“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 759 (Thursday) – so-called normal life

Hell o'clock stretch.

It was another early wakeup morning, but at least it was 4:30 today. Lately, the awakenings are earlier and often triggered by a numb hip or twitchy leg. This requires the yoga pose to stretch the spot in the glute that hurts. It’s fun waking up at hell o’clock to stretch, but at least 4:30 is better than 2:30.  

Once awake, in addition to the spazzy twitchy hip-leg-butt, monkey brain kicked in with full force and at 5:40, defeat was conceded and the get out of bed process began. There is almost always a process. It includes a pep talk with promises that fresh hot coffee is just minutes away.

There is stretching that includes one knee to chest, then the other, then both knees. During this, the left hip usually pops into place with a kind of gross thud/crack sound. There are more stretches and poses that cause the pelvis to make cracking sounds and then I can get out of bed without feeling like I’ll shatter. It’s super fun.

There was extra coffee made this morning to offset the extra fatigue and it’s starting to feel like a pattern is being established. Crappy, fitful sleep at night, extra coffee in the morning. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The insomnia thing used to happen with alarming regularity in April and October but during the full-time remoted stretch, sleep was miraculously restful. It lasted mostly all night, except for quick doggy potty runs and then it was right back to sleep. Mornings felt refreshing. There were no allergy symptoms.

That is all just a once upon a time fond memory. Now, it’s back to allergy sniffles and throbbing sinuses. Wardrobe issues. The shoulders are locked in a permanent uptight position. The jaw is tight and teeth grind through unrestful and disrupted sleep and weird dreams. For starters.

There are appointments to keep or to push, swap, and juggle. It seems my so-called life is returning to all its “normal” unwanted glory. I really miss the whole low-key stay at home all the time thing. Life was much less stressful at the BungaLowell.  “Normal” life is feeling overrated.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 758 (Wednesday) – phone fear

The new phone arrived yesterday and it’s still in the box, wrapped in its protective sleeve. The new cast iron pan, which also arrived yesterday, is still in the box on the kitchen table. The adapter fetched from the Verizon “Corporate Store” to facilitate charging sits nearby.

The new case.

KMeanwhile, I am on the couch with an elbow that has hurt for going on four weeks (possibly tendonitis) and tinnitus echoing in my head for what has been basically forever and season six of Gilmore Girls on the TV. But the elbow and the tinnitus and Gilmore Girls are not the reasons the phone is still in the box.

The phone wasn’t activated yesterday because gravity isn’t always my friend (it's more of a love-hate relationship) and I didn’t want to risk using it until the protective case arrived. The protective case with the magnet and kickstand arrived from Amazon today, along with the new magnet mount for the car. 

The phone wasn’t activated today because by the time I got home from work, fed Winston, fed myself, and unpacked the coffee, phone case, and car mount from the delivery box, I didn’t feel like dealing with the phone. Unlike many, many people I know, getting a new phone doesn’t excite me. A new book? Yes. New shoes? Yes. A new phone? Whatever.

In addition to the inherent blasé attitude towards overly expensive cellular devices with costs equivalent to month’s principal and interest on the mortgage payment, there are also questions. The instructions say to use the SIM card that came in the new phone. So, will the apps transfer from the old phone to the new one, or do I need to load them all from the app store? And if I need to fetch them all again, how will I remember my stupid passwords? 

Some of the apps are needed for work, and there is no interest in dealing with the stress of them not being available if I need them. Maybe I’ll deal with the phone on Friday after work, giving me two days to reinstall anything that needs reinstalling for work on Monday.

Damned Wordle.

The other reason, which is probably the biggest reason why I haven’t jumped all over setting up the new phone yet is Wordle. Yes, Wordle. The answer to the very logical question "What the Wordle?" is, I’m afraid the switch to the new phone and SIM card will result in the loss of my Wordle statistics. There’s no login when opening the game each day. I tap an icon and it opens on the phone, and at the end of each day’s game, my win tally increases by one. The current streak is 63 wins with a 100% win percentage. The risk is real. The fear is great. Damn you, Wordle. 

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 757 (Tuesday) – grrrrumpy

Grumpy seemed to be the dominant mood of the day. It didn’t start that way, but it didn’t take long for the seeds to be planted and blossom.

It started with Winston and his desire to be outside. And inside. Over and over. After being outside for barely five minutes, he was barking to come in. After not even five minutes inside, he was scratching the kitchen door to be back outside. This went on for most of the morning. There was a lot of GRRRRRR coming from the area of my desk.

When there was a noise at the front door, I ventured from the office, expecting to see a box from Verizon with the new phone. Instead, it was a much larger, heavier box and I couldn’t remember what it was. Surprise! It was the cast iron fry pan I already forgot I ordered from Kohl’s on Sunday before the Kohl’s Cash expired. This was a good de-grumpifier, especially when considering its potential for both good (make food) and stress relief (smash!).

