I'm at Bookends and Beans. This is a picture of the bar there.
Not much is happening, here. Jim and I solved the world's problems, this morning. We get together for coffee at Bookends on Mondays. While doing that we discuss world events. I don't really think anything ever gets resolved, though.
I got a new wifi card, this morning. I couldn't get it to work with Linux. I was really disappointed, since it's a Belkin card and I've always been able to get them to work with Linux. It had a Windows setup. I tried to access the inf. files with ndiswrapper, but I failed. I'll have to find someone with a Windows machine who could use it.
I was reading the Des Moines Register, yesterday. It had an article on how hard it is to get disability. This article related to Social Security. It talked about a guy who was living in a storage space.
I had it better but it still took over three years to get the benefits. So how do you live while you are waiting for Social Security?
Going to school was one of the things that I did. School doesn't count as work since you are paying to go there. A person can live on the student loans.
The downside is that they might not consider you disabled if you do well at school.
On the other hand if you get through school, you might be able to get a good job, and forget about disability.
After school I went on a disability pension from the VA. I realize that most people might not be eligible for this. It's what put me over until I was able to collect Social Security. There is a pension for disabled veterans who served during a war. If you are a veteran you probably served during a war, since the U.S. always seems to be in a war. Check with your Veterans Affairs person, usually at the courthouse, for information about this pension. If you are eligible, it will get you through the wait for Social Security. I think it pays about $950/month.
Well I'm going home to try to get that wifi card working with Linux again. I've got another idea.

I'm at Java John's, waiting for Jennell. I'm finally going to give her a laptop. I had troubles with the one that I fixed up from the parts that I got a week or so ago. I'm going to give her one that works just fine. To make sure that it's working good, I'm using it for my blog.
I'm sorry that I haven't been posting much, lately. Last night I was up with a sick desktop computer. Dave, from WRAP, had a sick desktop. He thought that it had a bad CD player. It turned out that the power supply was dying. I don't have one to replace it with, so he'll have to spend over $100 to repair it. Maybe, I can get some parts off of it. It has a 40 gig. hard drive and 1 gig. of memory. Maybe I could get a power supply for it.
It was predicted to rain today, and it's finally getting cloudy. I rolled the windows down, yesterday, so I hope that it stays cool. It's a hassle to roll those windows up or down. They barely work at all. They use a crank system that is simply worn out.
On the disability front. If you are waiting for Social Security to decide to give you your payments, try not to get too discouraged. They'll fight you tooth and nail. They don't want to pay you. You have to fight for it. It takes about six months to get denied your last appeal.
I used to get emotional during the denial process. I would find myself getting suicidal for about a week. After all, they denied me an income and I didn't know where my sustenance was to come from.
One time I was so suicidal that I couldn't get the idea of committing suicide out of my head. I turned myself into a psych ward for the weekend.
That turned out for the best since it looked good at the hearing that they finally held.
It takes about 3 years to get to the hearing process. That is where the tables will turn and you'll finally get your disability. Age will work in your favor as well as your diagnosis. The one witness that I had at my hearing was from the Workforce Development Department. He consistently stated that I couldn't be expected to find work in the various jobs that were brought up.
I felt that I wasted my money on the lawyer, but things might not have gone smoothly and he might have had to fight for me.
Anyway, be patient and don't expect to get your disability quickly. You'll have to fight for it.

I uploaded a picture of the Upper Iowa River. I need to take some more pictures. I think I'm repeating some, that I showed, before.
Well, I got another old laptop, today. It was a lot sicker than what the seller let on. I couldn't get power to it. The dc plug had been damaged. It had a good hard drive and processor, and DVD drive. I took the processor out and put it into another laptop. The battery was dead but I'm going to try to charge it up overnight. I couldn't get the DVD drive to work in that computer, so I loaded SUSE Linux. It took hours to get it to see the hard drive. I'm doing the updates, now. I'll need an ac adapter and a wifi card for it. When you consider that I spent $40 for the shell, I got ripped off. I'll have to spend anothe $10 for the ac adapter and another $10 for the wifi card. Oh well, you live and learn. At least I got another laptop to work with the parts that I had.
Now I have to find a home for it. Maybe Joan can help with that.
I don't really have much to say, tonight.
Later

