To Sink or Not to Sink

Friends of Myrtle Creek Library have been polled on whether to keep the library open or close it along with the schools and other government businesses that have shut.  Our library is NOT government.  We’re run on volunteers.  Some agree that we should shut.  I don’t know if they are panicked or really seeking precaution – which is probably how we should lean, but some of us are already bored with the feeling of recluse.  There are many individuals who don’t have access to current events other than through the library.  There are still children who like to read books and there are things to learn during their time absent from school.

  

          The gal who does the scheduling has worn herself out.  It would be okay to shut down.  We have a choice.  Patrons have the choice whether to come.  Patrons have the choice of whether to shop or go out and eat.  Unfortunately, many workers do not.  Not if they want to keep their jobs.  Not all businesses are controlled by the government.  Not all businesses take precaution.  Some businesses run like the Titanic.

Topical Press Agency / Stringer / Getty Images,
Wikimedia Commons see here - interesting theories

"Want to know how it feels to be a retail worker during the Coronavirus spread?  Remember when the Titanic was sinking and the band continued to play?" - facebook post

PowerPoint part 3: DST is so Annoying!

       As I was somewhat stressed by the midterm and final of my history class, I decided to get a jump start on the final for my philosophy class (which ended May 26 this year).  I ended up changing the PowerPoint three times however as I was supposed to work fallacies into the document - which I didn't foresee as a problem until I was told I'd have to provide the name for the fallacy.  Oh, Oh ... I thought that might be a problem. 

       So we were supposed to pick a topic and have premises and conclusions for the Pro as well as the Con . . . my original PowerPoint was very one-sided and so I had to redo to include the opposite.  I brought in a fallacy slide which didn't feel like it belonged.  I didn't think I'd receive full credit as it still felt one-sided.  It was hard!  The more research I did, the more biased I was about having to set clocks every six months.  So this was the very first slide that I created:

 

I brought each of these in one at a time as I would discuss them

            "With online universities, it doesn’t matter if the instructor lives in Florida and her students live in 16 other states, lectures at the university I attend happen to start on Mountain Time as they are based out of Utah. Two weeks ago a student signed on five minutes before the lecture ended. This student lives in Arizona and according to her clock, it was 5:00 Mountain Standard Time.  

           "Utah and Arizona are both on Mountain Time. But not all of Arizona observes daylight saving time.  Utah happens to be on daylight time.  This time confusion made her late for class. Though Utah and Arizona are in the same time zone, their clocks are in sync only six months of the year.  Except for certain parts of Arizona.  This pink area observes daylight except for the reservation in this red section. Except for this purple tribe which observes daylight saving time.  There are some places in Arizona which display two clocks as to display each time.  How confusing is that?"

         I have always found that adjusting our clocks every six months extremetly annoying.  Until I'd been given this assignment, I didn't realize how harmful that is as it disturbs our sleep patterns.  There are statistics and proof of studies in which disturbed sleeping pattern may lead to stroke, heart attack, headaches and so forth.  Forget DST being inconvenient (which it is) maintaining proper sleep patterns and thus better health is a great reason to do away with DST.

         The Pro side will also argue that the extra hour of sunlight is good for one's health as it helps with the adrenaline.  I could not find any statistics.

         My initial  PowerPoint included a slide to point out that DST upsets both farmers and travel industries. As with many others, I had grown up believing that DST was an agricultural thing.  Research shows that it farmers were just as opposed to DST as I am - although the only statics given was specifically for dairy farmers

              Have you ever heard that saying about trains always running late or never on time?  After my research, I think I have figured it out.  It's too much cost to change the schedule every six months. Especially when not all states or countries use DST.  Daylight Saving is harmful to airlines as well as the traveler.

           The pro side argues that daylight is better for business - certain businesses maybe.  Like those involved in retail or selling merchandise.  Malls use to be flooded with consumers.  But guess what?  Some malls are a thing of the past (see here).  Over 25 malls across the nation have shut down.  We have entered a new century where online shopping has become a hot item.  What difference does it make where the sun is in the sky when we're online shopping?

             If, with all the technology that has taken place throughout time, someone were to invent a way to actually take that extra hour of sunlight that is supposedly "saved" during DST and apply it to standard (so that children are standing in "daylight" waiting for bus ALL year round especially in the winter) I'd be impressed.  I remember waiting for the bus in the dark.  And you know, we're always going to have the same amount of hours of darkness in the winter and light in the summer regardless of whether those hours fall between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. or 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. - so why not just go with one or the other and leave our clocks where they are and avoid adjusting them every six months?

Good-bye T-Mobile: I Now Have Consumer Cellular!

 

I have had so many problems with T-Mobile the last couple of years, it’s a wonder I haven’t dropped them sooner. I created this post last year and had actually taken it down for two days when I thought that the problem had been resolved – but returned it two days later as there was still miscommunication.  

