First, if any readers are in the area hit by Hurricane Harvey - I am so sorry for you and the others hit by the storm. I live in the area hit by Hurricane Sandy - just out of the heavily damaged areas, but my mom was in the area where she had extensive water damage to our family home - and know how bad that was - and you are in a much worse situation. I hope that all are safe and well. It will take a long time, but life more normal will return.
In the old days when we went to hotels when we traveled - like normal people - we would take several short weekend trips during the year to the Lancaster, PA area and a longer vacation during which we went to Washington, DC for a weekend, then Charlottesville, VA, then someplace different each year (although the place might repeat every few years) and then to the various historic areas near Williamsburgh, VA, two days in Lancaster and then home. It was so much the same that we would take out the prior year’s schedule and change the date - change the few days that varied and book the same hotels. We had it worked out that we stayed in each area when the hotel price was the cheapest - DC on the weekend, Lancaster midweek, etc.
Since the bedbugs and the switch to our tiny RV this has changed. We go away for shorter times, fewer times during the year. Our trip is also much more weather based - why go to some place outside if it will rain and we will not be able to go. We have also changed what used to be weekend trips to Lancaster to midweek trips - it is easier to get last minute reservations at campgrounds and we avoid weekend tourists plus on Sundays most activities and restaurants are closed, so when we went there Friday to Monday - one day there was little to do.
So this year we have only traveled for multiple days once - just before July 4th weekend. The weather has been wrong or something has been happening to cause us not to go away. We have taken a couple of one day trips as a result of this. So we were all ready for a nice week to 10 day trip like we used to take (although back then generally 2 and a half weeks).
We were going back to the Williamsburg, VA area, a place that as lovers of our country’s early history find so many places to go and learn something new each time. Then the trouble in Charlottesville occurred and we decided that we were uncomfortable traveling down there as we were concerned about similar problems arising there among the American Revolutionary and Civil War battle fields and historic sites.
So we were looking elsewhere - meaning Pennsylvania - for a longer trip. Two separate people - in totally unrelated circumstances - told us to go to a textile museum in PA. I took this as a sign that we were intended to go there this summer. We started planning a 5 day trip which would involve our normal Lancaster places plus this museum and a couple of other places.
We were to leave this past Monday and stay through Saturday. Then we found out about our dentist retiring and I have to get my new upper dental plate done before he does. I got a telephone call last Friday that they needed an extra appointment - Tuesday (yesterday). So the trip was postponed and shortened to today (Wednesday through Friday). The museum is out.
Have you ever tried to make arrangements for and around a trip when you don’t know when the trip will be? Oh boy - that takes odd organizing!
So last Thursday I paid and mailed out last Friday all of the bills due until next Monday and transferred money into our checking account for cash for the trip and if any additional bills popped up.
I normally would email out the monthly newsletter of my embroidery chapter tonight. I sent it out a day early so I would not have to do it while away - easier to do it from my desktop computer.
I have a check list that I print out each time we go on a trip. It lists all the things we need to do for the trip by category. I cross out anything that does not apply to a trip and then cross out each thing as I do it. Whatever needs to be done at the last minute is circled and also listed on the side of the paper and crossed off when done.
I normally will do laundry the night of two days before we go on a trip - so the next day (the day before we leave) we can put the clothes and we need in the RV for the trip. I also normally pack snacks that we bring and assorted other needed items. If the bed in the RV is not made up - I make it up. In this case since we had not been away a full week and the next planned trip had been for maybe 3 days, I left the bed made up and covered it over.
I was not really able to do any of the normal things to get ready. In the pouring rain yesterday we did fill the water tanks. If stuck we can fill them at the RV park, but it is easier to fill them at home. I did the laundry last night - filled the laundry bag we use to bring our clothes to the RV (who needs luggage - laundry bag in, put clothes on hanging shelves in “closet”. Use laundry bag for dirty laundry and carry it back into the house in same.
Last night I used a table in the dining room to line up what needed to go out today. Laundry bag of clothes. Cloth tote bag with stuff that goes in the “car” part of the RV - spare eyeglasses, coupons etc. Cloth tote bag with general items to go into the RV - spare paper cups, paper towels, etc. Two cloth tote bags with food related stuff. One, which is the only one with a blue handle, had the stuff for the refrigerator. Soda, juice (in case of a Diabetes low), home bottled water (the water gets rather warm sitting in the tanks on a hot day and such. The last tote bag had the non-refrigerator snacks. Although, since the fridge bag is the heaviest (by far), I did put the 2 liter bottle of soda in the other food bag. All of the snacks which are not in the fridge travel in plastic boxes which seal close to prevent animals smelling the food and getting in to visit. Laptops/tablet were charged overnight and on the kitchen table to go. Spare shoes were in plastic shopping bags to go out. EZPass for tolls was put on the windshield. Bag of last minute stuff to Ready to go!
The weather still seemed to be holding as nice, so this morning I called the RV park and was able to get a reservation for 2 nights - tonight and tomorrow night - for the space next to the one we usually get - so now we know about another spot level enough for us to use.
So we took about 4 trips of stuff out to the RV this morning - I had figured out where to store the various packed bags so that other than the fridge stuff, it did not have to be unpacked until we were in the RV tonight. I have told husband that we could do this and now we have.
So we are finally on a short trip again this summer. So far, so good.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Being able to plan for something that is fluid takes a bit more work, but it can be done. If you do something on a regular or semi-regular basis - make up a checklist and keep it in your computer and print it out each time - and use it. It makes rushing through getting ready so much easier.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Thursday, August 24, 2017
MAKING CHANGES TO GET MYSELF GOING AGAIN
I admit it. Just because something is written in my task list does not mean it gets done. Sound familiar? I have my house cleaning scheduled for Wednesday. In the old days before husband was home all the time and my schedule went topsy turvy this worked. On days without appointments I would wake up around 9:30 am normally or 10:00 am on a lazy day. I would work in my home office most mornings until around 1:30 or 2:00 pm and then I would go out for the days errands. Most days this would be a quick run to the post office - send out any mail and pick up mail at our post office box. Then lunch at home (except Fridays - my day out alone) and then back to work in the office. On Wednesdays however, I would do my housework. When during the day I did it, depended on which Wednesday it was. I also start the laundry Wednesday night - right now while I am writing to you the second wash load is in and the first dry load.
I have different chores to do on different Wednesdays. On the first Wednesday of the month I have my embroidery chapter meeting in the morning, so I have a lot of normal stuff to catch up on during the day of daily things, so I keep it light. I am suppose to dust upstairs and clean the floors. We have only three rooms with carpeting - our office, the Teddy Bear’s room (aka the just about never used guest room), and our craft studio. The rest of the house is easy cleaning - either 1950's hardwood floors or some sort of vinyl flooring. I used to do this in the afternoon after I came home from my meeting and while husband was at work. It includes dusting the computers and related in the home office. Well, now when I get in there husband is working at his computer. He does not find it funny when I try to clean around him. So this is no longer such an easy thing to do.
On the second Wednesday of the month I am suppose to clean the floors and dust downstairs as well as clean the downstairs tiny bathroom. I used to do this when I returned from the post office - long before he was home. If he is working at his computer this is not too bad to deal with in terms of dealing with him about it as he is not near where I am working. If he is weaving or otherwise working downstairs - I have to clean around him - and invariably he will need the bathroom immediately after I have cleaned it and it is still drying. Downstairs are not the hardest floors to clean - they are basically “swiffered” and the kitchen and bathroom floors washed. BUT the dining room often has items in transit which makes it hard to clean around them and the living room has some of the furniture out of place (the coffee table is wedged between two chairs to clear the middle of the room for example) and has husband’s warp table and loom in the middle of the room which also makes it hard to get around and clean.
On the third Wednesday of the month I am suppose to again dust and clean the floors upstairs, as well as cleaning the bathroom upstairs - only slightly larger than the downstairs tiny one. This used to be a “do in the morning” job, but no longer. Now, again, I have to work around husband in the office - and like downstairs - if I clean the bathroom, he will immediately show up and need to use it.
On the fourth Wednesday of the month I again do downstairs - dusting and floors and clean the kitchen - same problems as the second Wednesday.
If there is a fifth Wednesday I would find some special project that needed doing.
Well, now the days are later days then before. In addition I have a new project on Wednesday nights when I should be getting the cleaning done - writing my post for all of you. Now, I am suppose to do this on Tuesday night, but never get to it.
SO, I have decided that as of September I will move my cleaning to Tuesday nights. I will see how this goes in terms of actually cleaning. It won’t help with husband, but it might work on Tuesday to get me up and doing it.
Late this afternoon I found my desk clear of things to do and an hour before I had to go make dinner. Too late to make a phone call to our local real estate tax assessor’s office - which I have been calling for a couple of weeks and actually get a message telling me that no one is available to take my call - call back another time. One more try and I call my county legislator. What to do?
Ah, now that the Teddy Bear Christmas village was packed away and the boxes moved to the dining room (see what I mean about it being a holding area) to go to the basement, and what needed to be stored in the trunk the village sits on, I could put away the line of bears and Cabbage Patch Kids waiting to see Santa. First I had to take the bears sitting on the bed in the Teddy Bear’s room and put them on the trunk in the hall - where they are suppose to be. Then the crew that goes on the bed went there. Wow, one could actually walk into the room again. I then started poking around to see what else I could deal with. I pulled out the empty boxes that were floating around in there and put them in the hall - husband is going to store assorted papers he has collected on movies in the boxes, which will free up the shelves they were on for books - which we need space for. But that is his to do. I then went through some bags and boxes in the Teddy’s room to see what I could get rid of - I found in the closet there when I cleaned it out for husband to use for storage an entire carton of Teddy Bear items packed away when the house was treated for bed bugs - in 2009 - which have never been put back in place. Not enough time to go through it , but a quick look showed I did still want most of what was in it. Perhaps I will get a matching box to use for my storage in that closet. Well, now at least I can get in and out of the room and I can get to the bear figurines I put out in the living room by month again - right now March is still out!
