Surprise! Departure Time and Costco/Citi Bank Billing

Surprise 1:  Departure Time

I got up yesterday (Thursday) thinking that my daughter and granddaughter were flying home today (Friday) - that we had one more day of human sunshine at the house.  But my wife informed me they were leaving that day (yesterday) at 3:30pm.  This was about 9am.

Whoa, how could I make that big a mistake?  I checked my computer calendar and I had them down for today - the 20th.  So I looked for the email and got the Alaska Air reservation.  There it was:  July 19.  But it wasn't 3:30pm.  It was 11:07am!  (3:30 was their arrival time.)

Needless to say when I told my daughter, who was still in bed, there was a bit of hustle and bustle. But we got them to the airport ok.

It hurt to see them go.  But the last minute burst of packing and rushing was distracting.

It means we can get back to our cleaning out the house activities - more paper shredding, more sorting, tossing, giving away, the crumbling front steps will be replaced.   I think I've decided to not put so many pictures back up on the walls.  Instead, we'll just change what is up now and then and leave many of the pictures in the 'archives.'  It's just that we're trying to minimize storing stuff we don't use that much.


Surprise 2:  Paying Costco Bill Still A Pain

It's not the amount that's the problem, it's the complicated way Costco and Citi Bank (their credit card) do things.

When we had to change to the Citi Bank Costco credit card last November, we didn't realize that we would get two cards with two different numbers.  And since my wife happened to be the person who signed up for them, she was automatically the primary card holder.  I have no problem letting her be 'primary' except that I'm the one who pays the bills.  So the first bill we got I had lots of trouble - the website didn't recognize my card number.  You see, when I use my card, it all goes to her card number.

And I couldn't even call in and work it out.  I had to give the phone to her to get permission to pay the bill.  She gave it.
So I was able to set up the user name and password.

Until a couple of months later, they didn't work.  I couldn't get past the security questions.  Turns out my card number has no value at all in identifying myself.  I have to use her number, but she still had to give permission.  Despite our pleas to let me have the ability to call in and talk to them without getting her permission - and their saying ok they were doing that - it didn't happen.

So when I tried to pay the bill they emailed me today, it didn't work again.  The rep this time was much more sympathetic than last time.  (Last month she denied that I had ever been made an 'administrator' even though we knew we'd called in and asked for that to happen.)  So Jazzalin made me an administrator yet again.  But I can't change a mailing address or security questions without my wife's permission.

I understand that some couples might want to put restrictions on one another or other users including children, but I don't understand why we can't have the option of one card number and equal access for both of us.

But then I got transferred to the tech side to figure out why I couldn't log in.  The rep did say that I had logged in successfully at 2:06pm (so I knew he was on East Coast time).  But the messages I got all said something like "Your info does not match our records."
He asked how I had gotten to the website.
Me:  "I used the link in the email statement I got."
Him:  "Ah, don't use that.  Go straight to CITI.com"
Me:  "You're saying the link in the email statement doesn't work?"
Him:  "There have been some problems."

There are enough refunds using Costco's preferred card to make not using it a real decision.  Besides, using their credit card doesn't give them any more information on what I buy than they already get from their membership card, and I don't usually carry much cash on me these days, and you have to have the credit card to get gas there.  So I'm resigned to using the card.

[UPDATE July 28, 2018: A reader emailed me to say she gets gas using her Alaska Airlines credit card, and that having two different card numbers was helpful when she lost her card.  Her husband's card still worked.]]

He also said it was Costco, not Citi, that requires the two different account numbers.  So I did send in my complaint to Costco too.

Another issue we discussed was Security Questions.  He said he's asked at meetings how and why they pick the obscure questions they pick.  He was told that so much info is available on social media these days that they need to be more obscure.  But he also realizes that some people - particularly older people - don't remember 'their first' whatever any more.  And I pointed out that you have to remember exactly what you wrote.  Spelled exactly the same.  Did you give your youngest brother's birthday as July 1, 1996 or just July 1?  Or July1?

But I also raised the issue of potentially giving hackers even more detailed information about a person.  Think of the recent scam attempts lately where someone calls and says, "We've kidnapped your granddaughter and you need to buy gift cards for $5000 and give us the codes within 30 minutes."  They now can convince grandma with obscure details like her granddaughter's first dog's name, or first car or the street she lived on when she was in elementary school.

Or someone stealing your identity can have that information too.

How much are we willing to pay for convenience?  And is it our convenience or the company's convenience?

I've spent at least three hours of my time dealing just with Costco billing in the last six months - that really isn't convenience.

Getting Rid Of Disgusting Online Ads

I was seeing a disgusting ad over and over again on a blog using the Blogspot platform, which is run by Google.  It just was a visibly disgusting picture advertising something I have no interest in.  It was so bad - the visual and the repetition - that I finally googled "how to stop seeing of ads on website."

I got to this page that google runs:  https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662850?hl=en titled "Remove unwanted ads."

It tells you how to get rid of adds on different platforms that google runs.  Since Blogspot is owned by Google (it wasn't when I started here, nor was Youtube when I started there, nor was Twitter, do you see a pattern here?)

It's really simple and seems to work.  I'm sure lots of people take care of this through some sort of ad blogging app or they already know this.  But I figure if I didn't know about this until now, there are probably other Neanderthals like me.  This is for you.

I didn't want to subject you to the disgusting visual and so I found a less obnoxious ad to show you how to do this.

No guarantees here,  But it seems to have worked for the offending ad.Not all ads work this way, but if they have an x in the corner you can try.  Here's another option I found doing that:   Opt Out Information

Nice To Be Back Online - ACS, The Good And The Not So Good

There was no internet yesterday morning when I got up.  The wifi worked, but there was not internet.

I called ACS (Alaska Communications) and B had me unplug and plug and reset and nothing worked.  

• That's all I can do, I'll set up a problem ticket (or whatever he called it) and they'll check it from here. If they can't fix it, someone will come to your house?
• Today?
• Probably not, we're really busy now.  

Not today (it was Friday) didn't sound good, but I'm supposed to be a resilient person.  I can go to the library to use the internet.  And less time online is good.  

After a couple of hours I called in.  The voicemail actually identified that I had a problem ticket and sent me to S.  She explained that I was on the list, but that they were busy.  

Had they done the internal check or not?  Yes, and someone had to come to the house.  Today?  Probably not.  Do they come over the weekend?  I don't think so.  

Much better if you click to enlarge and focus

After I explained that I'd been waiting around and no one had called to tell me the status, she apologized.  

