DO YOU KEEP TRACK OF WHAT YOU DO?

Do you record what you do?

A number of organizing books I have read over the years suggest that one write down everything that one does. The idea is that you will see two things – how much you are getting accomplished and also how long various tasks take you to do.

Even before I started trying to get organized I kept an annual appointment book with short notations of work items completed (and appointments of course). As a matter of fact, the appointment book would be my annual Christmas gift from my husband (bought by me, of course) and in many years it would be only gift. (Suggestion if you use a paper appointment book, which is good for many things – if you have a black covered appointment book it can easily disappear from view in a stack of something or a mess. I used to have gray appointment books – still professional and more visible (my gloves are also gray for the same reason).

Sometime in the late 1990s I got a computer appointment book – I used it to keep track of what I did for work plus more and more personal items also. Unfortunately it did not work with Windows XP and when I got a computer that worked with same, I could no longer use it. Before I stopped using the old computer I printed out as pdf files all of the entries from that program so I still have the records from it available to me. The problem I had with the computer appointment book was that I could only use it on the computer – it could not be carried with me, so while using that program I also kept a paper appointment book to carry with me.

I had to find something else to use. I got a wonderful program called Lotus Organizer it was even better than what I had before. It had an appointment book, todo list (completed tasks remain on the date they are finished – most such software moves them to a list when completed – this way I can page through the book and see what was done), address/telephone book, and also allowed me to have memos. Even better, it sync with (among other devices) Palm Pilot. Husband had a Palm Pilot and gave it to me as he did not use it. Now what was in the program on my computer was also in my hand.

I started making more and more notes in the todo section as completed todos. Short notes on conversations with clients (or others) – where we went for meals – where we went on trips – what stores we went to with reason if there was one – and so on. I worked out a sort of shorthand to use to save time and computer/Palm memory. Husband was delighted as there is rarely anything I like.

We were offered new cell phones to renew and the hottest thing out was a smart phone – the Palm Centro and it was tiny – just over 4 by 2 inches. No wifi – it did not exist (or at least did not commonly exist) then, Internet was by cell phone service only, real buttons, no guessing where the buttons were and mistyping everything (as smart phones no longer have now) This was a major wow to me.

I refuse to give up the Lotus Organizer and so husband finds ways to allow me to keep using it. He has made virtual Windows XP machines in my Windows 7 desktop and my Windows 10 desktop (this one) so I can keep the Organizer on the computers. (I told you, he loves solving my problems as there is so little I want.) When I had to switch to Blackberry, he found that old Blackberry software would work with Organizer, mostly. The biggest problem – which I to solve myself – was when the Blackberry no longer worked as a telephone or Internet. I had to get - boo hoo, I was so upset – an Android phone. I basically “keep 2 sets of books” now. Certain things are on both the Android and the Centro, others are on one or the other. I use the Centro in the house and take it on trips, and make notes in the Android when I am out and copy them to the Organizer. Not ecstatic, but it works for me.

So what do I do with what I record in the Organizer?

I have more contact info in the Organizer/Palm than I do in the Android - I won't need my Congressman's info while out, so it is not in the Android.

I have my calendar in both setups.

I have some memos in the Palm/Organizer setup only such as list of where and when we have gone through automatic payment tolls so I can check against the bill. (Which is why I bring it on trips.)

Others are in both the memos in the Palm/Organizer setup and the Android. Included here are lists of embroidery/needlework books I have so I don't buy duplicates, specifications of items we have that we might find items to go with (sewing machine feet, post size for lathe and items needed to make reenacting clothing. Since we tend to go to the same places on trips, I also started a list of fast food and casual food restaurants along the roads we commonly travel on. We know what food they have and that we can find what we can eat, as well as that we can afford them. Passwords in a code that I understand. In the Android only I have my shopping list – for groceries as well as items we are looking for from other sources.

I also keep tasks (todos) both to be done and finished. This way if I do something I have a record of having done it. (No, I don't record when I go to the toilet or when I sleep.) I do keep track of phone calls/emails/in very rare cases texts made/sent or received, letters written, where we went – including for errands, chores around the house, and so on. If I need to contact a business that has not replied to me or done what it said it would do – I have a record of when I contacted them, who I spoke to and what was discussed – also of letters written. I have a record of when items were mailed out and to who (we go the Post office to check for mail in our box there and also send out any mail we have to go out).

I use codes when I do this.

T: is a telephone call, it will have who it was made to or received from quick what was talked about, the time it was made/received, and if it was an incoming call it will say “in” if I spoke to a computer “CP”, and if it was a return call to someone who called me “RC”. Details as needed - can be long or short – just “RC “or “chat” is just conversation.

E: is email – I use “AE” instead of “RC” for this and time is not recorded.

X: is something I just added and it means text – used for those texts which are other than from husband as our texts between us are basically “dinner is ready”, “where are you in the store”, “starting home from work” and similar. Other text messages – such as from my sister about my mom I want a record of what was said.

I also use letter for what the call, email, etc. is for – personal ones have no code, “A” is something done for accounting, “C” is for crafts business related, “U” is for our reenactment unit and so on for about 6 or 7 different things.

To make sense of this - T:A:Jones: appointment >3:30pm - means that I telephoned at 3:30 my accounting client, Mrs. Jones and made an appointment to go into her business to do her books. (The appointment is separately recorded in the calendar at the day and time I need to be there.)