My brother-in-law had also switched to Consumer Cellular – but was without service for a month.  He blames T-Mobile.  I don’t have all the details, but because of my own experience, I think that sounds pretty accurate. 

I decided that we would just keep our phones and have new SIM cards through Consumer Cellular.  I was pretty distraught to learn that I would still have to call T-Mobile to get the SIM unlocked as we wished to keep our current phone numbers.  I ended up going through four people before I was given instructions and could receive the rest by email.

It really didn’t take as long as they said – well at least for my phone.  I was able to follow the step by step instructions that T-Mobile sent me (surprise) and was able to connect no problems and now I am no longer with T-Mobile.  However Roland’s number is still on the T-mobile plan because they had indicated that the set up will not work at this time but that we can try again in 40 days.  What the flip????

I won’t be billed for Consumer Cellular for at least another month. But thus far I like them like a zillion times better.  And I can’t imagine that I will ever be as upset with them as I am with T-Mobile – though I have had some really professional treatment from some employees – I’ve had to deal with more that seem clueless or don’t have the authority, major buck passers – major run around.  No wonder their mascot is a droid. I am so tired of it.

I think we need to find another way to free up Roland’s SIM before waiting forty days.  Because really, what guarantee do we have that it will work in 40 days?  What a bunch of bogus crap.  I’d like my days of dealing with T-Mobile to be behind me FOREVER!

7 reasons why I like Winco

1.  you don't need a membership card to get in

2. nobody asks for your receipt so that they can check it against the items in your cart on the way out

3. the carts are normal size and you don't have to push the cart clear around the parking lot just to
    get it to your car

4. the prices

5. selection

6. I can still purchase things in bulk if I wish

7. It's clean

Liberty Mutual NEEDS to STOP Calling My Mom

          Mom has been tested for Alzheimer’s at least twice.  We’ve been told that she doesn’t have it. But she does have some form of dementia.  A distorted memory loss.  Some days she’s been there, others she has not.  For the most part it seems she’s been elsewhere – first on exotic vacations and then sharing her childhood and teenage years in San Francisco.   She just didn’t seem to be anywhere today. 

          She was just finishing the dishes when she let me inside.  I greeted her and asked if she had taken her blood.  She had to process the information as she always does when I ask the question.  She said she hadn’t.  I then asked her if she’d eaten breakfast.  She said she had.  And so I told her that we’d have to wait in order to get a proper reading.  She looked at me with childish eyes and confessed that she had forgotten how. 

          She said that she needed to go to the store.  She said that she wanted to purchase some cough drops – a large bag of them.  I took her to Sam’s Club as they sell items in bulk and would have more cough drops offered in their packaging than the regular stores.

          The mail usually doesn’t come until I’m just about to leave – or when I’m pulling out of the driveway.  But today it was early.  Very early.  I guess because of having had off Veteran’s Day yesterday?  What a boatload of mail, too.

          Mom dismissed herself to go to the bathroom, and I hurriedly fingered through the mail and pulled out mail from various charities and Capitol One and set them aside to go through later to make certain it really was all junk.  It was. 

          Corey received five pieces of mail.  I’m certain that two of those could have been trashed as well.  But mom insisted he needed it all and we ended up going to the post office as she’d put it all in a large manila envelope.  Note to self:  make up labels to give to mom so that she can just forward Corey’s mail without having to pay for it.  Even after I show her, she could still forget why she has all these labels with Corey’s name and address.

          We drove passed the school that my sibs and I had all attended.  Mom says, “There is the school that I went to . . . that’s probably the same one that you went to.”

          “Yes.  I went to that school.”  She didn’t.  Not as a student anyway.  It wasn’t even built until 35 years after she was born.

         We were going through Taboo cards trying to get each other to guess the words on our cards.  I explained how to play it a few times. Each time she would answer the phone  I would have to re-explain.  

         One of the calls that she received was from Liberty Mutual.  According to her, they call on a weekly basis.  It is never a human being.  It is always a machine asking to press this number or that number.  Why doesn't she just hang up on them?  What is Liberty Mutual thinking to have a machine call their clients?  How many of those clients are capable of pushing the correct numbered button? 

         Mom showed me her supply that came from Liberty Mutual.  She's set for a while.  They don't need to call every day or every week or every month.  She's good.  Seriously.  She isn't in the right frame of mind or patience to be pushing buttons.

          We finished the puzzle book that she and Kayla had started.  And so we left the house again to purchase some puzzle book replacements. They seem to be helping.

          We had started the third puzzle when I excused myself to return home.  She seemed disappointed.  But expressed gratitude for having had come. I needed that.

          I want my mom back.

