The Year of Waiting

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A few excerpts from our local Palatka, Fl. paper and reprinted from the Gainesvill(Fl) paper. On the editoral page under Other Views.The Year of waiting. Facing the Y2K problem: Don't Panic.

" Oh,stock up on freeze-dried and keep a cache of cash on hand if it'll make you feel better"

"But have a little faith as well. We ASmericans are a people who have gone to the moon,bested bloody dictators,conquered diseases,and fed the world.We Floridians have survived monster hurricanes and fought ravenous wildfires. We are not about to wade back into the primeval ooze because a computer flu may or may not make Jan.1.2000 a somewhat less than festive occasion"

what the more excitable call TEOTWAWKI"

"But an 'electronic ice age' ? It's the stuff of science fiction"

goes on to cite all the money being spent on repairs to be compliant in time, then this last paragraph:

For onr thing, Dec 31,1999 promises to kick off the most spectacular New Year's Eve bash of the millenium. Who wants to miss that kind of party to hide out in a bunker somewhere stashed away in the woods and stocked with a years worth of appetizing Army surplus MRE'S ?

There are none so blind..............comments?

-- Sue (deco100@aol.com), January 04, 1999

Answers

Sue, one of my favorite fantasy bugout places is the island on the St Johns River near the mouth of Lake George. What do you think?

MoVe Immediate (glad to hear someone in Putnam County is a GI)

-- MVI (vtoc@aol.com), January 04, 1999.


""But have a little faith as well. We ASmericans are a people who have gone to the moon,bested bloody dictators,conquered diseases,and fed the world.We Floridians have survived monster hurricanes and fought ravenous wildfires. We are not about to wade back into the primeval ooze because a computer flu may or may not make Jan.1.2000 a somewhat less than festive occasion""

As usual the focus is solely on America as if the rest of the world doesn't exist - how arrogant, binkered and bloody stupid can you be?

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 04, 1999.


I'm not sure this is what the original poster intended, but I'm going to pick up on another recent thread and talk REALLY about a year or more of waiting.

I knew of the Y2K problem for a long time, but it was April of 1998 where it hammered home to my viscera, and I began to prepare. I have spent the requisite number of hours educating and helping others to "get it". My plans are in place in earnest and in place in my head for when "the time comes" for the rest. And now....as the folks at Monty Python say,...for something completely different. The waiting, the ongoing watching and listening,...the incessant dealing with drivel from immature children (aka trolls) about the need ALWAYS to be prepared for potential disasters in highly complex interconnected human civilizations.

So now, I frequent forums rarely, compared to hours and hours in the "beginning"...I listen to family and friends do just what they've done for months...and sometimes I fume, and other times I fret...I spend a lot of time alone thinking,...I cannot go into stores without wondering what I've forgotten,..what else I MIGHT get. I continue to pester the city council...

What are you doing in (as Dr. Seuess calls it)"The Waiting Place"? (from the book "Oh the Places You'll Go")

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), January 04, 1999.


"The Waiting Place," by Dr. Seuess, from his book "Oh, The Places You'll Go!"

The Waiting Place...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for the wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

Perhaps a part of The Human Condition,...waiting, when action is in order...learned behavior...who knows.


-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), January 04, 1999.

Shutting off my wayward BOLD tag. Sorry. Got cuaght being human again...or in early "OldTimer's" Disease.

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), January 04, 1999.


studies have shown that people placed in stress situations will react the way they have *practiced* reacting. Not the way they think that they should react, or the way someone has told them to react, but the way they've actually practiced. This is why emergency services personnel, military personnel, and such are always running practice drills.

I would submit that part of the problem we're seeing here (people being in "The Waiting Place") is that people have practiced doing nothing on the theory that the government (or someone) will eventually show up and fix the situation for them. Sadly, I fear that many such will continue waiting right up to...well, right up to the end of the world as *they* know it....

just my 2 cents' worth, Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), January 04, 1999.


MVI:

>St Johns River near the mouth of Lake George. What do you think? >MoVe Immediate (glad to hear someone in Putnam County is a GI)

Either I'm not thinking of the same Lake George, or you have a VERY strange fantasy life.

(mine right about now is home to ice fishermen shuddering in little shanties telling each other it doesn't get any better and hoping for a Muskelunge or a Northern Pike)

c

-- Chuck, night driver (rienzoo@en.com), January 05, 1999.


Sue,

What you said about the New Year's Eve bash of the millennium reminds me of a commercial I saw yesterday on the ABC Evening News. The commercial was for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. Not only did it paint a rosy picture of investing--it showed a picture of how people will be partying on December 31, 1999.

Was this a subtle way of saying Y2K is a non-event? Especially since I saw one of their representives on "Crossfire" the other day taking the position that Y2K will not disrupt the economy...

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), January 05, 1999.


Been seeing those ads too Kevin. Try watching Wall $treet Week and see how most of the prognosticators for 1999 don't even mention Y2K.

Parallel worlds. Makes me dizzy watching their dazzle 'em dance steps.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 05, 1999.


The contrast between Canadian and American TV PR on Y2K really hit me over the holidays while I was in Canada. The Canadian gov. sponsors a new TV commercial (which I didn't see in my last trip last november. It is very simple and short; an iceburg aproaches slowly for several seconds, then a woman's voice saying that the year 2000 is aproaching fast, and asks if you're ready. It aired frequently throughtout the day on the times I had the tv on.

Why couldn't something like that be aired here in the states?

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), January 05, 1999.



That is so cool, Chris! Have often thought about moving to Canada ... We seriously checked out Bellingham, WA, as a place to relocate a few years back ... but it was TOO cold! But so charming. I'd bug out around Whatcom Lake any time if I had $$ 3,000,000.

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), January 05, 1999.


Wow, Chris. Amazable!

Still have relatives on the western most island in Canada. Humm. We'll see what the next couple months brings.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 05, 1999.


Chuck, there are at least 2 Lake Georges uhh, Lakes George? Anyway I have fished on at least 2 by the same name. The one that I was talking about is a widening of the St Johns river in Florida, south of Palatka, FL.

The other one that I'm familiar with is in New York state. It ranges from Ticonderoga in the north to just north of Glenns Fall in the south.

Great fishing and beautiful scenery on both. Tell me about yours.

MoVe Immediate

-- MVI (vtoc@aol.com), January 05, 1999.


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