Oh, the WIND! That was pretty intense, and power is out in a few places, but didn't seem like anything we haven't seen before. I'm sure i'd be singing a different tune if MY power was out, though.
Printable View
Oh, the WIND! That was pretty intense, and power is out in a few places, but didn't seem like anything we haven't seen before. I'm sure i'd be singing a different tune if MY power was out, though.
Sometimes, I really hate the fact we are so dependent on technology. We still have a land line, well a VOIP line. We had been using some weird Internet phone service, but we set up the new place with Comcast for everything. Today, the old service stopped at the house, but nothing is working at the condo. When DH was on the phone with the Comcast guy, trying to figure this out, the guy is calling our home number and it is ringing on DH's cell phone... WTF? In addition, we returned a modem today, which promptly shut down the wifi at the house, when it was not supposed to. We have another modem there. And the best thing is, every time I go to log into TE, on my phone, I get a thing to start X finity wifi . I can reboot my browser, but really? The wifi at the house was fixed, but they have no idea why our phone has been forwarded to DH's cell. We didn't do it.
the plane the plane... or wrong THE WIND!! THE WIND! I just seem to have a knack for finding places to live with high wind.
In California, it was the Santa Ana. dry hot air. It blew the termites from the Inland Empire (San Bernadino) to the coast. It was strong. BUT now where I live at the start of the Columbia River Gorge, my bedroom shakes on regular basis. houses around here routinely loses the roof! When our Pyrenees mix was an old guy he went outside to pee, lifted one of his hind leg and the wind blew him over. He got up and looked behind him to see who had pushed him over. When he couldn't see, he turned his head the other way and looked. The look he gave us was precious. Needless to say we were dying laughing.
Today's gust is pretty mild at only 30+MPH. Oh, a giant cedar came down and crushed an SUV. The driver of the car behind the SUV said, it just fell out of the sky. SUV driver died instantly.
Yikes. I've been in hurricanes, but never seen anything that dramatic.
OK, came home last night and our Wifi wasn't working again. But, DH was on the phone with them at 4 AM and it is fixed.
We have figured out the problem with our home phone, kind of. It's the old phone provider... they did someting funky, so even though the phones do not work at the house, they somehow have forwarded the calls to DH's cell. When you call our number, you still get our VM message. They work on Pacific time, so we need to wait until 11 AM to talk to them.
Well, now that my Wifi is working, i have no excuse not to do my work, which I need to be logged in to do. I can't do any more unpacking at the condo until our furniture arrives and I go to the Container Store tonight, to buy some storage solutions for under the bathroom sinks. My biggest first world problem is that we need to buy some kind of cabinet for our sports/cycling clothing that we previously had in 2 sets of plastic drawers in closets. Although we have a pretty big walk in closet that we had shelves built for in the condo, there is not room for that. We know where we want to put this up in the loft where our desks will be, but we really have to wait to see what kind of room we have in room after our furniture arrives.
However, this is not a minor issue to me, since I am often going into the plastic set of drawers twice a day...
Crankin, I hear you. It feels as though (for many of us) it's something we must have, but we have no control over. We can't create it, manipulate it, access it consistently, repair it, or control its functionality; we are at the mercy of the companies that provide it.
Good way of describing how I felt yesterday. Well, I texted anyone who might call my land line and said just use the cell # until you hear otherwise... in fact, that was the first hint something was wrong with the Wifi. I was sending the texts through my computer and they all were not sent. Then, I had to go and re-send from my phone, using the 4G.
OK, enough of my complaining. We've made very good progress with the moving stuff, really DH just waiting for our painter to finish the bathrooms. Remember the painter on Murphy Brown? Kind of like that... he is meticulous, but slow and must be doing school drop off and pick up, because he comes at 9 and leaves by 3:30 at the latest. My older son worked for him, during 2 summers in college. I remember my son telling me how he was a drop put from the corporate world, and I can see why he hated it!
What a great way to honor your friend. I'm sorry for your loss.Quote:
Originally Posted by ny biker
Thanks Aromig. After looking into the dates, routes and expected average speeds -- there are four different Tours de Cure accessible from the DC metro area, five if you count Richmond -- I think I might end up volunteering for one of them instead of riding in it. I think I could help with SAG, or maybe as a ride marshall. Still thinking about it.
