jessteronimo

SuperMom

My daughter texted me while I was at work all frantic because she'd discovered that her laptop was broken. She said that it wouldn't close. I told her we could fix it, but she said that dad said it wasn't fixable and that she'd just have to leave it open. It was the most she's ever texted me, so I knew she was super upset [background sobbing was clearly evident]. When I got home, she showed me the laptop, and while she wasn't still sobbing, her big, sad puppy dog eyes broke my heart. The laptop plastic was munched, but it seemed fixable to me. So I got her to agree to surrender the beloved tool to me for a day. The place I would normally take it to has gone out of business, so I had planned to take it to a chain store I'd heard of, but it was quite far from my office. I decided to get some errands run first and go on my lunch break. But while I was out driving around, I saw a little sign that said this little hole-in-the-wall store repaired laptops. I did a U-turn and screeched into the parking lot, startling a group of hispanics who were smoking outside the back door. Sorry, guys. I took the laptop into this little, dark, freezing shop filled with dead and distressed computers and laptops and a wild assortment of computer parts--and hispanic men. No one was speaking English, and all the workers were helping one man, talking loudly and rapidly and with lots of animation. For a bit, I thought I might have been too hasty and ended up in the wrong place, but I was determined to help my daughter feel better. When the other customer left, I set my laptop on the counter and all the workers turned to me: group help, apparently. Gasps and tsks as they surveyed the damaged computer. My heart sank as they all switched to English and began explaining how the plastic piece that holds the screw that stabilizes the hinge for the cover was busted beyond repair. I could replace the whole bottom if a part could be found, but a quick search online ruled that option out. I was about to go, but then I saw the creative wheels start turning in these men's minds. They all started throwing out other options in this weird but cool brainstorm. I left the laptop with them, and two hours later they called me back to say they'd fixed it. When I picked it up, I was pleased to see that they'd come up with a duct-tape-esque but very functional solution to the problem: they loosed the hinge so the tension wasn't so tough on the monitor, then they put in a screw that was way too large for the hole--but still somewhat concealed so it wasn't unsightly--so the screw couldn't pull through, essentially making the entire back of the computer bear the weight of the hinge. Genius. Sheer genius. My daughter was ecstatic, and I was SuperMom. Thanks, Super Computers at 1381 S. Main St. in Salt Lake (801.759.8012).

Po' Girl Boot Keepers

I just wanted to share an idea that I found that actually worked better than expected. I love long, tall, fitted boots in the wintertime, but I always end up buying new pairs every couple of years because I can't keep my boots from getting all worn out and deformed, especially at the ankles. I was about to go buy boot keepers, but they were shockingly expensive. I'm glad I hesitated, because a few weeks ago, I bought a book full of really helpful, practical household and office organizational and decoration tips. One idea they had was to stick water bottles in boots as boot keepers. I figured out that Wal-Mart's Sam's Choice brand Clear Amercan flavored water bottles in the 1 Liter size fit my favorite black boots perfectly. I drank the flavored water (YUM!) and refilled them with tap water (you might want to write something like "boot keeper" on the bottles in permanent marker so you don't accidentally try to drink nasty tap water, or your spouse or kids don't try to clean it up or play with it, respectively, like mine did). Now, after a little more than a week of having those bottles in my boots, not only are they not getting worse, but they actually look like they're getting back their original shape! I put smaller water bottles in my brown boots, and they're liking it too (I filled the small water bottles with warm water initially, and the boots really seemed to form around that shape nicely). So there's a little tip for you to try. Hope it helps you boot lovers out there!

Construction Catastrophes

Things your contractors could do to screw you in a home remodeling project:

• They could randomly decide to put windows in your home addition where none were on the blueprints--then refuse to put it back the way it was supposed to be.

• They could cut and install doors opening backwards.

• They could start the project 3 months late, thus putting the main construction in the winter time.

• They could grossly understate the budget in the quote and then proceed to charge you nearly $3o,000 more than you expected, forcing you to come up with alternative financing to finish the project.