Now you might say what the heck is the reason for all this? I can search for when I did something to check on when it was or what was discussed. I used the Organizer for this yesterday. I was about to pay a credit card bill and I thought that I had called the company and had the “rewards amount” applied to the bill so I could pay less by that amount, but I had no notes of the call on the bill. I searched in the Organizer and was reminded that I went to make the call the phone was not working. I immediately called up and had the credit put to the payment of the account. If I had just gone by memory I would have underpaid the (full) balance due and would have been hit by finance charges.

Another use is sometimes I get a credit card statement and there is a charge on it which I have no slip for. (Yes, happens to me too.) I can go back and see if I was at that store or restaurant that day. If I was, I have to presume the amount was okay, if not then I will contact the credit card company for proof of the purchase. (If I have no slip for, say, FG Asian buffet, and we ate dinner there – well, we owe the money.

Husband and I are getting older. We can end up in a “disagreement” about what and when something was done “No, we went to your mother's house on the 4^th so we did not do X that day and still have to do so.” Look it up and we either did go there on the 4^th or we did what needed to be done.

I also put into the tasks as repeating tasks, items I need to do daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, etc. and add reminders of them. This blog is two tasks a week – one is to write it on Tuesday nights and the other is to post it on Wednesday nights. Okay, I don't think I have ever actually written it on Tuesday – like Charlie Brown, I work best under pressure. I do have reminders the same way to write the newsletter for my embroidery chapter monthly, do the laundry, take out the garbage, take out the recycling, rotating over the month – clean the house, and so on, as well having the record of having done so.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

It helps to stay organized by keeping track in your cell phone of what you need to do and your appointments. You can have all the contacts you need in it also. And after you have done things you can keep a record of what you have done even if it was not listed in it to do.

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.


   

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. :-)

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.)

SO DISORGANIZED SO SUDDENLY

It is amazing how much one (or at least I) become dependant on electronics to keep one organized.  The changeover in my cell phone has consumed a lot of my time and is not yet finished.  In addition I have been losing touch with many things that needed to be done as my concentration is elsewhere - ie. the new phone.

I have been copying (and pasting) contacts into the new setup based on immediate/upcoming need.  That means - immediate family, doctors, and insurance companies went in first along with the presidents of the 2 clubs we belong to.  I am now in the midst of copying all the contact information for those in our reenactment unit as we have an event coming up this weekend.  I have at least two listings for members (well, family units of members as we have couples, families, singles and married people who belong, but their spouse/family does not) as we ask members for an emergency number as we had a member get injured at an event and we realized that if he had not been married, we would not known who to call to let them know.  We do have a cooking fire and the guys are firing flintlock guns plus a reproduction cannon so the possibility for injury exists.  I have made my way all the way through the “P’s” of the membership list plus some needed non-member contact information.  I hope to have all related to the unit in the new phone by the time we go to the event this weekend.

While away last week we found a plastic case for the back of the phone - only one vendor had any out of all of the stores and markets we have been to.  When we returned we ordered a glass protector for the front.  We are both rather nervous about putting it on.  The protector (actually two of them) arrived today.  It looks too small for the phone - which is odd as it seems to be the smallest android phone made.  Husband contacted the manufacturer who thinks it might be too big for the phone - huh?  When we were looking at phones and husband found this one - size is important and it was the smallest one he found with good reviews - I asked him “Is this a common enough phone that when we go to the farmers markets in Pennsylvania we will be able to easily get a back case and glass protector?”  He told me yes.  Apparently not.  We also picked up last week, at one of the markets, a generic cell phone case as the one I was using was a bit tight on the phone - it was from old one which is about 3/4 the size of this one. It feels much bigger in my pocket and I have had to rearrange everything in the pocket - and move something to the other pocket as well.  When we finally get the glass protector on - if we do - I will make a lighter, smaller case of felt for it. 

But in concentrating on the phone things are slipping through my fingers.  While away I received an email from the regional treasurer of my embroidery group.  She wanted to know if I had received a check she had mailed to me.  I replied that I had received the check.  I remembered I had although I could not find the email I remember sending her when it arrived, I did find the email to the chapter board telling them about it.  I also remember depositing the check and told her I had done so.  When we returned home I went to look for the original email I had sent to her and found it. I looked for the deposit slip for the check and could not find it. Nor was it recorded in the checkbook.  Nor was there a computer scan of the deposit (which I do now as printed deposit slips don’t show the entire account number - just in case).  I also could not find the check.  I had a day of panic over this before finding the check.  I sent an email explaining (and why I was in such a state of disorganization) and that the check had not been deposited, but would be this week. Deposit slip has been made and scanned and is in the “banking” envelope to go to the bank.

In the mail when we returned home was an envelope with receipts from a member of our reenacting unit for me to reimburse him for purchase for the unit.  I put it on my desk to pay and also sent him an email to let him know I will bring it to the event this coming weekend. 

But then I remembered.  The fellow who does the cooking for the unit gave me receipts for his purchases for the food he cooked at the last event.  I told him I would send him a check.  But the day after the phone switch occurred.  I would normally run the receipts through the suitcase heater as they came from someone’s house.  I looked in my Organizer and saw that I ran a heating later in the week after I went to the embroidery guild meeting - the receipts from him, as well as papers I had written notes on, should have been included in that heating.  I cannot find my notes either.