I've learned some additional information about what happened to my friend. As mentioned, she had diabetes, and almost two years ago she became very ill from complications (ketoacidosis) caused by a UTI. One day she had been texting back and forth with her sister (who lives in another state) about an upcoming trip. When she stopped answering texts, her sister became worried and called our local police department and asked them to do a welfare check (my friend lived alone). They found my friend unconscious and brought her to the hospital. Things looked very bad for a day or so but she slowly recovered -- very slowly, as it took a while to kill the infection and she was left very weak from the ordeal. But recently it had seemed that she was more or less fully recovered and she never mentioned any lingering problems.
Since then my friend's sister obtained the name and phone number of the man who lived next door to my friend (he also had a spare key for emergencies). The night before she died, friend's sister called the neighbor to ask her to check on friend, because she was acting strangely. The neighbor checked and agreed that friend seemed mentally fuzzy, so he called an ambulance and she was taken to the hospital. She died there the next morning. So it sounds like she had another diabetes-related problem, and unfortunately this time it was just too much for her to survive.
I am glad that she wasn't alone when it happened.
I know a fair number of people with diabetes. Most seem to have it under control but I guess things can go from controlled to not pretty quickly.
It is such a horrible disease. A young man I went to grad school with, went home during winter break of the first year and found out he had Type 1. He wasn't even 30. He came back a year later and is doing well, but what an ordeal. He thought he was just exhausted from all of the school work.
Well, all of the tech problems were solved, although up to yesterday early evening, it looked like we might have to change our phone #. But, amazingly, the former phone provider gave up all of their "rights."
Second to last night in the house. Almost everything we are moving ourselves is there. A lot is unpacked, but some stuff, I have to wait until a couple of pieces of furniture comeon the moving truck to put stuff away. DH spent about 5 hours putting together a piece we bought at Ikea yesterday... he just needs to put the vanity cabinets up tomorrow night.
It's not like we can't come back to get stuff, as DH has a little work to do before the house goes back on the market. But, I am tired of all the going back and forth.
Looks like we might be using the MA Health Care Connector for a couple of months... aka the Affordable Care Act. I found out I can't get benefits at my work because I don't have enough billable hours. This will be DH's thing to solve with his company, before he leaves.
Good luck with finishing up the move and getting your house back on the market, Crankin. I hope it will sell lickety-split this time! It's an unsettled feeling to be waiting on that. Enjoy getting settled into your new space. I am sure it's nice!
I must admit it is looking very nice!
Will be going over there for more unpacking in an hour. Three of my clients nicely changed times or cancelled, giving me time in the middle of the day
Exhausted. Was at the condo until 1 AM... I have not seen that hour for a long time. Up at 6. DH just went to get us bagels, no food here for breakfast.
DH still did not get the shower rods, towel holders up, but the fixtures and mirrors in the bathrooms, that we chose in October are in and look awesome. Glad my taste hasn't changed.
Waiting for the movers.
Exciting and exhausting! So glad you're digging your new place.
Sounds like the new place is coming together nicely! Enjoy (and hope it doesn't wear you out too much!)
Glad it's coming together. Good luck with the final push. Don't forget to give yourself extra recovery time.
Ha, I have my 5:45 AM circuit training class tomorrow. I'd like to skip it, but I now live exactly .99 miles from the gym, so I can sleep an extra 15 minutes. And Friday, my DIL from CA will be here, on her way home from a trip to the Azores. Thankfully, she is staying with my other son, but we have plans with her during the day Friday, then need to come home, change, and turn around to go back into the city for our theatre night.
I'm dealing with yet another person at work who thinks I'm an idiot. This is actually a relatively new experience for me -- it never happened until a few years ago. I do not think it's a coincidence that all the people who think I'm an idiot are men. They're all from the same country too (not the US) so I suspect there could be a cultural element. Though I have no problems with other male co-workers from the same country so that does not fully explain it. Regardless of culture, it still makes me angry.
