Good Glorious Friday!

Lots o'lots going' on!

First of all, it's Friday! It's been a long, busy week of x-ray madness. But a wee bit of good news in the x-ray world--my boss is thinking about upgrading our x-ray table, which is a very happy thing! It would mean less weight to push around (the table sticks and has a "heavy" feel), and anything that saves the back of me and the other x-ray tech would be most welcome!

And my vacation time is starting over again, and there are no surgeries planned this year to wipe that out in one fell swoop like last February/March.

I am, however, hoping to use a week of vacation sometime in late January/early February to meet James in Arizona and road trip it with him on his permanent journey to a new start in Florida. That'll be a lot of fun, and I think we're planning on stopping in Santa Fe for a day. I'd also like to see the area near the Ingenhuett Ranch in what Forrest's fondly remembers as "God's Country" in Texas. I've been wanting to visit that beautiful area for a long time.

Who knows? Maybe we'll even get a chance to swing by Temple and see Forrest's old stomping grounds. I'd like to see the foundation on Main Street, and also the place where he watched the gypsies dance. And I wouldn't mind snapping a pic of the house Bonnie and Clyde hid out in.

I'm really looking forward to that, but I've first got to coordinate with work so I don't leave my coworkers short handed.

And I'm really looking forward to meeting NTMI, his wife, and Will this weekend at a meetup in the Tampa area. James is even flying down so he can be a part of the fun. I'm sorta dreading the ice bucket challenge NTMI brought about by donating enough to put the donations for Chris at over $2000. I think we only need $879 to reach the goal, and man, it has been so heartwarming to see how searcher's responded to an urgent plea for help from one of their own. We need to do this kind of thing for each other every time the need arises. I wish I had been actively participating in the chase when Renelle was still with us. I would have liked to meet her, and would have liked to participate in helping her, too.

Anyway, so I guess Will is bringing the bucket. And NTMI gets the honor of dumping, while his wife, and who knows who else, videos it. I guess I shouldn't get my hair done before the meeting...

And I'll make sure to bring my floats:

And giant, George Costanza parka:

However, if we reach the $3000 goal by Monday, I will get to dump a bucket of ice and water over NTMI...so let's finish this campaign and get it done!

So, lots to look forward to this weekend. Joe also has a Model UN meeting at a high school in Orange City tomorrow morning, and he will be representing Cuba for this one. He gets a lot of the fun and interesting countries to play in the UN. I'm excited for this one. He will also have a new pair of dress shoes that fit and a new tie that's not sorta shredded at the bottom thanks to my wonderful James.

Yesterday, I got our Highwayman painting and the gorgeous George Catlin book with the Buffalo Bill Center letter signed by Harold McCracken in 1968 inside it. The Highwayman painting is unique and really pleasant--I really like it. That may be hard to part with.

I've studied "Forrest Gets Mail 11," and like many others, I found many oddities in this "email."

Here's what I think stands out the most:

1. The haphazard appearing use of lower case letters that should be upper case letters.
2. A sentence or two aren't even close to grammatically correct.
3. The extra space between "career" and "in"
4. The abundant use of ellipses
5. The use of "your book."
6. The use of "best shot."
7. The capitalization of "Him" after a comma.

I did read the Wikipedia page about Ted Kaczynski and was struck by the magnitude of the rabbit hole this could potentially lead one down. I wondered if perhaps Forrest himself had edited the page recently, and was able to see the edit history on the page. Curiously, since the first edit in 2001, the page has been edited 4,587 times by 2,363 editors. In the last 7 days, there have been 3 edits. In the last 30 days, there have been 11 edits, and in the past year, there have been 140 edits. However, the averages of edits historically over time seems consistent with the latest numbers, so I can't say if Forrest has edited anything there or not.

There were some things I found particularly interesting in the TK bio. I'll list them for you.

1. In 1971, being fed up with technology and people in general, TK moved into a remote cabin in Montana. The wiki page specifically says, "without electricity or running water." Compare that with the page in TTotC with the picture of F's one room cabin in Paradise. That little brown home is just above "The Paperboy." And what's even more curious is the wiki page repeats "without electricity or running water" one or two more times.

TK's cabin:

2. TK wrote a "manifesto" which reminds me of the "Big Deal" or "New Deal" and "Manifest Destiny."

3. TK skipped both the 6th and 11th grades. He describes skipping 6th grade a "pivotal" event.

4. TH studied Geometric Function Theory and Boundary Functions.

5. He worked briefly at a foam rubber factory.

6. He said this when referring to his escape from society into the wilderness: "The best pace for me was the largest remnant of this plateau that dates from the tertiary age. It's a kind of rolling country, not flat, and when you get to the edge of it you will find these ravines that cut off very steeply into cliff-like drop offs and there was even a waterfall there. That summer there was too many people around there so I decided I needed some peace."

