Jane had a weird call from new health insurance wanting a credit card and it took us some scrambling to find out it actually was legitimate. During which time we had a kerfluffle with account numbers and needing a verification via phone, as I recall, which needed my phone, which, it turns out, I carried yesterday to the supermarket and didn’t come back with, nor does the supermarket know where it is. This is the supermarket frequented by the economically desperate, and yes, the phone has vanished. No, I don’t have the Google phone finder app. I have searched everywhere. I NEVER carry my phone in my coat pocket, I did once, and gone.
So I’m off to spend more money at T-Mobile, who sold me a replica of the last one and now I am signed up to the phone app. This required my sign-in, which Jane had created, so it’s a call to Jane, but I am home safe and sound with a new (low end) phone and the old one dead, wherever it is, so damage is limited.
But I’m already tired and so is Jane.
Gah!
Oh, for the good old days, when you could deal with an agent in person or by written letter. It has gotten increasingly wacky with such things, and certain services / apps / companies argue between themselves or double-message or…ooh, it’s just aggravating, isn’t it?
I notice even such folks as Sandy from Lucy and na Tully, and ker Pyanfar don’t have to deal with nonsense like that, and sensibly get to deal with paper documents and their computer versions, no muss, no fuss. And of course the Star Trek crews all get to deal with the (ancestor, descendant) of Siri and Alexa (hah!) and they don’t have such red tape hassles either. Thankfully.
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@weeble — Yay! My order arrived Friday or Saturday, but I’m holding off so it’ll be a surprise. How it’s a surprise, when I’m the one who ordered the set, is of course, a matter of mental gymnastics, I suppose. — I do know it arrived safe and sound. 😀 Thank you! I will have a review on Etsy when I do check and use the set. 😀
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I had a fit of book-weakness and ordered ebook titles from Vonda McIntyre’s backlist at bookviewcafe.com, because I (still) don’t know which books are (still) in storage and which are, alas, gone-gone-bye-bye. I’d ordered a few years ago; and what I got this time were the 4 Starfarers books, and Barbary, and two shorts new to me, published since 2000: (1) Little Faces and (2) Little Sisters. I remember really enjoying any of here books I’ve read.
Ahem, the latest Foreigner title is, of course, on pre-order, and I’m eagerly awaiting the Alliance-Union books, because reasons. 😉 (Hmm, and curiously, Cyteen: Regenesis IS available in ebook, but the Cyteen three-in-one is, alas, still NOT available in ebook form. Weird and inscrutable and contrarian are the ways of the book publishers, who, along with our esteemed author hostess, do not thereby get to reap the benefits of sales on such titles from folks such as I, who would quite like that in ebook form. (I need to reread the paperback, which turned up! Yay!
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The latest trip to the grocery store yielded one lonely jar of mincemeat (it’s really minced fruit) from maker Nonesuch. (Yes, that’s really the brand. I love the sense of humor there.) They had only two jars on the bottom shelf, very out of the way. I *like* mincemeat pie quite a lot, for the holiday season, and may decide to order online in future. — I probably missed some items on my list, and will make do happily enough with what I got, which replenished my fridge and pantry for now. I’m sure I forgot something I wanted, but dang, it’s only me and the cats; I can only do so much at one time.
BTW, I ordered a variety pack of ramen, and one of the flavors was Chili, which on its own is a bit too hot for my tastes. (I am sure CJ would like it.) — My solution might be worth a try if you like such: to the prepped ramen and chili packet, add 1 tsp. lemon juice, 1 tsp. or more of soy sauce, and the inspiration, a couple of pieces of bacon, crumbled up. I will confess I added the drippings; I fixed the bacon in a skillet, rather than the microwave. The resulting concoction balanced out the chili heat just enough for me. There was still heat to it, but I didn’t mind it this way. I could consider a tsp. or so of sour cream and a double-handful of chopped aromatic veggies (bell pepper if you don’t want green onions, might do the trick). This was, in fact, so good that I’m going to do this again, and will experiment otherwise with the remaining packets of chili flavor.
Ah, also at the grocery store, I could not resist the shrimp chips, but I need to note the brand, because another type advertised as such were very, very odd and not “chips” or “crisps” (sort of Cheeto-like) but were instead clear, hard discs, which may have been intended for cooking, I don’t know. (They weren’t advertised as such, and I was greatly perplexed with that purchase, about a year ago or so.) I think I’m odd; I like shrimp chips occasionally.
My chopsticks skills are, well, probably only marginally better, but I persist. I have decided, though, that they are actually handy in kitchen prep, for noodles, at least.
Christmas dinner may turn out to be fish (tilapia) with orange juice or orange slices, and rice with veggies, possibly with sauce. I often fix stir-fried rice as a go-to one-pot meal, so I may look for some other option. I haven’t tried fixing tortilla-crusted fish, but that might happen. Im expecting to fix the mince pie during the week. Not yet sure what else, but those are what I’m leaning toward at present.
