Whatever

Christmas Card Peculiarities

Okay, so Christmas cards were Donna’s thing; I printed labels and stuck them on envelopes. Back in 2023, she made sure everyone knew that she had ALS, and that was just one more hurdle for her to jump over. But her life turned out to be a lot shorter than we thought; she passed away before 2024’s Christmas card season arrived. Most everyone that was a relative or close friend of ours knew of her passing, and I did not send cards out for Christmas. What I did was to send a thank you postcard to everyone that mailed me a card.

Not everyone who we sent cards to always reciprocated all the time. This year I received cards from 3 sets of people that, for whatever reason, did not send a card last year. All three belong to the periphery of the family/friend circle, so their cards were addressed to Mr. & Mrs. or Brian & Donna. For 2 of them I have sent thank you notes for the card and let them know that Donna has passed away.

The third card I’m not sure about. It came from Dan & David Smith*. The address that is in the spreadsheet is the same, but the only name associated with it is Nancy. I can’t recall exactly, but I think the names used to be Dan & Nancy Smith way back when. So what happened to Nancy? And who is David?

*The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Close To A Typical Friday

Weekly grocery shopping because Fred Meyer offers 4x the points on Friday if you clip the coupon. Free donuts at the community coffee klatch.

Not typical was the annual visit to the PCP for the Medicare-mandated checkup in between. “Have you fallen in the last 2 months?” “Do you worry about having enough food?” “Do you need help with bathing?”

This is almost typical in that it was the 3rd time I have removed the front grill and bumper of the GTI. I ordered some LED high beam bulbs to match the low beam ones. So, off came the front of the car to get at the headlights. I removed the existing halogen bulbs, and that is when I noticed the slot was nowhere near big enough to slide the new LED unit in. I suppose I could have made the hole bigger, but that would be modifying the reflector portion of the high beam, and that might create an unknown or weird light pattern.

I headed over to Advanced Auto and bought some higher-intensity and whiter-colored bulbs. They aren’t perfect, but they do match better with the low beams. I’ll return the LEDs to Amazon tomorrow.

I also finished the puzzle that was about 75% done when I left.

A Day In The Life

0) Rainy Forecast

Welcome back to the Pacific Northwest. Oooh, Friday looks nice…

1) Buy Creamer

My first stop this morning was to buy some Dunkin’ creamer at the only place in town that still sells it. First Fred Meyer quit, then Albertsons, followed quickly by Safeway.

2) Salted Caramel Latte

This will brighten my day. Stop #2 is practically across the street from Target and something I have greatly missed, a Salted Caramel Latte from Stomping Grounds.

3) Return Wrong Drill Bit

Before heading off on my latest adventure, I had purchased a step drill bit for a GTI mod, but it wouldn’t fit into where I needed it to. Time to get my $8 back.

4) Haircut

I was long overdue for a cut. My usual period between trims is every 4 weeks, but I was at six. What little hair I still have left starts to be unruly after a month.

5) Drop Off Land’s End Return

Another pre-trip purchase that needed returning was a pair of pants from Land’s End that didn’t fit. When I first went into Kohl’s, I headed straight for the Amazon Returns counter. They told me it was at the regular Kohl’s return area. When I got there, they said, “No, it is back at the Amazon counter.” Back I went, and after much conversation I finally convinced the person behind the counter to scan the QR code. Bingo.

6) Return Another Drill Bit

The second drill bit was too long as well. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get that aftermarket clutch pedal stop in there.

7) I’ve Got Mail

I went and looked in my mailbox, and it was stuffed. The postal folks just jammed the mail in my mailbox. 4 catalogs, 5 weekly fliers, 4 Christmas cards, a jury summons for Donna, and a crap ton of pleas to donate something to somebody. Last time they just ditched this stuff.

There’s Something You Don’t See Every Day

telepoem booth

When I first noticed this in the lobby area of the Chavez Center while waiting for Santa Fe Sally to finish up her workout, I thought maybe it was an actual phone booth, but then I noticed that the word “phone” was misspelled as “poem.” Was it a joke? Or was that telepoem Spanish? I looked it up on the WWW, and lo and behold, it is a repurposed phone that has been converted into a jukebox-like device that lets you dial a number formatted like a phone number, and you get to hear a poem and have the old-school telephone experience.

Find one nearby on their website: http://www.telepoembooth.com/locations.html

Neue Scheibenwischerblätter

Yesterday I bought some new windshield wipers for the GTI. I checked for the sizes needed, and while we were at Walmart to pick up the Cerakote Headlight Renewal Kit for Sally’s 2002 RAV4, I grabbed the ones I needed for the VW. What I should have done first was see what kind of connection to the arms it was, but I didn’t, and when we got back and went to put the new ones on, the connection from blade to arm was something I’d never seen before.

This morning we took another trip to Walmart to return the wrong ones and stopped on the way back home at the local VW place to snag the right ones. While I was there, I also had them sell me a rear window wiper blade as well. The total for the three OEM blades at the dealer was just right around three times the cost of the $35 that they cost at Wally World.

Monday Catch Up

Monday Morning Mural


 
I missed a day yesterday, both here and on Instagram. It was a long and boring drive from Tucson to Santa Fe, except for a brief few miles on I-10 near the AZ-NM border where a large rocky formation popped out of the ground. I took one lone photo in the town of Hatch, NM, when we passed through, but it was not worthy. And I so wanted that to be the lead because it reminded me of driving through Vidalia, GA, because both are home to two vegetables that have become almost name brands.

Today was spent running errands, getting new wipers for the GTI, and grocery shopping for the week. Going to the gym to stretch out those stiff “sitting in the car” muscles. And, working around the house, with yard work for her and inside stuff from my “job” jar.

Starring Jack & Amy?

While trolling on Prime for a movie to watch, I came across this one, “Words and Pictures,” with Amy Poehler and Jack Black. The premise sounded interesting, and with those two it could be anything from low-brow comedy to dramedy.

I went to IMDb and found that the movie really stars Juliette Binoche and Clive Owen. I watched the trailer, and neither Amy nor Jack appeared anywhere in it, but this version looked good too. I got an hour into it, and Mr. Owen’s character just got too tiresome, so I hit the exit door. Maybe it would have been better with Poehler & Black…

Anyway, why the wrong names? My theory is that there is a department in the Amazon Prime Video HQ that is in charge of these little drop-down synopses, and a couple of wiseasses have a competition to see how long one of their intentional miss edits stays live on the site.