Why am I suddenly trying to get things done and get back on schedule? I think it is the dish drying rack. Since the dishwasher broke, I would wash the dishes and put them in same to dry. It was large. It was out of sight. I would then take out what I needed each time we were eating, add whatever else I needed that was not in the dishwasher and put that all in to dry. So basically nothing was put away unless it became too overcrowded in the dishwasher or it was a holiday and I knew I would need extra space. Now after each meal the dishes (and of course etc. is included in dishes) are washed and piled in the rack. When next we eat I take out what we need as I go along. Then before I wash again - everything else is put away. Not easy - some items had no place to go, such as spare pudding size cups which I use for storage of extra half can of soup, extra frozen tomato sauce, etc. - but I have found homes for them. Generally the glass we each use for the day end up never being stored away as it is used meal to meal and sometimes between. I am not sure that this putting away of the dishes has not gotten me motivated to clean, declutter, and organize more again.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes a small change can inspire you to do more. Go with it. I use anything I can to help me get the inspiration to make the house cleaner and more organized.
I have different chores to do on different Wednesdays. On the first Wednesday of the month I have my embroidery chapter meeting in the morning, so I have a lot of normal stuff to catch up on during the day of daily things, so I keep it light. I am suppose to dust upstairs and clean the floors. We have only three rooms with carpeting - our office, the Teddy Bear’s room (aka the just about never used guest room), and our craft studio. The rest of the house is easy cleaning - either 1950's hardwood floors or some sort of vinyl flooring. I used to do this in the afternoon after I came home from my meeting and while husband was at work. It includes dusting the computers and related in the home office. Well, now when I get in there husband is working at his computer. He does not find it funny when I try to clean around him. So this is no longer such an easy thing to do.
On the second Wednesday of the month I am suppose to clean the floors and dust downstairs as well as clean the downstairs tiny bathroom. I used to do this when I returned from the post office - long before he was home. If he is working at his computer this is not too bad to deal with in terms of dealing with him about it as he is not near where I am working. If he is weaving or otherwise working downstairs - I have to clean around him - and invariably he will need the bathroom immediately after I have cleaned it and it is still drying. Downstairs are not the hardest floors to clean - they are basically “swiffered” and the kitchen and bathroom floors washed. BUT the dining room often has items in transit which makes it hard to clean around them and the living room has some of the furniture out of place (the coffee table is wedged between two chairs to clear the middle of the room for example) and has husband’s warp table and loom in the middle of the room which also makes it hard to get around and clean.
On the third Wednesday of the month I am suppose to again dust and clean the floors upstairs, as well as cleaning the bathroom upstairs - only slightly larger than the downstairs tiny one. This used to be a “do in the morning” job, but no longer. Now, again, I have to work around husband in the office - and like downstairs - if I clean the bathroom, he will immediately show up and need to use it.
On the fourth Wednesday of the month I again do downstairs - dusting and floors and clean the kitchen - same problems as the second Wednesday.
If there is a fifth Wednesday I would find some special project that needed doing.
Well, now the days are later days then before. In addition I have a new project on Wednesday nights when I should be getting the cleaning done - writing my post for all of you. Now, I am suppose to do this on Tuesday night, but never get to it.
SO, I have decided that as of September I will move my cleaning to Tuesday nights. I will see how this goes in terms of actually cleaning. It won’t help with husband, but it might work on Tuesday to get me up and doing it.
Late this afternoon I found my desk clear of things to do and an hour before I had to go make dinner. Too late to make a phone call to our local real estate tax assessor’s office - which I have been calling for a couple of weeks and actually get a message telling me that no one is available to take my call - call back another time. One more try and I call my county legislator. What to do?
Ah, now that the Teddy Bear Christmas village was packed away and the boxes moved to the dining room (see what I mean about it being a holding area) to go to the basement, and what needed to be stored in the trunk the village sits on, I could put away the line of bears and Cabbage Patch Kids waiting to see Santa. First I had to take the bears sitting on the bed in the Teddy Bear’s room and put them on the trunk in the hall - where they are suppose to be. Then the crew that goes on the bed went there. Wow, one could actually walk into the room again. I then started poking around to see what else I could deal with. I pulled out the empty boxes that were floating around in there and put them in the hall - husband is going to store assorted papers he has collected on movies in the boxes, which will free up the shelves they were on for books - which we need space for. But that is his to do. I then went through some bags and boxes in the Teddy’s room to see what I could get rid of - I found in the closet there when I cleaned it out for husband to use for storage an entire carton of Teddy Bear items packed away when the house was treated for bed bugs - in 2009 - which have never been put back in place. Not enough time to go through it , but a quick look showed I did still want most of what was in it. Perhaps I will get a matching box to use for my storage in that closet. Well, now at least I can get in and out of the room and I can get to the bear figurines I put out in the living room by month again - right now March is still out!
Why am I suddenly trying to get things done and get back on schedule? I think it is the dish drying rack. Since the dishwasher broke, I would wash the dishes and put them in same to dry. It was large. It was out of sight. I would then take out what I needed each time we were eating, add whatever else I needed that was not in the dishwasher and put that all in to dry. So basically nothing was put away unless it became too overcrowded in the dishwasher or it was a holiday and I knew I would need extra space. Now after each meal the dishes (and of course etc. is included in dishes) are washed and piled in the rack. When next we eat I take out what we need as I go along. Then before I wash again - everything else is put away. Not easy - some items had no place to go, such as spare pudding size cups which I use for storage of extra half can of soup, extra frozen tomato sauce, etc. - but I have found homes for them. Generally the glass we each use for the day end up never being stored away as it is used meal to meal and sometimes between. I am not sure that this putting away of the dishes has not gotten me motivated to clean, declutter, and organize more again.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes a small change can inspire you to do more. Go with it. I use anything I can to help me get the inspiration to make the house cleaner and more organized.
Thursday, August 17, 2017
FINALLY FINISHED THINGS - AND ADDITION TO LAST WEEK'S POST
I have to add something to last week’s post. In addition to all of the traditional school supplies, there is another organizing item which is featured and on sale these days as school supplies. Stores are carrying plastic drawer units for those going away to college. Many of these are nice sized 3 drawer chests - inexpensive and even stackable (or at least they stack them for sale in the stores). From personal experience I know that one has to be careful not to fill them with heavy items, but if you need an inexpensive chest of drawers for your organizing, now is a good time to buy one.
I am in an embroidery group - I have probably mentioned this before. I do most of its computer work - the monthly newsletter and the annual yearbook (list of upcoming year’s programs and info about the group) included. The yearbook used to be very fancy - with ads from local craft stores and such - but as the group got smaller, the yearbook got simpler. Husband redesigned it for a for us a few years ago, and then I would update the information each year. I also took over the newsletter. When most of the members had email addresses, it became an email, with printed copies of it mailed to those without email addresses. Now all have email addresses.
It was suggested towards the end of our last year (year is September to June) that need a fancier newsletter, one attached to the email, instead of just an email. I had been thinking so also and did up a prototype for the board meeting. The other 3 board members liked what I did and few suggestions for change were made. After the others left, the president suggested we redo the yearbook also - I had not been prepared for that. She had a number of changes.
Since the board meeting at the end of June, in and around everything else I have had to do, I have been working on the revised yearbook - it should have been in the mail late July, early August. She and I have emailed each other and talked on the phone. I have sent her pages of it in assorted fonts. Finally it was all worked out and I finished it - yesterday. This is to be printed up and mailed out - by me. Today we went to Staples. (Yes, I am giving the name of where all that follows happened. In the past we used OfficeMax, but just before last year’s was printed, the local OfficeMax stores closed - OfficeDepot closed here - twice - years ago.) I had a cover page to be printed on a color paper and 5 additional pages, which are double sided, to be printed, black print, no color. When we used to OfficeMax, the employees were nice and helpful - what color would you like, how is this one, etc. Today the employee did not even bother to show me the color pages when I asked for green for the color. The most done was did I want dark green, no, I want pastel green. Then she asked when we wanted it. I asked if we could wait - as we did at OfficeMax and did last year at Staples. Sure - but then the price was extra $20 or so. I asked when there would no extra fee - pickup tomorrow. So, okay, we will shlep back tomorrow and take more time doing all this. We went home.
When we arrived at home and went to our computers to work (perhaps 15, 20 minutes at most) husband found two emails from Staples - we had not given them an email address, not been told or asked for emails and did not want any - one was a copy of the charges for the order, the other was telling us - that the order was done and we could pick it up at any time! So basically, I got immediate service at no extra cost, but now I was home and would have to go back to get it! We did not waste time going back and will go back tomorrow while we are out to pick it up and it will be mailed on Friday. I was more annoyed with them. We were finishing dinner and the telephone rang. The answering machine answered (always on here to save time dealing with the spam calls - which almost all of calls are). It was someone from, yes, Staples. I picked it up. I was told that the order was ready and I had not picked it up. I told him that I was told it would be ready tomorrow. He was upset that I was not coming and I was told that I could still come for 20 minutes and pick it up. I told him that he must be kidding and we would come tomorrow. And the price on the charges for the order is 9 cents more a page than I paid at OfficeMax - even more for the color pages.
So we are wasting time on a trip back, when the order was done immediately, I wasted time with the phone call, and we wasted paper printing out the emails - as they say that they are required to pick up the order - something I can’t believe!
In addition to all the work put into the yearbook, I have been working on redoing the newsletter. Today it is just about finished. Husband helped me get the old header from years ago when it was a mailed newsletter, into the newly designed email one. I emailed it to myself to see what happens and all I need is the president’s column and any info from board members - I send them an email 2 weeks before the meeting and the newsletter goes out a week before the meeting.
So I have managed to actually get work done! Yippee. I also managed to finish the embroidery course I was working on from the group. Now husband has to finish it for me.
