Ramblin' RET: October 2019

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Graced Tech Support

Once again, Our Lady of Charity worked a miracle of tech support for me. Thank you!

Last Sunday, I turned on my computer to only discover that I could not log in because my mouse and keyboard did not work. I tried all kinds of things (including the essential <CTRL-ALT-DEL>) such as using a different mouse and safe mode start up. When I searched for answers using the internet on my phone, my heart sank because no quick clean simple answers were shown. Instead, lots of BIOS changes, and other such techno approaches.

After many anguishing minutes of futile attempts, I shut down the computer, unplugged it and turned it over to Our Lady of Charity I asked for her miraculous intercession to restore functionality to my old computer. For extra protection, I placed an Our Lady of Charity prayer card on top of the computer.

Yesterday, almost a week later, I said a prayer, plugged in the power cord, and started it up and held my breathe. And now the proof of the miracle is that here I am, with the computer working, documenting that everything is back, functioning correctly.

"Oh Holy Virgin of Miracles, No one can explain all the miracles and fortitude you give to the souls that come to you. We, your children, thank you for all your graces. Amen."

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Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Charity

http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2018/11/divine-tech-support.html

https://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/our-lady-of-charity.html

https://discountcatholicstore.com/products/prayer-to-our-lady-of-charity-prayer-card
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Written Sunday 27 October 2019.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

A New Truck For Richard

Our son, Richard, returned to his terminal in Syracuse, NY over the weekend, to get a new (different) truck. When he returned from his "Birthday Break" in September, he was given an International Harvester (IH) LT 2020. However, he was uneasy about the safety of driving it, particularly due to the engine brake. For the several weeks that he had the truck, there was a random beeping sound like the chirp of a smoke detector when the battery is getting low. However, no one could figure out what was causing this, even IH technicians. And it was happening on other trucks too.

Since he was comfortable driving a Freightliner truck previously, he requested for another truck, and preferably a Freightliner. When he finally got back to his "home" terminal, a Freightliner was waiting for him. (Richard reports that the replacement truck feels and handles much better and he feels safer).

So Lynn and I drove over to Syracuse to take advantage of an opportunity to see our son. The previous driver was obviously a smoker, so the inside of the cab had to be wiped clean using Lysol wipes.

I am standing to the side of Richard's new Freightliner truck.

One of the high points of our visit with Richard was the unexpected treat of meeting his (driving) mentor, John. He looked a lot different than we had imagined but in a good way.

Me and Richard (in the terminal).

During our few hours in the Syracuse area, we had once of the worst dining experiences in a long time. We decided to return to a nearby Chili's (in DeWitt) where we had two previous tolerable meals. However, this time we waited over an hour without receiving our food. We noticed also that none of the tables around us had food. One nearby table had received their order but sent it back due to errors. When we asked about estimated time for our order to arrive, we were told they had no idea. That's when we decided to follow the example of a few others. So we cancelled our order and left. We ended up down the street for a quick bite at a Five Guys Burger joint.

While it was a long day, we were happy to see our son again and know that he now had a truck he felt safer with.

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Links:
https://www.internationaltrucks.com/trucks/lt-series
https://www.jacobsvehiclesystems.com/parts-service-support/how-an-engine-brake-works
https://freightliner.com/
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Written Sunday 27 October 2019.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Tom Swift and His Jetmarine

Cover of my copy.

Just finished the #2 book of The New Tom Swift Jr Adventures series, Tom Swift and His Jetmarine. I read book #1 a few years ago but wanted to read them in order.

The Tom Swift Jr. series is a juvenile sci-fi series that began in the late 1950 and was produced by the same organization and same publishers of Nancy Drew.

Frontispiece for TOM SWIFT and His Jetmarine.

The book was first published in 1954 and the author is attributed to Victor Appleton II; illustrations are credited to Graham Kaye. The joke is that the author of the original Tom Swift series (i.e., the father of Tom Swift Jr.) was Victor Appleton.

This book has 25 chapters spread out over 208 pages. Based on the yellow spine, my copy was probably printed after 1962. Twelve illustrations are included.

This is the inside story version of the cover illustration.

All the books in the series use a similar approach to telling the story. Something or someone is missing and Tom Swift Jr. and friends solve the mystery via a variety of encounters along the way. In the Nancy Drew series, they were able to reduce the number of chapters to 20 by eliminating some episodes.

I read these books right before bed. Because of the cliffhanger approach to the chapters, I often end up reading 2 or 3 chapters in order to get to a logical stopping point.

The summary of the book:

The atom-powered, two-man submarine is launched just in time for Tom and his pal Bud to set out to rescue Tom's father, who has fallen into the hands of the pirates. The wily enemy pulls no punches in trying to wreck the amazing Jetmarine that outspeeds any sub and is able to plunge miles to the ocean floor. Breathtaking running battles through hurricanes and gunfire, thrilling struggles with undersea monsters, imprisonment and escape from the pirate stronghold are part of the excitement.

These are fun books because they are innocent and exciting. Despite all the twists and turns, you know that the Good Guys will win in the end.

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