J.D. Northwest

Northwest bank won the JD POWER customer satisfaction award for the Mid-Atlantic region for the 3rd year in a row...Not bad for a hick institution headquartered in Warren,PA!?! The corporation has about 8 billion in assets with branches situated primarily in PA, NY and OH...There was a celebration on Main street again this morning, which was a nice gesture although of course many employees would rather the money had gone into their personal paychecks. Still the few hours off from work in the sunshine helped their dispositions!

This quilt,which we had appraised at a quilt show in Columbus, Ohio on Friday, was made by one of Beth's relatives in 1884 ...The official quote has not come back yet but two less impressive quilts from the 1920's together were assessed at $600-$800, so I'm guessing that this one will be worth at least $1,000. I'll post the true number as soon as we get it. During this trip we stayed overnight at a Comfort Inn in Akron,Ohio and were awakened at 3:00 AM by some guy knocking on the door. I asked him what he wanted and got some mumbled reply, so I loudly told him to get lost, after which he wanted to know if "Nora " was there. "This is room 209 isn't it?" I yelled again to get lost then dialed the front desk and angrily said that some guy was knocking on the door. The front desk just as angrily replied "Are You yelling at me?" and I said 'Yeah, I don't like to get awakened at 3 in the morning by some black guy knocking on my door'. When I called the manager yesterday of course he was apologetic and adjusted the bill a little, but needless to say my opinion of Comfort Inn has been permanently tarnished. We had been pressured by time to find a place and the on line reviews were ok, but any place that lets derelicts roam the halls all night is not policing their facility properly. POSTSCRIPT: t'was worth $1,000

Random Musings

-The picture is of the Conewango Creek, which merges with the Allegheny River in the middle of town about four miles downstream from this location. People tell me that this is a good bass stream, although I stopped fishing years ago so cannot verify that claim. There is dirt road following the left shoreline on which I walk the dog sometimes, and she enjoys this place because the woods is full of chipmunks to chase-never catches them of course but it’s in her instincts to run like a little kid. The walk offers a nice, tranquil area for a quick four miles. -I just finished 3 plus hours of filing paperwork into medical charts at the office, and despite claims by industry and government that electronic records will simplify and make more efficient the health care system, so far efficiency has been reduced by 15-20% in the local offices that have implemented it. There is no doubt that patient care has been compromised,through incorrect medication lists and computer glitches etc, so overall the doctors feel frustrated by the encroaching bureaucracy of administrators and politicians. Treating patients like customers and trusting in computers-which regularly crash and get hacked- has fundamentally changed the medical field for the worse. Ironically, paperwork, or rather, busywork, has exploded. The consensus is that the system will collapse through lack of money and sheer complexity, but for the moment people muddle through, which is the word they use. The office I work in is scheduled to begin the electronic transition next week, so I’ll post the “progress” as I experience it. -Meanwhile I have distributed a few drafts of my book for family and friends and friends of friends to read, and a stranger or two as well, and the little feedback I’ve heard has been positive. No doubt it will appeal to a select audience but such is the nature of all books; writers are a dime a dozen. I’m still considering how and where to release it generally. If anyone I met on the walk reads this blog and is interested, let me know. -Over the weekend Kenny and his band were rained out of a show on the 27th, but have another one scheduled this evening, rain or shine, so he's now looking for a more powerful

PA system.