Lane T.V. & Satellite

10/08/2024

I didn't make it to church this week. I had an EMERGENCY service call to Independence, Ohio. A hotel (large national chain) had a total loss of TV in over 20% of it's rooms, with others breaking up and pixelating.

I spent nearly 7 hours total driving to and from the site, and another 12.5 hours on-site.

This is what happens when people do half of a job, stuff breaks down! I didn't have time to completely rebuild everything, but at least it is manageable now.

09/25/2024

08/19/2024

A man without courage
is like
a knife without an edge.

08/13/2024

Uh-huh!

08/01/2024

Time flies…
What happened on August 5th, 1974?

On this day in 1974, the “smoking gun” tape was made public. At that point, Nixon’s remaining political support on Capitol Hill all but disappeared. The 10 Republican members of the Judiciary Committee who had voted against impeachment in committee announced that they would now vote for impeachment once the matter reached the House floor.

But what REALLY IMPORTANT things happened?

Fifty years ago, on August 1st, I went for a blood test. Then on Friday night, after work, I drove to Jamestown from Little Valley to pick up Debbie and we made a little excursion to Warren, PA.

Back in the stone age (1974) a male had to be 21 to get married in New York, and the woman had to be 18. Any younger, and you needed your parents’ permission to get a marriage license (marriage tax). Pennsylvania was more progressive (?), requiring both parties to be 18 to purchase the license. Debbie lived only about 7.5 miles from the PA line, and then it was only 11 miles to the Warren County Courthouse.

I first picked up the test results and put them in my pocket, I picked up Deb and we headed down to the courthouse. When we got there and tried to apply for the marriage license, this lovely little marine sergeant said she would not issue the license, because Debbie was 17.

We explained that we were eloping, and both the blood test results and the license had a 3 day waiting period, it would not be valid until Monday, the day AFTER she turned 18, the legal age of consent in Pennsylvania.

Didn’t matter. “Go get her parents, or wait until Monday to get the license.”

We drove back to Jamestown and had a “talk” with her parents. Her father was so fond of me, he suggested that we forget the whole idea and once she turned 18, we could move in together. (I don’t know if he was testing me.) Her mother over-heard this and said “NO WAY!” Moments later she ordered, “Everette, get the car. we’re all going to Warren.” And we did. It wasn’t exactly the most comfortable ride I’d ever taken, but it accomplished our goal.

I immediately contacted the Justice of the Peace in Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania and arranged to meet her at 7:00 on Monday evening. We would be married in a civil ceremony at her office.

Over the weekend I talked to two of my very good friends, Bob Garrow and Vincent Krauss. On Sunday, August 4th, we finalized our plans during Debbie’s birthday party consisting of a hot-dog roast in her parents’ back yard. We decided that group would meet us at her parent’s house by 6:00. Bob would be Best Man, Vince would be his “second.” Debie’s sister, Brenda would act as Maid of Honor (she was dating Bob at the time.) And then Linda and Debbie’s brother Bob would tag along as witnesses.

On August 5th, around 5:30, I arrived at Debbie’s place. Bob Garrow was already there, with Brenda, Linda, and Bob all waiting. But where was Vince? I tried calling him at home (Pre-cell phones). After nearly a half-hour Vince picked up and immediately asked me, “Where were you? I was there at 5:30 and no one was around!”

I told him that Bob Garrow was there by 5:30, Debbie, Brenda, Linda, and Bob Maydwell were there by 5:30.

Vincent informed me that he had set his alarm for 4 AM so he wouldn’t be late, and that he had driven in the fog, in the dark, to be there early. He told me that he had hung around for over an hour, but there were no lights on, so he went home and back to bed.

(If you haven’t figured it out yet, Vince was early, TWELVE HOURS EARLY!)

So off we went to Sugar Grove to meet the J.P. We arrived just prior to 7:00 PM at her office, only to find the door locked. We waited several minutes, but no Justice was to be found. I noticed a phone booth. (For the younger readers: they used to have these upright little rooms, or boxes on a pedestal, that held a telephone, and you could make a call for ten cents. Imagine that: no cell phones!) While I was frantically thumbing through the phone book (another antique!), a woman walked up and asked if we were looking for the J.P. When I confirmed that was the idea, she told me, “Oh, I just got off the phone with her. She’s on vacation this week, and she told me she’s having such a good time, they are going to stay a few more days.”

