Observations

[Diane Amberg]

Thanks for sharing that.

[larryJ]

In recent days, the right front tire on my wife's car seemed to be losing air.  Upon visual inspection I couldn't really see anything.  On Thursday, I promised that on Saturday I would take the car to Sears Auto Shop where we bought the tires and have it fixed.  My wife called them on Thursday and inquired if they would be there on the fourth and they said they were going to be open.  She then informed me she would take care of it Friday as she had decided not to make the trip up to the condo in Lake Arrowhead.  I was going.  I then reminded her that I would take care of it on Saturday. 

Yesterday, (Saturday), while working on the computer, she woke up and asked for her usual room service (coffee) and then informed me that she had not taken the car into Sears after all and "would I be a sweetheart and do it for her?" 

So at about 2 PM, I took the car to Sears to have the tire fixed.  A check on the computer told the attendant there that I did not buy the tires there and was subject to paying for the repair.  I know we bought the tires there because we always buy our tires there, but I didn't argue and told him I didn't mind paying for it.  He then informed me because I have been a loyal Sears customer since 1974, there would be no charge.  They were somewhat busy and I settled into the air-conditioned waiting room and watched TV.  The repair proved to be somewhat difficult due to the angle of the dry wall nail that was in it so it took about two hours.  No problem I was comfortable and the golf tournament was on.

I have mentioned elsewhere on the forum, maybe this thread, that we have all kinds here in SoCal.  After I had been in the room for a few minutes, a black woman who had been standing out in the repair area came in and went down the hall.  She returned a few minutes later and sat down beside me.  She was probably in her late '40s, dressed nicely and nice looking.  She turned to me and looked me in the eye...........with one eye because the other one was looking elsewhere.........told me that as she was in the Ladies room, God told her to come to me and pray for/with/to me.  There was nobody else in the room.  So I sat quietly looking down like I was praying and she went on for about four minutes praying saying thanks be to God that he would bring the two of us together on that very day.  She finished........we both said Amen.  She then got up and wished me a good day and left.  It takes all kinds.  It was nice that she would do that for/with/to me.  It wasn't nice that I missed the hole in one during the golf tournament because I was looking down like I was praying. 

Back to the fourth, with my wife's decision not to go to the mountains and her cousin not feeling up to making the trip, I was allowed........strike that........I went by myself.  It is a 60 mile drive, the last 20 going up the mountain.  I was in heaven.  I put on my cool shades that I just got from the Optometrist, put in some classical music in the CD player, and cranked up the volume to just below earsplitting level and headed out. It is freeway driving for the first 35 miles and then I exit the freeway onto a state highway that heads up into the hills.  The traffic wasn't very bad until I got to the exit.  There must have been 50 cars lined up to exit the freeway.  I thought "Oh, great, all these people are going up the mountain.  It is going to take me forever to get there."  However, I don't know where they all went because there was little traffic going uphill.  I spent the day with my kids and grandkids and some of their friends and had a nice hot dog/hamburger/watermelon type Fourth of July lunch.  They later began to assemble their families and belongings to head to the lake to watch the fireworks.  I chose to go home while it was still daylight.  I can see fireworks from about five different places just sitting at the end of my driveway.

Haven't seen the raccoon again.

Larryj

[larryJ]

I have not mentioned R.A.M.B.O. and Sir Charles in some time. R.A.M.B.O., being a Pomeranian mix, has very coarse hair.  Grooming him requires a trip to the groomer to be de-shedded.  Sir Charles, more familiarly known as Charlie, being a Cocker Spaniel can be groomed with a electric shaver. We used to take them to a local pet store.  Then we got into having a local mobile groomer come by once in a while to do it.  However, time has passed us by and while R.A.M.B.O. doesn't change much, Charlie becomes a ragamuffin. He was to the point where we needed to groom him before taking him to the groomer.  Kinda like cleaning the house before the cleaning lady comes.

So yesterday morning, my wife's cousin was up and she proceeded to give Charlie a bath.  She initially dried him with towels and I took him to the back patio and finished drying him with a blow dryer.  I then started in on him with the electric clippers.  He is not the most cooperative dog about things like this even with the cousin holding him.  As we worked on him, the day moved along and all of a sudden it was over 90 degrees in the shady patio.  He wasn't completely done, but looked okay.  We quit until later.

In the afternoon when it was cooler, I went back to grooming him.  My wife decided at some point to come outside and help out.  By this time I was pretty much done, but she wanted to work on him more and he does look better for it.  Then she decided to start in on R.A.M.B.O.  I mentioned that it was a mistake to do so, that his hair doesn't get trimmed, it gets de-shedded.  As usual, she didn't pay much attention to what I had to say and proceeded to run the trimmer down his back.  After one pass, she realized that maybe this wasn't such a good idea because now he had a streak running along one side of his back making him look like a punk kid with a head of hair with a blonde streak in it.  I don't know if that will ever grow back out to its original color.  He looks stupid.  But then he always looked kinda stupid anyhow.

