Try As One Might

    Forty six years ago... (I'm always writing about my past. So be it. The past continues in me.) ...I began in earnest to keep my pledge to someone, to set them as free as my heart was capable of doing, and to never cross their path. That rule was only bent on four occasions (three at the insistence of my psychologist, and the last one totally by accidental happenstance). Save for those four exceptions, this individual's life and mine have never crossed.

    I have tried my best, never to darken their day, but now and then our worlds indirectly touch. A few years ago (I may do a backdated post) I stumbled on a Facebook video clip taken in 2017 where the camera swished past this unexpected someone in a pan. Its motion blur did not prevent me from instantly recognizing them. Bump!

    Now, tonight Facebook strikes again!

Redacted to guarantee privacy.

    You see, apart as we two are to each other, she and I still sporadically share many of the same long-time acquaintances. 

    This makes befriending old colleagues online difficult, as I never know who actively, to this day, keeps in touch with with the woman I am doing my best to avoid. The one I call "She". This was the case in the 2017 video incident, wherein I was considering sending a Facebook Friend Request to a past acquaintance having completely overlooked the probability of her own ongoing friendship with him. 

    Surprise, surprise, smack in the video of his I was naively checking out, there she was, front and center, among the videotaped group of guests gathered at his house to celebrate Christmas! Although I should have, I did not see that coming. Talk about a blindside! I still recall the hair-raising shock I experienced!

     Alas as an unintended result of my promise to her, I subsequently had to pass on requesting my former acquaintance's friendship, seeing as she was still involved in his life. Not to have done so would have violated the conditions of my self-imposed exile.

    This time however, it was the algorithm at work, and not my slip-up that bumped our worlds for the present.once again.

    Currently, I have a longtime Facebook Friendship with, my former roommate and mentor from the past. We met fifty four years ago and have always remained in touch. Later on, after he married, he also became a family friend of "She" - her children and his were fast, San Francisco playmates back in the day. (This by the way, was the basis of my near run-in with her at his house in 1991 - the last occasion where my standing rule was bent, albeit by accident. Unawares, I had come to visit his daughters; unaware, she had come to drop off her sons.) 

   His daughters are also Facebook Friends of mine; one of them, very recently.

   Well, it didn't take long then, for the social media site to put things together, and shortly make a friend suggestion on and of its own:

    Tonight, I was just asked if I would perhaps know and like to connect with the son of "She', the younger of her two boys and middle child of three. The younger daughter of my former roommate was his childhood playmate. Again, I should not have been surprised. 

    Yikes!

    Be assured, I will not request to befriend him, I will keep clear, nor use him or his account to learn anything about "She". I will not ingratiate myself nor will I drop my current associations - all these people are innocent - but I will conduct myself with a measured amount of caution and prudence, from this time forward.

    If this female significant and I ever are to run into each other, it must be by accident, or by herr wish and instigation, and not through any machination on my part.

    So much folderol some would say, but then again, she's been able to build and live a life completely free and clear of me. 

    I keep my word.

     Solemnly.

 

 

Bad News, Good News, GREAT News...

    As you know from the prior post, I punctured a PVC pipe feeding our sprinklers, that's the bad news, with the good news being that I was able, out of pocket, to have the pipe immediately repaired. Thank you Juan Delgado!

     Well, today I was awakened from my sleep* with a phone from Chris Morales, the Service Manager at Hanlees Fairfield Nissan Nissan proper, informing my sleep-befuddled mind, that Nissan had given his department the green light to have the transmission of my 2018 Nissan Sentra SV replaced a second time. And what's more, absolutely free!

     The vehicle's intermittent mystery shudder, I and the service technicians were experiencing, was finally deemed to be related to the transmission, and as the recent replacement was still under an unlimited miles, three year warranty, Nissan gave the word to proceed with a second replacement.

The interior door to Hanlees Fairfield Nissan's service department.

   By 9:50AM I was able to hand over the car to Hanlees.

    I can only hope, this will do the trick. We shall see.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON 

    Chris calls with the great news that the Sentra is ready! Christine, their employee later picks me up. Hanlees' technicians have test driven the vehicle with the new transmission, even doing some unrelated work on the rear suspension, and all in all, finding no shudder.

    I get in the car and sense nothing on my way back home, whereas before, there was frequently an incident with a faint but distinctive shudder upon braking and accelerating.

The Exit leading from the Service Department to the parking lot.

