Adventures in Real Life - Electronic and Postal

Wednesday was my regular day off and I was sitting at my desk, pastels all around me, my sketchpad with inked drawings awaiting color in front of me and Aearwen on my cell phone for our weekly conversation. But we kept getting interrupted - on her end first, and then twice on mine. Since she was leaving to visit her brother the next day we finally smiled, said we would catch up next week, and hung up. Within five minutes my shop was on the phone with me again. They were saying something about the register computer crashing - they heard a bunch of small, high-pitched beeps which were followed by a complete and sudden shut down. I was on my way to the shop when they phoned me again, telling me that they got it fixed.

Nothing like a computer melt-down to brighten my day - NOT!

Yesterday afternoon I was at the register when the same thing happened. A series of small, high-pitched beeps followed by a complete, sudden shut-down. I isolated it to the APU - the automatic power unit - and went to the backroom where I unplugged everything that I had attached to the back room computers - the scanner, the laptop, my lamp and my recharging cords. After some difficulty I got the back APU moved out of its shelving and replaced the defective one with that one - one that I knew worked well and had a new battery in it. Everything powered up and worked a charm. What a relief. I have an extra APU at home that I will bring to the shop to swap out so that I can have my backroom equipment back again. Minor crises averted again... What was the saying over the summer? Stay Calm? That worked - very well *grin*.

So that was one success...and then we have the US Postal Service. Now I have known some outstanding postal service employees in the past - some sharp and fun people with wicked-good senses of humor. But whoever is on my home route needs a bit more ability to pay attention to detail. On Wednesday I received a card hand-addressed to a person who shares my street number (12345) but not my street name (AaBb instead of GgHh). I wrote "Delivered to Wrong Address" on the envelope and dropped it into the mail on my way to work in the morning. Last night, it was back in my mailbox - AGAIN. I have now added a circle around the street name, the word TWICE! underlined next to "Delivered to Wrong Address", and highlighted the word TWICE. I'll drop it into the mail again on the way to work and we'll see if it comes to me yet again. In the meanwhile my DH has been expecting something in the mail since Wednesday and it hasn't arrived yet.

Hand sorting - how 1950's. No wonder the Postal Service is
losing money hands over fist.

Competence? The US Postal Service has some of the best and some of the worst employees I've ever met. Oh! One more example of stupidity, although this time it is the system, not people. I was sending something to a customer via a postage-paid return envelope and mentioned to my postal carrier as he collected the envelope that they had to receive the paperwork before mid-week (it was only going across town). He said that because it was a postage-paid return envelope that it could be delayed for up to a week because of the way they need to keep their records on them - hand entering them into a ledger before delivering them. He also suggested that if I wanted it delivered quickly, to just put a postage stamp onto the envelope instead of the postage-paid aspect of the envelope and then it would be treated as first-class mail and they would receive it early in the week. I put on a stamp. Such a system!

Insane Hours Don't Always Pay Off

I usually awaken between 3:15 am and 3:30 am, not because I'm actually finished sleeping, but because I need/want/have to have my private, quiet time. Today, however, it was not to be. My alarm went off on time and I got up, started my computer, chose my clothes for the day and hit the shower. I was just ending my shower when my DH came in. Apparently he couldn't sleep *sigh*.

I'm trying to protect my space here....GROWL - LOL

He started by changing my TV channel. I listen to the world news and then the local news until 5:00 am, then switch to the business channel. He had flipped the station to the Blomberg business channel. I told him "No, I watch the news in the morning. Change it back." He looked at me like I had lost my mind. I tried again. "You are here during my time and this is my schedule. I watch the news until 5:00 am. Change it back." He finally did, then I told him to go back upstairs and try to go back to sleep. I then settled down to check my internet orders, catch up on email inquiries, and finally get to the fun part of my morning - my blog and my LJ entries.

The TV is background noise for me because it is located behind me. It's
directly above my DH's computer screen, so he is more TV oriented than I am.

I had just opened the files for the fun part when the door opened and there he was again, this time in his robe. The attire signified a more permanent change of venue. I moved my paperwork off his chair, sighed, and watched him immediately attempt to change my channel again. After taking the channel changer from the table turning the station back to what I wanted to watch, and telling him once more that he was in my personal time and schedule not his, I set the channel back to what I wanted to watch and put the control onto my desk, out of his reach. I'll turn it back to the business channel in....12 minutes, in other words, at my normal time.

I think I REALLY need my coffee this morning...

In the meantime, there are some emails that I can't open now, I have to hear him mumbling about prices, stock availability and other business things that I really try to avoid, especially in my early mornings, and in general my schedule has just been shot to hell. I would leave and go to my coffee shop instead, but even they are not open at 4:48 am. I'm stuck....

Happy International Women's Day to all of you!

What Did We Do Without Them?

