Month: January 2016

Phone woes

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I remember what I was going to write about yesterday!  It only took a few hours.  It was about my phone.  Over the last several months, my phone’s battery has gotten worse and worse.  The other day (the day I finally took some action about it), I had to plug the thing in FOUR times in one day.  The battery just won’t hold a charge for very long anymore, and sometimes, even when it’s at 40% or something plenty high, it’ll just shut off.

I’m due for an upgrade, but the phone I want isn’t eligible (won’t save me any money), and the model I have (which I would happily buy again) isn’t available anymore.

Last Saturday, I called Sprint to find out of the insurance I’d been paying on my phone would cover repairs or a replacement because of this battery problem.  The woman I spoke to said I’d have to take it in to a repair center to have them check it out, but if they agree that I didn’t actually cause the problem, then yes, my purchase of the insurance would actually help me out.

Same day, I headed to a Sprint store/repair center and spoke to two SUPER nice people there.  They were sympathetic, agreed that I needed a replacement (since the battery on this model isn’t replaceable), and began the process to get me that replacement.

Problem: The phone I want isn’t available for replacement.  I have the Google Nexus 5, and I want either another Nexus 5 or the Nexus 5X.  I don’t want a Nexus 6 (too big), and I don’t want any other model.  (I love my phone.)  Sprint doesn’t have ANY more of the Nexus 5, and the 5X doesn’t count as a replacement, apparently.

That, unfortunately, is where Sprint can’t help me anymore (the company didn’t actually help me AT ALL).  The two guys I was working with went online and found all the websites I can use to turn in my phone and get a credit towards a new phone (but we’re talking at most $80-ish towards a $400 phone – Best Buy will only give me $40), and they mentioned a place I can go that will mail my phone out to someone who will replace the battery, but they think it’ll cost a ton.

Question: Why can someone out there replace the battery, but Sprint can’t?  I got home, and John and I googled replacement batteries for my phone and hey – someone wrote instructions for how to do it.  You have to have a special tool or two, but John already has them (from replacing the screen on his old smartphone), and the battery costs – are you ready? – around $10.  That’s it!  And it’s eligible for Prime shipping from Amazon, so it’s coming tomorrow or the next day.

If the new battery solves my problem (because everything else about my phone is wonderful), then I will be happy for as long as that battery will let me be.  Or at least until the Nexus 5X comes down in price to something reasonable.  Cross your fingers for me!

Distractions

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When I sat down in front of my computer, not five minutes ago, I knew what I was going to write about.  In those last five minutes, I have ordered Chinese food (because I have no willpower) and watched John fly his flying Batman around the room (Batman is wearing a harness with two horizontal propellers over his head).  John is trying to get Batman to land on my head, and I am threatening bodily harm to him (John) if Batman’s proprellers get stuck in my hair.  This is all happening RIGHT now, AS I’m typing, and I have NO idea what I planned to write about five minutes ago.

I hope it wasn’t something brilliant.

 

Teddy bears and sprinkles and unicorns requested

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We have a watched a LOT of violent TV lately.  Last night, we finished watching Jessica Jones on Netflix.  It’s all we watched last week, and I loved every minute of it, but holy hell, was it violent.  We just finished watching John Wick on HBO Go, which was surprisingly good, but crazy violent, too.  I mean, it’s about a hit man with LOTS of reasons to go after the entire Russian mob, but still.  I haven’t checked IMDB yet (or Google), but the body count has to be near 100.

Thanks, Google.  84.  84 people die in this movie, mostly by gunshot.

So maybe we should take a break from all the violent TV.  My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, maybe?

Tilt

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Our apartment is on the second floor of this rowhouse, and our bedroom is the room at the back.  It sticks out a little bit past the first floor, and I think that makes John a little nervous.

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The floor in our room isn’t perfectly level, and it’s an old house, so it creaks.  His side of the bed is the side towards the back, so….if the house falls apart, he’s going over the edge first.

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I wouldn’t say it worries him exactly, but he might not sleep well until we live in a place where he’s not sleeping while hanging out over the open air.

Flying, he can do.  This?  Not so much.  I did offer to switch sides with him, but he says that’s weird.

I’m not that important

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Surprise!  Going to the office stresses me out.  It did today, at least.  I got in early (ten to 7), assumed I wouldn’t do much of the work I’d hoped to do (because that’s what happens when I’m in the office), tried to leave at 3pm, found myself swamped with things I’d be leaving half-done, and put my laptop to sleep at 3:45 hoping that all of the things I had open would still be there when I got home.

Luckily, they are all still there, but so are emails from people I can’t ignore.  So here it is, over 11 hours after I got to the actual office this morning, back on my work laptop feeling all anxious that I didn’t do some things.  I’m working on letting it go.  I replied to the people I can’t ignore.  Everything else that’s clamoring for my attention can be done first thing tomorrow.

I know this.  It’s not that important.  I’M not that important.  Nothing that needs to be done is a matter of life or death.

I’m repeating this.

I want to be able to relax tonight.

Ommmmmmmm…..

