Sunday, December 15, 2013

Jeez, time really does fly!

I just noticed that I haven't updated the blog since Tuesday.  The embarrassing thing is that I can't think of anything even remotely interesting that I've accomplished in that time.  Jeez, really? 

Back a few years ago Microsoft came out with this pc-thing that took over the world.  Yeah, I know about the Fruit company but in offices it was pretty much Windows.  Anyway, they had a notepad that I think they are still supporting and I discovered that if you opened the notepad and put .LOG in the first line, it would time-date stamp it every time you opened it.  Hmmm.  From that day to this I've used that piece of software.  These days it is more of a diary but it used to be that I'd be on the phone with someone making notes of what we were saying.  I'd have a note that I promised a software fix by Tuesday; or they promised a new spec; or whatever.  And after I got off the phone and talked with three people about three different problems, I still had my notes right there.  I absolutely love it.  It must have saved a tree's worth of paper from me taking notes in notebooks.  Also my typing is a hellova lot easier to read than my penmanship!

So, what have I been up to?  We took the photo of the cat that I posted last time and went to Walmart and in an hour got our custom Christmas cards printed up.  Our Walmart appears to have cut people's hours.  The checkout lines were crazy so after paying for our cards at the photo counter we just left.  Didn't do much on Wednesday.  I was convinced we could buy screen-storm door for one of our doors; two hours on the internet convinced me that it may not be possible.  The problem is that the door isn't a standard size; it's about an inch off and I can't find any that are adjustable.  Grrrr.  Apparently that was about all I accomplished on Wednesday.  Well, I did sell a stock that we've had for a couple years and it's up a bit but hasn't paid a dividend so it's outta here. We also got those Christmas cards out.  They mostly go to folks who aren't too computer savvy but there are a couple going to friends I've had for 40 years but don't really correspond with all that much.

Thursday we went into town and bought a bunch of stuff for Toys For Tots.  We usually go for the small kids stuff; by the time a kid is in the teens they ought to have a grip on reality.  I don't know if I'm done with that; there are an awful lot of poor kids out there and the hype about Christmas drives them all crazy - rich or poor. 

Friday the big thing was working on my pension.  I turned 65 this year and have been having difficulty communing with the Retiree Benefits departments of a couple corporations I worked for many moons ago.  Each company has a different set of rules and they stick by them.  It won't be enough to live on but it can't hurt.  I guess that's pretty much out of style now; pensions I mean.  I don't agree with that.  My wife worked for one company for 28 years; how is it that an employee like that shouldn't be kept on the books.  It doesn't have to be a free ride but to be kicked to the curb sounds wrong.  She has her pension but I don't know that current employees are going to be as fortunate.

Yesterday was Number One Daughter visit day:  she and her mom watched movies and I hid in my den.  I don't care for most movies these days:  too many dead bodies and gratuitous violence for me.  But the food was good and we had a good talk after dinner so it wasn't all bad.  Today we are munching on left-overs and contemplating a walk.  We call it Life in the Fast Lane.

Have a good one.  Thanks for stopping by.

1 comment:

Croft said...

All workers should be entitled to a pension. Dedicating that much of your life to an employer should have some benefits.