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Post by ProudTVJunkie on Sept 21, 2020 12:05:28 GMT -5
I woke up about 3am last night to search for a blanket because I was freezing! It dropped down to 40 degrees and that's what it was when I woke up at 7:45am. Just three weeks ago it was in the 80s and 90s!
Yesterday, we spent the afternoon touring townhomes for my mother and step-father so that they could choose which one they want built. We were with the sales agent and were doing a live video chat. My step-father had lots of questions about each unit, which is understandable since they don't want to risk flying out here to see them themselves right now. It was fun, tiring, and took about three hours.
Afterwards, we found this great burger place nearby. We have 25% capacity indoor dining now in NJ but I'm not comfortable with that yet. Thankfully, they also had tables scattered outside and only one other family using them so we decided to stay and have lunch. Burgers, fries, onion rings, tater tots (my daughter's favorite) and shakes. It's not healthy but it sure was delicious and we'll probably be back, especially if my parents end up living ten minutes away.
I have to take my daughter to get her flu shot this afternoon. I got mine a couple of weeks ago. They're recommending them early this year and I definitely want her to have it before she goes back to school. Our school plans to change from all-virtual to a hybrid of in-class and virtual on Oct. 12th. We'll see how that goes.
So let us know how your week is going!
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Post by tycho657 on Sept 21, 2020 14:31:02 GMT -5
I use to be known as the person to go to for tech advice. I have really stopped keeping up a few years back. It seems that things are changing faster than I care to keep up. I got a new Samsung Note 20 Ultra about a month ago because my old Samsung note 8 was having issues with the speaker not working for phone calls. Also it would do this crazy whistle when I was in the car over bluetooth. So I bit the bullet and got the new phone. Well this week the new phone started doing the same thing  They said that the new phones come set to the global network. that makes sense as they don't know where the phone will end up. So I switched to LTE 4G/5G and hopefully that will solve the problem. Very frustrating to not even get text to go thru.  Ok that was weird.. I had this whole post finished and went to post and I got a strange error message. When I got it back only the first few lines were there, the rest had been erased. I think the tech world hates me...  Next I reset my ring camera in my garage. My internet has also been on and off this week so I guess I needed to reset that camera. Funny how the other ones seem to be OK? My front door doesn't always let me know when a package arrives until they have left or not at all. OK that one has issues too. I watched the Emmy's last night and came to the realization that I really don't watch much TV anymore. Especially the extra paid networks. I get a free month now and then of some but the few that I had watched didn't get any awards. The comedy that had the name they couldn't even say on network TV won every possible award for comedy. I don't watch many of those either. I think I will just skip the Emmy's next year. I think I will get out my DVD's of the Outlander series. I bought the first 4 season last year on Black Friday at Target. That was one of the only places I would go on Black Friday to look for cheap DVD's for when I travel. Since I never traveled this year I should just start watching. I think I need to get take out for dinner tonight.  |
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Post by larryholmes on Sept 21, 2020 18:16:58 GMT -5
"...I think I will get out my DVD's of the Outlander series. I bought the first 4 season last year on Black Friday at Target...."
Also, consider the BBC series 'Foyle's War'. It might be carried on Brit Box as well as PBS. I own full DVD sets for just two shows...'Castle' and 'Foyle's War'. I also have most of 'Sherlock Holmes' with Jeremy Brett. I think from the quizzing from grandkids, the missing Jeremy Brett episodes might be a Christmas surprise. That would absolutely super. I'll start practicing my 'Oh wow, look!' act beginning now if that is what it takes.
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Post by ibmjas on Sept 22, 2020 19:17:05 GMT -5
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Post by tycho657 on Sept 23, 2020 16:24:48 GMT -5
Sounds like she is a very lucky lady to still be with us. When your O2 levels drop into the 70’s there is little they can do to bring it back up. Glad she was able to recover. Sounds like she will be dealing with the effects for awhile longer. |
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Post by ibmjas on Sept 24, 2020 8:38:51 GMT -5
Indiana is moving to Stage 5 for Covid response. That means gyms, restaurants, bars, stores may open at full occupancy. Masks are still required and social distancing suggested. Schools have already opened in-person. The governor will reevaluate in a few weeks. There are over 3000 dead in our state and 30 dead in the county. For the 1st time, I personally know someone that has tested positive in our city.
