Weekly
Update 1/12/2020
I’ve
found a new group of friends! A few weeks ago, I’d met my
neighbor, Kathie, at the Friendship Coffee Shop to visit and get
caught up. I noticed that there was a fake ficus tree in there that
had little knit baby caps hung as decorations. Not seeing any price
tags, I asked our barista if they were for sale or what was the
story. She told me that a group meets one day a week, and they call
themselves the Knit Wits. I have about 8 or 10 baby blankets in a
box at the condo that I’ve knit as I sit and watch tv. It helps my
to have something to do with my hands other than force food into my
mouth as I watch tv. I wanted to know if any of these women know if
the local hospital will take them as a donation. So I went to the
“meeting” on Tuesday this week and met some very nice women. One
has a list of charities that will accept projects, but she didn’t
have it
with her; she promised she’d bring it next time.
I
have a long list of complaints this week:
I
had to go downtown at noon
on Wednesday for a CMA luncheon. I knew that POTUS had scheduled to
address the American public about recent happenings in Iran. When I
got home after the meeting, I tried to find info about the speech.
What I found was numerous stories about and Harry
and Megan dropping
their royal responsibilities. Wait! How is it that this is a more
important story than a war? While I believe the media has some
responsibility for making this a top story, I also believe this is
what people want to read about. And these are the people that will
be electing the president in November – the ones who want to read
about an actress and a foreign prince, but not about soldiers and
actions that might have serious repercussions for all Americans.
I
also needed to go to Comcast
and complain. Last
month,
TCM was
moved out of my “preferred” package (which I pay extra for) and
placed in the international sports package (which
would require me to pay even more).
So, if I want to watch old movies – and diving in Acapulco or
cross country skiing completions
in Swedish – I have to pay more.
I’m not going to do that.
I have complained at the Service Center when they first eliminated
TCM, I wrote to the company headquarters, I included a note with my
payment – no response at all. So, when I got my bill this month,
it had gone up $5. It was
just a general increase,
because
taxes had risen, and they passed that on. Enough. I went to the
Service Center to see what could be done. I’ll have to admit, I
was not polite and accommodating; I was angry and nasty. So, here’s
the thing: I got my monthly bill reduced by $40 a month by adding a
landline phone, which I don’t want, won’t use and don’t even
have the equipment for, and I signed up for paperless billing. The
poor little girl I worked with apologized about TCM, but it’s not
her fault. I said I would just like an acknowledgment that I’m
upset about it. I want it back,
but that’s not going to happen.
Something
else I needed to get done this week was the office cleanup. At the
end of each year, I put files and photos on a stick that I keep in my
fire box. I did that, and opened new files on my laptop for financial
records and other documents I keep yearly. Then, I began to shred old
records
that I’ve got on paper in boxes in the closet. What a mess! My
poor little shredder is a cheap thing, and constantly overheated. I
would shred some, then have to wait a couple of hours for it to cool
down. It took all week to get all the records shredded. I had eight
large garbage bags that I took to my dumpster. There were scarps and
dust everywhere in the office, and I nearly broke the vacuum cleaner
(wouldn’t that be tragic, as I rarely vacuum any more anyway)
trying to get it all cleaned up and back to The Way It Should Be.
I’ve
been given the month of January off from DH. It’s a slow time of
year, and just don’t want to sit there on Friday afternoons and
hope a tourist or two walk in for a tour. So I ask to have a little
vacation. Since I didn’t have to do that this
week, I met Connie and her
friend Vicki at Forsyth Park to walk. It was all going very well,
when I noticed a tiny, old woman lugging shopping bags, obviously
walking home after a trip to the grocery store. I asked if we could
help. She said she was fine and thanked us, and then continued on
with a sermon about how God loves us all. My eyes glazed over and I
wanted to move on quickly, but it’s hard to just tell her I'm good,
thanks, when I’m with two others who are engaging the lady. It
didn’t cost me anything, and I'm past the point now where I’m
upset by religious zealots, but I really would just rather not give
them my time. Connie, Vicki and I went to Clary’s for lunch and I
had a nice omelet. It was warm enough to sit outside at the table
and watch the people go past on Jones and Abercorn Streets. After a
respite at home in the afternoon, I went back downtown to meet Kay at
The 90 – just like all the other Fridays of my life.
