Broken screen Blues

I really don't know how to convey the seriousness of this issue as far as the screen of this tablet that I've been using to do my dictation both on my blog and the letters that I write each month. But a few minutes ago I was trying to retrieve my tablet which had fallen on the floor and it was still plugged into the wall where it been charging all night and all day and the cord was still plugged in as I said, and I was trying to pull it up with one hand slow enough that the cord wouldn't come undone. I don't know what I did though because all the sudden I ended up slamming the tablet and sure enough it hit the floor in the screen kind of shattered. When I say shatter it didn't like fall apart or anything it just became covered with many spider web type cracks which I think is pretty common for tablets. This ends the streak with this tablet however the longest I've ever had a device like this and not totally shredded the screen somewhere along the line and I've dropped it significant amount of times and even roll over it once or twice inadvertently. But now it's a shattered screen but of course still works and since I don't really use this tablet for anything else but updating my blogs and other pieces of writing like the kid letters I think I'll be okay for however long it takes to replace this piece of equipment. Actually I think I've already talked about it but I actually have through a friend of mine who provided me two tablets actually one of Apple One like this one but they're very old but new so they work pretty good. He works with us state of Utah program that provides technology for people with disabilities and these are a couple of old devices that he's had for some time. He's got new devices that he's given out to folks that really need it but he gave it to me I gave them to me the two pieces that I can certainly work with until I have to get a new tablet or that I want to get a new tablet that's more powerful and has more space on it. This tablet I'm using right now keeps flashing me signs indicating that all of my space is almost used up and if I don't do anything quickly I'm going to lose the stuff I just written or dictated. So I'm not totally distraught that I've destroyed or at least marred the screen of this device. I'll get it taken care of one way or the other.

This is not the update I was going to write tonight but it seemed appropriate All Things Considered. Probably I was going to write something about Halloween and all the things going on in and around this building for the event. I of course I'm not really for taking any of this kind of stuff tonight I'm hunkered down and plan to turn on the television to watch the local professional basketball team choke once more. The season has been going now for a couple of days and we've already lost three games. I've always professed that I don't care for sports and games like this but you know what maybe I'm getting more mellow as I get older I don't know but all I know is that we seem to choke a lot …

Password Assword

 Have I ever mentioned how much I hate passwords and the fact that everything on the internet that you look at that you have established yourself as an entity with has to have a password to be accessed. For some reason this just terrifies me and I'm surprised at how much I've allowed myself to be compromised into developing the password then using it all the time and then freaking out when I can't remember it. I'm currently trying to find my password for Consumer Cellular which I run my cell phone through. Sad as it is I don't remember what my password is to get into this account and more importantly to get into the account so I can listen to my phone messages. I haven't gotten years without listening to phone messages just because I can't remember my password. Earlier this summer I actually set up a password and now I can't remember it. I used it so few times that I never really memorized the silly thing. I'm currently trying to reestablish my password and you have to go through this weirdly threatening procedure through the consumer cellular network where they ask if you want to create another password. When you do this they send you a text message of some sort that allows you to go into their system and develop a password. When this happens I swear I'm going to write the word down so this won't happen again and for some reason I never am able to find the the password I developed and had written down so this would never happen again.

Sometimes this method works but most the time it does not and luckily Consumer Cellular also publishes an 888 number that I suppose I could call eventually and have them assign me a new password. I really feel this is something I should be able to do myself and not have to be so freaked out about having to set up a new password because the second I know that I set up a good password I lose track of the password and I'm back to square one. The last couple of passwords have used information from the Marvel Universe I'm trying to develop a password from the superhero standpoint. Something cool and Unforgettable that's what I'd like to use but sadly the second that I do it seems that I lose the password or at least the ability to use it. I'm not one of those points right now where I've got to figure out how to use my saved phone messages so I can get back to the people that need to get a hold of me. Today for example I was strapped to my arm bike working out but my phone rang but I could not get to it in time and it gave the little signal that whoever had called had left a voice message. It was a call from my medical clinic and I suppose it was trying to get some confirmation that I would be to a medical appointment coming up in the next week or so. But they just like to hear the client affirm there attendance. I had not gotten anybody by the end of the work day today so I'll try again tomorrow at least to find when the appointment is and which doctor it's with. Before I trapse all the way down to the hospital/ doctors offices I want to spend some time. Hopefully the doctor's office will call again as we get closer to the supposed time of the visit. But I just want to be able to have access to this stored messages file so I feel like I'm on top of things. And halfway confident about things in the internet…

A cool and rainy day

 I was so glad to finally get to my apartment complex, to push through the gate then through the parking lot up to the back door, I did roll up to the front of the building just to check things out to see if I'm missing anything I was not so I ended up going back to the apartment going inside and then just feeling the heat from the apartment it was nice. I like the heat from the heater that I purchased a few years ago but I leave going by the television station where I watch my Netflix another piece of entertainment. But what I really like on a day when it's cold and wet like today is when the bus picks you up and you roll into the moving sanctuary of heat that the drivers maintain. I know I complain about the drivers having the bus too cold in early spring as well as through the rest of the summer but they make up for that inconvenience of chelliness by having the heat on full blast. It's just really cozy to be on the bus and I sort of hate leaving it when I have to but I make a fast Dash for my gate when I get off at the apartment complex.

My little backup chair did good today. I cannot say I really enjoy the ride and the fact that it really sits me up straight and puts a lot of pressure on my isshiels and driving my chair any distance at all is very squirrely. When you stop your Forward Motion the chair continues to move quite a ways one has to be careful not to crash into other people as well as other pieces of property as well as traffic. Took me forever to get undressed last night and actually I was surprised that I was able to get dressed this morning as quickly as I did. I was able to get through the bus and get to the library hang out there for a while then over to my assist meeting. So it was a pretty functional day and mind you all this was happening while it was raining outside maybe not very hard but uncomfortably wet and uncomfortably cool. I wore one of the shirts that I purchased which is really too small which wore me out all day trying to keep it pulled down over my belly but I also wore one of my big giant hoodies that was kind of a mistake I didn't know what else to wear but I did good and finally had Jennifer at the assist Office zip me up for my return trip which is much nicer than my trip in as far as closing the hood goes. I was able to do my 1 hour workout though not as efficiently as I usually do but I was able to do it no I'm just at the end of my day finishing a few things my dictation being one of them. I watched the Jazz lose again tonight as much as I could take finally I turned the volume on the big screen down and then with the aid of my tablet was able to print the letters for the envelopes which I should and probably will stuff tomorrow for the mail out on Halloween day after tomorrow. I am totally pleased that I am now done with the most strenuous part of my week- - that I am aware of now. They brought the power chair back tonight from the wheelchair shop. They fixed a couple things on it which will get me through until they have to take it again and then I'll be in this chair again for a day. I suppose that's As Good As It Gets for a Tuesday with raining clouds…

Backup chair Blues

 The wheelchair shop picked up my power chair tonight. Tomorrow they'll go over it and see what needs to be done and I assume will contact my provider to make sure everything's covered. They do this you know they won't even lift a finger to fix the chair until they figure they're going to get paid. This used to really frustrate me a lot but I've gotten used to it. Hopefully they'll bring the chair back tomorrow evening. I've sat in this chair all day since my shower this morning and I had my caregiver switch out the chairs it's been a bit of a challenge but I've made it through the day the question now is will I make it through the night? Remember I almost had to call 911 earlier in last week. This was when my foot fell between the football and the bed getting up. So I've got a challenge of a bed sometimes the back works sometimes it doesn't and it's a bit of a challenge getting into the other chair this chair should be a real hoot to get into in the morning. The arm of the chair doesn't go down like the other one does this one goes straight up I don't know what that's going to do as far as my transfer. I shouldn't be so worried because I've gotten by with this chair before and now supposedly they've built up the footbox so supposedly my foot should be even more secure. I think the big challenge is going to be I'm going to be able to dress myself in this chair? I've had to lean the chair back a couple of time to cut the weight off of my rear end I can feel it getting more sensitive Plus whatever is wrong with the side of my foot bunion or callus or whatever it is I've been near sweating all day actually I have been sweating. I used to think it was so weird that people will spinal cord injuries often sweat when they get a challenge to their body one way or the other. I noticed when my butt is in peril or I'm sitting cattywampus in my chair and causing my spine to twist that nowadays I sweat not big bunches of gallons like I've seen some pair of sweat but just a damp uncomfortable moisture which tends to swell around my neck and head underneath the hat I'm wearing. It makes me wish I could see my old spinal cord friends and tell them I understand now why they would perspire when there was a wrinkle in there shorts are pants when they sitting in their chair or their shoes are too tight or something else which might cause the sweating but they would sweat and now so do I. Mainly just because my feet get very uncomfortable or that I'm sitting straighter in my chair this chair the backup chair that I do in my other chair where it looks like I'm laying down in the chair most of the time. Getting by in this life is nothing but a trade-off I figured.

