Back In Touch

I've really done nothing all weekend, but I feel out of touch. I'm here, I'm fine. I think I'm adjusting to the new medication. I feel very tired, as if I could just lie down all the time, but once I'm up and doing things, I feel fine. The absence of a sinus infection is wonderful.

I didn't even get to Target this weekend (!), but I did have to do a little driving around of R, because she had car trouble Friday night when she was bringing K home after a party they'd been to, so she left the car with our mechanic and borrowed K's car to get home and brought it back yesterday, after which I took her home. She's really only 20 minutes away with no traffic, so that was fine. If her car's ready tomorrow, which it should be, she'll take the train here after work, and I'll only have to pick her up in downtown B-Town and bring her to pick up her car.

Okay, here's the iPhone thing. As for K, her contract is up and she's ready for a newe phone, so if this is what she wants, whatever. I, of course, am a different story, because I have a phone that works fine and that I have no plans to give up.

I am already a PDA user, which I make good use of in terms of my calendar, contacts, etc. I play certain games on it and use it to read books. The one thing my PDA does not do well is the Internet. I can connect if I can get onto a WiFi spot, although it won't connect to some secure networks even when I have the password. There are plenty of places -- DisneyWorld comes to mind -- that don't have Wi-Fi everywhere. And the web browser on the PDA is truly terrible.

That said, I am a lover of gadgets, as some people just are. I don't travel much, I don't wear expensive clothes, I don't even go to the movies more than once or twice a year. Gadgets are my thing, I guess. They are not my husband's thing, but let me tell you, if this was 20 years ago, his father would have been on line with me and K on Friday, because I share my love of gadgets with him. (Not to mention that if it was 20 years ago and my mother was on a manic swing, she would have been there with us, too, because she was very good at all things technology. She wouldn't have bought one, because she wasn't a manic spender, but she would have gotten a huge kick out of being part of the party.)

So for me, the iPhone replaces my Palm and adds in the Internet access. Why wait on line on opening day? Ah. That's another whole question. We weren't doing anything else so we figured what the hell, maybe we'll get them. If not, as it turned out, not. We'll find them later in the week, or next week. The whole waiting on line thing was kind of like the Harry Potter midnight release. Seemed like something to do at the time.


WATCHING FAMILY GUY :: ENTRY #1804
SUMMER BOOK #3: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

iPhone? Anybody Got an iPhone?

What a long, strange day it's been, but still, on the crazy scale: 2 out of 10, so not bad. Even though weird shit happened today.

K was determined to get an iPhone today. Got on line at the AT&T store at 6:30 in the A.M., and yet did not score one. She got home around 11:00, disappointed, but not discouraged. I had been to physical therapy in the meantime, that went well, and I had no other plans for the day.

We took a ride to see if we could find the school she's been assigned to for student teaching, which was a piece of cake. Got some lunch, came home, both took naps, and she asked if I had any interest in going to an Apple Store, not the one close to home but not that far, one that she doesn't know how to get to.

Got there at 3:00, our part of the line moved into the store at 5:15. Let me tell you, they were mighty nice there, distributing cold water bottles and donuts to the people waiting on line, and giving updates about what was available. By this point, I was gonna get me one; I earned it by putting in my line time! Anyway, by 5:45, we could see that we were not getting out of there before 7:30 or 8:00, and R is picking K up to go to a party at 8:15, which first requires showering, hair drying, etc. So we left. And I have since read that the best we could have done tonight was get the phones but not get them activated, because that whole system is down.

Oh, come on. You knew I'd cave on the iPhone. It was only a matter of time. And still, I'm not in a hurry. K wants hers tomorrow, but I can wait a week if I have to.

My biggie of the day was a nasty speeding ticket I got this morning. You know, I was driving along, thinking "Wow, it's really great to feel good for two days in a row" and then I heard the sirens. Ah well. An extremely polite an professional young police officer, who made it clear that the state was making them crack down -- which I knew -- and that even though he has the radar proof, I should really really go to traffic court and plead not guilty. I'm guessing that will reduce the fine ($200!!!) and the points on my license (5!!!!!) So I have to call on Monday and work that out. Five points is a lot, and will not affect my insurance in any pleasant way, which just went up anyway, a little, because of K's accident, not to mention her new car. And we have the highest insurance rates in the country, you know.

