Tag: technology threat or menace

The day in review

What went before: Monday. Sunny and already hot.

Breakfast was oatmeal and walnuts. Lunch will probably be a salad, because — easy and cool.

I remembered something I wanted to add to the scene I wrote yesterday, and wound up writing a quick 300 words. Much better now. “Cory Robersun,” indeed. Oh! And now I know why that’s going to be important — makes note. Yeah.  That’s good.

So! getting ready to go out to see the chiropractor, then back to do chores, eat lunch, and then out again to meet friends for a catch-up.

What’s everybody else doing today?

#

Where are my mariner/weather radio experts?

I have here in my hand a CCrane Skywave AM/FM/WX/SW/Air radio. I want to listen to the weather radio, in particular the polling of the lighthouses off the Maine coast and the report from Mt. Washington.

I know that the weather bands range from 162.3625 to 162.5875 MHz. My little radio has seven possible channels under the WX setting: 1 (162.400 MHz); 2 (162.425 MHz); 3 (162.450 MHz); 4 (162.475 MHz); 5 (162.500 MHz); 6 (162.525 MHz); and 7 (162.550 MHz). One of these has in the past been the correct channel, but all I’m getting on any of them is static.

My assumption is that I’m doing something wrong, but such is the scope of my ignorance, that I don’t know what it is.

Could someone please educate me? I’d really like to listen to the lighthouses.

Spanish Aunts.

#

So took a couple bags of fiction books including a number by some scifi writers named Sharon Lee and Steve Miller to the library for the book sale. No sense them cluttering up the basement until it’s time to clear the house and they end up in the dumpster, after all.

Met my friends, and had a lovely catch-up.

Came home to find that Maximus Medicare has decided Martin’s Point made no error in deciding well after the fact that the treatment they told me was covered, wasn’t, and I am liable for the entire bill. No one seems to care that this does not particularly make me willing to trust Martin’s Point ever again, and I suppose they have a point. If I need a medical intervention, I’m probably going to have it done and worry about being bankrupted by medical bills later.

Coon Cat Happy Hour has been served and devoured. Trooper is sitting on my lap. Tali is lounging on the edge of the desk. I have poured a glass of wine.

Tomorrow, I’ll go to the grocery early, I think, then come back for a solid several hours of writing before it’s time to go to the needlework meeting.

I think that’s it for the day. I’m glad I got in a tiny bit of writing before the day started.

Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.

Here are the coon cats, ignoring me and my silly, leafy lunch

 

Damp and Dim for the Win

What went before: Had a lovely and informative chat with Alex Picard, the narrator for the Ribbon Dance audiobook (coming to you in August!). She was kind enough to suggest the title of a nonfiction book about the deaf communities on Martha’s Vineyard, backaways — Everyone here spoke sign language: Heredity deafness on Martha’s Vineyard, by Nora Ellen Groce — I’m on page 6 and already fascinated.

I also remembered that when we were going on a long road trip, Steve used to take on those tuna lunch packs — which just about saved our lives on two separate train trips over the years — when the train was so late, the various on-board provisioners not only ran out of food, they ran out of booze — so I went out and grabbed some of the tuna things, because Murphy is real, and his Law is the great leveler.

Losing Steve really did tear my brain in half. My memory has never been my most robust mental function, and it’s just gone to wood shavings on some stuff. I’m glad I decided to pack slow, because the act of getting things together to go to a convention is kicking Old Habits to the surface. I guess I should also say, if I don’t immediately remember you at the con — it’s me, not you, and the Ghods of Conventions in Their infinite wisdom give us name tags for a reason.

Tomorrow, I’m taking a break in the early afternoon to go to the library and listen to Ron Currie read from The Savage Noble Death of Babs Dionne. Before and after, I’ll continue to do those chores that will make coming home easier, putter at my packing, study the maps/routes. And not freak out. That’s very important. I even wrote it on the to-do list.

Right now, the first 194 pages of the current WIP is printing out, so I’ll have that ready to read and get back into the right headspace.

It got Quite Warm today; tomorrow is supposed to be significantly cooler, though still springlike.