I tried to print but the envelopes today and of course I was out of ink or the ink had dried up or something I don't know what all I know is that when my caregiver and I were trying to print envelopes this morning before we started my shower the printer wouldn't work and I'm pretty positive is because the ink is dried up since I used it last granted there probably wasn't a whole lot of ink in there to begin with. I think I've done two or three mail-outs which is very intensive as far as printing the envelopes as well as the documents. I was going to roll over to Walmart which would necessitate me crossing the street and they just wasn't enough to doing that in this power chair just yet anyway. I just don't know how well the batteries will respond. So in that vein I had my caregiver pack one of the many cloth bags that I have kicking around the apartment. I found one just right to carry the charger in. I I'm taking the charger with me tomorrow in this Canvas Bag hanging on the back of my chair. Tomorrow I must go over to assist for my meeting. I may have them unpack the charger while I'm at the meeting didn't charge my battery just a little bit. I shouldn't have much problem I don't think I'm pretty sure I can go a couple miles and then if I catch the bus outside my back door and go into the switch over place and then into the bus station and straight back to the apartment after the meeting I should be okay worst case I snagged somebody to push me the rest of the way to the apartment when the batteries cop out unless I can figure out a place to charge them on my way home and have the patience to wait until I get strong enough charge to get to the apartment …

Sunday Joys

 What a perfectly marvelous day I can't believe how well it I feel right this second- - I must be suffering from a second wind because I should be dead tired right now. I work this morning way early I don't know why I couldn't get back to sleep. I was quite tired when I first got up I finally got up at six something am. I would have been up a lot earlier had not I had a foot malfunction transferring into my chair my foot went between the chair and the bed and it took me at least 20 minutes to get myself free I was really frightened that I might have to call Marc Anthony or 911 the fire department or whoever can come over and pull my leg up. I'm still totally amazed that I was able to free myself by myself it only cost me time and some stress. I may have finally finished breaking the lift on the head portion of the bed maybe I can get it working tonight I don't know but it's felt like a big crash this morning I was able to make the transfer thank goodness after I got my foot back on the bed. So anything after that was a win today. A great event however was that after breakfast Jackson and Jasmine and me went over to the Burlington and actually did some shopping and I got three shirts sweater and shirts well sweater and a hoodie and a shirt I'm so excited I can't believe it they're big and they'll fit me and they'll let me have a little bit of styling. Jasmine is great at shopping and she takes the time to dress me and undress me and it works out really well trying on the clothes and whatever. Following that event I really was too tired to go out to the movies like I sort of wanted to. I just sort of dozed off and on this afternoon and finally watched a couple movies. After the news I watched a couple of Gray's Anatomy but I think I'm finally getting satiated on Gray's. I'm about 10 shows into the second season and I think I'm about had enough. I might drop in every once in awhile for another segment but overall I'm done with grace for a while anyway. Now I'm just in the process of printing envelopes for the mail out. Of course the first one I tried I got a paper jam that's what you get for using old envelopes I guess. I've got to go in there and open it up and pull out the offending envelope. So aside from that the day's been pretty good instead of making anything I ended up eating the last of the hot dog I got from Costco that Marcia picked up for me it was just about right. I might have some more of the vegetables but I didn't want to eat too much after the breakfast which was eggs and Ash corned beef hash which is pretty good but like I said I don't want to stuff myself still want to make it through the night without pooping in bed but I'm feeling pretty confident that I'll be okay until tomorrow. I got the apartment pretty hot tonight just because I felt like it was fall the day was cloudy all day but no rain or anything yet that starts tomorrow afternoon of course and we'll go through my trip into Salt Lake for assist. Of course it'll be raining on Tuesday. No I just talked to dictate a few more letters and then I'll be ready to either clean out the printer tonight or maybe wait till tomorrow and have Melissa help me.

Letters in Christmas cards

 I don't know what I was thinking but I was quite shocked this afternoon when I realized that next week was the first of the month and I had better get busy crafting my letters or I'm going to miss getting them out so the kids will get there letters in the first week of November. I don't know if it's because the end of the month or the first of the month is like in the middle of the week or what but for some reason I didn't register it that this month was coming to an end as quickly as it is. So, rather than doing anything else today after I gone to coffee with Janet as well as shopping for a few things for the weekend oh yeah and cutting my hair I've been working on the kid letters. You seem to be going well this month maybe it's just because it's Seasons changing, going back to regular time and of course Thanksgiving. I've got 3/4 of the letters written now. Just a couple more and then printing out the envelopes and Staffing I should be done for November. I'm still writing Diane's mother every month. She's becoming more and more frail and I don't know if she's very cognizant as far as even getting the letters but I seem to get feedback from Diane and she hears from her family who is with her mom that mom still enjoys the letters so I will continue to write until there's not a reason to. It's a small thing meant a lot to my mom I know that before she died and it's something that's easy to do once you get into the framework of writing on a regular basis. It's funny that with texting the whole concept of writing it seems to be going down the tubes- I mean physical writing like sitting down paper and pencil/ pen. I suppose being able to dictate the letter onto electronic tablets as I do hopefully that counts as much as a handwritten document. I swear that if I had to do a handwritten document no one would be able to understand or read the letters. I mean I shared before about I can't even hand address letters anymore because when I do all the letters come back to me. It's taking me two or three Christmases to realize this when I was still sending out Christmas cards there's nothing worse than sending out 10 cards and getting eight back as undeliverable. I think some of those cards were deliverable and the guy sorting just took the easy way out and send it back but I certainly got the message and I suppose if I really wanted to send the cards out I could figure out a way to dictate the printed document and possibly most important maybe print the addresses on peel off labels and just print the labels and apply them to the Christmas cards. Huh that may not be a bad idea. Maybe I'll go through the process one more year and see how that comes out if I can figure out how to print the labels. I've done it before another project so I know it's doable with this printer I just have to make sure I've got labels now I still have to figure out what to do for the message inside the card. Maybe it doesn't really matter if the people can read the message or not as long as I saw my name and they know that I tried to send them a Christmas card. We'll see more to come

Gamers Remorse

 I don't know what I was thinking. Hell, I guess I'm an incurable romantic at least that's what I think I need to designate myself as. I see these things that would be great to do and great to enjoy and then get myself involved and all the sudden I feel trapped and left wondering how stupid I am. The case in point this time is my new found appreciation and somewhat enjoyment of watching the local professional basketball team lose and sometimes win their games on National Television. We've just begin a new basketball season and first game was the other night we lost of course. The local team chokes very well. Now, we have this like television room upstairs of the third floor which is very nice. The entire time I've been here it's been used just a few times and I've used it a couple times. It's cozy it's small but can fit a fairly large number of people if you needed to. There's a large screen television there when TV screens were not so large and if they were it was something and this was a real nice little theater room at the time. Now however with flat screens everywhere and you get huge ones at a minimal cost the theater room reeks of old technology but it's now begin to be used again. And in my romantic mind I was thinking the other night while watching the local team lose this would be sort of fun to do in the big screen Theater room and open it up to anybody in the building who would like to come in and watch the local team play. We can even have a couple of pizzas sent in and make it a real enjoyable time. Then like the idiot I am, I bring this up at the coffee group on Thursday and all sudden everybody seems interested. Quite frankly my bit surprised and get the first hinges are twinges of you didn't really think this through did you? No I did not!