Ah well.


WATCHING TWO AND A HALF MEN :: ENTRY #1803
SUMMER BOOK #3: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Turning Into a Strange Day

I would have to say that as of yesterday, I had no plans for today. I would go to the cleaners in the morning, and then maybe investigate the options of getting something installed in the car so I could play the iPod directly through the radio (not by transmitting it; that doesn't work well.) And get my laundry done.

Change #1: K has been having trouble with her cable box and made a service appointment for today between 11 and 2. She has a class from 8 to 12. So I was on the hook for at least part of that time.

Change #2: R was thinking of canceling plans to go to Long Island -- don't ask -- and I was going to go shopping with her in the afternoon for kitty things. Sounded good.

Change #3: The Sibs bought one of those flat TVs, but they can't get it connected to the DVD player. Would I come over and do that?

So let's see. I went to the cleaners, and while there got a call on my cell phone: R feels better, is going to Long Island, and K's class is already over (9.00) and she's on her way home.

Home. Went out on an errand but swore to return by 11 because K does not like to be alone in the house with service people. I asked what she did when she lived in the apartment in DC and she said she and her roommate were equally freaked by that, and were always there together when it came up.

!2.30. Still waiting for the cable guy. (I should put that on a tee shirt.) K is napping on the couch. I was napping in my chair until the phone rang, twenty minutes ago.

I do have to be here for the cable guy, because if he needs to get to the wire that comes from the utility pole to K's room, Houston, we have a problem. When they put the vinyl siding on the house six years ago, they buried the cable under it. Let's hope it doesn't come to that, but I may have to give permission for them to run a new cable and punch a new hole in the house. We'll see.

When that's done, K and I are going to visit the grandcat, since she's otherwise alone all day and is just a baby. After that, it's off to the Sibs, where I hope I still know how to do that kind of thing.

I did find out that there are kits to add iPod capability to a car, because I quickly perused Best Buy when I was out this morning. They weren't expensive, either, but may not be compatible with my car. I'd like to go the BB closer to home and find out and make an installation appointment, but I think that is not to be today. They're closed tomorrow (it's Sunday, no open stores here), I have a faculty meeting Monday after school, and Tuesday after school a nail appointment and then Back to School Night. Wednesday, perhaps, although I wanted to get it done Thursday or Friday, when I have no school for the Jewish holiday.

Strange day. I have so much to do, and now I'm just sitting here, waiting for the cable guy, with some awful show on that K put on and fell asleep. My next move is for the remote.

P.S. People who want email need to send me their email addresses, if you know what I mean. Send it to oldewoman at gmail.com, 'kay?

WATCHING some awful show :: ENTRY #1576

Radio Sweetheart

[copied from dland]

Ever since my beloved oldies station changed format one Friday afternoon at 4:00 without warning and became a "Jack" station -- all I know is that it's not oldies -- I have been forlorn. All of the radio station buttons in my car are programmed for light music, or classic rock, or something, but nothing is right.

Now of course, it is just such a situation for which I have an iPod. But the iPod is not quite right for me in the car most of the time either. For one, most of my trips are very short; I only work four minutes away from home. It's not worth it to plug in the iPod when I get in the car and unplug it and take it with me when I get out. Also, since my car's cassette player broke, I play the iPod through the radio using an FM transmitter, and some of the places I go, there's interference from another station, so then it doesn't work.

I was lamenting this situation earlier today when the girls and I went to -- where else -- Target, and they suggested that I make a playlist on the iPod and burn it to a CD. Hmmm.

For one strange reason or another, mostly because I didn't have the sense to buy my car with a CD player built into the radio, I have a 6-disc CD changer under the passenger seat and wired into the radio (because that's all I could get when I decided I wanted a CD player after I had the car a couple of years.) So I could burn six discs, and leave them in there all the time, like my own private radio station.

Coool.

So I made a new playlist when I got home, combining three or four of my favorite playlists and deleting the duplicates and the really long songs and other things that I didn't want there, and so on. And this playlist has 553 songs, and will play, according to iTunes, for one day, eight hours, 27 minutes, and 38 seconds.

Hmm. I don't know if I've actually got that much time. Y'know?

