My New Tablet

My new tablet

I had few more experiences that I brought together wrapped in some fiction. With car stuff thrown in too.

Hardday1953 said he like to see more car stuff, I hope he notices this one

I had just finished installing the home built power windows in Carolina, my 1966 Ford Fairlane convertible. But the mechanism was hanging up somehow. Interestingly, both sides exactly the same way. The window would go down about 80%, with about three inches still to go down, and it would stop. Dead stop; no grinding nothing. That's the behavior one expects when the window goes all the way down. Full stop, no fuss.

Now for those of you who've never tried to maneuver a mirror, lighted or not, into the door shell of a mid-sixties car, it is a fool's errand. The window regulator (that's the scissor-like arms that articulate in the door to move the window up and down) is in the way, the motor and gears are in the way. And don't even get me started on speakers.

And of course the large window mechanism I'd adapted from a 1972 Ford LTD didn't help either. It was probably the most heavy duty regulator I'd ever seen. I got two sets of them in a junk yard years ago. Two LTD's side by side; door panels already off. An hour later I had my treasures in hand.

Since Caro (get the pun ;) had all those things populating her doors I was stumped. And then I had a genius idea; I would get out the 'endoscope' camera I had bought last year.

My son's condo has a washer and dryer, and the dryer wasn't. So we'd pulled it away from the wall to find that the exhaust duct was totally clogged with lint. A definite fire hazard. We'd cleaned out as much as we could reach but couldn't determine what was plugging the duct.

Complicating matters was that the exhaust duct snakes up the wall and over the second bedroom before exiting the building. That's when I thought of getting the endoscope camera. I'd seen it on Amazon, or one of my car buddies had mentioned it. No matter, that was just the ticket. Comes with a sixteen foot cable and a wireless connection. All you need is a phone or tablet.

Ordered it and had it shipped overnight. I had an old tablet lying around and we were able to make the connection easily. That little camera revealed that the exhaust duct was chock full of lint. No telling how long it had been building up.

Going out to the balcony with some binoculars (my son's condo is on the second floor); we could see the exhaust vent between his balcony and the neighbor's, it looked frozen in place. To make an already long preamble short, we snaked an air hose up in there and with my compressor making a lot of noise blasted it clean. Success, dryer dried again.

I fetched the camera and found that it needed charging, and so did my tablet. Both dead as doornails. Oh well, tomorrow is another day. I guess I'll tend a bit to the gardening chores while Janice was at her luncheon.

Sunday morning, I got the camera and tablet out and thought I'd get to viewing what was hanging up in Caro's doors. No go; the tablet had been on the charger all night but it wouldn't boot up. Sigh. Tomorrow was Monday; I'd stop by the IT desk and see what they would let me borrow. I don't really need a tablet permanently; just a week or so.

Monday morning after catching up on my emails and phone calls I paid the Help Desk guys a visit.

"Hey Jackie, I'm in need of a tablet for a few days, maybe a week. You got anything gathering dust on the shelves you could loan your favorite Security executive."

"Hey yourself Mr. Burrows. Just a loaner? A Big Shot like you could get one allocated to you no problemo."

"That is why you are my favorite Help Desk dude Jackie. That and the fact that you're not a dude. And haven't I asked you to call me Carl?" Jackie and I had bonded over several Security incidents over the years; she was good people.

She got up and went to the storage closet behind the row of desks and came back with a cool looking padded sleeve. "You're gonna love this. Seems our esteemed CFO ordered this tablet and then decided he really didn't want to be carrying it around. Too cool to be taking notes, don'cha you know. Anyway this thing is fully loaded; it's got all the bells and whistles."

"Um, Jackie I'm not sure I should take that one. My needs are much too simple for some high performance gear like that."

"Nonsense, it will make whatever you're gonna do with it so much easier. I know you already have an iPhone; this thing will reach out to that and pair automagically. And it's got full connectivity, just tell it your home network name and password and you'll be amazed. You can sit out on your deck and stream movies. "

"Oooh, now you're talking my language. Hah, you might never get it back. I was planning on taking some stills and a short video, and maybe I can upload to my home desktop so I can really zoom in on my big monitor. Sold, I'll take it."