I have one place left to look - in our van which we used for the event - but the van is at the service station for state inspection tomorrow.  If I do not find the papers there, I will have to apologize to the fellow and ask him for an estimate of what I owe him.  (If I find the papers I will email an apology for the lateness of the payment.) Either way I will write the check for him and bring to the event this weekend. 

I do not like making errors with finances - our own and even more so with other people’s money.  I am very upset with myself that a simple thing that most people would think nothing of, getting a new cell phone, would be this upsetting and disorganizing.  I hate having to admit to errors when dealing with other people’s money as it makes me feel that they will think me untrustworthy. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

We all have times when we loose our sense of direction (in this case organization). We have to be truthful about errors that result or cause the loss of direction and do our best to correct the situations which result and make amends to correct the situations.  We can then start anew and try to make sure that we are more careful in the future.


                       

MOVING INTO THE NEW PHONE CONTINUED - AND A TRIP IN THE RV

I have made some progress on getting info into my new mobile phone.  Husband found a memo program that allowed me to cut and paste on my computer from my old memo program - a good thing as I needed to transfer some shopping info before we went away.  I managed to get all the contact info we might need during the trip into the phone.  I made sure to copy the info about our reservations into the new phone so we would have it with us.

Of course while doing all this I was also getting our tiny RV ready for the trip.  I had to make up the bed - I have mentioned before that this is an extended process involving making up half the bed as a single bed, then making up the other half by making it up on the back cushion laid flat, then sliding wooden boards between the two bench seats that form the bed, then placing the seat on this second side into place, and then - while lying on the side of the bed already made up - finish making up the second side of the bed.  It takes at least 45 minutes and a hot day is not a good time to make it up.  But I did.  Then the night before I have to bring out everything else we need and store it - clothing, snacks, computers, etc. Think about this - you have to move everything you need for 5 days into a house and then everything has to be stored in such a way that it will not move, shift, break or bang around and make noise.

We have been having a bit of a comedy of errors on this trip - lately this always seems to be the case.  On our drive here we got stuck on a limited access road near us which has no alternative for 45 extra minutes on a half hour segment of the trip.  We thought it was due to ongoing (for years) construction - no, it was a car stuck in the right lane - how the heck can a car still be stuck in the right lane at least 45 minutes (and probably a lot longer than that for traffic to have backed up the way it did) with no help or decision to move the car?

There are two main ways once we are out of our home state to get to where we are going.  All ways involve the tolls on two bridges in our area (which run combined almost $20 dollars even with an EZ Pass discount).  One way then involves tolls on turnpikes in two states, plus a bridge toll between the two turnpikes.  (This latter a new toll they dreamed up to start charging in 2016.)  I suggested to husband that if we went on the trip by the second way which involves one toll for $1 (to cross the same river as the one the bridge with the new toll crosses in another location between the same two states) we would save over half the remaining tolls - each turnpike one way, plus the new bridge toll - which is collected for round trip in one direction - for us that is the “going” direction, so we would save somewhere around $18 in tolls, less the $1 toll on the alternate route comes to a nice chunk of money saved.  So we went using the alternative way.  Husband hates the road this uses - while it is a limited access highway there a lot of huge interstate trucks using it (saving their tolls on the turnpikes) and it involves a lot of hills, but 17 bucks is 17 bucks.

When we got to the $1 toll it had suddenly become $6.50 for “two axle RVs”.  We have driven this way before to other places in this state and always paid $1 - so all the extra time and effort on the trip was greatly decreased - we will not try to cut the tolls this way again - it is not worth the extra travel time and effort for $10.

We did not really figure out where to eat lunch and thought of making a stop along the way if we had time and eating at that stop.  With the time we had lost we decided not to continue to the stop and headed south towards our destination.  Husband had a GPS running and also a mobile phone GPS running (sometimes I swear the 2 GPS programs are arguing), the latter is used as it is an RV program and knows which roads have to be avoided.  Suddenly the mobile phone started whispering.  We thought we would pass someplace for lunch (aka fast food place) earlier than we did and by the time we pulled it off it was on the late side for lunch and husband was upset at the trip so far, the cell phone problem and low blood sugar (he is Diabetic).  The kid (and he was a kid) at the McDonalds did nothing to help with his being upset.  Husband orders “a hamburger plain, two cheeseburgers and a senior soda”.  Seems simple, right?  “What size soda do you want - they are all $1 - a large?”  “A senior soda” “No, they are all the same price.”  So husband tells him a small soda - “Large?”.  “NO, SMALL!” (Husband was upset that the soda was going to actually cost us more do this nonsense.)  We ended up with a “regular”.  We pick up our order, get soda and go to the table.  Husband is playing with his mobile phone trying to figure out what is going on - the phone can make and receive calls with correct volume - but there are no sounds - no ringers, no alarms,etc.  I open my burger - it is the burger as it normally comes not “plain”.  I went up to the counter, got the manager’s attention and got a new burger - he was so involved with his phone he never noticed I was gone and why.  Lunch eaten we leave to last part of our trip to here.  Husband is VERY upset about his phone.