When the phone finally arrived, it was opened with excitement. Digging through the box, under the phone, was a thin cardboard sleeve with instructions and a very fancy paperclip to pop the SIM card tray slot open. Below that was a neatly wrapped cord, and nothing else. There was no thingamabob to allow the cord to connect to an outlet. The GRRRRR grump factor increased greatly. But hey, there was a fancy paper clip, which did nothing to minimize the mood, and will likely be lost before the end of the week.

I learned from a Verizon rep that phones don’t come with adapters anymore. THAT would have been excellent and helpful information to have on Saturday while ordering the phone. The grump factor was approaching the red zone.

Thanks for the block.

An adapter was ordered for in-store pickup. At 5:00, Winston had his supper and I scarfed down a chicken sandwich and shortly thereafter, headed for the car. A pickup truck was parked in the middle of the street with the nose angled towards the nose of my car and blocking my driveway. A motorcycle of some sort was being offloaded from the bed of the truck. I started to exit the driveway, but the angle required to clear the fencepost and not sideswipe the truck was harsh and unreasonable. I put it in reverse and returned to the driveway. The grump meter was maxed out at this point.

While sitting in the driveway listening to the radio and waiting for the unloading task to be completed and the truck to be moved, the grump factor approached cartoon character ready to blow status. 

One of the guys, assuming some miraculous turning radius in the Jeep and excessive skill level on my part, gestured to the space between the corner of my fence and the angled truck and yelled that he guaranteed that I could make it. I yelled back that I guaranteed it wasn’t being tried again. The truck was finally moved and I could leave.

At the Verizon store in Pheasant Lane Mall, the only Verizon store on Daniel Webster Highway of which I was aware, two guys in logo shirts chatted at a counter. My mission to pick up an order was announced. One guy went out back and came back empty handed. He said I needed the "Corporate Store” for my online order. I had no idea what that meant and said so.

The "Corporate Store."

Phone guy started rambling about “this is a satellite store” and there are “corporate stores” and it was all foreign to me because it sure didn’t say “Satellite Store” under the Verizon logo over the door. I flashed the order pickup message on the phone screen that just said "Nashua," and said “Can you decode this?” I’m sure the grumpiness was dripping off me like sweat.

The “Corporate Store” was a half mile down Daniel Webster. When I entered, a clerk said something about system problems and not being able to process upgrades. Luckily, my order was prepaid and in a bag in the back room and I was in and out quickly.

In the car, it was time to try the new cable with the tiny thing at one end and the regular USB thing at the other. Unfortunately, the industrial strength tape in the factory seal could not be breached, producing another GRRRRR moment. It was tossed back into the bag for the ride home.

The ride home provided ample time to de-grump before I opened the kitchen door to see Winston good boy tapping his front paws. The welcoming attendant provided an instant cure. The best thing about being grumpy and being greeted at the door by an adorable doggy face is that the grump usually passes immediately. Thank goodness.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 756 (Monday) – monkey brain

It was another early start to the day. Well, it was mostly the same time as a work day, so it was vacation day early after waking up at 2:30 am to let Winston outside, then tossing and turning and supreme efforts to attempt to calm a monkey brain that suddenly kicked into pre-dawn hyperdrive. For two hours, my brain chose to revisit every injury and aggravation, real and imagined, for the past 15 or 30 years. 

There was a spontaneous and detailed rundown of personal possessions a former boyfriend liberated me of during our cohabitation, including photo albums of my childhood; my junior high, high school, and college yearbooks; and hand-lettered family documents carried from Finland in the 1890s. Mental inventories of art and craft supplies in the spare room were conducted: the gemstone bead chips and sterling silver components waiting to be turned into something; the completed jewelry housed in a tub next to the other tub crammed with hand dyed garments; stacks of photos and boxes of framing parts. There was a listing of the various colored glass panels and bevels housed in the downstairs coat closet with the glass grinder.  

Images of the fun career projects and the creative circle and social life enjoyed in Tennessee danced through the cranium like images on a vacation souvenir viewfinder disc. Click. Me out with friends. Click. Me attending numerous events. Click. Me reading my work at writers nights. Click. Me on a roller derby team and in the best physical shape of my adult life. Click.

Recent and current stress and work projects popped in for cameo appearances. The mental gymnastics occupied two hours that would have been better spent sleeping and it was exhausting.

After 4:30 there was a nap until 6:00 that featured a screening of a remake of a recurring dream. It was the general theme about travel and packing suitcases and not being able find the correct hotel room and being on the verge of missing the transportation home because in this morning’s version, there were ants and winged things and cockroaches crawling in my suitcase and in the bed in the hotel room. It was a relief to wake up after that.