I managed yesterday, to finish the yearbook with enough time left before dinner to go through a folder of old papers - the sort of papers one tears out or otherwise keeps to do something about - this craft store sounds interesting, the card from this restaurant sounds like it would save us money, I need to write a letter about this, etc. Most was tossed. A few were kept. My todo folder actually fits into the stacking letter tray that it belongs in. (I have a stack of these on my desk - one each for us, our business, my accounting practice, our reenactment unit, my embroidery group, my todo folder, my “waiting to hear folder” and “club membership lists”, and one for items to be filed. There is also a top one which has standing holders for papers, envelopes, empty folders and such.
So all in all I feel, finally, as if I have completed things. Yet, so much more to do. As I sit here writing, I am waiting for my cell phone timer to ring, so I will know to change the laundry loads - wet to dryer, new one in the washer. Without the cell phone timer, I would forget and the first load would not make it to the dryer until bedtime at least.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
When something seems like it is too big a project - take a section of it and start. Just as page by page I finished rewriting the yearbook and the newsletter, you will eventually see the project done - perhaps with time left to do something else small.
I am in an embroidery group - I have probably mentioned this before. I do most of its computer work - the monthly newsletter and the annual yearbook (list of upcoming year’s programs and info about the group) included. The yearbook used to be very fancy - with ads from local craft stores and such - but as the group got smaller, the yearbook got simpler. Husband redesigned it for a for us a few years ago, and then I would update the information each year. I also took over the newsletter. When most of the members had email addresses, it became an email, with printed copies of it mailed to those without email addresses. Now all have email addresses.
It was suggested towards the end of our last year (year is September to June) that need a fancier newsletter, one attached to the email, instead of just an email. I had been thinking so also and did up a prototype for the board meeting. The other 3 board members liked what I did and few suggestions for change were made. After the others left, the president suggested we redo the yearbook also - I had not been prepared for that. She had a number of changes.
Since the board meeting at the end of June, in and around everything else I have had to do, I have been working on the revised yearbook - it should have been in the mail late July, early August. She and I have emailed each other and talked on the phone. I have sent her pages of it in assorted fonts. Finally it was all worked out and I finished it - yesterday. This is to be printed up and mailed out - by me. Today we went to Staples. (Yes, I am giving the name of where all that follows happened. In the past we used OfficeMax, but just before last year’s was printed, the local OfficeMax stores closed - OfficeDepot closed here - twice - years ago.) I had a cover page to be printed on a color paper and 5 additional pages, which are double sided, to be printed, black print, no color. When we used to OfficeMax, the employees were nice and helpful - what color would you like, how is this one, etc. Today the employee did not even bother to show me the color pages when I asked for green for the color. The most done was did I want dark green, no, I want pastel green. Then she asked when we wanted it. I asked if we could wait - as we did at OfficeMax and did last year at Staples. Sure - but then the price was extra $20 or so. I asked when there would no extra fee - pickup tomorrow. So, okay, we will shlep back tomorrow and take more time doing all this. We went home.
When we arrived at home and went to our computers to work (perhaps 15, 20 minutes at most) husband found two emails from Staples - we had not given them an email address, not been told or asked for emails and did not want any - one was a copy of the charges for the order, the other was telling us - that the order was done and we could pick it up at any time! So basically, I got immediate service at no extra cost, but now I was home and would have to go back to get it! We did not waste time going back and will go back tomorrow while we are out to pick it up and it will be mailed on Friday. I was more annoyed with them. We were finishing dinner and the telephone rang. The answering machine answered (always on here to save time dealing with the spam calls - which almost all of calls are). It was someone from, yes, Staples. I picked it up. I was told that the order was ready and I had not picked it up. I told him that I was told it would be ready tomorrow. He was upset that I was not coming and I was told that I could still come for 20 minutes and pick it up. I told him that he must be kidding and we would come tomorrow. And the price on the charges for the order is 9 cents more a page than I paid at OfficeMax - even more for the color pages.
So we are wasting time on a trip back, when the order was done immediately, I wasted time with the phone call, and we wasted paper printing out the emails - as they say that they are required to pick up the order - something I can’t believe!
In addition to all the work put into the yearbook, I have been working on redoing the newsletter. Today it is just about finished. Husband helped me get the old header from years ago when it was a mailed newsletter, into the newly designed email one. I emailed it to myself to see what happens and all I need is the president’s column and any info from board members - I send them an email 2 weeks before the meeting and the newsletter goes out a week before the meeting.
So I have managed to actually get work done! Yippee. I also managed to finish the embroidery course I was working on from the group. Now husband has to finish it for me.
I managed yesterday, to finish the yearbook with enough time left before dinner to go through a folder of old papers - the sort of papers one tears out or otherwise keeps to do something about - this craft store sounds interesting, the card from this restaurant sounds like it would save us money, I need to write a letter about this, etc. Most was tossed. A few were kept. My todo folder actually fits into the stacking letter tray that it belongs in. (I have a stack of these on my desk - one each for us, our business, my accounting practice, our reenactment unit, my embroidery group, my todo folder, my “waiting to hear folder” and “club membership lists”, and one for items to be filed. There is also a top one which has standing holders for papers, envelopes, empty folders and such.
So all in all I feel, finally, as if I have completed things. Yet, so much more to do. As I sit here writing, I am waiting for my cell phone timer to ring, so I will know to change the laundry loads - wet to dryer, new one in the washer. Without the cell phone timer, I would forget and the first load would not make it to the dryer until bedtime at least.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
When something seems like it is too big a project - take a section of it and start. Just as page by page I finished rewriting the yearbook and the newsletter, you will eventually see the project done - perhaps with time left to do something else small.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
SCHOOL AND OFFICE SUPPLIES
This week back to a bit more normal organizing - instead of our weird adventures.
First of all, we bought and I have been using a new dish rack instead of using the dead dishwasher as a rack. It is actually smaller than my old rack and I have trouble fitting in the dishes and pots from dinner and must store them away before I wash the items from night snack - well, at least it makes me put everything away.
Now -school supplies. I think I have mentioned before my love of office supplies - as a child I played with my dad’s supplies in his office and I am always looking at them for ideas of what to do with them. I was also a strange child who actually loved going to school and the new supplies for the year were exciting.
You are thinking - I don’t need school supplies, so I will skip this post - don’t! You may need school supplies and not realize it. I know our purpose is to get rid of stuff - not buy stuff, but sometimes school/office supplies can help us organize.
We are in school supply season (at least in the U.S.) and the stores are all competing for business so there are very good prices on the supplies. A wonderful time to stock up on needed supplies.
Our reenacting unit had to move out of our headquarters for a good part of a year. When we move back our modern space in the back was disorganized and simple supplies lacking. When school supply season rolled around I bought a package of pens, one of pencils, a clip board that opened for storage, a large pad of lined paper (now we were set to pass around a paper each meeting for attendance, as well as additional ones for lists of who is coming to which event), scissors, tape, glue, ruler, marker pen, small box to keep it all in and a second box in another color to put sewing supplies in (they had been in a small open basket before in a file cabinet). Now we are set for whatever we need - a sign for the door saying “use the front door” or “keep this door closed” no problem, someone needs to take minutes as the secretary is not there - plenty of paper and pens, and so on.
So think about it. Do you journal your organizing efforts in a notebook? If you think you will need a notebook before next year, now is a great time to get it cheaper. If you can never find a pen or pencil - a package is cheap to buy now - put pens and/or pencils around the house where you always need them and can’t find them. Scissors also inexpensive. If you sew and fly and have a problem with pointed scissors when flying - I bought Fiskars blunt tip scissors (even have a cover for the tip) which are nice and sharp for cutting, but blunt ended to take on planes (or in my case to jury duty) - best price of the year right now on them. Folders for filing what you sort - even in colors. Pocket folders for papers you need to bring places. (I have one for my papers to take to our reenactment unit meetings and one in a different color for same for my embroidery chapter meetings.) Small plastic boxes for storage. Backpacks. Great time to stock up.
But now, remember, don’t buy more than you will need - this time will come again next year. Also it is important to set a place for the spares to be kept so that you can find them when you need them.
We had a small month calendar on our fridge for TV shows. Husband made it on the printer and sealed it in plastic sheets. He has been using it as a “white board”. It is hard to fit the info in the small squares and the ink is hard to get off of it. I saw in with the school supplies a larger wall calendar which is a white board. It said that it was magnetic - which I took to mean it would stick to the fridge. No, it meant that one could put magnets on it. Husband was intrigued by the idea and we bought one to see if we could put it on the fridge. We did so. There are 5 weeks on it - we set the first week as 8:00 pm, the next as 8:30, next 9:00, next 9:30 and the last 10 pm (rarely half hour shows at 10 or 10:30 pm). Since the shows no longer run a full season, we list what is on and we would like to see. Petty idea I know. But what could you use a large calendar which can be erased for? It is actually made to hang on a wall with included hangers so don’t think it has to go on the fridge. (We glued washers to the back and then put heavy duty magnets on same - but even then we needed to put a string around the sawteeth it was suppose to hang from and then around two magnet hooks on the fridge.)
That reminds me of another great office supply - but it probably is not on sale. We have a labeling machine. It prints small plastic labels. Labeling is good and helps one to find things easier. In our case it from Brother, but there are several companies which make them. Husband printed the times for each set of boxes small and put it on a tiny thin magnet and put it on the board to make it easier to see what time something is on. But since labeling things is a great way to keep track of what there is and which box, can, etc. is which - these labels are wonderful. They even come off of many surfaces cleanly. I label the various stick flash drives I use for data with them. I put them on DVDs/CDs to know what is on the disk. If it is a reuseable disk, when I delete it to reuse, I take the old label off. My husband (since the time of floppy disks, through zip disks to stick flash drives) does not label his. He “knows” which is which - the green one over there is “X”, the red one over there is “Y” and so on. Generally he has no idea which is which and has to sit and stick each one in his computer until he finds the one he is looking for - if he does. Boxes of craft supplies when labeled are easy to find the supply one is looking for - ribbons, buttons, pompoms? Easy to find when the box says what it is in it.
Of course, for cardboard boxes - marking pens work great for labeling also.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Supplies to make organizing easier are good to have - but don’t go crazy buying “more stuff”, buy what will be of help to YOU. Make sure you have a place to keep what you buy so that you will be able to find it as it is needed.
