what? i can't afford that!

I hear this all the time.

What does it really mean?

Personally, on one plane of existence, I cannot afford anything.

I have no substantial amount of real money. 

My house is mortgaged. My truck is financed through next year. I buy much through credit cards and carry the balance forward, for months and years. My bank account is not overflowing by any means.

Really, I own nothing and most all I purchase is beholden to various financial institutions and creditors.

So, I cannot afford anything.

Or can I?

Of course, groceries, consumables, clothing, treats that make life simpler and/or more enjoyable are purchased/acquired at regular intervals. My fridges, freezers, pantry, cold room, and cupboards are stocked. My closet and dressing stand are full. I have more than one pair of footwear. I have jackets and coats for all kinds of weather and occasions. I have two western hats. I have a boatload of camping and outdoor gear and continually acquire more.

Ah, I continually acquire more stuff for the bush. Do I need it? Maybe not. Yet, how do I buy it if I have no money of my own?

Well, I chose what to acquire and purchase through my credit and meagre earnings.

I choose what I can afford.

This past spring, I "needed" a new mobile phone, and, I got one. Being a cheapskate, I decided I could not afford the cost of one though, but I decided it needed to be replaced. Luckily it cost me almost nothing. Otherwise, I would still be losing my mind with the last one. In the end I could "afford" it.

Of course, we need to eat and clothe ourselves. So, we choose to afford that. Do I buy filet mignon? No, I cannot afford that. I buy the ones that have discount stickers on them. It often costs less than $4.00/lb ($8.82/kg). That, is now a very good price for any cut of meat or poultry. I remember not too long ago when I would never pay that. More than $1.00/lb for chicken was outrageous, $2.00/lb for pork ridiculous. I was buying "good" steaks for less than $4.00/lb.

My/our perceptions of affordability change. Often out of necessity.

Yet, when someone says I cannot pay someone X to do Y, but I can afford X-Z, who are we kidding? You may have an iPhone 7 that cost $900. Did you really need to get that phone? You can buy a mobile phone for as little as $40.

The wife and I choose to afford to have the boy in Scouts. I can teach him everything the Scout program has to offer myself, without fees, dues, etc. 

We choose to afford the boy's Medieval Martial Arts training. We could just have him beat the crap out of stuff out back with toy lightsabers and sticks, but obviously with far less skill.

We choose to afford the boy's swimming lessons, even though he already knows enough not to drown.

We choose not to afford to pay someone to clean our home. We clean it ourselves, albeit far too infrequently, instead of nickeling-and-diming someone over the cost.

If we feel we need to purchase something that we cannot afford, we take steps to afford it. Like not buying a $900 phone in order to afford to repair a broken down stove. We choose not to buy luxury food items so we can afford food that is more nutritious and more plentiful.

Of course there are people who cannot truly afford much. Many struggle to pay their mortgage or rent, utilities, enough groceries for themselves and their families. These souls generally are very good with their money and any hiccough in their lives can put them in a financial tailspin. Sadly, many people do not understand that there are those that have lives where they must choose to put food on the table or clothe their children at the sacrifice to replace their own worn out life necessaries.

I have known several people with such a financial situation. I myself have had periods in my life where I needed to decide how I was going to pay for a necessity and what would be sacrificed. No, I never had it so bad that I could not buy groceries or had to wear shoes that were well past their serviceable lifespan or freeze in winter for want of a coat, but I have an inkling of what it can be like to make those so very hard choices of what to go without in order to not be evicted or be able to eat for one more week.

So, next time you say you cannot afford those lessons for your kid while you are checking your facebook account on your $900 phone, or you are looking at vacation packages and wishing you could afford the private cabana instead of the regular room, shake your head and think about it. There are people not thinking about what to have for lunch, but if they can truly buy any groceries in order to have a PBJ sandwich.

The question is not: "What did you have for lunch today?", but "Can you have lunch today?" blbbl

hug a bully

I was working on something else entirely. In fact, it is mostly done. However, you do not get to read it today. Maybe tomorrow.

I have decided to say something instead. Take it or trash it. Your choice.

Bullies come in all forms, shapes, and sizes. The worst kind in the adult world are probably bullies of words.

They can be very hard to recognise. They probably get away with bullying far more often than physical and psychological bullies.

They are the ones who speak or write in a lofty manner. It is not uncommon for them to use these words incorrectly. They will also pick apart those they perceive as a threat or in opposition to them.

Often, they are fighting their very allies.Yet, they cannot really have allies, because bullies want to be on top by themselves.

They will use a typo as a means to belittle you.

