Once upon a time there was a business that had been around for close to FIFTY YEARS. It was an electronics parts business and was founded by a family to supply parts to the many manufactures, start up garage business' and the repair segment. This was before we sold our manufacturing soul to ASIA and people actually fixed a TV when it broke.

It is now the present and I am ermployed as a HIGH END manager in sales. I have also been assigned the task of DOUBLING SALES in two years. I might also mention that the company is a management CRIPPLE! I report directly to the owner and was asked to be the guy that told him when he was full of crap. This generally BS but in my time he has been open to my observations. A couple of times I thought that I had gone over the line, but he was cool.

Next come the cast of characters.

I am so SICK of posting and getting your TIME OUT and LOOSING EVERYTHING

YOU SUCK THE BIG ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!111

If I can convince ONE person to use SUNSCREEN and be smart about the sun then this will be a success.

A TON of sun, conplextion type and genetics play a large part of your susceptability.

My father was Danish and my mother was English, I had fair skin and LOVED the look of a GREAT tan. I worked two summers as a lifeguard before SUNSCREEN was invented and not to much was known about the damage it could do. We used baby oil and Iodine to get tyhe first of the summer BURN, covered the tops of our feet at nose with zinc oxide and just tanned on top of the blisters and peeling. That was in 1962 and I have been dealing with skin cancer for close to 25 years.

It started with a little sore that wouldn't go away on my right temple and I just ignored it for awhile. My wife nagged me about it until I went to the "derm". It was Basal Cell and he removed it with this scrapping tool and a few shots of novacane. I was in and out in 30-minutes still feeling invincible.

I still didn't take sun screen seriously and would BAKE in the sun; it felt GREAT and I liked how I looked.

I was outdoors constantly either training, running, coaching soccer, watching swim meets or playing soccer. No sunscreen again because when I sweat it ran into my eyes and I couldn't see. It also filled my pock marks left from terrible achne as a teenager. I had a tan that many people would kill for though and I just didn't consider the ramifications.

Over the years, I probably had 20 surgeries that were out patient, but resulted in over 2,000 stitches.

I am currently fighting Squamus Cell on the back of my left hand and it is serious enough that the "AMPUTATION" word has been discussed.

I have become somewhat of a skin cancer expert from experiences that I would rather read about than experience personally.

The following is my story with some advice thrown in along the way.

I have not posted much in the last month because I have been going to an endless list of doctors. I am with an HMO so each one wants their $30 co-pay and it ADDS us quickly.

Most of my cancer has been Basal Cell and it is pretty simple to treat depending upon the size of the leasion. Most of them were small and out-patient stuff. I had one on the bridge of my nose and another on the side of my nose. Under a local they did some MAGIC STUFF! They basically cut and folded skin to cover what they removed and I was quite a sight.

Anytime they do stuff around your eyes you swell like CRAZY and I am NO exception. I had all these stitches on my face and both my eyes would swell shut during the night.

My girlfriend at the time and I had planned to go to this race and off we went stitches and all. I have been to this race several times and one particular turn is the best place to watch the race and a GREAT PARTY in the process. The GREAT thing is that I always went to the head of the beer line; "Dude DAMN I don't even want to know what happened but go to the head of the line for some medecine".

I would wake up in the morning, ice my face and off we would go.

Then I got one on my ankle that was BIG and NASTY! This one was out-patient but they used general anesthetic. They took a hunk out of my ankle and then took a hunk out of my left thigh as a skin graft.

I work in a large electronics store as the sales manager and it is interesting to say the least. I have been involved with electronics for over 40 years, have education and still do not know it all.

I have repaired and calibrated everything from TV's to precision instrumentation. I have taught repair and calibration classes for the military as a contractor and feel that my education and experience is pretty well rounded.

When one considers that electronics is basically attempting to contol something that you can not see it is a little daunting. It is only with logic and a knowledge of cause and effect that allows anyone to be successful.

