Category: Fourre-tout

After watching daily broadcasts of the terrifying firestorms engulfing Northern California, I cannot find the words to express my dismay and compassion for all the people affected by this unprecedented catastrophe.

The sheer size of this disaster boggles the mind. According to news channels, over 4000 homes and businesses have been destroyed. Aerial views of the fire areas are eerily reminiscent of photos taken after the bombing of Hiroshima. It is an apocalyptic vision of hell.

My heart goes out to all the people who lost their homes. It is a terrible emotional and financial blow, especially for senior citizens; they might find it more difficult to recover from this heart-rending shock. When you lose your home, you lose a good part of your life and for older folks, the clock is ticking.

And then, you have to find a new place to live while your house is rebuilt. It is going to be very difficult. There is already an acute shortage of housing in this area and it will get worse before it gets better.

Considering the enormity of the task, finding a sufficient number of architects, contractors, and skilled construction workers to do the job is going to be arduous.
Dealing with insurance companies is also going to be laborious and frustrating. A lot of paperwork is going to be involved and proving ownership of a multitude of items will be problematic.

Some pragmatic individuals though have taken this catastrophe in stride. I know for instance of some people who were booked for a vacation. Instead of cancelling and lamenting about their misery, they decided to go ahead and enjoy their getaway. They reasoned that there was not much they could do by staying and they decided to enjoy their vacation before mourning their losses.

In such critical times, family, as well as friends’ ties, is crucial. Moral support and practical assistance help to ease the blow for the unfortunates.

There is no doubt that California will recover. It is one of most dynamic and progressive state in the Union and its politicians are more willing to assist their constituents than anywhere else. No matter what the odds, California will thrive and show the way to the nation again!

However long the night, the dawn will break. African Proverb

Alain

I heard a few times yesterday that if you spend 5 weeks in France practicing the fine art of pétanque, it is child’s play to win a local tournament; Jean-Michel Poulnot (aka Le Facteur) proved it conclusively Sunday in San Rafael.
He and his teammate Bernard Passemar played extremely well and delivered the goods. They thus defeated all their opponents rather easily and to Jean-Michel’s elation, they glided smoothly to victory.

Le Facteur pointed extremely well (the best I have ever seen) and Bernard did a very effective job in knocking out troublesome opposing boules. Bernard, unlike Jacques Rattaire or Kevin Evoy, is not a flashy shooter but a very convincing one. He took his time and did his enforcing job very effectively.

I have always been of the opinion that in life (as well as in pétanque) we all have good and bad days; we all go through peaks and valleys and yesterday many teams muddled miserably through deep canyons.

Jacques Rattaire and Liza Moran started the day rather well but lost their touch later on, especially against Evoy and Grace. The same can be said about Henry Wessel and Calvert Barron. The Force was not with them yesterday.

This is why pétanque can be such a frustrating seesaw of elation and frustration.

Yesterday morning after coffee and pastries, the following doublettes lined up for action:

1. Shirkey & Shirkey
2. La Torre & Knuckles
3. Marcovecchio & LaVelle
4. Rattaire & Moran
5. Evoy & Grace
6. Rose & Sirico
7. Moser & Facchini
8. Bunand & Davantes
9. Passemar & Poulnot
10. Crossley & Okawa
11. Wessel & Barron
12. Casad & Brown
13. Falcone & Drier

Eight teams made it to the Concours and five teams played in the Consolante.

In the afternoon, it was do or die time and many teams went belly up right after lunch.

In the Concours’ finals Jean-Michel and Bernard faced Kevin and Adam. Due in great part to Jean-Michel’s excellent pointing, they defeated Adam and Kevin conclusively.
Well-deserved congratulations to Le Facteur and monsieur Passemar.

At the end of the day:

Concours
1^st place: Jean-Michel Poulnot & Bernard Passemar
2^nd place: Kevin Evoy & Adam Grace
3^rd place: Jacques Rattaire & Liza Moran

Consolante:
1^st place: Bleys Rose & Teri Sirico
2^nd place: Mark Shirkey & Sandra Shirkey

And that’s the way I saw it.

Alain

 PS: As soon as I can, I will try to spend five weeks in France.

To look at photos of this event, click on the “My Photos” link located on the right side of this page. For best viewing, go Full Screen.

 

Batten down the hatches! Prepare for stormy weather… After a multitude of hurricanes battered the American soil insurances companies are readying to cover… themselves.

Today, you would not dream to live without insurance. Health, car, fire, flood, travel, pet insurance… Name it, there is an insurance for it. But what exactly is ”insurance”? According to various dictionaries, it is defined as follows:

“A practice or arrangement by which a company or government agency provides a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for payment of a premium.”

 Everything looks great on paper, until disaster hits. That’s when you discover the notorious “fine print” tucked at the end of a lengthy document… it tells why you won’t be compensated fairly and squarely.

No matter how long and how much you paid, the insurance company will find plenty of reasons for denying coverage or raising your premium.

I have been with the same car insurance company for 31 years. I never had an accident. Two years ago, while pulling out of our mutual parking spots, my neighbor and I rear-ended each other. A casual fender bender. Despite my long stretch of accident-free years, my premium immediately jumped up.
What about all those accident-free years? Isn’t worth something? Sorry mate, it does not count!

To me, an insurance policy is like a Ponzi scheme, where the operator constantly collects money from new investors to pay old investors.
It is a calculated gamble. The insurance company gambles that it won’t have to pay you anything for a long time (preferably forever) while pocketing your money.
But if coerced to pay, it will find be a multitude of reasons to penalize you.

My heart goes out to the residents of Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico who lost practically everything in successive storms. Despite solemn promises, it will take a very long time (if ever) for victims to be compensated.

When you look carefully at your insurance policies, you realize that what they protect best is the insurance company.

But to be able to sleep at night, you need to continually feed the hungry beast. If you dare to stop, you will lose everything. All the money that you have already paid and some eventual coverage.

But cheer up… If you are lucky, POTUS might toss you a few rolls of toilet paper.

Alain