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Post by RG on Sept 24, 2020 11:28:17 GMT -5
Where I live is a new community so until the bond is finished, roads were not paved. Makes sense as who'd want to spend money paving a road just to have extremely large vehicles drive up and down it all day long for months or years. However, this week they finished the bond and wonder of wonders, our road will have the final pavement put on!
Well at least that is what we were told last week. Monday came and nothing happened. Sorry, I mis-spoke, the paving company did something, they put holes in the existing street and raised manhole covers and water and gas pipes, placing cones around them. Which of course meant that everyone had to drive around the obstacles in the middle of the road. This led to interesting neighborly interactions when two vehicles wanted to drive around the same hole at the same time from different directions. Mrs. G and I decided to just stay home.
Tuesday came and they removed the cones around the holes and obstacles. Making for even more interesting neighborly interactions. Mrs. G and I still stayed home.
Wednesday came and wonder of wonders, at 7:30am 8 huge dump trucks filled with tar arrived at the top of my street. Neighbors waited for the beginning of new pavement and fortunately did not hold their breath too long as it took several hours before the machine that actually lays the tar down was able to start. Twenty three men in fluorescent vests watched as one of their co-workers tried to get the engine to turn over. Finally, it was decided to use wheel barrows to start bringing the tar down so the 23 men had something to do other than watch the one. We have three small side roads off of ours that they decided to do first and watching wheel barrows filled with tar walk down 7 tenths of a mile to dump and then walk back reminded me that superior shoes and boots are always worth the money. At 11:30am the machine started up and they drove it down the road to the first side street, but they had to wait till some of the 23 men with wheel barrows got back up to the top of the road and could drive their dump truck filled with tar to the machine. Breath was still not being held and Mrs. G and I decided to leave our home and walk up the street to see what was happening. By the end of the day the paving company managed to get two side streets done and part of the bottom of my road.
Now I have to admit that yesterday turned out to be a fun day for us and our neighbors. Having been cooped up all these months due to covid, something as simple as paving a road turned us all into 12 year olds and we couldn't stop talking to each other. Yes, we kept social distancing, but Mrs. G and I enjoyed opening and then finishing a bottle of Greenhill Vinyards Cabernet Franc. It is a nice wine although I prefer their Mythology, Philosophy and Petit Verdot. Thus ended Wednesday.
This morning trucks started down my street to continue the paving at 7:30am. Once again it seems they are having problems of one sort or another because by 12noon today they only managed to pave a small part of the circle at the end of the road. Does anyone remember the old Heinz Ketchup commercial from the 70's where Carly Simon's song Anticipation was played while it took forever for a dollop of ketchup to come out of the bottle? (By the way, isn't dollop a great word?) Well that pretty much describes how well the paving is going. We were informed last week that by Friday, 9 roads will be paved. Now it is midday Thursday and only two are paved. Luckily Mrs. G and I went shopping Monday morning and purchased enough food to last a month or more. As I write this, she is watching her recording of America's Got Talent and I am sitting at my desk with a nice cup of tea...and neither one of us are holding our breath.
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Post by tycho657 on Sept 24, 2020 12:38:17 GMT -5
RG so good to hear from you  I see you made the text larger. Probably a nice idea to make reading easier. I'm one of the few people who has eyes that are getting better with age? I have never needed glasses to read only see distance but I have found that the last couple of years I seem to be able to see without my glasses to read distance things?
It's amazing how something like paving a street is great entertainment during this covid shut down. Having lived and worked on a couple of islands it was amazing to see how they do roads on the islands. They lay down gravel, pour oil over the top and let it get driven on for a couple of weeks. Now you have this great road. It's really amazing. They re-do the oil and a little gravel every few years. Of course this is a place that rarely sees snow so you don't have the big temperature changes and also big trucks to break up the road.
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Post by ProudTVJunkie on Sept 24, 2020 14:53:51 GMT -5
RG, I hope the paving is just long enough to be entertaining but not any longer. Last summer (2019) our town redid all of the gas lines. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy they did it. Our house is over 100 years old so I can only imagine how old some of the gas lines in town are, but oye! It took all summer.
They had to tear up every road, put in new lines, then connect them to every house, then come into your home to make sure there were no leaks. It was slow, careful work and then they had to repave every road.
