Hello again from Hastings

I'm back at Hastings Hardback Cafe this morning to catch up on my Internet stuff, since we still don't have cable or Internet at home.

I always buy a large cup of coffee, so as to qualify as a legitimate customer and not a Wifi freeloader. The battery in my Sony VAIO laptop was never particularly robust and now that it's more than three years old, it barely gets me past boot-up, so I have to find a spot next to an electrical outlet to do my away-from-home computing.

I stopped at the post office on my way in to town and, of course, there was no rent check in the post office box. And, of course, my blood pressure is spiking since it was due on the first of the month.

I have my parents to blame/thank for this being a big stresser for me. I was raised to believe that it was a personal disgrace not to pay bills on time. And I understood "on time" to mean on or before the due date. I firmly believe that's what's in the minds of my creditors when they send me a bill with a due date.

That's how I built a stellar credit score prior to our present debacle with two house payments and a burdensome home equity line of credit balance resulting from our move to Arkansas.

Maria isn't as freaked out about a late rent check because her ex employed the same sleazy strategy of not paying a bill until he was right up against the date when a late penalty kicked in. And she's better than I am at focusing on things she can control and not getting bunged up over things she can't control.

Whatever. I'll try to put it aside until tomorrow's visit to the post office.

My second stop was at the newspaper where I went through a couple of months' worth of back issues from 2008 to cull out some photos for a portfolio entry in this year's state press association competition. The editor graciously invited me to submit an entry since I was a fulltime staff member from just after Christmas 2007 until the end of last February.

My agenda also includes the continued search for replacement chains for our two nearly brand new chainsaws. The forecast is for temperatures in the upper 50s and lower 60s this weekend and the ice storm debris isn't going to take care of itself.

There are still a lot of people without electricity - the couple we sat next to at lunch yesterday reeked of kerosene - and some are getting angry to the point of violence.

Some utility crews now require police protection and the mayor of Walnut Ridge woke up yesterday to find bullet holes in her car.

Mayor Michelle Rogers, whose home is still without power, said, "People sometimes don't know who to blame and sometimes they have to blame someone.  It would stand to reason they may think, well the mayor's office, they're not doing enough or someone's not doing enough."

Her husband is a state representative.

Apparently the perception among some is that the utility crews have a priority list that assures the wealthy and influential get their power restored first. That's the kind of thinking you get from people who put their energy into hating the successful instead of trying to become successful themselves.