Getting Better

Sailor Steve · 12-23-14, 10:05 AM

I thought about posting this in the 'What Are You Doing Now' thread, but it's fairly long, so people can jump out now without having to scroll around it.

This is shaping up to be the best Christmas I've had in a long while. Normally I avoid the holidays because for me they are just one more day. Also my kids don't really communicate with me, so this time of year I can look at pictures of the grandkids I've never met, and possibly never will, and try to focus on other things. Enough depressing thoughts.

This year is different.

First, I'll explain my problem with the Veterans' Administration. In April 2010, after four years of being homeless, I managed to get into VA Housing, a converted hotel called Freedom Landing. Those of you who read my "Homeless" threads back then will remember some of this. While I was there a nice young lady helped me apply for a VA disability pension. I was receiving Unemployment Compensation at the time, and I kept getting it because for all I knew the pension would be denied.

Four months later, on August 10, I received a check in the mail from the United States Treasury for almost three thousand dollars. I had no idea what it could be, so I put it in the bank and started asking questions. I was told that it was my first pension payment for three months back pay. I immediately stopped the unemployment payments and didn't think about it further. One week later, on August 17, I got the official letter saying I was approved. The first of every month since then I've received another payment from them, going up a little bit the first of every year.

Last year I got a letter saying they had overpaid me and I owe them just over four thousand dollars. They had records for the unemployment and a couple of other very small items, and wanted me to confirm it. I told them I had received unemployment right up until that first check, but there seemed to be a one thousand dollar difference.

A couple months later I got another letter saying their numbers were correct and they were going to reduce my pay by 30% until it was paid back. I challenged it and we went around and around like this for almost a year. The first of October they cut back on my payments, and it will probably remain at this reduced level for a year or so.

This is where the problem really begins. At the same time I received another letter saying they estimated I now owed them $18,000 (yes, eighteen thousand dollars) and they were cutting me off altogether as of the first of December. I raced up to the local VA office. They tried to help, and said as far as they could figure the head office believed I was still receiving unemployment and had been double-dipping for the last four years. I printed out my Unemployment records showing that my last payment was August 8, 2010, and together with other paperwork we sent them a fax explaining everything.

A month or so later I got another letter saying they had run an audit and their numbers were correct, so I was pretty much screwed. I went back up to the local office and this time they told me there was nothing more they could do. They recommended I talk to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, an independent agency that helps veterans. I did, and the guy at the desk told me there was nothing he could do either. I tried calling the Utah Department of Workforce Services (the job-finding and unemployment people).

December 1 came and sure enough, no payment. I called the head VA office and after 40 minutes on hold I got to talk to a representative who told me there was nothing she could do. She did tell me that I wasn't really cut off, that there was a glitch somewhere and I would be receiving my December payment a few days late. That did turn out to be true, so that was some good news at least.

I went back to the VFW and this time managed to get past the guy at the desk and talk to two very helpful men, and then their boss got involved. I gave him access to my Workforce account so he could see that the unemployment payments had indeed stopped back then. He then gave me a Workforce email and regular mail address that could provide me with an official letter verifying my information. I sent an email and still haven't heard back.

However, I had received an email from the VA advertising an upcoming Town Hall meeting for veterans to talk to the heads of the local VA system. Last Friday night I went, and things started to happen. The meeting was led by the Head Honcho of the local VA Medical Center, the Head Doctor, the Head Coordinator and the Head Liason for working with other agencies. Anyone familiar with the American VA has heard the horror stories going back 50 years about how bad some of the hospitals are. Ours here in Salt Lake has a reputation for being one of the best, but there were still about fifty veterans there, and they all had complaints that they could never get looked into. Now here were the biggest bigwigs in the region, not only listening but promising to talk to each veteran individually and make appointments to get more information. They kept saying that it's about the veterans, not the doctors and staff.

When my turn came I told my story and not two minutes later someone tapped on my shoulder and took me to a cubicle at the back of the room. He was the Head of the local VA Pension department. He had an assistant grab someone else, who turned out to be one of the directors of Utah Workforce. That man gave me his card and told me to call him first thing Monday morning and he would get me the number of the woman who could hand me the official letter I need personally. The VA Pension Head then told me he would call me Tuesday or Wednesday, and when I had the letter he would put everything together and personally fax it to the main office in St Paul, Minnesota, and do everything he could to make sure it got straightened out.

Yesterday morning I called the Workforce director and had to leave a message. He called me back with the number I needed and I'll be calling her in just a few minutes.

