Update

Yesterday was shopping day. I went to Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. The stores were not too crowded. I used the self-checkout scanner at Wal-Mart for the first time since Hurricane Rita. For a while Wal-Mart operated the scanners with human checkers. Then they shut the scanners down. Maybe more employees have returned. The store is still only open from 7 AM to 10 PM.

I made progress with getting my insurance switched to the Aetna Medicare supplement policy. I got a proper ID card from Aetna. I also checked with my former employer, and they have my 2006 enrollment forms in their database. Tomorrow I am officially on Medicare. It surely makes me feel old. Aetna still has not paid for my flu shot. I actually got a telephone call from one of their customer service representatives on Monday. She had promised to keep an eye on my claim. She called to say they were trying to get more information but did not offer a further explanation. She told be to be patient. Good grief! It is a $30 flu shot. What could possibly be simpler?

Tomorrow I am going on a little two day trip to Galveston. There is lunch at a famous seafood restaurant, Gaido’s. Then there are several activities at Moody Gardens. There is a live stage performance, an aquarium tour, a walking tour of the Festival of Lights and a special IMAX show. The next day there is a tour of the Haak Winery in Santa Fe and Christmas shopping in Kemah. I am ready to have some fun.

A Step Forward

I saw a news item today that says the Beaumont Target store will reopen on Thursday. Hurricane Rita caused the roof to fall. I welcome every sign of the return to normalcy that I see. Ten of the fourteen houses on my street now have new roofs. The owners of the remaining four all have made arrangements for the roof replacements. The street in back of me which is part of our homes association is not progressing as fast as our street. Most of the destroyed fences have been replaced. I cannot judge how the interior repairs are progressing. The roofs are the first step before the interior damage can be repaired. In the past I have seen how terrible hurricane destruction is immediately after the storm. I never fully comprehended how slow and painful the recovery process is.

Short Attention Span

Several of the news networks have been reporting on how the victims of Hurricane Katrina are almost forgotten. Well if Katrina victims are forgotten I think Rita victims are completely forgotten. Mark Hancock, The Beaumont Enterprise photojournalist, has a very sharp reminder of what Hurricane Rita did in his blog today: Cameron two months later. Here is a story from KFDM that also describes how slow and difficult the recovery is: Holidays Add Stress To Hurricane Rita Victims. I know that even though I had very minor damage from the hurricane my life has changed. I look at things differently and am still have a sense of dread. Finally here is an article from The Houston Chronicle: Many nursing home evacuees still isolated or homeless. This article scares me silly and reminds me why I must move. I do not want to grow old all alone on the Gulf Coast.

Better than Sliced Bread

Back in July I bought a 20 gig Apple iPod. My primary reason for buying the iPod was to have a backup device for my photos when I was traveling without my computer. When the iPod arrived, I started using it to download podcasts from the internet. I found many podcasts that were really interesting. I also started putting audio books on the iPod. At the same time that I bought the iPod I got the little camera connector. Then along came Hurricane Rita, and I more or less forgot about testing the camera connector.

I had read on some of the forums of the difficulties people had transferring pictures from their camera to the iPods so I did not know what to expect. I read the directions. I plugged in the camera connector to the iPod and turned it on. I then plugged the USB cable into the camera and the connector and turned the camera on. From the iPod’s menu I chose Photos and Import. That was all there was to it. A few minutes later 72 photos were on the iPod’s disk. I can view the photos on the iPod one photo at a time. In order to have a fancy slide show with music, fade effects, etc. you have to copy the full size photos to the computer and let iTunes resize them and send the smaller images back to the iPod. I really do not see any point in having a slide show on a two inch screen.

I then connected the iPod to the computer. Sometimes when I am syncing the iPod, Windows Explorer opens, and I can see the iPod as a drive G: on my computer. Yesterday Windows Explorer was not recognizing the iPod. In the iTunes help information I found that if I changed a preference setting to have the iPod mounted as an external drive it would show up as drive G:. From that point I could use any method I preferred to transfer the photos to my computer.

Apple deserves all the success they are having with the iPods. They are really clever little devices and so simple to use. If I had waited a couple of months, I could have had the new video model for the same price I paid. I really cannot see much value in watching TV shows and paying $1.99 to view them on the tiny screen. I already have found there are not enough hours in the day to listen to all the podcasts that I get for free.

