09:07 – That pot of “weak” coffee I made yesterday–weak as in 40 g/L versus the standard 55 to 62 g/L–almost killed me. I ended up drinking half the pot before throwing the rest out, because I was sitting at my keyboard shaking. I figured out why when I checked the caffeine content of various beverages. My normal Coke Classic has about 94 mg/L. Although I didn’t do an assay to get actual concentration, the coffee I made has about 10 times that much.
I’m trying to figure out how to help our friend Kim. She is totally and permanently disabled from a back injury that occurred while she was working for USPS when she lived in NYC. Until a year or two ago, she was getting USPS disability in addition to SS disability. USPS decided she was no longer disabled, and ceased paying her monthly disability, which was most of her income. She’s gone through several appeals, and the other day she got a notice in the mail that USPS had made a final denial of her claim. She called her attorney, who told her that she can file a final appeal, but it’ll cost a lot and he doesn’t hold out much hope for its success. She’d have to pay a filing fee of $500 to start this final appeal, and her attorney’s retainer would be $1,000. That’s just the beginning, however, and he said the cost could really mount up if he has to travel to Washington, DC for the appeal. She’s done everything she can, and USPS has now told her that she has to report to work. In NYC, yet.
I suggested to Kim earlier in the appeals process that she consider just dropping it because she isn’t going to win. Which sucks, because if there’s ever been someone who is disabled, it’s Kim. I even wrote a letter to the judge on her behalf, stating that I’d known Kim since she moved to Winston-Salem in 2001 after 9/11, that I’d seen and talked to her literally thousands of times since then, and that I attested that Kim was in fact physically disabled and unable to do even light physical labor. Others in the neighborhood wrote similar letters on her behalf, but none of them did any good.
So I suggested to Kim that she consider starting an e-Bay/Internet business. I used the example of a woman who apparently makes a living selling full-page ads from old magazines for $10 or more each. I’m going to mention it again, and if she’s interested offer to help Kim do stuff like get a domain name registered, get her domain hosted on my account, set up a PayPal/eBay account, do a storefront, and so on.