There is Hope- *The Quiet Power of Kindness*

It's time for a virtual campfire sit down with Terry Weiss. Welcome to Weiss Thoughts. Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. Welcome to our virtual campfire sit down, better known too many as Weiss's Thoughts. I'm so glad you're here today and decided to join us for the podcast and spend some of your valuable time with us. We truly appreciate each and every one of you out there that listens, and this will be my friends, this will be the final show of twenty twenty four. Can you believe it? The final show of two thousand and twenty four? What a year it's been, hasn't it. It's it's been interesting, to say the least, hasn't It's definitely been an interesting year. But that being said, however, so glad you're here. Let's get the housekeeping duties out of the way. Shall we get lots to get to on today's program as we close out twenty twenty four. I was thinking about doing a best of montage or past shows, but then I'm like, you know what, a lot of other podcasters do that, and a lot of other shows do that, and I nothing against them, but I just figure you know what, I owe you another show because there's been times throughout the year where we've missed a couple weeks here or there as a lot of you let me know. So anyway, I just wanted to wanted to do this and do one final episode for twenty twenty four here. As you listen to the podcast, you'll be listening on there. We're probably going to release it New Year's Eve here, which is a Tuesday here in twenty twenty four. But anyway, let's get the housekeeping duties out of the way first, shall we Weis's thoughts dot Com is the website wycee t h o U g h T sweis thoughts dot Com. There you can listen to each and every episode of this program and not miss out on anything, so you won't feel like you've let you've been left out. Also, if you want to email me, it's Terry T. E R R y at Weiss's thoughts dot Com. Couldn't be any easier. And by the way, if you want to check out other podcasts and uh, you know the voiceover services that are offered, et cetera. We're brought to you by Purplepit Studios, just like the Color Purple Purple Pit Studios, and if you go to Purplepitstudios dot Com. From that website, you can listen to each and every podcast that we offer. Past episode episodes are there as well, and you can check out the YouTube channels learn a little bit more about Purple Pit Studios and what we have to offer in regards there, and uh, check out the blog the pit Stop. Yeah, the blog has been changed. We used to have a blog called Weis's Life, but we kind of mashed everything together so that the blog is lovingly named pit Stop the pit Stop. So from there you can check out the blog and see what's going on around the Purple Pit Studios, around Wis's thoughts and all the other shows and in the studio and in Weis's productions and all kinds of stuff. Anyway, it's all waiting for you through Purplepitstudios dot Com as well. All Right, So while we're doing that, we're going to talk about on the final show of twenty twenty four that I still I had a couple of experiences over the Christmas holiday season here and I want to share them with you because it makes me believe there's still hope for the human race. But before we do that, we're going to bring back one of the things that a lot of people have emailed me about and requested, and it's a favorite feature that they want to see continue down into the new year. So we're going to make our best efforts to do that. It's that time again. It's time for the wordsmith word of the episode. Yeah, the wordsmith word episode. Amaze your friends with your vocabulary knowledge. And today's word is. Fracus. All right, one more time, please? Fracus all right, spelled fr a c as fhracus better known by definition as a noisy disturbance or quarrel animated artificial voice. Can you use fracas in a sentence? Both teams were disqualified after the fracas on the court. Oh how about it? Maybe another way to use the word fracas. The town council meeting turned into a fracas over the new zoning proposal. Okay, and can you give me one more example. Kindergarten recess often turns into a fracas as the children feud over the best toys. All right, and that today's wordsmith word of the episode is francus fr a c as f r a c A. Yes, and it's a noisy disturbance or quarrel. And it's Italian early eighteenth century. So that's this week's episode or this episode's wordsmith word of the episode, I should say. So, now you are in the know, and knowing is half the battle, I always say so. Welcome one and all, Welcome back to the podcast, Welcome to Wife's Thoughts. I am Terry Weiss, your humbled host, and again so glad that you are here with us today. So what I want to talk to you about on the final show of twenty twenty four? And by