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

Phone Untangling.

"Mom, I need scissors, a paper clip, and some tape," #1 Son told me.

Scissors are here with the paper clips, i said, opening the drawer, and the tape is in your dad's briefcase.

"Why is...oh, never mind, I may not want to know," he said as he rifled through the briefcase on the table.

What are you trying to do? i asked.

"Fix my phone," he said, matter-of-factly.

Um, aren't most phones these days past the technology where a paper clip helps? i queried.

"Yes, but I need the paper clip to poke into this hole so I can get the SIM card out, and, well, this is how you make the SIM card fit in the new phone I had to get because my old one is broken."

Siri must have quit talking to you, i noted.  (For a couple of weeks after he broke the screen, he could still tell Siri to call people and set alarms for him.  Then someone spilled water on it.)  And how did you get a new phone? i asked.

"My friend Trent gave me his old one.  By the way, I'll need for you to call the phone company to get the new one activated, since they have me on this old one and just moving the card isn't enough any more."

Talk about an understatement.  Not only did the SIM card surgery not quite work out to specs and have to be done at one of the stores, i had a horrible time getting customer service on the line, because i didn't know i had to be at the store with him to get the card activated.  They told me to call customer service once he was back home.  When i did, they wanted to know everything about every transaction on the account for the last 6 months to make sure it was me.  It surprised me that they didn't ask for my blood type.

The biggest snag came when the customer service guy, who was quite nice and patient with my having to trawl the memory banks for answers, told me to have #1 Son dial a number from the phone.

He turned it one and found out he needed a pass code.  His friend Trent didn't tell him that.

He couldn't call Trent, because Trent's number is on his phone.  Yes, i have Trent's number, but i was on the phone with customer service.

#1 Son drove up the block to Trent's, and came back defeated.  The phone was originally Trent's girlfriend's son's phone, which she gave Trent when she got her son a new one.  She can't answer her phone at work, so no way to call her and get her to call her son and get the code.

So now, says Mr. Customer Service Guy, do we have iTunes on the computer so we can reset the phone to default?

Of course not.  My computers are old, and we have to pray daily that they will work.  They don't do cool stuff like iTunes.

Go to the store out on Pike Road, they are the tech support place locally, maybe they can help, is what i'm told next.

To the store, which turned out to be the wrong store.  There are two on Pike Road (it's a long, long road).  The nice guy there got the SIM card programmed since the other store had put it in the phone,  but #1 Son and Trent would have to go to the Apple Store to get them to reset the phone to default so it could be used. 

Why would Trent have to go?  As the original owner of the phone, he'd have to be there to prove he owned it and gave it to #1 Son

Going over all this overcomplicated mess that has become our phone system, the thought came to me.  One family.  Six people.  Seven phone lines (one is the home phone).  Somehow, i don't think Alexander Graham Bell ever envisioned this.  

Today is

Autistic Pride Day -- an Aspies for Freedom www.aspiesforfreedom.com/ initiative; shifting the view from "disease" to "different"

Constitution Day / National Day -- Seychelles

Czech Days -- Tabor, SD, US (celebrating foods and traditions of the Czech people who settled this area; through Saturday)

Eid el-Galaa -- Egypt (Evacuation Day; final withdrawal of British this date in 1956)

Fort Union Trading Post Rendezvous -- Williston, ND, US (re-creation of the fur trade era; through Sunday)

Foundation Day -- Benguet, Philippines

Going Forth of Neith Along the River -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (goddess of war and hunting; date approximate)

Go Fishing Day -- anniversary of the first American fly-casting tournament this day in 1861 in Utica, NY

International Picnic Day

International Sushi Day

Inti Raymi Festival -- Cusco, Peru (traditional Inca sun worship festival, through the 24th, which is the biggest and best day)

Kiamichi Owa-Chito Festival of the Forest -- Beaver's Bend State Park, Broken Bow, OK, US (celebration of Native American culture; through Saturday)

Napoleon Bivouacs -- Waterloo, Belgium (reenactment of Napoleon's military camp at the sight of his battle battle against Allied forces led by the Duke of Wellington, and this year, for the Bicentenary of the Battle there will be a larger reenactment; through the 21st)

National Cherry Tart Day

National Dump the Pump Day -- The American Public Transportation Association encourages you to consider public transportation as a way to cut down on high gasoline prices 

National Splurge Day -- explanation here

Prairie Villa Rendezvous -- Prairie du Chien, WI, US (learn about the fur trader lifestyle of days gone by, make Indian fry bread, learn how hard it was to load a rifle with gunpowder back in the day, learn about plants and medicines, and more; through Sunday)

Queen Mother's Birthday -- Cambodia (Ex-Queen Norodom Monineath)

Ramadan -- Islam (began sunset yesterday, through July 17)

Recess at Work Day -- engage in productive play!