So I went to the library, sat in the parking lot and checked my email and put up yesterday's post.   Visited a friend, walked to the bridge from the Prospect Heights trailhead,  went to dinner at Thai Kitchen, and went to a Reflection service at Temple Beth Sholom where we heard from a number of speakers - someone from the FBI, from the governor's office, a Presbyterian pastor, a local assembly member (Forrest Dunbar), and a Muslim doctor, all reflecting on Charlottesville and Anchorage.  There was some food and discussion.  A positive and encouraging way to move forward.  

So this morning, when I was doing some yoga stretching - I should be doing these several times a week, but even once every ten days or so is better than nothing - there was a knock on the door.  The ACS man wanted to check the connection.  He was there maybe 20 minutes before he knocked again.  He checked the modem and decided we needed a new one.  He got it all set up, called in to reset the modem name and password, and I was back, connected to the new modem.

But no connection to the internet.  D was good.  I had told him I was told no one worked on the weekend and he smiled and said, us old guys still do.  But it wouldn't work.  He said he would have to go back to the office and fix it from there.  A bunch of calls later, tweaking this and that, and I'm now back on line.  

Since I wasn't expecting any help until at least Monday, I'm happy to be reconnected.  Everyone was polite enough, they just didn't know much.  But D wasn't going to let go of my case until things were working again,  

So now I've got a bunch of things to do that I have been pushed to the side while the internet connection got fixed.  But it did get fixed.  

Here's a picture of a monk's hood from yesterday's hike - one of my favorite Alaskan flowers  Such a beautiful shape and color.  

  

Good Time To Book Anchorage-LA Flights - From $127 One Way

I know there is a supposed logic behind airline ticket prices.  It's clearly not related to cost.

Fortunately, my mom lived in LA and prices between Anchorage and LA have been on the silly cheap side for much of the last four years.  Due, they say, to competition from Jet Blue.  Whatever the reason, flights in October and November this year (and maybe other times, I didn't look) are $127 one way, with a stop in Seattle.  Of course, there are also more expensive flights, but there are plenty at this low price right now.

In contrast, the lowest prices between Anchorage and Seattle are $163.  If you were to fly Anchorage to Seattle at their lowest fare at the end of October ($163) and then get a flight from Seattle to LA at the lowest fare ($59), it would cost a total of $222, not quite double the Anchorage-LA lowest fare.

There have been times when it was a better deal for us to fly to LA, get a round trip ticket to Seattle, then fly home from LA.    At these current prices, it would be cheaper, slightly, to just book a stop in Seattle in one direction and the cheap LA fare in the other direction.

The $127 price to LA is the same price flying Alaska Airlines in October to Bethel, Alaska.  To LA is about five hours, to Bethel is listed as one hour 22 minutes.  (There's also a $123 fare on Raven airlines, but it takes a little longer.)

The fact that it can cost more to fly to the layover city than the final destination city on airlines is not news.  People used to book to the distant city and skip the last leg of the flight.  Online discussions suggest that probably isn't a good idea because the airline can charge you the actual fare and bar you from flying with them until you pay.

I guess the point of this post is to alert Alaskans who have a reason to go to LA, that there are some good fares.  And LA folks who want to come to Alaska as well.  October isn't a bad time to come to Anchorage.  Fall colors should be good and we haven't had much October snow for a number of years now.


[If you get here from another blog's blogroll, there were two posts that never made it you may want to check out below;
Man Goes
Who Invented Inflatable Tube Guys?]

Who Invented Inflatable Tube Guys?

You've seen the dancing in car lots and lots of other kinds of businesses.  But who thought this up?

It turns out to be something of an evolutionary process - starting with Israeli Doron Gazitt who started out making balloon figures on the street for kids, a design school project helped by his father's work in agriculture - with plastic green house tubes. Trinidadian Carnival artist Peter Minshall, and eventually the the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the 1998 Superbowl halftime show.

"But these first tube guys didn’t look much like the simple wiggling noodle man that’s since come to dominate America’s used car lots. They were sixty feet tall, with two legs that each had a dedicated fan and a separate articulated torso, arms, and head. These weren’t tube guys. These were full-on tube gods."

All this comes from a fascinating history of inflatable tube guys at reForm, called

Biography of an Inflatable Tube GuyThe checkered past and lonely future of air puppets

Well worth the time with pictures showing the evolution from art to advertising distraction.  Or as, according to the post, both Gazitt and Minshall agree,

"the single-tubed descendants of their wacky inflatable Olympic babies are an abomination. Gazit calls them “very ugly and very unattractive,” and Gulick, 'an impoverished version of the device.”

The writer  does it all.  There's nothing for me to add, except I saw this red one Monday in front of High Frequency, a locally owned shop, where I bought a used phone for my wife before hers is no longer served.  I think I sidestepped the high prices at ATT for a reasonably good phone.  We'll see.  And it seems all the prices there are negotiable.

Say What? When The Outrageous Becomes Normal [Updated]

Sometimes I can't quite believe what I'm reading in the newspapers.  The ideas are so wrong, I wonder how reporters can just drop them into an article as though the thoughts were normal.  If they are the new normal, it is even more disturbing.  I'd like to think the writers are ironically dropping these little bombs intentionally, hoping the readers will react as I'm reacting.

Here are some examples from Tuesday's Alaska Dispatch News.

Example 1:  Sources on the story about Trump's orthodox Jewish son-in-law.  (Yes, that thought is itself pretty bizarre) (originally from the NY Times, which has more than the ADN reprint.)

"Mr. Kushner’s role was described in more than two dozen interviews with friends, colleagues and campaign staff members, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could disclose interactions that were supposed to remain private. Mr. Kushner declined to be interviewed." [emphasis added] 

I can't help but translate the bolded part in my head into:  "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I have no integrity and I just can't keep a secret."

I don't blame the media.  This is how the rest of us get glimpses behind the scenes.  From people telling secrets.  But which secrets should the media pass on and which keep to themselves?

There are also some serious journalistic problems here.

• How do you know it isn't made up?  Maybe the sources are just playing with the journalist.  
• How does one confirm something like this?  From other anonymous sources?   There are ways, but how many journalists take the time and trouble?
• How do you know this isn't planted information.  What the source is really saying in that case is, "Hey, stupid journalist, I'm going to tell you I have to be anonymous,  and you're going to be excited because you're getting juicy gossip, but really my boss wants this information to get out and I'm using you to do it."

