Wednesday, January 18, 2006

A Retail Day


Well, I've been out tonight shopping for a dishwasher. The repair person came today and said not to even try to fix this one. It's the motor. So, I've been to Home Depot, Lowes and Sears tonight shopping. I think Lowes is the winner and part of the reason is that they can probably install it on Friday.And they'll haul away the old one. That's another bonus. You'd think people would catch on to what you want when you're dealing with something like this. Of course they're going to remove it. But if they don't haul it away I still have a problem.

In addition, I need to buy a new cable modem it seems. I believe that is the problem with my computer setup. I don't understand that at all - seems like it would work or not work - not be doing something inbetween. But, that seems to be the answer anyway.

So many places for money to go.

Teresa and I went to dinner tonight at the new place downtown. It's not going to last unless they make some major changes. Namely, the food is bad. We both had a chicken dish and there was nothing about it that was appealing. The salad was not fresh. They were serving the same crappy vegetable medley that everyone does - steamed carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. We all know that it comes frozen in those combinations. Please, go buy a vegetable every once in awhile.

I hope they improve, but to say I was not impressed is a gross understatement. They're in a building where the last person did all this amazing work on these cool tin ceiling tiles - hand painted them - they're gorgeous tiles. You're greeted with stained glass in the front. It's beautiful. And then you go in and find tables with vinyl table coverings on them. Please. Make up your mind. Do you want to be an elegant place of a vinyl tablecloth place?

That place couldn't decide between being elegant or a sports bar. These people are really trying for elegant - you gotta get rid of the vinyl and spotted glasses if you're doing that. Food was bad at the last place. It's bad at this place. I've never been in the restaurant business - nor do I want to be - but I know what makes a place good and what makes it bad. I would give them the advice freely, but I've learned it's not advice anyone wants.

I hit both Westlakes today looking for candy canes. Peggy called this morning that she'd seen some at the north store. I needed to pick up a prescription at Coberly's next door anyway so got those. I checked the south store but their's weren't deeply discounted. I also popped in to Smith's Market, which I love. I've had quite the retail day.

Well, I'd best go wash the dishes I put in the dishwasher last night. That, of course, was just prior to discovering it didn't work. So, I get to handle all those dirty dishes again. Lucky me! But I don't want to leave them, even if I can get a new one installed on Friday, because I'll be cooking on Friday evening for Peggy's party on Saturday.

I think I'm also going to fix myself some tea. My voice is scratchy sounding and my throat is a little hoarse. I don't feel bad at all but it could use a little soothing. When I first wake up until mid afternoon - or until I've talked a lot - I sound pretty awful. Peggy thought she woke me up this morning at 10 or so when she called. Of course, it's impossible to wake me up with the phone because I don't take it upstairs at night. But, I do sound like I just woke up for hours every day. Maybe I need to sing to myself every morning for awhile.

Long Day


It has been a long day.

I've got some funky computer problem and it is hurting my brain. It also caused me to run back and forth between home and the office today to get things prepared for the board meeting. I thought I had all I needed and went to the office. Then I couldn't print from my laptop because the printer didn't have a USB port the the laptop didn't have a serial port. I thought - no problem - I have the external harddrive from home - I'll hook it into the office machine. Ooops... it doesn't have the software. I was worn out by the time of the board meeting.

No one can seem to figure out the computer problem. I can do everything except upload/ftp large files. Large being anything that's not tiny. If anyone has any ideas what the deal is, I'd certainly appreciate your input. The ISP is clueless. I'm clueless. I've tried everything I can think of. I've rebooted from unscrewing the cable for the wall on up to the machine. I've even changed out ethernet cables. Nothing solves the problem. An online search has not netted any answers either. So, please, share your techie wisdom with me.

In addition, I discovered tonight that my dishwasher doesn't seem to want to work. So, I've got to deal with that.

On the upside, Matthew called tonight and we chatted for about three hours. We were talking about our past travels and thinking about future ones. It's good to reconnect with him. I've also reconnected recently with Jim, who Matthew and I met in Guatemala. He lives on the west coast and we all met when we were sharing a van to the airport one morning to go hiking at Tikal. Jim and I later went on a trip through the South together. You know you're good potential travel partners when you meet while you're all boarding planes that aren't licensed to fly internationally to go hike in the Guatemalan jungle.

Well, I need to get some sleep if I can. Sleep is rather elusive for me these days but I need some.