Every day it was like some crazy new maze you had to learn to get in and out of town with all of the road closures and you never knew how long it might take. When they had your road closed off, you had to find another place to park and then walk home. Not a huge problem unless you had to carry in groceries!
And the noise seemed to never stop, whether they were working on your road or several roads over. I know, because I was trying to do a project that required a lot of audio. I eventually had to give it up because it seemed no matter how far away they were working, it somehow still ended up in the background of my recording.
So, I really hope your repaving goes much more quickly!
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Post by ibmjas on Sept 24, 2020 17:15:06 GMT -5
RG, glad you got some entertainment. Hopefully they'll figure out their problems and get the roads paved quickly.
Tycho, when I was a kid most of the rural roads around my grandparents small town were gravel and only about a car and 1/2 wide. They would bring in more gravel and regrade them, then oil them. Without the oil the dust raised was terrible especially if you were following a car. The oil helped a lot to keep the dust down and maybe it helped to pack it down too. It didn't seem like they oiled them often at all.
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Post by nathanfan1 on Sept 24, 2020 21:16:27 GMT -5
RG, you tell a GREAT story! Had me chuckling, for sure.
Just an update from me - my daughter who teaches high school math here in town was exposed to an infected student last week. Today she finally got the results of her covid test back and it was negative. We're all breathing a sigh of relief!
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Post by RG on Sept 25, 2020 17:47:04 GMT -5
Nathanfan, I'm glad to hear that your daughter is well. One of my sisters was, is, used to be a nurse. Still has her license but decided working in a hospital was too scary right now, while my other sister works in the ER in FL and travels all over the place. Opposite's in the extreme and yet both have managed to stay covid free. As for me, still covid free but unable to participate in things that I had looked forward to this past winter. I joined a golf course and looked forward to playing more than usual when covid hit and suddenly my doctors were having fits and stepping in them to keep me away from everyone. They didn't even want me to go to the golf course. So I get lovely e-mails of tournaments, dinners, and game stats from my friends all while sitting in the house and wondering how I can sneak out. Ah well, hopefully next year will be better, although I think I will hold off on renewing my membership till I know I can play.
Christine, but now you have smooth roads that people can drive 65 mph on! Plus you get to stay inside and keep warm in the winter with gas heat while looking out the window and watching all the speeders get tickets.
Actually that was one thing that we still cannot get over, speed limits here in VA. What would be a 25mph road in CT is usually a 45mph road here, although when we first visited the area we were shocked at a winding road thru the Blue Ridge mountains had a speed limit of 55mph! We actually took photos of the signs to send home.
We now have a nice road that still feels bumpy to Mrs. G. The paving crew finished my road yesterday afternoon and started on three of the smaller roads at the other end of mine. Two are completed and one is half done. There are still 3 roads left to pave and they will not get anywhere near them this week, and yet the people are working hard to get things done. Ah well, my part is done so I can smugly smirk at my friends on the other roads. Mrs. G says I can be pretty good at that when I want to be.
Now Tycho...as for larger font's...I find that I need to do so more and more for my family. Since I'm near sighted I am the one that everyone looks to for reading small print. Of course this also means that my computer monitor is closer to the keyboard than it used to be. But selecting a larger font is now almost second nature for me. What I find funny is when we are all out in a restaurant (in the good old days) and everyone else put glasses on to read the menu while I took mine off.
I hope everyone stays safe...
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Post by DrvrTrnr on Sept 26, 2020 23:07:00 GMT -5
ibmjas, I watched the news video. What a heartwarming story. She is one lucky woman and I'm sure the family was thrilled with her care and treatment. I hope your daughter can find some comfort now that her MIL is out of the woods.
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Post by DrvrTrnr on Sept 26, 2020 23:24:20 GMT -5
PTVJ and RG, August/September must be the time of year across the country to repave roads. Our neighborhood was completed a week or so ago. We didn't go out the day they put oil on our street. Luckily nobody came to our house that day, so no tire tracks on our driveway (that has happened before).
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They said that the new phones come set to the global network. that makes sense as they don't know where the phone will end up. So I switched to LTE 4G/5G and hopefully that will solve the problem. Very frustrating to not even get text to go thru. 
I see you made the text larger. Probably a nice idea to make reading easier. I'm one of the few people who has eyes that are getting better with age? I have never needed glasses to read only see distance but I have found that the last couple of years I seem to be able to see without my glasses to read distance things? 