Since the possibility of a building-wide/group activity was only brought up once I don't know how significantly these other old folks are going to remember tonight when the local Utah Jazz tips off the ball for their second real game of the season. Quietly I could just roam the Halls today and hope that nobody remembers but what if somebody does and wants to know if we're still doing the function at the game room. I don't know what to say. What's the protocols? If it's your idea can you leave the event early especially if the team's losing? If it's your idea do you not show up to such an event and everyone's going to ask well as his idea how come he's not here? Not that I guess it makes a big difference one way or the other it's just some of the things I wodrry about and have remorse about seems like all the time …

Dogpile

Have you ever been the target of older brothers and sisters or friends that for one reason or another they feel it's appropriate and humorous and just plain fun to cause a dog pile with you at the bottom? That seemed to happen to me a lot growing up one way or the other and I hated being at the bottom of the dog pile Not only was it somewhat confining and therefore terrifying to me I couldn't move I couldn't breathe it was also somewhat humiliating but everybody seemed to enjoy it and I basically went along with the crowd that certainly didn't want to bring them down. I've tried as an adult stay away from that kind of behavior. But it still happens and it happened so quickly that I barely even recognize I was part of that issue issue and it's not as lethal and Cutthroat as what happens when you're a kid but it still happens. It happened today as a matter of fact

It's Thursday that's when we have what we call the coffee social it's a place where we always have coffee available Thursday mornings from 9:30 on and residents that are apartment complex can come and visit and socialize. The coffee group is kind of fun. One of the individuals, a really nice lady who is currently the person that facilitates the function just happened to mention at the end of the meeting that she was heading out to Costco and did she need  anything picked up at Costco?  It was pathetic like a group of vultures meeting over carrying in the jungle plains of Africa. It seemed like everybody needed something from Costco particularly the gigantic pumpkin pies. We decided we would get one pie and divide it up. My own weakness was asking her to pick up a couple of the $1.50 hot dogs which I think is one of the best deals still in the universe. I think I've even written about it in this blog somewhere. I didn't even care if I didn't get the drink but automatically comes with this hot dog deal. I figured if I got two dogs it would get me through the next two days dinner wise. I almost considered ordering a pizza but they pretty much talked me out of it because the only two pizzas that Costco offers are pepperoni or cheese but the price is fantastic no question about that. However I'll just wait and order Domino's whenever I get a hankering for the flat round pies. My guilt wasn't too bad at that point in time it's only been after I've had time to think about what I asked the senior person to do on my behalf that my guilt became more and more Sharp. Interestingly the person lives in the same apartment that my friend Billy lived in a number of years ago. She was the person that when she told me she was going out to the market or to Costco or someplace like that I asked her to get me a watermelon and then added that get me a righteous watermelon. Of course I meant righteous meaning a nice good round tasty sweet watermelon. Poor Billy thought it was a brand name of watermelon and she must have gone to five or six different markets trying to find a righteous watermelon and came back and reported that sadly she was not able to find any. She died a few years after that I've never really gotten over my guilt and humor of the situation.

I just noticed that Marsha just pulled in and I will go out and see if I can help her carry things into the apartment and claim my two dogs. She did not seem to be worse for wear and when I apologized she basically told me not to worry but I still have to think that it must have been a heavy request for someone that old to me everybody's pick up boy for the afternoon… 

Big Mac Filetaffish..

 

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Quarter Pounder french fry , you'll probably recognize that as part of the jingle of the McDonald's commercial and number of years ago. I memorized the jingle and I still like to spout it off every once in awhile. But tonight the Quarter Pounders totally Under Fire because of some health issues experienced by some McDonald's at franchise's here in the state and a number of surrounding states sounds like they got a hold of some bad lettuce or something and caused a lot of illness some of it pretty serious. So the quarter pounder and a couple of the other hamburgers been taking off the menu for the time being until they get to the bottom of what pathogens came from what and what is making people sick it's kind of a shame. I still think, for me, the Best Buy at McDonald's is the cheapest Burger they have the cheeseburger which now is not be coming so cheap anymore. I like to get extra onions extra relish extra pickles all of these things add greatly to the flavor of the little Burger I think it's still under two bucks which I guess is a deal in the Burgerville or any fast food places these days. My apartment sits a couple blocks from one McDonald's and six or seven blocks from another if you don't have your own transportation it's not an easy roll to these places. I'd probably wait for the bus which should really make me have to have some other reason to begin that area besides the McDonald's it's just a few of me taking a bus that far. The closest thing I had to fast food is a little joint across the street it's an Arctic Circle and their burgers are just cardboard hardly any flavor at all which is really too bad. I've even asked them to dress it up like I do my McDonald's burgers but they try to make the burger more appealing but it just doesn't work so I ditched the convenience of that joint and we'll wait till I get to a burger that I really enjoy before I have a burger. In the same area that the McDonald's just south of my place about five blocks is another little hamburger joint it's really really good. Their burgers are fantastic think they're called Five Guys Burgers or something like that. Their hamburgers are everything and hamburgers should be hot, juicy and Incredibly flavorful they're the kind of burgers that I order and sneak into the movies across the block and enjoy all through the movie. Well actually it doesn't last long when I start woofing on the burger. I know you all want to hear that bit of the commercial that I memorized so many years ago. So just for you here it goes” Big Mac filet of fish Quarter Pounder french fries icy Coke thick Shake Sunday and apple pies” I don't know why I think this jingle is so cool that I've kept it in my memory all these years I just like it's Cadence and it's rhyming and the fact that sheds a little light on all the good things McDonald's has to offer Lexus…,

Backup, back

 

This is an image of my backup chair. Yes you read right, I have a backup chair. I may have written about this before I don't really remember and I'm too lazy to go in and do a search to see if I have any specific references to my backup chair possibly when I send it in for repair I may have written something but I haven't checked it out that's that's right that off to my laziness. Anyway, this backup chair has been gone for about a month. I broke off one of the lights/ lamps on the chair plus I needed the foot box larger so my feet will not slide out when I try to transfer from the bed to the chair. The chair still needs batteries but that's another issue that I'm somewhat getting taken care of. I'm debating whether to get brand new batteries which would be $200 or use batteries which would be $150 a piece. I mean as a backup chair do I need to have fully charged batteries when I am only going to use it two or three times a year maybe as opposed to being able to get around just use batteries? I had been somewhat reluctant to get batteries because I thought I might have to get new batteries for my regular show main chair but now it seems like I might be able to get that covered by my insurance that's being looked into. I'm not eligible for a new chair till 2026! So I'm sure the insurance company will go for the batteries. So I can take this possible money and use it for the batteries for the backup chair. Now I'm having to wrestle with the question of repairing the high low bed that I use to get in and out of my power chair. That cost again will be about $450. But good friend Kent who works at the place where I got my backup chair serviced indicated that I should be able to get a new bed for free through my insurance. I have course didn't know anything about that because I've never read what or how Insurance works. It seems like a no-brainer if insurance will cover the cost of a new bed entirely. I have a hard time giving up this bed however I think because d i a n n e got it for me right after my stenosis operation when she knew I was never coming back to the marriage bed again. In fact today the Molina rep was at the apartment complex for a special luncheon- - which I did not attend because I was just getting back from my trip to Salt Lake for my assist meeting- - or I guess the Molina people were talking about insurance coverage. Kent was able to talk to this person and wants me to visit with her to see what they can do as far as my insurance goes. That's all so strange I hardly ever do anything with insurance when it's the time to change it all seems so foreign to me. I'm happy with what I've got why shake up the bridge I think I messed up that metaphor. So now that I've had a chance to think about it why not get it brand new bed, high low that meets all my needs and perhaps even a new mattress. I've had this one almost 10 years now maybe it's time for a change…