I'd be furious, NY. Sometimes cultural things are the reason, which makes it difficult because it is so ingrained. You want to be respectful, obviously it's their culture, but I have seen what you are talking about, and it's not nice.
I think we must have got the movers sent from the senior center, followed up by helpers from the prison down the road. They are calling me young lady, so you get the idea. If DH wasn't here, they'd be scratching their heads. They are almost done getting the stuff in the truck, but it's been a long few hours. Thankfully, I was gone for about an hour of it, and I missed them having to lower DH's wardrobe over the open wall from the stairway landing to the ground floor. We told them how it was brought up (same company), but I guess no one listened. They were trying to tell us they couldn't do it. Well, it got in here, so it came out! Unfortunately, it necessitated DH emptying all of his clothes, so that is why I got to leave and go to the new place and bring back crates for him to use to do that.
Because this seems recurring with only certain work colleagues, at least, is their/your supervisor/manager enlightened? If it is a major/critical procedural/design that is significant that you have solved / know already (and it's part of your job), you might want to ask them to email their queries/comments to you -- if there's time. Then calmly reply to them by email, cc: to your direct manager/supervisor. Add cheerfully if they have further problems....contact you.Quote:
Originally Posted by ny biker
People might see their own overconcerns/attitudes if you rephrase what their (unfounded) concerns are (that leads to treat you like an idiot).
Ugh, NY. That's frustrating and infuriating. Is your immediate supervisor supportive? Can you talk to them about it?
Hope you can resolve the work situation, NY. I can't imagine the stress it is causing.
OK, we are in the condo, and I actually had a good night's sleep. However, when the alarm went off at 5, I went back to sleep. So, thanks, Oak, for telling me to "recover." My body is sore from lifting and carrying. It amused the movers greatly to see me carrying in stuff from my car and refuse "help."
We have a lot of work to do. The basics are done, i.e. the kitchen and our bedroom, but still need to make the bed in the guest room up and put together the furniture in the loft, unpack all the boxes that have stuff from our desks. We re-purposed a large oak cabinet that we originally had made when my younger son was 2 and was breaking our TV and stereo daily. It has locking doors, so he wouldn't do that. I'd been waiting for it to get here, as I had 2 very large boxes full of stuff like the food processor to put in there. DH lost the keys. Or, at least, we don't know where they are. Eventually, he popped open the locks with a screwdriver, but I spent 2 hours being pissed!
We brought a lot of stuff we need to sell, but thankfully, we have a huge full basement, that will take a long time to organize.
Yay -- glad you're in, Crankin. I can imagine there are a lot of stressful bits and will be for some time to come, but setting up a new home is exciting and exhiliarating (at least to me) as well, so it helps keep the energy level high when you need it most.
We found the keys yesterday...
Everything in our living areas is pretty much done. We have to buy new lamps for our bedroom, as we decided not to bring the ones that were attached to the wall at the house (we had them in the previous house, too, so they are 20 years old). DH is now focusing on getting the house in shape for selling. There's some fading on the hardwood where our kitchen table was, so he may have to sand and coat. He repaired the front step and needs to paint, too.
Had a wonderful lunch with my DIL from CA and her friend, who layed over here on their way home from the Azores. They had a great trip. She does not look as pregnant as my other DIL, but she is tall. We gave her a bunch of stuff from my son, including his HS yearbook. When DH was reading the quote he had, which was from a movie, she finished it before he finished reading it. No wonder they are married...
OMG. I don't have time for details but I just had the most ridiculous conversation with the micromanager at work. He clearly does not trust us. It completely broke my concentration and now almost 2 hours later I still can't get my focus back on what I need to do. We're on a very tight deadline, we simply don't have time for this sort of thing. I mean, he wanted me to go back and change everything I did on Friday and I had to work until 2 am Saturday morning to get it done. This despite having gone over all the plans in minute detail before I did the work. I was in the zone today, very productive, and now I'll have to work OT to finish what needs to get done before tomorrow.
I had a major conflict with my last manager -- long story short we had a plan for my long-term career development that was good for me, my employer and our client. He looked me in the eye and said he supported it, then he totally undermined it because it was inconvenient for him in the short-term. Then he left the company but the damage was done and the conflict was considered all my fault. So now I really need to get along with the micromanager. But I don't react well when people waste my time. I understand that it can be hard to step back and trust other people to do a good job, but if you can't handle that then you need to not accept the promotion to manager.