The coon cats have had their Happy Hour, and are each sitting in an open window, admiring the evening breeze (not the bathroom window — they’re using the Considerably Safer crank windows, in my office).

And that’s the news from the Cat Farm.

Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.

#

Saturday. Damp and dim. Which really ought to be the name of my next band. Or — I dunno. Maybe Damp and Dim reported on those Sites that Wu and Fabricant deemed not worth their time? Though if Wu and Fabricant wrote an entry on Star Well…

… and now you know why writers stare out of windows.

All righty, then! Breakfast was sausage patty and cheese on a buttermilk biscuit, with grapes. I Regret Nothing. Second cup of tea to hand. Lunch is in question, because of the timing of the reading at the library. I will not starve, and honestly? This opens up the possibility of ice cream.

Quitting time got a little extended last night due to Shenanigans on the part of Steve’s printer. By the time I was done clearing paper jams, I was, frankly, beat. Firefly put in a Very Clear Request for reading in bed, so we read read The Elusive Earl until I fell asleep.

Speaking of updates from the road! I will of course have my laptop with me, and I’ll be able to update to Facebook, but I won’t be able to update my blog at sharonleewriter, which is where I point people to for daily updates.

The Plan at the moment is to post to Patreon and set access to Public. This would be easiest for me, and I’ll test the proposition today, to see if Public is, indeed, accessible to anyone who wanders by, and if said merry wanderers of the internets may leave comments.

UPDATE: Only PAID members may comment on public posts, says Patreon, which may actually be the best path, as the moderator will be engaging in Other Activities.

So! Who has Plans today?

Damp and Dim cat census:

Well the cops busted Madame Marie for tellin’ fortunes better’n they do

What went before:  So, a low-key day. I did some This, some That, read, put the finished sampler into the embroidery book, ironed some con clothes. I’m still trying to decide if I’ll wear black-and-grey, or black-and-maroon for Opening Ceremonies, a decision I can put off for a few days yet, as both outfits will be coming with me.

For those who are coming to BaltiCon — I have Interesting News. We have a possible location for the Stuffed Animal Tea, but! We don’t have a time or day. So, at this point, it’s kind of a Heisenberg Tea. More news will be forthcoming, possibly on Wednesday. As soon as I know something firm (bearing in mind that I will be spending a large amount of Wednesday and Thursday driving), I’ll let y’all know.

We’re getting up toward ASL time, and I still need to close the windows.

Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.

#

Friday. Dim and damp.

Letters dispatched. Finished reading The Mysterious Marquess, and have pulled The Elusive Earl up for tonight’s reading, unless it turns out to be a Dr. Who night. Zoom call upcoming, and a couple other such things as people are suddenly realizing that I’m going to be away. Laundry needs to be sorted, laptop charged and systems brought up to date

I have more this ‘n that to do, including puzzling out some bits for the book after the current WIP, which may not be Jethri after all, if I’m gonna do mumblemumble with the current WIP, which I think may be Forced, given that I need to at least produce a soft landing, if not a Hard Wrap Up, and there are only three books remaining under contract (Current WIP, WIP After, Jethri Big Finish). And now you know why writers stare out of windows.

I’m slowly remembering the convention traditions — pins, con clothes, tote bag, pens, ribbons, badge jewelry… For those who are coming to the con, I will have with me some “I Met Steve Miller” ribbons, so that those present who had, in fact, met Steve Miller may acknowledge that connection.

The cats are being very snuggly and maybe even a little clingy, which I’m guessing the memo I sent out has hit. If the teleporter worked, I’d bring them with me, but the geezinfluke is still on backorder.

I think that’s most of what’s going on here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.

How’s everybody doing today?

Today’s blog post title courtesy of Mr. Bruce Springsteen, “4th of July, Asbury Park”

After breakfast cat census:

Suddenly, it’s summer

What went before:  I will today condense yesterday, rather than simply cut’n pasting from Facebook as the thing unfolded.

Shortest Form:  Yesterday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. (And if you have not read this classic by Judith Viorst, do it now.)