Possible solutions

 Everything seems to kind of working out but of course it's way too early to say one way or the other but today I was focused on trying to fix my hospital bed. When I consulted my journal I found out for sure that indeed I had lost the same piece of equipment less than 6 months ago around the 24th of July. In those warm/hot chaotic summer days I did a lot of research found the serial number of this bed and started calling around to find out how much and when and where it would take to repair the bed that had Brokenness motor that raises the head up which I desperately need to do a safe transfer when getting up in the mornings as well as sleeping comfortably through the night. I found that raising the bed up a little bit the head of the bed allows me much better sleep. I also remembered that I talked or spoken with two different individual/groups that possibly repair this kind of product. It was all somewhat complicated but it got done I don't remember the procedure costing nearly $500 but I suppose it did that's what they said they found my records. I don't want to have to purchase another $500 piece of equipment to once again put on this bed but I don't know what I'm going to have to do. So in the meantime I did make contact with the company and they're going to send somebody out, a technician, to ascertain the problem and to see if there's anything it can be done. I had quite a lengthy discussion with one of the Reps who said that the part I'm going to need is not under warranty even though I had purchased the piece over just 6 months ago. This doesn't seem fair to me but I could tell there is no wiggle room to speak of. The only Ray of Hope if there was a ray of Hope was that he indicated the technician might be able to figure out a way to keep that part that somewhat shattered into functionality. Cuz remember even though the motor seems to be broken it's still well lift my upper torso up a little bit maybe all of it but I don't want to push the part. It will push high enough that I can sleep on my side the way I usually do. And if that's the case maybe it'll cost a lot less. Now you might remember, I am also so much stressed out with the fact that the power chair I'm in now seems to be falling apart. I had called my wheelchair shop last Friday but the person I needed was going to be out of the office until today. I need batteries, big giant wheelchair batteries the size of a car battery pretty much the same thing except that these batteries are deep cycle and somewhat contained in rubber housing making it fairly safe. Well the wheelchair shop got back with me this afternoon and it seems like they will pick up my chair next Thursday and if nothing else replace the batteries but I have a whole bunch of other stuff that needs to be looked at on the chair. What they will do is I understand it on Thursday will be to pretty much look at all the problems I asserted and then make contact with the wheelchair company to see if they will cover it in my insurance Etc. I assume they will and the guy that I spoke with seemed real gun hold that they were going to replace the batteries. I guess they should have been replaced a couple years ago. If that's the case it will not cost me anything for the new wheelchair batteries and I guess the $400 I would have paid for the new batteries with be eaten up by the cost of the bed repair. I hit like hell dumping another $400 into this bed but I guess that's the price of doing business. I guess I should just bite the bullet and do it. There's a number of different ways I could pull this rabbit out of the Hat with not only my regular bank account, the 1500 I have saved up in a couple accounts otherwise other places and even I can put it on my charge card if I felt comfortable enough to charge it. I'm trying not to do any credit at all if I can get away with it. So I think I'm going to be able to get all these things done and still come out of it fairly solvent and sometimes that's the best a person can do..

Simply Sunday

I know I sound terribly cliche but I have to admit that I was shocked when I saw the day of the month. The 20th so this month is 2/3 is gone. I know the next 10 days will go relatively quick as well. The crochet is: time is moving just way too quickly that's how I feel. No I just have to be productive for the rest of the month to feel somewhat accomplished. I've done my movies pretty much but there's a couple new titles coming that I might be interested in seeing that should be nice to get out of the apartment. It's been quite cool the last couple of days otherwise and so warm up is predicted a couple of days of nice warm weather with no clouds. Days that I can get out and do some things maybe. I've got a number of things I must do this next week one of which being is to get my bed repaired the other being getting batteries on my chair. I am somewhat relieved that my other chair should be coming back from the shop sometime this week. It's not totally repaired but I think it would work in a pinch if I were to run out of power in this chair until I can get this chair charged again. Of course I need new batteries as well. So between my power chair, my electric bed and my teeth I could be a Pauper very easily. If not actually I could be in the mountain of debt which should be just almost as bad I guess but I've gone over this a bunch of times it's just the way things are. The mere fact that I'm even writing about it means it's waxing heavily on me that I wish I didn't have to deal with.

I haven't done much today at all except for going to breakfast with my kids this morning not really was and has been the high point of my day. So if nothing else I should claim that as a major positive in the positive side of my ledger. I was up early struggled a little bit to get up but I made it and I was there by 8:00 a.m. which was pretty accomplished for me. I didn't drink as much fluid today as I should have and again that worries me out a little bit too but I'm not too bad I don't think but I could just be telling myself that. What was really somewhat interesting if not relieving this morning while we were finishing our discussion and slash breakfast I was getting my wallet from my bag and all the sudden my granddaughter said she was going to pay for breakfast and she did! Usually I'm the one that pays for the breakfast for everybody and I'm surprised this has been noticed and pleased. It wasn't much only around 40 bucks for the four of us but it's just the concept that she wanted to do it and she did do it and I realized that no matter what I said she was going to do it so I graciously stepped back and let her get up and go pay the bill. It's not a big deal and I really kind of appreciate the kids let me buy them breakfast every morning on Sunday but still it's just nice to be appreciated that way from time to time.. 

Trip to Costco

 I stayed up way too late last night texting folks which is something I rarely ever do but somehow last night seemed to be a good night for making contact with folks which is sort of cool but it was almost 1:30 a.m. when I finally turned the light off and turned over to go to sleep and that's fairly good news because remember that one thing on my bed broke and of course that's not going to be a big issue getting to bed cuz that's all gravity down but getting up that was another issue. Surprisingly, I really had little issue at all getting up and it was like 6:00 a.m. so I really didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked to have. But I've sort of gotten through the day okay without much issue thank goodness. And I don't know why though I didn't really use it cuz I'm afraid it's going to get in a weird position and that won't be able to undo it but when I'm laid into bed that motor that is supposed to be broken Dash Dash and I think it is- - seems to work a little bit and begins to raise up the head of the bed but like I said I don't want to get to dependent on this and have it break on me in a dreadful position that really will make getting in and out of bed difficult if not impossible. So I slept all night without raising up the top of the bed. I slept pretty decent though I would have liked to have raised the top a little bit more than I could have. And I certainly gotten condition to lifting the top of the bed up. The foot part seems to work okay but I don't really use it that much.