Thank you for letting me vent.
So frustrating. I hope you got through that, and that a ride today helps relieve stress.Quote:
Originally Posted by ny biker
Does anyone besides me feel like her head is exploding from the increasing pace of technology?
The chance occurence of moving and having new appliances that need at least a PhD to use, installing Nest to run the thermostat, and a change over to Google Mail at work is sending me over the edge.
Some, in fact most, of these things are not computer related. I really feel like I don't know how to use half the things in my home. I just cannot remember, and there is nothing wrong with my memory, except for when it comes to this type of stuff. I am kind of like this with my bike, too. Don't like change, at all! I can feel it if there is one teeny thing off with my bike set up.
I love technology...but too much is like not enough.
I just want a cell phone to us a basic calls (read E-calls) and get my music in it. Ipod would have been great with music and basic phone - not a fan of flip phones). Why do we have to have the zillions things in it (trying to fit a computer on a 3'' screen anyway) at a very high cost with high plans almost mandatory (at least for Canada). Why can't we get a simple phone at a decent price?
Why do we have to get a clothes washing machine or dishwashers that has so many different options? Anyway, I always use basically the same setting on most loads.
Even tv and their attachments...way too much for me. Heck! Even my alarm clock is a challenge to move back/forward the time on it! Dah!
I don't mind using it...if someone else sets it for me (like TV with Roku, with our intelligent cable box, name it). If hubby was not here I would not have a third of the stuff as it is too much for my head too.
Ah ... we bought a new Canon wi-fi printer when I got injured in January so I could send the medical papers to my insurance, etc. Our high-end printer does only print. But it worked for about a month on wi-fi. Now...it refuses to work without the USB cable. I tried removing, uninstalling, reinstalling, getting new software, name it... wi fi is active on the printer but all our machines (computers, iphone, ipad, etc.) are not seeing it. Works only with cable. Grrrr So I gave up. So much for technology.
Yes, Crankin, and maybe I'm a skeptical fuddy-duddy, but I also feel much of it is unnecessary, and just something else to break or go wrong. I don't have cable anymore, but I used to enjoy watching HGTV. I would laugh at the appliance commercials with all these gee-whiz features and think "why?" Same with computers. Every time Apple updates their software, my computer slows down even more, and I have to learn new stuff. The salesboy at the store told me my computer was "old" and I should probably get a new one. Things get outdated too fast, there's no continuity, and, if you haven't realized it, you hit a nerve with me. It's going too fast, and we're becoming its slave, not its master.
I'm one of those Apple people who just lost the use of my iphone with the latest update, I'd been having issues before that and spent forever trying to get things resolved with Apple, this was the last straw. I'm going the opposite way now, less and less tech (when I can find it), my only home computer is a chromebook and I just got a simple android phone... still wish it wasn't necessary to have either. I do appreciate the value of modern tech, I just wish it wasn't so complicated and pervasive, I can still barely turn our fancy new oven on.
I couldn't live without my I Phone, more for work related things, though. I know I use only .5% of the features and the only apps I have are related to email, Facebook, Yelp, etc.
DH sets up everything for me, and like you, Helene, I really don't know anything about how the wireless printers work, blah, blah, blah. We just got ours working at the new place, after a week. It really is the house stuff that just seems silly. No, I do not want to be able to control my washer and dryer from my I Phone! I figured out how to use my new oven for simple baking yesterday, but no way was I going to try the convection oven. I will never use it, but DH thought we "needed" this. I don't like the microwave at all. It has a dial instead of push buttons for some of the set up and figuring out how to set the clock was an ordeal. I think I really do have a problem with changes in the actual physical actions needed to take to complete a task. Everything seems to be taking me longer, like even opening up the veggie drawers in the fridge, because the pull out is on the bottom, not the top.