After hauling the trash and recycle bins to the curb, chugging coffee, and setting Winston up in pee pants for my departure, it was off to the annual appointment at the dermatologist. There was time to relax a bit and read a chapter of my book for book club while in the waiting room.

As a personal reward for being awake and at the dermatologist at 8:30 on a Monday morning, there was a trip to Whole Foods across the street afterward. It was peaceful, serene, and not crowded. There was no shopping list, resulting in aimless wandering in the aisles collecting things like whole bay leaf, herring in wine sauce, and the item that required help to locate – tomato puree. I had never heard of tomato puree until reading the recipe for Finnish Hot Dog Sauce (Nakkikastike), allegedly a Finnish childhood comfort food.

It’s a good thing I asked, because tomato puree is not the same thing as tomato paste. Big thanks to the two Whole Foods team members in the canned tomato row who were well versed in all things canned tomato, explained the difference, and found the right item. Someday, the ketchup, tomato puree, mustard, onion, and cream concoction will be fabricated and I’ll see how comforting it really is.

In addition to the soothing environment, the express lane sign was impressively grammatically correct with the sign indicating “12 items or fewer.”

Back at home, it was snuggles with Winston, laundry, front yard poop pickup, and all the other glamorous tasks that are usually done on Sunday. And of course, Gilmore Girls. A magnetic phone mount and a case were ordered from Amazon for the new phone, and the Verizon account was finally unlocked after a third call to customer service. Items were crossed from the list. It was a productive day. Hopefully, the monkey brain is exhausted from it all and it will be a quiet night of sleep.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 755 (Sunday) – flower time

Morning activities started ahead of the alarm thanks to the daylight seeping in through the bedroom windows. The morning was calm, the drive to dance was uneventful. The quest for a fabric flower for a dance costume bore fruit. In recent weeks, several stores were checked online and in real life for a turquoise fabric flower with no luck. Blue is plentiful, but turquoise is nonexistent.  In a misfire of my color memory, a multi-toned blue hydrangea from Family Dollar bought Saturday turned out to be the wrong color.

Farm stand full of pansies.

The next plan was that arts and crafts might need to happen. A jagged route was taken back from dance with multiple stops. The Family Dollar near dance was checked for their fake flowers, a farm stand that opened for the season just yesterday was visited for pansies which I now must keep alive until it's safe to put them in the ground. 

A detour was made to Joann Fabric to check for fake flowers. Joann had a white flower with a clip and a wall of various containers of acrylic paint ranging from 79 cents to $1.99, which was about the only difference I could discern from the brands and labels. Turquoise paint was located and bought.

After Joann there was a stop at Market Basket for salad ingredients. Speed shopping was restricted to the chicken heated display and the produce department.  For the cost of one restaurant salad, a roasted chicken and the ingredients for a week’s worth of salad were acquired. Salad season 2022 at The BungaLowell officially opened at 2:45 with a late lunch of salad.

The chicken was carved and the carcass set in a pot for soup. Suddenly it was 4:00. After barely a minute on the couch with Gilmore Girls and the Facebook feed, it was 6:00 and time for Winston’s dinner. Leftover pizza from Saturday supper was Sunday’s supper (by design), the dishwasher cycle was started and in a blink it was 7:00. The time jumps were becoming unsettling.

Floral arts and crafts. 

Project “paint the flower” commenced. Paint was poured into a tiny plastic container saved from Spongebob Crabby Patty candy at Valentine’s Day. I knew that the cute little cups would come in handy when I couldn’t bear to throw them away. A makeup sponge and cotton swabs were commandeered for the paint application. 

In mere minutes the job was done and it was finally time to kick back, relax, admire the arts and crafts results, and redirect attention to Gilmore Girls. The current Netflix binge is halfway through Season 5, so it will be done soon.

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 754 (Saturday) – tech and phones and food

Despite being locked out of my online phone account, a new phone was successfully ordered with the help of online chat rep “Daphne.” The process took nearly as long as driving to the Verizon store at the Pheasant Lane Mall in New Hampshire and doing it in person would have taken, which was the original plan for the morning. It was so much the plan that hair had been styled, makeup applied, and “going out of the house” attire chosen from the wardrobe.

By the time all the personal hygiene and wardrobe preparations had been made, it was nearly lunchtime, so an eggroll was prepared for the noon repast. Then comparisons of various phones and the Verizon website were consulted for an advance idea of the quest item. That’s when it got tricky with the need to log in to see my pricing and options as an existing customer doing an upgrade with "Device Dollars" accumulated monthly for at least a year. This led to the web chat option. 

Web chat Daphne made an upsell attempt for a car charger and protective case. The charger looked exactly like the one I already have, but I was 100% onboard for the case. Unfortunately, after it being offered and accepted, Daphne apologized because “there are no cases available for that phone.” Oops. And now I’m on my own for that item. Knowing how many times the current phone has succumbed to gravity, there is no way I am going without a case. An hour had been sucked out of the day. Anyway, the new phone will arrive soon, which is significantly less gratifying than walking out of a store with a pricey new technology device in hand. 