Abridged Form:  The appliance installers arrived around 10:00, much earlier than I had anticipated, but they failed to call in advance, so the cats were still at large.  I managed to get Firefly, Trooper, and Tali into the basement, and closed the door, but Rook had taken shelter — in the laundry room, as I discovered when I escorted the team leader — henceforthly referred to as Installer A — there to show him what he had to work with.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch Rook, and then — he disappeared, which was Very Worrisome.

More worrisome was the discovery by Installer A that the water cut-off switch only cut off the hot water, and the cold water was free-flowing.  He decided to go forward with the install, after requesting a few towels, to handle the spillage.

SPOILER:  A few towels wasn’t enough.

Installers A and B got the old machine out and the new machine in, and this is where it went bad.  Water began to spurt EVERYwhere.  Flooding ensued, including a vast rainstorm into the basement (yes, where I had cleverly sequestered three out of possible four cats).

Installer A ran downstairs and began flipping cutoffs. I, of course, did not know where the main water cutoff was, because Steve knew, and while he might have told me once, I didn’t remember.

Leaping forward — a plumber was called in.  He replaced the faulty cut-off switch, and then, at my request, took me on a tour of the basement, telling me what the various cut-off switches where, and resetting them as we went, and where the main water cutoff was and which direction to turn it in order to shut everything down.  While he was here, the plumber also repaired the bathtub faucet.  Yes, I expect a bill in excess of what I saved on the appliances on “really good sale.”

So, the laundry room, which includes a closet, with things that sit on the floor of the closet, was flooded; the basement was flooded, the cats were traumatized, and Rook was still missing.

Eventually, everybody left, and I began to clean up the mess.

Whereupon Rook reappeared, and there was much rejoicing.

Everything is dry now, with the exception of an area rug in the basement, which I have the space heater on the case, because the rug is too heavy for me to get outside into the lovely warm sunshine.

And that?  Brings you up-to-date.

Onward.

Thursday. Sunny, warm, bird song coming in the open windows OR!

Suddenly, It’s Summer. Girls in shorts running; motorcycles roaring up and down the road, two-by-two. I turned off the oil heat; we’ll let the heat pumps handle it from here.

I did accomplish two accomplishments yesterday in the Midst of It All. I found the name of the Scout captain and first mate on Chandra Marudas, and! that Bechimo was the first modern smartship to come out of the Carresens Yards, built in response to Trader Jethri Gobelyn’s release of the Envidaria.

Last night after I signed off, found those two pieces of information, and treated a nosebleed, I sat down with a glass of wine and realized that, indeed, I was too tired to think straight, much less read either of my books, so I went to bed, put on my fancy wireless headphones, and listened to All Conditions Red while dozing, and eventually falling asleep.

Breakfast was a toasted English muffin with cream cheese and blueberry/ginger jam. Finishing up my first cup of tea.

Today, I am waiting for the pest control guy to come and put back the things that fell in the process of his inspection.

Speaking of Things That Fell, one of Steve’s brilliant kludges gave up its work yesterday, among All the rest of It All. This means I will need to produce a kludge of mine own. Since I don’t approach Steve’s skills in free-balancing large objects (small-object balancing is my skill-set), I will need to make a web, which means buying some rope and some eyelets. If the pest control tech gets here on the 10:00 side of his window, maybe I’ll do that this morning, as well as swing by the grocery.

For those keeping score at home, the new washer and dryer are doing splendidly, much to be preferred over the old.

Oh. Fans of Rookie the Cookie will be pleased to know that — no, he did not destroy my chair in order to shelter from the Invasion of the Appliance People. The chair in question has a foot-rest that folds into the chair, and there’s a space between where the foot-rest folds under and the underneath of the chair, like a little shelf. And that’s apparently where he was hiding.

Anyhoots. ASL tonight. Cats are around and about. Hoping for an Extremely Low Key Day here.

What’s going on with you?

Many pics below.  Click on the thumbnail for a bigger view.

Burned all my notebooks; what good are notebooks?

What went before:  Home again, with a very large black kitten on my lap, purring like this: Purr. Purr. Purr. Purr.

