Greetings to all DKOS community readers that see this appeal. Unfortunately and wishing I did not need to, I have written and posted this. I am hoping to raise $12,000 or even more before the snowy Oregon High Desert Winter here fully arrives. Our coldest weather so far hit this week. I need assistance with several different things because my financial situation is poor, despite my efforts to improve it, that are still ongoing but not yet realized. I remain optimistic, however, as I work toward that goal, but I could use some help from kind folks to address some things I just, at this time, can’t financially manage.
I’m still sheltering in my vehicle, it does suck, but it's manageable and not the worst thing affecting my emotional well-being these days. The challenges keep me active and in the world at least. I will not go into shelters because there are other folks, sicker than I, without vehicles, many with addiction and mental health issues that I see as I do necessary things, that need those few beds and that help and those meals, more than I do. But, I could use some kind help too, in the ways described below, for some things.
To start, your donations will help me to buy gas and have heat this Fall and Winter. My 2003 Chevy Avalanche truck needs some immediate repairs. It recently lost the rear brakes completely, as the loud chimes and red dash warning message remind me each time I start the engine. Midas Auto Repair told me it needs new rear axle brake pads and new calipers and new rotors, and my front axle brakes need new pads and new calipers and at least rotor resurfacing. Replacement tires are now also necessary. Someone broke and destroyed my drivers side external rear mirror a few months ago while I was parked but away … I duct-taped a Dollar Store small mirror into the housing for my MacGyver solution … but, it needs replacement. My right turn signal has not been working for a few months, a beacon for law-enforcement I know … it requires a new interior multi-function turn signal control stalk the auto shop told me. Also, my power driver-side front door window will not roll down, it needs an actuator/motor replacement inside the door.
My truck headlights need replacing because of age clouding and some windstorm damage, and an interior bulb fell out inside one light and the entire light must be replaced because the bulb that displaced is too large and can not be removed from the only hole in the sealed glass enclosure, I discovered when I tried to extract it. And last early Spring, I and other drivers nearby at that unfortunate moment, drove into a sudden large wind storm mini-twister crossing the highway, and flying rocks and debris severely damaged and scored and pitted my windshield glass so severely that when I drive into night-time facing lights and day-time sunshine now, I can barely see at all because of the reduced visibility. If I could, I would get the damaged windshield glass replaced so I do not accidentally hit anything when that happens, it is that bad. I do not have the funds for comprehensive insurance covering that. I also need a new registration now, here that costs about $125.
Also, various fluids need replacing, including engine oil and the following: Transmission / Transaxle Fluid: Beyond Service Interval - Fluid Exchange Suggested Differential / Transfer Case: Beyond Service Interval - Fluid Exchange Suggested The inspection at the repair shop indicated these additional problems exist now: Shocks / Struts Front: Degraded Ride/Control - Replacement Suggested; and Driveline (CV / Drive Shaft): CV Boot Leaking - Replacement Required, There is fluid I see under my truck now wherever I park for a few hours. The rig needs some work, in other words.
All of that, and a few other more minor repairs I did not list, is much more than I can currently afford. Because it is keeping me warm and mobile as I do things to improve my current challenges, I need these things done somehow with any kind help I might receive. In addition, I just found out my daughter's car - she has been a teacher the last three years - needs a new starter and a couple of other expensive repairs too, and I'm trying to help her figure that out and a few other financial things she needs help with as well. My vehicle repair list is kind of long now, but necessary at this point in time before Winter comes. Donations would help me get them done.
I am also hoping to help my family with various other things that they need help with. My ex-wife, who I raised five kids with, I recently learned, requires a heart transplant for “left ventricular myocardia”, left ventricle enlargement, heart failure. She had emergency implantations of a heart pacemaker and a defibrillator, right when she had just also had two lumpectomies and radiation for ‘ductal carcinoma in situ’ breast cancer, that could, unfortunately I have learned, complicate her getting on a heart donor list. She's only 64 years old, and she is trying to manage moving back to New England next year where we met 35 years ago, so that my two step-daughters back East can assist her, and in particular our oldest son, now there with his Oregon lady in Massachusetts, can live with her and help her following the complicated surgery likely, if and when she gets it, from a Boston-area transplant program hospital. I am also, still unfortunately, paying to store precious irreplaceable family history heirlooms and items, that for complicated reasons, remain in my possession and control, despite my best efforts to resolve that situation.
