Posts by Chuck Curtis
Tonight the parts arrived from Nautos – USA for the boom vang. I took a few minutes to install the hardware tonight after work. The mast looks like it has a connection for the vang from before. The only part that doesn’t fit quite right is the curved key to fit in the boom. It is a little too large for the existing setup. I’ll keep looking for a slightly smaller key to replace it with (they are cheap). I got the rope as a remnant at Defender Marine over the weekend.
I think having ADHD impacts how one remembers things. I tend to have a fuzzy recollection of childhood events. I certainly can’t go back though the past years and picture my life as a continual timeline. Memories are more of a set of snapshots, but with only a week sense of order. It is like a stack of pictures that someone dropped. The pictures aren’t all in order. Some of them may be adjacent to the proper pictures, but for the most part the order of the pictures must be deduced by the content in them. I’m not sure if this is how it is for everyone, and maybe it is this way to some extent for most people.
I periodically talk about memories with the boys (e.g. what do they remember from last year, or two years). I think Will’s memories are more like mine. Ben seems to have a much better memory for things that happened. Will has to be reminded a bit, and then the pictures come back. He told me that his memories are a little foggy. Maybe this is where a journal or blog will help. It gives us a book to go back to keep the pictures in order. I’ve suggested to Will that he think of his blog as a way to remember what happened, and he seems to be happier writing in his blog with that perspective.
I haven’t posted in a while. It isn’t that life is slow, and I don’t have much to write about. Just the opposite; things have been very busy this month. And I haven’t set aside time to write. I should be more consistent with my writing, I think a journal helps me focus. But of course, I think it is okay to take a break from writing as well.
My last post did get some attention. I got a comment was very angry about what I wrote about the photography company. And then a comment about 30 minutes later telling me how much I must hate this country if I don’t support the freedom of speech and post her comments. I love how the Internet can allow people to think that they have the right to be confrontational in a way that one would (hopefully) not be in person. Anyway, this is my blog. I pay for the website hosting and domain name. I am free to accept or reject any comments that I want to. I will continue to delete comments that are a waste of time.
Anyway, as I said earlier, this has been a very busy month. I had to go on travel for 10 days in the middle of the month for work. A trip to the Bahamas. Yeah, work can be tough. Of course the trip didn’t quite work out as planned. Submarines were delayed; my ride plan changed. I wound up being stuck on the base for 5 days with little to do most of the days.
The boys have been here for (what seems) is the majority of the time I haven’t been away this month. The house is much more alive when the boys are here; they days go by fast, and I am tired at night.
I have made some progress on my projects. I am in the process of building a floor in the garage for the wedding reception this summer. Ben helped me install the port lifelines on the sailboat. I’ll get to the starboard ones before we put the boat in the water later this month. Susanna started working again at Michael’s Dairy in New London and has had to work most evenings this week. I have also started the garden and had to mow the lawn several times this month.
I think tonight will be a night to go to bed early and catch up on sleep.
Today the boys brought home school portraits. The only problem is that we didn’t ask or pay for spring school pictures. Nor did we get notification of a second picture day for the boys. Their school photographs are taken in the fall, and we ordered (and paid for) pictures in the fall.
This time a pack of pictures came from the school (or rather, Lifetouch School Portraits) telling us to send a check for the pictures we want and return the rest. According to Connecticut state statute, Chapter 739, section 42-126b:
Unsolicited sending of goods. Cancellation of trial offers and introductory rate offers. Automatic renewals. Unfair trade practices. (a) No person, firm, partnership, association or corporation, or agent or employee thereof, shall, in any manner, or by any means, offer for sale goods, wares or merchandise, where the offer includes the voluntary and unsolicited sending of goods, wares or merchandise not actually ordered or requested by the recipient, either orally or in writing. The receipt of any such unsolicited goods, wares or merchandise shall for all purposes be deemed an unconditional gift to the recipient who may use or dispose of the same in any manner such recipient sees fit without any obligation on such recipient’s part to the sender.
I read that as meaning that the pictures are a gift to me. The thing that really gets me spun up is the thought that a bunch of parents will feel obligated to send money. So, I am keeping the pictures. If they send me a bill I will send a copy of the bill and the notification to the Attorney General’s office.
In addition I sent an email to the principle of the boy’s school complaining about Lifetouch. Hopefully we can get some other photographer to do school portraits. Maybe a bunch of other parents around here will keep the portraits and complain to their schools about the deceptive business practices made by Lifetouch Portrait Studios.
I’m happy to pay someone for services or a product that I want. But I cannot stand when someone sends me something unsolicited and expects me to either pay for it or take the time to send it back. I received a woodworking DVD that way several years ago. Needless to say, I didn’t return it or pay for it, and I will never do business with that company.
Now, time to stop being pissed off and try to appreciate the unsolicited gift I received today.