And the TV, well, we have full cable now. Before we had a combo of digital antenna, cable, and Apple TV. I never learned how to use the Apple TV and there were a few times I wanted to watch a show when DH was gone and I couldn't. He seems to regularly swear at it, when it is not synched or something, so I don't see what the point is. So now, I can turn on the TV and change channels, but that's it. I have never learned how to access the guide, look for movies, or play them. But, of course, there were times a few years ago when I rented a movie (tape) and couldn't watch it, because I couldn't get the VCR to turn on. In my house, it's always some long thing to complete a task, with many options. I hate it.
So, I am not a total Luddite, but the past couple of weeks have made me irritable, most of it stemming from this. The newest thing is, that last night DH set up the Google mail, which stole all of my contacts...
Crankin - my brother has a TV set up that has boxes for HD, streaming, wii, and some sort of gaming console. When my SIL had surgery and I went over to sit with her, we were going to watch some old movie on TCM, neither of us could get the TV to come on, he has four different remotes and things have to be turned on in sequence... we played cards instead. :p
So now I will have to get rid of Outlook for my personal email, to get my contacts back. Just because my work got rid of Outlook, Google is assuming lots of things. I had my laptop set up differently before I got this job, so I have options. The contacts are still there (don't know how DH accessed them), but are not showing up in my email. I had to do some emailing for my volunteer work for AMC, which is when I discovered it. This is not a crisis, but just an example of the annoying things that have piled up in the past few weeks.
Planned Obsolescence.
I watched an amazing video from "The Story of Stuff" a few years ago all about this, and it does make me crazy. Manufactured "needs" and all that. And yet, the "simplification" movement is huge. How is all this crap simplifying our lives?
I used to be the computer guru in our family (Windows not Apple) and helped all my family members with their systems, networks, etc., but now it is all moving past me. I am on Windows 8.1 and have no desire whatsoever to upgrade to Windows 10. I am sure I will at some point because I'll be forced to, but I am not enthusiastic about it. And my stepdad has a wifi printer he can't get machines on his mixed Windows network to "see" and wants my help, and I am so dreading it b/c I have almost no clue about it other than I am good at researching and trying things and being more patient trying different solutions than he is.
Don't even get me started about my Android tablet...very little about it is intuitive to me. Like how the he*l do I copy/paste text? I am so used to Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V on my Windows PCs that it's very hard to train my hands to do otherwise.
Crankin (and others), I share your frustration. I fear this makes us "old dogs". :(
Yes, DH sees having all of this stuff (like Nest) as a way to simplify, while I just see it as one more thing to learn. A thing I don't want or need to learn, like algebra! He gets excited about gadgets. Nest will now know when I am heading home and raise/lower the temperature accordingly because it's synched with my I Phone. The test will come one day when I want to shut off the heat and open the windows, or worse, put the AC on.
Funny, my kids are a bit Luddite for their generation.
I wouldn't have even known what you were talking about w/ "Nest" except that we happened to be in Home Depot and Lowe's this week buying stuff for the RV, and I saw it there. Otherwise, I've been so out of the loop on the latest in home improvements for the past few years while we've been traveling and living in foreign countries. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
Talk about Luddites, we don't even have Smartphones, only dumb little flip phones to make calls on. I take photos with a digital camera and use my Asus Transformerbook (laptop/tablet hybrid, Windows 8.1) for the internet. I do have the Android tablet as well, but it's an old one (Galaxy Tab 2) and very lightly used. I mainly want to use it for reading e-books and have the Kindle app, but I'm confounded now because the silly Axis 360 app that I am required to use by the library I'm a member of says I already have it registered on six devices (not so, only three; I don't even own six devices), so it won't let me me open a book. (I have submitted a question to them about this but have not received a response yet, hoping Easter weekend has something to do with that....)
SMH... :(
I work for govn't and was disturbed that they decided to make a service only electronic for citizens to log in and submit some info. It pisses me off when at work, some tech evangelist is touting electronic only.
I've had and use my home computer for past 20 years and have gone through 3 computers. My career entails working heavily content management and group training.
What is disturbing that all of us will be required to use technology as the only way to deal with govn't in terms of submitting info. and the cost of technology /changes in use goes up, not down. THis is the last thing we should have to worry about in the last 2 decades or last decade of life.