They will deny the truth of their own statements when they are quoted by others if they think it dismantles their dominance.

They will privately contact you and tell you how wrong and horrible you are. Often in an abnormally aggressive, rude, and demeaning manner. Then, they will state in front of everyone how you misunderstood what they said or wrote and condescendingly explain your inferior thinking.

On the surface, it appears there is no point confronting such contradictory, contrarian, circular people. They constantly shift their stance, they usually pick few targets. Usually, someone will let themselves get sucked in, thinking they are entering a friendly discourse. They will fall for the trap over and over and over. Eventually, these victims look like fools, blowhards, and jerks. It would be easier just to let the bully blather on and congratulate their own brilliance without ever entering the discussion.

These victims often can lose whatever positive outlook they have. Here the bully of words wins. However, sadly, the bullies are the real losers. They can only feel good about themselves and their ideals at the expense of others through misrepresentation, guile, deceit, and the twisting of words, their own and that of others.

They often destroy the very thing they are trying to control.

How did they become that way? How do you stop them?

I am no research scientist, nor do I play one on television, but maybe, just maybe, they just were not hugged enough by their moms.

So, hug a bully. At best they may lighten up and not be such dicks. At worst they may try to deck you. (Probably not though as they pick on others not with fists but words.) Most likely, you will just confuse the hell out of them and they will think you are crazy and should not mess with you.

Whatever works I guess. I will have to put on my hugging shirt really soon..... blbbl

canadian tire fixes it right - almost

So, last night while the wife was on the phone with a friend I was tooling around on the interweb. I came across a handheld rangefinder at Canadian Tire. (I will not link to their website as it is awfully slow at times and may lockup or crash your computer, seriously. Look it up on your own if you feel the need.)

I was not even looking for a rangefinder. Regardless, I found a Halo brand rangefinder that is normally $250 on clearance for 50 bones. I have wanted a rangefinder for a long time. My eye was on one that Bass Pro sold exclusively as it had 8x magnification and red illumination, blah, blah, blah. However, I gave up on Bass Pro when they thought I was going to stand in line for an hour or two to wait my turn to give them my money. You see, optics, most of which are locked up in their store, have to be perused through the gunshop. Well, there were an awful lot of people lined up thinking they were getting deals and waiting their turn to give their money to them. Not me, I said bite me and left.

So, when I accidentally found this one, I was surprised, especially the price. The wife said to go for it. I ordered it through my Canadian Tire app on my phone, which is moderately better than their website. I woke up this morning to an email from "Crappy Tire" telling me I cancelled my order. I do not normally online shop in my sleep so I was surprised that I somehow did this during my slumber-time. I figured there were some shenanigans going on. I went online and saw the one unit at my selected store, that I thought I bought the night before, was still for sale. 

I proceeded to buy it again. Their website was doing their frequent lagging. It was taking a ridiculous amount of time to load through the various pages of my re-purchase. Then! It! Happened! BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!!!!!

Are you frikin' kidding me?!?!?!? Canuck Pnue just crashed my computer. I went to my tablet to try to carry on. Nope. Could no longer click in to the item. I! WAS! LOSING! IT!! I figured I was doomed. That by the time my system restarted and I got back to the item I would be just as boned as on the tablet.

Oh, what was going on? I reloaded all the crashed Chrome pages and I was still at the check out. I completed it, somewhat excruciatingly. I bought it again. I got a confirmation email, printed the order information and called the customer support line to confirm my purchase.

They contacted the store directly to confirm the item was in stock. Apparently, it was not. It was a stock count error. In the meantime, I allegedly cancelled my order again. This was absolutely not on. I explained how this was unacceptable. How, such a large company as Canadian Tire, could be so inefficient. Sure stock count errors occur, but why send a message that says thy buyer cancelled the purchase, each time? Why not be honest and say the product cannot be found? Why not offer to contact the customer and offer a reasonable alternative? Why not want to try to keep my business?

Anyway, lots of answers to my questions. None that were very satisfactory. Oh, and while on the phone with Customer Service, I checked the website after the second cancellation. The rangefinder was relisted, again. It still is. Apparently, it cannot be removed until Monday. Really, they are a seven & twenty-four operation through their website sales component. Therefore, they should be supporting their services properly as well as their customers. That rangefinder should not have been able to get to a super price reduction and purchasable online, if the product is missing.

Oh, you may not realise how The Tire operates their website. You need to pick a store and then it shows the products that store has. Some, regularly carried items and flyer items will show up if your store does not have it and give you the opportunity to select other stores to purchase items. However, many items, like this rangefinder will not show up if your selected store does not have the item. It is all very confusing actually. I have often been unable to find items that I know Croatian Tire sells, due to their confusing and poor website and their protocols.