I have gotten Trooper’s meds. I have taken on another box of Delectables Bisque to hide the meds in. I have sworn at stupid drivers who don’t think that stop signs in parking lots count. I have updated the software in my car. I have determined that the CD player in that same car works (it only plays one CD at a time, but here we are. At least I will have music when the phone is connected to the car, because I can either have the map from the phone speak to the car, OR I can have Sirius XM, but I can’t have both. This is a problem on a long trip, such as the one coming up, because I need both.

All duties having now been discharged, Imma order in lunch for the next three days and then sit down with my WIP.

#

As predicted, Asian Cafe has provided me with multiple meals, which means I can focus on things other than wondering what the heck I’ll be eating for a few days.

I jumped ahead and wrote a scene that I’ve been thinking about, so that’s 1200-ish words today, bringing the total rough, Oh-so-very rough WIP to +/-20,500. Another 5,000 words gets me to 100 pages, at which point, I’ll print out everything and See What I See.

The weather . . . We’re under an Active Weather Advisory, with snow/sleet/freezing rain said to be starting around midnight tonight and ending for realies around 6 am on Monday. Snow accumulations, it says here, between 3-5 inches; sleet accumulations around three quarters of an inch, and ice accumulations between one tenth and four tenths of an inch.

I’m not liking all that ice, but here we are.

Right now it’s sunny and blue, and all the snow in the Long Back Yard has melted yet again.

#

Saturday. Snowing. I am drinking a mug of tea.

Woken up just before 6 by an insistent beeping and the cats On Alert. I tried turning off the alarm I didn’t remember setting — that wasn’t it. I told Google to turn off music. That wasn’t it. I turned off the stupid heart phone. THAT wasn’t it. It came to me about then that it was my chest that was beeping.

Now, yes, they gave me an instruction manual, and yes, I read it. But yanno? I didn’t actually remember at 6am and just roused out of a sound sleep what the beeping and the red light meant. It occurred to me, as it must, since I was wearing a heart monitor, that I might be having An Event. Which woke me right up.

Long story short, the monitor was convinced that it hadn’t had skin contact for more than 6 hours and it was needy. The instruction manual suggests removing the tape and installing another monitor.

I did remove the tape, but guess what? I am not replacing the monitor. This thing is going back in the box. It’s been glitchy from Day One and I for one would suspect ANY data it managed to gather in its enfeebled state.

So, I’ll write a note to send with it, pack everything back into the box, and whenever I’m able to get out to the UPS store (Monday? Tuesday?), it’ll be on its way to Boston.

Minus stars. Will not do again.

Breakfast will eventually be a waffle with sausage gravy, probably an orange, and more tea.

On the list today is changing out the cat boxes, and vacuuming the basement. I hope to write, but I may instead make a blanket fort. We’ll see how it goes.

Re the weather — apparently we’re looking for very light amounts of snow today, to soften us up for the BIG storm, which is to arrive sometime tomorrow.

So! what’s everybody having for breakfast?

#

So, I’m charging Steve’s Chromebook. The plan is to see if I can install the Sirius app on IT, then run it off the car’s wi-fi hotspot, thus allowing me to have both GPS and music while I travel.

fingers crossed

Waffle and sausage gravy was a little bit of all right. Of course, I now have leftover sausage gravy for the ages. Could be worse, I guess.

The cats have been Sorting Out. Rookie was oppressing Tali, and Firefly intervened, apparently tutoring Tali on the one-paw power-smack between the ears, and the Ol’ Knock Him Over and Kick Him in the Stomach Routine.

Firefly and Rook just had a bite together, and Tali is lounging beneath the dining room table. As soon as my second cup of tea is finished, I’m for my chores in the basement.

Still snowing. The City Plow went by a couple minutes ago.

Today’s blog title brought to you by The Talking Heads, specifically one of the songs that Agent of Change was written to, “Life During Wartime.”

Here’s Rook, being appalled that I didn’t save him any breakfast:

Talkin’ trash

What went before: It was an intermittently awful afternoon. I blame the rain. Tali and Rook both had a go at lap-sitting, and were a little tentative. Trooper then stepped in to show them How It’s Done, which — may not have made things better.