I uploaded a picture of a flower from the garden at the hospital. Alice said that David Cavennarro and Asiline planted and maintained that garden. David is an expert gardener and photographer. His pictures have been in magazines like "Mother Earth News". Asiline is a barista at Bookends and Beans. They did a great job with the garden.
I'm sorry that I haven't been posting many blogs, lately. I've been busy with sick computers. I now have 4 that are ready to be given away. I'll go see Joan Nelson at the Community Action center, Monday. She wasn't there today. I think she'll know poor, deserving, people I can give my laptops to. I only know of a couple of people who need a laptop. Jenelle and Blackie are the only ones I can think of. Jenelle might be able to simply buy one. I saw her drive a new pickup. Blackie might have troubles with transportation. He drives a motorcycle. He lives about 30 miles away so it might be a problem. I was surprised to be able to get so many working.
I'm spending too much on that hobby. I figure that I'm spending between $100 and $200 a month on old laptops. I could be investing that money in bonds. I might take up reading magazines online to use up my time, rather than messing around with old laptops. At least, I could cut back my laptop repair to one or two machines a month.
I went to the Democrat fund-raiser, last night. For an off-year, and heavy rains, it was well attended. I had to wear a jacket because of the cold. For this time of year, that is surprising.
On the disability topic, I think I'll discuss poverty and disability. They go hand-in-hand. Social Security and any other type of disability isn't intended to provide for you in a comfortable fashion. It's meant to keep you poor. Get used to it. It's not bad once you accept that you'll always be poor. You get used to not spending much money. Eating out is out. You'll find yourself watching where every cent goes. If you are poor enough, you'll be eligible for a lot of financial assistance. There are things such as heating assistance, food stamps, rental assistance, and food pantries. They make a big difference.
One thing you'll find, is that, as you get more money, your assistance programs will diminish. It's almost at though someone wants to keep you poor. The more you make the more will come out of your pocket. The only thing to do is to take charge of your finances by reducing your spending. Cook your own food. Forget movies. Curtail your coffee drinking at coffee shops. Try to move to a place where you won't have to drive. You might get rid of the car and just walk or ride the bicycle. My car is my biggest expense. I figure that I'm spending over $100 a month for just the gasoline. Insurance is another $25, and I don't even know what I'm likely to spend in repairs and maintenance.
I'm trying to get an apartment in the downtown area. That's my last big expense.
Well, I have to leave now. The conversation at Java John's is getting involving.

I uploaded another picture of the garden at the hospital.
Well, I'm still struggling with getting the laptop that Nick gave me to work. I added more memory and then it wouldn't load anything. I ran a memory test that came up with a bunch of errors. After considerable messing around, I found that the memory sticks had to be installed in a certain way. After getting that straightened out, I found that most of the programs loaded.
The problem was that they didn't see the sound card and most of them didn't set up the video card right.
I found a program that does everything right in the "live" mode. That means that it runs the system from the cd player. The idea is that if everything runs in the "live" mode, you click on install and load the system. I tried it and it didn't mount the program on the hard drive. If I can get it to load on the drive, I'm all set. Maybe a latter version will be the answer.
I bought another Gateway 9300 on Ebay today. I paid $40 with the shipping included. I figured that I could use some parts off of the scrapped 9300 to get one going.
I probably blew it. I've been trying to get away from such old and slow machines.
I also bought another 22 Delphi bonds. Somehow there was $50 in my Etrade account so I bought some more Delphi. They are supposed to come out of bankruptcy in September. Good things could happen to their bonds if they do.
Later

I uploaded a picture of the garden at the hospital.
I'm sorry that I didn't publish a blog, yesterday. I just wasn't inspired to.
Today I want to write some more on disability. I've been running out of things to say, so I'll revisit some of the topics I've already covered.
Today I want to go over disability for veterans. There are two kinds of disability that a veteran may be eligible for.
The first and most common is for service-related disability. That means it is for something that happened while you were serving.
It is awarded on aI sliding scale. I think it goes from 10% to 100%. The pay for 10% is rather low. I don't think it would go over $100/month. For 100%, the last I heard it was at $2200/month. Of course, you would have to be laid up rather severely to rate 100%. You would probably have to be blind or missing limbs.
The advantage to this disability is that you can go to college for free if you are on it. 100% of the tuition would be paid for 4 years. You also get a stipend whilst going to school.
I've known people who were in pretty good shape, who had their college paid for by this disability.
The other disability, one that is usually forgotten, is the war pension. This is a disability pension that is paid if the person served during time of war.
Your disability doesn't have to be service-connected. You can become disabled after you left the service. I'll try to remember the requirements for this.
1. An honorable discharge.
2. Serve during a war
3. Be 100% disabled, but they are rather liberal on this
4. Have a low income
5. Have 6 months of active duty
6. I always forget the sixth requirement, I might be able to look it up, later.
It's rather low paying and there is only one amount that you can get. I think it's around $950/month.
If you get another job, you have to deduct that income from this pay. It discourages a person form working.
There is no college benefit.
If you are thinking about either of these disabilities you'll have to go through the VA hospital. That's a good thing because you can get free health care if your income is low enough. It's better than nothing. I get a physical once a year and I go to the psychologist 3 or 4 times a year. I get my medications from the VA and that is probably saving me thousands. It's a good thing.
Later

More computer troubles

I took some pictures and a video of some deer across the street from my home. It was 6:30 in the morning and the fog hadn't burned off yet. It was a bit dark so I'm sorry that they don't show up very well. When I move I'll miss the deer.
Well, I bumped into Brian at Java John's this morning. His computer was down. The ac adapter is bad. It has an intermittent problem. When I tap on it, it comes on and off. I confirmed the problem by trying it with Alice's computer. The problem went with the ac adapter.
Alice's computer had problems as well. The keyboard quit working. It turned out that Windows 2000 was bad. I reloaded it and it works.
Now I have to see Brian about buying another ac adapter. We'll probably get one on Ebay.
Anyway, it's hot and I'm staying at Bookends to keep out of the heat. I'll probably have to mow the damned lawn tonight.
Later
I was just attacked by a swarm of yellow jackets. I was mowing the lawn and I went over their hive, which is in an old railroad tie, that's used for landscaping. I was bit 4 or 5 times. They pursued me right into the house. Oh, the joys of homeownership. I can't wait to get my apartment.
I poured gasoline into their nest. Nick told me that there is something at Wal-Mart to spray into their nest. I'll try that tomorrow. I just hope that I'll be able to sleep, tonight. I'll take a couple of aspirin for the pain, tonight.
I'll keep you posted, tomorrow.