I'm looking to my left and there are my "devices" awaiting packing before I leave for work. They are several different sizes, from very small to larger purse-sized and I love each one of them. There is my Apple Nano on which I just loaded four Mendelssohn symphonies - such wonderful music. Next to this is my Motorola Droid smartphone on which I now have a free voice recorder app for when story inspiration hits me while I'm in the car (which actually happens quite frequently). On the far right is my NookColor - still a piece of equipment that I use every day even though I can and do read on my phone also. I still adore my Nook after more than two years, it just does whatever I ask of it so well. On the floor, patiently waiting, is my laptop nestled in its case. And of course, I'm sitting at my desktop computer writing this. 

My Nano is green, with my LJ User Name engraved on the back.

In 1876, on March 10th, so just slightly more than 137 years ago, Alexander Graham Bell, using a liquid transmitter, spoke the famous words "Mr Watson - Come here - I want to see you" and was heard clearly by his assistant in a nearby room on the other end of the transmitter. The first telephone - the first baby step on a very slippery slope of electronic devices.  

One of the original ads for the Princess Phone. I was in love and it
is still considered a classic phone design.

I grew up with the phone as a common part of the household. When I lived in Aspen, Colorado we had a party line (that means that we shared a phone line with a second household, each one having a specific ring tone). But our phone line in Denver was a single line - FLorida 8195 was my phone number. I remember it even today, more than fifty years after I had that number. The phone were dial phones and direct connect, i.e. we didn't go through a switchboard (although I have worked at switchboards and routing boards in my employment past). In those days I wanted a "Princess Phone", but my Dad never wanted to spring for the extra dollars. I finally had a phone receiver of my own when I was in high school, but it was still wired to the wall and just an extension phone, not a separate phone number, and still not a Princess Phone. 

This phone was so small and portable, It only made and
received  calls, but I really didn't need more than that.

Touch-tone phones came into use while I was in college and grad school. Within a short amount of time they had become the predominant style of phone, although I still had a rotary dial phone in some rooms of my house until the late 1980's. In 1996 Motorola introduced their StarTac mobile phone. It was revolutionary. It was super thin and very portable compared to mobile phones of the past. It was so revolutionary that it was included in the Academy Awards goodie bag that year and several of the stars were gushing about the phones in their interviews. I bought one of these a few years later when it was less expensive. 

I love my Droid - it's so darned versatile and thin. Yes, I am
a gadget geek!

After a few more portable phones, and switching from carrier to carrier to get a better plan and better signal strengths (from AT&T to Sprint to Verizon) I upgraded to a smartphone. I bought a Motorola Razr Droid late last summer when my prior phone died. I never thought I would really get into a smartphone, but I'm finding that I really love it. I'm still watching my activity closely so that I don't increase the amount I pay monthly past a reasonable point, but I love my electronics Whatever did we do without them? Just the ability to carry more than 300 books with me in my hand - so wonderful! Yes, I love my line-up of devices, I am a true Gadget Geek.

Snow, Food and Cardinals

There are absolute benefits living in the snow belt, one of which is that we know how to deal with and drive in snow, and another of which is that we know that snowstorms are temporary and move on. In this case we are sending the massive storm we've had for the past two days east, because we are generous and giving people.

It was a medium weight snow and settled nicely onto the branches and trees.

Actually, I really feel for those of you who will still be getting snow from this system. It was a total PITA storm. Yesterday it took my DH and I combined more than 45 minutes to shovel the 6" of overnight snow from our driveway. It took DH all day to do the rest of the shoveling that he does and get the snow pulled down from three different roofs. He was a hurting boy by the end of the day, but still cooked up some Sloppy Joes for a surprise dinner. So good, and such a sweetie.

I love Sloppy Joes. Not sure what these are? I put a recipe in a click link above.

The Cardinals have started gathering in Vatican City. No...not the birds. They are gathering here in my trees, laughing at us as we shovel the snow. No, I'm talking about the people who will shortly declare Conclave and begin the process of choosing a new Pope. This picture has been floating around and I asked a friend to send it to me so that I could share with all of you.

I hope this comes through large enough for you to read each
candidate's name and national alignment.

In this season of March Madness (which is a term used in the US for the College Basketball Finals - great games!), I thought it was rather hilarious to put the Papal candidates into a bracket breakdown by geographical zone as the picture shows. Go ahead and indulge yourself with speculation...who will win the privilege to wear the white and the crazy hat?

Inspiration...I'm Not Quite There Yet

Back to Middle Earth Month has a history of taking place during March every year, at least since I joined the fanfiction community in late 2009. The first B2ME I experienced was in 2010. I was not a participant because I, quite simply, didn't understand the premise or the mechanisms of that year's challenge. It looked like fun and there were wonderful stories that were written for it, but it was nothing I felt up to joining except to leave a few reviews for some of the authors. Baby steps...

Losgar was the stamp for Day 2 of the Passport Challenge. I
really loved the look of this stamp, but all of them were wonderful.

