America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand. — Harry S. Truman

Anne received an unexpected package this week. In it was the above pictured certificate that recognized her efforts for working as an election official for more than 25 elections. She has worked the polls through Covid, through all of the attacks on our elections and the attacks on the officials who make them happen. In addition to the certificate, she also received a gold pen. A small tribute, but she has never been in it to get rich as payment for her service. She views her labor as a civic duty. She is already scheduled to work the next election. 

The pen was nice, but it was not the only reward that we received this week. Really this other item was more compensations for damages done, but you know how I love alliteration. I receive a check in the mail as a settlement payment in a class action lawsuit against Apple. The check was pursuant to Apple’s breach of contract when it illegally slowed down the performance of our iPhones. Apple had tried to hide battery defects on older iPhone models by prompting users to install an update that slowed down their phones’ performance. I do not recall any other particulars of the case. I can barely remember signing up to be represented, but I was not the only one who got a check for $92. The local TV news ran a story about the settlement that said the checks are valid and are not part of some scam. I guess enough people must have called-in questioning their good fortune that the TV station decided to run a story on it.