Re: Spam

Juan Jimenez wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:44027C32.1322FF8A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Juan Jimenez wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4400A164.C1817261@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Do what you want, but water was in very short supply after every
hurricane that went through the area. Are you more afraid that a couple
meals will kill you that you would starve to death instead?

If you think you're going to starve for lack of a mere couple of meals,
you
got other problems for which I can't help. :)

What? Do you only eat a meal a week? 2 weeks * 3 meals a day is 42
meals.

You said a couple of meals, not a couple of weeks. See above.


You know how the utility companies work. They restored the power
within a few days to what they considered critical, including a high
school not far from my home, but it was several weeks before they
finally came back to replace the downed lines. Some damaged poles were
in use for over a year after that. We kept hearing, Two more days! the
whole time. I don't blame the out of state workers who did most of the
work, but Florida Power did a lousy job of dispatching them. It was so
bad that they had to send people to show them were they were to work
that day. So, in the mean time I had to buy what I could find in the
few stores that were open. Spam was one of the few things on the shelves
that I could eat. Everything else required cooking and water that I
didn't have, or was something I couldn't eat because of the spices and
high salt content. Its hard to get to anything when you have a bunch of
greedy people blocking the isles with carts while they shove whole
shelves of canned foods into their carts, and they didn't give a dam if
they knocked someone down. I walk with a cane and I have trouble
getting around the narrow isles, without the feeding frenzy that was
going on around me.


The rain water that was collected had so much trash and bugs in it
that it was only fit to flush the toilet about once a day. I managed to
get a few cases of bottled water from FEMA, but I only found ice, twice
in three weeks.

I got mine from the roof as well, through the normal drain pipes. If I
thought the water was not drinkable, I filtered with cheesecloth or paper
coffee filters (tedious!), boiled (during hurricane season I keep a few
cases of propane gas for my two-burner portable cooking kit) and put a
little bit of chlorine it. No one got sick, so I guess I guessed well. :)


I was out of work, and broke so I couldn't stock up on Propane. I
had just got my VA medical card, and had to wait two years to have a
doctor assigned, and another year to let them build a medical history
before I could file for disability. I got 100% non service connected
disability in about 40 days, when I did file. I miss being able to
work, so i started this project to fill the few hours that i feel well
enough to work: http://home.earthlink.net/~computersforvets/ A project
to provide free computers to disabled and disadvantaged Veterans in
Marion County, Florida.


The spam was only one part of my food. The rest was canned
vegetables, along with peanut butter and crackers. I have been too
close to death a couple times not to keep a month's worth of no prep
type foods around. Have you ever lost over 20 pounds in five days?

I lost 55 lbs in 10 days in 2001, just after I died from acute pancreatitis
and was unceremoniously yanked and simultaneously dropkicked back into this
plane. I don't recommend that particular diet plan. And that was just the
beginning... some weeks later the surgeon drained 2.5 gallons of fluid from
my abdomen from a leaky pancreas, and a couple of weeks after I left the
hospital from that I had chest pain and had to have a stent put in. Holidays
from Hell. So, do I qualify to join the club or what?? <grin>


Sure. but its a club I never want to visit again. I caught a bad
case of the flu, and slept for a little over five days in a house
without heat. I was sick when i got home, and the furnace went out
sometime while I was asleep. I couldn't walk for a few weeks, and it
took over six months before I could look for work. I lost my job at a
defense plant, and the service contracts with three school systems while
I was in bed.


We have more in common than you think, bro. :)

MREs are great, if you can afford them. I can't. I was given one of
the Menu 14, Vegetable Manicotti meals. It was ok, but I prefer to eat
my own cooking

Yeah, but when there's no choice, they're pretty good. :)

Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214

So do I, bro. 2nd MAW, SOES and HMM-161, 1978-1982. :)

Good! :) I had a rare MOS. I was a broadcast engineer, worked on
CATV, Microwave video relays, sound systems and RADAR without attending
any military electronics schools.

I was an avionics tech, mostly CH-46's (SAR A's and line F's) and CH-53D
with a little C9-B/T-39/U-11 thrown in for good measure. :) That's an
impressive accomplishment. How'd you swing that?

Juan

When i registered for the draft they told me I wasn't in good enough
health to volunteer, but I was sure to be drafted, because of my
background in electronics. Sure enough, I was drafted, and sent to Ft
Knox for basic training where I was told that i was either going to be a
cook, or a truck driver. I raised enough hell that they agreed to give
me a test to prove that I didn't know anything about electronics.
"Television Equipment Repairman" was Army for "Broadcast Engineer". The
MOS test had the standard 110 questions, but they claimed that they only
had one copy, and it was missing 22 questions, then informed me that the
average score was 22 right, and 42 was passing. I got 82, and the MOS
awarded as a civilian acquired skill. I was sent to Ft Rucker Alabama
to work the Weather Vision section, which operated CATV and Microwave
video relays (CARS) to distribute weather data and educational TV to 17
airfields, along with the main base. While I was there, I was
"Borrowed" both by the commanding general to install the sound system in
a new conference room, and by the RADAR section when they had a rash of
problems, and too many guys gone on leave. They were shocked by what I
already knew about RADAR, and a little pissed that I had taught myself
from a set of manuals for a WW-II airborne RADAR system that had been
given to the physic department at my high school. After that. I was
sent to Ft. Greely Alaska to work at the radio and TV station. I was
bored, so I rebuilt everything in the AM radio station, and the low
power TV station. (Ch 8, 250 Watts). The station manager tried to have
me court-martialed for doing depot level work outside of the AFRTS depot
in Sacramento, but my company commander decided I deserved a promotion,
instead. I also received a letter of commendation from the commanding
general of the three Army bases in Alaska. Not bad for a 20 year old TV
repairman back in the early '70s? ;-)


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
.