The rest of the day was pretty much taken up with traveling. I've been craving salted nuts for the last couple days since I ran out of the package that I purchased a couple weeks ago over at Costco. The trip to Costco from my apartment is like significant amount of distance away but not really when you consider that all I have to do is get to the bus stop then the bus pretty much takes me over to where I need to go with some rolling involved. I wasn't sure how well the batteries were but hold up but I charged them all night as usual. Today was cold compared to what it has been. A northern Breeze was blowing and I'm still not really climatized to the cooler weather yet so it felt chilly and a little uncomfortable I actually wore a muffler around my neck which kind of kept my neck warm nothing that's what I needed most of all that and a long sleeves with my shirt t-shirt. I enjoyed my time at Costco looking at all the different things I could get but really didn't have a way of getting them back with me so I would have to just get what I could carry as usual. However I did run into a person that lives at my apartment complex and I should have Twisted her arm to wait around for me to let her drive a bunch of stuff home but I didn't dare do that. I got what I wanted which was tamales and salted nuts and that's good enough. I have to be careful that I don't over buy my freezer which it's easy to do I guess. I was even worried about where I was going to stash the extra tamales but I got home got them in the freezer and I'm set for the next couple weeks anyway. I did get home without an incident except for I started losing power in my batteries at least according to the meter on my chair. So I spent an hour or so charging my chair while I did my arm bike and other things I could do while sitting and I think I'll be good for the rest of the day and I don't have to do really a lot of rolling tomorrow- - hopefully:-)

Money Woes

I've been trying not to get panicked all day which has been fairly effective All Things Considered. After another crack of the bed this morning and having Melissa check underneath the bed to look all through the bed she found that once again the motor and mechanism that raises the top part of the bed has again cracked and broke so I no longer have the convenience of the top part of the bed which Rises up. Like I said this should be freaking me out but I've gotten kind of used to it because it's happened a couple of other times and at least I know I can make the transfer though it's a little spooky. We'll have to see how well I do tomorrow. This morning I actually got the bed to rise a little bit enough to transfer now I'll just have to see how well I can do it build up some muscle that I can make the transfer with and not freak out so much. I spent part of the day trying to find my records on how I fixed the bed the last time all I know is it cost me it seems pretty close to 4 or $500 which I just don't have right now. I mean I have it but I've got other things I need to spend it on and or just keep it for safe keeping. Of course this comes right on the end of thinking I may have to get another set of batteries for the power chair I'm using which could be up to $400 for new batteries and maybe $300 for used. I was totally freaked out when I didn't even remember that I went through this on the 24th of July of this year! Melissa totally remembered the situation and it happened the same way that cracking sound and breaking of the motor and then me having to replace everything and having somebody local who was able to fix it. So the bed, batteries for the chair and another thing I can't really remember what the cost was or what the item is but it seems like it was around 4 or $500 too. Each one of these things could seriously set me back to poverty Maybe- - like I said I can survive this if I really had to with the money I have in savings and such and maybe that's what it's for and I have to learn to let go of this kind of stuff and use the resources what resources are for. I just got to figure out something to do with this bed and why it's breaking on me every 5 or 6 months that doesn't seem fair or right. Actually regarding the batteries I do have a phone call into Cameron at the wheelchair shop to see if this chair I'm in would fall under the premise of having the company provide more batteries. A little sketchy thinking wise on this concept because it seems like they do are supposed to replace batteries on the chair they sell for the lifetime of the chair but I don't know for sure and of course today Cameron wasn't in the office and won't be until Monday and so I've got things on hold until then wheelchair battery wise. If I can get this taken care of then I can devote more money to the bed.

Speaking of chairs that have been needed repairs and such. Kent called me this morning was going to bring over the chair today that he's been working on the repair of the lights and possible foot box. Long story short he wasn't able to make it today or actually he could have made it but I wasn't ready to have it back to be honest with you. I've got to really find another place to store the backup chair. But I do need to have a backup chair that's evident but I just got to find one that works for me and has a decent foot box everything's comes back down to the fact that I need to fix the power bed..

Sweet Swifter

 I just purchased a new Swifter! It was just too easy and the device should be here this afternoon. I'll be surprised if that really happens and I'll report on that if that indeed does I plugged my power chair in last night was a little concerned but went on good faith. As soon as I plugged in the machine the little blinking light that's on the front of the charger turned Amber which it is supposed to do after blinking three or four times it became a constant Amber glow. I read for 45 minutes then turn the light off and got situated in the bed the way that I like and then turned on my side to see if the amber light was still showing which it was which gave me some feeling of Hope. I didn't drive the charger to wear I could see it from my space in bed easily. I had to actually lift myself up and then stretch a little bit then I was able to see the amber light. Bodily I slept till 5:30 a.m. which is a great feat for me. That means I will be fairly awake for the rest of the day. And sure enough when I looked at the charger the amber light had turned green which means that the batteries are charged. With that in mind after Melissa was done and I've been showered and dressed and placed in my chair it was now time to see how well the battery had charged. The initial and best test I figured I could do would be to settle up and head over to the market to pick up a few things that I might need in the next couple days since the weather is supposed to be inclement and I don't know how much I want to be out in the rain possibly even sleep. I made the trip with the little issue at all and the battery seem to be working fine I dropped two or three points on the meter from 100% by the time I gotten back to the apartment. I was still showing about 95% charge. I don't know how much further I could have gone or I should have gone but that was it for today. I was able to get a couple rolls of quarters I wanted to be sure I had quarters for Gloria who is supposed to show up on Friday to do some cleaning around the apartment. Quarters has always been her basic need as far as keeping her clothes clean so I always try to have some. I don't want to go into it here but there does seem to be an issue of Disappearing roles of quarters from the apartment here which mildly stresses me out. Cuz that means either somebody's coming in while I'm gone and finding the quarters and not the other little stashes of money I have or it's and inside job and that kind of breaks my heart. And actually, maybe I'm not losing any of the quarters maybe I've spent them all are they been used in the washing procedure. I know wash clothes every week but I don't know if I've gone through a couple rolls of quarters. Until proven otherwise I'm going to keep this somewhat quiet and put the blame on myself for one reason or another. I have quarters now though enough to cut through next week and the week after who knows how long. Give Gloria her quarters when she shows up and then maybe get another roll or two just so I have backup and maybe I'll watch this a little bit closer…

. However I wanted to be sure that I got the device before tomorrow when one of my cleaning people semi cleaning people is showing up to do a couple hours work on the apartment which I think will be great before the weekend. She was here a couple weeks ago and complained about the swifter not being really usable she ended up taking this bottle of soap that the swifter supposed to shoot on the floor and hand spraying it where she wanted to mop. I really didn't make much movement on this request seemed a little outlandish for me I've had the thing for 4 years maybe longer but this morning I had a bunch of stuff on the floor that's dried coffee stuff in the refrigerator which has fallen down from time to time and just general dirt that my floor seems to pull in and indeed as I tried to use the Swifter the Jets might be clogged up it's kind of feels like the batteries are okay but just for the heck of it I checked on my Amazon account with a new Swiftor would be and that would be 28 bucks plus mailing which is around two bucks so it's around 30 bucks which includes the Swifter, 10 pads, and a bottle of solution soap solution and hopefully the praise of my caregiver housekeeper which is supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Today! The swifter is supposed to be delivered today and it's raining and feeling like very fall outside. What a wonderful way to spend a Thursday after coffee this morning then to anticipate a new cleaning device coming to my apartment and then maybe even using it before my cleaning person gets here tomorrow just to see if she'll notice and be impressed with me taking action becoming a super cleaner- - I doubt that will ever be the case but certainly nice to think about. I would like to think I could be a super cleaner but that would probably be a post for another day when I feel motivated and inspired to take control of not only my apartment but my life in general. Perhaps it's just the fall and the weather change talking here but I really do feel better when the units cleaned up.

Now that I made the way too easy order I'm filled with kind of an excitement at the new tool coming to my kitchen closet. One of my goals is to keep the floor cleaner this next year and basically sweep and mop daily- - the mopping part might be a little Overkill but I could actually do the sweeping daily not have to wait till my caregiver is bored or my kids show up after a Sunday breakfast to see what I need and one of them always spends a lot of time mopping and stuff. It doesn't hurt me to get new tools periodically it's for a good cause.. it's for me!