On the other hand, legitimate whistleblowers who reach out to the media as a last resort when there are illegal, dangerous, or otherwise important information the public needs to know, are playing important public service roles.  If they are right. 
And  whistleblowers often legitimately fear serious financial and physical harm, even death if their identity is found out.

[UPDATE July 6, 2016 3:30pm:  Here's a more legitimate situation of an anonymous source in an LA Times story today about misrepresentation of the success of missile tests in January:

"The closest the interceptor came to the target was a distance 20 times greater than what was expected, said the Pentagon scientists, who spoke on condition they not be identified."

Why is this different? The person is revealing that the government agencies and private businesses have been lying about the performance of potentially life saving equipment the government's already spent $40 billion in since 2004 (over $3 billion per year.) The story quotes a second scientist and the first acknowledgement from the agency that there were actually problems.]

In the Kushner case, these are folks who are supposed to be loyal to Kushner, yet, if these weren't intentional plants, they disclosed information that was supposed to remain private.  What kind of person does that to their friends or to their boss?  This sort of thing poisons a group as people try to figure out who leaked what, and innocent people are suspected along with the guilty.  

Example 2:  Tim Kaine's 'one job only' (from the original LA Times piece)  The article is about how Tim Kaine is now ('a' or 'the'?) shortlist favorite to be Clinton's VP candidate.

"On NBC’s “Meet The Press” last week, an appearance facilitated by the Clinton campaign, Kaine offered a quick summary of his experience: mayor of Virginia’s capital of Richmond, its lieutenant governor, governor, Democratic Party chairman and now U.S. senator. 

But, he added, 'I have got one job and one job only right now, and that is to work hard for Hillary Clinton.'”

If I were a Virginia resident, I'd be wondering when I lost half my Senatorial representation.  As a US citizen, I'm wondering why we're paying this US Senator who seems to have abandoned his Senate job to campaign for Clinton.  OK, I realize this might be taken out of context, but dammit, he's being paid to be a US Senator and he should be careful about what he says.


Example 3:  In an article about Amazon dropping 'list prices' (Again, originally a NY Times article)

"Amazon wants to be so deeply embedded in a customer’s life that buying happens as naturally as breathing, and nearly as often."

Do I really have to say anything about that truly appalling thought?  We've gone from 'the customer is always right' to 'the customer is totally brainwashed.'


Of course, these are just little symptoms of this trend of the outrageous becoming normal.  The biggest offense is Donald Trump's long stream of racist, sexist, and other forms of nasty istics.  That his bombast is cheered by some as refreshingly honest might be a topic for another post.

Bill Pay Glitch At Bank of America

Like many Alaskans, I only have a Bank of America Visa card because it's the only way to get an Alaska Airlines card.  And I use their Bill Pay program to transfer money from my Alaska checking account to pay my monthly Visa bill.

But my mother had a checking and savings account with BofA and there came a time when I had to get my name on those accounts too.  I was a little surprised to see those accounts pop up on my electronic  Bank of America page.  But it made sense and it made it easy to monitor those accounts. 

Early May, I scheduled a payment for June 1.  

June 8, my credit card was declined.  

I called Bank of America.   It seems my payment hadn't been received.  But I've learned to take screen shots every month that show that I paid and I even had the reference number.

So I said, "I scheduled it on Bill Pay, I have proof."  

After a while, he said, "You don't have Bill Pay."  

?????????!!!!!%%%???

He asked if I'd closed any accounts lately.  Yes, I'd closed my mom's accounts when we were in LA in May.  

It turns out that when they closed the accounts, they closed my Bill Pay as well.  And my payment, scheduled for June 1, simply disappeared.  I got no notice that a)  my Bill Pay had been shut down or b) my payment evaporated with it.  I only found out when a credit card payment was declined and I called to find out why.  

Here's how it was explained to me:

The bill pay feature is different if you only have a credit card from also having other accounts at Bank of America.

1. So, when I got added onto my mother's accounts, my old Bill Pay was cancelled and a new one was established.  (I may even have been involved.  I have vague recollections now as I write this, but if so, at the time, I thought it was just a screwup that cancelled my Bill Pay and I was just re-setting it up. 
2. A new, different kind of Bill Pay, that allowed payments from the Bank of America accounts as well as payments to the Visa account to be made from external accounts was set up.  
3. When I closed my mother's accounts, the bill pay was closed too.  Even though there was a pending, scheduled payment.  

I still can't believe they would shut down a pending, scheduled payment without telling me.  

They were nice about it and quickly removed the late fee and interest without my having to ask.  This was all complicated by a larger than normal payment I'd made with my credit card showing up twice in my pending payment list bumping me (without my scheduled June payment) above my limit. 

Fix Needed

They clearly need to add to their computer code, that when bill pay is being closed for a customer when there is a pending, scheduled payment, that the customer is notified.

I suspect not too many people will fall into this situation, but with millions of credit card holders, I'm sure there are others.  So this is a heads up.  

I did call the woman who closed my mom's old accounts in the Santa Monica branch.  She was always very helpful, and clearly on my side.  So I called her to let her know what happened.  Not to complain, but to let her know.  She had no idea that could have happened either.  

Costco Packaging Problems

Costco, among others, is known for its hard plastic packaging that is incredibly tricky to open.  But that packaging is also wasteful.

I needed some AAA batteries and I was at Costco.  So I bought a package of 32.  More than I need, but so much cheaper per battery than elsewhere, that I bought them.

Once I got them home, I needed a way to store them since their packaging was useless once it was opened.  That's when I realized how little space the batteries needed to contain them.

The Costco package was 6.5" by 11" - and one inch high.

I got all the batteries into a little box - 2X3X2.

I can put the cardboard part into the recycling, but the plastic, here in Anchorage, has to go to the landfill.

I realize that the small packages are harder to see on the shelf, but they can up them up with big signs.
I realize that the big packages are harder to shoplift, and I'm not sure how to solve that problem, but I know there's a way that we just haven't thought of yet.

Packing Pictures Past Alaska Airlines And TSA

The renting guy in LA said to get rid of the valuables and particularly pointed out two pictures he didn't think we should leave in my mom's house.  Two were pretty big - more than I could carry on to the plane.  The biggest one had glass as did the smallest.  He said they all use plexiglass now.

two pics at Box Bros

I finally checked out shipping places to see about getting packing material.  That got me to Box Bros on Wilshire and Barrington.  Yes, they could wrap them for the plane.  I gave them Alaska Airlines size limits for oversized baggage.






