There’s an old line here that Anchorage is the closest big city to Alaska. This refers to Anchorage being more of a city and headed in a cosmopolitan direction, but still claims Alaska roots and just over the mountain there is Alaska. The divergence has grown over the years and the other day I came across a minute but telling example of how that works. A snowblower has a shear bolt that holds the snow-churning rotors to the axels. The idea is when the rotors are stopped by an obstruction, the bolt breaks rather than more expensive parts. So, I broke one. I went to the Honda dealer in Anchorage. Now this is a modern store with lots of glass, machines all over the place and lots of gear to sell. While Honda equipment is popular in Alaska because of its reliability, this new store emphasizes motorcycles and high-end four-wheelers rather than the nuts and bolts of generators, snowblowers and working heavy duty four wheelers. So, I went there to replace the shear bolt. The parts desk takes up a tiny area in a massive showroom. It is even difficult to find among the $20,000 motorcycles and mannequins clothed in the latest leathers. I told the guy what I wanted and he looked at me quizzically, Then he got out a book with a blowup picture of my model snowblower. I showed him where the bolt went. But he couldn’t find anything like it after searching through a multi drawer cabinet. We finally guessed one particular bolt was the right one, so I bought it. Of course when I got home, it was not the right one.
I put this off for a while, not really enthusiastic about returning to that store. The other day I made a trip in another direction and realizing I was going to pass the other Honda dealer around here, I planned a stop, even took another shear bolt off the machine to take with me for comparison.
Mind you this is an old building, one story, been there forever and needs a coat of paint. Much of the display inventory is outside during the day. A few of the popular sellers have special places indoors. The parts department has two entrances, two people working there and a long L-shaped display case/counter. A young man finally waited on me.. He looked maybe late teens, but was probably well into his 20s. I told him I wanted a shear bolt for my model snowblower and started to pull my sample out of my pocket. He said, “Oh I always keep a box of those right here this time of year.” He turned, reached under the counter into a battered cardboard box, in the process asking me how many I wanted. I said four and had them in my hand, all in about two minutes.
I had to smile. realizing in this place I was much closer to Alaska than I had been in that modern showroom in Anchorage.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Blow ye winds in the morning
Awesome wind storm last night. This valley is notorious for them. Gusts hit 100 mph in Anchorage, not sure what it was here but there were some that rattled the house. Two power outages totaling 5 1/2 hours. Also a loud bump in the night. And there it was this morning, a tree close to the house blew down.
Credit where credit is due
Several times in life I have been criticized for taking things personally. The thing is, if we don’t take issues personally how are we going to understand them? How do we feel strongly enough about something to act? Here is an example. This economic situation is stressing everyone. The other day I got an understanding why it has happened. I have long felt we as a society focus too much on obtaining all the goodies out there and lose touch with basic needs. In fact we resent what we pay for energy, food, shelter, clothing because it takes away from what we can spend on video games, HD television sets and more car than we need.
So, back to the point. the other day I got my credit card bill. It was for more than $1,400. that was for a trip I took, I expected it and I was ready and paid it off. That’s not the point. The point is this: For a bill that size, the minimum payment was… get this … $21. TWENTY ONE DOLLARS on a $1,400 debt. I didn’t even bother to do the math on how long it would take to pay that off at $21 a month. And that without counting interest, which might even have been more than the minimum due. What that is supposed to do is make me think, “Oh, I can handle that easily, what’s $21? So I go out and spend more on that card. Not a chance. And, on top of the ridiculous minimum payment, they sent me three checks, checks I can use to build up even more credit debt.
(An aside: Did anyone notice when the late payment fee on most cards went to $39, the time frame between when they send the bill and when it was due, was shortened? That means you lave less time to pay it and get it to them so they probably collect more late fees. That’s unless you pay on line which means putting your credit payment on another credit or debit card, or worse let them take it out of your account, not to mention the security problems.)
So, the other night a number came up that tells me our government is simply a victim of the credit system as much as the rest of us. There is a sign in Times Square that keeps up-to-the minute track of the actual amount of the national debt. This past week the operators had to remove the dollar sign from it. They had to remove it because there was no more room for numbers when the national debt went past $10 trillion, TEN TRILLION DOLLARS. When Bill Clinton left office in 2000, there was a surplus. This administration and the six years the party controlled Congress did it to us. Now the whole system, built on paper and granting and receiving poor credit is collapsing. And what did the government do so far? Go deeper into debt to give the bad lenders more money to lend. It is my retirement accounts that are losing because of it, It is my son’s college fund that is losing because of it. Why in the hell shouldn’t I take it personally? Good grief. I kind of like living where security is a good supply of firewood. I am sore tempted at this point to go back to it.
So, back to the point. the other day I got my credit card bill. It was for more than $1,400. that was for a trip I took, I expected it and I was ready and paid it off. That’s not the point. The point is this: For a bill that size, the minimum payment was… get this … $21. TWENTY ONE DOLLARS on a $1,400 debt. I didn’t even bother to do the math on how long it would take to pay that off at $21 a month. And that without counting interest, which might even have been more than the minimum due. What that is supposed to do is make me think, “Oh, I can handle that easily, what’s $21? So I go out and spend more on that card. Not a chance. And, on top of the ridiculous minimum payment, they sent me three checks, checks I can use to build up even more credit debt.
(An aside: Did anyone notice when the late payment fee on most cards went to $39, the time frame between when they send the bill and when it was due, was shortened? That means you lave less time to pay it and get it to them so they probably collect more late fees. That’s unless you pay on line which means putting your credit payment on another credit or debit card, or worse let them take it out of your account, not to mention the security problems.)
So, the other night a number came up that tells me our government is simply a victim of the credit system as much as the rest of us. There is a sign in Times Square that keeps up-to-the minute track of the actual amount of the national debt. This past week the operators had to remove the dollar sign from it. They had to remove it because there was no more room for numbers when the national debt went past $10 trillion, TEN TRILLION DOLLARS. When Bill Clinton left office in 2000, there was a surplus. This administration and the six years the party controlled Congress did it to us. Now the whole system, built on paper and granting and receiving poor credit is collapsing. And what did the government do so far? Go deeper into debt to give the bad lenders more money to lend. It is my retirement accounts that are losing because of it, It is my son’s college fund that is losing because of it. Why in the hell shouldn’t I take it personally? Good grief. I kind of like living where security is a good supply of firewood. I am sore tempted at this point to go back to it.
