Post a bad thing that happened in your life today

[Betty LaRue]

12 minutes ago, Michael Ventura said:

 

Oh boy, I don't envy you and Echo, Betty.  We are getting just a mild taste of what you are getting.  We had snow flurries this morning and thermometer has been dropping with every passing hour but I think we bottom out at a 8F (-13C) tonight.   Hopefully no outages here, the winds have been quite strong.  I have done all my shopping and have plenty of food on had so no need to go anywhere.  Enjoy that coffee!  Might go for a cup of tea now.

My television finally came back on. Yay! Weird, that. I called my provider & told them the looong outage was not acceptable. I talked with a guy with a heavy accent, and of course I’ve said before I don’t understand accents well. At that point, I was told again they had fixed it & the problem was at my end. Funny thing, that’s what they said yesterday. I disconnected stuff, reconnected stuff & messed with it for 4 hours yesterday before the provider said oops, it was on their end. This morning I got a message the outage was fixed again, but I still had no service. I did all the rebooting, unplugging replugging again before I called them.

The provider guy I could barely understand told me it would be 5 days before they sent someone. I'm alone for Christmas & the one thing I was looking forward to was the college football bowl games. I missed the Army/Baylor game last night. When he told me 5 days, I was in tears. Frustrated beyond words after two days of trying to get it fixed on my end so I just hung up on him. And no, I didn’t cuss him out although I was tempted!

I periodically turned the tv on and then off to check. Finally mid-morning, I turned it on & it worked. So da**it, it WAS on their end! 😡😡

It’s hard sometimes being a senior woman alone that people enjoy either browbeating or dismissing, & I’m not one to talk nasty to people. After all, I guess the provider thinks a service I pay $200 a month for isn’t worth keeping employees to work over holidays.

Rant over. 😁

[NYCat]

So far so good. I did two cat visits and PT during only light rain. Then while I was safely inside doing PT there was a ten minute wild hailstorm. I was very grateful not to be in it. Managed to get a bus quickly and went to the bank and grocery store. The wind had picked up so I gave up on the umbrella. Now I'm home and flurries have started. I have to do the two cat visits again and I'll try to start them early. I haven't been wearing boots because of my bad foot but I've pulled out two pair of soft ones so I can try those. The temperature is falling and they say it will be about 23F by the time I get home. I'm lucky to have good heat but I will pull out my little electric heater in case I need to supplement it in the morning when I have to go out again early.

 

Paulette

Edited December 23, 2022 by NYCat

[Betty LaRue]

1 hour ago, NYCat said:

So far so good. I did two cat visits and PT during only light rain. Then while I was safely inside doing PT there was a ten minute wild hailstorm. I was very grateful not to be in it. Managed to get a bus quickly and went to the bank and grocery store. The wind had picked up so I gave up on the umbrella. Now I'm home and flurries have started. I have to do the two cat visits again and I'll try to start them early. I haven't been wearing boots because of my bad foot but I've pulled out two pair of soft ones so I can try those. The temperature is falling and they say it will be about 23F by the time I get home. I'm lucky to have good heat but I will pull out my little electric heater in case I need to supplement it in the morning when I have to go out again early.

 

Paulette

Happy you are managing, Paulette. I need to get an electric heater for Echo’s room just for cold spells like this. It was not needed last winter, but the winter before when we had the extended cold snap, I could have used one.

How is your ailing cat?

[Bryan]

Stay safe folks, hopefully the worst of the weather will pass in a few days. 

 

When we had frost and snow last week, it miraculously disappeared overnight, washed away by heavy, but warm, rain, 

 

We've got an energy price crisis in the UK,. Largely due to the Ukraine war, gas prices have soared and with them the cost of electricity, as some of our electricity is generated using gas.  We appear to have a strange pricing agreement that seems to tie the electricity price to the cost of the most expensive provider. Our cheapest electric comes from wind and solar power, but those providers are making a lot of money due to these contractual agreements.  Some people are having to choose between heating and eating. 

 

Chez Bryan we've isolated part of the house and only heat some of the rooms, our bedrooms are never heated. 

[NYCat]

2 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Happy you are managing, Paulette. I need to get an electric heater for Echo’s room just for cold spells like this. It was not needed last winter, but the winter before when we had the extended cold snap, I could have used one.

How is your ailing cat?

 

My old kitty Possum is cuddled up to me right now. He was having a bit of a crisis this morning and I was thinking... oh no... not at Christmas when everyone is closed!!! It turned out he just needed to manage a decent poop. He had been creating these tiny pieces but finally got a proper evacuation. Poor thing. He was yowling about it for a long time.

