Category: The DayBook

After yesterday, being locked inside due to the rain – I decided to walk the three miles down to the asylum for lunch. I was underwhelmed by my previous meal in “my” dining room. Today’s meal was perfectly fine. The soup was excellant. The roll soft, warm and wheaty. The salmon was not overcooked. Carlton would have complained that the broccoli wasn’t cooked enough – so I liked it fine. The carrots – were carrots. I also had cherry pie. Not as good a my cherry pie. But since I have no intention of ever making a cherry pie again – it was a fine slice of cherry pie.

The old bat cave is going to be a tchotchke-free zone. Things are heading out. But, first… if anyone wants anyone any of these – email me – and the first one who emails a request gets it. I’ll mail them. Anywhere in the US. Love flat rate boxes. Take one. Take’m all. Or be smart and let them go to the Goodwill.

These will be heading down to the Goodwill.

Note to everyone who doesn’t have a presidential library: This is what is going to happen to all your stuff one day. It’s just stuff. One step away from the Goodwill.

Yes, Carlton – I am taking care of the sword, the bolt and the steam engine. After I go – well, no promises…

 

It rained all day – as promised. I had several tasks that kept me busy enough.

First – get snail internet running again. It died last night. My router is old. My modem is antique. I dug up my modem manual – stashed in evernote. They had instructions for setting up the internet using “Microsoft’s Latest System – Windows 98”! The modem must be over 15 years old. The router is  younger – about 10 years old. And why might you ask do I have this old internet setup… If you knew Carlton, you know why. Why haven’t I replaced it? The asylum provides wifi to all the apartments in the building. If I don’t like the wifi service – I’ll get cable internet.

So, early this morning, I strapped on the headlights and went to work. The router is toast. Not going to buy a new wifi router for 3 months max. So, I reset the modem to get it out of bridge mode, round up a 25 foot LAN cable and it worked. Blue wire snaking around the living room is better than hotspotting via the iPad’s cellular connection.

Speaking of cellular – converting to Project Fi – from T-Mobile next week. Not exactly leaving T-Mobile since Project Fi uses their network.

Second. Spent the afternoon running tax numbers. The asylum, since it caters to rich people is awash in tax breaks. Not that I am tax-break rich. I am getting the second cheapest apartment in the joint. Following the old real estate rule “Buy the cheapest house in the bestest neighborhood”. But, if you put a tax break in front of me – I am smart enough to take advantage of it. Limousine Liberal.

PS – love that headlight. Every old person should have one.

Lots of weddings for Mr C and Me. Glad that everyone can have an computer full of these memories now. Thank you America.

PS – Carlton would have loved this week in America. Sorry you missed it, Carlton.

Carlton and his washboard – the Yosemite Stradivarius. For now, I still have his washboards. Don’t imagine I’ll keep them. He didn’t ask me to take care of them. And, I don’t imagine they are of any value. So, off to the Goodwill they will go. If you want them (I have two, a big brass one and small tin one) speak up. Well, actually email up.

And why didn’t I start to try shooting lightning years ago. Not just now that I am getting ready to move. After I move, I’ll have to shoot thru the window. But, maybe the screen will slide out of the way and I can shoot out the window. We’ll see what next summer in the old bat cave yields.

Speaking of the old bat cave. The deed it done. I am now an official non-resident resident of Goodwin House at Bailey’s Crossroads. Yup, it is filled to the gunnels with old people. People with walkers. People with failing memories. People with caregivers. People who play bingo. I will go from being the oldest person in the building to being one of the youngest. Not the youngest. There are a few who are younger than I am.

FYI – Goodwin House is a “tertiary care facility” If you are healthy and mentally OK – they let you in. Then they take care of you. It is sort of a combination rental apartment and good long term care insurance policy. Most people are there because they don’t want to “be a burden to the kids” or because they have no kids to burden. Most of the residents of my place are “rich, old, white, liberals from Arlington”. The building is literally just inches away from liberal Arlington, the parking garage is in Arlington. But, the building – and hence our voting residence – is in way too conservative Fairfax. This is a big deal to every politically active person. Which is just about everyone in this area.

Ten summers of lounging around the rooftop pool. But, not more. And since Mr C. had terminal skin cancer – it might be a good thing. My pool lounging will be limited to winter time in Kona.

Yesterday I got a really funny email from Tech Support…

Peggy,

The option to open an encounter is a separate window has not worked since it was introduced.  It has not been worked on or corrected because no one has used it.  However, it is being looked at now.

Please continue testing and let me know if you have questions.
Thanks,

What I am missing here? The option doesn’t work. It has never worked. But, they haven’t fixed it because no one uses it.

Going to go down to the asylum tomorrow and give them a big check. Then I am their problem. And, I’ll have to get serious about relocating.

I wasn’t very enthused about moving to the asylum. That is an understatement. I am entirely too young to move to an old folks home. But, it will be good to have this done. Old age is scary. Especially scary when you are alone. By this time tomorrow I will have done all that I can do – short of marrying a younger doctor or nurse. And, that’s not happening.

Hot today. Almost 100 degrees expected tomorrow. That is hot. (That is about 38C to my non-US friends.) Thankful for A/C. And, the ice maker.

Just a normal summer day. Walked to and from work. That provides almost enough exercise to make the Fitbit happy. Do a little yoga. Go out on a Bee Hunt. Bee hunt yields a nice flower and a strange beetle-like thing. But no bees.

