I Loved To Teach

Let me just add here that things with my laptop are looking up.  The crazy lines and colors were an indication that I had many, many viruses that had to be dealt with.  Daughter Tammy stayed online and on the phone for almost three hours and got the mess cleaned up.  New virus protection and a new two-year warranty cost me about $280.  I will get a box to ship them the laptop (minus battery) on Tuesday, and a new battery will arrive on Thursday.  They will also replace the keyboard under the warranty, which was good for only 7 more days.  I worried that it would run out before I got any of the problems solved.  What had happened to the keyboard was that Lori’s dog Homer (i forgot to mention that he had a stroke—they’d had him for 14 1/2 years—and had cataracts and was going deaf, so the vet put him to sleep on July 8th) was so happy one day about a month ago that he jumped up beside Lori as she was using the laptop, and his wagging tail hit the caps lock key just right to break it off.  We can use the computer without that key cover, but Compaq said, “No, under warranty, that is protected.”  They pay all the shipping, but something or other cost about $19, which I included above.  Hooray!  You can trust Compaq to stand behind their product.  If we had contacted the right support system (blame google) first, it would have cost LOTS less, about $100 for the virus protection and extended warranty.  We are just happy to know we’re now protected without purchasing a new laptop.

I woke up wondering if there is any way that I can get to the people at Compaq Computers or Staples to get them to stand by their product. The Staples store where I got the computer printed out a page that shows my laptop is under warranty until sometime in August, but I would have to go through the Compaq Company. They gave me a phone number that has a voice but no brain attached. It asks questions I can’t answer and doesn’t recognize my product number. I decided to go online. Same thing! Nothing gets a response and no question gets their attention.

The service man at Staples says I should get a new computer. I took it in to show how the screen turns pink and green, gets all wavy and only comes on when it is plugged in. It gives a message that I need a new battery. They don’t sell these at Staples—you get them online for about $150. Maybe I have to order one to get a voice with a brain, but I hate to think I have to spend that much money without knowing it will fix the problem, since it happens when the laptop is plugged into a power source. SOMEBODY HELP ME!

Now I know this is going to sound like a soap opera, but I will be 75 on September 4^th. My wife and I bought a home with our oldest daughter and her husband Sean, who is suffering with Gulf War Syndrome, has constant pain and sleeps with a sleep mask. He left Sunday for a pain center in Tampa for three weeks. We are optimistic and hopeful that the military will at some point face up to his needs. They are in the process of filing for bankruptcy, and most medical facilities will not accept his military insurance.

It gets worse! After 20 years of dedicated service with the US Navy, he gets a small pension. He is a valued employee, but he often is in too much pain to work and needs to see a doctor. He has cut his working hours back to 30 per week. Last week GM bought out Americredit where he works. The staff here in Huntersville (near Charlotte) were sort of assured that their jobs are secure, although the fact that about 30 employees were released two weeks ago, isn’t reassuring. Sean is strong, but in the five years we’ve lived together, he’s had knee surgery and a hip replacement. He is 46. I was never what I would call strong, but I am healthy. We had a lawn service because I have a sun allergy—probably due to my having worked in a sunless environment (neither the auditorium nor my “little theater” classroom had windows). Sean mows the yard and enjoys yard work.

On Sunday before he left, he was teaching Lori to mow with the riding mower I bought when his doctor said he shouldn’t be mowing with the self-propelled hand mower. The battery, fully charged when she started, died after four rounds. She finished the front and side yards with the other mower on Monday. Not long ago we spent $150 for a repairman from Sears to come out and get that riding mower started. The battery is new, but we bought the mower at Habitat for Humanity.

We will finish the yard taking turns, Margaret, Lori and me. It won’t take too long, but there has been record heat here with lots of rain, and the grass is thriving—growing fast.

There is more! We had out-of-town visitors from July 5^th-July 8^th, our son Danny and his wife and two children, 7 and 1. Sean’s birthday was July 8^th. Suddenly, the washing machine (the laundry room is just off the kitchen) overflowed and flooded the kitchen. We thought we had the problem solved, but on Friday it happened again. We caught it sooner, but there was still cleanup work to be done. We bought a new washing machine, delivered on Sunday Morning. That problem was solved. Whew!

Next it was Lori’s birthday—July 21^st. We had a happy family outing. In preparation for Sean’s separation from us, Lori got new cell phones from Sprint. Lots of new stuff that our phones don’t have. Well, before I had a chance to learn what my phone could do (I didn’t really want one but wanted Margaret to be connected) I misplaced my phone—looked everywhere, then forgot about it. She works giving piano lessons three evening a week near Harris Teeter grocery store and has to go out in the evening to get her car, not really dangerous, but she should have a cell phone.

Guess what. About two days later Margaret noticed that the power was off in all the bathroom outlets. The bathroom lights work, fans, etc. The refrigerator and the freezer in the garage also had no power. The food was still frozen, so it was a timely discovery. None of the garage outlets work. We ran a line from the laundry room to keep them running. No food was lost. We are in the middle of refinancing the house and would not like the appraiser to see that the garage is powered through an extension cord.

Then we noticed—it was 100 degrees that day—that a vent from the attic was dripping profusely just outside the kitchen door onto the patio outlet, which no longer is working. It is an industrial outlet, and the covers were closed tight. The air conditioning company that had replaced the air conditioning unit two years ago, when we got a larger, more efficient unit came out quickly and blew out the overflow lines in the attic. The house is a two-story with five bedrooms, all upstairs. He only charged us for a service call. After he was gone, Lori noticed that water was dripping in the downstairs hallway through the smoke alarm. We couldn’t figure how water got there on the first floor. There was about an inch of water in the small pan when the dripping stopped.

Later we noticed that there was dripping from the attic through the fan in the upstairs hall bathroom. That dripping also ceased, but the repairman returned (no charge) and blew out another line that connects to the sewer. We don’t know why there was dripping, but he propped up the line in the attic to make sure there was a downward slant to that line, which is now dry as is the other overflow pan. So things here are back to normal, except for getting a new circuit breaker to see if that returns power to the affected areas, and lots of hand mowing until Sean gets back. AND I GUESS I WILL SOON HAVE TO BUY A NEW LAPTOP—NOT A COMPAQ, FOR SURE.

When our Sprint bill came, instead of the usual $73.00, it was $690. All those charges were made on the lost phone. I tried to contact Sprint by phone, then online, and finally went to the nearby Sprint Store. Even though they could see that for nearly nine months there had been no calls from that line, I would have to pay the full amount for failing to report the phone lost (actually for being honest with them—if I had said I just lost it, they would have removed those charges.

I decided that while I was disconnecting the lost phone and not replacing it, I would return Margaret’s phone as well. “That will cost you $300.” I told them I would do jail time rather than pay them one dime, and I walked out of the store phoneless.

Gee, I hope this was entertaining. I really meant for it to sound like a comedy routine—a farce, of course—and not a bitching session. You have a good day now. I’m going to. My daughter Tammy’s three children will be here soon—we’re sitting them for the summer since their other grandma, Nana, got married to a South Carolina professor man and ran off and left us for happier times. She looks younger and prettier every time we see her. Her son Arthur has taken up separate residence recently, and I’ll need to go to Davidson to pick up the kids soon. Luckily, they’re delightful and we love them lots.

Our twenty-six-year-old granddaughter, Megan, lives with us and is a nanny for a lovely couple nearby with Winnie, 3, and Miles, 9 mos. Megan and the kids visit us for playtime with Tammy’s five-year-old Thomas, or sometimes, Lori takes Tom to their house. Are you getting dizzy yet? What you need is a very large bedroom like mine with a comfortable sofa and entertainment center where you can read, watch mature TV shows (we don’t have cable in there) or take a nap while the kids play downstairs with the Wii Sean got for his birthday and Lori watches the kids. The teenage girls use the upstairs office for their business center and the guest room for naps (or the loveseat in the office). We are just one big, happy family.

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