So, things are proceeding much better, now that I’ve had my grocery trip and I’m restocked. My little corner of the world feels eminently more civilized, though much of the rest of the world seems to have gone into some half-crazed alternate dystopian timeline thing, such as our heroes seem to recognize the minute they land in one, from, ah, several TV shows I could think of. 😉 (Not that I mind that trope, though.)
I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl last night and enjoyed the rewatch thoroughly. — I may watch Hatari this week, or the 1980’s George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol. I am in the mood to watch something else science fictional, but not sure what. Ladyhawke/s very odd mix of an 80’s rock score with a very satisfying sword-and-sorcery romance might be the ticket this time; It’s been just long enough since I last saw it. (I like Matthew Broderick’s “Mouse” character at least as much as the knight and Ysabeau, though my linguist side has always wondered, and never looked up, whether “Ysabeau” is attested anywhere as a real name in medieval French or any of the other Romance languages floating around what would become France at the time. “Ysabeau” is odd, in that it carries the masculine form “beau” instead of “belle,” something like “bè-ah-ww” or “bè-oo” or “beh-ww” (think Elmer Fudd) and “Bella” at the time, though the L to U/W change is common enough in French and Dutch. So…huh.
I’ve seen “Isabeau” as a name in 17th-century records – both old and New France. I have to assume it was around before that.
If you deepfry those translucent chips they turn into thicker, slightly puffy but crisp disks, which generally go a bit wavy or convex while frying and drying, much like potato crisps/chips – they do not stay neatly flat nor do they puff up into balls. The (Indonesian) Dutch name is kroepoek, it’s a staple side-dish for Dutch (Indonesian-)Chinese meals, and it comes in two shapes: small bite-sized wavy ovals or large rectangular sheets that you break pieces off of. This type is made with shrimp; there’s also a vegetarian type made with cassave which I’ve never seen raw. The raw dry sheets are inedible without deepfrying.
Your poker chips were shrimp chips that needed to be fried; sometimes they make an appearance in local groceries. Once you plop them in hot oil, they puff up. Had to have my mom mail me a package of dates for date pinwheels; I’m not paying $12/lb at my local Whole Paycheck. Lasagna for dinner tonight.
PJ and Chondrite, thank you.
Re: Ysabeau/Isabeau, I guess it just goes to show how what’s only slightly unusual (Isabel) can develop into an irregular that goes against the usual other forms (Isabeau). Besides, it’s a great character name. IIRC, Ladyhawke is supposed to take place in Aquitaine, though also IIRC, the knight is from Navarre, and these were separate kingdoms and/or duchies back in that time period. Wow, I think I need to read up on medieval history. It’s been too long since college, dang it.
Chondrite, I had to snicker at “Whole Paycheck.” Yeah, sure felt like that when I paid at Kroger’s yesterday. I was surprised I kept it under what I’d expected to pay, but I still need to check my list. Not really expecting to get to the store before New Year’s, but I might order online.
Really good to know about those odd shrimp chips. I think I’d tried softening some in hot water, and when that didn’t do much at all, haha, I was more mystified. Hmm, fried, huh? OK, well, I could try that when I get a small deep fryer again. Interesting. I’d guess they puff into balls or ovoids, sort of flattened like the glass beads / flat marbles used for silk flowers and so on.
It surprises me what things Hawaiians have to get from the mainland. I’d have thought they’d have local warehouses, if not local factory production. Man, it sounds like an excuse to gouge an entire state. Kinda like Puerto Rico, that way. Meh.
Weather here has turned drizzly and dreary, just cold enough to be annoying, more so if you’re out in it too long. Dunno if it’ll turn nice by Christmas, but maybe so. Looks like it may be warm for Xmas and New Year’s this year. This happens, but the entire season has, so far, been too mild/warm, even for here. We still could see cold temps in January through March, but Easter always marks the last chance for frost, even in our coldest winters here.
We have something called a ‘Paradise Tax’, where due to shipping (look up the Jones Act, and you will have a notion as to why PR and HI have outrageous prices on most things) you can count on many things being 1/3 to half again as expensive as things on the mainland. As an example, my preferred band of toilet paper is cheaper from Amazon as a ‘subscribe and save’ item than when it (rarely) goes on sale here!
In Britain (or at least, Scotland), these are called Prawn Crackers and served in Chinese restaurants as side snacks. In their larval state pre-fried, I used to call them Elephant’s Toenails.
Oddly, I’ve never seen them served in the many Asain Restaurants I frequent in Boston.
@BCS, your mention of Nonesuch Mincemeat brought back bittersweet memories. That’s the brand my dad always favored, although in my childhood it came in a foil-wrapped brick rather than a jar, and had to be “rehydrated” in a big pot on the stove. (fragranced the whole house with that lovely spicey fruit smell as it hydrated). He always made lattice crust pies, and we always had both mincemeat and cherry pies (a pie of each, not both in one!) for Christmas. I could never decide which I wanted, so had half a slice of each. Sigh!