The RV park was sold as part of package of properties about 2 years ago and has changed in terms of policies and the physical access to property for the worse.  Under the old management the place would be full for July 4th week/weekend.  They had 3 spaces available at the last minute.  We asked to book for the same Monday through Friday stay next year.  No problem in the past - now the (new) staff is confused by this - it used to be “Sure”and some taps on the keyboard and we had the reservation in hand - this year “can you come back later for the reservation confirmation”.  We checked the space (we request the same one) and all was well.  July 4th stay there are lots of kids running around unsupervised, but we managed not to run over any of them - including the little girl from the space next to ours who seems to be around 3 or 4 and was riding a tricycle in the middle of the road in the RV park.  After checking our spot we marked where we had found a level area (hoping none of the kids would take the markers - they have disappeared in the past - only at this park and only during July 4th stay). This lets us come back to just about the same spot each time we take the RV out.  (Really, being level is important or doors fly open when you start to open then and stuff falls out - remember what I said about packing the RV to keep it all in place?)  We also put out a sign that says we are coming back and a decorative flag to sort of “mark our territory” - although last year someone stole our flag and the cast iron holder it hangs from at  - yes, this park during the July 4th stay. Most people set up their RV or trailer in their space and it stays there all the time.  If they leave they use the car they towed the trailer with or towed behind their RV.  We have a small RV and a relatively easy set of connections to the electricity and TV service - we carry water in our tanks and only use the water at the site if we are out on a long trip and only hook up to dump at the end of our stay - unless we are out for more than 5 days and then we will hook up, dump, and then disconnect until we are going to leave.  People with most units hook up to water and the dump pipe, as well as the electric and TV service all when they arrive and leave it in place until they leave.  So leaving the space for most people means they are leaving at the end of the trip, so we try to leave indications that we are coming back.

Husband played with his cell phone - he has an earpiece for it and put that in to see if worked as he would use same when we are apart from each other (the only time he actually needs to know if he is getting a text or call - from me during the trip) and that worked.  When he took the device out of the phone at night it seemed fixed.

First night here we had problems with the TV and the wifi. The TV had very poor reception on channel 2 and neither of us could sign into the wifi - we have been here many times and have the page to sign in bookmarked - husband finally figured out what to do and then we did same on my computer - it rejected the info which had always worked and we had to put in a totally different set of info - at first we could not even get the sign in page to come up.

Yesterday, July 4th,  we went to a large farmer’s market - it is actually a general merchandise market including an flea market across the street.  We like it.  Husband bought us sandwiches for lunch and we turned on the a/c (and the generator to let us do so) in the RV and we ate in it, in” air cooled comfort” (a 1940s/1950s claim of air conditioned movie theaters).  I found a vendor selling some ceramic bear figurines which I collect Yes, I know I should be getting rid of stuff, not acquiring more, but I love this line of little bears and they are discontinued.  I have photos of the ones I have in my cell phone - well, my last cell phone, which I brought with me on the trip and to the market just in case I saw some for sale (although I expected it to be at a more permanent vendor who sells them) so I could double check that I did not buy any I already have.  (Husband will transfer the photos for me to the new phone when we get home.) Oh, did I mention they were only 25 cents each?  How could I pass them by - only bought ones I liked, did not have, and were not missing paint.  A number of vendors were not at the market due to the holiday and it closed early.  Of course during the day his cell phone stopped having sound for ringing and alarms again.  He looked up the problem after seeing how expensive the replacement for his phone would be - and apparently it comes from dirt in the ear phone jack and the phone thinks the ear phone is plugged in -?  We were planning on buying a case for my new phone at one or the other of farmer’s markets here where there are many vendors for same, but apparently my phone is too rare for them to carry anything for it. I have it in a piece of felt in the case for my old cell phone to protect it until we can order something online for it.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

Sometimes there is nothing which can be done to resolve a problem as we want it to be resolved.  Sometimes problems just arise out of nowhere and have to be dealt with as best as one can.  It sounds trit, but sometimes one just has to go with the flow.

I hope those of you in the US have had a good July 4th holiday and to those of you in Canada, I wish a belated Happy 150th of your founding.

               

HORRORS OF MOVING TO A NEW CELL PHONE

I have mentioned before that I have an older cell phone as I love the Organizer software I use on my computer.  I love it so much that my husband had to set up a virtual Windows XP “side” to my desktop computer as I could not use the software with Windows 7. 

Well, what I have been afraid of has happened.  As (I am pretty sure I mentioned before) my cell phone - a classic Blackberry stopped accessing the Internet or email (email is something which I almost never access on my cell phone anyway) through the cell phone signal and started working only through wifi a little more than a month ago.  I could make telephone calls and send texts without a problem.   I have previously described my attempts to resolve the problem.  Nothing worked.  Husband was upset at the idea of my continuing to pay the full price for my cell phone service when I was getting only part of the service - but also knew what a major upset the change would be.  We let the phone renew for another month to give us time to think.  I had three choices - keep using (and paying for) my old phone service with my phone it was - my choice, update to “the modern world” and get a (low price) android phone, or go the other way and get a flip phone that would make calls and texts and just about nothing else - either of the latter two options was cheaper per month than continuing the service I had.   