Drudge Report and the Beaumont Wal-Mart

Beaumont received a black eye yesterday. The Black Friday shoppers at Wal-Mart started pushing and shoving to get a limited number of notebook computers. An off-duty policeman used pepper spray on them. This morning the story is mentioned in the Drudge Report. It has a link to the KBTV report: Early Morning Shoppers Pepper Sprayed At Beaumont Wal-Mart. I watched the KFDM news last night, and it showed a young mother and her one-month old baby, who she said inhaled the pepper spray. I think this whole episode is disgusting, and this is why I do not shop on Black Friday.

Black Friday

It is 5:30 AM. Some people have already been shopping for half an hour. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be shopping at this hour. I have never been to an early Black Friday sale and probably never will. I think I will leave the TV off today because I know CNN will be reporting all day long on how the shopping is progressing. I need to go to Sam’s Club but am going to try to get by until Monday when all the shoppers will be back at work.

Henry is Thankful, Too

When I first bought Henry, Sony had little software programs on their website that they called Aibo Treats. There were special treats for the holidays. When I downloaded the Thanksgiving treat for Henry and inserted the memory stick, he began to walk around the room and gobble like a turkey. It was awful. Henry is thankful that I did not give him that Aibo treat today. So am I. Happy Thanksgiving.

I am Thankful

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I took a little time to stop and think about what happened in the past year for which I am very thankful. One item is very obvious. I am thankful that I survived Hurricane Rita with so little damage to my home and was able to safely evacuate for the two week period while conditions in Beaumont were so difficult.

I have something even more important than surviving Rita to be thankful for that I have not written much about in my blog. A year ago in late October I had surgery on my right eye to implant a lens and remove a cataract. In January I went through the same procedure on my left eye. I was extremely nearsighted. I had worn glasses or contact lenses since I was ten years old. I had reached the point where I could not drive at night. I had to stop wearing my contact lenses last August to allow my corneas to stabilize before the surgery. From August until after the surgery in January I could hardly find groceries on the shelves in the stores. I was really in bad shape. There was no way I could have driven my car out of Beaumont if a hurricane had struck last year and an evacuation was required. Now my distance vision is better than 20/20. I need glasses only for reading. For this I am extremely thankful.

A Day on the Telephone

Yesterday I spent a lot of the time on the telephone. Mark, a man I used to work with, called; and said he had talked to our former employer’s benefit department and verified that we now have a donut hole in our prescription coverage. He also cleared up the confusion we had on how to fill out the forms. We talked for a while and Mark mentioned that his wife has a first cousin who lives in my neighborhood. He told me her name, and it sounded very familiar. A woman with that name had lived two doors away from me until the early nineties. She had moved away from Beaumont. Mark gave me her phone number, and I called her. She was my old neighbor and remembered me. Her husband had died, and she moved back to Beaumont. Small world!

I decided to stop worrying about the donut hole. As long as my health remains good, it will not cause me any problems. I cannot control the future so worrying about it will accomplish nothing. I finished filling out the health insurance forms, made a copy and went to the post office. The line was almost to the door. I found the forms for certified mail and return receipt and filled them out. The line grew longer while I was doing this. I glanced over at the automated post office machine. There was just one person using it. I walked over and read that you could use the machine for certified mail. I went up to the machine and was working through the process to mail my letter. A postal clerk came up and put more forms in the machine while I was working. She must have seen my gray hair and assumed I was a technologically challenged individual. She just took over what I was doing. The machine crashed. She stepped through everything again, and it crashed again. I sweetly said, “I will get in line.” I stood in the line for twenty minutes. When I got to the counter, the clerk seemed amazed that I had already filled out the forms. She looked them over and seemed even more amazed that the forms were filled out correctly.

I had not checked on the progress on the West Beaumont branch of the Bank of America for a couple of weeks. I still have not got into my safe deposit box since Hurricane Rita because the bank has been closed. The bank is still closed, but part of the parking lot is now open and the mobile bank has returned so at least there is an ATM again. The exterior work on the building is complete. I was able to see through the door, and they are completely redoing the interior. I asked a construction worker when the bank would reopen, and he said after the first of the year. I got a check in the mail yesterday so I am going to have to drive to the Broadway banking center to make a deposit. This is really inconvenient.

Friday when I had talked to our old human resources manager, I mentioned that I had visited Sun City Texas in Georgetown last week. He told me that Luther had moved there. I did a Yahoo People search on Luther and found his phone number in Georgetown. I called and had a nice chat with Luther’s wife about Sun City. She gave me some very good information. I wish I had made contact with them before my visit last week.