the way, if you hear a cheer squeak, I don't know why why did we not oil or lubricate the chairs here in the studio? I don't know why it sounds bad? Why did we not lubricate those chairs? Anyway, we'll have to get that'll be in the next break. What do I want to talk to you about on the final episode of twenty twenty four for Wife's Thoughts? I have found over the Christmas holiday that I think there's still hope for the human race, my friend, Yes, I think there is hope for us. I don't think we've totally flushed ourselves down the toilet yet. Now you probably are out there saying to yourselves, oh, terray, pray, tell her what exactly, if ever do you mean. Let me just give you a little background on why I feel this way and why I'm saying what I'm saying. Let me set the stage for you. It's Christmas Eve. I'm doing some work here in the studio, some last minute things, and it's about early afternoon, say about two o'clock Eastern time. I get done what I need to get done, and I got to get some errands done, all right. The missus wants me to go to a one of the stores and says, hey, I need four canisters of those pop out biscuits for dinner tomorrow because I forgot to get those, and I need you to pick me up a half gallon milk out, et cetera. I'm like, okay, Now, my vehicle had been being has been parked outside this winter here in the north northeastern half of the United States. And while it's been a relatively mild winter, I should say, there have been in the past few weeks leading up to December twenty fourth, twenty twenty four, we've had a frigid spell past three or four days where it's gotten down to like three degrees, five degrees, six degrees respectively in the evening, and I try to make it a point to go out and start the vehicle if I'm not going to go anywhere, because hey, I know it's out there in the cold, and I don't want the battery. Now, let me set the stage. Also, this is the original battery that I bought with the new vehicle back in the year twenty and eighteen. Now the vehicle only has about thirty five thousand miles on it because it doesn't get driven that often. That being said, however, okay, the past few times when it's been cold and I go out to start it, to let it run for about ten to fifteen minutes, when I press the button on the ignition inside the vehicle, it goes and then it started right up. So I'm like, okay, we let it run for about ten minutes or so. Made me drive it up and down the driveway a little bit because we have a nice long driveway here at the homestead, and I figured we're good. Well, let's jump back to December twenty fourth, about two fifteen in the afternoon, I go hop in the family My family truckster to run the errands for missus. T get in, press the button, but starts right up because it's about thirty five degrees out or so thirty five thirty six degrees. I hop in the vehicle and I run my errands. I run down into town, not too far, you know. I run down to the local grocery store, and then I phone them and I say, hey, how about I stop at m mickey Donald's there Mickey O'donald's that Scottish Irish plays McDonald's, and just pick us up a quick fast food dinner. Because she's been baking cookies, you know, half the day and preparing prep meal for Christmas dinner tomorrow and that. So she says, yeah, that sounds great, let's do that. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go over to McDonald's. Text me what you want. So I head over to McDonald's, which is relative, I mean it's in the same town. It's like literally a few blocks from the grocery store. Head over there, got what she wants. I'm in there maybe ten minutes. Come out, put that in the car, you know, with the other grocery bags. Shut the door, hit the button, and my lights are flashing like a Christmas tree twinkling on the dash. I'm like, what the hell. I'm like, oh, maybe I bumped the key fob in my pocket. You know, it's in my jacket pocket. Sometimes if you do that, it'll say, you know, no keyfob found, or kind of do something goofy, it's happened in the pand so I'm like, I'll bring the key fob out and I checked Nope, nothing, okay, open the door to stop all the you know, con tankering clicking, shut the door, hit the button to start the car, put my foot on the brake, hit the button, and the lights are And now it's not saying your battery's dead, your starter's dead, whatever, electrical air. Every single light in that dash was going off, but it was going off independently. So this one and that one would blink, and then that one and that one would blink, and this one and that one, and then my four way flashers came out and just started going as well. So it was like a veritable Christmas Eve concerto. And I was like, what the heck is going on? Gremlins? So I tried one more time. Nope, same thing dead or in a door. Now will not