First of all, we bought and I have been using a new dish rack instead of using the dead dishwasher as a rack. It is actually smaller than my old rack and I have trouble fitting in the dishes and pots from dinner and must store them away before I wash the items from night snack - well, at least it makes me put everything away.
Now -school supplies. I think I have mentioned before my love of office supplies - as a child I played with my dad’s supplies in his office and I am always looking at them for ideas of what to do with them. I was also a strange child who actually loved going to school and the new supplies for the year were exciting.
You are thinking - I don’t need school supplies, so I will skip this post - don’t! You may need school supplies and not realize it. I know our purpose is to get rid of stuff - not buy stuff, but sometimes school/office supplies can help us organize.
We are in school supply season (at least in the U.S.) and the stores are all competing for business so there are very good prices on the supplies. A wonderful time to stock up on needed supplies.
Our reenacting unit had to move out of our headquarters for a good part of a year. When we move back our modern space in the back was disorganized and simple supplies lacking. When school supply season rolled around I bought a package of pens, one of pencils, a clip board that opened for storage, a large pad of lined paper (now we were set to pass around a paper each meeting for attendance, as well as additional ones for lists of who is coming to which event), scissors, tape, glue, ruler, marker pen, small box to keep it all in and a second box in another color to put sewing supplies in (they had been in a small open basket before in a file cabinet). Now we are set for whatever we need - a sign for the door saying “use the front door” or “keep this door closed” no problem, someone needs to take minutes as the secretary is not there - plenty of paper and pens, and so on.
So think about it. Do you journal your organizing efforts in a notebook? If you think you will need a notebook before next year, now is a great time to get it cheaper. If you can never find a pen or pencil - a package is cheap to buy now - put pens and/or pencils around the house where you always need them and can’t find them. Scissors also inexpensive. If you sew and fly and have a problem with pointed scissors when flying - I bought Fiskars blunt tip scissors (even have a cover for the tip) which are nice and sharp for cutting, but blunt ended to take on planes (or in my case to jury duty) - best price of the year right now on them. Folders for filing what you sort - even in colors. Pocket folders for papers you need to bring places. (I have one for my papers to take to our reenactment unit meetings and one in a different color for same for my embroidery chapter meetings.) Small plastic boxes for storage. Backpacks. Great time to stock up.
But now, remember, don’t buy more than you will need - this time will come again next year. Also it is important to set a place for the spares to be kept so that you can find them when you need them.
We had a small month calendar on our fridge for TV shows. Husband made it on the printer and sealed it in plastic sheets. He has been using it as a “white board”. It is hard to fit the info in the small squares and the ink is hard to get off of it. I saw in with the school supplies a larger wall calendar which is a white board. It said that it was magnetic - which I took to mean it would stick to the fridge. No, it meant that one could put magnets on it. Husband was intrigued by the idea and we bought one to see if we could put it on the fridge. We did so. There are 5 weeks on it - we set the first week as 8:00 pm, the next as 8:30, next 9:00, next 9:30 and the last 10 pm (rarely half hour shows at 10 or 10:30 pm). Since the shows no longer run a full season, we list what is on and we would like to see. Petty idea I know. But what could you use a large calendar which can be erased for? It is actually made to hang on a wall with included hangers so don’t think it has to go on the fridge. (We glued washers to the back and then put heavy duty magnets on same - but even then we needed to put a string around the sawteeth it was suppose to hang from and then around two magnet hooks on the fridge.)
That reminds me of another great office supply - but it probably is not on sale. We have a labeling machine. It prints small plastic labels. Labeling is good and helps one to find things easier. In our case it from Brother, but there are several companies which make them. Husband printed the times for each set of boxes small and put it on a tiny thin magnet and put it on the board to make it easier to see what time something is on. But since labeling things is a great way to keep track of what there is and which box, can, etc. is which - these labels are wonderful. They even come off of many surfaces cleanly. I label the various stick flash drives I use for data with them. I put them on DVDs/CDs to know what is on the disk. If it is a reuseable disk, when I delete it to reuse, I take the old label off. My husband (since the time of floppy disks, through zip disks to stick flash drives) does not label his. He “knows” which is which - the green one over there is “X”, the red one over there is “Y” and so on. Generally he has no idea which is which and has to sit and stick each one in his computer until he finds the one he is looking for - if he does. Boxes of craft supplies when labeled are easy to find the supply one is looking for - ribbons, buttons, pompoms? Easy to find when the box says what it is in it.
Of course, for cardboard boxes - marking pens work great for labeling also.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Supplies to make organizing easier are good to have - but don’t go crazy buying “more stuff”, buy what will be of help to YOU. Make sure you have a place to keep what you buy so that you will be able to find it as it is needed.
Thursday, August 3, 2017
TREADING WATER
Last Saturday we actually got away for the day - despite prior weather reports of heavy rain Friday and Saturday. (We did not go Friday due to the heavy rain, but it cleared up for Saturday. Nice day for an outdoor event. It was a reenacting market - we didn’t buy anything, but it is always nice to look. The fair was near Allentown, PA and then we drove down to Lancaster for dinner and then home.
This week I looked forward to a quite week. Nothing other than ordinary household chores to do. Start of month is always quiet for bills and such. Then heck broke loose.
On Monday, we found out a friend’s mom died. Wake was yesterday and today. Funeral tomorrow. We went to the wake today, and I thought we should go to the funeral, but we cannot.
Due to trips and when money is coming in to our bank for bills from third parties, we have been off our normal banking schedule. I have to be careful as we can only make 6 transfers/withdrawal a month from savings. (I keep the money in savings for the small amount of interest it earns and normally transfer to checking on Friday what is needed for the coming week.) In addition husband has some IRA CDs coming due on Friday and we need to rearrange how long money will be in new CDs. So Monday we went to the bank. The idea was that we would tell them what to do with the CDs when they come due (something I have done at our main bank - they take the information and put it into their “tickeler” file and take care of it on the day it needs to be done), as well as make a deposit for our reenactment unit and activate my ATM card for same - I am the treasurer. We made the deposit. The ATM machine was down. After a 40 minute wait we found out that they cannot take the info at the branch in advance for the CDs. We then went to the bank my embroidery chapter has its accounts at, and made a deposit for them. Afternoon gone.
Tuesday we went to our regular bank to transfer money as money came in from sources then - had to pay the real estate taxes - they went out in the mail same day as did a couple of smaller bills.
Husband has had tooth that has been loose for awhile and he has been waiting for it to fall out on its own. It reached the point where it still will not come out. It moves too much. It hurts. His dental partial plate is shifting with the tooth and hurting his gum. So Tuesday morning I called the dentist - no appointments until Thursday (closed Wednesday) so he has been miserable and we will be going to the dentist tomorrow. So we won’t be going to friend’s mom’s funeral. We may need to go a second dentist as our regular one does not do extractions and if the tooth does not come out when he takes the impression, it has to come out - we hate to spend the money on same when the tooth is so loose. We have been having a lot of soft food this week. He only wanted a “little bit of spaghetti when I made for me”. Somehow I managed to make twice as much as normal instead of only 3/4 as much! We have cold spaghetti in the refrigerator to use as needed.
President of my embroidery chapter wants to meet - at my house - to go over changes to two items I am writing for the chapter. We don’t let anyone in the house since the bedbugs and I am trying to find when and where we can meet. I explained about the horrors of what is going on this week and suggested that if she has her copy of the original examples and her notes and I have my copy of the original examples - can we do it on the phone? So after we come back from the dentist I have to call her with my copies out and see what she wants done - presuming I can do it.
Then Friday we have to go back to the bank and deal with the IRA CDs. The bank has a tiny parking lot and we try not to go there on Fridays when it is busy, but have no choice.
How did a week so empty fill up so fast and so completely?
I have been changing some things in the house. After we had mice a few years ago husband did not want me drying dishes in the rack on the counter. When the dishwasher died, I started drying the dishes in same. We plan to buy a new dishwasher, but it is expensive, the one I liked (which was rated so poorly we decided not to buy it) along with the concept of washing dishes automatically for 2 hours instead of washing them by hand in the same 15 minutes it takes to load the dishwasher, seems a waste of electricity. So I have been washing the dishes (and pots and such) by hand since then. Husband is not happy as I have to clean the dishwasher periodically as water is dripping in it. (He would love for me to buy a dishwasher as he figures some day I will be sick and he will have to wash the dishes.) The dish rack I used to use is very icky. I like it as it does not use a mat under it - the dripped water goes right back into the sink. I saw a new version in Costco last week and we had a discussion that it was okay to dry the dishes in the rack again as a result. I soaked and washed my rack - it is still icky - just not as much. Sunday when we go to Costco (cheap lunch and somewhere different to walk around for awhile) we will buy the new rack and see if it fits.
I am trying to put back extraneous items in the dishwasher. I tend not to unload it. I take out what I need, use it, wash it, and put it back. Some items not used regularly have ended up in it and not been put away. In anticipation of the new rack, I am trying to get all the extra items put away.
I have redone where food items are stored in our kitchen closet pantry. It is now easier to deal with some items, but it is a bit odd. When I open a box of pasta, for example, I put the pasta in a jar. I realized that the jars would fit on the shelf I keep my cans on - and I have less cans than I used to (mostly soup, mushrooms, and canned tomatoes) and moved the jars up to that shelf. Great, except I keep the spaghetti (I break it in half when I open the box before putting in the jar) is in a slightly taller jar (it has a wider neck, which is why it is different) so it has remained where it was. It all fits in better.
I am also still copying and pasting the contact listings from my computer Organizer software into the new cell phone. I really need to get it done. In addition to not having the Chinese takeout number last week when we were on the road, when I went to call the dentist, I did not have his number in it easier. I turned on one of my old phones and copied the number by hand into the new phone - the rest of the listing will follow.