"Great, just let me enter you name next to the asset tag in the system and you're all set. Hey, I also get credit for closing a walk-in ticket. Five star day! Here let me show you what happens when you get your phone close to the tablet's AI sync tool."

Jackie booted the, ahem, my new tablet and once it was on she took my phone and set it on the desk next to it. A pop-up came up that asked "Sync Carl Burrows iPhone?" then it listed options to sync my texts, personal email, and corporate email boxes already checked. I shrugged my shoulders and nodded my head. Less than 30 seconds later there were icons on the landing page for all that stuff.

"Now you can stay out on your deck even longer. Much easier to read stuff on this beauty than on the tiny screen your phone has." I had to admit this new toy had potential. Little did I know, sigh.

"But wait, there's more. Let me show you the best thing about the AI on this device. It does transcription of your phone calls. Now you won't have to take notes, the AI will give you a transcript of your calls and afterwards ask you if you want it to create action items out of the contents." Jackie clicked on the phone icon with a pencil through it and said, "Go ahead, make a test call. Just call home or something."

I hit my wife's icon and when it went to voicemail I said, "Hi honey, just calling to say I love you. Do you need me to pick anything up from the store on my way home? Text me if you do." Seconds later a pop-window came up on the tablet that said 'Review latest conversation?'

"Wow, that is cool. I do hate taking notes. Maybe this new tablet will prove useful after all. Jackie you're a gem."

"All part of the service boss, all part of the service." With that I trundled back to my office and got back to work. I played with the new tablet the rest of the week. I really did like the phone call transcription, as I had to participate in several conversations that had details from key customers I wanted to make sure I remembered, it paid for itself those first few days.

It was a long way to Friday, but finally the weekend arrived and I could relax and look forward to a quiet evening with Janice at home. And then while she was out with her girls club for their regular Saturday lunch, I could attend to Caro's window problem.

So it was the Saturday after my wife left, I had to wait because I park Caro in one spot in the garage and she parks her Beemer in the other. Once she was gone I could open doors and work unimpeded taking up as much space as I wanted. She'd be back in a couple of hours after the lunch, plenty of time for me to do the door scoping with the camera and new tablet.

But as with most projects something always comes up to distract me. When I was maneuvering Caro into a better position I noticed an oil spot on the garage floor. Uh oh. Needed to check that out pronto. Thank goodness I did, it turned out that the oil drain plug hadn't been properly tightened at the oil change shop and it was dripping slightly.

Which entailed getting out the hydraulic lift jacks and putting Caro up in the air. These things are a godsend, they get the car eighteen inches off the ground and give me full access to the front and rear suspension. They fit under the side frame rails. I keep them stowed in the shed outside and it takes about 10 minutes to deploy them and then hook up the pump. But it makes easy work of getting under the car with my crawler. It took much less time to tighten that bolt than to retrieve the jacks.

Anyway, by the time all that was done an hour had gone by and I still hadn't gotten to work on the doors. But I was hungry by then, so I grabbed a quick lunch. I ate sitting at my workbench in the garage just kinda taking it all in - my automotive domain ;)

Finally got the camera booted and connected to the new tablet. Then it was time to snake the camera into the passenger door to see what was what. Thank goodness, it was just a bolt that was too long. The power window mechanism bolts to the inner door sheet metal with five bolts, I had wanted to make sure it was located solidly. But one of the bolts protruded into the door just enough to interfere with the regulator so it wouldn't lower the window fully. Lucky break! I just had to swap out that bolt for something a bit shorter and I should be good to go.

Nope, wasn't going to be that easy. I didn't have anything in the right length, neither a body bolt nor a regular hex bolt in my collection would do. Got out the electric hack saw and took off a bit off the end of the offending bolt. Dressed the end so it would go in easily, et voila! Fixed. One door operating properly.

I was just getting ready to cut off the end of the corresponding driver side bolt when Janice came home. She pulled into our driveway and stopped. I could tell she wasn't pleased. You see I had maneuvered Caro into the middle of the garage and she couldn't pull in. She didn't exactly glare at me, but I could tell she wasn't happy. I put down the saw next to the camera and tablet that were sitting on the bench and turned to greet her.

"Hi sweetie. I'll be done in about 30 minutes and if you leave me your keys I'll pull your car in for you."