Husband has tried to be very gentle about this and help me as he knows how much change in general and this particular change especially, upsets me.  My life was in that phone - it kept me - yes - ORGANIZED.  My phone numbers were in it.  My calendar was in it.  My memos were in it.  It synced with the software I love on my computer.  (The phone did not sync with the software for todos/tasks something very important to me and I am still carrying my older phone - a Palm Centro (the first “smart” phone) around the house to deal with the todos as most of them are in the house and I learned to make a secondary calendar notation for todos to be done outside the house to get by.

I was happily getting by until this past Monday.  We had needed to renew prescriptions.  I telephoned the doctor from home and he was to call the pharmacy.  When we went to pick up the prescriptions two of them were missing and I tried to call the doctor from my cell phone - it did not work.  I then tried to text my husband to tell them about the problem and it would not text.  Oh boy!!  I found my husband who was looking at cell phones for me - his major hobby in Walmart these days - and after using his cell phone to call the doctor’s office and correct the matter - told him that I guessed that this was it.

I have one “real” (meaning a not just my craziness about things problem) problem with cell phones.  I don’t carry a purse.  I don’t wear a belt.  The phone has to fit in the front pocket of my jeans.  We have been looking at android phones to try to find one that would fit.  He had me try his phone in my pocket for size - much too large as were almost all of the phones we found.  He found two that were small enough - and only one was reviewed to be good.  So that was the only choice.  We bought the phone Monday when the Blackberry did not work - although it started working again later.

I have another problem which he insists is me - I haven’t been able to get anyone else’s android/Idevice to work.  At the dentist office he used Square for our charge card and handed me his tablet to sign - I didn’t show up on it - husband had to sign it.  So I have to learn deal with this. Husband has given me a stylus which will work with the phone and he found out that the “space pen” I carry will also work as stylus with it.  (The space pen fits in my pocket.)

So for three days now we have been working with the new phone.  It is on a different service provider and it was a bit confusing setting it up (my phones are both prepaids), but we got it done.  Somehow it changed immediately; husband had been worried about me not having a phone for a few days - how could he text me when we are in stores and I walk away?

I have been learning to use the phone - I have a problem, believe it or not - hitting the correct letter when typing (and even once the wrong digit when using the numbers, in a situation where I could not go back and correct it).  I tend to hit the letter to the right of the one I am trying to hit.  I sent a text to him - only took a half hour to write it as I kept hitting the wrong letters.  Yes, I am that lazy - I text him to come down to dinner instead of walking up and telling him.  I am sure I will improve.

My embroidery chapter board had our annual board meeting last week and there have been followup emails - I answered one of them and said that I have gotten the emails, but I am switching phone which means that I will be totally disorganized until I figure it all out, and to please bear with me - they are nice, they will.

First major problem - I have over 400 contact entries in my old cell phones/Organizer and the only way to move them to the new phone is by copy and paste of each item in each entry.  I looked through the sync software I use for the Palm Centro as it is a sync program we bought and it syncs a variety of programs and devices - it has a choice labeled “Google”.  We tried setting that up as husband figured I might not only be able to transfer the contacts and my calendar with it, but then I could sync them as I wanted to.  No, was set up for too old a version of Google.

He did managed to find out how to export my calendar from Organizer to Google, so after a few false tries, that worked and it is one set up done on the new phone.

I then started copying and pasting contact info.  There are two schools of thought as to the order to do this - first one is to start with the first contact in my Organizer (also Blackberry/Palm as they match) and go through one after another - this idea is very organized, hard to miss a listing.  The second thought, is copy the contacts most needed - so I can use the phone right away - and then copy the others, a bit each day, which is the more practical of the two. 

Since Monday I have had one contact in the new phone - my husband’s cell phone.  Today I sat and pasted and copied the listings for our immediate family, two other board members of my embroidery chapter, the head of our reenacting unit, our doctors, and our medical insurance companies.  I have out an email to each of my sisters double checking that I have the correct info for them, their husbands, and their children, so I put in basic info for them that I know is correct and will add the rest when they let me know of any updates.  I have a lot of contacts as I have all of the members of our reenactment unit and my embroidery chapter in the phone.  I also have at least one emergency contact for those in our reenactment unit (there is a campfire and there are guns, so we like to know who to contact - just in case) and one advantage to the new phone is that I can put the emergency contacts as part of the main contact for the members and label who they are for (mom, wife, cousin, friend...). That might speed it up a small bit.  In the mean while when we go out I bring my Palm just in case we need another contact - it is smaller than the Blackberry.

My plan going forward is that I will have a “memo” in the new phone - if I make an appointment while out or add a contact, I will add it to this memo and then add it to my Organizer program at home by hand.  The same with todos - up until now I have been putting them in the Blackberry as an appointment until I am home and can fix it.

The memos I have are the biggest problem.  Some of them are static - info we need for some purchases - how much fabric, what model saw, etc.  Others change sometimes - a list of our EZ pass tolls so I can check it against the statement - this one is not a problem as I will have my Palm with me when go out of state any way - but I will also use a separate memo in the new phone to keep track of same.  Biggest problem is the constantly changing memos - my shopping list for example - I need to keep both lists - the computer and the phone list the same and that will take some work - then again, right now I am using a list written on paper until all this gets set up and working and anything has to be better than that - I forgot to buy eggs today.

How have YOU dealt with switching cell phones?

