Prison Pete
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
I am typing this letter direct
without the proof and print step. Can you tell the difference?
For me writing the letter is the easy part. Going back to proof, edit and reprint is the torturous part. As I think I have mentioned before, it takes around fifteen minutes to edit and print each single spaced page. There is no print buffer so while a page is being printed I can not be editing the next page.
As I mentioned the proof and print part is time consuming for me. Not only do I catch all the corrected spelled but in the wrong place words, but I remove all the redundant words and unneeded words. There should be less "really", "So", and other phrases you have pointed out to me in letters past.
The NY Times is still driving me crazy and I need to figure out where the problem is. Yesterday I received Sunday 9/2 and Wednesday through Saturday (9/5 to 9/8). I thought this might be an omen of things being straightened out since it was normal to receive Friday and Saturday papers on Monday. But today no papers arrived. Drat. Double drat. I did send the letter to the local postmaster on August 30 asking him to log the receipt date for one week's worth of papers. I might get an answer soon?
I was going to wait to get a response from the postmaster and then ask dad to call, but I am not sure how well he would be able to explain the problem. Of course I am assuming that it is not the facility that is all of a sudden sitting on all my papers. The strange thing is that they have enough papers coming to this zip code to put a bunch of papers together. Therefore I assume a stack of papers arrived still in a bundle here at the post office.
Enough about the paper.
To answer a question, we do not get the TV remotes; it prevents one inmate from controlling the television. It would certainly reduce the mechanical wear and tear, but prison in general and this one in particular do not always do things the way that makes the most sense.
In Club Fed, there was one remote in each unit to control all six televisions and most times you had to get it from the officer to make the change. Once in a while the remote would "disappear" and the plugs would be pulled on all televisions until the remote was found.
I happened to watch a half hour or so of the Oprah show yesterday. It was her first show of the season and she taped them in NYC. The show was already on, and it caught my eye as David Letterman was the guest. I laughed and enjoyed the time, but noticed how old Letterman looked. I do not think I have seen him in several years.
I am amazed at how easy I can get sucked into watching something, but also surprise myself how I have so many other things to occupy my time that I wonder how I could have sat (or laid in bed) and watched two or more hours of television a night. Now give me a book to read and off I go.
I had started reading a Nelson DeMille book late Saturday afternoon, and finished it by 1:30 PM Sunday. Damn, I forgot to write the book in my list, I think it was "Wild Fire". It is a post 9/11 book based on the premise that the US has a hardwired automatic response to nuke 100 Islamic sites if any city in the US is attacked by terrorists with nuclear weapons. DeMille claims there is a thread of truth in this plan. It supposedly is known by the leaders of the various Islamic countries and forces them to keep terrorists in line.
Some very rich and powerful men (US citizens) decide to purchase some old Russian suitcase bombs, blow up two US cities, and then force the engagement of Project Wild Fire. No more Islamic problem.
It is one of the spy/conspiracy books that I enjoy and does not go too far afield, in my opinion, from the realm of the possible.
For me writing the letter is the easy part. Going back to proof, edit and reprint is the torturous part. As I think I have mentioned before, it takes around fifteen minutes to edit and print each single spaced page. There is no print buffer so while a page is being printed I can not be editing the next page.
As I mentioned the proof and print part is time consuming for me. Not only do I catch all the corrected spelled but in the wrong place words, but I remove all the redundant words and unneeded words. There should be less "really", "So", and other phrases you have pointed out to me in letters past.
The NY Times is still driving me crazy and I need to figure out where the problem is. Yesterday I received Sunday 9/2 and Wednesday through Saturday (9/5 to 9/8). I thought this might be an omen of things being straightened out since it was normal to receive Friday and Saturday papers on Monday. But today no papers arrived. Drat. Double drat. I did send the letter to the local postmaster on August 30 asking him to log the receipt date for one week's worth of papers. I might get an answer soon?
I was going to wait to get a response from the postmaster and then ask dad to call, but I am not sure how well he would be able to explain the problem. Of course I am assuming that it is not the facility that is all of a sudden sitting on all my papers. The strange thing is that they have enough papers coming to this zip code to put a bunch of papers together. Therefore I assume a stack of papers arrived still in a bundle here at the post office.
Enough about the paper.
To answer a question, we do not get the TV remotes; it prevents one inmate from controlling the television. It would certainly reduce the mechanical wear and tear, but prison in general and this one in particular do not always do things the way that makes the most sense.
In Club Fed, there was one remote in each unit to control all six televisions and most times you had to get it from the officer to make the change. Once in a while the remote would "disappear" and the plugs would be pulled on all televisions until the remote was found.
I happened to watch a half hour or so of the Oprah show yesterday. It was her first show of the season and she taped them in NYC. The show was already on, and it caught my eye as David Letterman was the guest. I laughed and enjoyed the time, but noticed how old Letterman looked. I do not think I have seen him in several years.
I am amazed at how easy I can get sucked into watching something, but also surprise myself how I have so many other things to occupy my time that I wonder how I could have sat (or laid in bed) and watched two or more hours of television a night. Now give me a book to read and off I go.
I had started reading a Nelson DeMille book late Saturday afternoon, and finished it by 1:30 PM Sunday. Damn, I forgot to write the book in my list, I think it was "Wild Fire". It is a post 9/11 book based on the premise that the US has a hardwired automatic response to nuke 100 Islamic sites if any city in the US is attacked by terrorists with nuclear weapons. DeMille claims there is a thread of truth in this plan. It supposedly is known by the leaders of the various Islamic countries and forces them to keep terrorists in line.
Some very rich and powerful men (US citizens) decide to purchase some old Russian suitcase bombs, blow up two US cities, and then force the engagement of Project Wild Fire. No more Islamic problem.
It is one of the spy/conspiracy books that I enjoy and does not go too far afield, in my opinion, from the realm of the possible.
Comments:
Just thought I'd say thanks to the editor, the guy behind the scenes who puts in his own time and effort to maintain this blog.
Your friend behind bars is lucky to count you as a friend!
PS
Tell prison pete to stop writing about such pedestrian topics and give us some nitty gritty stuff!
Your friend behind bars is lucky to count you as a friend!
PS
Tell prison pete to stop writing about such pedestrian topics and give us some nitty gritty stuff!
[Editor]
AD,
I sent Pete a letter yesterday with your previous comment and said that I agree with you and David that we on the outside would like to hear less political commentary and book reviews and more about the darker side of prison life. Something more like Jon's Jail Journal, a copy of which I included for Pete to read. We'll see what he says.
I may be somewhat to blame in posting much of our regular correspondence rather than just stuff he writes for the blog. But that blog-specific stuff has been few and far between so I'm just trying to keep the blog going, and I agree it all has been rather dull lately.
Post a Comment
AD,
I sent Pete a letter yesterday with your previous comment and said that I agree with you and David that we on the outside would like to hear less political commentary and book reviews and more about the darker side of prison life. Something more like Jon's Jail Journal, a copy of which I included for Pete to read. We'll see what he says.
I may be somewhat to blame in posting much of our regular correspondence rather than just stuff he writes for the blog. But that blog-specific stuff has been few and far between so I'm just trying to keep the blog going, and I agree it all has been rather dull lately.