Wow, I feel like I have been writing this for days. That is how exiting this really is.

So, anyway the customer service representative, who was very nice, but limited in power and ability to fix my woes, did end up offering to send me a $25 gift card if I bought another rangefinder that was on sale. It is basically the same model, but a more recent version, $10 more at regular price than the first one ($260), but only on sale for $180. So, I basically said, big deal, $25 off, so I pay $155 for a rangefinder I should be getting for $50.

She offered to pass me on to her supervisor. I asked if her supervisor could do better. She said no. I said it was unfortunate that this could not be fixed properly. They could not source the first rangefinder from another store as they told me they could not search the national stock count. I find that dubious and very odd if that is really the case. They cannot sell me a comparable rangefinder for a comparable price. Most businesses will do as much as reasonably possible to satisfy their customers.

Canadian Tire Corporation, at this point in my pursuit for a product they offered to sell me, appeared not to want or care to do that. I mentioned I was going to write about this unfortunate result. She was a little put out. She was shocked that I was going to put it on television and call the media. Wow! Okay? Not where I was going, I said so as well. I said I was just going to write about what happened and that I hoped that it would spread around. To be honest, I have no need to say anything. Many people I know and meet, including in Canadian Tire retail locations, are very unhappy with CTC. Why, because like a lot of companies, they do not understand or care about their customers. Thereby they fix no problems of their own making, expecting that every customer lost is easily replaced. That can be true sometimes, but eventually the only people who are not your customers are the ones you have alienated and pissed off. so, when you keep losing customers, how do you get new ones? Hope to ride out an entire generation and get their kids when they become mainstream consumers? Good luck with your "who gives a crap about our customers, there are always more" business model.

Then, she offered to pass me on to her supervisor again, obviously misunderstanding my intent to post about this. After several minutes on hold, we covered most of all that I went through already with the first Rep. Then she offered me a $100 gift card if I buy the $180 rangefinder. I figure that will be the best deal I will see in a long time for a rangefinder. I mention that they only have one listed on the website for that store. So, she even calls the store to make sure there is one in stock and it is waiting for me.

I find that amazing because I have never heard of a Canadian Tire in a "big" city ever hold an item for a customer. Small town Canuck Pnues, yup, they sure do, like the one in Kemptville. They will even book appointments in their garage, unlike the ones in the cities. Those big city guys know that there are enough people who will limp in to their garage with urgent repairs, why waste energy booking and helping customers who plan ahead?

So, I agree, but ask how this exactly works. Well, I go to the store, I buy the rangefinder, I get home and call Customer Service back and they take relevant information from the receipt and they send me the $100 gift card. Not necessarily ideal as I have to spend the $100 they are "giving" me at their stores, but with the points I should get today, I should be able to get that sleeping bag I am saving for to complete my three-season sleep system. Plus, the fact that the wife wants a four foot tall light up moose they sell for an outdoor Christmas decoration, that gift card is good and spent already.

So, I do all that and when I call to get the gift card expedited to my mailbox, the guy I get on the phone starts telling me about faxing in the receipt and blah, blah, blah. I interrupt and tell him that that is a huge pain in the ass. Surely, there must be a better way? After all, why tell me to call? Why not tell me originally to fax it in? Really? Fax? I should at least be able to take a picture of it and email it. No?

So, this guy puts me on hold and after a few minutes, he asks me to read off some information off the receipt. Yay! Something appears to be sinking in over there. He tells me it will take about two weeks for me to get the gift certificate. If I do not get in in two weeks to call them, just in case. Well, that inspires confidence!?

Ha, ha, I was just trying to look at that sleeping bag I want. It is on sale and I wanted to see for how long; it does not say, so probably only one week. Just about had a double-barrelled stroke form the chrushingly slow website that also was locking up my attempts post. I thought I was going to lose what I typed.

So, even though CTC seems to have placated me as a customer, they did not do all that of a very good job at it really. They also need to train their staff better and improve their software. They need to act like a quality online company too if they want to promote themselves as one. If not, with all these growing failings, they will go the way of Sears Canada. Anybody can come crashing down. They are certainly promoting themselves as a prime candidate for selection.

Gee, I hope I get that gift card quickly. I would not want to be stuck with it and unable to spend it when they are out of business. That would suck for me. blbbl

found a nut grove

Well, I did not really find it. It has been there for some time and is well known. It is at Baxter Conservation Area. I have finally seen it as I have never been able to get to it over my various visits there. It is not hard to get to by any means, but something ridiculous always seems to happen when I am there. Even today, but not enough to prevent me from getting to it.

