The Ground Hog Was Too Cold

Happy 64th to me! Not that I want to be reminded, but everyone else in the family has somehow managed to keep me informed by the lovely cards and emails I received. As birthdays go, this one was pretty much as exciting as I wanted. Slept in just a little this morning, took my pills, started the laundry, sat in living room with Nat working on his crossword and my solitaire games, went to Johnny Rocco’s for supper, watched hockey game and back to bed. End of story. Boring, Yes! My kind of day, Yes!

Naturally our meal was wonderful. We enjoyed the experience same time last year and as we had received a gift card at Christmas from Thamazine, we decided to return again this year. Everything was just as nice except the weather. This year Mother Nature decided to give us a challenge by sending 5″ of snow our way on Friday and a bit more overnight. We decided to leave a bit early (didn’t make reservations) and arrived at the restaurant by 5:00 pm. The drive in wasn’t so bad. Certain areas were a bit slippery but we still arrived in good time. We noticed St. Catharines was getting much more than we were and I was starting to think this wasn’t going to be fun going home. I was right!  Driving home was certainly a whole different experience, but not as bad as Boxing Day. The snow kept coming all through our meal and by the time we were ready to leave, the snow was heavily falling and clogging up the roads in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, and good parts of the QEW. Traffic was being cautious and moving slow, and as we approached the Sodom Road exit we could see that traffic was extremely backed up from the border crossing in Fort Erie. We were glad to be exiting at Sodom Road and could finally enjoy the well-plowed roads into Ridgeway. Can’t thank our Road Works Department enough.

The two of us are still boring, but we’ve at least managed to get the dining room done. We’re really pleased with how it turned out and maybe now I can get the closet doors done?? As for an up-date on that Lacie external hard drive we took back from Susan:-  We ended up creating an account with Lacie, then emailed back and forth with their their Tech Department as to what the problem was.  After trying to explain the weird things going on, we finally got things worked out. I ended up sending the hard drive back to them, they repaired the same and returned it very promptly thereafter. All in all I was really pleased with how I was treated and have decided to keep the hard drive for myself, as we purchased a “plug ‘n play” one for Susan, which she likes. Another lesson in tech for me, as I’ve never had to return anything, so this was a first.

Speaking of tech things, Nat’s iPod Classic that I wasn’t using anymore, finally gave out. Without a thought, I said we’ll just get you another one. Nat being Nat, he didn’t think it was necessary.  I reminded him how he’s been using it while biking, on the treadmill, taking a walk and while at home and in a quiet mood. He’s standing beside me at the desk and as we’re talking, I’m ordering the new iPod Nano on Apple’s web site. He’s now looking at me and asking what I’m doing. I explained that the new Nano is only $149.00, that you can get it engraved and that it will be at our door step within a few days. Not wanting to admit I was right he at least gave me a little smile and said “alright then”.  Knowing me, I wanted to have something funky engraved on his new music player, but he’s so practical we ended up with “The iPod belongs to Nat W. Dick. At least he’ll have some identification if it should get lost, etc. I now know he’s excited, as he asked me this morning when he’ll be receiving it!!

Although there are times Nat appreciates technology and all of its wonders, he had a hard time understanding my philosophy about Facebook. It’s always been a thorn in my side – don’t like it – think it’s making people anti-social and non-communicative – an invasion of privacy – misused by millions of people and is another way for advertisers to annoy the hell out of people. Nat and I were forced into having a Facebook page only because we would never see photos taken by our grandchildren or any other members of our family, as they only post them to their home page. As much as I try to block things on our page, Facebook just keeps popping up, reminding me of birthdays, that someone I’ve never heard of wants to be my “Friend” and making suggestions on how I can make more friends!! I’ve been a loner all of my life, why in hell would I want to make more friends at age 64. My husband is my best friend, my sisters are my best friends – I don’t want anymore!!! I also found it extremely frustrating that Facebook has to send everyone on your page a reminder that it’s your birthday. It then turns out that everyone sends me a note through Facebook and for some reason can’t see their way to sending me a personal email. I’ve not been on my home page for over six months now, and suddenly everyone wants to send me birthday messages. Just goes to show how much of a loner I am – I wouldn’t see those best wishes unless Facebook told me they were there. How kind of them!! Please don’t do me any favours!!   I can manage my own life and have gotten this far in life without Mark Zuckerberg and his cronies!!

Getting onto a better topic – the snow is going to continue overnight and as the house has been cleaned and the laundry done, Nat and I will put up our feet all day Sunday, enjoy the view, do our puzzles and maybe watch a soccer game if one is on. Right now, life is good!!