Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Wednesday November 20, 2024 Plot Thickens

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Older Blog: https://cuencaupdates.blogspot.com/

Please see my best artworks for sale at my websites:

http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/

or https://pixels.com/profiles/al-bourassa

******

Wednesday November 20, 2024

Finally, a wonderful cool morning to start our day. I, for one do not mind rain storms here. I had been up at 5am to walk the dogs and it was heavenly.

So, silly me, I decide to Google that mystery lawsuit mentioned in PayPal's withdrawal of my funds... And, to my incredible surprise, I find myself (or someone with my name) named in this Trademark Infringement case in Illinois:

https://dockets.justia.com/docket/illinois/ilndce/1:2024cv03781/458590

On some other site, I saw a reference to the motorbike named Royal Enfield, sold in Ecuador, and built at the time in India. A friend or two in Ecuador have owned them and I had the odd photo, plus a photo of a poster at the dealer without the bike's name on it, or even a distinctly recognizeable model.

If this is the tempest in the teapot, I have removed my photos from RedBubble and Pixels/FAA. I never made a cent from any one of them anyway that I can recall, but they have taken $82.44 USD from my PayPal, with no notice of said lawsuit or any opportunity to fight the cause.

I have not made, or tried to make any money off the Royal Enfield name. I did have a photo for sale of one friend's bike which showed its name, but to me, that is fair game with his permission (he is a photographer too), and free advertising. I have had zero contact or dealings with Eicher Motors or Royal Enfield.

Trademark Infringement or Copyright are a silly quagmire invented by Americans to extract money from people. Idiots copyright a building's image (i.e. night lights at the Eiffel Tower, or buildings in Chicago)... This is total BS. If something is in public, it is often unavoidable to show them to make your story and show where the photo was taken.... Nobody has the right to restrict public images.

Jeepers, we are way past Orwell's 1984 and there are cameras everywhere... If we are outside, we have to assume we are on camera from somewhere,.. that is todays's awful reality.

I will fix all them !@#$%^&*, I will copyright the dictionary so nobody can use words to accuse you with...... That would bring things to a screeching halt!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

If anybody can make sense of this nonsense, let me know...

So, I fought with both RedBubble and Pixels/FAA only to find that both ONLY pay us via PayPal..... so, I guess, my hobby is all for naught.......

I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

******

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

A nice cool morning

Tom Thumb

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Tuesday November 19, 2024 Mounting Problems

PLEASE bookmark this page and check daily.

Older Blog: https://cuencaupdates.blogspot.com/

Please see my best artworks for sale at my websites:

http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/

or https://pixels.com/profiles/al-bourassa

******

Tuesday November 19, 2024

So, Monday morning we were without Internet again after a power outage so we had to get a techie in to correct it again. And Cristina has to run to their bloody office to complain, because they don't answer the phone..

I re-did the line to Roger Gagnon on Ancestry to match with the info their family has. However, I thought it was funny that Ancestry wanted to show his father's middle name as Telesthore, a brother insisted it was Telesphore, and yet, the actual baptism register shows it as Joseph Arthur Theophile Gagnon!!! And another brother had no idea his great-grandfather was Godfroi..... Anyway, I am now done with it after spending hours and hours on it...

And, the delivery of 2 items that claimed to be delivered on Friday were delivered Monday.... At least they showed up! But the rest of my Amazon orders are all delayed, and I am sick and tired of being forced to sit and wait at the door when I have only 2 weeks left here.... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Then I get this email from PayPal, who collects the revenues from my photo sales on both FAA/Pixels and RedBubble:

PayPal

−$82.44 USD

November 18, 2024 . Transfer

Paid with

PayPal balance

$82.44 USD

Transaction ID

3VF6213619801292M

Seller info

PayPal

Note

PayPal is withdrawing funds from your account in compliance with a court order in the matter of Eicher Motors Limited v The Individuals et al; Case No. 24CV3781.