Sam Steele Days -- Cranbrook, BC, Canada (fun for all, celebrating the life and legend of Sam Steele of the North-West Mounted Police in the 1880's; through Sunday)

Shakespeare on the Green -- University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE, US (nonprofit professional productions of the Bard's works, including preshow seminars, workshops, period music and entertainment; this year's performances will be As You Like It and Othello, each performed several times through July 5)

St. Gregory of Fragalata's Day (Patron of Fragalata, Sicily)

St. Osanna Andreasi's Day (Patron of school girls)

Tiger-Get-By's Birthday -- Fairy Calendar

Waterloo Day -- UK (no longer an official holiday, but still of historic importance)


Birthdays Today:

Eddie Cibrian, 1973
Nathan Morris, 1971
Richard Powers, 1957
Carol Kane, 1952
Isabella Rossellini, 1952
Roger Ebert, 1942
Paul McCartney, 1942
Lou Brock, 1939
John D. Rockefeller IV, 1937
Tom Wicker, 1926
Donald Keene, 1922
Red Adair, 1915
Sammy Cahn, 1913
Sylvia Field Porter, 1913
E.G. Marshall, 1910
Bud Collyer, 1908
James Kern "Kay" Kyser, 1905
Jeanette MacDonald, 1903
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaievna Romanova of Russia, 1901
George Herbert Leigh Mallory, 1886
Henry Clay Folger, Jr., 1857
E.W. Scripps, 1854


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Archipelago S"(Takemitsu orchestral work), 1993
"Der Freischütz/The Marksman"(Opera, Weber Op. 77, J. 277), 1821


Today in History:

Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang Dynasty rule over China, 618
Five monks from Canterbury report seeing "two horns of light" on the shaded side of the moon, probably witnessing the meteor impact formation of the Giordano Bruno crater, 1178
The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in County Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this Irish legislature, 1264
French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeat the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay, 1429
Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sights Tahiti and is considered the first European to reach the island, 1767
The U.S. Congress  declares war on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1812
The Battle of Waterloo leads to Napoleon Bonaparte abdicating the throne of France for the second and last time, 1815
Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin's own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory, 1858
Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 (US) for attempting to vote in the prior year's US presidential election, 1873
Empress Dowager Longyu of China orders all foreigners killed, including foreign diplomats and their families, 1900
Aviator  Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly as a passenger in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean, 1928
The "Finest Hour" speech is delivered by Winston Churchill, 1940
The Republic of Egypt is declared and the monarchy is abolished, 1953
Governor of Louisiana Earl K. Long is committed to a state mental hospital; he responds by having the hospital's director fired and replaced with a crony who proceeds to proclaim him perfectly sane, 1959
The AIDS epidemic is formally recognized by medical professionals in San Francisco, California, 1981
Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space, 1983
Kazakhstan launches its first satellite, KazSat, 2006
Sequoia, IMB's Blue Gene/Q system installed at the Department of Energy becomes the world's fastest supercomputer, 2012
New data reveals that over 280 previously unknown craters exist on the Moon, 2013

Take that, technology!

 "We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works!" Douglas Adams

He's right, and i'm more convinced of it every day.

#1 Son's iPhone was either stolen, or ended up in a place where no one can hear it ringing, and the battery is probably dead by now anyway.  So Grandpa insisted we go get him another, and off to the AT&T store we went.

While there we resolved a couple of things, and the nice sales rep suggested that i call customer care and have the unique number assigned to that phone's internal hardware put on a blacklist.  That way, if it was stolen, it can never be used again.

Which makes me wonder, if that can be done, why would anyone steal a phone anyway?  If you can't use it for anything, what's the point of taking it?