"Thanks Carl, that would be nice of you." She said that in a neutral tone that meant unhappiness as she walked past me into the house. Just then the tablet pinged and there was a pop-up that said "Sync Janice Burrows phone?" I hit the NO button and picked up the saw again all in one motion, kinda in a hurry because I didn't want Janice any more upset than what she already was.

Got that bolt installed, tested the window, and buttoned up the doors in record time. Then I re-positioned Caro and pulled the Beemer in. I glanced at the wall clock, only thirty-five minutes, whew.

I went to the bench to put my tools away when I noticed the tablet had another pop-up: "Review latest conversation?" that's weird, I didn't make a call. So I hit yes and as the saying goes my world shattered.

Janice: Oh my god Stella, a full 10 inches of black meat. Kenny is the first black man I've ever had and he was everything I could have dreamed of. Well, he's not actually a man - a twenty one year old college boy might be a man someday. But man or not he didn't disappoint. The stamina he had, I guess it comes from being on the basketball team. He came three times in me; I'm going to be cleaning his cum out of me for days. I'm so glad I picked him after Tod's six months was up.

Stella: Wow, you finally did a black guy. After listening you tell me about your boy toys for seven years I never thought you'd go black. My single life does not compare to all the action you get.

Janice: You know maybe next Thursday I can get Kenny to bring one of his teammates with him to 'Book Club' and you can have a go. Using your apartment on Thursdays while you're really at Book Club, and Saturday's while you shop has made everything so easy. I really owe you.

Stella: You know, I'm finally tempted enough to say yes. Next week at Book Club I'm in. I'll have to pay attention to your rules so I don't get addicted.

Janice: That's what keeps me in control. Nobody longer than 6 months, no getting attached, and no dates, just sex. Otherwise I'd feel guilty about stepping out on Carl. I love that man to death, but I need to have a young stud to pound me a couple times per week just to stay sane. Ever since menopause my sex drive has gone through the roof. Poor Carl, he could never keep up even if he tried.

Stella: Yeah, Poor Carl. You do keep him happy don't you?

Janice: Yup, I give him a bit of fun a once or twice a week - usually between Monday and Thursday morning. After BC on Thursday evening and then 'Lunch' on Saturday, I need a couple days to recover. Those boys with their big cocks leave me satisfied but a little sore.

Stella: I really like that you can talk about BC all you want and everybody thinks you're referring to Book Club and not big cocks. You are my hero Janice.

Janice: I'm just a girl with a plan. A plan to keep my husband happy and content, and my pussy well abused. I gotta go, I just heard Carl pulling my car into the garage. Which means he's done working on that stupid old Ford of his.

Stella: You don't enjoy riding around in a classic convertible?

Janice: Not really, smells of gasoline, it's kinda loud and my hair gets messed up. I prefer the luxury of my Beemer any day. Anyways, I gotta go and turn back into happy homemaker and put my inner slut on a back burner until next Thursday's BC. I'll be sure to text Kenny to line up somebody for you. Love you.

Stella: Love you too. Bye.

Another pop-up: "Summarize call and save transcript?" I stared at the screen with unblinking eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, with a shuddering breath I hit the yes button and sat down on the stool in front of my bench.

10 inches. Seven years. Book Club. Poor Carl. I wasn't really thinking so much as clocking, like a computer that had been over tasked. When my brain started working again I began to realize when I'd thought I'd hit 'NO' earlier when reaching for the saw, I'd accidentally hit 'YES' instead. Now there were icons on the screen for JB Email, JB Text, and JB Calls. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuck...fuck...fuck, fuck, fuck!

On stiff legs I walked to the door opening onto the kitchen from the garage. "Sweetie, I need to take Caro for a test drive to see if my repairs worked. Be back shortly." What I really needed was the wind blowing in my hair, the motor roaring beneath the hood, and the road ahead to help me calm down and figure out what the fuck just happened.

I did have the presence of mind to grab the new tablet and off I went. Caro seemed to sense my unease and she smoothed the way, her Tri-Power and six-litres making short work of the slightest movement of the wheel or accelerator pedal. It's as if she was sending out a signal to those automotive appliances ahead to make way, a real car was coming through. One with class instead of a computer.