start. So I even tried to, you know what they say to do with these newer vehicles with the key fobs. I took the key fob, you know, opened the door, shut everything off, put it in, put the key, you know, foot on the brake keyfob, top of the key fob up against the button to it, you know, to try and start that way. No same thing, and all the lights going independently, blinking nice and pretty open. The door. Shut it again. So I walked back into the McDonald's. There was a gentleman sitting there when this back to me, But I seen he had a laptop and he was doing some typing. So I walked up and I said, pardon me, sir, I hate to disturb you, and Merry Christmas Eve. He said, Merry Christmas Eve. I said, for some unknown reason, my vehicle does not want to start now, and he' said really. I said, oh yeah. I said, uh, it's been running. I've been running around town and I don't know what's going on. He says, oh, no problem. He says, I'll give you a jump. Thank you. I appreciate it. So he comes out and you know, we're chit chatting, and he pulls his vehicle up. We hook up the jumper cables and just one Mississippi, two Mississippi. I hit the button, boom, fires right up. Unhooked the jumper cables. Thank him. When weceed to talk, well, come to find out he is the actual strict manager for that part of the town here for McDonald's. Did not really know that, and he says, is there anything else I can help you with? I said no, thank you, you know, and he's like, hey, just another reason to come to McDonald's need right, you can get free auto service. And we kind of chuckled, but I thought about it, and I'm like, you know, what, thank you for, you know, thank you. And I won't say the gentleman's name, you know, for privacy, respect and such, but just goes to show you there are some decent people left in the world. There are decent people left in the world. And for as much disparity and bad news as we get on the television, you know and things of that nature, thank you know, thank God for this man. Because the restaurant was kind of empty, you know, besides the employees, but the restaurant was kind of empty. So I thank him very much if you're out there, and if you happen to listen to the White Thoughts podcast, thank you, sir for being a good Samaritan and helping me. So that that kind of bolstered, and I thought, you know, okay, it's not a big story. You know, it's not like, oh, some crazy thing, but it's just something happened on Christmas Eve. And I thought, yes, I'm I'm going to share this with the listeners for those of you that tune in and the following so you know. So I drove back home. Everything was fine, brought the groceries inside and the dinner inside, and I told my wife what happened. She was kind of laughing. I backed into my parking spot in the driveway on the car pad off to the side, and I figured out, let it, you know, sit there, and now I'm going to try it in a couple hours to see if that crazy thing happens again. Lo and behold. I went out there and it didn't. Okay, Let the car run for five minutes, and then I got up the next morning, bright and early on Christmas Day at five point thirty figure. It was cold. It got down to about twelve fifteen twelve to fifteen degrees overnight, went into the car, started right up like a champ. I'm like, hmmm, it kind of makes you wonder if the universe was trying to teach me something. Universe, God, whatever you happen to believe in, that there is still hope, because I know I rail on at times on this programming, on a lot of episodes about human nature and about us being better stewards of each other, being kinder and gentler, and I scoled a lot of you out there that probably don't listen to this podcast, but I scoled a lot of the a certain segment of the especially the US population, for being just narcissistic, self centered assholes. Okay, there are no nice way to say it. You know, me, me, me, and the heck with you you you. So I guess that maybe was the Universal's way of saying, Hey, there are good people out here. There are people, good Samaritans and angels in disguise if you want to call them angels in disguise or what have you. That they're there. You know, they're there, they're here, they're they're they're around us, which is kind of cool. I think that's kind of cool. And then had Christmas Day, had the family over and that had a great time, you know, made some more memories and made holiday memories with grandkids were over as well, and everything. And so now the next day, the day after Christmas, I get up early, go out start the vehicle again. Starts right up. But there's this little thing in my mind that says, you know, you bought that vehicle back in twenty and eighteen. The battery has never been changed. And I'm older school, shall I say, when I bought a car, you know the battery would last