Anyway, when i called to get the phone blacklisted, the nice lady asked me to get online on my account.  This required yet another password reset, because it has been so long since i bothered to get on that site that there was no way i was going to remember.

Once on, we did what was needed, and i hung up, and then tried to log off of my account on AT&T's site.  There was no log off button.

Really? i thought as i clicked through several pages and even tried the site map.  After about 15 minutes, i got disgusted and called customer service again, this time for tech support.

The agent, when i told him the dilemma, didn't laugh at me.  He asked me to read him the top line on the page, which i did, and which didn't have a sign out option.

He got onto my account from his end, and he couldn't find it, either!

Turns out, there was a glitch with their site, and some things about my account were not available, including the ability to actually sign out.

Well.

For once, it wasn't me.

His suggestion was to shut down my computer, which would disconnect me from the system, which i did.  Unfortunately, that caused the computer to have a glitch when the boys got on it later.  Windows didn't want to restart.  It did eventually, but the computer just didn't "behave right" for a while, and they had trouble starting up a game they play where they hook up two computers.

It was one of those days when i think Douglas Adams was more than right, so i will concentrate on one of the good, old fashioned shows of human skill for which there is no substitute.  #2 Son had his culinary school knife skills test yesterday, and got a very high grade!  No tech needed, and he carves mushrooms into decorative shapes beautifully, and then i get to cook the results for the mushroom lovers in the house.

No technology needed.

Today is:

Deep Blue Day -- the IBM computer defeats chess champion Gary Kasparov, the first such victory for a computer, in 1996

Extraterrestrial Culture Day -- New Mexico, US ("to celebrate and honor all past, present, and future extraterrestrial visitors in ways to enhance relationships among all citizens of the cosmos, known and unknown.")

Feast of Saint Paul's Shipwreck -- Malta

Gold Record Day -- Glenn Miller is awarded the first ever Gold Record, for "Chattanoga Choo Choo", 1942

National Cream Cheese Brownie Day

National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe -- Italy, especially in Trieste

National Sports Day -- Qatar

Plimsoll Day -- honoring Samuel Plimsoll, the "Sailor’s Friend," who persuaded Parliament to have a maximum load limit on ships.

Safer Internet Day -- organised by Insafe (promotes safe and responsible use of the internet by teaching children how to keep themselves safe online)

St. Scholastica's Day (Patron of children in convulsions, nuns; LeMans, France; against rain, storms)

Try to Invent a New Jell-O Flavor Day -- it can't hurt to try

Umbrella Day

World Ag Expo -- Tulare, CA, US (largest farm and equipment show in North America; through Thursday)



Anniversaries Today:

Poland is symbolically married to the Baltic Sea by Jozef Haller de Hallenburg, celebrating the restitution of Polish access to the water, 1920
Tom Thumb marries Mercy Lavinia Warren, 1863
Queen Victoria marries her cousin Albert von Saxe-Coburg, 1840
Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War (a/k/a French and Indian War), 1763
Academie Francaise forms in Paris (by Cardinal Richelieu), 1635


Birthdays Today:

Lance Berkman, 1976
Laura Dern, 1967
Glen Beck, 1964
Lenny Dykstra, 1963
Cliff Burton, 1962
George Stephanopoulos, 1961
Greg Norman, 1955
Jim Cramer, 1955
Mark Spitz, 1950
Donovan, 1946
Frances Moore Lappe, 1944
Roberta Flack, 1939
Robert Wagner, 1930
Leontyne Price, 1927
Lon Chaney, Jr., 1906
Bertolt Brecht, 1898
Frances Margaret "Dame Judith" Anderson, 1898
Jimmy Durante, 1893
William "Bill" Tilden, 1893
Boris Pasternak, 1890
Samuel Plimsoll, 1824
Charles Lamb, 1775


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"My Friend Flicka"(TV), 1956
"Death of a Salesman"(Play), 1949
"Puss Gets the Boot"(Cartoon, first Tom and Jerry short), 1940
"Icebound"(Pulitzer-winning Davis' Play), 1923
"All the News That's Fit to Print"(Slogan of the New York Times), 1897
"Les Contes d'Hoffman"(Offenbach Opera), 1881  
"The Lily of Killarney"(Opera), 1862