So, while it is nice of them to email me that they have just stolen my money, this culminates from suspicious freezing of our funds back to last May. We were not allowed to use our funds for payments or withdrawals, and they refused to explain why... If you Google PayPal problems, you will see that there are several class-action lawsuits in process. And to make matters worse, the !!!@#$%^&* stole $4.76 USD more than was in the account, and they want ME to make that amount up!!!!!!! Get real..........!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then to make matters worse, Pixels only pays us through PayPal, no other options, and they seem oblivious and uncaring about the problem. RedBubble offers direct deposit as an option but their system seems designed to make that impossible. I am just pulling my hair out as my hobby is being ruined... The money is meaningless, especially if they just steal all of it, and more.... I have had PayPal for umpteen years without problems, until now.

Monday night a thunderstorm passed by without rain, and the power went out for 1/2 hour.

I downloaded 5 more movies off Pirate Bay within 1/2 hour and watched the new Avatar movie to pass the time.

This morning, the ground was wet and the rain came and went all day. I spent the day fighting with PayPal, Pixels and RedBubble again and the stupidity of the Bots and systems and automatic denials are frustrating. You can't talk to a real person anymore it seems, and when you do, they are either uncaring or just plain dumb.

Cris went to the Tulua dog refuge managed by her sister (who she is not speaking to again) but run by a niece and her partner. She delivered an ultrasonic dog trainer like I have because they work so well. The niece was terrified of one dog and just loves this. I was supposed to go along to install a doorbell system like we have, but I had to wait for these blasted Amazon orders that could show up at any time...

Then Cristina went for her accupuncture treatment and came home in the rain.

Now I need to call Amazon, again......

I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

******

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

We couldn't find Blanco

He was stowing away on the Chappy

A new baby bud on the dual-rose plant

The roof they started is now gone...

Copycat Mono was in the Chappy basket too

Sunday, November 17, 2024

Sunday November 17, 2024 Cemetery

PLEASE bookmark this page and check daily.

Older Blog: https://cuencaupdates.blogspot.com/

Please see my best artworks for sale at my websites:

http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/

or https://pixels.com/profiles/al-bourassa

******

Sunday November 17, 2024

I finally reached my friend, Bob, after a worrisome night. He is in the Royal Alexandra Hospital with a host of new ailments brought on by a change of diet forced on him by his eviction from the Manoir! The Manager, Roch Labelle, who I have now lost a ton of respect for, had a court order and a Sheriff to give Bob 10 whole minutes to leave the premises! Bob was forced to go to some Jamieson Center at the Misericordia Hospital which I believe helps indigents and indigenous. From there, he has been transferred to the Royal Alex where they are keeping him in a private room in available space on the Psych ward until they can find him a residence. Apparently his worldly possessions are safe in his old apartment until then.

So, what kind of place throws out an 80-year-old man with ailments and mobility issues into the snow because he had the temerity to smoke occasionally inside his apartment??? And he pays one of the highest rents, ..on time every time, and keeps his place virtually spotless. I am definitely not impressed and a move South is looking better and better.

For the first time, Amazon and their delivery agents here have let us down big time. Of about 6 recent orders, 1 was delivered on time, another was purportedly delivered but without proof that we received it. The other 4 are delayed almost a week, and I am tired of being housebound waiting for these deliveries. If the lost order doesn't arrive tomorrow, I will be on the horn to Amazon US again.

The scale was nice to me this morning, 198 lbs... Inching my way to slenderness, lol.

I joined Cristina and Carlos as they worked on lights around their son, Christian's resting place. His birthday, and 7th anniversary of his death is Nov 28. I stayed out of the way and took pictures. I know that the constant temperature here is a big factor, but I am still amazed at the care people take to visit the departed and to look after and decorate the graves. It is truly uplifting to see this lovely cemetery in contrast to the stark, forgotten cemeteries in North America.

Hugs to everyone....

I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

******

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

Start

At the entrance to the cemetery

Love the view here of the coastal cordillera

Setting up the ladder

Pretty flowers

The chapel is unchanged

Love the Pieta replica

The care given here is openly visible

Kiskadee

Kiskadee

Kiskadee

Kiskadee

Such care is given

Our rides

Working on Christian's spot

Again, the view

Love this angel above the chapel

New angel at a nearby grave

2 parrots overhead

and more parrots

Almost sunset

All done!