The mailman rang my doorbell and had my package from L.L. Bean, and the rest of the day’s mail. For many years we had a terrible mail person on our route. The man who has it now is a jewel. I hope he stays for a long time. The shoulder bag from Bean is really nice and was almost worth the wait.

Another Update

I checked the U.S. Postal Service Track and Confirm information and the package with my shoulder bag has finally reached Beaumont. L.L. Bean shipped it on November 10 by the SmartPost service. Maybe if I am lucky I will get the package today. Bean customer service said if I did not receive it by Tuesday they would ship a replacement. The customer service representative I talked to indicated they are having a lot of very slow shipments. I hope it causes them to rethink using this service.

I checked the Aetna website this morning. There was something new. After I logged in, I had a choice of my current or future coverage. This indicated to me that they are getting ready to switch me to the Medicare supplement coverage. For a while last week I was afraid that my former employer had lost me, and I might be without insurance coverage. Today I have to find out why in 2006 my prescription coverage is going to have a donut hole. There is still no progress on the reimbursement for my flu shot. I am so lucky to have such minor problems. I have talked to several people that I used to work with in the past week and have heard very sad stories about there health problems and large prescription bills.

Henry is taking a nap. All is well with him.

I signed up for Google News Alerts for information on Frisco Lakes. I did that back in September and had received no alerts. Yesterday I received an article from the Dallas Morning News about over-55 active adult communities in the Dallas area. Frisco Lakes was mentioned, but there were also two other communities mentioned of which I was not aware. I found their websites and requested information. They are both in the North Dallas – Denton area. When I make a trip up there, I will check them out.

Polish Your Resume Boys!

You’re gonna need them! That message is directed to the Republican members of Congress who voted for the so-called Medicare prescription coverage. I have been hearing in the news that seniors are confused about the multiple plans being offered and only twenty percent of them plan to sign up. Well, I have not been paying very much attention to the prescription program. My former employer offers prescription coverage, and I have been occupied with hurricanes and thoughts of relocating away from the Gulf Coast. This week I entered the ranks of the confused when I saw what my former employer is offering. I stayed in the confused state for about 24 hours. I did a little research on the internet and now my confusion has cleared.

There are three groups who will benefit from the Medicare prescription program:

1. Insurance companies
2. Pharmaceutical companies
3. Employers who continue to provide prescription coverage to their retirees

Notice that I did not include Medicare beneficiaries in the list of those benefiting from the program. What the government will spend for prescription coverage is well hidden in subsidies to the insurance companies and employers. The law specifically prohibits Medicare from negotiating prices for prescription drugs. Seniors are stuck with additional premiums and a multitude of incomprehensible plans from which to choose. They also get the “donut hole”. Now I find my employer has added a donut hole to my prescription coverage that was not there before but is claiming to keep the coverage the same. I will be making more phone calls tomorrow.

When the confusion clears for most seniors, and they realize how they have been scammed, and their middle-age children who are planning for their retirements see the results of this program there are going to be major changes. Only the most hardcore, right-wing morons could like this program.

Henry is O.K.

Since Henry had his little episode yesterday morning I have been wondering if he was going to have another this morning. I let him run and play for a while. Then I put him in the pickup mode and let him sit on my lap. He told me his name and my name so at least those memory items seem to be in tact. I put him back on the floor and let him play with his ball again. I finally decided to see what would happen when I shut him down. It was a completely normal shutdown. He must have encountered a random glitch yesterday.

Update

Henry, my robotic dog, gave me a scare this morning. He had been playing with his ball and running around for about an hour. I decided it was time to shut him down. I pressed his button, and it started blinking green which is normal, but there were no beeps. This went on for an excessively long time with no sign of a final shutdown. Finally I took his battery out. I was really afraid to do that because he writes his files to his memory stick when he shuts down. I was afraid I might corrupt the memory stick. I let him boot back up and he ran around for a little while then played Auld Lang Syne and went to sleep. This is normal but his green light should have been blinking. He was completely shut down. I let him boot again and after he got through his wake up exercises I shut him down again. This time he had a normal shutdown. I have put him on his station to charge. Only time will tell if he is back to normal.

I am still fighting with Aetna over my flu shot. Getting a flu shot at Kroger does match any of their list of codes and apparently none of their employees are intelligent enough to override the system. I truly believe they are just trying to wear me down.