It will be interesting to see what happens with South Carolina and the Confederate Battle Flag. Would it be OK to fly a swastika? It think not.

Just a nice lazy day. No Energizer Bunny activities. No widow-woman-weekend-meltdown. Back-to-back lazy days.

Good news. I figured out what was “wrong” with the Airness. When all else fails RTFM. I failed to turn FireVault off before trying to repair my disk structure. Everything is good now. No need to do an emergency clean install. Of course it is still reporting that it has 140.83 TB available. But, this is apparently just a “cosmetic” issue.

Did some paperwork/tax research/organizing to get ready for my “commitment” down at the asylum this coming Wednesday. I am considering the asylum as a good long term care insurance policy with a nice hotel suite thrown in for lagniappe.

Is lagniappe a French word? Or just a Cajun word?

My origami dog looks more like the late great Aibo.

I wish Aibo hadn’t been put down. I could get into a robot pet.

Will work more on the origami dogs. This dog will be converted into a cup of coffee tomorrow morning.

Getting an elderly – but strange – computer ready to go to where ever old computers go. Starting wiping the disk and went out… Fortunately the FBI didn’t raid my apartment while this was running.

Anyone want a 7 year old Fujitsu u810? I can not imagine why you would want it. It runs XP. But I used to play around with various versions of Linux. I’ll mail it to anyone who wants it. Otherwise – it goes off to goodwill next weekend.

Then – I’ll decide what to do with my ever so much more useful Lenovo.

The Airness is acting a little “wonky”. I am going to take it down to see the “geniuses” on Monday. I think it needs to have a clean install of OS X. I am just sort of lazy – clean install wise. I could convince myself that if I am going to clean install – maybe I should get a new Airness???

Got a letter from the asylum:

I am pleased to inform you that we have received all relevant medical information and the findings from the social and medical assessment indicate that you meet the conditions of occupancy … Should your physical condition change between now and your scheduled move, please contact ….

I told you it was like trying to get into a country club, or a NYC Coop.

So, all I have to do is stay well and mentally fit until Wednesday afternoon. Then they own my sorry old bat ass.

On a serious note. I am an unabashed atheist. But, I was powerfully impressed by the family members of those massacred at Emanuel AME Church. Rarely, if ever, have I seen such a demonstration of faith in action. Most of us find it difficult to forgive a perceived insult. These people found a way to forgive the killing of beloved family members. May they all find the peace and comfort that they so richly deserve.

After yesterday’s technology issues, and logging a personal best on the Fitbit running around – I welcome the weekend. Hopefully, I’ll avoid a widow-woman-weekend meltdown.

The weather guy just now calls for t-storms tomorrow afternoon followed by 2-3 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Bill. Getting better on Sunday. Over 95 degrees for the upcoming week. Thankful for air conditioning.

Well Carlton, one of your old lady friends called this afternoon. She wondered why she hadn’t heard from you.  I told her that you are waiting for your next gig as a “first patient” at Georgetown. You’ll love all the attention.

Good:  The “new improved” old bat cave is perfectly fine. It has a tiny living room and a tiny bedroom. A big closet. A bathroom that is old school sized. Which is to say the sink, john and shower take up all the space. That is ok. A little closet. And a very modest kitchen. The three windows face east. I can still see the Washington Monument, and the Capital. Plus, I can see the National Cathedral and the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception again. Can not see south or west any more. Just east.

They will take down the wall – so I’ll end up with a single 23 by 15 foot room. With the bath, kitchen, and closets taking up the rest of the 590 sq ft. And, I’ll get a dishwasher. I’ll pass on the washer/dryer. Don’t want to give up the space. I can use the common washer and dryer. I am not much interested in the kitchen. My real cooking days are over. I might make a small pot of soup, I make salads, and baked potato, do things with eggs, and saute a little of this and a little of that. That is about the end of my cooking these days. Oh yes, and oatmeal.

I will pay for this hummer next week and move in in 3 months.

Sunspots: As I was trying to leave the office today – one of those things that sometimes happens with computer systems happened. It never happened before. Hopefully, it will never happen again. A record was unexplainably “jumbled”. I am sure it happened at about 10:55AM. So what? I was trying to leave to make my 1:30 appointment to see the old bat cave. I didn’t get out until 12:30. Our system “help desk” – had some mushy explanation. I understand they have to come up with some answer. I am going to say that it was due to “Sunspots”. Old computer hacks know that you can not fix a bug that you can not recreate. Sunspots.

Sad: What can I say about the killings in Charleston? What can anyone say? Evil. Pure evil.

The asylum called. I passed the mental exam. Silly people. They have no idea that they have let the original cage rattler into the asylum. And, it seems that due to residents moving to the next level – a more gracious unit has become available. It is 600 sq feet on the 11th floor with a “lovely city view”. Well, the view will not be as lovely as my current view is… but it will be better than 347 sq feet on the 7th floor with a “lovely grocery store parking lot view.”

This unit is in its original 1985 condition – so, renovations will be in order if I decide that it is my final destination. The new option costs more, but still way less than I am paying now. Not to mention the weekly maid and linen service, plus one meal a day. Inspection tour of the unit tomorrow.

Emptied the Airness’s trash can. Restarted the Airness. And checked the available disk space.

Apparently this is a rather common harmless “known issue” with OS X. I could use 140 terabytes. I’d never have to cull photos again. And, that might not be a good thing.