Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 19

I'm so Confused

Holiday weeks leave me so confused about my garbage day.

I've checked the garbage company's website and they say on holiday weeks, garbage day is one day late. Except that last Memorial Day, we didn't put out the trash for Wednesday, thinking they'd come on Thursday and guess who I saw?

That's right. The garbage truck.

Luckily, the way our neighborhood was laid out, I had a few minutes to run around the house, gathering garbage bags to toss in the can and run out to the curb. I barely made pickup.

And then there's Christmas week. I put my trash out on Tuesday. None of my neighbors did, though. And I'm left wondering if I messed up and trash day was moved to Thursday.

Indeed, they did pick up on Thursday. My question is how did all my neighbors know this, but I didn't? Why did garbage day move Christmas week, but not Memorial Day week? I don't have any idea.

I usually put my trash out early, too. Usually before most of my neighbors. I wonder if on holiday weeks if I should wait and watch how many trash cans are out? I just hate to be stuck in a position where I'm racing to beat the truck.

So Close, but Not Quite

I think I've blogged about my travel mug that I take to work every day. Maybe? In case I didn't (or if you don't remember/are new to the blog), I have this travel mug I really like. There's nothing spectacular about it except that it is 100% leak proof which means I just toss it in my tote and go.

It only had one small problem. I wanted more coffee than it could hold.

So for a couple years now, I've kind of been keeping my eyes open for a replacement. I was hoping I could buy the same one in a bigger size, but alas, this is the only size.

This wasn't any kind of priority, but I was so disappointed when I ran out of coffee and wanted more!

It's possible I have a small addiction to coffee. :-)

Back to the story. I saw an ad on Instagram. I see a lot of ads on Instagram and when I check out the products that interest me, they mostly have mixed or bad reviews. This travel mug, however, had thousands of great reviews on Amazon. I perked up. The travel mug wasn't too much bigger than my current one, but an extra few ounces would be welcome.

I ordered the mug. I tested the leak-proof claim immediately because if it did leak, I was returning it ASAP. I filled the mug with water, put on the lid, and shook it while it was upside down over my kitchen sink.

It didn't leak!

I was elated! More coffee.

And then I ran into one small problem. The coffee would run down my chin when I drank from the mug. :-( I didn't see any reviews mention that piece of information. Maybe it's the way I drink? I started using a straw. That's right. I'm sticking a bendable straw into my travel mug to drink my coffee.

Also? Travel mug could be a little bit bigger. There's still not enough coffee. They have a bigger size, but my bendy straw won't reach the bottom of that one. If I could drink out of it without looking like I stuck my face in a vat of coffee, I'd consider buying the bigger size. Consider because the tote bag is getting heavy with the size I already use. A bigger one might be too heavy.

So this travel mug is nearly perfect. Nearly, but not quite.

My travel mug with a waterproof vinyl cut out with my name. I love the pink. I love my vinyl name. Damn, though, I hate coffee rolling down my chin.

Missing, Presumed Lost

I've blogged many times about how I like doing these virtual challenges that earn me medals. One of the companies sends the medals after the distance is covered. I like that because it holds me accountable. No steps, no medal.

Usually, everything goes like clockwork. I finish a challenge, the app asks me if I want my medal, I click yes, verify my address, and a week or so later, there it is.

Only that didn't happen with my New York City medal. The post office showed it sitting at the same location for a couple of weeks. It never arrived and it never moved.

After a few more days, I reported it lost.

The form isn't easy to find on the post office website, but I located it and I uploaded a picture of the medal. I expected it to be found quickly and resume its progress. This isn't what happened,

Finally, after weeks of nothing, I contacted the company that mailed out the challenge. They insure it, so I wanted to let them know it was missing and get a new medal sent to me.

They asked I wait around another week because it was still in their arrival window, but if it didn't arrive to contact them. The date came and went without my medal arriving. I gave it a couple more days, and then contacted the company again. They promptly sent out a replacement.

And on the day the post office marked the medal as delivered, there was no medal in my mailbox!

The same New York City medal was missing again. Sadly, unless our good mail lady is working, we frequently have mail misdelivered. And sure enough, after a few days it did actually arrive. Guessing one of my neighbors got it, threw it back in the box, and it was picked up and re-delivered.

This all happened in October. Recently, I got an update from the post office. The original medal that I'd reported missing? Still not found.

Past the Winter Solstice

We are past the winter solstice!

I'm in the northern hemisphere, so now my days are getting longer. I love the long days of summer and miss them horribly, but the worst is over.

My favorite time of year is from the spring equinox until the summer solstice. I love the daylight lasting longer and longer. When I lived in Minnesota, the daylight lasted even longer than it does in Georgia. We used to run around outside playing until nine o'clock at night because it wasn't entirely dark yet.

Fall equinox until winter solstice feels like a slog. I hate it getting dark so early. (Although nowhere near as early down here as in Minnesota!) Actually, in all honesty, I feel my spirits sag when we hit summer solstice because I know they days are getting shorter, but it really hits at the equinox.