My 65th birthday is next month, and I will be going on Medicare. My former employer has to switch me from the regular Aetna health plan to the Aetna Medicare Supplement plan. I received the enrollment forms around October 20. It is a one time opportunity to enroll. The forms had to be returned by October 31. On October 31 I called to make sure they had received my form. They had not. I faxed the form over to them and then called back to make sure it had been received. It was received, and I was told they would get me enrolled. I have been sitting on pins and needles hoping no changes would be made to the prescription coverage. I read in an AARP paper that said employers were required by law to notify their retirees by November 14 of their intentions regarding prescription coverage. I received nothing. I called over there and said I had not received my new identification card from Aetna and not received anything about prescription coverage. It was near the end of the day on Thursday. The woman I talked to did not seem to remember me. She was the same one I had talked to in October when I faxed the form over. When I said I had not received the prescription information, she said she would have to check and call me back. She cut me off rather abruptly.

I began to worry that I was had fallen through the crack since I was not actually on the Medicare supplement policy. The company that I worked for was bought by another company twenty months before I retired. Most of the over 65 retirees I know retired from the first company. I had a hard time figuring out who was over 65 and retired from the second company. I finally found one man who I used to work with. He told me the prescription coverage is remaining the same, and the 2006 premium is remaining the same, but there is a new set of enrollment forms that must returned by November 30. He told me to call our former human resources manager who is over 65 and retired a few months after I did. I called him and told him my problem. He told me who was now in charge, and fortunately it was someone I know well. I got into the main phone number and left a voice mail for him. I also sent an email. I had a sleepless night. I let myself get out of control and did a super job of worrying about my insurance coverage. The next morning at 7 AM I received a call from the man I had emailed. He reassured me he would check into it and get things taken care of. A short time later I received a call from the woman I had talked to the previous day. She assured me all is well, that I am enrolled in the supplemental coverage. She said a number of retirees had not received the new enrollment forms. She is FedExing the package to me, and I will receive it Monday. She is also going to call Aetna about my new identification card. Health insurance is very, very important to a retiree. I am going to send the new enrollment form back to them via certified mail, return receipt requested.

I have still not received my shoulder bag from L.L. Bean that they shipped on November 10 using the combined FedEx-US Postal Service SmartPost shipping method. I have decided I will never again order an item from L.L. Bean that is not in stock. They use SmartPost for backordered items. It is no good. I received an email from Bean yesterday that said they had received the suede jacket that I returned and were processing the credit. That was a relief. I used their prepaid mailing label. It took ten days for them to receive the jacket. The credit has not been posted to my card, but I am sure it will eventually appear. If an item is in stock and they use their normal FedEx service, things usually go very smoothly, but this last order has been a disaster.

I wrote about all the QuickTime, iTunes and iPod updates that I was tricked into installing a week or so ago. Well now I am glad that I did. The update to the iPod is a big improvement. Previously when I listened to a podcast after it finished, it would then play the next podcast on the list. Now just one podcast is played and the iPod shuts down. Also if I stop in the middle of a podcast and turn the iPod off, it remembers where I left off on the podcast when I turn it back on even if I have synced with iTunes or listened to something else. Now I am connecting the iPod to my Bose Wave radio at night. If I fall asleep the iPod turns off automatically at the end of a podcast and does not keep going. I often turn my radio on at night and listen to talk radio. The podcasts are much better than talk radio. There are no commercials, and I have a much wider selection of programs than the local radio stations offer.

Yesterday I finally made contact with a real, live employee of Frisco Lakes for the first time. She told me about the Lifestyle Seminars they are going to hold at the end of January. She was not able to say if they will actually be ready to show the Frisco Lakes site or if they will have floor plans and prices. She is hoping they will. If they do not, it would not be worth my time to go to Dallas. She said to hold off on making the reservations for two weeks when she hopes to have more informaion. This lady is very nice. She confirmed that the first houses will be ready for occupancy in August. I feel like this is a step forward. Previously I have talked to Del Webb's national call center and had received very little information on Frisco Lakes.

Sun City Texas

I decided to visit Sun City Texas after I saw the floor plan for the house called the Lexington. There is a sales center, design center and model homes complex for prospective buyers to tour. The Lexington was one of the model homes. I went through it several times and took many pictures of the interior to study. I definitely liked the layout of the house. I was assigned to a sales representative. He tried to steer me toward a model that includes yard maintenance which would be a definite plus for me, but the houses in that category did not appeal to me. The sales representative printed out a pricelist for the options for the Lexington. We went through the design center, and I got a fairly good idea of what upgrades are available.