I mention the company name because I think I got exceptional service.  It was clear that Dave saw these pictures as a challenge - how to adequately wrap them, particularly the big one, while staying within the size constraints.  He said he'd done a lot with art work.  I didn't give them a lot of time, because by the time I thought about just taking them home, there were just a couple of days left.  We even needed a friend to take them and pick them up because the big picture wouldn't fit in my mom's car.  And we would need a van cab to get them to the airport.

Dave [Dan, who has more hair] doing some calculations

We needed to be at the airport for a 10:30am flight.  I figured we needed extra time in case it was hard to get a van taxi, because it was morning traffic time, and if there were any problems with the boxes.  And then I realized that TSA wouldn't take kindly to these big sealed boxes.

I was ready to just leave them in the garage in their new boxes.  That's when I decided to write a letter to TSA explaining what was in the packages, why I was taking them to Alaska, why I was a very low risk profile (we're meeting our granddaughter during our layover in Seattle, so we really want to get there), etc.  Wouldn't X-ray or sniffer dogs do?   I taped a copy on each box in an enveloped marked. "TSA".

the boxes with suitcase for scale

The cab was late.  I called.  They were having trouble getting a van.  (I had called the night before.)  But we still had a lot of time.  I called again.  I'd just leave the boxes in the garage and get a regular cab, but they said a van was on the way.  We got to the airport ok.  The baggage guy at Alaska didn't charge for one of the boxes - "It doesn't look that big."  (It's $75 for each oversize piece. Alaska Club members (anyone living in Alaska) can have two free bags going to and from Alaska.

We lugged them over to the oversized receiving area, got through security - really not that many people, especially given the hype about big lines this summer - and to the gate with an hour to spare.  Then I hear our names over the loudspeaker.  The Alaska Airlines agent said they wanted me at TSA to open the boxes.

So I had to go back out of security to the oversized baggage area.  They called TSA down.  I pointed out the letters on the boxes.  He said, yes, that's why we called you to let you open them.  They're too big for the X-ray.  So with the boxcutters they had, I cut the tape along the seams of the cardboard outer box and showed them the foam and bubble wrap.  Both boxes.  I could see his brain working - he understood why I didn't want to unwrap them, but he did need to check.  He called a supervisor and they decided to use the chemical test strips.  I spread things enough for him to slide his hand in

with the tape between the bubble wrap and the foam in each box.  I asked if I could tape it while we waited.  He said that technically I wasn't allowed to touch it once it went through security and he'd retape it.  What time does your plane leave?  10:30.  Hmm.  40 minutes.  The OK came and he told me to go back to the gate.  They were loading the plane.  We got on and I sat in my window seat.  A little later a baggage cart came out with the two boxes and they were loaded onto the plane.

They made it through SEATAC during our layover.  And they were waiting at the oversized baggage spot in Anchorage.  There was one van in the taxi line and we got them home.  That was Thursday night.  I moved them from the garage to a  downstairs room on Friday, but didn't open them.  As long as I didn't, they weren't broken.  Schrodinger's pictures.

Saturday I opened them.  







Here are the two smaller ones packed together.  They were both fine.



Then to the big one.  It took a while to get it out of the box and then start unwrapping all the heavy duty clear wrap paper holding everything together.  Then getting the bubble wrap off.  It looked good so far.  Then the masking tape like paper Dave had put on the glass.  So far so good.

And when it was all off, the glass was fine.  It all made it in as good a shape as they started the trip in.

And they look good here.  The last picture, not shown, is of palm trees on the beach at Key West.  My dad was stationed there during WW II (some people get rough assignments) and my mom was there as well.  And a friend of hers did the water color of a beach they went to.  And since I was born there at the very end of the war, it has special meaning for me too.  It's been above my mom's bed all these years.

I called Dave to let him know his wrapping had kept the pictures safe and he sounded truly pleased to know.






And then there was all the debris to clean up.

The bubble wrap we'll use again - there is still a lot of breakable stuff at my mom's.  The cardboard we'll find a use for, and if not, it's at least recyclable.


In Amsterdam and in Israel security folks interviewed individual passengers and determine by what they say and how they act, whether to let people go.  In the US it usually seems much more mechanical and statistically done.  (J was randomly selected for a second check this time.)  So, it was nice to see agents who used discretion and evaluated our risk factor and found a way to check the boxes without tearing everything apart.

But I also recognize that several types of privilege were in my favor.  Because we've traveled so much while my mom was ailing, we're Alaska MVP, and we get TSA pre check 80% of the time.  So this is a frequent route and we've been ok in the past.  (Did they check that out?  I'm guessing they did, but who knows?)  I'm an older white male.  I'm well educated and know how to write out my case.  Would this work for my colleague who's Indian-American?  I'm guessing it would have been a harder decision for the TSA agents.

How Big Is A Costco Large Egg?

I was moving eggs from the 18 egg carton to a 12 egg carton that fits in our egg tray.  I couldn't help but wonder at the different sizes.  These eggs all came from a Costco egg carton that said Large.

But these eggs were radically different sizes as you can see.

I looked up how big eggs should be for each grade and found this useful piece in the Kitchen blog - though its focus was on whether you could substitute a large egg for a medium in a recipe.  Not on honest labeling.

I don't have a food scale - though my new bread book strongly suggests I get one - so I just had to eyeball it.  One egg is about 2 inches long and the other closer to 3 [2.5] inches.

Costco, who's grading your eggs?

Back Home - Fall Chores And Other IRS Therapy

We're back home and the weather has held off - as it has in recent years - so I still had time to rake the leaves and mulch the flower beds. 

Leaves had abandoned the trees and were snoozing on the ground.  But I had some calls to make first.  The first was easy.  The second was the IRS.  I'm still trying to remain patient.  But I still don't understand how a major national payroll company and my mom's accountant can believe they can file one way and the IRS says they can't.  Basically it's about the payroll deductions for my mom's caregiver.  ADP sent them to the business side of the IRS and the accountant mentioned them on the personal account.  So, the business side has the money and sends notices saying they have the money, but no filing and the personal account says they have the filing but no money.  I started attempting to work this out last January and got a very understanding and helpful agent who made sure I got power of attorney for my mom's taxes for 2014 and 2015.   But then I kept getting notices and I kept calling the numbers. You have to wait two hours to talk to anyone, so make sure the phone battery is fully charged and you have something you can do while the phone is on speaker.  Each notice got copied to the accountant and I called the IRS. 

Finally in August or September a guy on the business side said, no, you can't do it that way.  You need to amend the personal tax form and get rid of the payroll taxes and file 940s with the business side for the quarterly deductions.  So that was done in September.  