The cornerstone of this business is CUSTOMER SERVICE and people from miles around KNOW IT. This store is also over 20,000 square feet with an off site warehouse so the product offering is HUGE. A person can walk in and but a package of resistors for $1.25 or pick up $10,000 worth of computer network equipment and be billed.

The problem that is NUTS is the walk-in customers. People say that our society is becoming a "Throw Away Society" and I do NOT believe it. What I DO believe is that it is becoming a CHEAP Society and it is NOT just the low income families that are attempting to make that rice cooker or curling iron work for another year. We have one customer that like to deal with me and he is working on a boat so it will go 200 MILES an HOUR! We also get a large crowd that has motor homes. They simply want to do the work / repair themselves so that they do NOT have to pay for labor. They want a retractable step, have NO knowledge of electricity and EXPECT us to tell them how to do it and what parts they need. There is a RV repair place right up the street, but they do NOT want to pay a professional. We spend an hour making maybe a $20 sale.

If it is slow it just isn't a big thing except for the implied LIABILITY. If we tell them how to do it, sell them the parts, then they screw up the installation and their RV goes up in FLAMES guess who's fault that it is?

I had a guy come in that had a 50' fishing boat with a bait tank that was fused. He came to the counter and said, "My bait tank has 20 amp fuses and they keep blowing. It is annoying me and I want the biggest fuse that you have so it will stop doing that".

Let's put it this way, a stupid person does NOT acquire enough wealth to own a 50' fishing boat and I just told him that we were out of stock. I told him that over fusing could cause a FIRE and that was NOT a good thing. He argued, wanted me to order 100 AMP fuses and left MAD when I said that they were not available.

Here is the deal. Wire is designed to handle only a specific amount of current (amps) and if you exceed the rating the wire gets HOT, the insulation melts and a fire results. Look at how big the wire is on your battery and there is a reason. When you start your car it may take 750 AMPS and thus BIG WIRE! Your house has circuit breakers that are generally rated at 30 AMPS and thus the smaller wire. A circuit breaker is nothing more than a fuse that you can reset. If you look at a glass fuse you will see that it is nothing more than a small wire in a glass tube with metal on each end. The higher the amp rating the BIGGER the wire inside the glass tube. If the fuse is rated at 1 AMP and 2 AMPS flow through it, then the wire melts due to the heat generated and the thing turns off. A fuse or circuit breaker has TWO purposes; the first is to tell you that there is a PROBLEM and it is NOT the fuse and the second is to prevent a FIRE.

People with HNO knowledge of electricty assume that the FUSE is the PROBLEM and this assumption can KILL THEM.

I have to tell this story. Two guys were out hunting and were headed home after dark when the headlights of their truck suddenly went out. In their vast wisdom they determined that the fuse had blown. They took out the blown fuse and replaced it with as .22 cartridge. One headlight came on and the other stayed dark, but they went on down the road. They also noticed that their panel light were flickering and the truck wasn't running well. There was a terrible BANK when the .22 cartridge exploded and the slug hit the driver in the groin causing an accident.

It seems that the headlight that was NOT working SHORTED rather than opening when it failed and was drawing MAXIMUM battery current through their make shift fuse. This caused HEAT and the shell EXPLODED.

FUSES are the WARNING LIGHTS of electricy! If you blow a fuse or "pop" a breaker it is a nice way of saying, "HEY, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM AND CALL SOMEONE THAT KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING"! The fuse is simply the symtom of a BIGGER PROBLEM!

You say, "NOBODY fixes a TV any more". Well that is just NOT true! It is also the lower income demographic that makes the attempt and it SCARES the HELL out of me!

Hey a TV is just an appliance and if you unplug it from the wall you can't get shocked; that is what they ALL think. The TRUTH is that a TV can KILL YOU! There is this thing called a capacitor that acts like a battery that can hold electricity for 5 years even if it is unplugged. In may TV's the picture tube is a HUGE capacitor that can store up to 2,000 VOLTS of electricty. It takes a special tool to discharge this electricity and it just waits for an unsuspecting novice to touch the WRONG place and then they are DEAD!