Several other Scouters and myself went to check out the area for a camp we are planning at the end of November there. There has been some flooding from more massive rainfalls like as happened in the summer. Fortunately, we did not flood this time, but more rain is on the way. So, who knows. My galoshes are standing by.

There is a great variety of nut trees though to admire. I collected two small deadfall branches from a Honey Locust. They have quite large thorns on them. I am going to attempt to make needles or small awls out of them, maybe even fishhooks. Some research is required, but one of the parents of a Scout is quite knowledgeable in these types of non-standard matters. Hopefully, he can point me in the right direction.

Sadly, there are no nuts to be found this time of year, the various critters about have stripped everything. However, now knowing how easy it is to get to, I will note it as a place to visit and hike in more often. I will need to find out if any kind of harvesting is allowed. Probably not, but there should be someone who works there that can possibly point me in the right direction to plant a couple of nut trees in my back forty.

It blows that there is a fee to park there though. I am not so much against it as the fees apparently go to maintaining the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority's (RVCA) properties and programs, but I am a cheapskate. Anyway, I know how to hike through without having to use their parking lot. Something I will investigate further on my own.

The area has a great rustic charm to it. Yet, the trails, when not flooded, are hardpack gravel or boardwalks over various permanent water obstacles. If you have a chance to check it out, parking is only $6.00 or $45.00 for the year. You can even pay through your phone! The beauty of the annual pass is that it covers five Conservation Areas the RVCA manages that have paid parking, six do not.

The other CAs I have been to are all quite nice in, again, a rustic way. Who knows, maybe I will pony up the forty-five bones. It can make things easier on me. At least I will not have a guy berating our party for over forty-five minutes as once happened when we took the Beaver Scouts from my old Group there for a hike. It was the main reason I never got to the nut grove on that visit. A reliable source told me that that goon is no longer at Baxter. Thank goodness, he drove me nuts! blbbl

raiders of the found candy

For the last three days I have been largely living off of halloween candy. Yup, empty sugary calories. No, it is not from the boy's haul or what is leftover from our giving pile. Incidentally, six kids came to our door. That is correct, a measly six kids. So, a lot is left over. But, other than some Pringles, I have not touched any of it.

However, my source is other people's stashes. No, not kids. What other adults (am I an adult?, some think not) have put away post-pumpkin. I have a nose for finding the forbidden stash.

Honestly, do you think putting it in a cupboard or pantry is going to keep anyone from finding it? No, the hall closet does not work either; it is often the most obvious choice. (Depending on the type of house of course.)

I started the week quite tired, not exhausted, but no more than two or three rungs down. Then, Wednesday, All Saints' Day, it happened. Easy refuelling. 

Fortunately, it is high octane. Sadly, it is fast burning. Multiple pit-stops are required. At one point today, I must have been in the sack of goodies for five minutes when I realised I was not making enough noise to be assumed (presumed?) to be busy. I set something to run automatically for my cover and went on for a couple of more visits to sugar mountain.

I got so good at acquiring sweets that I had my pockets full when I got home today. I got a bunch of Haribo Gummy Bears, Swedish Fish, Caramilk, and the best (at least for me) Wunderbar. (I always loved the viking commercials for this chocolate. Is that Lee Van Cleef with the moustache?) Oh, and a Jersey Milk, still good, but no Bar Six!

Anyway, so many sweets. I thought I would eventually crash like on the Mod Squad. Good news though. The wife brought sushi home for dinner. It was fantastic. She got it from a place called Hockey Sushi. A while back, we thought they went out of business. They actually had a fire which shut the joint down, but to their credit, they rebuilt in the same spot. We called them for months as the number was still working; we liked it that much. Tonight, she actually got them to make something off an old menu, which is no longer offered, for the boy. That item was superb. The wasabi was super potent too. My sinuses are clear and free like nobody's business.

Maybe the candy spell is broken? I doubt I will find any bits next week. These other adults have a whole weekend to dispose of the booster packs. I guess it is back to dried apricots and figs. Better for my svelte figure anyway! blbbl

three-hundred posts, egads! - or - i am more eccentric than ever, egads!!

Three-hundred blooming posts. Wow! I have veered away a bit of how I wanted the rooster to evolve, but not so much that the train is on another track completely. Maybe sitting on a siding at the station or just taking an alternate route with the same destination.

In the meantime, I am becoming more eccentric. Starting with my appearance. Somewhat ahead of schedule, but I am happy with my mild lunacy. So, maybe the destination is the asylum?