Today in History:

St. Paul is shipwrecked on the island of Malta, 60
Crusaders defeat Prince Redwan of Aleppo at Antioch, 1098
The St. Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days, 1355
Wampanoag Indians under King Philip kill all the men in Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1676
Edmund Halley is appointed the second Astronomer Royal of England, 1720
The Treaty of Paris ends the French and Indian War, surrendering Canada to England, 1763
Simon Bolivar is named dictator by the Congress of Peru, 1824
The first US fire extinguisher patent granted to Alanson Crane of Virginia, 1863
The YWCA is founded in NYC, 1870
Nathaniel Carr Goodwin becomes the first actor to perform in two different cities on the same day, in Boston for a matinee, and then in NYC for and evening performance, 1887
Nearly 11,000,000 acres of land, ceded to the US government by the Sioux Indians, is opened for settlement, 1890
The New York Times begins using the slogan, "All the news that's fit to print," 1897
Japan and Russia declare war after Japan's surprise attack on Russian fleet at Port Arthur disabled 7 Russian warships, 1904
Britain's first modern and largest battleship "HMS Dreadnought" is launched, 1906
Baseball outlaws all pitches that involve tampering with the ball, 1920
New Delhi becomes the capital of India, 1931
The first singing telegram is delivered, by the Postal Telegram Company of NYC, 1933
Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, 1962
Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party, 1989
The IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov for the first time, 1996
The communication satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos-2251 collide in orbit, destroying both, 2009

 Blogger has been giving me fits.  Changing post titles i thought i had set.  Not publishing as scheduled.  It's not very nice, but "We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works," as Douglas Adams said.

We are also apparently stuck with people who aren't too terribly bright being in charge of who gets on a plane and with what items.  There are probably plenty of good, nice, intelligent people who work for TSA, but of course they don't make the news.

The ones who tried to prevent actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca the Wookie in the original Star Wars series, from bringing his cane on an airplane because it's shaped like a light saber, are the ones who make news.

Really, what did they think he was going to do with it?  Then again, maybe i don't want to know what they thought.  It might scare me to know their logic.

Speaking of logic, Bigger Girl has her own logic about why there is no Men's Rights Movement.

"If they feel so marginalized in society, why don't they start a men's rights movement?" she asked the other day.  "I'll tell you why.  Because they would need a woman to help organize it and be the secretary!"


Today is

Abolition Day -- French Guiana

Alcoholics Anonymous Founders Day
   
Army Day -- Jordan

Ball Point Pen Day -- date, in 1943, Biro patented one of the early models of a ball point pen (it was as awful as the other early ones, though!)

Celtic Tree Month Duir (Oak) commences

Dia de Portugal e de Camoes -- Portugal (National Day)

Duanwu -- China (Dragon Boat Festival; the actual festival day this year is Wednesday, but the offical holidays begin today)

Herbs & Spices Day

Holiday of the Wan Thing -- Fairy Calendar (the Wan Thing arrived in Fairyland this day and has sat there looking wan ever after, so the Fairies decided to give it its own holiday)

National Black Cow Day

National Iced Tea Day

Peace of Chaco Day / Chaco Armistice Day -- Paraguay and Bolivia (commemorates the end of a war between the two)

Queen's Birthday -- Australia (except WA); Papua New Guinea; Turks and Caicos Islands; Tuvalu

Rape of Lidice/Lidice Memorial Day -- Czech Republic and Slovakia/New Jersey, US (in one of the most-remembered atrocities of WWII, the small town of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, was invaded by Nazi troops who murdered every man, burned every house, and sent all the women and children for "reeducation.")