My partner bought an iPhone a month ago because he was requested to for his subcontract job. I haven't got one yet..there's no point as long as we can Skype one another daily. So I still enjoy using by digital pocket camera (I'm onto my 3rd one since they don't make them last beyond 3-4 yrs. I do take thousands of photos.)
I just blog and that's enough in addition to email for me.
It amuses me when I read about people unplugging for vacation, etc. I'm happy just checking email once a day when I'm on vacation.That's all that's necessary.
Well, given my dad was not able to learn to use a computer (the mouse confounded him), I think Shooting Star's point is well taken. I have a client, just a few years younger than me, who is a true Luddite, mostly because she has lived a sheltered life in one small town, and done the type of work that did not require any tech skills. She has been increasingly frustrated by things you can only do on-line, including signing up for Mass Health and other government things.
On another note, we got a call last night that my exchange student son and his wife had a baby boy early Saturday morning! They are all fine, we heard the baby cry over the phone (we were in the car), but she had a difficult time, ending up in a c section. So happy for them and waiting for pictures.
You might want to remind the techies that NO COUNTRY in the world is 100% wired! Not even in France where ISP is the government.
Older people are left behind in the fast pace world of tech. I'm not that old and have no interest in Pininterest, facebook, twitter, or what ever else that may be around. Just don't have idle time. And surprise not everyone owns a computer or know how to use them. Someone suggested to go to a library to use the free computer. Not everyone even in the gen-X know how to use it.
ANOTHER BETTER REASON: Every time someone in government suggest go 100% digital, I remind them what about those below the poverty line. They are deciding whether to heat the house in the winter time, buy warm clothing or food. THEY DON'T HAVE THE LUXURY OF OWNING A COMPUTER AND SOMETIMES NOT EVEN A CELL PHONE!! Let these techies survive for a month or two on the wages of those in poverty and see when they will ditch their computers and cell phones.
Things like this makes me angry. Forgetting about those who are less fortunate, those in poverty etc.
My partner retired about 15 yrs. ago in his late 50's. He has gone through 3 computers - 1 desktop, 1 laptop and now iPad. This is not even his iPhone and yea, he has a 5 yr. old Garmin ..which is now, god-send for this contract job of his for required GIS information.
It's pretty scary in terms of high tech investments..in ADDITION to health care costs..which by the way, even Canada's public health care system doesn't cover 100% (it never did). ie. dental, specialized drugs needed for many years, etc.
We have in our municipality some low income discounted municipal services after an application review (based on income, etc.) ie. transit, recreational services...but nowhere is there non computer information submission.
For me to breathe poverty in my workplace..I would be viewed as a renegade, Luddite (which already I don't want ageism working against me at this time in my career).. I'm not in a decision-making, management role at work. Already some people at work, know that I don't have a cellphone. HOnest, I keep this fact low-key.
Dumb as it may seem, it is small reason why I do blog outside of work....just 1 signal that I DO use social media and do interact with others. I do blog for more meaningful personal reasons which I won't bore people here on TE forum.
I wish I could retire and not play these little games to maintain my "progressive" shiny façade to the working world, in my line of work. But that is reality of remaining job relevant to a major employer.
Love this conversation! We joke all the time about finding a place to retire where we cannot get any service! This forum is my only form of social media.
No FB, or twitter or snapchat or instagram. We don't text. We just ditched our flip phones and got track phones at Walmart for 50 dollars and a pay as you go card. I have a laptop and a tablet that I use when I travel. We were just about to cut the cable cord, but comcast has a monopoly in our town and we found out that if we cut the cable, they would jack our internet rates up three fold. GRRHHH.
It is a joke at school that I am " off the grid". They tried force me to sign up for twitter so that they could send me messages in case of an emergency. I laughed, and responded by saying. Well, I have worked here for 28 years right? And you know where my classroom is right? And you know where I live, 2 miles away, right? So I am pretty sure that if there is an emergency, someone will tell me. Found out quickly enough on 9/11.
My hubs and I go all day without emailing or talking, unless it is about what time we are running after work. My coworkers are horrified by this. They walk around ALL DAY with phone in hand. I do not get it. My computer is on on my desk all day. Pretty sure I can go to the lav with a cell phone in hand. Drives me crazy.