Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

JB>  Happy New Year to you, too! We *survived* another un.


          Yes, we did!  Okay... maybe neither of us is old enough to brag
about our age yet.  But in view of what we've experienced, here's to us...
[chuckle].



JB>  I suppose I have enough literature here to learn how
JB>  to feed myself in thin times, but who could imagine
JB>  life without a grocery store?


          Uh-huh.  I've studied a bit about edible wild plants, and I have
some reference materials... but finding enough to live on could be quite a
challenge in built-up areas.  What else is there to eat around here? 
Snails??  No thanks
... the neighbours may have tried to poison them.  Pigeons, or seagulls???  :-)



[WRT my preferred reasoning style.  Sorry, I realize this
theory is baffling to a lot of other folks.]
JB>  How about a briefing? I've been sick of school...
JB>  I mean, sick from school for a year.


          I enjoy digging below the surface... that's the "N"
(intuitive) part. When you see something from a different angle you get me
thinking... that's the "T" part... and enable me to generate new
ideas & perceptions.  A lot of people tend to think in sound bites.  I
prefer stuff I can get my teeth into....  :-))



JB>  Rewired a harness, did you?  I'm having a hard
JB>  enough time finding the starter on my 1-ton. 

AH>  Well... we did it in days gone by when time, energy, and
AH>  willingness to rush in where angels might fear to tread
AH>  came to us more easily than money.

JB>  I'm still livin' the dream. 


          Heh.  I figure I'm worth $90,000 a year... i.e. what a friend of
ours was paying a few years ago for help with his aged mother!  One can
dream.  It's healthier than feeling resentful about crawling on the carpet
applying a splint for the umpty gazillionth time, or wishing for a more
exciting & lucrative job. If you want a vehicle fixed you have to do
the work yourself or pay somebody to do it for you.  With the family
responsibilities we have now, it makes sense to hire people who specialize
in fixing cars while we concentrate on doing what we do best.  Balancing
time & money can be difficult, however, either way....  :-)



JB>  Cripes... I'm sure there were less electronics in the
JB>  beasts back then, but when I look at the schematics
JB>  that I have had to, I couldn't imagine the job.


          Yes, the vehicle I was referring to predated "black
boxes".  While it didn't have the bells & whistles people take for
granted in modern cars all the problems we encountered were basically
mechanical, electrical, and/or cosmetic. With patience & persistence we
could usually find some way to repair things for ourselves... or at least
come up with a cheap & readily available solution.  In those days I
could also see teeny tiny things more clearly than I can now.  ;-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+