7. He said, "Most people take the path of least resistance."

8. One name he was known as was the "Junkyard Bomber."

9. He made a bomb disguised as a piece of lumber.

10. He had an obsession with wood.

11. He left false clues in every bomb--he would make them hard to find to deliberately mislead investigators into thinking they had a clue.

12. He capitalized words to show emphasis and used irregular spelling and hyphenation.

13. He was a believer in positivism--the belief that through sensory experience (touch)one attains knowledge.

14. He was searching for utopia, and described our society as a dystopia (see my thread on utopia at the MW Forum).

15. What worried him the most about being in prison was that he might lose his memories of nature and the woods and mountains.


Now, back to "Brett's" email. You will notice that with few exceptions, all the capitalized letters are also Roman Numerals. You will also notice that there is an asterisk after the word "trust." An asterisk is sometimes used for multiplication.

Then you will see a few places where a number is implied, rather than specifically written, such as the number of years Brett had lived in Las Vegas, and the number of years TK lived in the wilderness. Find those numbers and figure out the equation, and see what you get. :)

However, I'm not good at math, so my number is probably wrong. Lol.

The numbers

Thanks to everyone who donated to Chris! We are almost halfway to the goal of $3000 at $1472...amazing! The page has had over 1000 views and 6 shares on Facebook.

Today will probably be super busy for me...I'm really ready for the weekend.

I should be getting the Joseph Henry Sharp etching in the mail today. I hope to list it on eBay this weekend. James and I have also purchased a few other things, which will also arrive soon. It looks like we can really make a good go at this business. We'll see how it plays out, and all I know right now, is that we're learning a lot and we're having fun. :)

I'm running out of time...but one quick neat thing I found...look or sound familiar? :)

Overwhelmed

Update: So, someone mentioned I should subject myself to ice bucket challenge thing if Chris $2000 in donations. Okay, yeah, I'll do it.


Yesterday, we heard that a longtime searcher, Chris Yates, was in trouble. He was being evicted from his home, and he had not just himself to worry about, but his sister and two children. He had been given very little notice (a couple days) to pack up and get out.

I couldn't imagine such a large community of searchers ignoring this, especially since Chris has been in the search for a very long time.

It doesn't matter who he voted for, or if we bicker back and forth, or even if he hates my guts. I still consider him part of my chase family, and am determined to help. I think Chris is a good guy at heart. And I can see how much he cares for his family.

So, I started a gofundme campaign for him.

When I mentioned Chris's situation to James and said I wanted to help, he was all in, immediately, and helped me get things going. James is amazingly selfless and so eager and willing to help. I am overwhelmed by and immensely thankful for his support, and I am also truly overwhelmed by all who have donated to Chris. I would like to reach the $3000 goal, which will help get Chris and his family a permanent new home. I hate the thought of kids not knowing if they have a place they can call home.

I think it took a lot of bravery and humility for Chris to admit he needs help. I hope many more will donate to our family member in need. Every little bit helps. And you can donate anonymously. And I do not have access to the money, even though I set up the campaign. I set it up in a way that only Chris can take the money donated.

You can donate to Chris here.

gofundme.com/ChrisYates

So, thank you to everyone who has donated and will donate. I know Chris is extremely thankful. I'm also thankful for all of you. We have the power in our chase community to do good and spread hope--we proved it with Chris. Why can't we do more of this?

Anyway, yesterday was crazy busy, as I was in x-ray, then had a doctor appointment at 4:00 in Ormond beach, which is about a 45 minute drive from my work.

And I got home to Aidan sick as a dog on the couch. Aidan doesn't handle being sick well, so I started scouring the house for NyQuil and a bowl to puke in, and "blankies" she wanted.

Then I finally got the gofundme set up, and spent the little bit of time before falling asleep sending out thank you's to those who'd already donated.

Anyway, maybe we'd not fight about the treasure so much if we learned to treasure EACH OTHER.

Today should be a little more relaxed, and I should get home before 4:00, which'll give me some time to do things I haven't really had a chance to do, like take down the Christmas tree. Lol.

And I just need a little alone time to de-stress and think. Yesterday, an unexpected flood of emotion overwhelmed me at work when a thought came into my head -- My mom is gone.

I was typing in a patient's information before an x-ray when the thought came, and tears flooded my eyes. It was so sudden and unexpected that I got up and rushed into the bathroom to wipe the tears away and get myself under control. It only lasted a couple minutes, but I think I still need to find a time to let myself grieve. I remember when my dad died that it took a while before I truly grieved then too.

This weekend Joe has a Model UN conference. I won't know which school it's at until tomorrow, but I hope it's his school. Some of the other schools are far away, lol.

Other than that, I hope I can just relax this weekend. I am really tired...

Help Needed

Hey everyone,

I think most of you know about the hard time Chris Yates is going through...I started a gofundme campaign on FB and Twitter asking for any and all help. Here is the link to Chris's GoFundMe. Thank you to everyone who donates...and everyone that gives $20 or more, I will send you a painting of your totem animal... :)

Puzzling

People are like puzzles that I'm not sure I want to figure out. Yesterday afternoon's post was a bit of a social experiment, which proved something I'd already suspected. 