I have a big screen and the high voltage transformer died on me. I knew what the problem was through experience and education; this knowledge told me just NOT to mess with it and I called a professional to repair it. He gave me a price break because I told him what the problem was over the phone, but I just wasn't going to mess with it.

The problem that we have is that customers come in with a part, put it on the counter and say, "Dis One". It literaly AMAZES me that they actually got it out without killing themselves. There are two families living in a one-bedroom apartment, but they have the BIG TV; they just don't have the cash to get it fixed professionally. The poor people also have another three years of payments before they own it. I am REAllY sorry for them, but I am just not going to hang it out and get the store sued when they either burn down the apartment building or kill themselves in the process of the "repair". Hell there are places that will buy dead TV's, fix them and then re-sell them; many will actually pick them up and give a reconditioned TV as part of the payment. The problem is that EVERYONE feels ENTITLED to the newest and greatest TV even though their kids are eating cereal three meals a day. Sorry I digress.

If these peopel want to make an effort and get lucky, GOOD FOR THEM. There is also a SCARY PART!

We also have guys come in that work for ELEVATOR COMPANIES and know ZERO about electricity. If I am 20-stories up I would like to feel confident that EVERYTHING is FINE. They repair elevators with the "shotgun" method and I TAKE THE STAIRS. They simply replace parts until the elevator moves and then assume that the problem is fixed and go to the next job. There may be a leaky capacitor that supplies bias voltage to a control semiconductor so that it works properly. Leaky capacitors take a bunch of knowledge to find and they lurk in the background to bite you in the butt at the worst possible time.

In most other parts of the country I would be living in a two-bedroom house with an attached garage and a yard. What I have here is a one-bedroom, detatched garage and a little patio. I pay about $1,300 a month PLUS UTILITIES. Oh yea, it's a gated community but the gates may as well just stay open. One person with a remote will open the gate and then 6-12 other cars will scoot through. You also do NOT need a remote to get out because there is a pressure sensor that opens the gate automatically.

I also do NOT live in a HIGH END apartment; those go for $1,800 - $2,000 a month and MOST do NOT allow dogs. Even if I could afford it I couldn't live in one of these places anyway. I noticed some new construction and it reminds me of New York City and their co-ops. They are 3-5 stories high and have little tiny balconies. Who in their right mind would like to live on the fifth floor? I suppose if you are fat on dough you just hire someone to do your groceries and bring them up. What a pain in the butt it would be to bring a Christmas tree! I just don't understand why anyone would want to live this way.

So I am in this place that is VERY high density with every, race, religion and culture represented. A LARGE percentage of the population does not speak English and I have seen bedrooms with 2-3 SETS of bunk beds in them. So in some circumstances you have 1-2 or more adults and 4-6 children sharing a 2-bedroom apartment. I have also seen living rooms with a set of bunk beds in a 1-bedroom apartment.

I just figure "Live and let live and it is just NONE of my business unless it affects me directly".

There is NO gang problem, NO grafitti and the kids are well behaved. Oh there are a few "wanta be" gangsters with their hoods and baggy falling down pants, but they are basically good kids. They call me "Coach" or "Hey Fool" and I ask how they are doing in school. I don't look for them but they just seem to find me when I am either coming or going.

The problem here is NOT the people with a ton of kids getting by as best as they can; it's the 20-30 something crowd and their ENTITLED ATTITUDE.

It is like they have a reasonable job, furniture, social life and a nice car. They also want to be a BIG FISH in a VERY small and diverse pond. They can't hack the "PREPPY PALACES" because they don't make the money or know the right people. They also drive a pick-up, little Honda or something similar. They can't afford the BMW or Mercedes that is REQUIRED at the other places.

So here we have these people that think that they are SPECIAL and the RULES do NOT APPLY to them! They press the envelope in EVERY ASPECT and the management allows it.