the life of the vehicle, I mean ten fifteen years. You really never had to worry back in the day. But nowadays, I did a little research that the batteries last about three to six years. If you're lucky, you know it five and six years. You know, consider yourself blessed. And the reason for it is because these vehicles are doing so much more with the computers and the stress and the keyfob communication. Even when your vehicle's off, there's keyfob communication going on if you get within a certain distance. Update you know software and anti theft and anti start things, and you know, software updates and all kinds of communications. All the way around, all over the place, all right, So I guess it. It makes sense that, you know, your batteries have to be a little bit more powerful and they may not last a long as long because of the charge and discharge and the you know, the cycling of them and the way that works. You know. I'm not an electrical engineer or an electronic specialist in nor do I claim to be one, but it makes sense. But you know, myself, I kind of like to have the I have the mentality of hanging on to something until it's it's on it's literally last breath, you know, it's last legs. And my wife she's the same way, you know, I mean her other vehicles. She drove over two hundred some thousand miles until I forced her. I said, go buy a new car, will you? For good? Just getting youth? No, you haven't had a new car in fifteen years. You know you can buy one. Of course, I should have never said that, because when she came home with a forty seven thousand dollars vehicle, I was like, eh, you know, anyway, you got to have one once in a while, I suppose. So. Anyhow, fast forward where the day after Christmas, I'm up early. So I called up a local tire place here and I'll say their name, because they were great. I mean Done Tire, Dunn Done Tire. If you're listening to the United States, if they have them in your neck of the woods or your town. They have them in the northeast here, especially in the northeastern half of the US, and we've done business with them for probably twenty five years off and on when they were just kind of building. But they've grown exponentially here in the northeastern half of the US and never had a problem with Dun Tire never. I've used other places. I've used dealerships, I've used other places like Dun Tire and have run into some difficulty and some shall I say, questionable business practices here. And they're from both dealerships and other places other than Done Tire. So I called up the gentleman at Don Tire. I'm like, hey, you're open, great, I said, uh, is there Do you have any way to check a battery for me? I kind of explained to him what happened. He goes, yeah, yeah, if you can just pop in, I'll come out and we'll run it. I get this big machine. It goes through the cycles and I'll show you a big screen while we're looking at it. We'll see what's going on them. Great, So I head up into the other town. That's about twenty minutes for me, because again I live in a rural area, which I love. And then the wife loves it too, so we head out. I head out rather to do that because I had a couple other errands to run anyway, So I stopped in there first, and he comes out and he brings this you know thing, but he connects to the UH to the poles on the battery and he's like, okay, you know, well, while the vehicle's off, he goes, well, you're you're pulling about eleven volts or so eleven to twelve volts, which is fine. You know, that's fine for starting, and that looks good. He starts it and he does something else and then he's like, okay, we're gonna do this. Turn on the lights, turn on the white per shut the lights up, and on the high beams. Blah bump. He goes okay, he says, well, I think I see what the issue may be. I'm like, okay, he says, your starter and all that stuff looks good because it's not sending me any panic codes. But he's showing me on this and he says, okay, you're at about six hundred aaron. You should be about six fifty to six seventy five for a regular, healthy, fully healthy battery. And he says, you're just getting the six hundred. So what this is telling me is that you've got some cells and sections of the battery that are no longer operational, They're no longer viable. He says, My thought is you just happen to hit that portion of the cell when you went to try and start the car, you know, on Christmas Eve, and there was nothing for it to pull from. It was a dead you know, it's like pulling up a you know, a black joker and a deck or something. You know. He just, no, it ain't gonna happen. But when you jumped it, it kind of kicked it over. And then he says, now the battery could it last? Could you encounter that again? Yeah? Could you not encounter that again for another three minutes, three months, three