Reconciliation Day -- Republic of the Congo

St. Brigid of Ireland's Day (Patron babies/infants/newborns, blacksmiths, boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, cattle, children whose parents are not married, dairymaids/dairy workers, fugitives, midwives, nuns, poets, poultry farmers, printing presses, scholars, travellers; Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland; Ireland; Ivrea, Turin, Italy; Kildare, Ireland; Leinster, Ireland)

Tano Festival -- Korea (start of a 3 day festival)

Where the Wild Things Are Day -- birth anniversary of Maurice Sendak


Birthdays Today:

Joey Zimmerman, 1986
Tara Lipinski, 1982
Leelee Sobieski, 1982
Hoku Ho, 1981
Shane West, 1978
Elizabeth Hurley, 1965
Michael Burger, 1957
John Edwards, 1953
F. Lee Bailey, 1933
Maurice Sendak, 1928
Judy Garland, 1922
Saul Bellow, 1915
Frederick Loewe, 1904


Today in History:

Frederick Barbarossa drowns leading his troops across the Saleph River to attack Jerusalem in the Crusades, 1190
The first American log cabin is built, at Fort Christina in Wilmington, Delaware, 1639
Bridget Bishop becomes the first person hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692
Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef, 1770
A landslide dam on the Dadu River created by an earthquake ten days earlier collapses, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China, 1786
The Jardin des Plantes museum opens in Paris; a year later, it becomes the first public zoo, 1793
The first Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place, 1829
Myall Creek Massacre in Australia: 28 Aboriginal Australians are murdered, 1838
The first class of the United States Naval Academy students graduate, 1854
Mount Tarawera in New Zealand erupts, killing 153 people and destroying the famous Pink and White Terraces, 1886
Americus Callahan of Chicago patents the window envelope, 1902
The inaugural service for the United Church of Canada, a union of Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregationalist churches, is held in Toronto Arena, 1925
Dr. Robert Smith takes his last drink, and Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, United States, by him and Bill Wilson, 1925
Six-Day War ends: Israel and Syria agree to a cease-fire, 1967
Apple ships its first Apple II personal computer, 1977
The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission, 2003

After all the work of the last few days, it is happening again.

The main computer goes online, the router seems to be working, the laptop is doing well, the computer that stays on because of a USB wireless adapter is having to be reconnected, reconfigured, re-whatevered, several times a day.

What I really love is redownloading all the software from the disk and it tells me it can't work, and yet I get online after, while it is saying it doesn't work.

So, another day, another call to tech support (later, after I get some work done this morning).

Part of the work for today is showing the kids, yet again, how to use the dishwasher and washing machines while I am out of town.

They know how to use the stuff, they put items in the dishwasher and know how to sort clothes and measure the powder, it's just that when it is full, I usually start the machines.

I said to #2 Son yesterday that I was going to be talking to them about this stuff today, and he said, "Oh, mom, you know I can't run the washing machine! I don't know what all of those buttons are for!" I said, "Son, you can run the Wii, you can run the washer!"

Like the Navy pilot whose wife, on family day, got to see the inside of the cockpit of his plane. She asks, "So, you know how to use every one of those switches, dials, knobs, buttons, and everything else?" He answered with, "Yes, I have to know what every single one of them does and how to work them all." She gave him The Look and said, "So, how come you tell me you can't figure out the buttons on our washing machine?"


Today is:

Apple Festival

Biosphere Day

Feast of the Divine Light, Egypt

Feast of Kuodor-gup, Siberia (god of riches)

Festival of Nyamuzinda, Zaire (god of famine and epidemics)

Get Out of Town Today Day (Sorry, has to be delayed until Thursday for me.)

Independence Day, Armenia, Belize

International Banana Festival

International Peace Day

Miniature Golf Day

National Pecan Cookie Day

National Women Road Warrior Day

Press Day

St. Matthew's Day

World Gratitude Day


Birthdays Today:

Faith Hill, 1967
Darva conger, 1965
Rob Morrow, 1962
David James Elliot, 1960
Dave Coulier, 1959
Bill Murray, 1950
Stephen King, 1947
Henry Gibson, 1935
Leonard Cohen, 1934
Larry Hagman, 1931
H.G. Wells, 1866
Maurice Barrymore, 1849


Today in History:

Richard the Lionheart captured, 1192
Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa orders Jews of Holland to wear a badge, 1451
John and Nicolaas van der Heyden patent a fire extinguisher, 1677
Nathan Hale arrested for spying, 1776
The Pennsylvania Packet & Daily Advertiser becomes the first successful US daily newspaper, 1784
Joseph Smith, Jr. claims that the Angel Moroni gives him the gold plates from which he translates the Book of Mormon, 1827
The Duryea Motor Wagon Company becomes the first auto manufacturer, 1895
"Kit Carson", the first cowboy film, premiers in the US, 1903
Publication of Tolkien's "The Hobbit", 1937

This past week has been frustrating, as my access to the internet has been an on again, off again thing.