The biggest problem is the irresponsible dog owners. Their dogs are ALWAYS off leash as if this whole place was THEIR backyard. When I have asked them to leash their dogs the immediately get confrontational. I just do NOT understand this attitude.

My dog, Bob, is ALWAYS on a leash, loves other dogs and people and FREAKS when he sees a dog off-leash. He would LOVE to chase and play, but he has been attacked TWICE by two dogs off leash. He even had a problem with a dog on leash so he is just a little defensive around other dogs, which I understand.

For the last couple of months I have had this ongoing problem with this woman and her dog. Her dog looks like a Chow, Husky mix and is ALWAYS off leash. She also has NO control over the dog when the dog charges toward Bob; she screams his name and he just keeps coming. I have been prepared to give her dog a swift kick several times, but it hasn't been necessary.

The lease specifically states that dogs are to be leashed at all times and when I have asked her nicely to leash her dog and control him, IT IS MY FAULT and I am "MEAN". What is UP with THAT? If her dog went about his business and didn't mess with Bob I couldn't care less if he were on a leash or not. The problem is that HER LACK of RESPONSIBILITY and CONSIDERATION mess with ME. It is just so typical of this age group; I should modify my LIFE to accomidate THEIR NEEDS, WANTS and DESIRES. I can NOT imagine how she would react if her neighbor played music too loud, too late or music that didn't fit her personal tastes.

She could bve a nice looking woman if she cleaned up a bit. She is tall and has long blonde hair. When I see her it's always wet and stringy. I just do NOT understand how she can get so DEFENSIVE and CONFRONTATIONAL when she is DROP DEAD WRONG. Oh well, another SPOILED PRINCESS that the world gets to live with. If she is divorced or never married, I can certainly understand why.

I have to walk down to the office to put more money on my laundry card and would like to take Bob. The thing that ANGERS me is that I just don't want the ATTITUDE if she is out with her dog.

Then you have the two families across from me. The party boys upstairs and the adult Hispanic boys living with their mother below.

The party boys have been GOOD since my first little chat with them; they were partying until 1-2 AM and it was going outside and underneath my bedroom window. I have done my share of partying and completely understand, just keep it INSIDE and down after 11 PM. They even invited me up one night and I declined; probably would have scared them to death.

The Hispanic boys used to have a bunch of "wanta be" gangsters hanging out and drinking under age and I ran them off. I just told them to take it inside and enjoy.

The party boys and the Hispanics boys got into it the other night at 3 AM! It seems the party boys woke up the Hispanic boys mother and how is she going to get up for work so we can lay around the house and watch TV all day.

The Hispanic boys aren't real swift but they are BIG! One sports this HUGE fake diamond ear-ring that makes me laugh; if he could afford that kind of bling, what the hell is he doing living here.

The posturing went on for about an hour; two BIG Hispanics and 12 DRUNK paty boys. It could have turned into a REAL mess if anybody had thrown a punch. They finally all went inside and I figured I could get another couple of hours sleep.

I had just started to drift off again when the cops showed up at the Hispanic boys apartment.

Now this is interesting. The two BIG BOYS hid behind their door and wouldn't open it; this speaks highly of their character; they were ready to fight, but NOT answer to authority and explain. HUM, how does that work?

The next evening I ran into the Hispanic boys and asked then to stop and talk. They were FULL of ATTITUDE with the "MAMMA THING" and I just said, "I don't care who did what, who was right or who was wrong. I just do NOT like it at 3 AM.

They looked at me for a few seconds and said, "Did YOU call the cops"?

I let it hang for a minute and responded, "Nope, if it gets out of control they wouldn't be her in time to make a difference, so I deal with it myself".

The one with the earring looked at me and said, "Yea sure old man".

"Think what you want "nino", but I do NOT push easily. I do NOT care what you do we all have to get along. Have a good evening" and that was that.

I neglected to tell them my Hispanic nickname becaue it only would have inflamed the situation. I just figure Live and let live.