That Jacket’s been around for quite some time

          Roland tried his hand at working for U-Haul probably about twelve years ago or so.  He ordered his U-Haul coat and worked for two weeks.  The job didn’t challenge him in any way and he just didn’t want to stay mainly because he felt bored.  He saw no advancement.  But he had paid for his coat, and so he kept it.

          It’s been a great coat.  I think all of us have worn it at one time or another.  It’s got the feel of a jacket, but is warm like a coat.

          But after many years, Roland decided to invest in a more stylish coat.  He got it on sale one year between four and six in the morning on a black Friday.  And it is a nice coat.  Warmer than his U-Haul.  It’s a heavy hyde-skin looking coat. I call it his Indian coat or trapper coat.  He still wears his UHaul for the most part as he  can’t seem to move in the other as freely.  And so he keeps them both.

         Currently the coat resides in Biff's closet.  I don't know why.  I haven't ever seen him wear it since before we moved.  Maybe he doesn't know it's in his closet. I bet Roland doesn't know.

I Bet the Enterprise Crew didn’t Have to put up with the same Malarkey

Actually you can use your own adjective in place of malarkey.  I can actually think of better words, but so as not to offend certain parties, I choose malarkey for the sake of keeping the post clean.

          Long before Jaime Lee Curtis started advertising Activia – she used to act out skits for VoiceStream commercials.  I made my first cell phone purchase through VoiceStream.  My mom and I got two lines – one for each of us – but the plan was (and still is) in my name.

          My phone line was for emergencies.  I bought it for that reason – not to be a camera, not to text (though neither was offered when I initially opened my account) and certainly not to be my primary source of phone use.  I don’t even like the phone

          After a while I started getting what I believed was junk mail from T-Mobile.  Never heard of them.  Wasn’t interested.  I didn’t realize that T-Mobile had bought VoiceStream out.  

          I never had a problem with T-Mobil until quite recently.  A word of advice:  DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH A STORE THAT ISN’T CORPORATE – though it doesn’t seem to matter – bet the run around at corporate is exactly the same.  DON’T ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY – SCREW THE CUSTOMER AS MUCH AS YOU CAN . . .

          I have two accounts.  One plan was for me and my mom.  The other had my husband’s phone which we couldn’t add to my plan – so I had two.  Later on I decided I wanted my mom’s phone going to her house and Roland’s coming to mine.  I was told I couldn’t switch my phone line with one store, but was told I could by another.  I could save money.  HA!  This T-Mobile has been the biggest nightmare ever!!!

          First off they are charging me for a line that I was told would discontinue.  My pre-existing number now shows up on both bills.  I sent a letter to corporate and one in with the bill (which as I predicted would get ignored) and now I’m even more upset about it than I was two months ago. 

          *I did remove this post for a couple of days, but have opted to put it back.*
July 17 update:  FINALLY they removed the extra line.  They took my phone off one bill and placed it on the other.  But instead of saving money (as I was led to believe) I am now paying over 45 dollars more.  I am upset at myself for allowing myself to believe that they were looking out for my best interest.  What a crock!

Speaking of Television . . . or Cable Rather

          As I mentioned in my last post, there have been periods of time that we have had to do without.  The bills are too overwhelming at times.  We lost our first house due to the economy leaving us even more financially scarred.  After the move, Roland and Jenna were limited to DVDs from either the library or our own personal collection.

          We tried doing without the Internet.  But the Internet is required just for finding a job.  It’s an assistant to Jenna’s education.  It was a necessity with Roland’s last job.  And he may be starting Internet courses pretty soon.

          Our period without the Internet did not last for more than two weeks.  Eventually we added cable because it was only 8-10 dollars more.  But basic.  Very basic.  We had only 7 stations (perhaps 18 with all the shopping net works and three Spanish stations; okay seven that were regularly watched) – and lost one of the PBS stations in the process. 

          Our cable company screwed up big time – either that or we had been being cheated for five months.

          A UPS driver came to our door with a package from our carrier.  That was weird.  We specifically told them that we were struggling with payments just for the basic  basic (surely they are wise enough to figure it out with all our late payments and constant calls)  and so Roland calls to see if they upgraded their service and we need all this hook up now.

          The company claims they mailed the package out in November.  November?  Seriously?  It is now being delivered to us in April?  So Roland’s on the phone with at least three different employees – asking questions – plugging in wires – reporting errors and so forth.  (Good thing he LOVES cable – I would have given up and sent the equipment back)

          So this morning, instead of only 7 stations, we now get 40?  Maybe 60?  We also have other features that I don’t believe we are paying for.  On the other hand, I remember the package including certain stations that we weren’t getting before.  But now it just seems like there are more than what we’re paying for.  But then again I haven’t received the most recent bill.  We may actually be getting rid of both cable and internet if the bill is too high.  After all we do need to eat.