I have just very recently taken to wearing scarves with colour. I am still wearing my western hats. However, I am looking for a new type of headdress. Something closer to a skullcap, but with style. I have always like the taqiyah, but I do not want to be accused of cultural appropriation.

two of the scarves entwined over my trucker's jacket

i have a third scarf that is mainly brown and sand

I have been tooling around looking at Polish historical and folk clothing. The area where my mother was from, the men wore/wear straw hats. Not interested. Where my father was from, is an entirely different issue. I can find nothing. Probably partly due to the fact that where he was born in Poland in 1932, became part of the Soviet Union in 1945. More specifically, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. It still remains in modern Ukraine. That, and the fact that virtually every Pole in that region was sent to Siberia by Comrade Stalin during the Second World War and many died as a result. Of those that did not, most, possibly all, never returned. The Soviets being what they were, I am sure very few historical records remain, particularly of the local Polish culture. Anyway, I have yet to find any information along those lines.

So, knowing a bit about my genetic makeup, at least speculatively after having had several indepth conversations and superficial "examinations" with a anthropologist (with a dash of ethnic/genetic studies), I have some Tatar in my bloodline (well at least Mongol, but he was more certain it was Tatar). Something I suspected independently for quite some time. Which to me is cool. So, I am going with that.

To that end, I think I want to get a tubetei (aka tubeteika, qalpoq, doppa). I like the look and there is obviously some room for variation. I just need to find where I can get one.

a crimean tatar tubetei (courtesy Petar Milošević)

That all being said, I am veering to wearing browns and tans and khakis and the like. One day the family was going out somewhere and the wife looked at me and asked if I had fallen out of the tan denim tree? I was wearing faded brown denim pants, my sand coloured Levi's trucker's jacket, a mostly brown/tan plaid shirt, my brown felt western hat, and my brown Doc Martens shoe-boots. So, when I finally do find a source for my doppa, it will be in the brown range of colours, like the one above maybe.

So, my Texas Sesquicentennial belt buckle (I love that thing) has been part of my daily dress for a long time. Obviously, it will just add to the eccentricity anyway, so it stays.

the belt buckle on a pair of wrangler rigger pants in an olive/khaki colour

As you can see, I am well on my way to being one of the guys no one wants to be stuck with on a "let's get to know each other team building exercise" that they always do at training sessions. That works for me. The qalpoq is what is really going to tie it in though. That and some kind of satchel or old-timey pack. I have a leather Swiss medic bag (fully stocked) from the 1960's, but not sure if that works.

the swiss medic bag

whatcha think?

You are probably thinking: This guy is not eccentric, these are just affectations. You have read other posts here on the rooster, right?  The ensemble is just the physical manifestation of the mania. I cannot always talk to myself as a form of warning to passing strangers, now can I?

Still do not believe me do you? Well, one of my retirement plans is to keep a bucket of walnuts (in their husks), and perhaps old vegetables and fruits, sit on my porch and chuck them at all the assclowns who keep driving through the stop sign on my street without even trying to pretend they are stopping. You know those knobs. Maybe you are one of them, if so, stay off my street when I am retired. I also plan to chuck them at kids who wear pants that are far too large and show off their underwear. Really? You look soooo stupid. At least if they are still around by then. If not, then I will just chuck stuff at the smartasses. blbbl

the bucket

i may need a bigger one?

on the bus - off the bus

On the bus - off the bus is a term I learnt in the Canadian Army.

When I came across it, it basically meant no matter what you have been told, ultimately expect to be told something else completely.

A more extreme version is when no one knows what is going on, no one is going to find out what is going on, no one is going to admit they do not know what is going on, they are just going to make you do ridiculous stuff until someone tells them what to do with you.

Once, while in the Army, my platoon was actually ordered on to a bus, only to be ordered off the bus a few minutes later. I laughed my ass off. No one else did, but we were all pretty exhausted and I was going through severe insomnia at the time. So, maybe not so very funny. No. It was really so very funny.

I bring this up, because many pursuits in my life over the the past year, nearly to the date, have been an on the bus - off the bus affair. Today was yet another culmination in the exercise. One of many.

I am very tired, like my bus mates - oh, those many years ago. Personally, I have no time for getting on and off buses any more. In fact, I do not like buses very much.

So, as of today, this is the last time I am getting on a bus, just to be told to get off. No thanks, I will just wait for the next one. Everybody else can futz around and pull their hats. Once I know where the bus is going and that is where I intend to go, then I will get on. If the driver tells me to get off.? Well, it is kind of hard to drive with a size eleven boot up your arse. blbbl