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK - What has to be done, has to be done.  One can say no as much as one wants to, but when push comes to shove, one has to do what one has to do.  When the cell phone did not work Monday (which was apparently a problem with too few “bars” as it worked again later) I took it as a sign that someone (not my husband) or something really wants me to switch and I should just “rip off the bandage” and switch.

ELECTRONICS GOING CRAZY

I know I complain a lot and we have a lot of odd things happen to us. This week has been a pip.

I have a traditional Blackberry phone (not Android).  It is 3G.  I use it for texts, telephone calls, and checking things on the Internet.  Yes, it is not the newest or coolest thing, but husband was able to make it sync with my computer Organizer software so I like it and have been happy with it.  Last Thursday (a week ago) I went to look up something online and got a message that it could not connect and that if this continued I should contact my service provider.  Okay, I never saw this before - but, again, it is not the latest fastest thing.  I was in our house and turned on the wifi in the phone and accessed the Internet that way.  No problem.  Must be a glitch.

This problem continued over the weekend.  Now, I don’t watch movies on the phone or use large amounts of data.  I mostly use it for things such as “what else was the actress in the movie we just saw in?”  Or “what does “X” mean” when we see or hear something we don’t know about. 

So yesterday (Tuesday) I contacted my service provider online and had an hour and a half chat with an employee.  We reset things that I did not even know my phone had.  We reactivated the phone.  We reset the phone.  No change.  Finally she told me that we had to reload the “service books”.  I had no idea what the heck these were, but if we needed to reload, let’s do it.  She comes back.  They do not have the service books for my phone.  I have to contact Blackberry.  She assures me that Blackberry will have the service books.  I thank her for her time and help.

I then go to Blackberry’s website (or I am guessing, one of them).  I find tech support.  I put in the required info from my phone - it is rejected as invalid.  I try again - same result.  I then try entering a hex version of the number which is on the phone - same result.  I find a contact form for tech support and wrote and explained the problem.

Meanwhile on Monday husband had his email program updated - he did not update it - it did it itself.  He then had major problems with his email program and accessing his calendar on the Internet which was coming in through his mail program.  I don’t know all the details  - there was something about the program was not recognizing his correct passwords and that he could not find some of them in his records of all his passwords - as I was barely listening to him as I was playing with my phone, hoping that it would magically start working again. 

He needed to get rid of the update program and go back to an older version, but he was sure he would not be able to find one.  I pointed out that I had an older version on my computer and we had reinstalled it last fall when we installed a new hard drive on mine.  He installed it in his computer.  Now the program and computer are downloading thousands of old emails into his computer.  He has trouble with settings for the accounts - I use my computer to find how my email accounts are set. 

He started looking for a new calendar program.  There is one commercially available (at a reasonable price) that will not only solve his problems, but claims to also work with my old Organizer - if so, I can move on to a newer cell phone (which I don’t want to do, but it would make him happy, and there is this problem with mine right now).  He downloaded a trial version of the calendar program.  He has been having trouble with same and is not sure it does what is needed for either of us.  Their tech support has been very accommodating in helping him to try to resolve the problems.

Today I had an email from Blackberry (at least it was quick and polite).  The site I contacted was not correct and I needed to telephone “this number”.  I send back a thank you. 

I telephone Blackberry.  I get through to tech support and it wants the same number - I know it will not work, but enter it anyway.  It is rejected.  I get a choice to try it again or speak to someone.  I pick the latter.  I explain my problem and situation.  She needs the same number - I give it to her - it doesn’t work.  She asks for another type of number and that works.  She then asks me  - twice - each of the points which I told her when our conversation started.  She suggests I contact - yes - my service provider.  I repeat (for the 4th time) that the provider referred me to them.  She goes away and comes back. 

I am not entitled to support.  She does not say why, although I do have the phone for a number of years and I assume it because it is off warranty for a long time.  I have, therefore, three choices.  First, I can pay them “35 United States dollars”.  Second, I can go to “this website” (a support website).  Third (ready for this), I can contact my service provider.  I elect the second choice.

I also make an unrelated telephone call to the NYC Police Department for a question that has come up with a client’s business and I have to leave a voice mail.

We go out to lunch and to run errands for a couple of hours. 

I start checking email and seeing if have to pay bills, etc.  Ok, I was avoiding trying to fix my phone.  Husband comes up and starts his computer.  He asks for the website.  It is a list of problems and solutions (lot of help - right).  We actually find the problem listed.  We just cannot really figure out how to do what it says to do.  Husband is worried that if we do it wrong I will lose the telephone and text functions and the phone will no longer be able to go on the Internet using wifi.  We both poke around at stuff to try to figure out what to do. 

One thing that husband is concerned about is that the company whose system my phone uses (my service provider does not have a system - depending on the phone one has, one uses one or another of the major cell phone systems) has announced that they are going to discontinue 3G service and husband is concerned that they have done so here.  No one seems to have heard of this.  I am presuming that since the phone says “3G” it is receiving same.

Just for fun along with all of this, my eye started hurting the night before last and still hurt when I woke.  We figured out it must be a sty, so I am putting hot compresses on my eye several times a day - at least that seems to be working.

Then last night when I was washing up after dinner, my attention wandered and I cut a finger on a the lid of a soup can.  Not a large cut, but it would not stop bleeding for awhile as I did the dishes.  (It hurts, but is fine now.) 

