POA and Social Security

My Mother-in-law died January 25.A sad day, indeed. She was about to be 93. Unexpected, nope. Dementia was her commander the last several years of her life. She will be sorely missed by her daughters, sons-in-law, grandchildren and many cousins and friends. She lived a long life, mainly in Wetumpka, AL. About 20 miles north of Montgomery. Wetumpka is another story.

Eula M Dickson's - Gam as we called her - POA was my wife, Mary Ann. Been doin' that for many years. All of Gam's mail was delivered to our mailbox here in the tundra. Gam had two social security numbers. the second was her late husband's number which was used for medicare purposes. Seems that the guvment can do nothing without a social security number.

Now enter the POA and the proof that was required when talking to the bureaucrats was her social security number. When Gam died, Mary Ann called Social Security and tried to tell the lady that her mother had died. Several times during the conversation the lady called my wife Ms. Dickson. The error was immediately corrected, or so Mary Ann thought. After the funeral, Mary Ann headed south to join two close friends in Florida and I headed back to the snowy tundra.

Yesterday a letter addressed to Estate of Mary Peterson arrived at our PO Box. It was dated February 2, 2011. It said 'Medicare told us about the death of Ms. Peterson. Please accept our condolences.' No need to use a speedier service since all who knew Mary Peterson knew that she was in the nether world as of sometime in January, 2011. Everyone in social security, that is. The letter was sent by her Part D insurance carrier

Quite puzzling since I had talked to the supposed deceased, my wife, just the day before on February 7, 2011. So  I called the part D carrier and of course they wanted to talk to Mary. Many hours later wife Mary Ann called to let me know that the person who declared Gam dead also did the same courtesy for Mary, to whom she was speaking. And to think this bureaucrat votes and walks among us. And she is not alone. Probably has already breeded.The picture of that is unimaginable or the outcome of the coitus between this clerk and a male is even more unimaginable.

It will take two to three days before any outcome is known. If I ruled the world you can well imagine what would be the outcome for this clerk. Mark Twain once said 'No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the congress is in session.' Let's expand that to say while we have bureaucrats with room temperature IQ's.

I considered writing to a congressperson but then remembered Mark Twain's quote. So, beware for you too will deal with the unimaginable sooner or later. 

Deployment of VS 2008 With a Setup Project

Developed a program sometime ago to track Brisket, Pulled Pork, Ribs & . . . joints. Thought it was ready to go but it lacked an icon. So I spent the last couple of days trying to not only add an icon but also understanding the Setup Wizard in VS 2008. Thought that I exhausted all possibilities to find the way to deploy my little app by Googling just about every angle. Or so it seemed. 

Here is what I learned:

Open the application that is to be deployed. Next click File, Add, New Project. On the left side of the user interface, open Other Project Types, click on Setup and Deployment. On the right side click Setup Wizard. When Next is clicked the user is presented with four radio buttons. I chose the top, default, choice 'Create a Setup for a Windows Application'.

The next window will present many choices, but the main one to be chosen is 'Primary Output for {project name}'. Click next. Now is the time to add any additional files such as a help file, database, icon or any other file that is needed for the application to be deployed. Once the wizard is completed additional files can be added by right clicking Application Folder on the left panel, Add, File. Find the file. 

Next the icon that has been added to the project needs to be attached. I added two shortcuts with icons, one under 'Users Desktop' and the other in a separate folder under 'User's Programs Menu'. 

Highlight 'User's Desktop' in the left panel. Go to the Properties Window, double click on AlwaysCreate to change the value to True. Next highlight 'User's Program Menu', right click and Add Folder. Name the folder. While the folder is highlighted, go to the Properties Window and change the value for AlwaysCreate.

Highlight 'Application Folder' in the left panel. The files that were added using the wizard appear in the right panel. Highlight and right click 'Primary Output from {project name} (active)' and choose 'Create shortcut . . .'.  Hit Enter. Now is the time to rename the shortcut. No need for a suffix. Just 'Abc Program'.

After renaming the shortcut, go to the properties window and find Icon. On the right side, click on the down arrow, Browse. In the Select Item in Project, Look In, click the down arrow and select Application Folder. Double click on the icon. Click OK. Now, in the right panel of the File System folder, highlight the icon and drag it to the 'Users Desktop' folder.

Next, go through the same process for 'Users Programs Menu'. 

Hope this has helped. If you need to ask questions, click here, fill in the boxes and I'll get back to you.

Smokin'

Been smokin' ribs, chickens, turkeys, briskets and all kinds of meats for several years. Recently I added an indoor cooker/smoker. Smoked/cooked a couple of Cornish hens and some chicken quarters. Used apple chips indoors. The aroma and taste of the poultry is something to behold, er taste. Outstanding!

Many years ago after The Ohio State University and I could not determine what they wanted me to accomplish, I joined the army. Specifically, for a unit in Germany. Didn't matter where. Unfortunately, I had to relinquish the assignment when I applied for OCS. At that time the Army did not need many gold bars. However, I was assigned to a unit in SW Germany. Lucky me. Two years, good duty, little work and great beer. There is no bad beer in Germany.

Subsequently, since I have been brewing I heard about a smoked beer brewed in the city where I was originally assigned, Bamberg. It is called Rauchbier. For a long time I could not get my mind around a smokey beer. Then a German expat, Horst Dornbusch, wrote about his experience of making Rauchbier. What intrigued me was his description of the taste not so much as smokey but that of smoked bacon.