When we got home, I had a notice to my mom, c/o me, in Anchorage, saying they were going to seize my property to cover the amount due.  The agent I got this morning - less than a minute pushing buttons and waiting - understood what was happening and said he needed to put the collection notice on hold for 60 to 90 days until the amended return got into the computer system.  But that part of the computer system was down so he couldn't do it then.  I should call back in a few hours and have it done. 

That's when I went outside to rake the leaves. 

The birch had been the first to start falling, then the cottonwoods, then the mountain ash, and last the Japanese maple.  I also cleaned out the rain gutters - there were plants growing in the one in front, in great compost.  And I mulched the flower beds with the leaves. 

And I ate a few rosehips.  I love them, even with the seeds.  And they have huge amounts of vitamin C.   From the Fairbanks News Miner:

". . . rose hips have 20 to 40 percent more vitamin C than oranges. Plus, 25 percent more iron, 28 percent more calcium and 25 times more vitamin A. They provide vitamins E and B, as well as selenium, phosphorus and a host of antioxidants. Finally, they have a lot of pectin, which is one of the water soluble fibers that lowers cholesterol."

And then when I got cleaned up and went back inside, I called the IRS back.  This time a woman answered, again quickly.  I guess the seizure notices get a better phone number.  She started to question my right to talk to her.  But I have power of attorney.  Yes, but once the tax payer dies, the power of attorney isn't good any more.  But I talked to Mr. V this morning and we did this and that and . . . I'm going to cut you off because I can't talk to you.  You have to file Form 56.  Can I turn it in at my local IRS office?  No, they'll just mail it.  But she did extend the time a bit to get the Form 56 in.  When you do that, you'll get a notice to your mom c/o you at your address.  That's exactly what the notice says that I'm calling about.  She was abrupt, cold, never said sorry about your mom (as the others did) and even though she could corroborate on the computer everything I said and that Mr. V had said to call back to extend the time for the amended form to get into the system, she just kept saying, it won't do any good to talk any more.  She couldn't do anything about it.  Grrrrrrr. 

I hung up.  Waited ten minutes.  Everyone else I've talked to since January has been much more understanding and helpful.  I called back and got Mr. VH who did say he extended things for 90 days.  He also suggested I take it to my local IRS office.  I mentioned Ms. A had said not to.  

But I was on the phone in the morning for about 40 minutes with Mr. V, then about 30 minutes with Ms. A, and another 45 minutes with Mr. VH.  The IRS had all the money since January - before the April filing date.  Actually, they've gotten it each quarter in 2014.  It's just that the business side and the personal side aren't talking to each other - even though the business side can see the personal side computer info.  Earlier people I talked to said they'd make sure no penalties were levied, though there is now additional interest and a penalty on the bill.  I'm assuming that will be removed. 

I believe in paying taxes, and while there are things I'd rather taxes weren't spent on - like the Iraq war and contracts with Haliburton - I understand that the many programs I do support need tax money.  But I can understand why people get enraged at the IRS.  And I also understand that part of the problem - like the long phone waiting - is because Congress doesn't adequately fund the IRS.  I think in part the plan of conservatives is to starve government agencies so they can't do their jobs well and this causes people to hate government.  But also, if the government is not funded adequately, they can't enforce the law and so tax dodgers and polluters and embezzlers and all the other types of cheats are less likely to get caught.  But I have to admit that if they can't figure out something as simple as my issue, then I'm sure they totally screw up more complicated filings. 

I was randomly selected to answer a phone survey.  It was relatively well done.  There were questions I could answer with appropriate options.  But the part I liked best was there were parts where I could actually talk and explain.  This was all automated.  And, they gave me the phone number of the IRS citizen advocate and I will definitely contact that office. 

The other good thing I did when we got back last night was take the sourdough starter out of the refrigerator and refreshed it with more flour and water.  I realize I haven't posted about trying out my new bread book I got this summer, but it was touch and go in the beginning when I did follow the instructions carefully, but the starter just wasn't wet enough. I've been making bread for years, but never with sourdough starter.   But I watched some online videos and added more water and eventually baked several credible loaves.  But then I had to put the starter in the fridge when we left town.  This morning it had expanded and was clearly the living thing bakers talk about.  And tonight I started another loaf.  I let it rise once and now it is in the fridge and I'll finish the steps tomorrow. 

Raking and other yard work and kneading bread are all good IRS therapy.

Obsession Records - Lake Otis and Tudor

Verna at Obsession Records

[Note:  my previous post ""Planned Parenthood Exposed: Examining the Horrific Abortion Practices at the Nation's Largest Abortion Provider"  never connected with feedburner, but you might want to check it out. ]





I had some errands yesterday and took the long way back along the Campbell Creek trail to Lake Otis and passed the mall at the corner.  I'd heard that the Russian grocery there had real rye bread, so I cruised the parking lot.

I found Obsession Records - a place I'd heard about, but had never been open when I looked.  Now it was open (it's open 5-8pm for now while the people there work elsewhere during the day.)  I poked my head in and looked around.

 I like the idea that the turntable is back.  There's a different sound quality - not necessarily better - to the records.

Part of what's called the jazz section.  Artists are arranged in alphabetical order by first name.  I found Nancy Wilson under N.   Records seemed to range between $10 and $24 per album. 

Click to read better

As an old fogie I'm not too current on new stuff and was only fuzzily aware that new music is being released on vinyl, but here's a list of coming attractions.

Here it is from the outside.  It's the mall with Golden Donuts at the corner.  This unit is way in the back.






















And when I got home I got out an old Kingston Trio album. "They're rioting in Africa" seemed very contemporary.   From Oldy Lyrics: 

"They're rioting in Africa. They're starving in Spain. There's hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls. The French hate the Germans. The Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs. South Africans hate the Dutch and I don't like anybody very much!
But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud for man's been endowed with a mushroom shaped cloud.
And we know for certain that some lovely day someone will set the spark off and we will all be blown away.
They're rioting in Africa. There's strife in Iran. What nature doesn't do to us will be done by our fellow man."

Oh, and it turns out the Russian grocery is gone.  The sign's still up, but but the shop was bare rooms.  So when I got home I finished the bread I've been working on for days.  But that's another post. 