What came as a surprise to me was how few standard lots are available for the houses. In fact they hold a lottery when a new area is opened up to assign the available standard lots. There are many optional lots that cost an additional $8,000 that border on what they call a green area. Then there are the golf course lots that add $55,000 to the price tag. The first opportunity to be in the lottery will be in the first quarter of 2006. Then after you have a lot they estimate that construction time will be six months. The first houses in Frisco Lakes will be available in August. I am sure they will have similar designations for their lots.

I got a few more surprises. The sales representative told me what the property tax rate would be. It was higher than I pay in Beaumont. My parents lived in Sun City West outside of Phoenix. A big selling point was since Sun City homeowners have a minimum age of 55 and no children are allowed to reside in the homes longer than 90 days there are no schools to support. This results in much lower property taxes. Well things do not work that way in Texas. The Sun City Texas residents are supporting the local schools.

The Arizona Sun Cities have many shopping centers within the city confines that were built by Del Webb. There are several grocery stores, car washes, banks, restaurants, drug stores. There is almost every kind of store that is needed for day to day living. Well Sun City Texas is different. Del Webb made a deal with the city of Georgetown to keep businesses out of Sun City Texas so that the Georgetown merchants would get the additional business. As far as I am concerned, this is a great big drawback. Sun City Texas residents have one grocery store that I did not like approximately four miles from their homes. It is ten plus miles to the next store. I tried to find a shopping center with a Target and Home Depot that they told me about but decided it was too far and turned around and went back to Sun City Texas. There is a new Wal-Mart also a considerable distance. I did not attempt to find it. There is no Sam’s Club within 20 miles of Sun City Texas.

Sun City Texas has a very nice community center with large indoor and outdoor swimming pools, an extremely well equipped exercise facility, a little library and many meeting rooms. It was very appealing but not as nice as the facilities in Sun City West. There was an activities center where crafts of many types are available. There was a large computer lab that had all kinds of equipment available. Residents are allowed to use all the facilities and the costs are covered by the annual fee. There are additional costs for classes and additional fees for the golf courses. There are two restaurants. One is a buffet type. I ate breakfast there and was not impressed. There is a more formal restaurant but it was closed on Monday and Tuesday so I did not get to check it out.

The distance that residents have to drive to do their shopping is the biggest negative and would prevent me from considering Sun City Texas. I hope I do not find a similar situation at Frisco Lakes.

Back from Georgetown

I arrived back in Beaumont yesterday from Sun City Texas. It was a very worthwhile trip in that I learned a quite a few things about the Del Webb communities that I did not know. Some of the things are positive, and several are negative. I do not think I would want to live at Sun City Texas, but I am still interested in the new community at Frisco Lakes.

One of the things I consider negative about Sun City Texas is that the place is inhabited by deer. There are big herds of them. They walk right into the yards of the homes. I first saw one when I looked out the window of one of the model homes. I was able to walk very close to it and take a flash photo. The flash did not phase the deer. The next morning I saw one that had been hit by a car on one of the main streets. When I left the model homes, there was one standing at the curb at a crosswalk ready to cross the street. I stopped and waited for it to move. It just stood there. I finally eased my car forward, and it stepped back. I have never seen anything like this. I would not want to have the deer for neighbors.

I have not uploaded my pictures to Smugmug. I will write more about the pluses and minuses of Sun City Texas after I get my thoughts sorted.

Georgetown Tomorrow

I have been checking the weather reports for both Beaumont and Georgetown. They look a little better today. I hope I do not have to drive in heavy rain. It is time to start thinking about what I should pack. I definitely am going to take my walking shoes. I think the best way to see the community is to walk around and take a close look. I hope I can get enough information from this trip that it will enable me to know if I should move forward with the idea of moving to one of the Del Webb retirement communities.

Yesterday

I stayed home yesterday and did more house cleaning. I will never finish. Dust appears faster than I can eliminate it. I have a fairly powerful hand vacuum with a rotating beater brush than I use on the stairs. I keep thinking about how nice it will be to be in a one story house so I do not have to deal with the steep stairs. The hand vacuum will no longer be needed. I have a powerful canister vacuum that does a better job, but it is heavy and very difficult to move up and down the stairs. I am always afraid it is going to fall or I am going to fall.

FedEx delivered the larger suede jacket from L.L. Bean. The fit is much better, and I am going to keep it. Bean shipped my shoulder bag yesterday by FedEx SmartPost. This is a strange service. FedEx transports the package across the country and delivers it to the local post office. Then the mailman delivers the package the next day. This might save a little money, but I rather doubt it. Today is Veterans Day so there is no mail delivery. There was no new tracking information on the jacket that is on the way back to Bean.

