It's not here

And it's not there either.

I hate to look for things more than anything.  When I put things away, or find something that is out of place, I think, "Where would I look for this first?" and that is where I put it.  Sometimes it is great, other times it's "Where else would I look for this?"  These organizing books are everywhere, and so are magazines and TV shows, and each one has a similar outline.  When C took a truck load of good stuff to Goodwill, he said there was a looog line waiting at the drive-up door, he left and came back later.  The Goodwill people said it is all due to the Marie books.  I, at least, am pacing myself (from a distance, as I still can't climb stairs very well.  Or at all. )

My friend P says she looks in two places, and then buys another.  I see her point.

Ever since I took my old and new MacBook Air to the geek squad for them to do a migration, where everything on the old drive goes on the new one, I have been frustrated at how frequently every thing asks for user name and password.  Over and over.  First it will ask for user and PW when the application starts, and again after it has started but not saved.  And my PWs are Long, 10 or more characters, so I don't just whip it up.  Sometimes I have to do it the next time I start the app again too, hence all my PW books are written in pencil.  And all my pencils have arrow erasers, too.  I am glad they did the migration, well worth the $100, but why did they need a pw again and again?  And why won't the new Air ask for it only once?  There must be a setting I am overlooking.  I have a book just for this model of Air, but I haven't read it thru.

I saw the nephrologist on Friday, but he had no new ideas to try to reduce the swelling in my feet and legs.  Again he said I need compression socks that go clear over my knees.  I will have to make some calls tomorrow (Monday) to find some that are large enough.    At least he didn't poke my ankle and say,   "Huh..  They don't feel swollen to me" like the last doctor did.  I mean, with my legs downhill the top of my feet look like the shell of a turtle.  Round.

I bought two of the InfiniKloud drives that are supposed to back up your computer with a "single click".  For me, it was many steps, and then it did -- nothing.  So I sent it back, fortunately to an address in CA and not in China.  I didn't even unwrap the other drive.  I still don't have a refund, even though it was delivered on the 19th.  An ill-omened date for me it seems.  I have left it all to PayPal to sort out.

XPO to you too

I can't believe the mess this mattress purchase has made.  The one we were due to get on July 25 Was finally listed as Lost.  Amazon said we could get a refund to spend on Amazon.  Order another bed.  I said, no, I wanted this one, and to reorder this one.  I mean, two mattresses couldn't both disappear, right?  So, number two seemed OK; it was scheduled for delivery on Aug 19th.  The truck driver even called and said they were on the way, and that they would give us a call 30 minutes before they arrived.  We were home from midnight to midnight, and never got a call, never mind an actual delivery.  So I called the carrier, XPO, the very same carrier as last time.  First the story was that the item never reached them from Amazon.  This is the same story they used with bed #1.  I explained about the phone call in the morning, and after a great amount of time as my blood pressure rose, she passed me to another agent.  She had the new story that the truck broke down, or the driver got sick, or or or... So I asked for her manager.  I at least got someone I could understand, but the story was the same, except that they had the bed in the warehouse. I suggested they shove it on a truck and zoom it to us... they are only a 40 minute drive.  She said, they only come to our town on Mon Wed Fri so it would have to wait until Wednesday.  I am afraid I completely lost my cool.  I said, now I'm sure you are honest, but someone between your warehouse and my bedroom is enjoying my first bed.  And I don't mean to be crabby, but I have had it.  I suggested they rent a U Haul shove my mattress into it and hit the road.  I will pay for the U Haul.  Oh she said, I don't have the authority to do that, like I'd asked for her bank account number.  She swears it will be delivered Wed, early, so I won't have to cancel my therapy,  ho ho.  I must sound really stupid I guess,  anyway she hung up on me.  My guess that when Wednesday rolls around, we will go to therapy at 1 o'clock, and they will call then.

Gads, I have to finish this later, my blood pressure is rising again as I write this...

OK it is now Thursday and!!!
I have my bed.  They came around 10 am yesterday, whisked the old mattress away, and brought in the new one.  It couldn't have taken them 10 minutes all told.  And yes, they called first, mainly for directions.  The new mattress feels incredibly good, and should be good for 20 years like the last one, though I don't expect to last as long, myself.

I bought a Crane tabletop fan to replace a very small fan that tries its best to blow hard enough to make a tissue flutter, but doesn't.  The new one was inexpensive, whisper quiet, and has three levels of speed.  So far the lowest level is fine.  Made in the USA, too.


                                                                     

Found money

OK, here is the story.
I have been merrily buying this and that, bread maker, mattress, house washing, new MacBook Air, and so on.  I don't check my statement, I just use bill pay for all the bills that aren't on autopay.  And there is a reasonable amount left each month, and so it goes.  But one day last week, I printed out the statement for June 1 to the current date.  And casting an eye, I saw a very large deposit from early June.  There were two deposits for that date, the other one was for less than $50 where C had deposited it.  The huge amount, was not mine.