Quel dommage (if I remember my college French correctly). DH & I both replaced our 4+ year old phones recently & he couldn’t get his ring tone to transfer from his old IPhone 4 to the new IPhone 4. Since I’m a Droid user, I was no help. Nor have I figured out how to transfer my preferred ring tone (opening measures from Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song) to my new droid. I’ll deal with it later, or maybe I’ll get used to the stock ring tone. And we both managed to retrieve our contacts – him from Apple backup and me from Lookout backup, which I’ve used for years.
I’m such a paranoid that if I get a call asking for my credit card number, I tell them to send it to me in writing. Otherwise, they get nothing. If I initiate the call, that’s different. I had one place call me and ask me for my credit card information so I could renew my membership. I said I will give it to you if I initiate the call, not the other way around. She said that I could read the name on the Caller ID – this was before widespread spoofing – but I still don’t take their words for it. She got kind of upset with me, and it caused them to lose a customer for a couple of years because of that attitude. So far, my card has been hacked one time, surprisingly, on my trip back from ShejiCon IV. I believe I know where it was done, but couldn’t prove it. Hopefully, the person who did it was caught. I wasn’t out any money, as my credit union called me and asked me about the purchases made, seeming suspicious and not my usual purchases.
We get very good service from Capital One, so far as dealing with potentially bogus charges—we get a query.
In this case, we have a policy that WE initiate the call to the company asking payment. We advise the caller we will call the company forthwith, we hang up, and initiate a search for the number, then call through to billing and ask for our account. We’ve never found a bogus one, but it makes us feel easier. We were just a little off our guard on this one, and immediately began to feel uneasy, so we started tracking down the (new) insurance company and inquiring, and it was ok.
As for the phone, I now have a shiny new one and Jane helpfully entered useful phone numbers. Without my stylus (which resembles a quill pen [my statement on my tech level with these things) I am almost entirely helpless with the keypad. T-Mobile helpfully killed the other phone, so I won’t be getting charges from it.
Senor Don Gato is quite displeased with me. Junior was carted off to the vet, where he got a mani-pedi (he had not just the 1 ingrown one I found, but another on the other front paw), and an antibiotic injection for the owies on his paws. He is now licking his wounds and plotting revenge, but on the road to healing. I will need to keep an eye on those claws and make sure he doesn’t get any more.
Owie.
Winter being upon us and snow being everywhere, I note that some creature came from the top peak of the garage roof down toward the pond, and now that the ice is going soft out there, I note the trail continues right across the pond. It could be a squirrel…but there are wires a squirrel could use. Raccoon is the most likely. But of no concern right now, since the fish are all soundly abed and sleeping their winter sleep. The temperatures are headed for the cellar again, and there will be no sushi on the menu.
I forget, DID you finally get a Kawarimono/Ragi, or Gin Rin Matsukawabake/Guild koi?
More a kin kikokuryu…but not quite. Goku is something of a butterfly fin, or tries to be, but more mutt than show.
I bit the bullet and got a Galaxy — the model after the ones that kept catching fire. It has turned out handy to be able to text people, and have access to internet when mom and I are on the road as we will be between Xmas and NY’s. (She is old school, has this huge road atlas, which is not always accurate.) My bank has an app where you can deposit a check by taking a picture of it, which is a very useful feature.
Try Google Maps on your phone. Just enter your destination, and it will give you directions like a GPS navigator system. The maps are also generally up to date.
Google maps is good. Waze is another option.
Google Maps tends to get confused as you reach your destination, despite it apparently having the accuracy to remember your parking spot. So, look at your destination before you start driving, and turn into the nearest shopping center when it gives a confused instruction. It’s not going to lead you to the exact storefront; it seems to only understand the shopping center entrance of the street address. But it improves.
On the plus side, you can tell Google Maps to remember areas for offline use, and then just forbid it to use anything but Wi-Fi to avoid mobile data charges. I have it remember the coast from Tijuana N to Bakersfield and inland a couple hundred miles. The map is “only” 1/2 GB. You can use some “OK, Google” voice commands offline.
I like Android Pay, but maybe I should try my bank’s app. I’m just hesitant about linking “serious” information into my very loseable phone.
My bank notifies me instantly on my phone and by email for every charge on my cards. For example, when I pay for something in a supermarket, I will generally get a beep on my phone and a notification message even before I walk out, with the amount and the store name. Logins to my bank account are also instantly notified on my phone.
A useful sort of thing. I have a very slippery hardcase card wallet I love, but I do worry about it slipping out of my purse the day I’m fool enough to leave it unzipped.
My checkbook cover is one I got at a craft show that’s “hide-side” leather. It’s a bit rougher than suede so has enough resistance that it ain’t sliding out of my hip pocket, even with a little “encouragement”.
Coming attractions: 2015 TB145
https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcGFjZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA1MS8yMTEvb3JpZ2luYWwvYXN0ZXJvaWQtMjAxNS10YjE0NS1hcmVjaWJvLXJhZGFyLXNrdWxsLmpwZw==
And what is this, Paul? A distant, poorly imaged space object? A ghostly skull (or is that an oxymoron? Do ghosts have skulls?)… Or something in between?
I just wanted tp add a thank you to everyone for further comments on shrimp chips, mincemeat, and the like. The way the conversation meanders here is nearly always fascinating. 🙂