Together we got on the freeway and picked up speed. She hunkered down; the wind under her carriage didn't lift her, instead it caused her to stick to the road even harder. Then to the road to the coast. At this time of day, after lunch, there wouldn't be too much traffic going over the hill. And so it was, the gods of driving gifted me a clear path. Caro reveled in the curves, smooth in, smooth transition out. It was like dancing, and I got lost in the rhythm of it. Just the tonic my broken heart and shattered mind needed. Before I knew it I was pulling into Alice's. As I grabbed a spot I could tell Caro was happy, she wasn't even breathing hard. She'd brought me to just the place I needed to be.

"Hey Scotty, howz it hangin'?"

"Hey Carl, the usual?"

"You sir, are a gentleman and a treasure."

As I sipped my Boont Amber I tried to think, but my thoughts were slippery. They refused to grab hold and make sense.

"You look like trouble is brewing Carl."

"Do I look that bad Scotty?"

"Yeah, you do."

"Then give me a minute to try and catch my breath. I'm gonna go sit outside and breathe for a bit. I'll be back."

A beautiful Bay Area day, sipping my beer amongst the redwoods helped tremendously. It put things in perspective. At heart I was just a car guy, a tinkerer, with a frosting of Executive over humble origins. Brought up by a single mom after my father died prematurely and left her with two boys, my brother four, and me five-and-a -half. Her earliest lesson was, 'don't worry about things you can't do anything about'. She meant it to say that you should worry about the things you could do something about. But both sides of that saying were dancing in my head just then.

I missed her a lot; she's been gone now for about five years. Although that last year she wasn't really there any more, dementia took her way too soon. I remember the last lucid moment she had near the end when she'd looked at me with eyes that showed for a brief second that she was still in there somewhere, "Why does everything have to end?" Those words have haunted me ever since, and today more than ever.

That my marriage was over was a certainty, at least that much was settled. So I didn't have to worry about that any longer. So what was left to worry about? Ah, the essential question. Basically it boiled down to what was I going to do about it.

To answer that I thought, I needed to know what had been done. What harm had been perpetrated upon me and my marriage. Were the boys mine? Had she really only started stepping out seven years ago. Yeah, the boys were mine - hazel eyes and brown hair, plus birth marks on their calves exactly where mine was. Yup, no need to worry in that direction. I'd been there when they came out, and the elemental connection that happened in that moment was more proof than any DNA test. It was if I had the voice of God booming in my head at the first sight of each of them - MINE!!

So really it boiled down to me, how had I been harmed. Something precious had been taken from me for sure, given away in such a cavalier manner. And the insult in the giving, 'Poor Carl' indeed. So was revenge on the table? Hmmm, might be; might be indeed.

Facts, I need the facts. What information was to be had? I had climbed the ladder the hard way, and each rung came with hard lessons. So to those skills I needed to turn.

I booted up the tablet and started scanning. Emails and text messages that really did show the beginnings of her BC fun all the way to seven years ago. Thank god Janice had not cleaned up her phone. I guess she'd grown over confident. Or maybe she deep down wanted to get caught. Not my problem anymore, not my worry.

It was starting to get late when I realized I'd been scanning for a couple of hours. I better get back otherwise I might arouse suspicion. Of what exactly, I didn't have anything to hide.

"Hey Scotty, have you seen Thomas lately?"

"Yeah, he's been around. Was in here just last Saturday. Says he's gonna keep his nose clean. What do you want him for?"

"Nothing, yet. Just wondering. Keeping my options open. Thanks. See you next time."

"Hey Carl, you take care. Let me know if you need anything. Just ask."

"That means a lot Scotty; I'll keep that in mind."

The ride down the hill was different. On the way up Caro had been growling a warning to the road ahead. Now she was purring, just the comforting sound I needed. It gave me confidence, I was at the wheel; literally and figuratively. The next moves would be mine.

The rest of the weekend went just like usual. I acted normal, even though I was roiling inside. And Janice was her usual half-distracted self. Now I knew it wasn't that she had a lot on her mind from work and her girl stuff. She had meat on her mind.

---

Monday dawned just like a million other Monday's had. I got up, scraped my chin, got my shower, and off to work with a travel mug full of Kona brew. Peck on the cheek and a 'love you, see you tonight'.