Wednesday's wishes

 I plugged my power chair in last night was a little concerned but went on good faith. As soon as I plugged in the machine the little blinking light that's on the front of the charger turned Amber which it is supposed to do after blinking three or four times it became a constant Amber glow. I read for 45 minutes then turn the light off and got situated in the bed the way that I like and then turned on my side to see if the amber light was still showing which it was which gave me some feeling of Hope. I didn't drive the charger to wear I could see it from my space in bed easily. I had to actually lift myself up and then stretch a little bit then I was able to see the amber light. Bodily I slept till 5:30 a.m. which is a great feat for me. That means I will be fairly awake for the rest of the day. And sure enough when I looked at the charger the amber light had turned green which means that the batteries are charged. With that in mind after Melissa was done and I've been showered and dressed and placed in my chair it was now time to see how well the battery had charged. The initial and best test I figured I could do would be to settle up and head over to the market to pick up a few things that I might need in the next couple days since the weather is supposed to be inclement and I don't know how much I want to be out in the rain possibly even sleep. I made the trip with the little issue at all and the battery seem to be working fine I dropped two or three points on the meter from 100% by the time I gotten back to the apartment. I was still showing about 95% charge. I don't know how much further I could have gone or I should have gone but that was it for today. I was able to get a couple rolls of quarters I wanted to be sure I had quarters for Gloria who is supposed to show up on Friday to do some cleaning around the apartment. Quarters has always been her basic need as far as keeping her clothes clean so I always try to have some. I don't want to go into it here but there does seem to be an issue of Disappearing roles of quarters from the apartment here which mildly stresses me out. Cuz that means either somebody's coming in while I'm gone and finding the quarters and not the other little stashes of money I have or it's and inside job and that kind of breaks my heart. And actually, maybe I'm not losing any of the quarters maybe I've spent them all are they been used in the washing procedure. I know wash clothes every week but I don't know if I've gone through a couple rolls of quarters. Until proven otherwise I'm going to keep this somewhat quiet and put the blame on myself for one reason or another. I have quarters now though enough to cut through next week and the week after who knows how long. Give Gloria her quarters when she shows up and then maybe get another roll or two just so I have backup and maybe I'll watch this a little bit closer…

The Tuesday Tango

I actually slept in a little bit this morning but you never know what the way I felt all day but tired out but I got a lot more sleep than I usually do. I don't know if that's because I worked out on the arm/ hand bike, supposedly make me much more tired than usual I don't know. Maybe it was because I knew that there's not going to be an assist meeting today so I'll have much more time than I usually do on a Tuesday. So with that in mind I thought I would head into Costco and pick up a few things I've been thinking about the last couple weeks one another package of tamales which were really good and a large bag of mixed salted lightly nuts. I'm about out of my regular nut Supply. I remembered when I looked over at the power chair I saw the blinking red light from the charger. I was hoping that whatever was causing the red light during the evening would have stopped in the charging would have continued but I don't think that happened. Last night when I tumbled into bed that's when I first realized that the charger was flashing red light. When I plugged in the charger right before I jumped into bed it looked like it was okay and charging as it usually does but I was in bed and it was charging red and so I'll let it go- - that was my mistake for this day. I sneaky suspicion but was not really positive that a red light might mean issues with the batteries or just poor charge in the batteries. I actually unplugged the charger then plugged it back in and then it turned to look like it was supposed to when it's charging so that's what I should have done last night got back up in my chair and unplug the charger and plugged it back in then I would have been assured at least some power this morning so as it were I wasn't sure how much power that I got which meant also that I would not really know if I had enough power to get to Costco or not hell I didn't even know if I had enough power to get to my market or not. The only thing I could think to do was to charge the chair and go from there. Since it was Thursday I knew that they would be staff at the repair shop at the back of the ucat building. I probably had enough power to go on the bus down to 5th South then down the street to the building and back but I didn't want to chance it not for a perfectly good day like today. So I elected to just spend time trying to charge this chair off and on during the morning. I did do some reading out in the sun after I charge for about an hour or a bit longer. I may try to head over to you cat on Thursday when be the next time that they will have the building open for possible repairs if not questions. The big problem right now is that I no longer have a backup Chair by disposal like I used to I usually do. My chair is over there at the ucat place and I doubt anything's been done with it. I don't know what to do because I don't have anything to transfer into if someone has to take this chair and test the batteries and whatever. I do suspect awful strongly that the batteries are the problem and that's why the charge goes down so quickly after three or four miles. So tonight my plan is to charge the chair overnight and have it show a green charge in the morning when I get up then run around tomorrow just to test the charge and then charge it again on Wednesday Thursday night and then if I have to go in to the shop then it's really enough to wear a personal out

Glitch witch

 I just hate it when the internet delivers me a glitch and you have to fix that glitch before you can go on and do what you really wanted to do but just to dictate or just write your documents. It seems however I went through some fairly superstitious behavioral remedies you know like turn on turn off totally back out then come on again and at least I'm able to dictate which I wasn't able to do before at least not the way that I wanted to. So hopefully this will go out tonight and I won't have to do the whole thing about turning them CPU around and turning off the whole computer system and turn it back on again and letting the link back into the system or to the internet or whatever. I did that on a big computer which is basically my internet connection which allows me to do all this stuff and now it's working kind of I think but it's still showing that I'm not connected to the internet I must be because it's putting in all the punctuation what little bit did I use where it's supposed to be and not the words that I'm saying if that makes any sense at all.

It's been a quiet day today. It's an innocuous holiday. A federal holiday that nobody in Utah seems to be recognizing. I mean I'm totally surprised because the building manager here is a private non-profit agency the same on which I serve on the Advisory board or the regular board of directors so I know that they are subject to federal holidays but staff was here today and usually on a Federal holiday nobody's here. I guess I could have asked but didn't really want to interface with anybody to speak of. I noticed the bus doesn't seem to be working usually on a Federal holiday they'll go to a holiday schedule which is really intermittent and long weights between bus routes but they all seem to be working fairly well today. I didn't go anywhere personally because I'm afraid of getting stranded with the battery system that doesn't seem to be functioning as well as I would like it to see yesterday's entry. So that just leaves hanging around the apartment cleaning up a little bit washing the dishes from the weekend and trying to get some new things going in the refrigerator. I was able to read outside a little bit today and that was nice but that was all pretty much. Hopefully, the world will start turning again tomorrow. I have a bit of a holiday because my regular morning that assist will not happen because they did take the holiday off today and trying to prep for the Tuesday meeting is just too much coming off of federal holiday I know that used to be my big Bane of my board meetings when I would have to have everything put together by 9:30 on Tuesday Mornings usually following a holiday which basically Rick the holiday for me. Anyway hope you guys enjoyed the holiday we'll do it again tomorrow maybe they'll be more to write

Late summer Sunday

I'm tired tonight, I swear I've been awake since about 3:30 a.m. I don't know why I couldn't sleep unless it's because I didn't do the arm bike yesterday at all and I really need to use the arm bike in order to Tire me out enough for me to sleep. Seriously, that's the main reason I do the arm bike the soul my body will be tired enough to sleep through the night. I don't know how much my arm bike really does for such a thing but I like to believe that and it seems to work to a point. I didn't have a reason for not working out yesterday which I should have. I mean I had garnered my 200 minutes by Thursday and I could have pumped more on Friday but I didn't and I really think that is the reason but I didn't sleep well last night. However I was tired last night and the only reason I woke up so early was because I had to drain my bladder and sometimes zzz's ß waI wake up too much during that process and therefore can't get back to sleep but I also know that towards the end of my sleep cycle I can usually get back to sleep but not today. Probably part of the reason also might be it's Sunday morning and that's when I wake up at 6:00 a.m. or try to so I can be ready to go wherever I need to go for breakfast. Today both kids were gone some where exotic I'm sure which basically left Marc Anthony and myself for breakfast which is good. Mark had a lot of comments and discussion regarding his upcoming Russia trip and meeting with some of his individuals he's been coaching over the internet. I hope he's okay I worry about him going to some place like Russia and his naivety regarding how people are out there in the real world. He has a clientele build up that if he really wants to keep busy doing his services for people he'll continue. At least he's now had enough people from the Russia area tell him how it really is. He has had this illusion that rushes a wonderful place to live and that they're just really a happy group of folks which is not the case at all especially with the wars going on in that period of the world right now. He will not be going to Russia as opposed to other places in Europe but he plans to pull together a contingency of the folks he's helping do business work and stuff like that. I'd be tickled if he can turn this into a real live business. Again I'll be tickled when he goes to Europe that he actually has done does European trip and possibly the first of many as he tries to develop an international clientele. I would just love for him to succeed. The summer continues to hold as I was able to sit outside today enjoying the direct sunlight on my body. Supposedly come Thursday we might get some rain and the temperature will drop significantly. That should be okay I don't think I have anything planned out that day so maybe I'll just stick in and watch the weather unfold. Incidents of road rage continue to ravage the highways and byways of Salt Lake County. 

