permit

SoCS — The Last Call

Fandango12 Comments

Linda G. Hill, the creator of One-Liner Wednesday, JusJoJan, and Stream of Consciousness Saturday, has asked us to “talk about the enterprise (sales or service) conducted by the last phone call you received from a business you’re not associated with, or talk about that phone conversation itself.”

Okay, I’m going to bend the rules a little and instead of relating a phone call I had with a business I’m not associated with, I’m going tell you about a series of text messages I had yesterday with an electrician I hired to swap out the 125 amp main electric panel with a 200 amp main panel in the house we just bought and will be moving into in two weeks.

Upgrading the main electric service to 200 amps is a pretty involved process. I had to get a permit from the town, arrange for the local utility company, PG&E, to disconnect the power to the house, hire an electrician to remove the old panel and install the new one, get the town to inspect and approve the installation of the panel by the electrician, and then get PG&E to come out and turn the electric service back on.

Anyway, at 12:45 yesterday afternoon, I got a text in which the electrician said the work, which he had started on Wednesday, was finished.A6FA501E-35C4-46B6-8C91-E25E560B54EBVia text, he gave me the final fee for his work. I asked him if I could give him my credit card number, but he asked me to Venmo him the money. I told him I’d be back at the house on Monday and could give him a check then, but he said he’d prefer being paid through Venmo.

Maybe I’m old school, but I don’t have a Venmo account. I told him that my bank, Bank of America, offers a similar service, and although I’d never used it, I could set up the transfer of funds to his Venmo account from my the online banking app on my iPhone. I started the process and was ready to initiate the transfer when I got this text message:ED1C913E-CE9D-4D3B-9373-7F85309D9783Well, at least I tried to be a thoroughly modern, technology savvy man.

FOWC with Fandango — Permit

Fandango16 Comments

FOWCWelcome to January 11, 2020 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “permit.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.

Saturday Mix Opposing Forces — Summer Solstice

Fandango5 Comments

2F04793F-CD0F-48C7-A437-C28FE15D867F“Permit me to introduce you to our host,” my coworker, Clyde, said. “Andrew, I’d like you to meet Mr. Archibald Benedict. Archie hosts this party every year around this time to celebrate the arrival of the summer solstice.”

I put out my right hand to shake hands with Mr. Benedict, but he did not offer me his hand in return. “Do you know what the summer solstice is, boy?” Mr. Benedict said to me, which caught me a little off guard because he isn’t that much older than me.

“Yes, I do,” I said. “The summer solstice occurs when the sun reaches its highest position in the sky and it is the day with the longest period of daylight. Some suggest that it marks the kickoff of the summer season, but I think most people think of Memorial Day as the real start of summer.”

Mr. Benedict looked at me for a moment and then abruptly turned around and walked away. I gave Clyde a questioning look. “Did I say something wrong?” I asked.

“No,” Clyde said, “but you’re a first time visitor and he can be a little standoffish to people he doesn’t know well.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “It seems like there’s something more to it than that, Clyde.”

“Well,” Clyde said, “there’s a rumor that his parents met at a summer solstice party at Stonehenge and that he was conceived that night. But his mother died giving birth to him nine months later.”

“That’s interesting but it still doesn’t explain his behavior towards me earlier tonight,” I said. “What am I missing?”

“Again, it’s just rumor,” Clyde responded. “You see, Archie had always wanted to go to Stonehenge for the summer solstice as a way to try to make a cosmic connection with the mother he never knew. But his father forbid him from ever going there because he blamed Archie for his mother’s death.”

“That’s some heavy shit to lay on a kid,” I said.

“And, of course, Archie never wants to celebrate his actual birthday because of how guilty he feels about her dying while giving birth to him. So he always throws these parties at his home to celebrate the anniversary of his conception. Unfortunately, he’s never in a particularly jovial mood at these events. So don’t take it personally, okay?”

Written for this week’s Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Saturday Mix, where we are supposed to two pairs of opposing words in our posts. The words are (1) “permit” and “forbid,” and (2) “visitor” and “host.”

Congratulations Eagles

Fandango17 Comments

5152216C-D5AC-446F-988E-2481540E4445Tom Brady summed up yesterday’s Super Bowl Game perfectly. “They made one good play at the right time.”

Brady was talking about Philadelphia’s defense when, with around two and a half minutes left in the game, an Eagles player ripped the ball out of Brady’s hands for a fumbled that gave the Eagles their first Super Bowl win.

As a Patriots fan, I was disappointed. Although down by five points, 38-33, the football was in the competent hands of Tom Brady with two and a half minutes left. Brady and the Pats had marched down field for relatively easy scores the three previous times they had the ball, so this was likely to prove to be the game-winning drive. I was sure of it.

But I was wrong.

So while I am a serious and loyal New England Patriots fan, permit me to openly admit that, overall, the Eagles outplayed and out coached the Patriots last night. Nick Foles, the Eagles quarterback, played like, well, Tom Brady. The Eagles head coach, Doug Peterson, called some gutsy and innovative plays, and, while both defenses were porous, the Eagles defense, as Tom Brady said, made “one good play at the right time.”

Written for todayone-word prompt, “permit.”