Hopefully I will finish up this week even on time and things to do, so I will start next week with no remaining things from this week. Once the publications from my embroidery chapter are fixed, I will have one printed and mail them out. That should not take long - an afternoon and evening at most. The other will be emailed out a week before our September meeting.
How is YOUR summer going? How is YOUR organizing going? I’d love to hear from you.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes one just has to “go with the flow”. A quiet week became overcrowded and there is nothing which can be done about it. It is what it is.
This week I looked forward to a quite week. Nothing other than ordinary household chores to do. Start of month is always quiet for bills and such. Then heck broke loose.
On Monday, we found out a friend’s mom died. Wake was yesterday and today. Funeral tomorrow. We went to the wake today, and I thought we should go to the funeral, but we cannot.
Due to trips and when money is coming in to our bank for bills from third parties, we have been off our normal banking schedule. I have to be careful as we can only make 6 transfers/withdrawal a month from savings. (I keep the money in savings for the small amount of interest it earns and normally transfer to checking on Friday what is needed for the coming week.) In addition husband has some IRA CDs coming due on Friday and we need to rearrange how long money will be in new CDs. So Monday we went to the bank. The idea was that we would tell them what to do with the CDs when they come due (something I have done at our main bank - they take the information and put it into their “tickeler” file and take care of it on the day it needs to be done), as well as make a deposit for our reenactment unit and activate my ATM card for same - I am the treasurer. We made the deposit. The ATM machine was down. After a 40 minute wait we found out that they cannot take the info at the branch in advance for the CDs. We then went to the bank my embroidery chapter has its accounts at, and made a deposit for them. Afternoon gone.
Tuesday we went to our regular bank to transfer money as money came in from sources then - had to pay the real estate taxes - they went out in the mail same day as did a couple of smaller bills.
Husband has had tooth that has been loose for awhile and he has been waiting for it to fall out on its own. It reached the point where it still will not come out. It moves too much. It hurts. His dental partial plate is shifting with the tooth and hurting his gum. So Tuesday morning I called the dentist - no appointments until Thursday (closed Wednesday) so he has been miserable and we will be going to the dentist tomorrow. So we won’t be going to friend’s mom’s funeral. We may need to go a second dentist as our regular one does not do extractions and if the tooth does not come out when he takes the impression, it has to come out - we hate to spend the money on same when the tooth is so loose. We have been having a lot of soft food this week. He only wanted a “little bit of spaghetti when I made for me”. Somehow I managed to make twice as much as normal instead of only 3/4 as much! We have cold spaghetti in the refrigerator to use as needed.
President of my embroidery chapter wants to meet - at my house - to go over changes to two items I am writing for the chapter. We don’t let anyone in the house since the bedbugs and I am trying to find when and where we can meet. I explained about the horrors of what is going on this week and suggested that if she has her copy of the original examples and her notes and I have my copy of the original examples - can we do it on the phone? So after we come back from the dentist I have to call her with my copies out and see what she wants done - presuming I can do it.
Then Friday we have to go back to the bank and deal with the IRA CDs. The bank has a tiny parking lot and we try not to go there on Fridays when it is busy, but have no choice.
How did a week so empty fill up so fast and so completely?
I have been changing some things in the house. After we had mice a few years ago husband did not want me drying dishes in the rack on the counter. When the dishwasher died, I started drying the dishes in same. We plan to buy a new dishwasher, but it is expensive, the one I liked (which was rated so poorly we decided not to buy it) along with the concept of washing dishes automatically for 2 hours instead of washing them by hand in the same 15 minutes it takes to load the dishwasher, seems a waste of electricity. So I have been washing the dishes (and pots and such) by hand since then. Husband is not happy as I have to clean the dishwasher periodically as water is dripping in it. (He would love for me to buy a dishwasher as he figures some day I will be sick and he will have to wash the dishes.) The dish rack I used to use is very icky. I like it as it does not use a mat under it - the dripped water goes right back into the sink. I saw a new version in Costco last week and we had a discussion that it was okay to dry the dishes in the rack again as a result. I soaked and washed my rack - it is still icky - just not as much. Sunday when we go to Costco (cheap lunch and somewhere different to walk around for awhile) we will buy the new rack and see if it fits.
I am trying to put back extraneous items in the dishwasher. I tend not to unload it. I take out what I need, use it, wash it, and put it back. Some items not used regularly have ended up in it and not been put away. In anticipation of the new rack, I am trying to get all the extra items put away.
I have redone where food items are stored in our kitchen closet pantry. It is now easier to deal with some items, but it is a bit odd. When I open a box of pasta, for example, I put the pasta in a jar. I realized that the jars would fit on the shelf I keep my cans on - and I have less cans than I used to (mostly soup, mushrooms, and canned tomatoes) and moved the jars up to that shelf. Great, except I keep the spaghetti (I break it in half when I open the box before putting in the jar) is in a slightly taller jar (it has a wider neck, which is why it is different) so it has remained where it was. It all fits in better.
I am also still copying and pasting the contact listings from my computer Organizer software into the new cell phone. I really need to get it done. In addition to not having the Chinese takeout number last week when we were on the road, when I went to call the dentist, I did not have his number in it easier. I turned on one of my old phones and copied the number by hand into the new phone - the rest of the listing will follow.
Hopefully I will finish up this week even on time and things to do, so I will start next week with no remaining things from this week. Once the publications from my embroidery chapter are fixed, I will have one printed and mail them out. That should not take long - an afternoon and evening at most. The other will be emailed out a week before our September meeting.
How is YOUR summer going? How is YOUR organizing going? I’d love to hear from you.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes one just has to “go with the flow”. A quiet week became overcrowded and there is nothing which can be done about it. It is what it is.
Thursday, July 27, 2017
TREADING WATER - A 5 HOUR TRIP TO NOWHERE, AND TRYING TO CATCH UP
I find that my time is being diverted and I don’t have even the limited time I had before to get things done.
I have managed to get the contacts in my old cell phone transferred to my new one through H and part of I (plus of course the “must put in right away” ones I put in first). I have skipped some as I really don’t know if I should bother putting in information about people we have not had contact with in some years - I am not getting rid of them, but just not copying them forward into the new phone. After I finally deal with the transferring into the new phone, I will go back and compare what I did not transfer - just in case I change my mind about whether they are needed in the new phone - and I will make a new category in my computer Organizer “not transferred” and mark them as such so I will know which ones were never transferred forward. When I say “part of I” I was working on this laptop (the one husband thinks I really should get rid of) and the computer or my browser crashed mid entry for IRS - remember I am an accountant, this is a lot of phone numbers and other contact info for me, more than for most people, if they even have it as a contact. I am not sure if what I entered for it will be there when I go back or if I will have to start over on the IRS entry. (If you are outside the U.S. - IRS is Internal Revenue Service, our Federal government tax collection service.)
Remember last week we did not go to a quilt show and a fiber show out of state? I thought - yippee more time to catch up and work on my cell phone transfer. NO!
Husband had been looking forward to the trip - and was upset that we were not able to go. Thursday we had lunch in Wendys (something we do almost every day - or way too often) and I noticed him doing something on his cell phone. He looked at me and told me that he had checked on the drive to Freehold, NJ in “real time” on his GPS and instead of an hour and a half (which in theory it should be), it was only slightly longer - an hour and 45 minutes - we could go to Golden Corral for dinner.
Now, for those who have not heard of same, this is not a destination restaurant. It is a family buffet chain, the sort of place that if had one locally we would go to for dinner once a week. But we don’t have one locally. The nearest two are this one in New Jersey and one in Connecticut which is about the same time to get from here, but is new and needs to settle in and get better before we go there. We have eaten at the one in New Jersey several times when we are vaguely in the area of it - quilt shows, woodworking shows and embroidery exhibitions in New Jersey find us going there for dinner. We have also been to several other of their restaurants when traveling. Husband likes the chain much more than I do, but that it because he likes the assortment of food and I find it hard to find something I like.
I sighed, and said Okay. So, without our usual over planning before we go anywhere, we set off at 3 pm. We only lost about 15 minutes on the road to the bridge which we normally get stuck on. Not bad. When we leave the island we live on (which is such a large land mass that we forget it is a island unless we are going somewhere or there is a problem) we have to go over a large toll bridge to a different island (which is part of New York City) and then over another toll bridge to New Jersey (and the mainland of the U.S. - although we rarely think of the fact that we are doing that). No problem getting over the first bridge. Doing well!
The second island (Staten Island for those who know it) should take maybe 20 minutes to drive across. The traffic was so bad that we inched along. The ultra helpful GPS told us that there were delays (less time they actually ended up being), but this was still the best route, so I did not suggest getting off the Interstate to take any of the alternate ways I know to go. It took about an hour to get across and down the island. Now, since husband had not mentioned this until after we had lunch, I did not know to limit what I drank and had 2 sodas (free refills). I had used the ladies room at Wendys before we left and an hour and a half is not too long to wait - and there are numerous places along the road we were to go in New Jersey to make a stop - and since we would be at the restaurant too early - we would be looking to stop at some place or another- get gas for the car at a Costco we know, go to Walmart or a Hobby Lobby, etc. - so I was not concerned. However, by the time we were leaving Staten Island we had been driving for just over 2 hours and I was desperate. Then again, the time of arrival was only half an hour more and we could easily stop along the way. But looking at the huge red spots left on the map, I figured we had to stop - but where, there are no service areas. I remembered that when we come home on this road we have a seen a Wendys on the opposite side (the coming home side) of this road and estimated which exit we would have to get off the road to get to it. We get off the road and head to the other side of the road - husband misunderstand what I tell him, and am I do not see where to turn to get to the Wendys (it is along a one way service road and we have to go the opposite way) and he continues on the road he turned onto. There are only local houses and businesses - no place to stop and no place to turn around (and that is with our little car - good thing we were not in our RV). We manage to turn around and head back and I see a sign to turn for the Wendys. He drives there, we find it among the shops in the shopping center, I run in - ahhh - and run back out so we can continue. (This stop took another 10 minutes.)