Larryj

[larryJ]

On July 1, 2013, my wife had back surgery.  A cage was inserted and it is held there with two rods and six screws.  Two weeks ago, she had her final appointment with the back surgeon who declared her completely healed and released her from his care.  In the meantime, she has been experiencing some pain in her right hip and knee.  On that last visit with the back doctor he did x-ray her hip and told her she should see her Primary Care Doctor because he thought she was going to need a hip replacement.  We went to our Primary Care doctor who prescribed her some pain meds and looked at the x-ray we had received from the back doctor and concurred that sometime down the road she would need hip replacement surgery.  In the meantime, do exercises and take the meds and hopefully things will be better.  She had a series of blood tests and many of them came back out of the normal range.  She was sent to Physical Medicine where she was to get a shot to alleviate the pain, but when the doctor there saw the blood tests he refrained from giving her the shot because of the chance she had some sort of infection.

Now, I have mentioned that our insurance is Kaiser.  The hospital is not far away and everything is in one place......labs, specialists, pharmacies, etc.  We do not have to travel around town to see various doctors or do tests.  Then the Primary Care Doctor ordered an MRI of her hip and this was done on Wednesday.  On her way home, the radiological tech called her to see if she was going back to the doctor.  She wasn't so then a doctor from Radiology called her and told her she should go to the Emergency Room as she had a fractured hip.  None of us can recall her doing anything such as falling or anything to cause such an injury.  Her cousin had taken to her to the MRI and they called me and I went over to the hospital.  The ER doctor examined her and then looked at the MRI and then consulted with an Orthopedist.  The two of them concluded she did not have a fractured hip, that the doctor from Radiology was mistaken.  It happens.  With her latest blood work back to pretty much normal, the ER doctor did give her a shot and we went home after three hours.

She does have an appointment with the Orthopedic doctor next week at which time he will determine if she gets a hip replacement. 

The observation:  I am thinking of asking Kaiser hospital if they rent rooms because with running her back and forth and going to pick up meds, both hers and mine, I am there almost every day.  We are on a first name basis with many of the hospital employees.  Our hospital offers valet parking and those guys always run and get a wheelchair for her when they see the car coming.  $5 and $4 for handicapped.  But we always give them five leaving the one dollar for the tip jar.  It beats having to find a parking spot and then walking from the parking structure to the building.

Second observation:  She is falling apart at the seams.......it seems.

Larryj

[larryJ]

In my last post on this thread, I mentioned that my wife was to see her Primary Care Doctor in relation to her hip pain.  She went and had several tests including the MRI and blood tests.  There was a change of medication by the Physical Medicine doctor and a consultation with the Orthopedic Surgeon this last week.  She and I and her cousin are scheduled this next Wednesday for a two and one half hour class on caregiving for post operation and she is scheduled the following Wednesday for Pre-op and then the following Wednesday for hip replacement surgery.  When our Primary Care Doctor called the other day to see how she was doing, my wife asked her how many patients she had and she stated that on paper she has 2,000, but she doesn't really see that many and there are those who don't go to the doctor much anyway.  Then she told my wife that she was #1 on the list.  I guess that's good because she is being fast-tracked into this surgery, or bad because she is in far worse shape than we thought.  Either way, all the doctors and pharmacists are moving her right along with this procedure and I can't thank them enough. 

Of course, I am not looking forward to the post-op after getting her through the back surgery recovery for the last year, but we do what we gotta do. 

In the meantime, August is this family's birthday month and soon there will be one big blow-out party.  My five-year-old will turn six on my birthday, our grandson will celebrate his first on the 14th and my daughter's is on the 18th.  Last I heard the party will be on the 15th, subject to change and location not determined yet. 

Around here we have two different school districts for our city.  The one that my two oldest granddaughters live in will start on Aug. 14.  The district in our neighborhood will start on the 28th.  Why are they staggered like that?  I don't know.  So back to the school week schedule soon.  There will be no more "tree club". That was the group who met under the oak tree in the school yard after picking up the kinders and then waiting for the older ones to get out.  This year both girls will get out at the same time.  I will miss hanging out with my "girlfriends".

Larryj

[larryJ]

Interesting observation.........When I bought this computer, I opted for the 23" touch screen model.  Because it comes with a wireless mouse, I rarely, if ever, touch the screen to activate any commands.  I have noticed in the past that the screen is very sensitive, such as when a newspaper I am holding brushes up against it, it reacts.  Pretty neat stuff.

