Chapbook

[sasha]

Not while my account's frozen......

More & more I'm finding mass-produced software violating at least two key principles of engineering: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) & "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Microsoft Word is one of the worst offenders - in trying to do everything for everybody, it's become so unwieldy that it serves no one especially well. Sure, it can do almost anything you'd ever ask of a word processor - as long as you're willing to dig through menus within menus across tab after tab, hunting for ways to turn off annoying features like automatically capitalizing any letter immediately following a period, or assuming you're listing bullet items just because you've typed an asterisk. God, I hate that program. I usually compose in Notepad, and even that's been infected with the "fancier is always better" pathogen.

It can't be a coincidence that open-source software is usually far more usable than the bloated crap profit-driven tech companies shit out. I've been using Audacity & IrfanView for years, & while they can be a bit quirky, they're nearly as powerful as their elephantine commercial counterparts, and a whole lot easier to use.

I don't want to waste time relearning how to use my tools after every release - I just want to USE them..........

[mnaz]

Parts of this sound like it was some sort of "phishing" scam. But ... probably not, I suppose. I've become super paranoid in recent years about electronic money transfers--but I guess that's just a phobia of mine.

[sasha]

It's not just you. I'm not willing to put my trust in any kind of payment vehicle I don't really understand. And turning off all of my mother's autopays is an exercise in bureaucracy I don't care to repeat or pass along to my survivors. The only automatic payments I have are for my Medicare supplemental, and then only because I had no choice. (I do pay $10/mo to what used to be public radio, but that goes against my charge card, not directly out of my bank account.) Everything else - utilities, casualty insurance, charge cards, charities - I pay by check. Charmingly old school, I suppose, but at least I know what comes in & what goes out, and have some control over the latter.

I was told that something about my application may have triggered PayPal's fraud detection. Sure would like to know what, but not enough to spend a morning on the telephone fighting my rage hormones, not for a lousy $60. Besides, my latest grocery tab of $90 was offset by a $150 reimbursement for a procedure ultimately covered by Medicare. I'm calling it breaking even.

[saw]

In my dealings with A I conversations I've learned that it's not progrmammed for obsurdity.....and have had good luck jamming the gears and getting this response...."hold on I'm going to get a human"......seriously......might as well have some fun in their bizarro world

Dealing with Allstate was a nightmare because of things missed in their artificial world of collecting data....it took 27 days for them to deem the other driver was 100 % responsible for creaming my car....keep in mind I was in my house at the time....and another week on top of that to determine he was uninsured....Guess what ?...they blamed the computer !

all of the sudden some supervisor must have been reading the scores of meaassges I sent, and they jumped into gear....things like, " So this is what you get for being a customer for 50 years ?".....so they came out to tow the car, and are offering me a rental...and getiing the Good Hands garage ( top of the line )....and sending me a greeting card in the mail telling me how much they appreciate my loyalty....All of ths great service 35 days after the collision.....I also mentioned in commenting that Geico fixed my daughter-in-law's car ( also hit when mine was ) in 2 and a half weeks....

I'm a huge beleiver in documentation.....I learned this lesson as a shop steward for 20 years.....especially when dealing with a federal arbitrator.....management was smug and sloppy....All I had to do was slap down my careful documentation and the the case was settled in my favor.....every time

As with my medical situation, documentation in black and white will take you a long way....and I never answer their surveys that they immediately send out ( while possibly you might be satisfied ).....because if something changes for the worse, they have a record of you giving them a big thumbs up

what a world we have to navigate....and if you're 77, the sharks are circling the raft

[sasha]

you are the Jim Bridger of this century......a pathfinder extraordinaire....with a gift for writing about your adventures

always enjoy your chapbook entries, despite my negligence in commenting at times.....I'm easily distracted and a bit lazy

but once I too was an explorer before the big C slowed my roll....but i can live vicariously here in the your pages of hikes

...apologies for not responding to this comment about one of my posts on the preceding page, the one just before the rant about my PayPal fiasco. I guess I was still so angry I just skipped over your reply without even seeing it.

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ChatGPT, an idiot-savant. I use it occasionally when I get stuck knowing that the perfect word exists to describe something, and knowing that I know it but just can't get my fingers around it. Sometimes it helps, sometimes not, but often the act of articulating my replies to its responses will jar it loose, or even remind me of a better one.

"Sharks circling the raft", I like that. The sharks, not so much.