years? Yeah? And he said this is the original battery. Did I hear you correctly? I'm like, yes, the original one with the vehicle from twenty eighteen. He goes, well, you don't got a lot of mileage. But he says, you know, in and out Buffalo, Buffalo, New York area, you know, north half of the United States from you know, the area of country we're at. And he says, you know, are harsh winters, cold, and you know, and extreme heat. But mostly it's the cold that gets these batteries. So take note, people who have electric vehicles. Cold destroys batteries faster. You know, it helps their life site it curtails their life cycles. I should say. He said, it's up to you. He says, I've got one in here. It's like, I got a one four year vehicle. It's a twenty four month warranty. It's made by I think it's called Interstate. You know, it's made for your vehicle, for the Specs factory replacement. I'm like, okay, how much is that? And he's like, well, normally it's like two hundred and fifty bucks, but I got to coop on. I can get you out the door with tax for like two and a quarter. I'm like, okay. Last time I bought a battery, I think it was like seventy bucks. So that tells you how last time I bought a battery in a vehicle. But from what I hear from everyone, they can go anywhere from one hundred and eighty to four hundred dollars. Nowadays, we're just regular gas powered car batteries. I'm not talking electric or hybrid vehicles. I'm just talking regular. I'm like, well, I said, you know what, I'm not going to roll the dice. I'd rather just get it. You know, it probably has to be replaced anyway. I'm probably living on borrowed time. Let's just replace it. He says. Great. He says, I'm pretty busy, but he says, I'll tell you what, if you could hang out for about twenty minutes. I've got one of my texts is actually finishing up doing a wheel alignment, and I can squeeze in. Takes maybe ten fifteen minutes tops. I'm like, okay, And I said, well, you know what, I've got to run around a corner, run around the corner to the packaging store. I got to send a couple of packages back, and that maybe take me ten fifteen minutes, tops. I can I do that and come right back and you not lose my It's sure, no problem. So I take off and do it. Now being the UH and again no offense to to done Tire, but being the pro consumer advocate that I am, I like to try and make sure I'm getting the best quality deal, not just price, but I just want to make sure I'm in there. You know that they're in the ballpark. And again, through no distrust of them, it's just part of being a consumer nowadays. You've got to kind of watch out for yourself. I call the dealership, you know, from where I got my car. I told him, yeah, you need a battery, et cetera. They're like, okay, yeah, that'll be three hundred and thirty nine dollars installed. I'm like, thanks, but no thanks, have a happy New Year. So over one hundred dollars more for the same type of battery. So I run my errands, I go back, I pull in and I will go walking into the UH, you know, into the establishment, and the Genterman comes out and he says, hey, Terry, Terry, yeah, give me a key fob. He's finished. He literally just finished up. A couple of minutes ago. He was grabbing a couple of car and I play. You're okay, great, So I hand in my key fob and everything. I go sit down in the waiting area. Well about six minutes. Six minutes later, the gentleman comes out and he said, we got a little problem. I'm like, oh, no, no, what He goes, No, no, nothing to do with your vehicle. Your Your vehicle's fine. I'm like, phew, thank you, I said, So, what's happening? He said, this is like the last one of these batteries that we have for your car, in the standard and the pole just isn't tightening right on the battery itself, the battery pole, it's inside the battery. I don't like it, and I don't want to take a chance putting it in your vehicle, you know, I don't want it to fail on your or whatever. I'm like, okay, I appreciate that. So he talks with the manager of the establishment, and the manager of the establishment calls me up to the desk and says, hey, I don't have any more of the standard batteries with the twenty four month warranty. He says, I got the heavy duty one here, which comes with a three year warranted It has more cold what's called gold cranking amps. It's just done over. It's a heavy duty battery. It's built for your car. But it's like it's the beast, he says. Normally it's sixty dollars more something. Okay, here we go, here's where the other shoe is going to drop. You know, can you give me half whatever? But he said, I'm like, oh, okay, he says, but don't worry about it. I'm not going to charge anything extra. I'm like, oh what, he goes, No, don't don't worry. It's not we should have another one of these other batteries