Cell Phone Replacement Hell

It took a bit over 2 hours today to acquire new iPhones!  Various issues:

• Our salesperson, Kristina, was helpful and unfailingly diligent and friendly while we struggled....but, I don't think she was 100% on it.  She certainly was ready to jump on a nearby Mac and call up help files on various topics, but eventually had to bring in another person to help.
• We had to disentangle our two Apple ID's and their presence on our phones or in the software.  
• I wanted to quit using my "sethed@comcast.net" Apple ID and use "us5466@yahoo.com"...but that turns out to not so easy to do.  One can easily create several Apple ID's, but uh-oh you're in deep shit if you want get rid of one of them.  You might crash your iCloud data, or lose all your music in iTunes, etc.  Eventually they figured out a work around, but I have to do it on my own in a few days after the dust has settled on setting up the new phones on sethed ID.
• Kristina volunteered to back up our old phones to iCloud so we could then transfer the contents to the new phones.  When I tried to buy more space on iCloud it bounced the transaction due to out of date credit card.  So, I updated the credit card info and then we had room in iCloud to back up.
• Catch 22 -  it turns out backing up via the Apple Store wi-fi is very slow.  Like 45 minutes slow!  after a while I asked Kristina if I should have done the iCloud backup thing at home and she conceded that might have been better.  eventually, after a couple of hiccups that I can't really describe well, we got both phones backed up.
• And then the transfer to the new phones went smoothly and only took about 5 - 10 minutes.
• We had asked to buy the phones "unlocked" so we would not be bound to Verizon for years.  Instead Kristina was going to install Verizon sim cards and "we can activate them from here"!  She spoke too soon.   However, there is a Verizon store in U Village so we went over there and they slam dunked it in about 5 minutes.   The main issue at Apple had been they for some reason they were sure they could do it even though I told them I had no clue what my "pin" was for my Verizon account.   Wrong again!

Anyway, now we have new phones that have "4G LTE" and that will work in Canada we go up there next week.

Summertime

Spate of hot weather.  85 or so today and looks to be that way all week.  It's not even August and it already feels like we have had a long summer.  I'm afraid of what our water bill is going to be.

Yaris - going to Lauren

Meeting Lauren tomorrow to transfer the Yaris into her name.   It's been a good car and we did buy it for her when she came back from Germany after her Jr. year.  

Goodbye to Milo

We had to bid goodbye today to one of our cat friends, Milo.  He was a feisty little black and white guy with beautiful eyes.  He showed up in our yard one day in 2004 and moved himself in.  In spite of our dog Sachi, who was not particularly friendly, and our cat Sprite who was definitely the alpha cat.  Sprite and Milo had several fights and "My My", despite being smaller, never backed down.   He was quite proud of the scars and torn up ears that denoted his flyweight battler status. 

Sometime in the first year or so of Milo adopting us we discovered he belonged to a deaf neighbor who lived down the street.  She came to the door with a handwritten note asking about a cat so I showed her Milo.  We learned he was "Feta" and she took him home.  A few days later Milo was back in our house!  Turns out he had the good sense to leave a person who went on to be embroiled in crazy neighbor disputes with the people on both sides of her house.

Lauren became Milo's favorite human when she was around and he moved with her to Portland while she worked at M Financial after graduating from Lewis & Clark.  When her travels took her to Germany and to grad school in DC Milo moved back to our house.  He always had a warm spot for Lauren when  she visited.  This past Christmas Lauren stayed in our house for a couple of days and Mr. Milo took up residence in her bed.

Milo leaves behind his fellow cat travelers, Sammy and Ralph, and some sad people who will miss him.   April 1, 2001 to July 21, 2018.

Trip to Whidbey Island

Monday, July 16 we went to Whidbey to scout out the future scene of Lauren's wedding.  Took the ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton.  Grabbed fish & chips for lunch, we split one order, while at the ferry loading zone.Such a lovely summer day we could stand outside on the ferry deck in shirt sleeves!  Mt. Baker was looming large and white to the north.  Drove into Langley and parked to walk around.  The town has grown a bit and become a nice tourist destination with various shops, restaurants, etc.  There's a beach on Saratoga Passage and lovely views from a number of spots in town, which sits on a bluff above the water.   Found a little coffee place for cheesecake and coffee.  Then drove around the area scouting out a couple of vacation rental houses that Kathy has researched.  Eventually drove out a few miles to the Roaming Radish, an event venue that Lauren has picked for her wedding.  Nice location out in the woods and I'm sure it will be special occasion.