I also have heart failure and AFIB, but no implanted devices and I'm doing OK. I've got painfully bad knee arthritis these days and I could use two new knees I am told, but my living situation at least for now means that won't be happening for a while. I spent almost the whole month of March this past Spring here in the hospital with a left leg staff staph infection that travelled into my right wrist, so I had wrist surgery then, and a lot of antibiotics intravenously that whole month, but I got through all of that pretty well.
As for me, I don't think I want to be the only one in my family left on the West Coast if all that happens next year, and so, I might be moving back to New England also after 22 years … if I can figure out how to get that done somehow. Another bridge I might have to cross, but, “Family Is Best, Even When It Isn’t” eh? … soon to maybe be on shirts and mugs near you. I have begun learning Canva to get that done, also…
Meanwhile, I have been trying to greatly materially improve my financial situation. I have been teaching myself artificial intelligence models and I am using them to help me research business ideas and employment. I am researching and using various types of large language models, understanding effective AI prompting, studying blockchain and related underlying hardware and software technologies, and other business and tech related employable knowledge fields. I run several AI LLMs locally on my own computer now, and also free cloud-based ones on it and on my phone, to do research I have needed to accomplish. One paid cloud AI subscription would be useful now, if any donations allow.
One of these endeavors is a business concept for a ‘fusion food’ franchise-able restaurant chain I thought of and have decided to make real, combining at least two delicious famous international cuisines under an appealing and memorable name I created for it. I am using my existing restaurant start-up research, now over 100 pages including menus, recipes, ingredients, interior decorating ideas, funding sources and related start-up tasks, and a few versions of written introductory paragraphs for the business plan I will be writing fully, and how to market it and to whom … to get this endeavor sold either as a developable restaurant business concept, or as an actual physical eatery that can be profitably pitched to investors, restaurant business plan brokers, or business crowd funders. I need to now ‘lock down’ some intellectual property requirements, including internet domain names for the business, that thankfully are available, and some others including a domain name for an LLC holding company to hold that business and a couple of others I'm working on. Creating the corporate structure of such a business will take some money, also. I’ve been working on it a lot for the last few months. I have a doctorate in law from a major university, and a I also have a kind of ‘ghost MBA’ from greatly assisting a person that I knew get an actual MBA over a couple of years from the same university. I have many years of business securities investing experience, and I have been a tech nerd since the ‘80s. I’ve done so much technology and AI prompting and use research this past year that I'm employable in that field now or pretty soon, and I've been considering and researching starting a YouTube channel or some other social media platform endeavor to teach people about aspects of those technologies, especially for older folks, like I find myself to be these days.
At this time, I definitely could use some financial assistance for these and other things I have not written of … which, believe it or not … is your good fortune because I have been told by people that have never even gotten one text message from me, that my text messages are too long, lol ... Hey, writers write … and text messaging, the delight of prosecutors but fraught with misunderstandings, is a regression in human communication modalities that IMO went downhill from telephone conversations more recently, or long talks over steaming cups of coffee or tea, or good grog, beside flickering fires and candlelight back in the day.
If you can and decide to donate to help me, my email is: celtichart1 (at) aol.com. These days I have Zelle, a new GoFundMe shortly but an old one for a couple of days still, Apple Pay, Venmo, PayPal, and Cash App which is nice because it only charges 1% for instant transfers for folks needing that, whereas the others charge more, except Zelle. If anybody here at DKOS wants to donate to my efforts and help with those needs, I would appreciate it greatly.
Also, if anyone you know needs some writing, or editing, or some business plan development, or some clear thinking and competent analysis or research about whatever it might be, including in law, economics, or help understanding current technologies of all sorts of types, or just has a vexing problem with the odds against you that you need some help with, please get in touch with me and if I can help, I will do the best I can. I am kind of like an “Equalizer’ if you need one in some ways, like that 1980s TV show and it's updated versions, without the violence however…Thank you for reading if you've gotten this far, and for considering any help, and thanks especially to the folks who help with people in need here at DKOS, they know who they are. Please, get out and vote and get your friends and acquaintances, and your family out to do it also, because one of those two people running for President should never get inside the White House ever again, and it's not the intelligent and very accomplished woman from California, is it? If you live in The Villages just vote once, because that’s all you get, no matter how many golf cart parades you have rolled around in … HAVE A GREAT DAY COMMUNITY, and good luck to all of us ...
Take care of everyone, including yourself, and thank you in advance if you can help.