Over the bridge into New Jersey and we drive a short bit and then get off onto the road we need to take south to the restaurant. We come to a dead stop. The main road (the Garden State Parkway) in the area, the second biggest north-south road in New Jersey, has had an accident and even though it has 2 roadways - local and express is so backup that the traffic has spilled over onto the road we need to take which sort of parallels the Parkway. The GPS time of arrival is still half an hour later than it is. By 7 pm (that is around 2 hours on this road) we have gone maybe 5 miles - we have not finished circling under the road we got off to get onto this road. Guess what - the GPS says the time of arrival is half an hour and the time keeps changing to remain half an hour later than it is. We are not even sure that we will get to the restaurant in time to be able to eat there. We are sitting in traffic which moves by (literal) inches. We have been on the road for four hours for an hour and a half trip. We have paid over $20 tolls, plus used a good deal of gas. We are not sure what to do.
When husband checked on his cell phone before we left, there were to be scattered thunderstorms after midnight. As we sit trying to decide what to do the weather report changes to dangerous thunderstorms will be where we are in the next hour and there have been 2 tornadoes (not common here) from the storm - we are sitting with no place for cover - other than the road we are finally circling under. The answer become obvious. We manage to work our way to the right and turn right to turn left (a peculiarity of New Jersey). We head back on a open road.
As we get close to home it is around 8 pm. (The hour it should have taken us to get to where we were instead of the 4 hours it took to get there.) I start thinking about what to do for dinner. It is too late to go to Ikea or the Asian buffet we go to. I have nothing defrosted for dinner. We could go to Wendys (again) for dinner - but really after all this? I decide that Chinese takeout is the best answer. We don’t take out from same often as husband cannot eat rice, but we do sometimes (we used to take out from this place a lot). After a quick discussion, I go to call them and give them our order as they close at 8:30 and we cannot walk in and order then, but if I call, they will have the order ready when we get there.
Uh oh! Since we don’t call them often they are not a high priority to transfer to the new phone. (In the old days when we got a phone which allowed phone numbers to be stored in it - I would put in our immediate families and this place, but it no longer is a priority.) I was about to panic and then remembered my phone has Internet. I looked them up and there was even a place to click to call them - but what if it is wrong place with the same name (there seemed to be several)? I was so relieved to hear the wife owner’s voice. I ordered and we had dinner that night.
So basically we killed an entire afternoon, the money paid for tolls, and the gas used, for a 5 and half hour ride that was mostly sitting still in traffic.
Since then I have managed to catch up on things a bit. I have been working on transferring contacts into the phone (as I said at the beginning).
I needed to write two things for my embroidery chapter that I never seem to get to. I put out a midsummer verison of our newsletter, which I am also in the middle of redoing for the fall in a new format. We will be working on a project at our September meeting and the members need to do some work before, so I had photos of what needs to be done in advance, information that our yearbook will be out soon, and an overview of our upcoming meeting year (September thorugh June). That went out on time today. We put out what is called our yearbook - it is an overview of the upcoming year’s meetings, list of officers, membership list, etc. When the group was larger it was a lot longer and fancier. My husband made up the version we have been using and updating information in, a few years ago. This year we decided to change it around a little. The chapter president and I went through it after the board meeting last month. I have to get it out to the members as they need to have it before the year starts - and we think we might get back a few members who are on the fence about renewing when they read it. So yesterday I sat and moved around and rewrote the changed areas and sent it to the chapter pres for review. I still have to write up this year’s meetings programs and update the membership list, but those are basically just information updates, not major changes. I am waiting for her to have a chance to look at what I sent and deal with some questions I sent with it about the changes made. I still have to also update our website with our new meeting schedule and then work on the September newsletter which will be the first one in the new format. (The newsletter is emailed to members, newsletter editors of our region and the region director and to some prospective members.)
Today I went to a client for actual work. Luckily all went well there and a problem I anticipated was already resolved. I anticipated a bad, long ride each way as the local commuter train line is running at around 80% of normal trains as work is done, unrelated to the tracks for the commuter line, at the train station it goes to in Manhattan. People have been advised to take alternate ways to go to Manhattan - including some ferries which were set up for this and expresses buses - also set up just to deal with this. (Much fewer people have used either of these methods than it was thought would.) They are also running trains to alternate stations - one in Brooklyn and one in Queens which have subway trains to Manhattan. One thing which concerned me was that the Queens station is adjacent to the subway stop I drive to, and I was concerned that there would be a lack of parking in the garage I use and the subway would be too crowded - luckily there was no problem parking and the subway was as always. I actually got home in considerably less time than usual.
When it came time to do the dishes tonight and then sit down and write this post, husband came down all excited - he had a sale on his Etsy site. So, I first had to go up and help him with the paperwork and getting the package to be sent. So instead of a fairly leisurely chance to write to all of you and then go and “chat” with some needlework friends online - I have been writing this post about an hour later than I planned and the friends may have to wait. There, now, don’t you feel important, writing my blog post, is more important than chatting with friends.
Hey, we may go Pennsylvania this week - Friday or Saturday - if one of the two days it is not raining - what are the chances?
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Well three of them I guess this week.
First - when the GPS says that one will be somewhere in an expected amount of time, but shows huge areas of red - don’t believe it - turn around and save that second bridge’s toll!
Second - there is only so much time in a day, week, etc. One can only fit in what can be done in that time. Don’t get sick - just decide what is the most important to get done and start with that.
Lastly, Always put the Chinese takeout place in the new phone right away. :-)
I have managed to get the contacts in my old cell phone transferred to my new one through H and part of I (plus of course the “must put in right away” ones I put in first). I have skipped some as I really don’t know if I should bother putting in information about people we have not had contact with in some years - I am not getting rid of them, but just not copying them forward into the new phone. After I finally deal with the transferring into the new phone, I will go back and compare what I did not transfer - just in case I change my mind about whether they are needed in the new phone - and I will make a new category in my computer Organizer “not transferred” and mark them as such so I will know which ones were never transferred forward. When I say “part of I” I was working on this laptop (the one husband thinks I really should get rid of) and the computer or my browser crashed mid entry for IRS - remember I am an accountant, this is a lot of phone numbers and other contact info for me, more than for most people, if they even have it as a contact. I am not sure if what I entered for it will be there when I go back or if I will have to start over on the IRS entry. (If you are outside the U.S. - IRS is Internal Revenue Service, our Federal government tax collection service.)
Remember last week we did not go to a quilt show and a fiber show out of state? I thought - yippee more time to catch up and work on my cell phone transfer. NO!
Husband had been looking forward to the trip - and was upset that we were not able to go. Thursday we had lunch in Wendys (something we do almost every day - or way too often) and I noticed him doing something on his cell phone. He looked at me and told me that he had checked on the drive to Freehold, NJ in “real time” on his GPS and instead of an hour and a half (which in theory it should be), it was only slightly longer - an hour and 45 minutes - we could go to Golden Corral for dinner.
Now, for those who have not heard of same, this is not a destination restaurant. It is a family buffet chain, the sort of place that if had one locally we would go to for dinner once a week. But we don’t have one locally. The nearest two are this one in New Jersey and one in Connecticut which is about the same time to get from here, but is new and needs to settle in and get better before we go there. We have eaten at the one in New Jersey several times when we are vaguely in the area of it - quilt shows, woodworking shows and embroidery exhibitions in New Jersey find us going there for dinner. We have also been to several other of their restaurants when traveling. Husband likes the chain much more than I do, but that it because he likes the assortment of food and I find it hard to find something I like.
I sighed, and said Okay. So, without our usual over planning before we go anywhere, we set off at 3 pm. We only lost about 15 minutes on the road to the bridge which we normally get stuck on. Not bad. When we leave the island we live on (which is such a large land mass that we forget it is a island unless we are going somewhere or there is a problem) we have to go over a large toll bridge to a different island (which is part of New York City) and then over another toll bridge to New Jersey (and the mainland of the U.S. - although we rarely think of the fact that we are doing that). No problem getting over the first bridge. Doing well!
The second island (Staten Island for those who know it) should take maybe 20 minutes to drive across. The traffic was so bad that we inched along. The ultra helpful GPS told us that there were delays (less time they actually ended up being), but this was still the best route, so I did not suggest getting off the Interstate to take any of the alternate ways I know to go. It took about an hour to get across and down the island. Now, since husband had not mentioned this until after we had lunch, I did not know to limit what I drank and had 2 sodas (free refills). I had used the ladies room at Wendys before we left and an hour and a half is not too long to wait - and there are numerous places along the road we were to go in New Jersey to make a stop - and since we would be at the restaurant too early - we would be looking to stop at some place or another- get gas for the car at a Costco we know, go to Walmart or a Hobby Lobby, etc. - so I was not concerned. However, by the time we were leaving Staten Island we had been driving for just over 2 hours and I was desperate. Then again, the time of arrival was only half an hour more and we could easily stop along the way. But looking at the huge red spots left on the map, I figured we had to stop - but where, there are no service areas. I remembered that when we come home on this road we have a seen a Wendys on the opposite side (the coming home side) of this road and estimated which exit we would have to get off the road to get to it. We get off the road and head to the other side of the road - husband misunderstand what I tell him, and am I do not see where to turn to get to the Wendys (it is along a one way service road and we have to go the opposite way) and he continues on the road he turned onto. There are only local houses and businesses - no place to stop and no place to turn around (and that is with our little car - good thing we were not in our RV). We manage to turn around and head back and I see a sign to turn for the Wendys. He drives there, we find it among the shops in the shopping center, I run in - ahhh - and run back out so we can continue. (This stop took another 10 minutes.)
Over the bridge into New Jersey and we drive a short bit and then get off onto the road we need to take south to the restaurant. We come to a dead stop. The main road (the Garden State Parkway) in the area, the second biggest north-south road in New Jersey, has had an accident and even though it has 2 roadways - local and express is so backup that the traffic has spilled over onto the road we need to take which sort of parallels the Parkway. The GPS time of arrival is still half an hour later than it is. By 7 pm (that is around 2 hours on this road) we have gone maybe 5 miles - we have not finished circling under the road we got off to get onto this road. Guess what - the GPS says the time of arrival is half an hour and the time keeps changing to remain half an hour later than it is. We are not even sure that we will get to the restaurant in time to be able to eat there. We are sitting in traffic which moves by (literal) inches. We have been on the road for four hours for an hour and a half trip. We have paid over $20 tolls, plus used a good deal of gas. We are not sure what to do.