 

I'm finished for the day and it went quite well except that a bad wind picked up and I was very grateful that I got my bus home because I didn't want to try to walk in the wind. I have a big down coat that is wonderfully warm but the wind catches it and I feel like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz". I realized I needed some chemical hand warmers and I have found a big package of them tucked away in my closet. I hope they still work. I must have bought them in 2018 for my Falklands trip.

 

Paulette

[Mr Standfast]

A quick survey from Bristol City Centre:

 

People Coughing :  Many

People wearing masks : None

Men wearing shorts in December : 4

 

That conclude this public information post.

 

Merry Christmas 😄

[Betty LaRue]

Deleted

Edited December 24, 2022 by Betty LaRue

[Ed Rooney]

This is more a good thing that didn't happen. I bought a 24" Samsung smart TV for myself at Christmas. It was an inch too big to carry easily and I pulled a muscle in my back carrying it home. I've tried doing the setup over and over, but it will not accept my WiFi password. I've checked with 3, my provider. They checked that my password is right.

 

 

When the digital world works, it's amazingly helpful. When it doesn't, it's an expensive nightmare. 

 

Poor Edo 😪

Edited December 29, 2022 by Ed Rooney

[Jansos]

On 29/12/2022 at 12:15, Ed Rooney said:

This is more a good thing that didn't happen. I bought a 24" Samsung smart TV for myself at Christmas. It was an inch too big to carry easily and I pulled a muscle in my back carrying it home. I've tried doing the setup over and over, but it will not accept my WiFi password. I've checked with 3, my provider. They checked that my password is right.

 

 

When the digital world works, it's amazingly helpful. When it doesn't, it's an expensive nightmare. 

 

Poor Edo 😪

Have you checked the keyboard mapping on your input device? It may be set to another language and you are entering wrong characters by mistake?

[Betty LaRue]

You need my son-in-law, Edo. He’s my go-to whenever I can’t figure things out. I often ask him if he wants me to kiss his feet. He’s brilliant at figuring out what’s amiss.

[Mr Standfast]

29 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

You need my son-in-law, Edo. He’s my go-to whenever I can’t figure things out. I often ask him if he wants me to kiss his feet. He’s brilliant at figuring out what’s amiss.

 

 

My dad's solution was a black and white TV with two channels and a little boy to walk across the living room to change the channel occaisionally. Mind you that was 60 years ago,,,

[sb photos]

43 minutes ago, Mr Standfast said:

 

 

My dad's solution was a black and white TV with two channels and a little boy to walk across the living room to change the channel occaisionally. Mind you that was 60 years ago,,,

My father went through a variety of B&W and colour TV’s and changed channels himself with the aid of a long bamboo cane with a rubber pad on one end. It was reasonably easy to line it up with the tuners push button, push, and the station was changed. No remotes available then.

[Ed Rooney]

 

Jansos, everything is set as English with UK as the location. My Apple stuff -- M1 MacBook Air, iPod, and iPhone were bought here and are working on the 3 WiFi. 

[John Mitchell]

I'm just a dumb guy with a dumb TV, Edo, but I found a website that may or may not have some helpful info. They do mention Samsung.

[Bryan]

On 29/12/2022 at 12:15, Ed Rooney said:

This is more a good thing that didn't happen. I bought a 24" Samsung smart TV for myself at Christmas. It was an inch too big to carry easily and I pulled a muscle in my back carrying it home. I've tried doing the setup over and over, but it will not accept my WiFi password. I've checked with 3, my provider. They checked that my password is right.

 

 

When the digital world works, it's amazingly helpful. When it doesn't, it's an expensive nightmare. 

 

Poor Edo 😪

 

Sorry to read that Edo, a big disappointment ! 

 

I share your inability to bring life to our donated smart TV  ! In your case perhaps you can refer back to the shop?

[Ed Rooney]

John, Bryan and all,

 

Am I the only one who views this endless list of maybes a totally insane way to turn on a TV I bought and paid for? The many blog gurus have been telling me that list of stuff. Fascinating. But I just want to turn this TV on. They call it a 'smart TV' but it's not smart enough to turn on. 

[Bryan]

36 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

John, Bryan and all,

 

Am I the only one who views this endless list of maybes a totally insane way to turn on a TV I bought and paid for? The many blog gurus have been telling me that list of stuff. Fascinating. But I just want to turn this TV on. They call it a 'smart TV' but it's not smart enough to turn on. 

 

Way out of my depth here Edo, but I have been able to successfully connect to other digital gear, e.g. radio,  by pressing a button on the router, but, like everything else I tried, that didn't work with my smart TV.   Our other, semi smart, TV is connected to both the WIFI router - hard wired - and to the ether via an aerial, and it all works very well.   These new bits of kit are too clever by half, I would happily connect it to my router with a length of wire, but it appears to lack a suitable plughole.

