Irene

I am in the midst of what's left of Irene.  It's still pretty nasty out with fairly high winds and blowing rain/spray.  the blowing water could well be from the river or ocean.  Here in town my father and I have been safe, snug and dry.  We even have electricity.  I understand the beaches have been hit hard though.  Down the street a tree fell across Main St.  Otherwise from my very narrow view this has been an easy ride.

I know that isn't the case for everyone.  I feel sorry for those who died in the storm.  Though it is pretty easy here, that isn't the case in many places.  This storm has been extremely large and destructive over several days and across the Carribean and all up the East Coast.  It still isn't finished.

Though I am mostly house-bound today, maybe I can get some pictures later this week.

God's Peace and my Love, Shel

Logic?

Figure this!  I need a new car so I go to a dealer and find one I want.  Since I don't have the money to pay for the whole thing by cash, I apply for a loan.  To get a loan they check my credit.  Because this is considered a "hard" event (not really shure what that means) my score drops 27 points!  Instantly I become a credit risk.  I now have to get a higher percentage loan.  This is the logic of amercan finance.  It looks to me to be some kind scam, but what can be done?  I needed the car!

 On another theme, Irene seems like a more real possibility all the time (the hurricane if you had doubts).

Life moves on. Love, Shel

The Toy

This is a picture of the Thrive.  I didn't take this one.  It is from Wiki Commons.  I was lazy.

We had an earth quake today.  By we I mean the whole North East Coast from the Carolinas to Canada!  I missed it.  I didn't notice a thing.  As a kid I lived in California.  In school we did earthquake drills and I remember experiencing earthquakes.  I now live in New England and I miss the largest quake in this area.  The  center of the quake was in Virginia.  That is a long way away but because of the geology of the North East it was felt up here, but not by me.  Oh, well!  I don't think there was any damage locally.  There was some closer to the center and lots of people in big buildings evacuated in places like N.Y. City and Washington, D.C.
Next Disaster - Hurricane Irene, maybe.  We'll have to see about this one.  It may possibly be in the North East by the weekend and I am now at the Rhode Island shore with my father.  Things could get interesting.
Below is one of the possible paths of the hurricane.

Things could and probably will change.  Keep steady, keep dry, keep safe!

Love, Shel

New Toy

I have a new toy, an android tablet.  I am writing this post with it.  Since typing is a one finger thing it is going slowly.  It works for typing but I prefer my desktop or laptop for writing.  It is great for web browsing and the apps make many things simpler. It is light and the screen is wonderful.  For many things the touch screen is wonderful.  I got a Toshiba Thrive.  I could not bring myself to buy an Apple.  The cost was the same, but Apple has a way of tying you to their world.  I am not ready for that just now.  Picture coming soon.
Have a great day,
Love, Shel

BB?

For many years now I have been tied to a Blackberry Smart phone. The latest one is the Blackberry Torch 9800 (the numbers are necessary now because new models are available.) My cell plan let me upgrade my phone every year and a half or so. This has kept me roughly in current technology. I love the Blackberry! I love getting email everywhere and being able to carry my address book with me. I love being able to sync it with Outlook. I have over time seen the coming of the iphone and then Android and I have stayed loyal and happy with my BB.

Now it seems that Blackberry may be having difficulties. Their new models are not as competitive and the company seems to be under pressure. They are competing with giant companies like Apple and Google. They recently released a Tablet PC. It is a fine piece of equipment, but I am afraid it won't appeal to anyone other than an existing Blackberry user. They gave it an unfortunate name "the Playbook." Blackberry's strength has been for business users. Playbook, please! More than the name is the fact that the operating system is proprietary to Blackberry. It is well done, but there will be few applications. Applications are being written for the iphone/ipad and for Android phones and tablets. Fewer are written for Blackberry. The writing is on the wall.

What will my next phone be, iphone or an Android? Well I just bought an Android Tablet. I really don't want to be sucked into the Apple world! I will stay with PC's and if I move from Blackberry it may be to Android. We'll see how I like this Tablet.

By the way, Hello from Rhode Island! I hope your day is bright and sunny!

Love,
Shel

Who's in Control?

Buy the Mini Model Camera with 3 lenses at the Photojojo Store!

I thought the model camera above was just too cute!  I had to include it.

Well my life isn't exactly chaos any more, but it does seem to be changing substantially.  Right now I spend 5 days a week with my father to help him and three days at home.  At home is kind of an euphemism because when I am home I am running around doing the things that didn't get done during the week.  It also seems that everyone is having a picnic I need to attend.  I have made about half of these picnics.  I spend free time working on my sermon.  Yes, it's summer and I am filling in at churches.


One of the more difficult things this year has been that I have been unable to visit my son and his family in Arizona.  Earlier this year it was money, then it was health, now it needing to help my father that prevents me from going.  My granddaughter is growing up and I am missing it!

No matter how much it may seem that I am complaining, I really am very thankful.  I am thankful to be alive and I am thankful my father is too and it is a pleasure to be able to help him.  Anything else is that may be inconvenient is just that, a minor inconvenience.

Love,
Shel

Chaos

Life is chaos!  Since my last post my life has turned topsy turvy.  I have healed well from the surgery so my health is good.  However as I was healing my father, who is just weeks short of the age of 100, my father had congestive heart problems.  He is recovering well, but the timing was lousy (is there ever a good time?)  I had not healed enough to drive any distance and had to have a friend drive me to visit him in the Hospital.  When I had healed enough to drive my car wouldn't start!  It seems that an animal of some sort took up residence in the wiring and decided to chew a bit.  Well, $700 later and a very bad day broken down on the side of the highway I was able to drive.  Guess what?  That car just became unreliable, deciding to stop and then restart at the strangest times. I was actually trapped at a drive-in ATM for a half hour.

I had to buy a new car.  I hated to part with the old one.  It had 226,000 miles on it and was an old friend.  Sentimentality aside I needed reliable, so a new car. Pictures of new car will follow.

I am now living in two places.  I spend most of the week with my father to help  him and I return home on the weekends to do church services.  Life is chaos!

Love,
Shel