I'm a summer person. I love warm weather and long days. My mood plummets once I have to put on long sleeves and a jacket? Ugh! I know there are people who lament the heat and humidity, but I spent most of my life in Minneapolis where the summers disappeared in a blink of an eye and winters were eternal. There's nothing anyone can say to dissuade my love of summer. :-)

And now we're past the shortest day and on our way to warm weather, green grass, leafy trees, and everything that's awesome!

Upgrade Hell

I have a scanner on my desk. It's not a flatbed scanner, but something with a much smaller footprint. I don't use it often because I usually scan with my phone, but sometimes there are too many pages and it's easier to just let them feed through the scanner.

A few weeks ago, I needed to scan a package of papers and decided to use the real scanner. I turned it on, put my pages in the feeder, and went to open the software.

All I get is a notification window telling me that the software has been discontinued and replaced with a new program which doesn't do as much as the software I'm used to.

Whatever. I don't use a lot of the features anyway. Just let me scan my papers because I need to leave the house and I want to do this quickly.

There was no quick about it. The software would not open. Okay, I'll download the new software. Small problem--my scanner isn't listed as an option. I scroll down and find it in a discontinued section. Well, I'm not buying a new scanner when there's nothing wrong with this one. The only problem is their damn software.

The name of my scanner is a link and I click it. And end up in some weird loop where it says there's a version of the new software available for me, but when I click, I end up back on the page I started at.

I'm not sure how long I kept circling. I'm not sure how I ended up finding something that would download, but I get the new software installed. Now I can scan my pages.

Wrong.

The scanning software opens, but throws an error message telling me to try again later, or if the problem persists, to reinstall the software. The problem persists. I try to reinstall. It tells me the software is already installed and when I click okay, the box closes and no other option is available.

I end up using my phone to scan the document because I'm cursing the scanner company at this point.

The next day, I try again. This time I get a notification window saying that my anti-virus software is blocking their scanning software and to whitelist a list of program-related files. I do that, although I couldn't find one of them.

Same error message and I still can't reinstall the software.

Somehow I find the old software. When I try to open it, I get a message about a firmware upgrade. I run the upgrade and try to scan the document. This time it works. On the old software.

I never got the new software to work. Epic fail.

That Gouge Hurt

I have a gas cooktop in my kitchen. I'm assuming it's what the builder installed because the woman I bought the house from hadn't owned it for very long. It's fine, but the big issue is the knobs to control the burners are plastic.

When they're taking on and off to clean around them, it's apparently easy to break them. The manufacturer was charging $25+ per knob for replacements. I know because I bought three of them.

And then another knob broke.

I didn't want to pay that much again and I wondered if I could find a compatible knob for less money. And yes, yes I did find a cheaper knob. I got five knobs for less than $20.

Although I was a little worried about quality, they were much cheaper to replace and they couldn't be worse than the manufacturer's version.

And then they came.

These knobs were all metal. These things are not going to break as easily when they're removed and replaced after cleaning. I immediately swapped out all the knobs. Even the ones that weren't broken.

The short version: Shop online for better value than manufacturer replacement parts.

Um, What?

For at least a couple of years now, I've seen a super strange term. Vegan Leather.

Vegan leather? Do you mean plastic?

I know it's salesmanship. Vegan leather sounds so much better than plastic, but the term is so odd and it legitimately doesn't make sense. It sounds like the marketing department of some manufacturing company had a brainstorming session and this was the best idea they could come up with.

Then there's the sister phrase to Vegan Leather. That would be Vegan Cashmere.

Um, do you mean polyester? Or some other synthetic material?

These terms are used prominently, too. I'd prefer just not calling out what the product is made of in the headline for the listing. Put it in the details section. Instead, the sites where I'm seeing these terms are putting them in the most noticeable place.

Maybe I'm the only one annoyed by this. Maybe I shouldn't even be annoyed because I know what I'm buying when I see vegan leather or vegan cashmere. For example, vegan cashmere means the sweater will be soft and snuggly.

Ultimately, I guess the terms are doing what they set out to do--explain to the consumer what they're getting, but it still irks me.

Welcome to 2024

The title of this blog post feels like it should be a science fiction book, but it really is 2024.

Usually, I pick a word of the year, but I have nothing for the year we're just starting. I used to cut it out on vinyl and put the word in the middle of my kanban board, but I still have 2022's word up. The vinyl is kind of a pain to take down.

Maybe I'll just reuse 2023's word since I never posted it on my wall. Maybe I'll cut it small and put it on my planner cover.

Speaking of planners, I'm still setting mine up for this year. I have everything in there except birthdays and anniversaries. Those are the most time-consuming stickers to add because of all the writing it entails and because I have to go back and forth between this year and the previous year.

I think I'm going to keep this post short and simply wish you a happy and healthy 2024.

Happy New Year!

Wishing all of you a healthy and happy 2024!

Enjoy Boxing Day!

I'm taking the holidays off from blogging. Enjoy Boxing Day, my friends!