These ‘things’ have got to go

I have written a lot about the positive aspects of my experiences with the Internet, and the negative when I was “hacked” last year. It’s been mostly positive, though.

I recently had an experience not so wonderful, maybe because I was naive.

First, a little background: My sweet wife loved nice “things,” I suppose because she never had any things nice or otherwise when she was a child. As a result, we accumulated a lot of household property that was nice to have, such as china and glassware.

She loved Ranch Oak furniture made by A. Brandt of Fort Worth, Texas. It must have been good taste because that brand of hand-carved oak furniture is very collectible.

What has the Internet got to do with it? Well, when she passed away, those collectible things changed from nice things to problems. As one who now lives alone, I have to find a way to live more simply with less clutter in my life. I want every minute of the life I have remaining to be productive; to change lives in a positive way, and to restore America as a shining example for the world.

Frankly, I want to deal with my passions of education and patriotism. I don’t want to take care of a lot of material things. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I decided to sell as many of the “things” as possible.

One of my family members suggested that I might create a personal website for that purpose. So I contacted an outfit called Web.com that specializes in creating websites for individuals and small businesses. It turned out to be a big mistake. The front office talked a good story, but the people who did the creating were either unable to listen or were too inexperienced to do what I asked.

They seemed bound and determined to use a template that didn’t fit. Even though the site wasn’t completed to my specs, they started to charge me. I have looked for the site on the Web and can’t find it. I’m going to try to get a refund, but a refund will not restore the time spent with nothing accomplished.

The “things” are valuable now but will have little value in my estate. So I have to go back to square one and try again.

I still have this fantasy vision of finding someone who wants to furnish a guest or vacation home with Ranch Oak furniture and will buy it all. If that happened, I would happily donate half the proceeds to Tools of Learning for Children, which does change lives in a most positive way. My son said, “Lots of luck, Dad.” He sees it as a fantasy, too.

I can’t believe that I am the only person to face this kind of problem. I would welcome input from folks who have dealt with the problem successfully, in ways I might never imagine.

At this point, a large bedroom with space for my computer equipment and kitchen privileges sounds pretty good to me. That’s probably more fantasy. I’ve got to get rid of this stuff.

Murray Bass can be reached at 427-0744 or mzb60@comcast.net.