So this has not been a productive week.  Our unit did have a reenactment event last weekend, at least that went well.  The weather was pleasant.  We did not have huge crowds, but steady ones and people who were interested and stayed around awhile.  I got a bit embroidery done and was able to talk to people (mostly women) about same.   So at least we had a chance to actually relax a bit.


THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

No matter how upsetting things are (and I know in the greater scheme of the world these electronic problems and injuries are so minor) one has to try to go with the flow.  One can only do what one can do.  Magic rarely happens. 

   
In the United States this coming Monday is Memorial Day.  For those of you who are elsewhere - this is a holiday to remember those who have died in military service to our country.  It started after our Civil War (1860s) as Decoration Day, when ladies would go to the graves of those who died in the War and decorate them with flowers.  If you are here - I wish you a pleasant Memorial Day. 

For anyone who might have had family or friends injured or worse in the incident in Manchester, UK, my greatest sympathies.

REMINDERS

I have been having another computer (sort of) problem and it gave me the idea for this column - reminders.

Among the problems I have is that I lose track of time and/or forget I have to do something.  I have found that reminders work great to deal with this.  It can also remind one to do something that one does not really want to do and tries to ignore.

I use my cell phone and my computer for reminders.  My husband had the wonderfulness known as a Palm Pilot.  Perhaps you remember them.  He could enter information into a calendar, a to do list, an address book, or a memo list in his Pilot and sync it with the calendar from Palm (or some other ones also if he preferred) and the same information was on the Pilot and on his computer.  I had liked the idea of a calendar on my computer, but since I don’t keep it on all the time it was inconvenient to use as I had to turn the computer on, so I did not keep my calendar on my computer.  He lent me his Pilot to see if it made if it made using a computer calendar convenient for me.  I used to be on the road locally and I was using a calendar book, which I could carry in my brief case, to keep track of my appointments.  I also recorded what I did in it - for work especially.  The Pilot was to replace it.  If I liked it we would buy me one also.

Well, I did like it.  Instead of buying one, however, he told me to keep his.  At work his secretary kept track of his appointments and at home I did, so he had found he had not needed it while I was using it.   We found a nice program to use with it (instead of the one which came with it) and I was happy.  It would go to work with me in my brief case.  If I was going someplace that I might need to make an appointment or otherwise see if I would be free on a certain date, I would bring it with me in my tee shirt pocket.  Then horrors, of horrors, Windows updated to Windows XP.  The calendar program I was using only worked through Windows Millennium.  I switched computers with husband when I needed a new one as his ran on same and that gave me some more years, but then I had to give in and upgrade to XP.  Luckily I had received for one of my laptops a program I had never used - Lotus Organizer.  I tried that and it was even better than what I had before and worked with the Pilot.  Problem solved.
                   
When we had to update our cell phones we got Palm Centros.  They also synced with the Organizer program, were smaller than the Pilot, and since I did not have to carry a separate cell phone - it fit in my pocket!  This worked terrifically for me until husband decided to get one of the “new” Android phones and I had to get a new cell phone when we split our plans.  He did some research and found out that the Blackberry Centro - new at that time - could be made to work with the Organizer with old Blackberry software.  I was back in business.  Next problem was the upgrade to Windows 7 - but husband managed to get the Organizer work with it also.  The Blackberry won’t work with the Organizer to do list, but since most of my to dos are in the house, I use the Centro for same, using it as a PDA and for its games.  I keep both the phones synced to the Organizer program and if I have to dos outside the house I put them in the calendar section so they sync to the Blackberry calendar.

So, what does this boring recitals of cell phones, Windows versions, and computer calendars have to do with real organizing?   I use the setup to remind me of what I have to do from day to day. How?
First, there is the obvious. I put any appointments I make into the calendar section.  Doctor appointment?  It’s in there and I can set a reminder to remind me in advance - weeks, days, hours, minutes before - of the appointment.  A regular monthly club meeting - I put them all in at once using the repeat feature.  Holidays?  I have the ones which occur on the same date every year (Christmas, New Year’s Day, etc.) set up to repeat annually, automatically.  Holidays which are on a certain day (3rd Monday of February for example) I also set up to repeat annually, also automatically.  The reason I love the Organizer (unfortunately no longer available as it is a “dead” program - but there are alternatives) is the variety of ways it allows the appointments (and to dos) to be entered and repeated.  (I could even repeat something every 13 days, for example, or every 3rd Tuesday, or every 5 months, or every 3rd year.)  Holidays that vary around (such as Easter) I will go in and set by hand for 5 years and then do so again towards the end of the 5 years.  Birthdays, anniversaries can be set in to repeat year to year.  Children’s dance classes, little league, religious classes, etc. can be in the calendar to remind you.

If we are going on a trip I enter the hotels, or more recently the campgrounds, into the calendar section.  For example I enter “John Hancock hotel, 4 nights, reservation number 345678A, $95 a night” on each night that we will be staying at the hotel.  Now, this tells me where we and when we will be sleeping, but can be confusing as we don’t always sleep where we are going and it is off from the days as it shows the nights at the hotel.  So I also enter, separately what we plan to do, in a general sense.  For the above it was a complete trip, for example, the first day would say “drive to Boston” - this would match the first night at the hotel as we would be staying there after driving to Boston.  The next 3 days would say “Boston” as that is where we plan to go, Boston and the surrounding area - these days match the remaining 3 nights of our stay.  Now the last day - which does not list a hotel for the night - we are still in Boston, but will be driving home and there is no hotel for the night and I will enter “drive home from Boston”.  So now I have a record of where we are staying and when - and all the reservation details, as well as what we plan to do each day.  If I want to keep a record of what we did each day, I make a to do (or memo, this is called different things by different programs) and list what I want a record of having done.