Wolf cautioned me on CC not to talk about certain info I have confided to him, which gave me an idea. I replied, "Like what I just posted on my wonderland blog?" But before I clicked "post reply," I checked my stat counter to see how many people had visited my blog that day.

Then I went back and clicked "reply," and sat back and watched as visits to my blog skyrocketed. In the first thirty minutes after posting, over 100 unique visitors went to my blog. 

Not only did my experiment prove that people take me seriously enough to rush to my blog when I say I've posted something, but it proved to me that there is a certain group who read my blog with almost a fanatical constancy.

For conducting this harmless experiment, I was accused of being "shady." 

With that said, there are some things you can be sure I'll always do, because it's in my nature:

I will always defend myself when attacked.

I will always treat everyone fairly.

I will always back up my accusations with proof. 

And I will always do my best, not only to be kind, but at everything I attempt. 

My best may not be your best. We are all dealt a certain personality, a certain environment, a certain set of characteristics that make each of us unique. 

One thing that's important to me is character. And the trolls have figured out the best way to poke me is to engage in character assassination. 

When this first happened, it was a new experience for me.  I've always been pretty well liked, and have never had any "enemies." I have always lived my life quietly, yet competitively.  I've never had people make up blatant lies about me like they've done in the chase. 

It takes "competition" to a much lower level than I've experienced in the past. I grew up playing sports--basketball, volleyball, surfing, jet-skiing, racing, swimming, even football. I experienced better sportsmanship playing tackle football with the kids on my street than I've encountered in the chase. How sad is that?  

   

As a competitor, I realize I'll have off days. I realize that it's impossible to win all the time. I realize I will not always make the right choices or the wisest decisions. I realize that I will, when attempting to solve an ambiguous puzzle, be wrong very often. And that's okay as long as I know I did my very best. If people still ridicule others after they've done their best, what kind of person does that make them? 

That's why I don't care what haters spout. They can't rattle me. They can't shake my determination, they can't make me doubt myself, and they can't stop me from pursuing what I want to pursue.  

And if someone finds the treasure before I do, I will be the first to congratulate them. No hard feelings, no crying foul, no whining about why I lost. If they find it, they earned it. Simple as that.

Here is something to ponder:

Who spouts the most insults? Who spouts the most hate? The one with the most wounded ego, that's who. Think about that. 

They can't take away my fun, they can't take away the awe and fascination I experience on every single trip I make out west. They can't take away my dignity, and they can't take away my self-respect. They can't take away anything, and they can't force me out. I'm not going anywhere. 

Consider this--if a treasure hunting blog devotes more time to hating someone than to solving the clues and discussing the chase, is it still a treasure hunting blog? Or is it a blog that feeds and nurtures more hate? 

While they talk, I think. While they gossip, I act. While they concoct lies, I seek the truth. And I'm smiling all the way. 

They can't take that away. You can't win a competition you've already lost. 

Secret

...suckers.

We are       g h o s t s .

Changes...

Well, James and I made some decisions this weekend, and started preparing to open our own art/collectible online gallery. We even purchased our first few items which I hunted down on eBay. The first is an original Joseph Henry Sharp listed at a price we couldn't pass up. When I checked with an expert, I learned the provenance of this piece, and learned the description the seller listed was wrong--in our favor. The expert also said we got the piece "cheap," so we should be able to enjoy a nice profit when we relist at a later time.

We also found a beautiful signed copy of a George Catlin book, with old documents from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West "tipped" in.

I wanted to buy something signed by Buffalo Bill, but everything Buffalo Bill touched had turned to gold. I couldn't find anything less than a few thousand dollars, and many documents were listed for $25k or more. Wow! Especially since the man seemed to be a fairly prolific letter writer!

But we did find a few other small things, and I was careful to only buy things I knew we could profit on, even though I did see a woodcut by Harry Fenn of Sherwood Forest that I wanted for myself. Lol.

We're going to start planning on attending estate sales and see what gems we can find that aren't sold online.

And eventually, we'd like to open a small gallery in Naples. I would love to do this full time. It's a lot of fun, and it would allow me to follow some other passions. We'll see how it goes, though. We still have a LOT to learn, so I won't quit my day job at this point. Lol.

James has bought the house I posted about the other day. It has five bedrooms with 3800 square feet. I'm checking things out there to see if if and when it would be feasible to move. My main concerns are Joe and Aidan. I'd like Joe to continue his IB Program, and I need to make sure Aidan has a decent place to live, because I don't see her quitting her job unless she takes the job in Arkansas (I thought she'd said Alabama, but it's Arkansas). And, of course, my house needs a lot of organizing before I can move.

Anyway, it looks like he'll be moving this month or next month, so I'm excited for that!

It's super cold outside today! I don't wanna venture outside, but it looks like I have no choice. Lol.

Look, I found a telephone pole in this pic of Peggy in TTotC:

Oops..time to get going!