A New Direction....

That's all I have to say for now...  Stay tuned.

Insurance and Injustice

Elliott gets his "license" soon (he will be able to drive alone during daylight hours) so I thought I would check insurance rates.  I went online and submitted my info to a site that sends it out to a few companies and they come back with a price.  Oddly enough, my own company came back with a rate about half of what I am already paying them!   I called them up and sure enough, they said I could cancel my current policy with them and get another for hundreds less!  Turns out it is up to the insured to monitor their rates and shop around - every 6 months to a year is recommended!  So for who knows how long I have been paying for nothing!  Grrrrrr

Meanwhile my battle with Sony continues over the blue line that has appeared in my 36 month old big screen TV.  Not much of a battle actually when the other side has the upper hand and doesn't want to fight.  I paid $50 to their local repair guy to tell me that it will cost $682 MORE than I paid for it to repair it!  Sony Customer Relations listened patiently and so graciously offered to sell me a discontinued TV for a mere $900.  Thanks for nothing.  Why would I would I buy another TV from them when they won't stand behind the first one?!  So I sent a letter (an actual letter on paper in an envelope with a stamp on it!) to their HQ pleading my case.  Not holding my breath....

Last week we went to meet Ashleigh at the Baltimore Humane Society Dogfest.  Started off rough - we got off to a late start and someone stole Ashleigh's expensive North Face jacket while she was volunteering there.  Then there was a 1.5 mile backup to get near the place.  We wound up just pulling off the road and walking (like many people).  Mocha was terrible on the walk there - pulling and lunging.  Took everything, and I mean everything, in me to hold her back.  Of course the Humane Society is not the place to be disciplining your dog...  But once we got in she was her usual big fluffy self and everyone loved her.  It was a huge field with lots to see.  Turned out OK.  One of the vendors had a water bowl out that Mocha claimed as her own (see bottom photo).

The other night I was walking the dogs before supper and when I came back with them the whole kitchen had a smoky haze.  I asked Lucie what she was burning, uh, cooking for supper.  Turns out she put the Costco chicken, plastic boat tray, cover and all, in the oven to warm up and the plastic melted.  The top clear part shrink-wrapped over the top of the chicken and the black bottom melted thru the rack to the bottom of the oven.  But it cooled quickly and peeled right off beautiful.  Didn't taste bad.  I told Lucie the rice could use a little more plastic though...

Flat Lining

While we were at Newfie Fun Days, the hard drive in Lucie's laptop died.  Fine in the morning, dead a few hours later.  When we got back I went to our usual computer place but they wanted $150 for a replacement drive!  For $400 I can get a whole new laptop.  So a friend recommended a used computer parts store and I got a bigger drive for $25.  I "Ghost" our computers monthly (take an image of the entire drive) and do weekly data back ups so I just had to slap the replacement drive in, put the image from other drive back and copy in the latest backup and she was up and running.

That was an easy fix.  This one, not so much:  my beautiful 52-inch Sony TV has a line running down it.  Argh!  About 4 inches in from the right - top to bottom.  Very thin but it looks like a dang highway to me.  For now, it fades away after about 15 minutes.  But research says soon it will stay.  So I have called and emailed Sony and their oh-so-helpful response has been to just get it fixed.  Um, getting it fixed means replacing the entire screen!  That's not helpful.  It is just over 3 years old and out of warranty of course...

Meanwhile I shut the pool down.  Always a sad time of the year.  I got a Shiatsu foot massager to try and help with the bone spurs and pain.  I ice my feet first, then put them on the massager for 15 minutes.  Pretty painful actually but seems to be helping.  Last night I watched a video of an athletic trainer taping someone's foot.  I tried it and it feels good.

Today Elliott and I are going to an ING DIRECT sponsored car show (free tickets).  That is always interesting.  Gotta mow the yard too.  Not many more times this year for that...