Work, Then Play

Spent the morning on the phone doing things like negotiating with Verizon to put my mom's  tv on hold, but keeping the phone and internet.  Cell phone reception in here is terrible and I need the internet when we're here.  Also cancelled her supplemental insurance and arranged for reimbursement for the two months they've taken through their 'easy pay' system.  I don't like any system where someone else is taking money out of my account until I say stop.  Also stopped by the bank to give them some more paperwork.  Everyone was very polite and helpful, which makes it easier to go on and do the rest of these chores. 

We had lunch with friends and then started the second attack on my mom's room.  We made the first attack last July before we left, but there is still so much we hadn't seen yet.  Like this self-defense tear gas permit.  Never knew she had this.

Also found an old invitation to a baby shower for my wife.  And lots of purses and necklaces.  And pens.   Readers, recycling and reusing are both great, but if you haven't used it in the last five years, consider starting the process of giving away, selling, or tossing.  Rubber bands, I've learned, have a short shelf life.  Paper clips last much longer. 

I didn't mention it's hot in LA.  And it's humid.  Hot and humid didn't use to happen in LA.  And it's supposed to be warmer for the next two days.  I was feeling sticky most of the day and needed a break. 

We got to the beach just as the sun was going down. 


I went down and tested the water.  It's almost always chilly when you do that here in LA, but after you catch the first wave, it's fine.  This time it felt only refreshingly cool.  So I got rid of my shirt and watch and went to get unstickied.  It was fantastic.  The surf was not very big and just rolled gently down.  Easy to catch, and even though it was breaking close to sure, it was just deep enough not to scrape the sand.  Body surfing a few waves was heaven. 

I watched others enjoying the small, but catchable surf  as I dried off.

Then before it got much darker,  we walked back to La Fiesta Brava for a little Mexican food.

Now, let's see how my Achilles tendon reacts to the sand walking and sandals.  It's been fine for a couple of months now.  No problems walking, though I still know it's there, and I'm not running yet.  That may be a thing of the past. 

Tomorrow more garbage bags to give away and throw away, plus consolidating the things to keep this round in smaller piles. 

Why Most Alaskans Haven't Seen Off-Road Alaska

Except for people who have to fly to off-road Alaska for work, most Alaskans haven't seen those parts of the state, because it's generally significantly cheaper to fly Outside the state.  At least from Anchorage.  Here's an example from today's Club 49 specials. 

Dutch Harbor - 793 miles from Anchorage - is, and this is a special deal, $349 one way.  That comes to $.47 per mile.

Anchorage to Denver comes to $.08 per mile. 

Anchorage to Los Angeles comes to $.0678 per mile. 



The Nome price, for Alaska travel, seems almost reasonable, until you calculate that it comes to $.20 per mile, a lot cheaper than Dutch Harbor, but three times as much as to LA.






Note:  The Dutch Harbor, Denver, and Nome images come from the Club 49 page today.  Club 49 is a special deal for Alaska residents only.  The only way I've figured out how to get to it from the Alaska Airlines website, is to use Ask Jenn, the website's Virtual Assistant.  I either get to it from an email link or by googling.

The LA flight information was from looking up ANC-LAX flights for April.

The distance information comes from the Alaska Airlines Timetable. 

Another National Retailer's Security Breached By Credit Card Hackers

At least that's the story that Visa is telling me explaining why I can't see my new bill on line, why it says I didn't pay my last bill, why they sent new cards yesterday.  But we're leaving town again Monday when the cards are due here, and while our houseguest will get the mail, I don't want to be traveling without a working credit card.

They won't tell me who was breached, only that it's a major national company and they found out in the last 48 hours.

It's taken me a while to figure out the online payment system.  For a while I'd press pay and think I was done, but they required I hit another confirm button. I only learned that when I got the next bill with late payment and interest fees when I thought I'd paid.  They would take the charges off when I called, and I did figure out the problem.

I've got that down now and just pay as soon as it comes up online.  Fortunately, they let you schedule the payment date.  And I've learned to take a screen shot when it says "Payment Successfully Scheduled" with the date and amount.  That was very helpful today.  I could tell them exactly how much I paid, when it was scheduled, and it even had a confirmation number.  It probably has all that in the email confirmations they send, but I know exactly where I save these screenshots. 

They're FedExing our new cards so we get them before we leave.  And she's transferring me to the Fraud division to find out which retailer was breached. .  .  . The Fraud folks, it turns out, take care of several different credit cards and she said she didn't know which vendor it was.   They said someone called us, but there's nothing on either the land line answering machine or the cell phone.  I only called them because the online bill wasn't working.  Not sure how many people were affected.  Maybe not enough for us to hear about it in the media.

[UPDATE:  This came in an email last night (4/3/14) with an 11:38pm time:

We have learned that your xxxxxxxxxxx® credit card information may have been compromised at an undisclosed merchant or service provider. This does not mean fraud has or will occur on your account, but we are taking precautionary steps to help protect your account.]
 

Cashing In On The New Cannabis Industry

I noticed this ad in the Anchorage Daily News today.

 

From their website: 

Welcome to the Alaska Cannabis Institute and the exciting CannaBiz industry. The opportunity to enter an industry on the ground floor comes around very rarely in most peoples lives.  Many say it is no longer a question of whether cannabis will be legalized in the US, rather a question of when and how it will be legalized. Alaska will vote on August 19, 2014 to allow adults, 21 and older, to own, smoke and buy cannabis while also allowing individuals to grow up to six plants. If passed, Alaska will become the third state to legalize retail marijuana. The Alaska Cannabis Institute is excited to lead the way by providing two-day seminars to educate people about CannaBiz. Day 1 will cover the legalization of marijuana, marijuana tax policy, and the juxtaposition between Alaska and Federal marijuana law and policies. Day 1 also features a comprehensive lecture on setting-up and running a CannaBiz while maintaining compliance. Topics to be covered include: CannaBiz planning, CannaBiz accounting, CannaBiz banking, CannaBiz site location, and more.

Day 2 will present a comprehensive overview on marijuana horticulture and growing. It is so important for anybody getting involved with the cannabis industry to have a broad understanding of how to grow marijuana. The Alaska Cannabis Institute provides: step-by-step instructions on setting up an indoor grow for year-round production, garden calendars and checklists, soil and containers, lights, lamps, and electricity, air, water, and nutrients. Day 2 also examines equipment, seeds, vegetative growth, flowering, harvesting and more.

Medical Marijuana Business Daily has a list of training organizations nationwide and state by state.  Although Alaska is listed, there's nothing listed.  There's no mention of the Alaska Cannabis Institute. 