We looked across the way and in the fork in the road was a Methodist Church, with the parsonage beside it. It the driveway was a car. “Maybe the Pastors home,” I said optimistically. While Debbie is crying and her sisters are trying to cheer her up on her wedding day, I walk over to the minister’s house and ring the door bell. I quickly explained the situation as the rest of our group walked up to the house. The pastor informs me that he won’t do a wedding without first performing counseling sessions.

He takes one good look at this rag-tag band and his wife kind of nudges him, and he says, “You, son, come with me. Honey take the girl to your office.”

After a half-hour of talking, the two of them got together to compare notes and decided that we really loved each other, and getting this done was the right thing to do.

We were married just before 8:00 PM on Monday, August 5th, 1974, fifty years ago.

06/27/2024

I was working in Pennsylvania today and after I finished up I stopped at a fireworks store to prepare for the 4th!
I wasn't sure what to get, but after a few random choices I asked the salesman about my ideas...
He gave me a High-Three!

05/13/2024

It's Mother's Day and I know this is a long post, but I believe it is worth reading:

David’s Coat
by
Don “Bolt” Lane

I was recently on a service call in the town of Ellery, NY and while waiting for the customer service representative to come back to the phone, I struck up a conversation with the client.

Eventually we got around to talking about things like “where did you grow up?”

He informed me that he had lived in the area most of his life, and had moved from the city to the country when he was seven years old.

“What school did you attend?” I asked.

He informed me that he had attended the Bemus Point Central School system.

“Oh, my mother taught school there,” I informed him.

“What was her name?” he inquired.

I laughed, and slowly and dramatically drew out, “Missus… Lane!”

He laughed, “That was my second-grade teacher, I loved her so much!” He went on to tell me that being the new kid, how much she seemed to care and helped him adjust to his new school. He went on to tell me “She was such a tiny little thing, I don’t think she weighed 85 pounds!”

He talked about learning long-division and much more from her, and he kept saying how much she cared about her students and how kind she was. So I told him a story, that I had only learned when one of her friends passed it on to me at her funeral. Up to that time I had no clue what she had done:

When my mother was younger, she had her first-born, David. My mother was a woman of faith, and when David died of SIDS when he was about a year old, she grasped onto God and hung on for life! Ann Lane lost a total of four children out of seven. Kathy died of birth strangulation, the third one died pre-mature with-out a name. I had asked my mom why the baby didn’t have a name, and she said the doctor never told her if it was a boy or a girl, and besides, God already had a name for her child, so she left it up to Him. My little sister Bethy died of leukemia at the age of nine.

At my mother’s funeral I learned a few things about her that I never knew. One of these things was “David’s Coat.”

My parents used to use the “envelope system” with cash tucked into envelopes for needs and wants. There was, of course, an envelope for the mortgage, the gas bill, the electric bill, groceries and so forth. If my father wanted something special he would mark it on an envelope and tuck away a few dollars each week until he had the money to buy what he desired. My mother had marked an envelope that first year of David’s life, it simply said “David’s Coat” and was meant to save up to buy him a winter coat in the fall. Well, David no longer needed the coat, but Mom kept saving money in the envelope any way.

In the late fall, she picked out a child from her class that was too poor to be dressed for the winter weather. The family couldn’t afford to buy a nice coat, so she quietly sent them to Sears with the money to buy that child a winter coat. That was “David’s Coat.”

My parent’s weren’t rich, and my father didn’t like spending money unnecessarily. My mother reasoned that if David had lived, she would have to buy him a new coat each year as he grew, so she continued to put money in the envelope marked “David’s Coat.” And every fall she chose a needy child from her class to buy him or her a new winter coat.

I told this story to my client, and asked if he had any idea who she picked the year he had her for a teacher, did he know anything about “David’s Coat” himself?

He sat back in his chair and responded, “It was blue,” and motioning with his hand he circled his head and said, “and it had the warmest fur all around the hood!”

He told me that he never understood why this teacher went to the trouble of sending his parents to Sears to buy him a coat. He often pondered that his grades were “Okay,” but certainly didn’t earn him a prize.

He thanked me for explaining something to him that he had pondered for over 50 years.

My friends, although she has been with Jesus for several years, my mother managed to reach out from beyond and teach me something about a legacy.

05/04/2024

It is Star Wars day. It is also:
National Self-employed Day
honoring those that made the crazy move to build their own companies, support their families by the work of the own hands, support their communities with needed services, and craz enough to believe that the government actually looks out for the small business man.
Yay, me!

03/23/2024

They call and ask you to go into different screens on your TV; then tell you there is a problem.
THEN ask for your credit card.
Don't fall for it!

02/26/2024

Debbie is doing so much better, that she made me a batch of her
Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies!
(It's been over a month.)