Since my ISP has fixed what it could, and I had even been given a new modem and went out and bought a new router, and we still couldn't keep the system up properly, I gave in yesterday and once again called tech support, this time of Linksys, the wireless system that I've been having so much trouble with.

I explained that all the wires leading to the house have been checked, and several times in the last months repaired, by AT&T. That since I also have indoor wire maintenance with AT&T, they had also sent someone out to check all of my indoor wiring (the house is over 50 years old, so heaven knows what he found, but apparently it is adequate and working right). As I said, I have a new modem, just in case that was the problem.

Now, it was down to the fact that if I ran the modem straight into my main computer, that computer would come online, first time, every time. When I added the step of sending the signal through the wireless router, it was hit or miss, and had finally just become miss. This was true in spite of the new router.

The nice tech support guy got it when I explained it that way. Something in my computer was not acting right with the router, and needed to be fixed. There were two ways to do that. He could talk me through it (free, because since I bought the router new the day before yesterday I was obviously still within the warranty and free help by phone period). Or I could pay ten bucks and let him remotely access my computer and fix it. I opted to save both of us tearing out our hair in frustration and let him have the con, so to speak.

I will never know what he did, but whatever it is, he told my computer to behave itself, and it is!

Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law states that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Well, to me it was technological magic, and so now maybe I can write a post without connection outages.

It has inspired me to write a poem, and a bad one at that, but since this is a boring blog, my boring poetry is one of the prices you have to pay to read it!


I have an intense admiration for people who unlike me
Are techies who can turn a computer into a tv
Or who can beam a signal anywhere, without care
While mouth agape, this Luddite does stare.
I call tech support, pay my fee, and then see
Someone remotely programs my Linksys for me.
I watch on the screen, buttons pressed, mouse moving
Which goes, once again, into really proving
That those of us who are barely computer literate
Had best be polite and extremely considerate.
Those techies control parts of my world, you know
If they decide that it is to be so
The next thing I know, they might be able
To see what I'm thinking while I cruise the net on their cable! :)


Today is:

Airborne Operations Day, Netherlands

Birthday of the Sun -- Inca

Eid al Fitr -- Islam, marks the end of Ramadan

Feast of Orlog, Finland, Norway, & Sweden (deity of destiny)

Feast of Zywie, Poland (goddess of longevity)

Gibberish Day

Italian National Feast

National Rum Punch Day

National Women's Friendship Day

St. Eustace's Day (patron of hunters, difficult Madrid situations; against family troubles)


Birthdays Today:

Taro Aso, 1940
Sophia Loren, 1934
Anne Meara, 1929
Dr. Joyce Brothers, 1928
Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, 1890
Upton Sinclair, 1878
Emperor Takakura of Japan, 1161


Today in History:

Atilla the Hun defeated at Chalons-sur-Marne by General Aetius, 451
Saladin begins the siege of Jerusalem, 1187
Maryland passes the first "anti-amalgamation" law to stop English women from marrying black men, 1664
The Negro Convention of Free Men agrees to boycott slave-produced goods, 1830
George Simpson patents an electric range, 1859

It seems that I have done something, and I'm not sure what.

I was clicking around on the buttons of the dashboard of this blog, and ended up with every control I was used to looking different.

I can't seem to get it back to the way it was.

I can't find the font color I liked so much, I think this is close, but not the same.

I went looking for ways to prewrite posts and have them publish later, when I am on my retreat.  Looks like I'm going to have to keep searching to figure out if there is a way to do this.

If there isn't, or if this Luddite can't find or use it, there may be a few days where I won't be able to blog.

Oh, well, when the most boring blog on the planet doesn't have anything new, is that really anything new? Hehehe.


Today is:

Big Whopper Liar's Contest

Cherokee Strip Day, Oklahoma

Collect Rocks Day (I guess it means besides all the ones in my head.)

Feast of St. Ludmilla, Patron of The Czeck Republic and Slovakia

Independence Day, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Singapore

Lailat al Kadr -- Islam

Mayflower Day (The ship left England on this day.)