The Alaska Cannabis Insitute FAQ's under "Where is the ACI headquartered?" tells us it's

"headquartered out of Tacoma, WA. Our parent company is a licensed Limited Liability Company called Pacific Sun West, LLC. Upon sign up, charges on your credit card will be shown as Pacific Sun West. There is a reason for this, which is one of the tips we will discuss in the seminar. Confirm our LLC license status here"

The link doesn't take us to Pacific Sun West, LLC.  It goes to a State of Washington website that lists a company called PENNY HARRISON AND COMPANY.  A link to a Secretary of State page gets us a little more information including a list of officers.

Treasurer MADSEN, BROOKE    BELLEVUE, WA
Vice President   HARRISON, MAX P,   EVERETT, WA
President, Chairman   HARRISON, PENNY L,   EVERETT, WA

An Alaska Dispatch story on Alaska entrepreneurs in getting ready for the initiative to pass, mentions the seminars and quotes someone called Cory Wray.  Looking for Cory Wray is  difficult because there appear to be a number of folks with that name, including a race car driver, and someone who has an online jewelery shop out of Topeka, Kansas/Choctaw, Oklahoma that has a long complaint about it on Ripoff Report.  The Topeka Better Business Bureau has 35 complaints on them.  I don't think this is the same Cory Wray. 

There's a Cory Wray website that offers a few marijuana posters and two hemp products.  The contact information says:

Contact

Tacoma Parkland seattle renton kent pullma Spokane fircrest university place

I'm guessing this is probably the one.

Another FAQ from the Alaska Cannabis Institute:

Alaska laws have not been passed yet, how can you speak on those issues?

Although Alaska policy has not been set, we do know what the Federal policy is. Understanding the Federal policy on MJ; Federal tax policy and 280e; banking regulations and how to troubleshoot them - provides extreme value. We also know Alaska plans to model states like Colorado and Washington when it comes to writing their policy. So, some things we expect AK lawmakers to enact are: setting the minimum age at 21-years-old, tracking from seed-to-sale, and licensing. We will be lecturing on these concepts and more. Also, medical MJ is already legal in Alaska, so we will also cover topics related to the current laws.

The price of the two day seminar is $420.  420 is a code for marijuana.  If the code were 320, would the seminar be $100 less?

I checked one of the programs listed on the Medical Marijuana Business Daily site and I found the Washington Marijuana School  where you can take a two day course for only $300.   But you have to get to Seattle.

Or you can buy a set of videos for $150.

Business Insider has an article called  "Weed Startups in Washington Face Huge Challenges."   I suspect anyone interested should assume that like in the Alaska gold rush, lots of folks participated, but very few made money.  A higher percentage of those selling to the miners probably made money.  And people like this school will probably make more money teaching classes than the participants will make selling marijuana.



[Note to regular readers:  This was supposed to be a quickie post based on the classified ad. I have other posts lined up, but I didn't want to spend the time I thought I needed to do them.  But I could have done one of them given the time this ended up taking.  I think blogging may be a disease.]

Working Hard To Get Back To Normal - Viddler Shuts Down Free Accounts

Blog videos need to be hosted somewhere on a server. (So do photos - but Blogspot automatically puts them on Picassa.)  When I put up my first video - about ten seconds of a street scene in Amritsar, India - I put it on YouTube.  But YouTube was the big player and I as I looked around for other video server platforms, I found Viddler.  It let me put up bigger files, they looked better, I could insert comments.  There were lots of advantages.

So I opened an account and began loading up my video on Viddler.  Over time, YouTube got bought by Google (who also owns Blogspot), but I stayed loyal to Viddler.  A while ago - maybe a year, maybe a little longer - someone at Viddler sent me an email saying they were shutting down their free video hosting service and I could by a professional membership.  I wrote back I'd been an early supporter and that I have a lot of hits on my blog and people get to see Viddler's name on my videos.  I also talked about how hard it would be to download all the videos, upload them onto YouTube, and then re-embed them into my posts.  I suggested grandfathering in people like me.  They said fine and dropped their plan.

But I got nervous and began uploading most of my video onto you YouTube.  And a couple of weeks ago I got the email I assumed would eventually come:  They're dropping the free video hosting and I have until March 11 to download my videos before they close the account.  Or I can pay $300 a year to keep being hosted by them.  Is that a lot for the video hosting?  I don't know.  I tend to be an anti-consumer.  I think too many people are willing to shell out whatever their cable or phone company tells them.  They just have to have the latest goodies.  Even when the company is making huge profits.  Even when it means the consumer goes further into debt each year.  And that $300 a year is forever if I want to keep the videos showing up on my blog.

So I'm spending a lot of time now downloading my videos from Viddler.  (I do have them on external hard drives, but this way I'm getting them in chronological order with dates that will make it easier to figure out which posts they are in.  And then I'll have to upload them to YouTube.  And then I'll have to re-embed them into the posts they're in.

So, I get to do all this work - there are 535 videos on Viddler - and it will take from blogging time, and I'm sure it will take me longer than the deadline to get them all back into the posts they are in.


Here's a screenshot of my Viddler account.  This is eight of the 535 videos.  I have to hit edit, then manage, the click on the file.  In some cases there's a different file format and I have to play with that and change the name from Viddler's identification (numerical) to what I named the video. 


I figure about 8-10 hours to download, then the time to get them up on YouTube and embedded back here.   If it were just a one time $300 charge, it would be worth it.  But a continuing charge forever?  No.

Working hard just to stay where I am.

And I suspect a lot of stuff people are storing free on 'the cloud' somewhere, is going to get a fee one day.  And you're going to have to make a similar decision about whether to pay or find another way.  And there's no guarantee that YouTube won't do the same thing one day.  And slowly, but surely, the easy access we've had to be our own publishers, is going to disappear.  

[UPDATE March 11, 2014.  It was more than 10 hours, but it's mostly done.  Here's a new post on what I've done and replacing the old Viddler videos with YouTube videos.]

Working Hard To Get Back To The Start - Tag Your Luggage, And Richard Powers' Orpheo

Sometimes you have to work to just get back to where you started.  Most of this was my own fault.  It began Wednesday night at my mom's house when I opened my suitcase and found out it wasn't mine.

I called Alaska Airlines and related how someone had handed down my carry-on suitcase from a row or two behind and I hadn't looked at it carefully as people were waiting to get off.  I had the name of the person whose suitcase I had, but she said he wasn't listed on the flight.  And no extra suitcases were found either.  Uh oh.  Did I mix it up in the bathroom? Or on the shuttle bus?  