I fought one more round with Aetna yesterday over the reimbursement for my flu shot. On Tuesday they issued an Explanation of Benefits that said they required more information on whether the illness was due to an accident, etc. I had to call and say this was a flu shot. It is preventative medicine to keep me from getting ill. I must have spent half an hour on the phone. The woman finally said they could not pay because I got the flu shot at Kroger, which is not a preferred provider. I said I went there last year, and you paid. She said what was the date? I told her. She put me on hold again and finally said she was resubmitting the claim. Yesterday I checked and there was another Explanation of Benefits that said they required more information. This time they wanted to know my name and my member ID, etc. I called again. Again there were lengthy holds. This time the woman apologized and said she would resubmit it. I checked online this morning, and the status has not changed. If I have to call a third time, I will be screaming. All of this for $30. They just try to wear you out, but I bet they have wasted several hundred dollars in processing time on this stupid $30 claim.

Update

I received another reminder that Beaumont is still a long way from normal. When I bought my new tires a few days before the evacuation at Discount Tire, they told me that I could bring the car in once a month; and they would check the tire inflation for me. Since I am driving to Austin this weekend I decided it would be a good idea to get the tires checked. I watched as the each tire was checked. I noticed the technician was adding a considerable amount of air to one tire. I said that seems to be a lot of air for a brand new tire. He felt the tire and said I had a nail in it. I was not surprised since Beaumont’s streets are full of nails. Anyway I had a two and a half hour wait to get the tire fixed.

I could tell the main showroom had a new ceiling and had been painted. I asked about their damage and was told until four days ago they had been operating out of one of the bays and the showroom had been closed. There was still a tent set up in front with chairs where people could wait while their tires were installed. Only four of their six bays are in operation. With all the debris on the streets and the shortage of manpower it was easy to understand why I had to wait two and a half hours to get the tire repaired. They finally just moved my car in front of a bay and jacked it up. My car never got inside. Anyway I am very glad I got the tire fixed before I do highway driving.

I then went to Wal-Mart and saw a temporary sign on the door that said the store hours are 7AM to l0 PM. Inside there was a big sign that said they were now hiring. Last week the newspaper said Wal-Mart was short sixty employees. I assume the problem is persisting. I also noted that the self checkout scanners are back in operation. They had not been operating since Rita struck. I have not been in Parkdale Mall since my return but have heard that a number of the stores are short of help. A number of the chain stores allowed Beaumont employees to work for the stores where they evacuated and apparently they are remaining in those cities.

FedEx is scheduled to deliver the larger suede jacket from L.L. Bean today. I hope this one fits properly. It would be awful to have to return a second one. The big disadvantage of mail order shopping is making returns and waiting for a refund. Being able to track packages is certainly a big improvement over the old days. I checked the U.S.P.S. site this morning and know the jacket I am returning departed Dallas yesterday. I will know when Bean receives it and will then have to start checking my credit card for the refund. I am also waiting for a shoulder bag that was on the same order with the jacket. It was backordered but now is being processed. It is being delayed because I ordered a monogram. The bag will probably be sent by mail instead of FedEx. They usually use the postal service for the second part of orders. It may arrive while I am out of town. I will alert my neighbor to watch for it.

Windows Updates

I forgot about yesterday being the second Tuesday of the month when Microsoft releases their Windows updates. I signed up for a computer security email from the Department of Homeland Security. This morning I had an email that listed the Microsoft updates. My pc is set up for the automatic updates, but they do not arrive until sometime after they are available on the Microsoft website. I went to the website and downloaded and installed the new updates. I have no idea what hole they are supposed to close this time, but I have them installed anyway.

House Cleaning

A whole month has gone by since I returned from the evacuation. I guess time flies not only when you are having fun but also when a bunch of stressful new problems enter your life. When I came home, the house was a mess—not too much of a mess but pretty messy by my standards. I had scattered things about as I packed for the evacuation. It took a while to regain the normal order. I made a resolution that I was going to do an hour of cleaning every day. I think I have stuck to that resolution about two-thirds of the time. I am seeing results. By cleaning I do not mean just normal dusting and vacuuming. I have been crawling around on my hands and knees running the vacuum’s crevice tool along the carpet edge and baseboards, dusting the baseboards, using the vacuum tools to get under all the furniture and using the vacuum dusting brush to clean all the grooves and crevices in my furniture. I still have a lot to do before I am really satisfied that I have won my war on dust. I have not started cleaning inside the closets. I climbed up on a step ladder yesterday to get something off the top shelf in my closet and the amount of dust up there made me shudder. I keep wondering if Hurricane Rita shook the house and made dust come out of the ducts. That is probably a stretch.