After closing all the many tabs that opened during the purchase process, email was checked. The receipt was already in the inbox, but of course, it wasn’t the actual receipt, it was a link to access it by logging into my account which is still locked since yesterday. All I really wanted to do was confirm the specific phone model to shop online for a case.

The number for customer service was on the screen with the “Account Locked” declaration, which led to another lengthy wait on the phone for a rep. After the previous prolonged online chat to buy a new phone and the lengthy call with a rep last night, I wasn’t in the mood to be texting about the account lockout for what could be another hour. After 15 minutes and 5 seconds on hold, I tapped out and hung up.

By the time the phone ordeal was completed/abandoned, it was 2:30, and suddenly felt too late to head out for planned excursion #2 of the day, at Western Ave Studios for the April Open Studios, which begin at 12:00 and end at 5:00. That meant the day’s going out of the house preparations were wasted on not making it beyond the front yard.

Determined to expand the supper dining options, a place that recently sent a menu in the mail was considered. Their menu has many of the same pizza shop and seafood items as the regular place, plus additional luxury items like Clam chowder and lobster roll sandwich. The front of the menu was emblazoned with a website, so I went there. A screen appeared with buttons for “Pizza Menu,” “Restaurant Menu,” and “Menu.” The Pizza Menu button linked to a website for different pizza place one town over. The Restaurant Menu and Menu buttons link to Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza and Wings in Wyomissing Pennsylvania. That delivery would probably take a lot longer than I would be willing to wait.  Apparently, tech glitches are not exclusive to me. The regular and reliable place won the supper lottery. 

“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 753 (Friday) – goof-off day-off

The goof-off day-off began with sleeping late. It was 6:40, representing extra sleep time of 20 minutes! Wow. Sadly, the day of leisure started much like a regular day. Then it was up and ‘em with coffee and a movie. More coffee and Gilmore Girls. More coffee and verifying the hours for the thrift shop and checking other attractions in the vicinity.

At 11:45, wearing my jacket and with my purse on my shoulder, it occurred to me it was lunchtime and food should be eaten to eliminate hunger crankiness and the potential ordeal of eating alone in a restaurant. A single serving of mac and cheese was snatched from the freezer, nuked, and consumed.

Quaint street where the
air smells like pizza.

A half hour later I was on my third or fourth lap of the parking lot across the street from the thrift shop, hoping someone would leave when I was in a position to grab the slot. A couple had already been missed when I was on the far side of the loop. Walking from the car to the shop, along a quaint street, the air smelled like pizza and I was glad to have already eaten. 

The shop had a lot of glassware, but not the coveted soup bowls. There was lots of costume jewelry, but nothing very interesting. I almost got a shirt from the basement dollar rack, but decided it didn’t spark joy equal to the wait in line to pay for it. The mac and cheese lunch began to cause stomach activity. The thrift shop was not as great as its social media presence suggested, so kudos to the social media person person. Sadly, it wasn’t worth the drive and the dizzying laps of the municipal lot, but there was another entertainment lined up

After the failed thrift shop quest, it was less than a mile to Addison Gallery of American Art at Philips Academy, which has “one of the most important collections of American art in the country.” I was excited to see their Georgia O’Keeffe works. A sandwich board sign declared “Spring Visit Registration” with an arrow pointing up the private street where I needed to turn, which made my heart sink a bit.

All the parking spots along the street were occupied, as well as every spot not indicated “Event Parking Only.” There was one lap of the lot before heading home. It would figure that the one time I finally go adventuring, I pick the day of a campus visit event. Fail. At least my stomach had settled down.

The stop at Family Dollar on the way home was semi-successful. Frozen egg rolls and face wipes were restocked, but toilet paper was forgotten. Then it was back to the Gilmore Girls and the folks of Star Hollow and Yale.

The failed quests continued while trying to look at phones at the Verizon website on the laptop.  One of the shopping questions was if I was a new customer (the folks who get all the great deals) or an existing one (which requires logging in and likely no bargains).

Oh goody.

The login failed. I tried on the phone app. It failed. Laptop. Fail. Phone. Fail. A few times. There were account locked out messages and instructions to call customer service. I finally called. The rep mentioned I was her second consecutive call with this situation, and her third today. She reset the account. The login failed again. And several more times.

We were on the phone together for at least 45 minutes, which began with troubleshooting and diagnostics. Then we chatted about the crappy service at my house (barely one bar), and the rep’s recommendation for a new phone (iPhone).

The login problem isn’t even solved yet because a security function locked the account for 24 hours. By the end of our call we were practically besties and I wish I could remember her name so we could catch up again sometime. Saturday morning may involve a trip to the Verizon store for in-person shopping. Ugh.