*   As to my sleep, I was having a long-ass dream about John Cleese, a daylong live television, special event he was hosting, regarding his past TV productions, and forthcoming series debut. I was in the audience and involved to a point were Cleese knew and called me by name. There were others characters involved, including a fellow audience member seated besides me, who was a reporter and scientific genius. Karl and Brian were also there, trying to get me thrown out by security unless I gave the pair the spotlight. (When I left my seat to help Cleese, Karl first demanded, then stole my place, insisting the seat was rightfully his!) Felix was away in Germany.

    Turns out, that Cleese, the audience member next to me, and an African-American journalist, who was launching her own justice-themed news network, all came to my defense. (The audience member going so far as to interrupt all live media, playing the part of mad scientist bent on world conquest - he was only pretending - to name Karl, Brian, and the security team as his henchmen with the receipts to prove it.) In the end it was Karl and Brian getting themselves evicted, the tables having been turned.

This is One of Those Times I Wish I Had a Time Machine...

Oh dear.

    I thought to surprise my sister with a path light when she got home. She's currently vacationing in Mallorca, Spain. Instead, wouldn't you know it, I badly nick the PVC pipe servicing the front sprinklers while driving in the stake for the light post into the hardened earth!

    I could have exercised greater care in a thousand and one ways, but no, in my eagerness, I thought I was clear of the line until I took that whack too far. This is not going to go down well.

    Damn "Murphy's Law"!

    Luckily, bad as it is, three things so far are in my favor. 

    Firstly, the pipe I struck is leading from its feed valve to the sprinklers. As long as the valves are shut, no water escapes downstream. (the standing water you see in the photos is the residual left over from the now stopped leakage, once I shut the valve, to terminate the flow.)

    Secondly, my next door neighbor Alfred, shares the same Landscaper and Gardener, Juan Delgado.

     Thirdly, Alfred was home when I texted him to see if he had Juan's contact info - he did - and Juan himself was home to answer my subsequent telephone call.

    Juan will stop by the address tomorrow morning at 8:30am to check out the damage. I sent him these two close-up photos as well 

 

Foolishness in evidence

     As I write, I hope, I hope this will cost me not too much out of pocket as I only have a few hundred at my disposal. I also hope the shock of the blow didn't transfer to the control valves.

I thought the line ran perpendicular to the front fence (out of frame at the top of the picture) instead of parallel.

    Oh for a time machine! If I had missed the pipe, my sister would have had solar powered light by which to see the dials on the control valves at night as well as having light on the path. None of that matters now I guess.

UPDATE:

     Hallelujah! Juan Delgado of J&J's Company, came through! He found that the damage was only confined to the puncture and was able to splice a small section of PVC piping to cover the break. 

 

Juan Delgado preparing the PVC couplings (as seen from the outdoor security camera I was also testing).

 

    By the time I returned from a short trip to the bank with the monies, he was done and cleaning up. For what he charged, I gladly and gratefully doubled it. Juan was happy*. 

    What a relief! 

    I did ask him, although, if he could, not to necessarily bring it up with my sister. Yes, I suppose the extra amount was also "hush" money, but Juan Delgado deserved it for saving my neck! Boy, was I in a pickle and ever in need of a rescue!

    2ND UPDATE:

    It was pointed out to me by my good friend, who works in the management business, that it was an unfair thing to ask any silence of Juan, as my sister is his employer. For anyone, to be asked to keep a secret, or divide their loyalties, and work against their boss is a responsibility I haven't any right or authority to level. 

    "Let Juan know that you will tell your sister about the damage you caused, but that you don't when.  That way, he's completely off the hook." 

    My friend is right, and I immediately informed Juan of my decision to tell my sister at the right time. It was emotional panic that prompted my earlier plea. 

     RESOLVE: I swear, on my soul, Never again will I act on my own initiative, with regards to home improvements, ever. The risk was, and is, just too great! And for goodness sake. stop giving ol' "Murphy" the upper hand!

*Juan additionally encouraged me to take greater care the next time, pointing out that the pipes were originally installed at too shallow a depth.  

---

    Here is a personal plug for Juan's great service:

Juan Delgado

J&J's Company

Phone: (707) 857-6346

            (707) 655-7231

Bonded & Insured

License Number: 11716853

Mallorca Bound!

     This week my sisters are spending their holiday on the island of Mallorca.

Yvette and Georgene arrive at their two story accommodations!

    They are staying at the Marriott's Club Son Antem Villa located in Llucmajor, Spain. 

    Upon her return, Yvette said of her and Georgene's one week stay, given that the isle is larger than the state of Rhode Island, there just wasn't enough time to explore everywhere and experience everything. She loved their visit, Mallorca also being the top most travel destination for Europeans because of its Mediterranean climes.

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