As we speak, um write, I am brewing my first Rauchbier. When the requisite amount of heated water was added to the grains creating the mash, the most wonderful smoked bacon aroma filled my nostrils. It will take a couple more hours to complete the brew, then 14 days of fermentation and another 30 days to condition. Christmas sounds like a good time to start enjoying my first attempt.

Will let you know. If you are in the area, stop in for a taste. I'm hopin' that the time will heal my hurt from the Yankees and Buckeyes. C'est la Vie!

Online Choices For Paying

Recently, I read an article by the author of The Haggler, David Segal, about PayPal's 'annoying demand to be "verified" by handing over their bank account information'. I ran into the same situation when I started using PayPal for customers buying my software program My Class Reunion. I thought it was a requirement so I signed up. The more I read and thought about that situation, it became evident to me that giving up all that info to PayPal was foolish. Shortly thereafter I became unverified.

To be clear, this was on the purchasing side not the receiving side of transactions with PayPal. Which meant that PayPal requires some security to collect their money. A credit card satisfies that requirement.

I also ran into an annoying part of the PayPal club. As sales on the software started to take place the money accumulated into my PayPal account. As PayPal expanded their services and many sites started including the PayPal option to pay along with traditional credit cards I would then use that 'surplus' to make payments.

On a recent purchase PayPal was the choice for payment. The order was only partially filled and the item received was not operating according to the marketing pitch. After waiting a couple of weeks and no action for a refund, I contacted PayPal thinking that they would get in touch with the seller just as any credit card would. They quickly informed me that they would only send an email to the seller and any other resolution would be up to me. They said they only come to the aid of the buyer if seller is one of their sister companies like eBay.

Made that mistake once. If there are any questions/concerns with a seller, Visa and MasterCard will go to bat for you, issue credit and then deal with the seller, unlike PayPal. PayPal seems to be expanding its presence with sellers. Caveat emptor! If protection after the sale is important, choice wisely.

This Ain't Your Mothers Meatloaf

Mom thought that her meatloaf was pretty good. By whose standards, only she can answer. Hamburger, salt and pepper, crushed crackers, eggs and ketchup were about the only ingredients. But then, I'm sure Mom had no patent on that recipe. And in SE Wisconsin in winter there was a use for the hockey pucks that were dropped onto our plates. Ever since then I have avoided any kind of meatloaf. Even upon the insistence of my Sweetie that we (read I) should come up with a recipe.

About a month ago I saw a recipe for Spicy, Garlicky Meatloaf in the NY Times. Now almost anything with garlic gets my attention. Plus not only ground beef but also ground pork, scallions, bread crumbs and the usual salt and pepper. But there is more to this savory dish. Sage, pine nuts and a chopped jalapeño. Easy to put together, bakes in a little more than an hour. And left overs never get out of the house.

Joy in mudville, again. Click the title for the recipe.

Puffy Pancakes?

Recently I came across a magazine insert called Relish published by relishmag.com. One of the recipes called itself Jill's Puffy Pancakes which had about a half dozen ingredients. But there were no leavening agents such as baking powder or baking soda. Maybe these ingredients will make a puffy enuf pancake for Jill but me, I need something to generate the carbon dioxide to give the flour et. al. the kick it needs to blow itself up.

Been doin' pancakes for about 40 years using a recipe my pop got from a waiter on a Pullman car just about that long ago. Good pancakes with just a little leavening added but definitely not puffy. Then about a year ago Cook's Illustrated came up with a recipe that changed my basic one just a little. It added buttermilk and baking soda. After just barely combining the wet ingredients and then adding them to the dry ingredients, the mixture is to rest for 10 minutes. Long enough for the powder and soda to act with the buttermilk. And 10 minutes does the job. I wonder how many iterations the folks at Cook's Illustrated went through to get the outcome they did? Don't need to know to enjoy some real 'puffy pancakes'.

Give 'em a try and let me know.

Rose Bowl 2010

Been a concern for sometime about the Big Ten's ability to keep up with the spread offenses of the Southeast, Southwest and Pac Ten conferences. The Buckeyes certainly have been outclassed in the past three bowl games by this type of offense. Seems the pattern continued with USC at the beginning of the season although USC won by only 3 three points.

Too early to tell since league play started shortly after. Then along came Purdue and Terrell Pryor's (and the rest of the team) miserable performance. Got back on the winning track vs Iowa and Michigan, among others. They may have been on the winning track but the offense almost looked like the days of Woody Hayes - 3 yards and sit down, or so a college chum said while watching the Iowa game in the horseshoe.

Having 6 to 7 weeks off before the next bowl game challenge can be hurtful to ones psyche keeping past attempts in mind. Should I watch the game with my hand covering my eyes just like I did when dad said to close them. Of course, I still managed to peek between my fingers.

At the first 3½ minutes I still was not convinced that the child method of watching should be dismissed. After all, the Buckeyes were playing a team that averaged almost 38 points per game. But the Ducks were not expecting their defense to be on the field for 70% of the game. That does not give a spread offense much time. Penalties and the Buckeyes defense worked against them.

Coach Tressel decided to give Pryor his wings and did the sophomore start to fly. Maybe with two more seasons as OSU's quarterback we will see a continuing improvement.