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Mar. 28th, 2024
There are always multiple occasions in the running any more. Last year it was the first several-day one, tailing in on my new mobility semi-helplessness and food-poisoning dehydration, peaking in hallucinations, and featuring other miserable low points that I don't even want to call up now enough to convey them in phraseology, to use a term that may've been coined by Mayor Shinn. Not to be confused with President Sheen (also known as Josiah Edward "Jed" Barlet).
I've found some more things that got fried in the power surge(s), and have a few more things to check. It's starting to look like I might meet my homeowner's insurance deductible on this one, since the heater repairs alone took me almost halfway to the almost-$1700, and now I think an electrician visit and a roofing repair may also be involved, and a (minor?) roofing repair. Today the internet guy, who was "guaranteed" to arrive in a two-hour window, came an hour early, while I was still in bed, but was able to do a lot outside by the time I got dressed; the line to the house was broken. Turns out their equipment was fried too. He's working on that now.
The library's wifi hotspot is a bit iffy here. It runs on T-Mobile; dunno if that's part of the issue. It also doesn't hold a charge long, but the instruction say not to leave the charger plugged in when it's fully charged. (I'm guessing patrons may not be complying with that suggestion fully.) Still & all, it's better than only cellular data.
That said, I took out several DVDs to play on (also) the (library's) portable DVD player, although I see now it was due back yesterday, so I need to turn it in & re-up. My in-stock choices at the Pittsfield branch, plus my mood, yielded the following:
The Comcast guy is done! My own internet is restored. I need to spend some hours on the phone with Comcast today, but first am gonna eat something. And then after that call, however it goes, I'm rewarding myself with a trip to the library. Can't believe I actually did grocery shopping last night! I was so tired afterwards, but it is really good to have that done. I'd gotten pretty short on staples.
When my dead friend Bert was alive, I remember having not very sympathetic thoughts about how attached to routine he was, and how flustered he'd be when any little thing was different from the routine. Like having his car in the shop. Multiple times through the day, at the office, he'd update me on where the repair stood. Then if they were done a little early, he couldn't bear to wait until later in the day to go get the vehicle, even if it met extra driving (vs. going on the way home). Even the high level of interest in whether trash & recycling bins were out---which I remember pissing my gf off in a way I (also) didn't relate to--- or, I dunno, there were lots of manifestations.
Dunno if it's sort of a general aging thing for some folks, but, kinda post-COVID but lately in general, I'm kinda with Bert now. Like there's some real satisfaction in things just working as hoped/expected, and days/me being reasonably functional, and there being something to watch on TV.
And so many things are easier than they were in years past. See phone jacks, e.g. Easier but sometimes less sound (e.g., the sound on a phone). Maybe most of all, information is easier to get at.
Being alone now, with so much of coping, can be a challenge. As can knowing how much I'm overburdening friends with sharing about it.
Anyhow, I'm exhaling now more deeply, as regular life is somewhat restored, and the shelter/heat, power, connection and foodstuffs fundamentals are back online. Fire's out, you might say, literally and figuratively.
Oh, P.S., it's Opening Day in Baltimore! And my DVR has it. And I wasn't on the bridge when the boat hit it.
And Spring is coming. Will change this default icon, finally, soon.
I've found some more things that got fried in the power surge(s), and have a few more things to check. It's starting to look like I might meet my homeowner's insurance deductible on this one, since the heater repairs alone took me almost halfway to the almost-$1700, and now I think an electrician visit and a roofing repair may also be involved, and a (minor?) roofing repair. Today the internet guy, who was "guaranteed" to arrive in a two-hour window, came an hour early, while I was still in bed, but was able to do a lot outside by the time I got dressed; the line to the house was broken. Turns out their equipment was fried too. He's working on that now.
The library's wifi hotspot is a bit iffy here. It runs on T-Mobile; dunno if that's part of the issue. It also doesn't hold a charge long, but the instruction say not to leave the charger plugged in when it's fully charged. (I'm guessing patrons may not be complying with that suggestion fully.) Still & all, it's better than only cellular data.
That said, I took out several DVDs to play on (also) the (library's) portable DVD player, although I see now it was due back yesterday, so I need to turn it in & re-up. My in-stock choices at the Pittsfield branch, plus my mood, yielded the following:
- 3 seasons of "The Newsroom", which I've never seen, but which has that guy from "Six Feet Under" who's now on the cheesy but oddly appealing "9-1-1", with Angela Bassett and the sexy-butch Henrietta (Aisha Hands)
- the first season of "Insecure", cuz it's been a while (loved that show)
- something called Potato Dreams of America
- Coco, which I've not seen yet
- Kindergarten Cop, for low-brow lite entertainments, and
- Turner & Hooch, for that too
The Comcast guy is done! My own internet is restored. I need to spend some hours on the phone with Comcast today, but first am gonna eat something. And then after that call, however it goes, I'm rewarding myself with a trip to the library. Can't believe I actually did grocery shopping last night! I was so tired afterwards, but it is really good to have that done. I'd gotten pretty short on staples.
When my dead friend Bert was alive, I remember having not very sympathetic thoughts about how attached to routine he was, and how flustered he'd be when any little thing was different from the routine. Like having his car in the shop. Multiple times through the day, at the office, he'd update me on where the repair stood. Then if they were done a little early, he couldn't bear to wait until later in the day to go get the vehicle, even if it met extra driving (vs. going on the way home). Even the high level of interest in whether trash & recycling bins were out---which I remember pissing my gf off in a way I (also) didn't relate to--- or, I dunno, there were lots of manifestations.
Dunno if it's sort of a general aging thing for some folks, but, kinda post-COVID but lately in general, I'm kinda with Bert now. Like there's some real satisfaction in things just working as hoped/expected, and days/me being reasonably functional, and there being something to watch on TV.
And so many things are easier than they were in years past. See phone jacks, e.g. Easier but sometimes less sound (e.g., the sound on a phone). Maybe most of all, information is easier to get at.
Being alone now, with so much of coping, can be a challenge. As can knowing how much I'm overburdening friends with sharing about it.
Anyhow, I'm exhaling now more deeply, as regular life is somewhat restored, and the shelter/heat, power, connection and foodstuffs fundamentals are back online. Fire's out, you might say, literally and figuratively.
Oh, P.S., it's Opening Day in Baltimore! And my DVR has it. And I wasn't on the bridge when the boat hit it.
And Spring is coming. Will change this default icon, finally, soon.