The Ladies from New York got a new TV for the younger’s room. I stopped by there after work on Friday and got it set up for them. Only took a few minutes – took longer to unbox than to set up – and they appreciated that I stopped by.
Friday evening I got a text from one of my friends. He sent it to multiple people and it came through as a multimedia message – which my dumb phone couldn’t handle. So, the message was blank. That was the last straw for me and I decided to upgrade to a smart phone. (It wasn’t the only reason, but it was the latest reason). I went to my local Verizon wireless dealer with a phone in mind and some features on my list.
The guy that was helping me didn’t use the words “Bro” or “Dude”, but I could tell he reeeeeeeally wanted to. He did, however, drop the F-Bomb. This was in reference to another customer that called in and talked to the other guy in the store – which turned out to be “bro’s” manager. Now, I really don’t care about swearing and couldn’t care less what he said – I just wanted a phone and then on with my life. I suspect that others might not have welcomed his overly casual approach, though. He was doing the full-on sales job, until he found out what I did for a living. He said, “Oh, you probably know more about this than I do,”
I don’t – at least, not about cell phones – but I was fine with letting him think so. We got the phone picked out (Galaxy S 3 – the one I wanted was discontinued) and went through the setup. At the end, he showed me the log-in process for his system and asked my professional opinion about why they made him do a 3 step log-in instead of a card swipe. I explained that overhead for the physical card system – plus the dangers of having the card stolen and mis-used – would be cost prohibitive. That made sense to him and I was finally on my way. A really odd buying experience, but mostly painless. Oh, and one of the databases was Access. I mean, really?
In that same plaza is a Great Clips and I decided that I needed to get my haircut. They were having a special – and I knew this from the person in a gorilla costume standing out front with a sign. There were also notes all over the mirrors and on the walls. While I was getting my haircut – and in front of a so marked mirror – I jokingly asked how much the haircut was. The stylist – totally serious – told me the price. I explained that I knew that and that the gorilla had told me. She said it was her son in that costume – which made me once again glad I have the job that I do.
A fresh haircut and I was on my way home. I played with the phone for a bit, but the day was too nice to spend inside.
1. Mowed, raked, and trimmed the yard.
2. Took down my compost barrier
3. Swept and organized the garage.
4. Washed my car.
I got cleaned up and met up with friends to go to dinner. We didn’t know if the restaurant had call ahead seating, but I used my new phone and found the number – and called. Worked perfectly. Finally felt like one of the “cool kids” with my phone.
After dinner we played some card games until it got late. I crashed pretty hard, the day had been a long one.
On Sunday, I went into work for about 3 hours. We’ve got a time sensitive project that was approaching a deadline and since it was raining, I figured I’d give it a little of my time. After I got done, went and bought some patio furniture. I wanted chairs that were reasonably comfortable, but not so comfortable as to encourage people to stay too long.
Sunday evening I worked on some origami flowers for one of my colleagues. Her husband passed away a few weeks ago and I thought some flowers might brighten her Monday. While I was working on them at the kitchen table, Thunder(cat) curled up in the other chair. I was barefoot and I stretched out my foot to rest on his chair.
This proved to be a mistake. Teeth and claws dug in and I resisted the urge to pull away since that would make it worse. I scolded him until he let go and I wisely did not attempt that again. He’s less of a pet and more like a really fun and dangerous room-mate. And not a very mature room-mate either – last night he climbed up onto my bed and farted next to my head – then jumped down again. Nice. Thank you, Thunder(cat).
Little furry bastard.
So, that was my action packed weekend.