A lesson in how to overuse parentheses in a single paragraph

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Remember how I ordered stuff from Athleta on that one day everything was on super-sale?  Well, one thing was supposed to arrive by this Friday (the Friday that hasn’t gotten here yet), and the other four things weren’t supposed to arrive until the 14th.  Last night (Tuesday night), we heard a knock on our door (which pretty much always makes us cringe and consider pretending no one is home – don’t bother us!  We’re very anti-social, and we don’t like surprise visits!  Also, we don’t have a peephole!  I’m opening that door blind every time!  Granted, we have a keypad lock on the front door of the house, but still!  Enough with the exclamation points!  Gah!), and when we opened it, our upstairs neighbor handed me a package.  Yay stuff!  It was from Athleta, early no matter what it was, and I assumed it was the first item arriving a few days early.  I was wrong!  (I know you didn’t see that coming.  It’s so rare.)  The package contained my other four things, to my excitement.

I was ultimately disappointed (a little – I’ll be okay).  Everything fits, and I’m going to keep them, but I ordered on-sale clothes that are much more suited for the spring/fall temperatures we were enjoying before this week.  I didn’t think that through.  Winter has set in, and I won’t be wearing 3-quarter sleeve shirts, tank tops, or sleeveless dresses for quite a while.  Not sure where my brain went – I bought a sleeveless dress on New Year’s Day.  But the fifth thing (that’s supposed to arrive Friday) is pants!  …Lightweight…pants…

To Do, Part 1, Move 3

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We’re past the halfway mark for Annapolis (that happened a month ago).  These next three months are going to FLY by.  We’re super-excited, but the list of things we have to get done is growing.

  1. Visit Oregon again and find a place to live.  I’m on lots of apartment rental sites, but the first thing we have to do is plan the visit.  When are we going?  How long are we staying?  I need to call places and make appointments and maybe try a real estate agent or two.
  2. Call moving companies.  Get estimates.  The last move was 4 and a half months ago.  On the one hand, that’s long enough to have dimmed the pain.  On the other hand, it’s not that long, and I still want movers.  PLUS, we’ll be driving across the country, and I’d rather not caravan.  How miserable would that trip be with John in the truck and me in the car?  Much more fun if we can do it together.
  3. Continue to get rid of stuff.  The purging won’t be as drastic as the last two times, but there are still things we can (and want to) get rid of rather than take along to Oregon.

Hm.  That’s not too bad, actually.  Those are the big items.  The more detailed lists will come up as we make some decisions and get closer.

The squee is strong with this one

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Holy shit, guys.  This is small potatoes to lots of people (LOTS of people), but this is the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me on the internet, and I need to tell you about it.  Saturday afternoon, about 3pm, I tweeted this.

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We bought a copy of The Bloggess’s second book, Furiously Happy (which was really good, by the way), for Tania for Christmas, and we found that $5 bill with the note attached inside.  It’s really sweet (and a great idea), and it’s the kind of thing you tweet, you know?  I included The Bloggess in the tweet because we found it in her book, and I thought she’d appreciate it.  Didn’t think anything else of it.

Then John and I went out for an early dinner with a friend of his from high school.  I didn’t look at my phone until we got back to the apartment, around 8pm.  That tweet was re-tweeted and replied to by The Bloggess, and it blew up (in a good way).

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My phone buzzed pretty constantly for about 24 hours, as people saw, liked, and retweeted that tweet.  It was SO weird.  I texted Jess  in the middle of it: “What in the hell is happening to me on Twitter?” and she said, succinctly, “The Bloggess is happening to you.”

Then I tweeted this, which is still pretty much true:

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I got a bunch of nice replies and retweets to the original tweet, and then I heard from the woman who was responsible for it, which was really cool.  A few more people are following me,  I’m following a few more people, the lady whose idea this was gets more exposure – everyone wins.

THEN, the next day (Sunday), I checked The Bloggess’s website (as I do regularly) and check this out!

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She put me in her weekly wrap-up!  That’s a link directly to my tweet!  So, you know, that’s cool.

Don’t worry – I won’t let it go to my head.

Vague

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A thing happened to me online last night and today, and I’m super-excited about it (and a little overwhelmed), and I’ll write all about it tomorrow, I promise.  Tonight, I’m drinking wine and watching Jessica Jones (which is SO great so far) and trying to get a little distance from the super-cool thing that happened last night.

(Mom, Dad, it’s a Twitter thing and you’re probably not going to be as excited about it as I am, but TRUST me – it’s cool.)

Thank heaven for pretty days

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Happy January 2nd!  That’s easy to say when this is your view:

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I swear that picture doesn’t look blurry on my phone…but you get the idea.  I’ve been listening to Welcome to Night Vale podcasts on my phone while running lately, partly so I can stop and take pictures.  I took this one from the top of the Naval Academy Bridge.  The middle of the bridge is a mile and a half from our apartment.

It’s pretty here.

The beginning of the year

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You’re supposed to start the new year the way you plan to continue it, right?  (Or something like that?)  Well, I noticed Athleta’s semi-annual sale AND extra 20% off all sale items, so I started this year by ordering five ridiculously-low-priced items from my favorite store for a ridiculously low total.

We did NOT stop at the grocery store on our way back from Emily and Sean’s house (even though we could have AND we talked about it), so we will not be cooking tonight.  Let that say whatever it says about how we’re handling cooking this year.  Miracles may happen somewhere, but probably not in my kitchen.

John is studying for his pilot exam, and I’m going to read (because despite what I said in one of my recent posts, I am capable of enjoying the books on my bookshelf).

Happy new year!