Writing, by which I mostly mean rewriting, happened. I now know what needs to happen next on all three lines, which is a great relief.

I was also able to find CJ Cherryh’s remarks on the occasion of her receiving the Heinlein Award, and now I have an idea of how long I might be expected to Say Things, which is also a great relief.

Tomorrow, I need to forage, and then there will be more writing.

Tuesday. Cloudy and chilly. Trash day. I’ll cope with moving bags from the garage to the curb after I have finished this letter to the internets.

Trooper woke me up at 5, for reasons yet to be discovered, though he did allow me to curl up around him and go back to sleep for an hour.

Breakfast was toast and cottage cheese, upgraded from None for Me, Thx, and again from, Oh, well, a piece of toast is breakfast. Don’t even start with me about lunch.

I had sorta kinda wistfully thought that I’d drive down to the ocean today, but that ain’t happenin’. I will be foraging, then doing some picking up around the house. Now that I know that 3 minutes of Remarks is acceptable, I can begin drafting mine.

(Apparently nobody else in the world has to draft their Remarks ahead of time — Steve could certainly do that, and when I had him to feed me lines, or be the straight man, I could ad lib — to a degree — and I’d still be shaking like your linden leaf at the end of it. When it’s Just Me, I need to Plan. So, yes, a huge relief to find that I’m not supposed to stand up in front an auditorium full of people for 20 minutes and talk.)

I’m still fine-tuning the Garmin watch, and this morning realized that it had a Secret Life. I have set bed-and-waking-up times from 10:30 to 7:00, and of course this morning I was up well before 7. And when I looked at my watch face it was not the one had chosen, but the face that had come with, which I had vehemently rejected. Apparently that face is its party clothes. In any case, the minute I looked at it — it blushed, the face flickered just exactly like it was pulling a shirt over its head — and became the one I had chosen.

I hope this moment of embarrassment hasn’t set us back, as I’ve been enjoying our association thus far.

I’m still reading The Tomb of Dragons, which I’ll probably finish this evening. I have The Orb of Cairado in my library, and I’m thinking that will be next.

Who else is foraging today?

Shot from a couple days ago.  Rookie making sure I’ve eaten all my lunch:

Tali’s natal day, clockwork edition

What went before: Well. My watch is updating. I am not accustomed to the watch being my main point of information, so that will be a change. Also, some things that are I guess supposed to be intuitive — aren’t. Like, yanno, putting on the band. I did finally figure it out, but Jeez Louise as somebody once said.

I did get my reading of the WIP done, despite It All. It’s not Terrible, there are some things that are in the wrong place, but since I’m trying to match at least three separate timelines so that everybody can arrive at their meeting at the right times, that’s probably, oh, normal instead of evidence of a Descent into Dementia.

Yanno? When I was twenty, I never worried about a Descent into Dementia. Just sayin’.

I should probably go find some cheese to put on a piece of bread, brew a cup of chamomile tea, and take it and my book with me to bed, hoping for a better day tomorrow, which is!

Tali’s third birthday.

Sunday. Cloudy. Well. I suppose I can concede to the Weatherbeans in this. Foggy. I am led to believe that it will be foggy all day, which I suppose is possible, at the rate that the snow is sublimating. The Long Back Yard is more grass than snow. I was just watching a crow sorting through dead leaves and old grass and fly off with a beakful into the Really Tall Pine Tree, so I’ll guess I’ll have new neighbors.

Breakfast was biscuit with sausage and a slice of cheddar with black grapes. Second cup of tea to hand. Lunch will be — yeah, whatever. Maybe a scone.

As planned, I just put myself and my book into bed at 9, and read while I drank my tea. Firefly and Rook joined me in the bed. Tali took the overlook position at the top of the bookcase. The new watch says I had a “highly restorative” sleep of 7 hours and 40 minutes, with lots of Deep and REM, which have been in short supply lately, and probably why I’ve been feeling so tired.