MIA Recognition Day

National Working Parents Day

National Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day

St. Cornelius' Day

St. Cyprian of Carthage's Day (patron of Algeria, North Africa)

St. Euphemia's Day

Stay Away From Seattle Day

Stepfamily Day

Trail of Tears Commemoration Day


Birthdays Today:

Marc Anthony, 1968
Jennifer Tilly, 1961
David Copperfield, 1956
Mickey Rourke, 1956
Robin Yount, 1955
Ed Begley, Jr., 1949
Peter Falk, 1927
B.B. King, 1925
Lauren Bacall, 1924
Allen Funt, 1914
James Cash Penney, 1875


Today in History:

The Massachusetts village of Shawmut changes its name to Boston, 1630
Handel's "The Messiah" premiers in Dublin, 1741
The Great Seal of the United States is used for the first time, 1782
Slavery is abolished in all French Territories, 1848
The Cherokee Strip, in Oklahoma, is opened, making land available to white settlers, 1893
Roald Amundsen discovers the magnetic south pole, 1906
William Durant, carriage-maker, founds General Motors Corp., 1908

As the most boring blog in the world, this post will be typical. After all, where does a boring blogger with blogger's block have to go but down?

I've always been a morning person, which makes it easier for me to take the morning shift feeding the kittens, and one of my night owl children does the last feeding after I go to bed. It is wearing, however, and yesterday when the Hope cat decided to make the night more interesting by peeing in the dryer, it just about frazzled that last nerve.

When looking up today's holidays and special days and bits of trivia, I ran across several sites saying that today is "National Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day." There is no site that tells what this means, though a few do speculate. I think it is some one's idea of a practical joke, spread through the internet like a virus or trojan, but doing no damage except perhaps to the wallets of people who go buy cheese preparing to sacrifice it. I wonder which god or goddess would want a cheese sacrifice? And since today is the day to make the purchase, when is the actual sacrifice?

I propose going out and buying some cheese and just eating the stuff. As expensive as it is to buy cheese (I'm paying an average of over $3/pound when it is on sale), the only sacrifice any cheese I buy will be used for is tonight's dinner.

Speaking of which, another night, another family meal. I wonder what I should cook tonight. The real chef magicians of the world are not necessarily the ones you see on tv. The real magic is in turning out a fresh meal idea for the hungry horde using yet another blah old pound of ground round.

A friend of mine was working on her computers yesterday. She was doing a great deal of technical stuff that makes no sense to me (if I need technical done, I call my friends at Rent-A-Nerd, yes, it is a real business and they do a great job). So she tried to explain it in terms a mom who cooks like grandma could understand.

She explained that she was cleaning and reformatting and redownloading Windows and drivers and such, and we finally got it down to this. The computer is like the stove, and Windows is like the individual burners on the stove (electric, or gas, or ceramic burners with your stove, sweetie?). The drivers are the pots and pans you cook it. When you clean out old stuff from the computer and load in new things, it's like you are cleaning out the pantry and putting new groceries in it. You cook the groceries by using the drivers on the type of burners you want. That's about as close as your going to get to explaining it all to me.

She also told me she has 20,000 songs, and that after she moves they will hook the computer to the speakers she has and have the young generation equivalent of a stereo system/album collection to envy. I think I will stick to my FM tuner, first cousin to a Luddite that I am.


Today is:

Cherry Feast, Germany

Dragon Day

Festival of the Polymorphously Perverse (Do I dare to try to look up this one? Nah, sacrificing cheese is enough for one day.)

Final Frontier Day

NASA Anniversary

National Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day (I say buy the kind you can cook desserts with and sacrifice it in tomorrow's cheese cake.)

National Lasagna Day (Eat your heart out, Garfield.)

National Roller Skating Tournament

Oslok, St. Olav's Feast, Norway (Patron saint of Norway)

Pardon of the Birds, Quimperle, Brittany

Rain Day, Waynesburg, PA

St. Ladislas' Day

Thor's Day (Norse)


Birthdays Today:

Martina McBride, 1966
Clara Bow, 1905


Today in History:

JamesVI crowned King of Scotland in Stirling, 1567
English defeat the Spanish Armada, 1588
Pitt's Gazette becomes the first newspaper published west of the Alleghenies, 1786
Vincent Van Gogh dies in Auvers, France, 1890