So far, I've burned 11 discs. #12 is burning, and #13 is on deck. I had to go out to CVS to pick up some blank CDs, which to tell you the truth, were on sale for a stupid low price. I needed to pick up hearing aid batteries anyway.

I mean, I had to burn the whole thing, right? It would have taken me longer to figure out what to get rid of than to just do it. I'll have six discs in the changer, and when I've gone through all of them, I'll put in the next six. This ought to hold me for a really long time, I think. (Actually, for 32 hours, 27 minutes, and 38 seconds. Figure an 8 minute commute every day, and that's .... oh, I don't know; I'll be retiring in three years or so. Probably till then.)

It is an excellent playlist, btw, the ultimate happy boomer playlist. Lots of Simon and Garfunkel, Creedence, the Moody Blues, America, the Eagles, Springsteen, Chicago, Fleetwood Mac. And clearly, a cast of thousands.

I'm psyched.

The weather is not so nice today, mostly cloudy and much colder, very windy. Winter is returning this week, despite yesterday's temperature in the high 50s. My headache persists, four days now, but my eyes are still good. It's a trade-off, or, as my beloved Odd Couple would say, it's the razor's edge. (You do know that the Odd Couple is the best comedy that was ever on TV, right? Just so we're clear.)

Okay, I'm going out to put the first six discs in the car because my case won't hold all of them unless I do. And ... ew. Boo poo, right next to my desk chair here. Which requires my immediate attention, I think.

WATCHING THE HISTORY CHANNEL :: ENTRY #1391

And You Are ... ?

[copied from dland]

The state of New Jersey wants to know who I am.

I got my driver's license renewal form in the mail today. We're a little behind in this state (due to the huge population, I would suppose), and this is actually the first time that I am required to renew my license in person. Up until now -- up until nearly three years ago, actually, just after my last renewal -- people over a certain age were not required to have photo licenses and could renew by mail. Over a certain age only meant all the people who had licenses before N.J. had photo licenses at all, which is about 15 years ago. Since then, I've been getting photo licenses, but I was never required to have one. It made renting a car in another state somewhat problematic, let me tell you.

Anyway, just after my last renewal, the state instituted this new license program whereby the licenses themselves are digital or something, and have all kinds of anti-copying watermarks and the like, but they also require real good proof of identity before they'll give you one. You've got to bring with you either a birth certificate -- I don't know how that proves an adult's identity -- or a passport or an expiring digital license (which no one has yet) or a military ID or the like. You also have to bring either your marriage license or proof of legal name change, or a school or government ID, or a combination of other things if you don't have those.

The Hubs and the girls have all renewed since the new licenses came out, so I'm prepared. I have a birth certificate and a passport, but apparently we were never given a copy of our marriage license. About a year or so, I called the town where we got married and had them issue me a copy, so I've got that. I don't have a social security card, I think; I memorized the number when I was 18 and haven't worried about the card since. Which is kind of funny, considering that I've got things and documents of all kind that go back generations. I also have to bring some kind of proof of residence, like a utility bill or a bank statement.

You know, I'd really love to say that this is all bullshit and it's not like terrorists are going to bomb New Jersey, but hey, we are a likely target, I suppose, at least some places are. (Elizabeth Seaport is the biggest seaport on the east coast, I believe.) I happened to catch a moment of the head of Homeland Security on TV last night saying that as far as they're concerned, the New York Metropolitan area includes North Jersey and we're all one location for them. Well, that tells me.

Thank you, boxx, for the picture of your feet! I'll show you mine after tomorrow's pedi!

I tried a free download from a website that sells a program that generates sound/music files to fall asleep to. The freebie was 15 minutes long, but the program lets you make them up to an hour long. I had trouble getting the file onto the iPod for some reason, but I worked around it, and I just took a nap with it, hearing aids and headphones on. All I can tell you is that I fell asleep, which is a good thing. (Even though when the track ended, it automatically played the next track, which was a random song, and it woke me up, but I fell right back to sleep.) So I may give the program a go. K says I can make a file or two for her, too, so I guess that makes it a bit more cost-effective.

Tonight, Chinese food. Tomorrow, Target!


WATCHING GILMORE GIRLS on DVD :: ENTRY #1341