Battery Woes

It's not like this discourages me but sometimes it kind does discourage me and that's a message I'm getting on my power chair these days saying that I'm under voltage whatever that means. This evening I finally put that in the search engine, google, under the under voltage Plus power wheelchair and it came up that it says charge the battery. Not immediately, not at all costs, just charge the battery. Hell I figured that one out all by myself. Yeah I need to charge the battery my question is what has happened with my chair now that I get this message of only using the chair one day after I charged it last night totally and I only went 3. 7 miles today. 7 miles is a goodly amount actually don't get me wrong I appreciate the amount of distance I can cover at 3.7 MI with the assistance of Utah Transit Authority. I went to the movies again and wandered around that area for a little while. But that's about it and I'm glad that I get this message late in the day usually as I'm watching television in the evenings are wandering around my apartment doing this and doing that I start getting the message and the chair starts losing power quickly at least quicker than before. It'll go from 71% charge to like 40% if not 30% charge in 60 minutes from the first time it flashes that message. That's kind of spooky to me that I can't trust my chair again now. I would like to think that the fix is just as simple as getting new batteries which would be a major expense but it's my major form of transportation so I got to do what I got to do right? And I don't have a backup chair right now because my backup chair is in the shop or I'm contemplating getting another backup chair that has an elevator function on it like this chair does which would greatly assist me when this chair is in the shop. Also there is the concept that this chair may be a goner as far as I keep getting promptings to get another chair a new chair. I'm trying to push that agenda but it gets a little challenging sometimes. I wish I was more that I could do on a Saturday night to alleviate this problem but all I can do tonight is just grouse about just another problem in my life.

The movie I went to today is called piece by piece I think it was a pretty good show it was all filmed with Lego characters which is kind of interesting. A lot of music stuff a lot of music information areas that I didn't know anything about but I enjoyed sitting through the Lego experience. I'd recommend it to anyone who has the patience to deal with looking at kids toys for 2 hours. I don't know if I have the patience to sit through this movie again but who knows 

Movie Hang Time

 It's Friday night and I didn't even register it as being Friday night until I had to title this blog posting. I guess somewhere deep down I knew it was Friday cuz I know that I had my care person over this morning which means it's either Monday Wednesday or Friday and I knew it wasn't Wednesday that left it had to be Friday. Once I had that established everything fell into place like some inaudible click the world was right again. I had made it a busy day no question about that right after my caregiver left I grabbed something close to breakfast check the movie times and figured how much time I would need to get to the first showing of the movie I wanted to check out today. I didn't have much time though maybe 45 minutes to do whatever I was going to do and head out to the bus stop. I didn't have to wait long when I got to the theater I still had 45 minutes to kill before the movie started. That means the movie time was listed at 11:00 a.m. and I got there about 5 minutes after 11:00 and the the movie person told me that my feature would not start till 11:45 so I had time to kill. I thought about getting candy at the dollar store but I'd have to cross the street to do that and I wasn't up for that. So I wondered around different businesses there in that strip mall area that the movie theaters are right behind. I ended up going to the coffee shop that's sort of a old time Seaport type of coffee shop which I cannot remember right now. Oh Starbucks. I didn't even purchase a coffee which makes you feel a little bad not too much though. I raised my chair up so I can sit at one of those high chairs or high tables and look cool as I went to my backpack pulling out junk that's accumulated over the week. I don't know why but I've got I don't know how many suckers stuck to the bottom of my pack. These suckers are those cheap suckers that a lot of businesses have in a big bowl by the checkout area. I think I got most of these suckers from my podiatrist or I'd always grab three or four to stick in my pack before leaving while I was setting up my next appointment. I don't know how many I've got there at the bottom of my but I keep pulling them out and sucking on them when I need to but they're not all that quality of candy. I need to take a minute or two and just go through my pack get out all the garbage and start over again. That might be a good project for the weekend. I still have the Harley-Davidson motorcycle backpack that my coffee buddy Janet gave me. I think she's still somewhat sensitive to the fact that I have not been seeing using it very much. I think it was one of her dead kids satchel I just have a problem with the loop at the top it feels like it's about ready to come off and that's all I need is to have the loop come off while I'm going somewhere in the whole backpack drop off in the middle of the road. If I could find a place I'd have them sew it on good and tight and use the backpack it's a good one. Maybe soon I'll find somebody who's got those sewing machines that does this heavy duty sewing and thanks start carrying how much bigger pack like art supplies and writing supplies and things to do while I'm waiting for movies to start…

Maintenance day

 Today is been kind of a maintenance day, not that any day is not a maintenance day anymore. It's not like I'm buried under a lot of housework or house cleaning I kind of am but I seriously think I have the problem in check. Between caregivers needing quarters and grandchildren stopping by decorating my door and doing a basic floor sweep and mop at the same time I'm kind of ahead of the game sort of. Now I'm just having to struggle with dirty dishes. Actually I kind of like doing dishes it's just what do I do with them after they're washed? It seems like I keep a bunch in the drainer and then I have other dishes stacked up by the coffee maker. Quarter needing caregiver cleans out the kitchen she does a great job but she puts everything into closets and cupboards and shells and makes everything look perfect I then just have to spend the rest of my week finding out where everything's at. One of the biggest issues I have with dishwashing is again not necessarily washing the item which in this case are plastic containers which housed casseroles and other food gifts that have been bestowed upon me over the years. The benefactor did not want the plastic containers back and I just don't know what to do with them except throw them in one of the cupboards under the sink or by the sink or whatever and they just end up stacking up and stacking up till they start sliding out every time I open up the door. This truly vexes me. I wish I could just throw them all away but the containers are such good little pieces of plastic that have a hard time doing it even though I doubt I could find the top to these containers if I had something to store in them. I have about four or five that are good quality made I.E Rubbermaid type of containers that I keep using over and over the other ones just sort of linger whether in the drainer or behind the microwave or in one of the sinks. These matchless little guys are the ones I need to be brave and just get rid of so I would have much room in the cupboards and still have containers to store leftover food in. Earlier this week I cooked the steak and the butter that I had earlier used to fry something that I can't remember but anyway I set the frying pan to soak last night and it's a real dark mess now but I'll empty that mess and scrub out the frying pan and then be ready for spam and eggs or just eggs or some other item I want to develop. This evening I made another concoction. I pulled out the one that's been there for 2 weeks it was getting kind of weird so I'm scrubbing it out and made the new vegetable dish soup type of thing for the next couple of days but like I said it's just been a maintenance night…

Just one video!