For several months now I've been feeling like I was being railroaded, being accused of crimes I didn't commit, and I was already judged and found guilty, and unless I could prove my innocence I was, as I said before, screwed. I kept asking people if there was no advocate for me, no one to take my part and speak for me. At long last I no longer feel that way. It seems that there are indeed people who want to make it right.

I also have the numbers to give to the next veteran I meet who feels alone and neglected by the Pension system.

STEED · 12-23-14, 10:19 AM

Life is a Bitch no question.

Sailor Steve · 12-23-14, 10:20 AM

Best Christmas, Part Two:

I haven't played any Silent Hunter games in quite some time. My computer is almost ten years old, puchased right when SH3 came out. It was more than adequate to run the game, even with some of the supermods. The problem was that I've been working on my own Ship Names mod for SH3 Commander, and my PC won't run the Merchant Fleet Mod, so I've been unable to see the fruits of my labor. That led me to stop working on the Ship Names close to two years ago, and to stop playing SH3 altogether.

Well, Santa paid me a visit yesterday with a brand new laptop PC! It's a very nice Lenovo with 8 gigs of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive and a bunch of bells and wistles.

The bad news is that I have zero experience with laptops, zero experience with Windows 8.1 and zero experience with...well, actually I do have experience with learning new things and this will just take some time.

Even with the fairly large 15.6" screen my old eyes can't see the cursor, so I have to take my glasses off and lean real close. Really??? It has an HDMI port, so it will plug into my big 28" monitor.

I already hate the touchpad. Really??? My USB wireless mouse will work with it.

My old PC has eight USB ports. At this point only four of them work, but I have an adapter that makes four out of one. It's always fun to plug in a new peripheral and get a message saying "This device will run faster if plugged into a USB 2.0 port." Oh. That would be nice if my computer had one. Well, the new PC has one 2.0 port and two 3.0 ports! No more waiting for my external hard drive to talk to the computer!

My first project is to find the missing hardware and put the side-tables onto my computer desk, so the laptop can sit in a corner and not be in the way of the monitor. Then, once my keyboard and mouse are hooked up, I'll spend a few days configuring it the way I want. The last step will be to install SH3 and get it modded up the way I like it, including the MFM and Diving Duck's Interiors mod, and maybe on New Year's Day I'll start playing again.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!!!

STEED · 12-23-14, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Well, Santa paid me a visit yesterday with a brand new laptop PC! It's a very nice Lenovo with 8 gigs of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive and a bunch of bells and wistles.

The bad news is that I have zero experience with Windows 8.1

My Desktop is a Lenovo, smaller less noise than my old WinXP as for Win8.1 get a book on it and turn off all those apps feeding info back is my advice.

Have a good time Steve.

Eichhörnchen · 12-23-14, 10:28 AM

Have fun, mate. It's always a thrill to find stuff actually working properly on your pc.

Jimbuna · 12-23-14, 10:57 AM

Merry Christmas Steve and enjoy yersel this year

eddie · 12-23-14, 02:21 PM

Steve, my father got a new laptop with Win 8 and we found out(after he couldn't deal with Win 8) that you can turn off the Win 8 look, and switch it to a classic Xp or Win 7 look. So the main screen will have the same features as XP on it. Not sure how you do that though.

StdDev · 12-23-14, 02:38 PM

Steve... just thought I'd let you know.. it is pronounced "Windows Hate"

kraznyi_oktjabr · 12-23-14, 03:49 PM

Just reminder, that you can change cursor size and type from Control Panel. UI text size can also be changed if required.

Merry Christmas!

Red October1984 · 12-23-14, 04:04 PM

Hey hey!

Merry Christmas Steve...really glad to hear you're doing better this year.

u crank · 12-23-14, 04:18 PM

Hi Steve, glad to see you got your pension problems straightened out. Must be a load off your mind.

Three weeks ago my old HP laptop died. I got an Acer Aspire 15. 8 gigs of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive and i5 processor. Course it's got Win 8.1 but I'm getting use to it. I don't use that stupid start page much just run things from my desktop. Compared to my old machine this thing is a hot rod. Haven't gotten around to setting up SH3 yet as this thing doesn't have a DVD drive. I'll be getting a digital download but am looking forward to MFM and other stuff I could never use.

Merry Christmas.