Now comes the difficult part.  C insisted that I call the bank and tell them of the error.  I demurred, but lay there all night wrestling with my conscience.  In the morning I called the bank, and they were quite blasé about the whole thing, so I asked the teller, would you have found this error if I did not tell you?  She said, no, probably not, unless the customer started a search herself.  She said, the woman (name on the deposit information) must have a big enough balance that this $$$$ shortfall did not show up,  from early June to August.  I asked her, will the teller who mixed these up be fired, whatever.  She laughed and said Oh no, this happens all the time.  Which made me kind of sick to my    stomach.

So the moral is, keep those little slips the teller hands out when depositing money, checks, whatever.  There may be an error in either direction, and that slip is all you have to prove you did (or did not) hand over the money, and that it goes in your account.

And my halo is only a little brighter, but it is there.

Robocalls

I have been mega annoyed at the number of "spam" phone calls we are getting.  I buy stuff on line, but I always use my cell phone number, which I never answer.  I do check the messages.  Anyway, there are some vendors (?) that use real live people.  Here are examples...

"Grandma?" I find these really annoying, I have no grandchildren and I would like to shine them on, but it is too much effort.  You'd think they would realize that this ploy has been exposed in magazines and on line.

"click"  The ones that promise an excellent virus protection and a free puppy.  When they pause for a breath, I ask, Have you ever heard of Malwarebytes? "click". Guess they did recognize the name of a great anti-virus program.

This is the best one, and I may have already covered it here before.  I am too lazy to look through hundreds of pages to find out, so if you have heard it before, just pass on by.  I got a phone call, offering all kinds benefits, and when he paused for a breath, I said, "Don't you feel the slightest guilt at working over the confused elderly to take their money because you spun some sort of lie?  Money they may need for groceries, etc."  And the caller shouted, really shouted, "You cannot speak to me this way!  You are NOT my mother!"And then he crashed the phone down.  My ears rang for several minutes after that tirade.  My guess is that his mother DID chastise him.  Regularly.

A friend has caller ID and a really persuasive child's voice.  She answers using that voice, and when she gets tired of acting like a 4 year old, she says, wait, I'll tell my mommy about you"  And then she puts the phone down, screams "Mommy!!" and leaves the phone off the hook until the caller gives up.  Some are really patient.

We used to get 2 or 3 calls like this a day.  Now we get 10 or more every day, sometimes back to back.  For me to answer the phone means I have to grab my walker, hobble over to the phone (it is not far, but I usually have a numb bum) and answer just as the answering machine picks up, and they hang up.  Maybe that was Publisher's Clearing House calling to tell me I'm the big winner?  Or my sister-in-law, we keep each other in stitches?  And they are wasting my time and stealing the use of my phone, which isn't cheap anymore.

Well, I have nothing more to add currently so off I go.  Take care, there are lots of crazy people out there!

computers and bread

I corresponded with Small Dog Electronics about my problems with my MacBook (where I bought my last 2 laptops), and they said it would cost $65 to crack it open for a quick see and then repair might run $200 - 300, he said that was too much to invest in such an "old" computer.  I bought it as a refurbished model and have used only 40 GB of  240 GB, so I will feel no remorse if I broke it.  I will get a new (not refurbished) one.   It is 4 years old for me, but is a 6 year old computer for specs.  I have the latest OS and lots of space - 240 GB, so it is something else wrong.  I need a new 'puter.

Yesterday my poor feet actually fit in my pair of hush puppies, not comfortably mind you, but a significant improvement.  The key is to keep them up as much as possible, and put pressure after the up-on-sitting.  Hence the need for a laptop that doesn't make me want to throw it out the window.

It is 2 am now and I am back to bed.  I will finish this tomorrow.

I got a new MacBook Air at Best Buy 2 days ago.  Right off the bat I crashed it, so all it would do, wherever I went and whatever I did, it would say. 'user name?  Password?' and I was ready to take it back to Best Buy.  But C took a look, and over about 3 hours got it back in shape.  The problem, partly, is due to the Touch ID button, the one that is supposed to keep you from having to lookup these things.  It doesn't work for most of the applications, as far as I can see.  However, I at least don't have that damned rolling ball icon that the old Air had 90% of the time.  Maybe the book I ordered will simplify some of the questions I have.

Meanwhile I am checking out cookbooks for the bread maker that I got on eBay a week or so ago.  I made one loaf of bread that was so solid it could have been used for a polo ball, because the yeast was about one year old.  At least.  So when C went to the grocery store, there was no bread flour, but he did get the yeast, so I will give that a try tomorrow.  The bread maker is far more advanced than the old one, as well as being bigger.  I don't think it will fit in the cabinet where the old one is.

When I first began making bread (manually as well as by machine) my sister, as usual, felt the need to outdo me, and bought a bread maker (Update:(or took my mother's machine, which she used every couple of days)  Of course she never looked at the manual, she just dumped the water, flour and yeast in and pressed "start".  When it began smoking, she realized she put the stuff directly into the baking chamber, never wondering what the pan was for.  So what did she do?  Clean it out?  No, she threw it away.  In a dumpster.  And called me to find out what my "secret" was.  My sister, bright she never was.  She's been gone 15 years now, also due to an act of stupidity.  But that is a long story and I can't see the purpose of dragging it all out now.  But still, how dumb...

This is not one of my better blog efforts, so I will end here.  Hoping all of my readers are having a calm peaceful weekend, Bye!