A friend of mine said the above in relation to cell phones....lest we should be tempted to think that EVERYBODY IN THE WORLD EXCEPT FOR us has a fancy iPhone or is on a family plan. Can't tell you how many HOURS I have spent on the phone or in the store with Sprint problems...mostly trying to get back my access to the Navigator which I have had up until a few weeks ago. Today a miracle occurred...I noticed that if I access it from one place, I get in. If I access if from another place, I am asked to subscribe. So, I have discovered the "answer" to my problem if I can just REMEMBER it now. Someone is supposed to call me back on Monday because I threatened to LEAVE Sprint (I know they are vulnerable at the moment cause customers are leaving them) I won't mention any names, but I have had at least FOUR customer care persons. They leave me on hold for four minutes of so of silence. I have decided that Sprint customer care is AN ENDURANCE CONTEST. I have been driven almost to TEARS or to a HEART ATTACK by these unexplainable and unfixable problems.
Then, another miracle....when I went to playlist.com, it started playing my songs in order. This hasn't worked for MONTHS. Could I dare to hope it is PERMANENT?! But, of course, NOTHING is permanent. Even my friend who told me he would ALWAYS be living around here is threatening to leave. But, I digress. I can't tell you how HAPPY a little FREE playlist makes me. I have been avoiding the whole itunes thing cause I am DEATHLY AFRAID OF CHARGES.
Trying to think of THREE TOPICS every time I post. Because I have a certain rigid, list-making aspect of my personality which cannot be denied.
OK, the third topic for today is my clutter-related accident. I was baking last night for a fundraiser for my church. (I don't cook or clean unless under duress) I was leaning over the cluttered floor to put the peach cobbler in the oven and I lost my balance and grabbed ahold of the top of the stove. Unfortunately, this included the burner which had recently been turned off due to butter melting. OUCH! My fingers look OK today but I had to spend quite a bit of time with them under cold running water due to the pain. Plus, I am left-handed and was in the middle to trying to pay some bills.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
A robo call from Mitt
Suprised to get a call from a Republican. Usually, I don't. If you are looking for one more reason to NOT vote for Mitt, check out the editorial by Timothy Egan in today's (9/28/12) New York Times called "The geography of nope". It is about the Republican plan to remove public lands from the province of the public.
The squirrels are busy. Little tops of acorns lying all around. Then I saw what looked like red beads from a necklace on the ground. Hmmm, I thought, what were little girls doing in my yard? But they were BERRIES from a bush. I looked out the window and saw a squirrel eating SOMETHING off of that overgrown bush.
Last night heard 2 girls(?)YELLING and BANGING ON DOORS around 10 PM outside. This morning I saw I had new neighbors. Already I do not like them. I LOVE having empty apartments all around me, as I am basically a hermit, disguised as a social butterfly. And neighbors fill me with dread. Then I looked out the window and saw two shopping carts, leading me to the conclusion that my new neighbors are the type of people who STEAL. In my truly obsessive fashion, I maintain a database called "neighborhood". Therein, I record dates and incidents and addresses, etc., of obnoxious activity in my neighborhood. This activity could be barking dogs, loud parties, music or loud speakers, drug dealing, cursing, yelling and banging on doors late at night, or domestic violence shared with all. I am the rare homeowner in a neighborhood of rentals. Need I say more? Usually, I just WAIT them out, but I might have to provide documentation to the police or the landlord someday. We have an "equal opportunity" annoying neighbor policy around here. Young, white, black, Mexican....they all have gotten on my nerves. Not too many problems with middle-aged single people like myself, but then, who knows what THEY are thinking about me?
The squirrels are busy. Little tops of acorns lying all around. Then I saw what looked like red beads from a necklace on the ground. Hmmm, I thought, what were little girls doing in my yard? But they were BERRIES from a bush. I looked out the window and saw a squirrel eating SOMETHING off of that overgrown bush.
Last night heard 2 girls(?)YELLING and BANGING ON DOORS around 10 PM outside. This morning I saw I had new neighbors. Already I do not like them. I LOVE having empty apartments all around me, as I am basically a hermit, disguised as a social butterfly. And neighbors fill me with dread. Then I looked out the window and saw two shopping carts, leading me to the conclusion that my new neighbors are the type of people who STEAL. In my truly obsessive fashion, I maintain a database called "neighborhood". Therein, I record dates and incidents and addresses, etc., of obnoxious activity in my neighborhood. This activity could be barking dogs, loud parties, music or loud speakers, drug dealing, cursing, yelling and banging on doors late at night, or domestic violence shared with all. I am the rare homeowner in a neighborhood of rentals. Need I say more? Usually, I just WAIT them out, but I might have to provide documentation to the police or the landlord someday. We have an "equal opportunity" annoying neighbor policy around here. Young, white, black, Mexican....they all have gotten on my nerves. Not too many problems with middle-aged single people like myself, but then, who knows what THEY are thinking about me?
Thursday, September 27, 2012
What's wrong with white people?
Another, "Why didn't I think of that?!?!" moment. Heard interview on NPR of Joan Walsh, who wrote a book called What's wrong with white people : why we long for a golden age that never was. SUCH a clever title.
Feeling better now that I am out of the house and ON THE ROAD. Was doing an archeological dig at home this morning, still trying to get to the bottom of my "errands" pile. I threw away some things without examining them. This causes me GREAT anxiety. I also found a gift certificate for Borders books. I think they went out of business (sob). Also a gift certificate for Haars health food store in Vineland, NJ, dated 2001. I am not too proud to go in there and ask them if I can still use it!
Finished Caleb's crossing this AM. It made me cry. Yes, it was sad, but I wondered if should go back on my anti-depressants. The author, Geraldine Brooks, lives on Martha's Vineyard and Caleb was the first Native American to graduate from Harvard in the mid-1600's. The story is really more about the life of the narrator, a woman named Bethia. Life was rough back then, especially for Indians and women and I had no desire to experience it. My sister was reading the SAME book at the SAME time.
But she was doing it as an assignment from her book club. One of the members of her group has a house on Martha's Vineyard and took the girls over there for a weekend. They went out looking for places where Caleb might have hunted or fished. Now, THAT is what I call a book club!
Feeling better now that I am out of the house and ON THE ROAD. Was doing an archeological dig at home this morning, still trying to get to the bottom of my "errands" pile. I threw away some things without examining them. This causes me GREAT anxiety. I also found a gift certificate for Borders books. I think they went out of business (sob). Also a gift certificate for Haars health food store in Vineland, NJ, dated 2001. I am not too proud to go in there and ask them if I can still use it!
Finished Caleb's crossing this AM. It made me cry. Yes, it was sad, but I wondered if should go back on my anti-depressants. The author, Geraldine Brooks, lives on Martha's Vineyard and Caleb was the first Native American to graduate from Harvard in the mid-1600's. The story is really more about the life of the narrator, a woman named Bethia. Life was rough back then, especially for Indians and women and I had no desire to experience it. My sister was reading the SAME book at the SAME time.
But she was doing it as an assignment from her book club. One of the members of her group has a house on Martha's Vineyard and took the girls over there for a weekend. They went out looking for places where Caleb might have hunted or fished. Now, THAT is what I call a book club!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Captions, oh my captions!
So excited to have discovered how to make a caption for my posts. Reminds me of way back when, when it was cool to be reading The Village Voice. It must have been about 40 years ago, cause most of my memorable adventures were about 40 years ago. The person who organized the letters to the editor would give each letter a headline. When someone wrote a letter about how good the HEADLINES were, the headline read, "Captions, oh my captions!"
Am hanging around the historical society to use the wireless (of course, my main addiction). Also trying to get into this whole historical area and find some way I can be useful. Do I want to index a publication or input cataloguing info? Cataloguing is right up my alley, but I would have to LEARN SOMETHING NEW (Pastperfect software). Sometimes I think I don't want to learn anything new, but that really isn't true. I was overhearing a Power Point class last night and thinking I should really TAKE that class again. Even though I took it once and did nothing with it.
It WAS kinda fun and interesting to read an old newspaper, The Bridgeton chronicle, from December 20, 1862. First of all, it was (and is) HUGE. Pages about twice the size of todays and really tiny print. Each page is composed of 8 columns, about two inches wide. How the heck could people even deal with reading it? Most of us have to resort to a magnifying glass to cope. And I am a lover of newspapers who is quite sad about their pending demise.
Am hanging around the historical society to use the wireless (of course, my main addiction). Also trying to get into this whole historical area and find some way I can be useful. Do I want to index a publication or input cataloguing info? Cataloguing is right up my alley, but I would have to LEARN SOMETHING NEW (Pastperfect software). Sometimes I think I don't want to learn anything new, but that really isn't true. I was overhearing a Power Point class last night and thinking I should really TAKE that class again. Even though I took it once and did nothing with it.
