Walmart Special: Corpses and Cadavers

 "Need a Body Clean Up in Parking Aisle J"

  Heard the news today that a body was found behind the local Walmart here in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

 When I got home, I searched "walmart suicide" for details and got a few interesting surprises as a result.

 The first surprise was in the fact that there was no mention of my local store, and the second was that there was in fact many pages of results.

 Apparently, Walmart stores are just as popular with the suicidal crowd, as they are with the shoppers on a tight budget who also happen to have very low standards.

 A few Honorable Mentions...

January 17 2013:  At aproximately 9AM, Martinsburg WV police were dispatched to the Foxcroft Walmart for a report of a body lying in the rear of the store with a single bullet wound to the head.

November 6, 2012: A 32 year old Austin woman was found dead in her car in the parking lot of the Gonzales Texas Walmart. She had been dead about 3 days, apparently of an overdose.

November 10, 2012: A 46 year old woman was gunned down in the parking lot of the Hillview, Kentucky Walmart as she was loading her purchases into her car. The shooter was a boyfriend who fled the scene, but shot himself later as police closed in on him.

October 31, 2011: A 38 year old man shot himself in the parking lot of the Bethel Road Walmart in Columbus Ohio. He left a suicide note before stepping out of his car and capping his own ass.

 December 7, 2011: A 28 year old Palm Coast resident shot himself in the parking lot of the local Walmart during the night. He was spotted in his Honda by an employee who showed for work at 11AM, but the employee thought he may be sleeping. On his 3pm break, the employee took a closer look and called police.

November 22, 2010: An elderly man entered the bathroom of the 7th Street Walmart in Joplin Missouri around 10AM and shot himself. A man in the next stall was not injured, but he was seen buying new underwear on his way out.

December 18, 2010:  The Columbia County Coroner was called to the parking lot of the Walmart in Grovetown Georgia to retrieve the body of a 51 year old woman who shot herself in her truck. The coroner estimates that the woman had been dead for 3 days.

* While there are lots of pretty words available to help make this slightly depressing post a bit easier to digest, pointless fluff simply isn't my style.

 Truth is; Should punching your own ticket be your chosen path, then by all means have at it.  I know I should care, but with all the recent stories of suicidal wads choosing to take innocent strangers out with them, and in some cases, children...I fully support your option of returning this gift of life, provided that you keep that personal choice personal.

 Don't involve anyone else.   Coward.

  Jumping out the back door is too easy. Life is hard. Facing the consequences is hard.
Let go of your expectations and learn to roll with the punches.

 True Courage is Grace Under Pressure.

 Tough it out and people will respect your accomplishments.

  Bail out when it gets tough and you leave nothing behind but pain and disappointment.

JB.

Copyright Stran Photography 2013

iPhone Cellphone Repairs Cheap

iPhone Screen Replacement - Body Swaps

 Most of you are aware of Pop's long-standing affair with photography, specifically with the creation of art by someone with so little artistic talent in any other medium.

 What only a few of you are aware of is the fact that Pop is also a semi-retired bench technician.

Bench techs (Fixers) are the electronic technicians who troubleshoot and repair the hardware that comes into the shop.

 This means that in the days of the TV shop, when people actually repaired their gadgets and electronics (before the current "everything's disposable" mentality took over), this is the work that I did. 

 As a bench-tech for a TV shop in Brooklyn my day was filled with dead-set televisions, stereos with blown fuses, CB radios that had been hit with spilled coffee, and the occasional house-call to troubleshoot the console that dad kicked when his team lost.

 Electronic devices have of course evolved since then, and while most TV repair shops have faded away, the need to repair the more expensive gadgets is still prevalent. 

 The reason that most Americans don't own an Apple iPhone is the same one that keeps this need alive: The price.
  Averaging $500 and up to buy new, when it becomes damaged you have 2 basic option; Pay the insurance deductible of $150 for a repair or replacement, or pay $200 or more for a used model. So it's easy to understand why those unlucky owners who drop their phone and pick it up to discover a cracked screen have no problem spending less than $100 to have their favorite life-tool back fast.

 With six children, and fourteen grandchildren, I have managed to evolve my technical skills as the family and neighborhood 'fixer' for everything from electronic toys to cellphones and computers.
 This is the reason that I used the term "semi-retired"; I don't repair televisions anymore, but now do everything else.

 Recently, this need for iPhone screen replacements has become a fairly lucrative business for a handful of trained individuals, myself included. Now that replacement parts have gotten a bit easier to get from China, repairs have become a practical option.

 The average cost to replace a broken touch-screen on an iPhone 3 or 4 is $75, which includes a new faceplate, a new screen, and new home button.
 Parts need to be ordered from China on a case-by-case basis, and normally take 5-7 days to arrive. A complete replacement set will cost me $35 for black and white, and about $45 for colors. This is the wholesale price from the same factory that works for Apple.

  Those of you considering saving 75% by simply repairing your cracked/dead screen should know that i offer the same deal as always for personal repairs:
 Double the parts cost. This is both fair and predictable.
  This also applies to 'vanity swaps', wherein the owner has already upgraded, and is planning to sell his old model, but wants to replace the scratched case and screen in order to get top dollar for a "new condition" product.

  This beaks down to the following rates:

•   iPhone 4G/4S Screen replacement: $75 (black or white)
•  iPhone 3G/S Screen replacement: $75(black or white) 
•  iPod Touch (2-4th gen) screen replacement: $60
•  iPhone 3 G/S, iPhone 4 G/S Battery replacement:  $50
•  iPhone 3 G/S Vanity swap (Screen, back cover, professional cleaning): $90
•  iPhone 4G/S Vanity swap (Touch-Screen, back cover, cleaning): $100
•  iPad v.1 or v.2 Screen replacement: $80.
•  iPad v.3 screen replacement: $100.
•  Color screen swap for iPhone 4G/S: $80
•  iPhone 5 screen replacement: $90
•  Mirror plated cover swap, iPhone 4,5: $100    ( ↓ mirror plate shown here ↓ )

colors avail: red, blue, purple, silver, gold

  Most others are asking up to $100 for the labor involved, but I consider $30-40 for about an hour's labor to be more than fair compensation.

 Send me an email to: Pop57@comcast.net and let me know what model you need repaired and the color, and I'll get back to you with the shipping details.

 Allow at least seven days for the return shipment of the repaired phone. In some cases, it can take that long just to get the parts, and I will make the repair as quickly as possible.

 You can also text your model/color to me at  304.240.7943

JB "Pop" Stran

PS: I can also get factory parts for, and make the repairs to: iPad (gens 1,2,3), iPod Touch (gen 3-4), HTC Inspire, and most popular Android and smart phones.

Copyright JBStran.com