Thursday, October 28, 2010

Render unto Timex...


We've been having fun here with our "land hurricane"; and the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded, either in the USA, or at least the Midwest, depending on your source. We didn't get the absolute worst of it, but it has been work to get through it; tarps ripped off, ripped up, a tree or two down on a road or two, smoke in the house from more atmospheric turbulence than our chimney can handle.

Coulda been worse. Actually, I've seen worse winds here, just not so heavy so long. We've been averaging 30 mph, with bursts up to 55 for three days; but any good summer thunderstorm can have short duration winds up over 70, and I've seen 90 mph. But only for 10 minutes or so.

In the middle of it all, we got to drive to our doctor town for me to have an "upper endoscopy"; the doctors going fishing for anything down my upper gastro-esophageal system that's out of whack and could explain some of my whining. (Can't remember any of it, which means they did a good job; and the bottom line was "nothing obvious" but they did take a couple biopsy chunks to look at closer.) The car blew around on the road a bit, but again; coulda been worse.

When I came out of the anesthesia (this is how we do it in Minnesota),



I was not, surprisingly, gasping for air. Besides being droll and musical, our Midvestern anesthesiologists are very competent. So I woke up surprised.

It was all over and I didn't even remember falling asleep. (thanks for the video to my big brother, who has more time to cruise youtube...)

The next thing on the agenda was a little woozy shopping (with Spice along as unmedicated driver) for the necessities of life.

For me, the necessities include a working watch. I know; half of youse guys out there cheerfully do without one (and even brag about that, from time to time), but as I noted today over on Sharon's post about the relativity of time, I now need to know where I am in the day; how much is left to work with, etc. And no, you can't tell time from the sun in Minnesota in late fall/early winter; more than half the days are sunless.

And my sturdy, reliable, Timex Ironman Triathalon® (can't tell you how manly it makes me feel to wear one!) watch had recently done what they all have done; the watchband broke; long before the watch itself was near the end of its life.

And, guess what? Just as always before (like 5 times, by now) - since I'd bought my Timex IT; the styling had changed, just a teensy, so that- nope, they don't actually have a replacement band available for that particular model... and the watch-girl (used to be the goose-girl, 300 years ago) doesn't really even know how to get this thing disattached...

The (mildly, given the state of the world) aggravating thing is that the watch itself is nicely designed, and has a long, reliable life. And the band always dies long before the watch.

Accident? Ha. We know better. It is, of course, a ploy to sell more watches, keep the profits rolling. I can hear the conversation in the Timex marketing meetings: "Ok, look, the damn engineering department has screwed us again; these bloody things run without a problem for 4-5 years! How the hell can we justify our bonuses if we're only selling one per customer in 5 years?? Here's how we can fix this disaster...)

It's a broad huge problem with our world, of course; the waste of resources, where there is no actual need for it, just greed for it.

But. I've come to be resigned to this kind of little irritation; it's an intractable problem, and not quite as urgent as some others (like all-time record breaking weather); and not a fight I really have the time to get into, anyway. Hélas.
.

So. I'm calling it The Timex Tax. Sure as death and. Inescapable. You pays your money, and you takes your chances.

But at least, now, no matter where I am on the farm, chopping water or hauling wood, I'll be sure to know how much longer I have to struggle onward, today. My Timex Tax is paid for another 2-3 years.

11 comments:

J.J. said...

Hi Greenpa,

The best solution I've found is to buy a watch, immediately replace the watchband with something else that fits and is comfortable, and buy a spare band (which ought to come with appropriate pins) while I'm at it. There is always the problem of finding the spare a few years later, but I can usually locate it in the office supplies drawer.

Greenpa said...

holy wombats, Andrea! Where on earth did you learn to look, and act, that far ahead??!

I'd like to know; I've got some family members who need to go to the same schools...

:-)

J.J. said...

Give your family members a chore that they hate, and know needs to be done, but can be avoided for twice as long if they think ahead a bit. They'll catch on. ;)

Shopping is like that for me. The stores are full of crowds, awful music, and at this time of year entirely too many flashing lights. So making sure that I don't need to go to them is a part of my standard routine.

Anonymous said...

Funny, I was thinking almost the same thing as Andrea :D

Timex's are fine watches, for sure. When the band on my first one broke, I just carried it around in my pocket. Now I suppose if I couldn't replace the band I'd probably make a little cloth or leather "frame" for it and turn it into a fob watch and hang it from a belt loop...

Heather G

Lauren said...

These work great (if you don't mind the velcro). My last one lasted me through two watches, or about 10 years.

https://www.silverfoot.com/store.php?crn=236&rn=601&action=show_detail

Olivia said...

I guess I'm lucky. My Timex has to be well over 20 years old, has made several trips through the washing machine (!!) and has made its way through half a dozen or more watchbands. However, here in the backward country of Canada (Atlantic Coast), things don't change much so I have never had a problem getting a new watchband. Of course, now that I've said that . . .

Anonymous said...

not precisely on topic but i think i've just invented a word - misread your sentence "I came out of the anesthesia" as "I came out of the aMnesthesia"

i think this fits very well - you don't remember being under right ?

so new word :

aMnesthesia

cheers
TJ

Greenpa said...

Andrea G. said...
"Give your family members a chore that they hate, and know needs to be done, but can be avoided for twice as long if they think ahead a bit. They'll catch on. ;)"

ah, if only. :-) With ADD in the picture, though, it can just be iffy.

Heather G; I've kind of tried that, but I carry other stuff in my pockets all the time; keys, knife; and they kind of eat the watch; etc, etc. Just irritating enough for me to go ahead and render unto Timex.

Lauren: does look like a good fix for some! But same thing; just fussy enough for me to pay Timex; I think they've got me pegged.

Olivia: dunno; that actually sounds like a much more highly evolved state, to me!

Tj - I like it. That's what I call a Freudian Slurp. :-)

emmer said...

or get some doublesided velcro. comes in green or black. cut a chunk long enough to go around one pin and catch on itself, then around your wrist, then around the other pin and catch on itself on the second side. it is likely a width that will work. or trade some local seamstress to make you one. it's not hard. keep your money or you labor local.

Perrence said...

i've used this one and am currently wearing a replacement band: http://www.voguestrap.com/ironman.html

slight irritation, but not bad. make sure you use their printable measuring tool though!

J.J. said...

Greenpa wrote: ah, if only. :-) With ADD in the picture, though, it can just be iffy.

Have a look at the larger version of my user icon. (Click on it.) ;) I've got ADHD, too, and the habit of thinking ahead sunk in eventually. Since there's no control in this experiment, though, I'll concede that I may be the odd one out.