Saturday,
as I was coming back from my walk at the Y across the street, the
gates at MP were broken. Actually the “out” gate had been stuck
open for a few days and only
the arm was preventing cars from speeding through that gate,
but now there was a line of cars trying to in though the other gate,
but no cards were working. As always, I tried to be helpful, and I
broke the arm on the “out” gate so that the cars could enter
there. I’m sure it was captured on the security camera, and I’ll
be eligible for a fine now for breaking the arm. But,
I’m not that worried – I don’t believe the cameras work, or if
they do, there’s no film in time, or if those two stars align, I'll
bet no one looks at the film. If I do get fined, they will have a
fight on their hands.
But
not everything was bad this week:
I
have been enjoying watching the Jeopardy
GOAT tournament. Those guys
are really smart! I think it’s going to go on for a few more
weeks, so there’s still a chance that James could overtake Ken for
the championship. He’ll
have to have better luck finding the Daily doubles for that to
happen. I don’t think
Brad will pose a serious challenge to either of the others. They all
seem like just nice guys! I like them all.
I
went to a talk by Stan Deaton about the Constitution. I have to say
I didn’t learn a lot, but I am always interested in his talks.
Barbara
and I tried a new restaurant. I think it’s a chain, but it looked
intriguing. It’s called Toasted, and it specializes
in grilled cheese sandwiches and bourbon. We were there for lunch,
so we passed on the alcohol, and had just soup and sandwiches. It
was OK, but I thought it was expensive for a small sandwich and cup
of soup. I probably will not be back.
My
Publix hosted a Meet the Manager night. I wanted to go because
there’s a lot I love about Publix, and I really do try to let
places know if I find them to have good service, which is important
to me. And while I was there, I got a slice of carrot cake. The
bakery manager told me that it is made from the recipe that the
owner’s grandmother used for decades. That is so cool! Now I’ll
have to pick up a slice every time I go in there – just for Granny.
I
walked early Saturday so that I could watch the Hotspurs game against
Liverpool, but when I turned on my TV, the local channel preempted
the game to show a charity local high school football game. It
hardly mattered, as I knew the Spurs would lose, and they did. Then
I started
to watch the first playoff game. I had a post-holiday party to go
to, and I even had to get dressed up to do that! Allen kept me
informed about the game as the score changed, but it was not that
good. I was home again on time for the second game. What happened?
I’d picked Baltimore to win the Super Bowl, but they lost to the
Titans. The Titans! How did that happen? At the party, which was
hosted by the Victorian Society, I chatted with David
Young, who owns the lovely, huge Victorian mansion on Forsyth Park
that is now up for sale for $2.2 million. He and his wife have lived
there since the 1970s, and they raised their family there. It’s
now just too big and expensive. He very kindly encouraged me to stop
and visit when I’m nearby (I told him that I often park there and
walk to any place I need to go, so that I don’t have to pay the
parking fees) and visit. I doubt that I will, but I wished him good
luck on the move.
I
had to give a tour at BC on Sunday afternoon. I was half done when
the early playoff game began, and I wasn’t that concerned. But at
the end of the tour, when I checked the score I was stunned that
Houston was leading KC by 14-0! And then they scored again! I
should not have been worried, because the final score was really a
Chiefs blow out. I wasn’t able to see the second half, as I’d
been invited to a 70th
birthday party for neighbor John McCann. I am not all that
sympathetic for these young kids, but there was cake involved, so I
went. I watched the Green Bay game, and the outcome was as I’d
predicted. My winners choices this week were far better than last
week – I was only surprised that Baltimore didn’t win. Only
three more games this season. Then what will I do???