It WAS kinda fun and interesting to read an old newspaper, The Bridgeton chronicle, from December 20, 1862. First of all, it was (and is) HUGE. Pages about twice the size of todays and really tiny print. Each page is composed of 8 columns, about two inches wide. How the heck could people even deal with reading it? Most of us have to resort to a magnifying glass to cope. And I am a lover of newspapers who is quite sad about their pending demise.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
OMG...I finally found the title box!
A hellish day with Sprint. What I learned....Don't rock the boat. It took me HOURS to UNDO the mess I got into trying to save money with Sprint last week. Supposedly, I will be eligible for an UPGRADE on October 1st. Right now, I am so traumatized by my customer support experiences that I can't bear to think about changing anything with my phone. Is there any time period longer than a two year contract with a cell phone company?
I had to come back to the library just cause I forgot to get my printouts. Hope I don't forget them again!
Trying to spend some time each day organizing STUFF at home. My organizing teacher says start with 19 minutes. (I need to spend an hour to accomplish 19 minutes worth of work). So my new goal is to spend 19 minutes a day on the main project (bedroom closet was assigned in my class), 19 minutes on something else, and gather up one bag of trash per day. Today going through my "errands" pile. Got about halfway down and am finding stuff I put in the pile which expired in 2007. Of course, I have to examine every single piece of paper (not recommended) before deciding where it goes.
I had to come back to the library just cause I forgot to get my printouts. Hope I don't forget them again!
Trying to spend some time each day organizing STUFF at home. My organizing teacher says start with 19 minutes. (I need to spend an hour to accomplish 19 minutes worth of work). So my new goal is to spend 19 minutes a day on the main project (bedroom closet was assigned in my class), 19 minutes on something else, and gather up one bag of trash per day. Today going through my "errands" pile. Got about halfway down and am finding stuff I put in the pile which expired in 2007. Of course, I have to examine every single piece of paper (not recommended) before deciding where it goes.
Why didn't I think of that? A guy, Jonathan Evison, wrote a book called The revised fundamentals of caregiving. It is fiction, but I had a LOT of material on THAT subject, having spent many years accompanying my mother through all the stages of one of those "life care facilities", The Quadrangle, in Haverford, PA.
Another frustrating Sprint interaction ruined my morning. It is the PIN number and the security question. Somehow I ended up with a totally nonsensical combination of security question and answer. I can't seem to get rid of it. I will just have to resign myself to the situation where the security question is "What is the name of your first pet?" and the answer has NOTHING TO DO with the question. I would never choose that question because there could be several forms of the name. They assigned me the question and the original answer they assigned me was "delicate". Huh? I just have such an overwhelming need for life to make sense, it causes me high anxiety.
Another frustrating Sprint interaction ruined my morning. It is the PIN number and the security question. Somehow I ended up with a totally nonsensical combination of security question and answer. I can't seem to get rid of it. I will just have to resign myself to the situation where the security question is "What is the name of your first pet?" and the answer has NOTHING TO DO with the question. I would never choose that question because there could be several forms of the name. They assigned me the question and the original answer they assigned me was "delicate". Huh? I just have such an overwhelming need for life to make sense, it causes me high anxiety.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Ok, now I am in library heaven. Got the laptop set up with a view overlooking the Intercoastal waterway in Sea Isle City. Sharpened my pencil, got help getting online and am settled in for a few hours of "desk work". Now I only wish I had a fly swatter and that I had bought fudge. Somehow just arriving in a seaside resort town gives me an overwhelming desire to BUY FUDGE.
So far today I have done a few things around the house, participated in a yoga class, gone out to lunch, driven down to Sea Isle City, and sunbathed on the boardwalk. It is pretty cool to be able to do such stuff on a MONDAY as I am recently retired.
Went to a "new" lunch place, Sal's pizza, on Buckshutem Road in Bridgeton, which was very much like the "old" place, RJ's dog House (or something like that). I did have a spectacular "special" and am happy to go back. My toasty sandwich included chicken, swiss cheese, spinach, roasted red peppers and chunks of garlic. YUM!
So far today I have done a few things around the house, participated in a yoga class, gone out to lunch, driven down to Sea Isle City, and sunbathed on the boardwalk. It is pretty cool to be able to do such stuff on a MONDAY as I am recently retired.
Went to a "new" lunch place, Sal's pizza, on Buckshutem Road in Bridgeton, which was very much like the "old" place, RJ's dog House (or something like that). I did have a spectacular "special" and am happy to go back. My toasty sandwich included chicken, swiss cheese, spinach, roasted red peppers and chunks of garlic. YUM!
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