Dan D · 12-23-14, 06:24 PM

Well, under the rule of law you could always ask a court to overview your case and to -hopefully- overule the decison by the management (administration). And sometimes you have to sue someone. I have sued the employment office in my town. Court said my client was right and the employment office was wrong. This helped my client but hopefully it will help a lot of other people who are in the same situation as my client, as the employment office will have to change its practise to handle things as the court told them that they have to do. In other words. If you have the feeling that your have been treated wrong, imo don't hesitate to talk to one of the legal advisors of your veterans organisation. That way you will help others, too. I think you can get legal aid , too, even in America, when you have a case but can't afford the costs.

Merry Christmas

BrucePartington · 12-23-14, 06:28 PM

A very special Merry Christmas to you Steve.
Reading your posts brought a flash back of sorts from my own path.
I am not a Veteran, and too young to retire. I can relate because since 2009 my life, everything that defined me, and all my fall back options, everything was systematically taken away. My life was reduced to a tiny shell, barely kept afloat with the help of others. Wasn't homeless, but the conditions I lived in made me fell as such at times, for reasons I will not share here. I was even fraudulently accused of wrong doing.
Emotionally, I'm numb.

So I felt your words.

I'm in a better place now, and things are starting to look up, or at least promising to.
I'm emerging from a dark place.

All the best to you. I know you deserve nothing less.

Sailor Steve · 12-23-14, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eddie

Steve, my father got a new laptop with Win 8 and we found out(after he couldn't deal with Win 8) that you can turn off the Win 8 look, and switch it to a classic Xp or Win 7 look. So the main screen will have the same features as XP on it. Not sure how you do that though.

Mine has 8.1. You just click the Windows + D keys and it goes right to the old-style desktop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kraznyi_oktjabr

Just reminder, that you can change cursor size and type from Control Panel. UI text size can also be changed if required.

While I've learned a couple of things (see above) I have no clue how to do that. I'll be running it with my mouse on the 28" screen after tomorrow. From there it should be easy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by u crank

Hi Steve, glad to see you got your pension problems straightened out. Must be a load off your mind.

I just got back from picking up my letter of proof from Workforce. I'm not out of the woods yet, but it's looking good.

Quote:

Haven't gotten around to setting up SH3 yet as this thing doesn't have a DVD drive.

Nor does mine. My old PC still runs, so I'm going to try to cross-download it using the internal drive from that machine. Soon enough I'll be bying a cheap external DVD drive so I can watch movies.

raymond6751 · 12-23-14, 06:48 PM

Enjoy your return to subsimming, Steve. I hope the new year is much kinder to you.