Second, I use the to dos (memos) to keep track of what has to be done.  Huh?  Well, every day at 6:45 pm a reminder rings in my PDA to remind me to stop doing what I am doing (I am generally on the computer or otherwise working in our office), backup the computer data, sync the phones and the computer, as it will soon be time to make dinner. I have a weekly reminder to write my entry for this blog on Tuesday nights and another - also weekly - to remind me to post it on Wednesday night.  And, yes, just like the clock we all set in the morning, it is not uncommon for me to reset the alarm on the to do to finish what I am doing at the computer or to write the blog on Wednesday if I can’t do it on Tuesday. 

A reminder can be set for any reason - husband does not like cold ketchup; on Thursday afternoons I have a reminder to take out chopped turkey to defrost and the ketchup to warm up.  I have reminders to do the laundry on Wednesday and Thursday nights, I have reminders to check my email once a day (I do not check it again unless I did not receive  an email I expected to receive or I sent one out and expect a reply.  My email does not come in automatically when it arrives.  This lets me not get stuck constantly dealing with email.)  I have reminders to change the towels in the house (twice a week in the bathrooms, three times a week in the kitchen) and to change the bedding once a week. Being a crazy accountant, I have things I do at the end of the month to sort of close out one month and start another - reminder for each. 

I also have standard times to set reminders on an ongoing basis.  I put in a reminder to make telephone calls at 1:30 pm. I put in a reminder for things to do in the late evening after dinner at 11 pm (we stay up late) and so on. 

I enjoy doing embroidery, but never seemed to get a chance to stitch on whatever (and there are always several) piece I am working on.  I have a Thursday night “to do” which sets aside the time for me to stitch then. 

Now, things which I will do while at the computer and while looking at the Organizer calendar, I do not necessarily set up with an alarm to remind me.  When I go to our office (also known as the second bedroom, lest you envision a huge business office) I turn on my computer, sync the 2 phones with Organizer (one at a time, first the Curve and then the Centro) and open Organizer.   I will first make any adjustments needed due to the syncing - I check off finished to dos for example.  I then look at the page, the same as one would look at any paper appointment book, and I see what I have to do and any appointments.  (Important appointments, such as doctors, will have an alarm a few days before, reset as we go closer to the appointment.)  I then know what needs to be done - starting with checking my email.  When I am finished at the end of the session, I back up my data, then the calendar data, and then sync again - again first the Curve and then the Centro.  As soon as I leave my computer and make any changes they no longer agree among the three - Curve, Centro, and computer, which is why I sync them when I start so they will all have any changes made and then again when I leave - so they will all be the same going forward until a change is made.

Third, I also use the address books in the three and sync them together so they all have the same information in them.  (My current problem is that the Centro has stopped syncing the address book.  Based on syncing it with my laptop - something normally only done when on a trip - I find that it is a software problem in my desktop computer and I will need to delete and reinstall the syncing software.)  Names, phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.  There is also a section to list other information - great for remembering the doctor’s nurse’s name when one goes in or the name of a business associates wife - and if it is in your cell phone - you know you will always have it with you.  A campground we go to frequently has notes on which spaces we like and which we do not.

Lastly, all 3 have a memo section.  What is this?  Just for notes you need to make and have.  A shopping list.  The sizes that one needs for Christmas shopping.  Which sewing machine one has.  Which books on certain subject one has (stops one from buying a duplicate). Notes made while someplace on how to do something. I have a memo with a listing by state and main road of where there are places we have found to eat while in transit - due to the RV needing a bit more space in a parking lot I also note if there is a problem (“small parking lot”). I list the exit from the road.  Much cheaper (if one is not on a toll road) than eating at truck stops along the way.  So basically, a memo section can hold anything - no alarms though.            

Okay you are thinking, but unlike this crazy person who uses old stuff, I have an android or an Iphone and the software she mentioned no longer exists - what do I do?  Well, first every cell phone has an address book of some type, so that is easy to use.  I asked my husband and he told me that there is a calender in android phones and in Iphones (and I think I had one in my old flip phone) so that is available for you to use.  If there is no software for a calender or to dos or memos - there are apps.  I understand that Google has a calender and one can set it up to sync with an android or Iphone and then the info will be on your computer and on your phone.  Even better than just a sound alarm - you can have Siri or Cortana remind you of your appointments and things to do.  Even setting an alarm clock can help remind you to do something.       

Now, I know I get carried away with my reminders - but your cell phone can be a very useful tool to help you stay on track with what you have to or want to get done.  Want to sort stuff in the back room where it all just seems to have piled up?  Set a reminder to go in there and work for 10 minutes a day - or once a week - or in between - or less often. If you have to return books to the library and you know you will forget in the morning - stick them in a bag and hang it on the door you will leave by - or the closet door (clothing or coat) - or on the kitchen table.  All sorts of reminders work and really help. 

How do you remind yourself what to do and when to do it