I must say that I’m enjoying Mr. Harney’s Egyptian Chamomile tea. I’m alternating with the Republic of Tea Chamomile Lemon that a friend sent me, which I’m also enjoying. I’m trying to simplify my life, but I really do think that I’ll order in replacements of both.

I am not dizzy this morning, and I’m counting that a win. I am feeling rather meh (Note to Weatherbeans: Some sunshine would help over here), so, as advised by my new notepad, I made a list, and I do feel (a little) better. On the list is a blankie run, changing out the cat fountains, buying cpap supplies, homework, and writing.

Writing may only be working with the correx/additions I identified yesterday, but that still counts. And! one of the benefits of reading your WIP over (and over and over and…) is that engaging with the story produces more story (i.e. You know what’s missing here? Or, happier: You know what comes next?) I don’t know how writers who just start and flame through to the end of the first draft without ever stopping to read what they’ve already written do it, honestly.

As mentioned previously, today is Tali’s third birthday. She has been celebrating energetically, chasing spring, ball and her kid brother all over the house, so much in motion that I am not at this time able to offer a picture of the Birthday Cat. She did come by and check in with Trooper. He muttered at her, she cleaned his ears, then bolted off to discipline Rook.

The new watch is … interesting. It has a lot more functionality than the FitBit, and is much bigger — despite which, it’s lighter and more comfortable on my wrist. The FitBit and I had never had a warm relationship, even before Google decided to try to force me to buy a Google watch by driving the FitBit insane. By comparison, the Garmin (bear with me, people; we all have to work with the brain we have) is calm and friendly. I’m not used to having so much information on the watch but even so it’s easy to navigate, and I can of course add and subtract the information I want to see. I think I did the right thing.

I’m about halfway through Tomb of the Dragons, and having a good time with it. I had to stop and explain to Firefly that these were not Liaden dragons, because they lived in another book. It’s a hard concept, but I think she got it. At least, she blinked her eyes and went back to sleep.

And that’s it from the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.

So! Who has sunshine where they are?

There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole

What went before: 1,266 new words — not too bad for a woman who thought she was going to sit down in the comfy office chair, open the laptop and — fall asleep.

I b’lieve I will be ordering in a Garmin tracker. The insurance may pay for it, and even if not, the stress of the sporadically working FitBit is — stressful. And it’s something I can do something about.

The insurance bill for the car and the house has landed, so I’ll be writing that check before I use the money for something foolish, like buying a dozen eggs. Couple other pieces of snail that I need to deal with came in, too, though nothing particularly urgent.

Tomorrow, I need to go visit the cardiologist so they can glue one of those heart monitors to my chest for 30 day. Yes, yes; I did do this before. The doctors are bored. Or fishing. It would be nice if they got bored of fishing.

I note that I am Out of Cookies. That was careless of me. OTOH, maybe I’ll make scones tomorrow morning, so I’ll have something nice to eat with my tea when I come home from the cardiologist.

And that? Is all I’ve got.

Until. . .

Tuesday. Glowering and cold at the moment. Beans are calling for a high of 51F/11C. We’ll see.

In the meanwhile, breakfast was homemade wheat bread toast, cream cheese, grapes. As I remarked to Rook, who was sitting on my lap at the time, “These grapes ain’t nothin to write home about, so it’s a good thing we’re already here.’

I’ll take the trash and recycling to the curb as soon as I finish my first cup of tea and find my shoes.

Oven heating for scones.

My arm that received the booster shot hurts. I realize belatedly that it is my left arm. I’m usually more careful than that, but — can’t really get a re-do. And thinking about it — I kind of ache all over, which I ascribe in equal portion to the COVID shot and fifteen trips up and down the cellar stairs in service of getting things to where they needed to be.

After I put the trash out, get the scones in the oven, and do my duty to the cats, I’ll look over what I wrote yesterday, and add in all the names that I had forgotten since the last time I used them.

The cats felt that 5 hours and 10 minutes of not-particularly-restful sleep was enough for me. On the one hand, I would have liked more sleep. On the other, I was having some very anxious dreams, which makes me feel like that guy who complained the food wasn’t very good and the servings were too small.