One of the features is when you touch it sometimes it magnifies what you are looking at.  Pretty neat stuff.

This morning while making my entry on the Forum, a small fly flew by and landed on the screen and it magnified what I was looking at. 

Now that is sensitive.

Larryj

[Mom70x7]

So refresh my memory - what kind of computer do you have? We're in the market for a new one, and there are so many options. We're not in dire need, but that time will be coming. 

[larryJ]

This one is an HP Pavilion Touchsmart 23" screen All-in-one with a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse.  It is like looking at a flat screen TV with all the computer inside.  I have not tried it, but the instructions say I could actually sit several feet away from it with the keyboard and still make it work.  I don't know why anyone would do that if you can't see the screen.  Having lived with a laptop for many years, having a mouse is better for me.  I detest touchpads anymore.  The going price last winter here in SoCal at Best Buy was $799.  There have been complaints about the touchscreen component not working, but I have not had that problem.  But then again, as I said, I don't use it much.  It comes with Windows 8, but you are occasionally prompted to upgrade to Windows 8.1.  When I bought the first one, I did that and lost many files that I had downloaded and then there were other small problems with it.  I took it back and rather than fix it, Best Buy just gave me another one.  So far there have been no problems with this one, but I have opted not to upgrade to Windows 8.1. 

That said.......I really enjoy this one especially the 23" screen.  Some years ago, my wife decided that our desk was too big and bought this "cute, antiquish looking, smaller" desk which has a front that closes hiding whatever is in the desk.  Then I got this computer which covers pretty much the whole desk and negates any way to close the front of the desk.  But because the computer is so big it serves the purpose of hiding whatever is in the desk........somewhat.

But I'm happy and that is what counts.

Larryj

[Mom70x7]

Thanks for the information. I've never had an HP, so a good recommendation is nice to hear. 

[W. Gray]

Computers. I just had to comment.

In the early part of 1978, I was working at McConnell AFB. The base administration people called and said there would be a word processing demonstration in their office in a couple days. Each office on base was invited to send an observer. I did not have a clue as to what word processing was. When I asked what it was, the caller said she did not know. I did not go. (As it turned out this was word processing for IBM typewriters and soon every secretary on base had one.)

Later in 1978, I got my first home computer.

It was a Radio Shack TRS-80, Model I (as it turned out), with a twelve inch screen black and white. There was no printer available at that time. And there was no word processing or spreadsheet capability.

That Model I had only 4K of memory and that was temporary memory. There was no permanent memory for storage. Nothing could be saved. When you turned the computer off everything was lost—both the application and the data.

The only way to save anything was to back it up to a special cassette tape. The Radio Shack recommendation was to back up twice in case something went wrong, which happened frequently. To get the work back into the computer the tape had to be read back in—a time consuming operation.

However, at first there were no applications. You just stared at a blank screen typing in whatever came to your mind. Radio Shack followed up with rudimentary applications printed on paper that required line by line keyboard input. A simple application with 100 lines in the program was excruciating to type in and then when the program did not work you had to go back and check each line on the Radio Shack paper to the corresponding line on the screen to determine where an input error was made.

The first such Radio Shack program I input was two forts hurling cannon fire back and forth at each other destroying their walls piece by piece. That was really big stuff for the time.

Radio shack eventually came out with a program that did not need to be typed in and it was for recording and reconciling a check book. It took six cassette tapes to load at different times whenever the instructions called for one. I gave up on the first try as I could do my check book many times faster compared to the time it was taking to do it on the computer.

In 1980, I sold the Model I for the same price I paid for it. Despite the drawbacks, those prehistoric things were in high demand and Radio Shack was having a hard time keeping up.

In 1984, I got a TRS-80, Model IV, which was many times an improvement. It had a green screen with yellow lettering. It used one 5 inch single sided single density floppy drive. An application disc(s), such as word processing, had to be inserted into the disc drive for reading by the computer. Then that disc(s) would be taken out and a data disc inserted that would record and save the work.  I think the disc could hold 80k.

I used Scripsit for word processing and VisiCalc for a spreadsheet. Spell check was an extra cost add on for Scripsit. But even then, the Model IV screen could only show 40 columns for each line. To see any more you had to pan over with the right arrow to see the entire width of a composed letter. This was really irritating. To print a letter I used a daisywheel printer, which would keep anyone awake.

I drooled when I walked into a Radio Shack store and saw a 5 (five) megabit external hard drive. I thought if I had one of those, I would never ever need any more storage in my whole life. The cost was a prohibitive $1,295.

Three years later I had an "IBM compatible" machine with a 20 megabit hard drive and color monitor.  As more and more people got on the computer band wagon, prices plunged.