In 2011 the Passport was the focus and I was pulled into writing within the first five days. I loved the passport, loved the pictures, loved the entire idea. I wanted those stamps in my virtual pages and wrote for each day. By the end of the month I had a fully stamped passport - so pretty. It was early in my Lizard Council days and I posted each story there for crit. I learned a lot during those 31 days of writing, both in terms of style and what to look for in crit. It was a learning experience that I was thrilled with - a baptism by fire with people I respected giving me assistance and opinions that helped my writing skills. I look back on those days and am very happy that I was pulled into writing, something I had thought I would never do for the public eye.

It was a lot of work, but I got this 3rd place and a 4th place Bingo banner.

The 2012 B2ME was BINGO. Participants chose to play Bingo cards that centered on areas of their interest and that would provide random daily prompts in response to a single Bingo number pulled at random. There were a lot of cards to choose from. I think I ended up with eight cards - really too many. Some days I only got one or two prompts, others I had as many as six Bingo spaces that were covered by the day's call-out. It was a lot of work. But through the pressure I wrote - and wrote - and wrote. And I ended up loving what I produced and was very proud of some of the stories I wrote and researched. I know I still used Lizard Council's aid for some of the stories, and also had some feedback from people I knew from the Council about points that they saw as inaccurate. Whenever the comments merited, I changed things. I don't know everything and rely on others to help. Thank the Powers that they are kind enough to do so. Their help only strengthens my work and I am always grateful for the input. It was a crazy writing time, though. I ended up writing more than 60 individual pieces for the month - way too much work, but fun.

This is one of the new banners - so very pretty!

That brings me to this year's B2ME - The Scavenger Hunt. Possible scenarios for this year's B2ME had been put to a vote. I didn't vote for this format, I voted for alphabetical prompts, but I don't mind a Scavenger Hunt, it's pretty easy to do with electronic books and the various indexes available. The quotations that started us out were alphabetically arranged, and I enjoyed that and chose one to work with. Each day the moderators provide us with three additional quotations to help inspire new tales or new plot twists. It's actually a good format. But I'm afraid I'm less than inspired. I am working on a single story, bringing back a character that I love and if any of the supplementary prompts make it into the tale, I'm not sure it will be intentional. I am finding it hard to write around quotations. But, maybe after I finish CB's artwork which is higher on my to-do list I'll feel differently. At least I am working on one larger story and therefore I am still an active participant. That's what's important. Now to go out and shovel the 6 inches of snow that fell overnight *sigh*.... BTW - the new microwave works really well.

Real Life Gets in the Way

Sunday was supposed to be the day when I sat down, finished inking CB's illustrations and started the color work. Supposed to be is the operative word here since Real Life got in my way. On Saturday night DH and I settled down to watch a few more episodes of Game of Thrones 2nd season on DVD. About midway through we decided to have popcorn and DH went down to do that. Shortly afterward he was walking up the stairs to ask me if the microwave was supposed to make strange noises and look like flames. Flames?!? I immediately went down and he showed me. Well, it might not have been actual flames, but it was not what was supposed to be happening either. We unplugged the microwave from the wall, declared it dead, and ate cupcakes instead.  But that set up our Sunday errands.

This is what we ended up buying. Pretty, isn't it?

We have to have a microwave; it is our primary appliance in the kitchen. Most things in my kitchen are cooked either on the cooktop or in the microwave. We had been planning to go and buy some eyeglasses for DH (desperately needed - his eyes are really bad) so we added "buy a new microwave" to the list. I spent a bit of time searching Amazon and comparing prices and ratings to our local store, Warner's Stellion Appliances. Stellion's actually came in at the same price or even less for almost any model I looked at, so I decided we would go there for our new oven. After a lovely omelette breakfast we put the old microwave into the car and headed out.

I have a cooktop, not a range, but I would love a top-mounted microwave oven.

I've wanted a microwave for over the cooktop for several years now and we could fit it into the cabinetry,  but we would need an electrician to wire a plug and a circuit for it before we could put one there, and that is an expense, etc, that we didn't want this time around. So we ended up with another countertop model. The last oven lasted almost exactly 13 years (purchased on Feb 24, 2000) and I have hopes that this one will be equally long-lived. At least it's pretty, is the right size, and looks like something that DH can figure out how to use. All plusses - oh, and also less than $200 - a big plus for the budget.

After trading out my old oven for the new one at the appliance store's warehouse, we went to LensCrafters to order some glasses for DH.  He wanted two pair - one pair for bifocals and one just for distance. They were doing their 50% off lenses sale, which did help, but we were still looking at more than $700 for the two pairs. Ouch!

DH's new glasses will be similar to this style.

The glasses aren't cutting edge, but they are nice frames, similar to the picture above, and the lenses are some new type of plastic that will decrease the weight of his lenses which are always quite thick. We should be getting them by mid-March and then DH will have to force himself to wear them every day for several weeks to adjust to them. It'll be a struggle, but if he can adjust to the new prescription and to bifocals in general, his vision will be much better. The lenses have a 90-day guarantee so he can have them remade if he needs to as long as he's given it the tryout that he should.