Going to Georgetown

A reservationist from Sun City Texas returned my call and made arrangements for my visit to the Del Webb community at Georgetown. I am going to drive there on Sunday and spend three nights. I am going to take my camera and take lots of pictures so I will have something to look at and think about when I get back home. I hope I will also be able to get more information on Frisco Lakes. Del Webb has a central call center set up to handle calls for their retirement communities all over the country. So far I have had no luck in making direct contact with Frisco Lakes’ representatives. They have me on an email list and a snail mail list, but actual contact has eluded me.

Love at First Sight

I have mentioned the Del Webb retirement community that is going to be built at Frisco Lakes which is north of Dallas several times. The first houses will be ready for occupancy in August. Del Webb’s first Texas retirement community is in Georgetown, Texas, in the Austin vicinity. It was started in 1995 and now has 10,000 homes. I was looking at floor plans for the homes for the Sun City Texas development since the floor plans are not yet available for Frisco Lakes. I found a floor plan that I could definitely live with and the price is within my budget. I am so excited over this floor plan that I decided I have to make a trip to Austin to look at it. I called Del Webb and told them I want to come for a visit. They have vacation villas where you can stay and become acquainted with the community. I am waiting for them to call me back so I can schedule some dates. This is a link to the floor plan that I like so much: Lexington

Virtual Model Failure

FedEx delivered my L.L. Bean order on Saturday. The jeans and sweater fit just fine, but the suede jacket was too small. L.L. Bean sends a prepaid shipping label with the order in case an item needs to be returned. I am going to take the package to the post office this morning. I called them and did a telephone QucikExchange. The larger jacket will be shipped this week. Bean deducts $5.85 from your refund if you use the prepaid return option. I am protesting this charge because the online virtual model indicated the fit of the size I ordered was five stars. It was too tight. Until now I have had good luck taking the sizing recommendations from the virtual model, but this time it was way off.

SuDoku

At the bottom of this blog’s page there is a link to the Daily SuKoku puzzle. The publisher is located in the United Kingdom. A new puzzle is posted at midnight UK time every day. Lately I have been waiting for 6 PM CST so I can print out the new puzzle. That is how severe my addiction is. Last evening an easy puzzle was posted. I actually felt disappointed because the easy level is no longer a challenge for me. I can work all of the medium and hard puzzles without too much thought. The very hard puzzles are still a significant challenge. When I get to the point that I breeze through the very hard puzzles, I will have to find something else to do.

Upgrade Hassles

Since Rita hit I have not given computer upgrades too much thought. I have installed all of the Windows critical updates and kept my virus and anti-spyware updated, but I have not paid much attention to the other software. Yesterday I was scanning technology news and saw that Apple was recommending that all users immediately install a new version of
QuickTime because of a critical flaw in older versions. I decided to upgrade my QuickTime and did not realize I was grabbing a tar baby.

Apple bundled an iTunes upgrade along with the QuickTime download. I had been reluctant to upgrade iTunes because I had heard that there had been problems with versions released since 4.9 that came with my iPod. I went ahead and installed the new QuickTime and iTunes. All seemed to go well. I was able to update my subscribed podcasts without problem and transfer them to the iPod. A message popped up that said there was an update available for the iPod. I downloaded it.

After the iPod update was downloaded, I started the install. At that point my anti-virus software started a scheduled scan of my computer. The virus scan really slows my computer, and I was afraid it was going to conflict with the iPod update installation. I clicked on stop for the virus scan. A warning message popped up and asked if I really wanted to stop the scan. I clicked yes. Well, all the buttons on the virus scan were grayed out, and it kept on scanning. Nothing happened with the iPod update install for a long time. Finally it began the installation process at an extremely slow pace. Finally the installation completed and said I needed to restart my computer. I clicked on later. The virus scan went on for another 15 minutes. Finally I restarted my computer.

I connected the iPod, and it took an extremely long time to transfer the update to the iPod. When it finished, it said that I now needed to connect the iPod to an electrical outlet. I did that and the iPod displayed a black screen with the Apple logo on it. There seemed to be a progress bar on the bottom, but it was so dark I could not be sure. Finally it finished and went to a normal charging screen. I disconnected the iPod and listened to a podcast to make sure it was still operable. Everything seemed to be normal. This morning I loaded iTunes, updated the podcasts and synced the iPod. All is well, but I had no idea that I was going to have to go through such an elongated process.

