No Excitement Here

Can you believe the year is almost half over? I used to say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah," when people said that the older you get, the faster the time goes. They were right. I heard it explained like this: When you're two years' old, a year is half your life so it seems like a long time. When you're twenty, it's five percent, so at my age where it's a little over 1% of your life, a year seems much shorter.

Perhaps we're also comparing our production with what we could accomplish in a year when we were fifty to what we do now, and it's much less. More breaks. Shorter work days.

This has been an eventful month. It all started on May 2. I remember the day because Fannie Mae and Mim were finally coming to lunch, and I'd had the date marked on my calendar for days.

I was dusting my desk, and my computer (desk, not laptop) just shut off. I couldn't get it to come back on. I told myself to just forget it until the next day, because company would be here soon. 

We had an everyday menu for lunch: meatloaf, baked potatoes, green beans with corn, salad, croissants, raspberry iced tea, chocolate cake, and ice cream. I used the tropical dishes, and now they're packed up to go to a new home. MUST get this downsizing underway.

There aren't any sparkles on my tablecloth; that's the reflection of the chandelier on the glass tabletop.

What follows is a long story of how I ended up with three computers which you might want to skip, but I wanted it for my records. 

Our lunch was on Saturday, so I had to wait until Monday to call about my computer. I called the name on the computer case, and they said that it might be the power supply. I don't know a power supply from a blueberry muffin, but the only thing I could find was the black rectangular thingy plugged into the wall with the line running to the modem, so I unplugged it and took it to Best Buy and got a new one. Nope. Not that.

I called Best Buy to see if the Geek Squad would come to the house and check my computer. Very expensive; best to bring it in. I wasn't sure I could carry it, but after unhooking everything, I found it was manageable. I took it in. I was told the computer was obsolete if I got it in 2018, and they could diagnose it, but might not be able to find the parts to fix it. I took it home, and decided to buy a new laptop. No more bulky desk computers for me. Joey wanted to go with me, because she was thinking of buying a new laptop also.

We went to Best Buy and bought twin Hewlett Packards, Microsoft 365 family plan, and signed up for Geek Squad memberships. They loaded the software on our laptops, used my exterior backup disk to load my files, and we were good to go. 

I got home and couldn't find my files. Still don't know where he stowed them.

Took the old computer (now known as Grandpa) back to retrieve the files and left it. New appointment.

A girl Geek showed me my new software by spending thirty minutes totally confusing me, until she accidentally clicked on my File Explorer folder on the taskbar, and I said, "Hold it. I'm good to go now." We'd been traveling from New York to California by way of Florida. 

I discovered I could have Grandpa's problem diagnosed for free, so I thought, "Why not?"

I took my laptop (known as Hewey) home and hooked up my old monitor, keyboard, and mouse. They all worked, so I put the new ones the overly-zealous salesman had sold me in the trunk to return.

My very old Kindle Fire internet was having problems since I filled it up with books from my cloud, as it would no longer be able to load after May 20. I decided I needed another smaller laptop for the family room, so I purchased a Dell (now known as Dell.) I had made an appointment; you need one for everything, or you have to wait around and hope a Geek has an opening.  My software was loaded free because I can load it on up to five devices. I asked could they check on Grandpa's status.

Diagnosis completed. The joke is on me. Grandpa is fine. He just needed the software uninstalled and reinstalled. Of course, now the files are gone. That's okay. Windows 10, Word 2013, Excel 2013. That's okay. I wanted to take him to the garage to resort and re-inventory my books.

Then I decided I didn't want to haul my monitor, keyboard, and mouse to the garage, and I had rewards from buying my first laptop. I got the smallest monitor they had, keyboard and mouse package for $56.

By now May 20 had passed, and I discovered that my Kindle Fire was fine. It was just doing goofy things because the Amazon people were working on all the new changes. Another joke on me.

So now I'm abundantly blessed with computers: Grandpa, Hewey, and Dell plus my old Kindle Fire; two monitors, two keyboards, two mouses (or mice.) I feel as if I should get a job to work from home to put all these devices to work.

The main reward that came from all this is that I've discovered Geek Squad. For $180 per year, they will fix any device I own whether I bought it at Best Buy or not. Plus I have the added security of knowing where to get help. In the past, computer repair people would disappear between times when I needed them, and I'd be searching for a new one.

End of story 

I applied for a new Best Buy credit card to get the rewards, and since my old one hadn't been used in forever, it was history. Good. With the new card, I got 10% instead of the usual 5%.

My bill came and I went to pay it. The old Best Buy payee was still in my bank on line list, but now I had a new credit card number. I needed to edit or delete the payee. It was Memorial Day, so the bank was closed. I asked their "Chat." and gave up after three failed attempts. On a whim, I went to Google AI and I asked, "How do I edit a payee in online banking in X Bank in Nixa, Missouri?" And I got the answer, step-by-step! Incredible.

With a bajillion trips to Best Buy and other social outings, May turned into a month of eating out. And nothing worth blogging about, as you've seen these places before or they were too blah to photo.

Asian King Buffet

Culvers 

Godfather's Pizza

Wendy's

Popeyes - twice

Sam's hot dogs - twice

Zaxby's

El Puente - Terri treated

Rib Crib

Panda Express

Happy House, Monett

Pizza Ranch, Branson

F-D Grill

I have designated June as Git 'er Done Month. All work - no play - eating healthful foods and eating the Rainbow. No sugar.

Now May is over. Paul, a new handyman came and for $600 he power washed my sidewalk and driveway, cut off two fence gates that were dragging. moved the latch on one of them, weeded the south side of the house and the corner on the north. The best part is the new walkway by the back fence where the dirt kept washing down and blocking the gate so that I couldn't open it.

I've worked the last five days in the yard, anywhere from 2-4 hours. I come in dirty, smelly, and pooped. After a shower and a bite to eat, I'm not much good for anything. My four-hour day was yesterday, and it really kicked my bum. I'm getting better each day though, proof that inaction is really bad for us.

I've been leaving the slider open so Stormy and Pepper could come out for some fresh air and sunshine. They're grounded now. I came in Saturday, and when I walked through the living room, there was a little snake by the fireplace. He was very still, so I got the grabber and picked him up. He was dead. Poor little guy. He wasn't a baby, but I'm sure he was still in middle school, no older. I dropped him on the back patio, figuring a bird would make off with him. I looked a couple of hours later, and he was gone. Then I found the crime scene. At least she (and I say she because Pepper is too lazy) murdered him on the tile instead of getting blood on my carpet. 

At least, the last time my Little Murdering Darling played with her prey in the back yard so I caught her in time to save the little guy. She was not happy when I got the rake and put her new playmate over the back fence.

Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do about my raised beds. They're not as raised as they used to be, because they're slowing sinking into the ground. Now I understand how cities get buried over long periods of time. The concrete blocks are still okay, but what do I do with them? Oh, well. I'll think about that another day.

For now my life will continue to be boring, but hang in there, and we'll find some fun soon.

DON'T LET THE WEEDS GET AHEAD OF YOU - EGAD!

PLANT SOME FLOWERS - SO MUCH JOY

I THINK I CAN MASTER POWER WASHING

AT LEAST I'M GETTING MY SUNSHINE

NEED TO WORK ON MY RAINBOW DIET

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE