Random 5 for January 26, 2025 – iPhone, changes, surcharges, weather, activities

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Morgan napping after a night’s work, cellphone handy!

A techie savant? – I think not. I am using my new pink iPhone. It’s a change from android to the iOS. Some things I can figure out and for others I have Mr. Google. They don’t come with paper instructions other than a “quick start” sheet. It’s printed in fly speck and tells you how to turn it own. Duh! I need to watch some videos to get the most out of it. I had some trouble finding emojis for my texts, but I got there. And it’s PINK! (In the winter I am so easy to please.)

A cat after my own heart!

Starbucks – Reluctantly, I had to change my Starbucks store. My favorite one requires a trip through an intense deer populated road. After four years of dodging the bullet, a deer ran into me. It was scary enough to get me to avoid that road at dawn and dusk (the best times for coffee and deer!). The new store is larger and less personal. The baristas don’t know me by name and the customers aren’t friendly (or maybe it takes a while to sift out who is a regular). This week a barista reached out to me when I walked in. My drink wasn’t ready, so she wanted my name to check on it. Yesterday someone wrote “Happy Saturday” on my cup. Maybe this is the courtship dance. I miss my old store and the friends I’ve made there but I must adapt.

Say what? – My car insurance company will start charging $2 a month for customers who want paper. I went paperless in an inkling. The only thing I want in paper form is the semi-annual renewal contract. It’s many pages long and a pain to print out (and a pain to read on the monitor and yes I read it). For the other communications, I’m good with an email. I already had automatic deposit but if you didn’t, that was another $3 a month. My car insurance company is a good one and I have no complaints. I assume this is another way to keep premiums down.

The dump – We got 7 to 8 inches of snow last weekend. It was accompanied by bitter cold weather that didn’t go above freezing all week. Usually, our snow melts but this stuff is sticking around. Some melted on our dark roof. The water dripped onto our front stoop which turned into a sheet of ice. (Is it spring yet?) It was pretty but the below freezing temperatures kept me inside unless I had to go out.

Busy week – We have a lot of activities this coming week. I’m feeling overbooked but I’ll plow through. Most of it is social but there is a celebration of life to attend (that is sort of social but not the kind of social you’d like to schedule). That will be both sad and joyous. At least there are no doc or vet appointments. Yay for that!

So how was your week?

 

 

 

 

61 thoughts on “Random 5 for January 26, 2025 – iPhone, changes, surcharges, weather, activities”

  1. Your new phone is very pink and very pretty! Hope startup with it and your new Starbucks go smoothly 🙂 So many companies are starting to charge for wanting things on paper. My DH likes getting bills on paper and mailing checks, but I keep telling him those days are on their way out!

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  3. I’ve had Apple technology from the start so that helps, but even I Google workarounds quite often. My 92-year old mother has an iPhone (she insisted) and she frequently runs into problems. I told her it’s like giving a Ferrari to a teenager.

    Your trip through deer country is amazing to me. And that would make me uneasy, too. I think your new Starbucks will become like family for you soon. You are such a faithful customer, they’re going to take notice.

    And I’m so sorry your week includes a Celebration of Life service. I agree they aren’t the social situation one looks forward to joining, but it is important to gather and your presence will mean a great deal to the family.

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    • Yesterday I lost another friend. There has been a lot of loss lately. Saturday’s celebration should be fun as our friend lived a full life. The stories will fly. It would only be better if he was there to enjoy it.

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      • I have been thinking about this “topic” a lot lately. Not just because of my personal loss, but because I am at the age where we can expect more losses in our friend groups. Currently it is just as my experience, my friends are losing their husbands. It isn’t all that helpful to know that we don’t live forever. I KNOW that, of course, but no one says we have to like it! 🤷‍♀️ I’m so sorry you’ve lost another friend, Kate. Sometimes life is just a little too “real” for my liking. 💔

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        • Maybe it’s the time of year too. This January has been particularly depressing. This particular friend died from the effects of cancer treatment. When she told me what her treatment was I thought it was aggressive. Had she not done treatment at all, she would have had another couple of years. She was 79. The irony is that she was worried about her husband’s health.

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          • Sadly, this is true for us in the loss of my husband. The nuclear medicine “treatment” attacked his bone marrow and he went very quickly. Don’t think that doesn’t haunt me daily. He did have an aggressive form of Cancer but it was the treatment that accelerated everything. My husband was also 79. I used to be irritable about the pharmaceutical ads that always ended in “may cause death,” but I understand some things a little differently now. I’m so very sorry to learn of your friend’s death. I understand how her husband is likely feeling. 💔

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  4. We had 8 deer run between our house and the neighbors yesterday morning, and I was glad I was inside looking out. Good luck with your phone and your new Starbucks. You got more snow than we did. We’ve been so cold, it is all still out there, and where it has melted we have ice too. Sorry about your loss, but I hope the Celebration of Life is an opportunity for good memories.

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  5. We’re dealing with sheets of ice like you are. I went to go for a walk in a city park and it was treacherous so I gave up and came home. I don’t like insurance companies, especially when they start nickel and diming you. I’m pleased to learn that you and your iPhone are getting on… well enough.

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    • Right now I’m annoyed with my iPhone. I haven’t been able to pair it with my car. That should be easy peasy. Some things are better and some android things I miss. My predictive speller sucks.

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  6. Maybe Morgan can work the phone for you? I’m sure she’s great on the laptop. A few swipes here, sitting on it there, and wa la. Everything is working fine. We are supposed to get snow here tomorrow. I am so ready for spring! I just purchased an outdoor heated hut for any strays that might need a warm bed. Thanks for the idea. I didn’t even know they made them until I you mentioned it for your neighbor’s cats. I always worry about strays in this weather.

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  8. I guess we were lucky to only have 4 inches of snow. You have a lot of Starbucks near you. We recently got one about 15 minutes away, but after that, it would be at least 30 minutes away. We have Dunkin though and I like my own coffee.

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  9. I got an iPhone a few years ago and really like it. Hope your snow melts soon. We’re in for spring like temps this week, then the weekend it going to be cold and snow. Cute photo of Morgan.

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  10. Keep premiums down or reward shareholders and executives. Yeah, you can all me a cynic. I guess when the airline industry has been charging for the tiniest things, you had to figure it would keep into other industries. I’ll draw the line when their online website has a tip box.

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  11. That’s a great picture of Morgan and your lovely pink phone.

    All your stories about your regular trips to Starbucks and the people you meet there make me wonder if I should go out every day for coffee (or something).

    Enjoy your social activities this coming week.

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    • The deer didn’t run into my path, he ran into my car. He hit the driver side door panel. Maybe less in the summer because dawn is much earlier than I go but I still see a lot of deer there.

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  13. The weather down here is finally rebounding. Lovely out today . . . in the sunshine. Still cool in the shade. I went for a bike ride to soak in the day.

    I can’t envision venturing out at dawn for coffee. Especially since I have to wait an hour to eat or drink anything but water after taking a thyroid pill.

    By the time I’m up and out, the deer would be safely “off road.” 😀

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    • Until I get up and dressed and feed the cats, I’m usually up at least an hour before my first coffee. Sometimes I have to be the food cop so no one steals any one else’s food.

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  14. It seems nothing comes with instructions anymore! Cheap, cheap, cheap! I rely on YouTube to understand anything techie! However, the reverse is the car manual for my 2009 Buick LaCrosse. I finally succumbed and decided to learn how to adjust the clock after I got a new battery last October and I could no longer count backward during six months of the year as it was an odd number off, like they left the battery out longer than usual. It was embarrassingly easy-peasy. However, ask me if I thumbed through the 400+-page manual? Nope, I downloaded the manual and searched for it online. 🙂 Good call with the deer/Starbucks run. Maybe things will improve in the Spring. Our deer are most active in November during mating season. I’m ready for some Spring. We may get 40 next weekend … the neighbor’s Magnolia tree will begin to bud.

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      • Me too – just to get through the next few days. Well my car is a 2009, that’s probably why, but it is a “baby” – 13,300 miles on it (and it ain’t rackin’ up any miles with this wintry weather).

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          • Yes it is and it looks and drives like a brand-new car! I had my Buick Regal for 21 years and only got rid of it because it had a lot of electrical issues and I no longer felt safe driving it, but it only had about 80,000 miles on it. I took a few trips in it, so racked up lots of miles (for me anyway). I took the bus to work in Downtown Detroit and just walked to the bus stop most of my working days ’til working from home beginning 2011 until retirement last year.

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    • The deer population has exploded in the past few years and I’d be devastated if I hit one. I tried some alternate routes but the travel time got long. I’ll warm up to the new place. I’m beginning to recognize and remember some of the baristas but there don’t seem to be “regulars” when I’m there.

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  16. You have lots going on. I zoomed into your Starbucks story and I’m betting you’ll get cozy there after a while. I totally get the fear about the deer. I hate change once I’m comfy but feeling safe is more important. Enjoy your busy social life.

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  17. I like your new pink phone, Kate. And ‘Happy Saturday’ on your Starbucks cup sounds like an excellent start to a wonderful relationship. It is currently 0C here (32F) but going up to 5C (41) by noon. Please keep that snow to yourself! 😀

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  18. Busy busy you! We were trapped inside until yesterday when our stubborn week-old snow finally pretty much melted (except from the yard). We have hope though – a day or two next week close to 50. There must be deer all over the place around here – lots of deer tracks in the snow but we just aren’t seeing them anymore. Night deer I guess. Anyway, good luck with the new phone – sounds like you’re close to the end of the learn curve! My husband and I have resisted getting iphones but then we have no real reason to have them……no family to keep in touch with, etc. Here’s to Spring being EARLY this year!

    Hugs, Pam

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  19. It’s always hard breaking in a new favorite place, but it beats running the deer gauntlet. Too bad we killed off all the wolves and pumas; now we only have cars to limit the population. So far the relative with the deer whistles has not hit one despite multiple trips between upstate New York and rural NH. But she’s also not driving primarily at dawn and dusk. Inconclusive!

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  20. I think they will get to know you in no time at the new Starbucks. Our week was cold and rainy and without any kind of grilling which we miss. I think if that is all I have to complain about, I am in good shape. Glad you are happy with your iPhone. I swear there is nothing you can’t find about an iPhone through Google and YouTube… thankfully. This week Florida is behaving like Florida in January… sunny, 70+ temps, low humidity and our friendly Brown Anoles-lizards-are back.

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  21. Did the deer run into you recently?? That’s scary stuff. I’m loving my iphone after managing the switch from Android. It took a bit to figure things out, but I love it now. So nice to have temperatures actually flirting with and perhaps exceeding the freezing mark in the last day, though probably short lived. Can’t wait for spring.

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