When husband checked on his cell phone before we left, there were to be scattered thunderstorms after midnight. As we sit trying to decide what to do the weather report changes to dangerous thunderstorms will be where we are in the next hour and there have been 2 tornadoes (not common here) from the storm - we are sitting with no place for cover - other than the road we are finally circling under. The answer become obvious. We manage to work our way to the right and turn right to turn left (a peculiarity of New Jersey). We head back on a open road.
As we get close to home it is around 8 pm. (The hour it should have taken us to get to where we were instead of the 4 hours it took to get there.) I start thinking about what to do for dinner. It is too late to go to Ikea or the Asian buffet we go to. I have nothing defrosted for dinner. We could go to Wendys (again) for dinner - but really after all this? I decide that Chinese takeout is the best answer. We don’t take out from same often as husband cannot eat rice, but we do sometimes (we used to take out from this place a lot). After a quick discussion, I go to call them and give them our order as they close at 8:30 and we cannot walk in and order then, but if I call, they will have the order ready when we get there.
Uh oh! Since we don’t call them often they are not a high priority to transfer to the new phone. (In the old days when we got a phone which allowed phone numbers to be stored in it - I would put in our immediate families and this place, but it no longer is a priority.) I was about to panic and then remembered my phone has Internet. I looked them up and there was even a place to click to call them - but what if it is wrong place with the same name (there seemed to be several)? I was so relieved to hear the wife owner’s voice. I ordered and we had dinner that night.
So basically we killed an entire afternoon, the money paid for tolls, and the gas used, for a 5 and half hour ride that was mostly sitting still in traffic.
Since then I have managed to catch up on things a bit. I have been working on transferring contacts into the phone (as I said at the beginning).
I needed to write two things for my embroidery chapter that I never seem to get to. I put out a midsummer verison of our newsletter, which I am also in the middle of redoing for the fall in a new format. We will be working on a project at our September meeting and the members need to do some work before, so I had photos of what needs to be done in advance, information that our yearbook will be out soon, and an overview of our upcoming meeting year (September thorugh June). That went out on time today. We put out what is called our yearbook - it is an overview of the upcoming year’s meetings, list of officers, membership list, etc. When the group was larger it was a lot longer and fancier. My husband made up the version we have been using and updating information in, a few years ago. This year we decided to change it around a little. The chapter president and I went through it after the board meeting last month. I have to get it out to the members as they need to have it before the year starts - and we think we might get back a few members who are on the fence about renewing when they read it. So yesterday I sat and moved around and rewrote the changed areas and sent it to the chapter pres for review. I still have to write up this year’s meetings programs and update the membership list, but those are basically just information updates, not major changes. I am waiting for her to have a chance to look at what I sent and deal with some questions I sent with it about the changes made. I still have to also update our website with our new meeting schedule and then work on the September newsletter which will be the first one in the new format. (The newsletter is emailed to members, newsletter editors of our region and the region director and to some prospective members.)
Today I went to a client for actual work. Luckily all went well there and a problem I anticipated was already resolved. I anticipated a bad, long ride each way as the local commuter train line is running at around 80% of normal trains as work is done, unrelated to the tracks for the commuter line, at the train station it goes to in Manhattan. People have been advised to take alternate ways to go to Manhattan - including some ferries which were set up for this and expresses buses - also set up just to deal with this. (Much fewer people have used either of these methods than it was thought would.) They are also running trains to alternate stations - one in Brooklyn and one in Queens which have subway trains to Manhattan. One thing which concerned me was that the Queens station is adjacent to the subway stop I drive to, and I was concerned that there would be a lack of parking in the garage I use and the subway would be too crowded - luckily there was no problem parking and the subway was as always. I actually got home in considerably less time than usual.
When it came time to do the dishes tonight and then sit down and write this post, husband came down all excited - he had a sale on his Etsy site. So, I first had to go up and help him with the paperwork and getting the package to be sent. So instead of a fairly leisurely chance to write to all of you and then go and “chat” with some needlework friends online - I have been writing this post about an hour later than I planned and the friends may have to wait. There, now, don’t you feel important, writing my blog post, is more important than chatting with friends.
Hey, we may go Pennsylvania this week - Friday or Saturday - if one of the two days it is not raining - what are the chances?
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Well three of them I guess this week.
First - when the GPS says that one will be somewhere in an expected amount of time, but shows huge areas of red - don’t believe it - turn around and save that second bridge’s toll!
Second - there is only so much time in a day, week, etc. One can only fit in what can be done in that time. Don’t get sick - just decide what is the most important to get done and start with that.
Lastly, Always put the Chinese takeout place in the new phone right away. :-)
Thursday, July 20, 2017
ELECTRONICS CAN HELP YOU BE ORGANIZED OR PLUNGE YOU INTO HELL
Well, here I am. In our little RV on a little trip - going to a quilt show (quilting supplies and exhibitions of quilts) tomorrow and then on Friday go to a fiber show (wool and related items for sale) which we have never been to before.
Well, that’s where I am suppose to be, but I am not. While I use electronics - computer, cell phone, old cell phone as a PDA - to help keep me organized (even weekly reminders to write and post to this blog - along with every other day “make pudding” for snack, daily time to stop and “make dinner” and other reminders in addition to normal appointments to keep organized, sometimes something goes blooey and stops it all.
We were debating whether or not to go on this 3 day trip. It is nice to have something different as a diversion, but it is a lot of money (for us) in terms of tolls, RV park, and admission to the quilt show (fiber show is free) and dinner runs a bit more than dinner out normally does for us.
So, we were unsure what to do. We filled the RV tanks with water and decided to decide at the last minute. I packed up the snacks and related that we would need (including medications) and put them in the cloth supermarket shopping bags we use for same - one has blue handle - anything for the fridge goes in same, so I know to pull same and put it in the fridge in the RV right away when we start the trip. (Why blue handle? Well, 2 bags have beige handles and one has a blue handle so the blue handle is the odd “handle”out and easy to spot.) Clothing is taken out to the RV in laundry bags, so to toss same in the laundry bags and throw the clothing and non-refrigerator bags in the RV and unpack them when settled in is not a big a deal.
We were leaning towards going as of when we returned home from running errands yesterday. Then the electronics crashed.
Husband goes online - on his computer - when he gets up for the day and then we both go online - on our computers - after we go out and run our errands for the day. Yesterday he had no trouble in the morning. When we returned I tried to download my email accounts to see the new emails and I could not connect to the Internet. I tried going online - same thing. Husband came up and with the usual “really, you can’t connect to the Internet - what did you do wrong” attitude, tried to connect his computer to the Internet. No Internet.
We tried everything we knew - we rebooted the modem. The lights on same went on and off in an odd assortment and would then start again - searching for the Internet over and over. We tried reaching the wifi from our cable co. (While the cable co. insists this is impossible, we get their wifi in our house - according to them it only exists in the street - and when there is a black out that is how we get wifi for the laptops.) No luck. Finally we gave up and called the cable co - knowing exactly the conversation which would occur. We had the same conversation a week ago when our TV service went out. “Unplug the modem.” We did that already. “Do it again.” Then a discussion follows on our wiring and splitters. Our house was wired - by the cable co.’s private contractor - and I have to explain that our wiring is odd and splits on the outside of the house not inside the house. (Each room with cable has its own line coming into it from outside.) Finally - “We have to make an appointment for someone to come there.” We asked if exchanging the modem might help and it was agreed that we would do that. We remembered that we have two “drops” (we have 2 lines from the cable co.’s line into our house - each serves half the small house as they did not have enough signal coming through when the house was wired by them originally). We take the modem to a line coming in on the other drop and try it there - it does not work there either. This says to us that this is something beyond the wiring to our house. Logic would say that other people should be complaining, but in today’s world no one else on our street might have service through the cable co.
Husband who before was not sure if we should go away, now is disappointed. It is decided that we will get up early (well, early for us) and exchange the box and if this corrected the problem, we would then go on the trip.
Now we were each looking for something to do so that our time was not wasted. Husband started playing with a wifi dongle in his computer to see if he could use the wifi in the street. Problems with the dongle. He tried using his laptop - wifi from the street was very intermittent. I did various things I needed to catch up on - bank reconciliations and such - which did not need Internet access. Then again, every other thing I thought of doing needed the Internet. Remember I still need to get contact information into my new cell phone - what a great time to do it.... Oh, I need to be on the Internet to do that. And so on.
By the way, we would have been able to do much less if we used “the cloud” (aka a cloud server) as we would not be able to access data and possibly even software (apps) as we had no Internet access. Remember this if you are someone who is very gung ho about using the cloud - you could loss access to your data and/or software if you have no Internet access.
After dinner I figured I would use this laptop to check a few of my email accounts - family, reenacting unit, embroidery chapter, and accounting email accounts - the ones with possible important emails. I tried signing into the first account using the wifi from the street. In just connecting and seeing that there was no email in the account (and again in each successive one of the four accounts) it took 3 or 4 attempts to get into the account and open the email “in box”. No new emails. I gave up trying to do anything else on the Internet and played solitaire until it was time to have snack and go to bed.
Today we went to the cable co.’s “store” and exchanged the modem. Husband told the employee that last time we exchanged the modem, and got the one we are returning, when we were given the box it was not “registered” and it was several days and an employee visit to our house for several hours to find out that when the modem was given to us it was not registered to our account first. She told us that we have to register it when it starts and we should see the instructions on installing the modem and registering it on page 10 in the instructions. We took the modem package and the instruction package and went home.