• They could run the gas line exhaust into the home, nearly asphixiating you and your family.

• They could mismeasure the placement of the bay window and move it 2 feet to the right, bumping it awkwardly up into the doorway.

• They could seal the family cat into the roof trusses, leaving you to find it 3 days later.

All of these things have happened to my sister during the addition onto her home. Thank goodness I'm not a homeowner!

Preparedness

I have a computer at work that is slowly dying. I've been able to resuscitate it a few times, but it will soon give out entirely. During its dying process, we've been able to back up the contents and move them off the computer so that when it really won't turn back on, it won't hurt so much. This whole experience made me think of my own computer, my cell phone, and my purse--three of my possessions that are so packed with important information that it would really hurt me if they failed. So I'm making a commitment to myself to take precautionary measures to reduce my pain should something happen to them. And I encourage you to do the same, regularly.

Fight Junk Mail

Do you get slammed with piles of junk mail each time the postman arrives? Do something about it. Check out this stamp: http://greenupgrader.com/1505/return-to-waster-junk-mail-stamps-at-etsy/

I don't believe that my household receives an inordinate amount of junk mail, but my company--that's another matter. In the marketing world, direct mail is one of the most expensive avenues for advertising. Companies keep doing it because, well, it works, apparently. But if you hate it as much as I do, returning their mail with some message of protest seems like the most effective way to stop the waste--or at least stop you from getting it (one step at a time, eh?).

Having worked in the internet industry and computing for years, you would think that a paperless office would be ideal to me. But I'm not one of those raging paperless freaks. I like to write, and I believe there are reasons to print something out still. But I think being conscious of the problems of waste is the best course. As one of my fellow coworkers points out, it's a cycle. Man takes nature and uses its resources, then returns it to nature to start over. The problem is that man is taking too quickly. We need to slow the cycle down. And junk mail forces us to process it, which is annoying and time wasting. I don't know that I'll order the stamp yet, but I'm going to start asking that it be returned to the sender, sans nasty note . . . initially.

More ideas: http://green.yahoo.com/blog/huddlergreenhome/23/junk-your-junk-mail.html

Efficient But Useless

"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." -- Peter Drucker

(Found on my friend Andrew's blog: http://stochasticresonance.wordpress.com/. Check it out, you agile programmers and nerds...or just curious folk.)

Hang Up First

When ending a conference call, make sure that you really hung up...and stayed hung up...before discussing the call, or the people who were on the call, or anything else you wouldn't tell those people to their faces. (The same principle applies to your phone's MUTE button, by the way; consider yourself ON AIR during the entire call, until certain finality.)

I was on a conference call today. After it ended, I got a call back from the same person who initiated the conference call. I answered it, of course. "Hello?" No response. I could hear people talking. "Hello?" I said again. They didn't hear me. And then I realized what was being discussed. Yep, you guessed it. They were talking about me. They didn't know they had called me back. I sat with my phone on mute and listened to them talk about me. Very enlightening.

This incident underscores my life-long preference for my super power of choice to be mind reading. It would really help the decision-making process.

Spelling Rules Simplified

Thanks to my sister in law for sending me the link to this site that teaches English language spelling rules in a really digestible way:

Spelling Rules

Yes, I am a nerd. And one particularly attached to language. (But you knew that, right?)

I especially like the very last couple of lines. So true!

Change of Address

One of the first things we did to get ready to move was submit a change of address card to the post office. Then we got online and updated the new address on all our important accounts: the bank, my work benefits, the DMV and IRS, several bill companies,  Amazon, and Netflix. We went down the list of all the people we receive mail from and notifed them of our new address. I sent an email to all my friends and family to let them know our new location.

The previous residents of our home had a different idea. They'd already moved out when they changed their address with the post office. And they apparently didn't tell anyone else they'd moved. Besides still getting mail every day for them, we've even had people stop by. But the most surprising event happened yesterday, when we got a magazine in the mail in a nondescript, concealing black cover. You would think they'd notify the dirty magazine subscription company of their new address. *chuckle chuckle*