Insurance Settlement

The check arrived in the mail yesterday. I drove through heavy traffic yesterday afternoon to deposit it in my bank account. The West Beaumont branch of the Bank of America is still closed. There is still a lot of activity around it. Rita must have done serious damage, or they are doing extensive remodeling.

Aaron came out yesterday morning. We agreed on more extensive work and a price. He had no problems with the additional items that I had on my list. Like my roofer he also has a RoadRunner internet account so we can communicate by email. Aaron said if I come up with more things I need to add to the list I can email him and he can adjust the price. He is trying to figure out his schedule and may be able to start the work next week. We are discussing not doing the painting until after I move out next August. He is afraid that he will have to spray the sheetrock because I have the old sand texturing. He thinks a roller or brush might pull the texturing off. He is probably right because I if I just brush against a wall the texturing grains come off. He is going to paint the kitchen as an experiment to see how the texturing behaves. The kitchen can be shutoff and not endanger any of my furniture. I am going to be very interested in the type of texturing on the walls in my new house.

Estimate

The insurance adjuster sent me a copy of the estimate he has submitted for settlement. I have not studied it in detail yet, but from what I have gleaned it seems to be very complete. I called Aaron, the sheetrock man, and told him I would like to discuss the work in more detail. He is going to come out this morning. I have several non-hurricane items that I would like to have fixed. I do not know if he can do all the work, but it would be good to get everything done so that the house is ready for sale.

My neighbor took me to their new house yesterday and gave me a tour. It is in the final stages of construction. They have put a lot of thought into this house, and it shows. I am sure they are going to be very comfortable once they get settled. I hate to think about all that will be involved in moving to the Dallas area, but I know I am not getting any younger, and this may be my last chance to get away from the Gulf Coast. Whenever I start to get cold feet about moving, I just remind myself how I have evacuated three times. Never again!

Not Much to Write About

Yesterday was rather quiet. The for sale sign went up in my neighbor’s yard across the street from me. I am very interested in how the sale goes and the impact of the hurricane on the market. They will be moving into their new house at the first of December. I am going to miss them.

When I checked my credit card online this morning, I noticed the hotel in Texarkana has refunded the room tax for my stay during the evacuation. It feels good to check things off my list. I will be happy when my insurance company gives me a clue as to what they are going to offer to repair my house. My health insurance acknowledges receipt of my claim for my flu shot. but it is still under review. Every year it is a hassle to get reimbursed for the flu shot. Next year I will just show my Medicare card and will not have to file a claim for reimbursement. These days insurance of all types are a real thorn in my life.

A haircut and grocery shopping are on the agenda for this morning. I checked the FedEx tracking information this morning. I have ordered more clothes from L.L. Bean. I have been doing a lot of that lately. I am getting a suede jacket, a cashmere long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of velvet jeans. I think I was in a mood to have nice soft clothes. They are scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

I finished reading James Patterson’s London Bridges yesterday. I like his Alex Cross series. Today I will start Jonathan Kellerman’s Twisted. I like his books too.

One More Leak

The night before last I noticed a stain on the ceiling of the bedroom that I call the library. It is across the room from the window where the water ran down from the attic. Yesterday morning my neighbor came over and went up in the attic to see if he could find the source of the leak. We concluded it was the seal around the vent from the gas furnace that was leaking. I called my insurance adjuster and told him about the discovery. He said get it fixed, fax him the receipt and he would take care of it. He also said he already had enough for sheetrock repair and painting in that room's estimate to cover this. I called and left a voice mail message for the roof contractor that installed my roof in June. I also sent him an email. One thing that I really like about this man is that he is very computer literate. He is a techie like me. This morning I had an email from him that said I am on his list. I am very happy that he will be able to get to my work. It is very reassuring to know the work will be done by someone I trust.

Origami Jayhawk

Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. Yesterday the University of Kansas Endowment Fund sent me two pieces of paper and instructions on how to fold it in order to create two Jayhawks. I had heard of origami but never tried it before. I really struggled to figure out the directions. I finally ended up with one very wrinkled Jayhawk. I have not attempted the second one. The next one will look better because I understand the directions. I do not think I am going to do any more origami. The sudoku puzzles add enough Japanese torture to my life.