[MDM]

Do you really need a TV Edo? Most stuff you can stream nowadays and with a TV licence you can stream a lot of live TV. Maybe bring it back and get an external monitor for one of those Macs.

Edited December 30, 2022 by MDM

[Ed Rooney]

 

Sounds like a possible alternative, Michael. Do I have to balance myself on one toe to turn on a monitor? 

 

I have just one Mac now, the M1 MacBook Air. I love it! I'm giving myself another 10 days to try to turn this sucker on. Then I'll ask John Lewis to come and get it. 

[sooth]

.

Edited October 19, 2023 by sooth

[Ognyan Yosifov]

27 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Sounds like a possible alternative, Michael. Do I have to balance myself on one toe to turn on a monitor? 

 

I have just one Mac now, the M1 MacBook Air. I love it! I'm giving myself another 10 days to try to turn this sucker on. Then I'll ask John Lewis to come and get it. 

Edo, if you try to connect the TV wireless and your router is a dual band one, you need to split the signal into 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels - one for the TV and one for the rest of your devices. Just ask your internet provider to assist you with this. It could help.

[Ed Rooney]

 

Thanks, fellows for the advice from Bulgaria and my old neighbourhood in Lower Manhattan. I'm not going to respond to every suggestion. I'll just say that I'm doing the best I can. Thanks.  🤪

[Bryan]

We were due to head off to our elder son's place to help him decorate his new to him house, and to celebrate the new year, but we received a very wheezy call to say that  he was ill with flu like symptoms, so we won't be making the trip. Hopefully he'll be ok as he is as fit as a lop, and fully jabbed, but we need to reschedule new year's eve.

 

There is a laser show on at Newcastle quayside but that would involve venturing out after dark into the cold, so I'll probably settle for a whisky, or pommeau in her case, and a piece of home made Xmas cake by the (gas) fire and retire well before midnight ! I'll raise my glass to other stay at home souls on new year's eve.

 

 

[Betty LaRue]

13 minutes ago, Bryan said:

We were due to head off to our elder son's place to help him decorate his new to him house, and to celebrate the new year, but we received a very wheezy call to say that  he was ill with flu like symptoms, so we won't be making the trip. Hopefully he'll be ok as he is as fit as a lop, and fully jabbed, but we need to reschedule new year's eve.

 

There is a laser show on at Newcastle quayside but that would involve venturing out after dark into the cold, so I'll probably settle for a whisky, or pommeau in her case, and a piece of home made Xmas cake by the (gas) fire and retire well before midnight ! I'll raise my glass to other stay at home souls on new year's eve.

 

 

I remember the years I donned a festive dress, & hubs & I were off to a dance to celebrate the New Year. These dances were a “bring your own bottle” affair because selling alcoholic drinks was against the law in Oklahoma. So we brought a bottle, also brought soft drinks to mix with it. My limit was 3 over a 4 hour period, but I was known to stop suddenly in the middle of the third drink. My criteria was the second I felt a bit swimmy in my head, I was done for the night.

One year the private club we went to dance held a Luau. I had never been to one. People wore Hawaiian type flowered clothing if they wanted. There was a huge food spread laid out and Mai Tais were fixed in a large bowl that had a fountain. I had never had that drink before, made with several luscious fruit juices, some of them tropical.

I had not eaten a bite all day, so as to look nice in my outfit and to save the calories for the food there. When we got there, the Mai Tai fountain was pointed out. I got a plastic throw-away glass and filled it from the fountain flow. I literally could not taste the rum, so assumed it was very sparsely used. I never thought about it at the time, but the Elks club we belonged to was serving an alcoholic drink, illegally, for that one occasion.

Being so hungry, I practically gulped the delicious drink. The food tables had not opened yet. There we sat at a long table filled with friends, laughing & talking. Drink # 2 was also practically gulped, then I fetched drink #3. Halfway through it, I was nearly sliding under the table. It hit me like a truck because I drank them so fast on an empty stomach. That's what happens to someone not used to having adult beverages.

Soon as the food tables opened & I ate, I sobered up quickly and learned to only sip Mai Tais, no matter how delicious.

[Ed Rooney]

17 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

I'm just a dumb guy with a dumb TV, Edo, but I found a website that may or may not have some helpful info. They do mention Samsung.

 

John, I followed the steps in the website you sent me . . . and lo and behold -- I have turned this smart TV on. I'm pretty sure I did these steps a few days ago but maybe not. 

 

Thank you so much. And thank you all. 

 

This technology remains a series of hateful mysteries to me but I will try to remain calm. I haven't been this angry since my friends Ronnie and Harvey died from dementia in NYC and I started that fight in the Subway.

 

Edo from the 20th century