in stock. We don't not going to leave you hanging or make it come back in a couple of days. Just we're going to put the better battery in the same price. I'm like, well, thank you very much. I truly appreciate that. It's little things like that. Now. Did they have to do that, No, but they did it anyway without even a second thought, based on just being a decent establishment. I'm sure that possibly the fa that we've done business with them off and on for twenty five years, you know, from oil changes, we bought tires through there, tire rotations, you know, tune ups, inspections and stuff doesn't a lot. You know, we've kind of flip flopped that between that and the dealership. Like some of the things on the dealership. We had free oil changes for a while until they a lot of dealerships have canceled that gravy train. But you know, we patronized them. They know us. You know, it's not like we're in there every six or eight months per se. But they know us, we know them. You know, the personnel over there have changed a little bit, but it's it's the same atmosphere. So kudos to you Done Tire, Dunn Done Tire here in the northeast eastern half of the United States, Buffalo Rochester area of New York State. Thank you. And I did a review online for them and said, you know, they were great. You know, I even said the location of the store and said that, you know, I didn't mention their names, but I said the staff at blah blah blah location. I was in there for battery issue. They were fantastic, very helpful, and the most important thing, very friendly and afflable. You know, you can have a conversation with them. They weren't like I mean, because let's face it, folks. It was the day after Christmas. I mean, there's that day after Christmas holiday, you know, you know a lot of times. But every one of their staff was friendly and you know, joking around and having a good time, like they really, hey man, we're back at work now, we're helping people and we like what we're doing. So congratulations done, tire, and a job well done. And I left them at Google review. And here's the kicker this morning, when I got up before I went to record the podcast. You know, it's been a few days since I've left the review on Google Reviews. The company actually wrote back and responded me, responded to me and thanked me for my comments and asked if there was anything else we could ever do and if any you know, please reach out. So that really, you know, that meant a lot to me. It really did. So, I guess just those two little things, besides the normal family gathering and sharing of stories and with family and friends over the holiday here, over the Christmas holiday, has you know, kind of the universe has kind of reached out and given me a little bit of hope that hey, there's hope for all of us. There is still some hope. Looking forward to a lot of things in the new year coming up with twenty twenty five. This is the last show of twenty twenty four for Wiye's thoughts. Thank you, thank you, Thank you all of you that listened to the program throughout the year, that reached out to me via email, that let voicemails on the website, et cetera. We got a lot of good things coming up for you in twenty twenty five. I think you're really going to enjoy it. A lot of surprises. We're going to have guests, more guests on the program, more interactivity. But folks, there's hope for the human race yet, I believe so until next year, my friends. This is Terry Wise signing off for twenty twenty four on Wi's thought. Oh no, and mister producer presses the wrong button. I love it. I love it he pressed the wrong but I'm good for you, mister producer. Oh boy, are you going to press? Are you going to press the right one? Okay, see our last blooper of twenty twenty four for myself and mister producer extraordinaire. Thank you for listening to Wiite thoughts throughout the year and reaching out interacting and patronizing the show and supporting the show. And again, have a safe, happy New Year's and we'll see you on the other side. Hey, thanks for listening to the program today. I truly appreciate each and every one of you out there. And remember to see a change in the world, you have to be the change in the world you want to see. It all starts with you, the person looking back at you in the mirror every morning. Remember to be kind to yourself, because kind to others. If you want to tweet at me on Twitter, it's at Terry Weiss. Stop by the website Weis's thoughts dot com just to make sure you spell my name right wy Wyss thoughts dot com, and hey, leave us a positive rating and review on your favorite podcast provider. Won't you tell your friends, tell your family, tell your pets about wife's thoughts. And I look forward to gathering yet again around the virtual campfire with you real soon. Take care, s