News from Jim

He called tonight to tell me he has a cancerous tonsil.  Apparently it's an early stage.  He's going to have surgery to excise it on August 6th at UCSF in San Francisco (he thinks).  He seemed okay and not too distressed.   Quick Google searching seems to indicate 5 year survival rate is 85% for cancers caught early and if you're white.

Sunday, July 15, 2019

93 degrees today; a record high.  we are having a fine summer. 

Random bits:

I'm not eating sugar.  My waist at largest circumference was 41 inches!  No ice cream, no cookies, etc.  Been walking almost every day around Green Lake or the equivalent.

Lauren & Sean have moved into a rental house at 67th & Dayton, and seem to be very thrilled about it.  This weekend they are off to Calgary Stampede and to meet up with Sean's pals.

They got engaged in March while on a trip to Kauai!   Wedding date will be August 17, 2019 on Whidbey Island.   Kathy and I are driving up tomorrow to visit the venue and scout around the area for housing opportunities for visitors to the big event.

July 26 we drive to Kelowna for a few days.  We'll meet both of Sean's parents.  They have been separated for a long time, but live in the same area.  Sean & Lauren will fly up for a couple of days; both are too busy at work to take a long trip.

August 25 we go to Bay Area for five days.  Kathy will be hanging out for a couple of days with Kate Duckworth.  After all these years of no contact, the ice may have been broken by Kate's need for a confidant as she trys to deal with Geri's situation.  Geri has liver issues, after years of a being a drunk, and now family members are grappling with being mad at her and at the same time sad about the situation.  I will go to Yountville and hang out with Jim at the Veterans Home.  Kathy will join us there.

January 23, 2018

How do months go by so quickly?    Rainy and cool today.  Went to Yoga at Eight Limbs on Phinney and then snacked at Celine Patisserie next door.

Scheduled for two Mohs procedures tomorrow morning at V. Mason at 7:20.  One on edge of right nostril and the other on top edge of left ear.  Oh joy.  While the surgeries are done under local and are not traumatic in a major sense they nevertheless are tedious.  The anesthetic shots hurt, plus they contain epinephrine which causes me to feel anxious.  I cope with that, but just thinking of it now makes me anxious.  After the Mohs procedures I have to wait until 2 pm to see a plastic surgeon to close up the wounds.   In the meantime I wander the halls of V Mason with bloody bandages on my head.  Should make an interesting scene when I go to the lunchroom, although perhaps I should spare the public.

We are off to Del Mar and Palm Springs two weeks from tomorrow so that's something to look forward to.  We are seeking sunshine and palm trees in Southern California instead of Maui this spring, and also to explore a bit regarding "snow birding" in future years.  So Cal is only 2 1/2 hours by air instead of the 6 it takes to Maui, and I think or hope anyway, that we can find some lodging choices that are not as costly as Hawaii.  We could also on future trips drive down to avoid rental car expense and perhaps even bring along Sammy or some other pet.  Would be nice to figure out a plan that got us out of the NW for about two months each winter.  We'll see.

Hawaii is on our calendar for September so we're not giving that up entirely.  Water temp that time of year is better than in Feb/March.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Fall glory:  some sunshine, clear air, blue skies with clouds, Mt Rainer in clear view as we crossed 520.

Kitchen appliance shopping, went to Sears in Bellevue to look at Kenmore.  Sears seem tired and defeated; a retail colossus once now on the verge of oblivion.  The way of the world...all becomes new.

Went by Lowell and Carol house to wish them Happy Thanksgiving and to give them a baby short to take to Luca in the Bay Area when they go.  We will be off to Tulsa.  Good friends with whom we have spent some Thanksgiving holidays.

Too much time on Facebook chasing down friends of old in Tulsa and San Francisco.  Used to be that you drifted apart and gradually people faded out of your life.  Now it's possible to see their photos, find where they live, etc.   Sort of fun to research and discover, but how can you move forward and change if you never have to leave anything, anyone behind?  Like, people on Facebook with 800+ friends; no way they can actually keep up and be really involved with that many people.

Friday, November 17, 2017

Long day at the VA Hospital as a volunteer "NaVAgator".  I wait near the main entry and as people enter I help them find where they are going in a large complex of buildings with inconsistent room/floor numbering and different elevator banks.  Most of the folks are struggling with health issues, many of them mobility impaired.

Off to Tulsa in a few days.  I've set up a get together with my cousin, Bobby Jack (goes by "BJ" these days) to reminisce about our family when we were boys.  He's 4 years older than me.  Should be interesting.

Ughhh...Christmas presents.  Stresses me out.

Ongoing problem:  I don't have a job so why is it so hard to get stuff on my personal "to do" list done?  Ring me up with the answer, please.