12-23-14, 10:05 AM	#1
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	Getting Better I thought about posting this in the 'What Are You Doing Now' thread, but it's fairly long, so people can jump out now without having to scroll around it. This is shaping up to be the best Christmas I've had in a long while. Normally I avoid the holidays because for me they are just one more day. Also my kids don't really communicate with me, so this time of year I can look at pictures of the grandkids I've never met, and possibly never will, and try to focus on other things. Enough depressing thoughts. This year is different. First, I'll explain my problem with the Veterans' Administration. In April 2010, after four years of being homeless, I managed to get into VA Housing, a converted hotel called Freedom Landing. Those of you who read my "Homeless" threads back then will remember some of this. While I was there a nice young lady helped me apply for a VA disability pension. I was receiving Unemployment Compensation at the time, and I kept getting it because for all I knew the pension would be denied. Four months later, on August 10, I received a check in the mail from the United States Treasury for almost three thousand dollars. I had no idea what it could be, so I put it in the bank and started asking questions. I was told that it was my first pension payment for three months back pay. I immediately stopped the unemployment payments and didn't think about it further. One week later, on August 17, I got the official letter saying I was approved. The first of every month since then I've received another payment from them, going up a little bit the first of every year. Last year I got a letter saying they had overpaid me and I owe them just over four thousand dollars. They had records for the unemployment and a couple of other very small items, and wanted me to confirm it. I told them I had received unemployment right up until that first check, but there seemed to be a one thousand dollar difference. A couple months later I got another letter saying their numbers were correct and they were going to reduce my pay by 30% until it was paid back. I challenged it and we went around and around like this for almost a year. The first of October they cut back on my payments, and it will probably remain at this reduced level for a year or so. This is where the problem really begins. At the same time I received another letter saying they estimated I now owed them $18,000 (yes, eighteen thousand dollars) and they were cutting me off altogether as of the first of December. I raced up to the local VA office. They tried to help, and said as far as they could figure the head office believed I was still receiving unemployment and had been double-dipping for the last four years. I printed out my Unemployment records showing that my last payment was August 8, 2010, and together with other paperwork we sent them a fax explaining everything. A month or so later I got another letter saying they had run an audit and their numbers were correct, so I was pretty much screwed. I went back up to the local office and this time they told me there was nothing more they could do. They recommended I talk to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, an independent agency that helps veterans. I did, and the guy at the desk told me there was nothing he could do either. I tried calling the Utah Department of Workforce Services (the job-finding and unemployment people). December 1 came and sure enough, no payment. I called the head VA office and after 40 minutes on hold I got to talk to a representative who told me there was nothing she could do. She did tell me that I wasn't really cut off, that there was a glitch somewhere and I would be receiving my December payment a few days late. That did turn out to be true, so that was some good news at least. I went back to the VFW and this time managed to get past the guy at the desk and talk to two very helpful men, and then their boss got involved. I gave him access to my Workforce account so he could see that the unemployment payments had indeed stopped back then. He then gave me a Workforce email and regular mail address that could provide me with an official letter verifying my information. I sent an email and still haven't heard back. However, I had received an email from the VA advertising an upcoming Town Hall meeting for veterans to talk to the heads of the local VA system. Last Friday night I went, and things started to happen. The meeting was led by the Head Honcho of the local VA Medical Center, the Head Doctor, the Head Coordinator and the Head Liason for working with other agencies. Anyone familiar with the American VA has heard the horror stories going back 50 years about how bad some of the hospitals are. Ours here in Salt Lake has a reputation for being one of the best, but there were still about fifty veterans there, and they all had complaints that they could never get looked into. Now here were the biggest bigwigs in the region, not only listening but promising to talk to each veteran individually and make appointments to get more information. They kept saying that it's about the veterans, not the doctors and staff. When my turn came I told my story and not two minutes later someone tapped on my shoulder and took me to a cubicle at the back of the room. He was the Head of the local VA Pension department. He had an assistant grab someone else, who turned out to be one of the directors of Utah Workforce. That man gave me his card and told me to call him first thing Monday morning and he would get me the number of the woman who could hand me the official letter I need personally. The VA Pension Head then told me he would call me Tuesday or Wednesday, and when I had the letter he would put everything together and personally fax it to the main office in St Paul, Minnesota, and do everything he could to make sure it got straightened out. Yesterday morning I called the Workforce director and had to leave a message. He called me back with the number I needed and I'll be calling her in just a few minutes. For several months now I've been feeling like I was being railroaded, being accused of crimes I didn't commit, and I was already judged and found guilty, and unless I could prove my innocence I was, as I said before, screwed. I kept asking people if there was no advocate for me, no one to take my part and speak for me. At long last I no longer feel that way. It seems that there are indeed people who want to make it right. I also have the numbers to give to the next veteran I meet who feels alone and neglected by the Pension system. __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

12-23-14, 10:19 AM	#2
STEED Lucky Jack Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Down Town UK Posts: 27,695 Downloads: 89 Uploads: 48	Life is a Bitch no question. __________________ Dr Who rest in peace 1963-2017. To borrow Davros saying...I NAME YOU CHIBNALL THE DESTROYER OF DR WHO YOU KILLED IT!

12-23-14, 10:20 AM	#3
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	Best Christmas, Part Two: I haven't played any Silent Hunter games in quite some time. My computer is almost ten years old, puchased right when SH3 came out. It was more than adequate to run the game, even with some of the supermods. The problem was that I've been working on my own Ship Names mod for SH3 Commander, and my PC won't run the Merchant Fleet Mod, so I've been unable to see the fruits of my labor. That led me to stop working on the Ship Names close to two years ago, and to stop playing SH3 altogether. Well, Santa paid me a visit yesterday with a brand new laptop PC! It's a very nice Lenovo with 8 gigs of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive and a bunch of bells and wistles. The bad news is that I have zero experience with laptops, zero experience with Windows 8.1 and zero experience with...well, actually I do have experience with learning new things and this will just take some time. Even with the fairly large 15.6" screen my old eyes can't see the cursor, so I have to take my glasses off and lean real close. Really??? It has an HDMI port, so it will plug into my big 28" monitor. I already hate the touchpad. Really??? My USB wireless mouse will work with it. My old PC has eight USB ports. At this point only four of them work, but I have an adapter that makes four out of one. It's always fun to plug in a new peripheral and get a message saying "This device will run faster if plugged into a USB 2.0 port." Oh. That would be nice if my computer had one. Well, the new PC has one 2.0 port and two 3.0 ports! No more waiting for my external hard drive to talk to the computer! My first project is to find the missing hardware and put the side-tables onto my computer desk, so the laptop can sit in a corner and not be in the way of the monitor. Then, once my keyboard and mouse are hooked up, I'll spend a few days configuring it the way I want. The last step will be to install SH3 and get it modded up the way I like it, including the MFM and Diving Duck's Interiors mod, and maybe on New Year's Day I'll start playing again. MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!!! __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

12-23-14, 10:57 AM	#6
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 190,530 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	Merry Christmas Steve and enjoy yersel this year __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!!