The instructions turned out to be of no value as they were for a router not a modem. Of course, setting up the modem is not hard - plug it into the electric, plug in the incoming cable line, and plug in the outgoing Internet cable. It started right up - doing the same as it did before. Lights went on and off in the same pattern as last night on the old modem and then started over. Husband turned on his computer just in case it was waiting for him to do something. No connection.
I called the cable co again. The employee said that she would try to register it from her end. She could not as there was no return signal. We would need - a visit from a service tech. First appointment is Friday - No Internet from Tuesday night to Friday morning - if they can get it working then. Oh, and if the problem is in the house - in the cable wires which the cable company originally installed or in the modem, which we just exchanged or anything else in the house, there is an $80 fee.
The trip is of course, off at this point as we have to be here on Friday morning.
Now, we have noticed something odd about our cable company. We call up with a problem. We go through the hoops they want us to go through - which we have already done, not being stupid to try to resolve the problem without calling them. (By the way, while on hold there was actually a recording saying that if one is having a problem with their cable box remote - check that the batteries do not need changing. Really? People are too stupid to think of this on their own?) We are then told that we need to exchange equipment or have a service tech come to work at the house. We agree to exchange the equipment. Within a half hour later - by magic - the problem resolves itself. (We thought we would have Internet this morning based on this “magic”.)
So as we are sitting there upset at no Internet until Friday - don’t forget husband does counseling online so he is not able to work until this is resolved nor can we deal with orders which might come in for our handcrafted gifts business, husband notices that suddenly there is a window on his computer to register the new modem. We put in the information and voilà, we have Internet again! What happened? Did they send the service appointment in to the repair department and someone look and realize a switch was off? Magic? Why does this always happen?
Just to be on the safe side we are not calling and canceling the appointment for the service tech until tomorrow - a day before they are due to come, but a chance to make sure that the service does not disappear again.
It was too late by then to go on the trip, so here we are. I did have a chance to transfer all the contact information for my embroidery group to the new mobile phone, as well as get a start on transferring the remaining contacts which were not “critical” to transfer. Oh yeah, the cable company phone number had not been transferred yet - I had to find it in my old cell phone to call the cable co. - during the various calls, it was transferred in.
I guess you knew that we got our Internet back - didn’t you? How else could I have posted this?
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK-
If you must use “the cloud” have the information (data) you store in the cloud available to you on your computer, tablet etc. or in hard copy also. This way when you have no access to the Internet, you still have the information to work with.
Imagine if my checking and savings information only existed in the cloud and I had planned to write checks yesterday - I would not have known how much money I had to spend nor how much I could transfer to help cover checks. This could have been a major problem - especially if the service really had been out until Friday - no access to information in the cloud for 3 days!
(And never forget - the cloud is not mysterious - it is only someone else’s hard drive - why not keep your information on your own hard drive or a flash drive.)
Well, that’s where I am suppose to be, but I am not. While I use electronics - computer, cell phone, old cell phone as a PDA - to help keep me organized (even weekly reminders to write and post to this blog - along with every other day “make pudding” for snack, daily time to stop and “make dinner” and other reminders in addition to normal appointments to keep organized, sometimes something goes blooey and stops it all.
We were debating whether or not to go on this 3 day trip. It is nice to have something different as a diversion, but it is a lot of money (for us) in terms of tolls, RV park, and admission to the quilt show (fiber show is free) and dinner runs a bit more than dinner out normally does for us.
So, we were unsure what to do. We filled the RV tanks with water and decided to decide at the last minute. I packed up the snacks and related that we would need (including medications) and put them in the cloth supermarket shopping bags we use for same - one has blue handle - anything for the fridge goes in same, so I know to pull same and put it in the fridge in the RV right away when we start the trip. (Why blue handle? Well, 2 bags have beige handles and one has a blue handle so the blue handle is the odd “handle”out and easy to spot.) Clothing is taken out to the RV in laundry bags, so to toss same in the laundry bags and throw the clothing and non-refrigerator bags in the RV and unpack them when settled in is not a big a deal.
We were leaning towards going as of when we returned home from running errands yesterday. Then the electronics crashed.
Husband goes online - on his computer - when he gets up for the day and then we both go online - on our computers - after we go out and run our errands for the day. Yesterday he had no trouble in the morning. When we returned I tried to download my email accounts to see the new emails and I could not connect to the Internet. I tried going online - same thing. Husband came up and with the usual “really, you can’t connect to the Internet - what did you do wrong” attitude, tried to connect his computer to the Internet. No Internet.
We tried everything we knew - we rebooted the modem. The lights on same went on and off in an odd assortment and would then start again - searching for the Internet over and over. We tried reaching the wifi from our cable co. (While the cable co. insists this is impossible, we get their wifi in our house - according to them it only exists in the street - and when there is a black out that is how we get wifi for the laptops.) No luck. Finally we gave up and called the cable co - knowing exactly the conversation which would occur. We had the same conversation a week ago when our TV service went out. “Unplug the modem.” We did that already. “Do it again.” Then a discussion follows on our wiring and splitters. Our house was wired - by the cable co.’s private contractor - and I have to explain that our wiring is odd and splits on the outside of the house not inside the house. (Each room with cable has its own line coming into it from outside.) Finally - “We have to make an appointment for someone to come there.” We asked if exchanging the modem might help and it was agreed that we would do that. We remembered that we have two “drops” (we have 2 lines from the cable co.’s line into our house - each serves half the small house as they did not have enough signal coming through when the house was wired by them originally). We take the modem to a line coming in on the other drop and try it there - it does not work there either. This says to us that this is something beyond the wiring to our house. Logic would say that other people should be complaining, but in today’s world no one else on our street might have service through the cable co.
Husband who before was not sure if we should go away, now is disappointed. It is decided that we will get up early (well, early for us) and exchange the box and if this corrected the problem, we would then go on the trip.
Now we were each looking for something to do so that our time was not wasted. Husband started playing with a wifi dongle in his computer to see if he could use the wifi in the street. Problems with the dongle. He tried using his laptop - wifi from the street was very intermittent. I did various things I needed to catch up on - bank reconciliations and such - which did not need Internet access. Then again, every other thing I thought of doing needed the Internet. Remember I still need to get contact information into my new cell phone - what a great time to do it.... Oh, I need to be on the Internet to do that. And so on.
By the way, we would have been able to do much less if we used “the cloud” (aka a cloud server) as we would not be able to access data and possibly even software (apps) as we had no Internet access. Remember this if you are someone who is very gung ho about using the cloud - you could loss access to your data and/or software if you have no Internet access.
After dinner I figured I would use this laptop to check a few of my email accounts - family, reenacting unit, embroidery chapter, and accounting email accounts - the ones with possible important emails. I tried signing into the first account using the wifi from the street. In just connecting and seeing that there was no email in the account (and again in each successive one of the four accounts) it took 3 or 4 attempts to get into the account and open the email “in box”. No new emails. I gave up trying to do anything else on the Internet and played solitaire until it was time to have snack and go to bed.
Today we went to the cable co.’s “store” and exchanged the modem. Husband told the employee that last time we exchanged the modem, and got the one we are returning, when we were given the box it was not “registered” and it was several days and an employee visit to our house for several hours to find out that when the modem was given to us it was not registered to our account first. She told us that we have to register it when it starts and we should see the instructions on installing the modem and registering it on page 10 in the instructions. We took the modem package and the instruction package and went home.
The instructions turned out to be of no value as they were for a router not a modem. Of course, setting up the modem is not hard - plug it into the electric, plug in the incoming cable line, and plug in the outgoing Internet cable. It started right up - doing the same as it did before. Lights went on and off in the same pattern as last night on the old modem and then started over. Husband turned on his computer just in case it was waiting for him to do something. No connection.
I called the cable co again. The employee said that she would try to register it from her end. She could not as there was no return signal. We would need - a visit from a service tech. First appointment is Friday - No Internet from Tuesday night to Friday morning - if they can get it working then. Oh, and if the problem is in the house - in the cable wires which the cable company originally installed or in the modem, which we just exchanged or anything else in the house, there is an $80 fee.
The trip is of course, off at this point as we have to be here on Friday morning.
Now, we have noticed something odd about our cable company. We call up with a problem. We go through the hoops they want us to go through - which we have already done, not being stupid to try to resolve the problem without calling them. (By the way, while on hold there was actually a recording saying that if one is having a problem with their cable box remote - check that the batteries do not need changing. Really? People are too stupid to think of this on their own?) We are then told that we need to exchange equipment or have a service tech come to work at the house. We agree to exchange the equipment. Within a half hour later - by magic - the problem resolves itself. (We thought we would have Internet this morning based on this “magic”.)
So as we are sitting there upset at no Internet until Friday - don’t forget husband does counseling online so he is not able to work until this is resolved nor can we deal with orders which might come in for our handcrafted gifts business, husband notices that suddenly there is a window on his computer to register the new modem. We put in the information and voilà, we have Internet again! What happened? Did they send the service appointment in to the repair department and someone look and realize a switch was off? Magic? Why does this always happen?
Just to be on the safe side we are not calling and canceling the appointment for the service tech until tomorrow - a day before they are due to come, but a chance to make sure that the service does not disappear again.
It was too late by then to go on the trip, so here we are. I did have a chance to transfer all the contact information for my embroidery group to the new mobile phone, as well as get a start on transferring the remaining contacts which were not “critical” to transfer. Oh yeah, the cable company phone number had not been transferred yet - I had to find it in my old cell phone to call the cable co. - during the various calls, it was transferred in.
I guess you knew that we got our Internet back - didn’t you? How else could I have posted this?
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK-
If you must use “the cloud” have the information (data) you store in the cloud available to you on your computer, tablet etc. or in hard copy also. This way when you have no access to the Internet, you still have the information to work with.
Imagine if my checking and savings information only existed in the cloud and I had planned to write checks yesterday - I would not have known how much money I had to spend nor how much I could transfer to help cover checks. This could have been a major problem - especially if the service really had been out until Friday - no access to information in the cloud for 3 days!
(And never forget - the cloud is not mysterious - it is only someone else’s hard drive - why not keep your information on your own hard drive or a flash drive.)
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