 I caught myself again just a few minutes agoBecause I had a few seconds of timeBetween making coffee and getting ready for my morning staff to get here and get me going on activities of daily living stuff. But I stumbled onto a new technique that at least YouTube is using and that's breaking up a major movie into interesting Snippets 3 minutes here 4 minutes in length there all the way up to 11 and 12 minutes portions of the movie , these are interesting and sometimes rewarding but hardly worth the time wasted watching that piece over again. Hey, and I'm the most guilty. When I closed out the item I was watching I saw there was a number of these Snippets from different movies doing exactly the same thing so it's a New Concept I noticed more ways to suck your life out while you sit there and watch and be happy watching. I truly amaze myself because I will sit through 3 minutes to get to the part that I really really like and then I do the same with the snippet and soon I'll realize I've lost 30 minutes, 45 minutes a whole hour. I sometimes trick myself into thinking I'll just do 10 minutes if I have to kill 25 minutes time to catch a bus. I've got time it just right so I can get down to the corner to be there in time to catch the 47 inbound. I start watching these Snippets and soon I'm in total chaos trying to zip out the door because I've cut my time frame so narrow that I pray the bus is just a little bit late so I can get there in time or somebody else is at the bus stop which means it'll take a little time to load that person and maybe give me enough time to catch the bus driver as well. This of course is dependent on whether the driver is in a good mood and willing to give me the consideration of the time to wait a few minutes extra. And I shouldn't have to wait on his good graces. I just don't need to be watching youtube, Tick Tock or whatever platform might be providing these free Snippets of frustration. I'm thankful right now I'm strong enough to usually pull myself away from these mini films. Plus I know that they are just pulling a scam over you to get you to watch as long as you can. I noticed this particularly on those videos that tease you on whatever platform you go to the search for an item. They give you an intrinsically salacious bit of information that you want to find out more about and you click that document and it takes you to a platform that feeds you 1 or 2 sentences at a time about something you really want to know about we're just enough to encourage you to click it on again to get to another bit of information and they never tell you what you really want to hear maybe if you go all the way to the end that takes like forever and that's their idea that's the whole idea they want to keep you on as long as they can for whatever reason I don't really know except that somebody's making money somewhere at my expense and weakness. Well hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and I will prevail over these sneaky videos and just do just one …

Tuesday's tidings

What you see in today's image is a view of my digital clock which is right next to my bed which is showing a few minutes after 6:00 a.m.. it's time for me to get up I have my assistant meeting today which means I have to be down to Salt Lake by 11:00 a.m. that's where the meeting starts. But I'm going to start getting ready now as soon as I get up not that it takes me that long but it might take me that long just because you never know what you're going to run into when you've got something that has to be done. There was actually a time when one of the first things I did everyday was the blog and before the blog a journal entry. If not right after I woke it would be right after I got to the office but I've got over that before you know the impetus to keep me riding? Now however I often wait till the end of the day which, sadly, means that what I write is more of a journal of what I did during the day as opposed to what I might be thinking about during the day. And what I think about during the day is sometimes much more interesting than just a log of the days events.

Today for instance I got to the library with almost 40 minutes to get rid of before I could show up at the office and not be too much of distraction until it was time to go over the intakes for the week. I'm finding now that I'm almost drawn to their new book section and go through all the new entries which look interesting and a lot of them do look interesting. I wish I had the capability of reading a book within a week's time and then just get into the habit of getting one book A Week reading it and bringing it back. That would be so civilized but that is not me so I don't even try but I do like to look at the titles and sometimes a little bit about what they are about. I've even taken images before of titles I'm really interested in that I might actually come by sometime and pick the title or more realistically find the title on Amazon or some other internet platform and just order the book. Now that might be the way to enjoy the book. The books at the library that are on the shelves of the new bookshelves seems like they're the ones that are reviewed on NPR and such I think that's why they hold so much interest to me. Maybe I believe that if I read these books I'll be a real NPR person but I don't think that's how it works. Might be fun to try.

I think I've mentioned the fact that there doing a lot of work on the park just next to my apartment complex to the point where they've completely shut off half of the sidewalk going up to the bus stop. I found another way to get there but I have to cross the park at a different place in not on sidewalk but on grass it's quite a bumpy ride. I've noticed however the last couple of times that I've gone to the bus stop that it's a whole new group of people that's moved into the park homeless Folk. I have heard that the bigger parts of the city are driving the people out of the downtown parks and maybe that's where they're ending up now is in my Park here in Taylorsville I'm not quite sure what to think of that…

My oh my I hate AI

 I caught an interesting story on NPR today about artificial intelligence in people writing, oddly enough something that I was talking about a couple weeks ago in the blog about how I felt defeated because AI is out there riding like nobody's business. So the gist of this particular article was that a special group has developed a program for adjudicating whether something is written by artificial intelligence or not. As near as I can tell people who write something can verify that it's actually written by a human versus an artificial intelligence. Of course I've just given you the simplified version but there's actually an organization to private nonprofit or something that has taken the lead in this particular scenario. Various writing Eggheads have sort of put it together and even putting down some kinds of what people can or can't do as far as what constitutes cheating as far as writing goes. For example one group says it's okay to get going or having the AI stimulate an idea for writing but not do the writing itself. Of course I'm kind of a purist I don't think that would be acceptable my version. Cuz it'd be a fine line of when does the idea actually turn to writing. But maybe I'm just a character in the movie that doesn't trust in love all things artificial. This kind of Spooks me cuz it really does label me as prejudice. I don't have a problem with it except for a little guilt but I'm sure other folks out there would have a big problem with the way I treat AI encounters. I mean we have them throughout the day there's no question in my mind about that whether it's stuff on the telephone or television or whatever AI is creeping in honest good bad or indifferent it just is.

It was interesting last week I was talking with Lori, who is a real writer, about the whole problem of getting going on a writing project. Lori was giving me all kinds of ideas of how to sneak up on an idea and write it, develop it and then prove it and rewrite it again over and over until it's done exactly the way that you want. I just don't have that kind of zeal for this kind of a project. I hate to do rewrites it's like pulling teeth are being grounded to your room on a Sunday afternoon when no summers at its peak it's wonderful to be outside. I would just assume leave and leave the written word very much like this posting. Actually thinking about this makes me think about why I have such a hard time shopping. I really need someone to go with me to help me pick out clothes even help me try them on and adjudicate how I look in them. So maybe if I had someone to egg me on make me write something, I didn't sit with me and reread the project making Corrections and boiling down the content until what was left was a pearl of great price. Oh, isn't that a wife?

Front door Magic

I don't know what the issue was this morning maybe it's because I went to bed by 11:00 last night and I really ever do that. So rather than waking up and getting up around 5:30 or 6:00 it was like 3:30 a.m. that I woke for the first time try to get back to sleep was very little success maybe a few moments here and there but that was about it so I've been sleepy all day. I also wanted to make sure I was up early enough to be dressed so I can go to breakfast with the kids and I had to catch a bus to do that since we didn't go to the regular place just up the street from where I live. I wanted to make sure I had enough time to be totally dressed and out to the bus stop to catch the bus well I did. Had a great breakfast with the kids this morning the best part was actually after breakfast Jackson and Jasmine went shopping with me to find stuff to put on my front door. Remember I've been feeling somewhat envious of some of the doors around the complex so I thought I wanted to do mine since I totally enjoyed the door we did this summer. So today we actually went to a couple places looking for materials to use and we found some. We found what looked like an Autumn wreath and then found something to put inside of it then to do the Halloween part since we're in October now we found a skeleton and some black spiders as well. It was kind of fun when we finally got to the apartment with our decoration spoils. The kids cleaned off the table and Jasmine went to work on the decoration and Jackson started sweeping the floors and mopping so kind I certainly appreciate these guys. I would never put the amount of work into this wreath as much as Jasmine did actually sawing the spiders onto the The wreath and and applying the sticky things to hang the decoration from. So we went with the wreath that looked very Autumn like with the idea that once Halloween has passed we then will remove the skeleton at least and change the wreath into a Thanksgiving type wreath or Autumn wreath. I might put up a few more leaves and stuff it's kind of fun though I'm getting to enjoy this. We'll probably do something different at Christmas maybe use the ice cream cone people that we made during the summer and just put Santa's hats on them and some sort of Santa suit on the ice cream parts. It will be fun regardless.

The remainder of the day I kind of spent reclined in my chair and an effort to take the weight off my buttocks. This of course meant I had to watch movies so I did a couple Netflix movies as well as couple Marvel movies. I ate quite a lot at breakfast and I felt a little at risk poop why so I didn't really want to move around a lot and tempt fate. It was a pretty good weekend enjoy the images of the kids and the front door…