12-23-14, 02:21 PM	#7
eddie Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Minnesota Posts: 3,023 Downloads: 99 Uploads: 0	Steve, my father got a new laptop with Win 8 and we found out(after he couldn't deal with Win 8) that you can turn off the Win 8 look, and switch it to a classic Xp or Win 7 look. So the main screen will have the same features as XP on it. Not sure how you do that though. __________________ Don't mistake my kindness for weakness. I'm kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, weak is not what you are going to remember about me. Al Capone

12-23-14, 10:28 AM	#5
Eichhörnchen Starte das Auto Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: The Fens Posts: 17,389 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	Have fun, mate. It's always a thrill to find stuff actually working properly on your pc.

12-23-14, 02:38 PM	#8
StdDev Legend of the Sea Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: the Great Wet North Posts: 635 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Steve... just thought I'd let you know.. it is pronounced "Windows Hate"

12-23-14, 03:49 PM	#9
kraznyi_oktjabr Sea Lord Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Republiken Finland Posts: 1,803 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	Just reminder, that you can change cursor size and type from Control Panel. UI text size can also be changed if required. Merry Christmas! __________________ You talk to God, you're religious. God talks to you, you're psychotic. - Dr. House

12-23-14, 04:04 PM	#10
Red October1984 Airplane Nerd Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Texas Posts: 6,243 Downloads: 115 Uploads: 0	Hey hey! Merry Christmas Steve...really glad to hear you're doing better this year. __________________

12-23-14, 04:18 PM	#11
u crank Old enough to know better Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Prince Edward Island Posts: 11,744 Downloads: 136 Uploads: 0	Hi Steve, glad to see you got your pension problems straightened out. Must be a load off your mind. Three weeks ago my old HP laptop died. I got an Acer Aspire 15. 8 gigs of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive and i5 processor. Course it's got Win 8.1 but I'm getting use to it. I don't use that stupid start page much just run things from my desktop. Compared to my old machine this thing is a hot rod. Haven't gotten around to setting up SH3 yet as this thing doesn't have a DVD drive. I'll be getting a digital download but am looking forward to MFM and other stuff I could never use. Merry Christmas. __________________ “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” ― Arthur C. Clarke

12-23-14, 06:24 PM	#12
Dan D Grey Wolf Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: 9th Flotilla Posts: 839 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Well, under the rule of law you could always ask a court to overview your case and to -hopefully- overule the decison by the management (administration). And sometimes you have to sue someone. I have sued the employment office in my town. Court said my client was right and the employment office was wrong. This helped my client but hopefully it will help a lot of other people who are in the same situation as my client, as the employment office will have to change its practise to handle things as the court told them that they have to do. In other words. If you have the feeling that your have been treated wrong, imo don't hesitate to talk to one of the legal advisors of your veterans organisation. That way you will help others, too. I think you can get legal aid , too, even in America, when you have a case but can't afford the costs. Merry Christmas __________________

12-23-14, 06:28 PM	#13
BrucePartington XO Join Date: May 2013 Location: KM AM99 Posts: 405 Downloads: 33 Uploads: 0	A very special Merry Christmas to you Steve. Reading your posts brought a flash back of sorts from my own path. I am not a Veteran, and too young to retire. I can relate because since 2009 my life, everything that defined me, and all my fall back options, everything was systematically taken away. My life was reduced to a tiny shell, barely kept afloat with the help of others. Wasn't homeless, but the conditions I lived in made me fell as such at times, for reasons I will not share here. I was even fraudulently accused of wrong doing. Emotionally, I'm numb. So I felt your words. I'm in a better place now, and things are starting to look up, or at least promising to. I'm emerging from a dark place. All the best to you. I know you deserve nothing less. __________________ "The bureaucracy is expanding, to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy." - Leonard Nimoy

12-23-14, 06:48 PM	#15
raymond6751 Admirable Mike Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 1,338 Downloads: 421 Uploads: 0	All the best Enjoy your return to subsimming, Steve. I hope the new year is much kinder to you. __________________ Game Designer: Close The Atlantic - World War Three https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/...orld-war-three