I called OP (other passenger), but there was no answer or voice mail.  I emailed him and went to bed.  He called the next morning, relieved that his suitcase was safe and said that the shuttle driver had taken mine to lost and found.  I called the shuttle company, they gave me another number, but they didn't have it, but gave me another number.  Nor did they.  But they gave me yet another number (the lost and found of the shuttle service whom I called in the first place) and they had it. 

I got into my mom's car to get my suitcase, but it wouldn't start.  I borrowed another car.   When I got there and told her who I was, the woman said that someone had just picked it up.  I'm not sure what my face said back to her, but she quickly said, "Just joking" and gave me my suitcase.  You really start thinking about what you had in there and how easy or hard it will be to replace.  When I got back with my suitcase I called the Auto Club which came to start my mom's car and then on his advice, drove it for 45 minutes.

There were a couple of other little things I had to redo - fix one of the toilets, and get the 'lost wallet' charge off one of my mom's credit cards.  I'd already done that last November, but it was on the January bill again.

And VISA declined a purchase while we were in Seattle.  I guess I like that they're noticing when we aren't where we normally are and they fixed it when I called. I told them we'd be in LA.  But today, J got turned down again.   One more call to get back to the beginning. He said our Seattle update didn't get updated.  When I asked what that meant, he said it wasn't recorded.  We've had a pretty regular pattern of being in LA this last year and shopping at that market.  It's not part of our pattern that they should be able to see from our billing record.  Guess they aren't as sophisticated as they'd like us to believe. 

Meanwhile, J spent Thursday sleeping and Friday was my turn - no pains or queasiness for me, just depleted.  Flu?  Maybe.  J had a flu shot this year, but I didn't. 


But there were some upsides.  OP, who came out in the evening to get his suitcase (I offered to take it to him, but he declined), turned out to be a very nice person who's been to 49 states, except you-know-which-one.  I told him I'd pick him up at the airport when he comes.

And while I was driving the car to charge up the battery, I heard a phenomenal book review of Richard Powers' new book, Orpheo on KCRW's Bookworm.   Reviewer, Michale Silverblatt, engaged Powers at a level commensurate with the complexity of the themes in the book.  I posted in 2007 about Powers' The Echo Maker, an incredible book that interweaves the ancient migration pattern built into the genetic memory of sandhill cranes and the memory problems caused by capgras syndrome. Do try the link to the interview.  [I know the link is just above, but I figure the easier I make it to link, the more likely someone will.]

I also learned, looking up Richard Powers, that our paths have crossed - he was a student at the International School in Bangkok while I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand and he returned home to DeKalb, Illinois where my Peace Corps group had trained.  This was about the same time Robert Merton was electrocuted in Samut Prakan, just south of Bangkok.


My todo list from this post?

1.  Put my name and contact info on the outside of my carryons as well as things I check in.  I had a very distinctive name tag on my roll-on (thanks Carol), but it disappeared on the previous trip when it flew as check-in.  And I didn't replace it.  Even after discussion the check-in lady in Anchorage talked about someone who had her name clearly on the outside of everything and on the inside as well.  (I did have a photo of the suitcase.)

2.  Look for Richard Powers' Orpheo.

Repacking My Bike Bearings at Off The Chain - When People Are Better Than Books

I went to Off The Chain Wednesday to fix a flat.  I know, I shouldn't have to get help to fix a flat, but the nut was on so tight I simply could not get it loose.  And I've been wanting to go to Off The Chain - Anchorage's do-it-yourself bike cooperative to work on my bike sometime.

I learned about this place when I posted about Bikerowave - a similar place in L.A - and a reader pointed out there was also such a place in Anchorage. 

As  you can see from this picture, I got way beyond changing a tire, and that's one of the reasons I love the concept of these kinds of places.

There's such a difference between trying to figure out how to do this in a book and having a real live human being gently walking you through the steps.  Pointing out where the tools are, and even how to use them if necessary.  But he doesn't do it for you, but he'll give you as much help as you need to do it yourself.  The picture above came after this next set of pictures.

That scruffy looking old dish turned out to be a high powered magnet so that all the parts I put it were safe from spills.  Though I did drop one ball bearing.  (They had plenty of others, though I found it.  Another I found stuck to the blue magnet after I got a new one.  If you look carefully at the top photo, you'll see there are ten ball bearings.  One didn't fit right, because there were only supposed to be nine.

Anyway, you can see where the ball bearings are housed.  The top image of it, shows it after I took the ball bearings out, but before I cleaned it.  The one on the right is cleaned.  And then I added new grease.

 Then, I was ready to put the bearings back in and take the picture at the top.

Here's where I did most of my work.  A steady stream of folks came in and started working on their bikes.

Above you can see most of the shop.

To get to the ball bearings I had to take the freewheel off.  I'd never figured out how to do that.  In picture A there's a black hole in the middle.  I painted it pink in photoshop so you could find it easily.  B shows the special tool you need to loosen the flywheel.  It's that bolt like item and it has protrusions that go into the pink hole and a similar one on the other side.  Then you loosen it.

You can read a book and figure out how to do this.  But it's so much easier and faster and fun to have a human being help you.  In a place where they have all the spare parts and tools you might need.

The guy who helped me, Dave, is in the middle in the green t-shirt and gloves. 

At Bikerowave they have a sign in sheet where you put your name, time you arrived, and what work you are doing.  Then they charge you $7.50 an hour for bike stand time plus parts which were ridiculously cheap. 

At Off The Chain they have a donation box and recommend $5 an hour.  Dave and the other helpers are volunteers. 

A lot of things are better to read.  But fixing a bike, especially when you try things you've never tried before, is so much easier with a human guide than a book.  And unlike a place like REI where you drop your bike off and it disappears into the back to be repaired, at this place, getting your bike fixed is a learning experience.  And it's affordable. 

Here's a link to Off The Chain's website, which says:

"Off the Chain is a low cost, volunteer run, 501(c)(3) bicycle collective open to the Anchorage community. Off the Chain teaches people of all ages and backgrounds how to repair bicycles and strives to increase bicycle ridership, awareness, and safety through community service and education.
Shop
Off the Chain is open to the public during shop hours. During open shop hours you have access to our tools, library and advice from our volunteer mechanics. We have an inventory of refurbished bicycles, used parts and basic new parts available."

  Winter hours are 3-7 on Wednesdays and Sundays 3-8pm.  But call first - 907.258.6822 - to be sure they're open.  If they don't have a volunteer or two, they won't be open. 

It's on the West side of the old Matanuska Maid building between Northern Lights and Benson.