All that said, I’m angling to go to bed early tonight, given that the Things I have to accomplish are inconveniently timed for fitting in a nap.

It’s good to have A Plan.

How much sleep did you get last night?

____________
Right before he started chewing on my head — that’s head, not hair — Trooper gave me to understand that There Was No Food In the Bowls. As we see here, Trooper was exaggerating slightly:

Oh, today’s blog post title brought to you by Odetta and Harry Belafonte, “There’s a Hole in the Bucket.”

The sun’s coming up like a big bald head

What went before:

Yesterday, I went first to the Verizon store on behalf of my phone. Having called Murphy’s attention down upon me by packing for a Day at the Verizon Store, I was — the first one there, and had three reps at my beck.

The first was newish, but told me that my screen protector was cracked. I said I thought it was the screen and would be grateful if she could prove to me that it was only the protector.

This was a little too assertive (sigh), and the second rep came over to explain that I could request a protector from Corporate, or buy one at the store I was standing in and they would install it for me.

I thanked her for the information and once! again! asked if it could be demonstrated that it was the protector and not the screen that was damaged.

She looked at the phone, with the cracks radiating out from the chip, and said, “Oh, yeah; that’s the screen protector.”

I invited her to remove it and assure us all that it was not the screen that was damaged.

…what I tell you three times…

She shrugged and peeled the protector (which itself is some kind of glass, who knew?) off. Indeed, the phone itself was intact.

The second rep installed the new protector, I paid the first, and exchanged farewells and keep-warms with the third rep, who had wisely kept herself aloof in case somebody else came in the door, and went home, richer by an uncracked screen protector and poorer by 50 small.

My trip to the dentist was more expensive and more nerve-wracking, but all’s well there, and I don’t have to do it again until November.

Moving on. . .

Tuesday. Cold enough for me. Sun’s an orange ball behind the trees. I’ll get the trash out when it’s warmer than -1F/-18C.

Waked before my time for a Cat Clean Up Emergency. First cup of tea is here at the desk with me. Breakfast will shortly be sausage and cheese on an English muffin and the rest of the pineapple, assuming it’s still edible. Lunch will chicken breast and — A Vegetable to be Named Later.

Worked past coon cat happy hour, getting my credit reports frozen, and Steve’s (because I never got ’round to doing that other thing. Honest, the few things that are turning up to be dealt with now drag at me like the stuff I had to do Just After Steve left didn’t. ‘course then, I was laboring under the delusion that I was finishing up a few chores before I got on the road to join him at the new place. Brains, man; what will they think of next.)

Anyhow, the credit freeze is nailed down. I should probably lock down the cards I don’t use often (or at all. BOA, I’m looking at you.), but that has to wait until I get the cats’ chips refiled.

I ought to go to sewing today; it’s been basically forever. Also I need to pick up the papers from my lawyer, and make? A phone call!

Last night, after my labors with the credit agencies, I made a cup of tea, and betook myself to my bed to read. Tali understands reading in bed, the rest of the guys, not so much, though Rook gave it a try. It worked out pretty well for me, until I had to actually, yanno, go to sleep and had to be shifting pillows out of the way so I could lay down, and by that time, I was awake again.

I think that’s all I’ve got, and I really ought to get with breakfast.

What’ve you got going today?

Today’s blog title brought to you by Laurie Anderson, “Sharkey’s Day.”

Snow Date

What went before:  Yesterday was not a good day.  Nuff said.

Monday, grey and cold. Snow showers in the forecast.

Went to bed early; got up to the 6:45 alarm. Breakfast was a blueberry muffin and some English Cheddar. First cup of tea is to hand.

Today’s Plan insomuch as it can be said to be a plan is to finish my cup of tea, do my duty to the cats, fill a Yeti with yet more hot tea and go camp out at the Verizon store until it’s time to go to the dentist. I do have to let an InfoDump out into the cyberlanes today, but that will be AD — After Dentist.

So, do I understand this correctly — there’s another John Carter movie (cleverly titled JOHN CARTER 2)? Thirteen years after the original “mega-flop”? The ways of The Mouse are mysterious, indeed.

What’s your Plan for Monday?