail stores etc.)  (see Wikipedia article below). God willing I'll be traveling outside the U.S.A. later this year. With that in mind I contacted the administrator of my Visa card, the Bank of America. To my intense comfort I learned that B of A is one of the few Financial institutions which will issue a chip an...

My malfunctioning  old HP  desktop computer has been in a repair shop since Sept 20th. At first the repair shop folks and I thought that we were dealing  with little more than a faulty power supply. Now the repair  shop  folks, (having installed a new power supply system) tell  me that there are also  problems with the motherboard and the hard-drive I have no reasons to disbelieve them: First they did not lure me into buying expensive replacement parts. Second they will carefully recycle the component parts. So this sad blog comes to you via my cheap and slow and simple Gateway Notebook.   And I'll have to wander around various stores  on  Thursday 3rd as I search for an inexpensive replacement for my dead HP desktop.  It will most likely be a laptop, HUGSPOVE

I did not need to use my horseless carriage/motor car/automobile today. I did not need to shop. I did not need to go anywhere. The "big ole beast" enjoyed a day off, resting in the car port. My dog and I had a few nice walks, even in the 92f heat. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- My "neighbour with all the problems" fell down today. She could not get up . She called the Visiting Nurses office to report her plight. Someone in that office called 911 to get some EMT's to her home. A staff person in  that office also called me, in the (vain) hope that I held a key to her home.   I did not. The EMT's arrived but were unable to open my neighbour's front door. So I contacted our Condo. Assoc. Office,  from which our (very part time) administrator drove up with a key, to enable egress for the EMT's. If she had not been at work I would have had to track down one of the Condo. Assoc Board membe...

My first experience of a tropical storm in SRQ was T.S. Debby back in June 2012.  At that time I wrote words to this effect “if a tropical storm can be this dangerous I will be fearful should we be hit by a hurricane”. Tropical storm Andrea arrived, stayed, and left SRQ yesterday. She was not as tough as was Debby. So far as I know the heavy rains started in SRQ at about 3:00 a.m.  – for that was the time I was awakened. By 7:00 a.m. there was a brief respite from the heavy rain – enough to take my dog Penne for a successful “poop walk”.   The lull in the storm lasted through 7:30 a.m. enabling me to get gas/petrol at the local “Dodge” store, and to stock up on some supplies at SRQ’s “Trader Joes” store. I wanted to get some bottled water at Trader Joes  - “just in case”.   But I was shocked to note that T.J’s bottled water is imported from Fiji and from New Zealand.   That involves a very horrendous “carbon footprint”.  I...

So, after a second report on my central air/con unit I decided to cough up and replace it. There was a lot of corrosion on the coil, and around the electrical switches, and some loss of cold air. The unit may well have been good for another six, eight, or twelve months but I decided that discretion was the better part of value. Therefore it was (in my judgement) wiser to replace the unit now than to risk its failure in mid-summer. The cost made me say “ouch”, but then I remembered that I have some savings which are set aside precisely for such an event. Better to use these savings now than to shell out more in the future. The local Air Con company which I use sweetened the deal by adding an ultra-violet light (to prevent mould) at no extra cost (saving me $400+ – or so they say!), and by giving me a voucher for one year of free maintenance. The guys: Gerry and Chris arrived at 8:30 a.m.  They finished by 1:15.p.m. There was huge excitement in my neighbourh...

For reasons which are beyond my ken the builders of our Glen Oaks Ridge Condo’s decided to place our central air-con and heating units on our flat roofs. (Maybe it made the internal duct work easier to install). My unit is about 11 years old and provides more than adequate cold air in summer and heat (for a few days) in winter.  I have it serviced every three months under contract with a local firm. Today the “service technician” told me that the coil was “impacted beyond repair” and that the unit needed to be replaced (at a cost of $5,300). He took me up onto the roof to view the “damage”, but as far as I was concerned he could have been a brain surgeon explaining some wondrous surgery.  I did not know what I was supposed to be seeing. I agreed to have the unit replaced and gave him a deposit of $500. Then I began to think! 1. His report said that the coil was rusted. 2. He asserted that the system was under strain because of mould and dirt. 3. ...

I have a behavioural habit which frustrates, bothers, and annoys me. It’s this: - whatever I am doing, I am always thinking about the next thing I have to do. For instance:  as I walk my dog in the early morning I often think about what I need to do when we return to my home.  “What I need to do” is rarely urgent or important. Once, when I was driving home from the supermarket I caught myself thinking about the order in which I would I would take my purchases from the bags  and place them in the fridge, the pantry, or the utility room shelves. Sometimes, when I am in Church I am not paying attention to the liturgy or sermon – instead I am figuring out the quickest route back to my home. And, as I am falling asleep I am forever thinking about what I need to do when I awake. None of this is admirable. Nor should it be emulated.

When listening to my local N.P.R. radio station (WUSF) on last Friday or Saturday I heard the words of an apparently very nice and sincere woman in Tampa, FL. In the face of Tropical Storm Isaac she said that “she was praying that it would not hit Tampa, and that she was keeping her fingers crossed ." I heard this as an odd juxtaposition of words. Viz: (A) Believers pray. (B) Non-believers (superstition-prone folks) keep their fingers crossed. I am not sure that it matters either way. Tropical Storms and Hurricanes have a “mind of their own”, unyielding to all manner of prayers or superstitions. So, how do I, as a believer, pray in the face of Tropical Storms and Hurricanes? 1. I do not pray that my locality will be spared.That would be a selfish prayer, for if the storm avoids my home it will most certainly bring devastation to other areas. 2. I can pray that my loved ones will be kept safe.  That is a natural prayer in the face of any and all imminent tra...