Back in Business

#1 Son's phone was as bad off as #2 Son's was a while back, as in, totally useless.  The only difference is that #1 Son didn't spill chocolate milk on his.  Because he relies on the GPS to get deliveries made for work, a new phone had become a necessity.

That always means a trip to the AT&T store, which can sometimes mean a long wait in line.  We were blessed this time, there was someone available to help right away.

He picked out his new phone, and i brought up the trouble i was having setting up my voice mail (our voice mailboxes were erased when they reset everything after the flood) and how i could suddenly no longer send pictures on my phone.

Since #1 Son was buying a nice, new phone, which means a nice, new commission for the rep helping us, she figured out what was wrong with my phone and got it working again, and told me how to get voice mail back.  (That advice did not work with the "spare" phone, the one we now use as our home phone numbers, but that's okay.)

Our only trouble was getting home to find out that the new phone had no service.  Something happened, so we went back and got it taken care of by the same nice lady.  She was very apologetic, in fact, although i told her i can't blame her, technology is sometimes a pain in the you-know-what that way.

And what's wrong with my phone?  It's old, that's what's wrong.  But it works again, although differently now, it wants to download the pictures instead of just displaying them as part of the text message.  This i can live with.

It means, also, i get to post a couple of pictures i've been wanting to post, but couldn't, because i couldn't send them to my email and get them into my web albums.  Here they are:

Post-flood, after you've removed the ruined drywall.

Our shelter celebrates 10,000 cat adoptions!

Today is:

Banana Lover's Day

Bartletide -- West Witton, Yorkshire Dales, UK (a/k/a Burning Bartle, a ceremony in which a straw effigy of Owd Bartle, a sheep thief of yore, is paraded, then burned after sunset, as a warning to the light fingered; always on the Saturday nearest St. Bartholomew's Day, which is August 24)

Be Kind to Humankind Week: Speak Kind Words Saturday

Birthday of Isis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Corvette Crossroads Auto Show -- Mackinaw City, MI, US (show that includes a Corvette parade across the Mackinaw Bridge; through tomorrow)

Country Fair and Auction -- McHenry, MD, US (sponsored by the local Mennonite churches, a good old-fashioned time of family fun)

Day Sacred to Consus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of graineries, horses, and mules)

De Ducasse -- Ath, Belgium (Giants of Ath Festival or Wedding of the Giants, a celebration since medieval times in which "Goliath" marries, then goes to do battle with David; through tomorrow)

Feast Day of Pan -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Feast of Incandescent Rebellion -- on lots of websites, and supposedly something celebrated in China, but no detail as to what it is really celebrating

Hotter 'n H*ll Hundred Bike Race -- Wichita Falls, TX, US (cyclists of all ages in the largest sanctioned century ride in the US, in the Texas summer heat)

International Bat Night -- through tomorrow, go enjoy these wonderful creatures; www.eurobats.org or www.batcon.org

Just Because Day -- internet generated, enjoy something ordinary you like to do, just because!

Koenji Awa Odori Festival -- Suginami City, Tokyo, Japan (thousands dance in the streets, through tomorrow)

National Pots de Creme Day

Petroleum Day -- on the anniversary of the opening of the first commercial oil well in Titusvilla, PA, US, in 1859, a day set aside to work on figuring out how to do without petroleum

Schemitzun(Green Corn Pow Wow) -- Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation (through tomorrow, Pow Wow and presentations of Native heritage to all)

Sheep Market Fair -- Ho, Denmark (annual sheep market and family fair; through Sunday)

Sidewalk Art Festival -- Portland, ME, US

St. Caesarius' Day (Patron against fire)

St. Monica's Day (Mother of St. Augustine; Patron of abuse victims, alcoholics, difficult marriages, disappointing children, homemakers, married women, mothers, victims of adultery and unfaithfulness, victims of verbal abuse, widows, wives; Bevilacqua, Italy; Mabini, Bohol, Philippines)

"The Duchess" Who Wasn't Day -- birthday of Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, who wrote under the pseudonym "The Duchess" and first said, "Beaty is in the eye of the beholder" in her novel, Molly Bawn

Threethousandth Thnork of the Year -- Fairy Calendar

Usuki Stone Buddhas Fire Festival -- Usuki, Japan (torchlight at twilight lights the regions mysterious Buddha statues; includes a beach party!)

Volturnalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of water)

Ziua Republicii -- Moldova (Independence Day, 1991)


Birthdays Today

Sarah Chalke, 1976
Chandra Wilson, 1969
Paul "Pee-wee Herman" Reubens, 1952
Barbara Bach, 1947
Tuesday Weld, 1943
Tommy Sands, 1937
Martha Raye, 1916
Mother Teresa, 1910
Lyndon B. Johnson, 1908
C.S. Forester, 1899
Samuel Goldwyn, 1882
Theodore Dreiser, 1871
Charles Gates Dawes, 1865
Hannibal Hamlin, 1809


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Good Sex! with Dr. Ruth Westheimer"(TV), 1984
Mary Poppins(Disney film), 1964
"Prométhée/Prometheus"(Fauré tragédie lyrique), 1900



Today in History

The Persian invasion of Greece is halted with Greek victories in two separate battles, BC479
Koreans battle and prevent Japanese invasion, 663
The first unmanned hydrogen balloom flight reaching 900 m altitude, 1783
Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well, 1859
The shortest war in world history occurs from 09:00 to 09:45 between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar, 1896
Edgar Rice Burroughs' publishes "Tarzan of the Apes", 1912
First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft, 1939
The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA, 1962
Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altikat is shot and killed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 1982
The Rainbow Bridge, connecting Tokyo's Shibaura and the island of Odaiba, is completed, 1993
Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, 2003
Curiosity, the Mars rover, broadcasts its first audio recording of a human voice from the surface of another planet, 2012